OWS: the Fruits of Progressive’s Labor

Posted on November 21, 2011

Derek Hunter has a great post at Townhall that explains how decades of Leftist indoctrination has produced the hapless OWS protesters: Generation Mutant: Occupiers are the Natural Spawn of the Progressive Movement.
 

 

The “occupiers” are the post-digested remains of the natural journey through the intestinal tract of the metastasizing liberal ideology in education and pop culture.

 
And those “remains” are on display at every Occupy camp; entitled, coddled, self-centered, irresponsible malcontents.
 
Still, as Hunter says, hopefully the movement is serving to enlighten a majority of Americans…

If there is any good to come from the “Occupy” movement it’s that it can serve as a reminder of how special and important liberty is. After all, if a tiny group of committed Utopian socialists can’t create a tiny socialist Utopia when it’s just them in a park, where is this notion likely to succeed?

 

Posted in Arrested Development, Cultural Erosion, Fruits of Their Labors | 1 Comment

Hey OWS… Freedom ain’t FREE!

Posted on November 20, 2011

God Bless our troops!
 

Image via Gateway Pundit via Urban Infidel

 

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Saturday Shorts 11-19-11

Posted on November 19, 2011

Random links of interest, concern or curiosity from the past week or so, that deserve at least a SHORT mention:

 
W. Washington wind farm canceled due to seabird ~ Energy Northwest spent $4 million on a wind power project only to be stopped in their tracks by a leftie dilemma – endangered species vs. mandated alternative energy. Bloated government bureaucracy, at loggerheads with itself.

 
DNA Study Contradicts Human/Chimp Common Ancestry ~ Forget the missing link, there’s not even a chain anymore.
 
#Occupy the Protestant Work Ethic ~ Excellent article at Chuck Colson’s Breakpoint schools OWS in the values of the free market;

…the real magic of economic freedom, better known by that widely derided term capitalism… richly rewards the many in the process of rewarding the few with riches.

 
Illegals are trashing America’s border areas ~ Southern Arizona invasion – “some of the trash was dead bodies.” 😯 Disgusting.
 
Dear Average American: It’s All Your Fault ~ Jonah Goldberg at National Review Online on Obama’s blame game.
 
How Congress Occupied Wall Street ~ Sarah Palin discussing Peter Schweizer’s new book, “Throw Them All Out;”

The tea party’s mission has always been opposition to waste and crony capitalism, and the Occupy protesters must realize that Washington politicians have been “Occupying Wall Street” long before anyone pitched a tent in Zuccotti Park.

 

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House of Cards Nearing Collapse?

Posted on November 18, 2011

Aren’t hedges are those big things in our yard that I spend hours trimming every year? And “futures,” “options,” and “derivatives?” – Oh my! Investment lingo makes my eyes glaze over. So I don’t pretend to understand all the intricacies of the markets. But I do know what my gut has been telling me for months: the whole world-wide financial network has really become a flimsy house of cards, built on a foundation of unethical practices and corruption. And it’s fixin’ to come crashing down.
 
Ann Barnhardt is a stalwart, unapologetic conservative. Until this week, she had been diligently running Barnhardt Capital Management, Inc., an independent brokerage company focused on the agricultural community, which she founded in 2006. But with the MF Global meltdown (on Oct. 31st), and subsequent fallout, she’s concluded that the viability of the commodities markets has gone from critical to terminal, and has shuttered her business;

I could no longer tell my clients that their monies and positions were safe in the futures and options markets – because they are not. And this goes not just for my clients, but for every futures and options account in the United States. The entire system has been utterly destroyed by the MF Global collapse. Given this sad reality, I could not in good conscience take one more step as a commodity broker, soliciting trades that I knew were unsafe or holding funds that I knew to be in jeopardy

 
Here’s the crux of the disaster:

Jon Corzine STOLE the customer cash at MF Global. Knowing Jon Corzine, former NJ governor & FOO (friend of Obama), and knowing the abject lawlessness and contempt for humanity of the Marxist Obama regime and its cronies, this is not really a surprise. What was a surprise was the reaction of the exchanges and regulators. Their reaction has been to take a bad situation and make it orders of magnitude worse. Specifically, they froze customers out of their accounts WHILE THE MARKETS CONTINUED TO TRADE, refusing to even allow them to liquidate. This is unfathomable. The risk exposure precedent that has been set is completely intolerable and has destroyed the entire industry paradigm. No informed person can continue to engage these markets, and no moral person can continue to broker or facilitate customer engagement in what is now a massive game of Russian Roulette.

