On September 9th of 2009, South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson made headlines by heckling our commander-in-chief during an address of Congress to sell his healthcare scam, er, "plan" by shouting, "You lie!" It was right about the time President Obama declared that the plan would not provide free coverage for illegal aliens. Wilson was castigated. He was vilified. He was chastised. He was censured.
And he was right.
Of course he was right! Anyone who had read the bill (okay, you can all stop laughing - or crying - now) would have been able to tell you that there was no way to filter out illegals - the amendments that were supposed to verify citizenship were voted down. But don't let facts, accuracy and reality get in the way of "being offended". And now, over eight million dollars - chicken feed by today's standards, I know - will be spent specifically on "seasonal and migrant farm workers". And Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Spokeswoman Judy Andrews said that grant recipients will not check the immigration status of people seeking services.
So... Joe was right and I'm just wondering what proper protocol might be here. I mean, Hallmark doesn't really make a card for it and I haven't found any "Shine" articles linked from Yahoo headlines (What Do You Say When They Weren't Wrong?). I'm a bit at a loss. Fruit basket?
Of course, it was a pretty general statement, this "You lie!" I'm not sure if we should limit the official apology card to referencing only the illegal immigrant healthcare lie. I mean, there are a whole lot of Obama lies to choose from.
The most recent (pass my bill) one, I suppose is (pass my bill) the whopper he (pass it!) dropped during his (you have GOT to pass this bill) address in which he (passitpassitpassit!) tried to sell his utter turd of a jobs bill (that you have got to pass). Oh, yes. The magic words, "It's paid for!"
Liar.
Mister President, I know you have no real work experience and obviously no clue about how money works so allow me to assist you. Something is "paid for" when you have the required cash in hand and fork it over when the goods or services are received. Wishing happy thoughts about money appearing from the sky or assuming your request for an advance on your pay will be granted is not "paying for" a goddamned thing. Neither is throwing it on a credit card on which you can't even cover the minimum monthly payment. Your plan to "pay for it"? The same stupid-assed tax increases that Republicans and even many Democrats have voted down. More than once. The bill that I pray to freaking God does not pass is NOT "paid for". Perhaps if I repeated it every third sentence in every public address I make....
Let's see.... Before that it was the debt ceiling. This was like a bullshit trifecta. First, the grand hypocrisy of President Obama's questioning the previous president's patriotism and leadership when Bush raised it but then playing the nation's savior when it was his own turn. Then throwing out how "Grandma might not get her social security check". Except for the fact that President Obama is about as intimidating as Urkel, that was straight protection racket - "You got a nice place here.... Be a shame if something might happen to it." And, when there was still resistance, the grand "We may default!" - although the administration knew damned well there was enough coming in to cover our nation's obligations.
Liar. If there was a default, it would have been a calculated, political decision done for pure leverage.
Prior to that, there was the load of crap about civility in political discourse. Yes, they were deeply concerned about civility when the Right and Tea Party were getting angry. Not so much when the Congressional only-one-race-is-allowed-but-it's-not-racism-when-we-do-it Caucus were telling people to go to hell, calling them "the enemy" and declaring them to be a repackaged Klan. Not so much when union thugs were being exhorted to "take these sonsabitches out" - meaning me and my family, in part. No, while President Obama can stick his nose in any time he thinks a non-Democrat is being a big meanie, Communication Director Dan Pfieffer tells us that he's not going to "serve as the speech police for the Democratic Party." Of course, this falls more under the category of "hypocrite" than "liar" so it might not be card-worthy.
Then... let's see again... all the campaign nonsense about closing Gitmo (Osama wishes Obama had followed through on that but I, for one, will let it slide), transparency in the administration (except for the czars... and "we have to pass it before we know what's in it") and Obama's condescending bit about "not wanting your guns" (except for the State Department, ATF and FBI coercing FFLs to sell to known gang members and drug mules not long after the president reassured the Brady Campaign that he was "working on gun control under the radar"). There was also the whole spiel about uniting the country. Like the way we constantly hear of anyone who is successful being blamed for anyone who is not. Like the way our president thumbs his nose at the Tea Party but attends La Raza rallies. And, of course, there was the line about "no U.S. boots on the ground in Libya"....
Whew. Wow. That was all off the top of my head, too. Hard to imagine what else might turn up if I gave it some serious thought or did any digging.
I'm starting to think a fruit basket might not be enough.
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Monday, September 12, 2011
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Lies, damned lies and you're-a-goddamned-racist
This week, I read that, as a nation, we netted exactly zero jobs in the month of August. Frightening, since just about every figure released by the government this year has been adjusted downward. That's right - we began the year with triumphal hope-and-change numbers posted and announced across every online news source's headlines. Then, a month or two later, they, um, kinda ticked down a little. Not really heralded all that much and not very good for the current administration's credibility, the news was usually buried in the internet's equivalent of page eighty-three, second sidebar on the left, under the "sorry we got your last name wrong" retractions.
