The Tax Authority

It has long been said that "the power to tax is the power to destroy". This will never be more clear than 2013 when Obama's new tax scheme goes into effect. Not only will the so-called "Bush tax rate" cease to be,which was after all the prevailing tax rate for over a decade and should simply have been termed the "tax rate", but more than a trillion dollars in additional new taxes will be imposed through Obama Care. There has been no recovery to speak of beyond manipulated statistics and the new tax burden will surely stifle whatever meager growth the US economy has been able to muster. Recession or worse faces America in Barack Hussein Obama's second term.

Folly of Prediction

I actually thought Mitt Romney would defeat Barack Hussein Obama, so my track record is far from stellar. I suppose my hope overwhelmed reason in attempting to guess the outcome of the disastrous elections of 2012. Now, fear of what lies ahead has supplanted thought of the better tomorrow that Romney would have delivered to our nation and the world. The ownership of guns by ordinary citizens is clearly imperiled by Obama and his cadre of leftist elites. Israel is in the line of fire of the rest of the world with her former backer the United States now no longer to be counted on to aid the Jewish State or even support her efforts at self-defense. How will 2013 turn out? If I live through it, I will tell you about this time next year.

Small Arms Treaty

The United States has dropped opposition to the United Nations Small Arms Treaty and that further imperils our liberty as Americans. Make no mistake: Barack Hussein Obama reviles freedom for the common man as it is embodied in the Second Amendment of the US Constitution and would like to be rid of the right of gun ownership for ordinary citizens. Of course, Obama and his elite backers would keep their armed protection regardless of the restrictions they will foist on we mere subjects. The only thing I trust less than America's political elite are the international kleptocrats of the United Nations.

Gun Banner Paradise

It has been pointed out aptly by John R. Lott that most of the mass shooting attacks have occurred in schools since the 1995 Gun-Free School Zone Act was passed. This law created the ultimate captive audience, defenseless, easy targets for mad men who now knew that no law-abiding citizen would be there armed and ready to resist them. San Francisco US Senator Dianne Feinstein is introducing America's newest gun control folly with a ban on assault weapons and a demand for universal registration by existing gun owners of weapons that will legally be grandfathered in with additional prohibitions against magazines that have a capacity of more than ten rounds. Registration may soon become taxation of each firearm every law-abiding citizen has and could lead to confiscation at any moment when government knows which civilians have which guns. The insane nature of the gun control fanatics is glaring in that criminals will simply ignore the new law and that the now disarmed decent Americans will now be left at the mercy of thugs, armed or unarmed. The gun banners are creating a real paradise for gangsters.

Politicians Being Craven

Why will only a handful of Washington politicians speak truthfully of the dire fiscal mess that our nation is in and the simple "spend less" prescription to solve these woes? Why does it take Base Closing Commissions to force the hand of our representatives who are in this regard cowards in areas where a US military installation has clearly outlived its usefulness? Where are the leaders with the courage to say stop feeding the pigs at the public trough with fiat money?

Enough Laws Already

Would more laws have made the felon in possession of firearms in Webster, New York less threatening? Would someone who beat his grandmother's brains out with a hammer suddenly balk at buying a gun illegally? The real problem is not access to a particular firearm but the existence of evil, and it has been thus since Cain slew Abel.

Roll Tide Yuletide

I see no sign of peace on earth and little evidence of good will to men, but in the South, with the certain exception of fervent Auburn fans, many football lovers' one Christmas desire is for yet another national collegiate championship for the University of Alabama. Even in this stodgy household, we will likely be shouting "SEC" and not because the Securities and Exchange Commission is about to pay us a visit, but because we too partake of Bread and Circus to distract for awhile from the grim proceedings of our daily lives. Yes, many televisions in Dixie will be the focal point when the title game is played, and even those who abhor violence will hope a great deal of it is visited on those Golden Domers by the angry elephant carrying the old pigskin.

