Right To Petition Update

A favorably hostile Court? possible? Seems like it in this case.

WTP has posted a press release concerning the movement as it stands now. The Petition is moving right along as planned, all while the FedGov is trying to quash it. But on another front, Bob Schulz filed a motion to quash an IRS Summons in the US District Court. The USDC issued its decision, holding that the court was prevented by law from quashing an IRS Summons. (What the?)

Schulz appealed to the US Court of Appeals, 2nd District, and the oral arguments were on the 13th Dec. Audio is available from a link provided in the release If you care to listen to it you can hear the Dept. Of Justice's Senior Counsel, Robert Storch, get rebuffed a bit by the Judges. Storch was unable to answer the questions of the Court and said that the Summons, legally, meant nothing, was legally unenforcable and therefore Schulz was under no legal obligation to respond to it. (In an attempt to get the court to say it has no jurisdiction) Storch was required to file a brief by the end of Dec 23rd explaining the FedGov's position on these issues.

We shall see soon enough what the brief says. It is nice to see a Court doing its rightful job, and being the balance to the Executive and Legislative branches.

From We The People

We The People wishes a merry Christmas

Merry Christmas
and
Happy New Year

Please Obey The Government

Civil governments everywhere, even though often controlled by evil men, are ordained of God to serve as His ministers of justice, and to restrain the criminal elements of human society.

God commands us to be law-abiding citizens of the Civil Governments under which we live, for there are no legitimate Civil Governments anywhere that God has not placed in power.

We The People of America, at the dawn of our nation's history, elected to govern ourselves under God's sovereign authority. America's Civil Government was established by men who placed their complete confidence in God's Word as the ultimate source of wisdom, truth and justice on earth. It was their abiding faith and trust in Him that most inspired the minds and hearts of those brilliant men as they wrote the Declaration of Independence and The Constitution of the Untied States. By these sacred documents, our nation was conceived in faith and dedicated to the eternal cause of freedom. In America, the People established the Fundamental Law, the Constitution, as a reflection of their understanding of God's plan and purpose for Civil Government. And, it is We The People who reserved the Right to interpret that Law. Only in America has God made the People the source of all political power. Only in America has God made all political power limited by written Constitutions.

In America, those who refuse to ensure that the Constitution and Bill of Rights are obeyed are themselves breaking God's law. They are lawbreakers. This applies to all People, whether they are elected officials, judges, or ordinary citizens.

Every American should obey the Constitution and Bill of Rights for two reasons: First, because this is America's Fundamental Law, given to us as a testament to God's grace and love for His People. Second, because America will not survive if We The People turn away from our true heritage, and the knowledge of who we are as one nation under God.

The We The People Foundation for Constitutional Education, Inc., and the We The People Congress, Inc., are acutely aware that our government at all levels is operating in sharp contrast to the way it was designed to function. We are also painfully aware of the heavy price being paid by those who are defending God's Civil Government in America--honorable, patriotic men and women including Dick Simkanin, Joe Banister, Sherry Jackson, John Turner, Nick Jesson, Al Thompson, Phil Hart, Irwin Schiff, and others too numerous to mention. We are indebted to these courageous Americans who have placed their love of Country and faith in God before their personal security and welfare. It is most appropriate that we acknowledge their sacrifices at this special time of the year.

Here at WTP, we remain focused on defending every American's sacred, unalienable Right to Life, Liberty, Property and Due Process of Law, primarily through the Petition Clause of the First Amendment, and we are committed to assisting those who are similarly focused.

We extend to you, the entire WTP family, our warmest wishes for a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Foreshadows & Types

A theory I am working on...

Not really a theory so much as a Type. Christ said that the whole of Scriptures testifies of Him. Now that is certainly true of the OT as it was in existence at the time. Logically that statement can be extended to the NT also, as Christ new what would be put in there long before He came in the flesh. (One could argue against the inclusion of the NT in that statement tho.)

As you know there are many "Types" in the Scriptures, which are basically foreshadows of future events. My thoughts while at work this past morning were on the wedding Christ attended shortly after being baptized. The whole "My time is not yet come" and turning the water into wine. Not just wine, but that which is much better than was originally given.

My initial thoughts on this, tho more study is needed, is the wine is a type of the covenant, possibly Mary as an obedient Jew, and the guests as the Jews & Gentiles stating this covenant is better than the old.

Not on solid ground

Stuff like this make ya feel a bit insecure. A sink-hole opened up that has taken all four lanes of a road. 50 feet deep and 150 feet wide, and officials say it hasnt stopped yet.

