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Skip Imagine my surprise when I went to put Mieka outside this morning:
Yeah, snow. Middle of April. Temperature was 17 degrees when I got up and when I went to pick up the Youngest after work, the temp by the car’s thermometer was 30. Normal temps this time of year are supposed to be in the upper 50s.
Andrew Breitbart said that politics is downstream from culture – in other words, the culture changes the mores of the population which changes political leanings. We on the Right oft bemoan the capture of the educational system, the Hollywood movie / TV industry, the music industry, and the media in general, by the Left. One cannot help see the changes by people who are voting that seemingly vote contrary to our founding philosophies – and then find out that they have no idea of what those founding documents actually are. And we sit and think “well, that 250 years down the drain” and that the country is in decline.
Well, buckos, sometimes we are just too pessimistic a bunch at times. John Nolte at Big Government has 11 points for you to consider if you believe that “all is lost!” in this culture war (emphasis mine):
1. While judges are legalizing gay marriage, Christianity is making a major comeback in the free market of entertainment.
2. While pot is being legalized in a few states, the pro-abortion movement is on its heels in a majority of states and in opinion polls.
From a longer piece at The Federalist (go read the whole thing, emphasis here is mine):
…Americans, Madison argues, are natural republicans–republicans in their heads and in their hearts, determined to show the world that “self-government” is possible. The republican principle, as Madison defines it later in the essay, requires “a government which derives all its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of the people, and is administered by persons holding their offices during pleasure, for a limited period, or during good behavior.” That is to say, republican government is responsible to the people, from whom it ultimately “derives all its power” and to whom it must directly or indirectly give an account of its stewardship of those powers.
On this point, at least, there is no daylight between the positions of the 1960s-style liberal Robert Kennedy and the 1780s-style liberal James Madison. In both accounts, the people are primary; the government is secondary–a necessary help supporting self-governing citizens, in both the political and moral senses of the term.
Today, the Progressives leap from responsible government to
Clive Bundy may have prevailed over the weekend in his standoff with the Bureau of Land Management regarding his Nevada ranch and disputed ranch, but that’s just the first phase, according to Harry Reid. “Well, it’s not over. We can’t have an American people that violate the law and just walk away from it, so … Read more
John Hayward over at Hot Air has a piece that ties a bunch of things together – go read the entire thing (it’s not all that long). Here’s a few bon mots (emphasis mine):
…The Left doesn’t just craft political strategies to attract single female voters. Liberal policies create them. One of the most significant effects of left-wing social policy has been the decline of marriage. It takes a lot of statistical yoga to argue that the War on Poverty has done anything to “fix” poverty, but viewed as a trillion-dollar effort to dissolve traditional family structure, it’s a roaring success. Virtually everything the Left has done for decades is part of the war on wives.
Want to transform Society? Just have the Republican Party do what the Nevada Republicans have done – eliminate all references to “social issues“. Hey buds! This mean that you are going to cede the entirety of Society to the Dems? Are you that freaking stupid? Look back over the last 5 decades and keep in mind Andrew Breitbart’s fundamental understanding of Politics: “Politics is downstream of culture”. That is to say, society of that culture. Which the Dems have used their “social issues” policies to change the culture to change the politics. And you Republican Smartest People in the Room keep saying to knock off the icky Right to Life, marriage, and the like? Fundamental transformation right out from beneath your feet. Wave that white flag. Give up on the only path in which you can even hope to stay even? We’re already seeing the fruits of that already.
Note to the clueless – no “social issues“? Really? Has the Establishment Republican Party done all that magnificently on the FISCAL ISSUES so as to be able to ditch half the battlefield? If they had, would there have even been a need for the TEA Party uprising??? Sadly, no – why else do you think the phrases “Least Lackeys of the Welfare State” and “Jr. Partners of the Democrats” are floating around more and more? So, yer just gonna abandon the “abject failure to succeed on” issues to concentrate on the “merely stinking bad performance” ones?
Gosh, and I thought everyone knew that those late into a Ponzi scheme gets screwed! Demographics rule this world, and Progressive policies that have made it more and more expensive to have the larger families that easily supported the underpinnings of SS (i.e., lots of workers to support retired) will end up killing their own … Read more
To those who believe that courts are infallible, or that they are the final arbiter of laws, think again. Reference Plessy v. Ferguson, Dred Scott v. Sandford, and Roe v. Wade. Courts make mistakes – huge mistakes – all of which serve to underscore the fact that we are a Constitutional Republic, not a judicial oligarchy or a democracy. Recognizing the distinctions between, and the powers of government (and those reserved to the people) under, each of these 3 types of government, is critical to preserving freedom for future generations.
The daughter of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy wrote a letter explaining her dad’s refusal to follow BLM direction or federal court orders. After reading that letter, I trust her far beyond any government lawyer, agent, judge, bureaucrat or elected official – ANY. The Government and its attorneys have cheated and stolen much from many during the course of our history.