Wishes for Peace

At this time of year, many naturally pray for a more peaceful world. Barack Hussein Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize after his election but before he began to serve his Presidential term. Obama had pledged to close the Gitmo detention center in his initial campaign for the nation's highest office. To this day, the Guantanamo Bay prison remains open. Obama assured us he would not continue losing our sons and daughters in George W. Bush's foreign adventures. In fact, Obama has lost more US troops in Afghanistan than Bush did, and Americans continue to die there to this very day (an Afghan policewoman murdered a US adviser today). Peace is a grand goal, but as a nation, we must engage in continuing fighting toward victory.

The Coming Fall

So what happens if America slides off the edge of the fiscal cliff? Taxes rise for virtually everyone, defense appropriations are greatly reduced, and the Republican Party will be brushed with the blame for it. Our credit rating as a nation will also be downgraded. In any event, I can discern no positive in case our political class can not manufacture a compromise. I do not lay the responsibility on the GOP though but on the Democrat and Harry Reid-led US Senate that has failed to produce a budget in the first four years of the Obama Presidency, abdicating their Constitutional obligation to do so and leaving our nation running under continuing resolutions, and on the President Barack Hussein Obama who wants to use the push across the fiscal precipice to once again smear Republicans as inflexible and obstructionist.

A Dissolute Enterprise

The media including the makers of violent video games are corrupting our society. Youth are exposed to a constant stream of wickedness right through video screens that no previous generation had to witness. Open advocacy for marijuana use now prevails. There is little in the way of parental control on Internet access that a savvy teenager can not defeat, so short of watching their charges every waking minute where the children could be exposed on even so-called "smart phones", there is no foolproof way to shield the young from pornography, amazingly realistic, bloody, and vivid violence, and even solicitation by pedophiles. The best suggestions that I can offer is to limit screen time in the home and only permit use in a room where a parent is there to supervise, but this all goes by the wayside, if your child visits with another whose parents are more lax than you.

Relentless Propaganda Continues

The effort to curb our liberty is ceaseless. ABC's late evening news program focused on urban carnage and showed some folks out in the country who do not use their guns to slaughter each other but to the media (weirdly) enjoy firing guns as a family activity in an effort to present the chimera of balance. There is no denying that the main stream media which I had called "the dinosaur press" in the hope that they would soon be a thing of the past unfortunately still wields great influence and has it in for legal gun owners and wants to restrict Second Amendment rights. The legacy media should be leery though because a government eager to diminish the Bill of Rights might not stop at just one Amendment.

A Personal Perspective

From 1968 until retirement, my maternal grandparents' family retail business was attacked several times by armed assailants. There were bullet holes in the family cars. My grandfather was virtually fearless, but later told me the most helpless feeling in the world is being shot at with no means to shoot back. That leads me to assert my position of Second Amendment reverence and my determination to be able if the exigency arises, to return fire.

On Restricting Guns

I know my neighbors. They are responsible, honest people. If they owned machine guns and bazookas, it would not trouble me because I know they would never use them for an evil purpose. I do not want someone possessed of a criminal mentality to have access to a firearm or to even be able to threaten my family with a butter knife. It is not a weapon that poses a threat but an individual. The National Rifle Association just like the Republican Party seems to be folding like a tent in a windstorm, and is not the organization it was when the late Charlton Heston so eloquently spoke to guard our rights. Gun Owners of America is the true voice of liberty and are the logical inheritors of Charlton Heston's legacy of protecting our freedoms. I am an absolutist when it comes to preserving the Second Amendment because when you compromise on these rights, you are inviting tyranny.

By a Thread

The Second Amendment may not survive Sandy Hook. The President of the United States abhors your gun rights. All but a handful of D.C. Democrats want to restrict this sacred liberty. The Supreme Court was one vote away from overturning the plain meaning of the Second Amendment in the Heller decision of June 26, 2008 and only affirmed ownership of firearms within narrow constraints. If Obama is able to replace just one Justice or should one experience a change of heart on gun rights, then Obama will move with breathtaking speed and force to grab our guns.

