Stunning Stats on Cops Killing

One could forget all about Ferguson, MO., and still recoil in horror at the stats Steyn finds.

Using the FBI's category of 'justifiable homicide' (defined  at the link) Steyn found that last year, cops killed 410 Americans.

Not a big number?  Compared to what?

By comparison, for the years 2012 and 2013 in England and Wales:

No fatal police shootings.

In the Netherlands:

The average for the last 35 years is three dead and 15 injured.

In Germany, a nation of 80 million people, police in 2011 fatally shot six persons. In Denmark, police shot 11 people in 11 years,...

Steyn also mentions that in Germany, the cops expended a grand total of 85 bullets last year (in confrontations with the public.)  And German cops utilize the "warning shot."

So about those full-auto M16A2's.......compared to what?

Where "Common Core" Is Going

There's been some chatter about "Common Core."  While its proponents insist that it's just fine, logic dictates otherwise.  The pushers of the program insist that 'curriculum' is the same, while skeptics rightly insist that "standards" will drive curriculum.

Now we know where the "standards" and the revised "curriculum" will take your little darlings when they get to the SAT.  And yes, the Big Kahoona at SAT (College Board) was heavily involved in shaping Common Core.

...Today, the history of George Washington's leadership has been erased in the new Advanced Placement (AP) U.S. History test/curriculum, taking effect in the fall of 2014.  The College Board, the organization that publishes the Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SAT) and AP tests, has also decided to completely blot out Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison, among others.  In this newly revised course, Gen. Washington merits one fleeting mention in one sentence, in reference to his Farewell Address....

Umnnhhh....yah.

But it gets worse!  Read the linked materials.

Surprise! Another ObozoCriminal in Office!

Sure, it's a violation of Federal law to destroy official records, including emails.

So what?

Ferguson, Ruby Ridge

It may be a while before the facts are firmly established in the Ferguson situation.  One of the versions is extremely disturbing, and that's the version wherein Brown was shot in the back while fleeing.

In other words, it's akin to Ruby Ridge.

(We are also reminded of the whitewash given the UW-M KampusKop several years ago when he emptied his magazine into the back of a guy driving a Jeep.)

The other version--that Brown was shot while attempting to disarm the cop--is the one that gives us some measure of comfort such as it is, given that there is a dead young man.

This essayist reminds us that the first version is not to be dismissed out-of-hand.  He has plenty of evidence on video that cops lie.  Why not?  They're human.

We've often mentioned that the "rule of law" in this country is rapidly becoming a thing of the past, mostly because those who are the 'rulers,' particularly in the judiciary, are demolishing it.  Let's hope that this is NOT another chapter in that particular book.

Sign of "Not Good" in the Economy

This outfit's same-store-sales numbers are the proverbial canary in the mineshaft.

...[Kohl's] same-store sales slipped once again, the retailer reported Thursday.

Sales at stores open at least a year, a critical measure of retailing performance, were down 1.3% for the three months ended Aug. 2, compared with 2013.

Kohl's same-store sales have fallen short of the previous year's mark in five of the last six quarters.

Shades of 2008, when they displayed a near-identical pattern.

I was conversing with a fellow in the dental-supply biz the other day who mentioned that in his business (bridges and dentures), "discretionary" spending has been about zero.  People will replace teeth if they HAVE to do so, but are not spending on "nice-to-have" work.

You can take it for what it's worth, but I think it's a "caution" sign.

"Sue and Settle" Bunch Behind EPA Extremism

The greatest dangers to your utility bill are named in this article.  Not "EPA," although they are a notorious cooperator in strangling utilities (and hiking your electric bills.)

...The finding of failure against Wisconsin and two other states was required by a consent decree in one of the Sierra Club lawsuits, Hart said. The DNR has been writing fine particle limits into its air permits, she said.
Hart said she expects the agency will submit completed rules to the EPA before the two years elapse. Work has begun on an initial step, a statement of scope, she said.

Limits on fine particles will likely need to be stricter than those Wisconsin now uses, said Sarah Williams, an attorney for Madison-based Midwest Environmental Advocates. She questioned the validity of the reasons for missing the deadline.

“They decided to take the position of ‘Wait and see if we can get away with doing less,’ ” Williams said.

Sue and settle.  That's what Sierra and Midwest Environmental Advocates do.  When these extremists don't like a rule due to some imaginary 'evils', they sue EPA.  EPA folds like a cheap suit, "settling" for some ultra-restrictive new "rule."

Your electric bill rises.  The Green Machine is happy. 

As to you obtaining food and shelter?  Tough turds, folks.

The Way We Are and The Warning from Aristotle

Fr. James Schall essays on the current situation in America, and tells us why our regime is averse to truth.  Of course, we have allowed that aversion--in fact, we have voted for it in many instances.

...Aristotle described the various configurations that are found among civil states to describe the purpose of their rule and the institutions or divisions of power designed to foster it. He reduced them to three general types—monarchy, aristocracy, and polity—and their corruptions—tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy. In addition, we have various types of “mixed regimes” that seek to combine the three simpler forms to counteract the inadequate elements in the other forms....

...The construction of the legislature, executive, and judiciary was designed to carry out most effectively the ends of the regime, be they good or bad. Aristotle also noticed that besides ruling principles according to numbers of one-few-many, each regime also had an intelligible end. The tyrant ruled for himself; the oligarchs usually ruled for money, and the democrats ruled in favor of poorer classes to obtain a liberty that had no purpose but what the individual wanted. The American founders were quite familiar with this background of Greek and Roman political thought. ...

Note the 'democrat' warning above.

[In modern parlance, d]emocracy means majority rule, individual (not community) “rights,” power located in a central ruling body, freedom to do what one wants, and government support for this random freedom. No higher law or purpose is admitted. Nothing is permitted in the public sector that does not conform to state-established laws, themselves changeable. Such a state conceives itself, as it were, as “the kingdom of God” without God. 

In contrast:  I use the term in the Greek sense—that is, a regime of the many that has no internal principle of rule other than the “liberty” or “freedom” to do whatever one wants. Obviously, a government composed of people who can do whatever each one wants can itself, as Hobbes intimated, do whatever it wanted. In addition, democracy is a regime of the poor who work through the government for the redistribution of goods without much realization of how they are produced. The government in such a democratic regime is conceived as a facilitator for the accomplishment of these distibutionist and free-choice ends. In practice, it is out of this chaos of unlimited choice that the rhetoric of the “leader of the people,” as Aristotle called him, arises. 

Uh-oh.

...there is such a thing as a “democratic tyranny.” Liberty without limits or principle undertakes to suppress any criticism of itself and its ways. The people are not citizens who rule themselves. They are state objects who are ruled for their own good. Rousseau’s famous law that everyone must be forced to obey because he only obeys himself is the essence of democratic tyranny and its justification...

Sound familiar?

Schall looks at the real organization of society as Aristotle understood it:

...Aristotle understood that a civil society is made up of many different entities—families, tribes, villages, trades, religions, and organizations....

