Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Despotism Made Easy
DMEFAT -
There were five forms of governance that migrated from theory to reality in the 20th Century: Socialism, Communism, Fascism, Nazism and Progressivism. The common denominator among them was unprecedented control and regulation by the State over human activity. It is delusional to think that the totalitarian impulse expired with the 20th Century.
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Please be sure to read this article before going to take the related survey, the link for which can be found at the end.
Our nation has devolved from the foundational ideals of personal self responsibility and personal self sufficiency into the present day Nanny State.
Left leaning pastors, preachers and priests have embraced well meaning, but misguided, schemes like welfare, mandatory wealth redistribution, affirmative action, public (aka government controlled) education, censorship, political correctness, “globalism”, and, last but certainly not least, “gun control”.
Have Christians been played for suckers for decades?
JPFO has aggressively challenged naïve and misguided Jews for over twenty years. Now it’s time for Christians to more deeply examine their true values.
JPFO is conducting a new survey. The purpose of this survey is to get people to think more clearly, and to do some serious introspection about their deepest beliefs. A cultural showdown regarding the continued existence of Christianity is coming to America. Where will you stand? How will your deepest spiritual beliefs embolden (or weaken) that stance?
Jews, being, at the very most, three percent of the population, have a vested interest in America remaining a Christian nation. Jews have survived and thrived here because America was a Christian nation. Christian America has given Jews opportunities, liberties and security they would have never had in other countries.
This nation was inarguably founded upon Christian and Old Testament (Torah) Jewish values. It was not founded by moral relativists, Marxists, secular humanists, atheists, Hindus, Buddhists, or Muslims.
JPFO’s interpretation of a Christian nation is the following:
- A Constitutional Republic rather than a theocratic form of government like Islam.
- The institutional separation of church and state versus today’s legalistic secularization of our entire society.
- Protection of the individual’s right to religious belief and the exercise of personal conscience.
- A distinction between theology and time tested and successful guidelines of behavior like the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule.
- Freedom of choice in the religious “market place”, thus ensuring personal spiritual liberty.
Clear thinking Jewish commentators and religious leaders have long realized the reality of America being a Christian nation…and the absolute imperative that it remain so.
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:27 PM on 26th November 2010
The rate at which global temperatures are rising has slowed in the past decade, scientists said today.
In a report published today, the Met Office said the slow in the rate of warming was down to a combination of natural variation in the weather and pollution.
Scientists say one of the major factors is the rise in heavy industry and pollutant 'aerosols', particularly in Asia.
An upsurge in industrial emissions such as sulphur which are being pumped into the atmosphere reflects sunlight and could lead to a cooling effect.

John Brown, NFATCA's President, arranged for a meeting with Acting Director Melson and his senior staff on November 19, 2010. Invitees to the meeting included senior officials from the NRA, SAAMI, Safari Club International and the NSSF.The prospects for calamity were reviewed and Mr. Melson agreed to assemble a working group, led by NFATCA, to make certain that "we get this right". Check back for regular updates.
H/t Say Uncle
Bruce Shneier argues that much of the TSA's airport screening procedures are "security theater." (Photo by Flickr/Joel Franusic)
Postdoctoral candidate Roger L. Clem (left) and Richard L. Huganir, professor and chair of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins, are conducting research into erasing traumatic memories. (Kenneth K. Lam, Baltimore Sun / November 22, 2010)
November 22, 2010





* U.S. ethanol consumes about 40 pct corn crop
* Impact on food prices "real"
By Gerard Wynn
ATHENS, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore said support for corn-based ethanol in the United States was "not a good policy", weeks before tax credits are up for renewal.
U.S. blending tax breaks for ethanol make it profitable for refiners to use the fuel even when it is more expensive than gasoline. The credits are up for renewal on Dec. 31.
Total U.S. ethanol subsidies reached $7.7 billion last year according to the International Energy Industry, which said biofuels worldwide received more subsidies than any other form of renewable energy.
"It is not a good policy to have these massive subsidies for (U.S.) first generation ethanol," said Gore, speaking at a green energy business conference in Athens sponsored by Marfin Popular Bank.
"First generation ethanol I think was a mistake. The energy conversion ratios are at best very small.
Who says Congress never gets anything done?
On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved a bill that would give the Attorney General the right to shut down websites with a court order if copyright infringement is deemed “central to the activity” of the site — regardless if the website has actually committed a crime. The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA) is among the most draconian laws ever considered to combat digital piracy, and contains what some have called the “nuclear option,” which would essentially allow the Attorney General to turn suspected websites “off.”
COICA is the latest effort by Hollywood, the recording industry and the big media companies to stem the tidal wave of internet file sharing that has upended those industries and, they claim, cost them tens of billions of dollars over the last decade.
