The Violence Worker!

You've Already Paid!

Last night, I was doing some Christmas shopping for the wife.  I know, it was last minute, but I'm a guy and that's how we generally roll.

I went to the venerable Target (or "Tarzhay"  as we like to call it - makes it sound more exotic, I guess) and picked out some stocking stuffers.  I then went to the Cost Plus World Market.  It's one of Mrs. VW's favorite stores and I was sure i could find something she might like.  After wondering through the store for awhile, I found a few small things (about 12 bucks worth) but nothing I saw really jumped out at me, so i made my way up to the cashier line.

When it was my turn, the cashier rung up my three little things.  I pulled out my wallet to find my debit card to pay and as I usually have to do, shuffle though various ID cards (the result of working for the military and being retired there from) and several bank cards (the result of modern economic life). 

The fellow behind me (he looked to be about 40) apparently saw my military ID and handed the cashier two twenty dollar bills and told he was paying for mine.  I was SHOCKED!  I thanked him and said it wasn't necessary.  I told him that I have a good job and could well afford it.  He said that he saw my military ID and that I'd already paid. I tried again to say that he didn't have to do that and he said, yes he did have to do it.  By that time, the clerk handed him back his change.  I thanked him again, wishing him a Merry Christmas ( a wish that I know will com true for him) and I left the store.

I was humbled beyond measure.  I felt somewhat embarrassed.  Yes, I served my 20 years, but I never saw combat and while it wasn't always luxury, I suffered few privations. 

God bless that man and his family.  I shall endeavor to pay it forward.

VW

It Isn't About Global Warming

In Copenhagen, Denmark, there is this beautiful amusement park called Tivoli.  It's one of the oldest amusement parks still in operation and it's founder got the land from the monarchy by convincing the king that his park would take the people's mind off of politics.  I've been there and it is indeed a beautiful park.  If you ever find yourself there, you must see it and especially see it at night.  Unfortunately, for the attendees at the climate conference in Copenhagen, there aren't enough Tivolis to distract us from the politics of climate.

As you probably are aware, just before this international bizarre bazaar got cranked up, there was the problem of the released emails from Britain's University of East Anglia  (consensus now seems to be a whistleblower) that showed that data was massaged and manipulated.  There were also some that seemed to advocate retaliation for those scientists who didn't follow the party line.  The MSM has successfully tried to downplay the story and its potential impact on this conference.  But these people in Copenhagen couldn't care less about East Anglia and it's doubtful most of those there ever even heard of the place.  It is not about affecting any kind of change except money from your wallet to their coffers.  

You need to understand that Anthropogenic Global Warming or AGW is not the issue, it's the cover, the ruse, the smoke in your eyes.  No one attending that conference believes climate will change one iota because of any agreement signed even if every signatory country followed its provisions to the letter.  There's a common theme that is being sounded in Copenhagen and it isn't weather.

From the Socialist thug, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela:

Mr Chavez, paraphrasing Karl Marx, said "a ghost is stalking the streets of Copenhagen... it's capitalism, capitalism is that ghost."

"The destructive model of capitalism is the eradication of life," he said.

From the thug Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe:

"When these capitalist gods of carbon burp and belch their dangerous emissions, it's we, the lesser mortals of the developing sphere who gasp and sink and eventually die."

And from the Marxist President of Bolivia, Evo Morales:

"It's an issue of way of life and a result of the capitalist system and if we don't understand that then we're never going to resolve these problems."

Are you tracking?  Do you see the common thread?  Do you really think these people really give a damn about the environment?  Do you really think these people give a damn about their people?  Do you think Mugabe vigorously enforces environmental law.  Do you think Chavez does?  You are an idiot if you answered yes to any of the above questions.

It's not about climate change and it never was.  Climate change is the excuse, socialism is the reason.

VW

Choose Your Poison Wisely

UPDATE October 14, 2009 6:15 AM  Added quote to "Option two".  I forgot to include it.   Underlined portion below is the addition.

You wanted it.  You demanded it.  You elected people that would give it to you.  You wanted a piece of the pie.  You wanted free money and perks.  You wanted a little bit of what your fellow citizens worked for - especially if you though that person might have a little more than you.  Greed and envy fueled the last 60 years.  You demanded free this or cheap that.  You demanded higher wages than you deserved or needed.  You demanded more and more as your job slipped away to some foreign shore where some guy was willing to work for a fraction of what was paid to you.  You got laid off and had to settle for a lot less than you had.

Now you demand free health care.  You don't give a damn about the fact that we are broke.  We don't have an extra trillion laying around.  Hell we don't have an extra dollar laying around.  

