anyway, I thought this was great:

On a serious note…

Has anyone else noticed that our peace loving “change and hope” president has now increased the number of our men and women in combat by 17,000 and is proceeding to poke the nuclear beehive that is Pakistan?

You probably haven’t noticed ’cause the media ain’t covering it.

Reprinted from the Damyankee Curmudgeon column 26, Volume 3

I received this in an email… I tried to find a source for a link back but couldn’t find one. Anyway, whoever wrote it… good job. If you identify yourself, I’ll give you credit.

The trouble with the capitalist system is that–we don’t have it.

There are certain advantages in living in North Georgia instead of northern New York. It’s easier to go walking for your health here in the winter. That’s apparently impossible these days up north where we used to live. Most everything is cheaper here: gasoline, food, heating, electricity, and many other necessities.

The chief disadvantages are two: one, it is so bloody hot in summer that everything in your garden dies and you spend so much on air conditioning that it makes up for all the other savings, and two, except for a few islands of sanity like Athens, the home of the University, Georgia is largely populated by people who consider Jeff Foxworthy (of “redneck” fame) to be a dangerous left-wing radical.

When I’m driving around I often turn on the radio. The major station in these parts is WSB in Atlanta, an ABC affiliate. This station carries Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, and a local guy in the morning who claims to be libertarian but aspires to be the next Limbaugh. I won’t tell you his name; I don’t want to give him any publicity, even bad.

His chief hue and cry is that what’s wrong with America is that the poor, who are that way because they are shiftless and lazy, are envious of the rich, who are that way because they are hard-working and efficient. It’s always hard to tell how much of his own crap such a guy actually believes, but apparently he believes that all rich people work like dogs for their money, and that the CEO’s of the major banks, insurance companies, auto companies, and other corporations deserve to be paid 100 or 1000 times what their workers get, for their brilliance and hard work in running their companies into economic ruin such that the government has to use our money to bail them out, or so it tells us.

The capitalist system is supposed to work like this: A man, or woman, has saved up a little money. He thinks he can make, fairly cheaply, cheesecake that people will like. He opens a small bakery, perhaps using borrowed money as well as his own. His business prospers, he employs people, and eventually is making a lot of money because he offers good cheesecake at a price people are willing to pay.

Or, times get hard, people don’t like his cheesecake, the price of eggs and cream cheese goes sky-high, and he goes bankrupt. That’s the American way.

But this is how so-called capitalism really works nowadays. A bunch of lawyers and accountants, who have good connections with politicians, get together and decide that, if they give it a jazzy name, they can sell cheesecake even if it isn’t really as good as other brands already available. They hire an advertising firm, which comes up with a name, “Auntie Esther’s Homemade Lusty Cheese Pie,” and a campaign featuring models and athletes. They buy out a small North Dakota company that makes inferior cheesecake, and start peddling their product. Meanwhile, their lobbyists wine and dine congressmen, who pass a law that says companies that make cheesecake in North Dakota will have large tax advantages not available to their competitors. They sell shares in Auntie Esther’s. The stock booms. They pay themselves huge bonuses.

Unfortunately, in spite of all their legerdemain, the cheesecake is so bad compared to its competitors that people won’t buy it, and their company is about to go bankrupt. Now they go to Congress and explain that if Auntie Esther’s goes under, thousands of small stockholders will lose their life savings, thousands of North Dakotans will be unemployed, and producers of eggs and cream cheese, not to mention lithographed cardboard boxes, will go broke. They don’t mention that the boxes, the powdered eggs, and the cream cheese substitute all come from China.

Congress appropriates several hundred billion dollars and gives the money to Auntie Esther’s and similar corporations. The top executives take the money and give themselves even bigger bonuses. The stock tumbles and the small stockholders lose their shirts. Auntie E’s fires half of its employees “because of the recession.” Their older top execs retire to the Cayman Islands. The younger ones look around for another business to screw up.

If you think that is not an accurate description of how “capitalism” works in America today, you just haven’t been paying attention. Apparently that’s the case with the Atlanta broadcaster I sometimes hear a few words from before I can hit the “off” button.

Have you noticed how much the call for combating global warming crusade has in common with how we got into the Iraq war?