In case you're curious, here are the jobs-added numbers direct from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (http://www.bls.gov/schedule/archives/empsit_nr.htm#2011):
As it is, it was almost sad - I'd posted our "The American Left can't stop playing the race card even when it makes no sense" piece just before Indiana Democratic Representative Andre Carson decided to jump on the "it's not hate speech when we use it" bandwagon. If only he'd gone there sooner or I'd waited to post a little longer.... I debated simply adding an addendum but this was such a doozy that I wanted to have a bit of a better chronology. I give it about a month before the "Tea Partists eat black babies on the Sabbath" rumors begin.
Yes, boys and girls, it seems that, according to Herr Grupenfuehrer Carson's line of thinking (when he believes he's addressing a black-only audience, that is), the Tea Party is actually a gigantic lynch party. In fact, and I quote, “some of them in Congress right now of this tea party movement would love to see you and me ... hanging on a tree.”
Yup. Makes perfect sense. Middle class Americans declaring, "We're done footing the bill for your 'free shit'." is EXACTLY the same as BillyJoeBob suggesting to BobbyLeeJames, "Hey! Let's go string us up some of them thar darkies!"
Yeah. Exactly. The. Same.
Shithead.
Anyway, Math, if you're reading this, I hope you eventually turn your back on the evil ways of white devil racism, embrace civil discourse and get with the program. Perhaps then we can figure out a way to pay for everybody's crap with money that appears from thin air.
In case you're curious, here are the jobs-added numbers direct from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (http://www.bls.gov/schedule/archives/empsit_nr.htm#2011):
- February originally reported 192,000 jobs added, later revised to 235,000. Yay!
- March originally reported 216,000 jobs added, later revised to 221,000. Sweet! Oh... then revised again down to 194,000.
- April brought in 244,000... until it became 232,000
- May claimed 54,000 added... and got rounded down to 53,000... which then became 25,000. Minor math error, there, I guess.
- June posted an anemic 18,000 jobs but then got a bump to 20,000... then an inexplicable leap to 46,000... ooohhhhh but then a re-re-revised total of 20,000. But I'm sure they got it right that time.
- July supposedly brought in 117,000 jobs (perhaps including whoever the hell was supposed to be making up the figures for June)... but that eventually ticked down to 85,000.
- August? Goose egg. Zero. Zilch. Nada.
As it is, it was almost sad - I'd posted our "The American Left can't stop playing the race card even when it makes no sense" piece just before Indiana Democratic Representative Andre Carson decided to jump on the "it's not hate speech when we use it" bandwagon. If only he'd gone there sooner or I'd waited to post a little longer.... I debated simply adding an addendum but this was such a doozy that I wanted to have a bit of a better chronology. I give it about a month before the "Tea Partists eat black babies on the Sabbath" rumors begin.
Yes, boys and girls, it seems that, according to Herr Grupenfuehrer Carson's line of thinking (when he believes he's addressing a black-only audience, that is), the Tea Party is actually a gigantic lynch party. In fact, and I quote, “some of them in Congress right now of this tea party movement would love to see you and me ... hanging on a tree.”
Yup. Makes perfect sense. Middle class Americans declaring, "We're done footing the bill for your 'free shit'." is EXACTLY the same as BillyJoeBob suggesting to BobbyLeeJames, "Hey! Let's go string us up some of them thar darkies!"
Yeah. Exactly. The. Same.
Shithead.
Anyway, Math, if you're reading this, I hope you eventually turn your back on the evil ways of white devil racism, embrace civil discourse and get with the program. Perhaps then we can figure out a way to pay for everybody's crap with money that appears from thin air.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
"Well... except for those Tea Party guys. We hate them."
The American Left and media love to hate the Tea Party. I'm not entirely certain if it's because they just don't understand what it's all about or if it's because they do. Either way, they know they hate them.
Patrick Gaspard, the Executive Director of the Democratic National Committee, sent out emails lamenting that "the Tea Party agenda [is] an agenda whose first item is to destroy Democrats no matter the consequences for our country." According to articles I've read just in the past week, they appear to think the Tea Party is "freaked out white people" who are racist, homophobic, abortion-banning, racist, fanatically religious creationist Christian... um... racist and... um.... At this point , it diverges into "poor white redneck trash who are too stupid to realize that government spending profits them" or "filthy rich white capitalists who are such evil geniuses that they are stealing money from the poor to line their own pockets". But, either way, they're definitely racist. I've seen blog after blog and "measured articles" by the boatload "exposing" tea party rally excerpts for the racist language cleverly encoded within (kind of like the so-called Bible Code, except requiring larger stretches of the imagination). There are detailed analysis of tea party members' pathological hatred of all things Obama... and therefore black in general. Maxine Waters made the statement that "the Tea Party can go straight to Hell." Frederica Wilson has warned that “[t]he real enemy is the Tea Party, let's remember that." Jesse Jackson went off on some bizarre tangent about how "Dr. King fought a 'tea party' in Alabama", equating people who opposed integration and civil rights with people who don't think they should have the money they worked for siphoned off to pay for "free stuff" for other people that haven't worked for it.
