- EverVigilant.net - "The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt." - John Philpot Curran
There is no question that American capitalism as we once knew it is dead. How did it happen? Russian blogger Mat Rodina provides an interesting perspective:
First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas then the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their "right" to choke down a McDonald's burger or a BurgerKing burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our "democracy". Pride blindeth the foolish.
Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different "branches and denominations" were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the "winning" side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the "winning" side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power. Even our Holy Orthodox churches are scandalously liberalized in America.
The final collapse has come with the election of Barrack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America's short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.
Why, the government is, of course! Just ask Daniel Hauser, who has been forced to undergo chemotherapy against his beliefs. Oh, and ask Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty. He just vetoed a bill that would allow terminally ill patients to use marijuana to alleviate pain.
Radley Balko disagrees, and he points out the glaring discrepancy:
The state of Minnesota is forcing Daniel Hauser into chemo because he isn't old enough to decide his own course of treatment, and because his parents' claimed moral opposition to chemotherapy is irrational. Yet at the same time, the state will forbid Hauser from smoking marijuana to offset the effects of said chemo because, despite research showing marijuana's clear benefits in that area, the state has a moral obligation to prevent people from smoking marijuana. Science should trump belief. Except when it doesn't.
What do you call a massive layoff of police officers? A good start. Maybe people will start buying more guns and actually take responsibility for defending themselves.
The sad fact is that cops have become little more than uniformed tax collectors. Most of the laws they enforce serve no other purpose than to fill the coffers of greedy bureaucrats. The primary function of your average police officer is to protect and serve the interests of the state, not the citizenry -- unless, of course, protection is defined as responding to a crime after it has already been committed.
Jerry Salcido, a trial and appellate lawyer and legal chair for the HomeSchool Association of California, nails it:
Thanks to the state, marriage is no longer a covenant between two people or between two people and God. No, marriage is a state classification, which connotes state-provided benefits or detriments. Marriage is married to the state imposed tax structure and the state created probate system, and in many instances marriage defines the powers of the state over the married individuals.
This unholy union between the state and marriage has transformed marriage from an inalienable or natural right in which government's only place was as protector of that right, to a civil right in which the state became the creator of the right. ...
... By transitioning away from a protector of rights to a provider of rights, the state has laid the groundwork for the problems that are so evident in the same sex marriage issue. If the government were to take its proper place as a protector of rights then a private union between a same sex couple which the couple calls "marriage" would be inconsequential to same sex marriage opponents, even though it may be morally repugnant to some and nonsensical to others. Likewise, refusal to recognize a private same sex union as "marriage" would be inconsequential to gays and lesbians, even though such refusal may personally offend the practitioners of same sex unions. In a free society any individual could "marry" whomever he wants by whatever procedure he desires, and the government's only role would be to make sure that in doing so he does not violate the natural rights of others. ...
... Until we divorce marriage from the state, the right to marry will never be protected and the problems associated with Proposition 8 will be repeated throughout the world. Both sides of the Proposition, therefore, should agree to truly protect their natural rights by removing the state from the equation. In the meantime the world will wait to see how California protects its interests in the Proposition 8 lawsuits.
If you thought Bush's detention of suspected terrorists made a mockery of the rule of law, you ain't seen nothin' yet:
All Obama groupies knew as well as anyone that this is exactly the kind of thing that would happen. It was evident when they were willing to look the other way even when their "savior" showed his true colors by supporting Bush's presidential snooping powers.
They never gave a damn about freedom or the Constitution, but they knew that if their guy won, they would be the ones calling the shots. The lust for power is a potent aphrodisiac, which explains why they went along with the whole charade of "change."
John V. Denson discusses the world-changing events that happened between January and June 1919: disastrous decisions that resulted in creating a platform for Hitler to rise in Germany, the Second World War, and beyond.
A cop "protects and serves" an innocent guy right into a concrete wall, leaving him in a coma. And does this agent of the state face assault charges? Of course not. Just another ordinary day in Police State, U.S.A.:
By the way, it's absolutely clear that the "fleeing suspect" in the video is barely jogging, and he is slowing to a stop before being brutally attacked.
And people still wonder why an innocent person might want to try to get away from these thugs.
Who can blame the government for wanting to get in on the action? Bloated federal bureaucracies like the EPA, NASA, FEMA, and even the Department of Defense have channels on YouTube.
Anyone who has ridden an escalator and bothered to pay attention has seen -- and likely ignored -- little signs suggesting riders hold the grimy handrail.
