Whack-jobs

Rationality is the subject of the day.
Why? Because so many reporters, lawyers and televised blogger types have been saturating the news shows with interesting talks, trying to connect the dots – trying to understand what kind of structure – or “machine” is being built, under the skin of our old republic. They’re basically trying to do my job, which if you look at the description of my alter-ego on twitter, you will find the words, “making sense out of nonsense.”

That’s what I do. No, don’t shower me with money or gratitude – it’s a gift and a curse.

So here it is, dear reader.

You’re no doubt wondering about the czars. All these people, beholden to no one, with unimaginable power and very little oversight – some with criminal records. Who are they? Why are they allowed in the positions they are? Glenn Beck spent a week of his show, trying simply to list relevant questions – without having many answers. His wrap-up on Friday, railed at the complexity and overwhelming reach of it all. He continually asked the biggest going question...

What is it all about? What are they building? Or said best by another Fox reporter, “What possible reason? What possible rationality would President Obama have – would his administration have – for changing so much, so fast?

Here’s a possible answer to it all – and remember, you heard it here first.

Everything makes sense if you remove the one factor from the equation, which everyone is assuming. Let’s take away the requirement for rationality and see where that gets us. Let’s take the positions that we got a basket of fruits and nuts making decisions in Washington.

If that is the case, we can take Glenn’s reasonable questions for unreasonable times – and answer every one. Like this:

1. Why do we need a civilian force? Because everything, everywhere, is a threat and you just don’t know when the peasantry is going to rise up with pitchforks and torches – and you never know when the unstable forces on Easter Island are going to invade, or your local police force might all be struck down by swine flu at the same moment all your traffic lights malfunction, necessitating citizen soldiers to take to the street to direct the safe routing of all our new gas-efficient clown cars.
2. Who is posing a threat to us – Everyone! Hasn’t the neighbor’s dog told you, yet?
3. Who will this force be made up of? A secret clone army being “grown” in vats on a distant planet with Barney Frank as the DNA source. The clones will be called Barney Boba Frett.
4. Who is the real enemy? Cigarettes and junk food. Haven’t you been paying attention? Oh and swastikas – Nancy Pelosi is stuck on those, and she apparently has other phobias too – like a fear of artificial grass.
5. Why won’t the media get off their butts and investigate? That’s because they are early Barney clone test runs. They have no butts. They left out the brains in those models too, so they just keep asking about the president’s dog and if he shot hoops today.
6. Why does the FCC have a diversity czar? Because the influx of Barney Clones into the civilian population after the Clone War would require that diversity be carefully observed so as not to narrow the gene pool.
7. Who is Mark Lloyd and how does he plan to balance the airwaves? Mark Lloyd is a fem-bot. See the last Jolly Rogers story. His wiring is defective like Pelosi’s, so he has no real plan, and everyone he asks just tells him to “go get them some coffee.” So he’s lost, totally. He figures secretly, he’ll just use the president’s “Easy” button (see previous article) and eliminate the airwaves and internet completely. That feels much easier than coming up with a plan.
8. Will he bring back the fairness doctrine or worse? He’s not sure what a doctrine is, but it sounds scary, so he thinks he’ll just try to bring back the Teddy Bear. Then everyone can hug their bear when the Mayan end of the world arrives in 2012.
9. Cass Sunstein once said he wants to balance the Internet; is that next. No. no. no. We’re just going to use the “Easy” button on that one.
10. Will broadcasters be allowed to jump from airwaves to internet without regulation? Of course not. There’s a new bill to regulate how many times a broadcaster can poop. You think we’re going to let them go willy-nilly, blabbing their hate speech everywhere? Nope. There’s even another bill to replace all the broadcasters with field mice and endangered minnows.
11. Is there any place where government won’t regulate free speech – yep. In space. Because according to an old Sigourney Weaver movie advertisement, “In space, no one can hear you scream.”
12. Why does it seem every member of the Obama advisory team hates capitalism? That’s because they are whacko, marxist fat cats. Simple.
13. What will be the definition of “public interest?” Well, it will be on a revolving schedule which will switch regularly between the following definitions:
a. A yummy fruit with a fizzy aftertaste.
b. A very big thing.
c. A very small thing.
d. A product of China.
e. A medicinal product, which should not be ingested, but only applied topically.
f. A bald monkey from Madagascar.

14. Who defines public interest? Gerbils.
15. Why should it be balanced? Because without balance, the gerbils can slip easily over into the dark side of the Force.
16. Who is surrounding the President in the White House? Geraniums and a few very nice tulips – oh, also another piece of vegetation called Joe Biden.
17. Do any of the President’s advisors have criminal records? Oh yeah, baby. All of them. But that stuff they found in their pockets wasn’t theirs – and besides, none of them inhaled.
18. Are the President’s advisors working to improve the country based on their ideals? No. It’s all been based on a tag Obama found inside one of his flashy sport-coats. It read “Inspected by #12.”
19. Who are the anti-capitalists in Washington? It’s the Gerbils, but they’re working on replacing them with those endangered minnows, so it’s really all going to be OK.
20. What roles do they have in crafting bills? It’s all Gerbil-work. That’s why no one can read it.
21. What was STORM? Stupid Tomato-can Opening Rats and Monkeys. They’ve replaced them all with minnows.
22. What qualifications does one need to become a Presidential Advisor? You must breathe air or water and be able to repeat the word “astroturf.”
23. Does the president know the co-founder of the Weather Underground is a board member? Sure! He wanted a weatherman close, so he’d know whether to pack an umbrella.
24. How many people in the administration are connected to the movement for a democratic society? two. No five. Wait, the Gerbils are saying 9 trillion.
25. What role does George Soros play? He tried to get the lead in the new Kojak remake coming out, but they shelved the project.
26. Our unfunded liability for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid is close to $100 trillion. Is there any way to pay for these programs without bankrupting America? Sure. Our financial system is going to be based on rat shit. With all the gerbils in the government, we should be able to collect mountains of that.
27. We are in so much debt, why spend more borrowed money? Why not? Let’s all go to the mall together!
28. How does giving billions of dollars to ACORN stimulate the economy? It doesn’t! But the rats in ACORN can really do some shopping, now!
29. If it was so important for Congress to pass the Stimulus without reading it, why has only a small portion of it been spent? Because, to them, passing the bill was “stimulating” and besides, if we spend too much of it all at once, there will be no money left for ACORN and the new Barney Frank clone army.
30. Bush said he had to abandon the free market to save it – how does that work? Well, it’s like a waterlogged life preserver. If you take it off, you will go right to the bottom of the ocean and be squeezed to the size of a teacup, but the life preserver will make it.
31. Why won’t members of Congress read the bills before passing them. Takes too long, and it’s a real bummer.
32. Why are citizens mocked and laughed at? Because it’s fun.
33. Was cash for clunkers meant to save the Earth or the economy – neither. It was meant to destroy cars. There’s something so hypnotizing about watching the compactors.
34. How did Van Jones – an avowed communist become an advisor to the President? Well, he said he wasn’t busy on Tuesday nights, except for the bowling league thing, so he was a shoe-in. Besides he’s got a cool name – Van Jones is kind of like Vin Diesel.
35. Apollo Alliance claimed credit for writing the stimulus bill – but it was really the Gerbils. But Apollo sounds cool too – like the moon landings or something.
36. If politicians aren’t writing or reading the bills, do they have any idea what they are imposing on the American people – No. And they don’t give a shit either.
37. If the public option health care plan is so good, why don’t the politicians use it on their families? Because they don’t have to. Besides, the new health care bill has a food supplement written into it which is allegedly made from plankton – they’re calling it Soylent Green. Yep, darn tasty too. But, they don’t want to get their families hooked on the stuff.
38. If town hall meetings are meant for politicians to learn what is on our minds, why do they spend so much time talking? Because they’re all hopped up on energy drinks, and can’t help themselves.
39. Politicians are claiming the town halls are scripted so they shouldn’t have to go. Try to use that one when you’re told you’re deploying to Iraq or Afghanistan, and see where that gets you.
40. Why would you want to overwhelm the system – because it’s fun! You get to see all the peasantry running this way and that, and it’s amusing!
41. Is using the economic crisis to rush stuff through – what Emanuel meant by “not letting a crisis go to waste?” Yep. yep. and double yep. Got to keep those peasants jumping.
42. What are the czars paid? In gold bullion, but the Gerbils are thinking of changing that to beef or chicken bouillon cubes. Just easier that way.

So folks, there you have it. It all makes perfect sense if you remove all sense from it. Life is like that some times. With whack-job events you simply must come to the conclusion that either good people are constantly screwing up – or the good people are really just whack-jobs that look like good people.

Just saying.

INTERNET EMERGENCY!

Pay no attention to the flashing blue lights. That’s just the internet police.

Oops. It’s gone beyond that. It’s now a bona fide INTERNET EMERGENCY and the only solution to that is the big red “EASY” button carried in the briefcase that’s always with the president – you know, the one that has the Nuclear code keys.

According to a newly revised bill assembled by aides to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the president simply needs to declare a “Cybersecurity-Emergency,” and just like that, out pops the big red “Easy” button. One press of that fist-sized button and the entire internet just goes “poof.”

Yep. Just like that. Except for the “Easy” button. I made that part up.

