…too darned intellectual

 
Chris Matthews came up with a dilly; “Is Obama just too darned intellectual?” This has really troubled those of us who are universally opposed to every thing he has done over the last ten months. Just for fun here is a graded list of some of his handling of thorny issues.

Reading ability ---------------- A+

Delivery ----------------------  A+

Extemporaneous Speaking -----F

International Diplomacy --------F

Basic Civics (57 states) ------- F

International History ----------- F

U.S. Constitution -------------- F

Inspiring “leg-tingling” ------ ----B

Yeah ,Chris, this guy is a real mental giant. It is reminiscent of Geico selling insurance using a gecko as their spokesman. The reality level is about the same as well. Is there anybody who believes that this “prop” actually thinks up the crap he spews? Oh yeah, I forgot: Chris Matthews. His relationship with “the one” is accomplished by remembering our slogan; “mental midgets of the world, unite.”

Perhaps Chris evaluated Obama's transcript as an undergraduate or from Harvard. His grades were so good that he has protected the public from embarrassing comparisons by not releasing them. I believe that he got “AA” on every course--affirmative action that is. At the least he is not at the extreme bottom of the intellectual pile since that is firmly occupied by Chris Matthews.

I seem to remember the same thing being said about Jimmy Carter. Let’s see, he managed to saddle us all with interest rates well past usurious, signed the law creating the Community Reinvestment Act, bungled the hostage crisis in Iran and left us with re-instatement of the draft. His greatest legacy was fleeing from an enraged rabbit. But some accused him, falsely, of being an intellectual giant..

Even today he insists that the nails used in construction for Habitat for Humanity all have “this side up” stenciled on the heads. I will give Carter this: he laid the groundwork for the election of one of the greatest of American presidents, Ronald Reagan.

Matthews, give me a break!


In His abiding love,

Cecil Moon

The Second Amendment

  
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

In the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, various freedoms (religion, speech, press, assembly and petition) are outlined which the founders deemed vital to a free nation. The language is unambiguous in its intent and framing. It is a solid statement, in response to grievances which had been previously suffered at the hands of a foreign king.

To guarantee those rights, the second amendment was enacted to assure the citizenry the means to implement them. Again, the language is unambiguous, but, like the first, it is under constant attack by those who seek to destroy our freedoms. They recognize that an armed citizenry is less likely to be overcome by an over zealous abridger of freedom and liberty.

I have come to believe that the true strength of the constitution lies in the threat it presents to those who would abridge our liberty. Our enemies, both foreign and domestic, seek to alter our governance to the whims of men and not law. If they can manage to subvert the intentions and wisdom of the founding fathers, they can make strides toward the subjugation of the people through incremental denial of guaranteed rights. This is why our sovereignty is under constant attack. Any persons who wish to turn our national will over to any group of international figures fails miserably to understand the principles which have made our nation what it is today.

There is a reason why the executive branch cannot make treaties with foreign entities without congressional approval. As representatives of the people, they supposedly represent the will of each individual citizen. Granted, not all of us agree, but in the majority the collective will may be expressed.

When those in government ignore the will of the folks who are paying for representative government and ignore their intentions we have that option left which every one dreads; the use of the second amendment to implement the first and all others. The last time the union was seriously threatened the death toll exceeded a two-thirds of a million. The union was preserved as a result of that horrendous loss of life and the good offices of a man who thoroughly understood our constitution, Abraham Lincoln.

In the United States today, we have been attacked by forces which our people do not understand. Ideological warfare, economic warfare, and legislative mischief are not as easily understood as a full out assault on the beaches of the Carolinas or California. Our people readily grasp an armada of bombers or a flotilla of warships off our shores; when they are exposed to intellectual dishonesty—not so much. They would much prefer to be able to identify a despot, dictator, or czar as a threat to our peace. The ramifications of economic warfare baffle the average Joe.

We have become accustomed to using familiar templates in our lives as identifiers of oncoming grief. Barring an easily identifiable enemy they are less able to recognize the peril to the republic. It is even more difficult when the danger comes cloaked in supposed social good, world peace, or spiritual garb. Every reader has a tale to relate about confronting indifference by a friend or family member. When their formerly dependable media fail to report an ideological or economic assault, their eyes glaze over and they assume that everything’s just fine.

Well, it is not “just fine.” Both the first and second amendments are constantly assailed by those who favor top down governance. Neither is conducive to despotism. So long as we have an armed populace, we have a fall back position to enforce the wisdom contained in our constitution. Although dreadful to contemplate, the presence of millions of armed citizens may finally be that which urges potential oppressors to find greener pastures. As Americans finally figure out the danger they will become increasingly resistant.