Evolution

I was scanning the Letters to WorldNetDaily today and I came across one referring to Farah's article Why I believe in Creation. The letter writer gives one of the two classic Evolutionist arguments that supposedly "prove" that aviation happened. The first is the fruit-fly-mutation argument, the second is the antibiotic-resistant-bacteria argument. The letter writer used the second, so I am addressing that one.

For starters, it should be noted that drug resistant bacteria have been found in the stomachs of corpses frozen in the tundra for over 100 years. But to debunk any similar argument... Ever wonder why there is a different flu shot every year? Cues there are different forms of the bug that are prominent every year. Not the same bug, but of the same family and they do similar things. Assuming a range of different forms of the bug (26 for ease, A-Z) one drug will work for many, but not all. Say penicillin kills everything but the vowels (which are drug-resistant naturally) What is left to breed? AEIO+U. So what do they breed? after their own kind. Well guess what? the old drug doesnt work anymore. Why? cuz it killed off everything it could. Does this mean that AEIO+U mutated? Nope. Just means that you couldnt kill them that way in the first place.

Occam's Razor states "Pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitas." (Plurality should not be posited without necessity.) Or easier said "One should always choose the simplest explanation of a phenomenon, the one that requires the fewest leaps of logic." Which is the simplest explanation? There was an actual, beneficial mutation (never seen before in the history of science)? or the one just given?

Update to the Blog

Just added a link to the site LiveGoldPrices.com
A good site and I have found it a useful tool. You can also sign up with them which involves no more than an email addy and you have access to all their articles.

French Military Victories

I thought I'd bring up something rather entertaining. Head over to google.com and type in "French Military Victories" in quotes, and hit the "I'm feeling lucky" button. Then go ahead and follow the link on that page.

Silver: Now a Better Bargain

Some of you have surely noticed that silver took a BIG hit this past week. So did gold. Dropping from nearly $8.00 down to $6.70 makes ya wonder. After all it took three months to climb from one to the other, yet only two days to fall.

My theory is it was a confidence upswing in the stock market due to Micro$oft announcing its $32 Billion dollar dividend. M$'s press release was on the 8th, Silver was at 7.80 the day before and 6.50 the day after. It is reasonable to assume that this upswing in confidence is due entirely to this one item.

Metals and commodities are somewhat 'fear' based. When people see the economy going down, they get into tangibles. When things are looking up for paper assets, well... go with those. After all, that is how you make money. I, however, am rather pessimistic about the economy and dont have enough money to play with stocks or commodities, so I will still be putting my money in metals. Now I just get some more bang for my buck.

Planes In News

Pumpkin bombing. Why? It's just plane fun, thats why.

"Pulp flew in the swirling blast, mingling, twisting, and colliding like chunky napalm. The target disappeared in a maelstrom of goo, seeds, and contorted rind. The horror ... the horror ... and oh, the humanity of 50 middle-aged pilots cheering from the sidelines"

Also in the news, a Mooney makes an emergency landing on a moving 18-wheeler. Praise G-d they didnt land in front of the truck. 20+ tons of truck hitting a 1500 pound plane wouldnt have been pretty.

**Update**
Click here for a video of the Pumpkin Bomber

Parents On Strike

Here is a lovely news article on some parents who went on strike. Seems their kids are a bit ungrateful and lazy.

Happy Hanukkah

Tonite starts Hanukkah, and goes for the next 8 nights. These nights are, for me, a night to draw closer to G-d, to spend time in prayer and to read the Scriptures aloud (Gen 1:2-5, 14-18) and thereby bring His light into the world. Praying for the peace of Jerusalem and for the needs of our brothers (both Jew and Gentile) who so desperately need our prayers.

May the light of the Lord our G-d truly be the lamp that guides your feet, now and always.

Shalom

Wisdom of the Mogambo

From the Mighty Mogambo:

Total Fed Credit, which is the fount of from whence springs all that magical, out-of-thin-air, fairy-dust money that is the hallmark of the Greenspan Fed, was up another $3.8 billion in the last week. The Treasury issued another $3 billion in actual paper-and-ink cash, which is NOT money made of fairy dust, but is, instead, money that is made from actual paper and ink, but which is just as phony-baloney.


And people wonder why it is hard to make ends meet.

Law Of Debt

Per Ian comes McLeod's Law of Debt:

"Debt expands to fill the credit available."

All too true. Ya make more, Ya spend more. Doesnt have to be that way, but we American$ are nothing if not commercial creatures.