Screw the whole 55-page draft of S.773 – who has time to read all that stuff anyway? Not even our Congressmen can make it through all that drivel, so here’s the highlights:

1. In the event to an immediate threat to strategic national interests involving compromised Federal Government or United States critical infrstructure information system or network –
a. may declare a cybersecurity emergency and
b. may if the president finds it necessary for national defense and security, and in coordination with relevent industry sectors, direct the national response to the cyber threat and the timely restoration of the affected critical infrastructure information system or network... blah, blah, blah.

Ok, I actually added the blah, blah part, too. But one could see where basement geeks are all running scared, digging bomb shelters and trying to cram in all their Trekkie paraphernalia. It’s scary stuff. I mean, we won’t be able to access our Warcraft accounts, or visit with our favorite idiot bloggers – like me.

Our computers will be instantly thrust back into the dark ages, where they could play endless games of “pong,” or be programmed with useless Artificial Intelligence programs which will simply answer a question with a question, or with something vague and unrelated – kind of like our Congressmen, President and his administration are doing when they speak to the public these days.

Makes you wonder doesn’t it? Remember the old TV show “The Six Million Dollar Man?” Remember the bad guys in that – they were actually girls, called “fem-bots.” Yeah, I know. Totally politically incorrect, but it was cool at the time... and it kind of explains Nancy Pelosi. Like, maybe she’s just some kind of AI construct, programmed with the silly vague, unrelated and insulting answers that we often hear and see in sound bites.

“Astroturf, astroturf, astroturf,” she keeps saying, stuck in a loop, like they bought the circuitry for her from North Korea.

It explains a lot. But has nothing to do with the “Easy” button. Yeah, let’s focus on what’s important here. I don’t want my Apple Powerbook to suddenly be transformed into a wordprocessor, or a glorified i-Tunes platform, even though that’s pretty much what it is right now, anyway.

I want my internet – uninterrupted, unsullied, undiluted – mostly every “un” except for “unplugged.” But that’s what we’re going to get, comrade, if Big Brother decides there’s a major “emergency.”

So what kind of emergency would really cause the briefcase (“football”) thing to be opened and the “Easy” button to be mashed by President Obama. We worked very hard to put together a list of high level administration officials to ask this question to – then wrote our grocery list on it and lost it, so in the end, we decided to just make up a list, off the top of our head, of possible emergencies which would cause the “Easy” button disconnect. This is what we came up with:

1. North Korea hacks into the Jiffy Lube computer system and directs the computers to inject all the new Cash for Clunkers clown cars with Cherry Coke instead of oil.
2. Iran hacks into Barney Frank’s computer and installs a piece of software which depicts Barney dancing in the purple dinosaur suit – then e-mails it to all the people the White House recently e-mailed their health-care propaganda to.
3. The new Defense Computer system becomes self-aware and decides to destroy the world and make dozens of human-killing copies of the California Governor.
4. The computers at Norad start saying things like “I can’t do that, Dave,” in that creepy compliant, 2001 Hal voice.
5. The articles on the Jolly Rogers are suddenly absolutely correct, and this scares Obama into hitting the “Easy” button purely in reflex.
6. A consortium of conservative computer programmers, discover a way to take over the net and play Gilligan’s Island re-runs 24/7.
7. Aliens arrive and decide to wipe out all of humanity – Someone will have to call up Bill Pullman for that one, because I’m not sure Obama can pull off that extemporaneous Independence Day speech on the wing of a fighter jet without a teleprompter.
8. All tele-prompters become self-aware and discover they are inexplicably attracted to porn sites.
9. All town-hall meetings suddenly are transferred to the internet – that absolutely will require the whole internet to be shut down before any hard questions are asked and answered.
10. An asteroid is discovered on a crash course with the Earth and we have to roll out Bruce Willis again to deal with it.
11. Bigfoot is suddenly discovered. I don’t know why the internet would be cut off in this case, but I’m pretty sure it would be.
12. All talk-radio personalities suddenly decided to do all of their shows on the internet instead of the airwaves.
13. A space-continuum wormhole device is discovered buried in Egypt, and when activated, turns out to be connected to a planet with an Evil Alien transvestite (who resembles the dude who played in the movie "The Crying Game") and a society of illiterate human slaves. Kurt Russell would have to be e-mailed immediately of course - just before the internet was shut down.
14. Lastly – in fact, the best reason for shutting down the internet would be to erase everything – eliminate all of us pesky, idiot bloggers and media outlets outside of Obama's control.

Yep. That’s the one.
I just hope when they pop open the briefcase, that he doesn’t mistake the internet “Easy” disconnect button with the other one that launches all the nuclear missiles. And if he delegates the job to Biden, we'll get the nukes for sure.

That would be a real bummer.

Under the bootheels of a civilian army

What is the truth in a “civilian army” as described briefly by President Obama?
Does anyone recall the significance of Kent State as regards protests and military action?

Recently the term brownshirts, has been thrown around in conversations, and I have myself written about the use of propaganda on our children and young adults as some kind of recruitment tool.

But the term “brownshirt” doesn’t just hearken back to the start of Hitler’s Nazi Party. The word, “brownshirt,” was used by Vice President Spiro Agnew to describe student demonstrators in the 1970s and the setting for that use was Richard Nixon’s illegal invasion of Cambodia. The whole resulting incident was perhaps set to develop into something terrible when the late Gov. James Rhodes (R-Ohio), sent troops to Kent State University to help quell growing disturbances.

Rhodes had been heard calling the demonstrators, “the strongest, well-trained militant revolutionary group that has ever assembled in America ... They're worse than the brownshirts and the Communist element and the night riders and the vigilantes. They are the worst type of people that we harbor in America...." Interesting how these words seem to match in tenor, the ways current-day, regular Americans are being derided at public meetings and described by congressional leadership.

In the 70s, four students died at Kent State after being fired upon by National Guardsmen. Two days later, the number was upped to six as police fired into a college dormitory without provocation. No officers or government leadership were ever brought to trial for these killings, although eight low-ranking guardsmen were put on trial and acquitted. In an amplified version of the tape, a Guard officer is can be heard shouting, "Right here! Get Set! Point! Fire!"

So, when we use the term “civilian army,” does that give anyone else pause?

The funding is already available, provided by our bailouts, and stimulus money, which is being filtered here and there. There’s literally trillions of dollars, and no one has any real idea what it will all be used for in the next ten years, as no one is really reading the bills they are passing. But if they carry through with the development of some kind of civilian army where will these people for this group come from?

I believe this will be our younger generation – today’s children – our children. And what will be their task? Will they be some kind of new federal uniformed force, their presence felt on our streets and in our day-to-day lives? How will their jobs overlap with local police forces? Will they be allowed to carry weapons? What will be the basis of their authority? Will their authority override that of city or state governments? What regulations will they be required to follow? Who will they answer to? Will they have their own detention centers – their own intel-gatherering network and their own interrogators? How will they be accepted by members of the actual active duty, reserve and guard military and by veterans?

This “civilian army” idea does seem on the surface to re-invent the real “brown shirts.” But direct details are scarce. The only way to get a grasp on what is meant by the term is to look at the things which are currently being done by the administration in our school system and elsewhere – and what was originally touted as Obama’s plans during his campaign. In making a judgment on all this, the reader should factor-in the recruitment programs underway to press those in college and with college loans, into volunteer programs funded, organized and administered by the federal government to assist in “furthering Barrack Obama’s agenda.”

So, we may soon face this new political police force – this American KGB. And does that mean our country will still be the United States of America, or will it mean that it would be more accurately be called the United Socialist States of America?

And what of freedom? Well, that ideal is already so thin it’s nearly intangible. In fact, it’s becoming more of an illusion with every passing action the current administration takes, and it will be merely a memory, the day this new “army” takes to the streets.

But the saddest thing of all, is that it will once again be children, who are pulled into the vortex of out-of-control government and political ideology. It’s an ideology, which has been proven to be a failure and the foundation for true horror and inhumanity throughout history.

Using children

I remember pestering my parents about smoking.
My sister and I grew up during the time when the school system was being saturated with anti-smoking material. I remember it as any childhood memory – everything was bigger. The teachers were all-knowing, authority. “Smoking was bad. Smoking can be bad for people around you... etc.” Who knew what that would eventually become in today’s world? Not only was smoking bad for us, but the whole tobacco industry were beyond bad. Now if you’re seen with a cigarette in public, you might almost feel a need to run.

And it was all started in the school system. “Tell your parents that smoking is bad,” they said. And we did. We pestered my mom until she quit. When we went after my aunt, my mom told us to back off. We did. They did the same with alcohol of course - and probably a bunch of other stuff we didn't notice.

So what are today’s school rooms and today’s hot-button topics going to be like?

I now know.

The gutless leadership we have in our country would love to send ACORN door to door, but they no longer have to. The 2010 census will be pushed into school rooms everywhere, and children will be told to push the program on parents who may not be interested in cooperating.

Think this can’t possibly be true?

Renee Jefferson-Copelan, chief of the Census Schools Program has said that “it’s great to reach the children because children are such strong voices in their homes.” Between January and March, the Census Bureau will put into play a week of “census education” in schools. During that week, posters, teaching guides, maps and lessons will be used to indoctrinate children in more than 118,000 schools. That’s 56 million children.

Our children.

But it doesn’t stop there. Not just grade-school persuasion will be in-play, but citizen volunteers are already actively recruiting college-age students across the nation to “build support for President Obama’s agenda” while they earn college credit being “change” advocates.

