originally published at The Minority Report

The President says companies are hiring — who would have laid off — because of stimulus bill

President Obama, Vice President Biden and a number of the administration’s top financial advisers did their best Tuesday to convince the American people that the massive government spending designed to stimulate the economy is — well, stimulating the economy.

Although the President acknowledged that unemployment remains higher than his predicted high, while many experts predict it will go even higher, and he admits that the federal government has only managed to get $44 billion of the record $787 billion stimulus bill into the hands of the public, he insists that the outlook is rosy.

“Now we’re in a position to really accelerate,” the President said.

Since the stimulus bill was signed in February the nation has experienced an additional 1.6 million jobs lost, while the administration calculates that their spending package has saved 150,000 jobs, far fewer than expected.

“At the time, our forecast seemed reasonable,” said Jared Bernstein, economic adviser to VP Biden. “Now, looking back, it was clearly too optimistic.”

At that time the administration predicted that unemployment would peak at about 8 percent and then decline. The unemployment rate now stands at 9.4 percent, the highest in 25 years, and all indications are that it will continue to rise.

“We’ve done more than ever, faster than ever, more responsibly than ever, to get the gears of the economy moving again,” the president said. “I’m not satisfied. We’ve got more work to do.”

Not all Americans agree with him. Dissatisfaction with his handling of the economy has risen from 30 percent in February to 42 percent by the end of May. House Minority Whip Eric Cantor was blunt in his criticism.

“This is President Obama’s economy, and his administration must provide results and specifics rather than vague descriptions of success that seem to change by the week. The administration looks dramatically out of touch as they highlight the creation of temporary summer employment in the face of job losses unseen in decades, record unemployment and massive deficits.”

For his part, the President has maintained that he is not responsible for an economy that he inherited from President George W Bush, and he is adamant that his policies will work.

“Now, I know that there’s some who, despite all evidence to the contrary, still don’t believe in the necessity and promise of this recovery act,” he challenged.

“And I would suggest to them that they talk to the companies who, because of this plan, scrapped the idea of laying off employees and, in fact, decided to hire employees. Tell that to the Americans who received that unexpected call saying, ‘Come back to work.’”

Perhaps the president might provide a list of those companies that that were prepared to lay off employees and then decided to hire instead. We know that he claimed that Caterpillar would be rehiring when he said this in February while selling the stimulus program.

“We’re surrounded by unmet needs and unfinished business — in our schools and in our schools and our roads, in the systems we employ to treat the sick, in the energy we use to power our homes. And that’s the core of my plan, putting people to work doing the work that America needs done.”

Contrary to the president’s word, Caterpillar instead laid additional workers off.

Yes, Mr President, please provide the American people will a list of all of those companies that have added jobs because of the stimulus bill — permanent jobs that is — non-government private sector jobs. This is a list that the American people would like to see.

While Entropy has slightly different meanings according to the field of science in which it is used, its general meaning is the degradation of a system toward chaos – the gradual loss of energy leading toward nothingness.

Cosmologists will tell you that at the instant of creation of our universe, at the very moment of the Big Bang – whether that bang was the result of random chance or the creation of an intelligence whose design is well beyond our own puny comprehension – Entropy was even then beginning its dark natural force of counteracting that creation.

As the universe expands, Entropy builds up a momentum of its own, slowing that expansion until hanging for a period of time in a balance, it begins to contract upon itself, leading the universe inexorably into chaos.

And so it also is with freedom.

At the very creation and founding of our nation, the seeds of Entropy were planted along side the seeds of Liberty, to grow by equal measure toward their own end. Even as freedom flourished in this nation – and spread as seed carried by the wind across the seas to other nations – so were the seeds of Entropy growing in government.

But the wisdom and depth of understanding of our founding fathers is breathtaking. Through the discussions and writings between them, and the care and precision of the documents they penned, it is clear that they feared from the moment of creation, the destruction of this country through the appetites of its own government. They recognized those seeds of Entropy and attempted in their crafting, to thwart their growth.