Today it is manifest in scrupulously peaceful protests. On 9/12 in D.C., there was no evidence of arms, rude behavior, hooliganism, threats, or other violations of good conduct. So far, the only hard examples of violence have come from those who are counter-protesting the Tea Party crowd. I fear that as the disintegration of government continues, the people will finally become impatient with their leaders. As the reason and patriotism of the leadership gradually disappears from the scene, they may well become enraged to the point of violence. As the essentials of moral government are shoved aside a more primal side of the protest movement may well come surging to the top.

Are these folks actually capable of violence? Keep in mind they are the ones who have already fought America’s wars, run the country’s businesses, raised our nation’s children, and strived within their own communities for the betterment of every citizen. They are also those who wish to enjoy the rights of their fathers, have the opportunities to succeed, and have families of their own. Not least among them are those who have lived a full life of freedom, made their own individual mark, enjoy the love of their progeny and are more than well aware of the history of the greatest country in the world. They are not constrained by gender, age, color, or financial equity. Their common goal is the furtherance of the America which they all love and honor. They do not want “change” and their “hopes” do not coincide with the current despotic agenda. They have become more fed up with events each day.

A safe prediction will be that the tipping point will not come in a cataclysmic event. As more and more people disapprove of governmental action, there will be an incident here and an event there. Each of those will be dependent upon the emotional content of the grief dispensed to lone individuals. The targets may well not be household names whose role in government is not as obvious to everyone as to the person who finally exacts his version of appropriate revenge.

Depending on the response to these actions, others will see “permission” to continue the purge and gradually escalate the resistance. As pressure mounts to stifle this violent dissent, only then will the movement gather an organizational capacity. One instance then will lead to another until we reach the level of the grounds at Lexington and the “Bridge at Concord.”

This piece is an opinion and not a call to arms. That call is unnecessary. We are already armed and we certainly don’t agree with our “betters” in Washington. It is impossible to insult a Tea Party Protester by associating him with a homosexual deviation or define him as a “right-wing extremist.” Most wear those labels with pride and the knowledge that they know what the protest is all about. It is about liberty. It is about freedom. It is about sovereignty. Most important, it is about “defending the Constitution of the United States against all enemies both foreign and domestic.” They took that oath and they believe every word of it.

We have been here before and, God willing, we shall be here the next time our country is under attack. Some may pay dearly to defend our freedoms but that is nothing new in our history. No one looks forward to this situation but also none will shun his responsibility to his fellow citizens. They never have and they never will.


In His abiding love,

Cecil Moon

Bits and Pieces

  
This is about little hunks and chunks of stuff which rang my chimes as I cruised the internet this morning. The first note is enough to gag a maggot.

Artists for Gaia

If you have your barf bag handy, I suggest you click here for a piece by David Thompson on a ten day excursion by some artists to the pole. Let him tell you about the super-sensitive artistic temperament when exposed to the rigors of polar life. They allegedly traveled there to gain inspiration for their talents in this “threatened” part of the world.

Hasan in Medical Malpractice

In the law, certain relationships are sacrosanct and protected from the prying eyes of district attorneys and other investigators seeking evidence of wrong doing. E.g., a wife cannot be forced to testify against a husband or vice versa; attorney-client is a privileged relationship; a priest may not share information gathered in a confessional; and medical personnel must hold data gathered in confidence.

Major Hasan, in a rush to supply grief to returning Iraqi vets, allegedly wanted to bring charges against the soldiers who, during counseling, shared information about their activities in theater. Sitting in judgment, he heard the tales and determined that they should be subject to discipline for their activities. To pursue this course required that he share the incidents with other persons in violation of the current code of conduct.

For more information on this behavior, go to the Dallas Morning News. Of course no one wants to call him a terrorist for aiding and abetting an enemy.

Are you Smarter than a Fourth Grader?

Al Gore would definitely fail this test. Here we have an interview with Conan O’Brien on the tonight show which taxes everyone’s gullibility to match Gore’s ignorance.

On the Corner at National Review, John Derbyshire furnished some information which is a dependable look at the temperatures on the interior of the earth.

“The geothermal gradient is usually quoted as 25–50 degrees Celsius per mile of depth in normal terrain (not, e.g., in the crater of Kilauea). Two kilometers down, therefore, (that's a mile and a quarter if you're not as science-y as Al) you'll have an average gain of 30–60 degrees — exploitable for things like home heating, though not hot enough to make a nice pot of tea. The temperature at the earth's core, 4,000 miles down, is usually quoted as 5,000 degrees Celsius, though these guys claim it's much less, while some contrarian geophysicists have posted claims up to 9,000 degrees. The temperature at the surface of the Sun is around 6,000 degrees Celsius, while at the center, where nuclear fusion is going on big time, things get up over 10 million degrees.

