"The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency.  It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool.  It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president."

Media Take Note: In Arizona County, Of 64 Highway Chases Last Month, Not One Perp a U.S. Citizen

As media elites in their Sixth Avenue towers look down and tut-tut about those racist reactionaries in Arizona, the real people who have to deal with the real-world problems and ramifications of leftist open border political correctness are not backing down.
This weekend on Phoenix’ KFYI, radio host Terry Gilberg interviewed Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu.  The Sheriff’s message to Contessa, Katie and all the rest?  Come ride along side me in the patrol car.  You’ll see the real story.
During the interview, he conveyed a remarkable statistic:

Last month alone, just in one patrol region, we had sixty-four pursuits.  That means people who were driving a vehicle, failed to yield, took off like a bat out of hell, running red lights, creating traffic wrecks, numerous people were killed in these wrecks over the last several months, and who are these people?  Not one of them was a U.S. citizen.

How can the debate over the Arizona law be conducted by the holier-than-thou East Coast liberals who don’t deal with the consequences of their positions without at least hearing the facts from a man like Sheriff Babeu? While they focus on Steve Nash and his oh-so-valiant choice of jersey, they ignore men like this who literally put their lives on the line every day due to the open border policies our friends in the media promote.
Do they dare paint this man as a racist?  In the good Sheriff’s own words:

I don’t profile… I profile criminals.

UN-believable: Because When You Think ‘Women’s Rights’ You Think ‘Iran’

By Doug Powers • April 30, 2010 12:11 PM

From the “It’s a little like hiring John Edwards to be your marriage counselor but way worse” file, we find yet another pathetic reason the US should have nothing to do with the United Nations:

NEW YORK — Without fanfare, the United Nations this week elected Iran to its Commission on the Status of Women, handing a four-year seat on the influential human rights body to a theocratic state in which stoning is enshrined in law and lashings are required for women judged “immodest.”

Just days after Iran abandoned a high-profile bid for a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council, it began a covert campaign to claim a seat on the Commission on the Status of Women, which is “dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women,” according to its website.

They left out that women’s cleavage causes earthquakes, and women are arrested and who knows what else for the crime of being suntanned.

Iranian activists circulated and submitted a petition asking that member states oppose Iran’s appointment, but that piece of paper was apparently tossed on the UN’s pile of unpaid parking tickets and quickly forgotten.

Samuel Adams, 1776

If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent ruin.

The Cultural Consequences of Unemployment

Last November nearly a fifth of all men between 25 and 54 did not have jobs, the highest figure since the labor bureau began counting in 1948. We are either at or about to reach a historical marker: for the first time there will be more women in the work force than men.

read the entire NYT editorial from David Brooks Here.

Government non-co-operate

It is an inalienable right of the people to withhold co-operation, we are not bound to continue in Government service. If Government should betray us in a great cause, we could not do otherwise than non-co-operate. We are therefore entitled to non-co-operate with Government in case of betrayal. -Mohandas K. Gandhi

The downfall of Argentina

Don’t Cry For Me, America

posted at 6:45 pm on November 21, 2009 by directorblue
[ Congress ]    printer-friendly

