Traitorous Dissent

They did it

2010-03-21T22:51:00.002-04:00

And I unpledge allegiance to the United States.

Power and Alphas

2010-02-12T10:37:00.001-05:00

I’ve read for weeks now around the net people opining what a “true” alpha is, vis-à-vis the behavior of men.

First, I’m kind of skeptical of oversimplifications such as “Alpha” or “Beta” or the like. They may be useful to describe – broad brush – the behavior of animals. Human behaviors tend to be a bit more complex. I’ll bite, though.

On of the fatal flaws of most of these analysis has been to attempt to insert morality into a descriptor of animal, law of the jungle, behavior. The “Alpha/Beta/Gamma/etc” meme works well in the animal kingdom, as they have no morality. In these analysis, therefore, people have tried to come up with pious pronouncements that “The True Alpha is ____________” (Insert noble descriptor of choice.)

No.

Morality hasn’t got jack or shit to do with it. The “true alpha” is concerned with one thing: Power. That, and the fact that they couldn’t accept a secondary role, even to another, bigger alpha, to save their life. Witness the wolfpack. The Beta who has been Alpha pro tem becomes a beta again when the alpha takes over. When the alpha is overthrown, he goes rogue.

Now, if you want to define the long term success of an alpha, and the ability to win enthusiastic support, even when he is past his physical prime, we have a whole ‘nother conversation. That morality in there, that sense of responsibility, has something to do with that. The right proper son of a bitch, though, is no less an alpha for his lack of those characteristics. Obedience is obedience, even if the motivator is fear. Hell, for that matter, fear of disappointing your alpha, or fear of him ripping your throat out, is still fear.

No matter how well formed the moral compass, though, the pushover is not an alpha. And any alpha big and bad enough can do pretty much as he pleases. Contrary to the fairy tales, the noble and moral smaller and not quite as badass alpha is just going to die at his teeth. He’s a tragic hero whose story is just waiting to be written.

But he’s still a dead, skull being used for a drinking cup by the bad guy, summbitch.

Pray Jesus God your alpha uses his power in a moral and responsible fashion, or attach yourself to alphas who do, but make no mistake – the power is a thing. It is amoral, independent of such considerations.

RAAAAAAACISTS!!!!!!!!!!

2010-01-15T16:07:00.002-05:00

Ever since it came out that Harry Reid was making racist comments, something struck me as off.

And it's not that I don't think he said what he did. It's obvious he's guilty as sin. And it's not that I don't think they aren't racist. They are. But his grovelling to Teleprompter Jesus, Al Sharpton, and the rest of the Race Warlords and Shakedown Artists seemed ... misdirected.

Then it just hit me - maybe ten minutes ago. He doesn't owe them an apology.

He owes ME one.

Well, come to think of it, no. Since I don't vote a straight Far-left Democratic ticket, I'm hopelessly racist, sexist, homophobic, evil Xian Skinhead, yadda, yadda, yadda. I mean, c'mon - the only thing you need to do to be a part of the VRWC is to go against a party line lockstep. We've seen it a hundred times.

What Harry Reid said is that white people who voted for BHO would not have voted for a Dark-Skinned guy who had a Negro accent. That's right, sports fans, if you are a white Obama voter, you'd have never voted for your Jesus if he had darker skin, and wasn't able to "talk white."

This is what Dingy Harry said - Barack was electable because he was light skinned and could turn the Black accent on and off. If this is true, a Dark Skinned black guy ho couldn't "hide his accent" would be unelectable. You can reach no other conclusion.

God, I never knew you Obama voters were such .... RAAAAAAAAAAAAACISTS!!!!!!!

!!!!

I mean, you must be - Harry Reid took you to the woodshed with that comment, and made you his bitch over it, and ya'll just meekly took it.

Thus Beginneth the Circus

2010-01-08T17:49:00.000-05:00

Judge tosses out most evidence on Gitmo detainee - Chambersburg Public Opinion:

"WASHINGTON—A federal judge has tossed out most of the government's evidence against a tarrorism detainee on grounds his confessions were coerced, allegedly by U.S. forces, before he became a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay."

Gee. Never saw that coming, did we?

Fiscal Responsibility

2010-01-08T15:33:00.003-05:00

It’s got to be paid for.

You have to pay your bills. When all is said and done, all the whooping, hollering, and whining, certain essentials must be paid for. Your rent or mortgage. Your necessary utilities – gas, electric, and water. Insurance. Fuel or other expenses necessary to travel to work. Food. Necessary medicine (Insulin for your diabetes – necessary. Rogaine for your vanity – not so much.) Emergency expenses related to the above.

Everything else is a luxury. It is optional. It is in the column of “Controllable costs.”

It is called living within your means. It’s called being responsible. It’s called being an adult. To not do so is irresponsible and childish. I’ve done it as a private citizen, and as a business owner. When I have failed at it, I have suffered the consequences, including a bankruptcy.

