QoTD – 9 August 2010 – John Galt

The only proper functions of a government are: the police, to protect you from criminals; the army, to protect you from foreign invaders; and the courts, to protect your property and contracts from breach or fraud by others, to settle disputes by rational rules, according to objective law. But a government that initiates the employment of force against men who had forced no one, the employment of armed compulsion against disarmed victims, is a nightmare infernal machine designed to annihilate morality: such a government reverses its only moral purpose and switches from the role of protector to the role of man’s deadliest enemy, from the role of policeman to the role of a criminal vested with the right to the wielding of violence against victims deprived of the right of self-defense. Such a government substitutes morality for the following rule of social conduct: you may do whatever you please to your neighbor, provided your gang is bigger than his. ~Said by John Galt of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

This is something that is already coming to pass. The government is well on its way.

~TMW~

Forced civil service anyone?

It’s back.

To require all persons in the United States between the ages of 18 and 42 to perform national service, either as a member of the uniformed services or in civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, to authorize the induction of persons in the uniformed services during wartime to meet end-strength requirements of the uniformed services, and for other purposes.

So the government wants to force us to serve 2 years in either uniformed or civilian service under the sole authority of the President. Who cares if you have a good job or are in college, etc? Under this bill, there would be no choice. If you are between the ages of 18 and 42, male or female, you would have to serve. Land of the “Free” my ass. What a bunch of slave driving hypocrites. How many of those same politicians or politician’s husbands skipped to Canada during the last draft? Now they feel they have the right to force others into service on their behalf.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with voluntary service. Forced service is the most evil thing on the planet. The Russians had forced service called conscription, the Germans did as well and it was also seen in the V-1 rocket factories. Mr. Obama and Congress take your brown shirts and go to hell.

Mexican Prisoners Acted as Hitmen

Back in 2008 we were being informed that the source of 90% of the guns used in crimes in Mexico were being supplied from America and smuggled in to the country. These numbers were railed and the truth exposed about how the statistics were completely twisted. So when this came across my email today I was, needless to say, not terribly shocked.

Prisoners in a northern Mexico jail were allowed out at night to carry out murder-for-hire jobs using jail guards’ weapons and vehicles, officials said Sunday, revealing a level of corruption that is stunning even in a country where prison breakouts are common as guards look the other way.

So let me get this straight. Prisoners in jail for breaking the law were let out, supplied with weapons, vehicles, and clothing. Yet those guns were somehow magically supplied by American smugglers, NOT the Mexican government. Heaven forbid anyone actually look at what the problem really is. Evidently the media and other bigots think the only solution is to restrict the rights of honest, hard working law abiding citizens.

SWEET! A journalist has nailed it on the head.

The ferry system union has been uncovered as being dirty rotten scoundrels and wasting tax payer money and Gregoire is not interested.

Gregoire dismissed it all by saying she’s too busy to watch TV and hadn’t even seen any of the reports.

She then turned around and talked about how she has absolute faith in ferry system officials.

What?! How is that possible? She is the Governor and therefore should know and care about mismanagement of taxpayers’ dollars.

I find the governor’s arrogance incredible.

I find her lack of regard and respect for taxpayers offensive.

Why did she get voted in again? Oh, right, the Republic of Pugit Sound wanted her, no one else really had a say. Though I think the winds may change when the Governor seat is back on the chopping block.

By kissing off the work of a respected journalist the governor has kissed off the people of this state, who deserved answers to the questions of how their money is being wasted by ferry officials.

The governor doesn’t have time to keep up with the news?

Maybe the voters of this state don’t have time for her condescending attitude anymore.

This hits home for the husband as his dad was at ground zero working for the state on the Washington State Ferry scandal back in the 1980s against Marine Power and Electric. His dad served as a consultant for the counter suit after he quit Marine Power and Electric.  He quit MP&E when two supervisors approached him one night and requested him to place his Professional Engineering Seal on a design that not only did he not draw, but took no part in.  When he first refused, stating why he could not seal the documents, they threatened to fire him, at which point he quit.  The next morning he was in Olympia at the A.G.’s office.

Under orders from the Legislature, the Transportation Commission signed a $105.8 million state contract for six new ferries with a local company in 1977 while William Bulley headed the department. The new ferries delivered by Marine Power and Equipment Company, named the “Issaquah class,” had computer-operated steering and stopping mechanisms that failed repeatedly, causing many dock rammings and thousands of dollars in ferry and dock damages and repairs to the ferries’ operating systems. In 1981, Marine Power filed a $32 million lawsuit against the state, claiming that the State had required extra work, delayed or refused payments, and had meddled in the contract. Shortly afterward, the State filed a $28 million counter-suit, claiming the ferries were riddled with design faults and safety problems, which would cost $28 million to repair.

