Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Roe v. Wade, Good For Something After All

The ammendment that forbid federal funds from paying for abortions in the current healthcare bills caused a huge outcry from abortion rights groups. Go to any story on the subject and read comments and you will see dozens of comments along the lines of this infringing on their rights, no one has a right to tell them what they can or can't do with their body.

After reading this it occured to me that Roe v Wade may finally have a benefit, though nothing can make up for the millions of innocent lives it has taken to date. The Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade on the fact that making abortion illegal imposed a violation on an individuals right to privacy. The Court tells a woman that killing her unborn child is a private decision that cannot be impeeded by the government then why is it okay for the government to tell me what health insurance I have to have, tell my employer they have to provide it for me, fine me if I don't get it and possibly put me in jail any different? Where is my right to privacy where my health care decisions are concerned?

This is the perfect logical argument that liberals don't understand. The law applies to everyone, not just the liberal cause of the week. Liberal hypocrisy on the march again. If I don't have a right to make my own individual healthcare choices without government involvement than no one else should also. These health care bills should be challenged using Roe v. Wade as precedent (let them argue that one, it's a conservative win either way) and the Equal Protection Clause as the factor to consider the case.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

White House War on FOX News

The White House attitude towards FOX news the last week has really had me and a lot of other conservatives asking WTF! I will be the first to admit that Fox is very conservative but have these idiots never watched MSNBC or CNN? At least FOX makes a halfhearted attempt at being fair and balanced. When asked for details on what makes FOX different from other cable news stations Mr. Gibbs referred to shows by Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck. Okay, first there is no one in there right mind who watches those shows and doesn't know that it is opinion and entertainment. Responsible voting adults listen to what they have to say, analyze it to see if it meets truth tests and decide to agree or disagree. It is not the fault of FOX or their hosts if the administration and their MSNBC puppets can't win the hearts and minds of people by disputing what they hear on these show. The reason they can't is because people know when they are getting BS'ed, you can get away with it for, say the length of a campaign , but when you hear the BS every day for 10 months you begin to learn the smell of it and recognize broken campaign promises and the lack of promised transparency.

Then there is the double standard. Are we supposed to believe that Rachael Maddow and Keith Olberman are real news? Does the fact that Anderson Cooper can't say the word conservative without rolling his eyes mean nothing? Do they believe that it is okay for people to listen to and believe idiots like Bill Maher and Janene Garafolo? Where was President Bush when MSNBC hosts ripped him apart every night for 8 years? He wasn't calling for them to be shunned and ignored, maybe because he believed in the freedom to express those views that might be different from his own, perhaps a lesson our current President needs to learn.

Come On! When you have 80% of the cable news media, all the networks and most of the print media on your side of the political divide, LEAVE IT ALONE! What does it mean when two conservative talk show hosts raise the anger of the White House to the point that they urge other news organizations not to treat them as legitimate media? I will tell you what it means. It means they are doing something right! If you can't stand up to criticism and debate your position OPENLY with TRANSPARENCY to the point that you need to shut people up then there is something wrong with your positions, goals and methods.

The problem is that Fox is making people think, not take everything said by the administration as gospel and have made it clear that most Americans want change in government, just not the change the President is selling. Winning an election does not make you immune from scrutiny or take away the accountability you have to the people who elected you, remember Richard Nixon.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Nobel Nuts

The Nobel Peace Prize? Are they serious? When I first heard that BHO won the Nobel Peace Prize I thought my co-workers were pulling my leg. I had to verify through three independent news services just to convince myself that this was true. What are those guys smoking and where can I get some, it's powerful stuff and maybe I can use it to convince liberals they are conservative.
The President was nominated for this award not two weeks into his administration. What did he do in those two weeks or even prior to his presidency to merit what is supposed to a prestigious prize dedicated to those who selflessly give of themselves to help ensure the safety and security of others. Did President Obama clear land mines in war torn countries at great personal risk? Did he sit down between two warring nations and bring about peace? Did he create the forerunner of the United Nations? NO! In his first few weeks he forced through a stimulus bill that hasn't produced it's intended affect and increased debt and then began preparations for the great apology tour.
So we know the President did nothing to earn this award except have good intentions, use lots of rhetoric, and trash the people who elected him on the international stage. Using this award to show disapproval of one man (President Bush) by awarding this to three nonentities (Carter, Gore, Obama), who just happen to oppose him politically, has turned this award from a vision of personal achievement to aspire to into a political tool and a joke.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Why Religion Should be a Non-Issue

I was reading the responses on my favorite Blog (http://anotherblackconservative.blogspot.com)