Our politicians have spent your money, your kids money and your grandchildren's money so you can have every kind of social program.  Free schools, free lunches, and free rent.  Subsidized transit that no one rides and goes no where anyone really wants to go.  They spend and spend and spend and when they need more, they just raise taxes on you, your house, your pay and your employer who passes those taxes on to you in the end.

We have no more money.  No one wants to even buiuy our bonds because they know we can't pay them back.  So we print money.  We ratcheted up up the printing presses into high gear and increase the money supply to "stimulate" the economy and now they want another trillion for health care and they are talking about another trillion dollar stimulus package.

The party is over.  Here are our choices:

One:  We continue on, printing what we borrow, or two:  Stop printing money, rein in spending and increase interest rates to about 8 or 9 percent.

Here's the dilemma folks.

If we keep printing money, we will return to the good old days of the Weimar Republic when a loaf of bread cost a mere wheelbarrow full of money.  In other words, hyperinflation.  By printing more more and more money than we have assets as a people and a country, it cheapens it.  It causes inflation and we are dangling on the precipice of hyperinflation unless we stop.

Option One:

"[If] Bernanke's...choice is to keep rates at zero, print even more money and sell more debt, ... we'll see triple-digit inflation that could collapse the economy as we know it."

Option two: 

Economists believe the market rebellion against the dollar will spread until Bernanke starts raising interest rates from around zero to the high single digits, and pulls back the flood of currency spewed from US printing presses.

"That's a cure, but it's also going to stifle any US economic growth," said Schiff. "The economy is addicted to the cheap interest and liquidity."

Economists warn that a jump in rates will clobber stocks and cripple the already stalled housing market.

Option two will hurt and be difficult for us for several years.  The bottom line with option two is that we could survive it intact as a nation.

Option one will destroy us.

VW

New York Gives Stimulus Money To Welfare Famlies

I just got back from visiting family in the Peoples Socialistic Republic of New York.   While there, I was talking with my brother-in-law, who owns his own business, and a truck driver from Syracuse.   They were telling of how New York State gave stimulus money to welfare people with school children.  Each person on welfare who had school age children got $200 per child in the form of a Debit Card to spend on school supplies.  That means a welfare queen with 5 school age children got $1,000.     There was absolutely no accountability of how the money was spent or what it was spent on.   The truck driver said it was reported that every ATM machine in the Syracuse area was cleaned out over the weekend.   At the link here, CBS News does a report on the misuse of these funds.   Lottery tickets, beer, alcohol, cell phones, and flat screen TV’s were the hot items sold in Rochester during the weekend the money was given out.   NY is a state that’s going broke and here they go giving out over 140 million dollars of US Taxpayer money to welfare recipients so they could have a good time.

Forget The Tent

Whenever people start talking about the Republican Party and its current state of disarray, the "Big Tent" analogy is immediately trotted out to show that we need to be "inclusive" and willing to compromise for the sake of including more people.  I hate the analogy because the image I get when I think of it is a circus tent with three rings, one of which is filled with clowns, another with one-trick-ponies and another with true performers trying to shine, but the audience is distracted by the other two.  Nothing stands out and nothing gets done.  In the end, we just become "Democrat Lite" and end up having it used against us.  This has been on my mind since Arlen Specter abandoned any sense of principle and announced that he was now a Democrat.

Since Specter announced his defection, I read the endless MSM analysis (or what passes for analysis from the press in these days of Obama worship) telling me that the GOP was too conservative and not inclusive enough, blah-blah - retch,  Their "learned' conclusions are forced down our collective throats like some horrible tasting medicine.  In this case it's Doctor Democrat's Party Fixin' Elixir and Tent Repair Solution.  All we have to do is take a dose of it and VIOLA, our party will unite and we will be on our way to regaining control of the wheels of government.  It's 100% pure poison but somehow, they are convincing us it's right out of the fountain of eternal knowledge.  Are we that stupid?  Are we just too lazy come up with our own ideas and solutions?  Are we so afraid of being branded a racist, xenophobe, homophobe, hater, extremist, Nazi, etc. that we allow ourselves to be kowtowed into silent submission?  Do we really think the Democrats want us to become a force again or do you think maybe their tent anology just might be in their best interests and not ours?  I don't know about you, but I'm inclined to think we are being hoodwinked.