In the early 20th century, Argentina was one of the richest countries in the world. While Great Britain’s maritime power and its far-flung empire had propelled it to a dominant position among the world’s industrialized nations, only the United States challenged Argentina for the position of the world’s second-most powerful economy.
It was blessed with abundant agriculture, vast swaths of rich farmland laced with navigable rivers and an accessible port system. Its level of industrialization was higher than many European countries: railroads, automobiles and telephones were commonplace.
In 1916, a new president was elected. Hipólito Irigoyen had formed a party called The Radicals under the banner of “fundamental change” with an appeal to the middle class.
Among Irigoyen’s changes: mandatory pension insurance, mandatory health insurance, and support for low-income housing construction to stimulate the economy. Put simply, the state assumed economic control of a vast swath of the country’s operations and began assessing new payroll taxes to fund its efforts.
With an increasing flow of funds into these entitlement programs, the government’s payouts soon became overly generous. Before long its outlays surpassed the value of the taxpayers’ contributions. Put simply, it quickly became under-funded, much like the United States’ Social Security and Medicare programs.
The death knell for the Argentine economy, however, came with the election of Juan Perón. Perón had a fascist and corporatist upbringing; he and his charismatic wife aimed their populist rhetoric at the nation’s rich.
This targeted group “swiftly expanded to cover most of the propertied middle classes, who became an enemy to be defeated and humiliated.”
Under Perón, the size of government bureaucracies exploded through massive programs of social spending and by encouraging the growth of labor unions.
High taxes and economic mismanagement took their inevitable toll even after Perón had been driven from office. But his populist rhetoric and “contempt for economic realities” lived on. Argentina’s federal government continued to spend far beyond its means.
Hyperinflation exploded in 1989, the final stage of a process characterized by “industrial protectionism, redistribution of income based on increased wages, and growing state intervention in the economy…”
The Argentinian government’s practice of printing money to pay off its public debts had crushed the economy. Inflation hit 3000%, reminiscent of the Weimar Republic. Food riots were rampant; stores were looted; the country descended into chaos.
And by 1994, Argentina’s public pensions — the equivalent of Social Security — had imploded. The payroll tax had increased from 5% to 26%, but it wasn’t enough. In addition, Argentina had implemented a value-added tax (VAT), new income taxes, a personal tax on wealth, and additional revenues based upon the sale of public enterprises. These crushed the private sector, further damaging the economy.
A government-controlled “privatization” effort to rescue seniors’ pensions was attempted. But, by 2001, those funds had also been raided by the government, the monies replaced by Argentina’s defaulted government bonds.
By 2002, “…government fiscal irresponsibility… induced a national economic crisis as severe as America’s Great Depression.”
* * *
In 1902 Argentina was one of the world’s richest countries. Little more than a hundred years later, it is poverty-stricken, struggling to meet its debt obligations amidst a drought. We’ve seen this movie before. The Democrats’ populist plans can’t possibly work, because government bankrupts everything it touches. History teaches us that ObamaCare and unfunded entitlement programs will be utter, complete disasters.
Today’s Democrats are guilty of more than stupidity; they are enslaving future generations to poverty and misery. And they will be long gone when it all implodes. They will be as cold and dead as Juan Perón when the piper must ultimately be paid.

'Obamaville' sign posted near homeless camp

New Underground Economy

New Underground Economy

by Richard W. Rahn
The underground or "black" economy is rapidly rising, and the fault is mainly due to government policies.

Here is the evidence. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) released a report last week concluding that 7.7 percent of U.S. households, containing at least 17 million adults, are unbanked (i.e. those who do not have bank accounts), and an "estimated 17.9 percent of U.S. households, roughly 21 million, are underbanked" (i.e., those who rely heavily on nonbank institutions, such as check cashing and money transmitting services). As an economy becomes richer and incomes rise, the normal expectation is that the proportion of the unbanked population falls and does not rise as is now happening in the United States.

Tax revenues are falling far more rapidly at the federal, state and local level than would be expected by the small drop in real gross domestic product (GDP) and changes in tax law that have occurred since the recession began. The currency in circulation outside the U.S. Treasury, Federal Reserve banks and the vaults of depository institutions - that is, the currency held by individuals and businesses - has grown by 13.3 percent in the last two years, while real nominal (not inflation-adjusted) GDP has not grown at all, and real (inflation-adjusted) GDP incomes have fallen by more than 3 percent. With the growth of electronic means of payment and financial service providers, it would be expected that the currency component of GDP would fall, not rise.

The underground economy refers to both legal activities, such as often found in construction and services industries where taxes are not withheld and paid, and illegal activities, such as drug dealing and prostitution.

Countries such as the United States, Switzerland and Japan historically have had relatively small, nonreporting and/or illegal sectors, a typical estimate being 13 percent of GDP.

Most European countries have had somewhat larger underground sectors (typically 20 percent or so) in part because of the desire to escape higher tax rates. Italy and some of the other Southern European countries are believed to have underground sectors that account for 30 percent or more of all economic activity.

I recall an Italian finance minister telling a few of us at a meeting a couple of decades ago that, for policy purposes, he assumed that "the economy was 40 percent larger than what was reported." In some developing countries and/or highly corrupt countries, underground or "off the books" activities are estimated to be as high as 70 percent of all economic activity.

The FDIC report about the size of the unbanked or underbanked sector in the U.S. should be of concern because those who do not use the banking system often have to pay higher fees to cash checks, pay bills (e.g., money orders, etc.), or transmit funds.

People who keep their savings in cash at home rather than in banks make themselves easier prey for criminals and are more likely to lose their money to fire, flood, or just neglect. Not surprisingly, a majority (71 percent) of the unbanked have household incomes of less than $30,000 per year.

