Things That Make You Go Hmmmmm.

This is the no kidding headline:

Castro: Far-Right Takes Over U.S. After Midterms

So, if Castro calls you Far Right, and the Democrats call you Far Right, does that mean they are at the same point on the continuum?

Barkus Justice?

Well, not really. As you may or may not be aware, Senator Barkus is going to plead guilty to one count of Criminal Endangerment and the dismissal of two counts of Felony Vehicular Assault.
This is one of the interesting examples where who you are matters when it comes to the administration of justice. Only not like you think. In this case we have a prominent Republican state Senator who was driving a boat that crashed into the rocks on the East shore of Flathead Lake, injuring our Rep. Denny Rehberg and others who were passengers. The fact that it is on the front page of the Daily Interlake is proof of the uniqueness of the prosecution at this level. Believe it or not, this was not the only boat accident resulting in injuries. In fact, it wasn't the only boat accident involving alcohol and injuries, but there it is, on the front page. And the worst thing is, that the Senator may actually receive a higher crime and punishment than if it had been Joe Montanan, normal citizen.
I am not going to pretend that I know better than his attorney who has a good reputation, but I think I would have challenged the original charge, since it seems to contemplate more the victims being innocent bystanders, and not passengers, but I am seeing this being used more and more nonetheless.
The charge that he is pleading to, Criminal Endangerment, is also known as the "Prosecutor's Best Friend." The relevant portions of the statute are as follows::

A person who knowingly engages in conduct that creates a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury to another commits the offense of criminal endangerment.

MCA 45-5-207.
But I have a problem with this charge. First, "knowingly engaging in conduct." The prosecutors like to say that by driving drunk, you knowingly engage in the conduct. But Criminal Endangerment is unique in the knowing element because you have to deliberately engage in the conduct.
As a clarification, I will use Justice Nelson's explanation of the law. Three men stand in a field, One aims north and fires a gun into an open field. The second fires into a grove of trees, but he doesn't know that there is a house there, and the third fires at a group of houses. All three men engaged in the same knowing conduct - Firing a gun, but only the third man engaged in conduct that he knowingly created a substantial risk of serious injury or death. The second shooter did not know there was a house, and that is more akin to Barkus' condition than the third shooter.
For if you want to believe that Barkus does meet the standard for Criminal Endangerment, you have to believe that Barkus was trying to kill himself as well. For how could he predict that anyone, least of all him have escaped harm if that was his intent. No, his better charge was the misdemeanor of Negligent Endangerment which only requires that you acted Negligently, not knowingly. But because he is a celebrity of sorts, and the Left is out for scalps, they will get his.
Which is too bad, and just another example of the wrongful application of justice.

It's Fun to be a Victim!

Don't you want to be a victim too? After all, if it's not your fault, why should you be held responsible for changing? And the legacy of the statists is to make sure that everyone can be a victim. Of course we have to have some oppressor, so we will use the evil bastards known simply as the "rich." This is so much fun, because probably only five people in this country would say that they are rich. But if you are making $20k a year, someone making $40k a year has to be rich. And if you are making $40k, then someone making $80k definitely is rich. Unless you are making that amount, in which case those making $125k are rich, and so it repeats itself ad nauseum. But each person at the level of being "rich" as considered by someone else does not consider themselves to be rich.
During Obama's campaign, we learned that the rich are those making $250k a year. A nice neat definition, but why are they the ones who have to be rich? Why not the ones making $125k or those making $500k? It is an arbitrary and capricious number designed to inflame the masses who make less than that, more than a statement of policy.
I bring this up because the site Left in the West is being restored at least as some level by Rob Kailey of Wulfgar fame, and a commenter JC said the following about the loss of the middle class,

Put that story together with a few others:

* the Chamber of Commerce's promotion of offshoring;
* the rise of China to soon become the world's leading economy, and growing military might to match;
* the Deficit Commission's proposal to raise the retirement age, which will result in middle and low income workers having to work longer, in essence paying for the retirement of healthier and richer persons (reports show that the richest americans live on average 5-7 years longer than the unrich once they reach 65);
* the widening disparity in income between the rich and middle/lower classes;
* the different treatment the rich and powerful politicos get (Bernie Madoff excepted) vs. the unrich and minorities get in our criminal justice system;
* the rise of corporate personhood to a level commensurate with the flesh and blooded citizens and their right to free speech;
* the rise of corporate personhood in the guise of "defense contractors" as our country turns to mercenary corporations to fight out wars and clean up our messes when (Halliburton/Xe et al.) the military is unwilling/unable/unready to do so--the forewarnings of the coming of the "military-industrial complex" have been realized;
* the triumphs of ideology and religion over science;
* and among all this gathering doom, defense spending is on a rocket course upwards, ever building more bases, and expanding our empire;
* ad nauseum...