My second marriage could be a parable for this. I married a much younger woman who just could not grasp this simple reality. She wanted new furniture. I told her “We can’t afford it.”

“We can’t afford NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT to!”

So I sat down with her. I took out the bills, my checks, explained we had one income, and went over the budget. We were living hand to mouth with maybe $50 left over at the end of the month. Best financing we could get? $125 a month. Where’s the other $75 going to come from, Samantha?

So, out came the usual feel-good boilerplate of “finding a way.” Okay. Cut cable? Nope, what would she do all day? (Clean the house, hmmm?) Phone? How would I talk to my mother! Entertainment? We need to date as a couple even if we are married! Second job for me? I’ll never see you! Job for her? WHAAAAAAT?!?!?!?!

All left after that was the essentials. And she insisted that we could “juggle bills” and somehow that money would appear through this juggling.

(I’m going to indulge in a short ADD moment here – this will actually work for about 3 or 4 months, until you’re far enough behind on things that you get utility shutoffs, eviction notices, and repo men lurking about)

Fortunately for me, I stuck to my guns. Fortunately I had a buddy tip me off that Samantha told HIS wife she’d get a job just long enough to get the stuff then quit, and I refused to put my name on it. Fortunately I put my furniture in storage, because after I did the same thing on the van “We can’t afford NOOOOOOOOT to” buy, and she turned into a seething ball of resentment and moved out because her gratification wasn’t instant; I had my furniture, and my car when she was getting hers repossessed. And getting evicted.

This is the fundamental reality. Sooner or later, the bill has to be paid.

If the bill isn’t paid, the water gets shut off.

Sooner or later you have the guy from the water company standing on your porch. And no matter how heart-wrenching your sob-story is the response will be the same, to wit: “Damn, buddy, that’s hard. Sooooo… tell you what. I need that in cash, so I will do my disconnects and connects on this block and be back in 45 minutes. Will you have it by then? Because if not, I’m going to have to shut you off.” If you get that much.

And breath can be held, and feet stomped, and howls of “YOU BIG MEANIE!” can shake the heavens, but you’ll be a no-water sad sack in 45 minutes.

Grow up.

I’ve been a service provider. I have been the guy writing the checks, and that’s the cold reality – I have to pay my employees. If you don’t pay your bill, when I hand out the IOUs on payday, I’m going to have people – at best – saying “Dude – you rock to work for … but … There’s a guy who is going to be on my doorstep telling me he needs cash when I get home … sorry…” I have suppliers, vendors, my own rent and utilities and all will tell me the same thing. Make all the “Laws” you want about me not shutting people off. Tell that to my empty and boarded up building, with the notice of a bankruptcy auction tacked on it.

It is that simple. No, it is not EASY. But it is SIMPLE.

Live within your means.

If you have a thousand dollars and spend a thousand and one dollars, you have a deficit. Every day, month, year you do that it gets worse and worse. The key is only spending – tops – a thousand dollars. If you have to take the light-bulb out of your bathroom and pee in the dark to save that dollar, it is what you have to do. If you have to skip that morning coffee one day, it is what you have to do.

At least, that is what a responsible adult does. You pay what you absolutely, positively, have to pay to keep a roof over your head, food in your belly, and the water flowing. All – ALL – else is gravy. And gravy is a la carte, no matter how fervently you wish it otherwise.

You don’t steal from your kid’s piggy bank. You don’t raid their college funds. You don’t lie, cheat, and steal. The very first thing you do is trim expenses. The very first thing. Does this feed me and mine? No. Do I lose my house? No. Do I lose my life, my means of earning a living? No.

All of these must be answered in the here and now. Sing “Glory, Glory, Hallelujah!” all you want and orate about the future, but here’s another cold, hard reality – if the here and now isn’t attended to – what future?

You have to delay gratification. You have to attend to the basics. Yes, your education is important, and those continuing studies are towards that degree, which will increase you income … Well, you can delay that semester now, or you can delay it later. Then instead of worrying about enrolling back in school next year, you can be worrying about that, AND finding a new place to live, AND getting utilities turned on, AND paying the deposit for the same because you got yours turned off before, AND paying the past due, AND getting a new car because yours got repossessed, AND getting a new job to pay for all this because you go fired because you couldn’t get to work because your car got repossessed…

Seeing a pattern here?

Yeah, I know. Your brother is on hard times. His wife ran off with the playboy, and now he and his kids are left holding the bag. That bank card, though, says “Insufficient funds” when you try a withdrawal. You can write a check, it will bounce, then his account will get a fee, and you will be assessed a fee, and you’ll both be that much further in the hole.