New and Improved

I made some updates to Ye Olde Blogge. It is now New and Improved! Better Tasting and preffered 2 to 1 over Old Ye Olde Blogge. I made it so you can now link back to my articles as some of you have been clammoring for that (you know who you are) =oP I also added links to the Poetry and to a couple of favorite posts (the sad thing there is that I could only come up with three)

Shalom

Emotion-Driven Thinking

I stumbled across a fantastic article by John Mauldin. Mauldin is a financial advisor, but in this article he delves into the subject of Psycology.

"Last week, I heard a very disquieting commentary on National Public Radio by Dr. Drew Westen of Emory University. Westen is a well respected psychologist, but he was commenting upon how our feelings can predict our political decision irrespective of the facts. ... For example, during the disputed election of 2000, we could predict whether people would believe that manual or machine counts are more accurate just by knowing their feelings towards the two parties and the two candidates. ...they're not just weighing the facts. Without knowing it, they're also weighing what they would feel if they came to one conclusion or another, and they often come to the conclusion that would make them feel better, no matter what the facts are. ... In fact, the evidence barely mattered. 84% of the time, we could predict whether people believed the evidence was sufficient... based on just three things... Adding the evidence into the equation allowed us to increase the prediction from 84% to 85%."

"We believe what we want to believe because to do otherwise would upset our world. The potential emotional stress of a contrary opinion is too much for us to deal with, so we go along with the (personally) least stressful emotional choice."

Without a shadow of a doubt I believe this to be true. I have seen it happen in other people and have sometimes wondered it in myself. Likely we all need to be a bit more open to the facts presented to us, and be open to the fact that tho we might not like something and yet it could still be the truth.

Literary Genius?

I am gonna quote from a famous book, a classic.

The girl's face was there, really quite beautiful in memory: astonishing, in fact. She had a very thin face like the dial of a small clock seen faintly in a dark room in the middle of a night when you waken to see the time and see the clock telling you the hour and the minute and the second, with a white silence and a glowing, all certainty and knowing what it has to tell of the night passing swiftly on toward further darkness, but moving also toward a new sun.

There is no way this paragraph would pass by an 8th grade English teacher. Yet it is a classic none the less. Why is it that literary genius can be so atrocious? I attempted to re-read thru Fahrenheit 451 a while ago but ran into this on page 11 and it totally sidetracked me.

I wont forget the message by Ray Bradbury anytime soon, so I guess it isn't the writing, rather it is the story and message that make a book great.

Polygamy via Nate

I havent kept up with the Pan-Galactic Blogger Blaster recently as school has had me too strapped for time. However, in my attempt at avoiding studying I looked it up.

Some gems from the discussion on Polygamy
"One wife is trouble enough." Astrosmith
"Mark Twain is said to have answered this question once by quoting the Good Book: "No man can serve two masters". Pablo
"Like I need TWO women telling me I don't spend enought time with them. If God didn't prohibit poligamy, He should have." INH
"Hopefully they wouldn't all have headaches at the same time" MR
"According to Paul, the "best plan" is celebacy. So yes. We do want to depart from it" Nate

Doing Homework

Well, that is what I should be doing, but I am not. I am looking for little things to give me an excuse for procrastinating. I have finals coming up and three tests I need to take by tuesday so I should be doing homework... Read my favorite blogs, checked the news, read my email and now posting here... still nothing. Grrr.

Silver update

According to the website Live Gold Prices silver hit $8.00 today. Up a total of 30% since August. I am really wishing I had more money to put into it, but funds have been limited with school. What little I do have has gone up 5% already so I will keep plugging along and tuck a little more away each week.

STOLEN!!!

Stolen: The affection of my adorable 4 year old niece.

It was stolen by an (also) adorable young female. I am sure you can all guess who the culprit is. It seems that after having met her just once, my niece asks when Nikki is going to come over. Well, we came over yesterday (Thanksgiving) and Brittney was sitting on the couch. She saw us come in and she just looked for a couple of seconds... then her eyes went about as wide as they could go and she got a huge smile on her face. She comes running over and hugs Nikki, but for once there are no hugs for me. Brittney just runs off. What is up? Brittney spent the rest of the night showing Nikki around and playing and giggling.

Very cute, but this worries me as an Uncle. Am I forever relegated to second class? The oh-its-just-you state? I'll have to ponder this one.

A Day Of Thanksgiving

Since we are all going to sit down and enjoy G-ds provision I thought I would pass along the history of this day. Most of us know such an abbreviated version that its meaning isnt very meaningful. Check out this link on the first Thanksgiving.

There is so much more to our G-d than we can ever imagine. So much more provision than we will ever see. So much care and detail that we will never know. No matter how bad things may get or how dark the future may be, G-d is good and faithful to us. I hope you all have a wonderful time with family and friends, and you are able to see all the blessings in your life.

