Succinctly Poetic

About the armed citizens guarding recruitment centers:

"Citizens are placing themselves in harms way to protect those who are supposed to serve and protect us but can't because of cowardly generals groveling before the gay lobbyists."

-dogwonder 

*

Now that's downright poetic!

/gun

Patent Office Scandal

Most of my friends are politically active. They are Tea Party people. I was for 13 years.

But, I have been for some time, and continue to be—in the face of ongoing, continuing and regularly discovered abuses of power flagrantly perpetrated, and MY money shamelessly wasted by all levels of government—disgusted to the point of indifference to politics.

Except for: Secession or Revolution.

People, we can't "fix" this.

*

Oh. About the title: it has just been reported (by almost nobody) that within the patent office, federal paralegals had no work to do for years, but they have spent their time fooling around, surfing the net, doing their laundry, working out..all mostly from home, while getting a bigger salary than most people in the private sector, as well as "performance" bonuses for all the great work they didn't do.

Here's the story.

And if you think this is an isolated incident,  I've got a bridge....

We can "fix" this.

All we can do is burn it down, and start over. And until we get serious about it, don't bore me with "getting Republicans elected".

Please. RME (Rolling My Eyes)

Just call me when the shooting starts.

/gun

Nullification

Well, I've been convinced.

Nullification is a valid, constitutional, legal, viable remedy for Central Government over-reach.

I became enamored of the idea the moment I heard about it, but then I heard that Mark Levin has expressed his opinion in no uncertain terms, and with his typical dose of insults, that Nullification is unconstitutional, and that anyone who believes otherwise is a Leftwing Kook.

I mostly respect Mark Levin and his opinions. He seems to me to be as angry and as concerned about the dangerous Statism that has taken over our country as I am. I enjoy his rants...because I generally feel the same.

So it was with some concern that I read about his vehement disagreement, and, indeed, howling vituperation against any that support Nullification as a currently viable tactic, or dare suggest that Jefferson and Madison, particularly in the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions against the Alien and Sedition Acts, were encouraging it.

As a result of this disharmony in my own brain, I sought out argument from both sides, and have read, not exhaustively, but significantly the arguments for both sides.


Here, in a nutshell is what I have come up with:

THE ANTI-NULLIFICATION SIDE:

Insists that all laws passed by Congress are required to be obeyed by all people of the United States. Period. That to permit anything else is to invite anarchy and break up the Union.

That if Congress acts beyond its Constitutional mandate, we may....while obeying their unconstitutional laws...work to form a Constitutional Amendment Convention of 2/3 of the States in order to amend the Constitution to force the Central Government, who is violating the Constitution, to obey the Constitution. (more on this later*)

The fact that this is a long-term, perhaps multiple decade endeavor matters not. Until such curative Amendments are ratified by 3/4 of the States and the Constitution be duly amended, there can never be any justification for not obeying a law passed by Congress, ordered by the President, or permitted by the Supreme Court...no matter how illegal, vile, criminal, immoral or unconstitutional.

But wait, what if the Congress, seeing the States working to hold a Constitutional Amendments Convention, passed a law outlawing such a convention? Such a law would obviously be a direct violation of Article V of the Constitution. But if, by anti-nullifiers logic, we must always obey all laws passed by Congress, unconstitutional or otherwise (or risk anarchy!) what are we to do if they pass laws—unconstitutional or otherwise— that close any route of redress?

Please note that people who claim Nullification illegal claim the same about Secession, so we couldn't even legally take our ball and go home!

Aren't they in fact saying that the Central Government can do anything it wants and we just have to obey it? How is this different from tyranny? How is this different from an absolute monarchy.

Do you suppose the Founders had this in mind when they ratified the Constitution?

So...no matter how cleverly and hysterically they argue their point, this is always what is comes down to:  We have no right to resist an unconstitutional government. We must be good, little submissive, obedient subjects to our master, the Central Government.

Of course that's not what they THINK they're saying, but if you take their argument to it logical conclusion, that's where it ends up.

Sorry Mark. Much as I love ya, buddy, you're wrong.

(Happily I'm so insignificant, he will never become aware of my dissing his feeble argument, and therefore will be spared being pierced by his high-pitched slings and arrows.)