Whatever the hard luck pathos is, the answer is the same. The money is not there. Aunt Millie’s dog needs medicine. Your best bud from high school is losing his car. You want to buy your daughter a decent birthday present. The account is empty, the checks are rubber, and if your credit card isn’t over the limit, it still has to be paid in the future.

At the end of the day what you want to do, and what you can do are two entirely different things.

In times of crisis, the here and now is going to have to be attended to or there will be no future, and this means hard and brutal choices on rock-bottom bare essentials.

Your kids will bitch because you have no internet, no cable, and they have to wear Wal-Mart clothes instead of Tommy Hilfinger. No more imported rice – buy the generic. Hamburger instead of steak. Regular instead of premium. Coffee from home instead of Starbucks – or better yet, the free coffee at work. Cancel your magazine subscriptions – read them at the library. Vacation is at home this year. If it doesn’t keep body and soul together and a roof over your head, it is no longer in the budget.

If you spend money somewhere, it comes from elsewhere. We know your son is a piano prodigy. By all means, yes, this must be encouraged. Which day is it going to be then, each week, that you, and your spouse, and your son, and your three other kids go hungry?

No mater what “solution” you propose, you have to answer these questions. You cannot brush them aside. They are not trivial, they are everything. If you cannot answer them, you have no solution.
Mature adults conform to reality.

The salestwerp, the loan officer, everyone else will tell you that “You can’t afford to do without what I am peddling.” In that case, THEY have to answer those questions. If they can’t, you hang up the phone, or you walk out of the store. When I was in business, I told people the same thing – and it was a lie.

You have to tell Little Jimmy to cut lawns and deliver papers to take piano lessons, you have to tell your kids to get jobs and buy their own luxuries, you have to tell Aunt Millie that the case of vodka she buys every month would more than pay for Fido’s medicine, you have to tell your BFF that you can’t co-sign on his Beemer, your daughter is going to have to make do with a birthday card and a $10 gift certificate for Claire’s, and if your wife wants new furniture, she needs to get a job.

The well is dry. If you can’t eat it or burn it to keep warm, it’s an extra. Once more, with feeling: Period, end of story.

We are here now as a nation in that situation, and because we haven’t done that. Every time someone has shown up with a hand out, we’ve written a check – uncritically. Study the sex lives of the Bolivian Fruit Fly? Here’s a check. Instead of a brick-box school, we’ve built architectural wonders. New uniforms for the football team, instead of books, when the old uniforms were just fine. A million dollars for this, when renting that for a fraction would do. Grants for “performance art” that can’t support itself because it’s crap, and nobody will pay to see it. Layers of bureaucracy to take money here, transfer it there, transfer it there, account for it on this that and the other form, and offices and limos for “important people in charge of it.” We lay off 50 teachers to save a million bucks, then spend two million redecorating the new superintendents office. Repaving a road instead of patching it as “make work.” We refuse to police social programs for cheats. We hand out hundreds of billions in corporate welfare to corporations that should die of Economic Darwinism. The Chrysler Bailout? This is the second time for them. Lee Iacocca. Look it up.

Seriously. Vacuums in the market get filled. Who misses Enron? IBM and Compaq no longer exist as personal computer makers – did anyone really notice, outside of the industry? Let. Them. Die.

You seriously going to tell me that White House Jesus, and his whole team of smart, creased pants, impeccably edumacated, best and brightest went through the budget, line by line, and could only find a couple hundred million of waste to cut? Seriously? Hell, I could find damn near that in the municipal budget of any major city. Hell, probably more in a lot of cases. We have that much in “Stimulus Funds” to non-existent zip codes in Podunk states. We’ve places where hundreds an thousands in stimulus funds have been spent to “save or create” negative jobs.

I don’t even need to go all Libertarian with the “Is this program Constitutional?” questions The fact that we collect money for welfare, education, and all kinds of other dubiously constitutional programs and a fraction of it actually winds up as “boots on the ground” is outrageous.

We’ve not come anywhere near it. We’ve not tried. We’ve not even gone through the motions. Peter has been robbed to pay Paul. No, worse yet – Paul has been given an IOU. Social Security – raided. Medicare, and Medicaid – raided. Whenever some tax and spender sees two quarters sitting around unspent, they promise someone a dollar.

A trillion dollars. Any idea just how huge a sum that is? It’s so huge it’s no longer a figure, it’s a statistic.

Do you have any idea how many trillion dollars in hock we are? How many IOUs, and markers, and ”I’ll get to you on Friday” we have out there? We’ve pawned our country to the heathen Chinee.

“Well, where can we save?!?!” the spendthrifts wail. Well, number one, treat your country like your household. Like your own business. Hire your National managers with the same care you’d hire a manager for your business.

You have to divide “want” and “need.” How? Well, how about the damn Constitution, for starters? Remember that pesky thing? Article I, Section 8. That is need. All else is want. Once you have done that, start cutting out “want” and prioritize it. Spend smart. Be stingy.

