How the controversy over the AIG bonuses imbedded in the stimulus obfuscate the root problem of spending in general.
Tag: Libertarian
Follow up! Guest Voice – Chuck Baldwin: MISSOURI SCRAPS M.I.A.C. REPORT
Please note: The Opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the political or personal opinions of owner of this Blog.
However, I am very pleased by the news presented in this piece.
—–
Well, there is still hope for liberty after all! After multiple thousands of phone calls, emails, faxes, and other communications from outraged citizens, the State of Missouri has rescinded its controversial “militia” report. This proves the point I made in this column recently that the most effective way to fight an ever-encroaching federal leviathan is to focus on our individual states.
Let me review the events of the last few weeks so as to help readers familiarize themselves with this historic–and I do mean historic–episode.
On February 20, 2009, the State of Missouri, via its Department of Public Safety, issued what was called “MIAC Strategic Report: The Modern Militia Movement.” In this report, people who supported Presidential candidates Ron Paul, Bob Barr, and yours truly were referenced as being connected to potentially dangerous “militia members.” But the inference did not stop there. People of conservative ideology were also identified in the State Police report as being potentially dangerous. People who held political opinions opposing abortion, illegal immigration, the New World Order, the North American Union, the Income Tax, the U.N., etc., were profiled in the MIAC report.
Interestingly enough, no left-leaning political ideologies were identified. No Islamic extremists. No environmental extremists. Only people holding “conservative” or “right-wing” philosophies were identified in the MIAC report.
The MIAC report was categorized as “Unclassified/Law Enforcement Sensitive,” meaning the report was intended for law enforcement personnel only. Fortunately, an unidentified (for obvious reasons) Missouri law enforcement officer, who was extremely disturbed by this report, sent a copy to nationally syndicated radio talk show host Alex Jones. Of course, Jones immediately “blew the whistle” on the story. This was on March 11.
On March 14, the Columbia (Missouri) Daily Tribune ran a story on the subject, and on March 17, I wrote my first column about it. From that point, the story went viral.
Internet sites, radio talk show hosts, and bloggers all over America picked up the story, and thousands of outraged citizens began bombarding the appropriate officials in Missouri with protests. Even Fox News Channel talk show host Glenn Beck ran a feature on the story on Friday, March 20, and again on Monday, March 23. The Constitution Party issued a “Travel Advisory” for the State of Missouri, warning tourists and residents about the possibility of being profiled by State Police for such things as having bumper stickers with political statements on their vehicles, etc. All of this commotion was not lost on several Missouri State legislators and executive officers, either.
Missouri Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder called on Governor Jay Nixon (who had previously stood by and defended the MIAC report) to place Department of Public Safety Director John Britt on administrative leave pending an investigation into the report. In addition, several Missouri State legislators said they would introduce an amendment to the Department of Public Safety’s budget barring the agency from using “state or federal funds for political profiling.”
On March 23, DPS Director John Britt sent an apology letter to Ron Paul, Bob Barr, and me stating, “I have ordered that the offending report be edited so as to excise all reference to Ron Paul, Bob Barr or Chuck Baldwin and to any third-party political organizations.”
While Ron, Bob, and I appreciated the apology and retraction from Mr. Britt, the overriding offense of the report still lingered: namely, the report, with a very broad brush, linked people holding conservative political opinions to dangerous and violence-prone “militias,” which Missouri law enforcement personnel were instructed to be on guard against. Therefore, public outcry against the MIAC report continued, Mr. Britt’s apology notwithstanding.
Then, on Wednesday, March 25, the head of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Col. James F. Keathley, ordered the Missouri Information Analysis Center (MIAC) to “permanently cease distribution” of this abysmal report. Keathley said that neither he nor Britt had read the report before it was distributed.
Keathley also noted that the report was filled with numerous spelling and grammatical errors and did not cite any sources for its broad statements about “right-wing” militias. He further said that his department would now review how the MIAC distributes intelligence reports to police officers. He said the process “needs improvement.”
Dear readers, please take a bow! Because of tens of thousands of patriotic, freedom-loving Americans–including thousands of courageous Missourians–the long arm of totalitarianism was shortened just a bit.
This sordid story is truly an embarrassment to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the State of Missouri. Governor Nixon, especially, is left with egg on his face for foolishly and stupidly standing behind the report, when he had either never read it, or, if he had, was just as guilty of political profiling as the ones who wrote the report.
Why DHS, you ask? Because the MIAC report is similar to several other reports currently circulating around various State police agencies courtesy of DHS-sponsored “Fusion Centers.” There is another side of this story that is even more sinister, however.
If we can continue to probe the details of the MIAC report, I am absolutely convinced we will find that this report actually originates with Morris Dees and his ultra-liberal Southern Poverty Law Center. And if my hunch (a very educated hunch, I might add) is correct, it means that the DHS and various State police agencies around the country are allowing a left-wing special interest group to use them to harass, intimidate, and profile people with conservative political opinions.
I would further proffer that those of us who are outraged by this event should not stop with the MIAC report being removed. While this is very good news, the fear and intimidation associated with those referenced in this report has already taken place. Are people opposed to abortion, illegal immigration, the Income Tax, the U.N., etc., now afraid to express their opinions publicly (especially in Missouri)? If so, this seems to me to be the basis for legal action, based on the abridgment of the First Amendment freedom of speech by a State (and perhaps federal) law enforcement agency.