 
I don’t want to ruin your weekend, but you really should read Barnhardt’s whole Nov. 17th post: BCM Has Ceased Operations. I’m thinking things could get ugly real soon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Related:
Apparently the feds are investigating the MF Global collapse – but don’t hold your breath. DOJ is as corrupt as the rest of D.C. despots.
 

Posted in Fruits of Their Labors, Unvarnished | Leave a comment

Turkeys on Parade

Posted on November 17, 2011

Well if this isn’t the height of irony – the Occupy Detroit gang has managed to worm their way into Detroit’s 85th “America’s Thanksgiving Parade.”
The ingrates have been camping out in downtown since mid-October. One of the malcontents actually admits to quitting her job to joint the protest (source: Examiner.com);

Coffee worked as a paralegal at a downtown law firm but quit her job to devote herself to activism. “I didn’t bring my computer, it’s hard to charge phones here,” Coffee added. “We’ve been offered a space indoors, something that is accessible to everybody, … not everyone wants to hang out in Grand Circus Park … we’re gonna move indoors and we’re gonna have more fun, and you can quote me on that!”

 
OK – I will. But I’ll also say OWS ia a bunch of lazy, entitled, irresponsible brats. And you can quote me on that.
 
Occupy Detroit is encamped at Grand Circus Park (isn’t that a deliciously appropriate name?), which just happens to be on the Thanksgiving parade route. Apparently, in return for vacating the park temporarily, the city is allowing them to walk their belligerent butts down the route ahead of the official parade. The irony is that they’re participating in a holiday that’s all about gratitude. This year’s theme is “So Much To Believe In.” The theme chosen by The Parade Company, expresses that there is so much to believe in for our great State of Michigan and Detroit!
But only things OWS believes in are handouts – and they’re thankful for exactly nothing.
 
The truth about the Occupy movement can be determined by measuring it against that old yardstick our parents used to employ: what if everyone jumped off the bridge? Let’s just imagine for a minute what would happen if the whole country – including all the cops, first responders, transportation and medical workers – suddenly decided to sit on their asses for two months and do nothing but whine and complain?!
Instead of costing the taxpayers untold millions in this aimless anarchy, OWS need join the rest of us and grow-up, get a life, and become productive members of society!
 
And be grateful for what they have.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence
of the Almighty God to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits,
and humbly to implore his protection and favors.
~ George Washington, 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation ~

 

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Smart Money’s on ADULT Stem Cells

Posted on November 16, 2011

Fruitlessly seeking for confirmation that abortion could possibly have a redeeming quality, the pro-choice crowd has hitched their wagon to embryonic stem cell research. According to this recent article at Creation-Evolution-Headlines (CEH), it looks like the wagon is stuck in a ditch: Follow the Stem Cell Money.
 
For the last several years, almost exclusively, the most promising stem cell research has resulted from the study of adult stem cells. And the money is now following the science. As CEH puts it;

…ten years of hype about embryonic stem cells has not brought in the funds from investors. The smart money seems to be on adult stem cells.

 
Listed in the article are the “winners” (adult) and “losers” (embryonic) in the stem cell funding competition. Although CEH cautions:

Just because a clinical trial or project has a lot of money does not make it right. (Recall the Nazi’s “Angel of Death,” Joseph Mengele.)

Let us hope that the parade of adult stem cell successes will continue to deflate interest in cutting up human embryos.

 
And pray.
 

Posted in Comfort & Joy | 4 Comments

Alaskan Hallelujah Chorus

Posted on November 16, 2011


Quinhagak is a very small town (pop:500-600) in southwestern Alaska, on the Kanektok River, less than a mile from the Bering Sea coast. ➡
 
Here’s the Kuinerrarmiut Elitnaurviat 5th Grade class, with some help from a few ‘extras,” presenting their unique version of the Hallelujah Chorus ~
 

 
Hat tip: Uncle Glenn

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Reauthorize USCIRF Now

Posted on November 15, 2011

Federal authorization of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) will expire at the end of this week if the Senate doesn’t act to continue funding before then. From CNS News: Senate May Force Shutdown of Religious Freedom Watchdog.
 