A side note here: I'm ironically amused by the fact that the last three comments were made by black leaders before the Congressional Black Caucus in a forum that was supposed to be about bringing jobs to the black community and were directed at a group that is most often described as "a bunch of racist white people". I'd say something about a pot and a kettle but use of the full expression might just be a subconscious indicator of my deep-seated racism.
I hate to break it to them but I have some inside information on the Tea Party, being that I've attended rallies and protests and personally support "the cause". Ready? You might want to sit down - it's a stunner. Okay. Here goes: There is no "Tea Party".
It's true. You aren't going to see "Tea Party" on a voter registration form. You aren't going to get spam from their national headquarters. You aren't going to send them annual dues and get a secret decoder ring. Because there is no "party" per se - there's just a basic idea that a lot of people agree with. This is such a foreign concept in American politics that most folks just don't seem to get it. They can't process it, won't accept it. It must be an offshoot or subdivision of the Republican party. Or maybe it's a hate group like the Klan. Their national leadership consists of Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, Karl Rove and Glenn Beck (and possibly Satan). It's inconceivable that a large segment of the American public can get pissed off enough to collectively shout "Enough!" - but that's what happened.
Under Republicans, we're expected to be shamed into silence with, "If you oppose the bailout, the [terrorists will win/economy will collapse and families will have to devour each other] ." Under Democrats, we're expected to be shamed into silence with, "If you oppose the signing of a massive bill-we-haven't-read into national law, you [hate poor people/are racist]." But we're done being shamed with labels and whining. The Irish have a proverb: "Coimhéad fearg fhear na foighde." Beware the fury of a patient man. Well, we've run out of patience. There are a lot of very pissed off Americans who are tired of having the people who supposedly represent us mortgage future generations to bail out one group or another for their own selfish purposes.
Like any disparate population, you'll find a pretty big variety within the group. There are homophobic, racist, ignorant, and/or religious Tea Partiers. Some are poor. Some are "rich" (that term seems to keep getting redefined so I'll use quotes). Regional groups have coalesced around the country, each one adding its own spin to the basic tenet of spending cuts. Some are little more than Republican light - "stop wasting our tax money on Liberal causes but don't rock the boat on the Right". Some are more religious - "stop wasting our tax money, especially on abortion - which should be banned - and gay rights... because God said so". Some are extremely Libertarian - "stop wasting our tax money, reduce government to fourteen guys and recall all overseas troops from everywhere, forever." Guess what? It's doesn't make them wrong. Some are gay and some are Democrats and some are government workers and some are lawyers and some are actually even - gasp! - not white and they're standing with the "hate-filled, racist rednecks". Being angry at having your life's earnings pissed away against your will doesn't make you "filled with hate". Opposing the destructive, divisive, class-and-race-warfare policies of an incompetent hack of a president doesn't make you racist, even if he is half-black.
The Right is wisely shutting the hell up and letting this play out. Normally known for being able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, the Republicans are afraid to publicly oppose the idea of simply not wasting money. Several opportunistic Republican leaders have even adopted a philosophy of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" and have begun to parrot some of the points hurled at returning lawmakers during enraged town hall meetings. Everyone wants to be "a Tea Party candidate" even when they also support Hogzilla-sized pork programs. But that's fine - we'll use you like you've used it.
The Left, however, is doing something even more interesting. They first tried dismissing us via ignoring the whole thing, not discussing the movement, not covering the marches and rallies. When they couldn't ignore us anymore, they moved to trivializing us through humor. "Teabagger" - get it? It's like a sex thing and that'll make us uncomfortable because we're all uptight religious Republicans! Ha! Get it?!? When nobody gave a shit and we kept talking, kept demanding, kept campaigning, they moved to subtle disapproval and intimations that we're a "hate group". Well... we are. We hate the waste, the bloated government, the arrogance of civil servants who think they've been elected to royalty. Now... they're starting to hate. They're freaking out because we have no infrastructure to attack, no single leader to character assassinate, no organization to infiltrate. We're just not... shutting... up. We've been mocked and called the worst things possible - racist! inflexible! - and we're still sticking to the same, stupid, uncompromising mantra: Stop wasting our tax money and, no, you can't have more.
We hate policies, they hate people. We want to talk about money, they can't stop talking about race. We see government involvement as unnecessary intervention which screws up everything and needs to be dialed back (whoever has to fend for themselves be damned); they see it as not only necessary but a morally mandated responsibility to tend to all their needs (whoever pays the bills be damned). We have irreconcilable differences and it's no surprise that they're seeing this movement as a threat to their way of life. We see them the same way.