…because I know better that I’d end up in traction from picking up the dropped shells with my bad back. It IS a bit jaw dropping the first time. (H/T: The Blaze)
Working for DEC and for my present company, I’ve flown a lot of miles in the Friendly Skies of United (close to 3/4 of a million). It got to the point that *I* could have given the safety speech that is given before the plane leaves terra firma. For the most part, it was the … Read more
“Respecting the dignity of a human being is giving that person the freedom to choose”
If God loved us enough to give us free will, then why do Progressives
Putin has attacked Ukraine and making mad eyes at the Baltic (Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia) in an attempt to reassemble the old Soviet Union. China is making land demands on Japan and the Philippines. Kim Jong Un is still playing with nuclear fire, and the Iranian Mullahs have thoughts of hegemony in the Middle East. Iraq is in turmoil, Turkey is going Islamist, the European is both going broke (a bad thing) and starting to have its own TEA Party movement (ok, a GREAT thing – but not for Obama), Al Queada is uprising in the failed states of Somalia and Yemen, and the Taliban is just tapping its foot in Afghanistan in waiting out Obama’s “end of the good war” deadline even as they are tapping out the competition in Pakistan. And let’s not forget the failing state to our south, Mexico, where no one seems to know who is in charge – the Federales, the drug lords, or the under siege citizens.
And with all of these major rolling catastrophes, the Obama Administration, in full Nanny mode, thinks this is worth of UN action?
After all, taxes just shovels money from one set of folks to a different set of folks. And Saul Alinsky was all about, in “hiding” Socialism, moving the stuff from the Haves to the Have Nots. The purpose was always to obtain the power to make that happen. Kinda looks, with the premier Alinskyite devotee in the highest place and a cadre of Socialists (aka Progressives) running Congress, they hit the jackpot:
(H/T: Powerline)
He makes me think. Ever since he “burst” onto the scene with his testimony at the NH House on HB 1589 and spoke at a 223 rally, he has become a popular speaker. He challenges your assertions and your point of view in such an easy going, laid back style (a not just a wee … Read more
Two graphics that pretty much shows Obama’s view of religion: that is must be subservient to The State. It certainly looks like this to me:
Why? I think this is sufficient:
Sorry, but putting up with Bill’s philandering doesn’t make one a Presidential quality candidate. Either does being an activist First Lady. Haven’t heard of her singular accomplishments as a US Senator after she just “dropped into” New York either (although I have heard she was a hard worker – but I couldn’t tell you what … Read more
Update: pic of an impromptu rally just came in from Jerry – after the jump
Jerry Delemus went out to Nevada to stand with Cliven Bundy in confrontation with the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) over grazing land and rights for his cattle. As I wrote here, he went out and got about an hour’s sleep Saturday night (but much more last nite). He’s been “assigned” to a group of 25 to 35 others within the “unorganized militia” that is responsible for, in part, in protecting the ranch’s security and protection of the property.
He confirmed the reports that I had seen in the blogosphere of 3 – 5,000 civilians on the premises when he first arrived but that there were just a few hundred still left (still outnumbering the BLM). His report also confirmed that the BLM agents are very heavily armed, black SUVs, and a gaggle of helicopters patrolling the area. He said it was quite the scene to see what even a partial demonstration of “the full weight and might of the Federal Government” when they decide that lands they designate will be used ONLY for the purposes that they decide upon. However, the civilians standing the line are not without their own gear – most folks in full camo, desert equipment, comm gear, hand and long guns. While he is with an “unorganized militia” of folks that just showed up (“that’s ok, we had an “organization in a day” moment), more formal “irregular militias have shown up – MN, CA, TX, AZ, NV, NH and a whole lotta local folks and horse mounted cowboys.
I’m late in processing and posting these video – many apologies! Last Saturday, a new group in New Hampshire by the name of the III% (i., the 3%) held a rally at the State Capital Building in Concord, NH in support of the Connecticut Citizens Defense League’s rally defending the Second Amendment in CT (at which Grokster … Read more
Most of you heard about the rancher in Nevada, Cliven Bundy, that is in a battle with the BLM (Federal Bureau of Land Management) over land that his family has used for grazing since the 1880 and the BLM’s pushing out ranchers in Clark County to “protect the desert tortoises” that are on the protected list.
Sidenote: the BLM has admitted to euthanizing hundreds of those same “protected species” due to “budget cuts”
He believes he has the right to use that land, the BLM says no (the Federal Government actually owns most of the land in Nevada and claims to own that land as well). Things have escalated over the last week with between 3 – 5 thousand people reportedly streaming into the area to defend the Bundy ranch as the BLM brought in over 200 heavily armed agents, helicopters and snipers. Yesterday it was announced that an agreement was made and that the BLM left.
Er, not so much. Folks from NH have headed west to join the other protectors at the Bundy ranch, including Jerry Delemus. His wife Sue emailed me an update earlier today and it doesn’t seem that the Feds have pulled back:
