Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all and may God bless your families in the coming year.

Mustang Ranch

The Mustang Ranch and Congress

The original owner of the Mustang Ranch, Joe Conforte, arrived in Nevada in the mid 1950s from Oakland, Calif., where he worked as a cab driver who often steered his fares toward his prostitutes.

He took over the Mustang Ranch about 10 miles east of Reno in 1967. Four years later, Storey County licensed it as the first legal brothel in the state, not to mention the country.

As Conforte amassed a fortune from his 104-room brothel, he remained in constant trouble with the federal government. A grand jury in Reno found close ties to Reno-Sparks officials in 1976, but there were no indictments.

In 1982, a grand jury in the county where the Mustang Ranch was then located determined that Conforte had unusual influence in the county and implicated the district attorney and the sheriff. Again, no indictments were returned after a 2 1/2-year investigation.

The Mustang Ranch was burned down in 1975 in an apparent arson, but Conforte rebuilt it. In 1976, heavyweight contender Oscar Bonavena was shot to death by a Mustang Ranch bodyguard.

Conforte dealt mostly in cash and kept few records. By 1990, the IRS had seized the ranch, putting the federal government in the unique position of running a brothel.

The government failed and the ranch was padlocked for the first time. The IRS auctioned off beds, the bidets — even the room numbers — to recover some of Conforte’s tax debt.

The brothel was sold for $1.49 million to a shell company overseen by Conforte and his attorney, Peter Perry. Conforte returned briefly to run the ranch, then fled to Brazil in 1991.

The IRS got its final say in 1997 when it filed a $16 million tax lien, followed in July 1999 by indictments of Conforte and principals in his shell company on charges including racketeering and money laundering. Millions of dollars allegedly were wired to Conforte in Brazil.

Four years later, the brothel’s new owner, the federal Bureau of Land Management, put the brothel up for grabs on eBay.

Gilman, who opened the Wild Horse Resort & Spa in 2002, a brothel located across the parking lot from the Mustang, estimates he has spent $6 million to move the 12 buildings four miles from Mustang to his property just off Interstate 80 in Patrick, then refurbish the decaying buildings.

“They’d been sitting there unattended since ‘99,” he said.

OK, Let me get this straight. Our Congress couldn’t make money selling sex and alcohol and now they are taking over banks and car dealerships. Amazing.

Ken Maddox of OneAngryMan.com

Couldn't Pass this one up . STONEKNIVES

After Election Decompression Depression

I just haven't had the ability to put into words my thoughts on the post Barak election. The election of this many Koolaid drinking Democrats elected just befuddles my pea brain.

It looks like neither side has a clue what to do about the economy except print money.

Looking at the long term road ahead all I see is black ice (no racial metaphor intended) but this I can tell you for the short term.

1^st There will be a “Crime Bill”, every new administration Republican or Democrat passes a Crime Bill. It's always goes after the low hanging fruit, like tougher sentencing from the R's and Guns for the D's. This will include a provision for more local cop's, from either side.

So the guns will get targeted this year----plan on it.

2^nd There will be a “Environment Bill”, again every new administration Republican or Democrat passes a Environment Bill. As per the SOP the low hanging fruit, purchase sensitive land from the R's and higher gas or emission standards from the D's. This always include a provision for adding money to the EPA SuperFund.

This year expect a twist in the line of additional taxes on vehicle older than 15 years and additional luxury taxes on new vehicles that get less than 15mpg in the city.

For the longterm the one thing I do know is the Mr.Obama seem's to be quoting Abraham Lincoln a lot these days and Arthur C. Clark, the famous writer, observed that, whenever a President is getting ready to get us into some deep sh!t they always quote Lincoln.......

What to do? BUY ONLY BULLETS, BEANS and BANDAIDS

Stay home, enjoy the kids and keep your COIN'S and CASH (FRN'S) close at hand.

Stoneknives

The Bill of Rrights

Preamble

The Preamble to the Bill of Rights:

Congress of the United States begun and held at the City of New-York, on Wednesday the fourth of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty nine.

THE Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution.

RESOLVED by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, two thirds of both Houses concurring, that the following Articles be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States, as amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all, or any of which Articles, when ratified by three fourths of the said Legislatures, to be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of the said Constitution; viz.

ARTICLES in addition to, and Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, proposed by Congress, and ratified by the Legislatures of the several States, pursuant to the fifth Article of the original Constitution.^[44]

Amendments

• First Amendment – Establishment Clause, Free Exercise Clause; freedom of speech, of the press, and of assembly; right to petition

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

• Second Amendment – Right to keep and bear arms.

A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

• Third Amendment – Protection from quartering of troops.

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

• Fourth Amendment – Protection from unreasonable search and seizure.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

• Fifth Amendment – due process, double jeopardy, self-incrimination, eminent domain.

No person shall be held to answer for any capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

• Sixth Amendment – Trial by jury and rights of the accused; Confrontation Clause, speedy trial, public trial, right to counsel

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district where in the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.

• Seventh Amendment – Civil trial by jury.

In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

• Eighth Amendment – Prohibition of excessive bail and cruel and unusual punishment.

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

• Ninth Amendment – Protection of rights not specifically enumerated in the Bill of Rights.

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

• Tenth Amendment – Powers of states and people.

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

SUPPORT THE BILL OF RIGHTS-ALL OF IT-NOT JUST THE PARTS YOU LIKE

Stoneknives

Send Lawyers, Guns and Money

Well, I went home with the waitress
The way I always do
How was I to know
She was with the Russians, too

I was gambling in Havana
I took a little risk
Send lawyers, guns and money
Dad, get me out of this

I'm the innocent bystander
Somehow I got stuck
Between the rock and the hard place
And I'm down on my luck
And I'm down on my luck
And I'm down on my luck

Now I'm hiding in Honduras
I'm a desperate man
Send lawyers, guns and money
The sh!t has hit the fan

Send lawyers, guns and money...



by Warren Zevon

Obama is starting his S#IT storm

Address Gun Violence in Cities: As president, Barack Obama would repeal the Tiahrt Amendment, which restricts the ability of local law enforcement to access important gun trace information, and give police officers across the nation the tools they need to solve gun crimes and fight the illegal arms trade.

"Repeal the Tiahrt Amendment." The amendment--endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police--prohibits the release of federal firearm tracing information to anyone other than a law enforcement agency conducting a bona fide criminal investigation. Anti-gun activists oppose the restriction, because it prevents them from obtaining tracing information and using it in frivolous lawsuits against law-abiding firearm manufacturers. Their lawsuits seek to obtain huge financial judgments against firearm manufacturers when a criminal uses a gun to inflict harm, even though the manufacturers have complied with all applicable laws. -NRA-

Obama and Biden also favor commonsense measures that respect the Second Amendment rights of gun owners, while keeping guns away from children and from criminals who shouldn't have them.