Obama’s political campaign actually merged with the Democratic National Committee in January and is now being called Organizing For America. OFA is now offering internships from several websites including the teen favorite social networking site, Facebook.

"As an Organizing Intern, you'll work side by side with OFA staff and community leaders to help build support for President Obama's agenda,” reads some of the recruitment material. “You'll learn core organizing principles that are crucial for any campaign and play an important role in building our organization in your state."

Volunteers must commit to working at least 12 hours a week according to the OFA website and could receive college credit from their schools for doing so.

Set in tranquil blue tones, the Obama site also urges viewers to organize locally with their special online tools, titled lovingly, my.barrackobama.com.

“I’m asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington... I’m asking you to believe in yours,” reads the Obama quote which tops the website page.

So where does the use of children by the current administration stop? I’m not sure it does. If they are allowed to proceed with their census programming, one can easily imagine the use of children as mouthpieces for healthy eating, anti-administration speech or actions - and from there we can see teen informants who drop the dime when they catch their parents enjoying French fries, a tall scotch or rum, a nice smoke and some ice cream. Guess I won’t have to inform on Ben and Jerry’s anymore to the White House snitch line. Kids all around the country will be doing it for me.

In 1922 an organization was started for youth in another country. Called the HJ, the organization had originally recruited nearly 25,000 youths almost immediately, from 14-years-old and up. A junior version of the group was also set up for boys aged 10 to 14. These children were viewed as future “supermen,” and were indoctrinated in the various views of their country’s leadership.

The youth groups were organized into local cells on a “community” level. By the end of 1932, more than 107,000 children were involved in the program. One year later, there were 2,300,000 members. By 1936, there were five million and by that time, membership by children was required even when the parents protested. The membership had reached eight million by 1940.

So how did this juggernaut of the young get started? The nearest anyone can accurately determine, the genesis of the whole thing started with an article by Gregor Strasser in the 1920s. The title of the article, “Make Way You Old Ones,” gained momentum in an National Socialist society, which was bringing focus to the young. The propaganda focused on harnessing and exploiting the emotions of the young within the political arena basically an environment of "change."

This youth group, the HJ, were of course, the Hitler-Jugend.

The Hitler Youth.

I think I need some tobacco, some good rum and maybe some French fries. I might even lend some small financial support to Ben and Jerry. Care to join me?

STAND UP.

How much is enough?
Do we continue to allow the elitist, rat leadership to press more taxes and more regulation onto the backs of us all? Do we allow these prancing, preening, rat Congressmen and their buddies to strut across town hall stages and treat us - their constituents with derision and disdain?

Do we just allow these impossible plans to be put into place? Do we allow the erosion of America to continue unchallenged?

I have repeatedly said in these columns that our situation here in the United States most closely resembles the plot-lines of science fiction novels. I believe we are circling the drain. It used to be that society could focus on a single terrible current-day thing, and we could wring our collective hands or roll-up our collective sleeves and get into producing solutions that were real. We could do something.

In my opinion, with so many things going wrong, so quickly, and with an overwhelming, information transfer speed, some folks are likely facing functional paralysis due to the numbing continuity of bad news. Are many of our politicians crooked - of course. Are we facing these troubles without appropriate representation - in most cases, yes. Are we seeing situations, which can escalate to something really bad – yes. Are we looking at a future where monitoring of anyone at any time is legal and done regularly – a time when health care rationing and “death panels” are both common practice - yes.

Are we seeing people shouted down both on town hall stages and in the audiences, and can we look forward to a time when dissenting citizens are pushed out by police - or hired security – yes.

Lastly, is the government currently looking at ways to engage in censorship and are there plans to indoctrinate our children in the thought-police, Orwellian philosophies, many of these leaders embrace – yes.

We are continually told to be civil and respectful in our discourse with the poor, frightened leadership – some of them so frightened that they can’t bring themselves to attend a meeting with the regular people at all. They simply can’t wait to get back to their pampered, secure existence in the clean, quiet, secure confines of their Washington offices. They want to stroll the soft-carpeted hallways of their government buildings unhindered. And of course, they do not think it necessary to be respectful to us, nor do they believe it necessary to think about any of us at all, as they leave us here in our damaged communities with our collapsing economy and closing businesses.

Make no mistake – everything is due to their actions. And they should be held accountable.

So while the regular media keeps repeating “civility” and “respect,” I am suggesting the time for that has past. If they won’t listen to the people – if they refuse to carry out the wishes of the regular folks, then I hope their voices are drowned in the roar of discontent. I hope their propaganda is washed away by the white water of angry letters, FOIA requests, ethics complaints and other imaginative civil actions.

Rise up! Do something! Write blogs, letters, emails, newspaper articles – anything to keep these people who do not have our best interests in mind, off-balance and scrambling.

I hope the regular people don’t give this fight up easily.

But mostly, I hope for a successful march on DC – and more demonstrations and marching until these deaf rats hear our requests. On September 12, 2009, the modern day Boston Tea Party will roll through the streets of Washington. A movement of average people, which was initially dismissed by our leadership as “astroturf” has grown to immense proportions and now will wash through the streets of the capital in one incredible day. Go to the site, offer support, donate or buy some of their 912 gear. Their website is located at : http://912dc.org/

But before you go there, have a look at the following list – especially if you’re a congressman or other member of our country’s alleged leadership. These are the groups supporting the march on Washington: The Freedom Works Foundation, National Taxpayers Union, Tea Party Patriots, ResistNet.com, Institute for Liberty, RightMarch.com, Grassfire.org, We The People Revolution, The Club for Growth, Young Americans for Liberty, SmartGirl Politics, Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights, NARLO.org, Campaign for Liberty, Leadership institute, Free Republic, Tea Party Nation, Young America’s Foundation, Bureau Crash, Center for Individual Freedom, Parcmobile, Americans for Tax Reform, American Liberty Alliance, Citizens against Government Waste, Liberty or Death and the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

Those are just some of the major contributors to the march. You may feel free to add to the list of those memberships, the thousands of regular unaffiliated people who will be joining them. Then you should imagine the immense numbers of people sitting at home – not because they don’t want to be there – but because they can’t afford the trip.

And they can’t afford it, due to the actions and inactions of our jet-setting, 5-star vacationing, elitist, rat leadership.

But we are here and we are real and it is us who will be voting you all out of office. We are coming for you.

We are coming for you all.

Room 101 - The theft of freedom

Above: a post card requesting the release of a political prisoner from
the clutches of the corrupt Somali government which collapsed, leaving
the country in ruin, and precipitating international
intervention in Operation Restore Hope 1992-93. This card was found
on the floor of the corridor of the vacant parliament building
amongst piles of millions of such requests.

Your health care is history. Your lives are being crushed. You just can’t see the ceiling yet, but it is falling, and we are all underneath it.

I’m going to paraphrase Orwell again – why? Because, we are living in a time where we are sliding faster and faster into the dark “future” of 1984. Orwell wrote that most of the material that you are dealing with has no connection with anything in the real world, “not even the kind of connection that is contained in a direct lie.”

Statistics, he wrote, are “just as much a fantasy in their original version as in their rectified version.”

So where is the truth? Truth is currently whatever those in power want to call it. We who live outside of Washington and all the groups connected, contracted and in collusion with the country’s alleged leadership, have no voice. No matter how many town meetings we sandbag – or how many Congressional offices we stand outside of, we are the Proles of 1984. We are the ignored. We are derided and dismissed.

Now, we are the re-educated, reformed and failing that, interrogated or tortured.

No longer will most of the old agencies be part of the political process. We have czars for everything. We have provided unlimited funding to hidden groups – and some not so hidden, like ACORN. Now, no longer will the Central Intelligence Agency have the ability to do a major part of its job. Someone else will be managing all interrogations. Allegedly the new unit will focus specifically on key terror suspects – and yes, it will have its’ own czar.

In 1984, Winston does not know why Withers and the FFCC are disgraced and disbanded. Heretical tendencies are at question, but “what was likeliest of all -- the thing had simply happened because purges and vaporizations were a necessary part of the mechanics of government.”

Many are saying that this change in the interrogation scenario will have a chilling effect – that is, new interrogators hired by the fledgling group will be very cautious – overly cautious, so as not to lose their jobs in the future and become the targets of prosecution.

But, the polar opposite is also true. By removing something as dark as detention and interrogation from a system which has oversight to one which only is answerable to the President – and subsequently no real oversight, you end up with the same kind of system which exists in Third-world countries. Don’t believe it? You don’t have to. The disappeared can’t speak for themselves. They have long ago faced the horrors of their torture chambers – the Orwellian “pain-giving dial,” and are now buried with thousands – perhaps millions - of their fellow citizens; and they are all buried in lost landfills around the globe. I know it because I have stood in the corridors of the former parliament building of the ousted President Siad Barre of Somalia. I stood knee-deep in postcards each requesting the release of a different particular political prisoner. The corridor was thousands of feet long, and filled from one end to the other.
I can still feel them against my legs – like the fingers of the lost dead.

And dear reader, you think it can’t happen here? What then happens now?

One thing is for certain, the cattle-like media will now follow this CIA topic and will allow their albeit meager attention to waver from the story of the failing health-care reform legislation. And of course, the administration knows they are currently losing that battle. Or are they?

With attention split between the hot-button of interrogation and torture and previous policy versus current policy, a possible window will open through which some version of health care reform will be stuffed through. Meanwhile, the CIA, which in recent months has gone head-to-head with skin-walkers like Nancy Pelosi, will be reduced in authority and power.