Thomas Jefferson, who would become the third President of the United States said, “When the people fear their government, it is tyranny. When the government fears the people, it is Liberty.” That side-by-side understanding of our founding fathers of the necessity and the tyranny of government is what propelled them to write one of the most remarkable documents in human history – our Constitution.

As Benjamin Franklin once stated, “Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” Our founding fathers, recognizing the necessity the Safety of government, were willing to trade a bit of Liberty in exchange. But in the crafting of the US Constitution, with its curbs on the powers of government, they attempted to cede as little essential Liberty as possible, while securing the least amount of Safety necessary to govern.

But Entropy is a force of nature – as is government a force of man. As Entropy began building from the moment of creation – so does government. As Entropy is the antithesis of creation – government is the antithesis of Freedom.

Taking those lessons of history, they attempted to fashion a government that derived its just powers from the consent of the governed. For the first time in human history – and the only government so installed to this day – the founding fathers recognized that rights are not derived from government but from God.

Ours is not the first Republic with which our founding fathers had to build the framework of their government. They had only to study the failures of the ancient Greeks and the Romans to realize the frailty of Freedom and Liberty in a society build by men. In the Declaration of Independence they wrote:

The lessons of history were not lost on those men. They saw that noble Republics in both Greece and Rome – governments for and by the people – had fallen prey to the voracious appetites of government toward tyranny – eventually devolving into prison states of despots.

And so, after trial and error with the Articles of Confederation, and much discussion as to the necessary role of government, the Constitution was created. With that remarkable document, “WE THE PEOPLE” became stewards of our government, not the other way around. The powers not enumerated as having been ceded to the federal government were understood to be held by the states or the people. The Constitution provided a framework from which to work – a framework to thwart the unbridled natural growth of government to tyranny.

But by little bits and pieces, even in the earliest years of our founding, the Entropy of government began to grow. The power of the federal government, at first frail and weak, began to build with each passing year – with the passage of laws that took tiny essential freedoms from the people, and gave those powers to the government.

And gradually, over time, the people became more and more dependent upon that government. Temporary safeties became permanent tyranny – and essential Liberties became but a memory.

As we watch our federal leviathan usurp more and more of our liberties and rights – providing not even a temporary safety – the American people are just now awakening as though from a deep and prolonged sleep. They ask themselves and those about them, “How did we come to this place? How did WE THE PEOPLE ever allow this to happen?”

The answer is Entropy – the gradual degradation of our system of government toward tyranny and chaos.

Many cosmologists will say that once Entropy succeeds in collapsing the universe back into the moment of nothingness in the moment before creation – creation will all begin again. A new Big Bang will once again ignite the universe – once again begin the creation of life.

What the Entropy of the American Republic look like is anyone’s guess. But as we learned the first time, creation is messy, and not for the faint of heart. As Benjamin Franklin once noted, “Rebellion against tyrants is obedience to God.”

Happy Memorial Day

Originally published at The Minority Report

Today, during his speech at the United States Naval Academy, President Obama spoke briefly about the Somali pirates who tangled with the United States Military last month while holding hostage the captain of the Maersk Alabama.

“I will not recount the full story of those five days in April. Much of it is already known. Some of it will never be known, and that’s how it should be. But here on this day at this institution, it must be said the extraordinary precision and professionalism displayed that day was made possible in no small measure by the training, the discipline, and the leadership skills that so many of those officers learned at the United States Naval Academy,” the president said.

Rush Limbaugh played the clip from the president’s remarks and quipped that he could foresee an epic Hollywood blockbuster released this winter, just in time for an Oscar Nomination.

