Betsey Markey and Other Traitors

It seems that all of the representatives who threw their weight behind the passage of Obamacare in the last few days are staring defeat square in the face. As one of the people who walked the halls of Congress on that week, trying desperately to communicate with my representative Betsey Markey to encourage her that my business would be wrecked by the economic uncertainty of the bill, I couldn't be happier. Had I not pleaded with her staff time and time again to let me impart the pleas I had personally; had I not visited her office three times in two days; had I not intreated her to save the jobs of the four or five people I had left working for me, I might be kinder, but I can't.

There is a difference between passing legislation and transforming a nation from one thing to another. I submit that when the representatives of the people gather and in contravention of public opinion seek to effectively destroy the nation as it exists and endeavor to replace it with something of another form, what else could it be called but treason? Where there was a moment when the impact and import of the legislation had not been known, it could be understandable that one might support a bill offered by one's political party, but when that legislation and the impact of it to society is known and still supported, there is no understanding.

Tea Parties: What More Do You Want?

It occurs to me that there is a prevalent assumption that the Tea Party Movement is a precarious force, as if it were subject to running out of steam at any moment. The thought is that the reforms that need to be made must be made in a hurry, before there is no longer a will to continue.

I wrote a post a while back called "I Have But One Life" I think, the gist of it was that I had dedicated my life to this pursuit, not to holding signs and attending rallies, but to rolling up my sleeves and staying involved until there is a recognition of Constitutional limitation of government and that the words in the document mean something. I am certainly not alone. I know of any number of 2nd Amendment groups, Western Rifle Shooters Association, Sipsey Street Irregulars and etc. There are Tea Parties, 9-12 groups and even some other groups called Block Parties scattered throughout the nation at this point. There is not a single county, I don't think, without a Tea Party, 9-12 or Block Party contingent. Yes, even in San Francisco.

Be The Burro

The Statist has dug deep into American society, offering payoffs to citizens for supporting the state-run programs designed to do everything unappealing to the American mind. It will take care of the poor, supply a retirement, check on our food to make sure it is fresh and healthy, it will do something about energy that has yet to be defined other than to regulate nuclear power plants, it will provide a police force and a military for our protection, it will regulate monopolies like power distribution and railway transportation.

It is reasonable to expect the government to do some of these things, but when we ask it to take over the responsibilities of the citizen, we sacrifice something valuable, not only our liberty, but our voice. These bureaucracies do not respond to us as a citizen. They play it all off by saying: "call your congressman." It is the routine response to legitimate complaints. We don't get to vote for bureaucrats, though they make up a huge portion of government spending. It does no good to complain about congressional pay and turn a blind eye to bureaucratic pay. One might as well rake their yard one leaf at a time to understand the futility of that complaint.

Vote Fraud is Murder, Not A Minor Glitch

Liberty has always been a very delicate thing. The freedom to do good is the freedom to do evil. Where one might take the blessing of liberty and enjoy a walk through the woods, another might sit at a desk and design the shackles of society. The defense of liberty could serve to ensure its demise. This is the cause of the vigilant defense, to withstand the shackles and evil design.

A vote is more than a mark on a piece of paper. It is the honored voice of the people, the last tool available to the oppressed. It is the loud, clear voice singing the song of freedom. Only a statist would devise a method of muting that voice, of silencing the cry of a struggling soul.

My Article in American Thinker

Yes, another one. Read it. That was a suggestion, not a command.

When The Knock Comes To Your Door

My life has been spent, thus far, trying to figure out why everything I was told about America was a lie. It surely must have been true at one point, this idea of liberty. Yeah, I feel cheated, like I never got the chance to experience the America it was supposed to be. I had a small glimpse of it, I think, in the 1970's when we were all just teen-agers driving the country roads with music too loud and thoughts too muddled.