It truly is twilight in america. And when the fireworks come out, I will be watching them from afar...

The dire warnings of this dark image are sure to make us leap to action and call for - More government! After all, the problem is always going to be solved by government. The Chamber of Commerce promoting "Off shoring"? Well, let's raise the corporate tax rates here at home, and tax their overseas earnings as well. That will certainly keep those corporations at home.
The Deficit Commissions proposal to raise the retirement age comment is concerning to me, because it looks like this person is advocating privatization of Social Security. After all, if it was privatized, the individual contributor would be able to pass on their accumulated savings to their offspring, instead of having them roll over to fund the wealthy who live longer. I am not sure why this comment is here except to make people feel more helpless than they already do.
The widening disparity between the rich and lower classes is going to be helped how? Apparently by government intervention which will only serve to lock in everyone at their station and keep them from advancing. Again, I am curious as to why JC is advocating this system. Could it be that she doesn't want to be bothered by anyone who may become noveau riche?
The rest of her diatribe also seems to be one giant non sequiter. Except for the underlying theme that all of this would just be fine if only the government took over our lives. My favorite is how she fails to capitalize "america" as she talks about the upcoming fireworks.
I feel sorry for someone so young who is so sad about her future. Maybe she needs to go join a Young Americans for Freedom convention and get some hope that by working hard and taking risks, you can avoid be confined to a set spot on the economic continuum.
On the other hand, I kind of get the feeling that she enjoys her misery.

What is it With the Left and Free Speech?

I am noticing a disturbing pattern among the Left when it comes to Free Speech. What started this process was Ken Thornton at Electric City Weblog who said

My standard is the old fairness in broadcasting standard. All the mainstream media did fine and democracy did well under that. About 1988 was the death of that standard and the death of our democracy. Its death ushered in Right wing radio and Fox News and the false reality they create. The truth suffers and so does our democracy.

(Emphasis added)
The false reality is an interesting approach. Do those on the Left believe that anyone who watches Fox News thinks up is down and vice versa? Are the colors all reversed in their imagination of what those who watch would have?
Ahh, but Fox makes errors, there is no doubt of that. And if that were the standard there would not be a CBS News. Although to be fair, they did end up describing it as "Fake but accurate." And don't even get me started about the New York Times. The paper of record is becoming almost half the paper of corrections. And MSNBC? Their journalistic bona fides are best demonstrated here:
But it goes beyond just which news the Left is going to validate as being "accurate." Senator Bernie Sanders, (Insane, VT) wants to tell people who can own media outlets. This is a repeat of the canard that all news is philosophically conservative because it comes from corporations. This amusing logical fallacy has been refuted so many times, I won't waste your time here.
This is all part of the reaction of Citizens United decision and the removal of restrictions on corporate speech.Ironically, Democrats who keep tinkering with the corporate tax code, and as a result are driving business overseas, now don't want to hear from those same businesses when they are considering said legislation. The Left would be fine to allow unions free speech, but they demonstrate their ignorance when they think unions can exist without businesses.
The absolute lack of understanding that political speech cannot be regulated betrays the concerns that those of the Left are less likely to hold the Constitution in the honor it deserves. These are the same people who claim to protect constitutional rights. But it appears only those rights of abortion. All others are subject to suppression.

Leverage

Senator elect Manchin of West Virginia is being courted by the Republicans in the hopes that he will flip from Democrat to their side. The brilliant thing about this strategy is who is not playing.
While Manchin would probably fit in more with the Republican caucus than the Democrat one, it is still potentially viable. But if you are Manchin, think about what the message conveys - I am much more valuable than any other freshman senator. Harry Reid will be forced to offer some choice committees and support for Manchin's project for a plant that converts coal to diesel.
The Republicans in the meantime, can offer anything, because they won't have the necessary bodies to make a majority even with Manchin. Everynone wins, except for Harry Reid.

What Does it Require to Give it a Rest?

