tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85624365385974465582024-03-05T04:36:46.919-05:00Chris Sullivan"Train yourself to indifference about sources. Truth alone has a claim, and it has that claim wherever it appears."
Antonin Gilbert Sertillanges, O.P.Chris Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05779677734830280397noreply@blogger.comBlogger88125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8562436538597446558.post-27298710611823222972023-12-26T00:12:00.000-05:002023-12-26T00:12:09.613-05:00Auto Insurance RobberyFor the past couple of years, every time my auto insurance is due for renewal the price increases substantially even though I have never had a claim and the vehicles have not changed. The last time<div>I renewed I commented that the price had gone up a lot more than I expected. Another agent was within earshot and she said, "Yeah and it's going to keep going up. We have a lot of complaints about that."</div><div><br /></div><div>I am not for government regulation of private business, but when the insurance companies get mandatory insurance laws passed, they should not be able to charge whatever they want or exclude certain kinds of cars. There is talk - I don't know how accurate - of insurance companies refusing to insure internal combustion engine cars in the not too distant future. This creates a situation where insurance companies have veto power of what kind of vehicles are allowed. It has nothing to do with safety, but policy.</div><div>You shall drive an electric car or not drive at all since you have to have insurance to legally drive the car.</div><div><br /></div><div>It seems that the only solution, or the most obvious one is to return to "freedom of choice in insurance." If the "customer" is not required to purchase the service, the vendor will have to compete to gain the customer. If the insurance or lack thereof is the decision of the car owner the vendor can charge whatever they want. If the system is rigged so that everybody who wants to drive has to purchase a policy it should be regulated. This is not regulating a private entity since the company has colluded with government to require the purchase of its service.</div><div><br /></div><div>I can't see any other remedy for runaway price increases. It's either charge what you want in a free market or have set rates in a compulsory market.</div><div><br /></div><div>On a totally different note, I have thought for several years that government vehicles should all have to be painted in high-visibility colors over most of their external surface, excluding the roof. Government vehicles, whether owned by government or leased, borrowed, rented or otherwise acquired should be required to be painted a high-visibility color over 60% of its surface. This would prevent police from driving around in cars that border on unmarked. It would also make everybody aware of how many vehicles government has if staff cars that presently have no markings were blaze orange or safety yellow. It would also help to protect the chilllllldren by keeping them from not seeing the oncoming garbage truck. If it only saves one life....</div>Chris Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05779677734830280397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8562436538597446558.post-68845377686665646592023-08-31T19:20:00.000-04:002023-08-31T19:20:50.593-04:00The Panacea<p> <span style="font-family: helvetica;">A question I ask people periodically is, if they could change one thing to remedy the decline of society, what would it be? It can't be something like going back in time to alter things or summoning extraterrestrials like Klaatu and Gort to police society. It hast to be something that is theoretically possible no matter how unlikely or unworkable.</span></p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Some of the responses are things like term limits for politicians, elimination of the income tax, ending or enhancing the drug war, voter IDs, policing the borders, mandatory prison sentences, ending lifetime appointment of judges, legalizing drugs that are presently illegal, increasing the number of police, and so on. <br /><br />Think about this for a minute before you see my choice so as not to be prejudiced. Nobody has ever suggested the action that I would take. Once a condition has been around long enough to predate any living person in the society it is very hard to see that it is bad. <br /><br />If you suggest that democracy, plutocracy, dictatorship, monarchy, theocracy, diabolocracy, hagiocracy, aristocracy, a republic or any other type of government is bad, you will be met with defenders and the argument that “it's always been this way” or “what are you going to replace it with?” It's about like asking what you're going to replace incest with. <br /><br />The principle that few people ever seem to consider is, “Is this a legitimate power of government?” <br /><br />Is it legitimate for government to outlaw prostitution? There are moral and practical arguments against prostitution, but that isn't the question. Probably all of those arguments would apply with equal force against fornication or any form of debauchery. The main argument against prostitution legalization is something like, “If we legalize prostitution there will be a lupanar on every street, families will be destroyed, young girls will be corrupted...” and on and on. Even if all of that is correct, it doesn't mean that government can legitimately exercise power over it. <br /><br />I mention this because when I argue for my societal remedy I'm always met with the “If we do this, disaster will strike” response. <br /><br />If I could change one thing it would be to forbid government involvement of any kind in schooling, or as they like to call it, education. There would have to be an amendment that was so air tight that the government could never get its paws on the conveyance of thought or information. It would have to forbid any compulsion, tax support, accrediting, certification or licensing of teachers, textbook selection, courses of study, lunch or any kind of meal provision, standards, transportation, government school boards or aid to private school boards, testing, land grants, buildings, instructional materials such as videos, libraries, research grants, scholarships, aid for athletics or musical programs, student loans, ad infinitum. Government would be forbidden to have anything to do with a school or a school by any other name. <br /><br />Recently, a person running for office was decrying the state of “education” and said that she was going to return control to the parents. This kind of thing is said all the time, but it is not possible to have both compulsion and parental control. As long as there is compulsion it is the one doing the compelling that is in control, not the parents or anybody else. If the “customers” of a protection racket decide they want to choose their own thugs, the type of punishment meted out and various other reforms, they might fool themselves into believing that they are in control, but they will find out otherwise when they miss a payment. If you are compelled to do anything you are not in control of that activity. If the parent gets a voucher the government is still in control. Whatever the government funds, it controls. <br /><br />God endowed man with free will, but government abrogates it. <br /><br />Even if there were a committee of heroic virtue and angelic intellect running the schools, as long as the government has so much as authority to stripe the parking lot it will metastasize and gain control of the entire operation. <br /><br />If government was not in control, how many drag queens do you think would be invited to school? How much time would be devoted to teaching sodomy? How much time would be devoted to sex education of any kind? Would there be a controversy about someone's pronouns? If you were a boy, would there be some question about which bathroom to use? How about if you were a girl? Would anybody pretend that you were not mentally ill if you “identified” as the opposite sex and expected others to go along with your delusion? Teaching or promoting manifest absurdities is destroying society. No society can survive where everybody lies or pretends to believe lies and goes along with them. <br /><br />Diversity is supposed to be a wonderful thing, why not diversity of thought and opinion? When the purpose of the school is to produce automatons it cannot allow independent thought and analytical thinking. When everyone is taught false or incomplete information, we all end up like the dwellers in Plato's cave who see things only in shadow. As it is, almost all of us believe things that are not true because that's what we were taught. It's as though we have an induced blindness and have to work to restore our sight. Government wants no citizens who see clearly. <br /><br />If parents were actually in control there would be all sorts of opinions, some conventional and some revolutionary, but it would be the will of the parent prevailing, not the government. If independent thought were allowed the results would probably start to show themselves fairly soon because the parents would find out things they didn't know in the course of teaching their children. In twenty years there would would be millions of people who had not grown up being integrated into the herd. <br /><br />This would also remove the burden of paying to instruct somebody else's children. If you think this is wrong or that you have a better panacea, don't keep it a secret. Think about this - what the government can compel you to do, it can forbid you to do. If government can set a minimum wage it can set a maximum wage since it has authority over wages. <br /><br />The schools are not the only source of error and deception; there are newspapers, movies, magazines, television shows, websites and all sorts of agencies, bureaus, companies et cetera, but if the populace can think analytically and critically the effects of these things will be blunted. <br /><br /> Alexis de Tocqueville probably had no idea how bad things could get when he wrote, “I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America.” and that was before government control was universal as it is today.</span>Chris Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05779677734830280397noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8562436538597446558.post-46943436246848633902022-07-19T17:55:00.000-04:002022-07-19T18:01:35.376-04:00Russian Missiles In Mexico As Mexico Joins SATO<br />Chris Sullivan<br />Mendax News Service <br /><br />Mexico has been accepted as the newest member of SATO – South American Treaty Organization – after years of wrangling by South American countries over allowing a non-South American country <br />into the alliance. <br /><br />Mexico was finally allowed into the alliance after agreeing to station Russian missile batteries in Matamoros, Nogales and Tijuana for defense against attacks from Venezuela, Suriname, Pottsylvania and Nicaragua. <br /><br />U. S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinkered sounded the alarm against SATO moving right up to the US border and allowing Russian missiles on its soil. Russian spokesman Boris Badenov gave assurances that the missiles were for defense only and would not be used to menace the United States. <br /><br />Blinkered reminded SATO members that when the alliance was formed it was only to include South American countries and would not move one inch (25.3 milometers) toward the United States. <br /><br />Mexican President Jacobo Arbenz suggested that Cuba could be an alternative basing location if it joins SATO and stressed that it is a defensive organization. Basing missiles in Cuba would move them farther away from the US border and perhaps make it easier to thwart any threat from Pottsylvania. <br /><br />Pottsylvanian spokeswoman Natasha Fatale claims that Pottsylvania has no hostile intent toward Cuba or any SATO members and that manufacturing an imaginary threat was a way for Russia to threaten the US. <br /><br />Badenov assured Blinkered that the missiles would not be nuclear armed and that it would take several hours to convert them to nukes and probably be too much of a hassle. Arbenz and Badenov stated emphatically that Mexico is a sovereign country and can form whatever alliances it sees as advantageous and deploy any weapons it wishes on its own territory. <br /><br />US Defense Secretary Lloyd Asstin has contended that Russia is going to use its bases in Mexico to funnel captured US weapons to Aztlan separatist groups in the southwest. Badenov denied any plans to do that, but pointed out that if the US were not sending Javelin missiles, Stingers, mortars and various other weapons to Ukraine, Russia would not have them to send. <br /><br />Asstin and Blinkered have both expressed fears that Russia wants to initiate and support an insurgency in the US to cause havoc and weaken it. Badenov laughed off the idea, but said flippantly “We wheel brink zeese weepons backs to zyou, hah hah, zjust keeding.” Blinkered responded that the US would consider any arming of indigenous militant or separatist groups or people an act of war. <br /><br />President Arbenz has suggested that SATO might send its mediators Salvador Allende, Rafael Trujillo and Manuel Noriega to negotiate a settlement.
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</p>Chris Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05779677734830280397noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8562436538597446558.post-15194514484149300772022-03-17T23:40:00.000-04:002022-03-17T23:40:14.129-04:00A Priest's Answers About Confession<br /><span style="font-size: medium;">1. Most people know that the seal of the confessional prohibits disclosure of anything heard in confession, but are there other ways of violating it? <br /><br /><i>Yes, two ways, directly and indirectly. Directly would be disclosing that John Doe confessed to embezzling funds, indirectly would be saying something like “Adultery was the first sin ever confessed to me." John Doe then discloses at some point that he was the first person to ever go to confession to this priest. </i><br /><br />2. Is it permissible to disclose whether you have heard someone's confession? For example, the police or a divorce lawyer ask if you heard John Doe's confession, can you answer that question? <br /><br /><i>Yes, but it would be imprudent. Better to say “I can't answer.” </i><br /><br />3. If I were to confess to you that I was the killer of Robert Kennedy and it was not Sirhan Sirhan, and you were convinced that I was not crazy, but the actual killer, what advice would you give? Sirhan is rotting away in jail. Would this factor in? <br /><br /><i>There is no requirement to turn yourself in, but in charity you should. The priest cannot require you to turn yourself in. </i><br /><br />4. How does the seminary prepare students to hear confessions? Is it strictly an academic exercise or do you have “role playing,” for lack of a better term, to drive home the reality of it? <br /><br /><i>No practice was done at this priest's seminary, but apparently it is done in some others. </i><br /><br />5. Do you have a preference for face to face or secret confessions? If you have such a preference, is it personal taste or do you think one has advantages over the other? <br /><br /><i>No preference, but face to face contributes to building humility. </i><br /><br />6. Assuming that new priests might be shocked by hearing certain things, does there come a point where nothing can shock, if it ever did? <br /><br /><i>Yes, after five years or so you have heard just about everything. </i><br /><br />7. Is it possible for non-Catholics (i.e. you are aware of it) to come to confession and if so, can they be given absolution? <br /><br /><i>If they are something like Greek, Russian, Ukrainian Orthodox or Old Catholics and cannot get to their own priest it is permissible. If they are Protestants it would be possible, say, point of death, but highly unusual. </i><br /><br />8. Do the sexes approach confession differently? I ask this from my experience that it seems there are many more men in line than women and the men seem to take less time. <br /><br /><i>I'm not going to answer that question. </i><br /><br />9. I would suppose that the sins of lying, stealing, fornicating are constant favorites throughout history and that some sins are faddish. Do you think that such things as camera phones and on-line pornography or just ready availability of trashy literature has changed things? <br /><br /><i>Yes. Pornography used to be something that had to be sought out in seedy areas and most people were embarrassed to be seen going into the shops. Now it is everywhere and nobody has to leave their house. </i><br /><br />10. Years ago there were admonitions against such things as gossip, calumny, detraction and similar things, but not so much today. In the secular press we hear about “bullying,” but when things are not mentioned very often, do most people cease to think they are sins? <br /><br /><i>People have more anonymity today than years ago and can commit all kinds of sins without concern of anybody knowing. </i><br /><br />11. What do you think about priests assigning what I would call silly penances. For instance, a friend of mine was once told to take a bubble bath for his penance and I have heard of crazier things. <br /><br /><i>Silly penances should not be given. </i><br /><br />12. Are there handbooks for confessors? I don't mean handbooks of moral theology and such things, but handbooks of how to give advice? <br /><br /><i>Yes, but they are beyond my own experience. </i><br /><br />13. I tend to think – I stress think, I have no evidence – that people who go to confession have less need of a psychiatrist, if there is ever such a need. Do you think this is true, not true or no opinion? <br /><br /><i>Yes, but sometimes there is a need for professional help or drugs or such things as that. </i><br /><br />14. Have you ever seen the Alfred Hitchcock movie<i> I Confess</i>, and if so, how realistically does it represent the seal of confession and Fr. Logan's predicament? <br /><br /><i>I have not seen it. </i><br /><br />15. Can a penitent ever be directed to turn himself in for a crime he has confessed? <br /><br /><i>No, it is asking too heroic a virtue. </i><br /><br />16. “Receive the Holy Spirit; whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain they are retained.” (St. John 20:23) is pretty much the commission for the power to forgive sins, but when and why would you withhold absolution? <br /><br /><i>If someone is committing a mortal sin and refuses to stop they can't be absolved. Someone practicing contraception or patronizing whore houses, robbing banks and so forth cannot be absolved without resolving to stop such things. </i><br /><br />17. Is a layman who overhears somebody's confession bound by the seal just as a priest is? <br /><br /><i>Yes. </i><br /><br />18. Does hearing confessions alter the view you had of human nature before becoming a priest? <br /><br /><i>Yes, it shows you the weakness and fragility of human nature. </i><br /><br />19. If you are traveling outside of your diocese and somebody approaches you in an airport or train station to hear their confession, can you do so, or do you not have faculties there? <br /><br /><i>Yes, it is assumed you have universal faculties for such things. </i><br /><br />20. I know of a guy who went to a priest that could read souls and in fact the priest mentioned something to him that he had no way of knowing. It was an incident that had occurred in Vietnam. Have you ever heard of this, do you believe in it and have you ever known anybody that had that gift/power? <br /><br /><i>Yes, some well known priests such as Padre Pio had this ability. I have never known anybody who had it. </i><br /><br />21. I knew an old priest – now dead – that told me a priest can never mention something to you that you told him in confession. For example, somebody is constantly getting drunk and the priest sees a program about a surefire cure for drunkenness, he can not say to the person, “I saw a program on a guaranteed cure for drunkenness” if the person confessed that to him. The person would have to bring it up first. Is this correct? <br /><br /><i>Yes. </i><br /><br />22. Is it the case that you can divulge something you heard in confession if you didn't learn of it in confession? For instance, you are in the bank when John Dillinger comes in and robs the bank. John later comes to you and confesses that he robbed the bank. The police arrest John and ask you if he robbed the bank. You know that he did because you were there, not because he told you in confession. <br /><br /><i>A situation like this is always difficult and you would have to be very careful what you said. </i><br /><br />23. There are nine ways of being an accessory to someone else's sin: by counsel, command, consent, provocation, praise or flattery, concealment, partaking, silence, defense of the ill done. Would it be unusual for someone to confess violating these? Do you think these are widely known? <br />Would buying stolen goods be partaking, or something else? Would a person's not mentioning something such as an adulterous affair that he is aware of to the offended party be concealment? When would something like that be concealment and when would it be detraction to make it known? <br /><br /><i>Buying stolen goods would be partaking. If the secretary and the CEO are having an affair it might be imprudent to tell the secretary's husband, but it wouldn't be detraction. </i><br /><br />24. When someone is studying to become Catholic, how much of an obstacle is confession, or is it? <br /><br /><i>I don't know. Ask them. </i><br /><br />25. Does having heard confessions make it easier – generally – to go to confession yourself? Does it make it harder or make no difference? <br /><br /><i>I don't really know. </i><br /><br />26. In the first centuries of the Church there were fairly severe public penances and a process called exomologesis that entailed sackcloth and ashes, kneeling outside the Church and so on. Do you think that things have gotten too easy or that abolition of such things was best? <br /><br /><i>I think the abolition of the severe penances was a good thing and also allowing multiple confessions instead of a once in a lifetime occurrence.</i></span><div><i><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">These are the answers of a priest of about 27 years.<i><br /></i></span><br /></div>Chris Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05779677734830280397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8562436538597446558.post-2420486130125388752021-12-06T20:33:00.001-05:002021-12-16T22:35:39.639-05:00Lies<p> </p><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="background-color: white; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #500050; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div dir="ltr"><br clear="all" /><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">“Words are the progeny of the soul.”<br />Clement of Alexandria – <i>The Stromata</i></span></div><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">St. Augustine wrote two treatises on lying. One called<i> Lying</i> ca. 394/395 and a later one called <i>Against Lying</i>.ca. 420. He takes a very strict position against any kind of lies.<br /><br />He does not consider jocose lies to be lies or illustrative lies such as a parable to be lies. Satire would probably fall under the heading of jocose lies, but he makes no exception for what moderns would call the noble lie.<br /><br />A lie to divert the slave catchers from the trail of the runaway slave is still a lie, but he admits there are mitigating circumstances. To illustrate his point he gives the example of someone demanding that you commit adultery or rob someone to avoid their killing an innocent party. This is a case of your attempting to avoid a moral evil, but you are using an evil means to avoid it.<br /></span></div></blockquote><div style="background-color: white; color: #500050; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="background-color: white; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #500050; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: medium;">Today lies are the common currency of government and most of the news reporting agencies. It's not that they are frequently in error, it's that they are knowingly telling lies usually by commission, but sometimes by omission. Today it is much worse than the days not that long past when people complained of media bias and much, much worse than 1807 when Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Norvell:<br /><i><br />...“Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day. I really look with commiseration over the great body of my fellow citizens, who, reading newspapers, live & die in the belief, that they have known something of what has been passing in the world in their time; whereas the accounts they have read in newspapers are just as true a history of any other period of the world as of the present, except that the real names of the day are affixed to their fables. General facts may indeed be collected from them, such as that Europe is now at war, that Bonaparte has been a successful warrior, that he has subjected a great portion of Europe to his will, &c., &c.; but no details can be relied on. I will add, that the man who never looks into a newspaper is better informed than he who reads them; inasmuch as he who knows nothing is nearer to truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods & errors. He who reads nothing will still learn the great facts, and the details are all false.”</i><br /></span></div></blockquote><div style="background-color: white; color: #500050; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="background-color: white; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #500050;">Anthony Esolen asks in his book <i>Out Of The Ashes</i>, Are We a World of Liars?