By Frank Hill
No,
it wasn't the 79-yard punt by Duke punter Will Monday in the 2012 Belk
Bowl in Charlotte, North Carolina, although that was pretty darned
great, you gotta admit.
No, the greatest 'punt' of the recent college bowl season was performed
collectively in a three-legged kick down the road by President Barack
Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker John Boehner
on New Year's Eve in Washington, D.C. in the Fiscal Cliff Bowl Sponsored by The AARP, Grover Norquist and The American People.
The Greatest 'Punt' in History
The Fight for The Right to Due Process
By Grant Davies
If we allow the people who really make the laws in this country, the Senate/House conferees, to make a law in secret that removes our most fundamental right - that of habeas corpus - we will deserve whatever befalls us subsequently.
As a country, we went to sleep and allowed these people to shove Obamacare down the throats of the 3/4 of the American people who responded to many of the polls at the time. Now we are stuck with it. At least until it implodes (as it was designed to do) and the debate over changing it to the single payer socialist wet dream begins. But I digress.
If we sleep through this one, the removal of our right to due process, we might as well turn the clock back to the darkest single day in the history of liberty in America. The day in 1942 when our own government rounded up well over a hundred thousand of our fellow citizens and herded them into concentration camps because they were of Japanese descent. Almost all of their property was taken and never returned. The inadequate apology and the small check the government cut for the few left alive many decades later can never atone for that shame.
Anyone who thinks it can never happen again is foolish. Particularly since these secret conferees and their puppeteers (like the idiot John McCain) have just pulled an "end around" on the 2/3 of the Senators who passed an amendment specifically against such an unconstitutional trampling of our rights just a few weeks ago.
There is one Senator who is fighting with all his might against these forces. (Apologies if there are others who have gotten no attention in the media.) It is Rand Paul of Kentucky. If you value your freedom, I suggest you watch this video. And I suggest you support Senator Paul in his efforts. In this fight Rand Paul is our champion.
From my perspective, this is the single most important issue of the time. Without the right to due process, we have nothing. It has defined who we are as Americans. Compared to the loss of this fundamental right, all other issues before us now shrink to insignificance.
That's my opinion, yours is welcome too.
If we allow the people who really make the laws in this country, the Senate/House conferees, to make a law in secret that removes our most fundamental right - that of habeas corpus - we will deserve whatever befalls us subsequently.
As a country, we went to sleep and allowed these people to shove Obamacare down the throats of the 3/4 of the American people who responded to many of the polls at the time. Now we are stuck with it. At least until it implodes (as it was designed to do) and the debate over changing it to the single payer socialist wet dream begins. But I digress.
If we sleep through this one, the removal of our right to due process, we might as well turn the clock back to the darkest single day in the history of liberty in America. The day in 1942 when our own government rounded up well over a hundred thousand of our fellow citizens and herded them into concentration camps because they were of Japanese descent. Almost all of their property was taken and never returned. The inadequate apology and the small check the government cut for the few left alive many decades later can never atone for that shame.
Anyone who thinks it can never happen again is foolish. Particularly since these secret conferees and their puppeteers (like the idiot John McCain) have just pulled an "end around" on the 2/3 of the Senators who passed an amendment specifically against such an unconstitutional trampling of our rights just a few weeks ago.
There is one Senator who is fighting with all his might against these forces. (Apologies if there are others who have gotten no attention in the media.) It is Rand Paul of Kentucky. If you value your freedom, I suggest you watch this video. And I suggest you support Senator Paul in his efforts. In this fight Rand Paul is our champion.
From my perspective, this is the single most important issue of the time. Without the right to due process, we have nothing. It has defined who we are as Americans. Compared to the loss of this fundamental right, all other issues before us now shrink to insignificance.
That's my opinion, yours is welcome too.
