Readme

http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/2010/12/planned-parenth-10.html

The Danger of Truth

On this blog and in other settings I tend to talk about truth and reality a lot.  But there's a danger to that.  All you have to do to recognize it is look back at history, even recent history.  Figures like David Koresh, Jim Jones, and Marshall Applewhite show that truth sometimes appears to be in the eye of the beholder.  Islamic terrorism is a good example of what happens when a strong belief system is coupled with cultural identity and a desperation for salvation.  It's crucial to be able to differentiate between truth and belief.  Truth is simply what equates to reality despite what I choose to believe.  It is not perception, or hope, or even plans.  It is simply what is.  That's why God's statement of "I AM" is so interesting.  It seems awkwardly simplistic for an infinite being to just come out and say, "I am."  You would think that is obvious.  But the truth isn't always so obvious.  Maybe that's why He said it; to remind man where ultimate truth's source is found.  While I think truth is ultimately very important, I think that it's also very important for me to realize sometimes that I may not have fully grasped it yet.  However, the fact that the truth is not always easy to grasp doesn't mean it isn't worth searching nor give a valid excuse for bowing to the world's philosophy of moral relativism.  Two opposing views can never truly be reconciled unless there is a third thing to compare them to, and that third thing is called the truth.

Harold the Great

Over 95 years old, and still a Bad A!

http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/haroldestes.asp

Inherited from Whom?

http://www.creators.com/conservative/thomas-sowell/a-non-prediction.html

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/print/245730

America the Beautiful

Fahrenheit 9/11

http://www.anncoulter.com/cgi-local/printer_friendly.cgi?article=385

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=1162390

http://www.onenewsnow.com/ap/vid/default.aspx?videoId=24077

A lot of people are outspoken about the Quran burning thing.  It's hard not to wonder where their passion is when it comes to flag burners and chanters of "death to America". 

Because He Says it Sowell

Another incredible interview with Dr. Thomas Sowell who says things much better than I and is also much kinder about it.  Does anyone else find it interesting that the liberal media would have you believe there is no such thing as a conservative black man?  Well I know of several, and they're awesome!

Video interview - Part 1
Video interview - Part 2
Video interview - Part 3
Video interview - Part 4
Video interview - Part 5

The Bigger They Are

Big companies are a lot like big government.  They're both functionally incompetent.  No, I'm not saying the people that work for them are incompetent.  Many of them are geniuses.  What I'm saying is that large organizations sometimes get so big that they can't function worth a tinker's dam. 

Case in point: I was just dealing with someone this morning from a large corporation.  I dialed the phone number on this person's email signature and entered her extension...then I listened to some automation...then I entered her extension again...then I finally got a prompt to enter an extension...then I entered her extension once again...then I got someone else on the phone...not the person I was calling...this person didn't know the person I was calling...so I gave her the extension...the person was unavailable...the same person that told me she would be handling something first thing this morning...that thing hasn't happened yet...so I'll send an email and cross my fingers.

For those who want government to get bigger and bigger and have more and more control over the daily lives of Americans...try calling a big bank...or a credit card company...or your phone company...remember that feeling of powerlessness...and then quadruple it.

Move over Genghis

Religious liberty is wonderful until it provides the freedom to destroy religious liberty.  I don't hate Muslims.  In fact, I imagine that many of them are very warm and joyful people that would be a pleasure to get to know.  Many of the ones I have met through books or video (many of which have converted to Christianity) seem like very likeable people.  Many of the unconverted are no doubt wonderful people as well that are more like us than we sometimes give them credit for. We just may not agree on the fundamentals yet.  What I dislike about Islam is its philosophy of global dominion and assimilation and the secretive meetings in unmarked buildings.  I also strongly dislike it when jihadists kill people.  Other than that, if they want to become Americans like any other peaceful immigrants, then welcome.

It would be funny...except it's not.  Is America Islamophobic?  Well, gosh...I wonder why we might be.  Should 3,000 people dead on our own turf not stir us up a little?  Should the building of a mosque representing similar ideals held by the hijackers on those flights to the Twin Towers not cause us to question anything?  Is Saudi Arabia Christianophobic?  The threat that they would probably chop off my head for giving someone a bible in their country suggests that they just might be.  I wonder what they would think about a Christian church building going up near a spot where 3,000 Muslims were murdered without cause by Christian militants less than a decade ago.  If you want to talk fairness, then let's talk fairness.

In the video above, Daisy Khan compares America's skepticism of Islam to anti-Semitism.  If I only had a quarter for every time I heard about a Jew hacking off a journalist's head with a sword.  I'd be two quarters short of being able to make a collect call to Jack Squat.  The speech from people regarding racism or Islamophobia is typical liberal divergence from reality.

Best Housed Nation...

Is it really the most important thing to be the best housed nation in the world?  To most democrats, it certainly sounds like it is.  But are today's policies really helping us to become a better housed nation or even a stronger nation financially, or are we really becoming a nation with higher unemployment and foreclosure?  Promises...promises. 

See using your pie-hole and your voice box to continually utter the words "hope and change" doesn't pay for our children's educations.  It doesn't build our houses.  It doesn't put casts on our broken legs.  It doesn't put food in our mouths.  And it sure doesn't prepare us for retirement (which is why my social security statement reminds me that 25% of what I've put into SS has evaporated -- not that I'm surprised).  You know who does all those things and pays for those things?  The American people.

Someone convince me that the fat cat bureaucrats legislating our lives away actually have America's best interest in mind.  There are some great individuals in politics.  Smart men and women with liberty and freedom in their souls.  They MUST remain in November.  The litmus test is whether America is more important to them than their own careers.  If our nation has even one collective brain cell left, it will dispatch with the pleasantries of vague and wishful mantras like "hope and change" and "yes, we can" and flush the political toilet with pride at the ballot box this November.  Look mommy, I made a poopie.

You see, Nancy, Barney, Barrack, Diane, Maxine, et al - No, you can't.  I'm sorry to be so hard on you, but you have been hard on my country!  Your philosophy no workie.  It has failed us for decades.  That is why I say, "No, you can't!"  But we can.  We the PEOPLE can!  Yes, we can!  That is our mantra, not yours.  We can.  You cannot!  Over and over again you prove that you cannot and that you do not.  Why we pay you is beyond me, and as far as I'm concerned, you're already fired.  Let's see, what is that word that describes doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result... 

A Muslim on Islam in America

Thought this was interesting...

Holy Flippin Crud, this is Awesome!

