If Mohammed Had Never Been Born

Muslim Inventions: For the Record....

Personal Stuff: Blogging Slowed This Week Because....

I didn't do much blogging this past week because of other interests:  tax courses and music, mostly.

I left my band in San Jose to join one in my own home town of Hollister, exchanging an hour commute for one less than ten minutes.  This new band wants all members to contribute vocally, so I have been studying books and CD's on singing and practicing daily.  I have never sung before, except some minor backing vocals.  I am having fun with it.  My former band was very weak vocally, but the new band is quite strong with beautiful singing voices.

I have been scouring the net for song material:  chords and lyrics, karaoke files with which to practice singing, and trying to get my audio mixer to work with my laptop for better recording.  It looks like I will have to get a Sound Blaster soundcard, to allow simultaneous recording and playback from the soundcard (as opposed to recording from the speakers and picking up background noise, computer hum, etc).

I have been gathering my favorite songs of all time, and have found it to be an emotional experience.  Listening to these old songs brings many memories to life.

"I'll Be With You In Apple Blossom Time"

Lately I have been collecting versions of all my favorite songs from throughout my life.  One of the most beautiful of these is "I'll Be With You In Apple Blossom Time."  The Andrews Sisters recorded it in 1940 and it became a major hit during World War II.  Coming home from hell and marrying the lovely girl left behind, all splendid in white lace with the apple blossoms in full bloom, must have seemed a wonderful dream.  Especially when dreamed from a foxhole.

I love this song because of its sentimentality, its idealism, its romance, its old-fashioned values of lifetime commitments and marriage and the blending of two souls.  I didn't learn this song from the Andrews Sisters, I learned it from an Irish singing group called the Bachelors, who were simply incredible.  They recorded a slightly jazzy version of the song in the early 1960's -- 1964 if I remember correctly.  Their version is my all time favorite.

Steve Jobs Nearing the End of Life?

I heard that Steve Jobs resigned as head of Apple a few days ago.  I assumed it must have been from some corporate shenanigans, but I was wrong.  Steve Jobs suffers from pancreatic cancer and resigned because he could no longer perform his duties.  Pancreatic cancer is almost always a death sentence.  Less than 5% of white men survive five years after diagnosis.

I think we will lose Steve soon.  He has been a great capitalist, a great producer of technological innovation and creator of wealth for many people.

Photo, left:  That's Steve Jobs on the left, photo taken yesterday.

Source:  TMZ

IRS Plays Dirty Pool With Small Charitable Organizations

The Internal Revenue Service has been revoking the tax-exempt status of thousands of small charitable organizations for failing to file form 990-N.  The latter is filed online at the IRS website.  However, if you didn't know you were supposed to file it, you're just out of luck.  After three years of non-filing, the IRS automatically revokes your tax-exempt status.  You can't simply file the delinquent forms to comply with IRS rules; once revoked, you can only regain your tax exempt status through an onerous application for exemption with the IRS.

The organizations most likely to come under these rules are not the actual charitable organizations themselves, but local chapters of the charitable organizations.  Local chapters may believe they are merely a department of the main organization and thus covered by the main organization's tax filings.  However, the IRS doesn't see it that way.  Local chapters, no matter how small, are viewed as separate charitable organizations with their own filing requirements.

The IRS did not send out instructions to small charitable organizations on how and when to file Form 990-N, nor did they warn these organizations that their tax-exempt status would be revoked for failure to file.  The 990-N has only eight questions and requires no financial information, except for an affirmation that the organization has less than $50,000 in revenues (including dues and donations).

The IRS did, however, send out notices of revocation of tax-exempt status.  Had they sent out notices of warning beforehand, such revocations would not have been necessary.  The IRS actions, in my opinion, smack of bad faith and appear to be a ploy to raise revenues.

Local chapters who lose tax-exempt status can only get it back by filing Form 1023 or 1024, onerous forms of 25 pages each of questions and information, some of which will not be readily available.  Filing these forms requires a fee of $100, payable to the IRS.  If you have a CPA or lawyer complete the forms for you, you can easily pay $1,000 or more for their help.

The consequences of losing your tax-exempt status is that your organization may have to file federal and state corporate tax returns.  Donations to the organization may now be taxable income, and not deductible by the donor.  Further, such organizations may now have to begin paying bank fees for their checking and savings accounts, as many banks only waive fees for exempt organizations.

All Charges Dropped For Dominique Strauss-Kahn

The New York District Attorney has asked that all charges be dropped against French politician Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK). DSK was accused by a hotel maid of sexual assault. It appears that the maid, one Nafissitou Diallo, is a compulsive liar whose testimony cannot be trusted. The DA office stated:

In virtually every substantive interview with prosecutors, despite entreaties to simply be truthful, she has not been truthful, on matters great and small, many pertaining to her background and some relating to the circumstances of the incident itself.

I doubted the veracity of the maid's story from the very outset of this case, and stated so here.   I became ever more sure that DSK was innocent and gave my reasons here.

Meanwhile, New York District Attorney Cy Vance has egg on his face.  He indicted DSK over warnings by Lisa Friel, head of the sex crimes unit of the DA's office, that the maid was lying and not credible.  She warned Vance to wait for more evidence and not rush to indict DSK, but Vance, apparently anxious for publicity and acclaim, ignored her warnings.  (Worse, he kicked her off the case.)  He then indicted DSK, only to have the case explode in his face.  Lisa Friel is vindicated and Vance owes her a public apology, but don't hold your breath.

There were a lot of rumors circulating about made-up evidence implicating DSK of guilt in the matter, but much of it (if not all of it) was bogus.  Nevertheless, I still get readers pointing to these rumors as if they were fact, e.g. that DSK fled the hotel so quickly he left cell phones and other material behind in his haste to get away.  Not true.  Save your breath.

Now DSK is guilty of one thing, and that is being a reckless horn-dog who objectifies women and constantly engages in extra-marital sex with any woman who is willing.  A high profile individual behaving in such a manner merely paints a bulls-eye on his back, and should expect the arrows aimed at him.  My learned and sagacious advice to Monsieur Strauss-Kahn is straight forward and simple:  grow up, schmuck.

Read more about it here.

Libya: a New Fanatical Islamic State

Captain Zero has succeeded in helping the rebels push Muammar Gaddafi out of his role as dictator of Libya.  Now the incoming government officials are saying that Libya will be ruled by Sharia, or Islamic Law.  That means gays will be executed, adulterers, fornicators and apostates will be stoned or beheaded, women beaten and forced to wear ugly black bags, thieves will have their hands cut off in the public square, and jihad funded and practiced, as commanded by his high holiness, Muhammad, the Prince of Peace Eternal War.

So we trade one bumbling moron of a dictator who posed no threat to us or anyone else, for a cadre of motivated Islamic fanatics.  Wow, what a victory for mankind!

And we helped.

