Fighting America's cancer

America is dying. If she's not dying, she's damn sick, that's for sure. We have a cancer growing among us, and this malignancy is rotting away the most basic fabric of our republic. Everything I've seen over the past 42 years has demonstrated the fact that a large portion our people (who, ironically, call themselves "progressive") are becoming increasingly hostile toward America's heritage and everything that makes us who we are.

The fact that Barack Obama was elected is, to me, another example of just how ignorant many Americans have become. To vote for someone who espouses socialist economic philosophies and anti-American doctrines just defies my ability to understand. To support a candidate who takes positions which would be perfectly at home in the former Soviet Union is characteristic of someone who has no understanding of this country and what makes it great. To undermine America in such a way is not only unpatriotic, it's detrimental to our survival as a nation.

I saw a story in Dallas this week which absolutely disgusted me and is case in point of the mental illness known as "politcal correctness" to which many of our fellow citizens have succumbed.

Dallas - Frank Larison is a disabled veteran with more than 14 years of service, including more than a year of combat duty in Vietnam.

The 58-year-old former Marine now finds himself under attack by his Dallas homeowners association for displaying seven decals on his vehicle supporting the Marine Corps.

"To me, it's being patriotic, and it shows that I served," the veteran told FOX 4.

The board says the decals are advertisements that violate HOA rules, and must be covered or removed.

Otherwise, the homeowners association for The Woodlands II on The Creek - where Larimore has lived for eight years - says in a letter it will tow the car at Larimore's expense. The board also threatens to fine him $50 for any future incident.

Larimore says the decals, ranging from the Marine emblem to Semper Fi slogans, aren't advertisements for anything. "You can't buy freedom," he reasoned.

Some neighbors are outraged. "That is his identity," said neighbor Mary Castagna. "He goes to a lot of the veteran meetings, and it means a lot to him. Everyone else agrees with it; it doesn't bother anybody. "He's in the Marines, and he's proud of it, and I don't blame him," said neighbor Paul Hardy. "If I'd gone through what he's gone through, I'd be kind of proud of it myself."

The letter from the board states you can't have any form of advertisement anywhere on your car on your property. FOX 4 cameras spotted bumper stickers for political parties, health causes, and other non-commercial interests on the property as well.

The imbiciles on Larimore's homeowner's association are perfect examples of people who just don't get it; people twisted by liberalism. Harrassing a disabled vet over his patriotism and Esprit de Corps shows a startling degree of disrespect for the men and women who daily ensure our liberty.

But the rabbit hole goes even deeper.

Another news story here in Dallas shows just how far we've regressed as a people, as we're now allowing immigrants to dictate that the American flag is "inappropriate" to display at work (and for Memorial Day, at that).

Is it okay to show your patriotism at the office?

For one Arlington woman, the answer was "no" after she hung an American flag in her office just before the Memorial Day weekend.

Debbie McLucas is one of four hospital supervisors at Kindred Hospital in Mansfield. Last week, she hung a three-by-five foot American flag in the office she shares with the other supervisors.

When McLucas came to work Friday, her boss told her another supervisor had found her flag offensive. "I was just totally speechless. I was like, 'You're kidding me,'" McLucas said.

McLucas' husband and sons are former military men. Her daughter is currently serving in Iraq as a combat medic.

Stifling a cry, McLucas said, "I just wonder if all those young men and women over there are really doing this for nothing."

McLucas said the supervisor who complained has been in the United States for 14 years and is formerly from Africa. McLucas said that supervisor took down the flag herself.

"The flag and the pole had been placed on the floor," McLucas said. But McLucas also said hospital higher-ups had told her some patients' families and visitors had also complained.

"I was told it wouldn't matter if it was only one person," she said. "It would have to come down."

McLucas said hospital bosses told her as far as patriotism was concerned, the flag flying outside the hospital building would have to suffice.

If the mere sight of an American flag disgusts this African, she's overstayed her welcome and needs to go back from whence she came. When an immigrant who has chosen to live here in America for 14 years (without bothering to become a U.S. citizen) can dictate what American citizens can or can't do do express their support for American soldiers on Memorial Day, what does that say about how gutless some of those amongst us have become?

Luckily, several indignant, patriotic Americans showed up outside Kindred Healthcare's headquarters while thousands of outraged citizens flooded them with calls & emails, shaming them into reversing their callow decision and therefore allowing Mrs. McLucas to return "Old Glory" to her place.

Only when we speak out against the "change" being foisted upon our nation will we be able to keep the liberty so many Americans fought and died to protect. Don't just roll over and allow liberals to degrade America into some bastardized version of its former self. "Don't Tread On Me" is more than just a slogan from the Revolutionary War. It's emblematic of the spirit of liberty and independence which made America great, and which we must perpetuate if we are to continue to flourish as a nation. And that is what gives me hope.

Memorial Day 2009

Today, we give thanks to our soldiers who gave their life in defense of liberty. Today, we take time to pay respect to the brave men & women who showed their devotion to America by standing against evil and sacrificing their all in order that the rest of us may enjoy freedom.