Regarding the fact that Mark is a trained lawyer, and therefore some might give him the advantage in this argument just because of his "expertise"....please note this wonderful quote:

"Being trained in the law should not be mistaken for being well educated."

I love that...and I believe most of my attorney friends would agree. Besides, this is not an issue of law, but of history. And in that, others are more expert. And it is to those I turned to find the argument FOR Nullification.

On final thought: "Constitutional law is not The Constitution, it is what judges have said about The Constitution"



THE PRO-NULLIFICATION SIDE:

The States have the right to nullify an UNCONSTITUTIONAL law within their own borders; refuse to enforce it; refuse to  cooperate with Federal agents in enforcing, and indeed act as a shield for their citizens against any Federal action to arrest, intimidate or otherwise harass them.

This cannot be used willy-nilly against any old law they don't like, but only those deemed unconstitutional, in that they violate guaranteed natural rights, or are beyond the permitted scope and jurisdiction of the powers enumerated to the Federal Government by the Constitution.

This argument necessarily requires that the Supreme Court, as part of the Central Government, NOT be the final arbiter of Constitutionality of Congressional or Executive acts. It reclaims the right of States, as parties to the Compact that created the Federal Government...to judge the Constitutionality of its laws.

This is as it was in the beginning...and should be today. The Supreme Court, in a series of its own decisions, granted itself the power to be the Oligarchical Rulers of America, by seizing the final and unquestionable right to determine what is, and what it not permitted and Constitutional.

By a branch of the Federal Government, created by the States and the People, this is an intolerable usurpation of power, and must be checked.

Nullification is one way to do that.

In brief: If the States and The People have no right to independently resist the unconstitutional encroachments of the Central Government of their liberty, their persons, their jurisdictions, their territory, their property, but must obey its every dictat while pleading to that same Central Government for redress, then the Constitution is a sham, and the United States of America has ceased to exist as it was founded, and Liberty and Rights are nothing more than empty words sans meaning and substance.

That may be okay for some, but it ain't okay by me.

/gun


* This is a simplistic and in one sense unfair way of putting this argument...even though it does have some obvious merit. The fact is, the Central Government Judiciary Arm, the Supreme Court, has violated the spirit and meaning the the Constitution in favor of itself and its fellow Central Government branches by "interpreting" certain phrases in the Constitution to mean what they were never meant by the Founders to mean, most particularly the Commerce clause and the General Welfare clause.

Amendments can be put in place that clarify, define and limit any further such "interpretations" that increase the size and reach of the Central Government—and, in fact, eliminate any powers previously assumed by the Central Government based on such "interpretations".

This would obviously be a good thing.

If the Central Government would be ruled by the Amended Constitution. The suggestion above is not outrageous in imagining that if the Central Government will not be ruled by the clear and knowable truth of the Constitution as currently constituted...why would anyone trust that such a body would suddenly be brought to heel by more words on paper?

Surely there must be a real method of enforcement by which the States can bring the Central Government under Constitutional control.

And it is this that the Anti-Nullifiers do not permit by their argument.

------------------

And here are a few others you might recognize who agree - commenting on the book "NULLIFICATION" by my new hero, Thomas Woods.

“During these times that challenge our freedoms there is no one more qualified to make U.S. history relevant to the fight against big government than Thomas Woods. This book is a must read for all who cherish liberty.”-Barry Goldwater Jr., Former Member of Congress


“Thomas Jefferson said, ‘Whensoever the General Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force.’ It turns out that at least two thirds of congressional spending is absent of any constitutional authority. That means that at the very least, it is going to take the vigorous use of nullification to restore the American republic. Anyone in the Tea Party movement or elsewhere who really wants to limit government ought to start with this highly readable and informative book.”-Walter E. Williams, John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics George Mason University


“In clear and well-documented arguments, Tom Woods gives hope to those who wish to tame the federal monster as the Framers intended — by using the utterly lawful and historically accepted principle of nullification. You must read this book.” -Hon. Andrew P. Napolitano, Senior Judicial Analyst FOX News Channel

Us and Them

Peggy Noonan says this, ostensibly about Syria, but I'm more interested in her greater point....one I've been making for some time [emphasis mine].

"A point on how quickly public opinion has jelled. There is something going on here, a new distance between Washington and America that the Syria debate has forced into focus. The Syria debate isn't, really, a struggle between libertarians and neoconservatives, or left and right, or Democrats and Republicans. That's not its shape. It looks more like a fight between the country and Washington, between the broad American public and Washington's central governing assumptions.

Here's a link to the whole article.

1984 Is So Here

This seems impossible, but it is on "The Atlantic" website....unless it's a pretty neat hoax.

Apparently, it is now a CRIME to unlock your smartphone (the one you bought....your property), so that you can use it with any carrier you want.

Now, does that seem a bit draconian?

Ya think?

Has this been updated? Revised? Revoked?

How is this possible? 

The Gunslinger

UPDATE:  Another Source.

Un-Fucking-believable.

I just made it under the wire - NOT A FELON! Yipee!

I bought my smartphone through T-Mobile, the worst of all possible carriers. I worked with them from the beginning to actually get signal to my house. When it proved impossible, the "grace period" for cancelling my contract had barely passed, and they refused to let me out of it without demanding a termination fee. 

THE FACT THAT I ONLY WANTED TO CANCEL BECAUSE THEY COULD NOT PROVIDE THE SERVICE DESIGNATED IN THE CONTRACT TO WHICH THEY ALSO WERE A PARTY....didn't matter to them. They had me on timing, regardless of the fact that they had never fulfilled their part of the contract: TO PROVIDE ME WITH SERVICE at my residence.

They also refused to give me the unlock code for the smartphone I had, which was tied to their network.

So. T-Mobile could not provide service. Yet, would not allow me to cancel the contract without penalties, and insisted on making my smartphone useless to me.

They're REAL ASSHOLES.

Happily, I purchased my phone before the effective date of this freedom-crushing law, and was able to purchase an unlock code from a third party and now have a functioning smartphone on another network, that actually provides service. 

AT&T. They should get credit for good service and good signal. Even as T-Mobile should be cast into the sea and forgotten by history.

Except as an example of how NOT to run a company.

So, anyway, given my experience...this fucked up law would have made my VERY EXPENSIVE phone nothing more than a doorstop. Would have forced me to buy another VERY EXPENSIVE phone in order to get the service I originally contracted for with T-Mobile...but never got.

So the government is now in league with T-Mobile to fuck the next sucker out of service, signal, termination fee, and phone.

Nice.

Goodbye, sweet America.

How did is come to this?

/Gun

SECOND UPDATE:

Isn't there an opportunity here? Start a company that sells unlocked phones directly to consumers...with the guarantee that they can take them anywhere, to any carrier, to any network at any time.

I like it. If you make it happen before I do, great. More competition, the lower the prices go.

Let's get on that!

/Gun
 

Goodbye Identity

Time to start thinking about getting off the grid.

The Gunslinger

British Progressive Society

Check this out. You'd better duct tape your head before you do....to keep it from exploding all over the place. Messy.

Who the fuck ARE these people?

Coming to (or already at) a government school near you. Get your children OUT of there!

I'm starting to think the best thing we can do to insure a free future is start our own private schools. All the smart politics in the world will not succeed if the people are stupid, psychologically damaged, ill-educated, dependent sheep.

The Gunslinger

Yes, Virginia, Government Does it Better

They want to let the guys who run this, run healthcare.

Uh-Huh.

The Gunslinger

Government is the Enemy of Freedom

Sometime back, Van said...

If you argue with a Leftist, make him identify the underlying principle upon which his argument is based; that principle which is always true, and is true for everyone.

Smart insight!

I propose to use this insight upside down, as it were:

Starting from the principle stated as the title of this post, I intend to engage only in those arguments that are relevant to it.

So often we get side-tracked into specific issue arguments, where we make enemies who could be our allies if we only explained our underlying principle instead of engaging them on issues that would ultimately be resolved by addressing it.

So many of the fears and suspicions of each other, and the problems and issues we argue about would be solved immediately if we dismantled the Imperial State.

Nobody should have the amount of power that Washington D.C. (and some State Governments) wields over regular citizens. When did we decide that it is appropriate for Government to oversee and regulate every facet of our lives?

If you are a conservative, that level of power is frightening in the hands of liberals.

But...if you are a liberal, you might want to consider whether you want that much consolidated power in the hands of conservatives after some future election (it will happen eventually).