Muslim Students in the UK Demand Sharia-Compliant Student Loans

Muslim students in the UK are demanding interest free student loans, since paying interest is forbidden under Islamic law, or "Sharia" as it is called.  The UK has been the most Muslim-accommodating country in the western world, and also the one most quickly disintegrating.

Muslims once again demonstrate that they are not compatible with western culture, laws and traditions.   They should not be in the west.  Nevertheless, you can count on the leftists in the UK quickly granting their every demand.  They already have "halal" food, which is derived from animals slaughtered in a cruel and painful manner, women wearing veils and burkas, honor killings and genital mutilations.  What's next for the UK, public stoning of adulterers?

Kick them out.  Send them back to the barbarian hell-hole from which they sprang, and take the leftist enablers with them.

Maxine Waters Says "The Tea Party Can Go Straight to Hell"

Maxine Waters, a Democrat from Los Angeles, says the Tea Party "can go straight to hell."  Yeah, that'll cure our economic woes and put people back to work.  The Los Angeles Times reports:

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) came out swinging against Republicans in Congress on Saturday as she addressed the unemployed during a forum in Inglewood.

The event occurred a day after new statistics were released showing that California's jobless rate last month went up to 12%, from 11.8%. California now has the second-highest rate of unemployment in the nation, trailing only Nevada at 12.9%, and its jobless rate is well above the U.S. average of 9.1%.

Waters vowed to push Congress to focus on creating more jobs. "I'm not afraid of anybody," said Waters. "This is a tough game. You can't be intimidated. You can't be frightened. And as far as I'm concerned, the 'tea party' can go straight to hell."

Since the Tea Party is in fact a grass-roots movement of the people, Maxine Waters is actually telling the people to go to hell.  Thanks Maxine; after almost three years of Obama, most of us have been living in hell quite long enough.  Telling people with the right solutions to "go to hell" will make the problem worse, not better.

What airhead Waters overlooks is that California's rotten economy is the result of years of rule by Democrats.  California is probably the state most hostile to business, resulting in massive outward immigration of businesses, jobs and tax revenues to friendlier states.  Congress does not and cannot create jobs, only the private sector can do that.  What we need is a government that is friendly to business and greases the skids to job creation by the private sector, through low government spending, low taxes, cheap energy and a lot less red tape.

An absence of uncertainty is also critical.  Since starting a business involves risk, entrepreneurs will refrain from new ventures with major uncertainties pending about taxes, governmental regulation, the cost of energy, a failing financial sector (resulting from governmental intervention like the subprime mortgage fiasco), massive governmental deficits, inflation and the onset of Obamacare.

The economy is like a garden; you can only encourage growth, you cannot command it.  You can provide the right environment in which vegetables can grow and prosper, e.g. by giving the seedlings adequate water, fertile soil and sunshine.  If you reduce any of the critical elements to growth, growth will slow and the plants may even die.  You cannot make the plants bloom through clever rhetoric, talking points and bumper-sticker slogans.  The right environmental factors must be there or the garden will not produce, period.

I suspect that once Obama is turned out of office, new growth will erupt like trees blossoming in spring.

NewsBusted: Another Take on Illinois's Indigent Dead

It's Official: Obama Administration Erases Border With Mexico

Obama has halted deportation of illegal aliens on a "case by case" basis.  If illegals are here but are nice illegals and not felons, they will be allowed to stay.  Democrats everywhere applauded the decision, hoping for new constituents who will vote Democrat every time.

Now that the United States and Mexico have no borders and are in fact, one state, expect hordes of new (formerly illegal) immigrants who will flock here once the economy revives.

Is there any outrage that will not be visited upon us by the Party of Treason?  Apparently not.

Read it and barf.

Climate Scientists Warn of Space Alien's Pre-Emptive Attack on Earth

Aliens Pissed Off
About Pollution 

No, honest, this story is from the U.K. Guardian, not the Onion.  Talk about desperation arguments for saving the global warming hoax!  The Guardian reports:

Aliens may destroy humanity to protect other civilisations, say scientists. Rising greenhouse emissions may tip off aliens that we are a rapidly expanding threat, warns a report for NASA.

It may not rank as the most compelling reason to curb greenhouse gases, but reducing our emissions might just save humanity from a pre-emptive alien attack, scientists claim.

Watching from afar, extraterrestrial beings might view changes in Earth's atmosphere as symptomatic of a civilisation growing out of control – and take drastic action to keep us from becoming a more serious threat, the researchers explain.

Why would aliens give two hoots in hell about what we are doing to our planet?  How would that effect them?  Would our alleged "global warming" somehow affect planets in the Cassiopeia constellation? Ridiculous.

These eggheads have described the plot of the remake of "The Day the World Stood Still," when aliens come to earth to kill humans while saving all of the other species from our evil, polluting ways.  Of course, this remake was the dream scenario of climate crackpots all over the globe, who want humanity to die off to make the world safe for squirrels.

Apparently, some NASA scientists saw the movie, smoked some bad weed and woke up believing that the movie was real.  That's my theory anyway, and I think it is more credible than the aliens-as-climate-cops scenario.  Then the UK Guardian editors got a hold of the same batch of weed and woke up believing these hallucinations were an actual news story.  Either that or it's true what they say about liberalism as a form of insanity.  I report, you decide.

If ever there were a reason to stop all funding of "global warming" research, now is the time. The AGW crowd gets weirder by the day.

Why Loony Leftist Janeane Garofalo is Fun

John Hayward at Human Events has an important article on the profound depths of intellectual sagacity displayed by the beautiful and talented Janeane Garofalo.  Okay, okay, you can stop laughing now.  I was only serious about the article.

Janeane Garofalo is a tattoo-festooned lunatic who is obsessed with race and believes anyone who isn't a flaming Marxist-Communist is a racist.  What is the definition of racist?  It's hard to say, since it seems to be a constantly transmogrifying epithet that changes to support every leftwing argument.

Now Garofalo is saying that Herman Cain, a black conservative, displays "Stockholm syndrome" for identifying with the Republican Party.  So why bother with an intellectual lightweight and loon like Garofalo?  Because it's fun.

Read the whole article here for a laugh.

Climate Dupe Plans "Civil Disobedience" in Washington, D.C.

What a Climate Dupe Looks Like

From the very leftwing U.K. Guardian, we learn that "climate scientist" Jason Box plans to get arrested in Washington soon.  As the Guardian states:

His natural inquisitiveness — plus a dose of idealism and commitment — is why Box is intent on participating in his first-ever act of civil disobedience. The cause? Trying to convince President Obama that approving the extension of a controversial oil sands pipeline — the proposed $7 billion, 1,702-mile Keystone XL — would be the equivalent of lighting a fuse to the biggest carbon bomb on the planet.