We call those "intermediary institutions."  The Catholic church recognizes them as an essential category of civilization.  Schall notes the other understanding which arose from "the Enlightenment":

...The modern notion of polity from Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau—that the state is an organization made up of separate individuals over against the state—is foreign to Aristotle. In Aristotle’s tradition, human society is made up of many lesser communities, each with its own legitimacy, order, and purpose, none of which is formulated by the polity. The state does not “create” them but only at best recognizes them and provides for an order in which they can flourish. The state is the entity that gives order to other communities. They do not depend on the polity for what they are.  

 In the modern state, these entities, including religion, do depend on the state for their public existence and definition.

And of course, 'dependency' leads, ultimately, to 'subservience.'

...The primary difference between the regime in which we now live and that of the Aristotelian tradition is that, originally, the state was understood to depend on a right order or natural law. Man was by nature political. The state was not itself defined by or subject to its own arbitrary will. In other words, all regimes are subject to judgment even if their laws and customs are “freely” and “democratically” arrived at, even if they serve what the people “want.” Therefore, the distinction of good and bad regimes is based on the difference between good and evil in personal human action. The presence or absence of virtue in the souls of the citizens and their chosen ruler was the proper context of political things. ...

Aristotle would laugh out loud at "social justice," or "sinful structures."

...The United States today has a “constitution” but it is not “ruled” by a constitution. No branch of the government conceives itself to be really limited by the provisions of the constitution. The executive rules by decrees. He selects the laws he will or will not enforce. The courts decide by the will of the judges and their often odd philosophies. The legislature decides what is right by what passes into law. While there may still be some who “follow” the constitution, in practice, they are relatively insignificant. In this sense, Aristotle is a better guide to what we actually are than any of our thinkers, media, or politicians.  He understood what happened in political regimes of actual human beings. What he described is largely what we see before us, if we would but look.

And what does this mean in practice?

...The country’s course is now explained by a “rights” theory of what it stands for. Man is not by nature a “social and political animal,” but a solitary one. Society is only needed to protect the individual’s “rights” against those of others. The state, an independent entity over and above the individuals, is comprised of individual units that have “rights.” They are not “citizens” in Aristotle’s sense. Everything is entitled to them. They belong to nothing but themselves, no family, association, church, or community. Government deals directly with them as isolated beings. These “rights” do not derive from nature but from the will of a people who recognize no limit to their individual freedom to do what they want with their lives. ...

So what IS the way we are?

...The state itself is a struggle for power, for who can promise most and control most. The ruler is beyond good and evil. He must be able to use flattery and force effectively. The ruler is lonely, with few if any friends....His greatest fear is that there is a truth to things, including human things. This is why the real enemy of the present regime is the claim that truth exists, that everyone, including rulers, is bound and judged by it. 

That is the definition of 'democratic tyranny' in Ari's conception.

The tyrannical answer to truth is a form of “bread and circuses” wrapped in a self-righteousness that brooks no criticism. The political enterprise is conceived as taking care of the needs of the populace. It also makes the people dependent on the state and beholden to is. The populace is left in a condition of boredom and passivity, especially about ultimate things...

And that's the Way We Are.

Buy.  More.  Ammo.

Silliness!

Esenberg mentions what we all know is true:

It's one thing to criticize a candidate for not adequately negotiating the shoals of our silly public discourse about things like a "war on women." But we still ought to recognize that the discourse is, in fact, silly.

If you want to see how silly it really is, watch all those Robin Williams cuts from his early years,  Be sure to watch the Richard Pryor show stuff, or his appearance on SNL as Wm. F. Buckley.

How did we get so silly (inane might be the better word) in only 20 years?

Lots of People at the Range

Was out at McMiller yesterday afternoon with family.

Haven't been there in several years.  Not much has changed.  The new management has put a few display racks into the office building with Milford Hills-branded items and there's new signage at the entrances to the ranges, but other than that, it's pretty much the same as when Wern Valley managed it.

One other difference:  the place was jammed with people.  When we've been there in the past, the parking lot had a dozen, maybe two dozen cars.  Yesterday, there were at least 50.  Almost every station in the 10/25 yard section was occupied, and more than half of the 50/100 yard seats were taken, too.  The clays area was........ ahhhhhhhhhhh....booming.

So I asked a range officer what was going on.  He said it was the busiest day he'd seen in a long time, and added that he was pleased to see a lot of women on the range.  Looked, offhand, as though 1/4 to 1/3 of the shooters were women, a higher percentage than I've seen there before.  They were mostly at the handgun stations, but several were on the rifle ranges, too. 

Perfect weather!  We practiced a bit with the handguns (I can still out-shoot a certain family member) and broke in a new AR which shoots very well, indeed.  Helped grandchild with a .22LR rifle; he'll be ready in another 2-3 years.

Altogether, a pleasant afternoon. 

Was the size of the crowd just a one-off?  That remains to be seen, I guess.

"Social Justice" = Lefty Manipulation

While pondering a bit on the words of Leo XIII regarding taxation and Socialism, it became even clearer that the term "social justice" is a very clever manipulation of words. 

...[Socialists] hold that by . . . transferring property from private individuals to the community, the present mischievous state of things will be set to rights [sic], inasmuch as each citizen will then get his fair share of whatever there is to enjoy . . . [This transfer is] emphatically unjust, for [it] would rob the lawful possessor, distort the functions of the State, and create utter confusion in the community . . . Every man has by nature the right to possess property as his own....

... [Although sharing one’s wealth and other temporal blessings is a requirement of Divine Law], it is a duty, not of justice (save in extreme cases), but of Christian charity—a duty not enforced by human law.

Get it?  

Justice is not applicable to a "class".  It is, strictly speaking, only applied to individuals, and one of the purposes of licit government is to apply justice impartially to all.  Here, the collective, represented by government, secures justice for individuals.

Charity, on the other hand, is a mandate which applies to individuals.  It is NOT, properly speaking, a function of government.  It is, in a way, the inverse of "justice," for charity is incumbent on an individual, and that individual (or group of them) may then bestow their gifts on a class (e.g., the poor.) 

But it's far more convenient for the Leftists--the Progressive Hive--to confuse the two.  They can--and do-- "guilt" people by yammering about 'justice,' and in doing so, leverage their tax-collection schemes, which often have the additional benefit of employing Lefty/Progressives as Gummint "charity" workers.

Neat trick!

  

Bishops on Immigrants: Missing Something

There are some considerations which the US Bishops and Mr. Huebscher (Wisconsin Catholic Conference) seem to have missed in their essays and statements on caring for illegal immigrants.  Since Huebscher is a Madison resident, it's not surprising that he chooses his citations very carefully.  The USCC doesn't have that excuse, but their Central Apparatchik Office is located in D.C..  Maybe that's their problem.

By all means, read the citations of Pope Leo XIII below.  Perhaps our Bishops and their functionaries forgot about his Rerum Novarum.  But asking them to integrate HIS teaching with their......umnnhhhh.....rhetorical claim to the moral 'high ground' may have taxed their abilities.  Or something.  (HT:  BlackHat)

...The USCCB document defines the illegal immigration problem exactly as the Obama administration does—as a “humanitarian crisis” requiring US government cooperation and funding, specifically for “child welfare services, legal assistance, and access to immigration protection.” Although it speaks of finding “root causes” in the countries of origin and discusses what the countries themselves and “other regional partners” can do to solve the underlying problems, the emphasis is on the US role in these matters.

