First we at Freedom’s Defense Fund would like to congratulate Mr. Christie on his successful campaign and wish him every success in ridding New Jersey of the mendacious plutocrat Jon Corzine. We further hope that Mr. Christie will take some inspiration from Mr. Lonegan’s vote total and understand that while Mr. Christie was able to garner the support of the GOP establishment, who vote their (hopefully enlightened) self interest, Mr. Lonegan’s voters were motivated by a fealty to the ideal (and dare I say hope) of a smaller, more affordable, less onerous, and less burdensome New Jersey state government. These voters are not alone. Many independent and Democrat voters see Corzine as part of the Government-as-overlord problem. This problem is coming to a head in the age-of-Obama and now is the time to get on the right side of history with those other cantankerous and difficult dissidents – the ones of 1776 and not on the side of the anti-freedom, anti-liberty, Colin Powell, Jon Corzine, Barack Obama types.
Second we at Freedom’s Defense Fund congratulate Mr. Lonegan on a highly respectable showing considering he had the entire state, and much of the national, GOP-establishment aligned against him - including big names such as Forbes and Giuliani (very big names for a primary). Mr. Lonegan’s 42% support in this context is not insignificant and the quality of his support is also considerable. The Lonegan candidacy was an underdog effort from the start, and everybody prefers to back a winner - its a lot more fun. Mr. Lonegan’s supporters chose the more difficult roll as happy warriors in a fight to – in some small degree - bring back a government of the people and by the people. While we would have been thrilled to have a Flat Tax, small goverment conservative, sticking it to Comisar Corzine, the effort was its own reward. To Mr. Lonegan and each of his supports; well done - and yes “The Revolution Continues”.
“ You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away people’s initiative and independence.
You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves. ”
An American President - Can you guess which one?
(Hint; He was elected as a Republican.)
One of the key problems with the essential irrationality of modern leftism or “liberalism” is its totally illiberal attitude regarding dissent. Because the leftist ethos is predicated on a self-attributed and wholly unexamined moral superiority, liberals regard criticism not as a legitimate intellectual challenge to be engaged or a legitimate but wrongheaded difference of opinion, but rather as an outrage, a morally repugnant blasphemy which should be shouted down - or worse. This is the reason that the “Global Warming” debate , as an example, has descended into the left regarding critics as heretics, quacks, DENIERS! (as in holocaust deniers).
In this light one can readily understand how, when the left is in total control of the authoritative powers of government that it will move against the exercise basic constitutional rights, examples include: 1) free speech - hate speech = hate crimes = jail for “dissidents”; 2) freedom of the press - fairness doctrine; and 3) and freedom of assembly - Homeland Security memos describing conservatives and military veterans as potential threats.
Presented below is the first in a series of posts which will describe the ongoing process by which Democrats in the age of Obama will try to end the process of elections by limiting dissent and enlisting some 5- to 15- million foreign citizens to tip the balance of the American electoral process such that Democrat control of Congress, the White House and the costal & New England States can not be challenged in any meaningful way in the coming decades.
That this effort will succeed is not a forgone conclusion, however the evidence of the considerable exertions by the American left to end free and fair elections (Soviet style elections will be encouraged) is and will be extensive and will be documented here. To wit:
Mark Tapscott notices an interesting blog post by Norman Eisen, who works for Barack Obama as Special Counsel to the President on Ethics and Government Reform. Anticipating a deluge of criticism over the thus-far ineffectual spending plan, Eisen has a straightforward plan to deal with criticism. He’ll simply use the power of the federal government to silence it. Problem solved!
“First, we will expand the restriction on oral communications to cover all persons, not just federally registered lobbyists. For the first time, we will reach contacts not only by registered lobbyists but also by unregistered ones, as well as anyone else exerting influence on the process. We concluded this was necessary under the unique circumstances of the stimulus program. [emphasis mine — Ed]
“Second, we will focus the restriction on oral communications to target the scenario where concerns about merit-based decision-making are greatest –after competitive grant applications are submitted and before awards are made. Once such applications are on file, the competition should be strictly on the merits. To that end, comments (unless initiated by an agency official) must be in writing and will be posted on the Internet for every American to see.
“Third, we will continue to require immediate internet disclosure of all other communications with registered lobbyists. If registered lobbyists have conversations or meetings before an application is filed, a form must be completed and posted to each agency’s website documenting the contact.”
Silencing dissent and criticism is “necessary under the unique circumstances of the stimulus program”? Gee, what “unique circumstances” might those be? Perhaps the fact that it costs more than the Moon shot, and has yet to halt the economic skid. Maybe it’s the fact that most of the stimulus package doesn’t actually stimulate anything except doctrinaire liberal dreams and the pens that check off the items from the Democratic wish list.
Remember when the Left took to the streets to declare dissent “patriotic” during wartime? I didn’t have a problem with dissent then, but apparently the Left has a curious definition of “patriotism”. Now, suddenly, the federal government can silence their critics at will, not to protect critical national-security programs or keep from undermining a war effort, but to protect a Democratic president intent on seizing control of private industry across a wide swath of the nation. Suddenly, that kind of dissent threatens America.
American capitalism gone with a whimper
It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people.
True, the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years. The initial testing grounds was conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was. But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the fists of the Marxists.
Those lessons were taken and used to properly prepare the American populace for the surrender of their freedoms and souls, to the whims of their elites and betters.
First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas then the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their “right” to choke down a McDonalds burger or a BurgerKing burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our “democracy”. Pride blind the foolish.
Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different “branches and denominations” were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the “winning” side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the “winning” side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power. Even our Holy Orthodox churches are scandalously liberalized in America.