Take a trip down memory lane. Scary how 1979 was so much like 2009. Watch this video and related videos. There was a great interview with Milton Friedman on Donahue back in '79. Milton had such an amazing ability to cut through the crap and speak to people with respect, humor, authority, and logic. Something you don't see a lot of these days (and probably not in those days either)...

Why would anyone believe in the words of a Barney Frank or a Nancy Pelosi? Probably because they've never heard a Milton Friedman.

Answered.

Wow

NOAA Scientist Admits White House Created Gulf Oil Spill Report Not the NOAA.

Not much to say about this one, except that this is the 2nd time they've tried this exact same thing on this exact same topic.

The Audacity of Dope

Comments in parenthesis are my own...

"We must all recognize and respect the sensitivities (so why don't you)…9/11 attacks were deeply traumatic…the pain and experience of suffering (emotionless)...ground zero is indeed hallowed ground…let me be clear (my favorite phrase of all time)…as a citizen (still waiting for some proof of that)…and as president (don't know what we were smoking)…this is America…our commitment to religious freedom…blah blah blah."

I suppose all that sounds really keen unless you have a frontal lobe.  I too believe strongly in the freedom of religious liberty even if the practice of a particular religion is not in agreement with my own.  Yes, this is America.  And Muslims do have the right to their own religious beliefs, misguided as they are.

For the president who wants to know "whose ass to kick", he certainly doesn't kick much ass at all does he?  I think he must have meant "whose ass to kiss" and he just had a little phlegm or something.  A real president would have used his indignant self-righteous tone for something other than giving consent to all the values that Americans don't share with him in an effort to bring about some sort of zombiotic global community.

No, a president with a backbone would have told the Muslim community that building a mosque in the shadow of ground zero, while arguably legal, is in very poor taste.  Frankly, I'm wondering if our president is a Mohammedan himself, so it's hard for me not to be a little bit of a skeptic from that angle.  But whether he is a Muslim or just a self proclaimed Christian with one wing, the left one, I believe he is wrong to proclaim religious liberty without cognizance of propriety and without asking why the Muslim community can't build somewhere else.  Really…why can't they?

Mr. President, where does someone learn to speak with dignity and complete confidence in a shallow, amoral, prepubescent philosophy?  Harvard?  Columbia?  I think you deserve your money back and a shredder for your diplomas.  The best thing you could do is care more about America than you do your own fascist-leaning legacy.  "Yes we can" has kind of lost its muster, hasn't it?  Sounds more like the slogan of a wishful thinker rather than a strong and honorable leader.  Yes we can, huh?  Yes, we, the people, can.  We always could.  One nation under God.  You and your bureaucrats…not so much.

A View of the Future (From the Past)

From MR: Predicting the iPhone back in 1910 (!).

Honestly very impressive.

What's Love Got to Do with It

If I were a gay man...I wonder if I would have the courage to ask myself:

"Self, is it right for me to demand of my fellow Americans that they change the values they have always held simply so that I can be legally united in matrimony with another man?  I mean, I'll admit that life kind of directed me down this path, I don't know that I was necessarily born gay, even though I like using that as a defense.  I've never seen any actual proof of that.  Does the tax break really mean enough to me to tell all those hetero bigots that they can all stick their silly ideals about one man and one woman and all that?  Am I really so self-absorbed?  I'm not a minority.  I wasn't simply born different.  To some degree, even though it feels natural to me now, I chose this lifestyle.  What gives me the right to demand that everyone view that lifestyle as equal to the natural lifestyle that God intended for his people?  But I don't know if I can get out of this lifestyle even if I wanted to..."

Then I hope I would have the courage to think about that for a while.

The Code

"If a code proves to be generally effective in governing life it will only be because of character in the people governed—character that expresses itself in virtues such as benevolence, honor and integrity; and it will be from these virtues and not from the code, that people act. Indeed, one never acts from a code. A code by its very nature never addresses the question of motivation. If you knew someone had kept the code, you would have no idea of whether or not they were ethical, or morally good, people, or of what they would choose to do if they were sure they would never be found out and hence were not known to have broken the code.

Most so-called "professional ethics" today is restricted to codes and have nothing to do with character, and that is one reason why they have such little power over behavior. They are basically telling us how to stay out of trouble with clients, the law, and our fellow professionals. They have nothing to say about our moral identity, about who we are as a doctor, lawyer, engineer, professor, etc. etc."

- from Dallas Willard's Why it Matters if You're Moral

The new model for an old system

Or, "I told you so," again.

The current version of ObamaCare is a watered down amalgamation of compromises built on one Progressive premise: Single Payer System is the goal.  They started their overhaul of 1/6th of the US economy with that end in mind, weren't able to get there completely this time (mostly due to voter outrage), and settled on something that Conservatives will still hate for too many reasons to list and Progressives will despise because it's not pure enough.  But, as Bob says, "baby steps".
Well cool.  But let's take a peek into the future and see what the adults over in Great Britain are doing, now that they've had the NHS single-payer system for sixty years:

An investigation by The Sunday Telegraph has uncovered widespread cuts planned across the NHS, many of which have already been agreed by senior health service officials. They include:
* Restrictions on some of the most basic and common operations, including hip and knee replacements, cataract surgery and orthodontic procedures.
* Plans to cut hundreds of thousands of pounds from budgets for the terminally ill, with dying cancer patients to be told to manage their own symptoms if their condition worsens at evenings or weekends.
* The closure of nursing homes for the elderly.
* A reduction in acute hospital beds, including those for the mentally ill, with targets to discourage GPs from sending patients to hospitals and reduce the number of people using accident and emergency departments.
* Tighter rationing of NHS funding for IVF treatment, and for surgery for obesity.
* Thousands of job losses at NHS hospitals, including 500 staff to go at a trust where cancer patients recently suffered delays in diagnosis and treatment because of staff shortages.
* Cost-cutting programmes in paediatric and maternity services, care of the elderly and services that provide respite breaks to long-term carers.

 Hm.

Oh yes.  And this:

The Sunday Telegraph found the details of hundreds of cuts buried in obscure appendices to lengthy policy and strategy documents published by trusts. In most cases, local communities appear to be unaware of the plans. (emphasis mine)

The "trusts" referenced above are Primary Care Trusts, government agencies in charge of patient health decisions like when, where, how, and by whom patients are treated.  Way to be forthcoming and honest there, buckos.

Hm, indeed.  So what we've got here is pretty much what I've said a few times before.  Single-payer systems lead inevitably to rationing.  Who gets rationed out first?  The unproductive (ie. those who suck up more tax dollars than they pay in).  Which means the very young, the very old, and the infirm.  Go back and look at the list of cuts made by the NHS.  Who gets affected most?