The Big Push

The political elite and the main stream media are making the strongest effort I have seen in my forty years and six to take away our natural, God-given right of self-defense. Our Founding Fathers revered this right so much that they crafted the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights in our US Constitution. They saw our ability to own firearms as not only a means of self protection but as a hedge against tyranny. They believed armed men were citizens while those disarmed were subjects. They wanted free men to be able to protect themselves and their families not only from the threat of highwaymen and Indians but from an American King George should one ever arise to threaten liberty. America's Founders were right then and still are. I will only acknowledge the time has come to restrict the gun rights of average citizens when the elites give up their own guns and armed guards. Bear in mind that Barack Hussein Obama is always accompanied by dozens of agents armed with state of the art weapons for "his protection". I will not give up my sacred natural rights because just as Congress hypocritically excluded themselves from the Obama Care they imposed on the rest of us, the so-called "powers" who run this country will never relinquish their access to armed protection. Do not permit the actions of a deeply disturbed individual to deny you the right to protect yourself and more important, those you love.

Protecting Political Viability

Our Secretary of State Hillary Clinton evidently will not have to answer uncomfortable questions about the four US deaths in Libya. Her "health" is supposedly too fragile for her to testify after a purported stomach virus caused her dehydration that led her to faint, fall, and sustain a concussion. I would say the timing of the illness is a blessing for Ms. Clinton. Presuming she enjoys a full recovery, Hillary Clinton will remain the odds on favorite to become President of the United States in 2016 without ever being called before Congress on Benghazi.

Emotion Over Logic

The same main stream media propagandists who manipulated so much to install America's current leader are working quickly to strike our gun rights. They are pulling at our heartstrings in an effort to make us abandon our rational minds. Action taken hastily can have irrevocable consequences.

Theater Near You

In some countries, emergency declarations forbid more than four people from gathering. Such a declaration would likely prevent a Connecticut-type massacre because a large group of people would never be able to legally assemble. Under the same premise,no movie theater slaughter would be possible because cinema and stage show attendance would be out. Motorized vehicles kill more than thirty-five thousand Americans every year, so I guess under the premise of ensuring ultimate safety, driving must be banned as well. These liberty-limiting propositions are just as absurd as proposing gun control legislation that will inevitably create a situation where law-abiding citizens are disarmed while criminals retain their deadly arsenals. Too often in history, people have learned too late that once a freedom is stripped away, it is gone forever.

Massacre of Innocents

The massacre that took place in Connecticut shakes the nation, but those who seek to limit speech or ban guns because of this are shameless opportunists. Violent computer games did not cause this outrage. Guns did not cause this chaos. The very warped mentality of Lanza produced this bloodshed, just as the bizarre mind of Anders Behring Breivik was the sole cause of last year's Norway atrocity.

World of Hurt

We ran into a medical professional who treated my Father and is capable and conscientious in the profession. That individual apprised us of another patient in similar straits as Dad was. The doctor is denying diabetic testing and treatment to a patient with an evidently terminal cancer and has imposed a "do not resuscitate/do not intubate" on the patient without informing the family, so obviously the family had not consented to withdraw care. In fact, according to our "friend", the family did not even know of the DNR/DNI status the doctor ordered- sounds like Dad's death all over again.

Not One World

There really is a clash between civilization as exemplified by Judeo-Christian values including tolerance, pluralism, equality of rights for women and the Islamic world. I read today of Muslim insurgents committing yet another massacre, this time in Pattani, Thailand. One of the victims was an eleven month old girl who surely did not know whether she was Muslim, Buddhist, or Christian and her death and the wounding of another ten month old boy in the same attack reflect the benighted depravity of nihilism afflicting those Muslims committed to Jihad. The Associated Press story of the incomprehensible violence may be seen here from The Vancouver Sun:http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Insurgents+kill+including+11monthold+girl+teachers+attacks+southern/7681168/story.html. Until the sanctity of human life becomes enshrined as a religion's first principle then it will never be compatible with either Western or Eastern values that properly cherish beings as obviously innocent as these babies.

Just One Word

One of America's Navy heroes Captain James Lawrence became legendary with his last words "Don't give up the ship!" The cowardly and mendacious leadership class of the Republican Party is betraying their conservative voter base by caving in on both social and economic issues. These Republican "elites" have forgotten the most important admonition of James Lawrence's deathless dying command:"Don't". Our ship of state is far too important to give up and we need authentically conservative leaders ready to join the fight.

