Yeah, Right!

Have you ever noticed that when people become power-hungry and infatuated with their own presence, no amount of control over others ever seems to be enough.

Take, for example, "the Governator"- aka Arnold Schwarzenegger. Even though he's fired hundreds of thousands of rounds from every weapon imaginable in his movies, he recently signed a new law which will severely limit ammunition sales in California. Among its odious provisions, it will require ammo buyers to be thumbprinted, as well as filling out a form for every purchase of handgun ammo, even though there are many carbines that also use pistol ammo. Even after all that, it would limit individual sales to 50 rounds per month. That's not even enough for an average day on the range.

OK; just as a reminder: If you have to get permission, it isn't a right. Rights are granted by God, and are supposed to be protected by the government. By logic and nature, individual rights are essentially paired with responsibilities, and some people - or all people at some times - will choose to ignore those responsibilities, at which point it is the duty of government to reign in the irresponsible ones; but one's rights should only be revoked when their actions impinge on the rights of others. Some of our choices will displease some people who make different choices (choice being the operative word). Privileges, on the other hand, are granted by government, which can and does revoke them at will.

Our God-given rights should be obvious, but society has robbed us of that clear recognition. Every human being, created by God, has a right to /a responsibility to:

1. Life / Don't murder, or condone the murder of innocents

2. Liberty / Don't take the liberty of another

3. Pursuit of Happiness (originally spoken of as the right to own private property or engage in commerce) / Don't steal

4. To worship as you please / or not (the one thing God doesn't grant is a right to worship other 'gods'. We still get to make that choice, but He holds us accountable for the choice we make. Choose wisely.)

5. Speak our mind freely, but truthfully / Prevent others from speaking the truth or lying about others

6. Make voluntary contracts (with spouse, business, etc.) / Violate our contracts

7. Defend ourselves, our families, our social order (nation) from foreign or domestic attack /not attack others without due cause.

Before going on, please note what isn't listed as a right - free medical care, free education, free money, free home; you get the idea. Government is incrementally neutering and removing our rights, and has been doing so for a long time. In their place, government has been substituting a wish list of things we should be able to work for, not expect.

The Left began in earnest by removing God from the public schools - thereby attacking the first part of the First Amendment and abrading the social/moral conscience; and then by legalizing a killing spree on the most defenseless of humans. Their top two targets are the First and Second Amendments, because those are the lynchpins for all the rest of our enumerated constitutional rights, and upon those rest the tenets of a civil society.

If a tyrant can prevent you from speaking out against injustice or arming yourself for protection or rebellion against tyranny, none of the other rights really matter, and will easily fall when it becomes convenient to cancel them. We've seen the attacks on the freedom of speech as the Obama malAdministration seeks to demonize, isolate and silence Fox News. As to the case in point: if this new California ammo ban stands, it will surely spread to other states. A toothless tiger is not so fearful, and an unarmed populace is a nation of sheep for the shearing.

What next; sponge bath? Bombastic Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez is renowned for his grasp (as in, taking it away) of what makes life worth living. His latest revelation is that his countrymen are using far too much water bathing and showering. He is now calling for them to stop singing in the shower to save water and electricity. Calling baths and jacuzzis "anti-communist", he noted that "Some people sing in the shower half an hour. No kids, three minutes is more than enough. I've counted, three minutes, and I don't stink." Yes, well; that's his opinion.

Frankly, I can't understand how a nation so rich in petroleum as Venezuela is so hampered by electrical shortages. Many nations are powered by huge diesel or steam generating plants. Could it be because Chavez is - like so many dictators - squandering his nation's wealth on his military buildup and his support for uprisings in neighboring countries?

Shock and surprise! Remember how President Obama was kissing Putin's (and every other world dictator's) butt earlier this year on his 'Blame America Tour', crowing about a "new era of peace" and other B.S.? It turns out that while Obama has been sucking up, the Russians have been developing and testing a new multiple-warhead ICBM, which the Russians call the RS-24 and the Pentagon has designated as the SS-27. This is a direct violation of the STrategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). Conservatives have been telling us for decades that the Russians have violated every treaty they've ever signed, and it's been proven over and over again how true that is.

What's the popular definition of insanity? Oh, yeah; repeating something over and over, expecting a different result. As I've noted before, the Russians are resurging as a global military threat, while we are purposely being weakened by our own government. Who is looking out for your safety? Look in the mirror.