What struck me was the amount of discussion about how non-Christian conservatives don't feel like there is a place for them in the conservative landscape. I think the problem here is two-fold. First, there are a lot of people in the conservative movement that feel like just because someone isn't a Christian that they don't share the same beliefs and that is a legitimate problem in organizing a legitimate effort to bring conservative values to the forefront of American politics.
Second, the people who complain about this don't look very hard. There are many people out there in the conservative land that are supportive and offer encouragement to the people who share conservative values, just not the religous belief. This includes myself, I grew up as a Jehova's Witness but since I have been old enough to decide my beliefs for myself I have determined that my belief in and relationship with God would be a private one. I haven't been to church in a very long time but I believe in treating others with respect and dignity and there isn't a single one of the Ten Commandments I don't believe are common sense even if they didn't come from God. If everyone followed them we would be pretty well off and I think they are pretty in line with the conservative belief system. So if someone believes in the contents of the Commandments and the Constitution does it really matter if their belief system is based on being an active Christian? I don't believe so.

American conservatism should be about limited government involvement in our daily lives, responsible fiscal discipline in government, respect for life and liberty, strong national defense, and personal responsibility. Anyone that shares most of those beliefs should be welcomed and encouraged to be active in promoting those beliefs and that should include Christians, Atheists, Agnostics, Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, and even the people who think aliens created us and planted humans on earth to grow. Your religious belief doesn't matter, it doesn't matter if you are black, white, green, purple or transparent either. Fighting for your rights against the vast masses of people willing to believe liberal lunacy is hard enough without us letting minor differences among people with the same core beliefs divide us.

Catching the Train

I am back from vacation and decided it is time to catch up to current events. In fact I have been back a while and there has been so much that I am not sure where to start so let's drive by everything and see where we stand.

Roman Polanski-- Any adult male that has sex with a 13 year old is a criminal and anyone who defends this behavior in any way is certifiably nuts!

Obama and the Olympics-- You will rarely hear me defend President Obama but on this one I say that he is desperate to give Americans some good news since all of his policies and decisions have been blowing up in his face. He felt like there was a shot at making the Olympics in Chicago a reality and he gave it a shot. Big deal. Some will say that it lowers the respect of American President's in the eyes of the world, I say that his international blunders and pandering to our enemies over the last 10 months have already done that and it can't get any worse. On the other hand, don't expect me to cry over the first families sacrifice in making the attempt, give me a break.

Health care-- Liberals continue to believe that everyone who protested government (socialized) health care over the summer are A)fewer than indicated B)racist idiots C)Undereducated idiots being mind washed by Rush and Glen D)Need someone to take care of them since they are incapable of making decisions for themselves. I have never seen a group of people so blinded by illogical ideology that they can't realize just how unpopular their positions are. I almost hope they get everything they hope for because after living with the consequences there won't be enough liberals in congress to oppose the reversal of this legislation.

Man Made Global Climate Change--Still junk science, I will give (let me check my bank account) 150 dollars to the first person to invent a time machine, go back a few hundred thousand years, set up a climate observation satellite and prove to me that this isn't a natural climate cycle. Since this is highly unlikely the only thing that we have to depend on is current science and the only thing we have that is even remotely supportable through scientific method is geologists claims that the earth has undergone similar changes long before humans began doing anything remotely resembling pollution.

David Letterman-- Mixed opinions here. He is a guy that abused his position to have sex with employees. None of the women have sued him, none filed complaints and I have heard none come forward with concerns that if they didn't sleep with them they would lose their jobs. As far as I know none of these ocured while he was married but he was in a serious relationship with his current wife. So the bottom line what he did was morally wrong but not illegal. If anything this is a private matter and he has a lot to do to make things right with her but it is none of mine or anyone elses business. He is still an idiot for the Sarah Palin comments this summer though.

Janene Garofalo-- No one cares, shut up and crawl back in your hole.

Rush Limbaugh buying the Rams-- Hooray for Rush! If I was a huge success and had money falling out of places I didn't know I had I would buy my favorite NFL team, Donate money to my favorite college team so they could set the record for seating capacity, buy my least favorite baseball team so I could drive them into last place (hehe), and finally I would laugh at all the people criticizing me for it because I am an unashamed capitalist (a poor one but I believe in the opportunity to succeed through my own merits and don't expect anyone to give me anything).

War in Afghanistan-- Idiots, If you are going to fight, fight to win. Anything less is a waste of the sacrifices being made by our Soldiers, Sailors, Airman, and Marines. I believe our presence in Afghanistan is vital to our national security, it prevents Al Qaida from establishing a safe zone to operate and train from and our proximity encourages cooperation from Pakistan in what little support they offer. In other words a somewhat insecure hide out in Pakistan is better than free reign in Afghanistan, us leaving would open a floodgate and the Taliban would welcome them with open arms. If we aren't going to give the military leaders what they need to succesfully win this campain then bring them home and we will return to our Pre 9-11 way of ignoring problems until they give us a black eye.

