Is The Left Narcissistic?

According to the Organized Wisdom website these are the traits of narcissism:

1. You sometimes feel like you're the most important person in the room.  Definitely. The Left always feel they are the most important in any place or time. They feel they are the smartest and rational and everyone else is subhuman.
2. You often fantasize about the inevitable success, power, beauty, and romance that will enter your life. Not sure about beauty and romance, but success and power probably. Fantasizes about power definitely.  The Left always think they should be in power and will do just about anything to get and stay in power. All politicians are like this to a certain extent. Nature of the game I suppose. But the Left is more obsessive about power.
3. You believe that you're special, and that only a certain type of person can relate to you. The Left think they are more enlightened (especially the Elite) than everyone else and therefore can only socialize with other elitist radicals.
4. You are happiest when all eyes are on you and you're receiving praise. The Left don’t like anyone criticizing their policies, but love it when you agree with their policies.
5. You feel like you deserve better treatment than others, and that you should always get your way.  Yea, they do. Because they think they are always right and they’re policies are always right. And because they say they care, you better go along with what they tell you to do. After all sheep doesn’t question the shepherd.
6. You have gotten others to help you get what you want.  Through manipulation, coercion, and deception. That’s how the Left does it.
7. You  sometimes hurt people's feelings because you're not sensitive enough to other people's problems. This is because the Left doesn’t see people as individuals but as part of a class or group. Individual feelings and thoughts don’t matter.

The Digital Citizen's Bill of Rights

From the Gardian.co.uk (June 13):

Republican Darrell Issa, who led the charge against Sopa, is back with the first draft of a bill of rights for digital citizens House oversight committee chairman and firebrand Obama administration critic Darrell Issa is touting his first draft of a Digital Bill of Rights for internet denizens, and he's asking for the public's input.

Here is the Bill of Rights first draft:

1. Freedom – digital citizens have a right to a free, uncensored internet

2. Openness – digital citizens have a right to an open, unobstructed internet

3. Equality – all digital citizens are created equal on the internet

4. Participation – digital citizens have a right to peaceably participate where and how they choose on the internet

5. Creativity – digital citizens have a right to create, grow and collaborate on the internet, and be held accountable for what they create

6. Sharing – digital citizens have a right to freely share their ideas, lawful discoveries and opinions on the internet

7. Accessibility – digital citizens have a right to access the internet equally, regardless of who they are or where they are

8. Association – digital citizens have a right to freely associate on the internet

9. Privacy – digital citizens have a right to privacy on the internet

10. Property – digital citizens have a right to benefit from what they create, and be secure in their intellectual property on the internet [read more]

Pretty good. Not sure what 3. and 7. means. “Created equal on the internet”? Is that like “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”? Which of course is in the Declaration of Independence.

“Access the internet equally,..”? Again, kind of unclear what that means. I’m sorry but whenever I hear the words “equally” or “equality” unless it is in the Declaration of Independence I get nervous. Socialists and radicals like to talk about equality as in equal sharing. Issa might mean equal rights under the Constitution or as in all men are created equal since he is a conservative. But you never know.

So, You Want To Be A Vegetarian?

Here some things to think about:

GRASS PEA. Like most legumes, it is an excellent source of protein, but it has one serious drawback: it contains a neurotoxin called beta-N-oxalyl-diamino propionic acid, or beta-ODAP. The first symptom of beta-ODAP poisoning, or lathyrism, is a weakening of the legs. Eventually, the toxin kills nerve cells and victims become paralyzed from the waist down. Without treatment, they will die. If they are soaked for a long time in water or fermented in breads or pancakes, they pose little risk. Grass peas are one of the few food crops that can survive a serious drought.

CORN. Traditional recipes called for adding slaked lime or calcium hydroxide, a naturally occurring mineral, to corn. Without it, the niacin in corn cannot be absorbed. This is not a problem unless corn is eaten by itself and makes up most of a person’s diet. When that happens—as it did with early settlers who did not understand the risks—the result is a severe niacin deficiency called pellagra.