The State settled with Marine Power in 1985 for $8.4 million, but only after paying $6.4 million in legal fees. Marine Power declared bankruptcy in 1986, but the state received its settlement because the payments were covered by a bonding company. All the trouble with the new ferries and legal issues kept Berentson embroiled in WSF scandal from day one through his tenure as WDSOT department head. Marine Power was criticized for taking a $29.28 million profit, or 27 percent, when the going profit margin on other ship building companies was 2 to 4 percent, and WSDOT was criticized as mismanaging the contract and bowing to political pressure, allowing Marine Power to skirt contract specifications. Berentson said in 2005, “There were several incidents, but it all worked out — there was court action and settlements, but we came out all right. The boats delivered still function today” (Interview).

Note: Three of the ferry names the husband remembers his dad using.
Cathlamet: Can’t Land It
Skagit: Smash It,
Issaquah: It’s a crash

{H/T Mad Rocket Scientist at RNS}

The Saga Continues

Mayor Daley unveiled his new set of laws to infringe and deny a specifically enumerated right today. Let’s break down the bullets one by one.

The measure, which draws from ordinances around the country, would ban gun shops in Chicago and prohibit gun owners from stepping outside their homes, even onto their porches or garages, with a handgun.

How does one move the weapon to and from the firing range? Furthermore why can a homeowner not carry a firearm on his own property? How does one even bring the weapon home after purchase if it is not allowed outside the house? There may be exemptions in his ordinance, however knowing Daley and his previous history I doubt it. Also, with the lack of gun shops in the area, one will have a difficult time obtaining a weapon.

Limit the number of handguns residents can register to one per month and prohibit residents from having more than one handgun in operating order at any given time.

The one gun per month limit is totally arbitrary and without basis. If you limit people to one gun per month, why not one book per month or one vehicle per month? Limiting law abiding persons from buying something makes absolutely no sense. Criminals have already gotten a large supply of firearms into a city where they were previously totally outlawed; limiting purchases changes nothing for the criminals. Even more than that, what qualifies the weapon as having been disabled? Is it just simply removing the firing pin, fully disassembling the weapon, or permanently doing damage to the weapon? A homeowner should be able to have as many weapons as they desire at their disposal. They might want to keep one in their bed room and another hidden in their living room where they spend most of their time. What does the limit of one firearm do other than harm the law abiding because criminals ignore it anyway?

Require residents in homes with children to keep them in lock boxes or equipped with trigger locks.

So you can be killed while trying to get to your weapon in an emergency. Defensive weapons need to be kept at the ready. If you’re leaving your property, then yes properly store them, the same goes if you have small children. However there are other methods that can keep a weapon at the ready and out of the hands of a small child.

If you say BS and that is merely just endangering the child because they will get curious and do something stupid here is my personalized response. I grew up in a house with a rifle on the wall, I remember it distinctly and cannot think of a time I looked at the wall and didn’t see it there. I still have that rifle today and it is kept in my safe because I have a different ready rifle for serving the same purpose. The magazine was always loaded and a round in the chamber. My parents were never concerned because they raised me around firearms, taught me proper handling, and made sure that my curiosity was always satisfied in a proper and safe manner. Kids do stupid things because their parents attempt to hide and shield them from it. All this does is prevent the child from knowing, understanding, and learning proper and safe gun handling. Education is the best solution to any problem. If you disagree, look at sexual education. Abstinence only education obviously doesn’t work, a proper rounded education works. That includes touching the subject everyone would much rather avoid. Furthermore, it was that training and education that probably saved my life when I was at a friend’s house in 4th grade and he pulled out his dads rifle. After slapping the muzzle away he said, “Don’t worry it’s unloaded.” I asked, “How is anyone supposed to know that,” and then racked the bolt. At which point I left immediately and walked home. I never went over to his house again. Later in class he asked why I left, I told him, and low and behold during the conversation it was discovered he knew where dad’s rifle was, but not how to handle it. He was curious about it and thought I would be curious too. His lack of education from his parents, coupled with unsatisfied curiosity became the classic story book of disaster that is used by the gun control crowd to say we need to keep guns away from kids. How does prohibition of something stop curiosity? That’s right it doesn’t, that action actually makes it worse.

Require prospective gun owners to take a four-hour class and one-hour training at a gun range. They would have to leave the city for training because Chicago prohibits new gun ranges and limits the use of existing ranges to police officers. Those restrictions were similar to those in an ordinance passed in Washington, D.C., after the high court struck down its ban two years ago.

There is nothing wrong with training but the truth of this measure is to prevent people from getting licensed to have a firearm. If no new ranges can be built, and existing ranges are limited to police officers, where are prospective citizens to go to satisfy your bureaucracy? Oh that’s right out of the city costing them more money and time, and also requiring the probable precursor of private transportation. If you want this restriction, you need to provide the means for it to be readily obtainable. Saying you can have a firearm if you do X, Y, and Z and then outlaw W which is required by X isn’t really lifting the ban now is it? It is shielding the idea of the ban behind bureaucracy.