Hey Jason, wake up.  The "global warming" hoax is over.  You lost.  As for the Guardian's transparently flattering description of Box, "natually inquisitive, idealism and commitment," I would add:  naive, credulous, lacking a healthy dose of skepticism for climate disaster scenarios, prone to accept politically motivated scientific theories without any substantial basis in fact.

Grow up, son.

Read the U.K. Guardian's leftist propaganda here.

Big Sis Portrays White Americans as Most Likely Terrorists

     Scary White Guy

Infowars.com has reported on the sorry state of the Department of Homeland Security.  In spite of the fact that the most likely terrorists are Muslims, "Big Sis," as the head of DHS has been called, is living in a parallel universe.  According to Big Sis Janet Napolitano, well-dressed white people are to be feared.  Infowars states:

As we highlighted last month, a longer PSA [public service announcement] recently produced by the DHS overwhelmingly went to significant lengths to portray white Americans as the most likely terrorists, despite the fact that the 126 people who were indicted on terrorist-related charges in the United States over the last two years were all Muslim.

Bizarrely, the majority of the people shown reporting suspicious activity to authorities were portrayed as non-whites.

That previous Infowars report on DHS "white people as terrorists" went viral:

Despite the DHS’ claims to the contrary, many saw the ad as being deliberately racially motivated. Some concluded that this was merely a nod to political correctness while others viewed it as part of a pattern of demonizing white middle class Americans – many of whom are furious with the federal government for all manner of different reasons - as the DHS increasingly targets its anti-terror apparatus against politically motivated citizens.

Instead of protecting Americans against Islamic terrorism, Big Sis instead uses the Department of Homeland Security to slander political opponents.  I can hardly wait to flush Big Sis along with the Master of Disaster who is her boss.

Read the Infowars article here.

Killing the Magic Goose: Overly Tax the Rich, Destroy Prosperity

Nolan Finley of the Detroit News gets it.  He says the Obama administration had better hurry up and tax the rich while there are still rich to tax.  Obama's policies are rapidly destroying wealth.  Finley writes:

At the rate President Barack Obama's policies are destroying wealth, the pool of millionaire taxpayers may be too shallow to provide the windfall the redistributors hope for.

Plunging stock markets over the past two weeks have ravaged portfolios and caused lots of people to slip a few rungs down the economic ladder. Last Monday alone, investors lost $1.2 trillion. Imagine.

Liberals never get it.  They want the golden eggs and insist on cutting open the magic goose  to get them.  Alas, once you destroy the engine of prosperity, prosperity disappears.  Heavy taxation on entrepreneurs  is like strapping a boulder onto the backs of runners and expecting them to run at the same speed.  As Finley puts it:

But that's the problem with so-called millionaire's taxes. They only work if the rich stay rich, and high tax and spend policies that slow growth, rock financial markets and take the reward out of risk-taking produce a lot of ex-millionaires.

And when those millionaires become ex-millionaires, they shut down marginal businesses and lay off workers.  You can't make payroll with cute bumper-sticker slogans.  It takes moola.

These facts will never deter the wealth-confiscators, however.  They never learn.  They will continue, forever, looking for the financial equivalent of perpetual motion, or the ancient chemist's quest to turn lead into gold.  It doesn't work, kids.  When you destroy human incentive, people stop working, investing and taking risks.  The productive dwindle and the welfare rolls grow.  Soon, the house of cards collapses when there is nothing left to "redistribute."

Read all of Nolan Finley's article here.

We Are Witnessing the Utter Failure of Liberalism Worldwide

London on Fire

As looters in the UK roam the streets, breaking, burning and stealing, we are witnessing the utter failure of liberalism and the welfare state.  We have not yet reached that point in the United States, but the flash riots and wildings of the past few months show we are on the brink.

When you inculcate a strong sense of entitlement in the unproductive underclass, the latter will become angry and violent when his goodies are shut off.   When you rationalize and excuse the anti-social behavior of hoodlums and social parasites, you can only expect more of the same.

Peter Hitchins, writing in the UK Mail Online, describes the failure of the welfare state in Britain.  He writes:

As the polluted flood (it is not a tide; it will not go back down again) of spite, greed and violence washes on to their very doorsteps, well-off and influential Left-wingers at last meet the filthy thing they have created, and which they ignored when it did not affect them personally.

No doubt they will find ways to save themselves. But they will not save the country. Because even now they will not admit that all their ideas are wrong, and that the policies of the past 50 years – the policies they love – have been a terrible mistake. I have heard them in the past few days clinging to their old excuses of non-existent ‘poverty’ and ‘exclusion’.

The U.K. has been the most extreme example of leftist liberalism on the planet.  Mass immigration of hostile and unproductive third-worlders into the country; huge welfare benefits for lazy people who refuse to work even when jobs are plentiful; a wimpy and apologetic police force and anemic justice system that is more inclined to prosecute those who defend themselves than the hordes of hoodlums who are currently burning down London:

The great majority of the looters, smashers, burners and muggers have not been arrested and never will be. Our long-enfeebled police were so useless at the start that thousands of crimes were committed with total impunity.

Now we know why they don’t call themselves ‘police forces’ any more. But they aren’t ‘services’ either, for they certainly don’t serve us or do what we want them to do, preferring to arrest us for defending ourselves. The criminals, who are cunning without being intelligent, all know this. They will wait for the next chance.

Read Hitchins' righteous rant here.

Obviously, if shop owners in London had the right to own and use guns, these riots would likely never have happened, or if they did, would have been cut short with the first bevy of bullet-riddled, hoody-wearing corpses.  You can't be nice to evil; evil must be confronted and opposed without apology.

The first step in stopping this carnage, however, begins at the ballot box.  Liberals and leftists need to be thrown out in mass, along with the sloth and crime-rewarding welfare system they created, and certain third-world immigration halted and reversed.  Uprooting the demented liberal culture will take years, e.g. reversing the deeply ingrained belief that rewarding crime and parasitical behavior is inspired enlightenment, and the reverse only darkness and backwardness.

Who Will We Vote For? GOP Candidates Debate

Pundits are reporting that Newt Gingrich won the first Republican presidential debate.  Ugh, I won't vote for him.  Judge him by his life thus far and not how well he debates.  He supported man-made global warming.  Same with Mitt Romney.  I am still learning towards Michele Bachmann unless someone better emerges.

Consumer confidence has sunk to the lowest point in thirty years.  If we run the right candidate, we can repeat Reagan's overwhelming electoral victory of 1980.  He defeated Jimmy Carter, and Barack Obama is another leftwing disaster awaiting correction by the electorate.

Whoever the GOP candidate is, he or she would almost certainly be our next president.  That makes the primaries and the debates more important than ever.

Global Turmoil: Obama's Chickens Coming Home to Roost?

I created and posted this graphic back in 2008, calling it "Obama's Chickens Are Coming Home.....to ROOOOST!"