I ask myself if this weren't a glorified time in MY life, or whether it was as close as I will ever get to living without the hot breath of government on my neck. Okay, yes, we were breaking the law most of those times and once in a while a sheriff's deputy would catch us doing something stupid and illegal and berate us for it, like he was one of our dads. When they told us to "knock it off" most of us did. We learned right then the consequences of our actions as the deputy would list the things we could go to jail for and how long we would spend there.

The Short Leash and How To Yank It

If there is one thing everyone can agree on it is that we have been here before. The liberals have won the day, instituted, or tried to institute, socialist programs, usually involving some form of health care to the masses or other sympathetic giveaway to as many people as possible and putting off the coming bills until they are out of office. We have also elected, or tried to elect, good conservatives who were going to go to Washington D.C. and straighten things out. They were going to take our wishes and make them true. You betcha! So, why are we here, again? Because it doesn't work.

Elections are not the polite revolutions as they are suggested to be. That is just to placate the revolutionaries. In the end, we send a new bunch of representatives, senators and presidents to do what we want done. But, we don't even agree on what that is most of the time, so we are sending them first and foremost on a fool's errand for which we should not expect jewels.

My Story at American Thinker

The link is HERE.

Sudden Relevance of the Constitution

There was a time when the statists had the run of the government. No one thought about Constitutionality. That was an occupational hazard of a beat cop, or pornographers, or Ernesto Miranda. Aside from cops and criminals, who really cared about the Constitution? Liberals used it to break down important walls of discrimination, like getting women into locker rooms of professional athletes.

As far back as the Civil War, the Constitution had been seen as a barrier to the expedience of the moment. Lincoln had no Constitutional authority to wage war on the Southern states. There is a provision for admitting a state to the union, but nothing requiring the states to remain in the union, nor a means for forcing them to remain in the union. The South took its cue from the Declaration of Independence wherein it states:

That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Reporting With One Eye Open

There is an amazing tale unfolding before the nation. A true American underdog story of the little guy fighting back against a powerful, well-connected syndicate. It is worthy of comic book illustration, with a flag-draped everyman struggling against injustice to prevail. Yet, there is no one to tell this story. It lies there waiting to be picked up, dusted off and heralded throughout the land. Alas, this is the story of conservatives and unworthy of the press' time.

I'm not sure how the members of the mainstream media are capable of looking in the mirror, I don't think I could do it. I understand wanting to do good, to expose evil, to rectify long-past errors. I get the impetus for being a reporter and engaging in the media to right some wrong. For those for whom the media is just another means of self-aggrandizement and ego, well I don't expect those folks to be ashamed by very much at all. I don't care about them. But, for the seriously dedicated reporter who sees their job as rightfully getting the story straight, well everyone has a price and I guess the liberal agenda is theirs.

The Rudderless Ship of State

I try not to write posts on Barack Obama, there are so many who are better at it and I get to feeling like a bully picking on a nasty little brat. I don't like kicking a man while his teleprompter is down. However, something came out that strikes home for me, being involved in the oil industry my entire life and my father before me. It is only recently that I have broadened out to own my own water well drilling company servicing the nearly non-existent domestic water well industry.

During the BP oil spill I wrote several posts about the mismanagement of the Obama Administration and the lack of understanding of the "experts" he had sent down to the Gulf of Mexico. Now, American Thinker has a post out by Bruce Thompson that compares and contrasts the Obama response to the BP spill with President Pinera's response to the Chilean miner rescue.

With French Like That, Who Needs Enemies?

The French have only a few positive aspects to their history. Some would give Napoleon a "C" grade as the combination of an "A" for effort and an "F" for humility. Support of the American Revolution rates an "A" no matter how you look at it, but close on the heels of that are the protests going on right now.

The French are in the midst of trying to get a handle on their budget deficits by increasing the year at which one might retire from 60 to 62 years old. This is the sort of thing they send out to you on a postcard in America, a nation where getting screwed by the government barely rates a yawn in today's society. As they stand up for their right to lay around, the French seem determined to destroy the remainder of society on the way.