There is more but I have stood on the soapbox long enough today.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Absence

I will be going on vacation tomorrow and headed to Texas. Who knows I might be able to go to one of those town hall meeting I have heard so much about. I will update if i can.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

The MSM is Illiterate

Folks, I am not the best writer you can find on the internet. Read my blog and I am sure you can find spelling and grammar errors. I can however read a sentence and understand it but apparently the MSM cannot. Sarah Palin's death panel comments have created a whirlwind of controversy in the press but all of the networks and pundits are misrepresenting what she actually said. They are ridiculing her statement by saying that end of life counseling is voluntary and does not decide to kill people and was actually included in the bill by a Republican. Guess what? THEY ARE RIGHT!

Sarah Palin has never made a statemnet refuting those facts. Her statement about the death panel was refering to what the results of rationing health care to control results would be. Nowhere in her statement did she mention the counseling arena. Her exact words were:

The Democrats promise that a government health care system will reduce the cost of health care, but as the economist Thomas Sowell has pointed out, government health care will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost. And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.
Even I can see the lack of reference to end of life counseling and can figure out that she is referring to what will eventually come when the government continues to have trouble paying for their utopian health care sysytem. This does not require a PHD in English to understand. If I can read and understand this, then the reporters, commentators, and pundits spewing the lies about the context of Gov. Palins statement need to write to the universities they attended and demand a refund!

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

To Mob Or Not To Mob--UPDATED

It's official. I can't decide what to be angry about, who to be proud of, what to rant about, or what to calmly debate about anymore. There is officially too much going on for me to keep it straight and call me a waffler if you want, my mind changes on how I feel about things hourly.

I am still convinced that any program that makes the federal government more prevalent in our lives is a bad thing so I am consistent with my view that "insert liberal buzzword" reform is bad.

I posted previously that Sarah Palin was wrong when she posted that we shouldn't do things that made us look bad or gave the opposition reason to ridicule us or marginalize our opinions. I owe Gov. Palin an apology, that moron that wore the gun to the Presidents town hall made everyone look bad and no amount of disowning him that I have seen on other posts (http://ace.mu.nu/) can separate him from us in the minds of people who saw it. He has the legal right to own and carry that weapon but injecting some common sense into the situation might help.

I saw a couple of videos that showed opponents to the "healthcare, insurance" reform reading calmly from a list of concerns at these town hall meetings and I was impressed with the way they summed up there concerns with calm and respect. I wish that our concerns could be addressed in this manner all the time and get the due attention it deserves but if anyone out there thinks that a conservative calmly asking his questions from a sheet of paper would have gotten air time on CNN prior to the more vocal demonstration of discontent than there is no hope for rational dialogue with you.

I have to give grudging respect to the members of Congress still holding town hall meetings and not following the examples of some of the chickens. McCaskill and Specter both held them and listened to the people in the meetings. Of course after hearing them they still spewed forth the same nonsense, non-answers, and supposed facts without evidential proof. It is easy to say you will not vote for or sign something that adds to the deficit or debt when your math is flawed to begin with and you ignore the CBO when their math states that these plans will most definitely add to the deficit.

There is an idiot on MSNBC named Carlos Watson that has tried to back up the liberal standard that anything conservatives oppose is racism. He tried to equate conservatives use of the word socialism to a new code for the N-word. In his words, "what concerns me is when in some of those town hall meetings including the one that we saw in Missouri recently where there were jokes made about lynching, etc., you start to wonder whether in fact the word socialist is becoming a code word, whether or not socialist is becoming the new N-word for frankly for some angry upset birthers and others."
Mr. Watson, you sir, need to pick up a dictionary, look up the word socialist, and then take a look at every action the President and this Congress has taken since January and admit that the word is being in the correct context and then apologize on air for opening your mouth without thinking about the impact of your statement.

The same goes for the mindless liberal on CNN, McCafferty. The idiot was reading Sarah Palins post calling for calm from healthcare opponents and had to stop multiple times and go "ooh big words". Then he goes to compare her description of healthcare in a previous post and the call for calm in this one as being mutually exclusive? She can't think that this plan is bad for seniors and think that some aspects of it are evil and call for civil discourse at the same? How does he think that makes any sense? Am I supposed to take this guy seriously? Is this news? Is he really so drunk on the Kool-Aid that he can't objectively take a step back and see how sexist, elitist, and ridiculous he sounds?

And Obama once again summed up concerns that we have anytime the Federal Government takes on a program by saying that UPS and FEDEX are doing just fine, its the Post Office that is always having problems. Thanks BO! That instills me with much needed confidence that my health is in the good hands of an entity that can't even deliver mail efficiently.

I could keep going but I will just leave you with this:

"Repeal that [welfare] law, and you will soon see a change in their manners. St. Monday and St. Tuesday, will soon cease to be holidays. Six days shalt thou labor, though one of the old commandments long treated as out of date, will again be looked upon as a respectable precept; industry will increase, and with it plenty among the lower people; their circumstances will mend, and more will be done for their happiness by inuring them to provide for themselves, than could be done by dividing all your estates among them."

--Benjamin Franklin, letter to Collinson, 1753


I would like to thank Paul for his comments to this post and respond to some of his points. Paul's mistake is that he has succumbed to the same failed logic that most liberals have and that is buying into DNC talking points about these protests not being grassroots, in reality he is listening to what someone else told him about the reason for the protests and is repeating it without thinking about it. I have not had any organization tell me what to say or how to think and a large majority of the people you see on TV have not either.
Paul is right in that ordinary circumstances yelling and screaming would be counterproductive, but without those outbursts we would be cruising through summer with the MSM force feeding us the positive spin on health care without pointing out any arguments against it. As for his point about Veterans, unless he is one like myself and has had to deal with the complete and total failures the VA has had in regards to veterans he shouldn't go there. As far as Medicaid and Medicare go, give me a break, those are two shining examples of inefficiency and cost overruns and have been running over budget for years. Paul, you will find very few of us that don't agree that reforms are required, where we disagree is the governments involvement, paying for it, and lack of tort reform measures.
Paul, please exam closely the reactions of your own party before you start making accusations that make you look like an Obamabot. Everything we are doing right now to oppose health care came straight out of the democrats handbook, forced on us due to a party in control that will not listen to our concerns (Sound familiar anti-war folks? By the way, there is still a war going on, where are you now?). Liberals created the art of protests, screaming down opponents and labeling to make their points. As far as the birthers go, those crazy little goons are as credible as the AWOLERS during the Bush Administration. Next time you have problems with protests, even ones you think are organized, remember your words the next time PETA terrorizes people trying to eat at a McDonald's, or Greenpeace keeps commercial fisherman from feeding their families, or any number of other ORGANIZED DEMOCRATIC PARTY protests...We sure will.

The First Liberal

Christopher Columbus. He left not knowing where he was going, got there not knowing where he was, left there not knowing where he’d been and did it all on borrowed money.

(from an email from my friend Blayne, thought a little humor was in order after my angry last post)