Prohibit people from owning a gun if they were convicted of a violent crime, domestic violence or two or more convictions for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Residents convicted of a gun offense would have to register with the police department.

Is there a method of having this right restored? This section is a sympathy token to make people against this law look bad. However most of those same prohibitions are actually already on the books. So why add them again? Instead enforce the laws you already have on the books. The more serious problem with this is that often the legal system is abused and people’s rights are affected unjustly.

Calls for the police department to maintain a registry of every handgun owner in the city, with the names and addresses to be made available to police officers, firefighters and other emergency responders.

No, no, and HELL NO. This is a presumption that all gun owners are going to be criminals. Canada has already discovered that their registration is a huge waste of resources and is totally unsuccessful. Even more than that though, this is the primary reason why the Jew’s in the Attic test was invented! All that does is provide a list of who to disarm prior to the roundup for the concentration camp. With what happened after Katrina, that idea requires a serious go to hell message to be sent. Daley would in no way shape or form miss an opportunity to abuse his citizens like the way New Orleans did.

Still, the mayor, whose office is trying to craft an ordinance that will withstand legal challenges, had to back off some provisions he’d hoped to include, including requiring gun owners to insure their weapons and restricting each resident to one handgun.

No he’s not. What he’s doing is crafting a piece of legislation which is still violating people’s rights and doing it in such a way that it will take years to get through the courts. Mayor Daley and crew receive no punishment when they pass a law that violates someone’s rights. They do it because they can and there are no repercussions to those involved. Someone needs to be charged and thrown in prison over that last piece of legislative crap as well as this one. It is a lack of accountability that is allowing these atrocities to continue. It’s high time we find a way to add serious accountability to those who pass illegal laws.

Unemployment benefits create jobs?

On what planet is Pelosi living on? Certainly not this one.

In her world, unemployment benefits given to the unemployed from taxpayers’ money are actually creating jobs.

“It injects demand into the economy,” Pelosi said, arguing that when families have money to spend it keeps the economy churning. “It creates jobs faster than almost any other initiative you can name.” 

Pelosi said the aid has the “double benefit” of helping those who lost their jobs and acting as a “job creator” on the side.

So once again, the democrats believe that more federal spending will magically turn the economy around. Rewarding the unemployed with a check for doing nothing will not bolster their need to seek employment and actually EARN a living. I am currently unemployed and it is driving me mad to not be earning anything. I am not able to contribute monetarily to my responsibilities and the price of everything is continuing to increase. The unemployment rate is still hovering around 10% and at the rate the government is going, it is not going to get any better.

The government claims the jobless rate is 10%, but the suspicion is that it is more like 20 – 25%. John Williams is an economist that feels the jobless rate is about 10% higher than what the government claims.

QotD: June-28-2010, Alan Andrews

At this point there no easy landing.

Best case:

Social Security gone

Medicare gone

Reduce taxes and pray that the private sector can pull out of the dive in time.

That’s about as likely to happen as Obama skipping a golf game to do some work.

Alan Andrews – “Do you know anything?”

I cannot really add anything to that, but I absolutely LOVE that last line. -B

Congressional budget cancelled?!

While the rest of us have been tightening our belts and shoe stringing our budgets.  Our congressional leaders have found it convenient to just skip the budget process all together.  The GOP is claiming that the 2011 budget has been canceled.

WE REGRET TO INFORM YOU THAT 

THE CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET

PLANNED FOR FISCAL YEAR 2011 HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO WASHINGTON DEMOCRATS’ OUT-OF-CONTROL SPENDING SPREE.

AN APOLOGY FOR THIS BETRAYAL OF AMERICAN TAXPAYERS DOES NOT APPEAR TO BE FORTHCOMING AT THIS TIME.

BE ADVISED THAT THE FOLLOWING SERVICES WILL BE INTERRUPTED:
 

Imposing the fiscal discipline economists say is needed to create jobs and boost our economy

Reining in the out-of-control spending spree that is killing American jobs 

Carrying out the “
most basic responsibility of governing”

Stopping middle-class tax hikes that will sock family budgets at the worst possible time

Providing the leadership on jobs and the economy that Americans say is sorely lacking

Protecting our kids and grandkids from the enormous debt burden Washington has placed on them

  

I don’t know how true it is as it could be a scare tactic from the GOP, but with Obama’s track record, it wouldn’t be surprising. Is the actual budget being dropped?

I find it ironic as well that our fearless leader talks about getting our spending under control.  Those of us in the real world know however that requires a balanced budget.  What a liar.