As Distant Muskets Near

Battle lines are being drawn in the sand. The echoes of muskets pop in the distance. Smoke fills the battlefield and rolls up the hillside. Images of a long-dead Civil War come to mind when looking at the new America. It is a stretch too far to imagine the sort of hand to hand combat of yesteryear. Not so remote, however, is the idea of lawyers piled into a courtroom where a judge decides the winners and losers. You don't think so? Ask Jan Brewer.

There is one undeniable truth to our situation: we have overspent. Whether it is the money that was supposed to be put away for the retirement of generations of Americans, or the lavish pension funds negotiated with civil authorities, the promised loot is gone. We'll have to deal with that, even if it comes down to a very civil, Civil War.

The Competition of Church and State

Christianity means different things to different people. Some see it as an oppressive force refusing them the lifestyle they choose. To others, it is almost as necessary as air. I don't wish to suggest that Christianity should be anything specific to anyone. That is not my role. I do, on Sundays, see a correlation between Christianity and society. Even in rabid atheism I see the effects of Christianity on our nation.

I just want to be clear about one thing: Christ is not religion. No one better illustrated this than Thomas Paine in The Age of Reason. Paine was a deist, not a Christian, and he knew his views would be reviled by those who discovered them, so he waited until he was under sentence of death in France before he wrote about his religious beliefs. To Paine's great chagrin, after he had written The Age of Reason and sent it off, his sentence of death was commuted and he was released. I'm not sure if that was to spite him, or not, but Paine died as he knew he would, with a Christian woman berating him for his beliefs on his death bed.

Liberals Are Not The Enemy...They're Just Wrong

There is a calm that comes over someone drowning when all of the thrashing and noise has not attracted a rescuer; when they acknowledge that their time has come; when they come to know the method of their death. One might breathe in the last of a few short breaths and sink beneath the watery horizon.

Death is not uncommon, I have seen a lot of it lately. Good men and women just doing their lives with the thought of providing for their families forefront in mind. In these fatalistic times there is a common understanding of the failed business, of the sacrifices made to follow a business model that did not account for an economic meltdown lasting two years at least, maybe four, maybe twenty. Those who have been claimed by death need not worry, they have done what was able to be done. Their families miss them, but would not want to bring them back into this morass.

It's Already War...Just Admit It

Just as America had been attacked for decades before 9-11, the American ethic has been under attack for longer than that. As with Islamic Jihad, we are slow to awaken, slow to react. We are victims of our own success. They call it laziness, I suppose, but it's really something different; it is something which inspires inaction in the face of injustice; it is a calm response to outrageous effrontery. This seeming indifference in the American citizen is actually a deep, almost religious regard for republican democracy.

The Press Channels Mary Shelley

In an interview with David Axelrod, Bob Schieffer had a Mary Shelley moment when he realized that all of the efforts the press had made to bring Barack Obama to power and to support his presidency with unlimited mulligans, had turned into a nightmare of historic proportions. Schieffer blinked with a sort of baffled incomprehension at Axelrod's accusation that the Chamber of Commerce had used foreign money to make campaign contributions, as if that would be the answer to the seeming Republican sweep on November 2nd.

Night Sweats of a Small Businessman

For the umpteenth time this year I find myself in the middle of the night sweating out yet another payroll. The persistent numbers tallied on each side don't work. If I pay myself I can't pay rent. If I pay the supplier I can't pay the taxes. If I pay the accountant, I can't pay the utilities. On and on it goes and it didn't used to be this way. My business is related to the construction industry and we've seen an 80% decrease in revenue while getting stuck with bills and loans and even advertising geared to the previous income.

President Finds Foreign Cash...Spends It On Stimulus!

Our beloved president is concerned about foreign cash coming into the country, influencing decisions. He is worried that some of that money might be coming in from unknown sources. The concerns are founded in a strong nationalistic streak for which the president is well known. President Obama's nature has long been to stand firmly on the continent with an out-thrust jaw of pride when it comes to America. Is it any wonder he is largely concerned with anything which might compromise the power and prestige of the United States?