Reflections on the Newtown Tragedy
The author of the following essay is a mother of three from the Chicago area. It was originally published on a private blog that chronicles the daily lives of her family. I have been given permission to publish it on the sites where I am a contributing writer. Since writing such as this, without expectation, can possibly go viral on the internet, it has been decided to publish it anonymously to protect the privacy of the family. The names of the children have been omitted. Otherwise, it is submitted as written. The perspective of this mother is one that is different from what I have read since the horrific events of last Friday. But I feel it is a reflection of the prevailing perspective of most of the people who have been suffering along with the devastated families of the victims. It is also somewhat different than the articles usually found on this blog.
Grant Davies
Treasure, Protect and Mourn Them All -- Reflections on the Newtown Tragedy
One thing that will give a person perspective is someone else's misery. Although we have been careful to monitor media in our house and not speak about the recent events in Connecticut, obviously my husband and I have been disturbed and heartbroken about the elementary school children who were gunned down in Newtown. And although it would be painful to learn about this no matter who you are and what your station in life is, this feels particularly painful to us as parents of children who are right around the age of these precious little victims.
When I look at my first grader and her big blue eyes and imagine those eyes being closed forever....when I see my pre-schooler skipping around like her little fairy-elf self, barely touching the ground and imagine never hearing her laugh again...it just destroys me. If I couldn't hold my toddler close to me, as he clutches his blanket and sucks his thumb...I don't know that I could live another day myself. And yet there are parents today who are burying their children one week before Christmas. It hurts to think about it.
What I've found equally frustrating during this time, and it is just an observation really, is that amidst all the reaction, I don't hear people mourning the loss of children everywhere, everyday. Make no mistake, I believe with all my heart that what happened in Newtown was a shocking tragedy and I am mourning the loss of those beautiful children. But I find myself grieving for the children of the south side of Chicago too.
How many of them have been gunned down this school year? Where is the national mourning for these children? Of course there isn't any. Even within our city, we consume these news reports without blinking an eye. We can speculate on the reasons why this is the case. But I won't bother to here, because this isn't a political blog or a blog on social/cultural commentary. However, I have been thinking of the heartbreak that goes on daily for the parents of those children, caught in gang crossfire, and I grieve for them. And how about children all across the globe who live in fear of this sort of thing *every day*? No one expects children in Connecticut to be scared to go to school, thank God. But what about kids in Syria? Or how about child soldiers in Africa? The reality is that the world does a crappy job protecting our children. And every single one of them should be just as treasured and protected and mourned as the ones in Newtown.
I admit, the story has gotten under my skin enough that I've tried harder to stay patient with the kids when they've tested me over the past few days. And when my pre-schooler got ill on Saturday night and my husband stayed with her on the couch, I pulled my first-born into my room and had her sleep with me. All because I could not bear the feeling of being alone and having thoughts of those school children carry me into sleep. Although she was totally asleep when I went in her room, and she is heavy as a sack of concrete mix these days, I carried her into my room and curled my body around hers, reassuring myself that my daughter was alive and healthy and safe, and for at least tonight, we would be together as mother and child.
The risk of living is dying. I know we cannot live in fear and I thank God that we don't. I know I will lose my temper with the kids again. I know I will take them for granted again. We all do this. It's human. Actually, I am not sure how we could survive without this sort of behavior...after all, who could walk around and stay sane if they knew they had to protect a precious jewel every single day - a jewel that has its own thoughts, feelings, actions and plans? It would be impossible.
So we just do the best we can, we apologize when we screw up, we use opportunities like this tragedy to remind ourselves to treasure each moment we're given, and above all, try to love the best we can. It's a disgusting, broken world. I'm taking comfort that for those of us who believe, good always wins and God saves.
Liberals jump the gun on Newtown
By Dean L
It's saddening when there's a tragedy, particularly one involving children. I have children and I cannot imagine a world where they are taken away, particularly by senseless violence. My prayers and thoughts are with those victims' families in Newtown, Connecticut.