There is yet another chilling question that must be answered: by saying Missouri State Police will “review” how MIAC distributes intelligence reports to police officers, does Col. Keathley mean that the State of Missouri’s law enforcement agencies will continue to promote similar reports, but simply make them “Classified”? In other words, will they (and other State police agencies around the country) simply employ greater secrecy when issuing such reports, but do nothing to change the content of future reports? Hopefully not, but we shall see.
With that said, here are the lessons all of us need to take to heart:
*Every police officer, deputy sheriff, and law enforcement officer in America who believes in constitutional government, individual liberty, and the Bill of Rights needs to be alert for any report that smacks of the MIAC report, and be willing to quickly “blow the whistle” on any such report they see.
*Lovers of freedom should be much encouraged to see what can happen when they are willing to stand up to their State governing officials as they see abridgements to their liberties taking place. I say again, the best way to fight these mushrooming despotic tendencies of government we seem to see everywhere is to focus on our State governments. Do you now see why I say that? Even if DHS was behind the MIAC report, it was the State of Missouri that had to implement it; and it was the State of Missouri that (under pressure) killed it.
See my column on this important subject here.
*Notice, too, that we did not need the major media to achieve this victory. We cut off this one branch of the tyranny tree without the help of ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX NEWS (with the exception of Glenn Beck), or even the Drudge Report. Victory was achieved with the weapons of talk radio, syndicated Internet columns, Internet blogging, and word of mouth.
You see, folks, we can achieve victory without the major media. But we must stay focused and actively involved in our respective State governments. “We the people” are still the power of this country. And don’t let anyone deceive you into believing anything else. Therefore, take heart in knowing that your diligence convinced the State of Missouri to rescind its atrocious MIAC report. Now, don’t let it stop there. Let’s faithfully cut off the tentacles of tyranny wherever we find them. Amen?
Quote of the Day
Libertarians and capitalists write as if there were some natural or divine force known as “the market”. There is no such thing. There is no MARKET, only markets, and a market is a place where people exchange goods and services, sometimes but not always for money. Think of the Athenian Agora or a local farmers’ market. Another way to look at markets is to describe them as playing fields for exchanges. A market as place or playing field may become institutionalized, as a person or group of persons or a community or government claims ownership and the right to regulate it, just as the city or a business group may own a baseball stadium and a league of team owners agree to a set of rules.
[….]
For this discussion, perhaps it is enough to say that liberal individualism, with its opposition to community, authority and tradition and its emphasis on universal rational principles, although it includes many morally wholesome principles, is false to human nature and inconsistent with Christianity. So-called Democratic Capitalism, which puts economic and political liberty as the highest good or, worse still, relies on the principle of subjective value, cannot be reconciled with the morality of Christ and the Apostles or of the Church’s teachings. We can speak more about this later, but there is no point in discussing anything, unless we agree on terms.
These brief and unpolished paragraphs are not intended as the final word on anything but only brief introductions to clarify the terms of discourse.If I have misstated or overstated something, I am happy to be corrected. But I do ask you all not to distract the discussion with allusions to this or that classical liberal or libertarian, even if, like Acton, they thought they could reconcile Christianity and Capitalism. As Acton once observed of himself, as a Catholic he was a bad liberal (or was it vice versa?).
The Southern Avenger on “War and the Neoconservative Mind”
When neoconservative writer Ira Stoll took former president Jimmy Carter to task in the New York Daily News for daring to question the wisdom of Abraham Lincoln’s war on the South, an examination of how neocons – as opposed to normal, patriotic citizens – perceive and promote war, was in order.
The Southern Avenger on “What Happened to the War on Terror?”
On the sixth anniversary of the war in Iraq, why are the loudest champions of the War on Terror no longer talking about it?
President Barack Hussein Obama’s March Towards Communism
In all honesty…. it is more like a marathon run towards Communism actually.
Thanks to the stupidity of the Carter and Clinton Administrations and the inaction on the Republican controlled 2003 Congress. We are now becoming a Communist Nation. We have no one to blame, but ourselves.
The Communist owned Washington Post reports:
The Obama administration is considering asking Congress to give the Treasury secretary unprecedented powers to initiate the seizure of non-bank financial companies, such as large insurers, investment firms and hedge funds, whose collapse would damage the broader economy, according to an administration document.
The government at present has the authority to seize only banks.
Giving the Treasury secretary authority over a broader range of companies would mark a significant shift from the existing model of financial regulation, which relies on independent agencies that are shielded from the political process. The Treasury secretary, a member of the president’s Cabinet, would exercise the new powers in consultation with the White House, the Federal Reserve and other regulators, according to the document.
The administration plans to send legislation to Capitol Hill this week. Sources cautioned that the details, including the Treasury’s role, are still in flux.
Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner is set to argue for the new powers at a hearing today on Capitol Hill about the furor over bonuses paid to executives at American International Group, which the government has propped up with about $180 billion in federal aid. Administration officials have said that the proposed authority would have allowed them to seize AIG last fall and wind down its operations at less cost to taxpayers.
The administration’s proposal contains two pieces. First, it would empower a government agency to take on the new role of systemic risk regulator with broad oversight of any and all financial firms whose failure could disrupt the broader economy. The Federal Reserve is widely considered to be the leading candidate for this assignment. But some critics warn that this could conflict with the Fed’s other responsibilities, particularly its control over monetary policy.
The government also would assume the authority to seize such firms if they totter toward failure.
Besides seizing a company outright, the document states, the Treasury Secretary could use a range of tools to prevent its collapse, such as guaranteeing losses, buying assets or taking a partial ownership stake. Such authority also would allow the government to break contracts, such as the agreements to pay $165 million in bonuses to employees of AIG’s most troubled unit.
