Weather Channel Founder Says Climate Change Is a Myth

From insider.foxnews.com (Oct. 27):

Many officials in the Obama administration - including Secretary of State John Kerry and President Obama himself - have repeatedly hammered home the message that climate change is one of mankind's greatest threats.

According to Weather Channel co-founder John Coleman, however, there is no scientific proof that supports man-made climate change.

Coleman joined Megyn Kelly on The Kelly File tonight to discuss the "myth" of the alleged climate crisis.

"It's very difficult for anybody to be against it because the media has told the nation day after day for 20 years that the oceans are rising, the polar bears are dying, the ice is melting, that storms are going to sweep the Earth and we're all going to die of a heat wave," Coleman said.

He added that he's not alone in doubting the science behind man-made climate change: 9,000 experts with PhD's and 31 scientists have signed a petition stating that carbon dioxide is not a significant greenhouse gas and that much of the research behind climate change is "bad, bad science." [read more]

It’s not just bad, bad science it is pseudoscience. Al Gore and other climate change zealots would call this guy and the other 31 scientists--heretics.

Answer me this: If meteorologists can only predict weather a few days in advance then how can climatologists (meteorologists who get gov’t grants) predict climate change many years off? I mean that’s almost in fortune teller territory. Except using crystal balls the climatologists are using inaccurate computer models. I have nothing against computer models—meteorologists use them all the time—but if they are not calibrated right you will always get garbage coming out.

Just like Obamacare, climate change is just another way of controlling people’s lives—read: their liberty. 

North Korea Now Has Nuclear Warheads for Missiles

From The Daily Signal.com (Oct. 27):

North Korea now has the ability to produce a miniaturized nuclear warhead that can be mounted atop a ballistic missile.

That is the assessment of Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti, the senior U.S. commander on the Korean Peninsula, as he talked to reporters Friday. Scaparrotti also concluded that Pyongyang has a functioning long-range mobile missile launcher.

Although North Korea has conducted three nuclear explosion tests and several medium-and long-range missile test firings, it had not been known whether the regime had developed a nuclear warhead sufficiently small to fit on top of a missile with the range to reach the continental United States.

“Personally I think that they certainly have had the expertise in the past. They’ve had the right connections [with Iran and Pakistan],” commented Scaparrotti, “and so I believe have the capability to have miniaturized a [nuclear] device at this point, and they have the technology to potentially actually deliver what they say they have [and] I think they have a launcher that will carry it at this point.” [read more]

Great. A crazy dictator with a nuke. What’s next the leader of Iran getting nuclear weapons?

The “Independent” Candidate

There is an independent party candidate running in my state of Kansas for the Senate name of Greg Orman. He says he is independent of both of the main parties but is he really? He gave money to Harry Reid and President Obama. He was formally a democrat. Just saying you’re independent doesn’t mean you are. It’s like saying you’re for hope and change.

Another reason I distrust the “independent” label is because most senators with that label are actually liberal or progressive. The American Conservative Union rates congress in how conservative a congress person is. Take a look at these so-called independent senators and their lifetime scores for 2013:

Angus King (Maine): 13

Bernie Sanders (Vermont): 6.3

Joseph Lieberman (Connecticut): 15.3

To be fair, Bernie Sanders states that he is a socialist. I like his honesty. Don’t like his politics. The rating for Joseph Lieberman was for 2012 since he retired in January of 2013. If you remember he was initially a democrat but changed to independent because the party bosses attacked him politically.

The reader might say three senators is too small a sample to draw any conclusion. Possibly, but you would think if they were truly independent their scores would be closer to 50%. Not way below 50%.  No matter what your party is you still have to vote your world-view or ideology. My advice is if you really don’t want to vote for the two main parties, don’t vote for an independent. Vote for a true third party like the libertarian party. I am not sure why the Kansas libertarian senate candidate isn’t running ads on TV saying he is the true independent candidate for the senate. Maybe, he doesn’t have enough money.

One other thing. I could not find any independent representatives for some reason.

President Obama Names Ron Klain 'Ebola Czar'

From ABC News.com (Oct. 17):

Amid mounting pressure to name someone to spearhead the administration's response to the Ebola crisis, President Obama announced today that he plans to appoint Ron Klain, Vice President Joe Biden's former chief-of staff, as his Ebola czar, ABC News has confirmed.

Klain, who also served as Chief of Staff for Vice President Al Gore, now works as general counsel at Revolution LLC.

The White House had previously already assigned Homeland Security Advisor Lisa Monaco, a lawyer with a background in federal law enforcement, criminal prosecution and crisis response, to work with the CDC and other government agencies responsible for addressing an outbreak on American soil. [read more]

If you read the five things to know about Klain you will find no medical accreditations of any kind. All he did was work for big shot Dems. And he was a law clerk too. So, why was this guy picked at all? In a word: Politics. That’s my guess anyway. This appointment smacks of cronyism.

Obama didn’t even include the new czar in his gov’t Ebola response meeting for some reason. I guess the new czar had more important plans.

America needs another czar like we need another contagious person on a plane or a contagious person walking across our porous border. But isn’t the HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response,  Dr. Nicole Lurie, kind of like a czar anyway? Plus she has a medical degree. According to the HHS website her mission is: “to lead the nation in preventing, responding to and recovering from the adverse health effects of public health emergencies.” Hmmm. I don’t know, but sounds like what an Ebola czar would do anyway. More stupid bureaucratic duplications.

Chemical Weapons Were Found in Iraq — But the Public Never Knew Until Now

From The New York Times.com (Oct. 14):

Five years after President George W. Bush sent troops into Iraq, these soldiers had entered an expansive but largely secret chapter of America’s long and bitter involvement in Iraq.

From 2004 to 2011, American and American-trained Iraqi troops repeatedly encountered, and on at least six occasions were wounded by, chemical weapons remaining from years earlier in Saddam Hussein’s rule.

In all, American troops secretly reported finding roughly 5,000 chemical warheads, shells or aviation bombs, according to interviews with dozens of participants, Iraqi and American officials, and heavily redacted intelligence documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

Andrew T. Goldman in North Topsail Beach, N.C. In August 2008, Mr. Goldman was part of a team near Taji, Iraq, that was trying to destroy munitions that could be used in makeshift bombs. While holding a cracked shell, he noticed a strange smell.
Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

The United States had gone to war declaring it must destroy an active weapons of mass destruction program. Instead, American troops gradually found and ultimately suffered from the remnants of long-abandoned programs, built in close collaboration with the West.

The New York Times found 17 American service members and seven Iraqi police officers who were exposed to nerve or mustard agents after 2003. American officials said that the actual tally of exposed troops was slightly higher, but that the government’s official count was classified. [read more]

So, Bush was right after all.

The Government Doesn’t Need to Charge You With a Crime to Seize Your Assets and Property

From The Blaze.com (Sept. 30):

Did you know you don’t actually need to be charged with a crime for the government to seize your financial and property assets?

Under U.S. law, it can take only the suspicion of a crime to turn lives upside down and seize the property of innocent citizens.

The civil asset forfeiture law allows government agencies like the IRS or the Department of Justice to confiscate anyone’s property without obtaining criminal charges against them.

Originally intended to seize the assets of money launderers and drug dealers, the law’s low requirement threshold has allowed government agencies to incorrectly identify someone as a possible suspect in a crime take their assets. It can take more than a year for an innocent person who has had their business, property or finances seized to be cleared of wrongdoing, during which time they can lose everything, said Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), who is working to reform the law.  [read more]

Yea, that is kind of unnerving. Almost unlimited power for the gov’t. I hope the representative gets his bill passed through Congress. The question is will Obama sign the bill into law?

Scientists Have Invented a Real-Life Cloaking Device

From The Blaze.com (Sept. 27):

Cloaking devices: they’re not just for Harry Potter or Romulan warships anymore.

Researchers at the University of Rochester are publicizing their construction of an invisibility-inducing array, and the simple technology involved might surprise you.

As Reuters reported:

“From what we know this is the first cloaking device that provides three-dimensional, continuously multidirectional cloaking,” said Joseph Choi, a graduate student who helped develop the method at Rochester, which is renowned for its optical research.

In their tests, the researchers have cloaked a hand, a face, and a ruler – making each object appear “invisible” while the image behind the hidden object remains in view. The implications for the discovery are endless, they say.

“I imagine this could be used to cloak a trailer on the back of a semi-truck so the driver can see directly behind him,” Choi said. “It can be used for surgery, in the military, in interior design, art.”

Howell said the Rochester Cloak, like the fictitious cloak described in the pages of the Harry Potter series, causes no distortion of the background object.