Obama admits "we're out of money"

Captain Wow strikes again. Way to inspire confidence, Mr. President!

Obama now says we're "out of money." I wonder what could have been the cause of that? Couldn't have anything to do with the Democrats' $3.27 trillion dollar Generational Theft Act, could it? And surely, it can't be because of $9 trillion in bailouts, stimulus, and other wasteful government spending, could it?

Hey, here's an idea. Since the Democrats have already exhibited such fiscal responsibility, let's go ahead and give the federal government control of our health care system. They've done such a bangup job with the economy over the past few years, why not go ahead and let them bring their efficiency and common sense to the American medical industry? No, that's not a joke; it's what President Obama is suggesting. Drudge has the transcript:

In a sobering holiday interview with C-SPAN, President Obama boldly told Americans: "We are out of money."

C-SPAN host Steve Scully broke from a meek Washington press corps with probing questions for the new president.

SCULLY: You know the numbers, $1.7 trillion debt, a national deficit of $11 trillion. At what point do we run out of money?

OBAMA: Well, we are out of money now. We are operating in deep deficits, not caused by any decisions we've made on health care so far. This is a consequence of the crisis that we've seen and in fact our failure to make some good decisions on health care over the last several decades.

So we've got a short-term problem, which is we had to spend a lot of money to salvage our financial system, we had to deal with the auto companies, a huge recession which drains tax revenue at the same time it's putting more pressure on governments to provide unemployment insurance or make sure that food stamps are available for people who have been laid off.

So we have a short-term problem and we also have a long-term problem. The short-term problem is dwarfed by the long-term problem. And the long-term problem is Medicaid and Medicare. If we don't reduce long-term health care inflation substantially, we can't get control of the deficit.

The only short-term problem we have right now is Democrats in power.

The billions we wasted on auto bailouts didn't save Chrysler nor the economy. So why does Obama think we're going to believe another unconstitutional power grab is going to fix things?

The notion that the federal government can't get its spending under control until it dominates the entire health care industry is absolutely preposterous. Price controls and health care rationing is NOT going to fix the problem, it's only going to grow the government even further (and consolidate the dependence/slavery of the American people). Larger government has NEVER solved anything! Furthermore, there's absolutely NO reason to believe the government will suddenly demonstrate fiscal responsibility after they assume control of 20% of our country's G.D.P.

Besides, I want my doctor visits to be just like visiting the Post Office or the DMV, don't you? Government efficiency and compassion are amazing things. I want my medical treatment determined by government bureaucrats, don't you?

You're doing a helluva job, Barry.

Obama's Notre Dame Convocation Equivocation

(I'm testing Blogger's post-via-email function, as the company for which I've been freelancing blocks pretty much the entire Internet. We'll see if this works...)

I was dismayed by President Obama's speech at Notre Dame this weekend for a variety of reasons. A Catholic institution inviting a staunch pro-abortion politician to give their commencement (and giving him an honorary degree) is not too different from inviting the Klan's Grand Wizard to be a presenter at the NAACP's Image Awards: there's just too great a divide in basic morality to tolerate.

And that gets to the heart of my beef: Obama's disingenuous challenge for "fair-minded words" with regards to faith and abortion. By using PC-charged buzzwords, The One is doing what Dems do best: shame others into complicity. Just as the fear of bring called a racist keeps many from speaking out on matters involving crime, the use of "fairness" as a cudgel seems to have effectively cowed Catholic leaders at Notre Dame into compromising their pro-life stance.

Challenging those who believe abortion is murder, Obama called for "Open hearts. Open minds. Fair-minded words." as though people who believe in the sanctity of life are closed-minded, and the abortion issue is a simple difference of opinion.

I wonder if the president is similarly willing to equivocate on slavery? Or genocide? Would he just as easily empathize with the "heart-wrenching decision" to carry out those atrocities?

President Obama's damaged moral compass bodes ill for our nation. Notre Dame's student & faculty would do better to observe the words of President Theodore Roosevelt: "To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society."

Barack Obama's Declaration of Dependence

My blog buddy, Pamela Meister, really hit one out of the park with a Obamanian rewrite of our Founding Fathers:

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one Messiah to dissolve the historic bonds that have connected his subjects with the fundamental beliefs of a bunch of dead white guys, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of Marx entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that I should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

I hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men, womyn, transgendered and questioning individuals deserve equal division of goods, that they are endowed by Me with certain unalienable rights, that among these are the right to abort life, servitude to the state, and the pursuit of taxpayer-supported benefits.

That's just a small sample. Read the whole thing, it's worth the click.

Barack Obama, in theory and practice

For a long time, I've been alarmed by the big-government collectivist ideology of Barack Obama. Many times I've described him and his policies as socialist. But now that he's POTUS, I've come to see that my choice of terminology was not completely accurate. Just for clarification, here's a definition of socialism:

so⋅cial⋅ism  [soh-shuh-liz-uhm] –noun
the stage following capitalism in the transition of a society to communism, characterized by the imperfect implementation of collectivist principles.