Shalom

Marijuana Use

(Reuters) Swiss teenagers smoke more cannabis than their peers in every other European country, a survey said Thursday, ... One in three Swiss 15-year-olds has lit up a joint within the past year

Wow, sounds awful eh? Well lets compare this to the United States of America. Per the White House's Drug Policy website, use in the past year among 8th graders is %12.8 which jumps to %28.2 amongst 10th graders and %34.9 for our 12th graders. Locally, Colorado has the highest per capita pot use in the nation, tho I dont know how that affects high schoolers.

Now lets break it down by crime statistics via the FBI for 2003 using Alabama and Louisiana for comparison as they are the two closest in population to Colorado.

In Alabama (pop 4,500,752) there were 19,331 reported instances in the Violent Crime category, 182,241 in the Property category.
In Louisiana (pop 4,496,334) 29,062 Violent, 195,569 Property
In Colorado (pop 4,550,688) 15,706 Violent, 179,340 Property

By Ratio
Alabama 1 in 233(Violent) 1 in 24.69(Property)
Louisiana 1 in 155(Violent) 1 in 22.99(Property)
Colorado 1 in 290(Violent) 1 in 25.37(Property)

Remember you want higher numbers on the right. Is it misleading to pull only one variable and make a conclusion from it? You betcha, but I am working on joining the Legacy Media per my previous post, therefore I postulate that Colorado's higher usage of the Devil Weed is actually making us safer.

Retraction

I posted a few days ago about Silver and specifically about the NORFED coins. I said to cash those puppies out. Well, I was wrong. That coin is inflation proof as NORFED will take it as trade for a higher dollar value coin should the dollar continue its downward trend (And the end of this downward trend is zero) When Silver spot prices exceed $10 per ounce this coin will become worth 20 dollars. So my profit on this one coin deal will go up to over $11.

Many more of these corrections and retractions and I am going to put in an application with the Legacy Media.

School

Well I am finally getting good grades in this class. I did fantastic in the first class and this class I have been doing poorly. (I am on a bimester schedule so finish one class, then take the next) So I decided to actually start taking notes again. Fantastic idea eh? Last two tests have been 100% so it must be working.

Spelling

Sorry Elena...

Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Txes M&A Uinervtisy, it
deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod
are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and
lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a
total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a
porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed
ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

I got this in an emial, may or may not hvae been dnoe by a university but it is eniterly readable.

Correction

I discovered a bad link on a previous post. I posted two links to a movie when I wanted to post a link to the homepage which is here Bellydance Superstars

Also I have noticed that my comment counters are not updating, so dont pay much attention to those.

Al Thompson Released From Prison

The United States District Court in Sacremento ordered Al Thompson released from jail. Mr Thompson had been held since Aug. 9th on a federal civil contempt warrant issued for Thompson's refusal to sign false tax forms for his business.

Despite being arrested earlier last April on the same issue, Thompson refused to fill out the tax forms the federal judge ordered him to submit asserting that, given his understanding of the law, he would be committing perjury for providing false information under oath.

Despite Thompson's motions to the district court requesting the IRS to provide a formal certification, sworn under penalty of perjury, that he was an “employer” and a “person” liable under the income tax laws, none was ever produced.

This war is being won one court case at a time. Dick Simkanin's conviction is on appeal (he wasnt allowed to present a single legal exhibit in his favor) and Vernice Kuglin won her near $1,000,000 fight with the IRS when the jury wouldnt convict because the IRS would not produce a law that Ms. Kuglin broke.

Born-Again Christians Shouldn't Vote?

Garrison Keillor, a radio host for the propaganda wing of the Gov. (also known as NPR) has decided that "tak[ing] the right to vote away from born-again Christians... [is] just a little project of mine." He goes on to state the Chistians are citizens of heaven, therefore "not here among us in America."

Does this mean that the IRS is going to leave me alone about the taxes they think I owe but wont bother to tell me why I owe it? To paraphrase the 80s Wendy's commercial, "Where's the Law?"

Bellydancing

Bellydance Superstars

All I can say is, wow

Via Pink Kitty

Silver

Yesterday I went out and bought my first bit of silver. Seeing as I am not terribly wealthy I cant afford to buy much so I figure $50 a week will provide me with a little bit of a 'saftey net.' Spot price was $7.62 per ounce with a spread of .89 per coin, total of 8.68 per coin after tax. The state no longer taxes precious metal coins, bars or bullion, but the city does.