The Treasury secretary could act only after consulting with the president and getting a recommendation from two-thirds of the Federal Reserve Board, according to the plan.
Geithner plans to lay out the administration’s broader strategy for overhauling financial regulation at another hearing on Thursday.
You see folks, this is where it starts. They start seizing businesses, and taking the assets for themselves. Then the Government decides to take YOUR assets; because they happen to think that you are making too much money. What amazes me, is the resounding silence from the Republicans, especially the Neo-Conservatives like Michelle Malkin and over at HotAir.com. Could it be that the Neo-Conservatives secretly approve of such actions? Possibly the Republican Party as well? Could it be that the Republican Party is now infiltrated with Communists to the point of having lost it’s true identity?
You decide.
Others: The Moderate Voice, Reuters, pw, , The Strata-Sphere,Bloomberg, Washington Monthly, Pajamas Media, Right Wing News, Sweetness & Light, Neptunus Lex, Stop The ACLU, Sister Toldjah, and Fausta’s Blog
(Via Memeorandum)
Tim Geithner reveals his plan and it still sucks
There’s a great deal of coverage on this… go here to check it out. We’re screwed, and I do mean badly.
Others covering:
Frank James / The Swamp: Geithner’s financial-rescue plan, take two
Jeremy P. Jacobs / The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room: Geithner lays out toxic asset plan
Caitlin Taylor / The Note: The Note, 3/23/09: Crisis of Confidence …
Simon Johnson / The Baseline Scenario: Breaking The Bank — My problem with Monday’s expected announcement …
Atrios / Eschaton: Risk — One thing which stood out from Timmeh’s WSJ op-ed (perfect place to leg hump the
Ben Pershing / Washington Post: A New Week, A New Economic Plan to Sell
Clay Risen / The Plank: Foxes Guarding the Henhouse?
James Joyner / Outside The Beltway: Geithner Plan: TARP 2.0?
Caitlin Taylor / Political Punch: Will the Public Want to Partner with Wall Street?
Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire – bk: Geithner’s Plan, Take Two — In advance of his second attempt …
Betsy Newmark / Betsy’s Page: Obama and the AIG bonuses
Barry Ritholtz / The Big Picture: US Futures Higher: Dow 212+
William Richards / Dealbreaker: Opening Bell: 03.23.09 — Geithner Looks To Announce New Plan Today (Bloomberg)
Charles Lemos / MyDD: D-Day for Geithner — It’s showtime for Secretary Geithner.
Lambert / Corrente: What you mean, “we,” Timmy?
Doug Stanglin / On Deadline: Geithner set to unveil bank bailout plan
more via Memeorandum
Editorial: The psychos are running the nuthouse!
Originally published over at my column at NolanChart.com:
It has been a while since I have written an article for my column; with all my days spent blogging about the political happenings post-Obama election, I just have not had the time to sit here and hammer out a good column. I have not forgotten to write, I just have not had the time to sit down and gather my thoughts and put my opinion to the current matters.
President Barack Obama has not been in the White House for 100 days yet and already it seems that our Country is headed for either one of two things; either economic disaster or outright European socialism. Although I tend to believe that one will follow the other, I do firmly believe that capitalism is in grave danger. I also believe that our Nation is going to be one that is going to become a society that rewards failure.
This applies in the area of the home mortgages; since when do we bail out people who have gotten in over their heads in debt? To be clear, I do understand that there were those who were victimized, and those who did this, to innocent people, should be prosecuted. However, those who knowingly got into mortgages that they knew they would not normally be able to afford, I have zero pity for. You make a stupid mistake you pay the consequences. That is how a free and democratic society works. You have to responsibility for your own actions.
Let me give you a personal example. When I was 19 years old, Discover Card sent me an application for a Credit Card. My parents came on as co-signers. Between the time that I first received that card and the time in 2004, when I finally filed for bankruptcy, I was over 14K in debt. Conversely it was over 18K of debt with the new truck that I bought, that I could not really afford; however because I had a job, I could make payments. One day the unthinkable happened, I lost my job; the gravy train stopped and threw me off. Those gravy trains never were known for their cordialness. After doing the obligatory and quite painful grunt and skid across the debt parking lot. I decided I had better go see a bankruptcy lawyer.
What does this have to do with what is happening now in the United States Government? It has quite a bit to do with it actually. Did the United States Government come in and offer to pay off my debt? No. Did the United States Government offer to come in and give me any kind of relief on my truck payments? Nope! I ended up losing that truck someone else owns it now. In other words, I was not rewarded for making stupid decisions, like going over my head in debt. Which by the way, was my own fault, I am the one that charged items on my discover card and got over my head in all that debt not anyone else, not that American taxpayers, but me.
Another way that the United States Government is rewarding failure is by losing their ever-loving minds over bonuses that were contractually awarded to employees of a company. Now I understand the reasons why people are upset about the bonuses. The problem is, the people on the left, or the Democrats are looking at this from a rather idiotic point of view. If the Democrats in Congress are so mad about these bonuses, then why in the heck did they vote to prop up these banks in the first place? The bonuses were a drop in the bucket to what we spent to take ownership in these companies. Why nationalize a company and then gripe about a bonus? It makes zero sense to me.
Again, even bailing out these companies in the first place is rewarding companies for failure. Sorry, I do not buy the notion of a business being too big to fail, that is simply stupid political double talk for a nationalization argument.