See? That's pretty damn close to what Obama had proposed during his campaign: redistribution of wealth, disincentives to business & personal achievement, and widespread expansion of the federal government.

But now that the Democrats hold majorities in both houses of Congress and are poised to tilt the Supreme Court in their favor, effectively holding all the proverbial cards, my outlook is shifting as quickly as the political landscape. And in the midst of outrageous daily news stories like Obama's never-ending bailouts and so-called "stimulus" which are adding trillions to our deficit, every day holds another new and unpleasant surprise as I watch my beloved country being quickly torn apart and rebuilt to mimic the Soviet Union.

When President Obama isn't busy growing our debt, he's violating the 10th Amendment by threatening sanctions against states who don't kowtow to his special interest groups...

The Obama administration is threatening to rescind billions of dollars in federal stimulus money if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers do not restore wage cuts to unionized home healthcare workers approved in February as part of the budget.

Schwarzenegger’s office was advised this week by federal health officials that the wage reduction, which will save California $74 million, violates provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Failure to revoke the scheduled wage cut before it takes effect July 1 could cost California $6.8 billion in stimulus money, according to state officials. …

The wages at issue involve workers who care for some 440,000 low-income disabled and elderly Californians. The workers, who collectively contribute millions of dollars in dues each month to the influential Service Employees International Union and the United Domestic Workers, will see the state’s contribution to their wages cut from a maximum of $12.10 per hour to a maximum of $10.10.

...or he's busy violating the Fifth Amendment, further enabling the government's thuggish takeover of private enterprise, such as our banking system, our healthcare system, and of course, America's automakers...

A leading bankruptcy attorney representing hedge funds and money managers told ABC News Saturday that Steve Rattner, the leader of the Obama administration's Auto Industry Task Force, threatened one of the firms, an investment bank, that if it continued to oppose the administration's Chrysler bankruptcy plan, the White House would use the White House press corps to destroy its reputation.

So here I am, admitting I was wrong. President Obama probably isn't a socialist. There's another political system which fits his words and deeds much more accurately:

com⋅mu⋅nism [kom-yuh-niz-uhm] –noun
a system of social organization in which all economic and social activity is controlled by a totalitarian state dominated by a single and self-perpetuating political party

Treading water

I can hardly believe it's been over a week since my last post. Things have been so difficult for me lately, having been laid off back in January. So I'm scrounging for freelance work every week just to pay the bills and keep my head above water. Last week, after a month with no work, I finally got an on-site assignment with a company about 50 miles away. Needless to say, the one-hour commute each way is a bitch. And that's left me with no time or energy to write. Plus I've been dealing with a horrendous cold for the past couple days. I don't do well creatively when I can't breathe.

On the upside, my girlfriend and I started dieting on the Jenny Craig plan last week. In our first seven days, I've dropped five pounds and she dropped seven pounds!

I'll be back later tonight to get all caught up on the news and finish spilling my guts. For now, it's time to take traci out for Mothers Day...

A few thoughts on Franklin's "wolves & lamb" quote

You may have heard this famous quote which is attributed to Benjamin Franklin

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for dinner. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote."

Here are a few variations on that theme:

• Democracy: Three wolves and a sheep voting on dinner.


• Republic: The flock gets to vote for which wolves vote on dinner.


• Constitutional Republic: Voting on dinner is expressly forbidden, and the sheep are armed.


• Federal Government: The media deceives the sheep into voting for a Democracy.


• Freedom: Two very hungry wolves looking for dinner and finding a very well-informed and well-armed sheep.

For the record, I can find no references that show Franklin was the original source for the aforementioned quote. It appears to have come from libertarian author James Bovard. In his book Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty, the quote reads, "Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner."

Relax. Swine Flu is NOT the next Ebola.

Does the recent panic over Swine Flu sound familiar to anyone else? It should. In 1976, there was a big scare over the same illness.

And it's just as ridiculous now as it was back then.

Because Swine Flu is no more dangerous than the "regular" flu.

As the World Health Organization raised its infectious disease alert level Wednesday and health officials confirmed the first death linked to swine flu inside U.S. borders, scientists studying the virus are coming to the consensus that this hybrid strain of influenza — at least in its current form — isn’t shaping up to be as fatal as the strains that caused some previous pandemics.

In fact, the current outbreak of the H1N1 virus, which emerged in San Diego and southern Mexico late last month, may not even do as much damage as the run-of-the-mill flu outbreaks that occur each winter without much fanfare.

“Let’s not lose track of the fact that the normal seasonal influenza is a huge public health problem that kills tens of thousands of people in the U.S. alone and hundreds of thousands around the world,” said Dr. Christopher Olsen, a molecular virologist who studies swine flu at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine in Madison.

Just wash your hands and be aware. And be especially cautious of Democrat stupidity. That's something truly dangerous that seems to be spreading.