The resurgence of the Republican Party that occurred in the 1980s and led by the immortal Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich happened not because we became "Democrat Lite".  On the contrary my dear Watson, it was because we moved to the right of center.  We united under the Reagan banner after Jimmy Carter's disastrous one term and we brought our economy back from the brink of collapse.  We didn't do it with bailouts and socialist solutions.  We did it by lowering taxes and allowing free market principles to work.  We also were successful in disbanding the very system of government that we seem to be rushing headlong toward establishing here 20 years later.

If we are to regain the majority, we need to understand several things.  The first and foremost is that the Press will be hostile to anything we say or do.  They will do whatever they can, including lie and misrepresent, to thwart us.  We must understand that much of Academia is downright hostile.  They too will use every resource to counter our message. 

The third thing we have against us is the trial lawyers and that is probably the most powerful and hardest to overcome.  What most people don't understand is that Trial Lawyers are a de facto fourth branch of government.  Understand what I'm saying here.  Trial lawyers have established themselves as an unelected, self-appointed body, dedicated to forcing societal change, not though legislation where their ideas can be examined and debated, but through endless litigation until they get the outcome they wanted.  Robert Reich alluded to this when he once said:  “The era of big government may be over, but the era of regulation through litigation has just begun.”  In other words, they stopped us in the legislature, but they can't stop us in the courts.  It should be noted that the Press sometimes considers itself the "fourth estate" (a term attributed to Edmond Burke) or even the "fourth branch".   That may have been the case years ago, but I believe these days, they are not much more than cheerleaders rather than the actual drivers of government.  They do have their moments, but their last big hurrah was over 30 years ago with Watergate.  As much as they despised Bush, they were ineffectual in keeping him from re-election. 

We don't need a tent.  A tent gets blown down with the first big wind that comes along.  First, we need a foundation built upon the bedrock of liberty; a foundation composed od sound conservative principles.  Our foundation should be made up of basic materials such as small government, lower taxes, free markets and private ownership.  We should be explaining how this provides opportunity for all people regardless of color, religion (or lack thereof), ethnicity or even sexual orientation.  We should be out there extolling the benefits of capitalism and exposing the false ideas of the statists.  Do not be afraid to be a conservative. 

We are not extremists.  The left are now the extremists and if we can't show that and prove we are the solution, then we may as well welcome our socialist overlords. 

Forget the tent, build a building.

VW

The F Word

Scroll for Update

No, not the vulgar epithet, I'm talking about Fascism.

Most people have no clue what Fascism means.  If you ask them, if they answer at all, they will say Right-Wing Extremists or Nazis or even just Republicans.  It's a scare word anymore. Most people have absolutely no clue, they just toss it out there to sound like they know what it is.  Most of them wouldn't recognize a fascist if one goose-stepped up to them and slapped them.  Fascism has pretty much become its own epithet.

A lot of folks on the left throw the F word around and they really liked to try and hang it on Bush.  They are still calling him a dictator even after he left office after his second term.  Dictators usually try and hold on to their power.  They don't normally walk away after a second term.

I'm not going to call the Obama Administration fascist.  However, I will quote the definition and leave you to draw your own conclusions.

FASCISM:  a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.

Obama demands the firing of the GM CEO.  He says he is for the nation or society over the individual and there is severe economic regimentation taking place upon the banking, investing and the auto industry.  I haven't seen forcible suppression of the opposition yet save that full court press against Limbaugh and now, I hear, the "guns" are turning from him to Sarah Palin

You make up your own mind.

VW

UPDATE March 31 @10.00 AM:  This is the first thing I saw this AM:

But now, in a little-noticed move, the House Financial Services Committee, led by chairman Barney Frank, has approved a measure that would, in some key ways, go beyond the most draconian features of the original AIG bill. The new legislation, the "Pay for Performance Act of 2009," would impose government controls on the pay of all employees -- not just top executives -- of companies that have received a capital investment from the U.S. government. It would, like the tax measure, be retroactive, changing the terms of compensation agreements already in place. And it would give Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner extraordinary power to determine the pay of thousands of employees of American companies.

The purpose of the legislation is to "prohibit unreasonable and excessive compensation and compensation not based on performance standards," according to the bill's language. That includes regular pay, bonuses -- everything -- paid to employees of companies in whom the government has a capital stake, including those that have received funds through the Troubled Assets Relief Program, or TARP, as well as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Hat Tip:  Michelle Malkin      Permalink here

Mortgages And The Economic Stimulus

If you ask most people about what caused the mortgage mess and subsequent economic meltdown, they will tell you it was banks lending to people (by force of law) who could not afford their mortgage loan.  It artificially pushed up the price of houses and when the bubble burst, things went south pretty quickly. To put it another way, people who borrowed more than they could ever hope to pay and didn't, caused this problem.