</span><br /><br /><span>“In a word, yes."</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #500050;">"It is almost impossible in the modern world not to accept lies as a matter of course. We are told that a woman can make as good a soldier as a man. Except for the rare amazon, that is a lie”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #500050;">In the same vein a few pages later: “Here is a quick and generally reliable rule to follow. If people have always said it, it is probably true; it is the distilled wisdom of the ages. If people have not always said it, but everybody is saying it now, it is probably a lie; it is the concentrated madness of the moment.”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #500050;">Lying destroys the credibility of the writer or speaker. Once the </span><span style="color: #500050;">reader or listener discovers </span><span style="color: #500050;">a lie in a column or broadcast it causes </span><span style="color: #500050;">him</span><span style="color: #500050;"> to question or doubt everything else by the author.</span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><span style="color: #500050;">As an example, there are two writers that I hold in high regard for their opinions on political matters and their consistent exposing and denunciation of government crimes and outrages, but at Easter time for a few years past they have both written about how the Roman government executed Jesus because they feared he was going to set up a political movement of some kind. There is no way this can be an error unless neither one of them has ever heard or read any of the Gospels. Pick any one of the four and they give essentially the same account.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #500050;"><i>St. Matthew 27</i></span><br /><br /><i><span style="color: #500050;">27:1 When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people met in council to bring about the death of Jesus.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #500050;">27:2 They had him bound, and led him away to hand him over to Pilate, the governor.</span></i><br /><br /><span style="color: #500050;">The death of Judas 27:3 – 27:10 Omitted</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #500050;">Jesus before Pilate</span><br /><br /><i><span style="color: #500050;">27:11 Jesus, then, was brought before the governor, and the governor put to him this question, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ Jesus replied, ‘It is you who say it’.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #500050;">27:12 But when he was accused by the chief priests and the elders he refused to answer at all.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #500050;">27:13 Pilate then said to him, ‘Do you not hear how many charges they have brought against you?’</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #500050;">27:14 But to the governor’s complete amazement, he offered no reply to any of the charges.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #500050;">27:15 At festival time it was the governor’s practice to release a prisoner for the people, anyone they chose.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #500050;">27:16 Now there was at that time a notorious prisoner whose name was Barabbas.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #500050;">27:17 So when the crowd gathered, Pilate said to them, ‘Which do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?’</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #500050;">27:18 For Pilate knew it was out of jealousy that they had handed him over.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #500050;">27:19 Now as he was seated in the chair of judgement, his wife sent him a message, ‘Have nothing to do with that man; I have been upset all day by a dream I had about him’.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #500050;">27:20 The chief priests and the elders, however, had persuaded the crowd to demand the release of Barabbas and the execution of Jesus.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #500050;">27:21 So when the governor spoke and asked them, ‘Which of the two do you want me to release for you?’ they said, ‘Barabbas’.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #500050;">27:22 ‘But in that case,’ Pilate said to them ‘what am I to do with Jesus who is called Christ?’ They all said, ‘Let him be crucified!’</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #500050;">27:23 ‘Why?’ he asked ‘What harm has he done?’ But they shouted all the louder, ‘Let him be crucified!’</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #500050;">27:24 Then Pilate saw that he was making no impression, that in fact a riot was imminent. So he took some water, washed his hands in front of the crowd and said, <u>‘I am innocent of this man’s blood. It is your concern.’</u></span><u><br /></u><br /><span style="color: #500050;">27:25 And the people, to a man, shouted back, ‘His blood be on us and on our children!’</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #500050;">27:26 Then he released Barabbas for them. He ordered Jesus to be first scourged and then handed over to be crucified.</span></i><br /><br /><span style="color: #500050;">To top it off in case there is any doubt, St. Peter himself says in <i>Acts</i> 3:</span><br /><br /><i><span style="color: #500050;">3:13 You are Israelites, and it is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, who has glorified his servant Jesus, the same Jesus you handed over and then disowned in the presence of Pilate <u>after Pilate had decided to release him.</u></span><br /><br /><span style="color: #500050;">3:14 It was you who accused the Holy One, the Just One, you who demanded the reprieve of a murderer</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #500050;">3:15 while you killed the prince of life.</span></i><br /><br /><span style="color: #500050;">If it is true that the truth will set you free it seems obvious that the more we come under the influence of lies the less free we are. Moderns such as Orwell and Huxley have made clear the indispensability of lies to maintain control of a populace. This is tyranny 101.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #500050;">The lie is the foundation stone of government. The more tyrannical, the greater the use of the lie. From the local tax commissioner or school board member all the way up to the President, dishonesty is the standard operating procedure. Almost without exception, office holders crave power and will lie to get it. Lord Acton's famous quote about power tending to corrupt leaves out the obvious corollary that power attracts corrupt people. As he says, “Great men are almost always bad men,” but they were bad to begin with. Very few people go into government to serve anybody but themselves.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #500050;">Those who want to reform society or throw the bums out or “Take back America” must develop an obsession with accuracy. If you notice a lie or an error in an article, notify the author. It's possible that he is repeating “received knowledge” that isn't correct, not intentionally lying.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #500050;">Everything put out by the government is suspect, whether it's about climate change/global warming, the “pandemic,” terrorist bogeymen, Russians under the bed, temporary taxes, torture, any kind of supposed attack by the enemy de</span><span style="color: #500050;"> jour, Huns impaling babies or Iraqis taking them from incubators, Spaniards blowing up battleships, the oil crisis, weapons of mass destruction and on and on. Arthur Sylvester, a government spokesman put it plainly to a group of reporters,<i> “Look, if you think any American official is going to tell you the truth, then you’re stupid. Did you hear that? — stupid.” </i>The truth from a professional liar.</span><br /></span></div></blockquote><div style="background-color: white; color: #500050; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="background-color: white; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #500050; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: medium;">It's an odd thing that the government can lie to the people – the principal - but the people cannot lie to the government – the agent. Why is there not a law against government lying? When Richard Nixon resigned from office the babblers went on and on about how, “Nixon lied to the American people” as though that was unusual. People are charged for lying to Congress or lying to the FBI, but Congress, the FBI, CIA, NSA, IRS, DEA and every other branch of government routinely lie to the people. This is analogous to your hiring an agent of some kind, a banker, say, that can lie to you, but you cannot lie to them without going to jail.<br /><br />It is impossible that anything can be corrected when all remedial action proceeds from false information. It must become the normal condition of society that liars are anathematized, shunned, denounced, condemned and blackballed by all decent people if any improvement is to be affected.<br /><br />The country is not failing because of racism, sexism, antisemitism, homophobia, transphobia or xenophobia, but because of veritaphobia or mendaciphilia. (I know I've mixed up some Latin and Greek roots here, but you get the idea.)<br /></span></div></blockquote><div style="background-color: white; color: #500050; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="background-color: white; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #500050; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: medium;">Lies are so commonplace that they pass almost unnoticed unless they pertain to something you happen to know quite a bit about, but think of the millions of people who might not have been killed if the truth had been told.<br /><br />What if Walter Durante and <i>The New York Times</i> had told the truth about the Ukrainian famine or Holodomor? Would millions of people have been saved from starvation?<br /><br />What if the Hearst papers had not promoted war with Spain by their “Remember The Maine” writings? What if it had been emphasized and widely reported that the German government had warned that the Lusitania was subject to attack? The German government actually placed ads in newspapers warning of attack.<br /><br />What if Huns impaling babies on bayonets or Iraqis taking babies out of incubators or Assad gassing his people with Sarin gas or Saddam Hussein's WMDs had been shown to be false? Not only were these lies not exposed, but were widely reported as factual by the dominant press agencies. There are always a few voices of truth crying in the desert, but they have no audience except a few people who make themselves students of what is happening.<br /><br />The dissemination of lies is not the entire problem, the suppression of the truth is the opposite problem. It's a problem that has been around for a long time. In 1883, John Swinton spoke these words at the Journalists Gathering at New York's Twilight Club:<br /><br /><i>"There is no such thing in America as an independent press, unless it is in the country towns. You know it and I know it. There is not one of you who dare to write his honest opinions, and if you did you know beforehand they would never appear in print. I am paid $150 a week for keeping my honest opinions out of the paper I am connected with. Others of you are paid similar salaries for doing similar things. If I should permit honest opinions to be printed in one issue of my paper, like Othello, before twenty-four hours, my occupation would be gone. The business of the New York journalist is to destroy the truth, to lie outright, to pervert, to vilify, to fawn at the feet of Mammon, and to sell his race and his country for his daily bread.<br /> <br /></i></span></div></blockquote><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="background-color: white; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #500050; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div dir="ltr"><i><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: red;">"</span>You know this and I know it, and what folly is this to be toasting an <span style="color: red;">'</span>independent press.<span style="color: red;">' </span>We are the tools and vassals of rich men behind the scenes. We are the jumping-jacks; they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes." </span></i></div></blockquote><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="background-color: white; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #500050; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />It is important for the Manipulators Of Society to keep truth out at all costs because truth has a power of its own. When it is seen it is usually recognized. As John Milton said in <i>Areopagitica, “Let her [Truth] and Falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter.”</i> Any error can be discovered and corrected if open debate is permitted.<br /></span></div></blockquote><div style="background-color: white; color: #500050; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="background-color: white; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #500050; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: medium;">When some person or entity wants to prevent the spread of “misinformation” or “disinformation” it is almost certain that they are protecting their lies under the guise of “fact checking” or protecting the public.<br /><br />Truth is the most important component of an argument. If you have to lie, there is something wrong with your position. One lie detected casts doubt on everything else you say.<br /><br />Writing around A.D. 300 Lactantius says what is applicable for all times:<br /><br /><i>“For when I know that the greatest orators have often been overcome by pleaders of moderate ability, because the power of truth is so great that it defends itself even in small things by its own clearness: why should I imagine that it will be overwhelmed in a cause of the greatest importance by men who are ingenious and eloquent, as I admit, but who speak false things; ...”</i></span></div></blockquote>Chris Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05779677734830280397noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8562436538597446558.post-43909592931837324582020-04-22T00:25:00.000-04:002020-04-22T00:25:17.082-04:00Civics CourseI was talking to a friend a few days ago about an idea I've had for many years and never acted on it. It is to produce a civics book for home schoolers that explains things the way they really are instead of the way they are taught to children. He liked the idea so there are at least two people that like the idea.<br />
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What I envision is a book that explains how government is supposed to work with popular elections, checks and balances, independent branches, enumerated powers, etc. and how it actually works through lies, bribery, blackmail, intimidation, murder, spying, extortion, selective prosecution, secrecy, theft and every sort of criminality. What would be required is a textbook that exposes the actual crimes perpetrated by government with scrupulous documentation and attention to detail. No unsubstantiated crimes should be included, only proven or admitted events. The treatment wouldn't need to be exhaustive, but should impress upon the student that government lies, cheats and steals all the time and is part of its standard operating procedure.<br />
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A few examples come immediately to mind such as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, Operation Northwoods, the Tuskegee Experiment, MKUltra, Operation Mockingbird, Operation Gladio, Operation Ajax and so on. There were also various experiments on Americans involving exposure to nuclear bomb tests and other sources of radiation to see the affects on people and the Pont-Saint-Esprit poisoning in France in 1951. For good measure, perhaps the overthrow of Salvador Allende and Jacobo Arbenz could be included.<br />
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Examples of perfidy need not be restricted to poisoning, bombing or drugging, but would also include "If you like your doctor, you're going to be able to keep your doctor" and "Your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars" or Saddam has weapons of mass destruction, "[The Iraqi soldiers] took the babies out of the incubators, took the incubators and left the children to die on the cold floor." There are so many government lies that it won't be a problem to find an adequate number.<br />
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A brief illustration of how payoffs, blackmail and threats work in the introduction and passage of bills would be needed along with an exposition of how the revolving door between politics and business works.<br />
<br />
I suppose that the book should be on the 9th or 10th grade level, but somebody with teaching experience would have a better idea. I am reminded of an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v23FSCMhssU">interview Vladimir Posner</a> did with Oliver Stone a few years ago in which Stone said that the history he was taught in school was largely correct, but that there was lots of history he was <i>not</i> taught.<br />
<br />
I've been mulling over who should write this book and have come up with a few nominees who may or may not have any interest in it or even think the project has merit. James Bovard is an obvious pick since he has already written thousands of words on this and similar subjects. Tom Woods is another likely draftee as is Charles Burris and Jacob Hornberger. Anything to do with Lincoln or Hamilton could be handled by Thomas DiLorenzo.Chris Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05779677734830280397noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8562436538597446558.post-52534056287402419622020-03-23T19:00:00.000-04:002020-03-23T19:00:38.174-04:00Mind Expanding Books<br />
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A friend recently
sent me a 2015 YouTube audio interview with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TKA0liNuKM">Lewis Lapham</a> that covers
several interesting things. One of the things he says is that he gave
out books that he found interesting or useful. Around 25 minutes in
he says “I find something that is wonderful to read and then I want
to give some people, just hand it to them and say, here look...The
whole point of education is to awaken in the student the power and
trust in his or her own mind….I mean the freedom of the mind is a
truly wonderful thing.”</div>
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That might have been
the point of education when Lapham was young, but it isn't anymore,
except maybe in the small schools, both primary and secondary that
strive to teach the student how to think</div>
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logically,
critically and systematically. The whole point of education seems to
be to teach students to think inside the box. Any opinions or
information from outside the box is bad, wrong, dangerous, corrosive,
hateful, malicious and always proceeds from bad motives.</div>
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Since I don't have
Lapham's financial resources I'm not going to be giving out free
books, but I am going to offer my opinion about several books that
are worth reading, some of which I don't agree with, but think their
content is important to know even if it's wrong and maybe most
especially if it's wrong. These are not reviews, but there are probably online reviews of all them.</div>
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These are not in any
particular order except for the first one, <i>The Law</i> by Frederic
Bastiat. There are several versions of it available and the one I am
familiar with – in fact I did use to give it out – was sold by
FEE and was translated by Dean Russell. Walter Williams says that
“...a liberal-arts education without an encounter with Bastiat is
incomplete.” The book is only about 75 pages, so it shouldn't
intimidate anyone.</div>
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Another great book
that doesn't get much attention any more is <i>Our Enemy The State</i>
by Albert Jay Nock. Nock dissects and exposes the kleptocratic nature
of the state. He draws a distinction between “government” and
“The State.” When a government performs negative functions such
as protecting life and property it is legitimate; when it provides
goodies, regiments society and violates rights it is the state. This
is a short book that is worth reading if just for Nock's writing
style,</div>
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While I'm stuck in
the political rut I'll mention <i>The Politics of Obedience: The
Discourse of Voluntary Servitude</i> by Etienne De La Boetie a
sixteenth century political philosopher. He shows that the tyrant can
do nothing without ordinary people to execute his commands. This is
another short book, about 86 pages, but good things come in small
packages, or so I've heard. He sums up his argument with “...there
is nothing so contrary to a generous and loving God as tyranny – I
believe He has reserved, in a separate spot in Hell, some very
special punishment for tyrants and their accomplices.” My copy has
an introduction by Murray Rothbard.</div>
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If you are
religious, or even anti-religious you should at least be familiar
with the Pentateuch or the Five Books of Moses. These are Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. These are in the Old
Testament of the Bible in case you don't know. Much of Western
Civilization derives from these books so you ought to at least have a
rudimentary acquaintance with them. If you don't pick up anything
else you can commit the Decalogue to memory.</div>
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Read the four
Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John if you never have. If you get
really ambitious you can read the entire New Testament. So many
common expressions originate with the Gospels that you ought to know
their origin. Things such as “cast the first stone, the blind
leading the blind, strain out the gnat and swallow the camel, remove
the spec from your own eye, brood of vipers, whited sepulchers,
prodigal son, widow's mite, salt of the earth, Good Samaritan, extra
mile, turn the other cheek, eye of the needle, casting pearls before swine, wolf in sheep's clothing, tree known by its fruit” and on and on come
from the Gospels. All of this is online somewhere I'm sure, but I
prefer paper books.</div>
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If you are familiar
with this New Testament stuff already you should pick up <i>The
Apostolic Fathers</i>.</div>
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These are the oldest
Christian writings outside the New Testament. Some were actually
included in the NT canon until 397 AD when the Council of Carthage
codified the canon. They are usually letters from Clement, Ignatius,
Polycarp, Barnabas, <i>The Didache</i>, <i>The Shepherd of Hermas</i> and sometimes
Diognetus and Fragments of Papias. <i>The Shepherd of Hermas</i> is the most
unusual to my way of thinking. I think <i>The Shepherd </i>became an object
of interest among the hippies, probably for its dreamy imagery.</div>
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Before I go off on a
different path, pick up a copy of <i>The Koran</i> and read through
it. I don't believe Mohammed was a prophet or that <i>The Koran</i> is
inspired, but over a billion people consider it their holy book so it
doesn't hurt to know something about it. The copy I have I got in
1982 and it's a Penguin book translated by N. J. Dawood in 1956. I
have no way of knowing how good the translation is, but it's good for
when you get those emails quoting the Koran and you check and find
out it doesn't say what is alleged. One of the Commandments I
mentioned previously forbids bearing false witness.</div>
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Some people think
it's okay to tell lies if it makes their opponent look bad.</div>
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<i>Th</i><i>e Prince</i>
by Machiavelli should be read by everybody, not just politicians. It
explains perfectly how to acquire and retain power. It gave
Machiavelli a bad name which I think is undeserved. He doesn't say
that his formula is morally right, he just says “This is how things
work.” He didn't publish it in his lifetime and it isn't certain
whom he wrote it for. He was a brilliant guy whatever else he was and
in his letters he always counsels honesty. Many powerful people
sought his advice so his opinion carried weight.</div>
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When I was in high
school we were assigned <i>The Communist Manifesto</i> to read, but
it was looked at critically. Now it's probably viewed as handed down
from Mt. Sinai. I think that many people today would find little to
disagree with in it. I mentioned to a teacher several years ago that
it calls for “A heavy, progressive or graduated income tax” and
he said he had taught the book and didn't remember that. Ted Kennedy once got into an argument about that plank when somebody mentioned it.</div>
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A really weird book
that I picked up at a Goodwill book sale years ago is <i>The
Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion</i>. I probably had it 15 or
20 years before ever reading it. I read that under Bolshevik rule it
was a death penalty for having a copy. Naturally I had to read it.
Henry Ford printed thousands of copies and sold or gave them away.
Wikipedia says it's a plagiarism and forgery of earlier works. It is
usually assailed as an anti-Semitic forgery, but I don't remember the
Jews being mentioned much if at all. It could be said to be
anti-Semitic insofar as it outlines a supposed Zionist plot.
Whatever the origin or motive of the writer, it outlines a step by
step plan for gaining power and influence that makes <i>The Prince</i>
look like a Cliff Note version of the plan. It's been several years
since I read it and some of it seemed fanciful or crazy, but some
made perfect sense.</div>
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<i>Brain Sex</i> is
a book that I was made aware of about a year ago and it is
fascinating. It's by David Jessel and Ann Moir, two BBC reporters or
former reporters. Everybody that is remotely in touch with reality
knows that men and women think differently and act differently. All
this is very much denied now, but that can't last because mother
nature can't be fooled. Almost anybody knows that girls are better at
verbal skills than boys, but women also hear better than men. Men are
better at math and spatial skills which is supposedly why men can
parallel park better than women. All this is a result of physical
differences in the brain, not conditioning. The book came out in the
'80s or early '90s and is widely available for very little money.</div>
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<i>Tainting Evidence</i>
by John F. Kelly and Phillip K. Wearne is a book about forensic labs
and evidence.</div>
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After you read it
you will never trust crime lab evidence again. The authors show that
the labs are not scientific organizations, but arms of the
prosecution. They cite instances where exculpatory evidence is thrown
out and the defense is not made aware of it. Two cases that figured
prominently in my mind were the O. J. Simpson case and Walter Leroy
Moody, who was convicted of blowing up a judge and some others. The
Moody case was familiar to me because it was on the local news and
Moody's lawyer was a year or so ahead of me in high school. Moody
might have been guilty – I think he probably was - but the
government bribed a witness into perjuring himself against Moody.
This is a 1998 book and there have probably been tremendous gains in
DNA evidence since then, but it's worth reading.</div>
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Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn is not a household name, but he wrote a very influential book in 1952 called <i>Liberty Or Equality</i>. The title would strike the average American as odd since liberty and equality are regarded as almost interchangeable terms. The book argues that you can have one or the other. If you insist on equality you will end up destroying liberty. Anybody looking at the institutions of "higher education" in the US can't help but see that the fiction of equality is destroying them. Not all opinions are of equal value, all people are not equally talented, smart, beautiful, articulate, agile or any other way. This is not a book to start with if you are just delving into political theory. Over the years several people have borrowed mine and all found it fairly difficult.</div>
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<i>On Power - The Natural History of Its Growth</i> is a book by Bertrand De Jouvenel that traces the metaphysics, origins and nature of power. One of the strange things he discusses is that the lower on the social scale you identify power's origin, the more power you can end up with. This is something that many others have pointed out. If law or power originates with the will of the people, then anything can be lawful as long as a majority says so. Depending on what percentage of the people are complete idiots, it's not hard to see how a huge number of bad laws are passed. Gauging by the quality of magazines, books, movies and TV programs that predominate it seems that there are lots of shallow people in society. Many people have heard the phrase "The King can do no wrong" and interpret that to mean that the king is above the law. Several years ago I read that what it actually meant was that the king is not <i>allowed</i> to do wrong any more that anybody else. The king was bound by the eternal or natural law as were all people.</div>
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Anything by Frank Chodorov is worth reading. For some reason he has fallen into borderline obscurity. All of his books and articles possess the highest degree of lucidity. Reading his arguments for whatever point he is advancing is like being hit with a cattle prod. Many of the things he wrote probably sounded so radical in his day that they would have been dismissed. In one of his 1945 essays titled <i>On Saving The Country</i> he asks, "In its potentiality, if not yet in its methods, is the FBI any different from the Gestapo?" The answer is no, but even today with all the revelations about corruption, abuse and usurpation of power the news babblers keep assuring their viewers that the field agents are good, it's only the upper echelons that are bad.</div>
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His book <i>the income tax: root of all evil</i> was an exposition of how all Americans were made slaves by allowing the government to have a prior claim on all wages. He makes the obvious point - some things are only obvious after somebody points them out - that all species of intervention is made possible by revenue. Police, judges, prosecutors, file clerks, code enforcement officers, OSHA inspectors and so on all have to be paid. Cut off the money and the meddlers have to find useful employment. Robert Nozick might have been inspired by this when he came up with <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=10&v=uxRSkM8C8z4&feature=emb_logo">The Tale of the Slave </a></i>which is presented on YouTube.</div>
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While on the subject of slavery, Jeffrey Rogers Hummel's book <i>Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men</i> is a thoroughly researched book that is worth having just for the bibliographical essays at the end of each chapter. He goes into lots of economic analysis and conveys his information with the detachment of an academic, which is what he is. This is not a diatribe on how either side was right or wrong, but more expository in nature. He brings up such things as how non-slave owning Southerners objected to being drafted into slave patrols to protect the slave owner's interests. There isn't the usual hagiography of Abraham Lincoln, Harriet Tubman, or anybody else. It's the best book I've read on the subject, although I haven't read that many.</div>
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<i>The Crowd</i> is an 1895 book by Gustave Le Bon on the psychology, behavior, opinions, reasonings and other characteristics that make up a crowd. Le Bon does not consider just any large group a crowd, nor does the crowd have to be unorganized. Parliament might be a crowd whereas the attendees of the symphony might not be. Crowds seem to adopt a morality of their own and act through emotion instead of reason. I don't think Le Bon defines any numerical component to the makeup of a crowd; it seems to be more a matter of unitary action and immunity to reasoned argument. A small group such as a home owners association might be a crowd while the spectators at an auto race are not. The book is referred to in many subsequent books so it's useful to know about it.</div>
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While not exactly about crowds <i>Obedience To Authority</i> is a very interesting study on how individuals obey an authority figure even if the figure has little authority and no means of enforcing his commands. It is a recounting of a study conducted by Stanley Milgram in the early '60s that was suggested to him by the trial of Adolf Eichmann. Milgram wanted to see how ordinary people would resist or cooperate in inflicting pain on their fellow man. He concocted an experiment that was supposedly studying the effects of punishment on learning, but actually it was measuring how compliant ordinary people are when told to do something they find objectionable.</div>
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Edward Bernays is someone unfamiliar to most people, but he had an effect on their lives. If they know anything about him it's probably that he was the nephew of Sigmund Freud or that he popularized bacon and eggs by his "Hearty breakfast" campaign. In 1928 he wrote a book called <i>Propaganda</i> describing some of his methods. I have no doubt that he was brilliant even though he was on the "wrong side" from my point of view. Fortunately it doesn't make any difference what side he was on because he explains his methods in this very short book. The very first paragraph explains almost the whole book; "The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society, Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of." On things such as the trial balloon; "It is the method commonly used by a politician before committing himself to legislation of any kind, and by a government before committing itself on foreign or domestic policies." For those who think the schools can be reformed; "The normal school should provide for the training of the educator to make him realize that his is a twofold job: education as a teacher and education as a propagandist." On the perennial problem of bias, fake news, disinformation or whatever term you prefer; "The media by which special pleaders transmit their messages to the public through propaganda include all the means by which people today transmit their ideas to one another. There is no means of human communication which may not also be a means of deliberate propaganda, because propaganda is simply the establishing of reciprocal understanding between an individual and a group." On the omnipresence of propaganda; "...it remains a fact that in almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons - a trifling fraction of our hundred and twenty million - who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind, who harness old social forces and contrive new ways to bind and guide the world."</div>
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Going back in time about 450 years we have Bernal Diaz describing his exploits with Cortes in <i>The Conquest Of New Spain</i>. Diaz describes a lot of actions that sound like something out of Mel Gibson's <i>Apocalypto</i>. He describes one town they entered that had a rack of skulls that could be easily multiplied that had over 100,000 skulls on it. One of the things that makes the book believable is that Diaz doesn't make himself the hero of the story; in fact he admits to being scared to death. He explains how Cortes had an Indian girlfriend who could speak Spanish and one or two Indian dialects. They had a priest they found somewhere who had been enslaved by the Indians and could speak two or three Indian languages and Spanish. This was how Cortes organized his allies against the Aztecs. He relates how they were in a village when Montezuma's tax collectors came and roughed up some of the local rulers, thus giving Cortes the idea of getting various tribes on his side because they hated the Aztecs taxing them to death and taking their women. Some of the Indians were friendly and some were not. If they had to fight the Indians, Cortes would capture some of them and treat them well and tell them they wanted to be friends and trade, buy, sell and so forth. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. If the Indians attacked them again they wiped them out. I have known several people that have read the book and all of them think it's great. There's a Penguin edition or at least there was.</div>
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<i>Red Mexico</i> is a book by an Irishman named Captain Francis McCullagh about the communist takeover of Mexico and the Cristero Rebellion. This is a series of events unknown to most Americans. For years it was almost impossible to get, but it has recently been reprinted. Leon Trotsky was murdered in Mexico and a friend who has a PhD in history and taught at West Point among other places told me years ago that Trotsky largely authored the Mexican Constitution.</div>
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One of the things that appears very unusual are several pictures in the book of people walking casually down the street to their place of execution without handcuffs or any restraint. </div>
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<i>Tragedy & Hope </i>is the magnum opus of Carrol Quigley. Wikipedia says of it: "<i>Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in Our Time</i> is a work of history written by former Georgetown University professor, mentor of Bill Clinton, and historian, Carroll Quigley." </div>
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The book gained notoriety because Quigley spills the beans on bankers and other powerful people running things. A couple of books relied heavily on it mainly because of Quigley's admitting that there were powerful people and organizations who pull the strings and that he had examined their records, but that he approved of them. Gary Allen's<i> None Dare Call It Conspiracy</i> relied heavily on it and Cleon Skousen's<i> The Naked Capitalist</i> was a review of it. Quigley considered himself conservative, but thought that the two parties should be identical so that there would always be continuity in policy no matter who won. He was clearly for rule by experts. He would be booted out of any top tier school now for some of his views. He decried homosexual propaganda in books and movies. He didn't believe the atomic bombs should have been dropped on Japan. He seemed to think that women working was a bad thing and that schools had become so tailored to girls that boys found them boring. He said that Democracy or popular government was only possible where citizens had access to weapons equal to anything the government had. In a 1974 <a href="http://www.carrollquigley.net/interviews.htm">interview</a>, three years before he died he said that he had debated Gary Allen and Larry Abraham. Abraham was a co-author with Allen of <i>None Dare Call It Conspiracy</i>. Quigley said sort of derisively in the interview that Allen only knew what was in that book, but Abraham knew a lot and brought up facts he had never heard of. I thought it was an amazing admission for a guy in his station. I wondered if the debate was after the publishing of<i> Wall Street and The Bolshevik Revolution.</i> Quigley says that his book is "inexcusably long" which it is at 1348 pages, but it's pretty interesting.</div>
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<br />Chris Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05779677734830280397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8562436538597446558.post-73653821823966199582018-12-29T19:51:00.000-05:002018-12-29T19:51:55.464-05:00My Favorite YouTube Video Channels. <br /><br />YouTube has a video on just about anything you can think of and some things you might not think of. If you want to know how to polarize a voltage regulator for an old generator system, there's probably a video on how to do it. If you're thinking about a trip to Yakutsk, there's probably a video advising what kind of outerwear you'll need to take. There are lots of people producing videos on subjects that they think they know something about, but they don't. The word “dilettante” comes to mind. <br /><br />There are a few that I have found to be consistently good and I have watched quite a few of their videos. They are probably not too appealing to wide audiences because they are specialized in areas of interest to me and maybe not a large fraction of the population. <br /><br />The one with probably the widest appeal is one called The History Guy. I don't know that the HG ever says what his name is, but he is a professorial looking fellow with a bow tie and he speaks pretty fast and sometimes with great expression. I like the fact that he doesn't play music over his commentary. Sometimes some of his subjects have hilarious content, such as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYUhKcJAsrQ">The Toronto Circus Riot of 1855.</a> or one about an<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4d7VKvG1z0"> Englishman</a> who accidentally took off in a fighter jet with no canopy and that he didn't know how to fly. <br /><br />If you want to learn almost anything in the mechanical arts, Tubalcain is your man, or at least one of them. He started out as tubalcain, but now goes by mrpete222 for some reason. He has over 1000 videos and has a pretty wide variety of topics. Some of the videos are not instructive, but just fun or investigative. He has one where he visits the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMTYRjE71AE">Vaughn Hammer</a> plant and one where he visits the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALbwH27CPT8">Rocket Museum</a> at Huntsville, Alabama and the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmueXC6GhX0">Barber Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham</a>. He also has a series on “what is it?” where he shows various items and asks what they are. Sometimes he doesn't know what they are, but a viewer usually does. There's also a “how does it work?” series that explains how various things work. He is a retired Shop teacher, so he knows how to convey information clearly. <br /><br />There are lots of gun “experts” blabbering about their opinions – many times stated as fact – and most of them are not worth watching because they don't know what they're talking about. Lots of the gun sites spend time shooting watermelons or plastic bottles of water or other liquid-filled vessels that will display spectacular demonstrations of hydrostatic shock. This is fun, but has no useful purpose. At best it demonstrates how rapidly the projectile is displacing the water. About 40 years ago I shot some liquid filled cans with a .458 Win. Mag. and a .220 Swift. The Swift exploded the cans like a bomb was placed inside, but the .458 just split the can in a very unspectacular way. <br /><br />This is all by way of saying that I like a channel called <a href="https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=gunblue490.">Gunblue490 </a> I don't know the man's name, but he's a very knowledgeable guy who doesn't try to be Rambo or James Bond. He talks about various guns and calibers, explains ballistic coefficients, sectional density, bullet selection, cartridge headspace, scope selection, stuck case removal, rifling twist, carry gun selection and how to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74cY9PWcl4k">cure salmon the Norwegian way</a>. The last one doesn't sound too gun related and I don't need to do this, but I might need to at some point. He's another one that doesn't play music over his commentary. <br /><br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/EngineeringExplained">Engineering Explained</a> is another one of the technical sorts that I find interesting. The guy doing the explaining looks young enough to be going for his Eagle Scout designation, but he must be older than he looks since he said that he actually worked as an engineer. Maybe he has a portrait of himself in the attic. He talks about things such as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-MH4sf5xkY">horsepower versus torque</a>, engine braking, differentials, air fuel ratios, turbo lag and other stuff like that that most people find spellbinding. He's good at explaining things. He also does reviews of tires, brakes, shocks and other accessories that the non-buff might find useful. <br /><br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC3L8QaxqEGUiBC252GHy3w">Stefan Molyneux</a> is one of the few commentators or social observers that can look at a question or event dispassionately even if – maybe especially – it's a supercharged hot potato. He's the kind of guy that you can watch and think “He's wrong about this,” but still see how he arrived at his conclusion. <br /><br />I haven't watched a huge number of his videos, but I haven't seen him resort to calling his opponents idiots, homophobes, anti-Semites, racists, Nazis, haters or any of the other terms that are used to besmirch someone or silence debate. <br /><br />He has recently posted a video he shot in Poland that I think is very good, especially for a first effort. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-YBpTCXTQ8&feature=youtu.be">The 100 Year March: A Philosopher in Poland </a> Molyneux is/was an atheist or agnostic or some sort of skeptic or former skeptic or something. It's hard to tell, but it seems like he is moving toward theism in<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqQdc0mX1_c&t=519s"> this post.</a><br /><div>
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These guys are all gentlemanly and don't use vulgar or obscene language. I think Molyneux might occasionally use some language not suitable for all viewers, but he doesn't make it his regular practice. Some YouTubers and BitChuters have good content, but they lack any kind of professional decorum and turn off viewers by presenting their content as though they are speaking at a convention</div>
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of Hell's Angels or Bordello suppliers.</div>
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If you have any interest in these fields, check these guys out.</div>
Chris Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05779677734830280397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8562436538597446558.post-48886945646428870082017-07-25T11:13:00.000-04:002017-07-25T11:13:03.483-04:00Out Of The Ashes
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Anthony Esolen, a
professor at Thomas More College of the Liberal Arts in Merrimack,
New Hampshire and recently of Providence College, Rhode Island, has
written a stinging critique of modern education and American society
in general titled <i>Out Of The Ashes: Rebuilding American Culture
</i>published by Regnery Publishers, 2017.</span></span></div>
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</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It's a short book -
203 pages – but contains much wise social commentary and
observations on everything wrong with American education, if there's
any such thing. Esolen is not one to beat around the bush. If you
don't agree with him it isn't because he is opaque. For instance,
chapter one is titled, <i>Giving Things Their Proper Names: The
Restoration Of Truth Telling</i>. It is divided into several sections
with their own headings, one of which is <i>Are We a World of Liars? </i></span></span>
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</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">“In a word, yes.</span></span></div>
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</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It is almost
impossible in the modern world <i>not to accept lies</i> as a matter
of course. We are told that a woman can make as good a soldier as a
man. Except for the rare amazon, that is a lie”</span></span></div>
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</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In the same vein a
few pages later: “Here is a quick and generally reliable rule to
follow. If people have always said it, it is probably true; it is the
distilled wisdom of the ages. If people have not always said it, but
everybody is saying it now, it is probably a lie; it is the
concentrated madness of the moment.”</span></span></div>
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</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Most of what he says
in the book is glaringly obvious, but it is so seldom spoken or
written that it becomes heroic when written or spoken audibly. When
referring to teachers who have acquiesced to imparting depravity, he
writes:
</span></span></div>
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</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">“It will not do
merely to restrain them in this or that regard. They are not fit to
teach your children the multiplication table. They are not fit to be
near them at all. Every moment that your children are in their
presence, they will be breathing the putrescent air from the diseased
heart and spirit of the instructors, in an institution whose walls
stink of it, it has lingered there so long.”
