I hesitated very long at writing this post, partly because a friend told me it might feed hothead talk and nothing else. But I think I know how to explain it.
The title of the post is from an episode of Robin Hood. I thought from the costumes/look that it was from the eighties, but it’s apparently from 2006, BBC America. This explains its overtones of anti-government rage. (Notice to those who write political-message stories. When the administration changes, the other side might REALLY like them. 😛 Not that there is anything wrong with that.)
I had no clue when it was made, because I watch TV primarily while I iron clothes. (Shud up. Ironing clothes is my Zen practice. It calms the wandering mind.) And when I watch it, I turn on Amazon Prime free streaming and browse till something catches my eye.
Robin Hood was a childhood hero. I always understood him as anti-government, not redistribution, since the series I read he was always stealing the TAX money to give back to the people. (Okay, yes, I guess I was myself even at six.) This series has the same thrust, so I decided to watch it. (BTW, if you decide to, the visuals are unappetizing. I have trouble buying a metrosexual, hipster Robin. He simply doesn’t look up to it. And the love interest bears a disturbing resemblance to Ms. Lewinski. There’s also much insanity on the subject of the crusades and, I SWEAR TO BOG, casting by the numbers, which results in a black woman as a con artist in one of the books – in 13th century England. If there had been a black – non Moorish woman – in England at the time, I should hope to shout she’d be known to history. Never mind.)
The first episode is called Will You Tolerate This? from the pivotal scene in which Robin Hood, returned from the crusades, finds his people oppressed and overtaxed, his land badly treated, and all the local barons going along with the Sheriff’s/Prince John’s rule.
In council he turns to them and says “Will you tolerate this?” They clearly would. So he takes to the Green Wood and the life of the outlaw.
This scene struck me particularly since it was a revolt of the barons against John Lackland which secured the basics of the English common law, and, eventually, started Anglophone nations on a different path than the rest of the world, for good and ill. Much of the fundamentals of the “classical liberal” way hark back to the Magna Carta, imperfect, blinkered and of course feudalist as it was.
And this brings us to where I’ve been this last week – having trouble writing blog posts. Yes, part of this is the book I’m in the middle of and a recrudescence of whatever the heck is wrong with me in the upper respiratory. But part of it – a big part – that I’ve been too incandescent with rage to function.
What has me incandescent with rage? The walling off of monuments, the blocking of views like at Mount Rushmore (and old faithful), the closing of farms that are run at a profit and at no cost to the government – the thuggish behavior of government employees which is COSTING money during the shutdown. All this, as a means of “spanking” the American public for not falling into line.
What makes me even crazier are their apologists on Facebook and elsewhere. No, really. I KNOW my colleagues are by and large to the left of Lenin, but REALLY. Shouldn’t they think, you know, now and then?
Telling us that these things are closed because “what if someone were to hurt himself” doesn’t cut it. Because those things are open normally without government support, and if someone were to hurt himself, he’d have the recourse of civil society. As always. It’s not – no, it’s not, not yet – as though the Federal government runs the hospitals or the ambulances. (And, btw, the very fact that they’re doing the shut down this way is proof that they should never be trusted with hospitals or ambulances.)
This is, of course, an old tactic from local governments. Refuse to raise the tax that they want to setup a choo choo train, and suddenly they’re turning off the lights downtown, or telling you they don’t have money for something needed, even while they keep buying Crappy Sculpture ™ for downtown and starting to build the choo choo train, so when you give in they can finish it.
It’s bad enough from the regional governments. It’s also, I note, working less and less. BUT from the Federal government it is intolerable.
Years ago – bear with me – there was a lice epidemic in schools in Portugal. A new regulation went out country wide. Students in public schools could only have hair ye long and ALL of them had to shower with disinfectant shampoo/soap before starting school. Many schools only had cold water, but people obeyed this, quietly.
My husband asked why, and I tried to explain. Portugal, you see, at least until recently, had built into its law assumptions (It might still.) that the country belonged to the State. People were allowed to “Hold” land and houses, but they weren’t the real, ultimate owners.
When that’s true, then the people belong to the State too. They’re SUBJECTS of the state.
This is not true in America. It might seem a difference without a distinction, but it isn’t. In America the people OWN the country. They’re citizens. The government are our servants, hired to serve our purpose.
They do not have the right to “spank” us because they didn’t get their way.
Watching the Barry-Cades erected by minions of President Stompyfoot, I keep thinking “Will you tolerate this?”
Apparently not. Apparently we are not dead yet. The veterans are doing what should be done – moving the barricades in front of the White House and mocking the man who would wall us off from OUR OWN PROPERTY. And treating his minions as beneath contempt, which they are.
Look, we have suffered outrages to our individual rights – a local libertarian group is setting up an individual rights cemetery for Halloween. I’m tempted to go help, but they’re all kids – not just these past five years, but starting in the thirties under FDR. In fact, the current insanity is because they got away with the erosion of the constitution for so long. It’s what allows constitutional scholar™ Nancy Pelosi to say, when asked if Obamacare violates the Constitution “Are you kidding me.”
It is that long history that lets them think they own us and that we’re subjects. That we will in fact “Tolerate this.”
Now, yesterday we had some talk on this blog about when it’s appropriate to take up arms. Let me be very clear™ on why I don’t like that talk. First, it’s because it plays into the stereotype that the left keeps trying to hang around the neck of anyone who opposes them. For the love of Bob, when an argument over CONVENTIONS on MGC results in this guy going sniveling off that “They’re all wingnuts, armed to the teeth” you know this is a talking point. It’s also not believed, and you talking about it won’t be taken seriously. How do I know that? Because if it were believed, they wouldn’t do this stupid stuff. If they thought we were really dangerous, they wouldn’t push us and call us names. So, it’s useless and it plays into their whining points. On top of that, mark my words, it provides an excuse. Should they wish to put us away and make us a bad example, they can always claim we’re “dangerous and armed to the teeth, and look what they write, in public.”
Look, remember Clinton. Come on it wasn’t that long ago. For a while the Militia movement flourished. BUT they managed to hang the Oklahoma bombing around the Militia necks (the links were much fewer and more tenuous than you might think, if you haven’t studied it deeply. In fact, the links point out of the country, but never mind that.) Suddenly, the Militia deserved all that could be done to them, and the common people, faced with the image of dead children went along with it. (And every movie even today has “racist” militias as the villains.)
Does this mean we’re helpless? No. I’m not Gandhi. I’m not going to tell you – as The Most Overrated Sage In History told the Jews – to go singing into the ovens. Yes, there’s a place for martyrdom, and the early Christians won by losing. But that’s a faith not a system of governance.
They are overreaching. If they attack, we will defend. And it’s almost certain they’ll attack, particularly if we will not tolerate this.
Look, they’re looking for a crystal nacht. Loose talk will give them that without the danger of actually facing armed opposition.
Heinlein came to believe FDR provoked Pearl Harbor to have an excuse to go into the war. Some historians say this isn’t true. I don’t know.
BUT if it’s true, note that he waited for the attack before attacking, thereby securing moral high ground.
It’s much easier to start hunting dangerous subversives when there’s a crime to hang around their necks.
No, we shouldn’t put the idea of armed defense out of reach. The people who do that are wrong. We were never lambs, we Americans. HOWEVER neither should we initiate it.
Is it a likelihood. I don’t know. My writer sense is very good at picking these things out of the air, and lately as I’ve told you I’ve been feeling “I stand before the gates of hell, and death is at my side.”
However, do not let yourself believe that if we have an armed conflict it will be easily won OR that what comes after is what we want. I don’t believe it will be another Cuba, but it might be for parts of the US. For other parts… Guys we remain the wealthiest land in the world. Our enemies – foreign – are not going to stand by while our enemies – domestic – slug it out with us. An occupied US is not out of the cards. Foreign occupied.
Forgive me, I’m an American, the prospect makes me shudder.
So, do I resign myself to letting America die for fear a violent intervention will kill her deader?
By no means. The epitaph writers and the would be insurrectionists are two sides of the same coin. Both give the enemy an unwarranted victory already. The epitaph writers assume it’s all over and the enemies domestic won. And the insurrectionists assume the enemies domestic won hearts and minds and we need to rule our country like occupied land.
I think they’re both full of it. The schools have been preaching the joys of state control, of European style statism since FDR at least. And yet, most people, if they get what is going on, don’t buy it. This is why the health care monstrosity had to be passed by a trick. This is why they have to lie and spin in the news and refuse to mention some things.
Because we’re still Americans. We’re still a sovereign people. Granted we’re suffering under the yoke of the oppressor, but at heart we remember this is OUR country, not theirs.
And besides, just like in the 30s industry was running towards greater centralization and less individual importance, now tech is running the other way, making each of us more self-sufficient than we’ve been when our ancestors were starving in the grasslands. (They mostly needed the group to hunt.)
The future is ours.
Does this mean you should tolerate this? Oh, by no means. No you shouldn’t. You should disrespect, subvert, mock – particularly mock. Most of these people are swollen with self importance and very susceptible to mockery – at every possible opportunity.
Remember, this is our land not – by their behavior – theirs. They have no right to do that. If your servant told you that you could no longer come in the house, because you didn’t let her have the new apron, you’d push her aside and go on in, right?
That – civil disobedience. And mockery. Don’t forget the mockery.
Will this avoid the shooting war? I don’t know. I rather hope it does than trust it will.
However, it is the appropriate thing to do right now. Over and over again “You don’t have the right to stop me seeing/enjoying/having fun with that. I am an American citizen. I own this nation and I pay you.”
And meanwhile, just in case we can’t avoid the bad stuff, prepare, build under, build your network, prepare for the long haul.
In the end, we win, they lose. But we have to make sure we win as quickly as possible and with as little time as possible lost to the dark ages. I have children. I’d like to secure liberty THIS generation.
Point, laugh, mock, explain to the stooges of a prepotent, runaway state that has nothing to do with the Constitutional authority they’re supposed to have, that they’re out of line and out of their minds. Ignore them as much as possible. Go around, go under, go over. Just like Mark Twain never let school interfere with his education, don’t let government interfere with your living your life and going about your (should be) lawful business.
And keep your powder dry.
UPDATE: And some of you are excellent at mocking.
According To Hoyt 
I’m not sure mocking will penetrate some of the well-shielded brains I have come in contact with. They seem to exist outside reality, in a firmament made up of their own feelings, facts and data be damned. It’s frightening to know rational, reasonable people are in the minority.
Whenever I’m confrinted with Lefty stupidity (some redundancy) on campus, I have found that the BEST comeback is mocking, incredulous laughter, accompanied with the question: “You’re aware that the last/last three/last twenty times this was tried, it failed miserably? What makes you think you’re going to get a different result this time? Some special fairy magic?”
Generally, I get other kids to laugh along with me, but that’s because we’re in conservative north Texas. Even when I use that line on professors, the kids still laugh (just a little quieter).
I am finding that when I present balanced, factual comebacks, I do usually get good responses in person. The internet, on the other hand…
It’s not the closed minds we need to reach, but the average, workaday person that pays little attention to politics. When there’s kids, a job, parents growing older, bills to pay, and all the little daily disasters to deal with, some blabbermouth from the government blathering about healthcare this or bill in congress that falls so far behind they may as well not make the list.
Soundbites, at best are what reach these sorts of people. I’d say fewer than one in five truly pay attention. The opposition has won gains through emotional appeal, true, but a lot of it is sheer volume. Both more talking heads and louder (because we all know louder is better, right?). Providing them with the facts in the best way we can manage works.
We need to speak up, and out. Educate. Refute. Apply logic- and humor. *grin* If ever there was a time to point out the ironies, it’s now… That’s right, point and laugh.