Exactly.

Do you know anyone who is very young, very old, or infirm?  Do you want some bureaucrat in a dark office in Washington making medical decisions that will affect the quality of life of those people?  Do you want government inefficiencies (shortages, essentially) to be responsible for the death of those people?  And then these folks who think they can run your life, health, and death better than you can have the elephantine stones to BURY THEIR CUTS TO YOUR HEALTH SERVICES IN THE DAMN FOOTNOTES OF DOCUMENTS NO ONE WILL EVER READ?

You people sicken me. 

Which would be fine, except that if I get sick in a single-payer system, I might never get well again.

Don't Mess with Senator Gregg

Just in my humble opinion... laws don't mean very much if you're just going to change them every time you get a new idea.

Netanyahu

I almost forgot to post this.  Shame on me.  This is groovy stuff.  Here's how the pro's outgun mainstream media.  Follow this link to see the whole interview with Larry King: http://thechristianworldview.com/tcwblog/archives/4004 

Here's part one to whhhhet your appetite.


AND an interview with Couric...

Curious Lucre

This website is more fun that it should be:  http://www.lileks.com/money/index.html
Please go there and prepare to laugh in that special way.  Click on "next" for each country (where it says back HOME next on each page).  You'll get much more out of it that way than if you just go back to the "Home" page after each one.

Siesta

Thought this was kind of an interesting little story:

A boat docked in a tiny Mexican fishing village.
A tourist complimented the local fishermen
on the quality of their fish and asked
how long it took them to catch them.

"Not very long." they answered in unison.

"Why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?"
The fishermen explained that their small catches were
sufficient to meet their needs and those of their families.

"But what do you do with the rest of your time?"

"We sleep late, fish a little, play with our children,
and take siestas with our wives. In the evenings,
we go into the village to see our friends, have a
few drinks, play the guitar, and sing a few songs.
We have a full life."

The tourist interrupted,
"I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you!
You should start by fishing longer every day.
You can then sell the extra fish you catch.
With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat."

"And after that?", asked the fishermen.

"With the extra money the larger boat will bring,
you can buy a second one and a third one,
and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers.
Instead of selling your fish to a middle man,
you can then negotiate directly with the processing plants
and maybe even open your own plant.
You can then leave this little village and move to Mexico City ,
Los Angeles , or even New York City !
From there you can direct your huge new enterprise."

"How long would that take?" asked the fishermen again.

"Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years." replied the tourist.

"And after that?", said the fishermen.

"Afterwards? Well my friend, that's when it gets really interesting,"
answered the tourist, laughing. "When your business gets really big,
you can start buying and selling stocks and make millions!"

"Millions? Really? And after that?" asked the fishermen.

"After that you'll be able to retire,
live in a tiny village near the coast,
sleep late, play with your children,
catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife,
and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying your friends."

And now for Biden

When Joe Biden says something, my ears perk up.  Not because I have an unfathomable notion that he'll say something important but because it's always interesting to see how he's going to spin it.  "...these are not only women’s issues, they are issues of middle class economic security,” according to Joe.  Paycheck Fairness Act, huh.  Sounds to me like you just want to keep track of where your revenue is going to come from to support your habit of using America like a credit card.  Yes, I'm sure you do care about the middle class.  Where else are you going to get your monthly allowance?  Now go outside and play until dark and try not to hit anyone with your motorcade this week.

Man of His Word

You know, as far as I'm concerned our president gave us all the information we needed to make good voting choices prior to the election, and the mainstream media was kind enough to sweep it all under the rug and beautify the situation.  His wife even told us prior to the election that Barrack wasn't going to let us go back to our lives as usual.  Along the way he's been kind enough to tell us that he just wants to spread the wealth around, doesn't want his daughters punished with a baby, informed us that he has no interest in a free market, and attended a church for years that has a total crazy person for a preacher.  But I don't want to make this post all about Obama because quite frankly, I'm sick of hearing his name all the time.  I'm sick of knowing that our president is an amoral postmodernist Marxist with short term tactics designed to build long term empowerment of the federal government but an all around good golfer and a great dad.  Plus I don't want to hear anyone gripe about how I came down on their precious Obama, savior of the poor and downtrodden, forgiver of debt, and healer of the world.  Obama is a symptom of a nation with a fever.  He believes what he believes, and no one can fault him for having strong convictions.  It's just that they're completely off base.  I hope America starts working out and taking its meds.

This story (you can watch the video by clicking the link) is a little old, I guess, but it's a good illustration of my main point in this post.  In his own words:

"For some reason people keep being surprised when I do what I said I was going to do. So, I say I’m going to reform our HCR [health care reform], and people say well gosh that’s not smart politics maybe we should hold off. Or I say we’re going to move forward on DADT [don't ask don't tell] and somehow people say well why are you doing that, I’m not sure that’s good politics. I’m doing it because I said I was going to do it, and I think it’s the right thing to do. And people should learn that lesson about me, because next year when I start presenting some very difficult choices to the country I hope some of these folks who are hollering about deficit and debt step up cause I’m calling their bluff."

I don't think anyone is the least bit surprised that you've been able to get done what you said you were going to do, Mr. Obama.  After all, you've had the media eating sugar cubes out of your hands for a couple years and both houses of Congress have been prostituting themselves out to you from the beginning.  No, people are continually surprised that you ought to know better than sell out your nation, and yet you do it anyway. Yes, that does keep surprising people.  Liberals, like fire ants, all crawl up your pants in pretty much the same way, and it's never pretty when they get to their final destination.

"And people should learn that lesson about me, because next year when I START presenting some DIFFICULT choices for the country..."  What exactly does that mean?  When you start presenting difficult choices?  As if an unresolvable national debt, increasing the probability of hyper-inflation, boosting support for immoral activities, catering to fundamentalist Islam, and talking down to everyone in your preachy self-righteous voice isn't difficult enough.

What's this "step up" business you keep talking about?  Why don't you step up, sir, and quit being an appeaser?  Why don't you step up and explain how government run health care will ultimately lead to shortages and a decline in the quality of health care?  Why don't you step up and explain how bureaucracy causes waste and slows progress?  Why don't you step up and tell people that making babies and then taking their lives is wrong?  Why don't you tell people we fight wars to win with a purpose, not just to fart around or dominate the globe?  Why don't you step up and tell people they can't have everything they want unless they work for it?  Why don't you tell people that America has bought too much on credit and now needs to starting paying its bill like a big boy or girl?  Why don't you explain how stealing from one fellow American to pay for another is still stealing?  I wonder what George Washington and Thomas Jefferson would think about benevolent theft?  You know what's funny about "big government" people...you're always trying to help people get things in the short term, but you leave waste in your path and make the country poorer in the long term.  Of course you're 4 to 8 year tenure would be over by the time that happens. 