While I agree with Rush that Hollywood will likely jump on the bandwagon, with a cinematic classic demonstrating that the actions of President Obama were a clear Profile in Courage — on a par with…oh hell, lets be honest — no action by any president has ever been so courageous. Even President Kennedy knew he had an ace in the hole when he faced down the Russians during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

But poetic license, not to mention political correctness, will dictate a few alterations to the basic story line, before this remarkable tale of presidential leadership can be presented to the American people.

In the first place, four teenage Somali pirates is a distraction, not a profile in courage. So in next winter’s Hollywood blockbuster, the hostage-takers will be increased in number, to fifteen, and will be portrayed as returning Iraqi War veterans who have suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome, and have formed a White Supremacist group in Montana — forming their own militia armed with automatic weapons obtained at a gun show.

Instead of the Maersk Alabama, a pirate attempt at high ransom, the hostage standoff will take place in a South Dakota bank near Northfield, Minnesota, which the group was attempting to rob, in order to fund their paramilitary, Neo-nazi activities.

In the climactic final scene, the president himself (Will Smith) operates a 25MM chain gun from the turret of an up-armored Humvee, personally mowing down at least half of the gang. Unfortunately, in the battle, the entire Northfield Elementary School 2nd grade class was killed by friendly fire. That class had the unfortunate distinction to be on a field trip to the bank at the time of the attempted robbery.

The cinematic classic, which actually takes us minute-by-minute through the entire five days of the standoff, detailing the president’s personal thoughts by the use of a narrator (Pee Wee Herman) offers us an all not rare enough glimpse into what the Obama White House wants us to perceive about the man.

The Producer and Director (Michael Moore) calls this the culmination of his life’s work — and promises the American public to continue making cheezy propa-mentaries, unless each and every American adult pays his $10 at the box office, and then buys the DVD for home use.

Originally posted at The Minority Report

Chris Matthews, who earned his impartial bonafides as an acolyte of anti-Vietnam War activist Eugene McCarthy, as a speech writer for President Jimmy Carter and as an aid to Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill, has attacked Conservatives as “anti-science” claiming, for all intents and purposes, that conservatives are ignorant hicks clinging to their guns and bibles.

To which, I can only say, “Chrissy, you ignorant slut!”

May I beg to differ with the king of tingly legs — the bard of partisan attack.

He attacked conservatives on three fronts: evolution, stem cell research, and global warming. His smug attack left no doubt that he felt himself on firm ground — after all, there is a consensus on all three subjects — a consensus reached by shouting down and ignoring any evidence that would throw into question the lack of evidence to support the theories.

Conservatives are not anti-science — we are anti pseudo-science! Whereas the internal combustion engine would have seemed as magic to a savage of the first century BC, so does the pseudo-science of global warming seem as magic to the savages of today. Except today, those ignorant savages are the ones in power, making decisions that affect the lives of every human on this planet. It is the Chris Matthews of this world, in their unquestioning awe and wonder of government intervention, that we need fear — not conservatives.

In his recent attack on Rep Mike Pence specifically and conservatives in general, Chrissy Matthews displayed his own ignorance of science — and the awe with which he holds pseudo-science.

Evolution

“Do you believe in evolution!” he demanded of Pence, in the manner of a prosecuting attorney questioning a hostile witness. Witlessly, Matthews equated the broad term “evolution” with science. My question for Matthews, should the subject ever come up again, would be, “What do you mean by ‘evolution,’ Chrissy?”

You see, there is a reason that it is called the “Theory of Evolution” Chrissy. The entire “theory” on which this pseudo-science is built is the work of Charles Darwin, a 19th century British naturalist. His book, “The Origin of Species” forms the basis of Evolutionary Theory as taught in schools today.

But that is the condensed version of his tome — that is used to prove this pseudo-science masquerading as science. The entire name of that book is “On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life.” A better title for today’s teachings would be ‘Natural Selection” instead of “Evolution.”

Because, while Darwin’s work does a wonderful job of showing how certain species’ survival is dependent upon natural selection, the conclusion drawn from that theory, that somehow mankind emerged from a primordial goo into homo erectus and eventually modern man is entirely without evidence. Evolutionist point at fossil evidence that show all sorts of semi-humanoid creatures — but the missing link still remains missing.

