This. So much this.

Larry Correia found a handy little graph that explains why I can’t get worked up over the “Fiscal Cliff” shenanigans.

And for the second time today, I still think it’s cute how they think they can accomplish anything at all that will fix this problem.

A simple declaration

Really, there wasn’t much too it. Only one page of paper. But it was the foundation, the reason for everything that has come since. When was the last time you read the Declaration of Independence? Please, enjoy the holiday, but even more, please remember.

Everyone’s probably going to remember this song today

But it’s too good not to re-post for the 4th of July.

A long train of abuses and usurpations

The internet was invented so people like [EVERY TSA AGENT EVER] could look for specialized porn from the comfort of their own home.

SO WHY THE HELL DO THEY KEEP HAVING TO LIVE THEIR PERVERTED FANTASIES IN REAL LIFE?

Ok, I can get where people were coming from when the TS-Prodding Passengers in the-A was invented.  Terrorists are scary, etc.

95 year old cancer patients wearing adult diapers ARE. NOT. SCARY.  6 year old girls ARE. NOT. SCARY.   Hellfire and Damnation, even attractive and well-endowed women ARE. NOT. SCARY.

And yet.  And yet.

We get a statement from the TSA leadership defending these actions.

We get advertisements in the newspaper for more TSA job openings.

And if there is a single honorable TSA agent, they have forsaken any and all respect by way of their silence, and deserve nothing.

…

It occurs to me that we are approaching July 4th.  Are you going to re-read (or even write out) the Declaration of Independence, the reason for all the pretty shiny lights and burnt hot dogs?  It’s frightening how you almost wouldn’t have to re-write anything if you wanted to send it to the King George of our time.

Or are you going to be like most Americans, and just complain about your sunburn and the mustard stain you put on your red-white-and-blue t-shirt?

The United States are dead.  Long live The State.

Not a good sign, is it?

Please, watch this video.

When would be a good time for political dissent?

1) Joe Lieberman wants to give the .gov an internet kill switch.

2) Egypt uses internet kill switch to eliminate outside communication.

3) These guys wouldn’t recognize a slippery slope if it punched them in the face.

"I am," he said.

I’m in Montana, soon to be moving back to Colorado, and I don’t have to put up with too much in the way of idiotic, wannabe police states. Even so, with something that arguably affects me only very indirectly, I can recognize a slippery slope with the best of the libertarian crazies. And so, I link to Borepatch, and say here (figuratively) loudly:

Dear TSA

Dear TSA: you need to go.  You need to go now.  Your previously annoying antics have grown to be truly disturbing, a representation of everything wrong with bureaucratic creep.  You are a personification of Benjamin Franklin’s saying, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.“

Dear TSA: I know you are out there, and I know that you watch the blogs (even my humble little one).  Which frankly, is also somewhat disturbing. But I know that you have people working for you, normal people, who aren’t “bad guys,” people who are just doing their job.  Unfortunately, these people have come to rely on an institution that stands against everything that makes my country great.  These people have become accomplices to your agenda by way of their complacency.  They should not stand for your policies any more than I should.  As long as they do, I can not feel sorry for them if my words cut.

Dear TSA:  I know this may sound harsh, but I truly believe that we should burn you to the ground, and keep you in the history books only as a horrible warning.  You are nothing that should be kept, and I am ashamed that you are a part of my country.  It is telling that your Wikipedia entry has only a “criticism and scandal” section, with nothing detailing your non-existent triumphs.  It is telling that at this point if you had a success story, most would dismiss it as a staged publicity stunt. You are useless, and you should never have gotten beyond that brainstorming session in the U.S. Capital Building back in 2001. 

Dear TSA:  you are nothing to me, you are nothing to America, and you have no hope of gaining our love or respect.  You have jumped the shark, and I hope to see my tax dollars spent on something else, anything else, very soon.

Regards,

bluesun

A Scripture for Sunday

Those who forsake the law praise the wicked,
but those who keep the law resist them.

Proverbs 28:4

Do I need to explain?

The Rifleman’s Song, or the Riflemen of Bennington

A way back when I went to PA for spring break, I got a CD called “Homespun Songs of the Patriots in the American Revolution.” It has quite a few little songs performed on traditional instruments, and is somewhat enjoyable, though the sound quality can be a little bit crackly.  One of the songs I quite like; not only are the lyrics good, but I can actually play it on my penny whistle.

Why come ye hither, Redcoats,
Your minds what madness fills?
In our valleys there is danger,
And there's danger in our hills.
Oh hear ye not the ringing
Of the bugle wild and free?
Full soon you'll hear the singing
Of the rifle from the tree.

cho: For the rifle, for the rifle.
     In our hands will prove no trifle.

Ye ride a goodly steed,
Ye may serve a foreign master;
Ye forward come with speed,
But ye'll learn to back much faster,
When ye meet our mountain boys
And their leader,  Johnny Stark,
Lads who make but little noise,
Lads who always hit the  mark!