I found a coin from Norfed in the bin. The Liberty Dollar has a face value of $10. I highly urge all my readers to visit their local coin dealers and look for these coins. $1.42 profit if you take that coin and go down to the local merchants and spend it. Not only do you turn a profit, but you are helping to raise awareness about the Federal Reserve and alternatives to it.

Politician Stands On Principle

Newly elected County Commisioner for El PAso County, Colorado, Bruce Douglas is opposing the sale of county owned land. The property, Penrose Equestrian Center, is a government-owned horse show complex southwest of downtown Colorado Springs. Value of the property? $5.2 million. County proposed sale price? $1.

Not only is the county wanting to just get rid of the property, they are going to have to kick in $500K just to fix up the land, AND still have to clean up from when it was used for gold proceessing. Mr. Douglas is not yet installed in office and he is already standing up for the citizens of the county. G-d Bless him.

World View

World View. It is how you see things and interpret events. There are really only two world views. That G-d is, and that there is no god. Everything else is somewhere in between those two. One could then define a third view, that Man is god. Out of these world views come our every thought and action. Not to say that those who believe in a god dont mess up and that those who dont believe in a god wont pray in times of trouble. Rather, if I believe there is no god and I am the result of naturalistic processes (the god Chance) I would be, just to give a few examples, less likely to take responsibility for my actions and place a lower value on life because life itself has no inherent meaning.

Secular Humanism (SH)has taken over western civilization. We (collectively) no longer believe in a Supreme Being. We no longer take responsibility, we dont give of our time to feed and clothe and minister to the needy, we are no longer connected to others simply because they are our 'neighbors.'

SH is the root cause of the abortion holocaust. Why we have ridiculous lawsuits against tobacco and fast food companies. Why snack food companies are making their packages smaller. And why I cant get a decent sized ice cream cone at McDonalds. (that last one is just a little too close to home!)

Engrish

The Grammar Queen, Elena, should get a kick out of this. Engrish.com

Lots of funny signs and whatnot written in Engrish (what else?)

Search Results

I have looked at the various search results from time to time and I notice that the top searches for my site are for the (#1)SSMOB and the various poems being a not too close second. Contrast this with Pink Kitties site (ya know I love you!!) I once saw a search on her site for "looking for prostitutes in the Nashville area" which is totally unrepresentative of anything on her blog. Ya hafta love how the various search engines will piece together individual words from the entire history of the blog then put it up as tho it was a single entry.

Come to think of it, I have never seen a search result for my Ode To A Coke...

Moore Profundity

A heavy, weighty statement by Michael Moore (sorry, couldnt resist)

"If the media are looking for a trend it should be this – that so many Americans were, for the first time since Kennedy, willing to vote for an out-and-out liberal. The country has always been filled with evangelicals – that is not news. What is news is that so many people have shifted toward a Massachusetts liberal. In fact, that's big news. Which means, don't expect the mainstream media, the ones who brought you the Iraq War, to ever report the real truth about November 2, 2004. In fact, it's better that they don't. We'll need the element of surprise in 2008."

I agree with him that this is the more important point. The nation was whipped into a frenzy to oust Bush or to keep Kerry out of office and more people voted in this election than in any other. Fear works, and this election makes a great argument against universal suffrage.

Pro-Lifers on the President

From Wes' blog, commentary by the American Life League's President about our President.

Many pro-life groups are gleefully declaring victory following George W. Bush's apparent re-election, but I cannot share in their enthusiasm. ... However, the Bush administration's first term has been less than sterling in terms of total commitment to the pro-life effort. ... Thus the status quo on abortion is going to be maintained, as will the ongoing public perception that we have a pro-life president.

Peroutka

I was checking the news and came across an article on WND on how poorly we third parties did this time around. Sad really. But that isnt what I am blogging about here. I wanted to post for everyone a statement released by Peroutka (or a part thereof anyways)

"Last night, we celebrated God's glorious and gracious sovereignty over all things. As Christ tells us in Matthew 28:18, 'All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.' Of course, this includes authority over civil government and over political elections. His will be done.

"Our victory is in declaring God's sovereign nature and submitting ourselves to His will. We do this when we run for office acknowledging God, defending the family, and working to restore the American republic. We do this when we vote only for those men who have submitted their lives to faithfulness and obedience to His Word."

"With this victory in mind – His victory – I encourage all Americans of good will to join us in the coming days, months and years to build our effort to honor God, defend the family and restore the republic."

Thoughts

Not much to blog at the moment, but I have been letting my blog die lately so...

Osama's dislike of Bush and the French approval of Kerry almost makes me want to vote for Bush. Almost.