Take housing for one example.  You, big government, helped bring about the current financial meltdown.  You know it.  People are beginning to learn about it and understand it a little bit.  But you'll still probably get away with it for another few years because you're so good and retelling history the way you want it to be heard.  But people are getting more and more educated despite what you do to keep them stupid by taking over public education.  People are wising up despite what you do to confuse them in the mire of legalese.  The People are going to take back this country from you, the dictators, and you'll be lucky to fly a cargo plane full of rubber dog [crap] out of Hong Kong (little Top Gun reference there). 

That's about all I've got to say about that.  For now.

Divine Comedy

A post from former SNL comedian Victoria Jackson can be read here. An interesting discussion on the Christian's role in politics.

Claude

I'm sorry to have to tell you this

But "the internet is over".

Thank you, Artist-Formerly-Known-as-the-Artist-Formerly-Known-as-Prince-not-to-mention-the-unpronounceable-symbol-thingy.  I appreciate you telling us.  Now I can go back to my 1980's life, just like you.

History

I'd like to share an article with you from the Wall Street Journal from April of this year.  It's a short easy read but a good primer on the Mideast conflict and explains that the US may not be backing up its ally in the region.  After reading this article let me know what you think.

On a related note, I had an interesting discussion with someone the other day.  That individual asked me something that may put a shiver down your spine.  "Do you think the Lord might have put this particular president in power so that the prophecy in the Bible regarding all nations turning against Israel can be fulfilled?"  In other words do we need a president in office that is non-threatening to countries in the Middle East like Iran that have leaders shouting "Death to America!" for prophecy like what is in Zechariah and Ezekiel to come true?  I can't really answer that at this time.  Who could?  It's food for thought I suppose.

All I know is, the Lord said to Abraham (Abram at the time): "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."

An answered prayer

As stated in this article, Mosab was granted asylum today.  I was one of many who prayed that he would be.

Congratulations to Mosab Hassan Yousef, one of the real freedom fighters!

This is by far the bigger and, in my opinion, the better story in today's big news.

Pray for Mosab

A fellow Christian needs our help.. NOW

Related article can be read here.

from the dept. of stupid

"EPA classifies milk as oil".

No, seriously.  Farmers, you've now got to have a spill prevention plan and extra spill-storage tanks if you have dairy cattle.

No mention in this article about what prevention measures are necessary if when cows release deadly poisonous methane from their backsides into the environment.

The Fix

Regarding the firing of General McChrystal...

Things I've learned from former Muslims

Lately, I've taken an interest in the conflict going on in the Middle East. As we all know, there is a spiritual battle going on between Muslims and Jews/Christians. After reading Son of Hamas (Yousef), and watching a couple of Joel Rosenberg videos (Inside the Revolution and Epicenter), I have learned so much from new Christians who come from an Islamic background. Living in the United States, we are naive and ignorant, and we all need to take an interest in what's actually going on over there. Perhaps even pitch in a little...

So what have I learned? Here are just a few things...

1. Growing up in a Christian home, we take our faith and knowledge of the Gospel for granted. I feel like many Christians (including myself) go to church and try to do good because that's what we are supposed to do. But what does that truly say about our faith in Jesus Christ? I find that when I question my faith, I learn the most. I think Mosab Yousef said it best when he said "how do we know that Jesus is God? Because He has the HIGHEST standards." If you think about it, there is no higher standard. Love your neighbors AND enemies, turn the other cheek, if someone asks you to go one mile with him - go with him 2 miles... These standards are ones we know and have learned many times over - but there is nothing more perfect! I just hope that as Christians, we remember WHY we believe what we do, and we don't take our faith for granted.

2. Muslims, including terrorists, are people too. They have families, friends, struggles, and hope, just like Christians. But they don't know Jesus. They grew up in Muslim homes, and basically, they have been manipulated by a god who instills fear in people. As Christians, it is our job to help. Pray for these people. Give monetarily. Reach out to a Muslim in your community or beyond. Remember, God loves them too. Jesus died for these people too. It's easy to hate Muslims, especially after seeing 9/11, and the numerous terrorist attacks all over the world. But remember Jesus's standards... love your enemy!

3. God performs miracles even today - like the kind in the Bible! In Joel Rosenberg's video called Inside the Revolution, there are Muslims who came to Christ through dreams and visions. AMAZING. I thought those days were over - but he is at work. Tass Saada is a good example. Research his story or even buy his book, Once an Arafat Man. Look for YouTube videos and search for "how muslim became Christian." In discussing this with a friend, she even mentioned to me how a friend of a friend, who was not a Christian at the time, prayed to God out of desperation, and he heard God's voice!

I realize at this point I'm rambling out of excitement, and maybe my presentation isn't doing these ideas justice... but I encourage you guys to pick up some of the books and/or videos mentioned in this post.

If you feel compelled, there are a few ways I've learned you can help:

The Joshua Fund

Al Hayat TV

and PRAYER!

If I find out other resources/ways to help, I will definitely add them to the post.

Judgement Day

There are still good judges.  And this is so worth a read.  http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/shoebomb.asp

And take names...

I can just hear Couric now, "Ooooo, Oooo, kick me, kick me!"

Straight Dope about Meximerica

Two things:  1) White supremacists are ignorant.  AND  2) There is nothing racist about protecting your borders.  If those two statements seem incompatible, then you're probably a liberal (but you're still welcome to read our blog).  While we're at it, let's admit that a lot of Mexico is very beautiful.  But unfortunately, much of it is dangerous and poor.  So people leave.  America has become somewhat of a reverse osmotic filter for freedom and opportunity.  Where the concentration of freedom is noticeably deficient, people are crossing the barrier to get to where it is greatest.  You can hardly blame their desire to do so, but neither can you ignore the fact that America cannot always welfare the world into no longer sucking.

I have pity on the Mexicans that desire to leave Mexico to find opportunity and freedom.  But I also have pity on the Americans that must somehow keep creating enough wealth to support not only its grossly obese government but to support a philosophy of ever growing dependency.  As long as welfare is a problem, more Mexicans in the US are going to be a problem too.  A constant influx of Mexicans gives liberals just what they need...fresh voters and new reasons for socialist policies.  In other words, more power.  Other than that, there is little evidence that liberals really care about the plight of the Mexican people whatsoever.

Many Mexicans are leaving Mexico to live just inside the States in a cardboard box because at least here, there's some chance of success.  Living in a box is better than worrying about you or your kids getting shot at or mangled by coked up drug smugglers.  America is strong.  And Mexicans are welcome to immigrate...legally.  Otherwise, all we have is a country that is absorbing the failed and corrupt policies of Mexican government.  America will eventually pop like a balloon that continues to fill with air.  The free people of this land can only take on so much global responsibility added on their individual responsibilities to their own families and neighbors.

Let's also not ignore the fact that if I, an American, were to go to Mexico illegally and try to live there, go to school there, get a job there, etc, I would likely be imprisoned, maybe beaten.  I half expect I would be killed.  So what's this double standard about?  Mexican immigration laws don't welcome me, and yet I'm a white supremacist because I question the validity of illegal immigration?  That's interesting.  Our nation is so accommodating that I have to press buttons to continue in English.  Perhaps it is not only Americans with the problem.  Perhaps it is jealousy.  People want what we have; but rather than create wealth and opportunity in their own country, it's much easier to give up, leave, and try to get a piece of it here. 

My advice to Mexico is to plead with the world to help you clean up the drug problem for good and clean up your own government.  That's going to be tough.  America itself needs help because Americans with drug habits are supporting a lot of the drug commerce.  The drug runners need something better to do than being errand boys for drug lords.  And the drug lords have better weapons than most police forces.  Start working on your own economy.  Build up your own people.  Produce something of value.  If you want to be more like the U.S. use capitalism to boost your wealth.  I'm no preacher, as you can probably tell, but I beg of you to ask the Lord for help because you're going to need Him to get out of the mess you're in.  There, that's something that you have in common with the U.S. right off the bat.

This Much

As a follow up to Grimp's post earlier on Thomas Sowell and Wal-Mart's effect on the economy, I give you this:

However, if we do not quite see the underlying logic of exchange and how it works to help everyone, it is easy to underappreciate what market trading means to society. This is a tendency in the circles that discuss issues of social justice. The market is rarely given the credit it deserves for helping humanity improve its lot. In fact, the market is nothing but the cooperative interaction of humanity in improving the commonweal.

That's from Jeffrey Tucker at the Mises Econ Blog hosted at the Christian Science Monitor.

A very scary sentence

CSMonitor:

The second reason this is a landmark case is that the Justice Department has unambiguously stated that refusal to accept government price controls is a form of illegal “price fixing.”

How Much?

How much a-double-s can one man kick?  I'll tell you.  A lot.  And Thomas Sowell kicks like a mule: read on.  I too mentioned the phenomenon of Wal-Mart's lowering the cost of living in my post, "Citizen's Address", posted Jan. 2009 as well as "Letter to my government" in Nov. 2008.  Chris also mentioned it in his post, "Economics 101" in Feb. 2010.  You know what they say about great minds...

Sleestak

...the original liberal.  Or is it just sleaze?  I can't tell anymore.  Actually, I was just thinking about all the fun we're having with this under the table deal with Joe Sestak.  Once again Mr. Clinton...you come out of the shadows like a great pasty white ninja. 

Speaking of Clintons, here's what Hillary had to say today: "The rich are not paying their fair share [of taxes]..." 

I just have one question: how far does the probe have to be inserted into America's rear before it becomes uncomfortable?  Ever since Michelle Obama said that Barrack would never allow us to go back to our lives as usual, I've been wondering how anyone could sit quietly while the country is being...shall we say...violated.  Oh, but Obama says it's nothing inappropriate, so it must be okay.

Yesterday I was driving home and forced to stare at a bumper sticker that said, "Jesus was also a community organizer."  The car in front of me was obviously being driven by a wealthy woman inflicted with a particularly nefarious form of white guilt.  Fighting back the bile reversing its way through my gastrointestinal tract, I thought, "Really?  Obama and the Son of God?  Are you mental?" 

Barrack H. Obama is as close to being like Jesus as Nancy Pelosi is to being a botox free Joan of Arc.  The genders are the same.  So there's that.  But I don't remember Jesus being quite so self-righteous, and he actually had some work experience.  If you really want to know how awesome Obama is, just ask him.  I'm sure he'll let you know.  That is, after he's done simultaneously campaigning for "call me senator" Barbara Boxer and plugging the ocean floor with the supermud he formed from his own magic spittle.

I am saddend and dismayed

And I had such high hopes for today's youth.  But not anymore.  Not anymore.

Quote of the Day: "Gangs are posers, they just want attention.  That's why they go and attack stuff.  The pack, we're a family."

Mosab for Mayor

Think about supporting Mosab with your prayers and with respectful phone calls and letters to Homeland Security.  In an America where millions of illegal aliens are effectively granted amnesty, it seems foolish, even asinine, to spend time deporting someone like Mosab.  How about we start using the law in this country for its original intention, the protection of liberty.  It behooves us to stop squandering our strategic assets during wartime.  Let's stop frisking grannies at the airport and making spelling errors on our no-fly-lists and start using the brains God gave a mammal.  If Mosab is not the prime example of someone who should be granted asylum in the US, please tell me who is.

63 and tired

Worth a read; a post from a former Massachusetts state senator and Maring Corps veteran:
http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2009/02/robert.html  A few pretty poignant points being made there.

The best-selling book of all time

I found this interesting.  The best selling non-religious/non-political single-volume book of all time is the Chinese dictionary.  After that....

A Tale of Two Cities.  200,000,000 copies sold since first published in 1859.  Wow.

Following that, the Scouting Handbook, Lord of the Rings, And Then There Were None (Agatha Christie mystery), The Hobbit, and Dream of the Red Chamber (an 18th century Chinese novel).

The best selling multi-volume series of all time will surprise none of you:  Harry Potter, with over 400,000,000 served.

(h/t Marginal Revolution)

Collide

Before getting into my post, I wanted to link to the website of a gentleman who knows all about what it's like to collide:  http://www.sonofhamas.com/  The website contains free audio downloads of  interviews with this remarkable person who is the son of one of the founders of Hamas.  His story is far more important than what I'm going to be writing here, so that's why I've placed it at the beginning.  I encourage you to visit his page, read his book, or listen to his story.  You can come back to my blog if you like.
......
There was a song called Collide by Howie Day that came out a few years ago.  I suppose it was a love song of sorts.  I was dating a girl around that time, and it had kind of become "our song".  After enough time went by, she wanted to get married.  I wasn't ready.  We collided alright.  In fact, I collided, not just with her, but with her father, mother, and brother.  Mutual friends distanced themselves from the situation, and I wound up feeling despondent, angry, and more hurt than I can remember ever feeling before.  Someone who once claimed to love me now treated me like a complete stranger.  We didn't understand one another's concerns or desires.  And we collided.  Things may have ended anyway, but they should have ended differently.