Have ye no graves at home
Across the briny water,
That hither ye must come
Like bullocks to the slaughter?
If we the work must do,
Why the sooner 'tis begun,
If flint and trigger hold but true,
The quicker 'twill be done!

Over at NancyR’s place she is asking for some good patriotic songs, and this was one that I like.  I’ve been meaning to put the lyrics down here ever since I got the CD, and she finally made me do it.

You Take My Bacon, I Take Your Thumbs. It’s an Even Trade

Let me start off by showing you a picture.  This picture is the background of my phone, so I see it everyday.  I see it and I love it.

Can you see it?  The luscious, hot, dripping fat, clinging to a crispy, tasty, and salty bacon?  What you see here was two pounds of premium bacon before I fried it into its metamorphosed state.  That’s right.  What was once two pounds of gooey caterpillar was transformed into it’s beautiful butterfly form.  I could go on, but I probably shouldn’t.  We’d be here all day.

So when I say that this issue cuts me deep, please believe me.

From Alan at Snarkybytes comes something most interesting.  Something evil is in the air.  Something so despicable that I had to put down my thoughts in comic form.  The nanny state has been moving into total control territory at a rapid pace lately, and I’m sure many of you have heard stories about the government trying to regulate foods with “high” amounts of sugar, fat, and salt.  Fat and salt, the two things that make bacon what it is.  Here it is, my next political comic:

This will be the straw that breaks this camel’s back.

Take my love, take my land
Take me where I cannot stand
I don’t care, I’m still free
You can’t take the sky from me
Take me out to the black
Tell them I ain’t comin’ back
Burn the land and boil the sea
You can’t take the sky from me
There’s no place I can be
Since I found Serenity
But you can’t take the sky from me… 

Is now

Take my love, take my land
Take me where I cannot stand
I don’t care, I’m still free
You can’t take the BACON from me
Take me out to the black
Tell them I ain’t comin’ back
Burn the land and boil the sea
You can’t take the BACON from me
There’s no place I can be
Since I found BACONITY
But you can’t take the BACON from me…

(Apologies to Joss Whedon, but I’m sure he’ll understand)

…

In a Pitaful Attempt to Make SOMEONE SOMEWHERE Think, I Link to Borepatch

Because really, he’s much better at it than I. My forte is random videos on youtube.

But I digress…

If by some strange twist of fortune you are on my blog and don’t read Borepatch, you had better get over there and read this. That’s some good stuff.

Books of 2010: Give Me Liberty

While I was in Philadelphia over spring break, I bought a book at the Constitution Center called “Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries,” by Naomi Wolf.  It was an interesting read.

To start off, Naomi Wolf is much more liberal (or “progessive”) than I am.  She is actually kind of on the near opposite end of the spectrum from me.  That said, she is very concerned about the deterioration of American politics.  While I disagree with most of her politics, I do not disagree with most of her convictions.  What I like is how she can look past her politics and just say: “It’s ok if we disagree.  But if we don’t even present our arguments, nothing will improve.”

A couple of interesting things from the book.  First is a story of her going to a protest in NYC at the Chinese Consulate.  There were two groups protesting two different things, but they had to share a permit and a bullhorn, and were walled off behind partitions a block away from the consulate.  So much for free speech.

Then there were a couple of quotes that stand out to me, that I would like to present without comment:

The media marked has no incentive to listen to you or reflect your real concerns.  So stop paying attention to the puppet show that now passes for debate.  You need to be the pundit.

and she quotes from Natan Shansky, who was in a Soviet Gulag for many years:

Stability is perhaps the most important word in the diplomat’s dictionary.  In its name, autocrats are embraced, dictators are coddled, and tyrants are courted.

 The last part of the book is a “User’s Guide” for organizing groups, writing letters to newspapers and politicians, protesting, petitioning, and other grassroots things people can do. 

There was a little bit of lefty mindlessness whenever it talked about the 2nd Amendment; they said it “protects the right to own guns, at least in certain circumstances.”  Ummm… SHALL NOT be infringed?  That sounds like it applies to all circumstances to me.  Also, Naomi is a big supporter of direct democracy, and I can see where she is coming from, but I am not sold.  Seems like it would be too easy for a majority to run amok, and historically they seem to be awfully good at getting dictators into power.  I think if the constitutional republic was good enough for the founders, it is good enough for me, and I would welcome anyone else’s view on this… but I digress.

It was a fairly interesting read, and it was nice to hear  from “the other side of the aisle” with a respectful tone, with much to agree with.  I give it 7 1/2 cannonballs out of 10.  Now I am on to “Atlas Shrugged.”

Takin’ Back Our Country

From another email from the same old crotchety guy (he’s really not that bad):

Let’s help them pack, alright.

Filmed in good ‘ol Mesa County, CO, my home! I’ll have to ask him if he knows this lady or not.

Update: He writes me back: “Very first time I’ve heard or seen her. Nice voice, probably too old for you.”

Ha Ha.