Judges loved it; fairgoers didn't | IndyStar.com | The Indianapolis Star

Sad.

Judges loved it; fairgoers didn't | IndyStar.com | The Indianapolis Star

Hat tip to Indy's Painfully Objective Political Analysis.

Indy's Painfully Objective Political Analysis: Christian Marital Love Porn: "Indy's Painfully Objective Political Analysis"

Back to School -- Project for the New Anarchist Century

Funny, but sad too. Government schools, I assume.

"So, to review: Only atheists don't say the pledge and anarchists don't like Christmas."

Project for the New Anarchist Century » Back to School

Pro Libertate: Behold a Palin Horse

William Norman Grigg writes:

To put the matter in unadorned terms: Most self-defined conservative Christians are as apathetic about the slaughter of innocents in foreign wars as they are agitated about the annihilation of the pre-born through abortion, and they are expansively suspicious of government except when it is engaged in mass-murder abroad...

Although second on the ticket to arch-warmonger McCain, Palin is now the sentimental leader of a party that defines its priorites entirely in terms of winning one war of aggression, and carrying out several more. And the dim-witted incumbent of that party has very thoughtfully arranged the resumption of hostilities with Russia, the only nuclear-armed regime that presents a plausible threat to the security of the United States...

Pro Libertate: Behold a Palin Horse

Pro Libertate: Idolatry and State-Sanctioned Murder (Updated, 9/2)

William N. Grigg writes:

Indeed, government -- particularly the despicable state that rules us -- is little more than a perpetual organized assault on the Ten Commandments. The defining act of a government is extracting wealth from people through the threat of lethal violence, and swaddling such acts in invidious rhetoric about "social justice." Thus at its very foundation, the State institutionalizes violations of the commandments against theft, murder, and covetousness...

Alexander Solzhenitsyn offered this admonition to those who wanted to bring about the end of that totalitarian state, with respect to the proper treatment to be given to agents of that state: "Don't believe them, don't fear them, don't ask anything of them."

In other words, treat them with politeness and respect, and ignore entirely the conceit that they are clothed in some peculiar sanctity that permits them to use or require the use of lethal violence to compel submission to their will. To behave otherwise is to act on premises that are essentially idolatrous.

Pro Libertate: Idolatry and State-Sanctioned Murder (Updated, 9/2)

Judge for Yourself! -- Dangerous Talk Blog

Thomas Eddlem writes, "The only argument he made was to try to make me swear an oath to ignore the clear wording of the Constitution. And explicitly making jurors swear oaths to ignore the Constitution is something that clearly "strikes at the heart" of our legal system."

Dangerous Talk Blog

'Rogues' and Humpty Dumpty Judges by Thomas Eddlem

Thomas Eddlem has some great comments on his federal jury experience.

The Constitution was written in simple, declarative English language sentences by farmers. It was written in our name, "we the people." Not only does Young’s view belie the first three words of the preamble of the Constitution, "We the people…", but his philosophy essentially charges every social studies and civics teacher across the country with conspiring to make their students ineligible for jury service...

Juries cannot judge the law, Young says, even though he makes all jurors who enter his courtroom swear an oath to judge the “facts and the law.”
...
The opinion of the judge is all that matters to Young, not the clear and unequivocal wording of the U.S. Constitution...

Juries must judge the law as well as the fact, which is why the federal oath of jury service requires them to judge both with guidance from a judge. This was true even in Young’s courtroom up until he made me swear a second oath...

Indeed, if judges can legitimately instruct juries to enforce congressional bans against newspapers criticizing public officials, as Young clearly said they can, then juries are nothing more than stage props for pretended legitimacy. Indeed, if judges can legitimately instruct juries to enforce congressional bans against newspapers criticizing public officials, as Young clearly said they can, then juries are nothing more than stage props for pretended legitimacy...

I am against the type of "rogues" Judge Young describes in his memorandum, the kind of people who ignore their oaths to judge the "facts and the law," throwing the law to the wind to substitute their own political agenda. But as a whole, the handful of "rogues" across the nation are far less dangerous to the rule of law than Humpty Dumpty judges.