...Perhaps the most revealing characteristic of the USCCB document is that it speaks almost exclusively about the response of governments and the Catholic Church to the “humanitarian crisis,” but says virtually nothing about the response of American citizens, taxpayers, or even Catholic parishioners. For example, it declares that “the institutional Catholic Church in the United States has played a critical role in the care of unaccompanied children.” That wording is highly misleading. In reality, everything the “institutional Catholic Church” does is financed by citizen’s taxes (awarded in the form of federal grants), by the generosity of Catholic parishioners, or by both. The focus on institutional efforts is therefore an insult to the millions of Americans who actually fund the works of charity and mercy. It is also, in effect if not intent, a subtle denial that legal US residents also possess God-given dignity and rights....

Ah, yes, the matter of taxpayer money....which will be dispensed to Dioceses and Catholic Social Services who care for these unfortunate children.  Somehow, that was not mentioned by Mr. Huebscher.  Hmmmm?

Now for Leo XIII:

[Socialists] hold that by . . . transferring property from private individuals to the community, the present mischievous state of things will be set to rights [sic], inasmuch as each citizen will then get his fair share of whatever there is to enjoy . . . [This transfer is] emphatically unjust, for [it] would rob the lawful possessor, distort the functions of the State, and create utter confusion in the community . . . Every man has by nature the right to possess property as his own.

The first and most fundamental principle, therefore, if one would undertake to alleviate the condition of the masses, must be the inviolability of private property.

[Although sharing one’s wealth and other temporal blessings is a requirement of Divine Law], it is a duty, not of justice (save in extreme cases), but of Christian charity—a duty not enforced by human law.

 Among the many and grave duties of rulers who would do their best for the people, the first and chief is to act with strict justice . . . toward each and every class alike.

Neither justice nor the common good allows any individual to seize upon that which belongs to another . . . The State would therefore be unjust and cruel if under the name of taxation it were to deprive the private owner of more than is fair.

Yup.

LOTS of Coverups

Seems like the criminal Lerner/IRS is not alone.

HHS has its own criminal.

So do Justice, EPA, and the Peace Corps (!!???!!!)

Criminals who have several arms-bearing stooges at their disposal.

Nice country.  Reminds me of What I Learned About Stalin.

The Mathematics of Economy-Destruction

Like him or not, Charles Koch makes the case:  Gummint is killing the economy.

...First, we need to encourage principled entrepreneurship. Companies should earn profits by creating value for customers and acting with integrity, the opposite of today's rampant cronyism.

Too many businesses focus on getting subsidies and mandates from government rather than creating value for customers. According to George Mason University's Mercatus Center, such favors cost us more than $11,000 per person in lost GDP every year, a $3.6 trillion economic hit.

Compounding the problem are destructive regulations affecting whether and how business invests and employees work. Federal rules cost America an estimated $1.86 trillion per year, calculated the Competitive Enterprise Institute....

Adding the cronyism (hello, Ex-Im Bank) and regulatory costs, we get $5.4 trillion--which represents a 30%+ loss to the economy.  Another way to look at it (as did PowerLine) is this:  add 30% to your current income to determine how much it costs YOU.

And ObozoCare hasn't even taken full effect yet.

Nearer the Glorious Happiness!

Nirvana approaches!

The federal government has created more than 400 new crimes since 2008, according to a report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS).

In a June report to the House Over-Criminalization Task Force, the CRS identified 439 new criminal offenses to the U.S. Code between 2008 and 2013.

A 2008 analysis by the law scholar John S. Baker for the Heritage Foundation found that, between 2000 and 2007, the government added 452 crimes to the books, indicating the government has increased the rate at which it created new crimes.

The 2008 report identified “at least 4,450 federal crimes.” Adding in the CRS report tally, there are now 4,889 federal crimes on the books.  --Free Beacon quoted at HotAir

Make sure you're not jaywalking.  You could go to Leavenworth.

ObozoCare: Sucking You Dry, Part 45

You've noticed that the major health insurance companies have been very quiet, indeed, about ObozoCare.

That's because they're all on the take, and Obozo's paying them off.  With your grandchildren's money.

A LOT of your grandchildren's money.   Carl Sagan money--Billions and Billions and Billions.

While the local "newspaper" has mentioned a give-back of 'excess premiums' by a local company, they did NOT mention that Assurant is looking for $140 million, Aetna for $50 million, and Humana for a *cough* Humungous $500 million in Gummint subsidies.

So.

Whatever happened to "Repeal Obozocare"??

"Thinker" Engler Not Thinking Clearly

Mr. Engler carries on about the non-excommunication of Illinois Democrats (such as the Governor) who established same-sex "marriage."  Apparently he's quite miffed that someone was fired from his position as a Catholic-church musician for attempting gay 'marriage.'

Engler deliberately misleads his readers.

...If you are a gay music director at a Catholic church and come out for same-sex marriage, you lose your job, but if you are a Democratic, Catholic politician responsible for making same-sex marriage legal in Illinois, the archdiocese looks the other way....

Umnnhhhh....nope.  The guy not only "came out for"--he actually got "married."  Big difference.

As to the second half of this graf...

...To fire one and not excommunicate the other sends a mixed message to Catholics in Illinois about same-sex marriage.

Good point.  However:  1)  we do not know what the Illinois Bishops may or may not have said to the politicians in private; and 2)  formally, excommunication is incurred by an individual without a declaration from the Church.  That declaration is merely 'the paperwork,' but is not a requirement.  In other words, the politicians may have excommunicated themselves through their action.  Their action is sufficient in and of itself; no "paperwork" or public announcement is required.

Who ARE These People?

Wiggy discovers the Statist-Republicans.  Sadly, it's all of the candidates in the 97th primary field.

They'd probably call the cops if they saw an unsupervised 8-year-old in the kid's own front yard, too.

These are the kind of ninnies who were the featured guests at Army blanket parties.  Shouldn't change, either.

Screechin' Shirley's Selectivity

While Shirley Abrahamson represents herself as an 'expansionist' of Constitutional rights, reading the Wisconsin Constitution as even more liberal than the Federal model, she very selective about how she applies the 14th Amendment.  Indeed, one could say that she's a hypocrite (or a liar).

We all recall that Shirley did all she could to quash the right to bear arms.  She lost in the end, of course, but not before a very selective application of the 14th Amendment--which incoroporates the 2nd--but also by being the only SCOWI justice to ignore Wisconsin's RKBA amendment.

So much for 'rights' in Screechin' Shirley's world.

That Ban on Cellphones in the Car? Nevermind.

Seems that banning use of cellphones by drivers is.....ahhh........useless.

“Our main result was that we found no evidence that the California cellphone ban decreased accidents,” Colorado University economics Professor Daniel T. Kaffine, one of the lead autors of the study, said in a statement...."  --The Newspaper quoted at Hot Air

And that was not a one-off.

...Though offsetting for safety advocates, Kaffine’s research is in line with other findings. The Highway Loss Data Institute, the research arm of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, studied insurance claims rates in 2009 and 2010 studies, and found no link that bans helped decrease crashes....quoting AutoBlog

OK, so let's see how fast the useless laws are repealed.