The content companies have tried suing college students. They’ve tried suing internet startups. Now they want the federal government to act as their private security agents, policing the internet for suspected pirates before making them walk the digital plank.
An interpretation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that pistol grip shotguns are not shotguns has created an unforeseen legal liability for owners of such firearms. ATF’s Nov. 2009 FFL Newsletter declared:
Certain commercially produced firearms do not fall within the definition of shotgun under the GCA even though they utilize a shotgun shell for ammunition. For example, firearms that come equipped with a pistol grip in place of the buttstock are not shotguns as defined by the GCA.
Here’s another wrinkle, from Mike Vanderboegh at Sipsey Street Irregulars:
An October 27, 2010, letter from the Firearms Technology Branch ruled that such a firearm, with a 17" barrel and 26-1/4" overall length, was not subject to the National Firearms Act.
You can click here to read the letter.
That would seem to indicate there’s no issue with violating National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record (NFRTR) requirements, right? No worries if you own one, or want to buy one…?
Not so fast. If the pistol grip firearms are not “shotguns,” what are they?
Paul Joseph Watson & Alex Jones
Infowars.com
November 12, 2010

Update: TSA Desktop Image Makes Joke of Cavity Searching Children
The federal government has been forced to respond to the accelerating backlash against new TSA measures which have outraged the nation, with TSA Administrator John Pistole and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano set to meet today with executives from the travel industry and heads of pilot associations.
Following intense and sustained focus on the issue by the Drudge Report, Infowars and Prison Planet, Reuters reports that, “Executives from the travel industry, including online travel sites, theme parks and hotels, were set to meet Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Pistole on Friday to discuss their concerns that security is crimping travel.”
By Joe Guzzardi | Published on 10.16.2010
Last week, Raul Diaz, Mexico’s superintendent of tax administration, confirmed that Mexico will build a wall along the Mexican-Guatemalan border. Diaz’s announcement exposed to the world Mexico’s unending hypocrisy.

For decades, Mexico has decried the United States’ immigration policy as inhumane and called for the open flow of “migrants,” as its leaders refer to illegal aliens. In 2005, then-President Vicente Fox called a U.S. proposal to build a high-tech wall along the shared border as “disgraceful and shameful.” Another prominent Mexican official, Foreign Secretary Luis Derbez, insisted that, “ Mexico is not going to bear, it is not going to permit, and it will not allow a stupid thing like this wall.”
How times change! Apparently, if Mexico builds a wall, it’s appropriate. When the United States builds one, it’s racist.
By Tom Tolan of the Journal Sentinel
Oct. 14, 2010 |(124) Comments
West Allis - City and school officials here are scrambling to react after it came to light that a property owner wants to set up a gun shop kitty-corner to an elementary school.
But they're not likely to prevent the shop from opening, and they may even be limited in what they can do to keep other such businesses away from schools.
Michael G. Govas, who owns a commercial and apartment building at 2192 S. 60th St., applied for a business occupancy permit in August to operate Shorty's Shooting Sports in a 1,500-square-foot storefront in the building.
The application says the store would sell "hunting supplies, handguns, shotguns, ammo, basically all hunting and shooting supplies, long guns."
The store is at S. 60th and W. Grant streets, the same intersection where Longfellow Elementary School in the West Allis-West Milwaukee School District is located.
"I'm all for people having guns," said Diane Dorow, a neighborhood resident with a son in third grade at Longfellow. "I'm just real concerned that there's going to be problems.
"There's plenty of places they could open a gun shop, but across from an elementary school? It's just not right."
City officials say the gun shop is a permitted zoning use, and the occupancy permit was issued, though the shop hasn't yet received a required federal license. There's a state law that prohibits guns within 1,000 feet of a school, but Jim Fendry, director of the Wisconsin Pro-Gun Movement, said that exceptions in the law would allow the shop in.
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A Clark County judge has ruled that Wisconsin's ban onPDF brief
conceal carry of a weapon is overly broad and
unconstitutional in light of the recent Heller and
McDonald landmark US Supreme Court cases.
