Still in the Game

Dashing the statists' fondest hopes, Sarah Palin is making it clear that she isn't going to disappear or back down.  See the latest story here.

Rare Honest Realism

Wisconsin's Milwaukee County sheriff has acknowledged that there cannot be enough law enforcement officers to protect individual citizens.  Accordingly, he is recommending that people learn to use firearms and take responsibility for defending themselves and their loved ones.

Makes sense, and anyone who thinks about it will understand that police agencies are not organized to provide protection to anyone.  Their personnel almost always show up after being called after harm has been done.  Then, to the extent that their resources enable them to do so, they endeavor to apprehend the perpetrator.

Bagpiper's 'Man Thing'

As a bagpiper, I play many gigs. Recently I was asked by a

funeral director to play at a graveside service for a homeless

man. He had no family or friends, so the service was to be at a

pauper's cemetery in the back country. As I was not familiar

with the backwoods, I got lost and, being a typical man,

I didn't stop for directions.

I finally arrived an hour late and saw the funeral guy had evidently

gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight. There were only the

diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch.

I felt badly and apologized to the men for being late. I went to the

side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in

place. I didn't know what else to do, so I started to play.

The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around.

I played out my heart and soul for this man with no family and friends.  I played like I've never played before for this homeless man.

And as I played 'Amazing Grace,' the workers began to weep. They wept, I wept, we all wept together. When I finished I packed up my bagpipes and started for my car.  Though my head hung low, my heart was full.  As I opened the door to my car, I heard one of the workers say,

"I never seen nothin' like that before and I've been putting in

septic tanks for twenty years."

Apparently, I'm still lost . . . .  It's a man thing.

New Term, New Slogan: 'Who Cares?"

Vacation Hiatus

Kerr is going to be out of the country on vacation until roughly January's last few days.  So no new items will be posted on this blog until about the end of the month. In the meantime, take the time to peruse and, hopefully, enjoy the previously posted pearls of wisdom.

Deadly Threat to Liberty

Registration Records Prove Criminals Are Unarmed

No Credit Earned

Lessons From a U.S. Government Massacre

December 29, 2012 marked the 122nd Anniversary of the murder of 297 Sioux Indians at Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
 These 297 people, in their winter camp, were murdered by federal agents and members of the 7th Cavalry who had come to confiscate their firearms “for their own safety and protection.” The slaughter began AFTER the majority of the Sioux had peacefully turned in their firearms. When the final round had flown, of the 297 dead or dying, two thirds (200) were women and children.

Around 40 members of the 7th Cavalry were killed, over half cut down by friendly fire from the Hotchkiss guns of their overzealous comrades-in-arms.  Twenty members of the 7th Cavalry were deemed “National Heros” and awarded the Medal of Honor for their acts of cowardice.

We do not hear of Wounded Knee today.  It is not mentioned in our history classes or books.  What little does exist about Wounded Knee is normally the sanitized “Official Government Explanation” or the historically and factually inaccurate depictions of the events leading up to the massacre on the movie screen.

Wounded Knee was among the first federally backed gun confiscation attempts in United States history.  It ended in the senseless murder of 297 people.

Before you jump on the emotionally charged bandwagon for gun-control, take a moment to reflect on the real purpose of the Second Amendment -- The right of the people to take up arms in defense of themselves, their families, and property in the face of invading armies or an oppressive government.  The argument that the Second Amendment only applies to hunting and target shooting is asinine.  When the United States Constitution was drafted “hunting” was an everyday chore carried out by men and women to put meat on the table each night, and “target shooting” was an unheard of concept -- musket balls were precious commodities in the wilds of early America, and were certainly not wasted “target shooting.”  The Second Amendment was written by people who fled oppressive and tyrannical regimes in Europe, and refers to the right of American citizens to be armed for defense purposes should such tyranny rise in the United States.

As time goes on the average citizen in the United States continues to lose personal freedom or “liberty.”  Far too many times unjust bills are passed and signed into law under the guise of “for your safety” or “for protection.”  The Patriot Act signed into law by G.W. Bush, then expanded and continued by Barack Obama is just one of many examples of American citizens being stripped of their rights and privacy for “safety.”  Now, the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is on the table, and will, most likely now will be cut back and eventually taken away for “our safety.”

Before American citizens blindly accepts whatever new firearms legislation is about to be rolled out, they should stop and think about something for just one minute: 
Evil does exist in our world. It always has and always will. Throughout history evil people have committed evil acts.  In the Bible one of the first stories is that of Cain killing Abel.  We can not legislate “evil” into extinction. Good people will abide by the law, defective people will always find a way around it.

And another thought:  Evil exists all around us, but looking back at the historical record of the past 200 years across the globe, where have “evil” and “malevolence” most often been found?  By the hands of those with power -- governments.  The greatest human tragedies on record and the largest losses of innocent human life have been caused by governments.  Who do governments target? “Scapegoats” and “enemies” within their own borders . . . but only after they have been disarmed to the point where they are no longer a threat. Ask any Native American, and they will tell you it was inferior technology and lack of arms that contributed to their demise.  Ask any Armenian why it was so easy for the Turks to exterminate millions of them, and they will answer “We were disarmed before it happened.”  Ask any Jew what Hitler’s first step prior to the mass murders of the Holocaust was -- confiscation of firearms from the people.