Let me give you another personal example of why I think this propping up a business is just simply stupid and why it teaches that it is okay to have a bad business model. I used to run a small electronics out of my house here. I would never buy more than one or two items at the most. I would always tell my customers, you want something, you pay up front, and I will order the item. I would get the money and order the item, and whatever I had left over, I kept for profit. That is called responsible business practices. However, what if I went out, got a loan for say $500.000, and bought a bunch of inventory and then the market fell out in the electronics business or what if I just did not bother to advertise? I would be stuck with a bill for the loan and a bunch of inventory that I could not move. Now would it fair for me to want the United States Government to bail me out of that situation? I think not. Nevertheless, that is what the Government is doing; they are essentially saying that some businesses are just too big to fail.
Not only this, but we are bailing these banks out with money that we do not even have. We are using money that we are borrowing from china, money that is not even ours. What we do not borrow from China, we are printing ourselves, which will devalue the dollar. It is as the title of this column says a case of psychos that are running the nuthouse.
Cry me a river!
Scott over at power line Blog is depressed because the Liberals are running the country.
Sorry dude, but I have zero pity for you or the Republican Party. They could have chosen a real Conservative candidate; but instead they ran a rich Mormon asshole, a crazy hick preacher, a half asleep old man who stumbled and cleared his throat alot and finally a senile old man, who really wasn’t even a Republican, but rather a RINO.
The senile old fool won the beauty contest and went up against the most hip, the most cool, and the first ever black Presidential candidate ever…..and he lost.
Those are the breaks.
Of course, there was one guy, who had two first names, someone who went against the grain and did not fall in line, and you all treated him like a special education student; in fact, he had to go have his own party, because you all would not even let him speak at your convention.
Now America is being lead by a Neo-Liberal, who wants to take America down the path of European socialism, and eventually into the path of full blown Communism.
Indeed, America’s Chickens are coming home……to roost.
Others:
Donald Douglas / American Power: The Folsom Cell Block National Culture
Victor Davis Hanson / Pajamas Media: Thoughts About Depressed Americans
Fausta / Fausta’s Blog: Am I depressed yet?
Stephen F. Hayes / Weekly Standard: Iran Responds: “Death to America”
Yes, Iran does hate us and they have reasons too
This is one of those posts that will separate me from the rabid Neo-Conservative right.
The New York Times reports that Iran has rejected the overtures of the Obama Administration.
The reasons were given:
Khamenei enumerated a long list of Iranian grievances against the United States over the past 30 years and said the U.S. was still interfering in Iranian affairs.
He mentioned U.S. sanctions against Iran, U.S. support for Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during his 1980-88 war against Iran and the downing of an Iranian airliner over the Persian Gulf in 1988.
He also accused the U.S. of provoking ethnic tension in Iran and said Washington’s accusations that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons are a sign of U.S. hostility. Iran says its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes, like energy production, not for building weapons.
”Have you released Iranian assets? Have you lifted oppressive sanctions? Have you given up mudslinging and making accusations against the great Iranian nation and its officials? Have you given up your unconditional support for the Zionist regime? Even the language remains unchanged,” Khamenei said.
Khamenei, wearing a black turban and dark robes, said America was hated around the world for its arrogance, as the crowd chanted ”Death to America.”
While I will be the first to concede that much of this was done much before Obama’s time. The fact is that the United States has always treated that region as a pawn. A pawn in a game of “The Ends Justify the means.” and we are bearing the fruit of that now.
The Zionist remark can be described as simply this. The United States has never, ever, taken a critical tone with Israel and has mostly always blindly supported Israel’s acts of aggression in the region. All the while condemning anyone’s acts towards Israel. It is that policy that has people like those in Iran saying, “Death to America.”
Anyone that tries to tell you anything other than this, is selling you a line of bullshit.
The Southern Avenger on "States’ Rights and The Left"
Synopsis:
When a number of states passed state sovereignty resolutions recently, though these measures came from right-wing resistance to Obama’s statism, the Left would do well to take note.
The Southern Avenger @ Taki’s Magazine
Technorati Tags: 10th amendment ,Barack Obama ,Bush ,Bush Administration ,civil liberties ,Conservatism ,Conservative ,Conservatives ,Constitution ,Constitutionalists ,decentralism ,Democrats ,FDR ,Franklin Roosevelt ,gay marriage ,John Calhoun ,Liberal ,Liberals ,Libertarian ,Libertarian Party ,Michael Pitts ,Nationalism ,Neo-Conservatives ,Obama ,Obama Administration ,Opinion ,Paleo-Conservatism ,Paleo-Conservatives ,PATRIOT Act ,Politics ,Republican ,Republican Party ,Republicans ,secession ,South Carolina ,Southern Avenger ,sovereignty ,states rights ,Taki’s Magazine ,War on Drugs
D’oh! Obama Bombs a joke…..Badly
To his defense, The President was trying to funny. Did not work well, at all. 😮
Via Jack Tapper:
The first appearance by a sitting president on “The Tonight Show” may well end up being the last.
President Obama, in his taping with Jay Leno Thursday afternoon, attempted to yuk it up with the funnyman, and ended up insulting the disabled.
Towards the end of his approximately 40-minute appearance, the president talked about how he’s gotten better at bowling and has been practicing in the White House bowling alley.
He bowled a 129, the president said.
“That’s very good, Mr. President,” Leno said sarcastically.
It’s “like the Special Olympics or something,” the president said.
Ouch. Not a good way to follow up the week. I mean, after A.I.G. and everything else happening, and he does this.
Of course, The President’s spokesman and the White House tried to walk the cat backward:
When asked about the remark, the White House said the president did not intend to offend.
“The president made an off-hand remark making fun of his own bowling that was in no way intended to disparage the Special Olympics,” White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton said. “He thinks the Special Olympics is a wonderful program that gives an opportunity for people with disabilities from around the world.”