I mean, if this is what you think, then his point of view is clear. However, if you think that Barack Obama might have some ulterior motive to his suggestions, his outrage, then you might be closer to the truth than the previous paragraph.

Eavesdropping On The Future

As long as Americans can be left in a sort of fuzzy haze of work and bills and children, they are easily herded into any blind alley. The curse of Americanism is the very goal for which it would seem to strive: leisure. What is the purpose of all the hard work; of raising children to be competent self-directors; of saving money on which to live? The purpose would be to finally obtain the leisure promised to everyone since the advent of Social Security.

What Is A Glove Without A Hand?

Prompted by a comment left by Concerned American over at Western Rifle Shooters, I realized that the hand does not recognize that it has a glove and vice-versa. Without being too cryptic, it had never occurred to me that one half, or even one third of the ultimate tools required to survive the onslaught of socialism and indeed, if not communism, then some other form of totalitarianism coming down the tracks, might not be aware of the others.

Laws Expertly Crafted...A Lost Art

Doctor Zero had this to say today in his post The Failed State:

"When Congress does pass bills, they are shapeless masses of legislative lard, packed with billions in hidden earmarks.  Reasonable-sounding bills turn out to be stuffed with wealth transfers to the constituents of powerful representatives, and massive hidden changes to the social contract." 

And, that reminded me of a concept I had originally broached in The Constitutionalist in which I posited that:

"There should always be a minimum of laws expertly crafted to provide the greatest degree of liberty to the people." The Constitutionalist: Rights To Die For, p. 29

Three Things the New Congress MUST Do To Satisfy The Tea Party

This is a proposal, an offer, both to the various Tea Party and 9-12 groups throughout the nation and to the upcoming congress full of Republicans, Tea Party backed candidates and Libertarians or Independents. This is a trial balloon to see how much support the concept would have across the nation.

When Michelle Bachmann formed the Tea Party Coalition in the U.S. House of Representatives she effectively legitimized the Tea Party Movement and gave a future home to those members of the House who would soon join her and, with a common understanding of purpose, begin to fulfill the agenda toward a more Constitutionally oriented republic.

The Colossal Ass of Colorado

As most know, who follow these posts on Washington Rebel, or at my own blog Tea Party News, I am a dedicated Tea Party Activist. I work closely with groups to inspire and educate them on the issues. I am a supporter of a lot of Tea Party candidates, even if they don't seem acceptable to the mainstream Republican elite. Actually, especially if they don't seem acceptable to those folks.

The Myth of Retirement

There is the liberal response to the vile sight of a Tea Partyist that requires them to accuse the guilty of being a hypocrite. The insinuation is that since a minority of Tea Partyists are elderly (probably WWII vets) and receive Social Security checks that they have no right to criticize the government from which they draw the funds. This is a favorite tactic, but it is nothing more than that. It is an echo of something they heard at a union meeting, or through their friends in the media.  It carries no weight.

Corporate State...'Til The Loot Runs Out

Coyote Blog ran a piece on Life in the Corporate State claiming: A European-style corporate state is typically ruled by a troika of large favored corporations, industrial and public employee unions, and long-time political insiders. Most definitely excluded from power are consumers, entrepreneurs, small businesses, younger workers without seniority, and taxpayers.

The gist is that Obama is constructing a Corporate State rather than a socialist state. That might be splittin' hairs a little, but I'll accept the premise.

Waiting For Beirut

We've come a long way from the founding of the nation where the main understanding of a government's purpose was to enable the individual to pursue happiness (success). To do that, there needed to be strong local and state governments responsive to the people and a federal government responsive to the states, ensuring that no individual state had an advantage over another in terms of trade. The federal government would also limit itself and other governments from infringing on a few key rights of the people that would make the first object possible, i.e. happiness or success.

