Are the times a'changin'?

          Its gotta suck to be a Democrat right now.  Let me be more specific.  Its gotta suck to be one of the suckers who fell for “Hope and Change.”
          Barack H. Obama was presented to us (largely by a fawning press) some six years ago as a Demigod…a man capable of ending racism, cancer, global warming, and canker sores. Many took the bait and have yet to let go, despite an avalanche of evidence to the contrary.
          The news in the past two weeks has been less-than-flattering for our Commander-In-Chief.  Between the Benghazi testimony, the IRS revelations, and new information about the Justice Department seizing phone records from the Associated Press…well, let’s just say Jay Carney has been putting in some overtime studying Advanced Spin Doctoring.
          The Benghazi lies may be the most egregious of these three kerfuffles, but it’ll be hard to gauge the President’s culpability.  Its obvious to anyone paying attention that he knew very quickly that this was a targeted terrorist attack, and not a spontaneous reaction to an unseen video.  That he would trumpet that line of thinking for nine days after the fact tells me all I need to know about where his concerns lie.  Does it amount to an “impeachable offense?”  Probably not.
          The IRS scandal is a different animal, though.  People don’t need to be educated about the IRS.  Their potential for abuse is well-known, and they’re about as popular as rug burn.  Every day we’re finding more and more evidence that this was NOT limited to a couple of low-level operatives in Cincinnati.  The ghost is Richard Nixon is smiling.
          Is this the future of Obamacare?  IRS agents and low level functionaries making decisions of life and death for conservatives?   This is not fear-mongering, folks. 
          This is the typical Obama crisis management tactic: deny it happened, promise to vigorously investigate it, blame it on low level rogue employees, and accuse conservatives of “playing politics.”  This is what happens when you elect a campaigner instead of a leader.
          I've always thought it would take a cataclysmic event to open people’s eyes…to expose the fraud that is the President...to end his Svengali-like effect on his followers. I had feared it would be a tragedy, but perhaps the prospect of his using the IRS as his henchmen will be enough to turn the tide.  One can only "hope."

Online with an unconnected government.

          Nothing stifles growth and innovation like the heavy hand of government.  As if we need another demonstration of that aphorism, I fear we’re about to get one.

          The Senate could vote as early as today on a bill that would give states the power to require online retailers to collect state and local taxes on internet purchases. Under the bill, the sales taxes would be sent to the states where a shopper lives.  Right now, states can only require stores to collect sales taxes if the store has a physical presence in the state.

          The main reason that the United States has taken the lead in the Internet Economy is that the Federal Government has taken (for the most part) a hands-off approach.  In comparison to other parts of the economy, the Internet is relatively unregulated.  This “Wild West” landscape has allowed American researchers and entrepreneurs to make wonderful developments that the rest of the world has yet to catch up to.  US ingenuity has produced operating systems and accessory devices that are being used across the planet.  American companies have pioneered the field of e-commerce.  Domestic software companies have lapped their overseas competitors in almost every sector.

          The Digital Boom is a testament to what can happen when the Federal Government stays the hell out of our business.  It is an object lesson in what can happen when creative people are left to their own devices, allowed to fail, and allowed to keep the fruits of their success.

          I’m surprised the gravy train has lasted this long.  I guess I should be grateful that the Robber Barons in Washington have allowed this largely untapped source of revenue to go on unabated.  It appears the salad days will soon be over.

          What if we could apply the Government’s behavior the past 20 years on the IT economy to other sectors?  Wouldn’t it be great if we could allow businesses a chance to innovate without knowing that any success they achieve will be short-lived?  How cool would it be for creative folks to be unfettered by regulations that exist mostly to justify the existence of regulators?

          To the government, I quote Bruce Willis’ lines from “Die Hard.”  “You’re not part of the solution---you’re part of the problem!  STOP being part of the f*cking problem!!!”

Useful props

Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler:

You have my deepest sympathies. As a parent, I cannot imagine the hell you have gone through in the past few months...and I pray that I never do.

You may or may not be aware of a key fact. The proposals currently before Congress would have done NOTHING to prevent your child from being murdered. The sponsor of the bill admits it. As a matter of fact (something else you may be unaware of) the sponsor of the bill has stated that her ultimate goal is weapon confiscation. Not sure if you had heard that. Its true.

Given those facts, I hope you understand my (and others') resistance to these proposals. 

In your grief, you may be unaware of another fact. The President and his fellow Liberals are using you like a Shake-and-Bake bag. You will be discarded once you serve your purpose. The President doesn't like you, or anyone else...other than himself. In his eyes, you are useful idiots and nothing more.

I'll put it this way...if a loved one of mine were killed by a madman with a gun, I would get no satisfaction out of stripping human rights from people who had nothing to do with it. Indeed, I would feel pretty shitty if that happened.