There are many reasons people do not have bank accounts. Banks, because of the "know your customer" and other anti-money laundering regulations, make it difficult for nonestablished people, such as the young and transient, as well as legal and illegal immigrants, to open bank accounts.

Also, many of these same regulations are responsible for the rise in bank fees, which are a particular burden for low-income people. You can be sure that every time Congress passes some new law or the IRS implements some new regulation to "get tax cheats," much of the real burden of these compliance costs will fall on those least able to afford it, while those intent on finding their way around it will do so.

People also avoid having bank accounts because they are vulnerable to asset seizure, judgments, levies, etc. Increasingly, bankers and others who provide financial services are forced by governments to spy and snitch on their own customers, and this is a real turnoff for many people, which causes them to find other ways of maintaining financial privacy.

Many studies have shown that when people believe the taxes they are required to pay are reasonable and the political leaders tend to spend their tax dollars wisely, tax compliance rises, and vice versa. In the United States, there is increased evidence that many tax dollars are not being spent wisely and are often used to pay off political cronies.

Over the past year in particular, the public has become aware that many in Washington who advocate higher taxes and argue that everyone has a responsibility to pay taxes are themselves not complying with the tax laws and regulations.

When you have a secretary of the Treasury and the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee (the tax writing committee) accused of cheating on their taxes, it greatly undermines the moral authority of the tax collectors, making the common citizens feel like chumps and, hence, much more willing to try to legally avoid or illegally evade taxes themselves.

The evidence is unambiguous; governments cannot increase tax compliance and decrease the size of the underground economy by ever increasing and more onerous regulations.

It is no accident that those governments that allow their citizens a high degree of personal and financial liberty, including financial privacy, and spend taxpayer dollars wisely, honestly and competently, have much smaller underground sectors than corrupt and oppressive governments. Washington, take note.

National Recovery Act- 1934

This came out of the History column from todays local paper the Gazelle.
"Careful search of National Recovery Act codes reveals little of value
in them to any industry except those monopolistic
privileges which are incompatible with a capitalistic system based on
free enterprise and which ought never to have been granted unless it
were contemplated to make a transition from free competitive capitalism
to state capitalism."
Dr. Charles Roos, former director of research for the national recovery act.
Assailing the Recovery administration, minced no words in an almost
unqualified attack on the code system, Dr. Roos called the NRA "the
greatest hoax ever perpetrated on industry or labor."

Reminds me of todays recovery "stimulus package"

American Jury Institute

November 30, 2009 8:00 PM

ALEXANDER DAUBE

In response to the Gazette article titled “Jury tampering delays Bruce trespassing trial,” (Nov. 14), I offer some thoughts.
Most Americans believe that their liberties are safe in courtrooms; that courts will uphold and support their rights. Sadly, in Colorado Springs the opposite is true. This isn’t about jury tampering — it’s about something far worse. It’s about a government bent on suppressing the rights of the people instead of protecting them.
Here are the relevant facts: A man was peacefully handing out leaflets on the sidewalk outside the Colorado Springs Municipal Court building on Kiowa Street. Anyone who received a flyer had it forcefully confiscated, and then the entire jury pool was dismissed for fear of being “tainted.” The judge responsible for the court’s harsh response is The Hon. Spencer Gresham, who then went on to order that no one be allowed to hand out leaflets within 100 yards of the courthouse.
So, what was in the flyers that brought forth such an extreme response by the court? They were “True or False” flyers, designed by the American Jury Institute. They explained that when you sit on a jury, you may use your conscience in determining a verdict. They are not specific to any one case, but apply to all criminal trials anywhere in America.
The flyers discuss “jury nullification,” also known as “jury veto power,” which has been the traditional right of jurors since our nation was founded. Here are some relevant quotes:
“I consider trial by jury as the only anchor ever yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution.” — Thomas Jefferson
“Jurors should acquit even against the judges’ instruction… if exercising their judgment with discretion and honesty they have a clear conviction that the charge of the court is wrong.” — Alexander Hamilton
“The jury has a right to judge both the law as well as the fact in controversy.” — John Jay, first Chief Justice of the United States.
“It is not only his [the juror’s] right, but his duty… to find the verdict according to his own best understanding, judgment, and conscience, though indirect opposition to the direction of the court.” — John Adams, second U.S. President
Jury nullification is an old and vitally important right for all Americans. It is our last peaceful line of defense against a corrupt and power-hungry government. It enables us to defend our fellow citizens from unconstitutional and unjust laws, by exonerating people who stand accused of violating them.
Sadly, many judges in the Colorado Springs Municipal Court hate this right, and Judge Gresham is abusing his power to suppress our rights. This isn’t just about jury nullification. It’s also about our First Amendment right to inform our fellow Coloradans about their power as jurors. Judge Gresham knows that the U.S. Supreme Court decision in UNITED STATES v. GRACE, 461 U.S. 171 (1983), protects our right to hand out flyers on sidewalks outside government buildings. Grace held that: “ …they [sidewalks] …are public forums for First Amendment purposes,” and “…the public sidewalks surrounding the Court grounds are no different than other public sidewalks in the city.”
In spite of this, Gresham is denying this right to the people of Colorado Springs. It should serve as grounds for his removal from the bench.
During a recent motions hearing, Doug Bruce asked for some water. Judge Gresham said he had no water, and he offered Bruce an empty cup. How perfectly symbolic: A cup devoid of water in a courtroom devoid of liberty.
If you are disgusted by Gresham’s lawless actions, write to: Mayor & City Council, PO Box 1575, CS CO 80901, or submit an online complaint at https://secure.springsgov.com/crm/crm.asp, or call a City Council member and lodge a complaint against Judge Spencer Gresham.
 —
Alexander Daube is an Area Coordinator for the American Jury Institute, www.FIJA.org. Readers may contact him by e-mailing: patriot1701@yahoo.com