Building the device does not break the bank either. It cost Howell and Choi a little over $1,000 in materials to create it and they believe it can be done even cheaper.

Of course, the practical applications might attract professional attention, but the basic thrill of disappearing is what appeals to the average Joe.   [read more]

Yea, that is pretty cool. And an elegant solution as a programmer might call it. All it takes is four lenses and the university tells anyone how to do it on their website.

Bill O’Reilly’s Mercenary Army

From The O’Reilly show (Sept. 22):

However, the American people, perhaps rightly so, do not want to send any more of our troops into these chaotic countries.

But what about a mercenary army?

Elite fighters who would be well paid and well trained to defeat terrorists all over the world.

Here's how it would work:

The fighters would be recruited by the U.S.A. and trained in America by our special forces.  U.S. Army rules of engagement would be followed -- strict discipline formed by the Geneva Convention.

America would be in charge of selecting who makes the cut and how they are deployed, with an eye on a 25,000-person force.

American and NATO officers would lead the mercenary army, and the U.S.A. would also provide logistical support, basing the first-trained soldiers in Kurdistan.

The force would be called "the anti-terror army," and the cost paid by the coalition that President Obama is trying to put together.

That means all countries that want intelligence and protection from the U.S.A. and NATO would have to chip in.

If you don't pay, you get no help.

[read more]

Not a bad idea. Sort of like an international Impossible Mission force. I think there was a video game done on this idea. It was also a book by the late Tom Clancy. I hope the rules of engagement of this international task force allow shooting at terrorists who shoot at you inside of Mosques. I mean if the terrorists don’t care about their own Mosques why should the soldiers?

It’s good that the people over in Iraq and Syria are breaking things but I want to see more dead terrorists.

Meet Khorasan, the Terrorist Group That Might Be Scarier Than ISIS

From The Daily Signal.com (Sept. 20):

As the Islamic State terrorist organization commands attention with its cold-blooded tactics of rape and murder, another group of violent extremists in Syria considers itself tougher — and actually may have more ambition to attack the United States.

The group, known as Khorasan, was acknowledged and named publicly for the first time Thursday by National Intelligence Director James Clapper.

Clapper confirmed that Khorasan may pose as great a threat to the U.S. as the Islamic State, also called ISIS or ISIL. “There is potentially yet another threat to the homeland, yes,” he said at an intelligence conference in Washington.

Phillips: The Khorasan group is a cell of veteran terrorists belonging to the al-Qaeda core group — the high command of the al-Qaeda network that relocated to Pakistan after the 2001 defeat of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

Osama bin Laden’s successor, Ayman al-Zawahiri, reportedly dispatched the Khorasan group to Syria to link up with al-Qaeda’s official franchise in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra — which means “the Victory Front.”

The Khorasan group currently poses more of a threat to the U.S. homeland, because of its greater experience in transnational terrorist operations and access to more sophisticated bombs.  [read more]

Great. Another freakin’ crazy Islamofascist group popping up. They are breeding like cockroaches. I wonder if Obama is not going to call them Islamic either.

Islamic State Fighters Reportedly ‘Run Away’ from a Certain Type of Soldier

From The Blaze.com (Sept. 21):

Radical Islamists who decide to embark on suicidal missions often do so with the expectation they will be rewarded with 72 virgins if they die in battle; however, it turns out there is one major caveat to the scenario, according to a U.S. lawmaker.

That is, if they are killed by a woman, the deal is off.

Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.), chairman of the House International Relations Committee, told the New York Post, “These ISIL [Islamic State] soldiers apparently believed that if they were killed in battle, they went to paradise as long as they were killed by a man.”

The issue is of some relevance, especially in Iraq, where female recruits are among the ranks of the Kurdish peshmerga forces, now fighting the Islamic State jihadist group.

“[T]hese female soldiers were communicating their satisfaction with the fact that they had taken the fight to ISIL and had stopped the advance, turned back the advance — slayed a number of these fighters, who would then run away,” Royce said adding that the female fighters have been fighting “very bravely.”

Royce said heard at a meeting with the Kurdish foreign minister that female fighters were “laughing” when they saw Islamic State jihadists flee from them. [read more]

Interesting. Where are the Amazon warriors when you need them? Ha! Or maybe a team of female special forces like in Brad Thor’s novel The Athena Project.

Since a Muslim guy is supposed to turn his head away from a woman who is inappropriately clothed I wonder if those Islamic State soldiers even saw the woman soldiers. The Islamic Static is such Daesh cockroaches.

Al Qaeda's quiet plan to outdo ISIS and hit U.S.

From CBS News.com (Sept. 18):

WASHINGTON -- The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) may be dominating the headlines and stealing attention with its prolific propaganda, but CBS News' Bob Orr reports, another group in Syria -- one few have even heard of because information about it has been kept secret -- is considered a more urgent concern.

Sources tell CBS News that operatives and explosives experts from Osama bin Laden's old al Qaeda network may again present an immediate threat to the U.S. homeland.

At two dozen foreign airports, U.S.-bound passengers are undergoing enhanced security screening. Agents are searching for hidden explosives. Laptops and phones with dead batteries have been banned from flights.

Great Britain raised its national terror threat level, and the FBI is tracking American jihadists who may return home.

Sources say it's due to the emerging threat in Syria, where hardened terrorists loyal to al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri are working on new, hard-to-detect bombs.

In testimony Wednesday, the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Matt Olsen -- who warned that U.S. agencies are unable to effectively track Western jihadists inside Syria -- seemed to make a vague reference to the threat.

Sources confirm that the al Qaeda cell goes by the name "Khorasan."

Unlike ISIS, which is believed at present to be largely engulfed in its fight for territory. Khorasan is developing fresh plots to target U.S. aviation, and it's trying to recruit Westerners who have flocked to the fight in Syria, some of whom have joined the al Qaeda franchise in the country, known as the al-Nusra Front.

The fear is that U.S. and European passport holders could more easily smuggle explosives onto airplanes.

[read more]

All the more reason for America to get control of her borders. Anyone who is for open borders is just crazy. Mexico isn’t for it. Neither is Canada. Then again the open border people really don’t care if other countries want open borders just America. If you have open borders (which is basically saying no borders at all) then a country isn’t sovereign anymore. Saying if states have open borders then America as a whole should have open borders is two different things. A guest on Stosell actually said that states have open borders why shouldn’t America?

Another thing is that the Left really doesn’t get evil. They think everyone crossing the border wants to do good for America. Here’s a wake up call. Not everyone does.

The Four Reformers by Robert L. Stevenson

FOUR reformers met under a bramble bush.  They were all agreed the
world must be changed.  "We must abolish property," said one.

"We must abolish marriage," said the second.

"We must abolish God," said the third.

"I wish we could abolish work," said the fourth.

"Do not let us get beyond practical politics," said the first. 
"The first thing is to reduce men to a common level."

"The first thing," said the second, "is to give freedom to the
sexes."

"The first thing," said the third, "is to find out how to do it."

"The first step," said the first, "is to abolish the Bible."

"The first thing," said the second, "is to abolish the laws."

"The first thing," said the third, "is to abolish mankind."

Source: Fables (1902) by Robert L. Stevenson.

Written in the past sounds like the Left today. The first line sounds like a radical gay rights activist. The 2nd and 6th lines sound like the militant atheists. The last line sounds like environmental fascists. Abolishing property is a Marxist idea. Reducing men to a common level well, that’s what the Left wants to do altogether so the masses can be dependent on big gov’t.

What would Reagan do?

Below are excerpt from an imaginary address by Ronald Reagan written by Newt Gingrich:

My fellow Americans:

We have all been saddened and outraged by the vicious videotape of ISIS terrorists beheading an American journalist. Our hearts go out to James Foley's family.

However, anger and sympathy are not solutions.

We, the American people, must come together in a righteous determination to defend freedom and civilization from barbarism, savagery and terrorism.

We must calmly, methodically and with the same grim determination we brought to winning World War II, implement strategies that eliminate the growing worldwide threat of radical Islamists prepared to kill us as individuals and our values as a civilization.

ISIS and its worldwide terrorist allies have become the focus of evil in the modern world.

We were saddened but not surprised by the vicious, barbaric video of the killing of James Foley. Back in January we noted that ISIS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, gave a speech in which he warned America, "Soon we'll be in direct confrontation, so watch out for us, for we are with you, watching." They have promised to raise their black flag over the White House.

The 12,000 terrorists from over 50 countries should understand that they can surrender or we will hunt them down. Terrorists who videotape beheadings operate outside the rule of law and in the tradition of eliminating piracy they will be dealt with as outlaws.