No contest. New York State politics has always been a sideshow in the scheme of things, and it's seldom boring. In the state's northern 23rd Congressional District, a race is heating up in a special election between the Democrat and the Republican candidate, Dede Scozzafava. The problem is that the Republican Party's choice of pro-abortion, pro-cap-and-trade Scozzafava puts her pretty much on the same platform as the Democrat. And the party chose her over newcomer Doug Hoffman, a true conservative who has received a glowing endorsement from Sarah Palin. The former Alaskan governor lauded Hoffman, saying, "...Doug Hoffman has not been anointed by any political machine...[he] stands for the principles that all Republicans should share: smaller government, lower taxes, strong national defense, and a commitment to individual liberty."

It would be the irony of ironies if this New York regional election were to become the watershed moment for a national move toward conservatism once again. Already, some Republicans in other states are trying to ride Hoffman's coattails, even in a California contest. However, there is no mention of the Republican candidate being a conservative, so it may just be the wind (or just more political hot air) talking.

Leave the kids alone! Yet another video has surfaced of young school children being Obama-nated. This trend reminds me more and more of the Hitler Jungend, who were indoctrinated at the earliest ages to be totally loyal to the man instead of the nation. Is this the preparation for Obama's civilian national security force?

Strange New World

There's a word that has been popping up with increasing frequency lately, due to the debate over Obama's healthcare proposal -- eugenics. I would describe it as "government policies for choosing who gets to live in and benefit from a society, and choosing those who don't get to live. Glenn Beck, who has a special interest in what it means to a society, produced a short but very informative crash course in eugenics that is well worth checking out, because eugenics policies, if implemented, will eventually affect everyone; some classes of people will benefit, while others...

And Beck isn't the only one with piercing insights regarding this dangerous legislation:

"Obama's health care plan will be written by a committee whose head, John Conyers, says he doesn't understand it. It'll be passed by Congress that has not read it, signed by a president who smokes, funded by a Treasury chief who didn't pay his taxes, overseen by a Surgeon General who is obese, and financed by a country that's nearly broke. What could possibly go wrong?" --Rush Limbaugh

Dancing with the Czars. A lot of press has been given to Obama's penchant for appointing "czars", without giving a lot of details about who these people actually are. Actually, the term "czar", which is the Russianized form of "Caesar", is inappropriate, since the Communists liquidated the last Czar during the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. The Communist Party then appointed "commisars" (commissioners) to be local or regional political leaders. So, breaking with current phraseology in the interest of accuracy, here are Obama's "commisars". Some of them are downright scary when you consider the influence they wield on national policy.

In the interest of fairness... Last time, I wrote about a National Guard ad for prison guards, and alluded to the possibility of domestic internment camps. The National Guard has responded with a denial that they are for domestic use. A spokesman for the NG stated that the camps referred to are located overseas, and that "members pledge to follow the U.S. Constitution and take orders from American civilian authorities."

I'm glad to hear that the troops still swear their allegiance to the Constitution, but I worry that so few Americans are really taught anything about that document any more, which makes them malleable to reinterpretation. And frankly, it's the civilian authorities who make me worry (see commisars list, above). While I hope the scenario never materializes, I can't forget that it has happened before to Japanese-Americans during WW2 and political opponents during WW1, and a people ignorant of the law and history could potentially allow it to happen again.

A truthful politician...sorta. I have to hand it to Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY), he's a man who speaks his mind, even if it comes out both sides of his mouth. Even though the district he represents (south central NYS) is generally Republican, he recently told a group of liberal NetRoots activists that he would "vote against the interests of my district" when it comes to supporting the president's single-payer health plan. However, at a Sunday townhall meeting, one attendee reported that he told his constituents he was "there to speak for and represent his district and what they wanted. " All we have to do is decide which statement he really means (duh).

Meanwhile, turncoat Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) told ABC's 'This Week' that the recent upbraidings he's been receiving during townhall meetings "are really not representative of America in my opinion." And of course, his opinion is more valid than the opinions of the people who continually send him to Washington to represent them. But then, why do they give such credence to the liberals who generally haunt public meetings to rail at the politicians? What makes their opinions more valid?

Palin's point taken. Despite the vicious, crude, and underhanded treatment Sarah Palin has received from the Left, her steady stream of rebuttals of the Obama healthcare (it is about neither) plan has borne results. According to a recent Rasmussen poll, 54% of those surveyed would rather have no plan passed rather than the Obama/congressional healthcare (it is neither) plan. That's not to say those folks don't want real reform, but they don't believe the government version will do anything other than screw up our lives even more, and put more lives at risk.