Racial terror in Denver that won’t make national news

Racial terror in Denver that won't make national news

By Michelle Malkin  •  November 24, 2009 10:31 AM

Chilling details are emerging in the local Colorado press about violent black gangs who have been targeting white victims for months:

The Denver Police Department announced today that they have made 32 arrests during a sweep to end a four-month spree of what police said were racially motivated assaults and robberies in downtown Denver, including the LoDo entertainment district.
A task force comprised of the Denver Police, FBI and the Denver District Attorney's Office investigated 26 incidents in which groups of black males verbally harassed and then assaulted white or Hispanic males, according to Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman.
Many of the victims were robbed after being assaulted.

Although police knew what was going on, citizens were left in the dark.
More dangerously blind diversity-mongeringat work? Fear of litigation or accusations of profiling by the usual mau-mauers?
You decide:

Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman said that groups of young black males from the Rollin' 60s Crips and the Black Gangster Disciples gangs approached single white or Latino men late at night and struck them in the head, often after berating them and calling attention to their race, but sometimes attacking without warning.
Victims in the LoDo and 16th Street Mall attacks suffered broken noses and shattered eye sockets, among other head injuries. Sometimes wallets and other small items were stolen.
"We have seen coordinated efforts before, but not by this large of a group," Whitman said as the arrests were announced Friday.
Yet no concerted effort was made to alert residents to the unusual nature of these violent crimes, or their apparent racial motivation.
Police say there may have been 26 such attacks, almost all against white males, but investigators stress there could be other victims and more are coming forward. A few are women.
Monday, police spokesman Sonny Jackson told us all but one of the 35 suspects are now in jail, each on a $1 million bond due to the racial bias involved. The mostly young men and teenage boys are charged with aggravated assault, aggravated robbery and bias-motivated crimes.
The situation was so grave even the FBI got involved.
Who knew? Certainly not the young white and Latino men who were at risk of being attacked.
Though Denver Police issued a warning on Sept. 3 that they were aware of "a pattern of assaults and robberies," they simply said "single males" should be on the lookout.
Jackson said that at the time, police weren't yet aware of the full scope and biased nature of the attacks. Once the warning went out and police heightened their presence, he said, the attacks "dried up."
Therefore, Jackson told us, it was unnecessary to issue a more explicit warning, even as investigators learned the more menacing aspects of the crimes.
Jackson said keeping the warning broad should have been enough. "We didn't want anyone to take their guard down," Jackson said.
But if police know that a particular segment of the population is being targeted, don't they have a responsibility to give potential victims a specific warning?

Looks like yet another case of "If you see something, say something — unless it's politically incorrect."

Stop Islamic stupidity from destroying the free world...

Geert Wilders is the leader of the Netherlands political party, Partij voor de Vrijheid, or PVV.  Dutch public opinion polls show Wilders and the PVV in the lead position for any future Parliamentary election. The PVV is currently the leading Dutch party in the European Parliament.  Mr Wilders took over his leader role following the assassinations of the previous two leading figures, Pim Fortuyn and Theo Van Gogh,  in 2002 and 2004 respectively,  so there is a possibility he will suffer the same fate.