Wounded Knee is a prime example of why the Second Amendment exists, and why we shouldn’t be rushed into surrendering our Right to Bear Arms.  Without the Second Amendment we have no means to defend ourselves and our families.

Global Warming Needed in California

The San Francisco Bay Area has experienced record cold temperatures during the past week.

How cold? one might ask.

Well, according to one report -- albeit a still unconfirmed one -- a local liberal politician has been spotted with his hands in his own pockets ! ! ! !

Let's See If We Can Spot a Place To Start Cutting

No Longer the Leader We Used to Be

Portrait of Hollowed Out America

A clear description of the dismally degraded state of the nation is provided by an insightful rabbi in this essay.

An excellent analysis of the factors behind the onset and continuation of the deconstruction of the U.S. is set forth in a recent book --  The Fortunes of Permanence - Culture and Anarchy in an Age of Amnesia.  The book is well worth reading as it does an excellent job of diagnosing our self-inflicted wounds and putting them in historical perspective.  However, its author, Roger Kimball, is far more optimistic than I am about  the possibility of a national and societal revival.
  

Cutting Through the Assault Weapon Fog

Are We There Yet?

. . . when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty to throw off such Government and to provide new Guards for their future security.

. . . The Declaration of Independence.

Check out how far we have come here. 

Then think about this:

If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, — go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen!

. . . Samuel Adams

Time To Think About What Once Was Unthinkable

Being in the codger category, I used to think -- even while recognizing the decay and degradation that have gained dominance over our institutions -- that I would be dead and gone before the American republic collapsed.

However, things are moving far faster than I ever anticipated previously.

Accordingly, it is appropriate and necessary to think about and prepare contingency plans for what now may well, and probably does lie ahead.

One such possible and well reasoned plan is spelled out in this coherent essay.

Still hope that none of the suggested courses of action, let alone the specified escalations will become necessary . . . at least in my lifetime.  But proposals currently being made by our political 'leaders' indicate that clinging to that hope is an exercise in wishful thinking.

Three Good Arguments

 WILLING TO BE YOUR LIFE ON IT?

  REASON ENOUGH TO VISIT ISRAEL:

         OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF BABES:

Comic's Question Isn't Funny

Today Democrats said they want another trillion dollars in taxes. Didn't we just give them $620 billion last Wednesday? Is that gone already? Who is running this, "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills"?

. . . Jay Leno

Real Disarmament Required

 The FBI reports that 8.5  people are murdered with knives, blunt objects and bare hands for every one fatally shot with any type of rifle.  

So to be safe we obviously need to require not the elimination of assault rifles (which are but one undefined and undefinable rifle category) but real disarmament -- amputations . . . not necessarily of all arms as called for by extremists but just the more moderate mandatory removal of all those lethal hands, at least to start with.  We can always move higher up and lop off more of those dangerous limbs later if necessary.  

Why, Oh Why ? ? ?

How come the cost of living formula used to annually adjust upward the compensation of members of congress as well as of other government officials always results in a much larger percentage increase than results from the cost of living formula that the very same politicians have specified for use in adjusting Social Security retirement benefits?

Me First ! ! !

That's the rule by which our 'public servants' live . . . and thrive . . . very sumptuously.

And why, oh why, do we tolerate it?

Crime Stats the Media Won't Report

In addition, except for some local --  and mostly small town -- outlets, the media adamantly refuse to report any of the multitude of instances in which an armed private citizen uses his or her firearm to successfully defend himself or another person against an attack or to prevent the commission of some other crime.

Fiscal Cliff Deal Saved Special Tax Break for Favored One Percenters

Read about the ongoing special tax breaks that have been preserved for one of Obama supporting one percent favorites by clicking here.

For a more comprehensive list of the pork and fat pork recipients protected in the legislative fiasco enacted under the guise of avoiding a national plunge over the imaginary fiscal cliff, see this report.

For those old fashioned souls who retain any interest in the shredding of the nation's vestiges of virtue and moral integrity,  the utter depravity that underlies the foisting onto future generations the burdens of our government's current reckless spending is spelled out by George Will in this essay.

Cliff Just a Fictional Caper in Ongoing Fiscal Fraud

We went over the bogus cliff and of course nobody noticed a thing -- but everyone will as our taxes increase.

Turns out the fiscal cliff wasn't even a speed bump.

It provided a month of horrific crisis stories and provided an diversionary excuse and cover for the political class to spend and tax even more . . . and, because it didn't even slow them down, it failed even as a speed bump.

How Government Can Stop Excessive Spending

Overspending by government can be stopped.

Providing the pandering pimps and parasites who comprise our political establishment with an incentive to cut the budget sufficiently to do the job would do it.

To start with, enact a constitutional amendment that would prohibit and severely punish (i) any compensation being paid to, or received by any elected or appointed executive or legislative branch official in any year in which a balanced budget is not in place and being followed (with the exception of years in which the nation is engaged in a war declared by Congress in accordance with the Constitution), and (ii) any campaign  contributions being made to, or received by, for, or on behalf of any of the aforesaid officials.

