Jan 27 2009

Madness Pelosi-style

Category: abortion,freedom,government,parenthoodamuzikman @ 2:44 am

Yesterday Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, announced that birth control (read as “abortion”) funding would be a part of the Obama economic stimulus package.

Well, the family planning services reduce cost. They reduce cost. The states are in terrible fiscal budget crises now and part of what we do for children's health, education and some of those elements are to help the states meet their financial needs. One of those - one of the initiatives you mentioned, the contraception, will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government.

So, according to Pelosi, the birth rate should be controlled for financial reasons.  Too many new babies could overwhelm our already stretched state budgets.

Well, I spent some time thinking about her comments and I think I may be able to go one better. Perhaps a lottery system could be put into place.  Those individuals (we don’t really say “families” any more) wishing to have a baby would have to register with the State of California Birth Lottery.  In fact, as another cost-saving measure we can have the California State Lottery run the birth lottery as well.  A scratcher could be included with each pregnancy test sold.  Scratch off to reveal 3 matching pictures of Pelosi and win the right to have a baby.

Of course there is also the Big Spin – but with the Birth Lottery we can call it the Big Insemination.  There will even be three “Twins” slots. But don’t let the ball land in a N.O.W. slot or you’ll have to get an abortion, paid for by the California Birth Lottery, of course!

Think of how easy it will be to control the state population – simply alter the odds of winning by changing the rules as needed.  And think of how much more lottery money will come in as those young couples purchase tickets by the thousands hoping for one of the lucky few birth licenses available.

Of course this is just the beginning.  If Pelosi thinks economic stimulus should include birth control, how much longer do you suppose we’ll have to wait before we see on-line Euthanasia Poker.  After all, if we’re doing this to reduce the financial burden for states then by all means let’s help keep those Medical and Medicare budgets in line by simply killing old people, terminal patients, and the mentally ill.  Most of the health care money is spent ion those types of patients and the action should result in considerable savings.  Remember – It’s about money, not life.

Yesiree, Euthanasia Poker should come shortly after nationalized health care.  When the government starts paying for health care then you know they’ll have to start making decisions about who should get care and who shouldn’t.  After all, the states are in a “terrible fiscal budget crisis now”.  One can’t expect EVERYONE to get the care they need – it’s just not realistic!  So brush up on your Texas Hold Em, if you don’t have a pair of jacks or better you might just be forced to “fold” and proceed directly to the Soylent Green line.

Do you think this sounds far fetched?  Me too. Except after hearing Pelosi yesterday you must admit it’s not out of the question.  NOTHING is out of the question these days.

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Jan 22 2009

Will the USA have to learn Britain’s lesson the hard way?

Category: Europe,freedom,gunsharmonicminer @ 10:44 am

Freedom has eroded in Britian, bit by bit, for 20-30 years now. Britain does not have anything approximating our Constitution… essentially the Parliament can make nearly any law it chooses, subject only to whatever the politicians believe will keep them in office.  It is a true tyranny of the majority, with little in the way of checks and balances, or constitutionally mandated protections of minority positions.   Britain has laws against certain kinds of speech, laws that would never stand under the First Amendment of the USA, it has banned most guns (and had an enormous rise in crime as a result), it has sold out many aspects of its sovereignty to the Europeans, and so on. At the same time, Britian is in real danger of losing its very identity as a nation.  Here’s a window on how some middle class British are feeling about it now:

The British called – They want their guns back!

Will we make the same mistakes?  I’m not optimistic, given how the recent election went, with Democrats winning big by promising to do the very things the British now regret, from nationalized health care to gun restrictions masquerading as crime prevention.

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Jan 07 2009

What Price Victory?

Category: freedom,gay marriage,judges,libertyamuzikman @ 11:34 am

In California, the passage of Proposition 8, defining marriage as between a man and a woman, is being challenged and is now before the California Supreme Court.  This is the very same court that struck down the first protection of traditional marriage, Proposition 22, passed in 2000.  In that case four members of the court overruled a 61.4% voting majority and declared the proposition unconstitutional.  In my opinion there is very little reason to think it won’t happen again.  What is of great concern to me is the outcry, the lobbying and the expectation of so many in this state seeking to obtain through the court system what they couldn’t get through the ballot box.  Both the California Governor and Lieutenant Governor have joined the chorus of those expressing hope that Prop 8 will be overturned by the court.  It has become common and sadly acceptable for the losers in a election to plan and execute a reversal of results by means of the court system and sympathetic judges.