In confronting an evil that seeks to kill us and destroy our civilization, our goal must be complete and decisive victory.

America and the forces of freedom need your prayers in this daunting campaign.

Together, civilization will prevail and barbarism will return to the dustbin of history.

[read more]

Like I said these are extracts from the imaginary address. In the address Gingrinch has Reagan go into a little bit of history of radical Islam which would now days would bore the low-info voter and Reagan’s strategy. Reagan would use the word ‘evil.’ I sincerely believe that. He would not state that ISIS is not Islamic or even a state. If ISIS is not Islamic then why are different Muslims in England and America are joining these cockroaches? Surely, they wouldn’t join them if they weren’t. I guess ISIS could be lying about who they are but I doubt it. It’s good that Obama said we are going after ISIS. Now if he would only execute the plan.

Here is what Reagan really said about peace and war:

[P]eace is not obtained or preserved by wishing and weakness.

I’ve called for whatever it takes to be so strong that no other nation will dare violate the peace. If that means superiority, so be it.

And here’s what Glenn Beck said Obama should have said (an extract):

This is not some long protracted war, America has had enough of war. We’ve had enough of playing footsie, of saying, ‘Let’s embrace and understand.’ There is no understanding or tolerating evil. Period. You’re chopping the heads off of people. You’re selling people into slavery. You’re saying you can use woman any way you want. America, it doesn’t look like we have many standards, but we have a few basic standards. Slavery is wrong. Sexual slavery is wrong. Beheading people is wrong. Forcing them to submit to your ideology is wrong. And America will stand united on that, and we’re coming for you. Don’t screw with us.

We will not rebuild you. We do not want your resources. We do not want part of your religious war. You are trying to separate the Middle East, Sunni against Shia. You are trying to take over the movement of a once great and powerful religion, one that gave the world so much. … We have no fight with the Muslim people. But you want to bring it to our shores, you want to bring it to our people, you want to bring it to our journalists? Make no mistake: we will pound you into glass. And then we’ll take our airplanes and we’ll go home.

[read more]

Beck makes an interesting point. He says Obama at first says he didn’t have a plan. Now, he does. So, where did the plan come from? And can we trust the plan’s creators?

Here’s the deal: ISIS thinks of themselves as warriors in a holy war. Therefore the only people they understand as adversaries are other warriors. Talk ie speeches is cheap to them. Action on the other hand, especially action that threatens them—that will get their attention. That will make them nervous. The ancient radical Muslims understood the Knights Templar. They might have even respected them as warriors. But respect for a community organizer? Even one with a Muslim-sounding name? I don’t think so.

How to Lose a Constitution—Lessons from Roman History

From Fee.org (Aug. 29):

The history of ancient Rome spans a thousand years—roughly 500 as a republic and 500 as an imperial autocracy, with the birth of Christ occurring almost precisely in the middle. The closest parallels between Roman and American civilizations are to be found in Rome’s first half-millennium as a republic. We in our day can derive the most instructive lessons from that period. The tyranny of the empire came after the republic was destroyed and that’s the truly awful consequence of decay that America can yet avoid.

Upon winning their freedom, Romans split the top position of power between two men—the consuls. One was to be a check upon the other and neither, except in emergency situations, was to serve more than one year. Legislative bodies—the Senate and assemblies of elected representatives—were established. Incidentally, the Senate was retained in name, though not in power, for the entire thousand years of Roman history. Even as freedom vanished, the later tyrants couldn’t quite bring themselves to abolish the symbols of republicanism. So if America ever loses its Republic, it wouldn’t be surprising if it kept its House and Senate. As in the case of Rome, our legislative bodies may even formally ratify the final extinction of the freedom they’ve been voting against for decades.

Let me share with you what I call, “The Three Most Stubborn Lessons of History,” and then I’ll go back and briefly relate each to the Roman Republic:

Number One: No people who lost their character kept their liberties.

Number Two: Power that is shackled and dispersed is preferable to power that is unrestrained and centralized.

Number Three: The here-and-now is rarely as important as tomorrow.

Now to the first of the three: No people who lost their character kept their liberties.

Character, as I am using the term, embodies the trait of virtue, which is from the Latin virtus, meaning courageous honesty. Above all, it was esteemed by the early Romans of the republic. It was routinely taught in the home by mothers and fathers. Indeed, all formal education took place in the home in the first two and a half centuries of the republic. Schools didn’t appear until the third century B.C. and even they did not receive government funding until well after the Republic faded.

I guess the lesson there is that government funding is not necessary for civilizational decline, but it can sure help it along.

Other traits of character stressed in early Rome were gravitas (dignity), continentia (self-discipline), industria (diligence), benevolentia (goodwill), pietas (loyalty and a sense of duty), and simplicitas (candor).

The connection between character and liberty is powerful. Liberty—by which I mean rule of law, respect for and protection of the lives, rights, property and contracts of others—is the only social arrangement that requires character. No other system, especially socialism, asks much of you other than to keep quiet, pay your taxes and go get yourself killed when the State so directs. The absence of character produces chaos and tyranny. Its presence makes liberty possible.

Rome rose from nothing and sustained itself as a great entity for centuries because of its strong character.

When Romans allowed the temptations of the welfare state to erode their character, when they abandoned responsibility, self-discipline, self-reliance and respect for the property of others and began to use government to rob Peter and pay Paul, they turned down a fateful, destructive path.

In the waning years of the Republic, a rogue named Clodius ran for the office of tribune. He bribed the electorate with promises of free grain at taxpayer expense and won. Thereafter, Romans in growing numbers embraced the notion that voting for a living could be more lucrative than working for one.

Candidates for Roman office spent huge sums to win public favor, then plundered the population afterwards to make good on their promises to the greedy mob that elected them. As the republic gave way to dictatorship, a succession of emperors built their power on the handouts they controlled. Nearly a third of the city of Rome received public relief payments by the time of Christ.

It’s frightening to consider how easily a sturdy people, when they let their guard and character down, can be bought and paid for by the welfare State. And once they sell themselves for that mess of pottage from politicians, it’s not impossible to turn back, but it’s not easy either. [read more]

Yea, his lessons are very true back then as today because the basic nature of man hasn’t changed that much.

Homeland Security Bulletin: Islamic State Can Attack U.S. Overseas With ‘Little to No Warning’

From The Blaze.com (Sept. 8):

The Department of Homeland Security and FBI have put out a joint intelligence bulletin to all federal law enforcement that the Islamic State has the capability to mount attacks on U.S. targets overseas with “little to no warning.”

While the bulletin, obtained by TheBlaze, states that the FBI and DHS are unaware of any “specific, credible threats” against the U.S. homeland, they urge law enforcement to be vigilant about social media postings by Islamic State supporters within the U.S. calling for attacks against America.

The warning was dated Aug. 22, less than a month shy of the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and as U.S. intelligence registered a spike in chatter from jihadi websites ahead of the anniversary.

The rise of the Islamic State — which shares Al Qaeda’s core beliefs — and its recruitment capability have come because of significant intelligence lapses in more than a decade of war, current and former U.S. officials told TheBlaze. The officials charge that the West was blindsided by the establishment of the Islamic State because the intelligence community lacked necessary human assets that would have helped expose the terror group before it could hit its stride. [read more]

Well, isn’t that nice. As for “little or no warning” what terrorist gives warnings? I mean there was no warning before the 9/11 attack. That’s why America has to stay vigilance. And defining these cockroaches as Jihadists ore even radical Muslims doesn’t help anything. You have to define evil and then deal with it. Evil doesn’t really care about political correctness. Calling them what they are doesn’t offend them. Being a Jew or a Christian is what offends them. Actually being anything but a fundamentalist Muslim is what offends them.

An Example of Crony Capitalism

Henry Tuttle was, for much of his life, president of the Hush-A-Phone Corporation, manufacturer of a telephone silencer. Apart from Tuttle, Hush-A-Phone Inc. employed his secretary. The two of them worked alone out of a small office near Union Square in New York City. Hush-A-Phones signature product was shaped like a scoop, and it fit around the speaking end of receiver, that no one could hear what the user was saying on the telephone.

The company motto emblazoned on its letterhead stated the promise succinctly: “Makes your phone private as a booth.”

One day late in the 1940s, Henry Tuttle received alarming news, AT&T had launched a crackdown on the Hush-A-Phone and similar products, like the Jordaphone,a creaky precursor of the modern speakerphone, whose manufacturer had likewise been put on notice. Bell repairmen began warning customers that Hush-A-Phone use was a violation of a federal [my emphasis] tariff and that, failing to cease and desist, they risked termination of their telephone service.