"Making guns in this country childproof." "Childproof" is a codeword for a variety of schemes designed to prevent the sale of firearms by imposing impossible or highly expensive design requirements, such as biometric shooter-identification systems. While no one opposes keeping children safe, the fact is that accidental firearm-related deaths among children have decreased 86 percent since 1975, even as the numbers of children and guns have risen dramatically. Today, the chances of a child being killed in a firearm accident are less than one in a million. -NRA-

They support closing the gun show loophole and making guns in this country childproof.

"Closing the gun show loophole." There is no "loophole." Under federal law, a firearm dealer must conduct a background check on anyone to whom he sells a gun, regardless of where the sale takes place. A person who is not a dealer may sell a gun from his personal collection without conducting a check. Gun prohibitionists claim that many criminals obtain guns from gun shows, though the most recent federal survey of convicted felons put the figure at only 0.7 percent. They also claim that non-dealers should be required to conduct checks when selling guns at shows, but the legislation they support goes far beyond imposing that lone requirement. In fact, anti-gun members of Congress voted against that limited measure, holding out for a broader bill intended to drive shows out of business. -NRA-

They also support making the expired federal Assault Weapons Ban permanent, as such weapons belong on foreign battlefields and not on our streets.

"Making the expired federal assault weapons ban permanent." Perhaps no other firearm issue has been more dishonestly portrayed by gun prohibitionists. Notwithstanding their predictions that the ban's expiration in 2004 would bring about the end of civilization, for the last four years the nation's murder rate has been lower than anytime since the mid-1960s. Studies for Congress, the Congressional Research Service, the National Institute of Justice, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have found no evidence that gun prohibition or gun control reduces crime. Guns that were affected by the ban are used in only a tiny fraction of violent crime-about 35 times as many people are murdered without any sort of firearm (knives, bare hands, etc.), as with "assault weapons." Obama says that "assault weapons" are machine guns that "belong on foreign battlefields," but that is a lie; the guns are only semi-automatic, and they are not used by a military force anywhere on the planet. -NRA-

I had an E-Mail accusing me of being a Republican Kool-Aid drinker so I just thought I'd throw this out to the either.

My Presidential Voting Record


1976 Gerald Ford and Bob Dole (Why) Had a gut feeling that Jimmy Carter was a wimp. Ford = Me = 75%


1980 Ronald Regan and George Bush (Why) I knew Jimmy Carter was a wimp and a Socialist. RR = Me = 90%


1984 Ronald Regan and George Bush (Why) Mondale = Jimmy Carter lite RR = Me = 98%


1988 George Bush and Dan Quayle (Why) M1 tank Dukakis, Please Bush = Me = 85%


1992 Andre Marrou and Nancy Lord (Why) George Bush was a RINO and a liar Marrou = Me = 95%


1996 Harry Browne and Jo Jorgensen (Why) Dole = snowball's chance Browne = Me = 98%


2000 George Bush and Dick Cheney (Why) I'm from Tennessee and knew what Gore would do Bush = Me = 80%


2004 George Bush and Dick Cheney (Why) Kerry is a order of magnitude bigger dumb ass than Bush Bush = Me = 50%


2008 John McCain and Sarah Palin (Why) Obama is a Socialist (read his books) McCain = Me = 75%

Dr Pournelle nails it again

BY Dr. J Pournelle from Chaos Manor

PS 2004 election:

Bush 62,040,610 50.7%
Kerry 59,028,444 48.3%
Total Bush + Kerry 121,069,054
Estimated total voting 122,291,974 +/- 100,000

Approximately 600,000 additional votes cast in 2008. About 4 million more people; how many more eligible voters I am not sure..

Friday. We can hope. It is interesting that Obama has appointed an IDF veteran, a very pro-Israel Congressman, as White House Chief of Staff, which is the chairman of the Privy Council and a very important official. This is not going to go over well with those who rejoice in Obama's middle name. The position is very powerful.

And in fact we know nothing of what Obama will actually do; we have guesses. We do know that Jimmy Carter called many of his fellow Democrats rapacious wolves -- and it is not likely that things will have changed much. As I said, I can almost feel sorry for him.

The remarkable thing is that given the unpopular war, a President who does not project himself well and isn't charismatic at all, and the total economic collapse: given all that, the election was remarkably close. It will be interesting to look at the actual turnout figures broken down by party, race, sex, social class. I would be astonished if this election was an exception to the rule that had the Republicans turned out more of their voters, they could have won; and certainly could have mitigated the disaster. There is no organization; in part because the Country Club Republicans have only contempt for worker bees and hard party workers.

That will change if Newt takes over the Republican National Committee.

I would also like to see an analysis of the vote on a Congressional District basis. I note that Dana Rohrabacher, who is not a "Big Government Conservative" whatever that means, was able to survive a well financed challenge.

Libby Dole, once considered Presidential material, could not hold her Senate seat. That too is interesting. Dole was the only man Clinton could beat in 1996, and he was told that, but he insisted that it was his turn to run and he ran.

Rebuilding a conservative based party will be difficult. Infiltrating the Democrats might be easier -- there were Conservative Democrats for a long time.

Most of the politics I learned was based on having a precinct organization. Obama seems to have built one. The Country Club Republicans apparently thought they didn't need one; but in fact a good precinct organization would have won the election, even so. Of course if the Country Club Republicans had listened to people at the precinct level they would not have got us into this mess.

The Republicans did not deserve to win. I do hope that the nation doesn't have to pay too high a price for turning the rascals out. I fear we have dismissed King Stork for King Heron with a posse of pelicans.

Enough rambling. It's late and I need to get to bed.

(More than Happy to Share The White Mans Burden)

The Race Card is now officially DEAD.

So unless you are dealing with a card carrying SkinHead or KKK no Black person will be allowed to use the race card against a White person.

If you are Black, healthy, sane, do not have a job and don’t support your children, you are NOW no longer oppressed. You are just another lazy and worthless human bum.

If you are Black, healthy, sane, you do not have a job and you have a few kids roaming the streets with no fathers , you are NOW no longer disenfranchised. You are just another stupid, slovenly whore.

You no longer get a pass with vile insults and insinuations without proof against others. The lies and horrible accusations that you crapped upon the President, that he had to take, are now yours. You wanted and demanded it, you got it, and so you better get a thick skin pretty damn quick.