The best thing for everyone; every party; every faction; and every individual, is for government to be reduced in power and size to what's actually legal according to the Constitution—and not the expansive notions of Collectivists of a "living Constitution" that keeps expanding the role of government until what we have now bears no resemblance to the what the founders had in mind, or what the Constitution actually says. (You know, in everyday English.)  Not to mention the gargantuan leviathan they are working to give birth to as we speak.

Let's just keep our eye on the ball:  Dismantling the Imperial State.

Seriously, that will solve all the rest of those issues that keep on taking all of our time and attention, and that we can never solve without addressing the root problem, because they will only grow again from the tainted source:  Big Government.

Government is the enemy of the People and the enemy of Freedom. And the bigger it is, the bigger the threat and the bigger the danger.

You just don't need to know anything else.

The Gunslinger

From the Mailbag

This isn't new, but it's still good...

Alan Simpson, Senator from Wyoming, Co-Chair of Obama's deficit commission, calls senior citizens the Greediest Generation as he compared "Social Security" to a Milk Cow with 310 million teats.

Here's a response in a letter from PATTY MYERS in Montana ... 
I think she is a little ticked off! She also tells it like it is!

"Hey Alan, let's get a few things straight..

1. As a career politician, you have been on the public dole for FIFTY YEARS.

2. I have been paying Social Security taxes for 48 YEARS (since I was 15 years old. I am now 63).

3. My Social Security payments, and those of millions of other Americans, were safely tucked away in an interest bearing account for decades until you political pukes decided to raid the account and give OUR money to a bunch of zero ambition losers in return for votes, thus bankrupting the system and turning Social Security into a Ponzi scheme that would have made Bernie Madoff proud..

4. Recently, just like Lucy & Charlie Brown, you and your ilk pulled the proverbial football away from millions of American seniors nearing retirement and moved the goalposts for full retirement from age 65 to age 67. NOW, you and your shill commission are proposing to move the goalposts YET AGAIN.

5. I, and millions of other Americans, have been paying into Medicare from Day One, and now you morons propose to change the rules of the game. Why? Because you idiots mismanaged other parts of the economy to such an extent that you need to steal money from Medicare to pay the bills.

6. I, and millions of other Americans, have been paying income taxes our entire lives, and now you propose to increase our taxes yet again. Why? Because you incompetent bastards spent our money so profligately that you just kept on spending even after you ran out of money. Now, you come to the American taxpayers and say you need more to pay off YOUR debt.To add insult to injury, you label us "greedy" for calling "bullshit" on your incompetence.

Well, Captain Bullshit, I have a few questions for YOU.

1. How much money have you earned from the American taxpayers during your pathetic 50-year political career?

2. At what age did you retire from your pathetic political career, and how much are you receiving in annual retirement benefits from the American taxpayers?

3. How much do you pay for YOUR government provided health insurance?

4. What cuts in YOUR retirement and healthcare benefits are you proposing in your disgusting deficit reduction proposal, or, as usual, have you exempted yourself and your political cronies?

It is you, Captain Bullshit, and your political co-conspirators called Congress who are the "greedy" ones. It is you and your fellow nutcases who have bankrupted America and stolen the American dream from millions of loyal, patriotic taxpayers. And for what?

Votes.

That's right, sir. You and yours have bankrupted America for the sole purpose of advancing your pathetic political careers. You know it, we know it, and you know that we know it.

And you can take that to the bank, you miserable son of a bitch.

Pretty much defines "politician"....remember, never fall in love with one, he will absolutely break your heart.

The Gunslinger

From the Mailbag...

Heidi is the proprietor of a bar in Detroit .

She realizes that virtually all of her customers are unemployed alcoholics and, as such, can no longer afford to patronize her bar.

To solve this problem, she comes up with a new marketing plan that allows her customers to drink now, but pay later.

Heidi keeps track of the drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers' loans).

Word gets around about Heidi's "drink now, pay later" marketing strategy and, as a result, increasing numbers of customers flood into Heidi's bar. Soon she has the largest sales volume for any bar in Detroit .

By providing her customers freedom from immediate payment demands, Heidi gets no resistance when, at regular intervals, she substantially increases her prices for wine and beer, the most consumed beverages.