Stingy? What?

Let’s take a real life example. Your morning paper and Starbucks. If you can afford it, great. But do you have any idea how much you’d save by reading your paper online and making your coffee at home?

Well over a thousand dollars.

I can buy an in-town beater for that. Insure it twice over. Fill the tank up once a week for six months. Pay a mortgage payment. Or two. That’s a whole mess of credit hours at most state colleges for in-state tuition.

Coffee. And a newspaper. Just so happens I was at a government office not too long ago, and say three copies of the paper, and two coffee pots. I have installed office furniture. I know a $1500 cubicle when I see one, and also know what a $300 filing cabinet looks like, and a $300 chair. I also know I can get a desk, chair, and filing cabinet for about $300 at Sam’s club. And a 300 naked cubicle. Multiply $1500 savings by the number of employees by the number of offices. You do the math. Better yet, rent the space. No overhead in maintenance.

This is just the top of my head. And yeah “Well, that’s only…” Your Starbucks and Times is only 4 bucks a day, too, and that adds up rather tidily.

So have we done that much? Well, in fact, since this was within the past couple of weeks, I can say with a certainty, “No, we sure as fuck haven’t.”

Ever worked in government or academia? Well, at least State-run academia? I have. And one of the great games is the every fiscal quarter/half year/ year of “Holy shit, we have to spend the rest of the budget!” And it never goes to more services. It goes to crap. Just to spend it, because God Forbid we don’t, we might then get less the next time & then the director’s genitals would become smaller. How the hell is this?

WTF?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Why aren’t you angry? And I am not talking pressing your lips together annoyed, I’m talking pitchforks, torches, tar and fathers furious.

How many people don’t get services due to lack of funds? Why is it that most welfare cheats would be white people, but talk of policing it results in cries of “WAAAAAAAAAACIST!”?

I don’t care what your political stripe is, this report is footnoted and cited: http://www.heritage.org/research/Budget/wm2642.cfm And it doesn’t even scratch the surface. There are BILLIONS in it. BILLIONS. And other examples on the internet are Legion. Google “Government Waste” or “government fraud” or “government waste and fraud.” Don’t take my word for it.

This has not been done. At any time. In the past twenty years. Though it is promised each and every election cycle. By EITHER party, and no, I’m not particularly interested in hearing the usual sniveling Republicrat “They did it too” or “She did it first!” It’s crap. It’s criminal. And then people want to raise my taxes?

Rope. Tree. Politician.

Some assembly required.

Liberty 101

2010-01-07T16:43:00.001-05:00

It is always best, I think, to work from a foundation, and build from the ground up. To that end, I?m going to be posting political philosophy in that fashion.

Liberty 101.

Most people, methinks, are scared of freedom. True, honest to God, LIBERTY makes them lay awake at night and wet the bed. Liberty means responsibility for yourself. It means that the logical consequence of personal liberty ? going hand in hand with profiting from your good choices ? includes taking your lumps from your bad ones.

Liberty is not Anarchy. And I am not speaking of the Marxist ?anarchists? throwing crap during the G8 summit. Anarchy is a specific philosophy that postulates existing without a government, withal human interaction on a voluntary basis. Like communism ? sounds nice on paper, but is crackpot and utopian. It requires the belief in more than one miracle to make it reality. The failings of it are legion, and I have come to the conclusion that only whackjobs believe in it.

Hence, I won?t debate it. It is the most fruit-loopy proposition I have ever heard, and until I can get even one Anarchist to give me satisfactory answers to my questions, if you disagree, you?re a moron. I can?t help you.

People are social animals, and for them to live together require rules, laws. These can be detailed, or minimalist. If you?ve ever had room-mates, this will be obvious to you. I have been in a roomie situation with anal-retentive, OCD control freaks and frankly I?d rather have checked into Dachau. Screeching fits over the order the laundry detergent and the bleach went on the shelf, toilet paper over or under, or whether to leave the forks pointing up or down. Honestly, I think I?d have had less of a fit if I had slammed their door open and viciously sodomized them, unless, of course, I?d wiped my dick off on the guest towels.

At the other end, though, is anarchy. The guy who won?t keep his room clean. Who won?t clean up after her un-housebroken cur. Who won?t wash dishes after use. Who won?t discipline their kids. Who won?t buy their own toothpaste. Or toothbrush.

Ground rules. On X date we go pay our communal bills, anyone who doesn?t is bitch-boy until they do. Living room, kitchen, bathroom, and laundry are public areas to bekept clean and in order. Personal rooms are sacrosanct so long as no vermin or leasebreaking activities goes on. All meals are private arrangements. Everyone has five totes of X size that can be used in the common storage. Put a sock or tie on the doorknob and keep it down if you are ? entertaining. Division of chores in X fashion. Disputes settled like so. Break the rules enough and expect to be invited to leave and replaced.

