Thursday, February 28, 2013

Shepherds and Sheep by Thomas Sowell

I had to share this wonderful article by Thomas Sowell with you. He is such a great writer and a great mind. I would love to have the opportunity to sit down and have a conversation with him. If the black community feel that they must idolize one of their own then let them pick a man such as this.

Shepherds and Sheep 

John Stuart Mill’s classic essay “On Liberty” gives reasons why some people should not be taking over other people’s decisions about their own lives. But Professor Cass Sunstein of Harvard has given reasons to the contrary. He cites research showing “that people make a lot of mistakes, and that those mistakes can prove extremely damaging.”
Professor Sunstein is undoubtedly correct that “people make a lot of mistakes.” Most of us can look back over our own lives and see many mistakes, including some that were very damaging.
What Cass Sunstein does not tell us is what sort of creatures, other than people, are going to override our mistaken decisions for us. That is the key flaw in the theory and agenda of the left.

Implicit in the wide range of efforts on the left to get government to take over more of our decisions for us is the assumption that there is some superior class of people who are either wiser or nobler than the rest of us.
Yes, we all make mistakes. But do governments not make bigger and more catastrophic mistakes?
Think about the First World War, from which nations on both sides ended up worse off than before, after an unprecedented carnage that killed substantial fractions of whole younger generations and left millions starving amid the rubble of war.

Think about the Holocaust, and about other government slaughters of even more millions of innocent men, women and children under Communist governments in the Soviet Union and China.
Even in the United States, government policies in the 1930s led to crops being plowed under, thousands of little pigs being slaughtered and buried, and milk being poured down sewers, at a time when many Americans were suffering from hunger and diseases caused by malnutrition.

The Great Depression of the 1930s, in which millions of people were plunged into poverty in even the most prosperous nations, was needlessly prolonged by government policies now recognized in retrospect as foolish and irresponsible.

One of the key differences between mistakes that we make in our own lives and mistakes made by governments is that bad consequences force us to correct our own mistakes.
But government officials cannot admit to making a mistake without jeopardizing their whole careers.
Can you imagine a President of the United States saying to the mothers of America, “I am sorry your sons were killed in a war I never should have gotten us into”?

What is even more relevant to Professor Sunstein’s desire to have our betters tell us how to live our lives, is that so many oppressive and even catastrophic government policies were cheered on by the intelligentsia.
Back in the 1930s, for example, totalitarianism was considered to be “the wave of the future” by much of the intelligentsia, not only in the totalitarian countries themselves but in democratic nations as well.

The Soviet Union was being praised to the skies by such literary luminaries as George Bernard Shaw in Britain and Edmund Wilson in America, while literally millions of people were being systematically starved to death by Stalin and masses of others were being shipped off to slave labor camps.
Even Hitler and Mussolini had their supporters or apologists among intellectuals in the Western democracies, including at one time Lincoln Steffens and W.E.B. Du Bois.

An even larger array of the intellectual elite in the 1930s opposed the efforts of Western democracies to respond to Hitler’s massive military buildup with offsetting military defense buildups to deter Hitler or to defend themselves if deterrence failed.

“Disarmament” was the mantra of the day among the intelligentsia, often garnished with the suggestion that the Western democracies should “set an example” for other nations — as if Nazi Germany or imperial Japan was likely to follow their example
.
Too many among today’s intellectual elite see themselves as our shepherds and us as their sheep. Tragically, too many of us are apparently willing to be sheep, in exchange for being taken care of, being relieved of the burdens of adult responsibility and being supplied with “free” stuff paid for by others.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

You Wanna Take My What

Everyday more and more sneaks out into the news about what the Progressives really want to do to our 2nd Amendments and what they are doing to reach their goals.


If you really think it is just about certain guns and clips you need to do a little more research. Obama was quoted as having said, several years ago, "I really don't see why anyone should own a gun." Really Mr President. I guess you don't question why your security guard has guns or why the people guarding your wife and children have guns. Only us...the common folks.

Did you know that the administration is putting on a concerted effort to get gun control laws passed in Colorado because it will then become easier to pass them in other states.

I hope you read the letter I posted a few days ago. It was written by a survivor of the Columbine shootings to Obama. It is really an excellent letter and provides us with many good arguments against gun control.

As to Biden's suggestion about all us girls should use a shotgun for protection. Really Joe. Would you please post a video of your wife Jill firing off a 10 gauge. There is a video going around showing women being knocked on their butts from firing off "a couple of rounds." It would be funny if the issue weren't so serious.

