Ted Kennedy's Legacy

We have heard how much Ted loved the oppressed and downtrodden. His tireless political career centered around getting a fair shake for the little guy...unless the little guy lived under the boot of the former USSR. Kennedy, supporter of the weak and champion of our common humanity, saw political opportunity in cutting a deal with the former Evil Empire to undercut his own President. Never mind that the Soviet Union was the touchstone for injustice, it was their intentions on being a worker's paradise that only matters to the progressive. I am sure the people of Russia,Ukraine et. al. are glad Teddy K was wrong.

Burning the Reichstag

There was vandalism at the Denver office of the Dem Party. The hot-headed townhallers were originally blamed. Turns out a young lefty was behind the destruction.

Correcting Some Errors

St Augustine published his Retraciones, so I will put right some improper opinion.

1. I have roundly criticized the Bush Admin for creating the TSA. These are the people who run the airport screenings. My criticism had to do with the frisking and strip searching of the elderly. Logic would say that these people were not terrorists and should not sap valuable resources away from the search for real people seeking to do harm. Was I ever wrong! After this last August, we have not discovered that these old people are domestic terrorists. The left has exposed the great underbelly of the USA, just look at the guy in the picture...terrorist thug.

2. Ted Kennedy is an upstanding fellow. He is always concerned for the other person. Whether its Mary Jo Koepechne, or his constituents, there has never be a self serving bone in the Senior Senator from Massachusetts. Why, just last week he wrote a letter to Gov Deval Patrick asking for a speedy transition to find his replacement as Kennedy is quickly dying from his cancer. The current law of Mass call for a special election which could take as long as 5 months...time that this Senate cannot afford to be without a senator. Never you mind that Kennedy had the law changed 4 years ago to a special election so that Republican Gov Romney could not appoint Sen Kerry's replacement had he won the 2004 Presidential Election. Nothing to see here...for the children, justice!

3. I have been wrong to question the propriety of the health reform legislation being discussed by the current Congress (and lobbied for by the current President). There will be no bureaucracy which determines how to administer care. There will be no health-care-based limitations placed upon people due to weight, smoking habits, and diet. The President and members of Congress have never said they are pushing towards a single payer government system. Individuals will not be fined $2500 for refusing the government mandates. The IRS will not be used to garnish bank accounts. Why can I say this...because there is no final bill being debated, so I should just shut up with my opinions and stop being an un-American dissenter (I am still waiting for my check from the insurance industry, they promised to pay me and bus me to townhall meetings).

4. Dissent is not just un-American, it is racist. Just this last week, pundits have declared political debate and activism to be racist. From Paul Krugman and Joel Klein in the media to NY Gov Paterson, the only reason one opposes the government is due to racism. Two reasons: The Pres is black so any opposition is race based, and minorities will benefit under health reform so opposition is race based (never mind that poor whites far outnumber poor minorities in real numbers).

5. Only right wingers can be compared to jack-boots. This was fully acceptable during Bush's term as protest after protest compared the Bush cabinet to Nazis and called for his assassination (scroll down a bit to see the placards, if you really want to be disgusted continue to peruse the linked site, but I warn you, the pics are not safe for people with easily upset stomachs). Now that the Repubs are out of power, rhetorical extremism is passe and too vile?

Proverbs 27.15

A nagging wife is like water going drip-drip-drip on a rainy day. How can you keep her quiet? Have you ever tried to stop the wind or ever tried to hold a handful of oil?

This article is too funny.

Gordon Brown's Foolish Greed

Left wing politicians love to levy taxes. If the tax targets 'the rich', even better. Britain's PM and Liberal party have raised the top tax rate to 50% on everyone who make 150,000 pounds or more a year. We can all agree that seeing the rich as money machines is fair and just. Demanding more from them should never be an issue. There is a problem brewing and it is not just with the top earners. Top Premier League footballers are leaving for other clubs around Europe. I don't know much about Premier League football, but I do know that the fans take their teams seriously. The fans are from every economic class and they will get angry if their teams hemorrhage players and start to lose games because of Mr Browns left wing lust for more revenue.

When Dissent is Inconvenient

Americans are outraged. The federal government is out of control in its spending. 2 industries have been nationalized. Finally, the health care debate has been duplicitous and the people are starting to see through the politicians' doublespeak. At town hall meetings across the country, angry citizens are challenging the politicians. The liberals and the media have called these protests 'fake' and 'angry mobs' sponsored by the insurance industry. The protesters are too well dressed to be serious Americans.

I think the real problem is the unexpected nature of the protests. Conservatives usually have jobs to go to or businesses to run and don't waste time carrying placards and shouting slogans and liberals know that. However, things are a bit different. These protesters are using tried and true left-wing protest tactics and this has the Dems frustrated. Only Conservatives should be shouted down or intimidated off the stage because only conservatives stand for injustice. So, as a reactionary measure, the Dems are bringing their union muscle to silence dissent.

It's Time to Regulate

There are two industries in the USA that have carte blanche to operate in any manner they see fit.