In Montreal's subway system, the friendly advice seems to have taken on the force of law, backed by a $100 fine.
Bela Kosoian, a 38-year-old mother of two, says when she didn't hold the handrail Wednesday she was cuffed, dragged into a small holding cell and fined.
It's nice to know ours isn't the only police state in North America.
The (unconstitutional and tyrannical) Food and Drug Administration is treating America's favorite breakfast cereal as a drug. Why? It seems General Mills has been making certain claims the FDA believes "indicate that Cheerios is intended for use in lowering cholesterol, and therefore in preventing, mitigating, and treating the disease hypercholesterolemia. Additionally, the claims indicate that Cheerios is intended for use in the treatment, mitigation, and prevention of coronary heart disease through, lowering total and 'bad' (LDL) cholesterol." Naturally, General Mills received a friendly letter that threatened legal action if the company didn't cease making such claims in compliance with the FDA's (unconstitutional and tyrannical) regulations.
What's next? DEA raids on kitchen pantries across America to make sure that middle-aged men who just got their cholesterol test results back aren't consuming Cheerios for the wrong reasons?
Better get used to the idea. The government is going to take care of you whether you like it or not.
A new generation of thugs is being trained for post-9/11 law enforcement. From the New York Times:
The Explorers program, a coeducational affiliate of the Boy Scouts of America that began 60 years ago, is training thousands of young people in skills used to confront terrorism, illegal immigration and escalating border violence -- an intense ratcheting up of one of the group's longtime missions to prepare youths for more traditional jobs as police officers and firefighters.
"This is about being a true-blooded American guy and girl," said A. J. Lowenthal, a sheriff's deputy here in Imperial County, whose life clock, he says, is set around the Explorers events he helps run. "It fits right in with the honor and bravery of the Boy Scouts."
The training, which leaders say is not intended to be applied outside the simulated Explorer setting, can involve chasing down illegal border crossers as well as more dangerous situations that include facing down terrorists and taking out "active shooters," like those who bring gunfire and death to college campuses. In a simulation here of a raid on a marijuana field, several Explorers were instructed on how to quiet an obstreperous lookout.
"Put him on his face and put a knee in his back," a Border Patrol agent explained. "I guarantee that he'll shut up."
The kids sure seem to have fun while they learn:
One participant, Felix Arce, 16, said he liked "the discipline of the program," which was something he said his life was lacking. "I want to be a lawyer, and this teaches you about how crimes are committed," he said.
Cathy Noriego, also 16, said she was attracted by the guns. The group uses compressed-air guns -- known as airsoft guns, which fire tiny plastic pellets -- in the training exercises, and sometimes they shoot real guns on a closed range.
"I like shooting them," Cathy said. "I like the sound they make. It gets me excited."
Those running the Explorer programs want kids as young as possible to get hooked:
The law enforcement posts are restricted to those ages 14 to 21 who have a C average, but there seems to be some wiggle room. "I will take them at 13 and a half," Deputy Lowenthal said. "I would rather take a kid than possibly lose a kid."
And people demonize tobacco companies for targeting youngsters?
Yes, 9/11 changed everything. Since that day government has continued to grow bigger, more expensive, and more intrusive. Case in point: the decision by the federal government to go ahead and build a permanent memorial to the 40 passengers and crew of United Flight 93 that crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. It isn't that this endeavor will end up costing close to $60 million; it's how the government is going about acquiring the 2,200 acres of land needed for the monument and park.
What's happening now seems to be the climax in a showdown between the owners of the property on which the plane crashed and those who want nothing to prevent the new memorial from opening on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. You may recall that memorial proponents were angered a couple of years ago when one of the property owners in question, Mike Svonavec, sought $10 million for his 273-acre plot of land. Not surprisingly, many saw this outrageous asking price as an insult to the memories of the heroes of Flight 93.
It was the relatives, however, who inflicted the ultimate insult...
This story from Portland, Oregon, is the perfect example of just how burdensome our "law and order" society has become:
A quadriplegic confined to a wheelchair got a $360 ticket for parking in a handicapped spot on Monday.
Gordon Pike said a volunteer enforcement team from Washington County confiscated his disabled placard after telling him the card was invalid.
Pike was hurt in Vietnam in 1969 and has been in a wheelchair ever since. He said he doesn't understand who the disabled parking spots are for if he doesn't qualify.
