My Response to E. J. Dionne Jr's. Misguided Article

This article appeared in the Washington Post on July 3, 2011. My responses appear in parentethis in bold type:

What our Declaration really said
By E.J. Dionne Jr., Published: July 3

Our nation confronts a challenge this Fourth of July that we face but rarely: We are at odds over the meaning of our history and why, to quote our Declaration of Independence, “governments are instituted.”

Only divisions this deep can explain why we are taking risks with our country’s future that we’re usually wise enough to avoid. Arguments over how much government should tax and spend are the very stuff of democracy’s give-and-take. Now, the debate is shadowed by worries that if a willful faction does not get what it wants, it might bring the nation to default.

This is, well, crazy. It makes sense only if politicians believe — or have convinced themselves — that they are fighting over matters of principle so profound that any means to defeat their opponents is defensible. (There are some principles that are worth just such action. To have a journalist from the Washington post whine about this is hypocritical and par for the course as Liberals consistently stoop to the most reprehensible depths to defend ANY concept they support.)

We are closer to that point than we think, and our friends in the Tea Party have offered a helpful clue by naming their movement in honor of the 1773 revolt against tea taxes on that momentous night in Boston Harbor.

Whether they intend it or not, their name suggests they believe that the current elected government in Washington is as illegitimate (It is,) as was a distant, unelected monarchy. It implies something fundamentally wrong with taxes themselves or, at the least, that current levels of taxation (the lowest in decades) are dangerously oppressive. And it hints that methods outside the normal political channels are justified in confronting such oppression. (They are, and the problem isn’t necessarily the level of taxation so much as the administration and congress [both Democrats & Republicans] pissing away our taxes on programs that are pointless, frivolous and/or in direct opposition to the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights.)

We need to recognize the deep flaws in this vision of our present and our past. A reading of the Declaration of Independence makes clear that our forebears were not revolting against taxes as such — and most certainly not against government as such. (Actually, yes they were. They objected to unjust taxes, taxes being used for the benefit of the ruling classes instead of the common good and the tyranny of absolute rule of a monarchy, i.e. “Big Government”.)

In the long list of “abuses and usurpations” the Declaration documents, taxes don’t come up until the 17th item, and that item is neither a complaint about tax rates nor an objection to the idea of taxation. Our Founders remonstrated against the British crown “for imposing taxes on us without our consent.” They were concerned about “consent,” i.e. popular rule, not taxes. (Exactly! Now these elitist dolts spend our money to further their own personal wealth and agendas without the consent of the people.)
The very first item on their list condemned the king because he “refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.” Note that the signers wanted to pass laws, not repeal them, (Wrong! They wanted EVERYBODY, from the poorest of the poor to the richest of the rich to be subject to the same laws.) and they began by speaking of “the public good,” not about individuals or “the private sector.” They knew that it takes public action — including effective and responsive government — to secure “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” (Wrong yet again. “the public good” is referring to the individual rights of each citizen who make up “the private sector”. The bigger a government grows the more it wants to prohibit individual rights and liberties that would hinder it’s ability rule uncontested.)

Their second grievance reinforced the first, accusing the king of having “forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance.” Again, our forebears wanted to enact laws; they were not anti-government zealots. (Wrong. Our forebears did not want to enact more laws. They simply wanted the laws that were being forced on them to apply equally to everyone as opposed to the exclusive groups chosen by the British monarchy. Much the same as today’s TEA party opposes the “exclusive” laws and taxes being rammed down our throats by the present administration.)
Abuses three through nine also referred in some way to how laws were passed or justice was administered. The document doesn’t really get to anything that looks like Big Government oppression (“He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance”) until grievance No. 10. (What color is the sky in your world?)

This misunderstanding of our founding document is paralleled by a misunderstanding of our Constitution. “The federal government was created by the states to be an agent for the states, not the other way around,” Gov. Rick Perry of Texas said recently. (You, the Obama administration and the rest of the elitist liberals in this country are the ones that have a deep and warped misunderstanding of our founding document.)

