Sunday, December 30, 2007

A New Hope? The Greatest Compromise? Or the Road To Hell?

I've had hard time reconciling my dream of the United States to be the perfect Republic and a desperate world forcing us into becoming United States “the Empire”. My Objectivist / Libertarian bent demands a Republic and individual freedom, but my pragmatic nature sees a need to preserve our safety :re provide for the common defense. I've discussed at length many ideas from the additions of Foreign Legions to the U.S. military to the addition of true blockades by force of arms. Economic Aid and the possible use of Economic bribery to neighboring nations to attack our enemy nations. This is the usual bag of tricks that Empires have used for thousands of years.

I have never come up with a satisfactory conclusion that jibes with my vision of America the Free. That has changed recently with my reading of the works of Thomas P.M. Barnett. His plans for the security of our world are the most profound and inclusive I have read. It is a road map for our contuned existence as a Republic. It has things in it that are radical and scary. Some of the ideas are blindingly perfect and others will require 24/7 monitoring because of the dangers to our way of life. Some of his ideas I have problems with but truthfully I can't find fault with his logic. It is “A Future Worth Creating” the Marshal Plan for the 21st century and you will be wiser for the reading.

Please go to the link below and and invest a few minutes of your time for a short video presentation. I promise it will some of the best time you've invested on the Internet.


http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/33


Books By Thomas P.M. Barnett

The Pentagon's New Map

and

Blueprint for Action


Stoneknives -GO VOLS-

Thursday, December 27, 2007

R R Again

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

The Blessing

One of the things I have learned in life if you profess any kind of faith is that at one time or another you are going to be asked to give a prayer of thanks for some event. These situations are awkward for most of us and for the few of you who who are reading if you can rip one off the top of your head, you can consider your self blessed.

So I don't consider myself a religious representative of any kind. Most of my friends would call me a great example of a bad example. I did a little research several years ago, during some down time, to fill this hole in my learning. Hoping to spare my wonderful spouse and family any future embarasment. I decided to find myself a "good prayer" something better than "bless the bread bless the meat". I found there are prayers for everything, simple children's prayers to the complex, beatific works of John Donne and Sir Thomas Moore. During this project I discovered the prayers of Robert Louis Stevenson, the author of Treasure Island, Kidnapped, Master of Ballantrae, he wrote many wonderful prayers and blessings. I found them heartfelt, complex in thought, but simple in prose. Very easy for me to remember the gist of his writing, though I don't do the words justice. Here is on of my favorites called a PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING


Lord, behold our family here assembled.
We thank Thee for this place in which we dwell;
for the love that unites us;
for the peace accorded us this day;
for the hope with which we expect the morrow;
for the health, the work, the food, and the bright skies,
that make our lives delightful;
and for our friends in all parts of the earth.
Let peace abound in our small company.
Purge out of every heart the lurking grudge.
Give us grace and strength to forbear and to persevere.
Give us the grace to accept and to forgive offenders.
Forgetful ourselves, help us to bear cheerfully
the forgetfulness of others.
Give us courage and gaiety and the quiet mind.
Spare to us our friends, soften to us our enemies.
Bless us, if it may be, in all our innocent endeavors.
If it may not, give us the strength to encounter
that which is to come,
that we be brave in peril, constant in tribulation,
temperate in wrath,
and in all changes of fortune, and, down to the gates of death,
loyal and loving one to another.
Robert Louis Stevenson



I use some of Stevenson's prayers and adapt them for the situation as needed. Some might I say mangle his work, but after reading more about him as a person I don't believe he would mind.

So being a few day before Thanksgiving and Christmas time fast approaching look up Robert Louis Stevenson's prayers for some ideas in case you are asked for the blessing.

Have a wonderful holiday and I wish all good things for your family.


Tuesday, November 13, 2007

It's The Economy Folk's

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 3rd 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 50th 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

Thursday, November 8, 2007

FIREARMS REFRESHER COURSE

"Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not." ~ Thomas Jefferson

FIREARMS REFRESHER COURSE

1. An armed man is a citizen. An unarmed man is a subject.

2. A gun in the hand is better than a cop on the phone.

3. Colt: The original point and click interface.

4. Gun control is not about guns; it's about control.

5. If guns are outlawed, can we use swords?

6. If guns cause crime, then pencils cause misspelled words.

7. Free men do not ask permission to bear arms.

8. If you don't know your rights, you don't have any.

9. Those who trade liberty for security have neither.

10. The United States Constitution (c)1791. All Rights Reserved.

11. What part of "shall not be infringed" do you not understand?

12. The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.

13. 64,999,987 firearms owners killed no one yesterday.

14. Guns only have two enemies; rust and politicians.

15. Know guns, know peace, know safety. No guns, no peace, no safety.

16. You don't shoot to kill; you shoot to stay alive.

17. 911: Government sponsored Dial-a-Prayer.