Geert Wilders was refused entry to the UK by the then Home Secretary, Jacqui   Smith, which decision was overturned on appeal by a UK court.  In contrast, he was allowed into the United States, where he made the speech copied below.  You may disagree with what he says, but the debate is first whether he should be allowed to say it in democracies that promote free speech.

'In a generation or two, the US will ask itself: who lost Europe?'
Here is the speech of Geert Wilders, Chairman, Party for Freedom, the Netherlands, at the Four Seasons, New York, introducing an Alliance of Patriots and announcing the Facing Jihad Conference in Jerusalem.


Dear friends,

Thank you very much for inviting me.



I come to America with a mission.  All is not well in the old world.  There is a tremendous danger looming, and it is very difficult to be optimistic.  We might be in the final stages of the Islamization of Europe.  This not only is a clear and present danger to the future of Europe itself, it is a threat to America and the sheer survival of the West.  The United States as the last bastion of Western civilization, facing an Islamic Europe.

First I will describe the situation on the ground in Europe.  Then, I will say a few things about Islam.  To close I will tell you about a meeting in Jerusalem.

The Europe you know is changing.

You have probably seen the landmarks.  But in all of these cities, sometimes a few blocks away from your tourist destination, there is another world.  It is the world of the parallel society created by Muslim mass-migration.

All throughout Europe a new reality is rising: entire Muslim neighborhoods where very few indigenous people reside or are even seen.  And if they are, they might regret it.  This goes for the police as well.  It's the world of head scarves, where women walk around in figureless tents, with baby strollers and a group of children.  Their husbands, or slaveholders if you prefer, walk three steps ahead.  With mosques on many street corners.  The shops have signs you and I cannot read.  You will be hard-pressed to find any economic activity.  These are Muslim ghettos controlled by religious fanatics.  These are Muslim neighborhoods, and they are mushrooming in every city across Europe.  These are the building-blocks for territorial control of increasingly larger portions of Europe, street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood, city by city.

There are now thousands of mosques throughout Europe.  With larger congregations than there are in churches.  And in every European city there are plans to build super-mosques that will dwarf every church in the region.  Clearly, the signal is: we rule.

Many European cities are already one-quarter Muslim: just take Amsterdam, Marseille and Malmo in Sweden.  In many cities the majority of the under-18 population is Muslim.  Paris is now surrounded by a ring of Muslim neighborhoods.  Mohammed is the most popular name among boys in many cities.

In some elementary schools in Amsterdam the farm can no longer be mentioned, because that would also mean mentioning the pig, and that would be an insult to Muslims.

Many state schools in Belgium and Denmark only serve halal food to all pupils.  In once-tolerant Amsterdam gays are beaten up almost exclusively by Muslims.  Non-Muslim women routinely hear 'whore, whore'.  Satellite dishes are not pointed to local TV stations, but to stations in the country of origin.

In France school teachers are advised to avoid authors deemed offensive to Muslims, including Voltaire and Diderot; the same is increasingly true of Darwin.  The history of the Holocaust can no longer be taught because of Muslim sensitivity.

In England sharia courts are now officially part of the British legal system. Many neighborhoods in France are no-go areas for women without head scarves.  Last week a man almost died after being beaten up by Muslims in Brussels, because he was drinking during the Ramadan.

Jews are fleeing France in record numbers, on the run for the worst wave of anti-Semitism since World War II.  French is now commonly spoken on the streets of Tel Aviv and Netanya, Israel.  I could go on forever with stories like this.  Stories about Islamization.

A total of fifty-four million Muslims now live in Europe.  San Diego University recently calculated that a staggering 25 percent of the population in Europe will be Muslim just 12 years from now.  Bernhard Lewis has predicted a Muslim majority by the end of this century.

Now these are just numbers.  And the numbers would not be threatening if the Muslim-immigrants had a strong desire to assimilate.  But there are few signs of that.  The Pew Research Center reported that half of French Muslims see their loyalty to Islam as greater than their loyalty to France.  One-third of French Muslims do not object to suicide attacks.  The British Centre for Social Cohesion reported that one-third of British Muslim students are in favor of a worldwide caliphate.  Muslims demand what they call 'respect'.  And this is how we give them respect.  We have Muslim official state holidays.

The Christian-Democratic attorney general is willing to accept sharia in the Netherlands if there is a Muslim majority.  We have cabinet members with passports from Morocco and Turkey.