Here is a link to a really cute decal which will show where you stand on gun rights and do it in a way that is not offensive...at least I don't think it is.

You Wanna Take My What (click the following link)
Stand Up For Your 2nd Amendment Rights

We must all, who believe that our rights are in danger, take a stand. Even a small stand such as this little bumper sticker will make a point and perhaps encourage others to do as well.

Have a good day.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Obama and Dr. Seuss


Enjoy Learning About Sequestter. If you are a Dr. Seuss fan you will enjoy this approach to explaining the sequester from Heritage. Not a member of Heritage, I encourage you to join and become part of the solution, not part of the problem.
  Morning Bell: Obama and the Seuss-quester Amy Payne February 22, 2013 at 8:46 am (45)            

 On Pennsylvania Avenue, right near the end, there lived a President who wanted to spend. He knew spending meant power, so hour by hour, he thought up more spends from his Washington tower. “I’ll spend without limits; I’ll spend without blame! Raising taxes to pay—that’s the name of the game.” Down the street, though, a House filled with thriftier folk had a budget to pass, or the country’d go broke. “We can’t spend all day; we’ve got bills to pay! Let’s keep deficits and higher taxes away.” The Senate next door to the House just refused. “We don’t like your budget. We’ve got some bad news: The President says we can spend all we want, and we’ll simply raise taxes whenever we choose.” So they spent and they spent and they borrowed some more. And when all that was spent, they spent same as before. But not everyone thought the spending was nice. In the House and the Senate, some spenders thought twice. “We’ll cut down on spending. We have a bad feeling…” then—SMACK!—right on schedule, they hit the debt ceiling. Then the President’s office, confronted with debt: “If it’s cuts they want now, then it’s cuts they shall get. We’ll threaten such cuts that NO one would take, and show them that cuts are not smart to make.” “This will make Congress move. We’ll just float out a tester… broad, haphazard cuts that we’ll call the sequester.” The Senate and even the House said, “Okay! That will motivate us to find a good way. We’ll figure this out and stave off those cuts—to allow them to happen, we’d have to be nuts.” So the deadline was set, but the spending went on. A year and a half had soon come and gone. The House passed a budget; the Senate said no; the President very much enjoyed the show. “Spend higher! Spend faster! Grow the welfare rolls! Soon, love for the spending will show up in the polls.” He even raised taxes, but it wasn’t enough—the levels of spending grew too fast to keep up. “Don’t you mind the sequester,” he told Capitol Hill. “You said you would fix it, and I’m sure you will.” But they could not agree on ways to cut spending, and before they knew it, the sequester was pending. “Oh no!” they all cried. “We can’t let these cuts stand!” And the President said, “WHO thought of this terrible plan?” They didn’t remember his plan all along. He distracted them with his spending-cut song. Now he returned to save them from harm, and to keep them forgetting all but his charm. So the President said with a glint in his eye, “You tried to cut spending. I saw how you tried. But it’s just too painful—I’m sure you can see. From the beginning, you should have listened to me.” “I’ll save you all from the spend-cutters’ axes. You see, the solution is just to raise taxes.” *** We don’t know yet how this story will end. Will Congress raise taxes and continue to spend? We need a balanced budget with smarter cuts—reforming entitlements will take guts. Let the President know that we’re onto his plan. Share this story with as many people as you can.