</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
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</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Just a few years
ago, in the memory of almost everybody, a statement like,“First let
us establish that there are such things as the sexes.” would have
met with everybody's assent. Most people reading it would be
wondering why such a thing would need to be established at all. Now
such a proposition is not just questionable, it might even be
“controversial” or hate speech or some kind of micro aggression.</span></span></div>
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</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Esolen is such a
hater (maybe even a Neanderthal) that he writes:</span></span></div>
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</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">“We are taught
from the time we enter the indoctrination centers that <i>the only
differences between men and women</i> are trivial matters of
plumbing. It is not true.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">When the European
missionaries came to the new world to evangelize the natives, they
did not find creatures of a different species. They found human
beings, male and female. They did not find any tribes in which the
women met in council, hunted the large animals, smoked the peace
pipe, trained up their daughters in savage displays of physical
courage and endurance (the “sun dance” of the Plains Indians, for
example) and established elaborate hierarchies of honor. They did not
find any tribes in which the men took care of small children,
gathered roots and berries, made themselves up with pretty
decorations to delight their women … and made “nests,” as it
were, as clean and neat as possible, for the sake of the little ones,
and because that is the way they liked things best.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">They found men and
women. That is what you will find wherever you go in the world.”</span></span></div>
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</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
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</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I can't disagree
with any of his assessments about the shipwreck of the schools or his
suggested remedies. The one thing I think is absolutely essential
that isn't mentioned and is never mentioned by anybody in the
reformist camp is the necessity of prohibiting government involvement
of any kind in schooling or anything else having to do with forming
thoughts, opinions or beliefs. No matter who is in charge, be it
Aristotle, Pythagoras, Isaac Newton or Erasmus, they won't always be
in charge, and the forces of coercion will always seek control. All
compulsion should be eliminated. Certainly there will be parents that
don't send their children to school or teach them themselves, but
there always have been and always will be unfit parents. Compulsory
schooling has always been about teaching children the “right”
things, not about education.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
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</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is a book that
will be appreciated by anybody interested in the social, cultural,
educational and intellectual collapse of society and its possible
remedy.</span></span></div>
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</h4>
Chris Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05779677734830280397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8562436538597446558.post-28158041332385077742017-04-11T19:54:00.002-04:002017-04-11T19:54:26.805-04:00The Fog Of War<br />
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“America wins the wars that she undertakes, make no mistake about it, and we have declared war on tyranny and aggression.” Obama, one of the Bushes or Clinton? It’s a familiar bit of nonsense, but it was said by Lyndon Johnson sometime around 50 years ago.<br />
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<i>The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara</i> is a 2003 SONY production that is basically an interview with the former longest-serving Secretary of Defense.<br />
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McNamara was in office during some of the biggest events of mid-century: the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, the seizure of the<i> USS Pueblo</i> by North Korea and the attack on the <i>USS Liberty</i> by Israel. He was also in office for much of the Vietnam War. Most of the movie is taken up by the Cuban Missile Crisis and Vietnam, although it does cover his WW II experience and his work at Ford Motor Company. The <i>Pueblo</i> and the <i>Liberty</i> are not mentioned, but the Gulf of Tonkin is discussed, about which he says that the attack on the <i>USS Turner Joy</i> never happened.<br />
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Most of his answers are very direct - even to the point of saying that he might have been tried as a war criminal had the US lost WWII - but a few times he just says, “I won’t answer that.”<br />
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During the Cuban Missile Crisis (October 16 - 28, 1962) John Kennedy was very fortunate to have an aide named Llewellyn “Tommy” Thompson who had lived with Nikita Khrushchev and knew him and his wife pretty well. McNamara says that the US was in receipt of two messages from the Soviet Union regarding its position on the missiles, one conciliatory and one belligerent. Thompson urged Kennedy to reply to the conciliatory message, arguing that if Khrushchev could save face he would. The confrontation was defused and we’ve lived sort of happily ever after.<br />
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This was not the only close call with nuclear war. McNamara says that during his 7 years as Secretary “We came within a hair’s breadth of war with the Soviet Union on 3 different occasions.” Things were getting so far out of hand that during the Kennedy administration the US built and tested a 100 megaton bomb in the atmosphere. He makes the point that military commanders make errors, but usually the errors only affect a few hundred or a few thousand people, they don’t destroy entire countries or kill millions of people as could happen with nuclear errors. “You make one mistake and you’re going to destroy nations.”<br />
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Thirty years after the Missile Crisis, in a meeting with Fidel Castro, McNamara learned that at the time of the crisis there were 162 nuclear weapons in Cuba, although at the time the CIA had said that the missiles were there, but the warheads had not arrived - an intelligence failure of the greatest possible proportions. Castro had recommended to Khrushchev that he launch a nuclear attack on the US in the event of an attack by the US even though Cuba would be obliterated.<br />
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Recalling his WW II experience he says:<br />
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March 9, 1945 “On that single night we burned to death 100,000 Japanese civilians in Tokyo, men, women and children.”<br />
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Interviewer: “Were you aware this was going to happen?<br />
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McNamara: “I was part of a mechanism that recommended it. I analyzed bombing operations and how to make them more efficient. Not more efficient in the sense of killing more, but in weakening the adversary.... I don’t want to suggest that it was my report that led to the firebombing...It isn’t that I’m trying to absolve myself of blame for the firebombing.”<br />
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On the question of proportionality in war, McNamara says, “[Curtis] Lemay said if we lost the war we would all be prosecuted as war criminals and I think he’s right. He - and I would say I - were behaving as war criminals...Lemay recognized that what he was doing would be thought immoral if his side had lost, but what makes it immoral if you lose and not immoral if you win?”<br />
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October 2, 1963: McNamara returned from Vietnam. At the time there were 16,000 US advisers there. He recommended that all of them be removed within 2 years. “We need a way to get out of Vietnam and this is the way to do it.” Obviously that didn’t happen. Diem was overthrown in South Vietnam, JFK was assassinated and LBJ became president.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
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LBJ is heard saying on tape that he always thought that talk of pulling out was foolish. Johnson: “Then comes the question: How the hell does McNamara think when he’s losing the war he can pull men out of there?”<br />
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After the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution Johnson orders more troops in. He asks McNamara when he’s going to issue the order and is told that it will be made “late today so it will miss some of the morning editions. I’ll handle it in a way that will minimize the announcement.”<br />
<br />
Towards the end he makes a statement that should be etched in stone above the Capital and the White House, viz “What makes us omniscient? Have we a record of omniscience? We are the strongest nation in the world today. I don’t believe that we should ever apply that economic, political or military power unilaterally. If we had followed that rule in Vietnam we wouldn’t have been there.”<br />
<br />
It’s easy to watch this and think that McNamara is being self-serving or trying to justify his actions, but there are plenty of audio clips from the time that show he really did want to get out of Vietnam. Johnson was the one who wanted to pour more troops in, and McNamara, to his discredit, followed the script instead of speaking publicly or resigning.<br />
<br />
"We and you ought not to pull on the ends of a rope which you have tied the knots of war. Because the more the two of us pull, the tighter the knot will be tied. And then it will be necessary to cut that knot, and what that would mean is not for me to explain to you. I have participated in two wars and know that war ends when it has rolled through cities and villages, everywhere sowing death and destruction. For such is the logic of war. If people do not display wisdom, they will clash like blind moles and then mutual annihilation will commence." - Nikita S. Khrushchev to John F. Kennedy<br />
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<b>Two untypical war memoirs.</b><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>A Song for Nagasaki </i>The Story of Takashi Nagai a Scientist, Convert, and Survivor of the Atomic Bomb - Paul Glynn<br /><br /><i>Wartime</i>: Understanding and Behavior in the Second World War - Paul Fussell</span><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;">
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Chris Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05779677734830280397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8562436538597446558.post-10884903977185080862016-05-11T02:15:00.002-04:002016-05-11T02:15:41.620-04:00Music For A Political Convention<br />Eurythmics - Would I Lie to You?<br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DUhpu2N4rQZM&source=gmail&ust=1463033501236000&usg=AFQjCNGF64Jz_BnhoJUf-rBvOLdF2q6wsw" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uhpu2N4rQZM" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=Uhpu2N4rQZM</a><br /><br />Liar, Liar - The Castaways (1965)<br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DS8rCy173y7Y&source=gmail&ust=1463033501237000&usg=AFQjCNFcdMnt90J2of2JVBsMBHxxqhtpBw" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8rCy173y7Y" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=S8rCy173y7Y</a><br /><br />Lies - The Knickerbockers<br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3D1n03a7cLf0M&source=gmail&ust=1463033501237000&usg=AFQjCNEG33SNhKy1A7gcTRVZZLflSbgV0Q" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n03a7cLf0M" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=1n03a7cLf0M</a><br /><br />Lies - Rolling Stones<br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3D5D1sNSY_d3M&source=gmail&ust=1463033501237000&usg=AFQjCNEUkY-hqrycuqmZhF5cAt7VZbUgOw" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D1sNSY_d3M" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=5D1sNSY_d3M</a><br /><br />The Beatles' Taxman<br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DsQPSZKWXeoE&source=gmail&ust=1463033501237000&usg=AFQjCNEw99SLRQf-6iykht-Wud355-e-dw" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQPSZKWXeoE" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=sQPSZKWXeoE</a><br /><br />The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again<br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DzYMD_W_r3Fg&source=gmail&ust=1463033501237000&usg=AFQjCNF5iYrrqky3DQoa3MYlfrvmhmWJoQ" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYMD_W_r3Fg" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=zYMD_W_r3Fg</a><br /><br />AC/DC - Highway to Hell<br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DqKggnBh2Mdw&source=gmail&ust=1463033501237000&usg=AFQjCNHkHqE3w-5Fpc0GxQUE335sWjFucg" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKggnBh2Mdw" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=qKggnBh2Mdw</a><br /><br />Talking Heads Road To Nowhere Lyrics<br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DOFgayzZ5KTM&source=gmail&ust=1463033501237000&usg=AFQjCNEZU6GwdvHYgYdtvWIJGLtNKUouTw" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFgayzZ5KTM" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=OFgayzZ5KTM</a><br /><br />Creedence Clearwater Revival - Fortunate Son (Lyric Video)<br clear="all" /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3D40JmEj0_aVM&source=gmail&ust=1463033501237000&usg=AFQjCNHKhP8s0rylAMZINMKH3xWyPMng3A" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40JmEj0_aVM" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=40JmEj0_aVM</a><br /><br />AC DC Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap 1976<br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DrYeMhiWWP8s&source=gmail&ust=1463033501237000&usg=AFQjCNFk_DqoSbiaX_KIGPq0IMuNO_rhEQ" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYeMhiWWP8s" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=rYeMhiWWP8s</a><br /><br />AC/DC - Moneytalks<br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3D1xD5dHC2jgw&source=gmail&ust=1463033501237000&usg=AFQjCNHxyDLkSei4liuImoe0GUzE60Dt4g" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xD5dHC2jgw" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=1xD5dHC2jgw</a><br /><br />The Yardbirds - Dazed and Confused (720p HD)<br /><span dir="ltr" title="The Yardbirds - Dazed and Confused (720p HD)"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3D3ffBRhtWjEQ&source=gmail&ust=1463033501237000&usg=AFQjCNF2glj2_ON-MtD2h2PJuuIbjq7Y2A" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ffBRhtWjEQ" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=3ffBRhtWjEQ</a></span><br /><br />Dirty Laundry by Don Henley [News Parody]<span dir="ltr" title="Dirty Laundry by Don Henley [News Parody]"> </span><br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DYHimia_Fxzs&source=gmail&ust=1463033501237000&usg=AFQjCNGRBO97d9WI-43OobQcfMsEfAQC0A" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHimia_Fxzs" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=YHimia_Fxzs</a><br /><br />"You're No Good" w/lyrics- Linda Ronstadt<br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3D_rITqN5wPwE&source=gmail&ust=1463033501237000&usg=AFQjCNFEO5pcNlGRMWxlgMJjzzzmtP_Ktg" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rITqN5wPwE" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=_rITqN5wPwE</a><br /><br />The Undisputed Truth - Smiling Faces Sometimes - 1971<br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3D8CJZcVi5BA4&source=gmail&ust=1463033501237000&usg=AFQjCNGtYBHOcHM3SNZYa70Qu_dRhw_5tQ" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CJZcVi5BA4" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=8CJZcVi5BA4</a><br /><br />Abba - Money, Money, Money<br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DETxmCCsMoD0&source=gmail&ust=1463033501237000&usg=AFQjCNFJW3RgTnTY_qcAKJiaDY6GV8305Q" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETxmCCsMoD0" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=ETxmCCsMoD0</a><br /><br />The O'Jays - For The Love of Money (Audio)<br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DGXE_n2q08Yw&source=gmail&ust=1463033501237000&usg=AFQjCNGsp_4luWldFKe3X6BM2bywn-Om4g" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXE_n2q08Yw" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=GXE_n2q08Yw</a><br /><br />Pink Floyd - Money (Official Music Video)<br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3D-0kcet4aPpQ&source=gmail&ust=1463033501237000&usg=AFQjCNEzEMQx_DTf8d-q06lmDPZSyDxOXA" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0kcet4aPpQ" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=-0kcet4aPpQ</a><br /><br />The Beatles - Money (That's What I Want)<br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DSLK9owh9Ysc&source=gmail&ust=1463033501237000&usg=AFQjCNG6x7g65jHxFb-Si14Pn179hu7RJQ" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLK9owh9Ysc" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=SLK9owh9Ysc</a><br /><br />The Rolling Stones - Sympathy For The Devil -HQ<br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DvBecM3CQVD8&source=gmail&ust=1463033501237000&usg=AFQjCNGMCvW4mlRF0UgFTkUyU41v-5qomQ" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBecM3CQVD8" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=vBecM3CQVD8</a><br /><br />The rolling stones-You can't always get what you want<br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DXIX0ZDqDljA&source=gmail&ust=1463033501237000&usg=AFQjCNHb4qE9yCUPycmp7fnn5aiJc_olDw" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIX0ZDqDljA" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=XIX0ZDqDljA</a><br /><br />Eurythmics - The King and Queen of America<br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3D-9nZhdEdBKw&source=gmail&ust=1463033501237000&usg=AFQjCNGPVX2Mc-cndI2CDoCy_VCiQExa3A" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9nZhdEdBKw" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=-9nZhdEdBKw</a><br /><br />The Kingston Trio - M.T.A.