The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America’s short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.
These past two weeks have been the most breath taking of all. First came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, loses and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs look little more then ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beat our own thieves in the shear volumes. Should we congratulate them?
Its not about social justice or ecomonic justice or any other lofty nostrum… it’s all about POWER!
Check out Geraghty’s excellent article:
The Alinsky Administration by Jim Geraghty
In a time of deep recession, the American taxpayer might assume that our government has taken care to spend its money responsibly. (All right, stop laughing, you know I’m setting a stage here.) Even when we hear about monumentally stupid outlays like the snowmaking machine in Duluth in the Porkulus wish list, we assume that the monumentally stupid spending will remain in the US. Not so, as CNS points out about a curious grant awarded to Wayne State University:
The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAA), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will pay $2.6 million in U.S. tax dollars to train Chinese prostitutes to drink responsibly on the job.
Dr. Xiaoming Li, the researcher conducting the program, is director of the Prevention Research Center at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit.
The grant, made last November, refers to prostitutes as “female sex workers”–or FSW–and their handlers as “gatekeepers.”
“Previous studies in Asia and Africa and our own data from FSWs [female sex workers] in China suggest that the social norms and institutional policy within commercial sex venues as well as agents overseeing the FSWs (i.e., the ‘gatekeepers’, defined as persons who manage the establishments and/or sex workers) are potentially of great importance in influencing alcohol use and sexual behavior among establishment-based FSWs,” says the NIH grant abstract submitted by Dr. Li.
“Therefore, in this application, we propose to develop, implement, and evaluate a venue-based alcohol use and HIV risk reduction intervention focusing on both environmental and individual factors among venue-based FSWs in China,” says the abstract.
Almost three million dollars to teach Chinese hookers how to hold their liquor? In the middle of a recession? This can’t be real; it’s a “too good to check” item, right? Wrong, although CNS discounts the high-minded motive behind the study:
A $2.6 million grant will help a Wayne State University School of Medicine researcher establish and evaluate whether an alcohol and HIV intervention center can assist in reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS among sex workers in China.
“The global literature indicates an important role of alcohol use, especially problem drinking (abuse), in facilitating HIV/AIDS transmission in commercial sex venues where elevated alcohol use/abuse and sexual risk behaviors frequently co-occur,” Dr. Li said. “We expect that the intervention will improve protective normative beliefs and institutional support regarding alcohol use and HIV protection.”
It’s still a multimillion-dollar study that essentially teaches Chinese hookers to sober up when plying their trade, the better to prevent the spread of disease. That may be a good idea for a project for the Chinese government to fund — and cynics can point out that the Chinese are funding our budget deficits, so it may all be moot anyway — but the NIH might want to study those effects here in the US instead. After all, if the American taxpayer is funding the study, how about preventing disease amplification here rather than in Guangxi?
Planned Economy or Planned Destruction as Stalin and Trotsky look on with approval or envy the “Pinkies from Columbia and Harvard” use debt and spending to bring down the USA… the more things change… or “Stimulus” has a purpose - but it’s not economic recovery!
Click photo for full size
In tough economic times, one would expect most people and institutions to do a little belt-tightening to save money. Not Congress, although that’s hardly news in Year 1 of Porkulus. Pelosi & Co have slipped into the budget a $90 million increase in incumbency protection that has gone almost completely unnoticed — and unquestioned:
The House wants to increase Members’ office budgets next fiscal year by almost 15 percent, partly because 2010 is an election year and lawmakers anticipate a surge in franked mail.
In a recently released budget request, the House Chief Administrative Officer asked appropriators to raise the Members’ Representational Allowances — which fund everything needed to run offices, including salaries, travel and supplies — by $90 million, citing increases “due to the election year cycle.”
“In an election year the expenditures increase and then decrease in a non-election year,” the request reads.
There is only one problem with this rationale; incumbent candidates are not supposed to use public resources for their campaigns. We have laws against that, and every blue moon someone gets investigated for it. Salaries, travel, and supply costs should all be borne by the campaign and their contributors, not the American taxpayer.
In other words, an election year should present the same cost as any other year, not a biannual drain on the Treasury to allow incumbents to protect themselves at public expense. Pete Sepp of the National Taxpayers Union calls foul:
“It’s an incredibly naked admission that Members of Congress abuse the franking privilege for electoral purposes, even though the rules say they don’t,” said Pete Sepp, spokesman for the National Taxpayers Union. “This sends the worst possible message not only to the taxpayers, but to the electoral system as a whole.”
But House officials contend that they use the phrase “election year” without meaning to draw a link to the election. The phrase is “generically used to reference the second year of a Congressional cycle,” said Jeff Ventura, spokesman for CAO Dan Beard.
“The increase occurs because in the second year of any Congress, there is traditionally more legislative news to convey to constituencies as various bills evolve through the legislative process,” he said.
Anyone buying that explanation? They use “election year” not generically but because members suddenly discover a need to communicate every single detail of their courageous attempts to represent their constituents when elections draw near. Representatives bury their districts in a blizzard of newsletters informing them breathlessly that their incumbent’s letter to the assistant undersecretary of the Bureau of Taxpayer Waste Management got them an extra $534.33 spent on the sidewalk in front of Katie’s Kitchen so Grandma won’t trip over the crack from now on.
There should be no year-to-year difference in staffing, travel, and franking costs if campaigns cover their expenses — as they should, in order to allow for a fair election. This is just another way to keep an entrenched political class in Washington DC by putting challengers at a bigger disadvantage, and it should be stopped. Under Nancy Pelosi’s “most ethical Congress ever,” though, don’t hold your breath.