Hint:  don't hold your breath.

Obozo In Full

HT:  MoonBattery

Hysterical Ginsburg

Umnnhhhh...really?

Providing women with cost-free health-insurance coverage for contraceptives  is one of the “obligations” of citizenship, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Wednesday in an interview with Yahoo’s Katie Couric.
 
“Some people say there’s something troubling about mandating a private company though, to do something that is against their deeply held religious beliefs. What would you say to those people?” Couric asked Ginsburg, one of four dissenting justices in the court’s landmark Burwell v. Hobby Lobby decision.

“When you’re part of a society, you can’t separate yourself from the obligations that citizens have,” the justice replied.

Glad she clarified that.  Never knew that I was obliged to act contra naturam for the benefit of tramps.

Which other crimes against nature does a 'good citizen' have to support?

Rubio: "More Federal Gummint!!"

Another of the 'conservative' (R) grandstanders writes another "Mo' Gummint!!" bill to bolster his election prospects.

Just as a reminder to Sen. Rubio:  we already have 50 States with criminal laws and thousands of municipalities who enforce those laws.

How about enforcing the border, Marco?

Internet of Things? Security Nightmare

Oh, yah, but it's so COOL to use these, right?

The Internet of Things (IoT) has connected everything from smoke alarms to fridges and cars, making life easier and safer – but it has also given hackers a new way to attack their victims, warns HP.

In a study of the ten most popular IoT devices (which it did not name in its report) HP found 250 potentially dangerous security vulnerabilities. 

The devices came from manufacturers of TVs, webcams, home thermostats, remote power outlets, sprinkler controllers, hubs for controlling multiple devices, door locks, home alarms, scales and garage door openers.

All of the devices included remote smartphone applications which were used to control them. 

It was found that 90 per cent of the devices collected personal information, 70 per cent transmitted that data on an unencrypted network and 60 per cent had insecure user interfaces. Eight out of ten failed to require a strong enough password.

Like, ya'know, that garage-door opener you can hit with your smartphone?  Or how about a nice hot stove burning whatever's on top of it?

And that doesn't count the NSA's nosiness, either.

HT:  Ticker

And Lois Lerner's a Bitch. So?

Who'd have ever guessed?

Newly released emails by Lois Lerner, the former IRS official at the center of the tea party targeting scandal, show “deep animus towards conservatives, which she refers to as ‘—holes,’” according to a House committee.  --WaTimes quoted at Gateway

Happy to join Lerner in calling a spade a spade.

Warren Buffett v. Electricity

It appears that Warren Buffett's BNSF railroad cannot meet its contractural obligations to deliver coal to at least one Wisconsin utility.  This means the utility may have to shut down its plant and purchase electricity on the open market.

That, of course, will cost its customers a lot of money.

What the hell is Warren's problem?  A little too much Obozo-worship?

V.A.: It's Always "More Money!!"

Yah, so the VA will get another $17 billion or so, $7Bn of which will go toward hiring doctors.

Here's a question:  what was VA spending money on before this?

Einstein's insanity proposition is in play here, folks. 

OK, George Will. We Can Do That

George Will makes one good point.

...“Well, I think Kirsten’s largely right,” Will responded. “I think we ought to say to these children, ‘Welcome to America. You’re going to go to school and get a job and become Americans. We have 3,141 counties in this country. That’d be 20 per county.”

“The idea that we can’t assimilate these 8-year-old criminals with their teddy bears is preposterous,” the conservative columnist went on...

Let's go further and make the cutoff at 13-year-olds.

But none older than that.  Zero.  Zip.  Nada.

Disney's War on Women

Finally!  After 50+ years, the feminazis have discovered the root of all sexism.

Disney.

...Disney cartoons and other G-rated children’s movies are full of “gendered sexuality,” subjecting women to the male “objectifying gaze,” as “heterosexuality is constructed through hetero-romantic love relationships as exceptional, powerful, magical, and transformative.”

These were the conclusions of Women’s Studies professors Karin Martin and Emily Kazyak in their 2009 research paper, “Hetero-Romantic Love and Heterosexiness in Children’s G-Rated Films.” The sociologists examined “all the G-rated films grossing $100 million dollars or more between 1990 and 2005″ and found that these movies convey what feminists call “heteronormativity”...

The Scourge of the Planet, owned by ABC, no less!!

HT:  The Real McCain

Demolishing the Republic

Jefferson and Madison were no fans of Hamilton, who seems to have been a linear ancestor of the Crony Capitalists of today.  It's worth noting that the Cronies are non-partisan; they'll polish the knobs of anyone in office because their god is money.

Anyhoo, their methodology was laid out in 1972 in this newspaper editorial.

1. It being necessary in order to effect the change, to get rid of constitutional shackles and popular prejudices, all possible means and occasions are to be used for both these purposes....

4. In drawing all bills, resolutions, and reports, keep constantly in view that the limitations in the Constitution are ultimately to be explained away. Precedents and phrases may thus be shuffled in, without being adverted to by candid or weak people, of which good use may afterward be made. 

5. As the novelty and bustle of inaugurating the government will for some time keep the public mind in a heedless and unsettled state, let the press during this period be busy in propagating the doctrines of monarchy and aristocracy. For this purpose it will be particular useful to confound a mobbish democracy with a representative republic, that by exhibiting all the turbulent examples and enormities of the former, an odium may be thrown on the character of the latter....

6. But the grand nostrum will be a public debt, provided enough of it can be got and it be medicated with the proper ingredients. If by good fortune a debt be ready at hand, the most is to be made of it. Stretch it and swell it to the utmost the items will bear. Allow as many extra claims as decency will permit. Assume all the debts of your neighbors - in a word, get as much debt as can be raked and scraped together, and when you have got all you can, "advertise" for more, and have the debt made as big as possible. This object being accomplished, the next will be to make it as perpetual as possible; and the next to that, to get it into as few hands as possible. The more effectually to bring this about, modify the debt, complicate it, divide it, subdivide it, subtract it, postpone it, let there be one-third of two-thirds, and two-thirds of one-third, and two-thirds of two-thirds; let there be 3 percents, and 4 percents, and 6 percents, and present 6 percents, and future 6 percents. To be brief, let the whole be such a mystery that a few only can understand it; and let all possible opportunities and informations fall in the way of these few to cinch their advantages over the many....

[8].... (4) A great debt will require great taxes; great taxes, many taxgatherers and other officers; and all officers are auxiliaries of power. (5) Heavy taxes may produce discontents; these may threaten resistance; and in proportion to this danger will be the pretense for a standing army to repel it. (6) A standing army, in its turn, will increase the moral force of the government by means of its appointments, and give it physical force by means of the sword, thus doubly forwarding the main object. 

9. The management of a great funded debt and a extensive system of taxes will afford a plea, not to be neglected, for establishment of a great incorporated bank. the use of such a machine is well understood. If the Constitution, according to its fair meaning, should not authorize it, so much the better. Push it through by a forced meaning and you will get in the bargain an admirable precedent for future misconstructions. 

There's more at the link.

Why yes, indeed!  Those old dead white guys actually understood human nature!

Who'da'thunk??

HT:  Cold Fury

Ruling Class Member Descends to Our Level!

The Ruling Class tries living like regular citizens for a week.

Wailing and gnashing of teeth! 

Hell's bells!  Last night I popped a can of tuna into some leftover pasta, sprinkled it with lemon/pepper and grated Parmesan, munched it down cold.  In winter, same recipe, nuked for a minute.

The poor, poor, dear, Ruling Class member.  Oh, the agony!!

S.T.E.M. Storm of Lies

The Official Line of Silicon Valley--that the US does not produce enough Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math graduates--is in conflict with Economics 101. 

You remember Econ 101, don't you?  The supply/demand intersection, where the price rises when supply is short, given constant or increasing demand?

Yah, THAT part.

...Some research suggests that there may be an oversupply of STEM professionals. An Economic Policy Institute study last year found that the supply of STEM graduates exceeds the number hired each year by a ratio of nearly 2-to-1, depending on field of study. In engineering, colleges historically produce about 50% more graduates than are hired into engineering jobs, the study found.....

Oh.

..."The unemployment in STEM is low now, but wage growth in most STEM occupations has been pretty flat for many years and employment growth has only recently shown any bounce," said Lowell....

Let's put it this way:  the market doesn't lie. But Silicon Valley management--well, it DOES lie. 

Halbig

Yah, well, let's see if the Judicial branch maintains its legitimacy by ruling on the plain meaning of the text.

Here's the House's finding:

This joint staff report shows that IRS and Treasury arrived at the decision to extend premium subsidies to federal exchanges without a thorough or proper analysis. There is simply no evidence that IRS conducted an adequate analysis of this issue prior to the issuance of the

proposed rule. 

On three separate occasions, IRS and Treasury employees were unable to provide the Committees with detailed information about the factors they considered before determining

that premium subsidies should be allowed in federal exchanges

When the potential illegality of the rule was raised by members of the general public and Members of Congress after the publication of the proposed rule, the evidence suggests that

IRS and Treasury once again failed to conduct a careful review and simply reiterated their

original assertions

.

While prior to the proposed rule, IRS and Treasury’s failure to conduct an adequate review of whether the text of law and PPACA’s legislative history supported its interpretation was largely due to other pressing priorities with the 36B regulation

....those "priorites" being political, of course. 

IRS did not bother with either the history of the bill, nor its plain language.  What governed the IRS' decision (made by Chief Counsel) was Obozoites at HHS who understood that if the law was implemented AS WRITTEN, residents of 36 States would suffer huge increases in health-insurance premiums.  

And the (D) Party would not survive the elections of '12, '14, or '16--or perhaps ever.

The "Recovery" Misses Big

While the MSM and its master, the Administration, bleats happy-talk, reality intervenes.

New Home Sales in June plunged to 406k vs 504k in May... (remember that 504k print was the catalyst for 'weather' is over and the market to surge 10%) Now that has soaked in, consider this is equal lowest sales print since September 2013 (and Dec 2012) and the biggest miss since July 2013.The last 3 months of exuberance have all been revised significantly lower (most especially May's appartently make-believe number). What is even more troubling in the "survey" vs "reality" world is this collapse in sales when NAHB Sentiment surged to near cycle highs. For context, this is a 5-standard-deviation miss from economists' expectations,...

Musta been really horrible weather in June.  (Now it's called "climate disruption.")  Looks more like "economic disruption" to me and the only constant in the last 6 years has been Obozo and the Perfumed Princes in Congress.

Hmmmm?

Where's Obozo's Hashtag Army?

President Girly-Pants' State Department doesn't make mention of SOME war criminals.

With a mass exodus of Christians from Mosul in the face of threats, the Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako said that these Islamic militants are worse than Genghis Khan.

The Islamists are warning Christians that they must essentially convert or die.



Not even a hashtag offensive against the Saudi-sponsored (and US-armed) holocaust perps?

Wisconsin Employers Obtain Freedom of Religion

Despite the Senate Republicans, Wisconsin will abide by Hobby Lobby.

The state of Wisconsin will no longer be enforcing a state law requiring employers to provide contraception coverage in insurance plans offered to employees. A spokesman with the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance told Media Trackers on Monday that because of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. in June, state regulators are no longer requiring employers or insurance providers to abide by the state requirement.

...In 2013, AB 216 and SB 202 attempted to add a religious exemption to the statute. Assembly Republicans passed their version of the reform but the bill subsequently died in the GOP-controlled Senate....

Seems like many Senate Republicans need a remedial primary or two.

Got iPhone? Like Security? Fuggeddaboutit!

Charming.

Apple has endowed iPhones with undocumented functions that allow unauthorized people in privileged positions to wirelessly connect and harvest pictures, text messages, and other sensitive data without entering a password or PIN, a forensic scientist warned over the weekend.

...Zdziarski said the service that raises the most concern is known as com.apple.mobile.file_relay. It dishes out a staggering amount of data—including account data for e-mail, Twitter, iCloud, and other services, a full copy of the address book including deleted entries, the user cache folder, logs of geographic positions, and a complete dump of the user photo album—all without requiring a backup password to be entered. ...

By the way, when you "paired" your iPhone with your car, the data-thief who wants to can use the car as its mode-of-stealing.

HT:  Ticker

Baghdad Bob's New Job

Maybe Bob became Barry?

With a straight face, Barack Obama has been repeatedly telling us that the world is "more stable" and "less violent" than ever.  In fact, he believes that this is the best time in history to be alive because of how peaceful and stable everything is.  And of course Obama is more than happy to take credit for his role in bringing all of this "stability" about.  Just this week, his press secretary told the media that this administration has "substantially improved" the "tranquility of the global community". 

I dunno. Is "delusional" a defense for serial lying?

The Frauds of Obozo

SCOAMF is not incompetent.  He's a revolutionary Marxist.

...new numbers released by the House Judiciary Committee show the “vast majority” of unaccompanied minors seeking asylum are granted it before even appearing before a judge. “Information from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that shows 65 percent of unaccompanied alien minors’ asylum applications have been immediately approved by asylum officers in Fiscal Year 2014,”...

...Complicating matters, according to the committee, is the rate of fraud in asylum cases. The committee says “an internal Department of Homeland Security report” has shown that “at least 70 percent of asylum cases contain proven or possible fraud.”...--Byron York quoted at PJ

But regardless, Boehner's House will continue funding the fraud.

$12Bn Cut in Fed Budget: Why Bother?

The "conservative" House budget proposal reduces Fed spending by $12Bn in FY 2015.

Wow.

Adfministrative "Law"? Not So Muich

Great podcast here from a lawprof about administrative "law" which is actually unconstitutional from the git-go.

Near the end, he mentions that Congress is perfectly happy with abdication of their Constitutional mandate to make ALL the laws (see the first sentence of the actual Constitution) because Congress-slime don't want to be responsible--they want to be re-elected.

Magna Carta, Metternich and Bismarck, Wilson (the perfect ass) are all involved.

Fun stuff.

For an egregiously evil example, read this post.  For only a few hundred thou, the Greens wrote the EPA's new carbon dioxide regs.  Yup--not only NOT Congress, but not even EPA.