Muslim demands are supported by unlawful behavior, ranging from petty crimes and random violence, for example against ambulance workers and bus drivers, to small-scale riots.  Paris has seen its uprising in the low-income suburbs, the banlieus.  I call the perpetrators 'settlers'.  Because that is what they are.  They do not come to integrate into our societies; they come to integrate our society into their Dar-al-Islam.  Therefore, they are settlers.

Much of this street violence I mentioned is directed exclusively against non-Muslims, forcing many native people to leave their neighborhoods, their cities, their countries.  Moreover, Muslims are now a swing vote not to be ignored.

The second thing you need to know is the importance of Mohammed the prophet.  His behavior is an example to all Muslims and cannot be criticized.  Now, if Mohammed had been a man of peace, let us say like Ghandi and Mother Theresa wrapped in one, there would be no problem.  But Mohammed was a warlord, a mass murderer, a pedophile, and had several marriages - at the same time.  Islamic tradition tells us how he fought in battles, how he had his enemies murdered and even had prisoners of war executed.  Mohammed himself slaughtered the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza.  If it is good for Islam, it is good.  If it is bad for Islam, it is bad.

Let no one fool you about Islam being a religion.  Sure, it has a god, and a here-after, and 72 virgins.  But in its essence Islam is a political ideology.  It is a system that lays down detailed rules for society and the life of every person.  Islam wants to dictate every aspect of life.  Islam means 'submission'.  Islam is not compatible with freedom and democracy, because what it strives for is sharia.  If you want to compare Islam to anything, compare it to communism or national-socialism, these are all totalitarian ideologies.

Now you know why Winston Churchill called Islam 'the most retrograde force in the world', and why he compared Mein Kampf to the Quran.  The public has wholeheartedly accepted the Palestinian narrative, and sees Israel as the aggressor.  I have lived in this country and visited it dozens of times.  I support Israel.  First, because it is the Jewish homeland after two thousand years of exile up to and including Auschwitz, second because it is a democracy, and third because Israel is our first line of defense.

This tiny country is situated on the fault line of jihad, frustrating Islam's territorial advance.  Israel is facing the front lines of jihad, like Kashmir, Kosovo, the Philippines, Southern Thailand, Darfur in Sudan, Lebanon, and Aceh in Indonesia.  Israel is simply in the way.  The same way West-Berlin was during the Cold War.

The war against Israel is not a war against Israel.  It is a war against the West.  It is jihad.  Israel is simply receiving the blows that are meant for all of us.  If there would have been no Israel, Islamic imperialism would have found other venues to release its energy and its desire for conquest.  Thanks to Israeli parents who send their children to the army and lay awake at night, parents in Europe and America can sleep well and dream, unaware of the dangers looming.

Many in Europe argue in favor of abandoning Israel in order to address the grievances of our Muslim minorities.  But if Israel were, God forbid, to go down, it would not bring any solace to the West It would not mean our Muslim minorities would all of a sudden change their behavior, and accept our values.  On the contrary, the end of Israel would give enormous encouragement to the forces of Islam.  They would, and rightly so, see the demise of Israel as proof that the West is weak, and doomed.  The end of Israel would not mean the end of our problems with Islam, but only the beginning.  It would mean the start of the final battle for world domination.  If they can get Israel, they can get everything.  So-called journalists volunteer to label any and all critics of Islamization as a 'right-wing extremists' or 'racists'.  In my country, the Netherlands, 60 percent of the population now sees the mass immigration of Muslims as the number one policy mistake since World War II.  And another 60 percent sees Islam as the biggest threat.  Yet there is a danger greater danger than terrorist attacks, the scenario of America as the last man standing.  The lights may go out in Europe faster than you can imagine.  An Islamic Europe means a Europe without freedom and democracy, an economic wasteland, an intellectual nightmare, and a loss of military might for America - as its allies will turn into enemies, enemies with atomic bombs.  With an Islamic Europe, it would be up to America alone to preserve the heritage of Rome, Athens and Jerusalem.

Dear friends, liberty is the most precious of gifts.  My generation never had to fight for this freedom, it was offered to us on a silver platter, by people who fought for it with their lives.  All throughout Europe, American cemeteries remind us of the young boys who never made it home, and whose memory we cherish.  My generation does not own this freedom; we are merely its custodians.  We can only hand over this hard won liberty to Europe's children in the same state in which it was offered to us.  We cannot strike a deal with mullahs and imams.  Future generations would never forgive us.  We cannot squander our liberties.  We simply do not have the right to do so.