I’m glad our host mentioned the citizen vs. the subject. I’ve been thinking about that for a while now, and just hadn’t coalesced anything that fit well. *grin*
When ever possible a pithy quip exposing the contradictions of their positions is preferable. When they declare “Obamacare is the law of the land” an appropriate rejoinder would be “Yep, just like Colonial Rule, Jim Crow and ‘Separate but Equal’.”
Could somebody gather a list somewhere? It usually takes me at least a couple of hours to think up a pithy quip, at a minimum, and sometimes I still come out empty a couple of days later. My brain is arranged towards making long, dry explanations, not quips. Well, when it comes to real life situations. I manage quips best when I have power over both sides of the conversation, like you do when writing fiction.
Besides I have this bad tendency to start playing devil’s advocate against my own position.
And of course preferably not just USA centric alternatives either, those don’t do me much good here (good for internet discussions though).
That’s why we’re writers instead of stand up comics.
We lack the skill of “pithy quip”.
I deeply regret not remembering to include “The Fugitive Slave Act” in the prior list.
Any such list will be nation-specific, I think, as “Law of the Land” hasn’t really got a viable definition across international boundaries. I recommend keeping your mind open for such retorts and noting them down, same as you would do for lines you might want to give a character. Or do what many of us do — steal ’em off the internet.
It may be only l’esprit d’escalier — but you will someday find yourself on that same staircase again, you may be sure.
One phrase you might find handy is “(spit) Those damned Americans — they came over here in 1918 and conquered Europe’s greatest armies, then did it again in the 1940s, looting our industry, enslaving our people and raping our museums. The reparations they exacted were ruinous and unjust.”
Apply as appropriate.
Thanks. That’s a good one. 🙂
That’s an important point. There’s no use wasting your time trying to move the far end of the bell curve where the loony left lives. We just have to massage enough of the lump in the middle in our direction that the loonies are the ones marginalized.
I find that, when trying to get left-wingers to examine their premises or positions, I get, “Because we’re right. Shut-up.” I can convince lots of people of lots of things, but I have never convinced a left-winger that a lefty position is wrong.
Because it’s a religion.
Exactly. Not just a religion, but it’s also their identity, and the core of their emotional being.
The most common form of lefty “shut up” talk is in assumed superiority and putting down their opponent in terms that imply inferiority in terms that would have them running for the SPLC where they applied to a racial minority. I call them on that, generally using their own term, “othering”. Since othering is a cardinal sin for them, it generally puts them on their heels.
Try going into the Lion’s Den. Recently, I became the “conservative troll” over on BoingBoing. Watch goalposts shift before your very eyes. My first day there, I was accused of being a paid troll of the Koch Brothers ( which has me thinking: will a small stautue of the Kochs repel Lefties, like a crucifix does vampires? Is single-malt scots whisky the equivalent of garlic ?)., and worse….
This is the potency of their “racist” accusations — to protect the hermetic seal insulating their thoughts. If somebody is racist you don’t care what they say nor what opinions they hold — all are tainted by the poison.
Sadly for them, they have made accusations of racism into a variant on Godwin’s Law.
A black guy once used that against a friend of mine when he, out of the blue, asked if she’d want to go to his place and she refused. In the middle of a crowded market. A man neither one of us knew.
So, she says no, and he starts to complain, loudly, how she thinks she is too good for him because she is white and he’s an African. Nobody around paid much attention, I guess the main point was to shame her into accepting, or at least trying to placate him in some way.
I wonder how often that may actually work. I suppose at least the more subtle approach in that vein sometimes can.
It either works often enough to be worth playing or it grants him what plays it to assuage his feelings of rejection as being “because I’m Black” instead of because “I’m a creep.” (For those who like pop culture references, insert for “creep” the name “Moe Sizlack.”)
An appropriate response, for those who are bold enough, might be to loudly proclaim a liking for African men but an even greater antipathy for men who stink, are rude, who don’t accept responsibility and whatever other negative personal attributes that seem appropriate. While this may give a reputation for “black” the other factors will probably be the ones that linger in memories.
I’ve always found that dealing with this kind of thing by saying “It’s nothing impersonal; it’s YOU I don’t like” cuts the legs out from under that nicely.
Example: did you know Harry Reid is a Republican?
I am really mad about the petulant adminiatration and their make it hurt strategy. These are not the actions of a mature individual.
No. They’re not. They’re the actions of an unspanked baby.
We need to administer a good spanking on November 4, 2014.
They are the actions of a School Board President who doesn’t get a millage passed exactly as Sarah described, not the actions of a nation-state’s chief executive.
Yep, I always found it curious how the refusal to allow a bond issue to fund a new sports arena would cause the cancellation of art and music classes, but somehow that always seemed to be the case.
But that’s in the same general area as a comparison of how often the district offices get a remodel versus how much each individual teacher spends on classroom supplies.
Bottom line, petty tyrants exist at all levels and are remarkably consistent in their reaction to being denied what they consider their due. And Ghod save us we now have one running (sort of, kind of) our country.
We Must Share the Sacrifice.
Laying the mayor’s niece off from her job as head of HR for the three man police department means no one except her feels the pain.
There strategy will only be successful so long as they keep their fingerprints off of it in the media. So tell all your friends of Obama’s Intolerable Acts.
My understanding is that the law on shutdowns requires that sites be closed if they can potentially cost the government money. I.e., since, if someone injures himself in (to choose a random example) the WWII memorial, the government might be on the hook, the law requires that the area be shut down.
The law does not, however, require that this closure be accomplished by anything more than signs reading, “This site is closed.” If they wanted to be petty, the signs could read, “Because of the Republicans’ pantiwadulous government shut-down, this site is closed.”
Barricades and threats of prosecution for trespass go far beyond “petty”.
and blocking highway lanes, so people can’t look at mountains!
Do you have any idea how much it costs to wash the eyeprints off them without disturbing the ecology?!
You know how easy it is to develop car trouble on those roads? To have to pull over because the engine is overheating or a tire feels like it is going flat? I am surprised such car problems aren’t even more frequent.
“No, Ranger, I realize the parks have been closed and that this is a non-recreational area, I am carefully not looking at the giant faces carved over there. I’m looking at the giant A-holes instead.”
“And taking pictures of them. Oh, no reason. Just in case, you know?”
“Since I’m not quite sure where I am I am taking this picture and sending it to my friend who promised to come here with a spare something or other, so he’d know when he is getting close to this rest stop where I’m right now stranded. No, it starts fine right now, but I don’t dare to start driving it since it will probably just die again after a mile or two. No, I will not use a towing truck, thanks for the offer of calling one but I don’t have the money for it, but my friend should be here in no time. Why don’t you come to check on me again in an hour or two? :)”
“Yes, it is weird that so many other cars are having the same problem in this stretch of road. Maybe it’s UFOs? They are supposed to sometimes affect cars, right? Have you seen anything weird here?”
“No, we are all UFO researchers. We have gotten several reports of strange activity right around here.”
I love you!
🙂
“Weather researcher” for PH Media and WUWT. I’m sure Charlie can “recruit” us… 8^)
I had an intermittent problem develop in a car I owned a few years back. The mounting bracket for the fuel pump broke, and the fuel pump would roll on curves. Whenever it did, it cut fuel to the engine. If I was lucky, the car would restart after sitting ten minutes to an hour. It would run anywhere from five minutes to several days between incidents, but I never knew when it would hit. Luckily for me the car was under warranty, since it cost the dealership over $1300 to fix it. Don’t know how much of that was actually cost and how much was padding, but I didn’t have to pay it — that time.
Something to remember when you have to “accidentally stop”. 8^)
I just replaced the fuel pump in a pickup, had an intermittent problem with it for over a year before I figured out what it was. It finally quit working so I was able to diagnose it (after replacing practically everything else I thought it could be) highly irritating when a problem is intermittent, because it is always working fine when you try and test it to figure out what is wrong.
I hope they become more frequent! I mean, my engine should heat up just by being near me right now!
Hmm… A person who was a compulsive rule-follower would not pull over through those cones, you know. They would probably just stop in the middle of the road. Something like that might even make the news…
Since we’ve had more than a dozen of these things in the modern era, it’s on the record what’s been shut down in the past and what’s been left open. This administration has closed down a number of things that previously did not need to be shut down. They’re acting badly, intentionally so.
What is most pathetic about it is the naked thuggishness which they employ. The Chicago Way involves not simply not emptying your trash cans, it means knocking them over as they drive by.
About a year ago a local woman was prosecuted for running an unlicensed day-care operation in her house, because she let kids who were waiting for the school bus warm up with her kids. At the time, I asked two things:
1) does no one else notice that this department has too much funding?
2) how did we let these people have such power over us?
This pattern is repeated for every government department who has its own SWAT team. How did we let these people have such power over us? Why, exactly does IRS have to know every part of my financial life, and now my health records, too? Oh, sure the Feds are cracking down on Walter White’s money laundering, and some Al Qaeda plot to corrupt our precious bodily fluids. Right.
I think that Progressives keep playing their stupid games because they don’t realize how dangerous we really are. I think that most of Conservatives are like that chimp that used to live in Stamford CT. we will be nice and put up with a lot, just try to live our lives, but sometimes the provocation gets to be too much and we need to rip somebody’s head off regardless of the consequences.
This is true.
That said, we are not the boogieman they fear. What wakes them up in a cold sweat is the thought of an urban uprising.
Taking shots at us is cheap, easy, makes them feel good about themselves, and takes their mind off of what actually scares them. But It’s not about us.
Sure, we could make their lives hell, but only by harming ourselves at least an equal amount. We are not, by our nature, nihilistic.
But the people who rioted because they didn’t have access to food stamp benefits for a single day? The mobs that have pretty much shut down all public festivals in Rhode Island? They *are* nihilistic. And we’re rapidly running out of the ability to pay them Dane-geld.
It’s going to get ugly.
What SHOULD make them wake up in a cold sweat isn’t a thought of violence or uprising. It SHOULD be the effect of a well-informed electorate at the ballot box.
It SHOULD be the relegating of them to the oh-so-hated “private sector”. Permanently.
Indeed, it would be the worst possible revenge – less than ignominy. Irrelevance. And persistent anonymity.
Amazingly, we’re short on even the most basic prerequisites necessary to create an informed electorate.
It’s not that expensive, we just don’t have the tools.
Of which the stripping of those WalMarts in Lousiana on Saturday was just the ever-so-briefest hint. AWFULLY convenient, how EBT glitched in a way never seen before, over 15-17 states. Almost like, someone was sending a message. Stomping his feet, to make a point, that he could make this happen again, if he doesn’t get his way.
One of many reasons I’m glad I live out in the (comparative) boonies. . . .
A small scale example of what the President will do if we lift HIS debt limit.
If that was a planned occurrence, and it happens on a large scale, the results will get ugly.
So my question about the EBT glitch is this …
… did the US government funds get debited to cover the purchases, or did Wal-Mart get stiffed? if the latter, Wal-Mart should simply stop taking the EBT cards, at least until the bills get paid.
Of course the Wal-Marts are on the hook for it.
“The Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services, which oversees the state’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, said Walmart will have to foot the bill for store losses in Springhill and Mansfield, La., during a food shopping frenzy.”
h/t The Blaze – http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/10/15/guess-whos-footing-the-bill-for-that-walmart-food-stamp-fiasco/
As for your main point, Sarah, my favorite pic seen on the Web is that of the traffic cam lens covered with red paint, and “1776” inscribed underneath.
I’m all for a “1776” graffiti campaign of active (note for the NSA: not hostile) resistance. Had some enterprising soul sprayed the displaced Barrycades with “1776” before depositing them outside the White House, I would have been cheering them on.
Which reminds me: I need to make a call to the Paint Department at Home Depot sometime soon.
YES!
I liked the home made “Please Recycle” sign taped to the Barrycades piled up in front of the White House.
One paper sign said, “return to sender”.
yes.
President Stompyfoot. *snerk* That’s a good one.