Assumptions are Good

Liberals are all about assumptions and that is okay. Very soon the left-wing is going to assume its way out of office. Why do I say that? Because liberals like to lump conservatives all into one group of people and assume that if they can use the MSM to convince everyone else that is who we are then conservatives will lose public support.
Some examples and my reactions to them:
1. All Conservatives are poor, wife beaters, in t-shirts and racist people who have been lied to by Rush and Glenn and live in trailers....That is the way we are grouped by the MSM when there is broad public support against a liberal policy or they find a nameless conservative blogger to trash behind their own liberal blogger credentials. There have been numerous times when I have asked a liberal on a blog somewhere who from and where they got some information or to explain something they said and the response was "shut up, go back to your trailer and beat your wife!"
2. We all love NASCAR....Okay, what is wrong with that? I like NASCAR but I can't tell you how many conservative friends I have that just don't get the appeal of watching cars go around in circles. I also lost count of how many pro-Obama bumper stickers I have seen on cars that also had NASCAR stickers. That's okay; sport is an individual non-political taste. When I say I hate golf many of my conservative friends look at me like that's not possible.
3. The majority of the conservative base is undereducated and are incapable of understanding the issues at stake....The reason this belief is so widespread is the result of rampant liberalism at state universities. Many conservatives in college now keep their political views quiet in the classrooms and campuses for fear of retaliation from professors and students. Another reason is the liberal belief that if you don't agree with their agenda you must not be smart enough. In the almost 20 years I was in the Air Force I have met very few liberals and all the conservatives I have met had, at a minimum, a high school diploma and most had at least one, and sometimes multiple, college degrees. A perfect example of this is to get a room full of liberals and conservatives together and discuss a controversial issue. Let’s see who resorts to name calling and throwing out information with no factual basis first. I'm not saying that there are not Republicans capable of this but far fewer than in the hate-spewing left. My measure of intelligence is who will sit longer listening to an opposing viewpoint to see if there is any chance they might be wrong before throwing out a defense of their belief. Most conservatives are much more likely to hear and really listen to all viewpoints, issues and evidence while behaving more like adults than liberals.
4. All conservatives are yuppie slime bags, wearing Easter colored pastel sweaters, driving to town hall meetings in their middle class cars from their middle class homes to oppose health care because the insurance companies/conservative politicians paid or told them to do it...This is a perfect example of the MSM changing their narrow definition of conservative to whatever group they feel will receive the biggest backlash. During the Tea Parties the MSM would have you believe that the conservatives at those events met the definition that I listed as number one. Now that the people are showing up to speak to their elected representatives, the MSM have changed that definition to meet the new enemy definition supplied to them by the White House and the Speaker, insurance company controlled yuppies. Look, I understand that some people are influenced by lobbyists, they are called elected officials. Just because citizens of a district oppose a plan supported by their elected official and go to a meeting to voice their opposition doesn't make them Evil Insurance Lobbyists, they are concerned citizens speaking out about a subject they are concerned about and opposed to. Isn't the whole purpose of a town hall meeting to let the elected officials know our feelings on a matter and to find out what they are going to do about it? If these people were being trucked in from out of state in insurance company vehicles and having their suite at the hotel paid for by a pharmaceutical company than that is reportable news. That isn’t what is happening, this is the MSM trying to drown out the voice that doesn't agree with their liberal agenda!
5. All conservatives are Bible thumping zealots determined to take over the country and force everyone to pray before any event, pump out dozens of babies with a partner you don't love, and force their ethics on everyone...Once again, not true! I haven't been inside a church in years. I believe abortion is murder because I believe that an unborn child is alive and when you cease its life it is dead, pure and simple. That is a belief that is often challenged with a request for scientific proof, I return the request and say that I would rather err in favor of life (the left uses the same argument to oppose the death penalty but it is okay for them, forget about how an unborn child can't decide to kill another human being). How about some non-challenged scientific proof of manmade climate change? The same goes with gay marriage and homosexuality in general. This conservative doesn't care who you do what within your private life as long as they are an adult and consenting. Where I have the problem is when there is an expectation that others beliefs will be discarded to support the institution financially through assisted parenthood for gay partners, tax advantages through legalized marriages etc..That is a tough sell to tell people that a government recognized religious service can be used to legitimize an activity they feel is against the laws set forth by God. In my opinion the government should never have gotten involved in the marriage business to begin with. Recognize no unions and let them be a matter between the Churches/agencies involved and individuals.
The bottom line is that liberals and the MSM are going to quickly alienate moderates of both parties by trying to narrowly define what makes one a conservative and ascribing a set of dismissive attributes to all of them. They are also going to motivate a conservative base that by nature is usually slow to stand up and say enough! Conservatives by definition try to stay out of other people’s business but criticizing their lifestyle by lumping them into groups that don't apply to them may wake them up. I say let the liberals and the MSM continue to dismiss the people who meet any of these criteria and they will fall apart under the pressure of their own political correctness when they offend one too many groups.

Charley Helvy

Monday, August 10, 2009

Misplaced Texan

I have been slow to add other blogs to my blog roll because I want it to truly represent blogs written by people that I share values with and to make sure they represent my position as well. It also doesn't hurt that most of these sites (IE..all of them) are much more accomplished than I am so the impact of me listing them isn't really going to do much for them. Anyway as a displaced Texan, working in the Middle East, who just retired from the Air Force in Alaska, this is the perfect site for me. It is an honest site that pokes holes in every theory, lie and smear directed at the only honest politician...

http://texas4palin.blogspot.com/

Harry Reid Chicken

Absoulutely hilarious!

Read this now! Love the picture!


http://anotherblackconservative.blogspot.com/2009/08/harry-reid-is-too-chicken-to-hold-live.html

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Dangerous Lessons

As I have said before on this blog, I love Sarah Palin. I think she is a woman with a true conservative platform that could lead this country in the right direction. It is hard for me to be critical of her but I have taken shots at the MSM for not being balanced so here it goes.

Sarah Palin is wrong.

In a posting on her Facebook page Gov. Palin stated that "we must stick to a discussion of the issues and not get sidetracked by tactics that can be accused of leading to intimidation or harassment. Such tactics diminish our nation’s civil discourse which we need now more than ever because the fine print in this outrageous health care proposal must be understood clearly and not get lost in conscientious voters’ passion to want to make elected officials hear what we are saying. Let’s not give the proponents of nationalized health care any reason to criticize us. "

While I understand that her message is to conduct yourself like an adult. What I think she might not understand is that we are not dealing with adults. Congress and the administrations has not listened to civil protest when we tried to tell them we didn't want massive bailouts of the banks and auto industry, didn't hear that we didn't want programs placed that would inevitably lead to higher taxes for middle class Americans and government interference with our daily lives, didn't care about any of it and dismissed those civil protests as inconsequential and turned a name meant to convey an idea and belief into a nasty sexual innuendo to throw back at us.