Congratulations. You?ve made a government.

(This is why anarchy doesn?t work. I?ve lived three guys and no rules, and it was a fucking disaster.)
No I don?t care if you smoke the weed in your own room. I do care if you sell it or buy it here, because the next thing you know, I?m handcuffed on the couch while the police search the place and tear my $300 speakers apart looking for pot. I do care if you smoke it in the common area, because when my sainted mother walks in, she?ll think I?m a pothead. And if you get stopped, and busted for having dope, no, I am not obligated to bail your dumb ass out, or even pick you up from the Crowbar Hotel when you are RoR?d.

Girls Gone Wild on your own TV in your own room ? your business. In the public room? Different story.

I don?t care if you worship Satan in the basement. Put a tarp down to catch the blood, and dispose of the goat carcass when you are through. And if your cultists drink my imported beer, it had better be replaced, and cold, when I want one.

My TV and easy chair? Colts are playing, or Buffy is bouncing her perky little butt on TV, and it?s mine. And if you spill your beer on my chair, you clean it, but sure, you can use it. Except to watch MSNBC. Don?t like it? Fine, it?ll be in my room or in storage. No skin off my ass.

Mind your own business and keep your hands to yourself.

Do as you will so long as it involves only yourself.

Now someone might be appalled that I am blase about Andy being a devil worshipper, but hey ? Andy?s rent is never late, he soundproofed the basement on his own nickel, and the cops have never come here to investigate reports of goat-stealing. I just don?t give a fuck. I?ve never smelled or seen him smoke dope, and after he cranks one off to GGW, he cleans up and disposes of it discreetly. I have similar disinterest in what you do ? so long as it doesn?t present an obstacle to me living my own life, discretely; nor picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg.

The only thing we split is rent, heat, power, and water. Those are the NEEDS. Internet and Satellite and Cable and Telephone ? those are WANTS. We might all agree ? or not. You all want to go cheap and get DSL ? go for it. I want cable in my room. No, no landline for me ? a cell is all I need. And if you two can?t afford your deluxe package without me ? well, sucks to be you. Tell you what, split the cost of cable with me, or get the basic package. Not my fucking problem.

Why should I be free to do this? Because I don?t buy gourmet or convenience foods. I don?t eat out all the time. I work full time. I don?t have 5 magazine subscriptions, belong to a coffee club, and so on and so forth. This is why I get to have an internet connection I attach to my system with a pipe wrench.

This is a free society on a micro scale. Take care of basic NEEDS communally, and wants are your own issue. Do what you want in your own demesne (room). Respect personal property, and public property as if it belonged to someone else.

It?s not that hard. We can demand an emergency collection for funds to exterminate the roaches that have invaded from the slob of a neighbor. That is legitimate. Subsidizing your medicine cabinet because you?re a hypochondriac? I don?t think so, buttercup.

This is what this society was supposed to be. The federal government as the development corporation for the subdivision ? certain basic rules. Each state and apartment complex or collection of condos in there, with further rules. Cites different buildings. Filtering on down. Don?t like the rules? Don?t like Andy the Satanist? Get different roomies. You want your utensils arranged just so in the dishrack? Get like minded roomies ? or your own apartment.

But for God?s sake, stop trying to pass laws that say ?Everyone who lives here must put their toilet paper ?over? the roll!? It?s none of your goddamn business.

Liberty is give and take, and forgetting this is the beginning of fascism. No, you don?t have to live your life according to someone?s vision for their life. Likewise is true for them. If you think people should have the right to do X, Y, and Z ? I am all for it. Go for it! You want to think people who don?t are close-minded knuckleheads and disassociate with them? Not go to their cookout, or invite them over for yours? Go for it! You want to make a rule against A, B, and C in your little apartment? Knock yourself out! You want to think people who allow it are hedonists and libertines and not let your kids go over to their building to play? Bully for you!

And they likewise have the same right to do so with YOU. No matter who you are, or how ?enlightened? and ?progressive?or ?Salt of the Earth? you think you may be, someone, somewhere, has the perfect right to think you?re a shitstain on humanity and not want to put up with your dumb ass. And you have no ? ZERO ? right to push it on them. I don?t care who you are, what your issue is, or which side of it you?re on; and no, I?m not going to weigh in on whether or not the law should read ?All toilet paper in this subdivision should go over the roll? or ?All toilet paper should go under the roll? because none of you stupid bastards should be making a law about it to begin with.

And if we had a lot more of the notion of ?Sod off, you ?tards in Bugtussle, Iowa have no business, no should you be concerned, about what the ?tards in West Nowhere, Nebraska are doing.? we?d all be a lot better off.

And to be blunt, so long as everyone is ?Keeping it in their room,? not picking pockets or breaking legs in the doing, if you disagree you?re nothing but a goddamn Nazi.