I pray you find whatever peace and solace that you can. I hope that peace is not predicated on your ability to negatively impact the millions of law-abiding Americans who simply do not trust a most-untrustworthy Government with a key element of our personal security.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/04/13/obama-has-newtown-mom-fill-in-for-his-weekly-radio-internet-address/?fb_action_ids=3049466771327&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582

1973: The Washington Post leads the way into the probe of an illegal wire-tapping scandal that brings down a Republican Administration. The Post is (rightfully) lauded by their peers and by the country at large.

2013: The Washington Post lauds the person who illegally wire-tapped a Republican Senator's office. They focus not on the illegal act, but the information that was gleaned from it---calling it, "audio gold."

Just keep telling yourself there is no media bias. The Presidential also has your best interests in mind. The President would NEVER hike taxes on the middle class. The Government would NEVER come after our guns. "That could NEVER happen here."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/david-corn-and-mother-jones-find-themselves-with-another-audio-scoop/2013/04/10/dd37a8a0-a21b-11e2-82bc-511538ae90a4_story.html

Translation: Kiss my ass, nannies!

"I have the right to do whatever I wish with my property. 

If I own a pile of wood, I can set fire to it even if it is currently nailed together in the shape of a barn. 

Cigarettes may not be healthy for me in the long run, but I have the freedom to smoke them anyway. Drinking alcohol may or may not have negative side effects, but even if it does, the government has no authority to prohibit you from consuming it, even if it is "in your own best interest." 

Since when do we let the government decide what is or isn't good for us? What the hell does Congress know about nutrition, anyway? (For that matter, what does Congress know about the Constitution?) 

If the government can use force whenever something is "in our best interest" then government should force everyone to wake up at 6am every morning for calisthenics in the front yard. Fast food establishments should be torn down and replaced with bars that serve carrot juice and alfalfa sprouts, since - "it's in your best interest." 

This paternalistic attitude that "the government knows best" and that you are merely a helpless child is insulting and reprehensible."

- Michael Badnarik

Gun for me, but not for thee

Here lies an astonishing combination of arrogance and ignorance. Yet, there are those among you who have no qualms about letting people like this make all of your basic life decisions for you. That's bad enough. That you also want these people to make basic life decisions for ME as well...we have a problem. Big problem.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/04/03/dem-congresswoman-mocks-concerned-pro-gun-senior-citizen-youd-probably-be-dead-anyway/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=story&utm_campaign=Share+Buttons

Cola Wars

Victories for us "Conservatarians" are becoming harder and harder these days.  That's why I was inordinately happy last night when a New York State Judge struck down Nazi Bloomberg's attempt to save the unwashed masses from the evils of large Coca-Colas.  It's probably a Pyrrhic victory, since some liberal judge somewhere up the judicial food chain will likely uphold this latest version of a Nanny-Stater's wet dream...but I'll take my good news wherever I can find it these days.

Just how short-lived this victory may be was driven home when I read a new poll from Marist University.  It showed that while 53% of New York City residents opposed the soda restrictions, 42% supported it.  42%!  Wow.  I can't stop thinking about that number.

I guess I live a sheltered life and hang around only a small group of like-minded people.  I cannot think of one person I know who would support something like this.  Not one.  I can't even think of casual acquaintances who would think this was a good idea.  Yet 42% of New Yorkers surveyed think that the Government making such a basic decision for us is a good idea.

What do I make of this?  Are the demographics in the Big Apple so skewed that a near-majority have no problem with something I think is among the most odious proposals I've ever heard?  Is the rank-and-file of Danville and Pittsylvania County really THAT different from New York?  Am I hopelessly out of touch?  Or could it be something much more sinister?

Are we now witnessing the first real fruits of decades of education that is designed more to indoctrinate than illuminate?  I can only imagine what this poll would have been like if it were administered in, say 1980.  My guess is that MUCH fewer than 42% would support such an idea.  What has happened in the intervening generation?

I have often said that President Obama is not the worst thing in this nation.  The worst thing is an electorate that could vote for someone who has made no secret about his love affair with central command politics.  Are we past the point now where people are more than willing to give up what I consider to be rudimentary decision-making power, just so we can keep our brains free to absorb the latest reality TV series?

It makes we wonder what a similar poll would say ten years from now.  20 years down the road.  It also makes me shudder.

Lock and load!

I have never been a conspiracy theorist.  The mindset that there's more than meets the eye in every instance has always struck me as imbecilic.  It assumes that there is a nefarious undercurrent to all things.  

It doesn't pass the logic test.  If you think 9-11 was an inside job, stop and think for a minute.  Think about the staggering number of people who would have to be "in" on the conspiracy, at least to some degree.  Now think about how damned difficult it is to keep three or four people quiet about someone's surprise birthday party!