Cobra Gunskin has its website up (finally) but I am dissapointed that they dont seem to have a holster for my revolver. Most companies don't, that is part of the problem with a hammerless. Guess I will just have to go for a T-shirt

I pushed thru the mental block that hampered me the first week or so of this new bi-mester and am getting A's again.

It is much better to have my toes being warmed on the heater than to be outside in this cold weather. Snow and 100 mile an hour wind. Not a good combo.

Dont forget to get out and vote your conscience tomorrow.

Bush on Homosexual Unions

Hot off the press! Bush supports same-sex unions!
umm, wait, isnt this the same guy who is all gung ho about 'supporting the family'? HA Why wont people see the truth when it is plain as day, and right in front of their noses. Christian leaders will have much to answer for, having willingly ignored all the signs telling us who Bush really is. The full article is at the Washington Times

Kerry is about to desruct. No longer will people be able to say they have to keep John 'Effing' Kerry out of office. Now is the time to vote your conscience.

Vote Your Conscience

"Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost."
John Quincy Adams - Sixth President of the U.S.A.

Seems he didn't buy the vote-for-a-winner arguement either.

School Bans Halloween

Puyallup School District (near Seattle) banned Halloween this year. But not because of Christianity, but because "Witches with pointy noses and things like that are not respective symbols of the Wiccan religion."

Free Trade vs. Managed Markets

A few years ago I happened upon a used bookstore and found a series of books titled "Essays On Liberty." Put out by the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) Published in the 50's and 60's these collections are fantastic primers for Libertarian thought and economic policy.

On Pink Kitty's blog Elena posted If that means that insulin gets to be cheaper and that I'm not paying outrageous co-pays, I'm all for a free-for-all in the marketplace. But supposedly the price wars aren't good for the airlines and their employees, so I'm not sure if the pharmeceutical industry would suffer the same ramifications.

Which is why I brought up the FEE. An article in Volume 3 written by W.M. Curtiss titled The Topsy-Turvy Tariff Tangle addresses the issue of competition well. The article includes a portion of testimony given to Congress by Charles H. Percy, the president of the Bell & Howell Company of Chicago. B&H Co. manufactured photographic products and were competing against other countries where the wage was 1/8th of the going wage here in America. (Japan paid $0.27 an hour, the US paid $2.00)

Mr. Percy's testimony "The highly paid American worker has become the most efficient in the world—two to ten times as productive as his European counterpart . . . . In the final analysis, the combined effect of foreign competition and high American wage rates has been fortunate—it has forced us to find new and better ways of doing things . . . . Without the spur of foreign competition, it is doubtful whether these techniques would ever have been developed. ... America’s industry did not become great by being sheltered. It achieved greatness because of the intelligence and pioneering spirit of its people. It became great through huge expenditures for research and development, new ideas in manufacturing and merchandising. It is great because it firmly believes that there is one way to succeed—to give the consumer the best possible product for best possible value. This, and this alone, will keep American industry vigorous and healthy in the years to come."

"Without the spur of foreign competition" could be better written by simply taking out the word foreign.

Christians = Bush Supporters?

Christians are Bush supporters. This seems obvious from the various media reports, and popular wisdom. However, like many things in the media or the public's eye, it is wrong. I found an article by Dr. Patrick Johnston titled "Why Christians Should Not Vote for George W. Bush" It is a rather long article but has some good stuff in it.

Another interesting site is BushRevealed.com The top article there is of Bush worshipping at a Shinto Temple.

When President Bush entered the ornately beautiful Shinto Temple erected to house the spirits of the late Emperor Meiji he clapped once and bowed deeply, following the common etiquette of worship at such shrines. ...
"...Bush and his wife went into the temple and clapped to awaken the demon and then bowed in worship and signed the book of worship,” says Dr. Morey, referring to the Bush temple visit made February 18 as part of his Asia tour. article

Want more? Bush said "Tell him that I pray to the same god [Mr. Sistani] prays to... Tell Sistani I have nothing but praise for your religion[Islam].

In another story reported by the London Telegraph "And I believe we worship the same god."


There are too many reasons to not vote for Bush, and the vote-against-Kerry arguments are all wasted on me. Badnarik and Peroutka are the only ones who could get my support this election.

Christian Coalition Denies Peroutka

The Christian Coalition has decided not to put Peroutka on its voter guide, even tho Mr. Peroutka is by far the strongest Christian currently running for the Presidency.

From Peroutka's blog

Dear Friends of the Constitutional Republic,

The Web page of the Christian Coalition of America says that it is our country's "leading grassroots organization defending our Godly heritage." This page says the CCA "is dedicated to equipping and educating God's people" and it points out that "effective citizen activism begins with knowledge."