Really?

Oh, by the way:  Buy More Ammo.

HIghly Trained, Eh?

The old "shoot the dog" trick.  Different ending

Armed robber shoots police officer. Police officers track suspect down to a trailer park. Dog enters the scene and a deputy opens fire—except that, in a twist on the usual story, he misses the pooch and plugs a young child, instead.

Yah, that "training" with deadly weapons really works.  Lucky for the kid that it wasn't "spray and pray" training, eh?

More of The Usual Crap from D.C .

Let's not forget that a revolutionary occupies the White House and he has appointed revolutionaries to every Cabinet position involved here.

We'll have to deal with them later.

Meantime, the Feckless/Gonad-less Party's Glamor Boyzzz have a "solution"!!

Too bad it's another shit sandwich.

...Senator Cornyn and Democrats, instead of keeping their solution simple, are just further empowering the President who has created this problem.

They’re going to call their bipartisan solution the HUMANE Act, or the “Helping Unaccompanied Minors and Alleviating National Emergency Act”. Wow. So if we oppose their bad idea we are inhumane.

The proposal does not close the major inducement to the present crisis. In 2012, President Obama created the “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” (“DACA”) program without congressional approval. The K.I.S.S. approach would be for Congress to shut this down, seal the border, and quickly send back everyone who has crossed over. In fact, this bipartisan proposal does not even shut down DACA. But it does allow illegal immigrant children to hire lawyers paid for by you to petition judges appointed by Barack Obama for permission to stay in the United States.

And!!!  In only TWO YEARS, the Revolutionary Guard should submit a "strategy" for control of the border.

Pathetic, useless, and temporizing.  Pretty much sums up the "opposition" these days.

Fr. Berger, What Is "Direct Material Cooperation"?

Let's see, here.  We're told that Catholic Charities of SE Wisconsin (that's the Milwaukee Archdiocese) may well "assist" the Feds in sheltering several hundred illegal aliens.  We also know that 5 of every 6 such illegals are NOT "children;" they are adults.  We also know that in the cases of the 16% who are actually 'children,' they are not "refugees"--and in most cases are being separated from their parents.  Thus, the Archdiocese is facilitating illegal violation of immigration laws AND facilitating the breakup of families.

Here's the description of "cooperation in evil":

The Church has always condemned formal cooperation in evil where a person gives consent to evil being done by another. When someone does not agree, however, they can still be guilty of material cooperation in evil when they provide the means by which the evil is performed. Direct or proximate material cooperation in evil occurs when a person provides necessary tools to perform the evil act, e.g., when someone sells illegal drugs they are a material cooperator in evil since they are providing the necessary means to commit evil, either illegal drug use or illegal drug distribution. ...

...Remote material cooperators are those who provide indirect means to carry out the evil. The merchant of a sporting goods store sells ammunition to a hunter. Legal and moral. If that hunter commits an immoral act by using the bullets he just bought to kill an innocent person, the merchant is not guilty of direct material cooperation in evil. He MAY be guilty of remote material cooperation in evil if he neglected to report to the police suspicions or apprehensions he may have had when he sold the ammunition....

One more thing:  how does this compare to parents objecting to Common Core?  Since THOSE people are castigated and dissed by the Archbishop, his right-hand man, and the Educrat-in-Charge, how should Catholics react to Fr. Berger's (and the Archbishop's) apparent ..........ahhh.......problem in moral actions here?

Hmmmmmm?

Archdiocese of Milwaukee to Re-settle Illegals?

The border crisis moves north.

As undocumented children continue arriving at the US-Mexico border, FEMA has asked a Milwaukee agency to stand by – in case it’s needed.

... The local agency preparing to help is Catholic Charities of Milwaukee. Executive Director Fr. David Bergner says FEMA asked the organization to identify three potential sites, which could be used as a temporary shelter. Each would need to house 100 children. FEMA also requested staff, who could work at the shelter.

Bergner says Catholic Charities picked two former schools and a former office complex, which could be transformed into shelter space. He says the organization would coordinate food, clothing and education for the children, with a lot of assistance...

How very nice!

This raises a question.  Of course the imperative is 'charity to all.'  On the other hand, cooperating with the evil of breaking up families is not a "good," especially because in this case it also happens to be direct material cooperation with breaking the laws of the US.

It's also likely that this action is taken against the will of donors to Catholic Charities, or at least a large minority of them.

Hmmm.

Your Future With Comcast

Time Warner (Gary Grunau's very own semi-monopoly in Milwaukee) will be selling out to Comcast.

Flee now, TWC customers.

...Comcast didn’t earn its reputation as America’s Worst Company overnight — it took years and years of hard work. From offering customers ridiculously overpriced bundle packages, to having the highest fees among any of its competitors, to offering some of the absolute worst customer service of any company in the United States, Comcast has toiled away tirelessly to perfect its craft of angering its own customers...

Oh, yes--it can get even worse!!

...When Block informs the representative that he wants to cancel his service, the representative refuses to do so and instead asks him why in the world would he even think of canceling Comcast, which in the rep’s mind has a sterling reputation for customer care....

That's right!  Comcast is now imitating Hell!  It's a one-way gate, no exit.  Too bad, so sad.

Indiana's Pence on EPA

Y'all remember that Scott Walker is going to do something about EPA's upcoming murder of the Wisconsin economy.

Indiana's Pence did.  Not much--it's just a letter--but it has some interesting factoids.

...Our state has a 300 year supply of coal, and coal has historically provided Hoosiers with reliable, affordable electricity. More than 80 percent of our electricity comes from coal, and the coal industry employs 28,000 Hoosiers. Hoosiers know that coal means jobs and coal means low-cost energy....

So that would be 28,000 more food-stamp folks in about 10 years. To Obozo, that's a feature, not a bug.

...The Obama Administration has already put in place regulations on power plants that will increase the cost of electricity in Indiana by 30 percent over the next seven years, according to the State Utility Forecasting Group. The newly proposed EPA rules for carbon dioxide emissions from existing and new power plants will only cause electricity rates to rise further while at the same time threatening the reliability of our electricity supply....

A thirty percent hike in rates BEFORE the latest destroy-America hit, and more to come.

If I were Pence, I would have declared EPA personnel to be persona non grata, rounded 'em up, and tossed them out of the State.  I hear there are plenty of vacant spots in Guatemala and El Salvador.

Bed-Partner Racists, UPDATED

The U S Chamber of Commerce has a lot of 'splainin' to do.  Seems like they're in bed with Michael Bloomberg, zillionaire anti-Second Amendment lefty--and a racist from Milwaukee.

The racist, frankly, seems to hate everyone except Hispanics.  Pubbies are "nazis", TeaParty are "KKK."  Par for the course.

Nice move, Orville!!  May as well get it out on the table.

UPDATE:  Sykes just reviewed the incident, and didn't highlight the involvement of the US Chamber of Commerce.  The Chamber has courageously fought for dirt-cheap labor for years.  Now we know what they REALLY think.

How to Pay the Jizya Tax

This is the coin in which I will pay the Jizya tax:

Catch it if you can!!