This is one use of our federal tax dollars that actually does something worthwhile – and the annual budget is only $3 million – vs. – for instance, the hundreds of millions lost on worthless alternative energy scams.
 

Dear Senators Levin & Stabenow:
 
What’s the hold-up with the re-authorization of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF)?

As I understand it, this commission will be shut down if the Senate doesn’t approve the renewal by the end of this week (unless funding is included with a continuing resolution, should that become necessary).
 
As you should know, since its inception over ten years ago, USCIRF has been helping to raise awareness of the ongoing persecution of religious minorities around the world – like the plight of Yousef Nadarkhani in Iran. The commission provides crucial information and advice to Congress and the President about this oppression.
 
President Obama has arrogantly informed the country that waterboarding is “contrary to America’s traditions.” With such delicate sensibilities, he must surely recoil at acts of aggressive persecution, including murder, of innocent civilians around the world. Or don’t they count as worthy of humanitarian treatment? And is support for freedom of religion no longer an “American tradition?”
 
Just 11 days ago in Nigeria, more than 200 members of the Islamic extremist Boko Haram sect stormed the Yobe state capital, Damaturu, killing 150 people, most of them Christians. That’s killed – not waterboarded.
 
How many Americans heard that story? Not nearly enough!
 
The House has already approved USCIRF reauthorization (even reducing the annual budget from $4.3 million to $3 million). Instead of throwing away close to a billion dollars (!) on misguided “green energy” projects (Solyndra, Lightsquared, Beacon Power…) is there any reason why we can’t spend $3,000,000 on such a worthwhile humanitarian cause?
 
Let’s get this done!
 
Thank-you for your support of this extremely important issue,

Designs on the Truth

This is my second letter in just a few days, so both senators are probably tired of hearing from me… too bad!
~~~~~~~~~
Related:
Open Door’s plea for reauthorization

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Answering to a Higher Authority

Posted on November 15, 2011


America’s Constitutional Republic was founded on Judeo-Christian principles. Foremost among these was that God’s law holds supremacy over man’s laws. It follows then that each of us is called to obey man’s laws only insofar as they don’t conflict with God’s law.
 
Our churches used to know and teach this truth. Unfortunately, too many of them have gotten caught up in fuzzy, feel-good, liberal theology. But thank God, not all of them. It’s really encouraging to see stories like the two below; Christians willing to take a stand for our higher authority.
Because our nation is under God – not over Him.

Catholic college sues HHS over contraception mandate
 
Belmont Abbey College, a Benedictine college in western North Carolina, has sued the federal government in an effort to prevent the implementation of a mandate requiring private health insurance plans to cover contraception and sterilization.

 

NY Archbishop Dolan Defends His Flock From the Wolves
 
The archbishop of New York, Rev. Timothy M. Dolan, recently decreed that not one trace of Catholic property – including “liturgical books or other items” — can be used, however even tangentially to in any way support, recognize, or facilitate homosexual marriages…”
 
The decree, dated Oct. 18, says that “the married state was established by God and endowed by Him with its own proper nature and laws” and that, “For millennia, civil authority recognized the true nature of marriage” between one man and one woman. That man-woman covenant “is vital to the human family and to the continuation of the human race.”
 
“Recognizing my responsibility as Diocesan Bishop to guide the Faithful by clearly teaching the truths of the Faith with charity and without compromise, I hereby decree the following diocesan policy regarding same-sex civil marriages,” reads the decree. “This policy is to be followed by all persons whose activities are subject to my moral authority as Archbishop of New York.”

 
Amen to that Father.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With apologies to leftists, socialists, marxists and other agnostic/atheists – whether you chose to believe it or not there is a higher authority than the government. And one day, we will all be held to account to Him as individuals, for the life we lived here on earth.
 

Posted in Timeless Principles, Unvarnished | Leave a comment

OWS Disprove Darwin’s Theory

Posted on November 14, 2011

Old Charlie’s “theory” has already been shot so full of holes it’s leaking like a sieve. But for definitive proof that it no longer holds water, we need look no further than the OWS movement.
 

By building on the knowledge of the past, civilization has been moving forward for thousands of years, improving the human condition in almost every area of life… and yet suddenly, the protestors seem to be devolving at an astounding rate.
Most notably, this segment of our population seems to be losing…

 
The ability to protect and care for offspring ~ OccupyDC Mom Who Used Kids To Blockade Door Says She Doesn’t Regret It and CPS Seizes Baby From ‘Occupy Dallas’ Site
 
Any sense of morality ~ Zuccotti Park: “You can have sex with animals.”
 
A proclivity for indoor plumbing ~ Protesters accused of living in filth as shocking pictures show one demonstrator defecating on a POLICE CAR and OccupyEureka: “Who Pooped In The Bank?”
 
Reverence for the sacred ~ Occupy London Protesters Allegedly Use St. Paul‘s Cathedral Carpet as ’Latrine’
 
Self-control ~ Growing Number of Drug, Violence Complaints
 
Centuries of accumulated medical wisdom ~ Tuberculosis Breaks Out At Occupy Atlanta’s Base
 
Respect for the sanctity of human life ~ Occupy Death Toll Hits 7
 
A firm grasp of reality ~ OWS Cognitive Dissonance?
 
Any regard for the rule of law ~ OccupyWallStreet – the Rap Sheet So Far

(This last article, at Big Government, is particularly enlightening, linking to 232 reports (so far) of OWS destruction, deviant behavior and general mayhem – updated regularly.)