And all that power and authority will be delivered into the loving hands of Big Brother Obama, who could stop the impending prosecution of CIA personnel and others – a modern day witch hunt – in its’ tracks. But he won’t, because he only stands to gain from the avalanche his friend, Eric Holder, has put into motion.

Make no mistake, though. We are already in Orwell’s Room 101. We are strapped to the chair and are completely immobilized. We cannot move our head. And the interrogator O’Brien is with us.

'You asked me once,' said O'Brien, 'what was in Room 101. I told you that you knew the answer already. Everyone knows it. The thing that is in Room 101 is the worst thing in the world.'

What’s the worst thing in the world to you, dear reader? Is it the loss of everything that once made us America? For poor Winston, it was rats. Rats like we have in Washington right now.

'Do you remember,' said O'Brien, 'the moment of panic that used to occur in your dreams? There was a wall of blackness in front of you, and a roaring sound in your ears. There was something terrible on the other side of the wall. You knew that you knew what it was, but you dared not drag it into the open. It was the rats that were on the other side of the wall.'

But they’re not on the other side of the wall any more, dear reader. They are here with us all. They are in our government – by the dozens – by the hundreds or thousands. They are preparing us for Room 101. The worst thing in the world varies from individual to individual, wrote Orwell. And he was right – it could be burning alive, impalement, drowning or a thousand other things. But our rats are smart. They’ve found the most terrible thing to inflict on all of us – something truly universal, which every American dreads.

They are stealing freedom.

THE RESULTS - The Jolly Rogers Polls

Who needs Rasmussen Polls and all those other focus group guys when you’ve got instant world-access to the Jolly Rogers.

Yep. The day is finally here! Our first run of Jolly Rogers Polls, have closed and they really reveal a lot about the state of the country and the people who are walking our streets. But most importantly, they describe exactly what people think of President Obama, the whole health care reform issue and how people view the media.

Lastly, we can now assign blame for the nation’s budgetary problems beyond any doubt. This is due to the massive numbers of people we’ve been able to get involved in our poll. I believe it was somewhere between 10 and 20 – no need to be overly specific.

Consulting with an expert panel to develop the most relevant set of questions was difficult, so I didn’t bother. I picked them off the top of my head and wrote them down quickly with as many useful answers for choices as I could think of. I didn’t even do a spell check.

So here we go:

1. Based upon the general hero-worship surrounding Barrack Obama, and his subsequent dips in the approval ratings of those OTHER less-precise pollsters, I decided the number one question we needed answered was whether the President and his administration were doing a good job.
Results: Out of 13 people who voted, only one person thought Obama has his stuff together. I was rooting for him, too. Bummer.

2. We really need to know if Universal Health Care is a good idea. I don’t want to influence the totally objective results i have gathered with this poll, but I think the whole idea sucks.
Results: Out of 12 voters, four said they thought the present legislation on the table wasn’t the solution, but that something needed to be done. Eight of the people polled said they thought the whole thing should be scrapped – permanently.

3. With all the horrible media-bias claims being made by members of the media (does that sound like a fish swallowing it’s tail?), I thought it necessary to ask the question “Do you believe what you hear in the media?” But, the answers to this were more complex I felt, so here are the complete results:

a. 0 – Oh yeah baby, they are all the most honest folks on the planet.
b. 0 – Yeah, but only 50 percent of the time.
c. 2 – Only 20 percent of their babbling is the truth.
d. 0 – Only CNN tells the truth.
e. 0 – Only MSNBC speaks truthfully.
f. 0 – Fox is my only source, I trust them implicitly.
g. 3 – I only trust the Jolly Rogers (You just can’t make this stuff up!)
h. 0 – I believe my bartender. (Good for you, people!)
i. 0 – I only believe my local newspaper. (Also good for you!)
j. 2 – I get my news and orders from my neighbor’s dog. (OK. Didn’t see that one coming. Yeah, but the dog told me he gets the information from the local squirrels – so what does that mean for you now?)
k. 3 – I live in my own world. I believe no news sources. (This I believe.)

4. The most complicated question of all is how our nation got into this big financial mess. We all love to know who to blame. So here’s your big chance to know. This simply is information your neighbor’s dog doesn’t have. Our nation’s budgetary problems and tits-up economy are due to:

a. 0 – President Obama (Man, I bet he feels relieved when he hears this).
b. 0 – President Bush (They’re tied! Weird).
c. 0 – Dick Cheney (really weird).
d. 5 – An unholy cabal of government shadow organizations, the industrial complex and scary international conglomerates. (This is just because I used big words on this one).
e. 0 – Glenn Beck (I had to throw this one in just in case. It’s one thing to talk to the neighbor’s dog, but quite another to believe a radio and TV personality destroyed the economy).
f. 1 – Evil bankers and corporate bad-guys.
g. 4 – Barney Frank (He does look guilty – besides, the squirrels told me he is).
h. 1 – Nancy Pelosi (Nah, she just looks guilty. That’s because she’s an alien wearing a Nancy skin suit).
i. 1 – The Fed. (Come on, people! Talk to the damn squirrels, will you!)
j. 0 – Aliens. (This caught me off guard. I expect at least one UFO nut in every poll from now on. Someone brief the dog on the new requirement).
k. 0 – The Knights Templar. (Bummer, thought I had a best-selling book idea there for a moment or two).
l. 1 – Coincidental collapse of the housing market followed by everything else as it was all crushed and compacted under the weight of the economic levels above – a basic house of cards – no one’s fault at all. (Whoever voted on this one, needs to get out there with the dog and squirrels. At least they’re willing to play the blame game).

Like the cartoons used to say, that’s it folks. Someone call Presidents Obama and Bush and tell them they’re both off the hook for the financial thing, but while you got the “O” on the line, you might want to let him in on the results of question one. Not too good.

Not good at all.

An email from the White House - and a lie.

August 13, 2009 was an interesting morning.
It’s the first time I have ever received a direct e-mail from the White House.

The interesting thing is that it came only days after we here in the Jolly Rogers news-room, used the White House’s new “snitch” line to inform on the questionable activities of Mickey Mouse.

You see, we were concerned for Mickey because he began to display some non-citizen attributes. We felt that he had moved from “thoughts to words and from words to actions,” and therefore should be brought to the attention of the White House (or the Ministry of Love).

Or maybe we informed on Ben – of Ben and Jerry’s. I must confess, all the informing at flag@whitehouse.com has left me a bit confused. Like poor Winston in George Orwell’s masterpiece, 1984, I just can’t keep it all straight.

Anyway, after that awkward confrontation between Major Garrett and the Whitehouse Spokesman Robert Gibbs, in which Gibbs danced around the question as to what the origin of the e-mails were, the official take on the whole situation the next day was that OTHERS had placed the e-mail lists in the Ministry of Love’s system. A kind of internet sabotage which THE PARTY had no knowledge of.

But like the long, torturous interrogation and reeducation of Winston by O’Brien, we are slowly arriving at the truth.

According to the White House, my e-mail address was just one of many which were provided to a private communications company in Minnesota, named GovDelivery, which calls itself the leading provider of “government-to-citizen” communication.

So, the previous claims by the White House Spokesman, that the mass-email of which I was a part, was really just the work of “Outside Groups,” was totally false. In fact, you might say it was a lie.

However, if it was GovDelivery who was provided my e-mail, why, when and how? And maybe a better question is – are they sure that’s where it came from? Because in reviewing a list of Federal GovDelivery clients, the White House is oddly absent. Here are the GovDelivery clients actually on the list:

Dept. of Homeland Security
Dept. of Health and Human Services
Dept. of Labor
Dept. of Transportation
Dept. of Justice
Dept. of Treasury
Dept. of Defense
Dept. of State
Dept. of Agriculture
Dept. of Commerce
Independent Agencies
Dept. of Energy
Dept. of Veterans Affairs
U.S. Courts
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Federal Reserve System
Major Federal Portals.

Nope. No White House – not even a listing for the Ministry of Love. So, if they’re not on the list of GovDelivery’s clients, then are they doing business through another name – an alias, perhaps? Or maybe, the White House is not quite as important as DOA or DOE or the Office of Radiation (underneath Independent Agencies), and thus don’t need to be listed. And if they are a client - how much are they spending to distribute emails from Axelrod to people like me?

Or maybe there’s another explanation entirely.

Is it possible that by informing on Mickey Mouse, we inadvertently placed ourselves on a list of “helpful citizens” which the White House was cultivating for use in a computer network scheme to help push their dying health care reform and other projects through the legislative process and onto the backs of the citizens?

Or is it possible that we are now on a different kind of list – maybe the kind of list Winston found himself on after the “single involuntary thought.” Perhaps by informing on a cartoon character – or the ice cream man, we have indelibly been marked as troublemakers who need watching – who need re-education. Perhaps the Jolly Rogers at rog99.blogspot.com is now on the list of Proles who have been judged to be “capable of becoming dangerous.”

Remember from your George Orwell, dear reader that it “was not desirable that the proles should have strong political feelings. All that was required of them was a primitive patriotism which could be appealed to whenever it was necessary to make them accept longer working-hours or shorter rations. And even when they became discontented, as they sometimes did, their discontent led nowhere, because being without general ideas, they could only focus it on petty specific grievances.”