First the Movie Industry: Try to get a refund if the movie is bad. This is the last vestige of unregulated buyer-beware commerce in our society. Oh sure, the ratings and review industry tells the viewer what content is there, but every person has an opinion. If I don't like a product I buy at Target, I take it back for a refund. Inevitably someone will like that product. Where is our Ralph Nader to declare movies 'unsafe at any (shutter) speed!'

Second the Trial Lawyers: Just as the combined Attorney's General of many states sued Big Tobacco for the increased health costs due to tobacco use, it is now time to sue Big Law for the increased health costs due to frivolous law suits and decadent lifestyles. Perhaps Pres O! should limit lawyer pay as he seeks to limit executive pay or maybe the congress can pay a 70% tax on lawyer fees associated with health care lawsuits to pay for 'health care reform.'

It is time to reign in these out of control industries that abuse the consumer and earn their ill gotten gains off the backs of the common worker.

A Good Primer On Left Wing Agit Prop

The writer is a former propagandist from the USSR. He does a good job of explaining the provenance of current left wing anti-capitalist anti-west thinking. It is a two part series and a long read. Part 1. Part 2. Ignore the writers focus on the current president, it is irrelevant to the history.

I think there is criticism to be made of the West, but let's have original criticism. I am tired of the rent-a-mob crowds that show up to a Noam Chomsky rally parroting the same anti-capitalism lines given them by hardcore leftwingers 50 years ago. From the article, do you recognize these arguments particularly #6 and #9?:

Generated in the depths of KGB think tanks, the Cold War-era propaganda template is comprised of the following linked axioms:

1. Socialism is “progress.”

2. Aversion to “progress” is a sign of outmoded backward thinking.

3. All forward-thinking people are leftists.

4. Leftists always speak for all people.

5. People always unanimously support leftist leaders.

6. Leftists are always under assault from the well-organized capitalist enemy.

7. All workers and peasants hate capitalist exploiters.

8. Armed resistance to a leftist government can only conceivably be staged by CIA agents in the service of American imperialism.

9. Capitalists engage in relentless anti-socialist propaganda, subversion, and sabotage; they will commit any crime in order to kill hope and prevent the masses from liberation.

10. The dying non-socialist sector of the world is run by a criminal conspiracy of capitalist oligarchs operating from the United States (and sometimes from Israel when appropriate).

Episcopal Irrelevence

The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church USA has declared salvation the great Western Heresy. More specifically, she thinks that the message of personal salvation has led the all the ills that plague the Western World. The financial crisis and the degraded environment can all be laid at the feet of the western notion of the individual (never mind the crushing poverty and environmental disasters of collectivist societies).

Where the Bishop will get some support from me concerns the 'cheap grace' aspect of certain salvation philosophies. Blabbing a sentence in no way gets me access to God. Likewise, it is wrong for the Bishop to think that salvation is the act of the community. That means there are human gate keepers...our betters who decide what salvation looks like. This is the Marxist heresy. Both philosophies are wrong because salvation alone is the work of the Holy Spirit and the Church has recognized this fact through the ages.

Because Jefferts-Schori is firmly rooted in systematic analysis of all things, she cannot name the one ancient affliction that has plagued humanity for all time, Sin. She sees history as a compilation of bad communities that have let down their constituents because of systematic injustice. So to her, greed and rapacious appetites are the function of an ill ordered community instead of the deep workings of a corrupt heart. By rejecting the salvation of the individual and the responsibility of that person to seek after God's kingdom, the Bishop has not addressed the main cause of injustice in the world...the evil of sin in the heart of every human.

The followers of Christ, from the 12 disciples on, has been a community of radical volunteerism. Radical because it calls for immediate allegiance to a way of life that is contrary to the human systems of the fallen world. Voluntary, because it is the work of the Holy Spirit on the believer's heart, not the compulsion of a neighbor (or the purchase of indulgences for the church community) that brings one to the Kingdom.

I suggest the Very Right Rev. stop reading her liberation theology books and start reading the classics to find the salvation of the individual in Roman times (St. Augustine) and Alexander Solzhenitsyn to find the line of evil that passes through every human heart. Indeed, if she reads the Gospels, she will see Jesus interacting with people in a personal way, not talking about concepts of political organization or abstract principles of ordered systems except to mock James and John who wanted prestige. Concerning moral superiority, Jesus said it was His Kingdom vs. all the rest, and he was speaking in an adversarial manner. Concerning prosperity, the Kingdom of God is like a pearl of great price.

Here is the great irony of this Bishop's statement. She has just poked the eye of at least 575,000,000 Christians. There is not much ecumenism or community bonding going on.

What Say You, Regent College?

The collective moan at Regent College when I attended always centered around how G W Bush and the religious right were bringing Church and State too close together. This 'religious right' wanted theocracy blah, blah, blah. Anyhow, the right kind of Christian is now the Pres of the USA which leads me to ask about this picture. How will Regent respond? I am sure there will be a feigned demure attitude, but deep in the hearts of many there will be a secret joy.