 
~~~~~~~~
Wouldn’t the protestors make for a fascinating sociology study? Maybe National Geographic can do a feature article: “Darwin’s Theory Finally Put to Rest; OWS proof of DEvolution.”
 
~~~~~~~~
Related:
Two new websites documenting the degenerative behavior of the OWS crowd:
• Occupy Realism
• OWS Exposed
 

Posted in Arrested Development, Cultural Erosion, Unvarnished | Leave a comment

Didn’t We Fight a Revolution Over This?

Posted on November 14, 2011

A tax on Christmas trees?! Forget that King George Obama has temporarily suspended it – he’ll just quietly reinstate it when he thinks no one’s paying attention – who does this arrogant autocrat think he is?
Let’s see, ignoring the Constitution’s separation-of-powers, governing by fiat, depressing the economy, taxation without representation… When will it end?

For all the good it will do (they’re all Democrats) I’ve written the following letter to my senators (Levin & Stabenow) and congressman (Peters):
 

Dear Senator/Congressman:
 
While professing to care about the sinking economy and high unemployment rate, President Obama has instituted policies, and issued executive orders, that seem calculated to further undermine any chance of near-term recovery. I’m referring specifically to the “Christmas Tree Tax” (although it’s been temporarily suspended), and more generally to the USDA’s mandatory marketing assessments on everything from beef to blueberries and peanuts to pork. You may have noticed, the prices of food and other commodities are rising too rapidly as it is. We certainly don’t need arbitrary and unnecessary taxes, imposed by the executive branch, driving the costs up even higher.
 
To begin with, it’s not the federal government’s job to pick winners and losers in our free market system – especially when the “winners” always happen to be the ones with the most powerful lobbies. Also, forcing producers to pay for advertising, whether they want to or not, is a violation of their free speech.
 
More importantly, doesn’t the Constitution make it clear that the power to levy taxes lies with you, the Congress, and not with the executive branch? Because, whether you call them assessments, fees, levies or whatever – if the USDA makes payment mandatory, they’re taxes. And all taxes get passed on the consumers.
 
The American Revolution was fought to overthrow the despotic behavior of Britain. And the original Boston Tea Party was protesting actions that were minor compared to this tyranny. Because if this isn’t “taxation without representation” what is?
 
As my representative in Congress, I strongly urge you to oppose the “Christmas Tree Tax” as well as the other USDA taxes masquerading as “assessments.” And you should also adamantly oppose the usurpation of your authority to levy taxes, and insist on the separation of powers as delineated in the Constitution.
 
“We the people” do not intend to lose the liberty that previous generations fought and died for.
 
Thank-you,
Designs on the Truth

There, I feel better. 🙂

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Murmuration – a natural wonder

Posted on November 13, 2011

OK, what’s a murmuration?
Muttering under one’s breath? A juicy piece of gossip? An abnormal heart beat?
Nope – a flock of starlings.
 
Here’s one caught on tape recently over the River Shannon in Ireland. The video starts with a few still shots. Then “the dance” begins. Pretty cool huh?
 

 

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