I know this is a very hot-button issue.  But regardless of your opinion about gay marriage step back and think about this for a moment.  Is there any more precious right we have as citizens of this country than to vote?  Is liberty and freedom better expressed anywhere than in the voting booth?  Yet we seem to be perfectly fine with giving the most undemocratic, the most unaccountable and the most unrepresentative branch of government broad sweeping powers to make and change the Constitution as they see fit, taking the right away from us, the voters, We the People.

The people of California have spoken clearly twice in the last decade.  The voting majority want marriage to be defined as one man and one woman. Every vote by definition has a winner and a loser.  But if the loser can manipulate a system whereby they become the winner then does it not make the voting process a sham?

If Prop 8 is overturned the political left, the gay lobby, their sympathizers and supporters will be dancing in the streets. But if you look very closely you’ll see their dancing feet are trampling one of our most cherished and basic rights. And if that does happen then I will have one question…

Why bother to vote?

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Nov 12 2008

The Foundation for Economic Education

Category: economy,education,freedomharmonicminer @ 1:48 am

One of my favorite sites is the Foundation for Economic Education.

There’s a small joke involved:  access to the site is FREE, but the url is http://www.fee.org/.

Get it?  OK, I’m amused by small things.

Anyway, I’ll be adding a link to this place in my blogroll soon, and I urge you to visit and read, often.

Just skulk around.  Click here and there.  Read a bit.  It will be worth your while in understanding two critical things:

1)  How the USA got so rich

and

2)  How it can become much poorer

And once you understand these two things, you have some idea of how we can help societies that are now poor to become richer.

I’m for that.

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Nov 08 2008

What Really Matters

Category: freedom,libertyamuzikman @ 12:54 am

In all the hype. hoopla, and hyperbole of these tumultuous days it might be a good thing to stop for a brief moment and reflect on what really matters.  What runs through your mind at the end a long, hard day when you finally plop down in your easy chair or relax on the back porch swing?  With what do you really concern yourself after the dishes are done, the homework has been completed and the kids are in bed?  In the late night solitude after everyone has gone to bed and there’s no one but you and the dog what do you think about?

For me it always comes back to my kids.  I pray for them daily.  I hope for them.  I worry for them and I cheer for them.  I want them to be happy, safe, well, and secure.  I want them to know God.  I want them to walk with God and live a life of faith.  I want them to be strong, men and women of conviction and moral courage, principled, brave and caring.

I want my kids to live in a world that cherishes, protects, defends and upholds life.

I want them to be successful, dream as big as they want and pursue the passion of their hearts.  I want them to live in a world in which hard work and dedication are rewarded.  I want them to be self-reliant, confident, and free.

I want my kids to understand the great and noble principles upon which our great country was founded.  I want them to appreciate those who gave their lives for the cause of the very freedom we all enjoy.

Have these hopes and dreams gone “out of style”?  Are we now to abandon our noble and precious birthright for what Deitrich Bonnhoeffer called “a mess of pottage”.  Well if by “change” one means to leave these virtues in favor of something else then I must say “no thank you”, no matter what the “something else” may be, and no matter how smooth and enticing the offer.  I’ll take a pass on that “change”, thank you very much.

I’m starting to understand how Moses felt.

“…I have been a stranger in a strange land.”  Exodus 2:22

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Nov 02 2008

Fascist USA?

Category: election 2008,freedomharmonicminer @ 12:25 pm

From a comment I left at azusapacificalumni.com.

Assuming there is a considerable affinity between socialists of all stripes, nationalistic and internationally oriented, and assuming the line of relationships detailed in “Liberal Fascism” by Jonah Goldberg, what are the differences between baseline USA culture now and German or Italian culture in 1920s and 1930s?  I’m sure there are some, but one similarity is that both were in the throes of severe economic upheaval, and both were prey to charismatic leaders who promised to fix everything and make it better, with “a chicken in every pot” populism as the sales strategy, masking totalitarian intentions.

Continue reading “Fascist USA?”

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Oct 29 2008

William Wallace Was The First Reagan Conservative

Category: freedom,liberty,Obamaamuzikman @ 12:53 am

A little thought just popped into my head.  I was trying to figure out how to put into words what I’ve been feeling about the upcoming election and I think I may have a working metaphor.  Forgive me if you think this overly melodramatic but I must admit I have been most profoundly affected by this presidential election and the choice of possible outcomes.  The reason probably lies with concern for my kids and the kind of world they stand to inherit.