Get your own roomies. That is what the great experiment of the states was intended ? you don?t like it here, you have an out ? loading up your property, and moving. Or working to change it. Or cowboying up and dealing with it. And if, in the great long term your way is better, social Darwinism will let you do your ?Told you so? dance of superiority. And if not, it?s humble pie for you.

And for the life of me, the only reason I can see for people resisting this is a deep seated fear that they will be eating pie.

It may very well be time

2010-01-03T22:04:00.001-05:00

Where do you start with something like this?

NAGR Gun Rights Blog (Hat tip to Grim)

It may be time.

I hope to Hell Tennessee summons a pair, and puts the BATF on notice that any attempt to unconstitutionally infringe on the lawful rights of sovereign Tennessee citizens will be met with the full force of law that the sovereign state of Tennessee can bring to bear, up to and including the National Guard. And those agents would be prosecuted, and imprisned, as would those who ordered it.

And that if the BATF didn't like it, they were cordially invited to no longer operate in the State of Tennessee.

Yes. I do realize what that state doing that would imply. I would be with them.

Starblazers

2010-01-02T20:19:00.000-05:00

Yes. It is a geek moment.

Laws and Lawbreakers

2010-01-02T20:09:00.000-05:00

I could call myself a pretty law-abiding guy, with proper respect for the law. It could legitimately be debated.

Crimes against persons and property?   Hells yes. I'm on board. Law against dumping your used oil on your property where it is going to leach into the soil, the water table, and spread? Yeah. Laws against changing your oil on your own property? Not so much. You want to build a house? Okay - codes exist for a reason, yes there is a gas main running through the area you intend to dig a basement. There is a reason. Your house catches fire because you used cheap kindling? Chicago fire, anyone? There is a reason. A clothesline? A permit? Seriously?

And don't get me started on victimless crimes. I do care if you're driving coked to th gills. If you're wasting your life in the privacy of your own home, and not bothering anyone, my giveadamnometer doesn't even twitch. Put me on a jury, and I will vote "not guilty" sheerly because it hasn't been demonstrated that someone was actually hurt - well, beyond the sensibilities of some Puritan nanny-stater.   Hell, for that, I'd give a medal to somone who could figure a way to make them wail and gnash their teeth 24-7. Their sensibilities should be offended as often as possible.

But I'm not an anarchist. Some things are illegal for genuinely good reasons. People are tangibly and indisputeably harmed. Property is destroyed. Freedoms encroached. National security threatened. Fraud. Theft. Hell yes, bring the hammer down.

But I just don't care how someone conducts their private life - so long as it is private. Believe in no gods or twenty gods, until it breaks someone's leg or picks their pocket, live your life according to your own morality - or lack thereof - and good luck with that.   If someone goes into business, the only thing I care about is fraud. If you don't want to accomodate wheelchairs or have handicapped parking, and are willing to write off that segment of public business - and the people your unconcern will piss off - your business. To succeed or fail at. Piss off enough people, and you will fail. We don't need "A Law." To quote a wise man of my acquaintance "Stupidity is generally self correcting."

Harm. And hurt feewings aren't harm, they are a call to suck it up and get therapy. Same thing with some pissy sense of outrage that someone is living a life contrary to your personal moral compass, and prospering. Wah, wah, wah. Cry me a goddamn river. And get a life. If that is your biggest cconcern, find the nearest church, get down on your knees, and thank The Good Lord you have it so well. I will trade you worries, believe me, because then I will have none.

And, in the words of my grandpappy, then you'll have something real to be a crybaby about.

There's the foundation. So, if we have something illegal - FOR A GOOD AND STATED, TANGIBLE, REASON - enforce the law. It is not that hard. Your county asks, before you put up a building, to make sure it is placed where it won't damage utilities, that it is constructed soundly so it won't burn down and get the fire department called if someone lights a match when a mouse farts, that your sewage is actualy going to the sewer, and so on - DO IT. If they say you can't paint it green, I will be on your side. I'll eve help you paint it green in hopes that your defiance gives some asshat a coronary. But saying to you, "no, you can't build it two feet away from your neighbor's house because if yours catches fire the whole neighborhood goes up" is not out of line.

My neighbor is annoyed with me because I asked them to move their trampoline. It's not the balls landing in my yard that bothers me - it's the kids landing in my yard. If you don't care if your kids break their necks, I don't either. I just don't want, when it happens, for the coroner to be trampling my begonias. Nor to have to deal with the inevitable ambulance chaser who is going to want to sue me because your kid's friends launched themselves into my yard, are now vegetables, and since your are dirt poor, renting, white trailer trash you have no money to take and I do. Screw that.

Okay, Ground Rules

2010-01-02T20:01:00.000-05:00

I keep it simple....