It's saddening when there's a tragedy, particularly one involving children. I have children and I cannot imagine a world where they are taken away, particularly by senseless violence. My prayers and thoughts are with those victims' families in Newtown, Connecticut.
But progressives have, forgive the expression, jumped the gun in their response to this act of senseless violence by a disturbed individual.
CREDO, a progressive grassroots group, is organizing a march on the National Rifle Association's lobbying arm in Washington, D.C. Monday."After the shooter Adam Lanza, no one is more to blame for the massacre of 20 first graders and six women at the Sandy Hook Elementary School than the National Rifle Association," CREDO wrote on the Facebook page where the march is being organized. "To stop the senseless killing we must first stop the NRA."
Here's why they've jumped the gun:
(1) This tragedy requires a period of mourning not an immediate finger pointing crusade.
(2) No one is more to blame than the NRA? REALLY? No one is more to blame than the guy who did the killing. Claiming the NRA as the primary culprit is immoral, misleading and self-serving hyper-partisanship.
(3) They're planning a march on the NRA. Again it's premature given the first two points but more importantly it is another example of the left's attempts to demonize opponents and divide the nation. To do so using this tragedy as a reason is downright disgusting.
(4) It's not clear how far they want to take this effort, but it's not hard to imagine the absurd extent that they could take it. Assault rifles have to go. And then hand guns. And then hunting rifles. And then archery equipment and knives. And then any type of poison that could be used instead of a gun after guns are prohibited. And then anything that could be used to manufacture poisons. Where does it stop?
I'll admit, guns can make mass murder easier, but would have a gun ban prevented this tragedy or others? Perhaps the form the tragedy took but not the evil intent. Killers have used guns in countries where they are banned. Mass murderers have used all sorts of instruments, even Tylenol and Kool Aid.
Knee-jerk reactions we've come to expect do not make the tragedy preventable. They're designed to make those who believe certain things feel better about themselves in light of a horrific tragedy, that's all.
Who In Washington Is Holding Middle-Class Tax Cuts Hostage Really?
By Frank Hill
 |
| Which One is Better..Or Worse? |
We are always surprised, although we shouldn't be, when we see the media attack the GOP in Congress for 'holding the middle-class hostage to getting tax cuts extended for the wealthy ('fat-cat, dishonest, conniving, Scrooge-like white rich) guys'. (That is the intimation, isn't it? Tell the truth.)
Why is it taken as the Gospel Truth that the current impasse is solely the fault of the Republican Party in charge of the House of Representatives in Congress?
The narrative in the media goes like this...
Union Grinches Are Stealing Christmas
The Libertarian Patriot
Just when I thought I was out, they dragged me back in.
Did you know that there is a major strike going on that has shut down the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports going on 9 days now? This work stoppage is affecting 40% of the imported freight into the US and costing the economy an estimated $1 Billion per day.
Well if you watch the lamestream mediots, you probably haven't heard about it.
You see, 800 union clerical workers, who average $41/hour (or about $167,00/year when benefits are factored in) are unhappy that the ports want to eliminate some some unnecessary positions though attrition and automation. They also feel that $190,000/year in salary and benefits is a more deserving rate of compensation for pushing paper.
In support of these poor, neglected, underpaid clerks, 10,000 dockworkers are refusing to cross the picket-lines; shutting down all operations in LA/Long Beach and bringing commerce on the West Coast to a screeching halt.
Because of this, the company I work for, a family owned auto parts distributor with 70 employees in 3 states, has 5 containers stuck in limbo with another 13 due in the next couple weeks. This is inventory we need to stock our shelves in order to supply smaller automotive businesses and consumers during one of our busiest times of the year.
According to our freight forwarder, every day that the port is shut down sets back terminal operations 2-4 days. Not to mentions the addition costs that the port is going to charge us for storing the containers during the work stoppage.
Now multiply these losses out by the tens of thousands of businesses, truck drivers, workers and families that are being held hostage by the greedy one-percenters in the clerical union.