And wow, Kim du Toit–/the/ Kim du Toit–on a college campus? That’s outstanding. I’d love to be a spider on /those/ walls. 😀
Actually, Jeremy, it’s been relatively quiet — mostly, I suspect, because I’ve been on campus in north Texas. Quiet, conservative campuses, mostly. A couple of Socialists Clubs and the like, but they’re pretty small potatoes. Mostly, when they put up their (unauthorized) leaflets proclaiming socialist ideals, I simply add the sentences: “All that, and a 100 million dead” or “Wrong in Marx’s day, wronger in Stalin’s day, still wrong today” or “Based on a faulty premise, flawed execution every time — except for the execution of dissidents — and proved wrong time after time” or “There are only three things wrong with socialism: theory, practice and outcome. And they’re horribly wrong.”
As for the profs, most of the Commies are in the “soft” (aka bullsh*t) courses like Sociology and Political Science. Undermining their nonsense in class is pathetically easy. Only come across one Lefty history prof, and he was easily refuted. (Each smart-ass comment about Bush or Cheney got promptly, and publicly, refuted.) My age is a great benefit, for once: even the profs (who are younger than I) listen respectfully. This also helps when I sometimes know more about the topic than the profs do, and ask REALLY difficult questions which they can’t answer on the fly.
“There are only three things wrong with socialism: theory, practice and outcome.”
THAT is going in my quotes file.
I guess that we have to mock a lot harder, then. I was furious at the petty spitefulness which apparently directed this so-called show-down. I am glad the veterans ripped down the Barry-cades and piled them up at the White House (Spite House) with a mocking note. Still didn’t get much traction in major media, though – they managed to write it off as a Tea Party protest, which missed the point entirely. (And apparently somebody bought a Confederate flag! Oh, the horror, the inhumanity!)
Something to remember, though – I was involved in a Tea Party early on, and it appeared to me that we didn’t really get much interest from the regular news media, and our political class until after the massive demonstration in Washington in the fall of 2009. The very size of that – even if they quibbled publically about exactly how large it was – that commanded attention. I am certain that every senate and representative in DC new how many people were there, and knew that for everyone who was – there were at least ten who would have come, if they could have. Having ordinarily law-abiding citizens going all civilly-disobedient is huge; I just don’t think the news media or the establishment pols want to admit it publically, yet.
As another aside, I think Obamacare is going to sink – I just don’t know if they have deliberately planned it to sink like the Titanic as a step towards gov’t-single-payer. (Occams’ Razor and all that. Or never attribute to malice what can be accounted for by stupidity.) The sticker shock is epic, for those who have figured out they are having to pay more and getting less. My daughter is one of those who only lately got onto a health insurance plan for herself. She just got a letter from Humana – if she stays with the current plan, her coverage will cost $87 a month, two or three dollars more. If she goes with a plan which meets the ACA/Obamacare requirements, it will cost her $233 a month. She couldn’t begin to pay that – and I can’t see how people whose premiums will double or triple will, either.
(And just as an aside, my daughter did suggest that I call my re-envisioning of a certain western adventure franchise ‘Lone Star Sons’. Any thoughts? Latest chapter is here – for your amusement. http://www.celiahayes.com/archives/1823 )
Single-payer doesn’t work well ANYWHERE and will be even worse than Ocare here. Of course, maybe they’re driving us towards the cliff on purpose. They sure don’t know what happens when the herd turns.
If the ultimate goal was health care, you’re correct. If it really is simply control, well then…
And as you well know the other side has at best a tenuous link to reality, preferring to live in their self created fantasy world where their Marxist philosophies actually work. In that fiction the herd never turns. Our American revolution and the horror that was the Civil War are just stories someone made up for the history books don’t yah know. Just as all those deaths caused by socialist governments are really scurilous rumors made up by the opposition, or at worst caused because those in power weren’t as clever as the current crop.
“Single payer doesn’t work well ANYWHERE…”
Alternatively… IF you thought it would, and that theoretically it should work, and that practically it did work… would you still pick the passive-aggresive snits like the current Administration to manage it?
I wouldn’t, but then again I don’t think this bunch could run a real private company if it weren’t a barely-disguised Vig-collection agency. Or even a lemonade stand.
Phil, this crowd couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse….. which tells you something about the opposition that lost two Presidential elections to them.
Oh, Celia and Cedar and others doing free chapter postings, let us have links at Friday book plug, and we’ll do a paragraph on those. (And I’ll push mine too.)
OK – I’ll send a message with the links so far! I’m having more fun with this than I ever thought I would. My daughter insisted that we start running again, now that it is almost cool in the morning – and I’m having all kinds of good plots and characters coming to me while running…
I wish I were near enough. I need a running buddy something frantic.
There’s a large, loud, anti-social, loud, annoying, loud dog living up the street that I’ll happily crate and ship up to you, Sarah, if you want jogging motivation. I wouldn’t call it a “buddy” but I’m sure he’d keep you moving. 😛
The problem is I need protection, too. The streets are not that safe for a lone woman in dark o’ dawn.
My experience is that, in the early morning (especially before dawn and after 4 AM), the bad guys aren’t awake yet. You’re more likely to get run over by somebody who doesn’t expect anybody else to be awake, than to be mugged/worse.
However, your neighborhood may vary.
That seems to hold pretty well at least in my city. I used to have a paper route in the downtown area, where all the bars are, and a good thing to look at seemed to be when the bars close. About an hour, hour and a half after that it started to get quiet. But then we don’t have much in the way of street people here, those who are potentially dangerous are types who do sleep somewhere inside.
It was interesting, occasionally. I had both a car and of course keys to the apartment buildings so I didn’t spend that much time in the street, but my car got vandalized a couple of times. And this is a relatively safe small city (just barely enough people that it can be called a city rather than a town, if I’m right).
There are holsters designed for Jogging.
Paperwork prohibits. Easier to just find someone to jog with, then they’ll harass you into running and improve safety.
You could look into black powder weapons, most states don’t recognize them as firearms and they can be bought through the mail. Cabela’s has a neat .22 revolver that is tiny and quite “barky”. Easily concealed too.
I meant the paperwork when one disposes of a goblin, not to get a weapon in the first place. 🙂
Pretty sure it still wouldn’t nag one to go jogging……
My sympathies – my neighborhood is pretty safe, in the dark hours. And actually, you could get trampled by all the other people jogging, or walking their doggies before going to work. Side benefit of living in Texas, I guess. Lots of veterans, lots of people with private armories…
Well, possibly TXRed’s ‘buddy’ might be just what the doctor ordered then. 😉
I’ve been doing that too, only they are not edited, just first versions. But I’ll send you mail with links.
Ceilia, apparently the official talking points (judging by their instant appearance and broad usage across that part of the media/political sphere) are that the protesters in DC were a bunch of racist, Southern, Islamophobic loons and senile, pathetic, old veterans and that those were the only protests. And there were no rolling blockades of Beltway traffic on Friday. Oh, and the problems with ACA/Obamacare are too minor to be worth mentioning and will be fixed shortly anyway.
And protesting and posturing about the Redskins’ name is much more important than talking about—Squirrel!
You still haven’t made enough of a splash we’d see anything – and I mean anything – in local press. We get news stories about things like a woman who hit a ‘bambi’ somewhere in Colorado, and then got hurt when she went to check on it and an other car then hit the mother deer which was tossed into air and hit the original driver, but there has been absolutely nothing about the veterans march or any other ‘right wing’ (yes, of course it’s has been that, those times when there has been some scant coverage of something like the tea party) civil disobedience – or about the abuses by the park rangers either.
Hm. If you some day manage to get loud enough that the press here has to turn it into a news story…
Please don’t blame the park employees for a situation caused by Congress. We are employees, not policy makers, and must follow LAWS that says no money can be spent if we don’t have a budget. And as to the question of closing parks, well those free air places are protected for a reason in the best of times! Now excuse me for adding links below but I am NOT a writer at all and these explain better than I could:
http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2013/10/coalition-national-park-service-retirees-worried-about-pressure-national-park-service24095
http://www.parkadvocate.org/why-cant-visitors-walk-in-to-open-air-parks/
Yes, you are an employee. of the people of the US. Under the constitution. Excuse me, did you take an oath to the constitution? Don’t give me “we got orders.”
As for the open air places being protected. PFUI. Does that explain closing the lanes on highways?
You can go ahead and be a worm, but DO please decide now how far you will go and remember what the defense of Befehl ist Befehl got those who used it.
Well you know, befehl ist befehl, now where have I heard THAT before.
Sorry Ranger Mom but there is zero reason to close those areas which have never been closed in any of the previous shutdowns except pique and petty spitefulness by the pathetic little man occupying the Oval Office.
If the park rangers had any moral courage at all they’d be willing to risk their jobs to tell this man to FOAD. But they don’t. They’d rather play the petty little bureaucrat and do what they’re told. “*pat pat* nice doggy, good doggy, here’s your treat!”
What’s being done here is intolerable and indefensible.
So those signs saying that the national parks were closed were printed for free? The guards that are in place now that weren’t there before are free? Do pull the other one, it’s got bells on.
How long before the National Park Service, under orders from the President, fits the faces on Mt. Rushmore with niqabs?
How long before the statues of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr, Abraham Lincoln, and all the other monuments in DC have burqas?
How much will the burqa for Lady Liberty cost to sew and get in place?
And “Ve vere chust following orders!” has NOT been a valid excuse since the Nuremberg Trials.
You should be ashamed.
Nobody who sucks at the government tit can be my friend anymore. That simple. They are all part of the conspiracy to narrow my life to their absurd rules, for my own good. They are the street level runners and enforcers of the Greatest Crime Syndicate. You won’t get invited to dinner. You won’t be included in any kind word or help if I know you are G men.
riteturn, my entire livelihood comes from the Federal government: my Air Force Retirement, my VA disability, and my social security. That’s what I live on. That does NOT mean I’ve sold my soul to the current administration. I’m sure, since you’ve been here more than a couple of months, you’ve heard me shouting about the unConstitutional behavior of the Barry Soetoro Administration.
Someone on one of the online news organizations had a post about our dear “leader”. Apparently, they have records of Barry Soetoro (his legal name) attending Occidental College in California as a foreign exchange student from Indonesia, and filing for a Fulbright scholarship as such with the State of California Education Department. If that’s true, ole Barry is NOT a US citizen, and not eligible to be president. There is also no record of him ever legally changing his name to Barack Hussein Obama — he simply decided that’s how he wanted to be named. There is also no record of him ever applying to have his US citizenship reinstated. If he came to the United States on an Indonesian passport, he would have to have done that.
If BO wants to declare himself king, he only has a few years to do that. Right now, the country wouldn’t accept that. I wonder if that’s what he has in mind by making everyone suffer as much as possible during this time. He needs to have a ridgepole inserted, forcefully.
Apparently, they have records of Barry Soetoro (his legal name) attending Occidental College in California as a foreign exchange student from Indonesia, and filing for a Fulbright scholarship as such with the State of California Education Department. If that’s true, ole Barry is NOT a US citizen, and not eligible to be president.
Or he committed fraud.
I don’t give a fat tinker’s damn WHAT some pathetic asshole claims about why they are barricading open air parks (for the FIRST TIME in ever, I might add), they are wrong.
Let me state that again. THEY. ARE. WRONG. There is no legitimate justification, and the only reason it has been done is to hurt people who have not done anything wrong.
If these were privately owned places, and the OWNERS decided to shut them down and block them off, that is their right, but the Government cannot just decide to keep people from places that their blood, sweat, and taxes bought and paid for.
I did you the courtesy of reading your links, but I’m afraid they weren’t particularly helpful for your case. There’s a distinct inclination to aggrandize the NPS’s role as custodians. But that role can be filled by others, perhaps those not so inclined to actively participate in the theater of shutdown.
Much talk of protecting these treasures, and how without the funding from Congress no one is there to protect them. But enough employees remain to erect barry-cades and stand watch by them. How employees are needed to do the work of upkeep. But it was park employees who threw the man handling upkeep on the Mall out. Explicitly stated in his eviction was that maybe if people saw them run-down and strewn with trash the shutdown would be ended. Those aren’t the words of a conservator. Oh, yeah, and “that’s not your job.” Because Americans really need permission from the flunkys to do what needs doing. A bit of discussion about the NPS being in a tough spot with reopening some parks because local States agreed to fund them, but no discussion of why the NPS forced the closure of privately operated facilities.
Listen, individual employees will get an individual evaluation from me. I’m not going to denounce unseen a group for the actions of a few. But the NPS is not coming out of this covered in glory, nor am I extending any sympathy for the ‘difficulties’ they are facing. When a bad cop abuses his position and no one steps up to denounce him from the ranks, I hold them all responsible for problems in their midst. And when the NPS orders overlooks shut down and some NPS employee actually does it? I hold all of you responsible. Clean up your house and maybe we can talk.
Actually, it’s not that long ago that a lot of local museums were purposefully not staffed, and people could just walk in and wander as much as they wanted. You staffed the gift shop or the library, not the museum. If people had questions, they asked the person in the gift shop.
But then, people got into theft, graffiti, and sex in museums, not to mention the homeless and infirm of mind doing their thing, and you had to have more security guards to prevent that. Not really for “safety” so much as to keep things clean, present, and presentable.
The homeless and infirm of mind are the issue.
It might help if people stopped voting for them.
Racist!
http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2013/10/insulting-treatment-by-the-us-forest-service.html
The civil disobedience at the barrycades crystalizes something I’ve suspected for while: we are the “counterculture” now. The ultra-prog radicals are the Establishment, no matter how they keep clinging to the revolutionary delusions of their long-lost youth.
Oh yes. And we The-Responsible-ones-who-pay-bills might as well enjoy ourselves.
“Mr. Obama, tear down this wall”
Bless you my child. We need to print these and hang them on Barrycades.
Funny you should mention the “choo choo train”. Cincinnati is wanting to build a streetcar, which is essentially the same thing, and they don’t have enough money to do it, and in fact, have had a budget shortfall every year for a while. Yet, when they get told they can’t do some stupid thing, like sell out the management of the city’s parking meters, to get a a short term revenue return for a long-term hole, they lay off Police and Firefighters.
And when the schools don’t get their tax levy passed, the first thing they cut is bus service.
Max the pain, don’t try to analyze the problem.
And “barrycade” has entered the Urban Dictionary:
1. A barrier (usually temporary) that exists for no reason. 2. A barrier erected for political reasons.
😀
They are close enough to winning now I fear they smell victory and will push ahead at any cost. I doubt there is any way to curb it short of violence. Makes me sad too because I am old and arthritic and will probably die in the chaos. But I had a pretty good run.
You echo the thoughts I have had lately
An interesting though came up in another forum. Someone with experience in government contracts and procurement pointed out that it is always a long slow complicated process. The Barry-Cade barriers obviously were already available for things like special events and crowd control even if the funds to pay for the labor of installing them came out of thin air. But where did all those event specific signs come from? “This Area Closed Due To The Government Shutdown” signs were posted the first morning.
Having a passing knowledge of government small purchase procedures myself, I know that getting such material is at best a matter of days if not weeks, and a specific funding source must be identified. The only conclusion one can come to is this was anticipated and planned for. As the saying goes, never let a crisis go to waste. And the follow on is of course that if the crisis does not materialize you just create one.
Specifically foment even.
My ship had a “sign” shop with about a three hour turn-around– I’d guess the park departments also has some?
Eh – if they put out a standard sign that everyone in the local offices could download and print on cardstock on a serious institutional printer – I could see where this could happen without involving a bid and a vendor.
Guess it depends on if it’s on cardstock (which no office I’ve been in stocked, but I’m not in DC) or they’re actual, printed signs.
If it was a private office they could just run down to the local Office Depot and pick up some card stock, since it is a government office though they will have to fill out a requisition form and …
My inner pedant feels moved to comment that Robin Hood has been a character of varying motives throughout his lengthy history. The earliest stories commented on how his merry men’s fealty was absolute — the king envied him it — and helping only a knight, not any poor, and for the knight, they check whether he was a newly created one and help him after he assures them that his family is of long descent, and said help includes not only the money but one of their number to attend him because it’s not suitable for a knight to have no servants.
How tales can change.
The counter-stroke here is not to throw off the yoke but to make the populace conscious of it, to make sure they know the yoke not only chafes but that they are not the only persons who find it so. When a significant portion will no longer bow their heads the impotence of our would-be masters is exposed.
Someone once observed that the absolute worst thing the government ever did to the people was to institute payroll deduction for taxes. If only every taxpayer had to simply write a check on April 15 for the full amount owed think what the overwhelming reaction would be. The government would be overthrown or at a minimum in a shambles by noon on the 16th.
But our civil servants have become masters of the gradual heating of the pot from lukewarm to a full rolling boil. But eventually that frog has to either leap or die.
“People were allowed to “Hold” land and houses, but they weren’t the real, ultimate owners. … This is not true in America”
Sure it is. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allodial_title doesn’t seem to actually exist anywhere. If it did, anything from eminent domain down to property taxes or unwanted police searches would be an act of war.
It is a sad truth that the state can and will at whim confiscate any property you possess. It is then left up to you to seek redress in the courts. Doubt the truth of this? Just fail to pay your property tax, or income tax for that matter, or simply be caught by law enforcement with a large amount of cash on you. It’s become a very profitable sideline for law to confiscate property and money under claim of racketeering or drug trafficing in spite of prima facia evidence to the contrary. The former owners must then sue in court to recover what was once their property, always at considerable expense. And police wonder why they no longer hold the same regard they once had in this country.
Are held in the same regard. It’s a favorable view by the public. You can’t hold it, you can only earn it. Or not.
Timely, this. I’ve been boiling in my own blood (up from the usual simmer) lately for much the same reasons. One of my concerns with yesterday’s post was that a call to respond might be taken as a call to action.
Listen, I know most folks around here get it, and more than a few have enough experience to understand the devastations of a civil war. This is for those who are feeling the same rage and feel they must strike out.
Who would we fight? If we pledge our lives, fortunes and sacred honor to stand, whom do we stand against? There is no monolithic enemy to take violence to, no King to defy. Too often talk arises of ‘half our country’ but half the country is not our enemy, they just differ on various political points. Our real enemy is small, concentrated (and dangerous for that concentrated toxicity), and insulated. If we were to strike out absent provocation we are as likely to be striking against our fellows as against our opponents. More likely, in truth.
The temptation to coalesce the enemy from all who oppose is natural. It is expected. But if we’re talking about struggling for the return of our great nation and not merely striking out in rage against oppression of our liberty, then we need to realize that violent civil conflict is at least as likely to leave us in ruin as to free us. And if instead of uniting Americans under a cause of freedom it fractures the Americanism that bonds such disparate people together…we will likely take this nation down in a cauldron of blood, fire and despair.
Please, do not mistake this as timidity. I am not backing down. Merely counseling care.
We yet have words.
“Who would we fight? If we pledge our lives, fortunes and sacred honor to stand, whom do we stand against? ”
Well, a list of registered Democrats might be one place to start.
Well…no.
OK, how about getting a list of the owners of all cars with Obama and Coexist stickers? I think we could be fairly sure they’ll come down on the statist side of the barrycades. You got to start somewhere. Most of us are probably on their lists already.
How about not starting with lists? Maybe utilize actual evidence of hostility before categorizing fellow citizens as enemies? I’d vote for not using trite slogans as justification for denouncement.
I really respect your persistent generosity, but the people who are tearing this country down do not reciprocate your respect or desire to give them the benefit of doubt. We’re in uncharted (since 1776) territory, and identifying the enemy is necessary lest we be caught by treachery and surprise. The militarization of the police and even the park rangers has to be taken seriously, and it looks a lot like hostility to me. They know where we live, we should be equally as well informed.
You’re right about trite slogans, leave that for “them”.
Instead of making lists and suchlike, I prefer a more pragmatic set of rules.
Know who your friends are. It might surprise which ones are there when needed, and which are not. Keep the true friends close, and support them whenever you can.
Be prepared. No, I don’t mean stockpiling a shack in the woods with 7.62 and MRE’s, although having stored food stock is a Good Thing in and of itself. I mean research your facts, know how to present them clearly, concisely, and convincingly. Know their “facts” too, and be prepared to say “that study you cited? Totally debunked here, and here, and here for shoddy methodology and bias…” Be prepared for when the economy tanks, with skills that will be in demand and important. Be prepared to shelter those you care about, and teach them what you know. Dig under, and build a strong foundation for the future of this great nation.
Challenge the idiocy, do not let it stand unopposed. When an 0bot lauds universal healthcare, introduce him to the history of universal health care, and how well *that* has worked. Same with socialism, communalism, and the New Segregationists (the “I’m a ***-American” crowd). You won’t convince the closed minds, but the calm voice of reason will draw the ones we want to stand with us.
Remember that we are all Americans, and *remind* those around you with your actions what that means. Ask those who are deeply religious, and many will say that the best way to promote your faith (or your politics) is to live well.
This is not the easy path of bread and circuses, my friends. It takes courage to keep your weapons sheathed (figuratively and literally) until there is an existential threat. We are not there yet. Yes, our liberty and freedoms have been grievously wounded. But we cannot abandon our principles simply because it would be expeditious to kill them all (or threaten to). Or to make lists, counting each bullet and giving it a name. What follows, nits make lice? Beware.
What remains to us is civil discourse and principle. “Civil discourse” can involve heated argument, and much disagreement- but it stops short of actual violence. We are a conservative people. We have values, moral structure, self discipline. We do not go thrashing about in reaction to insult, we consider, we plan, we take deliberate action.
A shooting war may yet happen on these shores between Americans. I hope that this will never come, and more I hope that it does not come because one of *us* lost his nerve. We are not aggressors. We are *defenders.* Do all you can to convince your fellow man *peacefully,* but be ready. Dig under. Know your friends, and care for those around you. Do not strike the first blow. As history will tell you, the defenders have the advantage when sited in a well-prepared position.
I’ll leave the baton in Mr. Lane’s hands for the nonce. He’s handling the score quite well.
We aren’t in a fight with PEOPLE, per se. We are in a fight with IDEAS. Our enemy is the various kinds of statist philosophy so carefully taught in our schools, blared in our mass media, and preached over various pulpits, including the big bully pulpit in DC.
Incidentally, that descriptor has possibly never been more appropriate.
Demonizing the “other” is part of what got us into this mess. As long as we are concerned with splitting groups and splitting hairs, those who “organize communities” get more power.
Had this thought yesterday. We have to stop looking at our fellow Americans and dividing everything up as “us” and “them”. It’s “We the People”. We have to make the argument, We have to reach out and engage and educate. We are in this together. We rise or fall together. If we can’t find a way to each other? Then We ALL go down.
It’ll be cold comfort saying “I told you so”.
Yes.
Unless you are asleep the enemy are the elected elite in DC, They for so long have had their way and we as citizens have let them. That is why they keep pushing. They want to destroy our country one little bit at a time. They have been doing it sense FDR. It is now at the point that they think they can push to completely destroy the Constitution. Well it is we the voters that are at fault. We keep electing these clowns. It is time to remove everyone of them and start over. We need to get involved and stay involve in the election process. Start at the local level and work all they way to the national level. We as citizens must do our part to take this country back. We must remove the old guard in our party and put in people who believe in our Constitution and our country. We must vete these people and hold them accountable.
Remember they get away with this because we let them. How much further will we let them push us?
And you and I are in broad agreement. My comment is about violence not resistance.
Actually, this is a huge reason I fear a shooting war: suppose we win, but we don’t have the hearts of the people in favor of freedom. Who’s going to take power? Libertarian dictators? Or do we have elections, and restore government By the People, who then elect Dictators into power?
It’s not going to be pretty.
Having said that, I’m glad to see mentioned, more than once, that we shouldn’t be the ones to initiate shooting. The Revolution started when the British attempted to confiscate our military supplies, and we won; the Civil War started when the Federal Government tried to pull their resources out of Fort Sumter, and the South fired on them, and the South lost that war. Granted, we have only two examples to look at…but philosophically, being shot at first *feels* right, and makes logical sense, too: you’re standing up for liberty, and it’s the big bullies that are shooting at *you*! It’s a better leg to stand on, certainly…
“This is, of course, an old tactic from local governments. Refuse to raise the tax that they want to setup a choo choo train, and suddenly they’re turning off the lights downtown, or telling you they don’t have money for something needed, even while they keep buying Crappy Sculpture ™ for downtown and starting to build the choo choo train, so when you give in they can finish it.”
Oh my god. You’ve been following politics and events in Tucson?! (Yes, this is exactly what’s been going on here…)
It most certainly is, to the letter!
So sorry, didn’t realized that laws were a smorgasbord and one could pick and chose which to follow. I would say let’s ignore HR386 that says ONLY Eric Cantor can call for a vote on a clean Continuing Resolution which would END the shutdown.
As to the signs- we made them on Oct 1. On our copy machine. Ain’t technology wonderful? And the barriers? Bought after the 1995 shutdown or after 9-11. Yes, I was a ranger then and it was the first time we put gates on many of our parks. We were permitted 4 hours on Oct 1 to call all our school teachers who planned trips to the park, others who would be impacted, turn off the water, and pack up bookstores and anything that might attract insects,and yes,= print signs. No barriers before? No one did damage to the memorials until July of this year, and that when the stretched thin staff was on duty (can you say sequester? I can). We still need parks staffed for the same reason parks are staffed in the first place- to protect the people from the park, the park from the people, and the people from the people.
Finally, Obamacare? Anyone look at what Nixon proposed in 1972? How about that the law was challenged all the way to the Supreme Court and upheld? Anyone know how to change a law? Then why don’t you do it? Oh yeah, it was passed correctly and challenged correctly and is a LAW. Instead of whining about civil disobedience why not get a MAJORITY together and change the LAW? Oh, you can’t? The Majority passed the law in both House and Senate? Too bad.
Um…your colors are showing.
I’m going to borrow from a fellow commenter:
Jim Crow was law, separate but equal was law, BRITISH RULE was law…
Sorry for the double-tap, but this is sticking in my craw:
We still need parks staffed for the same reason parks are staffed in the first place- to protect the people from the park, the park from the people, and the people from the people.
While undoubtedly true, your assumption that the staffing can only be handled by the anointed NPS is flawed.
The majority passed the law in both house and Senate? Um, bullshit. When they couldn’t get it through a vote, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi used the budget reconciliation process to ram it through despite a majority of the American people not wanting this law at all — and they still don’t.
As a great man once said: “You’re entitled to your own opinion but not your own facts.”
Interestingly, this reflects the methods by which the Democrats enacted Jim Crow legislation a century ago.
So sorry, didn’t realized that laws were a smorgasbord and one could pick and chose which to follow.
I look forward to seeing your email explaining this rather fundamental principle to the President. Maybe he’ll listen to you–he hasn’t listened to anyone else…
Well, ACA appears to be optional–for the Government and big business that kiss Obama’s . . . toes. Let’s see, who else has opted out lately?
Um, hello? Actually, yes, a moral person is obligated to pick and choose which laws to follow. It is easier to see clear cut cases in history (e.g., report an escaped slave fleeing through your property or unlawfully help them), but assuming that present day laws are always correct is a mistake.
Just because it’s a law doesn’t make it right.
Seriously, I marvel at how the National Park Service has burned about a century-worth of public good will in less than a week.
I will concede that the orders from the ‘top’ probably aren’t all that popular with people who have to carry them out, or risk loosing their job, pension, etc. It does appear that some of them at least are looking the other way, and not being d*cks about following orders. But those jokers in Yellowstone – hectoring and preventing members of a previously-scheduled tour group from leaving the hotel? Not letting them take pictures of buffalo for pete’s sake? Or use the bathroom on their way out of the park? That was crass and horrible. It wouldn’t surprise me at all, a movement afoot in western states to turn the management of national parks over to the states where they are. There are only a handful of national parks in Texas, BTW – just about all the nice ones – aside from Big Bend – are state parks.
Exactly.
They had burned all their good will with me years ago, now they are quickly burning through the willingness to ignore their stupidity.
Do you stand up for what is right and just, or do you blindly follow orders?
That is the only question you need to ask yourself and all the park rangers and others who have helped the Cry Baby in Chief to close down national monuments.
I’m sorry you’re intellectually handicapped.
RangerMom, it was appealed on the basis of whether or not a *tax* and not a fine. The actual _Law_ was not appealed; However, that is about to change. A mjor portion of the law (the one specifying things like contraception/abortion coverage) _is_ being appealed, as against the 1st Amendment. You *DO* remember the words? “Congress shall make no law abridging freedom of religion . . . .” Telling me that I MUST fund “health care coverage” directly opposed by my religion since it’s *founding,* sure looks like a violation of that to me.
Re the RangerMom’s smorgasbord comment – Per http://www.gao.gov/legal/lawresources/antideficiencybackground.html :
So, which part of that specific text requires barrycading the memorials on the mall, closing national parks, and coning off public highways to prevent the owners from looking at carved mountains in the Dakotas?
(Wow, WP and the blockquote tag farked that right up. Go follow the link for a nicely formatted readable version of the relevant law chunks, from the not-shut-down website of your Government Accountability Office.)
…and further, It appears to me that these agencies spending monies not appropriated for all this barrycading and closing and coning, and the patrolling and enforcing thereof, is in itself a violation of the Antideficiency Act, since the agencies are making expenditures that have not been appropriated, etc.
But I am neither a lawyer, nor an undead Imperator or a wombat, and thus perhaps my legal interpretive training is in sufficiently nuanced for these chunks of United States Code.
Apparently the LAW did NOT require closure of the NPS, not those to which they hold full title nor even those parks not under the NPS authority:
Mt. Rushmore, Grand Canyon, and Statue of Liberty Reopen. Who knew???
In any business responsible to its ownership a chief executive who, in event of a labor dispute such as a strike, would be duty bound to take all steps necessary to ameliorate the effects, not exacerbate them.
It is amusing to see Democrats praising Nixon, especially considering all he did for their agenda. Their only real disagreement was over his opposition to international communism. Still, I wonder that the Dems attempted to address a contemporary problem with a proposal that was rejected fifty years ago. It is almost as if the Dems haven’t had a new idea in a half century and are resorting to putting new outfits on the old ideas.
It is nice to read so many implicit acknowledgements that the prior president Obama most closely resembles is Richard M Nixon, whose attempted abuses of the IRS and bugging of political enemies Obama has eagerly embraced.
Yes, and it’s also law — Constitutional law to boot — that the Congress has the power to pass budgets. The Congress has no responsibility to only pass budgets that the President likes. It is then the President’s choice to sign or veto the budget with which he has been presented. Why is Congress morally required to pass the budget Obama wants, but Obama not so required to sign the budget Congress has passed?
Guys we remain the wealthiest land in the world. Our enemies – foreign – are not going to stand by while our enemies – domestic – slug it out with us. An occupied US is not out of the cards. Foreign occupied.
Forgive me, I’m an American, the prospect makes me shudder.
Because the American way of war does not include looting and enslaving the vanquished, we have a dangerous tendency to believe that if we were vanquished, the victors would not loot and enslave us. In fact, the victors normally looted and enslaved the vanquished, in all times and places including many, many times after the Industrial Revolution. If foreign foes occupied any country as wealthy and with citizens as skilled as Americans, I would assume as a matter of course that they would loot and enslave us — and that the prospect of doing so would actually be one of the reasons they would bear the cost of conquering and occupying us in the first place.
This is so not understood by people with a shallow understanding of history that most would probably consider me paranoid for pointing me out.
I believe Bill Ayers, old friend of BO, thought some millions of us might have to be eliminated when his gang came to power. This doesn’t sound very American to me, but the current government isn’t acting very American weither
Either! ( too much coffee – or not enough.)
A perspective you might consider is the education of the general populace. With very few exceptions, I can walk into almost any place in the US and ask a person about “government”. And I can guarantee you that 99 out of 100 people will make no distinction between Federal, State, County or City government. If I were to further discuss with them the idea of the three branches of our Federal government, executive, legislative and judicial, they would look at me with a blank stare.
This is the problem the Obama administration faced with a looming government shutdown; this lack of “government” distinctions. So, they took it upon themselves to maximize the awareness expansion opportunity that the GOP/Republican were almost certainly going provide. And maximize leverage they have. So, now there is a huge percentage of the populace that has some level of awareness that the Federal government is in and around some things. This awareness is critical for the second part of the Obama administrations plan; converting awareness into Democratic votes.
How? By ensuring that the GOP takes the maximum negative emotional association for the government shutdown, they ensure the simplest possible meme spreads into the public body. This sets up the simple narrative for the next outcome; the paycheck impacts to millions of americans when the GOP allows the nation to default. When there is a huge economic impact hitting the country, they simple “the GOP caused this” meme combined with “they blocked those (Obama) from keeping us safe/secure from this” narrative which they have simply formed for themselves will give them strong motivation to get to the polling booths at the next election cycle.
The GOP has vastly underestimated the effectiveness of the Democratic party in general, and of the Obama administration in specific. The Obama team understands that a deep psychological game is being played. And they also get that the psychology game is in the dead center of the GOP’s political blind spot. Hence, the severe (and to some, unfair) asymmetries which have formed around these events.
This has always been about the next election for the Democrats. The GOP is so delusional about what is going on and where the bulk of the population is focused, they are missing the strong silent trend of the majority supporting the ACA (i.e. Obamacare).
All of this is a very advanced political chess game. And the GOP has played poorly, underestimated their opponent and is now in a “mate in 3 moves” position. And the cherry on top of this? They actually masterfully manipulated to put themselves in this position:
So, given the GOP did what this youtube video indicates, I ask you “will you tolerate this?” {smirk}
Sorry, I tend to be suspicious of the notion of “deep psychological game[s]” and “very advanced political chess game[s].” Little more credit in those ideas than I think is demonstrably merited.
Yes. Or as Putin put it, “Playing international politics with Obama is like playing chess with a pigeon.”
Or as Putin put it, “Playing international politics with Obama is like playing chess with a pigeon.”
Wait, Putin actually said this? In public? And almost nobody knows this?
I can see why the MSM wouldn’t like it. They’re willing to admit that people oppose Obama, even internationally, but not that they have contempt for him.
I read it somewhere but can’t find it again.However, it sounds like Putin.
I had heard it, too, but based on the search results I’m seeing, it looks like someone attributed to him a modified version of an older quote, this being the version that is going around:
“Negotiating with Obama is like playing chess with a pigeon.
The pigeon knocks over all the pieces, shits on the board and
then struts around like it won the game.”
I had heard various versions of that quote before, directed at all sorts of people.
Possibly but probably not — the saying, or variants thereon, has been around for a decade. (Paraphrasing, it’s often in the form of “Playing chess with an idiot is like playing chess with a pigeon; they get ruffled, knock the pieces over, poo on the board and go back home squawking about their victory.”) Maybe Putin’s grasp of English is that idiomatic, but I’d think it unlikely, as it’s not a terribly common phrase.
…and Wayne beat me to it. ::bows::
*snort* 😛
No worries. Just remember what I predicted when the elections come around in 13 months.
You posit a result that would bolster your claim? Seems thin to imply an election verifies (or denies) the existence of deep, brilliant political machinations.