I've got a job.  A job where 95% of the customers are friendly and generally understanding.  But the 5% that don't get their way seem to turn on you like a mother grizzly whose cub you just tried to pick up and take home in your Subaru.  There are times you can be completely upfront with a person only to have them imply later that you misled them and complain that they are most displeased with their experience.  They'll want you to pay for their trouble even if they helped to cause it.  If you're really lucky, they'll ask to talk to your boss.  At times like these, I find it somewhat challenging not to say what I'm thinking, to deconstruct the faulty logic of my new found enemy, to unleash the dragon.  Once my blood gets boiling, I want nothing more than to thickly slather them with the facts, slide them onto the pan of truth, and watch them roast in the oven of reality.

I'm actually a pretty mild mannered person, almost a pushover some might say.  But when a certain line is crossed; when I encounter people being unfair or unjust, my instinct is to switch into search-and-destroy mode.  I'm not saying that this is necessarily a good thing, although I do believe there are rare times when search-and-destroy is the appropriate response.  I have engaged in this tit for tat with every intention of having the last and most powerful tit.  To give you some idea of what ensues--the other day someone told me in all seriousness, "You may win the battle, but you won't win the war!"  Honestly, who even says that in a business setting?  When you hear someone speaking like that, it's a pretty good indicator that things have escalated into the realm of the absurd.  So often we don't understand one another.  And so we collide.  The primal brain takes hold and haphazardly steers our adrenaline and shortly thereafter, our judgment.  Perhaps you've been in situations of conflict like this where it feels like you are on a high wire, and one slip can spell disaster.

But with experience comes improved control and capacity, and I was able to diffuse the above mentioned situation by doing the following: 1) informing the person that I wanted to switch gears and start over with them,  2) apologizing for the misunderstanding, 3) reminding the person that I had, in fact, done a very fine job on my end (which was true), and 4) setting the tone going forward and letting the person know he/she deserves my respect and I deserve his/hers in return.  Essentially what worked for me this time was reframing and redirecting the situation down a more positive road rather than doing what I usually do which is simply winning the argument.  I didn't hear another negative peep out of the person from that point on.  Now, I may still get bad mouthed all over town by this person (although I don't think so), but at least I didn't go away from the situation a big winner but still feeling like a big jerk.  We could have collided much worse.  Maybe I finally learned something from the times before. 

What's funny about conflict is that that same formula probably won't always work.  But I'm starting to find that, in general, it works much better to avoid simply going straight for the jugular and disproving another person's point of view (yes, even when they are indeed clearly wrong).  You can rarely win when you collide with someone. You can only entrench deeper and deeper while your opponent does the same.  As F.W. Borham once said, "The best way to prove a stick is crooked is to lay a straight one beside it."  The best way to "win" is the show your opponent the straight stick (ie what's right) and let them choose how they wish to react.  The hardest part for me is allowing them to act foolishly.  Just as importantly, and just as hard is realizing that I too can be wrong every once in a blue moon. 

What I'm trying to say is: life is pretty easy except where there are people involved.  Whether it's brought about by people at work, an ex, illegal immigrants, terrorists, or people of authority, it's in our nature sometimes to collide.  Some collisions are much more serious than others.  Some are given too much credit. 

But I'll leave you with this.  I saw a verse in the Bible this weekend that struck me in a way that verses in the Bible usually don't.  In fact, though I've often wanted the Bible to speak directly to me, I've spent most of my life not really "getting it" most of the time.  The verse is talking about Jesus:

"He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered.  He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly." - 1st Peter ch. 2 vs. 23

What sort of socks it to me in this verse is that last part about God, "who always judges fairly".  Sometimes, life just flat out ain't fair.  People can be jerks, can be hateful, can be rude, can be evil.  You can't always even the score.  But that's where God comes in.  This verse helped to remind me that God knows much better than I when it is appropriate to even scores and when it is appropriate to show mercy or even take no action at all.  He knows what's up.  And it comforts me to realize that there is no need for revenge when the God of the universe already sees all things and cares about justice even more than I do.

Wall Street Greed

What today's politician's term "Wall Street Greed" may indeed amount to nothing more than political scapegoating. But you probably knew that already...

While I'm not always 100% comfortable posting information from a democrat senator's website, I will, because I think it's important to look at both sides of the coin.

For an interesting primer from a democrat on the cause of the financial metldown, click here.  There seems to be some very pertinent information there.  One thing that is missing, however, from the timeline is what happened before April 2, 2007. 

For that you will need insight from my favorite economist: click here & definitely here.  If you want more, he's written lots of books, and there is a link to his columns in the menu to your right. 

I'm going to make this short, but I think that, philosophically speaking, this whole idea of blaming Wall Street for all the world's financial woes is misguided.  Wall Street is just like Main Street but bigger.  It's still just business and finance...but with more zeroes.  Not to mention the fact that Wall Street hires a lot of people!  And many of those people were Main Streeters at one time who moved up in their careers.  The fundamentals of running a business and working for a living still apply as much to Citi as they do Bill's Burger Barn.  Or at least they should.  In other words, could it be that the politicians that changed the rules for big corporations under the auspices of "protecting" Main Street were really just jacking with a free market they don't understand (or don't really care about) and introducing wormholes into the economy that sucked a lot of people in?  It's not that congress doesn't ever do anything right.  It's just that, they often seem to do too much.  It's like when you try to fix something that needs to heal on its own, like a scab.  You usually do more damage; there's more scarring when you pick at it.  As someone who works on Main Street, I have a problem blaming Wall Street for trying to make money under the rules it has been given?  Isn't that a lot like what we do on Main?

And Why Would That Be?

NYT:

Fearing that health insurance premiums may shoot up in the next few years, Senate Democrats laid a foundation on Tuesday for federal regulation of rates, four weeks after President Obama signed a law intended to rein in soaring health costs.

After a hearing on the issue, the chairman of the Senate health committee, Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa, said he intended to move this year on legislation that would “provide an important check on unjustified premiums.” 