But by refusing to list my Presidential candidacy in its voters guide, by refusing to let millions of Christians know where I stand on the issues, the CCA has failed to fully educate God's people. It has denied millions of Christians important knowledge which might have influenced their votes for President. And the CCA has done all of this despite the fact that I have, in my campaign, repeatedly defended our Godly heritage and exalted the cause of Christ.

...

I have, by God's grace, run for President as a strong, explicit Bible-believing Christian. I am on enough state ballots to win enough electoral votes to be President. To be excluded from the voter guide of the Christian Coalition of America is unfair to millions of Christians who look to the CCA for an honest and thorough representation of the available candidates. Moreover, it is self-contradictory for the CCA to arbitrarily limit the information it provides voters when the organization's stated purpose is to educate Christians to the alternative candidates.

It seems to me the CCA's position is unconscionable since the exclusion of my candidacy denies millions of Christians a righteous, Constitutional choice in this year's Presidential election.


This was brought to my attention by the lovely and talented Nikki

More Government or a Free-Market Solution?

I recieved an email calling for more government because China produces a lot of products that end up being recalled. Their solution? Increase inspections. I offer this solution. Underwriters Laboratories More than 100,000 product inspections in 2003 alone, UL tests and works to destroy every product given to them to inspect. Only safe products get the UL listing, as their name is extremely important to this 110 year old organization.

Did I mention that UL is a non-profit? All this work done for the safety of Americans (and elsewhere) and all without taking a cent from the unwilling.

Paranoia

I wake up this morning with my clock saying 5:05. I am supposed to be at work at 5! Here we go again! Twice this week! Grrr. As I get up to start getting ready I realized that I dont work today. Hope your alls days started a bit better.

First Final

Yesterday was to be the day I took my final, but I didnt actually make it to class. Instead, I slept. I was intending to lay down for a two hour nap, and so I set my alarm for 6. Imagine my surprise when I wake up at 11:30! I had set the alarm for AM instead of PM. DOH!

(Oxymoronic title not intended)

Ameriplan

Well I started a home based business, and I figured this is my outlet to the "world-at-large." Tis called Ameriplan. Ameriplan is the free-market's solution to insurance. It isnt insurance so much as discounted cost-for-service, by cutting out the high cost of dealing with insurance companies.

So, how does it help? Currently, in the State you are in (whatever State that may be) Ameriplan covers Dental, Vision, Prescription, and Chiropractic care. But more important is the fact that full blown health care is being rolled out. It is currently in four states (Oklahoma, Texas, California, and That-Other-State) I am not sure how much the full medical will be, if it is even more than the current plan, but I can promise it will be nothing like the $400-900/month insurance companies try to charge. If you know anyone who needs coverage (or wants to make money) give them this site.

If that isnt enuff for ya, consider it your patriotic duty per Bush in this last (2nd) debate. "There are other ways to make sure drugs are cheaper. One is to speed up generic drugs to the marketplace, quicker. ...

Another is to pass -- to get our seniors to sign up to these drug discount cards, and they're working."

Lessons learned

Some quick lessons learned last night while in the mountains...

If you forget eating utensils, ones can be fashioned from your firewood.
My camera can not see stars, no matter how long the exposure is.
You will never lack for kindling as long as there are pine/fir trees around.
It is always, always, always cold at night at 9000 feet.

Is it just me?

Ever have a person in your life that you just can't stand? It could be now, or in the past, but most everything about this person bugs you? (Speaking of character traits here) Then, one day, you realize that you are that person? Those very same things you hated about that person, you do now? You understand this is, of course, all hypothetical.

A Scripture for ya all

it just popped into my head so I felt like blogging it.

Matthew 25:15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.
(v 28)Take therefore the talent from him, and give [it] unto him which hath ten talents.
(v 29)For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.

Too Much Crack

People do some stupid things when inebriated. From simple lack of coordination to incredibly dumb ideas that lead to disaster. Some people don't need to be on drugs to do these fantastically stupid things. In stumbles Sweden.

According to WorldNet Daily Swedish lawmakers have proposed a new tax on those who happen to be men that would go to paying the societal costs of abuse toward women.
The article states that "20 to 40 women are battered to death in Sweden each year." This in a population of 8,986,400 (CIA Est) with a ratio of .98|1 male|female. At the rate of 40 a year, that is one death per 224,660 women. Is this problem such a pandemic that it requires additional taxes upon those who are most likely to earn wages?