When A Free Lunch Just Ain't Enough

What does it take to get a union thug, a communist, or a socialist out to a rally? Is a free bus ride enough? Is a free T-shirt? A free lunch? What if we threw all three in? Still not enough? Dang! What on earth will it take to get these people out to a rally? How about threats? Ostracization? An appeal to pride? What on earth would it take to get Obama's minions to visit the nation's capitol? Nearly a trillion dollars was spent on the stimulus bill to save their jobs, all of them, to pay off their benefactors in the green movement and in government bureaucracies and still they can only manage a paltry 40-50,000 people? Damn ingrates!

Where Horrible Things Are Kept

At the heart of every healthy society is a thing for which they will fight. That thing is different at different times. It doesn't matter if the object of their resistance is a golden calf, or an ideal as abstract as justice. The fact that the people are of the same mind about a given precious object is all that is necessary, it is the glue that holds it together.

At the heart of every sick society is an empty page onto which history might be written. These are societies that have given up the value of heritage. They seek acceptance, peace, cooperation and ease. They seek survival over all other considerations and, ironically, that makes them less likely to survive; they are left without a rallying cry; they have no consensus on what should spark reaction; they do not agree on the moment that a response is warranted and righteous. Subsequently, they trade action for debate.

Astroturf Rally Comparison Photos

8/28


The part the media won't show you is the 10/2 rally that stops way before the road between the World War II Memorial and the Washington Monument. This is looking FROM the WWII Memorial back toward the Washington Monument.

Another angle from the Washington Monument.

The best I can get from 10/2 is this:

A lot of green back by the WWII Memorial and all green up to the Washington Monument. I guess a Trillion Dollars doesn't buy what it used to!

These jokers remind me of a quote by Virgil Caine of Washington Rebel: These aren’t Americans. They are hollow caricatures of men. How glorious not to be amongst them. Heads held low, grubby little hands out, shoulders rounded…..pitiful little creatures.

Even more telling is this video:

Check this out from a commenter, Shrini, if legit and he says it is, this is incredible.

Then, check out how the different groups take care of their mess when they're done over at
Green Mountain Homesteading!

Cross-posted at WASHINGTON REBEL.

Where To Move The Goalpost?

It's hard for those absorbed by Dancing with the Stars to understand the forces in action in America, today. We have soldiers overseas subjecting themselves to danger and their adversaries to destruction, while at home the adversaries have the advantage. Bound by political correctness and an unwillingness to express honesty for fear of societal ostracization, even the brave, the fighters, turn away. They know the truth, that's enough for now.

A Present of Comaradarie

Thanks to Pete at Western Rifle Shooters and Concerned American and Dutchman at Sipsey Street Irregulars, I have experienced a great deal of hits on the old blog. That is a kindness missing in society a lot today where most people just want to know what's in it for them.

I thought, since the hits are still coming, that I might share with the readers of these important blogs a chapter from The Constitutionalist: Rights To Die For that they might all appreciate. I wrote this some time ago, back in February and it seems appropriate here.

CHAPTER ONE----The Constitutionalist: Rights To Die For

To most, the words herein will sound arrogant and hostile. The message in this booklet is not intended for every American. It is a call to those who understand that freedom is not free; to those who recognize a responsibility to the generations to come; to those who realize that the future of the nation is in their hands and it has fallen to them to secure it for posterity. Let the others turn away. Let the abettors to the crime laugh and sneer at the words here set down, for they are the ones who, out of fear, have allowed the nation to fall into this condition. They fear being ridiculed by the intelligentsia and allow the abuses to continue. They fear the mob as an excuse to avoid action. These are the people who, afraid to risk their reputation for rational thought, avoid rational conclusions. They seek some middle ground where they risk nothing and others do their chores. They have fallen for the ruse of the government that intimates that any claim to Constitutional protection sounds juvenile and ignorant. What a wonderful way to avoid the issue of Constitutionality! Let them make accusations and allow violent action to be taken against the Constitution. They understand neither the price of liberty, nor justice and value neither.