We have to take the necessary action now to stop this Islamic stupidity from destroying the free world that we know.

---

5 best sentences

These are possibly the 5 best sentences you'll ever read. This is one paragraph that should be in every book in every school room in every city in every state in our great Union ... Our educators should make a lesson plan on this one statement and instill these words in the minds of all students.

"You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.

What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.

The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.

When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is the beginning of the end of any nation..
You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."

225,000 people are driving illegally in Colorado

Audit: Unlicensed drivers big problem in Colorado

The Associated Press

Posted: 11/03/2009 11:07:24 AM MST

Updated: 11/03/2009 11:07:24 AM MST

DENVER—A state audit estimates that as many as 225,000 people are driving illegally in Colorado and that unlicensed drivers were involved in nearly one-fourth of all fatal crashes last year.
Legislators requested the audit after an unlicensed driver in the country illegally was accused of causing an accident last year that killed three people in Aurora, including a 3-year-old in an ice cream shop.
Drivers without valid licenses were involved in 24 percent of last year's fatal crashes. There were 548 people who died in traffic accidents and 130 of those died in crashes involving unlicensed drivers.
The auditors say strategies used by other states include impounding vehicles and putting special stickers on car that have been driven by people without valid licenses.
———
Information from: The Denver Post, http://www.denverpost.com

Cowboy rules

Cowboy rules for:

Arizona, Texas ,   Oklahoma,     Colorado , New Mexico , Wyoming , Montana , Utah, Idaho, Nebraska and the rest of the Wild West are as follows (This includes transplants): 1. Pull your pants up.  You look like an idiot. 2. Turn your cap right, your head ain't crooked. 3. Let's get this straight: it's called a 'gravel road.' I drive a pickup truck because I want to. No matter how slow you drive, you're gonna get dust on your Lexus. Drive it or get out of the way. 4. They are cattle. That's why they smell like cattle. They smell like money to us. Get over it. Don't like it? I-10 & I-40 go east and west, I-17 & I-15 goes north and south. Pick one and go. 5. So you have a $60,000 car. We're impressed. We have $250,000 Combines that are driven only 3 weeks a year. 6. Every person in the Wild West waves. It's called being friendly. Try to understand the concept. 7. If that cell phone rings while a bunch of geese/pheasants/ducks/doves are comin' in during a hunt, we WILL shoot it outta your hand. You better hope you don't have it up to your ear at the time. 8. Yeah. We eat trout, salmon, deer and elk. You really want sushi and caviar? It's available at the corner bait shop. 9. The 'Opener' refers to the first day of deer season. It's a religious holiday held the closest Saturday to the first of November. 10. We open doors for women. That's applied to all women, regardless of age. 11. No, there's no 'vegetarian special' on the menu. Order steak, or you can order the Chef's Salad and pick off the 2 pounds of ham and turkey.  12. When we fill out a table, there are three main dishes: meats, vegetables, and breads. We use three spices: salt, pepper, and ketchup! Oh, yeah ... We don't care what you folks in Cincinnati call that stuff you eat ... IT AIN'T REAL CHILI!! 13. You bring 'Coke' into my house, it better be brown, wet and served over ice. You bring 'Mary Jane' into my house, she better be cute, know how to shoot, drive a truck, and have long hair. 14. College and High School Football is as important here as the Giants, the Yankees, the Mets, the Lakers and the Knicks, and a dang site more fun to watch. 15. Yeah, we have golf courses. But don't hit the water hazards - it spooks the fish. 16. Turn down that blasted car stereo! That thumpity-thump  ain't music, anyway. We don't want to hear it anymore than we want to see your boxers! Refer back to #1! A true Westerner will send this to at least 10 others and a few new friends that probably won't get it, but we're friendly so we share in hopes you can begin to understand what a real life is all about!!!

Quote of the Day

Sickness, poverty, and obesity are spun together in a dense web of reciprocal causality. Anyone who’s fat is more likely to be poor and sick. Anyone who’s poor is more likely to be fat and sick. And anyone who’s sick is more likely to be poor and fat.

       — Daniel Engber in Slate

Police use acoustic warfare to disperse crowds

Oct 1, 7:10 AM (ET)

By JOE MANDAK

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Police ordered protesters to disperse at the Group of 20 summit last week with a device that can beam earsplitting alarm tones and verbal instructions that the manufacturer likens to a "spotlight of sound," but that legal groups called potentially dangerous.