More Republican "Ethics"

Oh, sure, it was bipartisam--with a Republican majority.

A member of Congress used to have to specifically report the details if they traveled on someone else’s dime. As of last week, that rule was lifted with no public announcement.

The R Senatorial "ethics"?  Buying several thousand votes to defeat a Conservative.

The R House "ethics"?  Playing 'find the hat'.

Screw 'em all.

HT:  Zippers

The Loss of Beauty, the Gain of Atheism

Benedict XVI mentioned beauty quite a bit, saying that it was an essential element of the liturgy.  The iconoclasts like Rembert Weakland didn't think so highly of beauty.

Maybe they had a deeper problem than mere iconoclasm.

...The most precious, profound and important of the great ideas which the Left has raped from us is beauty. I need spend no time on the proposition that life without beauty is a nightmare: those who have seen true beauty – sublime beauty, if even for a moment – have nothing to which they can liken it except the ecstasies of mystics and the transports of saints. Beauty consoles the sorrowing; beauty brings joy and deepens understanding; beauty is like food and wine, and men who live surrounded by ugliness become shriveled and starved in their souls....

....At any point before World War One, if you asked any philosopher or intellectual what was the point of art, poetry, music, painting, sculpture, architecture, all of them of each generation all the way back to Socrates would have said the purpose of art is to seek beauty. Socrates himself would have said that by beauty, by the strong love and longing created in the human breast at the sight of something sublime, we are drawn out of ourselves, and are carried step by step away from the mundane to the divine.

The strongest argument against the atheism so beloved of the Left is not an argument that can be put in words, for it is the argument of beauty....If you see a sunset clothed in scarlet like a king descending to his empurpled pyre, or wonder at the gleaming thunder of a waterfall, if you find yourself fascinated by the soft intricacy of a crimson rose or behold the cold virgin majesty of the morning star, much less see and enter a cathedral or a walled garden, or you hear Schiller’s “Ode to Joy” by Beethoven or see the David of Michelangelo, or become immersed into the song and splendor and Northern sorrow of Wagner’s “Ring” or Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, if indeed you see real beauty and for a moment you forget yourself, then you are drawn out of yourself into something larger.

In that timeless moment of sublime rapture, the heart knows even if the head cannot put it into words that the dull and quotidian world of betrayal, pain, disappointment and sorrow is not the only world there is. Beauty points to a world beyond this world, a higher realm, a country of joy where there is no death. Beauty points to the divine.

Ari's trio:  truth, beauty, goodness, have all been derogated or, worse, abrogated in most of today's liturgy.  Chant is sublime, but unknown to 95% of Catholic children under the age of 12, and unknown to well over 80% of the Mass-goers between the ages of 25-60. 

In the essay, the author posits that the atheist hates beauty because it's not egalitarian.  Hmmmm.  So, in their rush to 'egalitarize' the Mass--and we know that was the object--did the commissions and cooperating Bishops betray their real problem?

You decide.

The TEA Party Is Not Dead

..not by a long shot.

HT:  MoonBattery

Is "The Mandate" a Goner?

Well, perhaps, at least in this opinion.

After the Hobby Lobby decision, a number of people pointed to a reference to the so-called “accommodation” for religious-oriented organizations in the HHS contraception mandate to conclude that the Supreme Court’s decision would be limited to the for-profit sector, and only to certain methods of contraception. A series of orders the next day showed the latter was not true, and a decision late yesterday suggests the former isn’t, either. 

The author also states that SCOTUS did not accept that baby-killing or other artificial contraception was a "compelling national interest", either, in the Hobby Lobby case.

Hmmmm.

Waukesha County Clerk's Political Ambitions

Seems like the Waukesha County Clerk--who recklessly "authorized" same-sex marriage--has political ambitions, like a nice fat State job someplace.

And we now know why Gov. Walker temporized about same-sex marriage.

...WKOW-TV in Madison has learned, and the governor's office has confirmed that Gov. Scott Walker's son, Alex Walker, served as an official witness to the same-sex marriage of a family member on June 9 in Waukesha County....

Uh-huh.

The kid's excuse is.......well......being a kid.  "Young and dumb" is a fact, not an opinion.  As to the Clerk?  You decide.

The Real Democrat Party

PJB reiterates the facts about the Democrat Party's history, and sums it up:

...the party of slavery, secession and segregation...

That's reality, and it continues today.  The Democrat Party's slaves are now kept on its 'Rights' Plantation where "rights" are trumpeted, such as the "right" to counter-natural "marriage", the "right" to responsibility-free sex and the "right" to other people's money.

In other words, the "right" to slavery of the soul, and segregation into the resulting ghettos, and secession from the American Idea--the Constitutional America.

Nothing changes.

ObozoEconomy: Partly Jobby

What the MSM didn't mention:

...full-time jobs CRATERED in June.  There’s no “robust growth” here.  It’s a massive jump in the ongoing transformation of American into a part-time economy.  It’s awful news, the sort of thing that would be making Americans howl for new leadership and new ideas, if it was reported accurately.

The U.S. economy lost 523,000 full-time jobs in June.  This was offset by an enormous surge of 799,000 part-time jobs....

That has nothing to do with ObozoCare mandates, of course.  Nothing at all.

"Worst President?" Depends on Your Perspective

In some countries, he'd be just dandy!

HT:  Thinker

The "Compelling Interest": Screwtape's Excrements

This is what happens when you let the Left (Screwtape's minions) control the narrative.

In Hobby Lobby, the compelling governmental interest is comprehensive preventive health care for women  --Althouse

They're actually serious about that.  "Health care" includes prevention of and/or termination of life. 

Still Think Christie's a "Conservative"?

The Captain points to a new Christie pronouncement, which rivals or exceeds the Statism of Obozo (!)

...Christie proposed a new standard for involuntary commitment of patients who are not necessarily deemed dangerous “but whose mental illness, if untreated, could deteriorate to the point of harm"....and to require people forced to undergo mental health treatment to demonstrate “adequate medical evidence of suitability” if they want to get a firearms purchase identification card.

Wouldn't surprise me if this wacko actually gets a few votes at the Convention.  It'll be useful to keep track of who voted for him.

ObozoCare: 99% Un-Verifiable

Ooooohhh, this is nice.

The federal Obamacare marketplace was unable to verify nearly 3 million irregularities in the applications for enrollment, according to a new audit by the Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG).

The audit, released Tuesday, found that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) resolved less than one percent of so-called “inconsistencies” related to the citizenship and residency status of Obamacare sign ups.

Even at this distance, I can see more HHS pen-and-phone waivers. 

“The Federal marketplace was not able to resolve inconsistencies related to: citizenship, status as a national, lawful presence, residency, family size, annual household income, and whether the applicant was eligible for minimum essential coverage through employer-sponsored insurance,” the audit said.

Nothing major here, like whether they vote (R).  Just minor stuff.  But not to worry!  Obozo's NSA jackboots probably have the information.  IRS might have it, too, unless they destroyed the hard-drives.

Gay "Adoptions" or Lifestyle Purchases?

An essay which slaps one awake.  (And a warning to the ObozoItes:  the rest of the world ain't buying it, and there WILL be a political price to pay.)