Oh, it’s worse than that. A lot of people don’t seem to grasp that the US Federal Government isn’t a world government, as witness all the people who imagine that this or that global secret or technology is being suppressed by “the government.” They imagine “The Government” to be monolithic, omnipotent and omnipresent, already.
I agree. Our populace is dangerously ignorant of a very powerful mechanism.
Dude, try to reform your orbit. I suggest something inside the asteroid belt instead of the trans Jupiter one you seem to be flying.
To what “very powerful mechanism” do you refer?
“A perspective you might consider is the education of the general populace. With very few exceptions, I can walk into almost any place in the US and ask a person about “government”. And I can guarantee you that 99 out of 100 people will make no distinction between Federal, State, County or City government.”
I would like to point out that if you ask any normal person randomly about “government” without specifying type, they are going to assume that you are lumping all types together and want complaints (or complements) about those in authority, in general.
“The GOP is so delusional about what is going on and where the bulk of the population is focused, they are missing the strong silent trend of the majority supporting the ACA (i.e. Obamacare).”
What are you smoking, and why aren’t you sharing? Seriously, the ONLY people claiming a majority supporting Obamacare are Obama and his minions. All the polls, including the very leftist biased ones show a strong majority OPPOSED to Obamacare.
Yep. Pretty much.
While I’m willing to concede that Obama is playing a deep game, I’m not willing to concede that it is end-game for the Republicans.
Part of the reason is that his strategy rests on ObamaCare working. One article pointed out that the website is designed to collect all the personal information upfront, so that it would be possible to calculate health care costs with subsidies–which is evidence that Obama’s organization is afraid that the health care premiums are going to scare everyone. As a result, the crashes and the load problems the website is facing are largely unavailable.
And to add salt to this wound, it isn’t clear that this approach is going to be universal: there are a lot of people who are going to lose their health care plans (in part because they can’t afford the increased premiums), but don’t qualify for subsidies (because their income is too high). While I have heard complaints that the shutdown deflected from the failure of the website, when you consider that three weeks later, the website is *still* having massive problems, and it doesn’t seem likely that the website will be working any time soon…which means that one Republican solution–that we should delay ACA for a year–might have to be implemented *anyway*…which, if implemented in the *first* place, would have prevented the Government shutdown?
While it’s impossible to see how everything will play out, I don’t see how we could consider this a guaranteed, solid win for the Democrats. They passed something wildly unpopular, and it’s tailspinning before our eyes, and it may even crash by the time Nov ’14 gets here…and Obama himself has only been good at getting votes out for himself–he hasn’t done so well with mid-terms, and certainly not well enough to get the House in a *Presidential* election year–so it’s hard to see how he’s going to gin up support in an off-year…
At the very least, it’s going to be a fun roller-coaster ride!
But it’s still
Thanks, Zachary Ricks
Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered. – C. S. Lewis
>
Dagnabit. Darn iphone keyboard. Anyway…
It’s still up to us to “ring the bells”, and keep ’em ringing. Where the mainstream media won’t tell this story on the tv, let’s tell it ourselves at the dinner table and the water cooler. > >
The very nature of long-term political change is change in the political culture — the culture of what people consider right and wrong from, in and toward government, and hence to what degree they are willing to tolerate it.
I wrote on this extensively in this article. Check it out.
Ha! I thought I recognized that name! All the cool LJ folks are showing up here.
Yes. Before I approved his first comment I googled him and ALL the right people were throwing hissy fits at how evil he was. So I let him in. 😉
by all the right people, I mean, he makes all the right enemies….
Why, thank you! 🙂
“LJ”? Try searching the Usenet archives:-D.
I wasn’t around for Usenet, and was so late to LJ that I had to go by “Headnoises” instead of my prefered ‘nym of Foxfier, but a lot of folks I know are good I first met there. 🙂
We sweet younglings have to go off of what we know!
Guys, she’s young enough to be my daughter, just about.
It looks like “RangerMom” is doubling down. Same old story, same links, same lines.
I like the ‘Mock’ I have a Liberal on my Facebook page. Relative, otherwise, history. Constantly posting anti-Republican posts. Cheap shots mostly. Libertarian- don’t give a hoot about Republicans; but, I don’t like trash on my page. I don’t paper others with Libertarian politics, ask the same from others. Long story short. When I ask him to tone it down, I get the childish rant about how I am trying to indoctrinate him, etc. A couple of days ago, he posted one of the Liberal posters “Brain eating Zombies attack Washington DC, die of starvation.” I simply added in the comments “You do know that Washington DC is 90% Democrat, don’t you.” Silence! It was a good day.
There are two idiots on my face book page proudly declaring themselves socialist. Makes my head hurt. “I am for this failed system. Oooh. Makes me smart.” Same as you, libertarian. Don’t talk politics on FB except through my blog. NOTE that they don’t come HERE.
RangerMom probly won’t be back, either …
Here’s a thought — the park service is paying people to do this on blogs. I hope not, but I wouldn’t put it past them. Some twit on FB was whining about how Republicans are stupid and don’t understand raising the debt limit doesn’t raise the debt. It’s just to pay our “obligations”. Head>desk.
Wow…um…just wow.
We need to get our host a pad for her desk ‘fore damage occurs.
Can you get me the contact info on your FB “friend”? I need somebody to explain to MasterCharge that raising my debt limit doesn’t increase my debt, it just allows me to pay my “obligations” — none of which can be moderated without destroying my American Dream.
I mean, Amazon refuses to let me buy any and every book I need, thus seriously harming the economies of multiple authors.
TECHNICALLY it is THEORETICALLY possible to raise the debt limit without raising debt, kind of like the credit card companies can raise your card limit, but you don’t have to spend more. Paying our “obligations” would involve spending more however (paying=spending, one of those synonym thingies most people learn when learning English). Remember we are dealing with the government, they have NEVER raised the debt-limit and then not accrued more debt immediately. I mean what would be the point? If I’m not going get a loan I don’t spend the day at the bank filling out paperwork to get approved for one.
Not raising the debt-limit is like taking away your wife’s credit cards and cutting them up because she has a shoe addiction and has 37 pairs of shoes charged currently, that she hasn’t paid for yet. She still gets a paycheck from her job every two weeks, and she can spend that to buy groceries, gas for her car, and other essentials. Unfortunately government is like most addicts, and will undoubtedly go out and buy those new red pumps they have been drooling over, and then two more pairs of heels because they are on sale and a good buy. And we’ll be stuck walking to work and eating top ramen in order to pay off the bills on the credit cards we already cut up, in an attempt not to lose the house.
That’s weapons grade stupidity.
“You can’t fix stupid!” Ron White
Reminds me of a sci-fi short story I read once (and it’s driving me bonkers because I can’t find it again) where a small group led by a not-particularly-cunning rabble rouser tries to take over… and is stopped by a few old folks with guns and common sense.
“We demand our rights! The People will stand for this no longer!” *thin cheer from the tiny crowd*
“You’re not the ‘People,’ and you weren’t even born here. You don’t represent us, or anybody else who’s probably at work right now rather’n making a nuisance of themselves. You’re not important, just loud.”
*chuckle* Something like that. ‘Not important, just loud’ is a con man’s game trying to distract us from what’s really important. Against the theft of our freedoms and the destruction of our economy, the petulant cries of those in power pale in comparison.
Sorry, I intended to show that I didn’t care for political comments and to give an example of Mocking in reply to those that do post political comments on other peoples site. Didn’t mean to do it to you. Will be more careful in the future.
First I saw of that bbc show, Robin had a fiberglass replica of a hunnish horsebow & I immediately changed channel
Look, I’m desperate for stuff to watch, and I have a lot of ironing to do. That said, the “history” is risible, and the casting atrocious.
Tried the (free!) Hulu reshowing of “Agents of SHIELD”? Rather good.
I prefer the Robin of Sherwood series from the 1980s, myself.
The first Robin in that was cute.
Loved the soundtrack from that series. And some of the shows.
Looks like Hulu has all twelve of the Dresden Files episodes available.
They also have seasons one and two of BBC’s Sherlock, a take on Holmes and Watson moved to a present day setting. Different, and IMHO better than, Elementary, itself not a terrible show.
And they have a limited number of episodes of Firefly.
I don’t Hulu. I do Amazon Prime. My tech skill is limited.
I hate watching video on my computer and the primary TV set isn’t connected to the cable modem, so I share your muted enthusiasm.
I see that Netflix is reportedly in negotiations:
Netflix Pushing Set-Top Boxes in Talks with Cable Companies
Netflix, often seen as a director competitor to cable giants like Comcast, is in talks with cable companies to push set-top box apps that could replace broadband for their U.S. customers, sources told The Wall Street Journal.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2013/10/14/Netflix-pushing-set-top-box-application-in-talks-with-cable-companies
Now if only the FCC would quit trying to impose moronic Net Neutrality boondoggle and force the cable companies to cease their !@#$! bundling …
yet another accursed lobby to overcome. DirecTv used to go Ala Carte on a ton of things, but the Cable co’s with help from certain networks made them do bundling as well. I’d certainly prefer a package without MSNBC, CNN, and Bloomberg, among others. Heck, if they told me that if I want to drop those I had to pitch Fox News to allow it, I would say “SOLD”
How is Amazon Prime set up? Dear Husband connected a computer to our TV, and we’ve got the gaming systems, so the Amazon Digital stuff is identical to Netflix on our machines.
You Roku?
Nope. No Roku. We just don’t watch enough TV to justify it. Amazon prime which we have because I buy so many research books it’s worth it — if you’re a member, and you go to the streaming video, a great number of them are free…
So, watching on a computer.
Hulu is dead easy– ask the boys to set up a log-in, and add interesting videos to your “favorites.” My three year old can use it from there. (wait, given how I horrify my folks by ‘just knowing’ how to do technology stuff, maybe that’s not such an example of easy….) They have modern marvels. 🙂
You may want to rethink the suggestion to ask her sons to add “interesting” things to her favorites. 😉
They are making videos of dino porn now?
I think Roku is the best invention since the computer.
Elementary is very uneven but only mediocre at its best IMO.
It has some very nice episodes. Of course my mileage varied.
Ooh, and Stargate: SG1.
Watched that. Own it.
I knew you had good taste……
Easier to type now that I’m home from work and not on my phone 😉
I was guessing they were going to claim he picked it up on Crusade or something silly like that, but a real composite bow like that would last only a short time in the climate of Sherwood.
Casting, even on Brit tv, now has a set pattern that Must Be Followed … Don’t matter if it is a Nordic tale from Pre-Christian times, you need at least one minority and likely to hold some belief pattern that didn’t exist at the time (seen one show like that with a person acting like they were Muslim in it. ) and most of the time this person is wise beyond measure or a victim or both.
Best british history show I have seen was something called Historyonics.
The Battle of Hastings theme music was Motohead’s “Ace Of Spades”.
“Heinlein came to believe FDR provoked Pearl Harbor to have an excuse to go into the war. Some historians say this isn’t true.”
The evidence is quite strong. FDR, a super anglophile, was desperate to get us into the war. Congress and the people were having none of it. FDR instituted an aid program to England with US-flagged merchant ships delivering supplies, including weapons. He hoped for a recurrence of the Lusitania incident, but the Germans were too smart to torpedo our ships. FDR also numerous actions to provoke Japan to attack us. Military intelligence in Washington had evidence of the planned Pearl Harbor attack, but that information was withheld from military commanders in Pearl Harbor. I believe that FDR was surprised at the effectiveness of the attack he desired. But, FDR got what he wanted: the pact between Japan and Germany meant that a declared war against one required a commitment to war from the other.
Actually, Hitler’s following through surprised a lot of people.
Also, exactly why should we have sold them oil and metal so they could go tromple on China some more?