"(It) kind of wrecked my day," Pike said. "What are these spaces for? If they're not for me, who are they for, you know?" ...
... Sgt. Dave Marzilli of the Washington County Sheriff's Office said it appears that his enforcement volunteers did the right thing.
"Was It a valid citation? Yes," Marzilli said. "They checked through DMV and saw that permit matching that number was invalid and it was, so they issued a citation for it."
But Pike said it should've been obvious that he needed the parking spot. Plus, he still believes the disabled placard was valid. He said he wants the sheriff's office to take a closer look at who they use as volunteers he said they need to be more courteous.
OK, so no one was dragged from bed in the middle of the night and shot, but who says we have to let it get to that point before we start complaining?
I'm not sure how many of the American people realize that it was the attempted confiscation of the colonialists' cache of arms in Concord, Massachusetts, that started America's War for Independence. Yes, my friends, it was attempted gun confiscation that triggered (pun intended) the "shot heard 'round the world." And now it would appear that, once again, a central government is on the verge of trying to deny the American people their right to keep and bear arms.
I am told that as of 2004, 50% of the adults in the United States own one or more firearms, totaling some 270 million privately owned firearms nationwide. I would venture to say that the vast majority of these gun owners would find themselves matching the DHS profile of a potential "extremist." I wonder how many gun owners realize the way they are now being targeted by their government, and just how serious -- and how close -- the threat of gun confiscation has become?
Wisconsin's District 4 Court of Appeals ruled on Thursday that police can attach GPS tracking devices to cars and secretly track anyone's movements -- all without having to obtain a warrant.
"I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic..."
Oath-Keepers' Declaration of Orders We Will NOT Obey:
We will NOT obey orders to disarm the American people.
We will NOT obey orders to conduct warrantless searches of the American people
We will NOT obey orders to detain American citizens as unlawful enemy combatants or to subject them to military tribunal.
We will NOT obey orders to impose martial law or a state of emergency on a state.
We will NOT obey orders to invade and subjugate any state that asserts its sovereignty.
We will NOT obey any order to blockade American cities, thus turning them into giant concentration camps.
We will NOT obey any order to force American citizens into any form of detention camps under any pretext.
We will NOT obey orders to assist or support the use of any foreign troops on U.S. soil against the American people to keep the peace or to maintain control.
We will NOT obey any orders to confiscate the property of the American people, including food and other essential supplies.
We will NOT obey any orders which infringe on the right of the people to free speech, to peaceably assemble, and to petition their government for a redress of grievances.
Here's a little news story you won't see covered in the national mainstream press.
In College Park, Georgia, about 10 college students had gathered inside a friend's apartment for a birthday party when two masked gunmen burst through the door. They separated the men from the women and demanded wallets and cell phones.
One of the guests pulled a gun out of a backpack and fired at the thug guarding the men, who immediately bolted from the apartment. The armed student then ran to the room where the women were being held, shouted for them to get down, and proceeded to shoot and kill the other intruder.
The moral of the story: Guns don't save lives; people with guns save lives.
Mayor David Green of Duncanville, Texas, had City Councilman Paul Ford arrested for speaking out against the use of traffic cameras. (Full story here.)
Note the calm complacency of the other members present. It's interesting how we have all been conditioned to simply stay out of the way of cops who are "just doing their jobs," even when they are clearly in the wrong.
The "civilized" world has already caved to forced fluoridation. Now, some think it might be a good idea to start adding lithium to the mix. The Telegraph has the story:
Very low levels of lithium in drinking water may help prevent suicide in the general population, according to a new study.
The study has prompted calls for further research into the possibility of adding lithium to drinking supplies -- like water fluoridation to improve dental health.
Researchers at Oita University in Japan measured natural lithium levels in tap water in 18 communities in the surrounding region of southern Japan. ...
... Professor Allan Young, a Vancouver-based psychiatrist, has described the study as "intriguing".
Professor Young said: "A logical first step would be for the Medical Research Council to convene an expert working party to examine the available evidence and suggest further research.
"Large-scale trials involving the addition of lithium to drinking water supplies may then be feasible, although this would undoubtedly be subject to considerable debate. Following up on these findings will not be straightforward or inexpensive, but the eventual benefits for community mental health may be considerable."
While some substances like fluoride and lithium can occur naturally, what's added to our water supply is anything but natural. For example, the most common type of fluoride added to municipal drinking water is a hazardous industrial waste known as hydrofluorosilicic acid.