The Left is always fascinated by a poll that shows some people thinking that Obama is a Muslim. They usually conflate the ones who think he is a Muslim with those who say they don't know, just to jack up the numbers. They also do it as a vehicle to declare that anyone who thinks so must be a racist. Now, let's just put that to rest. Anyone who thinks that believing Obama is a Mulsim must also automatically be a racist, are in fact racists themselves and aren't worth answering.
But the resurfacing of rumors would only further inflame the racists who are looking for any excuse to deflect the blame from the Obama administration for their failures. It serves no purpose but to distract.
Myself, I have been in Catholic churches for services, and that doesn't make me Catholic. I have been to a fundamentalist church that actually brought out snakes and started talking in tongues. I left before the service got carried away, but that doesn't mean that I believe in that variant of religion either. Can we give old Barry a rest on this subject?
Please?

Because They Won

Shortly after he was inaugurated, President Obama told the minority Republicans that he wasn't really interested in their suggestions about tax policy because as he said "I won." Well guess what? Karma has a real sense of humor.
Because of the lack of interest by the last Congress, the first step for the new one is going to be to complete the authorization bills for the 2011 fiscal year. The easy thing would be to pass a sort of continuing resolution that covers the remaining 10 months. But what if the new Republican House decided instead to do an across the board 10% cut? Just say to all of the departments that you have the same budget as last year, just 10% less, and deal with it because we have to start work on the 2012 budget.
Of course there would be a hue and cry and reminders of the government shutdown of 1995, but this time it would be different. First, it's not the whole Congress against the White House, it's just the House. But the play of it is that the American people want government spending brought under control and they are going to do it. If the Senate fails to pass it (and because it is a budget bill filibusters don't apply) the Republicans can blame the Democrats in the Senate who didn't get the memo from last week's election. On the other hand, if the Senate passes it and Obama vetoes it, simply point out how the Republicans are busy doing the job of providing for appropriations for next year, and they will get to the President's veto when they can.
The Republicans House will also have to pass a repeal of ObamaCare, but I think it is better if they wait on doing that until February or March of 2012. They will reinvigorate the base, and set the Democrats the unenviable task of defending anew the crappy piece of legislation.
For those of us who are fans of chaos and gridlock when it comes to the encroachment of our individual liberties, these are really good times.

Fearing the Government

When we were children, and even now with our children, they learmn that the police are your friend. That if you are lost or scared and can't find your mommy or daddy, you should go to a police officer and they will help you. And I am sure that most of the time that they do. But sometimes, officers who are not as professional as the old guys become far too much the cowboy, and rather than relying on the force of personality, they prefer the gun to settle things down. And it works, to a point.
Except if you want to have a friendly poker game at your house. Then, you better be prepared for a battering ram followed by gunfire.

A relatively routine raid of a low-stakes poker game in Greenville, South Carolina turned bloody yesterday night — as police tried to gain entry to a poker house. The game host, now known to be Aaron Awtry, 72, shot through the front door, striking sheriff’s deputy Matthew May with a bullet that went through his arm.

A vice squad in SWAT gear returned fire, hitting Awtry with multiple rounds in his arm and thumb … which was followed by a 20-minute standoff between cops and players, according to a spokesman for the Greenville County Sheriff’s Department. Both shooting victims were taken to the hospital where they are in stable condition.

There were 12 people and Awtry in the house at 502 Pine Knoll Drive when police arrived at about 9:20 pm last night. According to frontline witnesses, they had just finished a small buy-in dinnertime tourney … and a 1/2 cash game was just getting underway when someone saw 5-0 approaching on a security monitor. Before he could clearly vocalize an alert, a battery [sic] ram begin slamming the front door and players froze. Awtry, who players say has notoriously bad hearing in his senior years and presumably believed the game was being robbed, began shooting at the door with his pistol, firing “at least once” according to a player, “multiple shots” according to police. At least four officers returned fire at the door with at least 20 bullets from their higher-powered assault weapons.

As Awtry fell back into the poker room entryway, he balked, “Why didn’t you tell me it was the cops?”