The device, called a Long Range Acoustic Device, concentrates voice commands and a car alarm-like sound in a 30- or 60-degree cone that can be heard nearly two miles away. It is about two feet square and mounted on a swivel such that one person can point it where it's needed. The volume measures 140-150 decibels three feet away - louder than a jet engine - but dissipates with distance.

Robert Putnam, spokesman for the manufacturer, San Diego-based American Technology Corp., said it's "like a big spotlight of sound that you can shine on people."

"It's not a sonic cannon. It's not the death ray or anything like that," Putnam said. "It's about long-range communications being heard intelligibly."

During the Pittsburgh protests, police used the device to order demonstrators to disperse and to play a high-pitched "deterrent tone" designed to drive people away. It was the first time the device was used in a riot-control situation on U.S. soil, according to American Technology and police.

Those who heard it said authorities' voice commands were clear and sounded as if they were coming from everywhere all at once. They described the "deterrent tone" as unbearable.

Joel Kupferman, who was at Thursday's march as a legal observer for the National Lawyer's Guild, said he was overwhelmed by the tone and called it "overkill."

"When people were moving and they still continued to use it, it was an excessive use of weaponry," Kupferman said.

Witold "Vic" Walczak, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union in Pennsylvania, said the device is a military weapon capable of producing permanent hearing loss, something he called "an invitation to an excessive-force lawsuit."

The operator of the device is usually behind it and not in the path of the focused beam of sound.

Catherine Palmer, director of audiology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, said 140 decibels can cause immediate hearing loss. But there's no way to know if anyone was exposed to sounds that loud without knowing how far away they were, she said.

Putnam and public safety officials said the complaints prove the device worked as designed.

"You have to put your hands over your ears and cover them, and it's difficult to throw stuff," said Ray DeMichiei, deputy director of the city's emergency management agency.

Police said they used the device last Thursday to issue prerecorded warnings to disperse when hundreds of demonstrators, including self-described anarchists, without a protest permit held a march that threatened to turn violent.

Aware of concerns about the volume, police were careful to use it about 12 feet off the ground mounted on a tactical vehicle, so no individual would be directly in its path or too close to it, Assistant Chief William Bochter said.

"The only way anybody gets hurt is if the deterrent is on full blast and they stand directly in front of it," Putnam said.

A regional counterterror task force bought four of the devices from American Technology using $101,000 in federal Homeland Security funds, DeMichiei said. Because the amplified message was prerecorded, police could be sure the protesters heard exactly the instructions police desired and have confidence those in the back of the crowd could hear, Bochter said.

Such devices also have military and commercial applications. Putnam said the primary purpose is to transmit specific orders loudly and clearly.

They have been used against protesters overseas, and police in New York threatened to use one during demonstrations near the Republican National Convention in 2004.

He said the city of San Diego uses them to instruct people to leave large sections of beach after festivals. It has also been used in SWAT operations.

In military applications, it allows ships to hail approaching vessels and determine their intent, the company says. Cargo ships use them to tell pirates that they had been spotted. When the pirates know they have lost the element of surprise, they will not attack, Putnam said.

Putnam said those complaining about the device have probably exposed themselves to sounds nearly as loud at rock concerts, and for longer periods of time. Walczak, the ACLU attorney, isn't buying the analogy.

"People don't flee the front row of a rock concert. Why would they be fleeing here?" Walczak asked. "Because it's loud, it's painfully loud."

Conservatives Copy ‘Rules for Radicals’

Conservatives Copy ‘Rules for Radicals’

By Don | September 18, 2009

Conservative activists have been adopting tactics normally used by the left to fight president Obama and the Democrats with surprising results.

From the Politico read the whole article here

Conservatives are coming for the Democrats on their blind side — the left.



The evidence is everywhere.



At tea parties and town halls, conservative demonstrators oppose health care reform with signs bearing the abortion-rights slogan “Keep your laws off my body” or the line “Obama lies, Grandma dies” — an echo of the “Bush lied, they died” T-shirts worn to protest the Iraq war.



Conservative activists are yelling “Nazi!” and “Big Brother!” where they used to shout, “Nanny state!” and “Big Government!”

9/12 Tea Party

9/12 Tea Party Turnout Numbers and Photos
By thomasjeffersonclubblog

If you haven’t seen anything about the tea party in Washington today, take a look at Michelle Malkin’s site. http://michellemalkin.com/

She’s reporting a turnout estimate of 2 million in Washington. I’ve heard there were 10,000 in Chicago.

Saw a report of 12,000 in Quincy, IL, and more photos of DC.