Anyway…. I was just thinking of the movie, Braveheart.  The scene is very near the end of the movie as William Wallace, after being betrayed and captured, lies bound to a table, helpless before his executioner in the public square.  As he is being tortured, (methodically disemboweled) before facing the guillotine, he musters up all he has left and with his last breath he utters a mournful, plaintive and defiant cry of, “Freedom!”

Will it be thus for The United States of America?  I have truly come to believe an Obama presidency will result in the dismemberment of our dear country as we know it.  For we are about to exchange liberty for “change” and it is clear to me that the “change” of which Obama speaks is not freedom but a governmental yoke, hung about the head and shoulders of every citizen.  And there are those with whom this has apparently found favor, the only requirement being that everyone else is also equally yoked.

Freedom carries with it the opportunity to succeed and the potential to fail. Apparently, faced with a large enough number of recent failures, our country now wants to turn away from freedom. Perhaps this is because we think the price is too high. Perhaps we are tired or lost and seek the comfort of the yoke, for when we are shackled together we won’t have to make any more decisions on our own, rather we can just pull the cart and let someone else decide where to go.  We can walk when we are told, stop when we are told, eat when we are fed, sleep when the sun goes down and never ever have to worry about anyone wandering away or, heaven forbid, going ahead of the rest of the herd.

But like that scene in the movie, I do hear a cry in these final days before the vote  – a cry of “freedom!” and a warning that our very freedom as a people is at stake in this election.  For it is freedom and liberty that has made this country great and it will be the surrender of freedom through the election of Barack Obama that may signal the final curtain for America.

Patrick Henry once declared, “Give me liberty or give me death”.  I think he would be shocked to find his famous utterance has been drowned out by so many other voices.  “Give me healthcare!” Give me bailout money!” Give me my house back!” Give me citizenship!” “Give me an abortion!”

Give me the yoke!

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Oct 26 2008

What free expression? The Left suppresses free speech on Prop 8

Category: election 2008,freedom,leftharmonicminer @ 9:00 am

I am voting YES on Proposition 8 in California.  It is the Proposition to define marriage as existing only between one man and one woman.

Continue reading “What free expression? The Left suppresses free speech on Prop 8”

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Oct 22 2008

Not new, but probably true

Category: freedom,philosophy,politicsharmonicminer @ 9:39 am

I was reminded of this at azusapacificalumni.com

About the time our original thirteen states adopted their new constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of Athenian Republic some 2000 years earlier: “A democracy is always temporary in nature: it simply cannot exist as a pemanent form of government.”
“A democracy will continue to exist up until the time voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury.”

Continue reading “Not new, but probably true”

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Sep 16 2008

Maybe I Just Don’t Get It

Category: economy,freedom,housingamuzikman @ 9:48 pm

I have had a home mortgage of some sort since 1980. In the 28 years since my first loan I have sold property and I have bought property. I have refinanced home loans more times than I can remember. I have made money in real estate and I have lost money (a lot of money), in real estate. I have had loans that were labeled as “creative financing”. (This formerly often-used term can be freely interpreted as “You-can’t-really-afford-it-but-we’ll-think-of-something financing”). I have taken risks with loans – betting (and hoping) that real estate values would continue to rise, knowing I would be in serious trouble if they did not. I have faced “balloon payments”. In short I have made decisions both good and bad and lived with the consequences of both. But never even once did I think it was someone else’s job to bail me out if I made what turned out to be a bad decision.

I have been to real estate sales offices, escrow company offices, and bank loan offices. But never even once did I witness a borrower forced at gunpoint to sign loan documents, or tortured until they signed a purchase agreement. In fact I have never seen anyone forced in any way to enter into any kind of financial agreement.

So here is my question: How in the world did we ever get to the point where we expect the government to step in and protect us from the consequences of bad decisions?

I’m sorry some people have lost their homes to foreclosure. I really am. Who knows, maybe it will happen to me. It happens every day in this country and has for many many years. People over-extend themselves, lose jobs, have unforeseen events changes their lives…and some are just deadbeats. Foreclosure is not new. So why does the government suddenly care about this? The answer lies in the unprecedented volume of foreclosures. OK I get that. But what do you say to someone who lost their home to foreclosure, say 10 years ago? “Gee, too bad there weren’t more of you at that time, then maybe we would have bailed you out too.”

Maybe I’m missing something here…

As an adult I understand that every decision I make carries consequences. It is a fact I have tried to instill in my kids as well. Understanding that is a part of growing up. But I make decisions knowing full well I will and should bear the consequences of those decisions – not my neighbor, not my co-workers, not my government – me!

I just don’t get it.

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