...I have been to the United Nations and met with various representatives on the issue of same-sex parenting.  I can’t reveal the names of the ambassadors I met, because this is all radioactive.  But the bottom line is, whether they were from Europe, Asia, or Africa, they were more than aware that a freakish Nordic alliance of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Iceland has been trying to turn the whole globe into some kind of gay utopian dream.  The ambassadors I've spoken with are not impressed with the gay pride parades that take place in Copenhagen.  In fact, most of what the LGBT lobby is advocating makes their skin crawl, and with good reason.

They’re not morons.  I’m no dummy, either.  We aren’t fooled by this silly trick of trying to say that orphans being raised by their grandmothers are the same thing as two lesbians who manufacture a child using DNA they got from a fertility clinic.  People have seen Blade Runner.  People have read Brave New World.  People know what it means to create human beings to satisfy wealthy people’s desire for designer kids.  Remember the kidnappings by Boko Haram?  They followed on the heels of earlier slave traffic devoted to providing children to wealthy families...

Umnnhhhh...yah.  BMW, a nice yacht, and a couple of kiddies to play in the 5-acre yard on Fire Island.

And as for that warning:

...Having made four trips to England and France over the last year and a half, I see an angle that doesn’t get covered much in the states: the boom for the Euroskeptics in France and England came largely because their leaders forced gay marriage on the nations’ conservative parties (UMP and the Tories) at the behest of our president, who’s weirdly obsessed with homosexuality....

For some of us, that's the good news.  Describing Obozo as "weirdly obsessed" is far too kind, by the way.

Teh Stupids: Fox 6 News

Seems as though Fox6's Lowe doesn't read the news.

...A lengthy feature broadcast June 29 on WITI-TV (FOX, Channel 6) provides evidence to support those who believe Walker has taken a hit. By the time reporter Mike Lowe’s piece aired, John Doe prosecutors had stated prominently that Walker was not a target. Separately, some reporters had walked back a bit from their initial stories by acknowledging that two judges had ruled against the prosecution and had halted the investigation.

Yet here is how WITI framed Lowe’s piece, packaged under a foreboding headline about "dark money."
"A secret John Doe investigation is exploring the link between Governor Scott Walker’s recall campaign and outside political groups to see if there was any illegal coordination...FOX6′s Mike Lowe has followed the money trail — to find out how politically influential organizations hide their donors using 'dark money.’

And blah, blah.  I watched the "report" and noticed that it was all McCabe, all the time.  To be fair, McCabe and Lowe did mention that "dark money" funds the Left, too--although the face of "dark money" was Wisconsin Family Action's exec director.  Yah, well.

But this is not a shock.  A few years ago, the "meteorologist" at Fox6, Condella, narrated a several-minute video essay about The End Of The World As We Know It due to.........ta-da!!...... "global warming."  Among other things, Condella informed us that Wisconsin would turn into a vast savanna where rivers and lakes would virtually disappear.  Deer would disappear too, and corn-growing would move to Canada or Alaska or maybe Mars.

Teh Stupids.  Nothing new..

Inside Hobby Lobby, a Bomb

Hobby Lobby was a case about RFRA (Religious Freedom Restoration Act), so it's useful to understand RFRA.  Terry Jeffrey enlightens, and it's not good news.

...Justice Samuel Alito wrote the court's majority opinion in Hobby Lobby. In it, he explains that RFRA "prohibits the federal government from taking any action that substantially burdens the exercise of religion unless that action constitutes the least restrictive means of serving a compelling government interest."

Joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Anthony Kennedy (who filed a concurring opinion), Alito argued that: 1)  Forcing the employers in this case to provide insurance coverage for certain drugs and devices did indeed substantially burden their exercise of religion, 2) that the government did indeed have a compelling interest for forcing these employers to violate their religious beliefs, but 3) that the particular means the government used to advance this compelling interest force was not the least restrictive one available....

The Gummint "has a compelling interest" for murdering babies?  Really?  More precisely stated, the Gummint has a "compelling interest" which allows it to require 3rd parties to pay for baby-killing?  Really?

Take baby-killing out of it, and read it this way:   the Gummint has a "compelling interest" allowing it to force 3rd parties to pay for The Pill.  Really?

Really?

Do You Really Think They're Just "Misguided"?

At one point in time, a lot of us thought that the Lefties were, on the whole, nice people who were a bit wacky on a few points.  Maybe it's time to re-assess.

Here’s the real deal in full and without any sugarcoating: they’re fucking fascists. The system they’re trying to create is–ta da!–purely, simply, and wholly fascist. The only thing missing is the rampant nationalism, and that’s only a feature of one particular strain of the loathsome beast anyway.

Under fascism, business and industry are nominally privately held but are severely–very nearly completely–ruled by an all-powerful State. Corporations must conduct their activities exactly in accordance with the regulations issued by the State, with absolutely no right to deviate from its edicts and micromanagement. The economy itself is under strict central control; individual dissent is likewise suppressed.

The fascist nation is usually ruled by a charismatic leader with absolute dictatorial power. A pretense to democracy is sometimes half-heartedly maintained, but its elections are a sham, resulting in no meaningful change to the ruling apparat. Its domestic police forces are militarized and exercise their authority with only cursory restraint; their relationship to the citizenry they supposedly serve is adversarial, when it’s not outright hostile. Any of this beginning to sound familiar at all?

The New Amerika the Left is so mulishly a-building for us (America “fundamentally transformed,” as I believe somebody or other said a couple or three times) is a fascist tyranny. It is only a gossamer-thin tissue of deception away from open communism; it is antithetical, inimical, and irreconcilable to and with the government envisioned and set up by our Founders.

And you can just stop right there, because that’s the whole damned story; no further explication, excuses, or rationalization are necessary. The American Left is fascist in tooth and claw, to pervert a good old phrase a bit. That’s really all there is to it.

Oh, and lest we forget: deceitful, hysterical propaganda deployed in the early stages of the establishment of the fascist state to gin up frenzied hatred helpful to the cause is an essential part of the process.

I recall Charlie Sykes having amiable conversations on-air with John Chisholm, who is now--clearly--a militant authoritarian/repressive jackwad.  No, he's not "nice."  He's a......f*&^%ng fascist, right down to the 'deceitful, hysterical, propaganda.'

"Pack It Up and Go Home"? Really?

Yah, they're allegations, and the source...well....not exactly an icon of truth, justice, and the American Way.

On the other hand, maybe some Wisconsin pundits will re-think their devotion to the Karl Rove/NRSC/Cochran method of winning elections.

Hmmmmmm?

"Mental Health" Gun Cure? Nope.

Facts are anathema to the Left, and even some on the Right.

Jeffrey W. Swanson, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Duke University School of Medicine and lead author of the article in Annals of Epidemiology was quoted in the UCLA Newsroom saying ”but even if schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression were cured, our society’s problem of violence would diminish by only about 4 percent.”  --Forbes quoted at The Captain's place

The problem is Evil, not "mental health," nor "lack of education," nor "lack of democracy," nor "poverty."

In other words, it's the human condition.  But if the Progressives ever concede that, all their projects will be shown for what they are:  a massive waste of time and Someone Else's Money.