Make the Case

Prior to his reelection, did anyone notice that Barack Hussein Obama maintained the George W. Bush tax rates because even he recognized that government should not tax more in the teeth of a recession? Some manipulated metrics (like improved jobs' numbers) point to a better economy now than then, but America's economy is still no doubt fragile. Taxing and subsequent redistribution by the Federal government is an inefficient way to allocate resources. If the Federal government was efficient, then the US Postal Service would be thriving and FedEx and UPS would have no reason to exist. Instead, the USPS is perpetually run at a deficit while private shippers thrive. Then there is the game-playing by Washington politicians who use baseline budgeting to pretend there are cuts. This means there are generally only cuts to the projected growth of programs and no real slashing of budgets. The other utterly corrupt concept sold by our DC political class is that the economy must be measured as a zero sum game, that because a wealthy person has more, that is necessarily why you have less. The economy is in fact dynamic, meaning what the rich have has absolutely no bearing on the status of those who are less well off. These are all facts and really simple concepts that for some reason the GOP no longer tries to convey to the voting public.

Party Giving Up

If the GOP elite give up on both fiscal and social issues, then what is left for which the national Republican Party will fight? The leadership of the Republican Party as currently constituted is not going to contest the Democrats on increasing taxes. The national GOP is throwing in the towel on the immigration front as well with a "Dream Act" amnesty on the way (supported incidentally by Florida junior Senator Marco Rubio, a supposed favorite of conservatives). The powers that be in the GOP are abandoning the fight against the perversion of the institution of marriage by homosexuals and lesbians. There is even talk among the high echelons of the Republican Party that fighting against the horror that is abortion on demand is "costing too many votes". If the GOP no longer represents the founding principles of our nation, no longer stands as the party of Reagan, and lacks the backbone to resist Barack Hussein Obama on either economic or moral matters, then why should they not be supplanted by a real conservative third party?

Union Versus Workers

When an iconic baker goes under because the portion of employees who belong to the union refuse any degree of flexibility, how the union no longer serves the worker is aptly demonstrated. More than eighteen thousand people now find themselves jobless. When the unions stand with the open border crowd, tell me how a continuing flow of illegal aliens willing to work for a lower wage does anything but suppress the earnings of native workers. There can be no doubt that certain portions of organized labor are less interested in the welfare of their own members than making sure union leaders are able to maintain their own lifestyles which are just as cushy as those of corporate executives.

A Little Dog

I know this is not earthshaking geopolitical news, but a neighbor's mixed breed dog was killed by a car in front of my house last night. The neighbor and I tried to administer first aid to "Honey" to no avail. If you drive anywhere, please be careful, particularly in neighborhoods where a pet or worse yet, a child could dart out. To dog owners, please obey the leash laws. They are there for the protection of your animal. I have my own beloved dogs and was heartbroken that "Honey" was hit and could not be saved.

Envy and Resentment

The politics of envy have done wonders for Barack Hussein Obama. I picked up a carryout pizza last evening and engaged in a little economic banter with a fellow customer who told me he was a professor in that field at a local community college. He was evidently an Obamabot of the first magnitude and he spouted the usual "top two percent can afford the tax increase" rhetoric. This is not true for many people who file their business taxes through Subchapter S of Chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code. Many of these business owners will see their taxes soar and will pay in even more in instances where they must also endure the newly engendered expenses of Obama Care. Farmers may also feel the pinch of new higher tax rates. It will not be the "millionaires and billionaires" alone that this college instructor said he was not worried about who will face the onus of having Washington separate them from more of the money they earn. It will be businessmen who will no longer be able to afford additional hiring. Beyond that, folks making $250,000 a year are a long way from millionaires (and certainly billionaires)and they will be caught in Obama's tax raising net as well. What motivates the professor I spoke with seems to be that he does not make that much money, and in seeing no way he can now grow his income, instead of aspiring to do better, he just resents those who make more money than he does.