Consequently, Heidi's gross sales volume increases massively.

A young and dynamic vice-president at Heidi's local bank recognizes that these customer debts constitute valuable future assets and increases Heidi's borrowing limit.

He sees no reason for any undue concern, since he has the debts of the unemployed alcoholics as collateral!!!

At the bank's corporate headquarters, expert traders figure a way to make huge commissions, and transform these customer loans into DRINK BONDS.

These "securities" then are bundled and traded on international securities markets.

Naive investors don't really understand that the securities being sold to them as "AAA Secured Bonds" really are debts of unemployed alcoholics. Nevertheless, the bond prices continuously climb!!!, and the securities soon become the hottest-selling items for some of the nation's leading brokerage houses.

One day, even though the bond prices still are climbing, a risk manager at the original local bank decides that the time has come to demand payment on the debts incurred by Heidi's bar. He so informs Heidi.

Heidi then demands payment from her alcoholic patrons, but being unemployed alcoholics they cannot pay back their drinking debts.

Since Heidi cannot fulfill her loan obligations to the bank she is forced into bankruptcy. The bar closes and Heidi's 11 employees lose their jobs.

Overnight, DRINK BOND prices drop by 90%.

The collapsed bond asset value destroys the bank's liquidity and prevents it from issuing new loans, thus freezing credit and economic activity in the community.

The suppliers of Heidi's bar had granted her generous payment extensions and had invested their firms' pension funds in the BOND securities.

They find they are now faced with having to write off her bad debt and with losing over 90% of the presumed value of the bonds.

Her wine supplier also claims bankruptcy, closing the doors on a family business that had endured for three generations, her beer supplier is taken over by a competitor, who immediately closes the local plant and lays off 150 workers. In addition, the laid-off workers' pension funds and IRA'S all suffer substantial loss in value.

Fortunately though, the bank, the brokerage houses and their respective executives are saved and bailed out by a multibillion dollar no-strings attached cash infusion from the government.

The funds required for this bailout are obtained by new taxes levied on employed, middle-class, nondrinkers who have never been in or heard of Heidi's bar.

Now do you understand?

Clarity

Politics is the conflict between those who want to control others and those who don't.  Everything flows from those two opposing ways of being.

I think the same can be said of war.

This understanding provides intellectual clarity.

I like that.

It simplifies everyday, retail politics. When an issue arises, simply determine if it advances the agenda of the former or that of the latter group.

If the former, resist it. If the latter, support it.

Black/White. Cut/Dried.

The Gunslinger

America Today

If you think it's not going to get bad just because Big Government is regulating every facet of your life...check this little story out. Happened across the bay from where I live.

Because of government regulations and bureaucratic bullshit—and the complete loss of human decency—Alameda cops and firemen stood around watching a man drown...rather than saving him.

Please note, that even after his unconscious body was floating in the water, they made no move to rescue or retrieve him. This was finally done by a 20-year-old civilian woman.

Welcome to Liberal Utopia: California U.S.A.

WE. HAVE. BEEN. WARNED.

We are on our own.

Guns. Food. Just sayin'.

More links on this story:
Chicago News Bench,
Democratic Underground (Can't believe I actually agree with most of them!)
KGO San Francisco (local ABC affiliate)

Please note that the Fire Division Chief said this when asked if he would save a drowning child:

"Well, if I was off duty I would know what I would do, but I think you're asking me my on-duty response and I would have to stay within our policies and procedures because that's what's required by our department to do," Alameda Fire Div. Chief Ricci Zombeck said when asked by ABC7 if he would enter the water to save a drowning child. 

Alameda firefighters could not even go into the water to get the body, so they waited until a woman in her 20s volunteered to bring the body back to the beach.

So...his short answer is "NO, as an on duty fireman I would NOT save a drowning child."

Personally, I'd keep my family away from the beaches of the ISLAND of Alameda. Oh yeah....did I mention that ALAMEDA is an ISLAND....with no land-based water rescue services?

Are you pulling out your hair yet?

Please don't think this rot is not coming to fire station near you. The progressives/liberals NEVER stop. And this is where they are taking us. How is it even possible that they have made an entire fire department of men NOT willing to go against the fucking stupid rules in order to save a human's life?