<br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DS7Jw_v3F_Q0&source=gmail&ust=1463033501237000&usg=AFQjCNHWnWkyvRRrSLfooIisiwLqCEUyMg" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7Jw_v3F_Q0" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=S7Jw_v3F_Q0</a><br /><br />The O'Jays - Back Stabbers (Audio)<br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DRmXRQ3vfzcA&source=gmail&ust=1463033501237000&usg=AFQjCNHPAEVyrDxRlbdUzrTPGLghI9qwYg" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmXRQ3vfzcA" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=RmXRQ3vfzcA</a><br /><br />The Beatles - Nowhere Man<br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DWS0YW03V8a8&source=gmail&ust=1463033501237000&usg=AFQjCNHTmye8eZRFGb9XBH8dw6aL3RmTcQ" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS0YW03V8a8" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=WS0YW03V8a8</a><br /><br />The Pretenders - Back On The Chain Gang HQ Music<br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DCK3uf5V0pDA&source=gmail&ust=1463033501238000&usg=AFQjCNGoAdOvejnwmWIA8xh6NS2w85w_3w" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK3uf5V0pDA" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=CK3uf5V0pDA</a><br /><br />Creedence Clearwater Revival - Bad Moon Rising (Lyric Video)<br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DzUQiUFZ5RDw&source=gmail&ust=1463033501238000&usg=AFQjCNGnnmsCn8xiItctATqKM4Usbkp8ag" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUQiUFZ5RDw" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=zUQiUFZ5RDw</a><br /><br />What Did You Learn In School Today Pete Seeger 21 24<br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DtHI5NIlD6aU&source=gmail&ust=1463033501238000&usg=AFQjCNEChpiCgc5fC7CaY8p8swkHXpDHWw" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHI5NIlD6aU" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=tHI5NIlD6aU</a><br /><br />"Games People Play" - Joe South - 1969<br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3D5znh58WITU8&source=gmail&ust=1463033501238000&usg=AFQjCNF-77S__3Tj2tuVJulMKvD6G8s36Q" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5znh58WITU8" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=5znh58WITU8</a><br /><br />Ending Music - "Day of Wrath"<br />Dies Irae, Dies Illa - Monks of the Abbey of St Maurice & St. Maur, Clervaux, Luxembourg<br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DDpvLPmv2FeY&source=gmail&ust=1463033501238000&usg=AFQjCNET22-lusoLNHLUQ5ee7qqiiMxzmA" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpvLPmv2FeY" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=DpvLPmv2FeY</a>Chris Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05779677734830280397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8562436538597446558.post-68223644282891146212016-04-10T21:09:00.000-04:002016-04-10T21:09:12.195-04:00Church Of Spies<span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>“There's a man who leads a life of danger<br /> To everyone he meets he stays a stranger<br /> With every move he makes </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>another chance he takes<br /> Odds are he won't live to see tomorrow<br /> <br /> Secret agent man, secret agent man” </i><br /><br />So said Johnny Rivers in the theme to the '60s show <i>Secret Agent</i>. Mark Riebling draws a far different picture in his book <i>Church Of Spies</i> in which most of the subjects know each other and use their real names. <br /><br />When I first heard of the book I thought it was some kind of silly Dan Brown novel with lots of nonsensical theories about cloak and dagger plots. It isn't that at all. It is a short, heavily footnoted (end notes, actually) page turner. The book is only 250 pages, but has an additional 125 pages of notes, index and sources. <br /><br />Many of the people mentioned in the book will be familiar – at least by name – to most people; Pope Pius XII, Allen Dulles, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Reinhard Heydrich, Heinrich Himmler, Hans and Sophie Scholl and of course Adolf Hitler. Less well known are people like Gereon Goldmann, a Franciscan seminarian who was drafted into the Waffen SS and later wrote about his exploits in<i> The Shadow of His Wings</i>, Rupert Mayer, a Jesuit who won two Iron Crosses in WW I, lost a leg for his efforts and was later jailed for opposing National Socialism, and Josef Muller the man who is pretty much the book's protagonist. <br /><br />Muller, whom the Nazis considered “the best agent of the Vatican Intelligence in Germany” was a figure that sounds like the product of a spy thriller writer's imagination. As Riebling relates, he was arrested by the Gestapo for trying to kill Hitler. <br /><br /><i>“He refused to confess, however. 'Muller had nerves like ropes and dominated the situation,' a prison aide recalled. When guards unshackled him, he threw them using jujitsu. His resolve awed other prisoners, who had misjudged him as a regular Joe. 'To look at,' wrote a British spy jailed with Muller, 'he was just an ordinary stoutish little man with a florid complexion and drab fair hair cut en brosse, the sort of man, whom you would not look at a second time if you met him anywhere, and yet, one of the bravest and most determined men imaginable.'” </i><br /><br />Many times the plotters would pass on intelligence about Hitler's plans, but he would change them and consequently their intelligence would be wrong. Several attempts on Hitler's life failed because of timing, equipment failure or because Hitler seemed to have a diabolical guardian. One time a bomb actually went off next to Hitler, but he survived. Another time the plotters could have shot him at a meeting, but instead planted a bomb on his plane disguised as a bottle of cognac. The bomb failed to go off which illustrates the maxim that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. <br /><br />Although this is not an apologia for Pius XII, he comes off looking very good. His detractors waited until he was safely dead before claiming that he didn't speak up against Hitler. Nobody ever denounces the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Methodists, the Dalai Lama, Zoroastrians or the Baptists for their “silence,” only Pius XII. <br /><br />Pius coordinated with Jewish rescue groups to help them escape Europe, funneling money through various countries, but the groups would not accept Catholics of Jewish descent so he could do little for the latter.<br /><br />One of their plans that has backfired badly was a common currency. Muller theorized that if Europe was linked economically it would prevent future wars. They probably didn't foresee Europe becoming a unified mega-state in which national borders mean little or nothing and where the whole world seems to be entitled to move there. <br /><br />Considering the number of plotters and their positions – many were high in the military – it is surprising that they were not discovered sooner. The book also shows that there were many who wanted Hitler gone, but were afraid to act or thought that fighting against their own government was treasonous. Seeing as how many of the plotters were captured and killed it is understandable why they didn't want to get involved. That's the way most people are everywhere. <br /><br />As Johnny Rivers sang, “Odds are he won't live to see tomorrow,” many of them didn't, but a few did and Mark Reibling has written a riveting account of them.</span>Chris Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05779677734830280397noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8562436538597446558.post-41812442085939316802016-02-02T01:29:00.002-05:002016-02-02T01:29:47.820-05:00Comcast - Xfinity Nightmare<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">If you're thinking
of dealing with Xfinity/Comcast, maybe you should look elsewhere if
you have any other options. They have printed at the bottom of an
email they sent me “Expect Superior Service.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">If you should fall
victim to such expectation you will be bitterly disappointed.</span></span></div>
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</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">For the past several
years I had been using Clear Internet, but the company was bought out
and shut down. Xfinity/Comcast is available in my area, so I called
them about service. They asked if I currently had cable and I told
them I did not.</span></span></div>
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</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">They said I could
get 3mps (or something like that) service for $19.99 per month and a
$59.95 installation fee. I called back a week or so later and went
through the rigamarole of qualifying. I was given the figure of
$87.00 for my first bill.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">I was sent an email
on December 14, 2015 telling me that the installer would come by
between 8:00 and 10:00 A.M. the next day. As it so happened, I got a
call about 9:30 saying that the installer couldn't arrive until 5:00
– 7:00 P.M. so I was going to get a $20.00 credit.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Around 6:00 or so
the guy showed up and noted that I didn't have a cable. I told him
that the company had asked me if I had cable and I told him I didn't.
He estimated the approximate distance that they would have to run the
cable at ¼ mile and called in to advise that they needed to send the
construction crew to run the cable because of the distance. When he
got off the phone I asked him how long it would be before the
construction crew ran the cable and he said “About a week.”</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">I didn't see or hear
anything else from them so I called on January 5, 2016 and was told
that somehow the job had been put on hold, but that they were going
to change the deal to 5mps for $9.95 per month for the first year.
January 10, 2016 I got another email scheduling the installation for
the following day from 5:00 – 7:00 P.M. I got a call that the guy
could come early, which was fine, but when he arrived he said
something about my not having a cable and I told him that the first
guy had already advised them of that. He tried to run the cable, but
thought that is was too far, so he called a supervisor who came out
and measured the distance which was something like 350 feet, not the
¼ mile that the first guy had estimated and advised the company
about. They stayed about 2 hours or so and took pictures or video and
did a lot of talking on the phone. The supervisor said they needed to
send the construction crew (which I already knew by this time) and
that they would advise. Later that day a bucket truck from Comcast
showed up, which I assumed had something to do with the construction
crew, but when I walked toward him he drove off without saying
anything.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">I went in and called
Xfinty/Comcast and was told that they would send somebody the next
day. January 12, 2016. Next day around 2:00 P.M. a guy showed up and
couldn't do it because I needed a “tap” which of course the
company already knew, but kept wasting my time and the time of its
subcontractors. I went back in and called to advise that they needed
somebody that knows something about scheduling and coordination so
that there is some minimum level of efficiency and competence.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">January 14, 2016 a
guy came around 10:55 A.M. and measured the distance again and told
me it would be <b>$468.00</b> to run the line.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Around Noon I called
and got somebody named Lequan or something like that who could tell
me nothing except that he would have the construction people call me.
I told him I didn't need them, I wanted somebody who had some
decision making power, but all he could do is to say repeatedly that
he would have them “give me a call.” My biggest question was why
the price went from $50.00 to $468.00 after they already knew the
distance (actually the distance was much less than the ¼ the first
guy had told them) they would have to run the cable. Why did they
keep sending out people who didn't have the capability to do the job?
After the first installer came, the company knew what the situation
was.
</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">I finally decided to
call Clark Howard's help line ( <strong>404-892-8227</strong>, M-F, 10am-7pm ET.) and they gave me the number <b>(215
665-1700</b>) of the Comcast Corporate Office. They probably should see
if they can get the first three numbers clanged to 666 instead of
665, but that's for them to decide.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">I called the office
of the president and got somebody named Mariah who said she would
assign it to somebody who would call me the next before 12:00 Noon.
About 11:30 the next day somebody named Sam called and said she would
investigate it and get back the next week, but that she had 60 cases
so it might take several days, but to send her the email quoting the
price, which I did. She gave me her direct number (<b>615 874-7471</b>) and
told me she worked between 11:00 – 8:00 P.M.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Below is my
fruitless correspondence with Sam G. with case number etc. omitted.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><h2 class="western">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="yui_3_16_0_1_1454352927434_6033"></a><span style="color: red;">Sam:
Here is the January 5, 2016 email. The first man came on the 15th of
December and said he couldn't install it because the connection was
about 1/4 mile away. This was sent after that (obviously), but the
second man they sent (and the third) all had the same capability as
the first. This is in reference to ESL ******. I hope you can read
this as this is all typing on one line for some reason</span></span></span></h2>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="yui_3_16_0_1_1454352927434_62021"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="yui_3_16_0_1_1454352927434_62031"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="yui_3_16_0_1_1454352927434_62011"></a>
From: <a href="mailto:soumds_esl@cable.comcast.com">SOUMDS ESL
<soumds_esl@cable.comcast.com> </a></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">To: S<a href="mailto:conlysullivan@yahoo.com">ullivan</a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Jan 21 at 8:14 PM</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Dear Chris Sullivan,</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0.17in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="yui_3_16_0_1_1454352927434_62241"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="yui_3_16_0_1_1454352927434_62251"></a>
I wanted to follow up with you
regarding your request for new service. I had a chance to review the
information that you provided regarding the installation charges. The
$50 installation charge that was referenced in the letter only
referred to the installation of your service inside the home.
However, the quote that was provided of the <b>$907</b> amount involves
rebuilding on the outside of your property in order to make your
address serviceable. Once that amount has been satisfied then the
construction department can begin the process of rebuilding at your
property to make it serviceable. </span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0.17in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="yui_3_16_0_1_1454352927434_62262"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="yui_3_16_0_1_1454352927434_62272"></a>
Comcast strives to provide
outstanding customer service and I appreciate your bringing this
matter to my attention.<br /><br />Regards,</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="yui_3_16_0_1_1454352927434_62291"></a>Sam
G.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="yui_3_16_0_1_1454352927434_62481"></a>Executive
Customer Relations</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="yui_3_16_0_1_1454352927434_62471"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="yui_3_16_0_1_1454352927434_62301"></a>
Comcast | Big South Region</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="yui_3_16_0_1_1454352927434_62461"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="yui_3_16_0_1_1454352927434_62311"></a>
Office: 615-874-7471
/615-750-8953</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="yui_3_16_0_1_1454352927434_62451"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="yui_3_16_0_1_1454352927434_62321"></a>
Office Hours: Tue - Sat: 11am
-8pm (CT)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">To: Sam G.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">If this is the case
I should have been told that after the <i>first person came</i> in December.
Why did they keep sending people who couldn't do the job? Why did
they quote a price of $50.00 after the first installer had advised
them of the situation?