Friday, February 22, 2013

Letter from a Columbine survivor


Letter to Obama from shooting survivor, This is such a great letter, if you believe in the second amendment this letter will give you all the arguments you need to battle with the fools out there who fail to see where the progressives want to go with this. Obama just said yesterday that there is no one, not a criminal, who faars gun control. Well I didn't know I was a criminal, glad he straightened me out on that. This gun control issue is not a just a United States issue, this, if passed will become a worldwide issue with our gun regulation information being available to the United Nations. How do you feel about that? If you are not up to date on our second amendment and the danger it is in you must step up, educate yourself and take your stand. If you don't you may well be asking yourseld in a few years "why was I so blind?" PLEASE SHARE THIS Mr. President, As a student who was shot and wounded during the Columbine massacre, I have a few thoughts on the current gun debate. In regards to your gun control initiatives: Universal Background Checks First, a universal background check will have many devastating effects. It will arguably have the opposite impact of what you propose. If adopted, criminals will know that they can not pass a background check legally, so they will resort to other avenues. With the conditions being set by this initiative, it will create a large black market for weapons and will support more criminal activity and funnel additional money into the hands of thugs, criminals, and people who will do harm to American citizens. Second, universal background checks will create a huge bureaucracy that will cost an enormous amount of tax payers dollars and will straddle us with more debt. We cannot afford it now, let alone create another function of government that will have a huge monthly bill attached to it. Third, is a universal background check system possible without universal gun registration? If so, please define it for us. Universal registration can easily be used for universal confiscation. I am not at all implying that you, sir, would try such a measure, but we do need to think about our actions through the lens of time. It is not impossible to think that a tyrant, to the likes of Mao, Castro, Che, Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, and others, could possibly rise to power in America. It could be five, ten, twenty, or one hundred years from now — but future generations have the natural right to protect themselves from tyrannical government just as much as we currently do. It is safe to assume that this liberty that our forefathers secured has been a thorn in the side of would-be tyrants ever since the Second Amendment was adopted. Ban on Military-Style Assault Weapons The evidence is very clear pertaining to the inadequacies of the assault weapons ban. It had little to no effect when it was in place from 1994 until 2004. It was during this time that I personally witnessed two fellow students murder twelve of my classmates and one teacher. The assault weapons ban did not deter these two murderers, nor did the other thirty-something laws that they broke. Gun ownership is at an all time high. And although tragedies like Columbine and Newtown are exploited by ideologues and special-interest lobbying groups, crime is at an all time low. The people have spoken. Gun store shelves have been emptied. Gun shows are breaking attendance records. Gun manufacturers are sold out and back ordered. Shortages on ammo and firearms are countrywide. The American people have spoken and are telling you that our Second Amendment shall not be infringed. 10-Round Limit for Magazines Virginia Tech was the site of the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history. Seung-Hui Cho used two of the smallest caliber hand guns manufactured and a handful of ten round magazines. There are no substantial facts that prove that limited magazines would make any difference at all. Second, this is just another law that endangers law-abiding citizens. I’ve heard you ask, “why does someone need 30 bullets to kill a deer?” Let me ask you this: Why would you prefer criminals to have the ability to out-gun law-abiding citizens? Under this policy, criminals will still have their 30-round magazines, but the average American will not. Whose side are you on? Lastly, when did they government get into the business of regulating “needs?” This is yet another example of government overreaching and straying from its intended purpose. Selling to Criminals Mr. President, these are your words: “And finally, Congress needs to help, rather than hinder, law enforcement as it does its job. We should get tougher on people who buy guns with the express purpose of turning around and selling them to criminals. And we should severely punish anybody who helps them do this.” Why don’t we start with Eric Holder and thoroughly investigate the Fast and Furious program? Furthermore, the vast majority of these mass murderers bought their weapons legally and jumped through all the hoops — because they were determined to murder. Adding more hoops and red tape will not stop these types of people. It doesn’t now — so what makes you think it will in the future? Criminals who cannot buy guns legally just resort to the black market. Criminals and murderers will always find a way. Critical Examination Mr. President, in theory, your initiatives and proposals sound warm and fuzzy — but in reality they are far from what we need. Your initiatives seem to punish law-abiding American citizens and enable the murderers, thugs, and other lowlifes who wish to do harm to others. Let me be clear: These ideas are the worst possible initiatives if you seriously care about saving lives and also upholding your oath of office. There is no dictate, law, or regulation that will stop bad things from happening — and you know that. Yet you continue to push the rhetoric. Why? You said, “If we can save just one person it is worth it.” Well here are a few ideas that will save more that one individual: First, forget all of your current initiatives and 23 purposed executive orders. They will do nothing more than impede law-abiding citizens and breach the intent of the Constitution. Each initiative steals freedom, grants more power to an already-overreaching government, and empowers and enables criminals to run amok. Second, press Congress to repeal the “Gun Free Zone Act.” Don’t allow America’s teachers and students to be endangered one-day more. These parents and teachers have the natural right to defend themselves and not be looked at as criminals. There is no reason teachers must disarm themselves to perform their jobs. There is also no reason a parent or volunteer should be disarmed when they cross the school line. This is your chance to correct history and restore liberty. This simple act of restoring freedom will deter would-be murderers and for those who try, they will be met with resistance. Mr. President, do the right thing, restore freedom, and save lives. Show the American people that you stand with them and not with thugs and criminals. Respectfully, Severely Concerned Citizen, Evan M. Todd *********************************************