That leads me to ask this question:

How in the name of everything sacred and profane do we expect to cure this problem by borrowing more money than we'll ever be able to pay back in several lifetimes?  Someone please explain this to me because I just don't get it.  I don't understand the concept!  If borrowing more than people could pay caused this problem, how does doing even more borrowing on a grander scale going to solve the problem.

People, you can't raise enough taxes to possibly pay all of this back!  The scary part of all of this is that some economists are predicting that the result of all of this could well be hyperinflation.  In other words, things will be getting a whole lot worse.

Do you want to know what hyperinflation does?  One word:  Zimbabwe

The central bank on Friday introduced new Zimbabwe dollar bank notes into circulation, this time in the trillion dollar range, in the most recent indication that Zimbabwe is a failed state.

The new notes, ranging from a Z$10 trillion note to Z$100 trillion, is the latest effort by the Reserve Bank to 'help' Zimbabweans deal with the country's out-of-control hyperinflation that experts believe has, unofficially, reached at least a billion percent, if not much more. But with the almost total dollarisation of the economy, coupled with the worthless nature of the local dollar, the new notes will likely be worth less than the ink used to print them in the coming weeks.

Where is the outrage?

VW

Life Goes On

Last night in the Tacoma Dome, they had one of those Monster Truck events where trucks with wheels big enough to roll over small buildings run around and smash piles of junk cars and buses.  It's not my cup of tea, but lots of people love that kind of thing and pay good money to see these events every time they roll into town.

Unfortunately, a six-year-old-boy was killed by some flying debris from one of the trucks.  It was a freak accident and one that I'm sure no one could have predicted.  Below is a video that supposedly shows the parts fly off:

I couldn't see it, but maybe you can see it when you watch the video.

If you read through some of the comments on this story from KOMO-TV, there are a few people who are upset over the fact that the show, scheduled for the next two nights, is going to continue.  They are also upset that the show continued even after the boy was hit.  One or two even suggest that shows like this not be allowed because they are "violent". 

Some are also upset that the Dome and the presenter didn't say the right words.  I don't know what I'd say, but you can bet it wouldn't be without the advice of a lawyer.

I don't mean to sound mercenary.  It was tragic and it was devastating to the kid's family.  It was a terrible accident, but it was just that, an accident.  And you know that the truck driver, the owner of the truck, the promotion company and the City of Tacoma (owners of the Dome) will shortly be handed a huge lawsuit.  If it was one of my kids, I'd be pretty upset, but I would think long and hard before I sued.  I think its wrong to sue people over something that so completely accidental.

As much of a tragedy as this is, the world cannot stop because of one tragic accident.

Life goes on.

VW

There Ain't No Kumbaya

Most of us here in the United States are good people.  We want people to have the opportunity to succeed and prosper.  We want a fair and responsive justice system and we use the courts to arbitrate disputes rather than have a duel with ball and powder pistols at ten paces.  It may may not be as effective as pistols, but it is usually a lot less violent.  We want the world to calm down and experience the joy of being over lawyered as we are in this country.

We also want the world to like us.  We want them to know that we aren't really bullies and that we actually care about their national interests too.   We are told that George Bush has squandered our good will and our good name.  We are told that we are mean and nasty and the world hates us because we act like the world is our oyster.

And I'd agree with that to a degree.  A lot of folks hate us.  We haven't always acted like mature adults in the world.  We've plundered a bit here and there and we've tried to make sure that events run our way.  Sadly, we've not always done the right thing as a nation.  We've sometimes been a bully and sometimes, we've just made honest mistakes.  Sometimes we bet on the right horse and sometimes the nag wins. 

Our own lives are usually not much better.  We sometimes are the bully, sometimes we get a bit greedy and sometimes, we manage to get it all wrong when we are trying to do it all right.  It's life.  We are imperfect people in an imperfect world. 

As much as the left likes to point out how bad America is and what we've done wrong in the world, we have company.  Virtually every country and people in the world at some point or another has tried to exert their influence beyond their borders or beyond their present sphere.  Name a country and I can probably Google some idiot act they committed.  Some countries do more than others, but no one is immune to a little selfishness or greed or the desire for a little more power.

People mostly hate us because we are the big kid on the block - or sometimes we are the cop trying to keep the peace in the global 'hood.  people don't like cops, especially when they are either trying to get away with something, or they've just been caught red-handed.  Ever since I can remember, We've been hated by lots of people.  The usual suspects are usually Socialists and Commies.  And usually, these folks don't like us because we either won't give them everything they demand from us, or we are the cops keeping their empire in check - or both.