</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Comcast has wasted
over a month of my time and several hours of its sub-contractor's
time. There seems to be an unbelievable level of incompetence in the
scheduling and installation departments...</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">As far as the
<b>$907.00</b> quote, this is the first I've heard of it.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">I got no response. </span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">As a post script, I have no complaints about the sub contractors they sent out. All were unaware of the situation and had no way to deal with it. When I mentioned the incompetence of the office people one of the guys looked disgusted and said something like "Yeah, it's the people in the office." </span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">I had a modem that I had bought at Walmart which I returned. When I mentioned Comcast at the return desk the clerk launched into a diatribe about how they had made a mess of her bill and was charging her for something (a phone, I think) she didn't even have.</span></span></div>
Chris Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05779677734830280397noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8562436538597446558.post-6187538616391810602015-12-06T19:48:00.000-05:002015-12-06T20:09:28.212-05:00<br />
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #e69138;">Planet Of The Slaves</span></span></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></h2>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />Mendax News Service<br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br />I must be one of the very few people who has never seen any of the Planet of the Apes movies, but around the same time of the first one there was a commercial failure made called Planet of the Slaves.<br /><br />If I remember correctly it was produced by Milton Mayer, with a screenplay by Lysander Spooner and starred a B-grade actor named Robert Nozick who plays the protagonist W. L “Bill” Garrison.<br /><br />Garrison and his band land on a planet that is governed by a kakistocracy of omnicompetent – or so they think – men. The people seem happy and brag to the visitors about their freedom and how they have all kinds of rights that are protected and enumerated by their foundational charter. The visitors discover that the people of the planet are known as the Snacirema and that they are hospitable to strangers, but easily herded into a sort of unanimity of thought. There are a few independent thinkers, but they are derided as “Nockites” or “Remnantists.”<br /><br />After a few days of intermingling, Garrison becomes convinced that all the supposed rights and freedoms the Snacirema brag about are illusory, in fact he becomes convinced that they are slaves.<br /><br />His first inkling is when Ollie Holmes, one of the people he has befriended mentions that he has to send the government part of his wages or he will be jailed or have his property seized. Garrison is incredulous, but Holmes explains that it's only one percent and that it is the price of civilization. Garrison tries to explain that it isn't the amount that makes him a slave, it's the fact that the government has a superior claim to the fruits of his labor. Holmes is unconvinced.<br /><br />A few days later, Garrison discovers that the people are compelled to send their children to school and that the government operates a huge network of schools that teach many things that the parents find repugnant. There are some people who teach their children at home and there are a few private schools, but they aren't free like the government schools.<br /><br />The Snacirema maintain an enormous military with land, sea and air forces in which boys are required to register for service in if called. The chances of actually being called are very small since the whole apparatus is for defense, not aggression, and they haven't been attacked in over seventy years. Still, Garrison doesn't see how compulsory service is compatible with the freedom he keeps hearing about.<br /><br />One day, as Holmes is taking Garrison to see the Thomas W. Wilson Memorial, they are stopped by a Compliance Officer – sort of like police – for not paying alimony and not having insurance. Garrison asks the officer how he knew that Holmes hadn't paid alimony and the officer explains that there are tag reading cameras everywhere that alert the officer if someone is “out of compliance.” After they are on their way again Garrison tells Holmes that he doesn't see how mass surveillance is compatible with freedom. Holmes explains that it's no big deal if you have nothing to hide and that he'll get matter resolved. <br /><br />The next day Garrison finds that there is a meeting of Nockites at the Horatio Bunce Auditorium that night. He decides to go and see what their opinions are, but he can't persuade Holmes to accompany him since they are viewed as kooks, so he has to go alone.<br /><br />When he gets there he sees that it's a very small group and they all seem to know each other and suspect he's some kind of spy or agent provocateur. He explains that he is from another planet and is only studying their beliefs and customs. A man named Fishel Chodorovic introduces himself as one of the group's founders and launches into a litany of objections to the way the planet is run and explains that the people are slaves without chains.<br /><br />Garrison doesn't contradict Chodorovic, but asks him why he thinks as he does since most of the people seem to be perfectly happy or at least accepting of the situation.<br /><br />Chodorovic responds that the people are bound with mental chains almost from birth and that they are firmly fastened by the compulsory school system which those in charge style “education.”<br /><br />Garrison: Why don't the people just refuse to send their children to be indoctrinated?<br /><br />Chodorovic: Most of the people not only don't object, they think it's a good idea to have compulsory schooling and if the parents don't send the children the children will be taken away and become wards of the state. The people are inured to control by everything they see and hear. Is something harmful? Outlaw it, or license it. There is a license for everything. Do you want to get married? You need a license. Do you want to braid hair? You need a license. Do you want to grow tobacco or peanuts? You need a license. You need a license to do everything: sell real estate, carry a gun, practice medicine, operate a motor vehicle, fly a plane, operate a business, practice law, sell used cars, cash checks, put up a sign, hold a garage sale, hunt or fish, dance in a strip club, sell alcohol, operate a boiler, sell firearms, sell insurance, ad infinitum. Then there are permits which are licenses by another name, building permits, electrical permits, plumbing permits, tree-cutting permits, etc. There are also requirements that you do as you're told: wear your seat belt, buy insurance on your car, buy medical insurance, keep your grass cut below a designated height, tag your car and your dog. The people have accepted control over everything.<br /><br />The control is so complete that politicians seeking office promise to cut income taxes or “reform” the code, but never to eliminate and forbid income taxation. It is taken for granted that government has first claim on all income and can raise or lower its share at will.<br /><br />There are prohibitions against having certain plants because somebody thinks you might do something harmful with them. Imagine that, outlawing plants! There are also certain drugs and treatments you aren't allowed to use because they are “unapproved.” The great god government has decreed that you can't use them, so needless to say they aren't covered under your mandatory insurance.<br /><br />Garrison: That does sound like government is more intrusive than I had heard, but how does it keep track of who's doing what?<br /><br />Chodorovic: Everybody is required to send in a tax return with their address and an identifying number unless they didn't have any “taxable income.” To claim dependents, each one also has to have a number.<br />To open a bank account you need a number and the banks have to report any “suspicious activity.”<br />It's considered suspicious if you structure you banking transactions to avoid being reported. <br />There are tag readers that record your location and time. All of your mail is photographed front and back. All of your electronic communications are intercepted and stored. It's not known if it's being done, but you could be tracked and recorded continuously by having a phone on you.<br /><br />Garrison: Do you think it's possible to reverse this?<br /><br />Chodorovic: It's an uphill battle, but if I could do one thing with the wave of a magic wand it would be to forbid government involvement of any kind in schooling. No compulsion, no certification, no textbook advice, no grants of money or property, no teacher licensing, no tax credits, no nothing. And if I had a second wave of the wand I would utterly forbid any taxation of income from whatever source derived. Without funding there can be no tyranny. <br /><br />Garrison: Well, I've got to be leaving for home tomorrow, but if I ever get back to Earth I'm going to see how you're progressing – or regressing – with your program of deconstruction.<br /><br />Chodorovic: It's at least a fifty-year project.</span></span>Chris Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05779677734830280397noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8562436538597446558.post-10805338978593949552015-04-22T01:11:00.000-04:002015-04-22T01:11:19.158-04:00Building A Bug Out Bag<br />
<br />
Bug Out bags used to be an item unfamiliar to most people, nowadays there are any number of sites selling ready-made bug out bags, and lots of others advising what to put in one.<br />
<br />
Some of the advice as to what to include seems premised on the idea that the person bugging out is going to have motorized transport or a covered wagon with a yoke of oxen to pull it. There is so much stuff that a person couldn't possibly carry it any distance.<br />
<br />
The most likely scenario that I see myself bugging out from is some sort of disaster (natural, financial, social) where the government is going to take charge and help everybody by corralling them in the Super Dome or its equivalent. This is to be avoided at all costs.<br />
<br />
In such a situation it would be advisable to head for the woods unless you have a mountain cabin or beach house or something similar, in which case you wouldn't need much of a bug out bag. With this in mind I present my idea as to what I think is necessary, or at least very useful.<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUTSF6J2vOEZF3WkMclXztG4WcVNL5qH3YKpIyOtuDBUtRC0gABDkDp5HI0jHPSwlmoa0b6VuQeCrnxayIPZ6OjHuSBBKsMVhomc0MYq3pUmEsKRhVw-uRqb9drdnpLgoymVSr1JMsUod0/s1600/IMG_2298.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="A few items in the bag. Note double-sheave pulley blocks, salt and small file." border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUTSF6J2vOEZF3WkMclXztG4WcVNL5qH3YKpIyOtuDBUtRC0gABDkDp5HI0jHPSwlmoa0b6VuQeCrnxayIPZ6OjHuSBBKsMVhomc0MYq3pUmEsKRhVw-uRqb9drdnpLgoymVSr1JMsUod0/s1600/IMG_2298.JPG" height="300" title="" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
My number one priority is fire starting and I have lots of redundancy in that department. My bag has waterproof matches, magnifying glass, magnesium fire starter, Bic multi-purpose lighter, vaseline coated cotton balls and a can of Sterno. The Sterno can be used for starting stubborn material or for cooking on. Sterno is also available in a plastic bottle, but it seems more likely to be punctured in that form and lacks the cooking option.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.swordsknivesanddaggers.com/blades/ESE31H.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.swordsknivesanddaggers.com/blades/ESE31H.jpg" height="94" width="200" /></a></div>
For a cutting implement I have an Estwing carpenter's hatchet. The reason for this is that it is all steel and is almost indestructible. The carpenter's hatchet has a hammer head on the backside and a nail puller in the blade. The hammer head works much better than using the back side of a conventional hatchet. A machete would also be useful, but I haven't found one that I think is worth buying.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41raP2rE4ZL._SY300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41raP2rE4ZL._SY300_.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Popeil's Pocket Fisherman</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Back in the '70s, Ron Popeil proclaimed it "The fishing invention of the century!" which probably overstated things a bit, but the Pocket Fisherman is almost tailor made for an emergency fishing expedient. Shakespeare makes a telescoping rod called "Travel Mate" which <br />
might be as good or better, but takes up more space. A gill net is also very useful.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheR_M2xWpQ5gFwN7gzKtrMg5fSG4Z-bbDmcg5hdRyTX8B5KK1ScET1B0OtfVQxLNoH2t7J9fUvJyJe7mziqFA2_1aDa7OSbp0crNph67XpXYoVePke9j2POcM2hi_K4rP4tRe6WuZvzOGJ/s1600/IMG_2295.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheR_M2xWpQ5gFwN7gzKtrMg5fSG4Z-bbDmcg5hdRyTX8B5KK1ScET1B0OtfVQxLNoH2t7J9fUvJyJe7mziqFA2_1aDa7OSbp0crNph67XpXYoVePke9j2POcM2hi_K4rP4tRe6WuZvzOGJ/s1600/IMG_2295.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a>I have three leg-hold traps which will provide you with more game than a days worth of hunting. These are suitable for catching possum, raccoon, coyotes, bobcats and other small game. It is very socially unacceptable to have leg-hold traps so they will almost certainly have to be purchased online.<br />
<br />
Traps never sleep and they don't make any noise like a gunshot, which could be very important. I think it makes sense to have as many of these as you can reasonably carry.<br />
<br />
Everybody has paracord and so do I, but I have included two small double-sheave pulley blocks. These vastly increase a person's pulling power and weigh almost nothing.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZb6qK3q6CDYO99oADxne21dRLUHkLE3EcaBRkpsri_0RnMk38Mp0VxVo0yICRL-BYhS-NlYJiKR5Jl6qJiNLyjyLuBtB7L_EeqCW_zjMF5vEEm8cL4DROFlEvozjTwnqo3TUNDpaL3vJJ/s1600/IMG_2299.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZb6qK3q6CDYO99oADxne21dRLUHkLE3EcaBRkpsri_0RnMk38Mp0VxVo0yICRL-BYhS-NlYJiKR5Jl6qJiNLyjyLuBtB7L_EeqCW_zjMF5vEEm8cL4DROFlEvozjTwnqo3TUNDpaL3vJJ/s1600/IMG_2299.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Salt, Stanley cooker and cups.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Stanley makes a handy little stainless steel cooker with two plastic nesting cups. The cooker has a top and a folding handle. I don't like plastic, but it won't break which is an advantage over glass and it doesn't conduct heat when you're trying to drink out of it which metal cups do.<br />
<br />
An 8 X 10' heavy duty tarp is useful for many things. Larger might be better, but larger means heavier. The standard tarps are pretty well worthless since they tear easily. The HD is twice as heavy, but it's better than twice as good.<br />
<br />
A Melitta filter cone with filters found its way into the bag for at least two reasons. The obvious one is that it can be used to make coffee with, but it can also be used to filter (not purify) water to remove sediment, bugs and whatever else won't pass through it.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfn4dSJS4K7U1iKHTGkHJQFT2Tt2LfjWoigKj3oE6Vzgha_GPiGrGhV3Yui9Ni4fRxyhYdlJHyAyqVqeOiQ768HlQVS1lW8mUh-UcN_Fno1F3Or6QkDzwE3y6JZbg9gOdE3KZ3X6i768qV/s1600/IMG_2297_2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfn4dSJS4K7U1iKHTGkHJQFT2Tt2LfjWoigKj3oE6Vzgha_GPiGrGhV3Yui9Ni4fRxyhYdlJHyAyqVqeOiQ768HlQVS1lW8mUh-UcN_Fno1F3Or6QkDzwE3y6JZbg9gOdE3KZ3X6i768qV/s1600/IMG_2297_2.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a><br />
<br />
<u>US Army Survival Manual FM 21-76</u> should probably be in anybody's bag unless he's Jim Bridger or an Indian Chief.<br />
<br />
Almost everybody advises carrying enough water to cross the Sahara desert, but since I'm in Georgia, water is not a problem at all. All I need is a way to purify it. It seems that people forget that water is very heavy and if you carry enough to drink in one or two days, you can't carry anything else. At 8.34 pounds per gallon, it doesn't take many gallons to add up. As far as edibles, I have a few cans of sardines and some MREs, but food is really another thing. This bag is devoted to tools.<br />
<br />
A multi-tool is super handy (even if you aren't bugging out) and I have an old Gerber 300, I think it is. It's very good, but I've had it about 15 years and most of Gerber's products have declined drastically in quality, although I don't know that the multi-tools have. Leatherman makes a 'Super Tool 300" that looks good, but I haven't used one. A general rule in almost anything is, don't buy cheap junk. I can never remember an occasion when I was using a tool and wished I'd bought the cheaper one.<br />
<br />
Most of the other stuff in the bag is pretty conventional. A military signal mirror, P38 can opener, bottle of Excedrine, hydrogen peroxide, 2 wash rags, a bar of Fels-Naptha soap, which is a laundry soap, but is useful for washing off poison ivy and also seems to help somewhat on bug bites, iodine, honey, dental floss, needles, small file, Repel insect repellant (DEET free), box of salt, 150 feet of MIG wire, 1 sheet of emery cloth, small flashlight, compass, plastic bottle with graduations, small bottle of bleach, slingshot, bottle of DMSO, cheap gloves with plastic coated palms and fingers, comb, tweezers, disposable razor, colloidal silver, 2 carabiners and a small flip open mirror with a standard mirror and a magnifying mirror for getting stuff out of the eye.<br />
<br />
There should also be a high quality knife for skinning and dressing fish and game. Lots of modern knives look like something out of a Boris Vallejo painting rather than a useful tool. Avoid "fantasy" junk. The salt is useful for seasoning, preserving game and as a wound disinfectant. Honey can also be used on cuts and wounds as well as sweetening the coffee that you make with your filter cone.<br />
<br />
Although I don't have any guns in the bag, it's good to keep in mind that a common caliber is the practical thing to have. Any .22 LR and a .308 Winchester or 30/06 would serve well. Since I'm in Georgia, dangerous game isn't a problem and most game can be killed with a .22 LR, but for deer, hogs and black bear the .30s would be useful. Lots and lots of people have some firearm that fires .223 Remington, but it's way more than you need for squirrels, coons, possum, rabbit, etc. and not very good for hogs, deer or bear. You might have a .264 Win. Mag. or a .257 Roberts that you shoot really well, but forget about finding ammo in an ordinary store selling ammo. Also keep in mind that the centerfires attract a whole lot more attention than the rimfires. A shotgun would be nice, but the ammo is bulky and heavy. If you have a bug out partner it might be reasonable for one of you to have a shotgun.<br />
<br />
Coleman makes a skillet with a folding handle, but it has a non-stick surface which I don't want and it has very mixed reviews, so I'm leaning toward the much heavier (3 lbs.) 8" cast iron skillet. Coleman also makes an emergency blanket and poncho, both about the size of a cigarette package, but much thinner. Emergency is the key word here. You wouldn't want this to be your primary gear.<br />
<br />
If you have pre-selected a place or places to go, it would be a good idea to have a topographical map of the area. It would also be a good idea to go there (assuming it's legal) and camp to familiarize yourself with the area, game and vegetation. The compass and map will come in handy if the battery dies in your Magellan.<br />
<br />
This is a project that will never be completely "tuned." If you have any ideas (and why they're good) I'd like to hear them.<br />
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Chris Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05779677734830280397noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8562436538597446558.post-6548188509088048392015-04-18T04:27:00.000-04:002016-05-02T00:56:55.043-04:00Anti-War SongsThis will be a continuing work, I think<br />
<br />
Londonderry Air or Danny Boy - Judith Durham<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnLnwWjrIyk">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnLnwWjrIyk</a><br />
<br />
Willie McBride or The Green Fields of France <br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVE5d2PLWP0">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVE5d2PLWP0</a><br />
<br />
Johnny I Hardly Knew You - The Irish Rovers<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFUTHcjiZGo">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFUTHcjiZGo</a><br />
<br />
The Band Played Waltzing Matilda<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VktJNNKm3B0&feature=youtu.be">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VktJNNKm3B0&feature=youtu.be - <span style="color: black;">The Irish Tenors</span></a><br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFCekeoSTwg">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFCekeoSTwg - <span style="color: black;">Liam Clancy</span></a><br />
<br />
Universal Soldier <br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGWsGyNsw00">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGWsGyNsw00 -<span style="color: black;"> Buffy Sainte-Marie</span></a><br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC9pc4U40sI">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC9pc4U40sI -<span style="color: black;"> Donovan</span></a><br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMo3p17W10E" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=LMo3p17W10E - <span style="color: black;">Glen Campbell</span></a><br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3fP-soxB7Q"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: purple;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3fP-soxB7Q</span></span> - Scruggs & Flatt</span></a><br />
<br />
Fortunate Son - Creedence Clearwater Revival<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMUBWKJ5A_0">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMUBWKJ5A_0</a><br />
<br />
The Forgotten Soldier Boy - The Monroe Brothers<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPx9EFEZLcM">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPx9EFEZLcM</a><br />
<br />
War - Edwin Star <br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQHUAJTZqF0">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQHUAJTZqF0</a><br />
<br />
I Didn't Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier - The Peerless Quartet<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-C2qOAgMCl4">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-C2qOAgMCl4</a><br />
<br />
I Ain't Marching Anymore - Phil Ochs<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=62&v=gv1KEF8Uw2k">https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=62&v=gv1KEF8Uw2k</a><br />
<br />
The Americanization of Emily - "War is not moral" clip<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reUstMn4bM8">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reUstMn4bM8</a><br />
<br />
Simple Song of Freedom - Bobby Darin<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZ1ohsissjE">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZ1ohsissjE</a><br />
<br />
Gordon Lightfoot - The Patriot's Dream(Original Studio Recording).wmv<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2b6QA4CtQUM" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=2b6QA4CtQUM</a><br />
<br />
Country Joe McDonald - I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W7-ngmO_p8" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=3W7-ngmO_p8</a><br />
<br />
Southampton Dock - Pink Floyd<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-EFiDLPjM8" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=0-EFiDLPjM8</a><br />
<br />
Black Sabbath - War Pigs<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4FuqVbwifk">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4FuqVbwifk</a><br />
<br />
One Tin Soldier - The Original Caste [Original]<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTBx-hHf4BE">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTBx-hHf4BE</a><br />
<br />
30 Days Back - The White Buffalo<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfIF-3KlPsE">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfIF-3KlPsE </a><br />
<br />
Joey White - The White Buffalo<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHBEkPyHEBo">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHBEkPyHEBo</a><br />
<br />
The Stanfields - Ship to Shore<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQaUtizFSaI">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQaUtizFSaI</a><br />
<br />
Michael Franti & Spearhead - Time To Go Home<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwxqJ3X6Z6k">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwxqJ3X6Z6k</a><br />
<br />
Old Crow Medicine Show - Big Time In The Jungle<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MC0HNPiy18">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MC0HNPiy18</a><br />
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<span class="" dir="ltr" id="eow-title" title="Traveling Soldier">
</span></h1>
Travelin' Soldier - Dixie Chicks<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C0QS3IDyP8">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C0QS3IDyP8</a><br />
<br />
With God on Our Side - Bob Dylan<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0YLuFZcOe4">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0YLuFZcOe4</a><br />
<br />
Lyndon Johnson Told The Nation - Tom Paxton<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTyqoV1d2Ys">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTyqoV1d2Ys</a><br />
<br />
Billy Don't Be A Hero - Paper Lace<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX-JeV37Uqw">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX-JeV37Uqw</a><br />
<br />
The Town I loved So Well - Luke Kelly<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg_3t-CHBZs&spfreload=10">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg_3t-CHBZs&spfreload=10</a><br />
<br />
Cops of the world - Phil Ochs<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaTbI7FCLl0">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaTbI7FCLl0</a><br />
<br />
In The Army Now - Status Quo<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-u87agJunY">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-u87agJunY</a><br />
<br />
Twilight Zone, "No Time Like The Past", aired on 07 March 1963.- Clip<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPtJLWa8JJI">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPtJLWa8JJI</a><br />
<br />
Bring 'em Home - Pete Seeger<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4-w2FYIJbw">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4-w2FYIJbw</a><br />
<br />
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Ohio 1970 Kent State University<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68g76j9VBvM" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=68g76j9VBvM</a><br />
<br />
The Bankers and the Diplomats Are Going in the Army - Michael Cooney<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oAVx86T8jI">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oAVx86T8jI</a><br />
<br />
Hero of War Lyrics - Rise Against<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOV3X0dxed0">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOV3X0dxed0</a><br />
<br />
Belleau Wood [Garth Brooks]<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjXa7DnaGjQ">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjXa7DnaGjQ</a><br />
<br />
"Blessed Are The Landmines" Brave Saint Saturn - Five Iron Frenzy Side Project<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMB16yB2fnM">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMB16yB2fnM</a></span><br />
<br />
Kenny Rogers - Ruby Don't Take Your Love To Town + Lyrics<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCjzhDrlTJ8">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCjzhDrlTJ8</a><br />
<br />Chris Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05779677734830280397noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8562436538597446558.post-36042031389153582772014-12-21T23:03:00.000-05:002014-12-27T14:13:43.997-05:00Populist Pair Spreads Fear, Hate<br />
<br />
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b> March A.D.