RHUBARB. The leaves of this Asian plant contain high levels of oxalic acid, which can cause weakness, difficulty breathing, gastrointestinal problems, and even coma and death in rare circumstances.

ELDERBERRY. Most parts of the plant, including the uncooked fruit, may contain varying levels of cyanide.

CASHEW. Cashews are part of the same botanical family as poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac. The cashew tree produces the same irritating oil, urushiol. The nut itself is perfectly safe to consume, but if it comes into contact with any part of the shell during harvest, it will give the person who eats it a nasty rash.

RED KIDNEY BEAN. Perfectly safe and healthy, except if eaten raw or undercooked. The harmful compound in kidney beans is called phytohaemagglutinin, and it can bring on severe nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. People usually recover quickly, but it takes only four or five raw beans to bring on these extreme symptoms.

POTATO. This member of the dreaded nightshade family contains a poison called solanine, which can bring on burning and gastrointestinal symptoms and even coma and death in rare cases. Cooking a potato will kill most of the solanine in it, but if a potato has been exposed to the light long enough for its skin to turn green, that may be a sign of increased levels of solanine.

Source: Wicked Plants (2009) by Amy Stewart.

So, be careful out there and watch what you eat! (In all fairness, I like peas, corn, cashews, red kidney beans and potatoes.)

What Wisconsin Means

From the Washington Post opinion by Charles Krauthammer:

The real threat behind all  [Gov. Walker’s reforms], however, was that the new law ended automatic government collection of union dues. That was the unexpressed and politically inexpressible issue. That was the reason the unions finally decided to gamble on a high-risk recall.

Without the thumb of the state tilting the scale by coerced collection, union membership became truly voluntary. Result? Newly freed members rushed for the exits. In less than one year, AFSCME, the second-largest public-sector union in Wisconsin, has lost more than 50 percent of its membership.

It was predictable. In Indiana, where Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) instituted by executive order a similar reform seven years ago, government-worker unions have since lost 91 percent of their dues-paying membership. In Wisconsin, Democratic and union bosses (a redundancy) understood what was at stake if Walker prevailed: not benefits, not “rights,” but the very existence of the unions. [read more]

Isn’t that interesting. It’s all about power with the Left.

Hat tip: The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation newsletter.

Obama’s Third-Party History

From National Review Online (June 7):

On the evening of January 11, 1996, while Mitt Romney was in the final years of his run as the head of Bain Capital, Barack Obama formally joined the New Party, which was deeply hostile to the mainstream of the Democratic party and even to American capitalism. In 2008, candidate Obama deceived the American public about his potentially damaging tie to this third party. The issue remains as fresh as today’s headlines, as Romney argues that Obama is trying to move the United States toward European-style social democracy, which was precisely the New Party’s goal.

Recently obtained evidence from the updated records of Illinois ACORN at the Wisconsin Historical Society now definitively establishes that Obama was a member of the New Party. He also signed a “contract” promising to publicly support and associate himself with the New Party while in office. [read more]

The New Party was a political organization founded in 1992 by Daniel Cantor and Joel Rogers, with the objective of electing leftist or socialist individuals to public office in several states; the goal was to move the Democratic Party further to the left, with the ultimate objective of creating a major third party whose platform is Marxism.

Obama being a member of a radical third party is not too surprising. In his autobiography he said he hung around with radicals and Marxists. Let’s not forget that he told a private citizen when he was campaigning for POTUS that spreading the wealth around was a good idea.

Who also belonged to this far-Left party?

• Gloria Steinem
• Cornel West, current advisor to Obama's campaign

President John Adams’ Thoughts on Power, Gov’t, and Liberty

His thoughts are in bold face.

Because power corrupts, society's demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases.

So, true. He is basically explaining why we need moral leaders in power.

Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

Fear is the foundation of most governments.

The happiness of society is the end of government.

Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak; and that it is doing God's service when it is violating all his laws.

There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.

But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.

Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom.

Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people.

Property must be secured, or liberty cannot exist.

The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the law of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.

In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress.

Gotta love that one! Even back then! It’s no wonder that the Left doesn’t like the Founders with quotes like these.