 That would be the same NYT who didn't report on the economic certainty of premium increases due to ObamaCare, because when it comes right down to it, they are just a mouthpiece of Our Dear Leaders.

Thus:
How to Nationalize Healthcare, in 6 easy steps.
Step 1: Mandate insurance coverage for all individuals.
Step 2: Require insurance companies to provide coverage to all individuals, regardless of health risks.
Step 3: Impose price ceilings to prevent insurance companies making a profit.  Simultaneously demonize the insurance companies for their "cruel and heartless nature".
Step 4: Watch the insurance companies go bankrupt.  Quickly.
Step 5: Gleefully introduce all formerly insured citizens to the government run health care exchanges.
Step 6: Profit!  Or, you know, not.  This is the government, after all.

Helped to Death

You know those magnets that people sometimes have on their fridge that have a bunch of different faces displaying all kinds of emotions.  There's a smaller magnetic frame that goes on top of the face that best portrays how you're feeling today.  If I had one of those, it would be on the face that says: "I feel despairing today." 

Before we really get going here, I want to clarify that I am not anti-government.  There is a proper place and purpose for a government, especially when it comes to defense and law enforcement.  There are some in government that are outstanding and are blessings to our nation.  But there are many who are not.  Many who would suck the lifeforce right out of this country, eat its marrow, and chew on its bones.  Unfortunately, it is this group that appears to be in control.  And it's not just a problem of one particular political party. This is not just about R's and D's.  Although I have more fundamental problems with the D's, the R's (Republicans) are not always faultless.

My gut feeling is that someday we'll all look at our recent history and say, "We really did make a choice.  I wish we could go back and make it differently."  I believe there are two things that are going to impact our immediate future as a nation more than anything else:

1. Economic liberty - If you're in the financial services industry, this really doesn't exist for you and may not exist in a lot of other industries much longer.  Pricing is set by regulation.  In fact, regulations are so cumbersome that banks simply avoid helping certain customers and must make such choices to survive.  So next time you hear Mr. Obama blaming banks for not lending, you can thank regulators and lawmakers for that.  Trust is the great lubricator of business.  Trust cannot be artificially manufactured with documentation despite what Congress or Fannie Mae might think.  Almost all people will still need and desire human contact and verbal explanation even after they've seen it all explained on paper.  So why so much time is spent on that is puzzling.  Time is money; isn't that what they say?  So who pays for the financial services' lost time and for this lack of trust?  Americans pay for it all.  We pay with legal fees, filing fees, certificates; and we pay with waiting times for document preparation, extra waiting time for redisclosures if something changes, required waiting times for consumer protection, etc.  In this world, you can no longer adjust price to compensate for risk.  It is the price of a "representative" government that continues to go up.  Those prices are never limited.  And how could they be when we're all paying for a myriad of mindless projects?  For instance, why am I paying for broadband in Cape Cod?  A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away the people that owned businesses and the people that worked for them were free.  Banks could actually charge for taking on more risk.  But enough about banks.  This is not just a banking problem. Doctors once saw patients and had time to spend with them.  They weren't ruled by the tedium of insurance and Medicare.  They were allowed to cover their expenses and make money.  People were not forced to buy insurance, nor doctors forced, either directly or indirectly, to accept it.  There was once a time when car companies were allowed to make quality automobiles, and if they couldn't then the market punished them by going out and buying something better.  There was competition in the marketplace.  Competition which drove prices lower and quality ever higher.  Now failing companies are propped up by our taxes so that they can fail repeatedly like irresponsible teens whose parents don't have the cahonies to let them spend a night in jail.  What is going to happen?  I can just hear the story scrawled on a prison camp wall: "They came for the bankers, and the people stayed quiet.  Then they came for the doctors, and all were silent.  They came for the auto manufacturers, the insurors, the pharmaceutical companies, the fast food restaurants, the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker; still no one spoke up.  Finally they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me."

2. A Culture of Weakness - There are so many examples of this, I'm not sure where to start.  You may have read number 1 and thought: "But what about the poor, what about the uninsured, what about the unemployed?"  Aren't they everyone's responsibility?  No.  They are not.  They are yours.  Yours personally.  The guy next door to you in Nebraska that doesn't have health insurance and is sick.  Is he the responsibility of a young man in Georgia who was the first of his family to go to college and get a good job?  Should his hard earned income now contribute to pay your neighbor's medical bills while you feel better doing nothing because you know your neighbor has government medical coverage?  What if I told you the young college grad was black, and his family was poor.  Does that matter?  What would be much better is if we were free to be personally responsible for each other, not liable to the government to dole out funds as it thinks appropriate in its infinite wisdom or lack thereof.  Americans are generous, creative beings.  We can take care of ourselves and each other without Acts of Congress rammed down our throats every few weeks.  We have churches, and organizations by the thousands, and even some big nasty corporations that help to care for the downtrodden.  But you wouldn't know any of that listening to someone like Obama, or Barbara Boxer, or Chris Dodd, or Barney Frank, or Pelosi who we voted in office to represent us as one people.  They think you are incapable of rising above hardship.  They think you are better off staying unemployed a little longer.  They think you want to talk and have tea time with terrorists as they prepare weapons in their garages back home.  In the mind of someone like Barrack Obama, the government that governs most, governs best. And the weaker you are, the stronger and more important he feels as he works non-stop to help you to the point of helplessness.  Here's the kicker.  They seem to want you to fail.  They want you to be irresponsible.  There are so many of you out there that still don't seem to get it, and it scares the hell out of me.  We put these people in office and gave them this power.  And the longer you don't get it, the more chance there is for all of us to fail; indeed for the nation to fail.  When we all fail together, it won't matter a tinker's damn how high or low you are on the food chain or how much money you make.  Our nation is like a sinking ship that is tossing its life preservers overboard to make room for more deck chairs.  On a ship like that, everyone is going to drown.  And I haven't even gotten to abortion yet.  The very fact that our culture has made it acceptable to kill its children because they're still behind a curtain (womb) makes us a lousy bunch of weaklings, scared to death of responsibility, incapable of putting our own needs aside for the sake of anyone else or for the sake of what is right.  We don't know right anymore from a kick in the nads.  We speak so often of fairness and helping the weak until we are blue in the face.  And yet a fetus has no protection because his vote doesn't count yet, and his own mother won't protect him.  Who else deserves to die because they are a burden on us?  Grandad who doesn't recognize you anymore?  Mom with her broken leg?  Little brother with down syndrome?  If this is our legacy, we deserve to fail as a civilization.