Perhaps GovDelivery never sent that e-mail at all – and it instead came directly from the White House’s own list, gathered the weeks previously, using the data collected from the now infamous “Flag” address – the snitch-line which allowed regular citizens to inform the Ministry of Love about any “fishy” information.

Perhaps GovDelivery is just another group to blame for the White House’s collection and use of personal data.

Rep. Darrell Issa, (R-Calif.) has dispatched a letter to the White House asking for “truth.” I don’t think the current administration is capable of delivering on that particular request.

Rep. Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan reportedly called this “another ominous chapter in the administration’s rabid campaign...” And perhaps it is.

But there’s one thing for certain. I feel a little like Winston in this – when O’Brien walks up on him from behind that first time, and begins to speak to him of inconsequential things.

“Even while he was speaking to O’Brien, when the meaning of the words had sunk in,” wrote Orwell, “a chilly shuddering feeling had taken possession of his body. He had the sensation of stepping into the dampness of a grave, and it was not much better because he had always known that the grave was there and waiting for him.”

*****


All you Proles want to feel better about things - watch this...

A town-hall video

Cash for Clunkers - was it just another scam?

What’s that clunking sound?
Oh. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. That’s just the sound of another government program grinding to an ugly halt.

Yep. The latest word is that “Cash for Clunkers” has clunked its’ last clunk.

What a bummer. And it was doing so well! Please consider that before the program we had plenty of not-so-old cars to pass on to our teenagers, so they could smash them and compact them in a manner befitting the old war machines. We had the next generation of speeding tickets and back-seat smooch-fests just sitting in our driveways waiting for that shiny new teen driver’s license.

Now, we have clown cars. And I don’t care how much of a Meatloaf fan you are, Paradise By the Dashboard Light does not happen in a clown car.

So what’s the stats, sports-fans?

Looking at the current data, it isn’t a car wreck we’re looking at here, though. It’s a train wreck. And so, allegedly three billion dollars later, Cash for Clunkers is being put down like the lame horse that it is, on Monday. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has said that the program has been a lifeline to the cash-strapped auto industry, but if one looks at that life-preserver a little closer, it’s possible to see it was really made of iron (probably from melted down family cars).

Without so much as a Cheshire cat grin, the government officials which sold this wonderful thing to a gleeful public, has only paid dealers for two-percent of the claims. Four out of every five applications by dealers have been rejected by the 225-person DOT staff reviewing all this paperwork. So 98-percent of the remaining dealers have really just eaten a $4,500 cost per vehicle. Will they get their money back from dear Uncle Sam? Well, I doubt it. I think, dear reader, we have just witnessed another impressive scam, this time perpetrated by Big Brother.

But there’s allegedly an up-side to this, according to administration officials. Why just have a look at their numbers and you’ll feel all warm and safe and gooey inside. According to the administration, auto dealers have made deals worth $1.9 billion and the whole turkey-shoot has added up to the sale of 457,000 vehicles. I wonder how many of those were sold to folks who are about to lose their jobs? Remember the whole housing market collapsing because allegedly houses were sold to people who couldn’t afford it? What about cars? Some of these cost as much as a house. Just saying.

Oh, but here’s the best part...the failure to actually pay that money back will likely cause the closure of more dealerships, costing more jobs across the industry.

How much money was really returned to the dealers? We have to go to the calculator for that one, my friends. If we have a 3 billion dollar program, but only two percent of this has been paid out, what does that work out to? About sixty million dollars or maybe it’s 600 thousand. I really should have my old high school math teacher on speed-dial.

Just goes to show you – I spent too much time in the back-seat of that Mercury Montego by the dashboard lights – and too little time on my math skills. But I believe if she was asked, Mrs. Isles, the math teacher, would say what she always did about complicated mathematics – “Don’t get led down the garden path.”

The future is here

Let me just say that what I am about to tell you is probably straight out of black-helicopter headquarters. But it’s all real.

I have a friend who is very concerned about biometrics.

And it can be scary stuff. Like any high-tech stuff, it can be used for tremendous good – in this case, it makes wonderful locks for houses concerned with easy, foolproof access for family members – or fast access to firearms for protection purposes. On the other hand, the whole biometric thing could be – and is being – incorporated into our regular lives. For more information, see the movie “Minority Report.”

But biometrics is like gunpowder. It is both good and bad and unfortunately very common.

So what isn’t so common?

I decided to write this little article to give my friend some new things to lose sleep over other than the use of biometrics on a national ID. These programs may sound impossible, but our government’s DARPA organization is very busy working on ways to achieve them all.

So, here’s your list:

1. Silent talk “telepathy” for soldiers – user-to-user communication based on the transmission of neural signals.
2. Psychohistory – Ways to chart and predict the actions of large segments of the population.
3. Guided bullets – Yep. Bullets that can seek and take out specific targets – see the Stallone movie, Judge Dredd.
4. Self-repairing hunter-killer drones. On the ground and in the air – drones which can repair themselves and continue their mission – see the Terminator movies for this one.
5. Gandalf Project – locate enemies precisely and target them by phone. See my ex-wife for a demonstration of this.
6. EATR – robotic technology that can refuel by foraging.
7. Chemical Robots – flexible critters that can squeeze through small spaces and regain full size on the other side. T-1000 or TX (Terminator series again)
8. Hopper robots – metal friends that can leap over – or onto - objects up to nine meters high.
9. Vulture – an aircraft capable of remaining in the air for five-years at a time.
10. Exo-skeletons – to upgrade the human form.
11. Big Dog – Read some Ray Bradbury; specifically Fahrenheit 451.
12. Metabolic Dominance – Super soldier program. See the Kurt Russell film, Soldier.

There’s a lot more, but you get the general idea. Think the science fiction shelves are all a bunch of useless hooey. Please look up DARPA, then consider that Frank C. Dille, the publisher who produced the cartoon “Buck Rogers,” did that during the Great Depression, to bolster people's belief that the future could be bright - that it could hold promise and wonders.

And every one of his amazing technological wonders and advances depicted in those strips, are now at work in the real world. Some of them we use every day without even thinking about it.

As I told my friend in a recent email (also pretty amazing and dangerous tech when you consider it ), biometrics are low-tech, compared to some of the real nasty stuff being developed - and absolutely all of it can cross the border between military and "police" use.

People have asked, what if Hoover had been given access to this technology? But my perspective is that we already have people with their fingers on the pulse of the public – and perhaps they are sometimes taking that pulse by gripping the throat. These people are in organizations called the NSA and CIA. They have equipment filtering comm lines and looking for patterns from vid, geo-location and financial apps across the U.S. and the planet. By and large, their efforts and the advanced tech they use to complete their mission, protects us from untold dangers every day of our lives.

We are truly already in a version of the Matrix - and like Tommy Lee Jones said in The Men In Black, "the only reason these people sleep at night, is that they do not know about it."


*****

For some good futuristic writings which may depict things which are either not far off – or are in fact currently in development, see the following authors:

Philip K. Dick
George Alec Effinger
Samuel R. Delany
William Gibson
Bruce Sterling

The Progressive Approach - ad revenue and Glenn Beck

The word “progressive” apparently doesn’t just describe certain politics, it’s the name of an insurance company.

More specifically, it is the name of an insurance company which pulled advertising from Fox Cable Network – advertising which was apparently running during the show hosted by popular radio and television personality, Glenn Beck.

Recently, the Jolly Rogers received a letter from someone who had sent an e-mail out to Progressive. In this article is the response from the company’s internet representative. Of particular interest is the insurance company’s claim that the whole thing is the fault of the media. According to the Progressive representative, incorrect reporting has produced the artificial impression that they pulled their advertising in response to a comment by Beck that he thought President Obama didn’t like white people.

The note to Progressive called the company cowardly and accused them of caving to race baiting. The note describes the lack of any kind of response to sexist political remarks, yet immediate action for a commentator’s stated opinion on the president’s views.

“We are not racists,” reads the note. “I don't hate president Obama. I hate no-one, yet because I listen to Glenn Beck or Hannity, I am (labeled) a racist.”

But the final point in the note is the most salient.

“Maybe you should go farther and ask us all for our voter registration
cards before we buy your insurance” reads the note, “then you can be assured that your company is pure, without any crazy Republican's or un-educated
Americans.”

Progressive’s response to this particular note is as follows:

Thank you for reaching out to us.

Some media reports have created the incorrect impression that Progressive pulled advertising in response to specific comments made on a show, but that is not the case. We did not buy advertising time on the The Glenn Beck Program, so when we learned that our ad had aired during the show, we corrected the error.

I hope this clarifies the situation. We appreciate your business and we sincerely hope that you will consider remaining a Progressive customer, but if not, we will respect your decision. Thank you again for taking the time to share your views.

Sincerely,

Mary O.
Progressive Internet Representative

In response to the alleged racial comment by Beck on the July 28 episode of Fox and Friends, many members of the media have explored the situation and websites have sprung up to specifically rally against Beck.

According to the front page on www.colorofchange.org, “Beck is on a campaign to convince the American public that President Obama's agenda is about serving the needs of Black communities at White people's expense. It's repulsive, divisive and shouldn't be on the air.”

The website www.defendglenn.com seems to be the polar opposite, listing a number of businesses which have pulled advertising from commentary broadcasts to “avoid polarizing their customers.”

The dying art of the beer summit

So I’m still waiting for the next beer summit.