Yep, there have been some strong words. Now, let me offer a few of my own. Patrick, you're on to me and my evil plan. I do want you destroyed mostly because you seem to believe that the role of government is to convince us how weak we are so that it can tend all our boo-boos and make everything "fair" (at the unfair expense of those who refuse to believe they really are helpless). Maxine, I'd offer a "ladies first" but that doesn't really apply to you, does it? If I'm pissing you off, I must be doing something right. Thanks for the encouragement. Frederica, yes, I am your enemy. In fact, I loathe you, not because of your political affiliation, your gender or the color of your skin but because you are a parasite and those like you have increased in numbers for generations at the cost of the nation's freedoms and financial security. I am your enemy the way a dog is an enemy of the fleas that infest it. And Jesse, if you want to call the Tea Party a repackaged KKK, grow a set and say it out loud instead of dancing around with your candy-assed wink-wink-nudge-nudge routine. But you'd better think closely about your comparison. The latter were victimizing their fellow Americans; the former are trying to keep their fellow Americans from victimizing them. Refusing to allow a child to enter a school or drink from a water fountain doesn't equate to not wanting to pay for the food, rent, medical care, wi-fi and cell phone for every spoiled sonofabitch that wants it in return for a vote. Oh and, p.s., you're a pig for using Doctor King's name to rubber-stamp your racist, victim-mentality claptrap for the last forty years.
Now... stop wasting our tax money and, no, you can't have more.
Patrick Gaspard, the Executive Director of the Democratic National Committee, sent out emails lamenting that "the Tea Party agenda [is] an agenda whose first item is to destroy Democrats no matter the consequences for our country." According to articles I've read just in the past week, they appear to think the Tea Party is "freaked out white people" who are racist, homophobic, abortion-banning, racist, fanatically religious creationist Christian... um... racist and... um.... At this point , it diverges into "poor white redneck trash who are too stupid to realize that government spending profits them" or "filthy rich white capitalists who are such evil geniuses that they are stealing money from the poor to line their own pockets". But, either way, they're definitely racist. I've seen blog after blog and "measured articles" by the boatload "exposing" tea party rally excerpts for the racist language cleverly encoded within (kind of like the so-called Bible Code, except requiring larger stretches of the imagination). There are detailed analysis of tea party members' pathological hatred of all things Obama... and therefore black in general. Maxine Waters made the statement that "the Tea Party can go straight to Hell." Frederica Wilson has warned that “[t]he real enemy is the Tea Party, let's remember that." Jesse Jackson went off on some bizarre tangent about how "Dr. King fought a 'tea party' in Alabama", equating people who opposed integration and civil rights with people who don't think they should have the money they worked for siphoned off to pay for "free stuff" for other people that haven't worked for it.
A side note here: I'm ironically amused by the fact that the last three comments were made by black leaders before the Congressional Black Caucus in a forum that was supposed to be about bringing jobs to the black community and were directed at a group that is most often described as "a bunch of racist white people". I'd say something about a pot and a kettle but use of the full expression might just be a subconscious indicator of my deep-seated racism.
I hate to break it to them but I have some inside information on the Tea Party, being that I've attended rallies and protests and personally support "the cause". Ready? You might want to sit down - it's a stunner. Okay. Here goes: There is no "Tea Party".
It's true. You aren't going to see "Tea Party" on a voter registration form. You aren't going to get spam from their national headquarters. You aren't going to send them annual dues and get a secret decoder ring. Because there is no "party" per se - there's just a basic idea that a lot of people agree with. This is such a foreign concept in American politics that most folks just don't seem to get it. They can't process it, won't accept it. It must be an offshoot or subdivision of the Republican party. Or maybe it's a hate group like the Klan. Their national leadership consists of Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, Karl Rove and Glenn Beck (and possibly Satan). It's inconceivable that a large segment of the American public can get pissed off enough to collectively shout "Enough!" - but that's what happened.
Under Republicans, we're expected to be shamed into silence with, "If you oppose the bailout, the [terrorists will win/economy will collapse and families will have to devour each other] ." Under Democrats, we're expected to be shamed into silence with, "If you oppose the signing of a massive bill-we-haven't-read into national law, you [hate poor people/are racist]." But we're done being shamed with labels and whining. The Irish have a proverb: "Coimhéad fearg fhear na foighde." Beware the fury of a patient man. Well, we've run out of patience. There are a lot of very pissed off Americans who are tired of having the people who supposedly represent us mortgage future generations to bail out one group or another for their own selfish purposes.
Like any disparate population, you'll find a pretty big variety within the group. There are homophobic, racist, ignorant, and/or religious Tea Partiers. Some are poor. Some are "rich" (that term seems to keep getting redefined so I'll use quotes). Regional groups have coalesced around the country, each one adding its own spin to the basic tenet of spending cuts. Some are little more than Republican light - "stop wasting our tax money on Liberal causes but don't rock the boat on the Right". Some are more religious - "stop wasting our tax money, especially on abortion - which should be banned - and gay rights... because God said so". Some are extremely Libertarian - "stop wasting our tax money, reduce government to fourteen guys and recall all overseas troops from everywhere, forever." Guess what? It's doesn't make them wrong. Some are gay and some are Democrats and some are government workers and some are lawyers and some are actually even - gasp! - not white and they're standing with the "hate-filled, racist rednecks". Being angry at having your life's earnings pissed away against your will doesn't make you "filled with hate". Opposing the destructive, divisive, class-and-race-warfare policies of an incompetent hack of a president doesn't make you racist, even if he is half-black.