Is it any surprise that we have learned that to get these peoples attention you have to be loud and ugly to get through the shield of elitism? Gov. Palin may not realize that in these peoples world, normal people do not matter! We are a mass of ignorant savages to them and the only way that they are going to care about the widespread discontent over socialized medicine is to make them scared. Scared not for their personal safety but of their way of life. These Democrats are used to high speed lifestyles, government transportation, a fawning press corp giving them lots of TV time. If they wake up and realize that it is very likely to create a huge backlash and get them voted out of all those perks they have enjoyed than these protests will have worked. Unfortunately, we have learned the only way to wake up a liberal is too yell very loudly before they hear you. We learned but it was the liberals who taught us these dangerous lessons.

At this point we no longer care about giving the enemy reason to criticize us. We have tried civil debate and failed. We do not want to sit on our hands quietly criticizing something that will pass through congress without being completely read or understood by most members and the public. People concerned about this should continue to be loud and vocal until a promise is made to slow down the process, discuss the details and make sure it is understood.

The liberals need to understand that assurances made by them concerning what is and is not going to be in the health care bill are meaningless when the other side is using facts and specific passages from legislation to show us what is in the bill. Not until the President does one of his daily television appearances and states that he has heard the will of the people he works for and will slow down and reasonably discuss with and work with everyone can we return to civilized discussion. When you are not heard you talk louder!

Forgotten Documents

Before our representatives decide to vote for a bill that they probably won't even read here is a little light reading, not as long as the bill, to give them a little guidance. Of particular interest at this moment in time is this little passage from the second document.

Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/bill_of_rights_transcript.html

Lesson in Socialism

This is one of those chain emails that makes it's way around the country so there is no way to prove it's accuracy. I came across it it on Hannity's Intern Blog. True or not it pretty much boils down the conservative argument against socialism to the bare basics. Maybe a way to educate even your most liberal friends?

http://hannity.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/04/14/interns-perspective-the-chain-e-mail-strike-again/

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Community of Dissent

I would like to thank the people who have viewed and encouraged my efforts to get involved and share my point of view through this blog. Some of my friends at my Amazon.com discussion group, despite us probably having wildly divergent ideas politically, have been very supportive. We don't discuss politics there, it's not the place for it.

The support I have seen from other conservative bloggers has been tremendous! First and foremost was the quick and professional manner that Clifton B. took the time to view my blog and offer invaluable advice on how to improve it. He also went out of his way to recommend other people stop by here and take a look around. Having feedback from experienced people cannot be overlooked, especially from those whose own blogs are extremely well written and widely regarded with admiration. I think that it is unlikely that anyone on this site has not heard of him or been to his blog but on the bizarre chance that you haven't please go take a look at

http://anotherblackconservative.blogspot.com/

He will supply relevant information from an important point of view.

Lastly I would like to thank the editor of American Thinker, Thomas Lifson, for reviewing an article submission for me. American Thinker is one of the best sites for articles and blogs on the internet and you know if one of your submissions are posted there then your writing is top notch. I know I am not up to their standard yet but the fact that they are willing to review submissions from a newcomer gives me hope that someday I will be able to articulate my viewpoint in the most effective manner possible.

I am proud to be one of the newest members of the community of dissent and would encourage all people who stop and read these blogs to put their own voice out there to be heard. Regardless of your background, education level, vocabulary, or writing ability your voice is important and deserves to be heard. If you are new to this, stop by and let me know. I would enjoy reading your posts and returning the same kindness and references that have been extended to me.

Elderly Dissent Silenced

I would urge everyone to read this great article by Susan Prince that was published on American Thinker. It does a great job of humanizing the people being demonized by the administration and the steps they are willing to take to silence people who oppose their plan to remake this country into a place I won't recognize and no longer be proud of!

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/08/town_hall_in_texas.html

Journalist Activism

For those of you reading this that don't know me, I am retired from the US Air Force and currently hold a contract job in the Middle East. Not a big 3 figure salary job, just a slightly higher than I would get in the states. Anyway the point is that even though I am in the Middle East I am not cut off from events back home.

Thanks to the fine men and women who work at AFN (Armed Forces Network) I get to see television and news from the states. There are downfalls such as the episodes of some TV shows being shown here for the first time right before they are released on DVD or live sporting events coming on at 2 AM. The show are provided to AFN at little or no cost and because of this there are no commercials.

Don't get to excited, the lack of commercials just mean that to get shows to fit into time slots commercials are replaced with DOD and military branch PSA's and military news stories. If I have the definition and consequences of sexual assault explained to me one more time I think I can put being an expert at preventing it on my resume.