In both cases, there are “experts” who tell us that evidence justifying action is undeniable. They say, “The risk of doing nothing is too great for us to do nothing.” And as a fallback position they say, “Even if we’re wrong, we’ll still be doing some good in the world.”

Kind of makes me think man-made CO2 emissions will turn out to be the biggest case of nonexistent WMD since Saddam Hussein’s nukes. (Or maybe even bigger!) What do you think?

Can you identify the jar of Botulinum toxin in this pantry?

This is a comment from a reader on Camille Paglias opinion page today. Funny stuff. Of course it’s only true in the medias perception of the whole WMD debacle. There’s no question Sadaam Husein had them; heck, they’re probably still there. The problem was Bush’s underestimation of how difficult they would be to find. After all, when a mayonnaise jar full of enough biological agent to wipe out the city of Baltimore can be stored in a pantry in some Baghdad apartment… makes it pretty hard to find.

Anyway, the whole “Global Warming” thing… geesh. It won’t be long till they are clamoring about the impending “Second Ice Age” again like they were back in the 70’s. It would be interesting to see if Al Gore holds any stock in one of these Compact Flourescent lightbulb companies…

We’re going to be so much better off… aren’t we…??  all change is good… right??

This poster reads: "60,000 Reichsmarks is what this person suffering from hereditary defects costs the People's community during his lifetime. Fellow German, that is your money too. Read 'New People', the monthly magazine of the Bureau for Race Politics of the NSDAP." (circa 1938)

With savages, the weak in body or mind are soon eliminated; and those that survive commonly exhibit a vigorous state of health. We civilised men, on the other hand, do our utmost to check the process of elimination; we build asylums for the imbecile, the maimed, and the sick; we institute poor-laws; and our medical men exert their utmost skill to save the life of every one to the last moment. There is reason to believe that vaccination has preserved thousands, who from a weak constitution would formerly have succumbed to small-pox. Thus the weak members of civilised societies propagate their kind. No one who has attended to the breeding of domestic animals will doubt that this must be highly injurious to the race of man. It is surprising how soon a want of care, or care wrongly directed, leads to the degeneration of a domestic race; but excepting in the case of man himself, hardly any one is so ignorant as to allow his worst animals to breed.

The aid which we feel impelled to give to the helpless is mainly an incidental result of the instinct of sympathy, which was originally acquired as part of the social instincts, but subsequently rendered, in the manner previously indicated, more tender and more widely diffused. Nor could we check our sympathy, even at the urging of hard reason, without deterioration in the noblest part of our nature. The surgeon may harden himself whilst performing an operation, for he knows that he is acting for the good of his patient; but if we were intentionally to neglect the weak and helpless, it could only be for a contingent benefit, with an overwhelming present evil. We must therefore bear the undoubtedly bad effects of the weak surviving and propagating their kind; but there appears to be at least one check in steady action, namely that the weaker and inferior members of society do not marry so freely as the sound; and this check might be indefinitely increased by the weak in body or mind refraining from marriage, though this is more to be hoped for than expected.

~ “The Descent of Man” – Charles Darwin, 1871

Simply horrifying… Even though Darwin reluctantly acknowledges that humans have some instinctual sympathy he feels there is a work around in that the ‘weak’ are too dumb or incapable of marrying. He goes on elsewhere to predict that the inferior ’savage and ape-like’ races (eg. Africans, Aborigines, etc) will ultimately succumb and make way for the vastly superior Caucasian race.

Adolph Hitler took Darwin’s theory of Natural Selection in Humans as a mandate to perform ‘cleansing’ for the benefit of mankind. Institutions such as Hadamar executed Hitlers “Aktion T4” Euthanasia Program as a means to rid mankind of the burden of the handicapped and invalid.

Margaret Sanger and her two sons.

Today (I mean like right now) our US tax dollars are being given to to an organization founded by a staunch proponent of Negative Eugenics Margaret Sanger. Eugenics is just another word for what Darwin and Hitler promoted… Genocide of the weak to promote a superior race. Ms Sanger was an outspoken proponent of birth control and abortion as a means to rid humanity of inferior specimines. She wrote several books on the subject and spoke frequently to the women’s auxiliary of the KKK. In 1916 she founded what is now known as Planned Parenthood.