The Right is wisely shutting the hell up and letting this play out. Normally known for being able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, the Republicans are afraid to publicly oppose the idea of simply not wasting money. Several opportunistic Republican leaders have even adopted a philosophy of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" and have begun to parrot some of the points hurled at returning lawmakers during enraged town hall meetings. Everyone wants to be "a Tea Party candidate" even when they also support Hogzilla-sized pork programs. But that's fine - we'll use you like you've used it.
The Left, however, is doing something even more interesting. They first tried dismissing us via ignoring the whole thing, not discussing the movement, not covering the marches and rallies. When they couldn't ignore us anymore, they moved to trivializing us through humor. "Teabagger" - get it? It's like a sex thing and that'll make us uncomfortable because we're all uptight religious Republicans! Ha! Get it?!? When nobody gave a shit and we kept talking, kept demanding, kept campaigning, they moved to subtle disapproval and intimations that we're a "hate group". Well... we are. We hate the waste, the bloated government, the arrogance of civil servants who think they've been elected to royalty. Now... they're starting to hate. They're freaking out because we have no infrastructure to attack, no single leader to character assassinate, no organization to infiltrate. We're just not... shutting... up. We've been mocked and called the worst things possible - racist! inflexible! - and we're still sticking to the same, stupid, uncompromising mantra: Stop wasting our tax money and, no, you can't have more.
We hate policies, they hate people. We want to talk about money, they can't stop talking about race. We see government involvement as unnecessary intervention which screws up everything and needs to be dialed back (whoever has to fend for themselves be damned); they see it as not only necessary but a morally mandated responsibility to tend to all their needs (whoever pays the bills be damned). We have irreconcilable differences and it's no surprise that they're seeing this movement as a threat to their way of life. We see them the same way.
Yep, there have been some strong words. Now, let me offer a few of my own. Patrick, you're on to me and my evil plan. I do want you destroyed mostly because you seem to believe that the role of government is to convince us how weak we are so that it can tend all our boo-boos and make everything "fair" (at the unfair expense of those who refuse to believe they really are helpless). Maxine, I'd offer a "ladies first" but that doesn't really apply to you, does it? If I'm pissing you off, I must be doing something right. Thanks for the encouragement. Frederica, yes, I am your enemy. In fact, I loathe you, not because of your political affiliation, your gender or the color of your skin but because you are a parasite and those like you have increased in numbers for generations at the cost of the nation's freedoms and financial security. I am your enemy the way a dog is an enemy of the fleas that infest it. And Jesse, if you want to call the Tea Party a repackaged KKK, grow a set and say it out loud instead of dancing around with your candy-assed wink-wink-nudge-nudge routine. But you'd better think closely about your comparison. The latter were victimizing their fellow Americans; the former are trying to keep their fellow Americans from victimizing them. Refusing to allow a child to enter a school or drink from a water fountain doesn't equate to not wanting to pay for the food, rent, medical care, wi-fi and cell phone for every spoiled sonofabitch that wants it in return for a vote. Oh and, p.s., you're a pig for using Doctor King's name to rubber-stamp your racist, victim-mentality claptrap for the last forty years.
Now... stop wasting our tax money and, no, you can't have more.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Warning: Contents may result in your being deemed "suspicious"
Earlier this week, the Denver office of the FBI sent out flyers to various Army/Navy surplus shops in Colorado to warn them of - and I quote - "Potential Indicators of Terrorist Activities Related to Military Surplus Stores". It was a very helpful document, with boldly lettered column headers and clearly bulleted examples to help the proprietor perform his duty as a citizen.
In case you were wondering, the section entitled What Should I Consider Suspicious? included such "suspicious" flags as people who: demand identity "privacy" (seriously - the word was in quotes); insist on paying with cash; make comments that are violent or appear to condone violence; make anti-US comments; make bulk purchases of items such as MREs and weatherproof matches. The What Should I Do? section included recommendations to require valid ID from all new customers, record all purchases, "talk to customers, ask questions and listen to and observe their responses" (in some circles, that's called "soft interrogation skills") and make note of suspicious statements, persons and vehicles. Of course, it also included a stern and bolded warning to not be a hero! Just call the authorities. They're looking out for you.
Oh, yeah. On the veeerrrrry bottom of the page, in teeeeeny-tiny italicized font, there was a blurb about how such purchases could just be a perfectly legitimate exercise of citizens' Constitutional rights. You know - to keep the kooks happy. Lovely.
Okay, now I'm going to drop the sarcastic wiseass routine (for a minute or two, anyway) and vent a little. On the face of things, I get it. People can do a lot of innocent and legal things while preparing to do something not-so-innocent and legal. Look at Timothy McVeigh. But planting the mental suggestion that paying in cash, not thinking you should produce ID to buy freeze-dried food and/or camping matches and/or asking aloud, "Has our government lost its collective freaking mind?!? Somebody needs to get his or her ass kicked for this!" makes one a potential terrorist is offensive, divisive and just plain horseshit, especially given that FEMA itself has been running a years-long "preparedness" campaign. Check out their "ready.gov" website on which they recommend that citizens stock up on items such as... um... a "three-day supply of non-perishable food" and "matches in a waterproof container".
Apparently, someone should report FEMA to the FBI....