From the GibbMaster:
“Good afternoon. The President made an offhand remark making fun of his own bowling that was in no way intended to disparage the Special Olympics. He thinks that the Special Olympics are a wonderful program that gives an opportunity to shine to people with disabilities from around the world.”
Meanwhile, a war of opinions over at HotAir between AllahPundit and Ed Morrissey has broken out:
Update (AP): The Anchoress’s point is well taken, but honestly, I tire of this politically calculated outrage. We all know what he meant; it was politically incorrect, but more political incorrectness among our political elite is all to the good. Lay off.
Update (Ed): Not if only one side gets away with it, AP.
Also, let’s remember that Obama is supposed to be leading, not campaigning or working as a stand-up comedian. He’s been insisting that we’re in the worst financial crisis in 70 years. Going on Leno to discuss his policies could have been a smart step; going on Leno to make quips and one-liners, and doing it badly, hardly builds confidence in his leadership or his priorities. When he stops with the crisis mentality, then he can show us why his stand-up career would have gone nowhere.
Also, wasn’t it Obama and his team that was screeching about the “political incorrectness” of Rush Limbaugh in hoping he’d fail, and insinuating that it amounted to treason?
Hey Allah, When they fire you from drifting off the script too much, you can come work for me man. I cannot afford to pay you; at least not until the Advertising money starts rolling in. I will need help with the dedicated hosting that we’ll have to get, because you are a big name writer and my puny little shared hosting account would not be able to keep with the demand, and I only get 50 gigabytes of bandwidth a month! So, when Michelle drops the hammer man; look me up! We would make a good team! 😀 😉 😛
More Coverage:
- Michelle Malkin: Obama’s “Special Olympics” joke: The teleprompter made him do it!
- Ed Morrissey / Hot Air: Obama insults Special Olympics? …
Other Bloggers, left and right: : Townhall.com, protein wisdom, The Sundries Shack, Right Pundits, The Strata-Sphere, Patterico’s Pontifications, NO QUARTER, Perfunction, TBogg, Taegan Goddard’s …, TalkLeft, Ben Smith’s Blog, NewsBusters.org, Don Surber, Little Green Footballs, Wizbang, Conservatives4Palin.com, JammieWearingFool, Taylor Marsh, Riehl World View Alan Colmes’ Liberaland, Political Machine
From the “If a Conservative had done this” File
This one’s via Instapundit.
Could you imagine the howl of outrage, if some Conservative had done this one? 😮
I’m all for humor, but this goes over the line, in taste, I think anyhow…
The History Revisionists Continue
Normally I would normally would not link to this Blog/Site, but I feel that this is extremely warranted.
Via Think Progress:
On PBS’s Charlie Rose yesterday — six years after the eve of the Iraq invasion — former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice discussed the decision to invade Iraq. Rice said she has had no “second thoughts” about striking the country, and when pressed by Rose on whether Saddam Hussein had connections to 9/11, Rice blankly said that “no one” believed in such a link:
ROSE: But you didn’t believe it had anything to do with 9/11.
RICE: No. No one was arguing that Saddam Hussein somehow had something to do with 9/11.
ROSE: No one.
RICE: I was certainly not. The President was certainly not. … That’s right. We were not arguing that.
Hmmm… That is kind of funny, because of this:
In his book, Bush At War, Bob Woodward noted that Bush said after 9/11, “I believe Iraq was involved, but I’m not going to strike them now.” Rice was no exception either. On Sept. 15, 2002, she said that Saddam had “links to terrorism [that] would include al-Qaeda.” As late as September 2006, she remarked, “there were ties going on between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein’s regime going back for a decade.” Cheney still believes there was a link between Iraq and al Qaeda.
In recent weeks, former Bush administration officials have continued to push the link. Bush maintains that he was right to make a false link between Iraq and 9/11. Former press secretary Ari Fleischer said last week, “But after September 11th, having been being hit once, how could we take a chance that Saddam Hussein might not strike again?”
I may not be a big fan of President Obama and his big Government socialism. But I will take that over a buffoon Administration that cannot even get their damned stories straight. Yes, I still believe that the Bush Administration mislead America, on the reasons for going to war in Iraq. Do I believe that there should be punishments handed out? Sure, if there were any laws broken. But we all know that this will never happen, because we never punish our political leaders; Waco, Ruby Ridge and many other idiot acts by the idiotic centralized Government have proven that.
Quote of the Day
Sin has come a long way since the Garden of Eden, but its wages are still the same even though many would have us believe it’s all relevant in our evolutionary world – a sure sign of madness.
And where is the church in all this?
They’re right in the middle of it looking for market share with a designer Jesus.
“For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” –1st John 2:16-17
Updated:Oh Great…. – Feds undercut civilian supply of ammunition – Update: Order Reversed!
It has began, the assault on gun owners in America:
The Story: Feds undercut civilian supply of ammunition Via WorldNetDaily.com.
A recent government policy change has taken a bite out of the nation’s already stressed ammunition supply, leaving arms dealers scrambling to find ammo for private gun owners.
Georgia Arms is a company that for the last 15 years has been purchasing fired brass shell casings from the Department of Defense and private government surplus liquidators. The military collects the discarded casings from fired rounds, then sells them through liquidators to companies like Georgia Arms that re-manufacture the casings into ammunition for the law enforcement and civilian gun owner communities.
But earlier this month, Georgia Arms received a canceled order, informed by its supplier that the government now requires fired brass casings be mutilated, in other words, destroyed to a scrap metal state.