I've heard a lot lately about how a Christian should respond to government, about civil disobedience, about rendering unto Caeser what is Caesar's.  But there is one thing I have not heard that is crucial:  in this country the people are Caesar!  Our representatives, our proxies, our avatars, if you will, are failing us.  They have attempted to reverse their proper roles and apparently succeeded.  In November, during the gladiatorial races, if America has any worth anymore, we shall seal the fate of these failures and their philosophy of economic servitude and a culture of weakness with a simple thumb pointed downward.

Parents v. The Government of the United States of America

A good post on liberty vs. accountability (and why functioning societies need both, not just liberty), from brand new libertarian/classical liberal blog Pileus.

Interesting Tax Fact of the Day

The 2010 lower threshold for actually owing federal taxes: $50,300.
The 1997 lower threshold for actually owing federal taxes: $24,000.

A primary reason for this is probably not what you would think, at least if you're a Rightie.

We Got to Pray

U.S. District Judge, Barbara Crabb, recently took some 66 pages (666 pages might have been too obvious) to explain why she thinks that a National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional.  See article here.  Of course she tries to cover her tracks with something that sounds logical...we don't have a "National Day of Blasphemy."  Brilliant.  Nothing against Wisconsinians, but apparently in Wisconsin, there is a way for you to pass law school, pass the bar exam, become a career judge, and still find a way not to use your mind.  What motivates a judge to tackle prayer at large?  I don't know church lady.  Could it be Satan?

Three points:
1. Crabb says that her ruling is based on relevant case law.  I understand that precedent is important in law, however, there can be no precedent which supports her ruling because her ruling is illogical.  If the "relevant" case law supports her latest decision, then the "relevant" case law is also illogical.  But she would realize that if she weren't a flaming lib with judgment as cloudy as an old man's cataract.

2. Some people like to hang their hat on "separation of church and state", something that the Constitution doesn't really do.  What it does do is limit the government's power so that it cannot become a theocracy and enslave the public with a specific religion of its choosing.  What the Constitution actually says is that congress shall pass no law establishing religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.  Don't take my word for it, get out your own dang copy and read the thing.  See the 1st Amendment.  What this old Crabb is doing is closer to legally prohibiting the free exercise thereof.  And that actually is unconstitutional.  A National Day of Prayer is not a law that establishes a religion.  In fact, if I'm not mistaken, it's not even a law.  Therefore it is not unconstitutional.

3. Finally, this whole thing started because a group of deliquents called Freedom from Religion Foundation pushed for it.  Personally, I think it would be cooler to be in the chess club or even the Stare-at-your-own-lugi-foundation than to be a part of this group.  But the Constitution that they seek to destroy protects their right to form a peaceful assembly of windbags.  You got to love atheists:  the only group I know that are so passionate about believing in nothing. 

If you're listening, Crabb, FRF, and the rest of America...  You probably think you'll do just fine by removing God from your life.  I wonder how confident you'll be if God decides to remove you from His.

You Go Girl

Bam!

Beat It: a tribute

Perhaps you missed the former: Tribute to the High Pitched Male Vocalist. It becons you for a visit in a voice that only a dog can hear.

Today we recognize the drum soloist, the one that puts the "mp" in thump; that takes a good song and changes its direction with a meaty pounding of sticks on a cow's hide. But skill alone isn't enough to be in this tribute. Oh no. The solos here are game changers; a major reason a song was ultimately remembered.

3:40 into this video...that's the spot.


You go Phil.

This next one is just in here because...well...because the Ventures were cool, and Mr. Bean shows some leg:


The Ventures covered this next tune while in Japan in 1965, but the original was by the Surfaris. You'll probably recognize it:


Now then, if that didn't wipe you out, this next one is one of my personal faves (love that baseline too).


One more. What would life be without the 80's? Less cheesy, sure, but then again...it would be less cheesy. Where would your mondo jams be then? I love this next song more than any straight man should love a cheesy song. There I confessed it finally.  Wait until 3:23.  No fast forwarding, cheater.

A little anticlimactic? Maybe. Any less awesome? Never.

Well, that's about it for this installment. Time for me to beat it.

Doublespeak

Ah, you've got to love nonsense.  It's like duct tape for liberals.  Aldous Huxley wrote about the doublespeaking liberals all the way back in 1931.  And guess what?  They're still doublespeaking.

To quote Rep. Patrick Kennedy attempting to say something meaningful about abortion (from this article):

"Obviously there’s going to be some legal decisions that are going to be coming forward, I’m sure, that are going to adjudicate this...But obviously, we’ve got to protect women’s health. Half of our population are women, and -- this is a matter of public health...It’s not a question of morality or anything; it’s a matter of health -- public health. Our mothers, our sisters, our spouses, I mean, this is a simple issue. It’s not making any judgment on people. It’s just a matter of providing -- making sure that they’re safe. And there’s only one way to make sure they’re safe, and that’s making sure that it’s legal.”

Wow.  Just wow.  To borrow a liberal term, allow me to "deconstruct" this ball of twine dipped in manure.  Half of our population are women he says...and therefore deserve to be protected by the state.  You know, "obviously"!  But 5,000,000 terminated babies beg to differ.  Who represents them I wonder?  Who's got their back on healthcare?  President Obama, who, in his own words, doesn't want his girls "punished with a baby"?  Yeah, probably not.  "It's not a question of morality...It's not making any judgment on people", says Patrick Kennedy.  Can you even be more liberal than Ted???  So you're not making any judgment on the babies that are being killed, is that correct?  I suppose, by defining human children as something other than people you can make your argument work for the confused individuals that voted for you.
 
Let me see if I've got this right...it's okay (in your mind) to kill unborn babies to protect women because there are a lot of women.  By that faulty logic, a lot of murder could be justified based on the numbers.  I understand that unborn babies can't vote for you yet, but a bunch of scared or misguided women can.  So why protect babies when their own mothers won't?  I get it.  It's a numbers game, and apparently it worked for you.  What I don't get is what made you grow up to be such a scum sucking miscreant that you cannot distinguish murder from morality.  You choose to encourage weakness and death over courage and strength; guilt over joy.  You package your lies as "women's health" while it's the women who are saddled with the unintended consequences of abortion.  Then you piously talk about "serving others" and remind us all ad nauseum that you're doing so.  I don't care if you have good intentions.  Grow up and think about results.  You're not protecting women.  You're using them. 

Patrick, there is a reason why the ass is the symbol of your party, and the only way to make sure that America is safe, is to kick those asses to the curb.  November's coming quickly.  Tell your friends.