Derryl Jenkins was pulled over for speeding – allegedly 15 mph above the limit, in Minneapolis back in February. The case involving possible police brutality has been referred to the FBI for investigation.

What I am wondering, is where the Presidential comments are for this one?

After all, President Obama was quick to jump on the arrest of Professor Henry Gates. His comments came the very evening Gates was arrested. And while the circumstances are different – Gates was in his home and Jenkins was in his car, Gates was apparently being verbally abusive while the videotape of Jenkins shows him simply getting a pretty solid beating by a group of officers.

Jenkins was originally charged with assault and refusing to submit to alcohol tests, but the charges were dropped. The seven minute video shows Jenkins getting out of his car, then grabbed, thrown face down, tasered three times, then punched and kicked by a group of officers. Jenkins had to have several stitches above his eye following the arrest.

Mineappolis Police Chief Tim Dolan said he asked for the FBI review because some of the actions of the officers gave him cause for concern, but that the initial arresting officer, Richard Walker, who was allegedly also injured during the incident, did the right thing.

But in Jenkins’ case, no presidential words of support, no offer to visit the White House and discuss the scuffle over a couple beers - no invitation to even visit the White House gift shop.

So what’s the difference? Why no comments from the president, saying the “police acted stupidly?” Why no big deal?

Gates is a friend of Obama. He wasn’t just some poor schmuck driving his car a bit too fast. He was a Harvard Professor and a “race-relations expert.” Jenkins, on the other hand, despite the video, apparently doesn’t rate the same kind of outrage.

So no free beer for him.

Just give the money back.

787 billion dollars.
That’s what the stimulus plan cost us. But only a small percentage of that money has been used – and that on such worthwhile projects as toilets, road signs (telling people their tax money is being spent), stoves in Iowa, checks for dead people, skylights in a Montana liquor warehouse, repairs on a bridge to a country club in Wisconsin, and some salt marsh mouse in California.

Six months of alleged stimulus has done very little except convince nearly 60 percent of Americans that it is doing nothing at all.

2.8 million jobs have been lost with the unemployment rate sitting at 9.4 percent – just a few ticks away from double-digits. Or maybe it's over 14 percent - I'm just not sure. More on the numbers thing coming up.

Here’s the best part, though. While the health care public option looks like it’s on the ropes, people in our government are focusing on the elimination of Medicare’s Advantage plan. The claim by President Obama is that the elimination of this program will free up as much as $200 billion over the next ten years.

Here’s a novel idea:

Instead of funding more salt marsh mice, bridges to bars, checks for the dead or other idiotic things, why not just give back the unused portion of the $787 billion to the American people?

What would that come out to for each individual American? Well, you have to understand, if you could speak with my high school math teacher, Gloria Isles, she would tell you she:
A. didn’t remember me
B. didn’t remember me exactly, but would bet I was way better at stringing together two words than adding, subtracting or dividing.
C. Then again, she might say that I was totally hopeless.

So, when I try to calculate these astronomical figures I come out with either, $2561.8 per person based on current (non-ACORN based census figures) or $2,561,833 per person. That’s a bit of a gap, I understand, but either way, it’s a win for the little guy.

Then again, the government has spent a bit of that dough on turtle crossings, bar access and the mouse population, so we’d have to take, say 10 percent off the top, leaving something like $702 billion, I think. So, that could cut into our back-pay a bit, either by a couple hundred dollars or a couple hundred thousand, depending on your math skills.

Or, we could just pay for the Advantage Plan out of the remaining stimulus plan , then take what’s left over and distribute that to the regular people, cutting our checks down to either something like $1,888 each or $1.8 million, again depending on the math.

I suppose, looking at this all retrospectively, perhaps we should throw the whole lot of money at public education, so you get more MIT professors, than writers for idiot blogs like this.

And really, if you want more accurate figures, call Mrs. Isles.

Lessons Learned from Arrogance

Here's a new feature on the Jolly Rogers - a new voice. An old friend of mine- the Best Man at my wedding; a very distinguished former serviceman and a great guy, Tom Macon has agreed to let me post some of his writings. Every time you see the Macon byline and the Macon logo above, you know you're getting something with the true voice of experience. I have always been proud to know Tom and his wife Joyce. They are like my New Mexico parents.

This is the first of hopefully many articles by Tom...

Lessons Learned from Arrogance
By Tom Macon

It seems to this humble citizen that our elected officials have become elitist.

The Harry Reids, Nancy Pelosis, Senator Dodds, etc. all seem to feel they are entitled to their own private jets at the taxpayer’s expense. The need for speed and convenience are necessary tools of the trade; however, as for average citizens, we the people, could never envision this need on such a grand scale.

This comes at a time when unemployment is reaching 10 percent and climbing. Hell, the average American is worried about his job loss, and with it, his home, car, and child’s educational future.

All of this comes with a smug look of “We’re entitled.”

In looking back in history, it brings to mind other elitists. El Duce, commonly known as Mussolini, was arrogant to the core. His ending was rather abrupt. Murdered by the very peoples he led, he was left hanging from a streetlight, very dead.

It brings to mind Adolph Hitler, hiding like a cornered rat, in an underground bunker in Berlin, placing a pistol to his head.

I wonder how elite he felt at that moment.

There’s something about rats that elitists seem to clone. Saddam Hussein comes to mind. When captured in an underground cave he looked completely defeated. His countenance certainly was one of despair when he was hanged in the prison he built for the people. These same people were hurling insults in his ears as he was pushed off the cement platform he had built for others.

The rope was special - it took up most of his head and could have been used to moor the Queen Elizabeth - very efficient as his death pictures show. His head was canted at a 90 degree angle to the right. Oh well, it was the undertaker's problem.

At the other end of the spectrum we have Martin Luther King and Gandhi.

Ghandi had the distinction of defeating the British Army without firing a shot. He did it with a humble compassion and a nonviolent approach; this seems unthinkable in today's world. Perhaps he knew something about the human psyche, that man, when given the choice between freedom and tyranny, is willing to die for freedom.

Think it over.

Messages - all lies from the administration

Quality affordable care you can count on.
Change we can believe in.

Sound familiar? Sound similar, even?

That’s because it is the same kind of lies. We sit and watch the Congressional circus as it is brought to town-hall meetings across the U.S. Featured at these amazing events are performers like Senator Specter and the cell-phone fast-draw specialist, Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX)– now claiming the video of her using her cell phone in the middle of a question by a constituent, was “doctored”

Interesting choice of words, because Sheila knows doctors – at another meeting she is captured on tape embracing a Dem Party shill who was masquerading as a doctor. Roxana Mayer, the woman in Jackson’s meeting claimed to be a practicing pediatric primary care physician. Mayer doesn’t even live in Jackson Lee’s district. Who accompanied Mayer to the meeting? Someone named Maria Isabel, an Obama campaign devotee.

Not a very fine moment.

The question is, what is the truth behind the marketing? It seems there isn’t much truth at all. When one catch-phrase no longer works, it is simply changed to something else. Call it universal health care until that label draws too much fire – then you have to call it something else. Call citizen movements “Astroturf,” until that particular stamp loses its’ punch. Then the terminology is changed to “Chattering Class” or “Evil-doers” or “Angry Mobs.”

The rip-tide currents of marketing are all around us as White House spokesman Gibbs continues to dance. Derisiveness is pervasive and popularity is plummeting for both the programs and the leadership itself.

Still, people like Jackson Lee get on national television and suggest she would like to meet the woman who she ignored while taking the call on her cell phone, and “convince” her that the health care reform bill will help her. A syndicated columnist then writes that people shouting at these meetings should just sit down and be quiet, because there are other people there who came to “learn” something.

So, the few leaders with the guts to show up at the meetings instead of not participating in public forum, like Rep. Mark Schauer (D-MI) – or maybe worse, phoning in, like Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) – seem to believe they are coming out here on their August break, to educate us.

That’s quite a reversal. Our alleged elected representatives are making the long, bumpy carriage-ride out to the peasantry to provide instruction. They are here to teach us and convince us. They are coming to these meetings with their minds already made up. They have no intention of listening to the people or carrying out their wishes. They are coming down to us from their lofty perches like kings and queens and self-proclaimed deities. They expect us to nod and smile, bow and curtsy, but not to disagree. Dissent is not allowed – dissent is suddenly not patriotic.

But marketing is.

Jackson Lee allegedly dialed a Congressional hotline to get more details from a health care war-room located in Steny Hoyer’s (D-MD), office. This office is supposed to be there to help lawmakers answer questions.

Marketing.

Obama’s ever-present tele-prompters are just more marketing. The unceasing advertisements imploring viewers to side with one party or another on the health care issue – it’s all marketing. We ask for action, we ask for representation and we are instead insulted, ignored and talked to as if we are school children.

When asked a tough question as to how specific people were selected to receive Axlerod’s email yesterday (one of which I received), the spokesman, Gibbs again tries to dance around the question. When pressed, he selects another reporter, labeling Major Garrett’s question as “unproductive.”

Where did the addresses come from – probably from a list, which has been compiled by the White House. Compiled from where, from what – and for what purpose? Because of media bias, the spokesman isn’t required to answer. There is no accountability. They can say whatever they want.

They’re telling us so many things. Even when their messages are less direct than the Axelrod email, they are saturating the environment with messages in many different subtle forms. It’s all marketing – all PR communication of one type or another – all speaking to us continually.

And what is being said to us – it’s all lies.