Of course, this shouldn't come as any surprise. This is just one more bit of asinine buffoonery which would be comical except for the fact that it costs us all money and underscores the contempt for which our own government holds its citizens, our Constitution and, frankly, common sense.
After Rick Santelli's February 2009 on-air rant in which he called for a modern day tea party to protest out of control government spending, grassroots protests started popping up around the nation. In keeping with the historical taxation theme, many symbols and accoutrements of Colonial American began to surface and the Gadsden flag, which first entered American history in 1775 as adornments of the then-new Naval Marines, became a common standard. It is now the de facto symbol of the Tea Party movement, which - contrary to most distortions by most every media outlet - is comprised of average Americans looking for the government to do less for them and intrude less upon them.
Obviously, this line of thinking is dangerous. And so, in April 2009 (coincidentally, precisely when I attended my first Tea Party rally in Loveland, CO), the Department of Homeland Security released a report on "rightwing extremist activity," warning law enforcement to be on the lookout for white-power militia resurgence and violence. They then tacked on an adjustment to the definition - "rightwing extremism in the United States", it seems, did not just include "racist or hate groups, but also groups that reject federal authority in favor of state or local authority." Wanna guess what appeared in the list of potential "militia symbols"? Yeah. The Gadsden flag. Apparently being a tea party member and/or critical of the government (especially if you were a returning veteran, according to the report) puts you on the same level as the KKK or Aryan Nation in the eyes of the tools at the taxpayer-funded DHS.
Now, somewhere between Janet Napolitano making "extremists" out of people who don't want to be bled dry for wasteful spending and the FBI turning campers, hunters and people taking FEMA's advice into "potential terrorists", we had the ATF's "Operation Fast and Furious/Project Gunrunner" fiasco.
For months, our media had been lamenting how "America's loose gun laws" were to blame for Mexico's violence (which makes about as much sense as blaming crack addiction on Bic lighters) and the Left was again calling for gun control. The problem was, gun control legislation had been a losing proposition and more Americans were realizing that, with forty-nine states allowing concealed carry (thirty-eight of them being "shall issue", meaning you don't need to convince some functionary that you "need" it) and no streets awash with blood from the Old West shootouts the Democrats repeatedly vowed would occur, the old arguments were mostly bullshit. Still, squawked the press, "ninety percent of guns seized in Mexico came from American gun stores"
Again, bullshit. It turned out that "ninety percent" of guns seized by Mexico and turned over to the ATF for tracing had "U.S. origins". Funny, that phrase. The actual number worked out to somewhere around sixteen percent and, unsurprisingly to the American shooting community, it turns out that the grenades, rocket launchers and fully-automatic weapons were coming from deserters from the Mexican military (armed to a large percentage with ordnance provided by the U.S. State Department), seized military and police armories and, frankly, battlefield pickups rather than "Joe's Guns" on the Texas border.
An interesting and tin-foily side note: President Obama assured gun control groups that he was working on things "under the radar". I can't help but wonder....
Anyway, Fast & Furious was exposed when Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was murdered by border smugglers using "F&F" firearms. I'm just now beginning to hear about this in the media but calls for answers have been going on since at least January. The short version is that ATF-Phoenix had been telling border state FFLs, against their objections, to sell to known straw purchasers working for the Mexican drug cartels and even approving federally-mandated background checks for the sales. There was no "sting". There was no physical surveillance. They just told the dealers, "Shut up and sell them the guns."
When the outcry over Agent Terry's death prompted Congressional questioning, the response was contemptuous stonewalling (you should see some of the arrogant response to Congress from the ATF higher-ups). The FFLs themselves came forward with emails they'd sent to the DoJ, essentially asking, "Seriously?!? You want us to let these scumbags walk out with AK47s?!?" Agents came forward, testifying that they were also told to simply shut up and let it happen. Congressional hearings were - and are being - held. Pressure was applied. The story broke. The details came out including, just this week, that over a thousand of those "walked" guns were sent to U.S. cities, where almost sixty of them have turned up at domestic crime scenes, mostly in Arizona. And the result was... the ATF imposed a new regulatory rule, requiring border state FFLs to report sales of two or more semi-automatic rifles of caliber .22 or larger. Because, according to Deputy AG James Cole, ""Federal, state and foreign law enforcement agencies have determined that certain types of semi-automatic rifles... are highly sought after by dangerous drug trafficking organizations and frequently recovered at violent crime scenes near the Southwest Border."
In other words, the ATF imposed further regulation of American citizens based on a crisis they deliberately and actively created at the expense of American lives.
During testimony, our nation's Attorney General, Eric Holder, testified that he'd only heard of the operation "for the past few weeks". Funny, since the fucking DoJ's own website contains a transcript of Eric Holder's speech in Mexico, bragging about Operation Gunrunner by name and talking about expanding the project - in 2009. I recall reading some Yahoo story about a baseball player Roger Clemens facing perjury charges for lying about "performance enhancing drugs" during Congressional hearings. And yet, somehow, AG Holder gets a walk (if you'll pardon the sports pun).