With the world falling apart all around us, some are now saying that Obama's chickens are coming home to roost.  I agree.  Here's that graphic again, now more relevant than ever:

Lizzie Borden Reconsidered

Always on Watch is a Lizzie Borden buff.  She has studied the case for years.

Lizzie Borden was accused of killing her parents with a hatchet in 1892, in Fall River, Massachusetts.  She was indicted and made to stand trial for murder.  If she had been found guilty, she would have been hanged.

She was found "not guilty" by the jurors after only ten minutes of deliberation.  (They sat in the jury room for another hour to avoid embarrassing the prosecution before announcing the verdict.)

The murders happened with only two other people in the house, Lizzie Borden and her maid, Bridget Sullivan.  Borden's step mother was hacked to death on the top floor of the house about 90 minutes before her father met a similar fate, after he came home and dozed on the couch.  In spite of the "not guilty" verdict, many people still believe Lizzie Borden did the deed and got away with it.  Until today, I was one of them.  Now I'm not so sure.

I just read a book "Forty Whacks" by David Kent.  This is a book with a detailed story line about what happened, what is fact and what is rumor about the case.

Kent makes it clear that Lizzie's guilt was by no means proved and the jury did the right thing.  While Mr. Borden's body was still warm and oozing blood, Lizzie yelled for help and a doctor from across the street came over to the house and examined Mr. Borden's body.  Others from the neighborhood soon showed up as well to comfort Lizzie, and Lizzie's clothing, hair and shoes were completely bereft of any blood.  All evidence against her was circumstantial and unpersuasive.  The jury acquitted, and I agree with the verdict.

However being found "not guilty" is not the same as "absolutely innocent."  There was not enough evidence to convict.  No murder weapon was ever tied to the crime, no motivation apparent.  Lizzie's life both before and after the crime was completely inconsistent with such an evil act.  Still, she could have done it, and it seems unlikely that anyone else could have done it without being detected by Lizzie or Bridget when they entered the house.  However, what is unlikely is not impossible, and the killer's identity may never be known.

If Lizzie did it, how did she escape being splattered with blood?  Where did she hide the murder weapon, which was never reliably identified?

Perhaps Lizzie hired someone to kill her parents so she could inherit their fortune without having to wait years for their natural deaths.  Lizzie could have hid the assassin in the house and helped him escape detection.  This would explain the 90 minutes between the murders.   However, this is speculation and not supported by any evidence.  We will probably never know the why, the who and the how of these murders.

Lizzie does indeed deserve the benefit of a doubt, and the jury gave her that.  RIP, Lizzie Borden.

Massive Global Unrest as Socialized Countries Finally Go Broke

Drudge is reporting massive temper tantrums in the U.K., Israel, Spain, Greece, Portugal, the Philippines, China, Syria and Lower Slobbovia.

It seems that Thatcher's theorem about socialism is proved: "Sooner or later you run out of other people's money."  Pull a pacifier out of a baby's mouth and he will start to scream.  The screaming has begun.

In all of these cases, the disaffected seem to believe that it is the duty of government to give them what they need to live:  jobs, housing, food, clothing, etc.  Government can't solve the problem because government is the problem.  Only the private sector can provide those goodies, and you need a free market in order for that to happen.

Of course there are socialists who have wanted this chaos to happen, like Francis Fox Piven, who advocated making unsustainable demands on government services until government goes broke, and then somehow this will allow socialism to replace capitalism.  Brilliant logic:  make the patient as sick as possible because only then can he be cured.

I wonder when massive riots will begin breaking out in America?  Probably right after Obama is re-elected, perish the thought.

Massive Rioting in the U.K., Black on White Violence: What's the Solution?

Oh looky, a black guy with a big fire behind him. This is the scene in London today. After decades of unrestricted immigration of third worlders, the latter is now burning down England. Why? Why not?

Reports say that the black rioters are making white victims strip off their clothing. Why? Why not?

London police face a third night of uncontrolled rioting as liberals scurry feverishly to apologize to the rioters for whatever the rioters are mad about. Whatever it is, the liberals are sure they are guilty, not the rioters.

Katharine Birbalsingh, writing in the U.K. Telegraph, tells the truth: The U.K. riots are about race. She says:

Problems cannot be addressed unless people are willing to tell the truth. As with so many other things in this country, we stick our heads in the sand and refuse to speak out about it.

The problem is that blacks are much more violent than any other ethnic group.  This has been known for many years.  I remember back in 1972, seeing the FBI crime report for the first time (published in a magazine) that showed the number of violent crimes per 1,000 (or some such number) of population.  Blacks were the worst of the bunch.  Asians were the least violent, followed by whites, followed by Hispanics, with blacks bringing up the rear.  That was a real eye-opener for me, and gave me my first inkling that "racism" wasn't all about skin color.  People were prejudiced against blacks because they were afraid for their lives.

Dinesh D'Souza called this "rational discrimination" in his 1994 book, "The End of Racism."  Rational discrimination is what is practiced when one wishes to preserve his life.  It's why we don't walk through black neighborhoods in the middle of the night, or why taxi drivers don't pick up seedy looking blacks in poor neighborhoods.  They would rather live and be denounced as a racist than praised at their own funeral.  There are times when hard reality pushes aside polite fictions about race.

Black crime and violence is a major problem for modern civilization.  The question is, what do we do about it?  Bring back segregation?  Probably not.  There has to be a better solution than that.  If it were up to me, I would eliminate all affirmative action policies of the government, all racial norming in college admissions, civil service testing, promotion and any form of racial quotas anywhere, e.g. the military.  From now on, kids, you make it on your own or you can sleep under a bridge.

Then I would eliminate all the polite PC informal speech codes that prevent honest communication about race (or anything else).  The plight of black people is caused by destructive life choices and bad attitudes.  Color prejudice is caused by black dysfunction, not the other way around.  Blacks, as a group, have a bad reputation and that reputation is largely deserved.  Black rioters (or any color rioters) would be shot on sight, like they used to do in days of yore.

When one has to have civilizational skills or starve, one develops civilizational skills.  Perhaps special schools could be started to teach underclass individuals (of whatever color) the civilizational skills they need to survive in polite society.  The do-rags, baggy pants, facial studs and tattoos will have to go if you want to succeed, because they convey the wrong message.  The use of drugs, making and abandoning babies, alcoholism -- all are to be avoided.

Education, manners, good English, cooperative effort and marketable skills are what is needed to succeed, to pay the rent and put dinner on the table.  Since blacks (as a group) have the lowest overall average I.Q. (per the Bell Curve and many scientific studies), trades need to be identified where a high I.Q. isn't required, and training provided as an alternative to college.  We can't all be advanced math professors at Princeton, and most of us wouldn't want to be anyway (boring).  Of course, blacks who exceed the norm (and there are many) should rise as far as their ambition and abilities will take them.