Remember, When the President Elect Obama takes office and screws up I will chop him off at the knees, just as I have George Bush. I pray that this never has to happen but knowing his past politics I have my doubts.

Your Man now sits at the head of the table and he did not get there by Black votes alone.

Welcome to the White mans world, we eat our young.

---

This famous poem, written by Britain's imperial poet, was a response to the American take over of the Phillipines after the Spanish-American War.

---

Take up the White Man's burden--
Send forth the best ye breed--
Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild--
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half-devil and half-child.

Take up the White Man's burden--
In patience to abide,
To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple,
An hundred times made plain
To seek another's profit,
And work another's gain.

Take up the White Man's burden--
The savage wars of peace--
Fill full the mouth of Famine
And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest
The end for others sought,
Watch sloth and heathen Folly
Bring all your hopes to nought.

Take up the White Man's burden--
No tawdry rule of kings,
But toil of serf and sweeper--
The tale of common things.
The ports ye shall not enter,
The roads ye shall not tread,
Go mark them with your living,
And mark them with your dead.

Take up the White Man's burden--
And reap his old reward:
The blame of those ye better,
The hate of those ye guard--
The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah, slowly!) toward the light:--
"Why brought he us from bondage,
Our loved Egyptian night?"

Take up the White Man's burden--
Ye dare not stoop to less--
Nor call too loud on Freedom
To cloke your weariness;
By all ye cry or whisper,
By all ye leave or do,
The silent, sullen peoples
Shall weigh your gods and you.

Take up the White Man's burden--
Have done with childish days--
The lightly proferred laurel,
The easy, ungrudged praise.
Comes now, to search your manhood
Through all the thankless years
Cold, edged with dear-bought wisdom,
The judgment of your peers!

Rudyard Kipling, The White Man's Burden, 1899

Looking for a good Shakespear quote for Obama

This is a historical moment for the people of the United States of America. That we the people could throw aside the color barrier and elected Barack Hussein Obama, President Elect, proves that Democracy can overcome any problem and all things are possible.

That Hallmark moment aside, He is still a man with no honor who has thrown under the bus or stood on the head every person or family member who has befriended him, if it would help his selfish agenda. He is a person not to be trusted, a person who will say whatever will cover his ass at the moment. He is a Socialist Progressive who will be redistributing the nations wealth, raising taxes, killing your 2nd Admendment Rights and Quashing opposing voices on the airwaves.

Just go's to show that if you have a Billion dollars to spend even two Lawyers of questionable talent and minimal executive experience can be elected President and Vice-President of the United States.

Obama Will Cancel Lawful Concealed Carry Nationwide

Link to hear Obama the Elitist Progressive Anointed One talk about banning all lawful concealed handgun carry, on YOUTUBE.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-4jqZSEo0Q


This guy is a sh!t storm waiting to happen.

??? BROWN SHIRTS ???

The latest Senator Obama quote: "We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set. We've gotta have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded."

Kristallnacht (IPA: [kr,ɪst.aɫ.n'ɒxt]; literally "Crystal night") November 9,1938

GUNS and NObama

Illinois State Rifle Association Executive Director Richard Pearson Issues Open Letter to Nation's Sportsmen Regarding Obama's History in the Illinois Senate

Last update: 1:06 a.m. EDT Oct. 15, 2008
CHICAGO, Oct 15, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- The following is the text of an open letter to the nation's hunters and sportsmen issued today by Illinois State Rifle Association Executive Director Richard Pearson:
Fellow Sportsman,
Hello, my name is Rich Pearson and I have been active in the firearm rights movement for over 40 years. For the past 15 years, I have served in the Illinois state capitol as the chief lobbyist for the Illinois State Rifle Association.
I lobbied Barack Obama extensively while he was an Illinois State Senator. As a result of that experience, I know Obama's attitudes toward guns and gun owners better than anyone. The truth be told, in all my years in the Capitol I have never met a legislator who harbors more contempt for the law-abiding firearm owner than does Barack Obama.
Although Obama claims to be an advocate for the 2nd Amendment, his voting record in the Illinois Senate paints a very different picture. While a state senator, Obama voted for a bill that would ban nearly every hunting rifle, shotgun and target rifle owned by Illinois citizens. That same bill would authorize the state police to raid homes of gun owners to forcibly confiscate banned guns. Obama supported a bill that would shut down law-abiding firearm manufacturers including Springfield Armory, Armalite, Rock River Arms and Les Baer. Obama also voted for a bill that would prohibit law-abiding citizens from purchasing more than one gun per month.
Without a doubt, Barack Obama has proven himself to be an enemy of the law abiding firearm owner. At the same time, Obama has proven himself to be a friend to the hardened criminal. While a state senator, Obama voted 4 times against legislation that would allow a homeowner to use a firearm in defense of home and family.
Does Barack Obama still sound to you like a "friend" of the law-abiding gun owner?
And speaking of friends, you can always tell a person by the company they keep. Obama counts among his friends the Rev. Michael Pfleger - a renegade Chicago priest who has openly called for the murder of gun shop owners and pro-gun legislators. Then there is his buddy Richard Daley, the mayor of Chicago who has declared that if it were up to him, nobody would be allowed to own a gun. And let's not forget Obama's pal George Soros - the guy who has pumped millions of dollars into the UN's international effort to disarm law-abiding citizens.
Obama has shown that he is more than willing to use other people's money to fund his campaign to take your guns away from you. While a board member of the leftist Joyce Foundation, Barack Obama wrote checks for tens of millions of dollars to extremist gun control organizations such as the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence and the Violence Policy Center.
Does Barack Obama still sound to you like a "friend" of the law-abiding gun owner?
By now, I'm sure that many of you have received mailings from an organization called "American Hunters and Shooters Association(AHSA)" talking about what a swell fellow Obama is and how he honors the 2nd Amendment and how you will never have to worry about Obama coming to take your guns. Let me make it perfectly clear - everything the AHSA says about Obama is pure hogwash. The AHSA is headed by a group of left-wing elitists who subscribe to the British view of hunting and shooting. That is, a state of affairs where hunting and shooting are reserved for the wealthy upper-crust who can afford guided hunts on exclusive private reserves. The AHSA is not your friend, never will be.
In closing, I'd like to remind you that I'm a guy who has actually gone nose to nose with Obama on gun rights issues. The Obama I know cannot even begin to identify with this nation's outdoor traditions. The Obama I know sees you, the law abiding gun owner, as nothing but a low-class lummox who is easily swayed by the flash of a smile and a ration of rosy rhetoric. The Obama I know is a stony-faced liar who has honed his skill at getting what he wants - so long as people are willing to give it to him.
That's the Barack Obama I know.
The ISRA is the state's leading advocate of safe, lawful and responsible firearms ownership. Founded in 1903, the ISRA has represented the interests of millions of law-abiding Illinois firearm owners.
WEB SITE: http://www.isra.org
SOURCE Illinois State Rifle Association
http://www.isra.org

TRUST by John Ringo

"Now we get to the subject of ‘trust.’ Trust, as a society, is something
that most people understand poorly. Trust is vital for a society to
function. It’s not hard to explain, though. Trust means that if you loan
your lawn-mower to a neighbor, you’ve got a pretty good chance of
getting it back. There’s an implied contract. I let you use the
lawnmower. You return it in pretty much the same condition you got it.

You don’t loan it to your cousin who then uses it to cut his
client’s yards. You don’t break it and give it back and then insist you
didn’t break it. You don’t sell it. You give it back in pretty much the
same condition you got it.

There are several different types of societal trust but they really
boil down into two major groups. Familial and general. Familial is the
society where if you loan your lawn mower to your cousin, he’ll give it
back. But if you loan it to your neighbor, who is not your cousin, you
don’t know if he’ll give it back or not. So you don’t loan it to your
neighbor. You don’t do anything for anyone if you can possibly help it.
You don’t trust the cop unless he’s a cousin. You don’t trust the banker
unless he’s a cousin.

If you’ve ever been overseas (or, hell, in certain areas in the US)
and had someone say ‘I have a cousin who…’ then you’re in a familial
trust society.

Then there are general trust societies. The US is, by and large,
(and we’ll get to Chicago, LA and Detroit in a second) a general trust
society. In most segments of American society you could loan your lawn
mower to your neighbor with a fair expectation of getting it back. If
you didn’t, you could take him to small claims court and the judge
wasn’t going to care about you or your neighbor, mostly, just about the
merits of the case.

Trust is vital in a society. If societal trust is too low, people
trust no-one. Except, maybe, their cousins.

This brings us to ‘multiculturalism.’

A study was done by a very liberal British sociologist back in the
mid-oughts. The study set out to prove that multicultural societies had
higher levels of societal trust than monoculture societies. It seems a
no-brainer that the reverse was the case, but at the time
multi-culturalism along with a bunch of other urban myths were the way
of the world.

However, it was a no-brainer. The study proved the exact opposite.
That is, the more diverse an area was in cultures, the less societal
trust there was.

Look, humans don’t trust ‘the other.’ The name every single
primitive tribe gives for ‘other’ translates as ‘enemy.’ Apache was the
Hopi name for the Apache tribes and that’s the exact translation:
Enemy.

But it’s more complex than that. Say you’re from a general trust
culture. A neighbor moves in next door who is from a familial trust
culture. You offer the use of your lawn-mower. It never comes back. You
point that out and eventually learn that it’s been used to cut about a
hundred lawns. If you get it back, it’s trashed.

The neighbor considers you a moron for loaning it to him in the
first place. And he doesn’t care if you think he’s a dick. He doesn’t
trust you anyway. You’re not family.

Actual real-world example I picked up on a forum. Group in one of
the most pre-Plague diverse neighborhoods in the US wanted to build a
play-area for their kids in the local park. They’d established a
‘multi-cultural neighborhood committee’ of ‘the entire rainbow.’ I got
this from the liberal ‘general trust’ side of the story. I’d have loved
to have gotten it from the rest of the cultures. If they could stop
laughing.

Anyway, this group of ‘let’s all sing kumbaya’ liberals got their
little brown brothers together and proposed they all build a play-ground
for their kids. There was a kinda run down park in the neighborhood.
Let’s build swings so our children can all play together. Kumbaya.

There were, indeed, little brown brothers and yellow and black. But…

Well, it’s kinda difficult to tell the difference between a Sikh and
a Moslem unless you know one’s turban looks cool and the other’s looks
like shit. (For general info, I can not only tell the difference between
a Moslem and a Sikh, I can 90% of the time tell the difference between
two tribes of Moslems. Yes, I may be a culturist SOB, but I’m a very
highly trained one. I can tell the difference between a Moslem and a
Sikh and talk about the history of conflict between the two groups.) And
Sikhs and Moslems can barely bring themselves to spit on each other much
less work side by side singing Kumbaya. The liberals had, apparently,
never noticed that the fucked-up-turban guys never went into the
cool-turban guy’s corner store.

The Hindus were willing to contribute some suggestions and a little
money, but the other Hindus would have to do the work. What other
Hindus? Oh, those people. And they would have to hand the money to the
Kumbaya guys both because handing it to the other Hindus would be
defiling and because, of course, it would just disappear.

(At some point I need to talk about India. It is not the India today
that it was in 2019.)

When they actually got to work, finally, there were some little
black brothers helping. Then a different group of little black brothers
turned out and sat on the sidelines shouting suggestions until the first
group left. Then the ‘help’ left as well. Christian animists might soil
their hands for a community project but not if they’re getting shit from
Islamics. Sure, they’re just two different tribes that lived right next
to each other in Africa. Speaking of Kumbaya. But they’ve also been
slaughtering each other since before Stanley ever found Livingston
smoking his bong.

Trust. If you lived in a mostly white-bread suburb before the Time
of Suckage you just can’t get it. But when trust breaks down enough in a
society, nobody trusts anyone. Blacks don’t trust black cops. Whites
don’t trust white cops. Nobody trusts their mayor, nobody trusts their
boss. Nobody trusts nobody.

What the study found was that the more multi-cultural a society, the
lower the societal trust. (The professor, by the way, refused to accept
his own results. He sat on them for five years and even then spouted
bullshit about ‘education’ as the answer even though that was covered in
the study. The only way to get generalized trust was to blend the
societies and erase the differences. Back in the 1800s an Italian
wouldn’t be bothered to spit on an Irishman unless he’d just stuck a
knife in his back. These days the only way you can tell the difference
in the US is one has better food and the other better beer.)

So why does this matter to Ching Mao? Doesn’t, really, he was dead
and never really cared. But it mattered, a lot, to the response in
Chicago.

You see, by that time Chicago was a very multi-cultural area. Gone
were the days of it being pure white-bread and kielbasa. Only recent
immigrants, who didn’t recognize the local white guys as being anything
like Polish despite their names, spoke the Old Language. Where there had
once been mostly assimilated German and Polish and Russian Jew and a
smattering of Black communities there were now Serbian and Pakistani and
‘Persian’ and Assyrian not to be confused with Syrian and Iraqi and
Fusian who were not Manchu who were not Korean or anything like who were
definitely not Cambodian, damn it…

Each trusted the family group around them. To an extent they trusted
others who were ‘them.’ The few white-bread multi-cultural
true-believers trusted all their little rainbow brothers, of course,
until you got a few drinks in them and they started telling about their
experiences. “And I never did get my lawnmower back!”"