But that was South Carolina, and we know that they are all crazy there. It wouldn't happen in Montana.
Except. Now I am relating this from hearsay of people who were there, so I can't vouch for the accuracy of anyone other than the people who told me are very reliable. Apparently, one of the legal assistants of the Office of the Public Defender in Kalispell lived across the street from a house that a friend of hers owns but is letting her young son live there. The legal assistant got a call from the son, saying that the police were wanting to come into the house because they suspected an underage party. The kid told them that they had to get a warrant (smart kid), so they left. Apparently, they didn't have enough information for a warrant, because unknown til later, the officers came back to the house, crossed onto private property in order to look into the windows of the house where they saw a young girl asleep on the bed in a bedroom. Naturally, the officers thought that she must be drunk. Now they had the information they needed to get a warrant (not really but this is Kalispell, where the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures doesn't apply).
The legal assistant had gone over at the request of the mother to see what was going on, and yes, there was an underage party going on. The assistant called an attorney she works for and was on the phone when the cops started banging on the door again, saying that this time they had a warrant. The assistant was still talking to the attorney (who can run on at times) when the cops entered with guns drawn. Luckily none were so clumsy so as to trip and fire a warning shot through some drunk kid. A cop approached her and ordered her to hang up, which she was trying to do by ending the conversation. When she didn't hang up, the cop smacked it out of her hand, where it landed still transmitting to the lawyer the entire unjust entry and arrest. To make a long story short, the legal assistant was arrested and charged with obstructing justice.
She pled not guilty and had to go to trial, where the cops lied about hitting her, and the amateur hour judge allowed in so much extraneous bs it was a miracle that the jury reached the right conclusion and found her not guilty. Now, I am not saying that officers have to be placed in jeopardy when they are doing their jobs, but trespassing, lying to get a warrant, then lying in court are not going to be justified by "officer safety."
What it really does, is instill a distrust of law enforcement by the people who's rights they abuse, and their friends and family. And yes this is Kalispell, but I know that similar things have happened in Missoula and Hamilton. Don't think it hasn't happened in your town. Or maybe some night, someone could be smashing your door in and start shooting at you, and it will all be perfectly legal under "officer safety."

Making Every Vote Count

I was talking with a woman who works at Boulder where we keep all those with mental deficiencies, and she told me something shocking. Apparently, the staff there take advantage of the residents by telling them who to vote for. This is disturbing enough, but apparently, Boulder isn't the only place that happens.
So, if you want your vote to really count, go work or volunteer at a facility for the mentally handicapped. You could make your vote count over a hundred times more than it would otherwise.

I am sure that the Commissioner of Political Practices will get right on it. Snark.

One More Good Reason to Vote

Defeat the dominant paradigm.

The Price of a Man's Soul

Everyone has a price is a constant refrain, and I used to say that mine was $250,000 until I was given a cashier's check for that amount to bid on a sale on behalf of a client. Then I figured out that I would need a lot more than that if I was going to abandon my family friends and country forever.
I bring this up because Cynthia Yockey has an excellent discussion of stuff you know, but just never put together so well as she has. The Reader's Digest version is that conservatives are inherently optimistic. They believe that anyone can become president, just like Obama did, only we won't point out that he did. But conservatives as a rule do not believe in stultifying stratification of your economic condition.
Liberals on the other hand (and I really mean Leftists, but they stole the good name of liberals) are pessimistic.

The first fundamental idea of Leftism is that particular identity/grievance groups are members of a permanent underclass, which entitles them to pity and unearned privileges and money. This idea has been particularly attractive to black Americans and led to the Great Society welfare state, the destruction of marriage and the black family, the rise of race hucksterism and racial protection rackets and a holocaust of ambition, talent and genius in the black community because welfare rules punish these traits ruthlessly.

and secondly,

is that there is a privileged overclass who owe their pity and earned privileges and money to an ever-expanding list of identity/grievance groups in the permanent underclass.

Ms Yockey points out that the primary purpose of these beliefs is not to remedy the ills but power. The power to control others through the allocation or confiscation of wealth. They need the poor and repressed minorities for without them, the Left have no moral authority.
But the real cost of the Left's perfidy is that we now know the price of a person as determined by the government wage. At the present time if you are disabled you will receive the princely sum of $674 per month providing that you are disabled and unable to do ANY WORK at any place in the country. Six hundred seventy four dollars a month, and if you have too much in assets, you have to "spend them down" before you can draw the benefit.
The truly sad part of this inhuman trade in humanity is the government bureaucracy that would try at every turn to deny them benefits, and those pathetic people who actively seek out such a small pittance as a way to avoid work even though they aren't really disabled. The fact that the government would make a truly disabled person's life miserable by the delay and denials of their claims is justified by those pathetic people who would seek this benefit as a source of income for the rest of their lives is a testament to the failure of government sponsored largesse.

The Religion of Peace is Being Peaceful Again

Check it out.