18. Assault is a behavior, not a device.

19. Criminals love gun control; it makes their jobs safer.

20. If guns cause crime, then matches cause arson.

21. Only a government that is afraid of its citizens tries to control them.

22. You have only the rights you are willing to fight for.

23. Enforce the gun control laws we ALREADY have; don't make more.

24. When you remove the people's right to bear arms, you create slaves.

25. The American Revolution would never have happened with gun control.

IF YOU AGREE, PASS THIS "REFRESHER" ON TO TEN FREE CITIZENS.

Bill Haynes (Col, USAF, Ret)

Thursday, November 1, 2007

The Problem - Children Are Not Allowed To Learn Right From Wrong

Darrell Scott's Testimony

Darrell Scott is the father of Rachel Scott, one of thirteen victims murdered at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, 20 April 1999 by two sociopaths. Twenty-four students were injured. Mr. Scott testified before the House Judiciary Committee subcommittee on crime delivered 27 May 1999, Rayburn House office building in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Scott's remarks:

Since the dawn of creation there has been both good & evil in the hearts of men and women. We all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence. The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher, and the other eleven children who died must not be in vain. Their blood cries out for answers." "The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field.

The villain was not the club he used. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association. The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain's heart. "In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA.

I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA - because I don't believe that they are responsible for my daughter's death. Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel's murder I would be their strongest opponent.

I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy-it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies here in this room.

Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves. I wrote a poem that expresses my feelings best. This was written way before I knew I would be speaking here today:

Your laws ignore our deepest needs,
Your words are empty air.
You've stripped away our heritage,
You've outlawed simple prayer.
Now gunshots fill our classrooms,
And precious children die.
You seek for answers everywhere,
And ask the question "Why?"
You regulate restrictive laws,
Through legislative creed.
And yet you fail to understand,
That God is what we need!

Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, soul, and spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and reek havoc. Spiritual influences were present within our educational systems for most of our nation's history. Many of our major colleges began as theological seminaries. This is a historical fact.

What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence. And when something as terrible as Columbine's tragedy occurs politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA. They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that contribute to erode away our personal and private liberties.

We do not need more restrictive laws. Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts.

Political posturing and restrictive legislation are not the answers. The young people of our nation hold the key. There is a spiritual awakening taking place that will not be squelched! We do not need more religion. We do not need more gaudy television evangelists spewing out verbal religious garbage. We do not need more million dollar church buildings built while people with basic needs are being ignored.

We do need a change of heart and a humble acknowledgment that this nation was founded on the principle of simple trust in God! As my son Craig lay under that table in the school library and saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes, he did not hesitate to pray in school. I defy any law or politician to deny him that right!

I challenge every young person in America, and around the world, to realize that on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School prayer was brought back to our schools. Do not let the many prayers offered by those students be in vain. Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for legislation that violates your God-given right to communicate with Him. To those of you who would point your finger at the NRA- I give to you a sincere challenge.

Dare to examine your own heart before casting the first stone! My daughter's death will not be in vain! The young people of this country will not allow that to happen!

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Mr. Reagan on libertarianism.....he nailed it as usual

"If you analyze it, I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. I think conservatism is really a misnomer just as liberalism is a misnomer for the liberals–if we were back in the days of the Revolution, so-called conservatives today would be the Liberals and the liberals would be the Tories. The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is." -Ronald Reagan

The Socialist Food Chain

This article is by Johann Hari , a nice piece of work on the socialist food chain. I found it over at Dr. Sanity.............
Do you believe in the rights of women, or do you believe in multiculturalism? A series of verdicts in the German courts in the past month, have shown with hot, hard logic that you can't back both. You have to choose....

In Germany today, Muslim women have been reduced to third-class citizens stripped of core legal protections - because of the doctrine of multiculturalism, which says a society should be divided into separate cultures with different norms according to ethnic origin....

Indeed, in the name of this warm, welcoming multiculturalism, the German courts have explicitly compared Muslim women to the brain-damaged. The highest administrative court in North Rhine-Westphalia has agreed that Muslim parents have the "right" to forbid their daughter from going on a school trip unless she was accompanied by a male family member at all times. The judges said the girl was like "a partially mentally impaired person who, because of her disability, can only travel with a companion".As the Iranian author Azar Nafisi puts it: "I very much resent it when people - maybe with good intentions or from a progressive point of view - keep telling me, 'It's their culture' ... It's like saying the culture of Massachusetts is burning witches." She is horrified by the moves in Canada to introduce shariah courts to enforce family law for Muslims.


This application of 21st century socialist "justice" has been on the rise since the socialist remnants from the last century began to stage their comeback from a well-deserved near-extinction. This socialist revival and the strategies they are now using to achieve world domination has many important implications for humanity--not the least of which is described in the above article.

To understand their logic, we must examine the socialist food chain.

Other behaviors of the unrepentantly socialist dictators suggest that, while there are many victim groups, some groups are far more important than others. As the example above shows, the culture or religion's status as "victimized" allows (nay, it demands)the suppression of the various uppity victim classes within it (e.g., Women or Gays) who try to rise above their rightful place in the utopia.