This is an excerpt from the JOHN RINGO book "THE LAST CENTURION"...... Ringo is always a "good read" pick up a couple or 12 of his books.

HR 1424 BAILOUT 3 Oct 2008

FLORIDA Congressional Delegation

FINAL VOTE on BAILOUT
Democrats -

Boyd, Y;

Brown, Corrine, Y;

Castor, N; THANK YOU

Hastings, Y;

Klein, Y;

Mahoney, Y;

Meek, Y;

Wasserman Schultz, Y;

Wexler, Y.

Republicans -

Bilirakis, N; THANK YOU

Brown-Waite, Ginny, N; THANK YOU

Buchanan, N; THANK YOU

Crenshaw, Y;

Diaz-Balart, L., N; THANK YOU

Diaz-Balart, M., N; THANK YOU

Feeney, N; THANK YOU

Keller, N; THANK YOU

Mack, N; THANK YOU

Mica, N; THANK YOU

Miller, N; THANK YOU

Putnam, Y;

Ros-Lehtinen, N; THANK YOU

Stearns, N; THANK YOU

Weldon, Y;

Young, N. THANK YOU

Remember these names in a few weeks when it comes time to VOTE. Remember the Representatives who tried to save your tax dollars from this illegal

Where in the hell are Barak Obama old friends.

I have been pretty stingy with whom I call my friend, but those folks I consider my friends are in my heart for life. It's like this, if one of those I considered a true friend showed up at my house needing some cash and a gun, no question asked, they would more than likely get what they want.


So, if I were running for public office there would be plenty of my friends to vouch for my character (or lack their of) to any news media outlet on the planet. I mean, I see friends of McCain's from the Naval Academy, Biden's High School best friends and Palin's hockey Mom buddies. Friends out their from every stage of their lives, these candidates have from all over the nation. People the national media have spent time and money digging up these old buddies to get a insight to the true nature (re: dirt) of the candidates


But WHO WERE BARAK OBAMA'S OLD FRIENDS, I relize that he has lived in some unusual locations, but so have McCain and Palin and that hasn't stopped the news media from sending enough people to Alaska that they now qualify for an extra congressman.


So I ask “who are Obama's old friends” and if he has none isnt that something to ponder ? ?


A politician who has no one to vouch for him but other political animals is a sad thing to behold.

Send Your Thanks to your Congressman

Thank You Members of the House from Florida

For sticking to principals and voting no against ILLEGAL WALL STREET BAILOUT.



Gus Bilirakis (R-FL)
Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL)
Vern Buchanan (R-FL)
Kathy Castor (D-FL)
Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL)
Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL)
Tom Feeney (R-FL)
Ric Keller (R-FL)
Connie Mack (R-FL)
John Mica (R-FL)
Jeff Miller (R-FL)
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL)
Cliff Stearns (R-FL)
C.W. Bill Young (R-FL)

Take some time out of your day and send a note the the folks above who are truly looking out for your interest.

The Bailout BILL monday morning 29 Sept 2008

I have read the Bailout bill and any Congress person who votes for this illegal, immoral document truly deserves to get a horrible form of ass cancer and die.

Stoneknives

SAY NO TO BAILOUT

Bush and most of congress are full of sh!t on this one. The hedge funds don't make anything ,they just buy up good companies and chop them up and send their assets and technology overseas. Ol' crazy Ross Perot was dead right on that one.

HOW TO GET OR ASSETS OUT OF THE FIRE
Lower corporate taxes to 12%, get rid of capital gains, lower personal income tax a FLAT 10% or implement the FAIR TAX and let the chips fall. The strong companies will hang in and the crooks will take it in the shorts.
We will have to hang on tight but at the end of the ride we will still have a Democracy and the dollar will still have some value.

As my dad said, " said let them go and start getting started on the depression and get it done with. hell I was born in one might as well die in one" gotta love POP.

Pournelle on Economy - YOU MUST READ NOW

-----MUST READ TODAY-----

http://www.chaosmanorreviews.com/oa/2008/20080923_col.php
Dr. Pournelle is the master, read and be enlightened.

A Giant Step Toward Socialism - The Countdown Begins

So now we bail out the the brokers and the hedge funds. The Government of the United States spending our children's inheritance on companies that produce NOTHING, ABSOLUTELY FUC#ING NOTHING. 700 BILLION DOLLARS to start with and if we are real lucky 2 Trillion as the final cost for the first leap into Socialism.

We all know that the other shoe is going to drop soon and the ethical companies that actually make things and provide jobs for good honest people are going the need to draw from the public well. Now there's a good chance that the well might be almost dry at best and poisoned at worst.

The Wall Street banking houses are nothing more than the modern version of the money changers at the Temple of Solomon and the Republican Administration and Democratic Leadership are in league with Pharisees.

The following bit is a reprint of a column that was released last November and is even more relevant in light of the last 2 weeks national developments.

Start building up your cash on hand friends.

It's The Economy Folk's (from 13NOV2007)

It's crunch time people. The Dollar is way down and everyone is going down the big coaster for the ride of our lifetime. Today President Bush told us the economy is doing great just because the market is above 14 thousand, of course not taking into account any adjustment in real market value because of dollar decline. You younger readers might want to read up on the, Depression, the decline of the England after WWI to the collapse after WWII or the current real situation in Argentina. (Not what the Argentine government says) Our government, for dubious reasons, has decided to flood the markets with dollars to prop up the economy and save the mortage companies. Creating what I believe at best, will be a large recession in the next 2 years. For no sound financial reasons saving their collective broker butts, instead of letting market forces work and take a smaller recession hit now.

Take a drive around to lower middle income neighborhood and look at the huge number of For Sale signs. Bailing out the crooked mortgage houses will not let these people keep their dream. Their dream was killed by 100 dollar oil, 5 dollar milk, low paying service jobs, sky rocketing taxes and homeowners insurance becoming larger than the house payments thus eating up the small reserves in their budgets. These people are already caught up in round 1 of the upcoming recession, and seeing the landscape of the future are downsizing and consolidating now trying keep their lives together.

Every Economist that I can nail down these days from academia, the printed press or airways seems to be in agreement that we are in deep sh!t. Whether they are Classical, Keynesians, Neoclassical, Mercantilists or "whatever" all agree the world economy is heading for a fall. What they can't agree on is what will cause the cardboard house to collapse. For them it's an intellectual exorcise, to us, as like the victim of a murder, it wont matter if we were shot, poisoned or electrocuted, dead is dead.