No, our Constitution begins with the words “We the People” not “We the States.” The Constitution’s Preamble speaks of promoting “a more perfect Union,” “Justice,” “the common defense,” “the general Welfare” and “the Blessings of Liberty.” These were national goals. (Right. They are national goals of the individual citizens. Not a large federal government.)

I know states’ rights advocates revere the 10th Amendment. But when the word “states” appears in the Constitution, it typically is part of a compound word, (That‘s because there are more than one. It‘s plural.)“United States,” or refers to how the states and their people will be represented in the national government. We learned it in elementary school: The Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation to create a stronger federal government, (no, it created a stronger union of states,) not a weak confederate government. Perry’s view was rejected in 1787 and again in 1865.

We praise our Founders annually for revolting against royal rule and for creating an exceptionally durable system of self-government. We can wreck that system if we forget our Founders’ purpose of creating a representative form of national authority robust enough to secure the public good. It is still perfectly capable of doing that. (And yet again, completely wrong. The founders intent was to represent everybody equally and prohibit government intrusion in our lives as much as possible.) But if we pretend we are living in Boston in 1773, we will draw all the wrong conclusions and make some remarkably foolish choices. (You Mr. Dionne and your ilk have made all the wrong conclusions. And the Obama administration and the entire congress have made, and continue to make remarkably foolish choices.)

Wisconsin Whiners

I was going to give my 2 cents worth but with inflation it's now a quarter. I am the member of a union because the company that I work for is a closed shop which means I couldn't work for them unless I paid Union dues. In any other venue that's called extortion, but I digress. Decades ago Unions were desperately needed. Many industries took unfair advantage of laborers and the unions helped even the playing field, but like most things developed by man there is no moderation so now the pendulum has swung too far and now the unions have too much power. Unions that represent public employees have given them huge pay increases as well as incredibly luxurious benefits that are funded by my tax dollars and the main reason GMC neede bailed out was due to the outrageuos salaries and benefits of the bastard unions sucking up all the profits, most of which should have been going into research and development to improve their lousy vehicles.I was forced to join PSSU 668 which is a branch of the commie bastard SEIU. My union does exactly squat for me. I went 5 years without a raise and every year I pay more and more for my health insurance while getting less. So I have no sympathy for these whiny cry babies. I hope they are all fired and the union broken. I guarantee the void will be immediately filled by an army of unemployed workers and recent college grads.