Sigh. It's also since come out that the State Department was funneling arms to Los Zetas gang members and that ATF Tampa was running a similar "Gunrunner" operation, walking guns to MS-13 in Honduras (if you're unfamiliar with them, Google them - a real fun bunch).
So, just out of curiosity, are you a little shocked? A little outraged? Better not exercise your First Amendment rights about it in an Army/Navy store - you might appear "suspicious".
And it doesn't get much better, really. Last year, the EPA added "farm dust" to particulates it can monitor and regulate. Twenty-one senators have written to the regulatory agency to object to the absurdity and yet the ruling stands. Arizona tried to sue them but appears to have lost the case, though their argument included the fact that there's only one monitoring site that registered "exceedances" and four of them at that. Said site, by the way, "sits just south of the Salt River in an industrial area near Broadway Road and 43rd Avenue… the setting - a dry river bed, a landfill, a sand and gravel operation, a row of industrial machinery lots - almost guarantees high (dust) pollution readings…" And guess what? The location of the monitor is solely controlled by the EPA.
Further, today's headlines advised me that the DHS will halt deportation proceedings on a case-by-case basis against illegal immigrants who meet certain criteria such as attending school, having family in the military or are primarily responsible for other family members’ care....The chief beneficiaries of the new guidance are likely to be illegal immigrant students who would have been eligible for legal status under the Dream Act, which stalled in Congress last year."
So, in other words, legislation that was rejected by our supposed representatives is getting jammed into place through regulatory action. Again. Like gun control to address non-existent problems. Like environmental standards that are killing family farms and small business. Like official flyers casting suspicion on fellow citizens without justification.
Yeah.
Drop me a line if you want me to pick up some matches or MREs for you. You can pay me back in cash.
- Keith
In case you were wondering, the section entitled What Should I Consider Suspicious? included such "suspicious" flags as people who: demand identity "privacy" (seriously - the word was in quotes); insist on paying with cash; make comments that are violent or appear to condone violence; make anti-US comments; make bulk purchases of items such as MREs and weatherproof matches. The What Should I Do? section included recommendations to require valid ID from all new customers, record all purchases, "talk to customers, ask questions and listen to and observe their responses" (in some circles, that's called "soft interrogation skills") and make note of suspicious statements, persons and vehicles. Of course, it also included a stern and bolded warning to not be a hero! Just call the authorities. They're looking out for you.
Oh, yeah. On the veeerrrrry bottom of the page, in teeeeeny-tiny italicized font, there was a blurb about how such purchases could just be a perfectly legitimate exercise of citizens' Constitutional rights. You know - to keep the kooks happy. Lovely.
Okay, now I'm going to drop the sarcastic wiseass routine (for a minute or two, anyway) and vent a little. On the face of things, I get it. People can do a lot of innocent and legal things while preparing to do something not-so-innocent and legal. Look at Timothy McVeigh. But planting the mental suggestion that paying in cash, not thinking you should produce ID to buy freeze-dried food and/or camping matches and/or asking aloud, "Has our government lost its collective freaking mind?!? Somebody needs to get his or her ass kicked for this!" makes one a potential terrorist is offensive, divisive and just plain horseshit, especially given that FEMA itself has been running a years-long "preparedness" campaign. Check out their "ready.gov" website on which they recommend that citizens stock up on items such as... um... a "three-day supply of non-perishable food" and "matches in a waterproof container".
Apparently, someone should report FEMA to the FBI....
Of course, this shouldn't come as any surprise. This is just one more bit of asinine buffoonery which would be comical except for the fact that it costs us all money and underscores the contempt for which our own government holds its citizens, our Constitution and, frankly, common sense.
After Rick Santelli's February 2009 on-air rant in which he called for a modern day tea party to protest out of control government spending, grassroots protests started popping up around the nation. In keeping with the historical taxation theme, many symbols and accoutrements of Colonial American began to surface and the Gadsden flag, which first entered American history in 1775 as adornments of the then-new Naval Marines, became a common standard. It is now the de facto symbol of the Tea Party movement, which - contrary to most distortions by most every media outlet - is comprised of average Americans looking for the government to do less for them and intrude less upon them.
Obviously, this line of thinking is dangerous. And so, in April 2009 (coincidentally, precisely when I attended my first Tea Party rally in Loveland, CO), the Department of Homeland Security released a report on "rightwing extremist activity," warning law enforcement to be on the lookout for white-power militia resurgence and violence. They then tacked on an adjustment to the definition - "rightwing extremism in the United States", it seems, did not just include "racist or hate groups, but also groups that reject federal authority in favor of state or local authority." Wanna guess what appeared in the list of potential "militia symbols"? Yeah. The Gadsden flag. Apparently being a tea party member and/or critical of the government (especially if you were a returning veteran, according to the report) puts you on the same level as the KKK or Aryan Nation in the eyes of the tools at the taxpayer-funded DHS.
Now, somewhere between Janet Napolitano making "extremists" out of people who don't want to be bled dry for wasteful spending and the FBI turning campers, hunters and people taking FEMA's advice into "potential terrorists", we had the ATF's "Operation Fast and Furious/Project Gunrunner" fiasco.