These are just some thoughts that come to mind.  Looky, looky, I'm being honest about race!!  Whoopee!! Try it.  Of course, my thoughts assume that all races are not equal in average I.Q., not all cultures are of equal value and that blacks are generally the victimizers, not the victims.  As such, they require tough, remedial policies rather than rationalizations to continue their dysfunction.

Meanwhile, the London police are planning on using plastic bullets tonight if the rioters don't quit.  Note to London police:  lead is a lot more effective.

White Liberals and Racism

White liberals love to feel guilty, to shout mea culpa!  at every opportunity, and to crawl on their knees begging for forgiveness and the blessing of the Sacred Other.  "Beat me, beat me, it hurts so good" they seem to say.

Lawrence Auster posted this photo of a white woman begging on her knees for forgiveness for "white racism."  Pathetic.

Nina Tayloe asks Brown Berry, 75, for forgiveness Sunday during a prayer
meeting at Clayborn Temple. More than two dozen people gathered outside
the church in support of the upcoming dedication of the Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. memorial in Washington.

The Debt Crisis In A Nut Shell

The Debt Crisis explained:

1. Democrats run up the national debt to unsustainable levels buying junk that no one wants or needs;
2. Democrats want to raise the debt limit so they can spend even more;
3. Republicans say NO;
4. USA credit rating is downgraded due mainly to an inadequate cut in spending;
5. Republicans are blamed for the downgrade.

Ain't politics fun?

Muslims Do Not Belong in the West: London Suburb Put Under Sharia Law

Fundamentalist Muslims are attempting to enforce Sharia law in an eastern suburb of London.  The U.K. Sun reports:

The group Muslims Against Crusades has demanded strict Sharia law in the east London community - banning gambling, smoking and alcohol.

Dozens of posters had been put up - quickly removed by the council - insisting: "You are entering a Shariah controlled zone - Islamic rules enforced."

A sign hangs on a building that says:

YOU ARE ENTERING A SHARIA CONTROLLED ZONE

Islamic Rules Enforced

No Alcohol

No Gambling

No Music or Concerts

No Porn or Prostitution

No Drugs or Smoking

Stogie would add the following:
No Tolerance
No Freedom
No Common Sense
No Peace

What is Allowed:

• Wife beating
• Polygamy
• Child brides
• Rape of unveiled infidel women
• Burquas and veils for women
• Genital mutilation of young girls
• Honor killings
• Stonings of apostates, adulterers, fornicators and gays
• Chopping off hands of thieves
• Issuing fatwas
• Planning and promoting terrorism

For some reason, the wall poster omitted the "What is allowed" section.  I listed it for them, assuming it was just an oversight on their part.

Actually, it isn't much of a stretch that these evils will eventually be allowed in Britain in the name of "multiculturalism."  One British Muslim claims that one day Muslims will stone adulterers in London.  The European left is completely insane for bringing this evil to the U.K. and supporting it morally and financially now that it is there.

How Bad Can Things Get? Swami Stogie Explains All.

The news brings blues this week.

• A U.S. military helicopter was shot down by the barbarians in Afghanistan, killing 31 soldiers.  (Hey idiot General over there, did you ever hear the truism about "putting too many eggs in one basket?")  I'd fire that jerk, drop a few H-bombs and pull out all the troops (not necessarily in that order).

• The USA's credit rating was downgraded for the first time in history, and the world will change to a different currency for settling debts.  That will damage our economy even further.  Democrats are complete fools, drunken sailors on steroids, 14 year old kids with a credit card at the mall.  We have to boot their rotten asses out of Washington the first chance we get.  Idea for getting rich:  develop a soccer ball with an image of Obama's ass printed on it.   Sales are expected to be brisk for the first year or so, but are expected to drop off precipitously on Wednesday, November 7, 2012. 

• Black youths are rioting and wilding all over, not just in Wisconsin, but in North London (see here for photos of the devastation) and in Canada.  We must give them more money, welfare, do-rags, rap CD's and then apologize for our racism.  That'll solve the problem.  Actually, blacks are also feeling the pinch of the rotten economy but many do not realize it is of their own making, for voting for Democrats and the idiot-child, Barack Obama.  Of course, drug addiction, crime, violence, school drop-outs, illegitimate children and a really bad attitude probably helped too.  The police should hand out pamphlets to the rioters/looters explaining this before shooting them.

• Idiotic, moronic and mendacious Democrats are trying to blame the U.S. credit rating downgrade on the Tea Parties.  That is ridiculous of course.  The alcoholic who was forced to go cold turkey is now blaming his delerium tremens on the doctor.  Well the alky has a point:  if he didn't have his booze taken away, his hands wouldn't shake so much and he wouldn't now be retching in the alley.  Hey schmuck, you're the one who is hooked on easy credit, and now you have to pay the price.  Actions have consequences:  live with it.

U.S. Credit Rating Downgraded For First Time In History: "Change You Can Believe In"?

If you put a fool in charge of the nation's purse strings, it will undoubtedly come to this.  Standard and Poors said:

Lowering the nation’s rating to one notch below AAA, the credit rating company said “political brinkmanship” in the debate over the debt had made the U.S. government’s ability to manage its finances “less stable, less effective and less predictable.” It said the bipartisan agreement reached this week to find at least $2.1 trillion in budget savings “fell short” of what was necessary to tame the nation’s debt over time and predicted that leaders would not be likely to achieve more savings in the future.

Standard and Poors also took a potshot at the Republicans, stating “The majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues,"  That means the Republicans continue to resist raising taxes in a significant recession, which would be even more disastrous to any recovery.

The only way to raise tax revenues is to have a robust, growing economy.  That cannot happen until the fool in the White House is sent packing in January 2013.  That is the only feasible plan "to raise revenues" that now exists.

Read more about it here.

In a related post Psota of Free Will says the downgrade wasn't due to the evil Tea Partiers:

We didn't get downgraded because of the Tea Party. We got downgraded because of TARP, the auto bailouts, the stimulus, Obamacare, QE1 & 2, Cash for Clunkers, and a million other wastes of money. Those weren't Republican or conservative initiatives. In fact, with a few notorious exceptions, they were resisted mightily by virtually every Republican in elected office. (and those who didn't resist have found themselves out of office). Hell, the Tea Party started to protest the explosion of spending coming out of DC!

Indeed, S&P specifically complains about the failure of the debt agreement to make a serious attempt to reduce spending. That wasn't the Tea Party's fault. Obama and the Democrats in Congress were the ones who pressed to preserve spending at today's mind boggling levels. As Erik Erickson points out, S&P has indicated that only a plan with a minimum of $4 trillion in cuts would have impressed them. Well that was the Tea Party's plan, a plan that has been denounced as unserious and terroristic.

Psota is a San Francisco attorney.  I know how it feels to be the only conservative in that liberal city, but Psota isn't really alone.  Do link to his site.