How could they make the desired cuts.

Easily.

First, bring all of our troops home from overseas and keep them here.

Second, eliminate all foreign aid.

Third, stop paying anything to support the UN or, at a minimum, stop paying a disproportionate share of its costs.

Fourth, stop paying any and all subsidies of every nature and kind.

Fifth, eliminate all of the executive branch agencies and departments other than the Departments of State, Treasury, Defense, Justice, Interior, and Commerce, and concentrate and organize within them all truly essential functions of the eliminated bodies.  Also eliminate all of the unaccountable and supposedly independent regulatory agencies, again consolidating their few truly essential functions within the remaining executive branch departments. 

Finally, instead of making the budget cuts described below, as previously recommended by  Republican members of Congress to save $10.5 Trillion over ten years (without touching Social Security or the military), totally eliminate each and every one of the listed agencies and programs. 

* Corporation for Public Broadcasting Subsidy -- $445 million annual savings. 



* Save America 's Treasures Program -- $25 million annual savings. 



* International Fund for Ireland -- $17 million annual savings. 



* Legal Services Corporation -- $420 million annual savings. 



* National Endowment for the Arts -- $167.5 million annual savings. 



* National Endowment for the Humanities -- $167.5 million annual savings. 



* Hope VI Program -- $250 million annual savings. 



* Amtrak Subsidies -- $1.565 billion annual savings. 

* Eliminate duplicative education programs -- H.R. 2274 (in last Congress), authored by Rep. McKeon, eliminates 68 at a savings of $1.3 billion annually. 



* U.S. Trade Development Agency -- $55 million annual savings. 

* Woodrow Wilson Center Subsidy -- $20 million annual savings. 



* Cut in half funding for congressional printing and binding -- $47 million annual savings. 



* John C. Stennis Center Subsidy -- $430,000 annual savings. 



* Community Development Fund -- $4.5 billion annual savings. 

* Heritage Area Grants and Statutory Aid -- $24 million annual savings. 



* Cut Federal Travel Budget in Half -- $7.5 billion annual savings 



* Trim Federal Vehicle Budget by 20% -- $600 million annual savings. 



* Essential Air Service -- $150 million annual savings. 

* Technology Innovation Program -- $70 million annual savings. 



* Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Program -- $125 million annual savings. 



* Department of Energy Grants to States for Weatherization -- $530 million annual savings. 



* Beach Replenishment -- $95 million annual savings.

 



* New Starts Transit -- $2 billion annual savings. 


  

* Exchange Programs for Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Their Historical Trading Partners in Massachusetts -- $9 million annual savings.

* Intercity and High Speed Rail Grants -- $2.5 billion annual savings. 



* Title X Family Planning -- $318 million annual savings. 



*  Appalachian Regional Commission -- $76 million annual savings. 


* Economic Development Administration -- $293 million annual savings. 



* Programs under the National and Community Services Act -- $1.15 billion annual savings. 



* Applied Research at Department of Energy -- $1.27 billion annual savings. 



* FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership -- $200 million annual savings. 



*  Energy Star Program -- $52 million annual savings.

*  Economic Assistance to Egypt -- $250 million annually. 



* U.S. Agency for International Development -- $1.39 billion annual savings. 



* General Assistance to District of Columbia -- $210 million annual savings. 



* Subsidy for Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority -- $150 million annual savings. 



* Presidential Campaign Fund -- $775 million savings over ten years. 



* No funding for federal office space acquisition -- $864 million annual savings. 



* End prohibitions on competitive sourcing of government services. 



* Repeal the Davis-Bacon Act -- More than $1 billion annually. 



* IRS Direct Deposit: Require the IRS to deposit fees for some services it offers (such as processing payment plans for taxpayers) to the Treasury, instead of allowing it to remain as part of its budget -- $1.8 billion savings over ten years. 



* Require collection of unpaid taxes by federal employees -- $1 billion total savings. [WHAT THE HELL IS THIS ABOUT?] 



* Prohibit taxpayer funded union activities by federal employees -- $1.2 billion savings over ten years. 



* Sell excess federal properties the government does not make use of -- $15 billion total savings. 



* Eliminate death gratuities for Members of Congress. [WHAT???] 



* Eliminate Mohair Subsidies -- $1 million annual savings. 



*  Eliminate taxpayer subsidies to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -- $12.5 million annual savings [WELL, ISN'T THAT SPECIAL]

* Eliminate Market Access Program -- $200 million annual savings. 



* USDA Sugar Program -- $14 million annual savings. 



* Subsidy to Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) -- $93 million annual savings. 



* Eliminate the National Organic Certification Cost-Share Program -- $56.2 million annual savings. 



* Eliminate fund for Obamacare administrative costs -- $900 million savings. 



* Ready to Learn TV Program -- $27 million savings.

* HUD Ph.D. Program. 



 *  Deficit Reduction Check-Off Act. 

  



Quiz for Gun Control Advocates

Before considering any of their proposals, gun control advocates should be required to publicly address these tough questions.