From the perspective of the socialist utopian, what matters more than Women's rights or Gay Righs are the rights of a designated culture. The dogma of multiculturalism trumps the dogma of women's superiority. This is probably because for the socialist utopian, might makes right and the needs of the many always outweigh the needs of the few--and the few better remember that fact, or else. In the socialist utopia, there is no room for individuality or personal preference; or tolerance for differences. You always must subsume yourself to the collective; and the bigger the collective, the more power victimization can be exploited.

For example, we know from experience that blacks, women and gays lose their cherished victim status if they dare to become Republicans; and, to a lesser extent, if they choose to be Christian (except for most Episcopalians, who have seen the secular light).

Being black trumps being a woman or gay (i.e., there is more "social justice" mileage to be squeezed out of the oppression of blacks, i.e., racism, than there is from the oppression of women (sexism) or even gays (homophobia). Just ask Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton.

The oppression of Jews is completely ignored because of the animus the "enlightened" have toward Israel; and anti-semitism, which in past times would have had a ranking up close to the level of dark-skinned people (probably because those who founded the Jewish state were dedicated socialists--unfortunately, they soon realized that in real life, their ideology didn't work too well); but anti-semitism no longer is a compelling issue for the socialists. In fact, they are among its worse practitioners as socialism has spread throughout the Middle East.

So far, we have established that the culture (except for Western culture, which is uniquely evil and oppressive) is very high up on the food chain, and can eat and kill with impunity. Is there any group that trumps the culture?

Again, there are hints of how socialist logic deals with this. The needs of the nation will trump a protected/victim culture for the same reason that being an independent woman, black or gay person loses their victim status: they act independently of the socialist gestalt (i.e., they refuse to stay in their pre-determined place in the food chain and dare to be different).

Thus, Saddam the socialist Ba'athist could rightly gas the Kurds and no one payed much attention to it. Even genocide is acceptable to the socialist logician, who must always take into account the following factors: 1) which group is larger (oppressed nations or religions > cultures > sub-cultures > small groups, e.g., "Democrats", > individuals, e.g., blacks, women, and gays; 2) When there is a conflict among groups at the same level of the chain, then precedence is given to the "purer" victim--i.e., those who know their place in the chain, are willing to remain victims for all eternity, and take no actions to stop being victims.

Thus for example, the Palestinians' as a group (considered an oppressed nation for reasons that elude me) have such a high victimization quotient, they can freely and "justly" oppress or kill any members of their own society that are not considered "good" Palestinians, as well as anyone outside their society with impunity (i.e., Israelis). Because the Israelis have such a low quotient, they are not even permitted to kill in self-defense. The same dynamic occurs when Muslim extremists (the extremely oppressed variety of Muslim) kill other Muslims (just ordinary oppressed Muslims) ; or when they kill Christians; or when they kill just about anyone in their usual indiscriminant manner. But Americans who take extraordinary precautions in war as in peace not to kill innocent people are damned to hell when they attack even the extremist Muslims who repeatedly try to kill them and state their intent at regular intervals.

Islamic fanatics can behead and mutilate non-combatant men and women at will. Americans are prohibited from humiliating Islamic fanatics or even frightening the poor dears (it is called "torture") ; Moderate Islamics can prohibit Westerners living in Islamic societies from owning a Bible; and punish them severely if they do; but Americans are not permitted to show any disrespect, let alone spit on a Koran even in America.

Clearly, if you are NOT one of the designated victimized or oppressed cultures, nations, or groups, then you and your non-victim-designated members are at the bottom of the socialist food chain and anything bad that is done to you by those above you in the food chain must be your own damn fault. This includes those who are Western, American/Israeli, Caucasian, Republican, conservatives, Rich, Capitalist, Christian, male, heterosexual and so on down the chain.

Thus, you can clearly see the intellectual origins of the many slogans that epitomize modern-day socialists:

IMPERIALIST AMERICA IS HUMANITIES NUMBER ONE ENEMY

DEATH THE THE WORLD'S NUMBER 1 TERRORIST: BUSH & HIS SHEEP

KILL TERRORISTS: BOMB BUSH IN HIS F****ING HOUSE

WE ARE ALL PALESTINIANS

IMPEACH THE GRINGOS

CONDI: I'M FIGHTING FOR WHITEY

BEHEAD THOSE WHO INSULT ISLAM

ZIONIST PIGS

I LOVE NY EVEN MORE WITHOUT THE WORLD TRADE CENTER

NAZI KIKES OUT OF LEBANON

FUCK MIDDLE AMERICA

SMASH THE JEWISH STATE

And so on, ad infinitum, in the wonderfully peaceful and loving socialist manner we came to know so well in the last century.

Clearly, when all of humanity is at stake; when the socialist utopia is at-hand; lines must be drawn and the masses must be kept in their appropriate places in order to achieve social justice, peace, and universal brotherhood.