Read his whole post here.

Milwaukee Issues Press Release on Racial Turmoil at State Fair: "We're Reaping the Harvest We've Sown"

Two aldermen of the City of Milwaukee have issued a press release addressing the black-on-white attacks at the Wisconsin State Fair.  In the press release, they did something unprecedented:  they placed the blame on the black community, where in fact it actually belongs.

The press release states:

We’re Reaping the Harvest We’ve Sown
Statement of Alderman Bob Donovan and Alderman Joe Dudzik
August 5, 2011 

As elected officials, we are shocked and concerned about the senseless violence
displayed by the large mob outside State Fair Park last night. On behalf of our city, we
apologize to the victims and good patrons who endured or witnessed such horrific
behavior.
Sadly, what transpired near State Fair Park last night is only the most recent mob riot
spawned by a culture of violence that has been brewing in Milwaukee for some time.
And let’s face it, it also has much to do with a deteriorating African American culture in
our city.
Are large groups of Hispanics or Hmong going out in large mobs and viciously attacking
whites?
No.
We are reaping the harvest that we’ve sown.
How so?
There are repercussions for the staggering illegitimacy rate in our African American
community.
There are repercussions for having little to no positive male involvement in the lives of
African American children.
There are repercussions for single-parent homes where children aren’t properly
supervised, and where they aren’t held responsible for their actions.
There are repercussions for a staggering, decades-long near 50% unemployment rate for
African American males in our city.
There are repercussions for having a failing public school system, and an outdated
juvenile justice system.
There are repercussions for having one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the U.S.,
and for having kids raising kids.
The community was shocked when the violent mob of African American youths attacked
white people in Kilbourn Reservoir Park on July 3. Then, a few eyebrows were raised at
the F-bombs and shocking disregard and disrespect for Milwaukee police officers shown
by a large and unruly group of African Americans at N. Richards St. and W. North Ave.
last Saturday night.
And now this horrific mob violence near State Fair Park.
But for those who live in some city neighborhoods, this violence has been like a steady
rain for far too many years now. And the reality is this summer it seems we have five or
six shootings each and every weekend!
Unfortunately, this behavior is now all too common in some parts of the Milwaukee
community.
Our hearts go out to the older generation of African Americans in this city who remember
when their community had one of the HIGHEST marriage rates in the city. Sadly, many
of these same residents are now scared of their own children and grandchildren.
Although we hope our law enforcement agencies are able to bring some of the thugs who
were involved in these attacks to justice, no amount of millions of dollars in government
spending or resources is going to truly address this problem.
We can no longer wish this violence would just go away, and we cannot ignore it; we
must see it for what it truly is.
We cannot begin to address the underlying causes of the violence without change. We
believe that change must come from within the African American community, where new
seeds must be sown. 

Read the original document here.  (Hat tip American Renaissance)

I think liberalism has broken down the black community, by telling blacks for decades that all their problems are caused by "white racism" and thereby freeing blacks from any personal accountability for their own lives.  In turn, as their communities sink deeper into dysfunction, prejudice against blacks grows as a result.

Black crime and black violence is a serious problem and has been for many years, and it is not from any lack of free goodies supplied by the government.  This crime is fed by widespread censorship, wherein news media refuse to identify the race of the perpetrators or their victims, thereby shielding the black community from shame, accountability and any motivation to change.  It is therefore refreshing to see the Milwaukee aldermen state the causes of this violence clearly and plainly, and without the self-censorship so common in media today.

Black Mobs Attack Whites at Wisconsin State Fair: What's Going On Here?

More and more reports have been coming out about "flash mobs" and "wildings" wherein a group of young people suddenly physically attack people or steal from stores (or both).  What the news reports don't tell you is that the perpetrators are black and the victims are white.

The Drudge Report started mentioning these incidents some months ago (and was severely chastised by the establishment); then others started reporting on the growing phenomenon, and finally, a mainstream news outlet has reported on the racial content of these attacks.

A Wisconsin TV news website reports:

WEST ALLIS - Witnesses tell Newsradio 620 WTMJ and TODAY'S TMJ4 of a mob of young people attacking innocent fair-goers at the end of the opening night of State Fair, with some callers claiming a racially-charged scene.

Milwaukee Police confirmed there were assaults outside the fair.

Witnesses' accounts claim everything from dozens to hundreds of young black people beating white people as they left State Fair Thursday night.

Authorities have not given official estimates of the number of people involved in the attacks.

"It looked like they were just going after white guys, white people," said Norb Roffers of Wind Lake in an interview with Newsradio 620 WTMJ. He left the State Fair Entrance near the corner of South 84th Street and West Schlinger Avenue in West Allis.

"They were attacking everybody for no reason whatsoever."

"It was 100% racial," claimed Eric, an Iraq war veteran from St. Francis who says young people beat on his car.

The question is, why is this happening in "post-racial" America?  What do we do about it?   It's time, I think, for "right to carry" be an amendment to the Constitution.  Thugs looking to beat and rob people for a thrill may reconsider their choice after a few of them are shot dead in the act.

Read more about it here.

Hat tip:  Lawrence Auster, View From the Right

The Link Between Barack Obama and Accused Ax Murderer Lizzie Borden

Always On Watch informed me that Obama's birthday, August 4, falls on the anniversary of the famous Lizzie Borden murders.  On August 4, 1892, in their home in Fall River, Massachusetts, someone hacked Lizzie's parents to death with an ax.  Her step-mom was found dead in an upstairs bedroom and her father was hacked beyond recognition as he napped on his living room couch.  Most people think Lizzie did it, but she was acquitted of the crime at trial, and lived in luxury for the rest of her days, spending mom and dad's fortune.  Oh well.

Children liked to chant a rhyme in front of Lizzie's door and then run.  The rhyme was:
Lizzie Borden took an ax,
Gave her mother forty whacks;
When she saw what she had done,
She gave her father forty-one.

Obama has some things in common with Lizzie Borden, and here's a cartoon to prove it.  (AOW deserves credit for the idea and is also running this cartoon):

Read more about the Lizzie Bordern murders here (with gruesome photos) and at Wikipedia here.

Today I Added "American Renaissance" to My Blog Roll. Here's Why.

Frank Borzellieri:  Blacklisted From
His Teaching Profession

Frank Borzellieri is an educator with sterling credentials, an excellent teacher who is dedicated to his multi-ethnic students.  However, he was fired recently for writing articles for American Renaissance some years back, and therefore became guilty of thought crimes:  he had dared to question liberal orthodoxy on the subject of race.

I was disgusted to hear how Frank Borzellieri was fired from his job (as a principal for a Bronx Catholic school) for having published in American Renaissance.  Apparently, he is just another victim of the Southern Poverty Law Center.  It is another "guilt by association" smear.  Borzellieri is not criticized for what he wrote, argued or advocated, he is fired merely for writing in a magazine that liberals don't like.  For all the liberal anguish about "McCarthyism" and the "Black List" and how they unfairly ruined the careers of a lot of Hollywood actors, the liberals now do the very same thing to others, conducting their very own witch hunt and keeping their very own black list.