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| Chuck -- Republicans have said a lot of crazy things this year. They've threatened to repeal health insurance reform and privatize Social Security. They've threatened to eliminate the Department of Education and dismantle the EPA. They've called for boycotting the Census and shutting down the government. Now GOP candidates across the country are embracing yet another extreme idea. They're talking about rolling back -- or eliminating -- the minimum wage. It's the newest proposal from GOP Senate nominees in states across the country: Linda McMahon in Connecticut, Joe Miller in Alaska, Rand Paul in Kentucky, John Raese in West Virginia, and Dino Rossi in Washington. And it's just the latest item on a worn-out agenda that has been repudiated time and time again. But if we let the Republicans win this fall, these candidates are going to see their victories as mandates for extremism. We can nip this in the bud, right now. We've got the team in place to communicate to voters exactly what Republicans are proposing. But we need you to help amplify the message. Chip in $3 or more to help make the case for Democrats in the final weeks. This is a war of ideas that we can win. The voters we're trying to reach reject all of these ideas when they hear about them. But Republicans know that we're still climbing out of this recession, and they're ready to prey on people's frustrations. So the minimum wage becomes a barrier for job creation that "hasn't solved any problems in 50 years" in the words of West Virginia Republican John Raese. Unemployment insurance becomes "unconstitutional" in the words of Alaska Republican Joe Miller. Social Security becomes a "broken" program that "can't be fixed" in the words of Nevada Republican Sharron Angle. We've got a team in place to highlight these extreme ideas -- press staff making the case to reporters and organizers working with millions of volunteers to tell the story on the ground. But if you don't step up, we won't be able to keep it spreading. Pitch in to help amplify the message: http://my.democrats.org/TheMinimumWage Thanks, Jen Jen O'Malley Dillon Executive Director Democratic National Committee |
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| Friend -- Two years ago, I met 10 of you. Just before I accepted our party's nomination in front of 80,000 people in Denver, I spoke with 10 grassroots supporters who had won a trip to meet me backstage. I still remember the time we spent together -- because these are the people, like you, who stood with me in 2008, and got me through the tough fights since. But we face another test on November 2nd that will say a lot about our future -- and I need you by my side again. A Supreme Court decision I strongly disagree with has shifted the balance of power in our elections from folks like you to giant corporations. Their massive spending on attack ads could have a real impact on who represents you at all levels of government. Only supporters like you -- and all the work you are doing -- are standing in their way. This may be our toughest fight yet. So next week, just 11 days before the elections, I want to meet three supporters like you backstage at a rally in Las Vegas -- one of the last big rallies of this campaign. Please make a $3 donation now to be automatically entered to win a trip to be at my side at the rally in Vegas. This movement has always been about more than me. It's about change, and the kind of future we envision for this country. The folks I met backstage in Denver told me they wanted health reform, a clean-energy economy, and a resolution to the war in Iraq. They wanted a new kind of politics, and a new kind of leader. It was their hope and expectation that together we would move beyond the status quo, that we would counter the special interests and corporate influence in Washington -- that we would do what was right and necessary for all Americans. With your help, we have made historic progress, but there is much left to do -- and it will not happen without your involvement. I need strong allies in Congress who will stand with us in the tough fights ahead, and I need you to give it all you've got through November 2nd to make sure they can. Your donation today will provide critical support to our Vote 2010 campaign as we reach out to millions of voters who will decide the closest races across the country. It will determine if we pass this test, and win our toughest fight yet. Please donate $3 or more to be automatically entered to win a trip to Las Vegas to meet me backstage: http://my.democrats.org/Backstage I hope to see you out there, President Barack Obama P.S. -- Making a donation automatically registers you for the sweepstakes. You may also enter the sweepstakes without making a contribution either online or via text message -- click here to enter online or here for instructions on how to enter via text message. No minimum contribution is necessary to be registered. No purchase or contribution necessary to enter. Void where prohibited. You can enter the contest without making a contribution by clicking here. Only U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents over the age of 18 who are residents of the 50 states or D.C. are eligible to enter. Entries must be received by 11:59 p.m. on 10/15/10. Three winners will receive one round-trip ticket within the continental U.S. to Las Vegas, NV; hotel accommodations for one; and a meeting with President Obama at a rally event on 10/22/10 (approximate combined retail value $1,200.00). Odds of winning depend on number of entries received. Promotion is subject to Official Rules, available here, including restrictions on eligibility. | |
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Democrats in the Senate on Thursday held a recess hearing covering a taxpayer bailout of union pensions and a plan to seize private 401(k) plans to more "fairly" distribute taxpayer-funded pensions to everyone.
Kevin Hassett
(Corrects fourth paragraph to indicate billion.)
To understand where the advocates of big government will take this country, look at the U.S. Postal Service.
Start with the fact the Postal Service is a great jobs machine, employing 712,000 people at an average annual compensation, including wages and benefits, of $83,000. And those hefty pay checks are a great source of political contributions for Democrats. In 2010, almost 90 percent of the approximately $4 million contributed to campaigns by postal unions went to Democrats. Take a guess where much of the opposition to reform comes from.
H/t Ace of Spades
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee heard from hand-picked witnesses advocating the infamous "Guaranteed Retirement Account" (GRA) authored by Theresa Guilarducci.
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You didn't actually think that was YOUR money, now did you?