When Chrissy makes the outlandish claim that many Christians believe that fossil evidence has been planted by liberals to promote evolution — thereby discrediting any Christian thought on the pseudo-science claiming to be science — one can only ask the question, “Huh?”

Unless, of course, Chrissy was talking about the apparent missing link found near the English village of Piltdown in 1912. For more than five decades that discovery was held up as proof of the theory of the descent of man from the great apes, but was proven to be a hoax in the mid-1950s.

Now at the micro-evolutionary level — the actual subject of that Darwin book — survival of the fittest actually does have impact on species. The classic example, the peppered moth of industrialized England, demonstrated that as soot and other industrial pollutants darkened the air, the darker spotted moths seemed to better survive the bird population — then as air pollution came under control, the lighter colored moths appeared to return.

Embryonic Stem Cell Research

Chrissy’s second attack on conservatives was Embryonic Stem Cell Research. Of course, he didn’t call it that. In the manner so common of the left, he simply called conservatives anti-stem cell research. In this blurring of science and pseudo-science so common on the left, the issue is boiled down to religious bigots attempting to prevent Christopher Reeves from ever walking again. The left, in blurring Embryonic Stem Cell Research with Adult and Cord Blood Stem Cell Research is engaged in offering hype instead of hope to the American people.

Science, not pseudo-science promises great hope for research into life-saving adult stem cell cures. Embryonic stem cell research, however, while offering a wonderful political hammer with which the left beats the right, has proven itself to be nothing but a dead end.

Bone marrow transplants, the implanting of adult stem cells from one person to another, have become the staple in fighting Leukemia. I know of nobody on the right with religious or any other convictions against the use of adult stem cells and cord blood cells in the interest of science. But it is the left, for some reason known only to themselves, who seem bent upon the destruction of life as a means to advance science. Is Dr Mengele so removed from memory as all that?

Global warming

If pseudo-science needed a poster child, Al Gore and Anthropogenic Global Warming, would perfectly fit the bill. What minute evidence Evolution and Embryonic Stem Cell Research might be able to muster, AGW is the scientific equivalent of the red-headed step child.

In the AGW debate, — which is not allowed, by the way, in the name of scientific consensus — are we to accept the offerings of the handful of political hacks at the IPCC who put together the 40 page “analysis” of climate change, or the thousands scientists who contributed the actual research. many of whom refute the political conclusions drawn? Don’t take my word for it:

“The IPCC has actually become a closed circuit; it doesn’t listen to others. It doesn’t have open minds… I am really amazed that the Nobel Peace Prize has been given on scientifically incorrect conclusions by people who are not geologists.” — Indian geologist Dr. Arun D. Ahluwalia at Punjab University and a board member of the UN-supported International Year of the Planet.

When questioned about the questionable conclusions drawn, or the absolutely destructive cap-and-trade legislation proposed to ‘combat’ it, the answer from the left is “the debate is over — we have scientific consensus.”

I would venture to say, Chrissy, that your knowledge and understanding of AGW is on a par with your knowledge and understanding of embryonic stem cell research and the theory of evolution. Which is to say, you don’t understand pseudo-science, but it is that lack of understanding that convinces you that it must be correct.

Chrissy, that tingly feeling up your leg? It is your brain falling asleep — I suggest you stand up for a while!

Originally posted at The Minority Report

Originally posted at The Minority Report

We have been told that there are three major food groups in the political spectrum in this country; the liberal left, the conservative right and the largest group, the moderate middle. Repeatedly, in recent months we have been told that a failure to reach out to those moderates will leave the Republican Party and/or Conservatives a permanent minority. This is the rationale given for the Democrat-lite, watered down message the RNC and such stellar organizations as the RMSP have offered the American public in recent years.