We've been told that the world will love us now because we elected Obama.  We will now be a good and kind and generous nation who will no longer be bullies or cops or whatever.

Guess what, my fellow evil Americans, It just isn't so.  Case in point:  The Arab world is already miffed at Mr. Obama for not bellying up to the bully pulpit and letting loose a verbal smack-down upon Israel.  I guess the Arabs will still be mad at us after all.

Dictatorial regimes such as Russia, North Korea, China and the wannabes like Venezuela will still hate us.  They need to hate us.  They need an enemy and we are convenient.  They can talk their smack and know they are reasonably safe from any real retribution from us.  They'll still get those aid dollars and they'll still buddy up to us when they need us, but by and large, these people don't like us and probably never will. Obama will not change that. 

I realize that there are some stupid people that believe we can negotiate with anyone.  Some of them think we should have done more to negotiate with Hitler and Hirohito.  (Yes, there are a few.)  Dictators only negotiate to either consolidate their power, or to buy time for whatever reason.  They are never interested in your best interests and will break whatever treaty you've signed as soon as they think they can get away with it.

The left says that when everyone has what they want and they can get all they want for free, there will be no more reason for crime or for nations to fight.  The left denies centuries of human nature.  There will always be someone somewhere wanting to have more and to have power over people and things.

Obama doesn't know any magic words that will suddenly make all the dictators play nice and he willl inevitably anger more than he will placate.  People will still hate us.  There ain't no Kumbaya.

VW

The Conservative Message

There is a lot of talk about the future of Conservatism flying around cyberspace, from the social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, to bloggers and diarists concerning the future of Conservatism, free markets and the Republican party.  Much of the talk concerns using the web and those social tools to reach and expand our base.  Indeed, a twitter group #TCOT or Top Conservatives On Twitter has sprung up with a myriad of projects and networking ideas to do just that.  Most of those running for RNC Chairman are members and even engaged in discussions with us at the root level.   I'm a member and I agree with the goals and ideals that they are working on and toward.  There is no doubt that much needs to be done in the networking and activist sphere.

While all this is important, we need to realize we are losing the war of message.  We all talk about lowering taxes, cutting spending and  the benefits of the free market.  We bang our heads and our keyboards over the antics of Harry Reid, Rod Blagojevich and their ilk to no real avail.  We may as well be writing about our toddler's toilet habits or our latest doctor's visit.  We preach to the choir and everyone says amen.  We have a message and it needs to get out, but no one is listening. 

Most people know and understand at a fundamental level that Conservative principles are the key to a strong and prosperous America.  They know it, but the left doesn't argue those points, nor do they really care.  We can talk or write about these things until Hell freezes over and we will not make a difference.  That's not to say that we shouldn't keep communicating these things.  We need to keep talking about them, but we need to understand what we are up against and then how to re-wrap that message in order to counter the left and what they've been able to do with their message.

What the left does is transfer greed from one level to another and they play upon our fears.  They look for every possible vehicle to either scare the hell out of us, or make us feel guilty for having more than some poor starving Ethiopian.  They play upon our generosity and work to make us feel bad about what we have.  Notice their energy policy.  It's not about alternative energy, it's about the "oil addiction".  That's what they say, but what it's really the evil, capitalist oil companies who they see as making "obscene profits".

They couch their message as a moral argument.  They play upon the greed of many poor people while railing against the excesses of corporate officers.  They tell those of us who work for the man that the man is taking the food out of our mouths and leaving our children sick in the streets. 

The message of the left plays on our emotions.  It calls to our sense of fairness and goodness.  We Conservatives need to understand this and tailor our message to meet them at this same emotional level.  It's all well and good to extol the benefits of the free market or lower taxes, but the left is telling them people they can get free healthcare and even free housing and food. 

We need to repackage our message in a way that will address those emotions and sense of fairness and goodness.  Our message is prosperity and yes, even fairness, but we deliver that message in a matter-of-fact or clinical way.

In my discussions with people, they always resort to the emotional and you can even get them to at least agree with most of what you say, but they just can' leave the emotion out of argument.  Conservatives are mean greedy people who don't like minorities, old people or children.  It always falls back to some variation on that theme.

I'm not sure I have any answers.  I just see the problem and I hope someone smarter than me can figure out how to address it. 

In the mean time, I will be trying to figure it out.  Maybe someone out there already has or at least is trying.  Our message is sound, we just need a way to breech the emotion wall.

VW