1996</b></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Veritas
News Service</b> – Controversial populist presidential candidate
<span class="il">Iesu</span> <span class="il">Nazarenus</span> was accused of spewing hate today when he called a
group of rabbis a “brood of vipers,” “whited sepulchers,”
“hypocrites,” “blind fools,” “blind guides,” etc. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="il">Nazarenus</span>
has also been linked to right-wing militia leaders when it was
reported that a physician who would identify himself only as Luke
overheard him advising one of his supporters who was without a sword
to “sell your tunic and buy one.” He is also related to the
religious extremist of the desert who goes by the name of John. John
apparently has very low self-esteem, telling some of his listeners
that he is not worthy to loosen <span class="il">Nazarenus</span>' sandal strap and that he
must decrease and <span class="il">Nazarenus</span> increase.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Since
his appearance <span class="il">Nazarenus</span> has sown division wherever he goes. In one
place he actually told some of his followers, “I have come to bring
a sword, not peace,” and he is quoted by informed sources as saying
that “brother will hand over brother to death, and the father his
child; children will rise up against their parents and put them to
death” because of him or his ideology. Environmentalists are
outraged at his killing a fig tree, and his supporters', mostly
uneducated blue collar workers, fishing without a license. He also
reportedly said to some of his more fanatical followers that he had
“come to cast fire upon the earth.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">ATF
officials are investigating reports that he made wine some time back,
at the request of his mother apparently, during a wedding reception
without paying any tax thereon.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">In
another investigation, FDA officials have received reports that he
used unapproved methods to cure blindness. Eye-witnesses (no pun
intended) said that he took spit and mud and spread it on the eyes of
some homeless person supposedly born blind thereby effecting a cure.
If proven he could be prosecuted for using unapproved quack remedies.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="il">Nazarenus</span>
appears to be no friend of working people either. Informed sources
report that he sided with a vineyard owner who paid his workers the
same amount, even though some worked only one hour while others
worked the whole day. This is a blatant case of equal pay for vastly
</span><i style="font-size: 11pt;">unequal</i><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> work.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Animal
rights activists oppose him vehemently because of his statements that
“you (his followers) are of more value than many sparrows” which
they see as a dangerous kind of speciesism. Also his apparent
indifference to fishing and animal sacrifice have outraged many.
<span class="il">Nazarenus</span> has also been accused of nativisim and anti-gentile bias
because of his admonition, “Do not go in the direction of the
Gentiles, nor enter the towns of the Samaritans” when sending out
his provocateurs. He even referred to a Gentile woman (a
Syrophoenician) as a dog, telling her when she requested his
assistance, “It is not fair to take the children's bread and to
cast it to the dogs.”</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">His
running mate for the vice-presidency, Paul T. Arsus, is widely known
as a homophobic hate monger. In a speech at Corinth he told those
present, “Do not err, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor
adulterers, not the effeminate, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor the
covetous, nor drunkards, nor the evil tongued, nor the greedy will
possess the kingdom of God.”</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Pundits
have said that the pair has virtually no chance of being elected, but
if they were, they would have to tone down their rhetoric and move
toward the middle to govern.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Even
Pontius Robertson of the Jellyfish Coalition has distanced himself
from the pair, supporting instead Boob “Windsock” Dole. Robertson
and his spokesperson Caiphas Reed decided to support Dole when it
appeared to them that <span class="il">Nazarenus</span> and Arsus were not team players who
could work with the Democrats to help support the family and return
the country to its moral foundation.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Republican
front-runner Boob Dole has called them extreme, and President Clinton
has advocated the forming of a new agency to be called the Bureau of
Free Speech, to monitor and regulate certain types of speech that
spread fear, intolerance, homophobia, sexism, speciesism, sightism,
adultism, lookism, racism, nativism and all types of unapproved
thought and speech.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Some
of the more conservative religions have actually agreed with this
extreme rhetoric but have admitted that anyone espousing their views
would be unelectable.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Other
responsible conservatives have said <span class="il">Nazarenus</span> would be more electable
if he dumped Arsus in favor of a more moderate choice such as
Barrabas Powell.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: red;"><i>This was originally written in 1996 as a satire on the conduct of people like Pat Robertson and Ralph Reed.</i></span></span>Chris Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05779677734830280397noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8562436538597446558.post-45577586089656498292014-06-02T16:23:00.000-04:002014-06-02T16:23:41.738-04:00Nowhere To Run<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The Fugitive Slave Act was passed in
1850 to deal with the problem of runaway slaves and the weakening of
a 1793 law with the same objective. All people want to keep the fruits
of their labor and when this desire is violated they seek some
remedy, whether it be a change in the law or a change in location. If
a slave could make it to Canada he was probably safe from the slave
catchers. Some northern states had laws against black people –
slave or free – moving into the state, so Canada was probably the
best option. If a slave could escape to a free area he could keep all
his earnings since there was no income tax at the time.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Today the state of affairs is a little
different. If an American citizen wants to keep all his income there
is no place to escape to. If such a person moves to Switzerland,
Uganda, Haiti or Antarctica the IRS wants its “share” of his
income. It doesn't matter that the person no longer lives in the US
or makes any money in the US, just by virtue of citizenship, Uncle Sam wants
his share.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
If the plantation owner of yesteryear
could somehow reap the benefits of the runaway slave's labor no
matter where he was, he would have had no incentive to capture him
and bring him back. What difference would it make where he was if the
“owner” still had an irrevocable claim against his productivity?
The slave had an advantage over the modern counterpart if he could
escape the country.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
In feudal times there were serfs known
as serfs “regardant” and serfs “in gross.” A serf regardant
was only a serf in regards to one Lord, otherwise he was free. A serf
in gross was a serf always and everywhere no matter who he worked
for. Americans are now what could be described as serfs in gross. No
matter where they live or work, the federal vampire demands its
gallon of blood even though the victim is using none of its
“services.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Every time a national holiday of some
sort comes around, be it Thanksgiving, Memorial Day, Veteran's Day or
some other, we hear the usual script about how Americans are free and
that we owe a huge debt to founders, veterans or<i> somebody</i> for all the
freedom we enjoy. This presents an odd definition of freedom. What
exactly does it mean to be free? Is it possible to be free when
someone has an irrevocable, unlimited claim on everything you earn?
Some will object that the income tax is not unlimited, it's “only”
thirty-nine percent or whatever it happens to be, but this can be
changed at any time for any reason. Serfs generally owed about twenty
percent to the Lord - were they free?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Americans are so indoctrinated in the
slave mentality that they will refer to someone who wants to keep the
fruits of his labor as a “tax cheat.” Our Founding Fathers
probably would not even have understood such a term. Weren't all of
them aspiring tax cheats?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
During every election politicians prattle on
about reducing taxes, closing loopholes, tax reform or some other
bromide to hoodwink the greatest number of voters. Almost none ever
talk about abolishing the income tax and abolishing the IRS. The
government loves an income tax because it allows it to pry into the
financial affairs of all its citizens and it gives it a sword of
Damocles to hold over any person or group that might have the wrong
opinions. Many people like the income tax because they envy those
more successful than themselves and like to see them punished. Marx
and Engels undoubtedly realized this when they made “A heavy
progressive or graduated income tax” the second plank of the
<i>Communist Manifesto</i>. Anything short of abolition is adjusting
the fit of the chains on the slaves.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Not only does the government tax income
of those living outside the country, it prohibits those who “owe”
back taxes from leaving the <strike>plantation</strike>
country. Nobody is free who has a master that has first claim against
all his earnings. <i>Proverbs </i>XXII:7 says that the borrower is slave to
the lender, but in the land of the free, even those who haven't
borrowed are slaves by virtue of citizenship, and there's nowhere to
run.</div>
Chris Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05779677734830280397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8562436538597446558.post-15725479971047251982014-04-16T18:53:00.000-04:002014-04-16T18:53:47.917-04:00White Envy<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">You won't need pencils and paper for
this one-question pop quiz.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">All people and all groups are equally
smart, talented, industrious, honest, inventive, deserving of respect
and so on except one. So, here is the question.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">What group is it perfectly acceptable –
even encouraged – to denigrate in movies, advertising, jokes,
academics and any other way?
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Think real hard before answering
because this is a real head scratcher. If you answered “white men”
you scored 100 percent.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Everybody has his own ideas about what
motivates other people, but I think it can be agreed that envy is
near the top of the list, along with pride, which is probably number
one. People tend to tear down their superiors, it's human nature.
Mention to your wife or girlfriend that Helen of Troy was a beautiful
woman and see how fast she can find fault with Helen's hairdo or the
way she talks or <i>that dress!</i> that makes her look fat. Some
will agree with you, but many will find defects.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This is why white men are the targets
of ridicule in popular culture.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Think of how life would be different
without the telephone, airplane, FAX machine, television, movie
camera, light bulb, automobile, steam engine, electric motor, air
conditioner, screw propeller, internal combustion engine, nuclear
reactor, power loom, jet engine, refrigerator, transistor, microchip,
magnetic clutch, phonograph, metallic cartridge, washing machine,
radio, drive belts, reaper, interchangeable parts, pneumatic tire,
farm tractor, modern rocket, submarine, roller chain, chainsaw,
elevator, escalator, moveable-type printing press, bread slicer,
electric mixer for cooking, toaster, arc welder, tapered roller
bearing, centerless grinder, telescope, microwave oven, RADAR, aqua
lung, auto pistol, revolver, machine gun, mouse trap, sewing machine,
hydraulic brakes, disc brake, radial engine, water heater, battery,
solar cell, generator, alternator, piano, electric guitar, electric
clock, weed eater, airbag, helicopter, parachute, vacuum tube,
microscope, zipper, rifled barrel, intermittent wiper switch,
autogyro, seat belts, electron microscope, sleeve valve engine,
Wankel engine, stirling engine, typewriter, photocopier, dynamite,
boxer primers, matches, toilet paper, electric drill, ball bearing,
electrical fuse, safety razor, stainless steel, swivel chair,
electric razor, universal joint, pressure cooker and cell phone, to
name a few inventions. What all these have in common is that they
were invented by white men, not black men or white women; white men.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Pointing this out is now considered
racist, sexist, or perhaps unimportant, as though any other group
even comes close to comparing favorably. The above list only
enumerates the invention of physical things and doesn't encompass
advances in law, philosophy, medicine, science, music, mathematics,
engineering, exploration, botany and so on.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Camille Paglia wrote<a href="http://ideas.time.com/2013/12/16/its-a-mans-world-and-it-always-will-be/#comments"> an article</a>
recently about the importance of men – not specifically white men –
for which she probably had opprobrium heaped upon her for even
thinking. It's the worst taboo to even imply that modern civilization
is an invention of white men, but if you were to eliminate only the
inventions enumerated above, civilization would be cast into the
pre-industrial age. There would be no motorized transport, no music
unless you made it yourself or went to a performance somewhere, no
way to communicate other than face to face or by letter, no efficient
mode of printing, no hot water unless you heated it over a fire, not
even an efficient way to plow or hunt game.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">European countries that used to be almost all white have experienced a flood of immigration from non-white countries. This is really strange if white men are as stupid, self-centered, prejudiced and boorish as portrayed in movies. Maybe the proffered stereotype is inaccurate.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">It is a sad state of affairs when the
group most responsible for modern Western Civilization is the most
denigrated by those in that civilization. C. S. Lewis might have been
referring to what American children are taught in schools on up to
college when he wrote, <span style="font-size: small;">“</span><span style="font-size: small;">The
claim to equality, outside the strictly political field, is made only
by those who feel themselves to be in some way inferior. What it
expresses is precisely the itching, smarting, writhing awareness of
an inferiority which the patient refuses to accept." *</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">*
</span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>The
Screwtape Letters – Screwtape Proposes A Toast</i></span></span></div>
Chris Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05779677734830280397noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8562436538597446558.post-65587903095587409682014-04-14T19:45:00.000-04:002014-04-14T19:45:50.681-04:00Iran - A Rogue State<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="http://differentbugle.blogspot.com/">Mendax News Service</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Washington DC is all abuzz over an
Iranian drone strike on a dissident in McClean Virginia yesterday. The target was an Iranian by the name
of Shapour Bakhtiar who the Iranians classify as a “terrorist.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Mr. Bakhtiar was attending a wedding
when a missile exploded, killing him and several other guests. The total number of those injured is
not yet known, but several people were blinded and at least three
paralyzed by the blast that seemed to come out of nowhere. One of
those killed was Bakhtiar's 16 year-old son who had no involvement in
terrorism.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The Obama Administration has called it
an act of war and has demanded an immediate meeting of the UN
Security Council to condemn the attack as a breach of international
law and an act of pure barbarism.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Iranian spokesman Mohammed Mosaddegh
told Mendax correspondent M. R. Pahlavi that the attack was
completely justified and within the accepted practice of the United
States. Tehran sources tell Mendax that Bakhtiar was wanted for
making false and inflammatory statements against the legitimate
government of Iran and aiding terrorists.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
A State Department press release called
the murder of Bakhtiar “The act of a criminal, lawless, rogue state
that does not recognize national borders nor limits on its
authority.” Iran has tried to justify its villainy by claiming a
moral equivalence with U.S. attacks on genuine terrorists in
Pakistan, Yemen, Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Iraq, Egypt and perhaps
other places undisclosed.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Defense Department and CIA personnel
were taken by surprise that Iran had the capability to build drones
until it was learned that Russian and Chinese engineers have been
working with the Iranians to build a fleet of drones similar to the
Lockheed RQ-170 that they captured on December 4, 2011.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Tehran has claimed that all those
killed and injured were terrorists or were providing aid to
terrorists. United States Ambassador to the United
Nations, Samantha Power issued a statement saying, "My
government emphasizes that this blatant and unprovoked air violation
by the Iranian government is tantamount to an act of hostility
against the United States in clear contravention of international
law, in particular, the basic tenets of the United Nations Charter."