If the temperature anywhere inside the earth was 'several million degrees,' we'd be a star.”

On a side note, the much maligned George Bush utilizes geo-thermal energy for heat in his home on his Texas ranch. It is cited as the most efficient of all non fossil fuel oriented sources for consistent heat. It requires no wind, sun, or running rivers to work. Can the world’s champion of ecology and Nobel recipient claim the same for his extravagant house?

As I said, just a few things I found which blow holes in some preconceived notions.

In His abiding love,

Cecil Moon

Bogus Job Reporting

  
In a lame effort to provide “transparency” to the Stimulus program passed early this year, congress found $18,000,000 to fund a website:  http://www.recovery.gov/Pages/home.aspx to report the jobs. Newspapers in individual localities have done an outstanding job of isolating projects in their cities and verifying the false reported numbers on the multi-million dollar web site.

The first issue is the cost of the government website. This was the brain child of Representative Steny Hoyer (D-MD), a close ally of Nancy Pelosi. It is an area in which we have a measure of experience.

Over the last two years we have posted over 550 articles with a total word count in excess of 550,000 words. In addition we have posted numerous pictures, charts, graphs, and miscellaneous other notations and comments. It is the equivalent of a thousand page book with 12 point text. We make these points not to stress our importance (insert laugh track here!) but rather our persistence. This is the result of two people otherwise occupied with making a living, keeping pets, caring for twenty acres of yard and forest, traveling, protesting, cooking food, cleaning house and generally doing those things which most other people do.

Unless you count the cost of our internet hook-up (ISP) which also serves as a mail, entertainment and information source for our family, our total outlay has been $0..00! Thanks to Blogspot, it is a free service which anybody with primitive skills may enjoy. Yes it has taken a lot of time but it is also our primary recreation. We also consider it a vital link in a huge total of other bloggers dedicated to reporting and opinionating on current events. Among those blogs is the Washington Examiner which has posted an extremely informative article on false claims from recovery.gov on erroneous figures regarding job creation and salvation with stimulus funds.

With the cooperation of major newspapers throughout America, who are far better able locally to isolate discrepancies, they have listed many ridiculous claims of job provision through the stimulus bill. Click on their site and enjoy using the interactive map to see what’s happening in your area. There is also an ever growing list of individual allocations from the stimulus and the alleged “jobs saved” and “jobs created” categories. With each entry you are provided with a link to the reporting newspaper and the full article with the pertinent information.

We can easily understand typographical errors on a blog site. As a result, we use a system of editing each other twice over, looking for typos, misspellings, grammar, and possible false assertions. The most important check is on plain common sense. We question each other unmercifully and attempt to verify facts. When we fail to have solid back-up, we scrupulously admit it. On many occasions (e.g. Honduras) we forward the entire post for editing to a third party with a request for verification of facts from an expert before posting. And, yes, sometimes something slips through the cracks and we attempt always to correct any error. This is typical of all the bloggers whom we routinely consult.

As you read through the published list of obvious errors on the Examiner blog you will find case after case of numbers which don’t compute, misidentification of the result of the stimulus money, and claims of non-existent progress. The Examiner also contains an invitation to other local sources to forward additions to the list which may have not been covered. One would think that $18 million would pay for some pretty exotic quality proof readers to insure the accuracy of the entries. Apparently not!

The most frequently reported error observed was interpreting a minimal raise in pay with a “job saved.” With soaring unemployment, it is difficult to believe any story about a petulant employee rushing out the door because they didn’t get a 2.3% raise in pay to then be counted as a “job saved.”

At present, and subject to change, we have a total of 75,343 bogus job additions reported. To keep up with the total, put the Examiner post in your favorites and watch the total grow, which it surely will. Obviously, all of the stimulus money was not spent the day after the bill passed. The opportunities for mis-reporting will increase exponentially as more of the cash becomes available. The opportunity for fraud, waste, and misrepresentation is all too clear the farther it goes. The time to slam the door on this ridiculous outlay is now!


In His abiding love,

Cecil Moon

Monday Morning Rant 119

  
My favorite preacher, Lee Parsons, was “on fire” this morning as he addressed anger. As expected, he decried it in the church and cautioned against it in any situation. With several scripture readings from Proverbs and others, it was provoking to hear those offerings. With an avocational interest in political matters it is very easy to fall into the “anger” trap. Without question, it feeds faulty thinking and rude response.