Glimpse the Future

I never tune in to NBC news programming on my own volition, but last night my Mom told me to rush in to see a story about the culture of death being advanced by our government through Obama Care and being sold by Obama's flacks in the dinosaur media. The report was about a Wisconsin hospital where 96% of patient's sign their lives away with care limiting advance directives. We heard how much less the care of these patients cost during the last six months of their lives, but I would contend if more aggressive treatment was administered then for many of these sufferers, it would not have been the last six months of life as their survival could have been extended. A fellow with a doctorate of philosophy from Notre Dame is orchestrating the program where ill people and their families are given grim statistics and worst case scenarios of what can happen and how much they will be disabled if they opt to receive potentially life-extending treatment, so they opt out where they supposedly die with dignity. I lost a cousin December 6. He had been told by doctors in the West that he was a goner but was given eleven more years to enjoy with his family because he went across the country to Duke and had a risky surgery. Under Obama and this ration medical resources mentality, I do not think cousin Jerry would have had that extra more than decade and that is a shame.

Seeking Syrian Solution

In some conflicts, there are no good alternatives. The ongoing civil war in Syria may be one such instance. Assad is a brutal dictator who can not remain in power. His opponents though include bloodthirsty Islamists who would only replace one tyranny with another and once in control would stay in power until a violent revolution once again rocks Damascus. The Obama regime has a lousy track record of picking winners friendly to the West and the ideal of democracy as seen in Libya and Egypt but also can not tolerate crimes against humanity including the possible use of nerve gas by Assad forces. Obama supported the so-called Arab Spring without knowing the chaos it would unleash.

Fight for Life

When sorrow beyond words transforms into words beyond sorrow, then action to resist the involuntary imposition of medical futility policy may extend the lives of the aged and infirm and those afflicted with chronic illness. Politicians now may demonstrate they respect life's sanctity and act to preserve innocent life.

A Real Joke

Bicycle lanes and the municipal bus service in the area I live of Nashville are an absolute waste of money. As part of Agenda 21 (whether the local politicians who approved it are aware of the nefarious aspects of said Agenda is debatable), the bicycle lanes are under utilized to say the least. No more than a few dozen riders use the costly "improvement" near my home in any given week and less tax dollars could have been spent to provide these riders with a state of the art velodrome. As for the buses, as low as the ridership is near my home, the city could send each passenger out a limousine and it would still be cheaper than running a fleet of almost empty buses in a morning to evening schedule in the West Nashville area.

Uttering an Obscenity

Last night, the little liberal twit Bob Costas read an editorial by someone just as stupid as he is at the halftime of the Sunday night football game on NBC. The lesson Costas and the author (whose name I did not catch) drew from the Kansas City murder-suicide was that both parties would still be alive were it not for our easy access to handguns. In point of fact, the professional football-playing thug could have killed the average person with his bare hands. If someone did not want to abolish our Second Amendment which enshrines our God-given right to self-defense, they never would have blamed a pistol in this circumstance. Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman were not shot but butchered with a knife. A long gun (rifle or shotgun) would have made the victim equally as dead. Last week, a college professor and a woman in Wyoming were killed by arrows from a compound bow and knife wounds before the assailant killed himself with the same knife. Do not blame the gun or any other weapon but the person using it in the act of violence.

Broader Societal Implications

The dinosaur media breathlessly told the world yesterday that a player paid more per year to knock people down than most folks are able to accumulate in a lifetime gunned down his baby's mama. He was then seized by pangs of conscience and did the right thing by ending himself. The same gutter press was talking up some actress involved in a 4 am punch up at a "nightclub" earlier in the week. In each instance, the MSM attempted to tout something bigger than the true voyeurism that their sensational reports were. In the football story, the spotlight is focused on concussion syndrome. In the former child star case, the glare is on substance abuse. In both instances though there is no moral redemption, just sad, empty, unchurched individuals, committing the acts or getting a vicarious thrill through watching them.

Egypt or Israel

Egypt has just adopted a new Constitution that subjugates her citizens to Sharia. Israel has just approved construction of housing for her citizens in Jerusalem, the ancient and eternal capital of the Jewish people. Guess which action Barack Hussein Obama's US State Department condemns? Construction in the Holy Land of course, while the Obama administration does not balk at Egypt's new governing document that strips rights from Egypt's Christian minority and Egypt's women and contains no impediment to slavery.