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Tehran has responded that Iran had
issued warrants against Bakhtiar, but that the United States was
harboring him and refused requests to return him to Iran. The Justice
Department acknowledged that Tehran had made an extradition request,
but the U.S. has no extradition agreement with Iran.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
White House sources said that President
Obama, a former community organizer, was disappointed that Iran had
resorted to unacceptable behavior and that it bore the earmarks of a
KGB operation, thus casting suspicion on Vladimir Putin, a former KGB
Colonel. Veteran State Department officers expressed apprehension –
confidentially – about a community organizer trying to match wits
with a KGB Colonel.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Iran expressed regret over the collateral damage, but has remained defiant and
threatened more drone strikes on Iranian dissidents in New York City,
Los Angeles and Chicago. Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied
any connection to the Iranian policy and has called for a moratorium
on the use of drones. Washington has rejected any cessation of drone
usage, but said that rogue states must not be allowed to have them.</div>
Chris Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05779677734830280397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8562436538597446558.post-12434594719586718002014-04-09T21:37:00.000-04:002014-04-09T21:37:40.521-04:00Supporting Your Enemies<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I have been a member of The National
Rifle Association off and on since I was about twelve years old and a
Life Member for about the past twenty years. The management of the
organization takes the members for fools. There are better and more
aggressive organizations such as <span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://gunowners.org/">Gun Owners Of America</a></span> and <span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://jpfo.org/">Jews For The Preservation Of Firearms Ownership</a></span> to name two, but as somebody
said years ago, gun owners are like fleas on an elephant and must go
where the elephant goes because the other organizations don't have
the clout of the NRA.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Wayne LaPierre once famously referred
to agents of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms as
“jack-booted government thugs.” I don't know about their
footwear, but they <i>are</i> thugs. The problem with the NRA and many other
organizations is that they think certain agencies are bad, but the
government overall is good. They're all thugs. Many issues of <i>The
American Rifleman</i> will have some kind of laudatory article about
some cop, military man, sheriff, FBI agent or some other government
hack who is trained to follow orders. The BATF is the bogeyman
because it is the agency charged with enforcing the firearms laws.
If it were the FBI, the FCC or the EPA that enforced the laws they
would be the ones wearing the jack-boots.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The February 2014 issue of <i>The
American Rifleman</i> has an ad on page 73 seeking bequests to
the NRA with the caption, “Where Do You Want Your Estate To Go?”:
“To the government?” (with a very unflattering picture of Obama
and Biden) “Or freedom's future?” (with a picture of a guy
coaching a woman with a shotgun). This is all fine, but why is “the
government” bad when it's Obama, but good when it's Sgt. Doright of
the First Cavalry or the Podunk Sheriff's Department? Obama is not
the one who is going to kick down your door for violating a gun
control law; it's Sgt. Doright that will handle that. You are
probably never going to be in any danger from Obama. It will be one
of his agents who kills you, seizes your property, breaks into your
house, hauls you off without charge, prohibits you from flying, spies
on you, prevents your leaving the country, and on and on. Almost all
of these outrages will be perpetrated by a person wearing a
government uniform of some kind.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
It's not just the NRA that propagates
this sort of Zoroastrian/dualist view of the government; it's the gun
manufacturers and advertisers too. One manufacturer has an ad for its
product that shows an entry team of cops preparing to break in a door
with the caption in boldface type, “BUILT FOR THOSE WHO REQUIRE NO
INTRODUCTION.” Well, actually they <i>should</i> require an introduction,
otherwise called a search warrant issued upon “oath or affirmation, and
particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or
things to be seized.” Hardly any “dynamic entries” are ever
justified. When the police are confronted with real danger, they
usually cordon off the area as in school shooting cases or burn the
place to the ground as in the case of Christopher Dorner, Gordon
Kahl, MOVE in Philadelphia or the Branch Davidians in Texas.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
There seems to be broad support for the
military even though the Founding Fathers feared a standing army
and would not even authorize funding for one for longer than two
years at a time.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
It is easy to see why a standing army
is a danger to society when you consider how easy it is to get
ordinary people to obey authority with very little coercion. This was
demonstrated by Stanley Milgram in his experiments and chronicled in
his book <i>Obedience To Authority</i>. If ordinary people are so
easy to command, it is <i>a fortiori</i> the case that young boys who
have been through obedience training known as boot camp or police
academy will follow commands like trained dogs after their personal
judgment and individuality have been reduced or destroyed.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
There are plenty of products sold only
to government agencies that John Q. Public is not allowed to have.
Why manufacture a product – other than for money, or course –
that is going to be turned against you? Why, in a nation founded upon
the idea of unalienable rights and popular sovereignty is the
government permitted to have weapons that are prohibited to the
individual? This is exactly backwards; it is the government that
should be prohibited certain weapons. The government is the agent,
not the sovereign.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Remington used to market a folding
stock for the 870 shotgun that had “For law enforcement only”
stamped into the side of it. Why? There was nothing illegal about
anybody having it. Why provide your government customers products
that you deny to non-government buyers?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I used to joke about – although not
entirely in jest – forming a company that sold weapons and
equipment that stated in its ads, “Civilian sales only.” We would
all be better off if the government feared the people instead of the
other way around.</div>
Chris Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05779677734830280397noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8562436538597446558.post-88137960909468013282013-09-02T12:20:00.000-04:002013-09-02T12:24:42.040-04:00The Velocity Of Truth<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>“And you shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free." </i> This is the government's greatest fear. Aeschylus is supposed to have said that “In war, truth
is the first casualty.” He may have been technically correct, but
truth is a casualty before the war even starts. Truth is a casualty
of government. Government subsists on lies. How can it be otherwise,
when lying is the path to advancement in government?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Lies have always served government well
because people have a tendency to trust their government for some
inexplicable reason and even when lies were exposed, it was usually
long after the fact and the thing lied about forgotten. There have
always been a few people who point the lies out at the time, but they are almost always ignored. There were probably some people at the
time who doubted the Gulf of Tonkin Incident or the “surprise”
attack on Pearl Harbor, but they had no effective means of
disseminating their views.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Herein lies what I believe to be the
greatest problem for government. There is a concept in economics
called the velocity of money, and if I may borrow from it I would say
that the internet has brought about what I call the Velocity of Truth. The theory works like this: the government puts out a lie to
justify some act or contemplated action, but before it can even agree
on the details, somebody exposes it as a lie. This usually
necessitates another lie – sometimes called a clarification – to
cover up the first one. Before you know it, the government has woven
itself a tangled web in its efforts to deceive.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Truth and government are antonymous.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
This is a problem for government that
seems as though it can only get worse. Daniel Ellsberg was an anomaly
in his time, but just in the last few years people like Julian
Assange, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=590cy1biewc">William Binney</a>, Bradley Manning, Edward Snowden, Thomas
Drake, Sibel Edmonds, et alia have pullulated like chickens. Before
the internet they would have been voices crying in the wilderness and
could be safely ignored, but not any more because the Velocity of Truth is increasing.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Surveillance can only become a worse problem for the
government as video and audio recorders get smaller and ubiquitous and data storage devices shrink and gain capacity. It is
similar to an elephant fighting ants or a dog biting at fleas.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Not too long ago, the police could
concoct any story to justify their actions, but now they are
constantly being caught on video recording devices that contradict
their account of events. If John Kennedy were assassinated today,
Abraham Zapruder would only be one of thousands with a video record
of it, and the modern version would also have audio. As it becomes
more common for devices to upload information to a remote location,
the cat will be out of the bag, vanished and had kittens. Today
government goons can seize the equipment and destroy it or erase the
information, but that option will soon evaporate.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The current program of fabricating a
reason to attack Syria is an example of the pesky internet. <i>The
Daily Mail</i> ran a story on January 29, 2013, titled <i>U.S. 'backed
plan to launch chemical weapon attack on Syria and blame it on
Assad's regime'</i> that mysteriously vanished, but it was archived <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20130129213824/http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2270219/U-S-planned-launch-chemical-weapon-attack-Syria-blame-Assad.html">here </a>by web.archive.org. Just a few years ago, it would have required
digging up a copy of the original story and making copies of it to
disseminate.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Most of us can't imagine the inventions
that will soon be commonplace, and many of them will help increase the
flow of information. Every advance in the flow of information damages
the government's ability to deceive and increases the Velocity of Truth.</div>
Chris Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05779677734830280397noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8562436538597446558.post-74193643865573672032013-07-28T21:21:00.000-04:002013-07-28T23:24:16.895-04:00Satan's Workshop<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Hardly a week goes by that there isn't
a story about some kind of lunacy or depravity being peddled by the
government school establishment. Some of it is crazy in an amusing
sort of way if you aren't the victim, such as the boy who got
suspended for biting a pastry into the form of a gun, even though it
looked nothing like a gun.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Many other things are pernicious, such
as countermanding the moral authority of the parents and teaching the
children things that they find abhorrent. Several years ago there was
a controversy over some books called <i>Daddy's Roommate</i> and
<i>Heather Has Two Mommies</i>. These were blatant homosexual
propaganda, but today they are used in many schools even if the
parents object. Why this is even a subject to be taught in school
would be a mystery were it not for its social engineering purpose.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Massachusetts has blazed new horizons
in insanity by asserting that students are to be treated as the <a href="http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/massachusetts-forces-schools-to-let-39transgender39-boys-use-girls39-restro/">sex they claim to be</a>, not their chromosomal sex. What is this but
teaching mental illness? If a white student claims that he is black,
is he to be accommodated? The “transracial” student would
actually be on firmer ground since there would be no chromosomal
difference.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
What could damage a child more than
teaching him that perception is reality? In later life, the person
might think he has money in the bank that isn't there. Is the bank
going to acquiesce to his perception or give him a jolt of reality?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
A few years ago, I was walking back
from lunch with a friend of mine, Chris Mileto, and pontificating
about how government schools were bad and should be eliminated. He
summed it up very succinctly by saying “The public schools are the
workshop of Satan.” Many people know this in some form, but think
that they can reform the schools or get rid of the bad people running
things and everything will be fine. It won't be.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I have never heard any “reformer”
say that compulsory schooling is the problem. The government has no
business or authority compelling parents to send their children to
school. Does the government have the authority to compel a certain
diet? How about gym classes or dancing lessons? Almost anybody can
see a problem with compulsory church attendance, but compulsory
schooling has been around so long that people see nothing wrong with
it. No amount of reform will solve the problem. Once compulsion is
removed, all authority over curriculum evaporates, and voila, diversity
in education. Diversity is the highest good, right? Why not a little
diversity in thought?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Hilaire Belloc pointed out the problem
eighty-four years ago in a book called <i>Survivals and New Arrivals</i>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>“<span style="font-size: small;">A universal and
compulsory system of instruction has for its first and main effect
uniformity. It produces to a pattern. It fills the millions
of a nation (at the age when the mind is being fixed) with one set of
ideas to the exclusion of others. No mere limited freedom of choice
in text-books and teachers can prevent this effect, when the whole
system is subject to State regulation, supervision, examination
and test..... It is not the particular form
of the system, it is its universal character which is of this effect.
On reflection we see that it must be so. A body of national
teachers will come into being and will be informed with a corporate
spirit. They will be trained all in much the same fashion to the
same fixed “standards” and with the same ends in view. They will
teach under the shadow of a vast bureaucracy and to ends set them by
an army of inspectors, examiners and department officials.</span></i></div>
<i>
</i>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-size: small;">You have, therefore, here
one essential condition of the "Modern Mind"; its lack of
diversity; its mechanical deadness.....</span></i></div>
<i>
</i>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-size: small;">Universal Compulsory
Instruction contains also on its compulsory side, as well as
in the matter of its universality, a force making for the
creation of the "Modern Mind." Compulsion, long continued,
breeds acceptance; and the acceptance without question of such
authority as it meets - especially that of print - 'blind faith"
we have said, "divorced from reason" - is a very mark of
the "Modern Mind."</span></i></div>
<i>
</i>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-size: small;">.... The Parent does not choose his
child's instructor nor the nature of his teaching, both are imposed
by the Civil Authority. The child goes daily to and from that
institution, has its whole life coloured by it, knows that its
attendance is not an order of its parents but a public command
enforced by the Police.... It is at once teaching and law,
and those subjected to it are inoculated from their earliest years
with a paralysis in the faculty of distinction - of clarity in
thought through analysis. Look around you and note the incapacity
for strict argument, the impatience with exact definition, the
aversion to controversy (mother of all truth) and the facility in
mere affirmation. Herein lies their root.”</span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
Although he was talking about England, the
same result would occur anywhere. George Orwell wrote about "Thought
Police", but there is very little need for thought police when the
state is teaching the citizen almost from infancy what to think.<br />
<br />
Leonard Read was the first person I ever read who argued against compulsory schooling. When the idea of abolishing compulsory schooling is first encountered, it sounds crazy to almost everybody because of its long practice. It is the taproot of everything that is wrong with American schools.<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The schools don't need to be reformed,
they need to be abolished and the state needs to be forbidden any
authority over teaching whatsoever.</div>
Chris Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05779677734830280397noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8562436538597446558.post-31913983672787946962013-05-29T23:24:00.001-04:002013-05-29T23:24:57.715-04:00Dark AgesThis video ties in tangentially with a post I published in October 2011 called <a href="http://differentbugle.blogspot.com/2011/10/those-ignorant-churchmen.html"><i>Those Ignorant Churchmen. </i></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=j5Lk3DgT5v0#">http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=j5Lk3DgT5v0#</a><br />
<br />
Needless to say, I think the video is worth watching. There is so much nonsense believed about our forefathers, and this video dispels quite a bit of it.Chris Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05779677734830280397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8562436538597446558.post-78453990689992679832013-04-11T12:53:00.000-04:002013-04-11T12:57:16.334-04:00Bureau Of Privacy<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="http://differentbugle.blogspot.com/">Mendax News Service </a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Mendax News Service has learned that
the Department of Homeland Security has set up a department within
itself to be known as The Bureau of Privacy. The new subsidiary
department will be in charge of monitoring the actions and
associations of the populace to root out terrorism before it happens.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The impetus for the new Bureau is
believed to be the plot – thwarted, thankfully – by a German
terrorist, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_W%C3%B6hler">Friedrich
Wöhler</a> to dump calcium carbide in the toilets of public
restrooms and provide some kind of delayed ignition source.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Mendax contacted the spokesman for the
new bureau, P. Tom Coventry about plans to install cameras and
listening devices in all public restrooms.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Mendax: Mr. Coventry, It seems that
putting cameras in the stalls of public restrooms is a violation of
privacy by any standard. How do you justify this?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Coventry: We don't see the right to
privacy as absolute. After the underwear bomber tried to blow up a
plane with a bomb concealed in his underwear, pornoscanners were
installed in many airports with very little complaint from the flying
public. This is a reasonable extension of our mission to protect the
public while respecting people's privacy.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Mendax: This doesn't seem like you are
respecting people's privacy, it seems like you are violating it.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Coventry: We would never violate
anyone's privacy. This isn't a violation, it is a monitored privacy,
which enhances both privacy and security. After all, privacy is no
use without security. In order to mean anything, privacy must be
regulated. We don't have a right to unbridled privacy.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Mendax: Can you cite any precedents for
your opinion?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Coventry: Certainly, the scanners at
the airports I already mentioned and random road blocks, searches of
buses, luggage, domestic drones that are being contemplated and so
on.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Mendax: These things take place in
public places, not restrooms.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Coventry: We are not going to monitor
bathrooms in detatched single-family, privately owned residences,
only public buildings and buildings that the public has access to,
such as hotels, office buildings, stadiums, schools, public housing
or housing that receives funding from the public such as Section
Eight housing. We're not talking about Big Brother here.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Mendax: What if people object to this
new form of surveillance?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Coventry: There will always be a fringe
element that sees a privacy violation behind every government
initiative, but our mission is to ensure the safety of the public. We
can't do that without real time observation of any potential threat.
If we want to preserve our freedom, we've got to have enhanced
privacy.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Mendax: What you are talking about
doing doesn't sound like it will enhance privacy.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Coventry: Of course it will. What good
is privacy if you're dead? The Bureau of Privacy is going to do its
utmost to protect the public's privacy while still providing
security.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Mendax: Where is any of this new
surveillance authorized? Doesn't it at the very least violate the
Fourth Amendment?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Coventry: No, it doesn't. The Fourth
Amendment forbids unreasonable searches and seizures, etc. We are not
searching or seizing anything, but merely observing.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Mendax: It seems to violate the intent,
if not the letter of the amendment, and even common sense.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Coventry: We can't let common sense
prejudice our interpretation of the law. There are various penumbras
and emanations that allow for surveillance. Besides that, the
Constitution is a living document, so we can never tell what it
really meant or what it will mean in the future.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Mendax: Thank you for your time Mr.
Coventry. I'm sure there will be some lawsuits over this.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Coventry: Since nobody is required to
use any of these facilities, we don't anticipate any legal roadblocks
to our plans. Everyone uses these facilities voluntarily.</div>
Chris Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05779677734830280397noreply@blogger.com2