'Rogues' and Humpty Dumpty Judges by Thomas Eddlem

Who predicted the Fanny and Freddie Fiasco 5 Years Ago? : The New Liberty

Ron Paul.

Who predicted the Fanny and Freddie Fiasco 5 Years Ago? : The New Liberty

So Where Did All The Ditchweed Go? by Paul Armentano

"So why would the DEA abruptly want to cease taking credit for destroying hundreds of millions of pounds of marijuana each year? Perhaps it’s because unlike cultivated marijuana, feral hemp contains virtually no detectable levels of THC – the primary psychoactive component in cannabis – and does not contribute to the black market marijuana trade. Or perhaps it’s because the public was finally beginning to smarten up to the fact that they’ve been paying their police millions of dollars each year to do nothing more than pull a few weeds."

So Where Did All The Ditchweed Go? by Paul Armentano

The American Conservative -- Come Home, America

Excerpt from "Ain't My America".

"Liberals need another George McGovern—and perhaps conservatives do too."

The American Conservative -- Come Home, America

The XX Factor : Sarah Palin's Political Eros

"In the end, the night held two firsts: the sight of a VP candidate onstage quipping about foreign policy while her husband held the baby in the audience. And the glimpse of a novel problem for a presidential candidate: sexual tension with his VP."

The XX Factor : Sarah Palin's Political Eros

Will Wilkinson / The Fly Bottle » Blog Archive » Eat Local, Yokel

Good point.

"But it is not the comparative advantage of some localities to grow anything. In that case, refusal to trade beyond local bounds will leave the local economy poorer. That is, you’ll succeed in keeping food dollars in the local economy only at the price of fewer total dollars for food and everything else."

Will Wilkinson / The Fly Bottle » Blog Archive » Eat Local, Yokel

YouTube - Ron Paul Rally For The Republic Bill Kauffman Part 1

Excellent antiwar speech at Minneapolis.

Read the book too -- "Ain't My America..."

YouTube - Ron Paul Rally For The Republic Bill Kauffman Part 1

GovTrack: House Record: EVEN THE SOLDIERS WILL TELL YOU: "NOTHING'S... (110-h20070117-61)

This is my kind of antiwar Republican conservatism.

"Mr. Speaker, as a teenager I sent my first paycheck as a bag boy at the A&P grocery store as a contribution to the Barry Goldwater campaign. I have been a staunch conservative since high school. This war in Iraq went against every conservative position I have ever known. We need to return Iraq back to Iraqis and start putting our own people first once again."

Representative John Duncan (R-TN)
17 January 2007

GovTrack: House Record: EVEN THE SOLDIERS WILL TELL YOU: "NOTHING'S... (110-h20070117-61)

Senator Robert M. La Follette, Sr. on suppression of antiwar sentiment.

"The purpose of this ridiculous campaign is to throw the country into a state of sheer terror, to change public opinion, to stifle criticism, and suppress discussion. People are being unlawfully arrested, thrown into jail, held incommunicado for days, only to be eventually discharged without ever having been taken into court, because they have committed no crime. But more than this, if every preparation for war can be made the excuse for destroying free speech and a free press and the right of the people to assemble together for peaceful discussion, then we may well despair of ever again finding ourselves for a long period in a state of peace. The destruction of rights now occurring will be pointed to then as precedents for a still further invasion of the rights of the citizen."

Robert M. La Follette, Sr. - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Congressman Duncan on war and the state

Congressman Duncan wrote, "I hope more of my fellow conservatives will soon wake up and realize that an unnecessary war and a greatly exaggerated threat of terrorism are being used to expand government at a faster rate than any time in our history."

Commentary by Howard Phillips. The Constitutional Government Blog

YouTube - Rep. John Duncan on Iraq

Excellent antiwar Republican perspective.

YouTube - Rep. John Duncan on Iraq

The American Conservative -- The Right Choice?

I may not agree with his recommendation, but I certainly agree with his views on American empire.

Andrew J. Bacevich writes:

Accept that definition and it quickly becomes apparent that the Republican Party does not represent conservative principles. The conservative ascendancy that began with the election of Ronald Reagan has been largely an illusion...