The company was referring to a special rule that was part of their covenant with the federal government. It stated: No equipment, apparatus, circuit or device not furnished by the telephone company shall be attached to or connected with the facilities furnished by the telephone company, whether physically by induction, or otherwise. 

Tuttle hired an attorney, who petitioned the FCC for a  modification of the rule and an injunction against AT&T’s threats. In 1950 the FCC decided to hold a trial (officially a “public hearing”) in Washington, D.C., to consider whether AT&T could punish its customers for placing a plastic cup over their telephone mouthpiece.

Source: The Master Switch. The Rise and Fall of Information Empires (2010) by Tim Wu.

Now, the author of the book is making AT&T into a bully. Possibly, you could see them that way. But here’s the thing. They wouldn’t have any standing if it weren’t for the tariff that was put in by the federal gov’t. So, you could say, it was AT&T and the federal gov’t who were the bullies. AT&T probably lobbied to have that provision put in but Congress could have voted it down or completely ignored the lobbying efforts. They had that choice. AT&T was just looking out for itself like most companies do. That’s not bad thing necessarily. But so was Congress looking out for themselves. And that is a bad thing. My guess is AT&T promised campaign donations if they had that provision put it. The provisions only helps AT&T—no one else. It certainly doesn’t help AT&T’s customers.

Crony Capitalism (or crapitalism as John Stossel calls it) is a sinister partnership between Big Gov and corporations. It takes two to tango.

Just so you know, according to Wikipedia, Tuttle did win his injunction.

Talking about crapitalism, here’s an article by FEE.org about Big Business and Big Gov: CLICHES OF PROGRESSIVISM # 19: “Big Government Is a Check on Big Business”

And an article by The Daily Signal.com (Aug. 22): This Program Epitomizes Government Cronyism. It’s about the Big Gov protecting and subsidizing catfish farmers.

The St. Louis Tea Party’s BUYcott

From The Blaze.com (Aug. 27):

The story won’t spark controversy or make many front pages, but there is some good happening in Ferguson, Missouri, in the aftermath of the unrest following the police-involved shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown.

Many local businesses in Ferguson were vandalized, looted, and even set on fire as demonstrators took to the streets to protest the shooting. Sadly, innocent business owners have been left to foot the bills. This is where the St. Louis Tea Party realized they could help.

The group spread the word of the “BUYcott” event on Facebook, hoping to get at least 20 people to show up and spend their hard-earned money at local Ferguson businesses on August 21. They apparently ended up with a group of about 40 “(mostly) white people” — and something amazing happened.

They reportedly targeted small businesses who “were hit hard by violence–violence committed (mostly) by out of town agitators, criminals, vandals, and hooligans.” [read more]

Yea, I didn’t hear this on the lame-stream-news. I searched the internet and did not see this story on NBC, CBS, CNN, or ABC’s websites. Just on blogs and other sites.

It is nice and decent that the Tea Party group did this.

Seven Rules to Live By

These are Walter Anderson’s Seven Rules:

1. Know who is responsible. “I am responsible.” When you begin with these three words, you can build a new life, even a new world.
2. Believe in something big. When we commit to to high ideals, we succeed before the outcome is known.
3. Practice tolerance.
4. Be brave. Remember, courage is acting with fear, not without it.
5. Love someone. Because you should know joy.
6. Be ambitious. No single effort will solve all your problems, achieve all of your dreams, or even be enough—and that’s okay.
7. Smile. Because no one else can do this for you.

So, who is this Walter Anderson person? He is a friend and hero of Dr. Ben Carson. He is also the CEO and Chairman of Parade Magazine.

Source: The Big Picture.

11 Reasons Why ISIS Might Be More Dangerous Than al-Qaeda

From the Daily Signal.com (Aug. 28):

ISIS is not just the terror group de jour. They are a hugely successful movement with an apocalyptic, nihilistic philosophy. When they say “convert, join us, or die”, they not only mean it, but they follow through with horrific effect.

But let’s look deeper. What else makes them such a real security threat, to Iraq, to the region, to the world, and to the U.S.? Here are 11 reasons.

1. ISIS is more media sophisticated than al-Qaeda and excels in using social media as a tool of terrorism. The group’s twitter and YouTube postings in English show that the West is often their target audience.
2. ISIS is flush with cash. ISIS’ territorial control allows for consistent stream of funding, and they‘ve developed an extensive extortion racket, as well as selling electricity and exporting oil and gas.
3. Because of ISIS rise to prominence, many al-Qaeda-linked groups are now pledging allegiance to al-Baghdadi’s ISIS, including elements of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Ansar al-Dine (Tunisia) Boko Haram, and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), giving ISIS access to a global network of terrorists.
4. ISIS controls territory the size of Maryland in the heart of the arab world, which is important for a predominantly Arab revolutionary terrorist group. The al-Qaeda core group along the Afghanistan/Pakistan border controls no territory and is dependent on Afghan and Pakistani Islamist militants who act as hosts.
5. ISIS has evolved into a proto-state, with its own army, civil administration, judiciary and a sophisticated propaganda operation. Al-Qaeda core leaders are fugitives who are forced to live a clandestine existence under the constant threat of drone strikes or commando assaults.

[read more]

The author of the article might be right if you go by these stories:

The Blaze.com (Aug. 27): Prof’s Chilling Warning: Islamic State Will Carry Out ‘Mass Slaughter’ in the U.S. if Not Stopped Soon

The Blaze.com (Aug. 30): Islamic State Has ‘Increased Interest’ in Exploiting Southern U.S. Border for Attack: Local Law Enforcement Bulletin

The Blaze.com (Aug. 30): Journalists Got Their Hands on an Islamic State Computer. What They Found in the ‘Hidden Files’ Is Terrifying

I think Ollie North has the right strategy for dealing with the coach roaches as Mark R. Levin calls them. Go after their command, control and communications. The only problem, if you call it that, is that their CCC³ is in Syria.  But they have to be stopped.

As for the second headline this is why America needs to get its border under control. Not everyone coming from Mexico or other southern countries are benevolent to the US. 

Advice from Ben Carson, M. D.

THINK BIG – his recipe for success:

• Talent.
• Honesty – if you leave a clean and honest life, you don’t  have to worry about any skeletons in the closet.
• Insight – comes in part from listening to those people who have already been where you are trying to go.
• Nice – be nice to people. They’ll be nice to you. And you can get so much more done when people are being nice to you. You don’t have to compromise your standards or be politically correct.
  1. Take yourself [your ego] out of the equation.
  2. Try to look at the other person’s point of view.
  3. Just listen
  4. Put personal preference aside.
  5. Learn to love people.
  6. Do unto others…
• Knowledge – because with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding you can get all the gold, silver, rubies you want.
• Books.
• In-depth learning – learning for the sake of knowledge, and understanding as opposed to superficial learning.
• God

All of his points are great. My favorite is the Books point. Because I like to read.

PEERS- People Encouraging Errors, Rudeness, and Stupidity.

Ten Strategies for Improved Parenting:

1. Remember your own childhood. Remembering helps us emphasize. It can help us be more patient.
2. Let kids make the rules. He has found that when we let children have a voice in establishing expectations, we have a lot less trouble getting them to meet those expectations. He is not suggesting that children be in charge of the home.
3. Make certain your children experience consequences. Don’t always bail them out when they get themselves in trouble.
4. Parenting can be a group effort. He is not saying it takes a village to raise a kid, but a village can be of help.
5. Know your child.
6. Set high standards.
7. Make time together.
8. Talk is cheap…and invaluable. Let your kids express their feelings and thoughts openly. Listen to your kids.
9. Marry the right person.
10. Make parenting a true priority.

Just so you know, the doctor is married and has five children. Point 9 might be the hardest of his list to do.

Parents Lay the Foundation for Education for Your Kids:

1. Start rewarding and encouraging learning early in life—and don’t stop.
2. Do whatever you must to encourage reading.
3. Get involved in your children’s formal education—at home and at school.
4. Point your children to successful individuals who have been empowered by education.
5. Be an example yourself.

Good advice for parents. I concur completely. I want to add to his advice that grandparents, uncles and aunts can encourage reading too.

Source: The Big Picture. Getting Perspective on What’s Really Important in Life (1999) by Ben Carson, M. D. with Gregg Lewis.

The jihadi serial killer no one's talking about

From OneNewsNow.com (Aug. 22):

For two bloody months, an armed jihadist serial killer ran loose across the country. At least four innocent men died this spring and summer as acts of "vengeance" on behalf of aggrieved Muslims, the self-confessed murderer has now proclaimed. Have you heard about this horror? Probably not.