I'm a firm believer in free speech. You have an opinion, by all means, voice it and be prepared to back it up Crying about being shouted down doesn't cut it - either you can hack it or you can't. If you can't, you're a pussy.

If someone says racist or other bigoted shit - bad on them. I'm not going to police this blog for assholes. If I don't delete them, it doesn't mean I agree with them. In fact, I see a distinct bnefit in allowing a moron to speak at length so as to remove all doubt that they are a moron. Plus I know where they are and what they are doing.

Actionable shit on me will be deleted.

Revealing personal information about anyone else who comments here gets the banhammer.

Trolls: Unlike Leftist blogs, disagreeing with me isn't trolling. Trolling is trying to start arguments, and perpetuating them by not fighting fair.    So here's what Fair Fighting is: You make an assertion, you can expect to back it up. I did take logic, so yes,you can prove a negative, so that dodge doesn't work (And this means the old trick of "God Doesn't Exist!" "On what do you base that claim?" "Bluster/Huff I don't have to prove anything, I made no claims!!!!" doesn't fly. Yes, you did. If you made a global negative generalization that is unprovable, that is your logic bad.

Also, please do not forget inductive and abductive reasoning. Relying solely on deductive Aristotelian syllogisms is the sign of an amateur, and of an inferior mind.

So I will ban trolls whe they become pointless.

I will also ban annoying and whiney people. Just because I don't like them.

Anti-Semites are the scum of the Earth. If you are a holocaust denier, OR if you do not believe in Israel's absolute right to defend themselves and exist as a Jewish state, within their current borders, you are an anti-Semite.

I will put up with flat-earthers and HIV as the cause of AIDS deniers before I will put up with the pseudo-science of Anthropogenic Glowbull Climate Change. Same with Gender-as-a-construct retards. It's disproven. It's a hoax. It's politics masquerading as science.

Keynesian Economics are bullshit. If you believe in them, you're an idiot. And you probably eat your young.

Yes, it is perfectly possible to believe in a big-bang event, evolution, et al, and believe a God or Gods set it in motion. It's called a "First Cause." In fact, I find it a lot more of a leap of faith to accept a first effect without a cause. I guess I just don't have the faith required to be an atheist.

Oh, on that note, I count myself a recovering atheist. Like I said in the intro, I wasn't the fun kind, either, I was as anti-Christian as you could get, and a card carrying member of American Atheists. I know all the tricks of expressing anti-christian bigotry with plausible deniability. Probably helped write a few. If you don't believe God has any power over you, prove it to me by not recoiling like a vampire at the notion of writing His name, Crucifixes, et al.

No, I have no interest in converting you. Because, honestly, I really don't give a fuck if you go to Hell.

I've seen the numbers on "Hate Crimes." Put out by the FBI. So I don't respect the culture of victimhood, climb down off your cross, and stop being a pussy. Or a self-hating caucasian. Non-whites, Gays, Transsexuals, Pagans, etc. etc. etc.- you're not living in a "As Bad As The Holocaust!" time or place, take a Midol.

George Bush has been out of the Oval Office for a year. It's time to stop using him as a whipping boy and put on the big girl panties. Man up. For someone who ran on a platform of "Change!" I'm sick of hearing either of the weak and lame excuses of "Well he did it too!" Or "We've got to make HIS mess worse before we can fix it." Pussies and bedwetters. You ran as Messiah, Barry, now walk on some water.

Socialism has failed. Every. Time. It. Has. Been. Tried.   Yes, the right people have tried it, and tried it the right way. It does not work. And no, we don't have a free market. We haven't had one since the progressives started encroaching on it at the turn of the last century.

Yes, I'm aware the Republicans were the progressive voice then. And? Hello? Libertarian, remember?   You Republicrats with your "He did it too!" and "She did it first!" are tiresome, childish, and petulant. Grow up. I have degrees in history. Try your propaganda with the uneducated.

Only the government can censor. The New Decade doesn't start till 2111. To "Decimate" something is to reduce it by 1/10th. And so on, and so forth. My 11 year old neice knows these things - of course, she is not a victim of Publik Thkule. Are you smarter than a 6th grader? Show it. Use words properly.

How many witches did the church burn in Salem? None. The Church Burned HERETICS in Europe, and Puritans hung Christian people they accused of witchcraft in Salem. Again, I have degrees in history. Try your propaganda with the uneducated.

Yes, I wish to fuck the conservatives would get mean and take over the Republican party. If I can't have the five to seven parties I'd love to have, at least give me a contrast besides the "New Money Rich White Socialist Party" and the "Old Money Rich White Socialist Party." I am personally of the "I work hard for my money and barely make ends meet as it is so stop taking it from me to fund your already over-budget vote buying schemes" party. Assholes.

No respect for Political Correctness or the adherents thereof. I often take a secret glee in winding them up, too. I think the easily offended should be offended, as it is The Lord's Work.