The presidency of George W. Bush illustrates the point. In 2001, President Bush took command of a massive, inefficient federal bureaucracy. Since then, he has substantially increased the size of that apparatus, which during his tenure has displayed breathtaking ineptitude both at home and abroad. Over the course of Bush’s two terms in office, federal spending has increased 50 percent to $3 trillion per year. Disregarding any obligation to balance the budget, Bush has allowed the national debt to balloon from $5.7 to $9.4 trillion. Worse, under the guise of keeping Americans “safe,” he has arrogated to the executive branch unprecedented powers, thereby subverting the Constitution. Whatever else may be said about this record of achievement, it does not accord with conservative principles...

Finally, there is President Bush’s misguided approach to foreign policy, based on expectations of deploying American military might to eliminate tyranny, transform the Greater Middle East, and expunge evil from the face of the earth. The result has been the very inverse of conservatism. For Bush, in the wake of 9/11, ideology supplanted statecraft. As a result, his administration has squandered American lives and treasure in the pursuit of objectives that make little strategic sense.

For conservatives to hope the election of yet another Republican will set things right is surely in vain. To believe that President John McCain will reduce the scope and intrusiveness of federal authority, cut the imperial presidency down to size, and put the government on a pay-as-you-go basis is to succumb to a great delusion. The Republican establishment may maintain the pretense of opposing Big Government, but pretense it is...

Above all, conservatives who think that a McCain presidency would restore a sense of realism and prudence to U.S. foreign policy are setting themselves up for disappointment. On this score, we should take the senator at his word: his commitment to continuing the most disastrous of President Bush’s misadventures is irrevocable. McCain is determined to remain in Iraq as long as it takes. He is the candidate of the War Party. The election of John McCain would provide a new lease on life to American militarism, while perpetuating the U.S. penchant for global interventionism marketed under the guise of liberation.

The essential point is this: conservatives intent on voting in November for a candidate who shares their views might as well plan on spending Election Day at home. The Republican Party of Bush, Cheney, and McCain no longer accommodates such a candidate...

As part of the larger global war on terrorism, Iraq has provided a pretext for expanding further the already bloated prerogatives of the presidency. To see the Iraq War as anything but misguided, unnecessary, and an abject failure is to play into the hands of the fear-mongers who insist that when it comes to national security all Americans (members of Congress included) should defer to the judgment of the executive branch. Only the president, we are told, can “keep us safe.” Seeing the war as the debacle it has become refutes that notion and provides a first step toward restoring a semblance of balance among the three branches of government.

Above all, there is this: the Iraq War represents the ultimate manifestation of the American expectation that the exercise of power abroad offers a corrective to whatever ailments afflict us at home. Rather than setting our own house in order, we insist on the world accommodating itself to our requirements...

But this much we can say for certain: electing John McCain guarantees the perpetuation of war. The nation’s heedless march toward empire will continue. So, too, inevitably, will its embrace of Leviathan. Whether snoozing in front of their TVs or cheering on the troops, the American people will remain oblivious to the fate that awaits them...

The American Conservative -- The Right Choice?

LewRockwell.com Blog: The Prince Georges Whitewash

Bill Anderson writes:

The real problem is that the police and their supporters have become powerful political forces in this country, and consider any criticism of the police to be "un-American."
...
Nothing will happen to the police in Prince Georges County, and this latest version of the Government Home Invasion will ultimately pass unnoticed. Every officer who participated in that "raid" should be thrown into prison, but, instead, they will be feted as heroes.

LewRockwell.com Blog: The Prince Georges Whitewash

LewRockwell.com Blog: Sarah Palin, Motherhood, and the Christian Conservatives

Laurence Vance writes, "The difference between me and the Christian conservatives who are in love with Palin (she soothes their consciences which have been destroyed by their support for McCain) is that I would recommend that Palin take motherhood over being the assistant warmonger in chief. They would make an exception."

LewRockwell.com Blog: Sarah Palin, Motherhood, and the Christian Conservatives

Look Me In The Eye: Why do people read Look Me in the Eye?

I enjoyed the book and enjoy the author's comments.

Look Me In The Eye: Why do people read Look Me in the Eye?