Modern genetics proposes an ‘easier to swallow’ implementation of Eugenics in the form of Prenatal Diagnostic Testing and Genetic Manipulation which allow you to know if your child will have any genetic defects so you can nip it in the bud, or through Genetic Manipulation you can just engineer yourself the perfect baby.

Even Darwin acknowledged that Humans were set apart. We have this innate, instinctual tendency toward grace and sympathy. While Darwin viewed this as a fatal weakness, I know it to be a divine gift. The weak, hungry handicapped and poor are those we are called to care for. Further, it is often true that those that are so burden have enormous blessings to offer those that are ‘healthy’. It’s truly a symbiotic relationship. While we can help the less fortunate meet basic material needs, they often can help us satisfy deep spiritual needs. Believe me, I am continually blessed by someone with the burden of a ‘genetic defect’ as Darwin might call it.

I know (virtually any way) many atheists who willfully acknowledge this human tendency toward love. As a matter of fact, many athiests see this tendency as an argument against God. They question how a loving God would allow evil and suffering. The bottom line is that humans are unique creations, different than bugs, and lizards and apes. That is a variable that Darwin left out.

• He’s about half way through making his appointments. Change… an economic team of supply-siders. Whew..
• He’s already backing off of his grand plans to punish the successful. Hopefully that means he’s listening to newly appointed Christina Romer, his Chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisors.
• He clarified that he may not create 2.5 million jobs, he will “save or create” 2.5 million jobs. How do you quantify how many jobs you have saved?… Well I hope he “saves” mine. I’m not much for digging ditches and building roads (jobs which he intends to create).
• He’s keeping Gates (the current Secretary of Defense), bringing back Jones (an appointee of Condoleezza Rice) and Holder (an appointee of Ronald Reagan).
• Even his selection for Secretary of State is being hailed by Rush Limbaugh

We’re not out of the woods, but maybe I can breath a little bit… we’ll see.

The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and provoke their aggressions, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict; while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the most high God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United Stated States to be affixed.

~President Abraham Lincoln

Terror Bible Stories

I read this story today about a college in Iowa that is performing a musical using readings of the King James Version of six Old Testament stories about cannibalism, rape, murder and bears mauling children. They’re acting out the stories as they are read unaltered. No interpretation or additions, just acting them out dressed in Goth attire with Rock music accompaniment and a mosh pit.

This is awesome! I would love to see this play. It’s such validation for me. Validates what I’ve been saying about how these OT text hold huge riches that most fear to explore because they are uncomfortable or they ’seem’ to contradict what Jesus teaches in the Gospels. God carefully crafted the compilation of His Word. Every word that is written is there for a purpose… even if they make us uncomfortable.

I may have to write these guys and see if we can get an East Coast performance.

Here’s a couple of quotes from the creator and some of the actors:

“I was looking for terror text, stories I can say are thematically tied together because they are frightening and mysterious and terrifying,” Barker said. “That’s part of what we’re saying with this whole project that life and God himself are mysteries.”

“This particular project has affected the way I view negative emotions — grief, anger, bitterness and spite and hate. We are meant to be emotional people. The Bible in a lot of ways shows us that that’s OK,” she said. “We need to embrace that we’re going to be very, very sad and we won’t know what to do with that.

“These mysterious, dark stories of the Old Testament, they bring us face-to-face with the suffering of the world,” Barker said. “It says we are capable of great evil and we must not forget these stories and we have some serious things to be accountable for in our own lives as a group and individually.”

One sentance could turn it around:

“I will not raise Capital Gains Tax over the next four years.”

Alas, but all we hear is crickets…

“Promote then as an object of primary importance, Institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.”

George Washington, Farewell Address, September 19, 1796

Click for Website

Rather than try to summarize the argument, here’s the link:

Newt Gingrich: Let’s End Adolescence

Now I’m the first to complain that my kids are growing up too quick, but I am a realist… I understand they are going to grow up whether I like it or not. Newt’s thesis isn’t that far off what Kathy and I are already trying to do with our kids; teach responsibility, accountability, financial stewardship, impart the importance of learning, compassion, generosity.

I thought the article was pretty thought provoking.