I am against using the arm-twisting of government for social engineering, period. Just because I think a thing shouldn't be a criminal act, don't assume I approve of it. One of my guiding principles is that everyone should be free to be both wrong and stupid, and everyone should be free to have zero to do with anything they disapprove of. For example, I am a Catholic, and if you want to be an anti-catholic bigot and have nothing to do with me, or my business, you should have that right. So long as I can go into a court and get equal treatment, I care not a fig what your private life or private business does. And I want me, and everyone else to have that same freedom. For that reason, I may agree with your goals (in general) but not want shit to do with your methods.

I don't lay awake at night fretting, worrying, and wetting the bed over the fact that someone who has made different moral choices than me might not only survive, but flourish and prosper. Anyone who does, is, IMO, a pussy.

Once upon a time I donated to both the State and National branches of the ACLU. Then I found a love for ALL of the Bill of Rights.

Anything else - I will let you know.

Happy New Year

2010-01-02T12:41:00.000-05:00

New year, new blog, new slate. Those who know who I am, welcome back. Those who don't, welcome.

Those easily offended, get over yourselves. And quickly, too. You won't last long.

If you don't like what I have to say here, I have one rule - kiss my ass. I have zero patience for candy-asses who won't back their opinions up, and insist that others be silenced. If you claim freedom from offense, you're nothing but a goddamn fascist. Roll up your sleeves and wade in. Or shut the fuck up. Either way, grow a pair.

Imma be loathe to use the words "Conservative" and "Liberal" here, mainly because most people who claim to be conservative, aren't; and most American Liberals (As opposed to classical liberals) do everything in their power to avoid be identified for the bottom feeding Marxists they are. So, I'm calling a spade a spade, and if you're a statist, right wing, big government liberal don't think I am on your side.

I was raised a Scoop Jackson, populist Democrat. I never could stomach the Country Club, snobbish, progressivist Republican Elitist asstards. Nixon was scum, Ford was a Boob - and then came Jimmy Carter with his drooling incompetence and the takeover of the Democratic party with Far Left extreme elitists. I parted ways with the Democrats, worked briefly for John Anderson, and threw my support behind Reagan, especially when I prospered. I even backed Bush I until he betrayed his "no new taxes" pledge, and the travesty that was the Contract With America (And the devolution of the Republicans back to their snobbish eelitism and tax'n'spending) sealed by departure from the Republicans. Since then, every time the Libertarian party has fielded a candidate in any election I have voted for them.

With the sad exception of my 2008 lesser-of-two-evils vote for McSame. In the future I vote for Cthulhu and refuse to settle for the lesser evil.

Any other political details from me you'll learn. I reject the political binary, and chances are I don't THINK the same way as you, or value "my-teamism" like the political ignorati does.

No, I'm not all white. I pass, but I'm part Indian. Lenni-Lenape. Leftists, get your racial slurs in order for a non-liberal minority, m'kay?

I'm very traditionalist, Latin Mass, Roman Catholic. I'm also a recovering atheist. And not the fuzzy, fun kind, either, so a lot of you anti-Christian bigot aren't going to fool me with your "I just don't believe in all religions equally" tripe. It'd be like trying to hide your racism from a former member of the Ku Klux Klan.

And, yes, I do read and listen to people to whom I disagree profoundly with on a variety of issues. In context, too. Don't try your shit there, either. I paid a lot of money to listen to Air Amerika so I could know what the enemies of God and Man were really saying.

Oh - I cannot stand Teleprompter Jesus. See, here's the thing - I never voted for Clinton. Didn't vote for Bush or Dol, either - but he was the president. Except for a scant few of my Republican friends, no matter how much they gritted their teeth, they said "President Clinton." Then came Bush. Didn't vote for him, or Gore, or Kerry; so he wasn't "my guy" either.

Lost quite a few Liberal friends who cut me off when they found I did not vote for the Democrat. And I never heard one call him "President Bush." (And now that Chocolate Jesus is in the Oval Office, some what to be buds again - FOAD, motherfuckers.)

So - you get treated as you treat others. So since leftist democrats won't recognize someone as "President Smith" when it isn't their guy, likewise I will not refer to Teh Magickal Negro by the Executive Honorific. Nor will I stand, or even fly the flag at half mast if something happens to him. (Though I may do it if that certifiable retard, Vice-President Insurance Policy, takes the oath of office.)

Now, as to the title - Hillary Clinton one time famously screeched words about hw patriotic dissent is. Now, shills for Chicago Jesus are talking about how un-american and traitorous it is. So I am cutting that fabric into a 3 piece suit, with two pairs of trousers, and wearing it proudly. If dissenting makes me a traitor, then I wear it proudly. Extremism in the service of Liberty is no vice.

And if you don't like it, lump it.

Rules and positions to follow, along with periodic rants, funny shit, and links to my buds.