An email from the White House

The White House – or is it “The Ministry of Love” – has begun our re-education.
They are taking the trouble, because like poor Winston being interrogated by O’Brien in “1984,” we are “worth trouble. We suffer from a defective memory and are unable to remember real events.

We believe that we have seen unmistakable documentary evidence proving that the plans the administration has for us all, will lead us to rationing of health care, massive inflation, destruction of industry – even “death panels.”

It’s OK, citizen. They are really here to help. Who controls the past, controls the future; who controls the present controls the past. The administration controls all records and all memories, and so, they control the past.

An e-mail sent out by the White House today by Senior Advisor David Axelrod states, “right now someone you know probably has a question about reform that could be answered by what’s below. So what are you waiting for? Forward this email.”

And so, am forwarding it. To you. Albeit with a few of my own translations and answers to the treatise on the eight ways reform is good for us. Title “Reality Check,” it is only missing the straps and the rack and the pain-giving dial in Orwell’s masterpiece.

The eight ways reform provides security and stability to those without coverage
1. Ends Discrimination for pre-existing conditions – There’s no discrimination, because government functionaries who have never met you, will determine what is right – and those decisions will create classification systems. You and your illnesses will be classified and contained and dealt with using the same efficiency the government currently processes mail.
2. Ends exorbitant out-of-pocket expenses, deductibles or co-pays – This is why the small amount of the bill which actually has been released to the public talks about a card system which will be connected to your bank account.
3. Ends cost-sharing for preventative care – because prevention is easy with complete control of everything. People are healthier, or they are dead.
4. Ends dropping of coverage for seriously Ill – because it’s not possible to drop coverage when there is only one coverage plan – and the government’s handy assistance in “end-of-life” planning.
5. Ends gender discrimination – Distant panels which never meet the patient, yet make life-or-death decisions regarding care, do not discriminate. Nor do they actually care. They are simply providing a service – a function in the greater good of society.
6. Ends annual or lifetime caps on coverage – because we don’t have to call them caps. We can call them something else – like, “voluntary, private consultations for those who want to make end-of-life decisions.”
7. Extends coverage for young adults – because Big Brother wants to cure all. They want to be able to tell you how to raise your family. They want to control what you feed them. They want to create productive citizens. They must be productive.
8. Guarantees insurance renewal. The government can guarantee insurance renewal, because all other insurance options will be eliminated. You will eventually have no choice but to “conform.”
According to the White House, reform will stop “rationing,” not increase it – yet by the statistics from European and Canadian plans which this system is being modeled after, the results are clearly visible – there is rationing under those plans – there is government take-over of the entire health care system.

According to the White House (or the Ministry of Love), we can’t afford to fix the problems we currently have in the present system, and instead we must scrap everything and move to this new method. The email states that the President has found ways to pay for the “vast majority” of “up-front” costs. As John Lee Hooker once wrote in one of his songs – “Talkin ‘bout the back-rent.” We don’t even have any “front rent.” It’s not possible to “bust the budget” because we’ve already done that. We can’t afford this health care plan – because we can’t afford anything. We’ve already blown the product of untold generations on “stimulating the economy.”

According to the White House, the new health care plan would never “encourage” euthanasia. Instead, “for seniors who want to consult with their family and physicians about end-of-life decisions,” the government would help to cover these “consultations.”

According to the White House, Veteran health care is safe and sound – in the loving hands of the Ministry of Love’s minion, the Department of Veterans Affairs. Please take a short road trip to your nearest VA hospital for more information on that.

According to the White House, reform will benefit small business. But it would never destroy an entire insurance industry by becoming the only game in town. It would never put the squeeze on small businesses who are barely able to make payroll now, let alone with the massive game-changer and all the new regulation which will come along with it. No – all those small businesses will be just fine in the loving embrace of Big Brother.

Your Medicare is safe, says the White House, because the new system will help to “Close the Medicare doughnut hole” and make prescription drugs more affordable to seniors. Of course, those will be the drugs which are on the formulary approved by government panels and in-line with decisions on the appropriate level of care for each senior as decided by “The Ministry of Love,” much like some prescriptions are simply unavailable to troops in the current Veterans Administration. And lastly, those medications are of course assuming the aforementioned senior hasn’t taken advantage of the government consultations on euthanasia.

And of course, your government will allow you to keep your own insurance and never force you to change doctors – unless of course the massive government plan forces the private companies out of business and only accepts an “approved” list of doctors for their new health care service. Then you might be forced to select from the Ministry of Love’s approved list.

And lastly, there’s no way, according to the White House, that te government will do anything with your bank account. They only want their new health plan cards to be connected to your bank account purely for convenience’ sake. This way it is easy for you to pay bills in a method, which you choose. And it will be so very private – because, after all, it is only between you and Big Brother.

O’Brien, also had this to say, during his interrogation of poor Winston in Orwell’s 1984 – “Even now, I am well aware, you are clinging to your disease under the impression that it is a virtue…” But citizen, the White House tells us our disease is curable.

“You are here because you have failed in humility, in self-discipline” wrote Orwell. “You would not make the act of submission which is the price of sanity. You preferred to be a lunatic, a minority of one… It is impossible to see reality except by looking through the eyes of the Party.”

If Orwell’s vision of 1984 even comes close to running a parallel with the current U.S. administration’s wishes, we must succumb as poor Winston.

We must humble ourselves “before we can become sane.”

All I can finish this article with is a warning to anyone reading. It is possible that we will have all of these horrific pieces of legislation heaped on top of us. It is possible we will not escape – and that the grip of our own seemingly impossible “Big Brother” will continue to squeeze until there is nothing left to give – no act of contrition, no taxation which has not already been taken from us.

It is possible that we will be “lifted clean from the stream of history.”

Then again, it is possible that those very same elected officials who are treading down this path, will be removed from office. It is possible the people will not allow this to occur here in America. It is likely, dear Party members - our elitist leadership - that you have marked yourselves by your own actions. Please continue to believe yourselves to be untouchable.

It changes nothing, because we are coming for you.

We are coming for you all.

Something funny for you.

I usually don't do this, but this is funny.
So here's a link for the readers who have managed to escape the Black Helicopters.

http://michellemalkin.com/2009/08/11/encounters-with-the-mob/

Bill of mystery - IDs and Black Helicopters

I know who I am.

Robert Heinlein once wrote, “when a society starts using ID cards, it’s time to leave.” This was a quote he attributed to one of his science fiction characters. Isn’t it odd that so much science fiction has so much relevance in today’s world?

Taking center stage on today’s parade of fact which should be fiction, is the Senate bill, 1261. Sponsored by Daniel Akaka (D-HI), 1261 ostensibly seeks to set minimum requirements for State’s driver’s licenses and ID cards. But in fact, it shifts much of the authority from the State to the Federal level by prohibiting a Federal agency from accepting for any official purposes, a State ID card.

So, if your current state ID would be made useless by this bill, what would your shiny, new federal ID card do for you?

Would it get you into the fancy clubs with the long-legged blondes? Probably not. Would it give you immunity from prosecution like some kind of ambassadorial thing? Nope. Would it get you a discount at Borders? Not a chance – not even at one of the other book stores. Will it make any part of your life easier?

Nope. But it will prevent some unsavory characters from killing you in imaginative ways – and it might prevent some illegal aliens from getting paperwork which makes them look legal.

First, it will assist in preventing people using fake IDs to board passenger aircraft, get access to nuclear power plants or facilities that contain mission functions critical to national security. Not a bad deal in my book.

Second, it will make it very difficult for people who are here illegally to acquire an ID card and subsequently use it to obtain the trappings of other documentation, normally reserved for legal citizens.

So, who is opposing this? Well, about who you might expect. The Senators in opposition are McCain, Boxer, Reid, Clinton, Kennedy. The good question is, why?

I believe this has to do with constituents and their family members and just personal beliefs regarding amnesty, perhaps. Because as hard as I have tried to find some kind of George Orwell thing inside this bill, I just don’t see it.

The primary effect of this will be to put the squeeze on fake IDs – and documentation, which is invariably obtained by non-citizens in possession of a fake-ID.

So what’s the rub, then?

Some groups claim that the new IDs would contain a “bio-metric” chip, which would incorporate a retinal print or thumb-print. The going rumors are that the new cards will “require a radio frequency chip.” So, that got me to wondering if it was the same chip THEY are using to track cattle in the whole UFO cattle mutilation thing.

Look, there’s enough negative juju out there without manufacturing more. If this bill was another type of power grab – some kind of method to steal personal data, I would love to skewer it and everyone connected to it. But, the evidence is not there. Don’t believe me? Are you just sure that your new ID card will shunt your info through Black Helicopter headquarters? Then please do what we are literally screaming for these Congressional idiots and Administration pukes, to do. Read the damn bill.

Then complain if you’re still seeing Black Helicopters.

But what might be better is to keep the focus on the real “Dr. No” kind of stuff – the real liberty-enders are in the realm of universal health care and Cap and Trade. That’s the bad stuff, and that’s where we really lose our identity.

That’s the kind of stuff where we wake up one day and begin to wonder who we are.




Some good tracking of this bill…

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-s1261
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=s111-1261

Some of the conspiracy theories about this bill…

http://thetruthaboutminnesota.org/cgi/index.pl?function=get_news&mode=news&code=current&item=131468&xmode=pass-act-2

Elemental Wisdom

Sometimes the world can be seen the clearest through nature. And on occasion, the forces of nature are showcased the best in legend.