Many of you have never seen a moderate recession or a collapse of the government I've been there and have the tee shirt (Mr. Carters 20% inflation/recession and I was living in Iran when Mr. Carter allowed that debacle too) This kind of calamity is like a slow-motion train wreck, just like the current situation you get plenty of warning. During Mr. Carters recession I graduated from Tech Collage and took a job with MCI. Though it payed less money than others, because company was expanding and I figured it would be able to ride it out. It did, the company had our hours cut to 32 a week but we kept our jobs. When I lived in Iran the writing was literally on the wall (even a dumb 19yr old could read it) and we had plenty of time to get out before the SHTF. My father flew out the day of the first big riots in Tehran and we had left a month prior to him. So the only Americans I feel sorry for over in Iran after that were the poor Service Joe's who were ordered to stay, the rest of the U.S. citizens were their for the $$$.

What to do? I'm not a survivalist I have never even played one on TV. I'm set up for local emergences, fire, hurricane, a fast bug out if needed and the like. I'm paying off any revolving credit 1st, ditching any fun stuff and nonessentials (my motorcycle, the kids Bush Gardens passes, going to basic cable, the older kids cell phones,etc)to build up my reserves of currency. I'm also getting everything shipshape on the house, if money gets out of control what would normally just be a pain in the ass could end up as a major family problem. Things like laying in a lot of supplies in the hurricane closet, adding a socket to our well to run the pump off the generator, looking around to pickup a good used 3way fridge (gas 12v 110ac) out of a old travel trailer are on my planning list. I've lived in the 3^rd world and have a handle on how to live that life. Many of you haven't, all I can say is start small and basic (water, shelter, food and safety) a good, completed, small plan is better than any daydream retreat on a island. Once you've completed your core plan build on it in stages you can finish. Please learn how to use the gear you purchase I once went on a canoe trip with some friends who had a brought brand new tent still in the box, minus 2 of the poles. The Internet is wonderful source of good material and bad advice. The id10t's are pretty easy to spot and usually flock together.

What's my largest worry is the potential for civil unrest. When you read that no government is more than 3 meals away from a revolution, believe it like it came from your holy book. The United States had it's last Great Depression 79 years ago, back then 80% of the population lived in the country and as my Grandfather told me “we might have still been a little hungry after dinner but we dint starve like folks in town”. We are a urban/suburban society now and the distribution of necessities will be done with the typical government efficiency. (remember hurricane Andrew and 13 years later after FEMA had been FIXED, Katrina) When people cant feed the kids they become desperate quickly and will do rash things. The Mob starts on desperation and runs on frustration and only stops when that frustration is slaked. I remember one of the lines from the movie BRAZIL “were all in it together” and indeed we will be.

So the biggest thing I'm formalizing is the arrangements for the family if we decide to get the kids out or leave the homestead in the city. My cousins and I have always joked “if the SHTF head to Fort Westmoreland”, which is now the family homeplace in the Appalachian mountains, it my be coming to that. This Thanksgiving when we are all gathered up in the mountains for my Mom and Dad's 50^th wedding anniversary will be the time for us to start laying some serious plans for the future of all our families.

If I'm wrong whats the worst that could happen? I'll have all the things knocked off the honey-do list and we'll have more cash in the safe to buy that retirement property up in the mountains. If I'm right................I hope you make it through ok, too..........

Stoneknives

TEOTWAWKI Do it yourself Farm and Machine Tools

While looking for plans and ideas for a new outbuilding for my home. I found this little gem solid information buried deep in the Countyplans.com web site. It has probably has around 150 plans to build everything from a Turret Lathe and Mill to Cement Mixers and Tractor Scoop Loaders. This stuff is in PDF format, download able and free. The plans are reprints from old do it yourself magazines and are past copyright so there isn't any legal issues with the downloads

Now a lot of these equipment plans would not pass the government's current nurf world standards for safety so use them at your risk. Anyone who has ever work around farm equipment knows to keep on their toes or you might end up with a interesting new nickname.

Sutter's Law on Bureaucracy

Sutter's Law on Bureaucracy

When the Peoples Rule of Law is replaced by the Bureaucracy's Rule of Rules

It is time for Revolution

22 August 2008

This also jibes with Jerry Pournelle IRON LAW OF BUREAUCRACY wich states

...in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people: those who work to further the actual goals of the organization, and those who work for the organization itself.

Examples in education would be teachers who work and sacrifice to teach children, vs. union representative who work to protect any teacher including the most incompetent. The Iron Law states that in all cases, the second type of person will always gain control of the organization, and will always write the rules under which the organization functions.

Word's of Wisdom From Our First President

Read the words of our first President, take note especially on foreign entanglements portion, as valid in 1796 as in 2008.

Stoneknives

Washington's Farewell Address 1796

1796

Friends and Citizens:

The period for a new election of a citizen to administer the executive government of the United States being not far distant, and the time actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person who is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the public voice, that I should now apprise you of the resolution I have formed, to decline being considered among the number of those out of whom a choice is to be made.

I beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice to be assured that this resolution has not been taken without a strict regard to all the considerations appertaining to the relation which binds a dutiful citizen to his country; and that in withdrawing the tender of service, which silence in my situation might imply, I am influenced by no diminution of zeal for your future interest, no deficiency of grateful respect for your past kindness, but am supported by a full conviction that the step is compatible with both.

The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in, the office to which your suffrages have twice called me have been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty and to a deference for what appeared to be your desire. I constantly hoped that it would have been much earlier in my power, consistently with motives which I was not at liberty to disregard, to return to that retirement from which I had been reluctantly drawn. The strength of my inclination to do this, previous to the last election, had even led to the preparation of an address to declare it to you; but mature reflection on the then perplexed and critical posture of our affairs with foreign nations, and the unanimous advice of persons entitled to my confidence, impelled me to abandon the idea.

I rejoice that the state of your concerns, external as well as internal, no longer renders the pursuit of inclination incompatible with the sentiment of duty or propriety, and am persuaded, whatever partiality may be retained for my services, that, in the present circumstances of our country, you will not disapprove my determination to retire.