Discrimination Against Americans in America

Here we go again friends. Political correctness trumps the rights of American citizens once again. May 5, 2010. Live Oaks High School; Daniel Galli along with four buddies were sitting together during lunch break, each wearing a T-shirt with the American flag across the front and two of them wearing American flag bandannas as well. They were approached by the vice principal and asked to remove the head bands and turn their T-shirts inside out. The young men quite naturally refused. They were then escorted to the Principal's office. Once there, according to Daniel Galli, they were told, "We could wear it on any other day, but today is sensitive to Mexican-Americans because it's supposed to be their holiday so we were not allowed to wear it today." The school referred to their garb as "incendiary" and it was feared it would lead to fights. They were told to remove the shirts and bandannas before returning to class or be suspended. They decided to go home rather than risk suspension. As you can imagine their parents were as upset by this incredibly knuckle-headed, seditious and bigoted attack as you could imagine. The large population of mexican-American students felt differently than the five persecuted students, saying, "I think they should apologize cause it is a Mexican Heritage Day," Annicia Nunez, a Live Oak High student, said. "We don't deserve to be get disrespected like that. We wouldn't do that on Fourth of July." Will they get an apology? 'Fat chance.' Say the guys and their families. "I'm not going to apologize. I did nothing wrong," Galli said. "I went along with my normal day. I might have worn an American flag, but I'm an American and I'm proud to be an American." The five young men and their families met with a Morgan Hill Unified School District official Wednesday night. Interestingly, the district does not agree with the Live Oak High School administration's interpretation of either board or district policy related to these actions. The boys will not be suspended and were allowed to return to school Thursday. And to his credit one of the fearless Patriots was spotting returning to school wearing an American Flag T-shirt. There it is. Political correctness and hypocrisy run amok. What's next? Will we be allowed to display the Red, White & Blue during Chinese New Year? What about Boxing Day? May Day? This is clearly a knee-jerk reaction to Arizona's new Illegal Immigration bill. This happened on American soil, in an American high school! Why is it okay to discriminate against Americans? If the roles had been reversed the A.C.L.U., Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, The Huffington Post and every other bleeding-heart liberal would have been running the aid of the poor minorities and justifying the resulting riots, looting and arson (that you know would have happened) being perpetrated by the misunderstood mexicans. First, Daniel Galli and his friends should be lauded by their local American Legion. Second the principal and vice principal should be fired immediately and Then sued in civil and criminal court for violating the Civil Rights of the five young men. Why don’t the Mexican-Americans that want to celebrate Cinco de Mayo in pure unbridled beaner bliss go back to mexico? I’ll answer that for them. Because mexico is a Third-World country. It’s a shit hole. The best they can hope for living there is to become members of a drug gang or whores. The I.N.S. as well as the Office of Homeland Security should descend on Live Oaks High School and do background checks on every greasy beaner on campus, just to make sure they are here legally. They could all then be sued as well. God Damn It !!!! If this isn't a wake-up call to stand up and start taking back our country from enemies from within our own borders as well as abroad I don't know what is. This is a problem with most of the immigrants of the past four decades. These lame-ass, scumbags come to this country to enjoy the prosperity that was gained through hard work, intelligent innovation and bloodshed without putting any effort or intellectual contribution toward the benefit of the United States. Why didn't they just stay in their own country? Let's go people. Start by voting out every mother-one of the corrupt, greedy dolts that hold public office and vote in people that have some integrity, courage and loyalty to the U.S. Constitution as opposed to special interests and worthless "Feel-Good" legislation. If you want to be a citizen of the U.S.A., learn to speak and read English. Understand that you are free to keep your ethnic habits, cultures, celebrations, etc., as long as they don't conflict with the U.S. Constitution. And all other Americans have the absolute right to ignore your cultural celebrations and customs.

Deem and Pass or Demon Pass

To be "Fair & Balanced" about the issue, this is not the first time the Obama administration has used this tactic to pass a bill. The Bush administration also used it as did many previous administrations. What has caught the attention of the public and ire of the Republican Party is this is the first time it was used to pass something that: (a.) the majority of U.S. citizens object to. (b.) Would fundamentally change our democracy into socialism (c.) Be of more benefit to foreign nations than to the U.S.A. One way or another they will pass this bill. The American people MUST remember this in November and not only vote out every one of the traitorous curs that have done this, but make sure none of them is EVER able to hold any public office again. The audacity of Barak Obama in his bald-faced lies as he tries to convince an understandably reluctant number of congressmen to vote yes is such a slap in the face of the American public. All politicians are liars. Some are thieves and deviates as well, but to so blatantly speak falsehoods and disseminate such unbelievable tripe shows a contempt for the American public as has never been seen before in American politics. Barak Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barney Frank, et al; are traitors and enemies of the state. Once they are removed from office they should be Tried, convicted and sentenced to hard labor in Levenworth Prison for the rest of their days.