This is not just bad rules, this is altering the very nature of the meaning of "humanity". The progressives have succeeded, at least in this one place (so far) in creating an environment in which men's natural instincts are subverted by obedience to bureaucratic governmental regulations.

I assume Woodrow Wilson is thrilled as he sees his progressive agenda approaching completion—from the burning fires of hell, where I hope and pray he is spending eternity.

The Gunslinger

Just Not That Into You...

Robin of Berkeley really has Øbama's number.

Don't get me wrong. I don't think 'Bama's the problem. It's big government. Big government that can be used as a club on American citizens (and American allies) when someone as mean-spirited and small-minded as 'Bama gets power.

Sure, we've got to get rid of this contemptuous bastard. But more importantly than that, we need to curb and crush and limit and shrink the size, scope and power of government.

That's not the most important thing; it's the only thing.

The Gunslinger

The Unstoppable Future

Stulti

How can the Left just keep doing this? What drives them? Why do they never stop?

I don't know about you, but I'm tired. I'm bored. I've had it.

I want to stop. I want to get high, make love, relax, listen to music, buy a motorcycle, get a tattoo.

I don't want to go to Tea Parties, worry about the destruction of America by the Stulti (latin for "fools"). I don't want to spend every moment thinking about how the beacon of freedom of all mankind is being doused by the evil stupidity of the Left, and the ignorant fools who believe them and vote for them.

I want to be normal again. I want to unknow what I know.

It's the curse of being born in "interesting times". Those damned Chinese knew what they were talking about with that one.

 The longer this battle goes on, the more dangerous I find it. I used to think I was lucky, born just in the nick of time to enjoy the benefits of the American Empire...and die before its dissolution.

I don't think that anymore. I think our old age (as long as it may last with ØbamaCare) will possibly be plagued by want, loss, shortages, high prices—maybe cat food, if you get my drift.

Saving all these years is being destroyed by inflation that will likely not end for years. How could it be otherwise with RULERS who continue to destroy our currency and our future through criminal fiscal irresponsibility and incompetence?

How can it be otherwise when our RULERS mandate impossible and stupid conformity to impossible and stupid regulations like California just did: passing a bill that requires all Energy Companies in California to get 1/3 of their energy from "renewable sources" by...I don't know 2020 or something. (I had my fingers in my ears, trying not to hear it.)

Yeah right. They can't. It's not possible. But that doesn't stop them. They MUST. The fact that it is impossible on the ground doesn't stop these imbeciles from passing laws that REQUIRE it.

What the fuck do you DO in the face of that???

Energy prices will be so bad here that people won't be able to buy electricity. Oh...wait....California has also decided to put price controls on the energy companies...so prices don't get too high.

So...the ONLY result of that is SHORTAGES of power.

So in the 21st Century, Californians will be reduced to having power cut off regularly...maybe for certain hours every day. No doubt we will be told we have to do our part to "save the planet".

The rush to the 7th Century is proceeding apace.

Thank you Liberal Fools; idiots, Stulti.

Elythios! (ee-LEE-thee-os). "Stupid" in Greek.

Yup.

The Gunslinger
(Getting a tattoo anyway. Screw it.)

Firewall, with Bill Whittle

Whittle's take on history is very comforting. According to him, we are on the right side of history, and belong to the future...and those we fight against, the big government cronies are fighting a losing battle, as they are the creatures of the past.

I like it. Here's his argument:

Seeing Through You: DHS & TSA

Hiding might be the hardest part!

Good God, y'all! Can we immediately defund these two agencies? I'd rather have buildings bombed than these guys running roughshod over the rights of the people.

This is serious Big Brother here.

Big Government = No Liberty

The Gunslinger

Stand with Gov Walker

Click here to sign a petition supporting Wisconsin Governor Walker...

For what it's worth...just a couple of minutes. Can't hurt. Let's hope he is the start of a national movement!

The Gunslinger

Government Workers Lobby

I hope it's true. That finally we've turned the corner on government workers' unions.

Government workers have become the largest constituency lobbying....government! Yeah. I know. Run that by me again. The government is the biggest, richest, strongest entity lobbying itself.

Wow...how's that workin' out?

I can only hope Wisconsin is spelled: W-A-T-E-R-L-O-O.

From California....held hostage by the same unions,

The Gunslinger