I am very multi-ethnic, but not multicultural.  My wife of 35 years is Filipina, I have two adopted grandchildren from South Korea (and love them), I have an Amerasian son (who self-identifies as white), as well as nephews and nieces who are 75% hispanic, whom I also love.  Race is not a high priority with me; culture is.  Having said that, today I added American Renaissance to my blog roll, knowing full well that liberals will use it as stick to beat me with.

I intend to read American Renaissance on a regular basis; I am sure I will not always agree with its articles, but I am incensed that American writers, expressing non-hateful, well-reasoned, well argued and well researched articles can be subject to this kind of stigmatization, suppression and persecution.

Read Jared Taylor's defense of Frank Borzellieri here.

Update:  Lawrence Auster of View From the Right says this of Borzellieri:

Readers not familiar with his name should know that Frank Borzellieri as a school board member in Queens in the 1990s fought a tremendous battle against multicultural indoctrination and anti-Americanism in the schools. I don't know of anyone in America who, as a school board member or in any job in education, took such positions and fought for them so strongly. He did what thousands of others should have done but did not do. He is an American hero.

Stogie and Grandkids

Spider-Man Turns Black & Hispanic

The New Spider-Man

It has been noted that comic book makers are very left wing nowadays.  First they praised Barack Obama and made him a close buddy of Spider-Man; then they had Superman renounce his American citizenship.  Now Superman flies above Gotham with the same stirring music, but different words:  "For Truth, Justice and the One-World-Government Way!"

However, nothing has been able to completely scratch that P.C. itch, the desire to elevate "the Other" and remove Whitey from the scene.  But the comic book kids keep right on trying.

Yes, it was inevitable.  Spider-Man has become a young kid who is half black and half hispanic.  You see, Peter Parker, the white, nerdy kid who became the original Spider-Man, has been killed; but don't worry, it only happened in a parallel universe.  The new kid on the web is Miles Morales.  Now everyone has their own Spider-Man, depending on what universe they live in.

I don't know why all this ethnic business is so important to lefties.  Back when Zorro was carving a Z in everything that moved, I didn't insist on a European-derived Zorro.  I was happy to be pretend-hispanic as I drew Z's all over the neighborhood with a crayon.  Besides, a white Zorro would have to be renamed The Fox, since that is the English translation of "El Zorro," and then he would have to make the sign of the F, not the Z, and you can just imagine where that would have led.

Next up:  A Spider-Man in a wheel chair; a Spider-Man who is gay; a Spider-Man who is transgender.  Perhaps we will have a Spider-Man who is a Muslim.  A bit more troublesome:  a Spider-Man who is a single mother and a lesbian.  When you live in parallel universes, the possibilities are endless.

Read more here.

How to Invest in the Obama Years (Joke)

 

"I called my stockbroker and asked him what I should be buying."

He said, "If the current administration is in office much longer, canned goods and ammunition are your best bet."

Hee hee!

Jonah Goldberg Tells Left to Go To Hell

Jonah Goldberg has a rant out today that speaks for everyone on the right.

Read it here.

Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs Angered Anders Breivik, May Deserve Some of the Blame for Breivik's Rampage

The execrable Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs has been going out of his way lately to connect Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs to Anders Breivik, the Norway shooter. Pamela Geller is anti-Islam and so was Breivik, and Breivik mentions Geller in his manifesto, therefore, 2 + 2 = 5 and Breivik and Geller were buddies and comrades in arms. The left wants the public to believe that Breivik was somehow inspired by Geller's "Islamophobia" into committing his murderous rampage.

The truth is, Charles Johnson angered Anders Breivik and provided at least some of Breivik's motivation to strike out. Breivik wrote in his manifesto:

I have watched, for the better part of a year, a number of decent human beings including, but not limited to, Pamela Geller, Paul Belien, Diana West, the Baron and Dymphna from the Gates of Vienna blog and many others, being at the receiving end of a vicious smear campaign from Charles Johnson and Little Green Footballs which is unlike anything I have seen in my life. After engaging in an insane witch-hunt on imaginary Fascists, whose ranks seem to grow every month, Mr. Johnson now suddenly chooses to look the other way in silence when very real Fascists use violence to silence their critics in a major Western city. I admit that makes me angry, and I think I have the right to be so.

The time has now come for Mr. Johnson to apologise in public to the numerous people he has smeared since the fall of 2007, starting with the ones I have mentioned above. It's not their credibility that's on the line here. It's his. If he continues to undermine those confronting Islamic infiltration, it will become increasingly difficult for LGF to present itself as an anti-Jihad website at all. At some point, the rapidly shrinking number of people in the northern hemisphere who haven't been banned from the site yet will be forced to ask themselves whether the website and its owner have simply switched teams and joined the Dark Side.

The only thing Breivik said about Geller in his 1546 page manifesto is that Geller "is a decent human being." Only the worse kind of liar would attempt to translate that simple opinion into a basis for Breivik's rampage.

Who, then, is responsible for moving Breivik to violence?  Consider the logic of the following two sentences and decide which one makes sense:

Breivik's Thought:  Which one is more likely to be true?

1. I think Pamela Geller is a decent human being, therefore I will shoot a lot of liberals.
2. I think liberals (like Charles Johnson) are engaged in a vicious smear campaign of conservatives, therefore I will shoot a lot of liberals.

I think it is clear which of these possible scenarios is responsible for Breivik's anger and resulting rampage:  example number 2.  It is clear that Charles Johnson added to Breivik's growing anger at the left's constant smears of conservatives and CJ no doubt added to Breivik's belief that dialogue and democracy were futile (as Breivik stated in his manifesto -- see prior post).

In the vile argument started by the left, "who is responsible for pushing Breivik over the edge?" the answer is clear: dirty tricks, smears, and lies of the left are what did the trick. And Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs added to that effort and deserves a portion of the blame for the violence that followed.

Note to Liberals: You Are Responsible for Anders Breivik's Violent Rampage

Alex Pareene of Salon Magazine

I just read some silly screed by Alex Pareene at the foolish liberal website, Salon.com.  Pareene insists that Anders Breivik (the Norway shooter) is a Christian, and his article shows Breivik's face framed by the outline of a cross.

What was Pareene's point?  He doesn't say.  Perhaps it was to say that Christian terrorists are a danger to the world (a conclusion that is nonsense) or that Christian dogma can lead to acts of terrorism (again, sheer nonsense).  Pareene seems to be simply taking a potshot at Christians because liberals detest Christians and/or the Christian religion.  There is no point in identifying Breivik as a Christian unless his religious beliefs were a factor in his shooting rampage.  Clearly, they were not.  Breivik stated in his manifesto that he was not particularly religious.  He wrote:

I fully support that the Church gains more or less monopoly on religion in Europe (government policies, school curriculum etc at least) in addition to granting the Church several concessions which have been taken from them the last decades.