The impressions with which I first undertook the arduous trust were explained on the proper occasion. In the discharge of this trust, I will only say that I have, with good intentions, contributed towards the organization and administration of the government the best exertions of which a very fallible judgment was capable. Not unconscious in the outset of the inferiority of my qualifications, experience in my own eyes, perhaps still more in the eyes of others, has strengthened the motives to diffidence of myself; and every day the increasing weight of years admonishes me more and more that the shade of retirement is as necessary to me as it will be welcome. Satisfied that if any circumstances have given peculiar value to my services, they were temporary, I have the consolation to believe that, while choice and prudence invite me to quit the political scene, patriotism does not forbid it.

In looking forward to the moment which is intended to terminate the career of my public life, my feelings do not permit me to suspend the deep acknowledgment of that debt of gratitude which I owe to my beloved country for the many honors it has conferred upon me; still more for the steadfast confidence with which it has supported me; and for the opportunities I have thence enjoyed of manifesting my inviolable attachment, by services faithful and persevering, though in usefulness unequal to my zeal. If benefits have resulted to our country from these services, let it always be remembered to your praise, and as an instructive example in our annals, that under circumstances in which the passions, agitated in every direction, were liable to mislead, amidst appearances sometimes dubious, vicissitudes of fortune often discouraging, in situations in which not unfrequently want of success has countenanced the spirit of criticism, the constancy of your support was the essential prop of the efforts, and a guarantee of the plans by which they were effected. Profoundly penetrated with this idea, I shall carry it with me to my grave, as a strong incitement to unceasing vows that heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence; that your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual; that the free Constitution, which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained; that its administration in every department may be stamped with wisdom and virtue; that, in fine, the happiness of the people of these States, under the auspices of liberty, may be made complete by so careful a preservation and so prudent a use of this blessing as will acquire to them the glory of recommending it to the applause, the affection, and adoption of every nation which is yet a stranger to it.

Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. But a solicitude for your welfare, which cannot end but with my life, and the apprehension of danger, natural to that solicitude, urge me, on an occasion like the present, to offer to your solemn contemplation, and to recommend to your frequent review, some sentiments which are the result of much reflection, of no inconsiderable observation, and which appear to me all-important to the permanency of your felicity as a people. These will be offered to you with the more freedom, as you can only see in them the disinterested warnings of a parting friend, who can possibly have no personal motive to bias his counsel. Nor can I forget, as an encouragement to it, your indulgent reception of my sentiments on a former and not dissimilar occasion.

Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of your hearts, no recommendation of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm the attachment.

The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee that, from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth; as this is the point in your political fortress against which the batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed, it is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national union to your collective and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts.

For this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest. Citizens, by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of American, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles. You have in a common cause fought and triumphed together; the independence and liberty you possess are the work of joint counsels, and joint efforts of common dangers, sufferings, and successes.

But these considerations, however powerfully they address themselves to your sensibility, are greatly outweighed by those which apply more immediately to your interest. Here every portion of our country finds the most commanding motives for carefully guarding and preserving the union of the whole.

The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the South, protected by the equal laws of a common government, finds in the productions of the latter great additional resources of maritime and commercial enterprise and precious materials of manufacturing industry. The South, in the same intercourse, benefiting by the agency of the North, sees its agriculture grow and its commerce expand. Turning partly into its own channels the seamen of the North, it finds its particular navigation invigorated; and, while it contributes, in different ways, to nourish and increase the general mass of the national navigation, it looks forward to the protection of a maritime strength, to which itself is unequally adapted. The East, in a like intercourse with the West, already finds, and in the progressive improvement of interior communications by land and water, will more and more find a valuable vent for the commodities which it brings from abroad, or manufactures at home. The West derives from the East supplies requisite to its growth and comfort, and, what is perhaps of still greater consequence, it must of necessity owe the secure enjoyment of indispensable outlets for its own productions to the weight, influence, and the future maritime strength of the Atlantic side of the Union, directed by an indissoluble community of interest as one nation. Any other tenure by which the West can hold this essential advantage, whether derived from its own separate strength, or from an apostate and unnatural connection with any foreign power, must be intrinsically precarious.

While, then, every part of our country thus feels an immediate and particular interest in union, all the parts combined cannot fail to find in the united mass of means and efforts greater strength, greater resource, proportionably greater security from external danger, a less frequent interruption of their peace by foreign nations; and, what is of inestimable value, they must derive from union an exemption from those broils and wars between themselves, which so frequently afflict neighboring countries not tied together by the same governments, which their own rival ships alone would be sufficient to produce, but which opposite foreign alliances, attachments, and intrigues would stimulate and embitter. Hence, likewise, they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty. In this sense it is that your union ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty, and that the love of the one ought to endear to you the preservation of the other.

These considerations speak a persuasive language to every reflecting and virtuous mind, and exhibit the continuance of the Union as a primary object of patriotic desire. Is there a doubt whether a common government can embrace so large a sphere? Let experience solve it. To listen to mere speculation in such a case were criminal. We are authorized to hope that a proper organization of the whole with the auxiliary agency of governments for the respective subdivisions, will afford a happy issue to the experiment. It is well worth a fair and full experiment. With such powerful and obvious motives to union, affecting all parts of our country, while experience shall not have demonstrated its impracticability, there will always be reason to distrust the patriotism of those who in any quarter may endeavor to weaken its bands.

In contemplating the causes which may disturb our Union, it occurs as matter of serious concern that any ground should have been furnished for characterizing parties by geographical discriminations, Northern and Southern, Atlantic and Western; whence designing men may endeavor to excite a belief that there is a real difference of local interests and views. One of the expedients of party to acquire influence within particular districts is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts. You cannot shield yourselves too much against the jealousies and heartburnings which spring from these misrepresentations; they tend to render alien to each other those who ought to be bound together by fraternal affection. The inhabitants of our Western country have lately had a useful lesson on this head; they have seen, in the negotiation by the Executive, and in the unanimous ratification by the Senate, of the treaty with Spain, and in the universal satisfaction at that event, throughout the United States, a decisive proof how unfounded were the suspicions propagated among them of a policy in the General Government and in the Atlantic States unfriendly to their interests in regard to the Mississippi; they have been witnesses to the formation of two treaties, that with Great Britain, and that with Spain, which secure to them everything they could desire, in respect to our foreign relations, towards confirming their prosperity. Will it not be their wisdom to rely for the preservation of these advantages on the Union by which they were procured ? Will they not henceforth be deaf to those advisers, if such there are, who would sever them from their brethren and connect them with aliens?