I recall talking to an old farmer while loading up scrap iron a while back. He mentioned a lot if it is going to China, reminded him of when scrap prices were high in WWII. Him and his buddies would load up scrap and haul it in to sell, joking about how it was all being sent to Japan, so they could make bombs out of it and send it back (this was I believe before we actively joined the war) They knew this was pretty much true, but… well money was hard to come by, and scrap prices were through the roof, so they hauled it in to sell anyway.
And then we were flooded with propaganda during the war begging for scrap metal to arm our forces.
During WWII in the US, only rubber rationing and recycling was really based on shortages. Even gasoline rationing was really intended to conserve tires.
The rest was to build morale and sense of contribution. Some may even have been counterproductive.
First: I don’t see foreign occupation of the US — because as fucked-up as Europe and Asia are these days (yes, including the vaunted Chinese), there’s not a chance in hell they’ll be able to get over here. What are they going to do — arm a shitpot of Mexicans and send them over the border? Can you tell me the last time — can you tell me *any* time — the Mexicans have won a war outside their own borders? Closest they’ve come is the French occupation, and that only ended when Napoleon III abandoned Maximilian.
Second: I also see the Leftists “playing the long game”, because *that’s always been their MO*. How long between Marx’s first bleatings, and the rise of the Soviet Bunion? How long have fellow-travelers in the US been working on turning this place into Just Another Commie-Run Third-World Shithole Moonscape? Does the name “Ho Chi Minh” ring any bells? Leftists are incompetent at most things; but one of the few things they do well is “figure out how to outlast their opponents”.
Finally: Most of the country is too ignorant and stupid (yes, there’s a difference) to see just how easily they’re being played by those in charge (on both sides). The side who wins is the side which is first to direct the Mob against its opposition.
The JPFO has a pretty good essay by L.Neil Smith. One pertinent quote:
Snip-
“Americans shoot two billion rounds of the stuff every year. That’s 11 million pounds of lead — 5700 tons — poured downrange every year, 40 grains at a time.
A grain (Avoirdupois) is 1/7000 of a pound.
Two billion rounds.
What sort of fool would deliberately get into a dust-up against a population with that kind of firepower and hands-on experience? Who would contemplate sending minions into what amounts to a solid lead wall, moving at a thousand feet per second?”
He’s talking about .22 long rifle consumption alone. Admiral Yamamoto said the something similar shortly after Pearl Harbor.
And for the non gun bunnies edification:
Standard 5.56/.223 NATO 55 grain full metal jacket at 3200 feet per second, 7.62/.308 150 grain at 2800 fps, and 230 grain .45acp at 900 fps. And when the financial advisors suggested investing in precious metals many of us took them to mean brass and lead, so we won’t be running out any time soon.
Sorry, but I just spent a weekend with Larry Correia so I’m a bit stoked.
The JPFO has a pretty good essay by L.Neil Smith.
Essay at: http://jpfo.org/smith/smith-americas-secretest-weapon.htm
An amazing and insightful post.
Apparently, for this administration the laws are a smorgasbord allowing them to pick and chose which to follow.
Others have already cited the preferential treatment granted via
ImperialAdministrative waiver, to wit, exemptions from employer mandates, exemptions for unions, etc., etc. Others have also addressed the gross over-reach exacted by the NPS in closing non-affiliated enterprises and refusal to let states operate selected parks from their own coffers, even when the state ordinarily meets the material operating costs.Another instance of non-compliance with the law appeared Saturday night: I have little doubt the DOJ and JAG will pursue this to the ends of their budgets:
Illegal use of DoD Communications Systems by Obama Administration
By ROSS KAMINSKY on 10.14.13 @ 9:07AM
The American Spectator has been provided with the text of a political message sent on Saturday evening, using Department of Defense communications systems, on behalf of President Obama and Secretary of Defense Hagel.
It is addressed to “all US government employees” and further specified by the DoD sender to go to “all subordinate commands,” in compliance with Hagel’s call for “the widest possible distribution.”
The message contains standard presidential lauding of public service, but goes on to attack the current government shutdown by specifically castigating the House of Representatives, saying that the House — which is unsubtle code for Republicans — should “follow the Senate’s lead…without trying to attach…partisan measures in the process.”
I am not an attorney and do not play one on TV, but my assessment is that the sending of this message via government-owned communications systems is a violation of at least one federal law and at least one military regulation.
To wit: [SNIP]
I swear I had used end tags. Revised link-free version:
Illegal use of DoD Communications Systems by Obama Administration
By ROSS KAMINSKY on 10.14.13 @ 9:07AM
The American Spectator has been provided with the text of a political message sent on Saturday evening, using Department of Defense communications systems, on behalf of President Obama and Secretary of Defense Hagel.
It is addressed to “all US government employees” and further specified by the DoD sender to go to “all subordinate commands,” in compliance with Hagel’s call for “the widest possible distribution.”
The message contains standard presidential lauding of public service, but goes on to attack the current government shutdown by specifically castigating the House of Representatives, saying that the House — which is unsubtle code for Republicans — should “follow the Senate’s lead…without trying to attach…partisan measures in the process.”
I am not an attorney and do not play one on TV, but my assessment is that the sending of this message via government-owned communications systems is a violation of at least one federal law and at least one military regulation.
To wit: [SNIP]
I haven’t had a chance to read all the comments here, but I did finish Sarah’s post. I think Chris Muir’s Day by Day cartoon for today is priceless, and fits well with the words of our hostess. I’ll try to read the rest of today’s comments tomorrow morning.
Full Faith & Credit? Never defaulted? Well, as the Gershwin’s once advised: It ain’t necessarily so!
From AP:
You hear the same proud claim every time Washington wrestles with the debt limit: The United States has never defaulted. But the record’s not that clean. America has stiffed creditors on at least two occasions.
Once, the young nation had a dramatic excuse: The Treasury was empty, the White House and Capitol were charred ruins, even the troops fighting the War of 1812 weren’t getting paid.
A second time, in 1979, was a back-office glitch that ended up costing taxpayers billions of dollars. The Treasury Department blamed it on a crush of paperwork partly caused by lawmakers who — this will sound familiar — bickered too long before raising the nation’s debt limit.
These lapses, little noted outside financial circles in their day, are nearly forgotten now.
[SNIP]
Indeed, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew frequently declares that the United States has always met all of its obligations; a Treasury spokeswoman declined to discuss any possible exceptions. President Barack Obama, reminding Congress of the urgency of raising the debt limit before a Thursday deadline, warned of “the chaos that could result if, for the first time in our history, we don’t pay our bills on time.”
Historian Don Hickey isn’t surprised that the default in November 1814 gets overlooked. After all, he titled his book, “The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict.”
“He doesn’t know his history,” Hickey said of the president. “It’s that simple.”
There is no limit to the list of things that Obama “knows” that simply are false. And there is an equally long list of things that Obama knows are false, but repeats anyway.
In fairness to Obama, White House fact-checkers have never been deemed essential employees.
To quote the current model of modern Democrat presidents, Richard Milhous Nixon:
“When the President does it, that means it is not illegal.”
they don’t call him Barack Milhous 0bama for no reason.
Obama is the exemplar of the smooth-talking black pseudo-intellectual who gets a reputation as a brilliant and learned man because he has only learned, and only repeats, back to white liberals exactly what they want to hear. To him, knowledge is the path to a pat on the head, not something of value in and of itself, and he would rather not know any truths which are unfashionable.
I agree that we should not jump to armed resistance but we need to prepare for it. I believe within the next 12-14 months these people in DC will fabricate something so they can declare martial law and try to take our guns. Then the chief idiot in the WH will try to suspend all elections until things calm down. That is when the feces will hit the oscillator. I pray that this will not come to pass but with the attitudes of the elected elite I would not bet on it.
Along with their attitudes throw in the UN small arms treaty. That is another way they will start things going further down hill. If, God forbid, they try to push that one then all bets are off. The elite will see how angry and resourceful the people will be.
I say pray for the best but prepare for the worst.
To the elite I say we will not go silently into the night.
God bless America
I don’t think that Obama will try to suppress elections, because that obviously won’t work. Even his fellow Democrats wouldn’t stand for it — not necessarily because they love the Constitution, but rather because they count on elections for promotions all around. What’s more, suppressing elections would be exactly the sort of obvious coup-from-above which might really trigger a counter-coup from the US military, and Obama knows this (witness his utterly-horrified reaction to the successful counter-coup against Zelaya in Honduras).
Oh, my. This morning, I was treated to a priceless rant by my friend from Peru about the illegals that Obama let in on the national mall while blocking the veterans out. She gets a little hard to understand when she gets worked up like that, so I can’t reproduce much of it, but it largely boiled down to, “Why the heck should they think they can demand rights if they came here illegally?” She said someone, who I believe she said was from Guatemala, told her she should support the illegals. She asked him, “In your country, do they welcome the people from Honduras, San Salvador, Costa Rica?” He said no, and she asked him why we should do any different here? He apparently had no response to that
I’ve posted “suggested” laws on Illegals and Resident Aliens before and had leftoids tell me how racist and Fascist I am for suggesting those horrid things … Then they deny things or came up with really lame excuses when I point out those were the then current laws in place over the border in Mexico.
Mexico has recently changed the Resident Alien portions, but if you show the typical moron on the left those as your “suggestions” you are sure to be called a xenophobe.
My landlady is not here in the US, she is Scottish, and trains horses over there. So here she has a small horse ranch with enough income to pay for everything, and would like to move here and do her training here … I guess she answered the questions wrong as the 0bama INS refused her application so she is waiting for an administration change.
because they think we owe them. Because the Marxists told them so.
Oh, she went into that, too. Like I said, I can’t reproduce what I only understood half of, but the overall meaning was clear.
Too bad you can’t ask her to do a guest post.
“I comment on the blog of this crazy Portuguese-born chick, and you two echo each other.”
I’ll note that the only Hispanic group I have a nodding acquaintance with (I get their newsletters. They’re based in Denver, so even if I wanted to go there, I couldn’t most of the time) agree with your friend.
I believe it was the President of Mexico – Vicente Fox, IIRC – who, when asked what Mexico did with their illegal aliens who crossed the border from down south and tried to get jobs in their country said, and I’m pretty sure this is a direct quote, “We send back them.”
But us doing the same thing is immoral and unreasonable. Oy vey.
iirc he mention they sent them back, and someone else pointed out that what they actually did was imprison them, often for quite some time, before they were sent home
So I was pondering the actions of the NPS Park Rangers, the “We have to do it – It’s The Law!” just-following-orders justification provided by RangerMom, and the fact that the specific text of the law they are relying on in following those orders does not appear to support, and in fact on their face appear to explicitly prohibit doing what they are doing:
Does the National Park Service/Department of the Interior provide training in the individual consequences of following unlawful orders, on the order of that provided (repeatedly) to all members of the US military?
I am curious about the military occupation angle. Though countries all seem to find money to fund wars, who would have the ability?
They would make the war pay for itself by stripping our assets and production.
That would obviously be their goal, but I don’t believe that is what Tom is asking, I believe he is asking who would have the MILITARY ability. If so I will point out that alliances in war are common (often with the unmentioned thoughts that was victory is achieved they can fight each other over the spoils) so it isn’t necessary for any one country to have the ability. Which would be considerably less if we were occupied fighting amongst ourselves.
Oh, nobody could do it right now. But if we first weakened ourselves in a civil war, someone might be strong enough to do it. Remember also that in a civil war, one or more factions might call in outside assistance.
Yep, pretty much what I was trying to say, but more succinctly put.
Yep.
There ought be no doubt of the presence of a significant Fifth Column willing to abet such an occupying power. Depending on how the matter resolves many of us might be willing to participate in it.
I suspect the most likely result would be a dissolution of the Union into factions: Texas and the South forming common cause, the California & Pacific Northwest uniting, the Plains and Mountain states joining while the New England states extending through much of Pennsylvania combine. It is the stuff of AltHist to speculate about the results, with much fun to be had haggling over the new configurations and the logic of their components..