A Man of No Consequence

No, Not Mark T. Though he would certainly qualify. No kids, today's answer is Barak Obama! That's right, the Leader of the Free World is going to meet with the host of American Idol and do an interview. What a stroke of genius! Think of all the untapped voters who can't be reached any other way.

Makes me start to long for the quiet competency of GW Bush.

Campaign Ads

Just saw the ad questioning McDonald's judgment because his client was Jimmy "The Weasel" Frattiano. Associating McDonald with his client is intended to wrongly portray McDonald's interests as the same as Frattiano's. This is unfair and should be stopped. Instead, the Republicans should just show the picture of McDonald with President Obama. Don't even have to say anything.
Now that would be a scary Halloween commercial.

Fighting Election Fraud

Democrats are getting very nervous and are starting to cheat. The best way to cheat is to allege voter intimidation in having them prove they are who they say they are. Although the Help America Vote Act actually does require proof of who you are in order to vote. But many people who want to exploit the dead, the elderly or the invalid by using their votes are fighting the requirement to provide proof. They claim that it unfairly burdens the poor who do not have identification.
Okay, then let's do this - Instead of requiring photo ID for those who don't have it, let's take their picture at the polling place with their name prominently displayed. Afterwards, we can go back and verify that they are who they say they are, and if they are not, post their picture in every precinct in the state to show who has committed a felony. And if they are found, sentence them to a minimum of seven years in prison with no parole so that they have to miss a few more elections that they won't be able to defraud.

Astroturfing on Display

The Tea Party is often accused of being "Astroturf" in that their accusers don't accept that people can be upset with the way Democrats are trying to ruin the country.  As a response, the Daly show and Comedy Central have decided to hold a "Rally to Restore Sanity" as an antidote to Glenn Beck.  But because this is being manufactured by a commercial enterprise they are attempting to limit who can make a video recording.  It's true that you wouldn't be able to record the show with your own camera while sitting in the audience and then sell it outside, but this is being held on the National Mall.

Maybe there is something to this whole corporate profits over getting the message out.

"We were just people who didn't really know what we were doing."

The Wall Street Journal had donned its anthropology gear and rendered a report on the actual birth of the Tea Party.  It's an excellent read and very informative both for those of us who support their issues, and those who oppose it.  Mostly, it's an interesting tour through a spontaneous uprising that the elites couldn't predict, and still don't really understand.

Yeah, We Miss You

Apparently, after all the good that Obama has done for us over the last two years, more people think that GW Bush was a better president than Obama is now.  By a rate of 48-43% Bush is rated higher than the present incumbent. 

So much for the blame Bush strategy.  It will more likely result in people remembering that for them personally, times were better back then.

Predictions

At this late of a date, there is really not a lot of challenge in saying that the Republicans are going to take over the House, and will be within striking distance of the Senate. Watch for LIEberman (as his friends on the Left like to call him) and Ben Nelson to suddenly have tremendous influence if the Republicans are within two of 51 votes. Nelson in particular seems to be the best choice for a reverse Arlen Specter.
I will be sad to see Russ Feingold leave. Although I never really agreed with his positions, I have to give him credit for having integrity, and not just following the party line. Not so with Harry Reid, and I hope Barbara Boxer.
Locally, the only question on the ballot will be if McDonald actually breaks the 10% of the vote threshold. I am giving him a 50-50 chance.
I also think that the Tea Party candidates are going to do better than expected. Part of the problem with polling is guestimating who is going to turn out. For the most part, pollsters use historical analysis to predict who is going to show up and vote. Those analysis may not be valid this year. But even if Sharon Angle doesn't defeat Harry Reid or O'Donnel doesn't defeat Coons, the fact is that the Tea Party candidates are just version 1.0. Wait until 2012 and version 2.0 comes along. That version will completely rid the Republicans of the legacy failures like Murkowski, Bennett and Castle for example.
It won't be your Father's Republican Party after this election.

The Dog Food Sucks

There is a story told of a dog food company that was spending millions on advertising but couldn't increase sales. They fired companies left and right after trying out new campaigns and still the results stayed the same: no increase in sales.
Finally the company figured out it had to start from the beginning and understand why their advertising campaigns were failing. After extensive research, a memo finally explained the ineffectiveness of their efforts: The dogs didn't like the dog food.
Such is the situation for President Obama, where he has decided that the reason we don't like Obamacare is because the marketing hasn't worked. Memo to the President: The dog food sucks.