The usual suspects who decry hate crimes and gun violence haven't uttered a peep. Why? Like O.J.'s glove: If the narrative don't fit, you must acquit. The admitted killer will be cast as just another "lone wolf" whose familiar grievances and bloodthirsty Islamic invocations mean nothing.

I [Michelle Malkin] say: Enough with the whitewashing. Meet Ali Muhammad Brown. His homicidal Islamic terror spree took him from coast to coast. The 29-year-old career thug admitted to killing Leroy Henderson in Seattle in April; Ahmed Said and Dwone Anderson-Young in Seattle on June 1; and college student Brendan Tevlin, 19, in Essex County, New Jersey, on June 25. Tevlin was gunned down in his family Jeep on his way home from a friend's house. Ballistics and other evidence linked all the victims to Muhammad Brown. Police apprehended him last month hiding in an encampment near the Watchung Mountains of West Orange, New Jersey.

While he was on the run, he disguised himself in a Muslim keffiyeh. He carried a notebook with jihadist scribblings and advice on evading detection. I obtained the latest charging documents filed in Washington state, which detail the defiant domestic terrorist's motives. [read more]

I wonder if this guy had been a Christian you think the lame-stream-press would have reported this story? You bet. It would have been a front-page story. Or very close to a front-page story.

Facts about Common Core

Even American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten—a Common Core supporter—acknowledges that top-down nature in which the standards were imposed on the states. “The public wasn’t involved,” she said to reporters in late 2013. “Parents weren’t involved. The districts weren’t involved.”

James Milgram [Stanford professor emeritus] and Sandra Stotsky’s [prof. of education emerita at the Univ. of Arkansas] research report showed that students who don’t have arrive on a college campus with a solid foundation in precalculus have much less chance of successfully obtaining a college degree in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM). They said “Clearly, if this country [America] is seriously interested in 21st century mathematics and science, then there is even more reason to question Common Core’s mathematics standards.”

Even University of Arizona professor William McCallum, one of the lead writers of the math standards, admitted that they are not rigorous compared to other math-savvy countries.

A Reuters article explains how [standardized testing and data collecting from the tests] will supposedly work:

Does Johnny have trouble converting decimals to fractions? The database will have recorded that--and may have recorded as well that he finds textbooks boring, adores animation and plays baseball after school. Personalized learning software can use that data serve up a tailor-made math lesson, perhaps an animated game that uses baseball statistics to teach decimals.

Johnny’s teacher can watch his development on a “dashboard” that uses bright graphics to map each of her students’ progress on dozen, even hundreds of discrete skills. [read more]

A 2013 story from Smithsonian magazine explained how one New York company is proposing that we allow facial recognition software into the classroom:

Here’s how it would work. Using facial recognition software called EngageSense, computers would apply algorithms to what the cameras have recorded during a lecture of discussion to interpret how engaged the students have been. Were the kids’ eyes focused on the teacher? Or, were they looking everywhere but the front of the class? Were they smiling or frowning? Or did they just seem confused? Or bored? [read more]

One teacher interviewed for the story speculated that in five years this program will be used in classrooms all throughout the United States.

The Chicago Tribute also reports that students could soon be wearing “sensor bracelets” in the classroom to help track their engagement:

The biometric bracelets, produced by a Massachusetts startup company, Affectiva Inc., send a small current across the skin and then measure subtle changes in electrical charges as the sympathetic nervous system responds to stimuli. The wireless devices have been used in pilot tests to gauge consumers emotional response to advertising.

Gates [Foundation] officials hope the devices, known as Q Sensors, can become a common classroom tool, enabling teachers to see, in real time, which kids are tuned in and which are zoned out. [read more]

Source: Conform.

As Pink Floyd might say, Welcome to the Machine.

No technology in the classroom will make up for a incompetent teacher. If the students aren’t motivated, curious, or even passionate they probably won’t  learn. And if the teacher is just there for a paycheck—no passion for what he/she is teaching—the student’s won’t be passionate for learning either. The students will pick up on that.

Public Education Going Mad

In 2009, the University of Minnesota announced a “Teacher Education Redesign Initiative” to alter admissions standards for its school of education. The proposal, designed, by the “Race, Culture, Class and Gender Task Group,” declared that teacher candidates “will be able to discuss their own histories and current thinking drawing on notions of white privilege, hegemonic masculinity,  heteronormativity, and internalized oppression.”¹

The Task Group suggested that future teachers should:

• Fight for social justice even if it’s just in their classroom.²
• Understand resistance theory.
• Explain how institutional racism works in schools.

CREATE (Culturally Responsive Education for All: Training and Enhancement) Wisconsin is a state-sponsored initiative that ostensibly exists to help white teachers learn how to more effectively instruct minority students.³ The program costs taxpayers roughly $1 million per year.

Source: Conform. Exposing the Truth about Common Core and Public Education (2014) by Glenn Beck with Kyle Olson.

¹ Where does the Left come up with these terms? Hegemonic masculinity? (I looked it up. Hint: It’s anti-male and a subset of Marxist theory.)  Heteronormativity? What?! How did I ever get through school without knowing that term? I feel so cheated.

² I guess good old arithmetic, spelling, and grammar is passé. Come on, who does that anymore.

³ Here’s an idea: What about effectively instructing all students regardless of what group they are in. You know, treat them as individuals.

As for a closing to this madness here’s an interesting quote about education from Albert Einstein:

Knowledge is dead; the school, however, serves the living. It should develop in the young individuals those qualities and capabilities which are of value for the welfare of the commonwealth. But that does not mean that individuality should be destroyed and the individual become a mere tool of the community, like a bee or an ant. For a community of standardized individuals without personal originality and personal aims would be a poor community without possibilities for development. On the contrary, the aim must be the training of independently acting and thinking individuals, who, however, see in the service of the community their highest life problem.

Deputizing America

From FEE.org (Aug. 18):

It’s an old Western movie trope. The harassed sheriff needs help against Desperado D. Blackhat and his gang of gunslingers. He goes into the saloon, finds the gambler who was once the most feared crack shot this side of the Pecos, and makes him his deputy. Together, they run Blackhat and his gang out of town. If you thought that type of quick-and-dirty deputizing died with the Wild West, think again.  Government is deputizing people all over the country to do its law-enforcement work. But unlike that gambler, they don’t get the chance to say no.

Take, for instance, FedEx. The delivery company has been indicted by federal prosecutors for not doing the Drug Enforcement Agency’s (DEA) job for it. The DEA alleges that FedEx knowingly shipped pharmaceuticals for online pharmacies that were based on invalid prescriptions, because it should have known “the principals, company names, shipping addresses and billing addresses that were initially connected to” a network of pharmacies closed down by the DEA in 2003. As a recent Wall Street Journal editorial summarized:

Translation: FedEx employees should have connected the dots. But if it's so easy, why didn't the DEA do it? The truth is that unmasking the bad guys would have required an extensive metadata analysis of customer data that is not FedEx's job.

The DEA also alleges that FedEx should have known its orders were based on fraudulent prescriptions from visiting the pharmacies’ facilities for inspection. That’s not something a shipping company is set up to do. It is something a law enforcement agency is set up to do, but the DEA didn’t do it. So by its indictment of FedEx, the feds are telling all other delivery firms that they are now forcibly deputized to do the DEA’s job in the War on Drugs. If they don’t play along, they need to show up in court.

Banking regulators have been playing a similar game. Under a campaign known as Operation Choke Point, they have been telling banks that if they don’t investigate their customers for “high-risk” activity, they will be subject to subpoenas and everything that implies. As a result, banks have simply been cutting off links to potentially risky customers on the simple basis of what business they are in. As Department of Justice documents show (which I document extensively in my recent report on the operation), the motivation for Choke Point was the feds’ lack of manpower to investigate the risky businesses themselves. So they deputized the banks to do their job for them. [read more]

Either the gov’t agencies are just plain lazy or they are abusing their power. Or both. Like the author of the article said if this practice is not put in check we might be all deputized. After all if a gov’t agency can do this to a business why not an individual? Welcome to the Collective.

Progressive Thought Throughout Time

Arne Naess (1912-2009):

• Mankind forms one part of a fragile ecosystem.
• Human action is causing irreparable damage to the ecosystem.
• Shallow ecology holds that current economic and social structures can be adapted to solve environmental problems.
• Deep ecology holds that profound social and political change is needed to avert an environmental crisis.

John Rawls (1921-2002):

• The key to a fairs society is a just social contract between the state and individuals.
• For a social contract to be just, the needs of all individuals party to it must be treated equally.
• To ensure equal treatment, social institutions must be just, they must be accessible to all and redistribute where necessary.
• Only just institutions can produce a fair society.
• Therefore, justice is the first virtue of social institutions.

Noam Chomsky (1928-present):

• Dominant institutions in society, such as the media and banks, are controlled by a wealthy minority.
• This minority runs the institutions in a way that favors its interests.
• Any attempts at reform lead to a drying up of investment, which ruins the economy.
• To keep the economy healthy, everyone, even the poor, must support a system that is run in the interests of the rich.
• Thus, everybody has to make sure that the rich folk are happy.

Robert Pape (1960-present): Suicide terrorism is mainly a response to foreign occupation.

Source: The Politics Book.

Naess could have been a founder of the global warming movement. The middle Leftists are just class envy radicals which is most of the Left. I wonder if Chomsky includes Big Labor, and Big Gov’t in his count? Probably not.  As for Pape. What he said is just plain stupid. If he knew anything of Islam he would know that suicide terrorism is part of the religion. America didn’t occupy any country when Thomas Jefferson was president and yet the Islamists attacked our ships. Why? Because it said to do that in the Koran. Go back even further. You know why the Knights of Templar were formed? They were formed to protect the early Christians from being assaulted by the early Islamists during a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. And guess what? America wasn’t even a country back then.

The Founders of Islam

Muhammad (570 –632 CE)

• Islam is a peaceful religion and all Muslims wish to live in peace.
• But even believers in Islam need to defend themselves against invasion…
• …and attack the unbelievers who threaten their peace and religion.
• Therefore, fighting has been enjoined upon you while it is hateful to you.

Al-Farabi (c. 870-950):

• A model state, which does not yet exist, would ensure that its people live virtuously.
• To achieve this, it would need virtuous rulers.
• But people do not understand that true happiness comes from living a virtuous life.
• Instead they prefer to seek wealth and pleasure, and live in ignorant, perverted, or mistaken societies.
• Thus, the people refuse the rule of virtuous men.

Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406):

• The unity of a political society comes from the community spirit.
• This is the basis for government and prevents injustice.
• As a society advances, social cohesion decreases and its government becomes lax…
• …exploiting its citizens for its own advantage, causing injustice.
• Eventually, another government emerges to take the place of the decadent regime.
• Therefore, government prevents injustice, other than such as it commits itself.

Abul Ala Maududi (1903-1979):

• Islam is not just a religion, it is a revolutionary program of life.
• Muslims must carry out its revolutionary program.
• Jihad is the revolutionary struggle that the Islamic party uses to achieve its goal.
• Thus, Islam’s purpose is an Islamic state, and the destruction of states that oppose this.

Source: The Politics Book.

The philosophy of Maududi is what I believe most Islamic fanatics follow. At least it appears that way.

TSA checkpoints have a terrifying 'backdoor'

From Komando.com (Aug. 9):

Two tools used by the TSA to protect flights and passengers have dangerous security flaws. Security researcher Billy Rios found the problems and shared the details at Black Hat last Wednesday. This is scary stuff because it could help terrorists sneak weapons onto planes.

The Morpho Detection Itemiser 3 trace-explosives and residue system and the Kronos 4500 time clock system both have major issues. Both come with default backdoor passwords from the manufacturers. That makes them vulnerable because if a hacker figures out the default password, it's no longer safe.

Rios says the Itemiser he tested also came with a backdoor password. Exploiting that,   he was able to alter the configuration of the Itemiser system, which could allow an attacker to prevent the system from detecting explosive residue, for example.

"Once you have access to the software, it's game over," he says.

If hackers crack the password, they could change the machines to stop detecting bomb residue. Morpho says the TSA now uses an upgraded Inemiser DX, but Rios said it could still have backdoor password problems.  [read more]

Yea, that is kind of unnerving. Backdoor passwords are used for testing purposes. The password in this case either needs to be changed to a long random password or removed all together.

The Terror Business

From FEE.org (Aug. 7):

Headed by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who holds a Ph.D. from the Islamic University in Baghdad, IS is run like a firm. Similar to traditional firms, IS issues what The Economist refers to as a corporate report, a document detailing IS's attacks throughout the past year. Within IS, the “group’s leaders had been meticulously chosen,” and the management even keeps a detailed accounting of the group's war effort. “They had itemized everything,” according to The Guardian’s source. IS also provides services that the Iraqi government struggled to provide effectively: It directs traffic, fights crime, and issues receipts for taxes collected.

Many who understand how markets and incentives promote prosperity through bottom-up entrepreneurship fail to apply the same logic of incentives and decentralized actors to foreign affairs. Destructive entrepreneurship is a decentralized process of searching for opportunities—which is exactly how IS formed. As an intelligence official speaking to The Guardian put it, “There was no state actor at all behind them, which we had long known. They don't need one.”  [read more]

So, IS is run like an organized crime syndicate. I wonder if they have a code of silence too like the mob. Both employ similar terroristic tactics. But the motives are different. The mob killed purely for money. IS kills for religion or ideology. 

From The Blaze.com (Aug. 8): Militant Websites: Islamic State Leader to Declare ‘Jihad Against America’  What else is new.

Also, from The Blaze.com (Aug. 8): “[W]e will raise the flag of Allah in the White House.”

Collectivistic Thought Throughout Time

Legalism (280 – 233 BCE). Chinese thinkers such as Shang Yang (390-338 BCE), Shen Dao (c. 350-275 BCE), and Shen Buhai (died 337 BCE) advocated a much more authoritian approach to government, which became known as Legalism. The only way that people could be controlled, the Legalists argued, was by a system that emphasized the well-being of the state over the rights of the individual, with strict laws to punish undesirable behavior.

Giuseppe Mazzini (1805-1872):

• The pursuit of individual rights is insufficient for the social good…
• …because not everyone is able to exercise their rights.
• …because the pursuit of individual interests leads to greed and conflict.
• Individual rights should be subsumed under the duty to one’s country.
• Therefore, say not I, but we.

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809-1865):  Property is theft.

Karl Marx (1818-1883):

• Capitalism and private property make labor into a commodity.
• This alienates workers from what they produce, from their work, from their human identity, and from their fellow humans.
• Communism abolishes private property and brings the end of alienation.
• Thus, communism is the riddle of history solved.

Eduard Bernstein (1850-1932):

• Socialists  expected capitalism to produce poverty.
• Yet capitalism has increased the wealth of workers.
• Capitalism has proved to be a stable secure system.
• This means that workers accept capitalism.
• We have to take working men as they are.
• Therefore, socialists should argue for piecemeal reforms under capitalism.

Beatrice Webb (1858-1943): Argued for a welfare state that would provide protection against unemployment and illness. She and her husband argued that social problems could be solved by benevolent planners, administering society in the best interests of all.

Rosa Luxemberg (1871-1919):

• Inequality and oppression exist in a capitalist society.
• The oppressed workers do not need external leaders…
• …since they will rise up spontaneously to throw off their oppressors.
• Thus, the mass strike results from social conditions with historical inevitability.

Giovanni Gentile (1875-1944):

• The law and the will of the nation take precedence over individual will.
• All human and spiritual values lie within the state.
• All individual action serves to preserve and expand the state.
• Thus, the fascists conception of the state is all-embracing.

Joseph Stalin (1878 – 1953):

• The wealthy farmers are an exploitative class.
• They control others because they control food production.
• They resist collectivization.
• They are the carriers of capitalism.
• Therefore, the wealthy farmers must be deprived of the sources of their existence.

Mao Zedong (1893-1976):

• China is an agrarian rather than an industrial society.
• Therefore peasants are China’s proletariat class.
• Peasants have no power against armed capitalist exploiters.
• In order to get rid of the gun, it is necessary to take up the gun.
• Thus, political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.

Source: The Politics Book.

Eduard Bernstein thoughts are interesting. First, he acknowledges that capitalism is stable and actually does help workers. Then later on he says capitalism should be gradually changed. Well, if it is stable and beneficial why change it at all? Answer: socialism = religion or if you prefer socialism = dogma. It doesn’t matter if socialism works or not—it is a matter of belief.

Joseph Stalin’s attitude toward the wealthy farmers is not much different than Hitler’s attitude toward the Jews who he considered wealthy and who he thought were controlling the economy. Both scapegoated groups died in the end.

Conservative Thought Throughout Time

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804):

• Happiness is gained and felt in different ways by different people.
• This means that it cannot be used to generate fixed principles that are equally applicable to everyone.
• Since laws must be agreed as applicable to all and reflections of the common will…
• …no generally valid principles of legislation can be based on happiness.

Edmund Burke (1729-1797):

• Government is a human invention to oversee human needs in society.
• But some human needs and desires conflict with those of other people.
• Government must judge between conflicting wants to produce the fairest outcome.
• Therefore, the individual’s passions must be subjected to the government’s laws.

August Comte (1798-1857): The tendency to attack “the family” is a symptom of social chaos. The family is the true social unit. It is on the basis of families that society is constructed.A

Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859):

• Socialism ignores the highest human virtues.
• Socialism undermines private property.
• Socialism stifles the individual.
• Thus, socialism is a new system of serfdom.

Winston Churchill (1874-1965):

• An appeaser believes he is not powerful enough to defeat a tyrant.
• Therefore he makes concessions in order to avoid going to war.
• His concessions make him weaker and the tyrant stronger.

Michael Oakeshott (1901-1990):

• Parliamentary institutions grew out of the practical are of governing.
• Rationalist positions is based on ideology and abstract notions.
• They have existed for generations and govern based on experience and history.
• Rationalist politics engages in destruction and the creation of a new order.
• Thus, parliamentary government and rationalist politics do not belong to the same system.

Source: The Politics Book.

You might say the philosopher Immanuel Kant was a conservative? I don’t know that for sure. But his idea about happiness is correct. It is defined differently among individuals. The state cannot define it for everyone. That is why in the Declaration of Independence it says “the pursuit of happiness” and not the “guarantee of happiness.” It is ultimately up to everyone to pursue their own happiness.

Newt Gingrich in his 2013 book Breakout made an interesting comment about Winston Churchill. He said while Churchill was First Lord of the Admiralty he invented the tank after realizing that the combination of the internal combustion engine and treads could be a solution to the problems of trench warfare. No one in the army had thought of this.

Here are more conservative thinkers that are not in The Politics Book:

• “The Ten Cannots” by William John Henry Boetcker (1873–1962)
• “But—I'm a Conservative!”  by Peter Viereck (1916 – 2006)
• “The Essence of Conservatism” by Russell Kirk (1918–1994).  In this article he talks about his canons of conservatism.

Political Thought in Age of Reason

Francisco de Vitoria:

• All humans share the same nature.
• They therefore have the same rights.
• No people has dominion over another because…
• …in the beginning everything was common to all.

Jean Bodin:

• Competing power and structures lead to civil war and chaos…
• …so there must be a single sovereign answerable only to God.
• For a sovereign’s power to be absolute, it must be perpetual and not granted by others or limited in time.
• Therefore, sovereignty is the absolute and perpetual power of a commonwealth.

Johannes Althusius:

• Humans associate in groups at different levels, families, organizations, cities, provinces, and states.
• The purpose of the state is to protect members of its associations and their communications.
• Elected state representatives must reflect the many views of these differing associations.
• Thus, politics is the art of associating men.

Hugo Grotus:

• Life and property are natural rights of all individuals.
• People have the power to claim these rights.
• The state has no legitimate power to take these liberties away.
• Therefore, liberty is the power we have over ourselves.

Thomas Hobbes:

• Left ungoverned, men will terrorize each other in a state of nature…
• …in which individuals will stop at nothing to ensure their own self-preservation or self-promotion.
• In the state of nature, the condition of man is a condition of war of everyone against everyone.
• To avert a descent into the state of nature, men must enter into a social contract submitting to the authority and protection of a sovereign.
• The sovereign must be an absolute ruler, with indivisible and unlimited power, to prevent factional strife and chaos.
• If a sovereign fails in their duty, the social contract is broken and individuals may take action, leading back to a state of nature.

John Locke:

• Humans are rational, independent agents with natural rights.
• They join political society to be protected by the rule of law.
• Thus, the end of law should be to preserve and enlarge freedom.

Montesquieu:

• A government’s administration duties should be split between three powers…
• …an executive branch, responsible for enforcing the laws of a state.
• …a legislative branch, responsible for passing and amending the laws of a state.
• …a judicial branch, responsible for interpreting the laws of a state.
• Therefore, since these power are separate from and dependent on one another, the influence of any one power cannot exceed that of the other two.

Ben Franklin:

• The health of a nation depends on the virtue of its citizens.
• Aristocrats are conservative and unproductive.
• Independent entrepreneurs are useful, industrious, and thrifty.
• Thus, independent entrepreneurs make good citizens.

Source: The Politics Book.

Except for Hobbes and Bodin all are good ideas. What Bobin wants is a monarchy. But unless the ruler has direct contact with God and prove his communication there is no way to prove what God is instructing him to do. As for Hobbes his idea won’t work because if everyone is a beast then what’s to prevent the ruler from being a beast? I mean he’s a person too. So, the sovereign will eventually fail in his duty.

Like I stated before, Locke and Montesquieu were widely read by the Founders. That’s where we got the Constitution. Especially, Montesquieu.

And then there is Benjamin Franklin. My favorite Founder. You gotta love him.

Medieval Political Thought

Barons of King John:

• Free men have a right to liberty protected by law.
• A despotic monarch can exploit his subjects and punish them arbitrarily.
• A monarch’s power should be limited by the law of the land.
• Thus, no free man shall be imprisoned, except by the law of the land.

Thomas Aquinas:

• External law is divine, and comes directly from God. The eternal law rules the entire universe.
• Natural law is made clear to us through our God-given gift of reason. It guides our moral and ethical behavior.
• Thus, human laws on crime and punishment must be based on reason, so that they relate to the values we deduce from natural law.

Niccolo Machiavelli:

• The well-being of the state is the responsibility of the ruler…
• …and should be achieved by any means possible including deception and intrigue.
• The ruler’s own morality is less important than the good of the state…
• …and he will be judged on the results rather than the means he has used.
• Therefore, a prudent ruler cannot, and must not, honor his word.

Source: The Politics Book.

Machiavelli also thought that people are like sheep in that they can be manipulated by harnessing the weaker traits of humanity such as credulity, instinct for self-preservation, lack of individuality, and fickleness. Machiavelli advised rulers not to be deceptive in their private life, but only in their public political life. Well, I would think to pull that off you would have to be a border line sociopath. Otherwise, a ruler would eventually have a spiritual breakdown. It’s true that a leader is responsible for the well-being of a state, but  Machiavelli’s advice is I believe twisted.

Miscellaneous Thoughts Part 33

• If corporations aren’t people then neither are labor unions.
• I think it would be confusing if you were schizophrenic medium. You never know for sure if you were talking to spirits or not.
• Overregulations is a war on the small businessman.
• To make a student learn a subject make it interesting, or fun, or forbid the student from learning it.
• Voter-id laws are a war on the dead and illegal voter.
• Liberty is the enemy of socialism, communism, fascism, and progressivism.
• If you have a life advisor you can blame him on any bad choices you make.
• Next time a Leftist blames Bush on the Iraq war someone should say, “What difference, at this point, does it make?!”
• Power is the food (drug?) for the progressives.
• I am old school. I prefer email to texting.

Ancient Political Thought

Confucianism:

• A leader should be a “superior man.”
• Less than perfect people can be changed by an example of sincere goodness.
• This superior man possesses the qualities of virtue, faithfulness, and sincerity, which he shows in rituals and ceremonies.
• The superior man therefore sets a good example for his people.
• Therefore, if a leader’s desire is for good, the people will be good.

Mohism:

• Only virtuous capable people should be given positions of authority.
• Virtue and ability do not necessarily come from adherence to tradition or belonging to a noble family. 
• Virtue and ability can be learned through study.
• Therefore, plans for the country are only to be shared with the learned.

Aristotle:

• People come together to form households to form villages, and villages form cities.
• The purpose of our lives is to lead a “good life.”
• We have developed ways of organizing these city-states in order to live a “good life.”
• Living in a society organized by reason such as a city-state, is what makes us human.
• Anybody who lives outside the city-state is either a beast or a god.
• Thus, man is by nature a political animal.

Source: The Politics Book. Big Ideas Simply Explained (2013) by DK Publishing.

Not bad philosophy. The current administration could learn from the first two political thoughts. Especially the virtue and sincerity parts.

The founder of Mohism said if a leader is unrighteous these disasters would happen to a country:

1. Neglect of the country's defense, yet there is much lavished on the palace.
2. When pressured by foreigners, neighboring countries are not willing to help.
3. The people are engaged in unconstructive work while useless fools are rewarded.
4. Law and regulations became too heavy such that there is repressive fear and people only look after their own good.
5. The ruler lives in a mistaken illusion of his own ability and his country's strength.
6. Trusted people are not loyal while loyal people are not trusted.
7. Lack of food. Ministers are not able to carry out their work. Punishment fails to bring fear and reward fails to bring happiness.