For months, our media had been lamenting how "America's loose gun laws" were to blame for Mexico's violence (which makes about as much sense as blaming crack addiction on Bic lighters) and the Left was again calling for gun control. The problem was, gun control legislation had been a losing proposition and more Americans were realizing that, with forty-nine states allowing concealed carry (thirty-eight of them being "shall issue", meaning you don't need to convince some functionary that you "need" it) and no streets awash with blood from the Old West shootouts the Democrats repeatedly vowed would occur, the old arguments were mostly bullshit. Still, squawked the press, "ninety percent of guns seized in Mexico came from American gun stores"
Again, bullshit. It turned out that "ninety percent" of guns seized by Mexico and turned over to the ATF for tracing had "U.S. origins". Funny, that phrase. The actual number worked out to somewhere around sixteen percent and, unsurprisingly to the American shooting community, it turns out that the grenades, rocket launchers and fully-automatic weapons were coming from deserters from the Mexican military (armed to a large percentage with ordnance provided by the U.S. State Department), seized military and police armories and, frankly, battlefield pickups rather than "Joe's Guns" on the Texas border.
An interesting and tin-foily side note: President Obama assured gun control groups that he was working on things "under the radar". I can't help but wonder....
Anyway, Fast & Furious was exposed when Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was murdered by border smugglers using "F&F" firearms. I'm just now beginning to hear about this in the media but calls for answers have been going on since at least January. The short version is that ATF-Phoenix had been telling border state FFLs, against their objections, to sell to known straw purchasers working for the Mexican drug cartels and even approving federally-mandated background checks for the sales. There was no "sting". There was no physical surveillance. They just told the dealers, "Shut up and sell them the guns."
When the outcry over Agent Terry's death prompted Congressional questioning, the response was contemptuous stonewalling (you should see some of the arrogant response to Congress from the ATF higher-ups). The FFLs themselves came forward with emails they'd sent to the DoJ, essentially asking, "Seriously?!? You want us to let these scumbags walk out with AK47s?!?" Agents came forward, testifying that they were also told to simply shut up and let it happen. Congressional hearings were - and are being - held. Pressure was applied. The story broke. The details came out including, just this week, that over a thousand of those "walked" guns were sent to U.S. cities, where almost sixty of them have turned up at domestic crime scenes, mostly in Arizona. And the result was... the ATF imposed a new regulatory rule, requiring border state FFLs to report sales of two or more semi-automatic rifles of caliber .22 or larger. Because, according to Deputy AG James Cole, ""Federal, state and foreign law enforcement agencies have determined that certain types of semi-automatic rifles... are highly sought after by dangerous drug trafficking organizations and frequently recovered at violent crime scenes near the Southwest Border."
In other words, the ATF imposed further regulation of American citizens based on a crisis they deliberately and actively created at the expense of American lives.
During testimony, our nation's Attorney General, Eric Holder, testified that he'd only heard of the operation "for the past few weeks". Funny, since the fucking DoJ's own website contains a transcript of Eric Holder's speech in Mexico, bragging about Operation Gunrunner by name and talking about expanding the project - in 2009. I recall reading some Yahoo story about a baseball player Roger Clemens facing perjury charges for lying about "performance enhancing drugs" during Congressional hearings. And yet, somehow, AG Holder gets a walk (if you'll pardon the sports pun).
Sigh. It's also since come out that the State Department was funneling arms to Los Zetas gang members and that ATF Tampa was running a similar "Gunrunner" operation, walking guns to MS-13 in Honduras (if you're unfamiliar with them, Google them - a real fun bunch).
So, just out of curiosity, are you a little shocked? A little outraged? Better not exercise your First Amendment rights about it in an Army/Navy store - you might appear "suspicious".
And it doesn't get much better, really. Last year, the EPA added "farm dust" to particulates it can monitor and regulate. Twenty-one senators have written to the regulatory agency to object to the absurdity and yet the ruling stands. Arizona tried to sue them but appears to have lost the case, though their argument included the fact that there's only one monitoring site that registered "exceedances" and four of them at that. Said site, by the way, "sits just south of the Salt River in an industrial area near Broadway Road and 43rd Avenue… the setting - a dry river bed, a landfill, a sand and gravel operation, a row of industrial machinery lots - almost guarantees high (dust) pollution readings…" And guess what? The location of the monitor is solely controlled by the EPA.
Further, today's headlines advised me that the DHS will halt deportation proceedings on a case-by-case basis against illegal immigrants who meet certain criteria such as attending school, having family in the military or are primarily responsible for other family members’ care....The chief beneficiaries of the new guidance are likely to be illegal immigrant students who would have been eligible for legal status under the Dream Act, which stalled in Congress last year."
So, in other words, legislation that was rejected by our supposed representatives is getting jammed into place through regulatory action. Again. Like gun control to address non-existent problems. Like environmental standards that are killing family farms and small business. Like official flyers casting suspicion on fellow citizens without justification.
Yeah.
Drop me a line if you want me to pick up some matches or MREs for you. You can pay me back in cash.
- Keith
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