Well, the results of those messages of moderation are hard to dispute. The results have been catastrophic – and still we are told, we must moderate even more. Moderates don’t win elections. Moderates merely win the approval of other moderates – and sometimes not even that. Moderate’s moderate John McCain could not even win the approval of uber-moderate Colin Powell as proof of that failure.

The three part premise is itself incorrect. There are not three camps in this country, but four. There are the committed leftists, which entirely encapsulates the Democratic Party. There are the committed Conservatives, who find themselves mostly identified with the Republican Party – even though that party does not wish to identify with them.

There are the moderates – centrists who are willing to weigh each decision around the proposal, “Why can’t we all just get along?”

But there is a fourth group, and that is the largest and most important group of all. That group is the Uninvolved. It is not the liberals or the conservatives who decide elections, and certainly not the moderates. It is the uninvolved who decide the outcome.

These are the American citizens who can tell you in great detail who was voted off the Survivor series this week, and why; and yet could not name today the congressman they voted for last November. The uninvolved knows pop culture, the latest rising star in Hollywood, who is sleeping with whom, and who is, according to the tabloids, seeking divorce. The uninvolved has made TMZ more popular than organized religion.

The uninvolved, as demonstrated by recent figures, no longer read newspapers or watch network news. What current events and political opinion they manage to assimilate comes mostly from popular culture, television sitcoms or Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart. They know that Dick Cheney was evil from bits and digs they heard on The View. In short, the uninvolved are ignorant, and perfectly happy to stay that way.

It is the uninvolved voter – because ignorance does not prevent them from going to the polls on Election Day and voting – that the right must court – not the moderate. The key to winning elections is to reach the uninvolved voter – to give the uninvolved voter a reason to vote for a conservative – rather than to try to court the flotsam and jetsam of moderation.

Last fall I had a co-worker tell me, “All that I know is that my 401k made money when Clinton was in office and lost money under Bush.” Little did he know the great profundity he uttered with that statement. Without realizing it, he was stating a great truth – a truth that runs throughout our society today.

That was, in fact, all that he knew!

Like most uninvolved Americans, he knew nothing about the Community Reinvestment Act, or congressional pressure on banks to make risky loans. He was completely unaware of massive campaign contributions to congressmen from those same financial institutions who were looting the system of hundreds of millions of dollars – while driving those same institutions into financial ruin.

Oh, to be sure, he was outraged when the Bush Administration gave billions to those financial institutions and then the executives took huge bonuses. That was news he could not possibly miss – and knowing the root causes was unnecessary.

Like most uninvolved Americans he was outraged last summer when gasoline prices reached $5/gallon, without any understanding or interest in what governmental and environmental policies caused it to happen. Like most uninvolved Americans he railed against the oil companies for “Windfall profits,” without any understanding of supply and demand as a factor.

Like most uninvolved Americans he knows nothing about economics. He is angry at seeing jobs lost overseas, but doesn’t understand why wages can’t continue to go up, even in a down economy. He doesn’t understand why the cost of education continues to go up, and the quality of education continues to go down – but he supports the NEA and its efforts to squash school of choice and voucher programs – because he does not want to see public money go to private schools. His parents had to make a sacrifice to send him to private school and he feels that others should have to do the same.

And finally, it is the uninvolved citizen who now finds himself upside down in his mortgage, surrounded by other homes that have either been abandoned to the bank or have been up for sale for months.

It is the uninvolved citizen who now sees auto companies filing for bankruptcy, and probably sees for the first time in his life, the very real prospect that he might soon be out of a job – with no prospect on the horizon of a recovery. It is the uninvolved citizen who looks at massive government spending giving away billions to banks that will not extend him credit to buy a car that he is no longer sure he can afford.

And it is the uninvolved citizen who, despite the best effort of the Oldstream Media, heard about a Tea Party in his area from a co-worker, and is beginning to question – again for the first time – the direction that this country is headed.