To the efficacy and permanency of your Union, a government for the whole is indispensable. No alliance, however strict, between the parts can be an adequate substitute; they must inevitably experience the infractions and interruptions which all alliances in all times have experienced. Sensible of this momentous truth, you have improved upon your first essay, by the adoption of a constitution of government better calculated than your former for an intimate union, and for the efficacious management of your common concerns. This government, the offspring of our own choice, uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full investigation and mature deliberation, completely free in its principles, in the distribution of its powers, uniting security with energy, and containing within itself a provision for its own amendment, has a just claim to your confidence and your support. Respect for its authority, compliance with its laws, acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined by the fundamental maxims of true liberty. The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government. But the Constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government.

All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels and modified by mutual interests.

However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.

Towards the preservation of your government, and the permanency of your present happy state, it is requisite, not only that you steadily discountenance irregular oppositions to its acknowledged authority, but also that you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its principles, however specious the pretexts. One method of assault may be to effect, in the forms of the Constitution, alterations which will impair the energy of the system, and thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown. In all the changes to which you may be invited, remember that time and habit are at least as necessary to fix the true character of governments as of other human institutions; that experience is the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution of a country; that facility in changes, upon the credit of mere hypothesis and opinion, exposes to perpetual change, from the endless variety of hypothesis and opinion; and remember, especially, that for the efficient management of your common interests, in a country so extensive as ours, a government of as much vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of liberty is indispensable. Liberty itself will find in such a government, with powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian. It is, indeed, little else than a name, where the government is too feeble to withstand the enterprises of faction, to confine each member of the society within the limits prescribed by the laws, and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of person and property.

I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the State, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally.

This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.

Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.

It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.

There is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the government and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This within certain limits is probably true; and in governments of a monarchical cast, patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular character, in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose. And there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be by force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume.

It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositaries, and constituting each the guardian of the public weal against invasions by the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern; some of them in our country and under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them. If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit, which the use can at any time yield.

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice ? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?

Promote then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.

As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it, avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertion in time of peace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear. The execution of these maxims belongs to your representatives, but it is necessary that public opinion should co-operate. To facilitate to them the performance of their duty, it is essential that you should practically bear in mind that towards the payment of debts there must be revenue; that to have revenue there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant; that the intrinsic embarrassment, inseparable from the selection of the proper objects (which is always a choice of difficulties), ought to be a decisive motive for a candid construction of the conduct of the government in making it, and for a spirit of acquiescence in the measures for obtaining revenue, which the public exigencies may at any time dictate.

Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be, that good policy does not equally enjoin it 7 It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and at no distant period, a great nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt that, in the course of time and things, the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary advantages which might be lost by a steady adherence to it ? Can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue ? The experiment, at least, is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human nature. Alas! is it rendered impossible by its vices?

In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest. Antipathy in one nation against another disposes each more readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable, when accidental or trifling occasions of dispute occur. Hence, frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed, and bloody contests. The nation, prompted by ill-will and resentment, sometimes impels to war the government, contrary to the best calculations of policy. The government sometimes participates in the national propensity, and adopts through passion what reason would reject; at other times it makes the animosity of the nation subservient to projects of hostility instigated by pride, ambition, and other sinister and pernicious motives. The peace often, sometimes perhaps the liberty, of nations, has been the victim.

So likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others which is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions; by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation), facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding, with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation.

As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public councils 7 Such an attachment of a small or weak towards a great and powerful nation dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter.

Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government. But that jealousy to be useful must be impartial; else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a defense against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike of another cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots who may resist the intrigues of the favorite are liable to become suspected and odious, while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender their interests.

The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop. Europe has a set of primary interests which to us have none; or a very remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves by artificial ties in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities.

Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a different course. If we remain one people under an efficient government. the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation; when we may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel.

Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation? Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor or caprice?

It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world; so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it; for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy. I repeat it, therefore, let those engagements be observed in their genuine sense. But, in my opinion, it is unnecessary and would be unwise to extend them.

Taking care always to keep ourselves by suitable establishments on a respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies.

Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, are recommended by policy, humanity, and interest. But even our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand; neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences; consulting the natural course of things; diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the streams of commerce, but forcing nothing; establishing (with powers so disposed, in order to give trade a stable course, to define the rights of our merchants, and to enable the government to support them) conventional rules of intercourse, the best that present circumstances and mutual opinion will permit, but temporary, and liable to be from time to time abandoned or varied, as experience and circumstances shall dictate; constantly keeping in view that it is folly in one nation to look for disinterested favors from another; that it must pay with a portion of its independence for whatever it may accept under that character; that, by such acceptance, it may place itself in the condition of having given equivalents for nominal favors, and yet of being reproached with ingratitude for not giving more. There can be no greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation. It is an illusion, which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard.

In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression I could wish; that they will control the usual current of the passions, or prevent our nation from running the course which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations. But, if I may even flatter myself that they may be productive of some partial benefit, some occasional good; that they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism; this hope will be a full recompense for the solicitude for your welfare, by which they have been dictated.

How far in the discharge of my official duties I have been guided by the principles which have been delineated, the public records and other evidences of my conduct must witness to you and to the world. To myself, the assurance of my own conscience is, that I have at least believed myself to be guided by them.

In relation to the still subsisting war in Europe, my proclamation of the twenty-second of April, I793, is the index of my plan. Sanctioned by your approving voice, and by that of your representatives in both houses of Congress, the spirit of that measure has continually governed me, uninfluenced by any attempts to deter or divert me from it.

After deliberate examination, with the aid of the best lights I could obtain, I was well satisfied that our country, under all the circumstances of the case, had a right to take, and was bound in duty and interest to take, a neutral position. Having taken it, I determined, as far as should depend upon me, to maintain it, with moderation, perseverance, and firmness.

The considerations which respect the right to hold this con duct, it is not necessary on this occasion to detail. I will only observe that, according to my understanding of the matter, that right, so far from being denied by any of the belligerent powers, has been virtually admitted by all.

The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be inferred, without anything more, from the obligation which justice and humanity impose on every nation, in cases in which it is free to act, to maintain inviolate the relations of peace and amity towards other nations.

The inducements of interest for observing that conduct will best be referred to your own reflections and experience. With me a predominant motive has been to endeavor to gain time to our country to settle and mature its yet recent institutions, and to progress without interruption to that degree of strength and consistency which is necessary to give it, humanly speaking, the command of its own fortunes.

Though, in reviewing the incidents of my administration, I am unconscious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall also carry with me the hope that my country will never cease to view them with indulgence; and that, after forty five years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest.

Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, and actuated by that fervent love towards it, which is so natural to a man who views in it the native soil of himself and his progenitors for several generations, I anticipate with pleasing expectation that retreat in which I promise myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow-citizens, the benign influence of good laws under a free government, the ever-favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers.

Geo. Washington.