Now to the point of my tirade...AFN only has one news channel and they share that channel by showing equal amounts of time to MSNBC, FOXNews, CNN, CBS, ABC etc... In other words a lot of info to push into 24 hours.

Watching news in this format has really highlighted the partisan nature of the media. You watch three hours of MSNBC, CNN, and CBS and then when FOXNews comes on you are really struck by the obvious lack of effort to even hide or disguise their partisanship anymore. You go from Obama is the greatest person to ever grace the rest of us with his presence in the history of mankind to Obama is Hitler and determined to destroy us all.

Whatever happened to a newscast where the reporter states "this is what the President said, this is what the House Minority Leader said, and this is the actual wording on the bill"? Those are facts that let viewers determine their own point of view. Instead the media thinks the public is too stupid and has to be led to an opinion by them because us doing so on our own might be dangerous and lead us to having viewpoints that oppose their own. When their efforts fail and people voice their opposition to media backed legislation they are branded as uneducated mobs by that same media.

This needs to stop now! Journalism is not the stage for activism. Journalism is an American way of life and is iconic in it's ability to freely inform the public of events that effect their lives. Facts and not interpretation! Objectivity, research, honesty, integrity, and trust! These are facets of being a journalist that must not be being taught in our journalism schools anymore. I am not relieving FOXNews from it's responsibility to being fair and factual but when everyone else is supporting a specific political agenda what is left for them to do. I would like to see the MSM reign in the sensationalism and opined reporting and maybe FOXNews would do the same. Either way some one tell me where to get news that isn't tilted to one party.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Letter to the White House

This is a copy of the email I sent to the informer email set up by the gestapo at the White House:

Dear Secret Police,
Just the simple fact that this email exists and the manner in which it is being used is disgusting. This is more threatening to me and my civil liberties than anything the Bush Administration tried to do, and believe me, there were a lot of things they did that I felt infringed on my freedom. Next it will be an email address for turning in people that use more fuel than the government allows or for people who aren't recycling. We may even have to turn in those selfish people who pay for and like their current coverage. Those self centered people believe that, even if your claims of being able to keep it are true, that they shouldn't have to pay for everyone else's insurance through government subsidization. Whatever happened to the America where you work hard for what you have and earned the lifestyle this country is envied for? You want to reduce the cost of health care and cover everyone? Start with Tort reform and then decrease the amount of "uninsured Americans" by enforcing our immigration laws and deporting the millions of illegal aliens that you keep including in your count. Admit this was a mistake that makes you look like the Gestapo and remove this email site and any evidence that it ever existed.

Charley Helvy

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

How Dare They Organize

I am a little baffled by the MSM and liberal politicians "anger" and accusations of people protesting health care reform being organized by republican organizations and insurance companies. As far as the republican organizations go I will resort to the liberal mindset and say DUH!!

Of course conservatives and republicans are informed and organized by republican organizations. That would be like me being angered or not understanding why abortion rights activists are getting information and staging protests with the help of planned parenthood and the DNC.

God forbid that civil rights protests are backed by the ACLU or the NAACP. I hope Greenpeace never organizes those environmentalists, that would be the beginning of the end!

The point of all this is that the feigned outrage by the Obama Administration that these protests are being organized is ludicrous and I hope that most Americans with the ability to think for themselves have the same reaction that I did. So what? If your Republican Senator or Representative send an email to constituents saying we oppose the health care bill and this is why and if you feel the same way please attend this town hall meeting and let other representatives know, there is nothing evil or diabolical about it. That is the American political process working the way it is supposed to.

A true news story would be if these protesters were being bussed in from 5 states away to argue with a representative that doesn't represent them. Then I would have to say that is going to far. If you know of this happening and can prove it let me know. As far as I can tell the protesters at these meetings have been from the areas of the meeting.

As far as the insurance companies go, if I was in the states right now I would attend my town hall meeting with my representative and I don't know, nor have I had any contact with, anyone who works for an insurance company. Many of my friends who share my views on health care and have gone to these meetings also have no relationship with Insurance companies. All of these accusations are an attempt by the left to associate conservatives with the new demon opposed to health care appointed by Pelosi, insurance companies.

I suggest that Pelosi, Reid and Obama go back to the war room and plan another strategy for this one because demonizing your constituency when they voice opposition is just bad politics.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Military Voting

There was a great post on The American Thinker about military votes not being counted. The thing to take away from this is that the military is usually overwhelmingly conservative. If the votes had been counted fairly or voting easier to achieve for military members than there is a very good possibility that we wouldn't have to tolerate Al Franken right now. Here is the link:

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/07/time_for_a_military_suffrage_m.html

Monday, August 3, 2009

Straight Talk

According to Rick Moran on American Thinker, quoting Stacy McCain and Dan Riehl, This is Sarah Palins Official response when asked if it was true she was getting a divorce:

"Divorce Todd? Have you seen Todd? I may be just a renegade hockey mom, but I'm not blind!"-- SARAH PALIN
Yes, that is her OFFICIAL response, which I got via
phone at 5:35 this afternoon. Take that to the bank.