As for the Church and science, it is essential that science takes an undisputed precedence over biblical teachings. Europe has always been the cradle of science and it must always continue to be that way.

Regarding my personal relationship with God, I guess I’m not an excessively religious man. I am first and foremost a man of logic. However, I am a supporter of a monocultural Christian Europe.

The truth is, it was not Breivik's religion that caused him to murder 77 people last week; it was leftist politicians who convinced him that those who dissent from liberal orthodoxy will always be marginalized, stigmatized, ridiculed and slandered. He gave up on working through the political process, believing that process to be too compromised to ever be effective in reversing the damage caused by Marxism, multiculturalism and massive Islamic immigration.  He wrote:

An increasing number of Europeans are opening their eyes to the reality that the democratical struggle through dialogue has been lost. The cultural Marxists have institutionalised multiculturalism and have no intention of ever allowing us to exercise any political influence of significance. In theory we, the cultural conservatives of Europe, have become slaves under an oppressive, tyrannical, extreme left-wing system with absolutely no hope of reversing the damage they have caused. At least not democratically..

It is meaningless to participate in the democratical process when you are not allowed to raise important issues without being subjected to political and social persecution through stigmatisation and ridicule. It is time to acknowledge that we, the cultural conservatives of Western Europe, are deceiving ourselves to believe that it is remotely possible to change the system democratically....We have never and will never be allowed to ever exercise any influence. The cultural Marxist/multiculturalist elites nationally and in Brussels have for the last five decades created a resilient system whose objective is to ridicule, persecute, harass and silence us. They will continue to systematically marginalise us until the day when we are no longer a threat to them.

So what did the liberals do after Breivik's shooting spree?  They proved him right in his conclusions stated above.  They began an extensive campaign to blame Breivik's anger on conservatives -- anger that the left itself caused.  In so doing, they did what Breivik claimed:  they slandered us in an attempt to stigmatize, ridicule, and ultimately, silence us.

It was this cynical, Machiavellian, dishonest and slanderous leftist propaganda that eventually pushed Breivik over the edge.  It is liberals and the left who are responsible for the killing spree that followed.

Melanie Phillips: "Hatred, Smears and Liberals Bullying Us Into Silence"

It should be crystal clear to all Republicans and conservatives that the left/Democrats have a "scorched earth" policy for conservative thought, arguments and opinions.  Conservative opinion must be shut down hard, with ruthless tactics if needed, to achieve a liberal monopoly on public discourse.

The situation is not improving as time goes on.  The Tuscon and Norway shootings, where people were killed by lunatics, have been blamed on conservative opinions and conservative personalities.  The reason is simple:  such blame gives the liberals a satisfying outlet for their hatred while denigrating their political enemies.

This is to be expected from the kook fringe of the far left, but such ruthless verbal warfare is not limited to them. Major newspapers, pundits and politicians join in, only too happy to poison the public opinion that has been increasingly against them.  Now Brit writer Melanie Phillips fights back with her post "Hatred, Smears and Liberals Bullying Us Into Silence."  It's worth your attention.

The Civil Right Not To Be Offended: Say It Ain't So, Tennessee

A Public Service Announcement
From the State of Tennessee

Always on Watch has an interesting post up today.  A pundit in Tennessee is claiming that Tennessee has a new law that will make it illegal to offend anyone with a photo, drawing or cartoon.  That will put Steve Benson out of business, but also Michael Ramirez and everyone else.  AOW's article says:

The specific law outlaws posting a photo online that causes "emotional distress" to someone and has no "legitimate purpose." While the law does state that there needs to be "malicious intent," it also includes a massive loophole, in that it says that you can still be liable if the person "reasonably should know" that the actions would "frighten, intimidate or cause emotional distress."

Clearly, this law is an abject violation of the First Amendment for free speech, and cannot stand.  It would allow anyone to shut down another's free speech based on an individual's subjective tastes and biases.

It must be repealed immediately, or be overwhelmed with massive civil disobedience.  Let's flood Tennessee with crude drawings of Muhammad eating bacon sandwiches.  That's my entry above!  (Uh, but I didn't make it, honest.  I found it over at Crooks and Liars, I think.  Or maybe it was Democratic Underground.)

Read it all here.

Why We Fight: Extraordinary times require extraordinary measures and lots of courage

Daniel Horowitz writes for Red State and also has his own blog, Red Meat Conservative.  He has a worthy post out that describes how dire and late the hour it is in America's collapse.  The post, "Why We Fight" says:

Historically, the growth of government statism has been irremediable. For every “100 yards” that they have advanced, our most successful counteroffensive has only slowed their rate of advance by a few yards. Now, after 80 years of soft-socialism, and 2 1/2 years of hard-Marxism, if nothing drastic is done, the government will control our healthcare sector, financial sector, and many other large components of our once proud free market. In other words, we are down big in the Super Bowl of socialism.

Horowitz doesn't just preach doom and gloom, but sees Obama's coming electoral defeat to be a major opportunity to fulfill some of Ronald Reagan's dreams, e.g. a balanced budget amendment, a 2/3 vote requirement for raising taxes, and a constitutional ban on price and wage controls.

Read it all here.   I have added "Red Meat Conservative" to my blog roll.

Andrew Napolitano Discusses Secession as Possible Outcome of America's Political Divisions

Andrew Napolitano

Robert Ringer has long been a personal hero of mine.  He has written several best selling books, the best of which is probably "Looking Out For No. 1."  Now he has a website and interviews prominent conservatives, most recently, Andrew Napolitano.  Napolitano was a Superior Court Judge of New Jersey, is a graduate of Princeton, and has a long a distinguished career as a law professor at Seton Hall.  Now he is a legal analyst for Fox News.

In his interview with Ringer, Napolitano says that secession of states is legal and may be a possible outcome of the increasingly bitter argument between small government conservatives and big government liberals.  He also says that revolution is also possible, though he does not endorse it.  Ringer discusses Napolitano's comments in an article called "Secession is not an Anti-American Option."

Ringer agrees with Napolitano and asks:

Does this mean that Abraham Lincoln was wrong to force the Southern states to stay in the Union? Yes, absolutely. No one has the legal authority to force a group of people whose ancestors helped form an organization to remain in that organization. Forced membership is not freedom; it’s slavery.

Speaking of slavery, we all agree that American slavery was morally wrong in every respect, but slavery was not the issue with Abraham Lincoln. He repeatedly made it clear that he would be willing to continue to allow slavery if that’s what it took to keep the Union together. The Civil War was not about slavery; it was about revenues that would be lost to the federal government if the Southern states were allowed to secede.