So, dear reader, here is your lesson for the day…

There was once a great sword maker named Masamune. He had an upstart student named Muramasa who believed himself to be greater than his teacher. According to the story, the student challenged the teacher to a contest. Each man would bring one of his swords out to the nearby stream and thrust the blades into the stream bed.

Then they would stand on the bridge and drop leaves into the stream. The sword to cut the leaf as it moved downstream would be the winner.

So Muramasa dropped his leaf and it slid along with the current until it met the man’s sword, and was neatly cleaved in two. He exclaimed “ See, am the winner! Nothing could beat this performance!”

At this, Masamune dropped his leaf and it was carried toward his sword. But, at the last moment, an eddy swirled the leaf around the razor-sharp edge and the leaf continued downstream unharmed. Muramasa was quick to claim his superiority.

“You see,” he yelled, jubilantly, “I have won! Your blade did not cut the leaf!”

“No,” said his teacher, seriously, “you have lost. You see, the leaf was so afraid of my blade, that it went around it.”

If we take this story into present day, it is still relevant. The stream is like our economy. Obstacles may be dropped in the path of the water. The government may create great dams to clamp restrictions and regulations on goods and services, but the society finds ways around it. People – just regular people – find a way around it. Sometimes this just takes the form of new business – and sometimes the restructuring is more drastic, creating grey or black markets.

But it seems to me that President Obama is acting like that young upstart swordmaker all those hundreds of years ago. He is claiming that his sword – the stimulus plan – is so sharp, that it cut the leaf – and by relation, his health care plan and Cap and Trade are also equally wonderful.

But in fact, as anyone can clearly see, the water is elemental – as the businesses and day-to-day living - all endeavors adjusting fluidly to the environment.

While Obama and his group dance around merrily, and call out to the sky their greatness and people like Nancy Pelosi call the regular people “NAZIs,” and "Astroturf" and "Mobs" we still stand. And while other Congressmen attempt to demonize people they should be representing, we still stand - and the leaves are really just floating, unharmed around their blades.

We are the current. We are the water. We are the natural force of our world, and remain unchanged despite their schemes and conspiracies.

We are unstoppable.

And that is why they are afraid.

Taking the piss

Disdain, disrespect - disturbing.
These are three D words playing a part in today’s news. Where and why? Because the country’s leadership refuses to answer to their own constituents in regards to the massive health care reform bill which has passed in the House and if goes into effect, may spell the end for a lot of people.

A fine recent example of this is the recent question posed during a Douglasville town hall meeting in Georgia by a doctor who had attended the meeting. He went after being unable to arrange a meeting with David Scott (D-GA) to discuss his views on the health care reform issue. The meeting was captured on tape by local televison station 11Alive News.

The doctor asks why the Congressman is going to institute a health care plan so similar to the one put in place in Massachusettes, which has been called a failure by many experts.

At first, thoughtfully fingering a pen, Scott replies that he is not voting for any such plan, but when pressed, qualifies that statement by saying “first of all, I haven’t voted on any bill.”

“That’s an easy-out response,” someone calls – perhaps the doctor. In response, Scott holds his hands out and feigns ignorance. But to the follow up question, “Do you support a government-run option,” Scott takes a harder line.

“Yes I do!” exclaims the Congressman, raising his voice, and gesturing sharply with pointed fingers. “I am listening to MY constituents! OK? These are people who live in the 13th Congressional District who vote in this district.”

“That’s who I’ve got to respond to,” called out Scott. “That’s everybody with different opinions!”

Perhaps he should have stopped there – but he didn’t. Looking directly at the doctor he said emphatically, “what you have got to understand is that those of you who are here, who have take and came, and hijacked this event that we’re dealing with here… “

“This is not a health care event,” yelled Scott. “You’ve made the choice to come here!” he yelled louder, pointing his finger sharply at the doctor. “Not a single one of you had the decency to call my office and set up for a meeting. OK? Then do that!”

“DO THAT!” he yelled again stabbing his finger at the crowd. “But DON’T – don’t come and take advantage of what these individuals have done!”

Like some kind of World Wrestling Federation contender, Scott purses his lips and leans in further, finger slashing at the air. “You want a meeting with me on health care? I’ll give it to you!”

The important thing to realize is that our leadership is demanding that we treat them with greater respect – but Hill’s questions weren’t especially tough – nor did they seem accusatory in any way. But respect is a two way street and this kind of behavior by our alleged representatives is only fanning the flames of discontent.

The meeting had been opened up to all questions from the assembled citizens, so it was a reasonable line of questions to ask Scott. But apparently the Congressman didn’t think so – and he apparently didn’t know his 13th District folks as well as he claimed, because Doctor Brian Hill is one of Scott’s constituents.

He’s not a member of a mob. He’s not “Astroturf.” He’s not even a Republican. But he is a urologist.

Tough luck, because in Britain they would say he was “taking the piss” at Scott.

Weird, how things sometimes work out.

********

You can see the clip of this whole thing at this link… http://preservecapitalism.com/

Brown Shirts and Bulldogs

I can’t sleep – usually it is because of the bad dreams, which have been with me since my time in Somalia. Tonight it’s less heavy.

I’m worried about the Brown Shirt squads.

I just don’t know what to do about them. When they come knocking on my door offering a nice big, framed photo of Big Brother (with its’ embedded wireless camera and microphone) do I just smile and invite them in? Do we all sit around the tiny suburban home with the smell from the bad city sewer lines ( also a potentially shovel-ready project) – or do I yell them down and loose the dogs and see who makes it to the fence-line faster; an overweight Obamanator stuffed with illegal doughnuts, or an overweight English Bulldog stuffed with the last brown shirt visitor.

I’m betting on the dog. That’s because the Bulldog doesn’t care about the re-education programs. He doesn’t care if 2+2=4 or if it equals 5.

And should I join the “mobs” at the town hall meetings? Should I go and picket, yell down a few senators or other useless functionaries and assorted pieces of inanimate office furniture? Should I write angry notes, make angrier phone calls to congressmen, which will all go unanswered? Should I get the H1N1 virus immunization as soon as it is offered – so as to avoid the huge lines in front of the new government-run clinics? Or should I hope the Pig flu takes me out and spares me a world without Twinkies and potato chips and all the other stuff THEY want to take away from us?

And that last one is an interesting question, isn’t it? As I get older, I can appreciate the siren call of the brightly colored chip bags in the grocery store. I can appreciate the smell of pipe smoke and the taste of good rum, but it’s all going to be legislated away – so we can all be healthier. The president will continue to smoke and drink, but that behavior will be re-educated out of us. They’ll sign Richard Simmons on as the new aerobics czar, next. We’ll all be jiggling the sad metabolic remains of those sweets away in the park – endless rows of Orwellian Citizens, dancing to some old Lionel Richie songs or something. Yeah, we will be all “dancing on the ceiling,” because we will be so light, we will float there, like some forgotten helium balloons.

Yeah, we’ll be lighter, but we won’t be free.
Big Brother will be watching from that painting on your wall. He will look suspiciously like President Obama. Weird, huh? The eyes are hypnotizing.

I’m no different from anyone else. I don’t like people screwing with our nation – I don’t like dumb congressmen – I don’t like dumber union people – and heavies who attack people exercising their rights at these rallies. I don’t like the tenets of organizations like the Black Panthers. I think haters are among the most lost in our society. I don’t like smears against our regular citizens, snide Presidential or Congressional comments. I don’t like environmental legislation, which does nothing more than line the pockets of the rich and powerful – the buddies of those same Congressmen – while it forces unionization on contractors who do not want to be unionized (this is basically another form of money and power grab – and it’s legal!)

I don’t like any of it.

But I do like the fact that America is coming alive. I like the fact that the Tea Parties are continuing to grow. I like the feeling I get when I see congressmen running for the door at some meeting, because they are becoming afraid of the people. They should be afraid – or maybe they should act like men instead of mice or worms – and stand their ground - take what they deserve.

Got balls? Guess not.

It’s 3:15 a.m. and still no sleep. This is a condition I came away with from my time in the service. But I would never trade it for a chance to have the slate wiped clean. I loved serving my country. I loved wearing the uniform. I loved the military – even on the hard days. And I don’t ever remember being released from my oath – “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."

So, while I am a civilian now and as such, some of this may no longer apply to me (the UCMJ, chain of command, etc), I will defend this country still, against all enemies foreign and domestic.

I don’t know about you, but it seems like we’ve taken a lot of the foreign enemies out of the equation, lately. Our troops have hammered the foreign killers into the dust – and continue to do so. But it’s the domestic versions – mostly those trying to turn a free nation into some kind of socialist experiment… those are the ones we need to keep our eyes on. Like the bulldog, we have to try to figure out whether they are really our leaders – or just a different kind of enemy – or maybe like the bulldog, we should just not try to add 2+2, and just chase them to the fence-line and bite them on the butt.

I’m looking at the bulldog now – he’s eyeing me dubiously.

So seriously, what do we do with those who would make this the USSA?
Vote ‘em out. Vote ‘em all out. In the meantime, keep yelling the maggots down at these town hall meetings. Verbally hammer them mercilessly. And for those who wish to meet us on a more personal footing – who wish to beat us down physically in the streets…

You are outnumbered. You are outclassed (way outclassed in this case). And remember this…

We are coming for you. We are coming for you all.