The strongest reminder came with the words of Christ from the cross. As the mobs of former supporters cried for his further pain and suffering, He begged God to “forgive them.” He did not yield to anger or seek revenge..

Mr. Protocol?

Much has been made over the now infamous “bow.” When greeting emperor Akihito of Japan, the president bowed deeply from the waist which many took as a surrender of American sovereignty and debasement of our status as the most powerful country in the world. It is possible that the sign on his posterior may not have been in the original.

Further, we see the president during the national anthem at an event in the United States and his indifference to the tradition of holding one’s hand over the heart or a hand salute from uniformed military personnel during the performance.

If one were to seek sound advice on the proper protocols for patriotic gestures one would be better advised to seek an active Cub Scout for counsel. If a scout was not available you could easily find a Brownie--just look for a ready source of delicious cookies. On these matters, one would be well served with direction from a nine year old. Given the existing evidence, you certainly would not consult the president. So far he is the prime exemplar of a total dud in that department.

His consistent assumed ignorance of patriotic codes raises questions of whether his behavior is deliberate. Is there no one on his staff who is aware of these rules? I suppose that when you “know it all” you don’t seek any help. That would be consistent with the balance of his policies. When combined with failures to fulfill campaign promises, willful ignorance of the Constitution, and the murky platitudes of his speechmaking it is easy to question not only his knowledge but his motives.

Is it Just Me?

As a creature of habit, I start my morning rounds of the internet with a set routine which works well for me. I always open with Day-by-Day to establish a theme of good cheer to face the reported horrors of the Drudge Report. I then click on the earthquake report and a subsequent string of blogs (here, here, and here) which I have chosen because they are written with integrity, wit, and provide groups of commenters who are dependably lucid in their opinions.

As mentioned, it’s Day-by-Day which usually provides the starter humor for the day so this morning I was surprised to find myself in stitches over the headlines on Drudge. The reason was simple; there were some which not only not news but a recitation of things so common as to be ridiculous. Maybe I have just become callous. For example:

"Russia warns of climate catastrophe"... Someone tell me please exactly what day over the last few years has someone not warned of a climate catastrophe.

"CHICAGOLAND: Body of school board chief found in River"... A body found in a river in Chicago, regardless of job description, is equivalent to “Man buys ‘big Mac’ and has fries and Coke.” How about reporting ‘Baby has full diaper?’ What’s next; ‘Ryan freeway jammed at4 pm ?’

"Obama Aide Dunn Renews Criticism of FOX, Hails Jon Stewart"... Surprise! Surprise! A person who quotes Mao as a timeless philosopher continues to criticize Fox News. The only logical follow-up would be to think Jon Stewart a credible source. This is news?

"Arrest at WALMART leads to charges of racism".... Of course! We live in a world where even the slightest criticism leads to charges of racism. Not to worry; a sympathetic jury of peers will soon release the culprit to further prey upon society.

I happen to like the Drudge Report. I frequently congratulate Matt Drudge for being the genius he is in digging out the dirt. I remind myself that because of Drudge, Monica Lewinsky became a household word. I also realize that with Obama out of town that news is slow and irregular because of the time difference and keeping the page full is difficult. But Matt, please give me a break and give me some news. This amounts to simply regurgitating that which most of us see as common existing knowledge.

On second thought, finding a miscreant in congress, a presidential gaffe, a bizarre murder, a catastrophic weather event, and a two-headed calf are all in total the substance of news today so perhaps I should give Drudge a break. So, keep up the good work Matt and keep me informed whether I take it seriously or not. I need the grins.

And finally

The delightful Indian Summer which we enjoyed for several days has come to an end. It has been replaced by declining temperatures, rain, general overcast skies and typical pre-Thanksgiving weather. The birds at the feeder have returned in abundance. They are not as colorful as before because of their annual change to more protective camouflage. Due to early departures on traditional flights to escape the perils of winter, some species are no longer about. The remainder is here and has a voracious appetite.

An early morning call from the local conservation agent reminded us that deer season is in full sway. He was looking for violators and road hunters whose apprehension we would applaud. We are not anti-hunting but wish to preserve our little patch complete with every natural critter—except Copperheads. The local herd has about cleaned up the acorns on the clear ground close to the house and moved deeper into the forest.

We treasure our God given opportunity to live in this natural world which surrounds us. It has its inconveniences but the trade is worth it.


In His abiding love,

Cecil Moon