All-too-often, conspiracy theorists concoct scenarios that would confuse Rube Goldberg.  It assumes an amount of acumen and cleverness that I'm sure our government does not possess.

It's also been my experience that conspiracy theorists are among the most miserable people I've met...socially, at least.  Perhaps dreaming up scenarios with black helicopters circling over their heads gives them a sense of importance...that they matter enough to warrant dark forces to conspire against them.  The reality---that they're not that important---is less appealing.

Having said all that, I will admit that I'm NOT getting warm fuzzies by what I'm reading in regards to the Department of Homeland Security.  Today's news informs us that DHS is purchasing 2,700 light-armored tanks.  This is on top of previous reports of their stockpiling ammunition....somewhere between 1.6 and 2.1 billion rounds, according to estimates.

I realize that there is a police function to DHS and I'm sure the agents would prefer being armed with something better than a pocketknife...but the timing is curious.  At a time when gun control measures are all the rage, when ammunition for the rank-and-file is becoming scarce, and when the White House is occupied by a man who had no compunctions about using drones to target Americans...well, let's just say I'm on guard.

I think I'll hold off getting fitted for a tinfoil hat...but my eyes are wide open.  The only thing I hate more than conspiracy theorists is when conspiracy theorists are right.

Wake me when its over

All you need to know about the idiocy of the current conference realignment craze in college sports is this:  Boise State was *this* close to joining the Big East.  That's right; the school in Idaho was prepared to join a loop originally named for it's small schools in the nation's northeast corridor.   I could stop right there, but I won't.

The latest foray into a geography major's nightmare came this week when North Carolina and Virginia got overtures to join the Big Ten (which has 12 teams.  The Big 12 has 10 teams.  Keep up with me, here).  If accepted, they would join West Virginia as teams that have a majority of their conference opponents in different time zones.  Under this scenario, North Carolina would eschew conference affiliation with Duke (eight miles away) and North Carolina State (20 miles away) for epic conference clashes against the like of Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska.  Dean Smith is rolling over in his grave!   What?  He's not dead yet?  Well---scratch that last part.

Geography and tradition matters in college sports, especially in the sport that pays the bills---football.  It is about rivalries that date back to the 19th century and remain relevant today.  It's Michigan/Ohio State, Harvard/Yale, Auburn/Alabama, Averett/Ferrum.  (may be stretching it a bit on that last one.)

I'll put it this way.  When West Virginia knocks off Baylor in an epic Big 12 tilt (remember, they're the conference with 10 teams), to whom do their fan brag?  How many West Virginia fans come into contact with Baylor grads?  How does the casual West Virginia fan get excited over matchups with Iowa State, Kansas or Texas Tech?   If North Carolina flies the coop, how many of their fans will travel to Purdue or Rutgers?   If they win, what will they say to their die-hard Demon-Deacon co-workers?

During football season, on any given Sunday at my church, there are tons of light-hearted discussions on the previous days' football follies.  Virginia Tech fans lord over Duke supporters, Tar Heels rib Wake fans; Wahoos have their way with pack-backers.  And round and round it goes.  How much of this fellowship and interest will be lost if our respective teams routinely play conference games against teams a thousand miles away?

I understand the reason for the mass movement.  I like a dollar bill as much as the next guy.  Fox/ESPN/ABC and the like are flashing major dollars for their next television deals.  Their numbers gurus (falsely) assume that certain markets will bring in more revenue.  They're packaging these deals and holding cable TV providers hostage to carry those networks on their basic tier.

There are several problems with that, but I'll just focus on a couple.  First, markets do not equal viewers.  I'm sure the Big Ten wet themselves when they secured Rutgers, thinking they would get the coveted New York market.  Uh, no.  You don't.  Rutgers athletics is not even a blip on the Big Apple's radar.  Notre Dame gets more press in the New York Times.  They won't give the Big Ten (the one with 12 teams) the New York market any more than Boston College has brought the coveted Boston Market (the demographic, not the restaurant) to the ACC.

While advertisers may crunch faulty numbers and come up with outlandish TV deals for the next cycle, this will not be sustainable.  Casual fans interest in many of the marquee teams will wane as they play more and more games against unfamiliar opponents who are far, far away.  Folks also have more on-line viewing options than ever before.  Soon, cable providers will decide they will NOT be bullied into carrying conference networks that nobody is watching.

But the biggest damage is to college football's most precious commodity: tradition.  I don't want to live in a world where Texas doesn't play Texas A&M on Thanksgiving weekend.  Where Oklahoma and Nebraska's storied rivalry is relegated to the history books.  Coming soon, no more Duke/UNC basketball; at least not from an in-conference standpoint.  Is that the way to protect your product long-term?

Wake me up when this shit is over and tell me where the Hokies land.