I would suspect parts of Northern California and the eastern side of Oregon and Washington to join with the Mountain states. Which would then run into the problem of being landlocked, without easy access to shipping unless they made accomodations to use the rivers through the Pacific Northwest, or trucked products clear to the Gulf.
Apparently, the prediction is six pieces.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB123051100709638419
Timing’s a bit off, though. And I don’t think the Texas area will ever consent to being under Mexican influence or control, but what do I know?
I honestly have a problem with the population centers of Cali (etc) being able to police the coastline well enough to make a difference– and without the ability to take water from the other places, an ability easily destroyed, those population centers melt.
Do you think the parks need to be staffed and the staff have access to the equipment (not only but including first aid)? Do you think the park buildings need to be open, clean, have utilities on?
If the answer to any of these questions is yes, how do you expect them to available if we are not permitted to obligate funds under the anti-deficiency act? (last changed by the Great Ghod Regan) Do you know that the Anti-deficiency act as amended in 1982 specifically prohibits us from volunteering at our job? So yes, I am a law abiding citizen. No, I do not think following a lawful order calls for shame. I refuse to equate closing of the parks as the same as slavery, killing of Jews, Jim Crow or any of the outrageous similes proposed here. This is a small blip, will be (hopefully) over soon, and although vacations have been damaged severely there have not been lives lost thanks to the parks being closed to keep the usual fools out. And yes, all parks get their share of fools that’s why I have a job there.
As usual some have gone on to comment about me personally so I will say I am indeed a very long term Barfly from at least 1997, met some of you at the Millennium Philcon in 2000, and still read the Bar but gave up posting after Ringo’s 9-11 rants. I would not have posted here but since the NPS was specifically mentioned, and usually the Diner and Sarah’s blog are open for multiple perspectives I thought a difference in opinion might be debated but not attacked. Yes, I will= as you say= go back under my rock. Neither of us have convinced the other of something new, I did not expect that. Respectful, intelligent debate with a few snarky comments? That’s what I hoped for but seldom viewed.
Bye all. I do really wish you all the best and I, as ever, remain fans of those of you who write (yes, including Ringo with whom I have had lunch on occasion) but I will go back to being a SILENT fan. Let the name calling begin, I shall not take part in it or defending myself. Why should I? It won’t matter anyway.
RangerMom,
First off, the Diner is usually politics free. It has been from the beginning. As for allowing differing POVs here, well, they are allowed and they are encouraged, as long as discussion is being held. Sorry if you feel you’ve been attacked, but this is a very big hot button for a lot of us.
As for the question about whether a park ranger or other employee should feel ashamed for turning away visitors, that has nothing to do with whether or not they are following the law. It has everything to do with how they feel about having to do so. You can do your job but not approve of what you’re being told to do. You can even feel shame for what you are being told to do. It is each person’s choice as to what they feel and how they react to their jobs at any time.
What you have to understand is that a lot of us are reacting to seeing money being spent to close down parks — or block parts of roadways — so our parks can’t be enjoyed at a time when we are being told there is no money to open the parks. If you can pay to have vehicles transport blockades to the Mall, people to set them up, park service employees or security personnel to guard the barricades, can’t you pay to open the Mall or other park for limited hours each day?
I understand you feel you were attacked. Sorry. Just remember that we are as passionate about our Vets being able to visit the WWII open air memorial as you are about the NPS being respected. Did some of the commenters here get emotional? Sure. But it cuts both ways. My suggestion is that you continue to visit the blog and you continue to comment.
(I’ll let you in on a little secret, the regulars here know who comments on a regular and semi-regular basis. When they see a new name show up, especially one critical of what is being said, they sometimes jump to the conclusion that we have a troll in our midst. I know because it is sometimes something I think. Why? Because Sarah has found herself on the receiving end of organized trolling before simply because she doesn’t bow down and kiss the feet of political correctness. So, let the rest of us get to know you. I promise, we really are a pretty good group of folks. We also love a good debate.)
Is there a reason you decline to nest your replies under those comments you are responding to? It makes it difficult to align your rebuttals with those you are rebutting.
Do I think the parks need to be staffed? Depends on the park, and even when staffing would be beneficial I see no reason it must be NPS employees doing the staffing. Do I think access to equipment is essential in the short term? No. First aid? No. Park buildings open with all that entails? No.
From my re-read the equivalence is not drawn between closing parks and slavery or Jim Crow, but between those prior laws and your own statements regarding the ACA:
Oh yeah, it was passed correctly and challenged correctly and is a LAW. Instead of whining about civil disobedience why not get a MAJORITY together and change the LAW? Oh, you can’t? The Majority passed the law in both House and Senate? Too bad.
This is where you lost me with the noble NPS suffering bit. You brought it up.
Thanks to the parks being closed the people have been kept safe? Really? *snort* This might not be the best crowd to lay that line on, as there aren’t too many folks around here looking to daddy-government to keep ’em safe and warm.
As to playing the thin-skinned card regarding being attacked. Um. You’ve been on the internet a while and you hang out in the Bar and anything here looks like an attack? Seems unlikely. This place does seem to be open to multiple views and debating differing opinions. But, um, debate usually means people disagree with you, and say so. Maybe that’s inconvenient, or uncomfortable, but it’s not unreasonable.
While the well wishes are appreciated, at least by me, drive by commenting really isn’t as noble as you’re trying to play it. It’s just trying to score points and take the ball home before anybody else gets to play. But we brought our own balls.
*subtle grin*
But since you’ve avowed you won’t be back, this isn’t for you, it’s for the folks actually willing to engage in conversation and see where it goes. Because the results of conversation do matter, whether or not anybody walks away ‘changed.’
No. The parks don’t need these things. They are conveniences, not necessities.
“Do you think the parks need to be staffed and the staff have access to the equipment (not only but including first aid)? Do you think the park buildings need to be open, clean, have utilities on? ”
Short answer: No.
Less short answer: No, I do not think that most parks need to be staffed, some where there are tour guides, gift shops, etc. those specifics do need staffed; but not necessarily by NPS employees. As a matter of fact since such a large number of NPS employees are eco-nuts and believe and actively promote outrageous lies I would say that staffing the parks is seriously detrimental to my enjoyment of them.* No park buildings do not need to be open, if closed they obviously don’t need to be cleaned regularly or have the utilities on. Close the buildings, shut off the lights, tape a sign to the door saying they will be closed until further notice, and go home. If you are in a high traffic area, anticipate a long shutdown and are worried about sanitation close the outhouses and post a sign on their door. I don’t need some Park Ranger explaining how fire is good thing because it kills lots of deer and elk that then provide food for the wolves for me to enjoy a view of Old Faithful** and I’m a big boy I can take care of myself without a Park Ranger holding my hand. Simply put if the Park is shut down but open the NPS should have no liability for any injury or damages people incur in the Park.
*So much so that I have not visited one in quite a few years.
**I found Old Faithful to not only be unspectacular, but anything but faithful, the one time I visited it was over an hour and a half late going off, and not all that impressive (reportedly less geysering{is so a word} than normal) when it finally did decide to blow.
Also, they don’t need to not let people use THEIR OWN HOUSES on park land or prevent tourists using the restrooms of a privately operated B & B. This contributes nothing except, what were the orders? “Make the shutdown as unpleasant as possible”?
That one still torches my oil. Kicking an elderly couple out of the home they own because there’s no overnight stays on park land during the shutdown? I have words, but they’re a bit foul.
In other news:
A couple of furloughed park rangers are volunteering their time to help keep an area they’re normally responsible for clean.
Chris Cox is back on the Mall in DC, this time with a leaf blower.
Some folks know how to get it done.
Those were exactly the orders!
It should be noted that, by the evidence presented and contrary to the claims asserted by RangerMom, she entered this discussion to lecture, not to debate. The Elite don’t have to debate Proles, and Proles ought be grateful when they deign to explain the obvious to us.
Yes, this constitutes a personal criticism of RangerMom. Since she declined to debate the only entertainment value to be garnered is from using her as a chew toy. As she has withdrawn from discussion there is no requirement for civility.
I totally agree, I was simply responding to the questions RangerMom posed, not venturing into the much more grievous offenses of the NPS.*
*I suspect she didn’t mention those, because they are indefensible to any sane rational person.
This fails to recognize that the comparison to Jim Crow, the Fugitive Slave Act and other such was not to the excessive reaction of the NPS, but to the assertion that Obamacare is “Law of the Land.” That should have been obvious. The point being that the “Law of the Land” is mutable. It is also at times wrong, in violation of human conscience and rights.
RangerMom should also consider whether a needlessly provocative compositional style isn’t prone to engendering snarky response, as people recognize the passive-aggressive technique and respond in kind. Some, more cynical than I, might even surmise RangerMom was deliberately attempting to prompt “personal attack” in order to be able to exit as the poor, aggrieved, picked upon party.
I am compelled to thank RangerMom for doing her part to ensure our parks enjoy their share of fools.
*Excessive: above and beyond the actions taken during prior government shutdowns in 1995-96. Including forced closure of parks and facilities NOT under the aegis of the NPS.
“I am compelled to thank RangerMom for doing her part to ensure our parks enjoy their share of fools.”
But we don’t need to pay to get fools to entertain us. There are enough freelance fools who will do it for free. This sort of reminds me of Bill Cosby’s skit regarding the entertainment in the NYC subways. “There is one in every car.”
Reblogged this on The Healing Homestead and commented:
I have to share this one…very well thought out and written post on the current state of affairs…(btw, not ignoring my blog, simply sorting out the new work schedule!)
From InstaPundit:
Emphasis added.
My wife is Jewish and reminds me that when people tell you by word and deed they want to kill you, waiting until they’re ready is just another form of suicide.
Time to make aliyah?
Emily,
Yes, but as Usaians this is OUR homeland. Where will we go to?
I say we take over Australia. The climate is for crap and everything including the plants is out to kill you, but there are some like minded folks there and everyone else would have a time getting to us.
New Zealand is probably nicer, and easier. Or there’s always Cuba. I once read that a tourist there simply walked into an active military base thinking it was a nice, scenic ruin. Shouldn’t be much of a challenge.
This is my homeland too. I don’t want to move to Israel, especially not without my hubby. Hubby won’t leave. His family has been living here for 300 years.
Ditto. 400 for Dan, except for the branches that were here much longer.
Four hundred in some branches (Allen) and two hundred in others (Larson & Peterson) –so yea, don’t want to leave either.
Yes, indeed. Keep that always in mind. All of us.
You can see their contempt for constitutional government.
I told my wife she should have bought that Beretta last week at auction.
Well, looks like we’ll be doing that for Christmas, then.
Incidentally, after a brief flirtation with joblessness, I have a permanent (for various values of the word) position as a project manager with a local company starting on the 1st.
Just in time for NaNo. Oy vey.
Yay on job. We have our permanent shortfall in place, so either I write MUCH faster or we need to figure out how to sell/move without using money in the process. (Almost impossible as things need to be done to the house, we can’t live here while selling, etc.)
If you ever did decide to head down this way, my wife is a realtor. Just sayin’.
why do you need to move?
mortgage simply too big. Wasn’t when we got this. In fact we got this while paying on old house. But you know real inflation is much higher than advertised and our savings has dwindled to nothing. (Shrug.) We’re damn close to the bone now, which is why I’ve cut out all cons but Liberty con…
A few years back utopia novels in fantasy seemed to be at its height. I just didn’t get the cave in one where the animals came to die (for the greater good I might add) so that the carnivores could eat. Also, that people were so tied to the planet that they couldn’t leave. I would have found it a hell on earth. I like to move. I like freedom over security. I won’t name the author or the book mainly because I don’t want to remember it. But why would this be paradise?
Dang– I thought I posted this on Paradise lost again– dang. I need a brain reboot.