These are the people that we need to reach – that we need to recruit – in order to take back this country from the Social-Democrats who are currently running it. As Bill Ayers once famously said, “La educacion es revolucion!

It is time to educate the uninvolved and turn them into Conservatives.

Reprinted from The Minority Report

I was searching for an article that I did at Redstate a couple of years back — you know what has happened to the RS archives what with RS 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 and Russian Judge — so I was using Google “site: redstate.com/dahmich” which was the name I first used at Redstate, when I came across a reference to one of my articles at something called CubaMania.com

Well, someone had seen a humor piece that I had written –it was a throwaway piece that had simply slid down the diary list without comment or recommendation. It received NO notice at all. Except, apparently, by this CubaMania group.

The thing is, they took my post seriously, thinking it is a real news story. Now you tell me, does the following look like a real news story to you?

The comments in that forum are a riot. They were debating the question of whether the cardboard boxes would get too waterlogged, or whether styro-foam would be strong enough to hold a person –

And this one:

Perhaps there is a lesson here…don’t try this at home. And never leave home without your snark tag!

By Ima Tuele
of the New York TImes

Concern over preserving the Constitutional Rights of the lone Somali pirate not brutally murdered by the US Military in a hostage standoff that could most probably been resolved through negotiations instead of violence, has led the American Civil Liberties Union to airlift a bevy of Civil Rights Attorneys to the Gulf of Aden, in defense of freedom.

ACLU spokesperson Saul Alinsky told The Minority Report I have great concern anytime the military becomes involved in what is essentially a civilian matter. The alleged hijacking and abduction of the captain of the Maersk Alabama by a group of poor Somali fishermen, shows to just what lengths the US Military will go to cover up their misdeeds.”

The ACLU has learned that the Somali fishermen boarded the Merchant Marine vessel in an attempt to use the restroom, as such facilities are not often available in their country. “They were just trying to use the head,” the ACLU spokesman said.

Of particular concern to the ACLU was the report that the lone surviving Somali fisherman, identified as Mahmoud Hussein Abdul Saheed Skyhook, age 16, might be brought to the United State by the FBI for trial. The 15 top attorneys assigned to defend Skyhook, dubbed the “Dream of my fathers Team,” insist that he be granted all the rights of any other illegal alien who comes into this country. Accordingly, they have taken with them a forged Social Security card, Section 8 housing authority paperwork, voter registration forms, and the collected works of Michael Moore on DVD Region 2.

In addition, according to sources, if the pirate is only 16, as has been reported, the ACLU will demand that he be tried in Juvenile Family Court, providing him all the rights any other juvenile would be afforded.

“I certainly hope the Navy Seals properly read our client his Miranda rights,” said one attorney who spoke only on condition of anonymity, because he was not being paid to speak. “My client has every reason to expect that his rights be observed.”

Another concern of the ACLU attorneys was the question of illegal search and seizure. Although the lifeboat on which the Somali fisherman was captured belonged to the Maersk Alabama, the fact that the fisherman had been living on the boat for no less than five days provides evidence that he had made it his domicile, calling into question as to whether the Navy Seals could search the boat for alleged weapons and other incriminating evidence without obtaining a written search warrant from a judge.

“It is entirely possible that all evidence seized might be tainted, and need to be thrown out,” he told TMR. There was also some question, he said as to chain of evidence. “The alleged crime scene was not kept in a pristine condition…anyone could have had access to that boat and could have planted that bloody glove,” he claimed.

Reports that the Navy Seals might have been guilty of excessive use of force, as evidenced by the three head-shot alleged pirates, has caused Rep Jack Murtha to launch an investigation into the incident. “I’m certain that these murderers were forced by President Bush and Vice President Cheney into committing these senseless acts. I know that these boys are under a lot of strain, too much strain,” the doddering old fool exclaimed. Reminded that the President is now Barack Obama, Murtha was heard to mutter, “Whatever…”