The policy change, handed down from the Department of Defense through the Defense Logistics Agency, cuts a supply leg out from underneath ammunition manufacturers.
I knew this was coming, I just did not know how.
Boots and Sabers Blog Weighs in:
This policy didn’t come out of the blue. The Commander in Chief is clearly sending a message to gun owners that they should be paying more for ammunition. If he can’t do it through regulatory action, he’ll do it by forcing ammunition manufacturers to spend more on production, and he’ll do it at the taxpayers’ expense.
I think it might be even a bit more sinister than that. I believe it could be an underhanded way of attempting to cripple the supply of ammunition. If we cripple or limit the supply, there will be less guns.
But that is the liberals for you. 🙄
Update: Wow! That was quick, the order has been reversed. Days of our Trailers has the details, as does the JPFO and the NRA. Nice work men. We must stay on top of this stuff, as we do have a hostile Administration in the White House, who wants to get rid of all the guns; despite what he might say. All Socialists, who are really Communists in disguise; want to take away our guns.
Guest Voice: Chuck Baldwin Says The Missouri State Police Think You And I Are Terrorists
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are not necessarily those of the owner of this Blog.
Thanks to a concerned Missouri state policeman, a nationally syndicated radio talk show host stated that he was alerted last week to a secret Missouri state police report that categorized supporters of Congressman Ron Paul, Bob Barr, and myself as “‘militia’ influenced terrorists.” The report, he said, “instructs the Missouri police to be on the lookout for supporters displaying bumper stickers and other paraphernalia associated with the Constitutional, Campaign for Liberty, and Libertarian parties.”
Ignoring the threat of Muslim terrorists, the Missouri Information Analysis Center (MIAC) report focuses on the so-called “militia movement” and “conflates it with supporters of Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin, Bob Barr, the so-called patriot movement and other political activist organizations opposed to the North American Union and the New World Order.”
This report is not original, of course. During the Clinton administration, a Phoenix Federal Bureau of Investigation and Joint Terrorism Task Force explicitly designated “defenders” of the Constitution as “right-wing extremists.” However, the MIAC report significantly expands on earlier documents and is the first known document to actually name names.
According to the MIAC, opposition to world government, NAFTA, federalization of the states, and restrictive gun laws are a potential threat to the police. The MIAC report also refers to Aaron Russo’s film, “America: Freedom to Fascism.”
The story exposing the MIAC report states, “The MIAC report is particularly pernicious because it indoctrinates Missouri law enforcement in the belief that people who oppose confiscatory taxation, believe in the well-documented existence of a New World Order and world government (a Google search of this phrase will pull up numerous references made by scores of establishment political leaders), and are opposed to the obvious expansion of the federal government at the expense of the states as violent extremists who are gunning for the police. It specifically targets supporters of mainstream political candidates and encourages police officers to consider them dangerous terrorists.”
See the report here:
Click here for report from InfoWars.com
The Columbia Daily Tribune also carried the story last Saturday. It quoted Missouri resident Tim Neal of Miller County. “When Neal read the report, he couldn’t help but think it described him. A military veteran and a delegate to the 2008 Missouri Republican state convention, he didn’t appreciate being lumped in with groups like the Neo-Nazis.
“‘I was going down the list and thinking, “Check, that’s me,”‘ he said. ‘I’m a Ron Paul supporter, check. I talk about the North American union, check. I’ve got the “America: Freedom to Fascism” video loaned out to somebody right now. So that means I’m a domestic terrorist? Because I’ve got a video about the Federal Reserve?'”
The Tribune’s report also acknowledges, “The [MIAC] report’s most controversial passage states that militia ‘most commonly associate with third-party political groups’ and support presidential candidates such as Ron Paul, former Constitutional [sic] Party candidate Chuck Baldwin and Bob Barr, the Libertarian candidate last year.”
The Tribune report also said, “Neal, who has a Ron Paul bumper sticker on his car, said the next time he is pulled over by a police officer, he won’t know whether it’s because he was speeding or because of his political views.”
See the Columbia Tribune report here.
I realize that there are people who will dismiss this kind of story as insignificant. They shouldn’t. This is very serious and should be treated as such. Anyone who knows anything at all about history knows that before a state or national government can persecute–and commit acts of violence against–a group of people, they must first marginalize the group from society’s mainstream and categorize it as dangerous.
Rome did exactly that to Christians, as did Mao’s China; Hitler’s Germany did the same thing to Jews; Stalin’s Russia did the same thing to political dissenters, etc. That a State police agency in America would actually infer that people who supported Ron Paul, Bob Barr, or myself in a political campaign are somehow indistinguishable from violence-prone “militias” is beyond insulting: it is a smear campaign, and might should even be regarded as a hate crime!
Beyond that, the MIAC report paints with a very broad brush. In addition to supporting Ron Paul, Bob Barr, or myself, a review of the report reveals that opposition to any of the following risks someone being classified as a potential “domestic terrorist”:
- The New World Order
- The United Nations
- Gun Control
- The violation of Posse Comitatus
- The Federal Reserve
- The Income Tax
- The Ammunition Accountability Act
- A possible Constitutional Convention (Con Con)
- The North American Union
- Universal Service Program
- Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
- Abortion on demand
- Illegal Immigration
Again, if you oppose any of the above, or if you supported Ron Paul, Bob Barr, or myself, you risk being labeled a “domestic terrorist,” according to the MIAC.
Do you not see how dangerous this kind of slanderous labeling can become? It could affect your flight status when you try to board an airline. It could affect your application for sensitive jobs. It could affect your adjudication before a court or judge. It could make you a target for aggressive law enforcement strategies. It could affect your being able to obtain a passport. It could affect one’s ability to purchase a firearm or receive a State concealed weapon permit.
This is very serious business! We are not talking about private opinions. We are talking about law enforcement agencies. And remember, most law enforcement agencies share these types of reports; therefore, how many other state police agencies have similar reports floating around? Probably several. Plus, how do we know that this report was not influenced by federal police agencies? We don’t.
Rest assured, I do not plan to take this lying down. As one who is personally named in the above report, I demand a public retraction and apology from the MIAC and Missouri State Police. I can tell you that my family is extremely distraught that their husband, father, and grandfather would be labeled in such a manner. I am also not ruling out legal action. In addition, I am discussing an appropriate response with Ron Paul and Bob Barr. I will keep readers posted as to what comes of these discussions (as I am at liberty to do so, of course).
In the meantime, I encourage everyone who believes in the freedom of speech and who believes that the MIAC report is an egregious miscarriage of justice to contact the appropriate Missouri police officials. Here is the contact information:
Email address: Brandon.middleton@mshp.dps.mo.gov
Missouri Information Analysis Center
Division of Drugs & Crime Control
P. O. Box 568
Jefferson City, MO 65102-0568
Phone: 573-751-6422
Toll Free: 866-362-6422
Fax: 573-751-9950
And lest one thinks that none of this concerns him or her, I would like to remind you of the lament of Martin Niemoeller back in the days of Hitler’s Germany. Niemoeller was a decorated U-Boat Captain and pastor of great distinction. An avid anti-communist, Niemoeller at first supported Hitler’s rise to power and was hesitant to oppose the violations of civil rights against various groups he personally found distasteful. It did not take long, however, before Niemoeller realized that when laws protecting the rights of all were removed from some, no one was safe–including him. Unfortunately, he learned his lesson too late, as he, too, was persecuted and imprisoned by Hitler’s State Police. Here is what Niemoeller said about his indifference:
“They came first for the communists, and I did not speak up- because I was not a communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak up- because I was not a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak up- because I was not a Jew;
And then they came for me- and there was no one left to speak up.”
So, those of you who think you have nothing to fear because you did not vote for Ron Paul, Bob Barr, or me, or because you do not live in the State of Missouri need to think again. As I have repeatedly said, we either have freedom for all, or we have freedom for none. Truly, secret police reports such as the one above threaten the liberties of us all.
So, will you speak up now or wait until they come for you and no one is left to speak up?
The Late Night Music Express Presents…….Montose
A very approprate song for the current political Climate….
Here is Paper Money and I got the Fire:
The Southern Avenger on “Racist Jim Clyburn”
When House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn insinuated that fellow South Carolinian leader, Governor Mark Sanford was racist, an examination of Clyburn’s statement – and the term “racist” – was….
The Video:
Snort Worthy Quote of the Day
Glenn Back on him and Rush Limbaugh:
Do you expect that you will be surpassing Rush Limbaugh any time soon in terms of your radio audience?
[Laughs.] I don’t think so.
But are you the pretender to the throne?
I think I do something extraordinarily different than Rush. Rush is political thought, I am a guy who’s part rodeo clown
via Glenn Beck on Why He’s No Rush Limbaugh – The Daily Beast.
*snort*
(H/T HotAir Headlines)
The Politico Admits what Bloggers have known for years….
That the Main Stream Media uses Blogs for it’s political news gathering.
For the past two years, several hundred left-leaning bloggers, political reporters, magazine writers, policy wonks and academics have talked stories and compared notes in an off-the-record online meeting space called JournoList.
Proof of a vast liberal media conspiracy?
Not at all, says Ezra Klein, the 24-year-old American Prospect blogging wunderkind who formed JournoList in February 2007. “Basically,” he says, “it’s just a list where journalists and policy wonks can discuss issues freely.”
But some of the journalists who participate in the online discussion say — off the record, of course — that it has been a great help in their work. On the record, The New Yorker’s Jeffrey Toobin acknowledged that a Talk of the Town piece — he won’t say which one — got its start in part via a conversation on JournoList. And JLister Eric Alterman, The Nation writer and CUNY professor, said he’s seen discussions that start on the list seep into the world beyond.
via JournoList: Inside the echo chamber – Michael Calderone – POLITICO.com.
…..and a collective “Duh!” went up over the Blogosphere. This what I, and every other Blogger has known for years, that the MSM uses the Political Blogosphere for collecting its news.
An interesting quote:
“I’m very lazy about writing when I’m not getting paid,” Alterman said. “So if I take the trouble to write something in any detail on the list, I tend to cannibalize it. It doesn’t surprise me when I see things on the list on people’s blogs.”
He is not the only one. I’ve read where even Bill O’Reilly has ripped off elements of the Conservative political Blogosphere and not even bothered to credit it’s sources. Which is about typical for the journalistic world. “Let’s rip off the Bloggers, nobody reads those things anyhow!” Think I’m full of it? Think again. 90% of all political stories come from our realm.
As for the conspiracy aspect of it. I don’t really buy into that. The Liberals are doing simply what the Conservatives did in the 1990’s when Bill Clinton beat George H.W. Bush in the elections. They’re organizing their media outlets. Exchanging information to report on. It is really no big deal.
So, I really do not see what the big fuss is about. Democrats got smart, after losing 2 elections, and before that, having a disaster for a President; the Democrats are just not going to screw this chance up, when it getting things right this time. I cannot fault them for this.
I do believe that the Politico is really trying to make a boogie man sitution out of something that just really is not there. There is nothing wrong the Blogging world working with it’s political counterparts to get their message on point. I believe if the G.O.P. had done this more and had gotten it’s message right and a great number of other things right, Obama might have lost this election. The trouble is the G.O.P. was busy harping on rather stupid stuff, than on the real message at hand.
So, while this might be a nice headline for the Meme Trackers. There is nothing in this story that I, at least, find to be of a scandalous nature.
Others: protein wisdom, Hot Air, Erick’s blog, The Corner, Newshoggers.com, Patterico’s Pontifications, NewsBusters.org, Grasping Reality …, PoliGazette, Open Left, Ben Smith’s Blog, The Corner
Of sellouts and asshats….
(Sorry for the limited posting today. My body clock slipped a spring… and I have been trying get it back on course. I just woke up from a nice nap; hopefully we’re back on track here.)
Seems like meatball Liberal linked to my previous Blog posting and parsed a quote of mine, and then took a line from my “About Me” page to discredit me. Which proves what I have known and seen all along; that when liberals know they are losing the fucking argument, they stoop to personal slander and smears. Ah well, it isn’t all that bad, I could use the traffic. 😀
Anyhow, Kyle Smith over at the post, writes a very funny piece about the so-called Moderate Republicans who selling out that party; like Magan McCain. More of this, please. 😛
Others: Don Surber, Sister Toldjah and Cold Fury
Mark Steyn on debt to our kids
Mark Steyn on the debt that we’re leaving our Children:
Just between you, me, and the old, the late middle-aged and the early middle-aged: Isn’t it terrific to be able to stick it to the young? I mean, imagine how bad all this economic-type stuff would be if our kids and grandkids hadn’t offered to pick up the tab.
Well, OK, they didn’t exactly "offer" but they did stand around behind Barack Obama at all those campaign rallies helping him look dynamic and telegenic and earnestly chanting hopey-hopey-changey-changey. And "Yes, we can!"
Which is a pretty open-ended commitment.
Are you sure you young folks will be able to pay off this massive Mount Spendmore of multitrillion-dollar debts we’ve piled up on you?
"Yes, we can!"
We thought you’d say that! God bless the youth of America! We of the Greatest Generation, the Boomers and Generation X salute you, the plucky members of the Brokest Generation, the Gloomers and Generation Y, as in "Why the hell did you old coots do this to us?"
via Mark Steyn: Welcome, kids, to the Brokest Generation – Opinion – OCRegister.com.
Now, I realize that Steyn was being snarky. To be fair, much of this debt was brought on, long before Obama ever took office. But Obama sure did not do anything to stop the increase of that debt. In fact, Obama has added to it.
This whole idea of tax the rich, and spend out way out of a recession, is just bad all the way around. Mainly, because we are spending money that we do not even have. We are getting it from China, who is increasingly getting nervous about giving us this money; not to mention, they are becoming more hostile by the day.
So, while I think it is quite fun to blame the Democrats from everything from the weather to my inability to get laid. (
) Some things you just cannot put on one party or the other; because, quite frankly, both parties have done the dirty of adding to our national debt.
Others: Cold Fury and Pajamas Media
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A startling and sobering reminder
It comes from a Magazine’s Blog that I keep in my RSS feeds.
I keep Chronicles Magazine’s Blog in iGoogle, because I like to read traditional Conservative writings. These writings are a welcome alternative to the Neo-Conservative blather that comes from some of the more popular Conservative blogs out there. Although, I will be the first to admit, many Conservative Blogs now are really getting back to their true Conservative roots, now that Obama is in the White House. Some of the blogs, admittedly attack Obama just for the sake of attacking a Democrat, some however, like Lew Rockwell and others like him, attack Obama for legit reasons.
Having said all the above, here’s an entry by Clyde N. Wilson, which makes a very valid and quite sobering point; which only reinforces my feeling that big Government is just not good Government.
Clyde Writes in an entry titled, “It can’t be repeated too often”:
Ruby Ridge. Your President George H.W. Bush sent a foreign assassin to murder (from hiding) an American woman standing in the door of her own home holding her baby.
Waco. Your President Clinton sent a military expedition to incinerate children who were unfortunate enough to be in company of adults who had offended the federal police apparatus.
9/11. Your federal government, with a $30 billion intelligence budget, could not prevent a bunch of unarmed felaheen (who should not even have been in the country to begin with) from killing over 3,000 people in our economic capital and destroying part of the military headquarters of our vaunted global empire.
Iraq. Your President Bush Minor lied to justify a failed war of agression. He sent the forces into an unnecessary war with inadequate equipment, despite a multibillion-dollar “defense” budget, and without a viable plan.
Many American citizens, probably in the thousands, have been murdered and otherwise victimised by illegal aliens because of your presidents’ deliberate decision not to enforce the laws, in order to put the interests of foreign politicians and domestic rich people over the welfare of citizens.
The Supreme Court and the federal bench for more than a half-century now have been dominated by evil people, unscrupulous petty tyrants, who have subverted the Constitution and laws, protected criminals from punishment, interfered in countless matters that are none of their business, overturned solemn decisions of the majority, and placed unjust burdens upon the people.
Nobody has ever been reprimanded (as far as I know), much less fired or punished for the above.
Not only is Clyde right on about this; there are two points can be taken away from the quote above. That truth is this:
- We never really punish our political leaders, some would say because the President is merely a puppet, being controlled by the bank cartels.
- Big centralized Government has never been, nor will it ever be, a good thing; it is bound to make screw ups, some small, and some, as presented above, quite large.