Told you, straight talk from a normal person. How refreshing.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Sarah Palin

Today's topic for my many readers (IE..myself): Sarah Palin.

All right, I must admit I like the woman. I voted for her as Governor when I lived in Alaska and I voted for her as the VP (technically I had to vote for McCain to vote for her). I think that on her own with another true conservative that ticket would have been stronger. I admire John McCain but really think that he is to quick to cave to liberals on some issues.

Sarah Palin has faced so much scrutiny from the left that it is hard for me to fathom where the hatred is coming from. Aren't democrats supposed to be the party of inclusion? The protector of minority and women's rights? If the right had smeared Geraldine Ferraro to the extent that the left wing media and other politicians have Palin than we would still be hearing fallout from it today.

Is Sarah Palin a perfect shining example of everything that is right in the world? No. Who is though when you dig through every imaginable detail of their life? What she appears to be is a normal, smart woman who loves her family, state, and country. She doesn't dress up facts to paint a pretty picture for constituents leaving all to think they have her support. She puts her opinions out front with no room for interpretation and speaks plainly to make sure there is no confusion.

With Sarah Palin we wouldn't have had the cop and beer saga we all just enjoyed. First, she wouldn't have commented on the situation without facts and when (if) she did it would have been a plain statement of her feeling on the issue without inflammatory language to make the situation worse. Something along the lines of "the police were wrong to arrest an American citizen in their own home" or "when police are investigating a potential break in of your residence, you should cooperate with them for your own safety and if you aren't you need to be removed from the situation". Do I know which stand she would take? No, but I can make an educated guess.

Anyway the point of this drive by is that I am sick of pretty words that mean nothing and statements from politicians designed to appease whatever group is being addressed at the moment. For the next 3+ years we are going to hear nothing but dressed up polish to make bad policies seem good with imaginary numbers pulled out of thin air to support them. Let's hope and work hard to make sure it is not for 7+ more years. We can make a start in 2010 by sending a clear message that we are not happy with excessive spending, broken campaign promises and intrusion by the federal government into our daily lives.

I like Sarah Palin's straight talk and even if I don't agree with her on everything she is the only politician I trust right now to be completely truthful with me. She deserves better, more balanced treatment from the media, but then again, so do all conservatives right now. I hope she runs in 2012 and if not I hope another strong Conservative leader emerges and fills the leadership gap on the ticket.

Lesson Number One

All right, lesson number one. Never misspell a word on your blog if you do not know how to change it! Live and learn, another skill not widely used by liberals.

Welcome to the First Drive By

Hello fellow conservatives (and/or those who are only here to laugh at the blogging rookie),

I am new to the blogoshphere as far as contributing to it goes but I have read just about every opinionated blog there is, The American Thinker to The Huffington Post. Now, please don't run at the Huff Po comment. I believe firmly in the adage of know thy enemy. That is why I watch Keith Olberman and Rachael Maddow (it's easier when you are medicated), watching them helps me to reinforce my belief system. All it takes is 10 minutes of Olberman ridiculing Beck or Limbaugh for being mean and nasty and than watch him go on a hate filled tirade right after the commercial break to remind me to never take a liberal seriously and to do everything in my power to convince others to think for themselves.

Anyway, I work for a living and do have a life. The point is that I will occasionally share my thoughts here and invite opinion and discussion, so this spot is for myself and like minded friends to share opinions on important topics. Even liberals are welcome even if for comic relief.

The first thought I would like to share is not an unheard of one: Why do liberals insist that the exact same actions that they condemn from conservatives are acceptable when they do it?

Does anyone else remember the AWOL conspiracy theorists during the 2004 election? The liberals were like pit bulls with a chew toy. Every time any evidence was offered to disprove the stupid rumors, they would add to the suspicion and create new theories. How is this any different from the misguided tenacity shown by birthers? I personally think that it is baseless and that President Obama is an American, just the worst one ever. The same liberals who are putting down the birthers and trying to claim them as representative of all conservatives are the same ones that insisted that President Bush was AWOL despite all evidence to the contrary.

I believe that there are those on both sides of the political spectrum that will go to any length to discredit the opposition regardless of the hypocrisy it creates. The fortunate thing for conservatives is that we do not need to hunt for conspiracy theories to discredit this president or congress, they do it for us. All we have to do is point it out and hope the independents and moderate democrats suddenly come to their senses.

Not holding my breath for that though.