Well, it is a good thing none of those disasters are happening in America. Emperor President Obama being a righteous and honorable leader. Hey, wait a second… Doesn’t the country have most of those points? Hmm…

Canvas Fingerprinting

From Komando.com (July 22):

There's a scary new method of tracking people's behavior online. It's called "canvas fingerprinting" and it's fascinating but frightening technology.

Typically, sites and advertisers know what sites you click on and when by installing what are known as "tracking cookies" on your computer whenever you visit a site.

Here's how it works:

In HTML 5 - the standard computer code for most modern websites - every site can be programmed with a "canvas" that you can draw pictures on. This canvas doesn't have to be visible and can't currently be blocked by the usual methods.

Sites that track  you with canvas fingerprinting use the canvas to capture an image of your browser. Every browser on each individual computer is unique, just like a fingerprint. This tracking tool follows that fingerprint around the Web. [read more]

Yea, it is kind of unnerving. Some of the websites that use this technology are: The Blaze.com (kind of surprised by this), NOAA.gov, usnews.com, dailykos.com, aarp.org, whitehouse.gov (no surprise there), ssa.gov, dhs.gov  etc. You can go to the “secure homes” website to search for a specific website.  There are in total 5,619 sites that use the software. That’s quite a few.

If you wondering the NSA.gov and CIA.gov website doesn’t use the technology for some reason.  At least they are not listed on the website anyway. 48 gov’t websites use canvas fingerprinting including cities, states and foreign countries.

The AddThis.com website  and another company created the software. That’s why it is on a lot of website. To be transparent, I use the AddThis widget on my blog but don’t see any of the analytics.

According to Wikapedia.com, AddThis only uses the data from the tests for internal research.

Early Champions of Liberty

The chief purpose in the establishment of states and constitutional orders was that individual property rights might be secured…It is the peculiar function of state and city to guarantee to every man the free and undisturbed control of his own property.  -- Cicero (106 BC – 43 BC)

And unnatural, irrational, sinful, wicked, unjust, devilish, and tyrannical it is, for any man whatsoever — spiritual or temporal, clergyman or layman — to appropriate and assume unto himself a power, authority and jurisdiction to rule, govern or reign over any sort of men in the world without their free consent; and whosoever doth it — whether clergyman or any other whatsoever — do thereby as much as in them lies endeavor to appropriate and assume unto themselves the office and sovereignty of God (who alone doth, and is to rule by His will and pleasure), and to be like their creator, which was the sin of the devils', who, not being content with their first station but would be like God; for which sin they were thrown down into hell,…   --  John Lilburne (1614 - 1657)

Where there is no property there is no injustice. – John Locke (1632 - 1704)

The price of liberty is constant vigilance. –- Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826)

Those who expect to reap the blessings of liberty must undergo the fatigues of supporting it. – Thomas Paine (1737 - 1809)

Let women share the rights, and she will emulate the virtues of man; for she must grow more perfect when emancipated. --  Mary Wollstonecraft (1759 - 1779)

The accursed system of slavery! To sustain that system, there is general willingness to destroy liberty of speech and of the press, and to mob or murder all who oppose it. – William Lloyd Garrison (1805 - 1879)

All taxes, levied upon a man’s property for the support of government, without his consent, are mere robbery; a violation of his natural right to property.  -- Lysander Spooner (1808 - 1887)

The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities. – Ayn Rand (1905 – 1982)

These guys (and gals) don’t know the meaning of the word “politically correct.” You can’t say they are not outspoken. Hat tip to Jim Powell’s 2000 book The Triumph of Liberty : A 2,000-year History, Told Through the Lives of Freedom's Greatest Champions for the list of names. These names (and there are many others) come out of the first section.

Cicero was admired by John Locke. Cicero was killed by Marc Anthony (not directly—he ordered some thugs to do it) for criticizing  him. Both John Locke and Cicero were read and studied by the Founding Fathers.

A lot of libertarians claim Ayn Rand as their own. But she always said she wasn’t one. She had her own philosophy—objectivism. Matter of fact, she criticized the libertarian philosophy. She also said, to be fair, she wasn’t a conservative either. But she definitely wasn’t a Leftist. The Left was criticized most by her. She was a strong supporter and advocator for the free-market system. What’s interesting is even though she was an atheist she still respected Christianity. The fanatical atheistic fascists who want to remove God from the dollar bill should take a lesson from her.

Mind Blowing Optical Illusion

Hackers hit American power grid

From Komando.com (July 1):

Symantec, the company that makes Norton Anti-Virus software, announced some very scary news yesterday about the security of the energy sector. The company said that a hacker group is targeting the worldwide energy industry, and the U.S. is a main target.

The hacker group is called Dragonfly and it's using malware to access and control computers at energy companies in the U.S. and Europe. Its two main malware tools are Backdoor.Odrea and Trojan.Karagany.

Big companies aren't the only ones at risk. Malware attacks are on the rise across the board.

Karagany is capable of uploading stolen data, downloading new files, and     running executable files on an infected computer. It is also capable of running additional plugins, such as tools for collecting passwords, taking screenshots, and cataloging documents on infected computers.

Right now, it seems like the group is using its access for spying purposes, but it could cause actual damage to energy supplies and delivery if it wanted to. [read more]

Scary. Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to let companies and even individuals make and sell their own electricity to others. In other words, decentralize the power grid. Right now, individuals cannot legally make and sell power to others. The big power companies won’t like it but at least the whole grid won’t have to come down.

10 Values of Branch Banking and Trust Company

1. Reality- Take things as they are. Not what you want or wish them to be.
2. Reason- an "active mind"---a mind committed to learning from experience, profiting from mistakes, and being free from evasion.
3. Independent Thinking- "the most important psychological decision you can make, to be responsible for yourself." Says, John Allison, former CEO of the bank who is also responsible for the values.
4. Productivity- For Allison, BB&T is looking for high performers who have "a gut level commitment to getting the job done."
5. Honesty- With BB&T it's an obsession with ethical conduct 24/7, complete transparency---not even a white lie, and no exceptions [my emphasis] for the bosses at the top of the pyramid.
6. Integrity- always doing the right thing, always acting consistently with one's philosophy, no matter what.
7. Justice. Justice, as Allison puts it, "means you're going to award superior performance and deal with nonperformance."
8. Pride. Allison puts it, pride is "the greatest of all virtues, because to have it you had to have all the others."
9. Self-Esteem. In the BB&T philosophy, pride is what you earn by living your values, and self-esteem is what you earn by doing excellent work.
10. Teamwork.

Source: I Am John Galt (2011) by Donald Luskin.

Good values to have in any business not just banks. Too bad the federal gov’t can’t some of these values. I would be satisfied with values 1), 2), 5) (especially the no exception part) & 6).

As a side note, in 2008 because of TARP Allison was forced to give substantial control of the bank to the U.S. government. Not because the bank was failing, but because it was succeeding. BB&T had made no subprime mortgage loans. It had 30,000 employees and over $150 billion in assets, making it the 12th largest U.S. bank.

My analysis is this: The gov’t thought even though it wasn’t failing it could fail in the near future. And we, the Fed, can’t allow that. After all it was too big too allow to fail. What this shows is a lack of trust the gov’t has in the free-market system. And yet Washington wants the citizens to completely trust them. Well, trust has to be earned.

The Radical Cool

Greg Gutfeld in his book Not Cool: The Hipster Elite and Their War On You defines what it is to be what he calls “radical cool:”

• Honesty
• Fidelity on principle. It’s somebody who sticks to his guns, and is considered brave, in the course of daily events.
• Unpredictability that starts to make sense once you realize the person has a code. Remember when you first met someone and though, “Wow, this person is odd. Why is he doing that?” Then over time, you find that his behavior isn’t erratic at all, that there is an internal consistency embedded in his behavior that explains every tic.
• Persuasive correctness. It is one thing to be right, but it takes a real character to be right and explain why in simple, straightforward terms.

Those traits fit me to a T. For the most part. I say with all humbleness. Ha! Anyway, those are good traits to have.

Clichés of Progressivism

The following comes from FEE.org:

1. Income Inequality Arises From Market Forces and Requires Government Intervention
2. Because We’re Running Out of Resources, Government Must Manage Them
3. Equality Serves the Common Good
4. The More Complex the Society, the More Government Control We Need
5. Warren Buffett's Federal Tax Rate Is Less than His Secretary’s
6. Capitalism Fosters Greed and Government Policy Must Temper It
7. The Free Market Ignores the Poor
8. The Economy Needs More Planning–Central Planning, That Is
9. Human Rights Are More Important Than Property Rights
10. “I Have a Right!”

FEE keeps adding to the list. There is currently 11 clichés altogether.  The list pretty much sums up the Left’s philosophy.