Nuclear Iran

Well, it happened. One of the most radical leaders on this planet announced the ability to make weapons grade plutonium. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Has made it clear he wants to exterminate the entire nation of Israel. This man (and I use the term loosely) and his fellow countrymen are far too unstable to be trusted with a slingshot, let alone atomic weapons.
Now President Barak Hussien Obama. . .*gulp*. . .(Sorry, I have to swallow back a little vomit every time I say that) is going to levy sanctions against Iran! Yeah, that’ll do a lot of good. We levied sanctions against Iraq for ten years and Saddam Hussien thumbed his nose at us until we sent in the military to straighten him out. Now after reading a lot of anti-American rhetoric on “Mail on Line” message board and having my replies removed because too many candy-assed readers complained about my blunt yet honest rebuttal I shall continue here on my own blog.
Even with that nitwit in the white house and China trying to buy our country the truth of the matter is we are in fact still the greatest country by far on this planet. The American people have already begun to dismantle Obama's fascist congress and in 3 more years that incompetent dolt will be out. As for China they can lend all they want, but considering every other country on this planet owes us their very existence, we just might call in all those markers and put China out of business permanently. The bottom line is we have weapons that make nukes obsolete and we are not afraid to use them. So the rest of the world (especially the middle-east and china can kiss our Red, White & Blue asses! Also, I notice most of the posts at Mail on Line hide their names. If you haven't got the balls to put your name on what you say, keep your pansy-assed opinions to yourselves.

Fare Thee Well Captain Harris

Captain Phil Harris,skipper of the Cornelia Marie, died Tuesday night, February 9, 2010 from complications from a stroke he had suffered in January. He was 53. Capt. Phil was the reason I started watching "The Deadliest Catch". He was the epitome of the gruff, blunt talking, no-quit, gutsy man you think of when you hear the phrase "Grizzled ol' skipper". He was a devoted husband & father as well as a master crab man, his instincts providing a bountiful catch on many occasions. The intimacy of the camera work on the show made me feel as if he was my friend and I will miss him.

Sherlock Holmes movie review

I just watched “Sherlock Holmes” and as a long time fan of the Arthur Conan Doyle Books I was very pleased. *SPOILERS COMING* .
First the casting. Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes. When I first saw this I was somewhat taken aback. I mean he hardly fit the description in the novels and short stories. Now the writers took some license with Sherlock’s personality and yet kept the main essence of the character and Downey took this and made it his own. The biggest difference is; In the books Sherlock is a perfect English Gentleman, in this movie he is a crass rogue. In the books Sherlock copes with boredom between cases with an addiction to cocaine. In this movie his own Brilliant mind feeds his delirium between cases as he seems nearly unable to control the breakneck pace of his own genius thoughts.
Jude Law as Dr. Watson. This is actually a pretty faithful portrayal of the character. Dr. Watson is a veteran of the British Army, A good doctor that has recently started a private practice and Sherlock’s best friend and roommate. He is a proper English gentleman, Brave and always ready for a fight.
Rachael McAdams as Irene Adler, “The” Lady as Holmes always referred to her, is an excellent choice. Playing the part with all the class, charm and guile from the novel.
Now some may take exception to the fight scenes in the movie, Both Holmes and Watson pulling of some nice martial arts moves, but if you’ve read the books remember that they, as any gentleman, would be well versed in fencing. In fact most gentlemen of the day carried walking sticks as much for self defense (as the fencing moves can also be used with a stick as well as a blade) as for the fashion of the day. Also, Holmes was in fact well versed in boxing as wells as jujutsu and was exceptionally strong. Of course in the books Holmes wouldn’t be caught dead engaging in “Pit Fights” let alone betting on them, but clearly this is not your father’s Holmes. The non-stop action, chase scenes, fights & explosions did not detract at all from Holmes obvious brilliance (I loved the visual style Guy Ritchie used to illustrate Holmes ability to be thinking 5, 6 or more moves ahead of his opponents). Believe me, there were plenty of his analytical deductions throughout the film to satisfy my sense of loyalty to the original incarnation. And of course the ending introduces him to his arch nemesis and sets the stage for a sequel which I eagerly await. If you are an old time Sherlock Holmes fan, see this movie, accept it on it’s own merits and you will be satisfied. If you’ve never heard of Sherlock Holmes, see this movie and you will be entertained as you might expect from any well made action/adventure film made in recent years.