Monthly Archives: November 2011
Karl Marx has indigestion; Cuba has just announced the imposition of private property rights and a citizen’s right to sell and buy real estate.
Fidel and Raul Castro have maintained the most classical example of Marxism in the world for over 50 years: consequently, the Cuban people live in abject poverty under totalitarian rule, while their leaders enjoy their wealth, opulence, and outrageous personal economic portfolios so typical of iron fisted thugs ruling over a Socialist dystopia.
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Barack Obama said this about Muammar Gaddafi’s death:
For four decades, the Qaddafi regime ruled the Libyan people with an iron fist. Basic human rights were denied. Innocent civilians were detained, beaten and killed. And Libya’s wealth was squandered. The enormous potential of the Libyan people was held back, and terror was used as a political weapon.
The path to Gaddafi’s end has been a very strange one. Continue reading
After the Oakland Chamber of Commerce put out the word that businesses owners are now reluctant to hang around with the Occupy Oakland’s particularly violent and destructive exercise in “Occupy Everything free speech”, the city is now in full damage control mode, sending letters of apology out to the areas affected by the mob’s unruly rule, fueled by a city’s reluctance to enforce laws against the movement.
After a week of broken windows, fires in the street, graffiti… all compounding an already tough area for business appeal due to economic times… city officials are set to make the rounds to implore business owners to stay – hoping they can appease the skeptical 99% who are now wondering if their law abiding rights are second to the rights of non law abiding mobs.
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It’s quite humorous to watch the media spin the recent violence from the Oakland occupiers:
“Oakland Police Clash with Fringe Protesters.”
Fringe? I think not. Continue reading
Count Basie once said
“It’s the notes you don’t hear that matter.”
And for Barack Obama, it is the words you haven’t heard that matter. Continue reading
Om was a flint striker; actually, he was considered by many to be the best flint striker in the world. It was a much smaller world a thousand years ago, but his skills made him one of the richest men in the known world.
Traders, warriors, and hunters came to trade for his precious articles made of flint. He had never traveled far from the quarry he was born in; since the quarry contained the wealth of one of the richest kingdoms in the known world. If he left, a powerful man or chief might move in and be impossible to dislodge. It was true enough, he was said to be the greatest artisan in the world, but the skills needed to work flint and obsidian were not that difficult to acquire, he and his sons were just the best at those skills. No, he was content to stay in the quarry that had belonged to his ancestors for generations. Continue reading
Few have a problem with exercising our 1st Amendment rights for redress of grievances. Even when the ultimate cadre of misguided souls band together to work overtime to inflame law enforcement – such as the assault on Oakland police with bottles, rocks and firecrackers preceding all the riot ta..doo last week – in hopes of creating that coveted “Kent State” moment, most of us just grind our teeth, hold our noses when making our way thru the great unwashed to get to places of business, or sit back and wait it out.
But there is a dangerous precedent being created… not dissimilar to when a spoiled child screams for their candy, and a weary parent acquiesces just for a bit of quiet and peace, hoping they’ll outgrow such behavior. Unfortunately, just as the spoiled child learns that making those around him or her unpleasant enough generally results in getting your demands met, the same is happening with the OWS mobs of professional campers, truant college students, and unemployed grads. Needless to say, the OWS hasn’t found the limits of the nation’s patience yet… but they are determined to keep trying. Continue reading
I have a friend that has a Masters in Psychology. We usually confine our discussions to beer, softball, women, and beer. The man is a master of manipulation. I have seen him deflect arguments with such skill that the other person walks away in a cloud of befuddlement. Sometimes we discuss politics. I brought up the growing divide in our country and told him I have little hope that we will ever bridge it. He explained to me the nature of this divide and why we may never come together again as a nation. These are the five logical fallacies that prevent us from agreeing. Continue reading
As the American frontier was being settled, it was not uncommon for a man to be a jack of all trades and perhaps a master of none. Often a settler would have to clear his own land, build his house, hunt and grow his family’s food as well as provide protection of life and property. Frontiersmen (and their families) were, for the most part, self sufficient. That didn’t mean they were not part of a community that often provided support in times of need. Quite the contrary, but at the end of the day people understood that they were responsible for most of the things that needed to be done in their lives. Continue reading