Ho, ho, ho.
Of course President Pull-Ups could do something about this and ask for a court ordered 80 day cooling off period as provided for in the Taft-Hartley Act; but don't hold your breath, he's got a round of golf and a 20 day/$4 Million Hawaiian vacation to get to.
And if this isn't enough to collapse the economy, their union brethren along the nation’s East and Gulf Coasts will be walking off the job to ring in 2013 if they aren't able to extract their pound of flesh when their mediated 90 day extension ends on December 29.
So Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year America, at least that lump of coal you get in your stocking can be used to keep you warm on those chilly winter nights.
Republicans and conservatives must diverge
By Dean L
My ability to post of late continues to be seriously compromised by real life. As I've mentioned before that is both fortunate and unfortunate. Lately, it's been more unfortunate than fortunate but I have managed to distill some learnings down to a more consumable amount for readers - I just haven't put fingers to keyboard yet.
One of the more salient learnings is that the paths for the GOP and for conservatives and/or libertarians must by nature of the respective needs, must diverge. That is not to say that the strategic goals of both have diverged - far from it, regardless of how the current GOP braintrust is behaving. Rather, working towards the same goals for America requires Republicans and conservative citizens take different paths, and cover different ground, to get to where things need to be for 2014 and 2016.We Need An 'Enrichment Society' to Replace The 'Entitlement Society'
By Frank Hill
 |
| Live like the 'Beverly Hillbillies'! |
1) Our current tax code and federal budget are messed up.
2) We can do a whole lot better, on an individual basis and government basis.
We propose the following to aim at for the future majority, whoever it may be...
Chimp or Bee? Yes!
To be brief, objectivism says that a person "must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life."
Taking it a step further, objectivsim views altruism as inherently evil.
In fact, while objectivists support capitalism, their aversion to altruism is so complete they will reject a defense of capitalism if it is based on an affirmation of capitalism's propensity to contribute to the greater public good.
Is the morality of objectivism valid? I'll leave that question for others to try to answer. But in answering that question, there should be a recognition of the full spectrum of moral values, including altruistic ones:
Another central metaphor is that humans are “90 percent chimp and 10 percent bee.” The chimp, in this case, behaves as a selfish individual satisfying its individual needs. The bee, as a member of a group, works for the welfare of the group. So, according to Haidt, we are some of both. We have our selfish interests (the major portion – 90%) and we have our community interests (the bee, 10%). It is our bee-like nature that “facilitates altruism, heroism, war and genocide.”This "chimp vs. bee" metaphor is central to a number of key conflicts in politics:
...Haidt likens our moral foundations from which we draw our ethical norms to 6 different taste buds: care, fairness, liberty, loyalty, authority and sanctity. Interestingly, Dr. Haidt points out that the conservative moral palette is more broad than that of liberals. Liberals tend to be influenced by the first 3 moral foundations... In contrast, conservatives are influenced by all 6 moral foundations.Roughly speaking, the six moral foundations apply in different ways to the chimp and the bee:
...Dr. Haidt points out that there are strong evolutionary and cultural reasons why all 6 moral foundations exist, and that they are still relevant today. Dr. Haidt states that “we are 90% chimp, 10% bee.” By “bee” he means that we are social animals. While we might act in our own self-interest much of the time, we also have a strong instinct to be in groups. Our need to be a member of a group led us to develop these various moral foundations because, at one time or another, they all had a survival value. They helped groups to cohere and cohesive groups tend to survive and thrive.
The first three foundations support individual autonomy. The second three support communal bonding. ...[C]onservatives stress all six foundations. And thus Darwinian moral psychology supports conservatism as having a superior understanding of evolved moral dispositions.Of course libertarians -- under the influence of objectivism and focused primarily on the moral foundation of liberty -- see all of this a bit differently.
I would submit that a successful political movement will appeal to all six moral foundations, crafting an argument that attracts broad and deep support.
*photo credit
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