If the illogic found in Sweden's Parliament is taken to other countries, perhaps we will see a special tax on black men as they are statistically more likely to commit a crime. How about a tax on "soccer moms"? They are more likely to drive a gas guzzling vehicle.

Sweden:
You deserve to fall. You have truly reached heights of stupidity heretofore unseen.

Political Leanings

I came across a political test that matches you with a candidate. And it has everyone, including those who dropped out of the primaries.
I came up with 48% Peroutka with subscores of 55% personal, 40% economic
and 48% Badnarik subscore 40% personal, 55% economic. The candidate I scored the least with is the Reform Party's Peter Camejo with 20%, 10% and 30% on personal and economic.

I guess it comes down to how much you weigh each issue. The economic issues are more important than the 'personal' issues to me. I figure if you stop feeding the beast then all the other issues become moot.

Attack of the Fish Lips

Quite the odd phrase that... "Attack of the Fish Lips" Sounds kinda like a title for a B flick. But no, this phrase was heard elsewhere. In fact, it was said of me... Earlier today Nikki was talking about some sites online she had visited about kissing. Should I be taking a hint here? Am I just not good enough? Do I need to be signing up for some classes? Or is it simply the fish face I make that cracks her up?

I couldnt wiggle my ears and wouldnt flip my eyelids up, so that fish face is the one skill I had as a kid. Until now it was only a way to make kids smile, now it works on Nikki too, only better. Problem is, her laughing make me laugh, and I cant hold the face when I laugh.

I hope all you guys out there can find someone as wonderful as Nikki is. (but not her, she is taken!)

Anime

For those of you confused about your anime, the picture was of Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII. I dont know anything about Yu-Gi-Oh, perhaps there is a similar character. On the left of the pic is Tifa, on the right is Aeris.

On another note, why is it that female anime characters have eyes that are from 1/3 to 1/2 of their face? It looks good on anime, but I would hate to get too close to those eyes!

For a more secure sleep

Just what the Dr ordered... maybe. I guess it disturbs me that we guys can be replaced so easily. But it isnt all bad news, they plan a 'lap' pillow, complete with a skirt covering.

More pleasant images

Highbulp Kitty gave us a horrifying image recently, but with a bit of digging I found more pleasant images such as this awesome hairstyle or this R2D2 conversion for your import.

*edit

One more cool hairdo

Say what?

From my curriculum... "In other words, routing protocols enable routers to route routed protocols"

Say that three times fast.

* edit
another gem. "Routers use routing protocols to build and maintain routing tables that contain route information"

the USA (Un)Patriot Act

Now for something rare. Good news.

A judge finally ruled against some of the gov's new powers it gave itself post 9-11. This ruling block[s] the government from conducting secret, unchallengeable searches of Internet and telephone records as part of its fight against terrorism.
...
In his ruling, the judge called national security of "paramount value" and said the government "must be empowered to respond promptly and effectively" to threats. But he called personal security equal in importance and "especially prized in our system of justice."

Every now and then the ACLU fights the good fight. Not only did they fight on the right side (this time), they won. Now to overturn the rest of the tyrannical bills passed by Congress in their 'patriotic' fervor following 9-11.

Royal Coronation

On the D&D quiz our beloved Pink Kitty scored a Neutral Good Gnome Bard Mage.
From here on henceforth and forthwith, soforth and so-on Pink Kitty (AKA The Empress) will also be known as Highbulp

Michael Badnarik Interview

Here is an interview with Michael Badnarik of the Libertarian party. Has some interesting material, I recommend it. It is hosted on Slashdot

The Sword Of Truth

I have been reading through the series "The Sword Of Truth by Terry Goodkind. Not only is this an excellent series it is also a good way to teach libertarian principles to others. While you will find that most sci-fi and a lot of fantasy (not the harlequin sort) exalt the ideas of freedom, there will always be those that stand up just a bit higher. This series is one of them.

The previous book (or maybe book 6) dealt with communism, this one deals with moral relativism and its resultant pacifism. Yes, sometimes the story suffers a bit for taking on these concepts (as do all such books, think Ayn Rand) but still makes for a good read

From book 8, Naked Empire.

"Land?" Richard spread his arms. "We do not fight for land. We are loyal to an ideal --an ideal of liberty wherever man lives. We dot not guard territory, bleed for a piece of dirt. We don't fight because we love violence. We fight for our freedom as individuals to live our own lives, to pursue our own survival, our own happiness.

"Your unconditional rejection of violence makes you smugly think of yourselves as noble, as enlightened, but in reality it is nothing less than the abject moral capitulation to evil. Unconditional rejection of self-defense, because you think its a supposed surrender to violence, leaves you no resort but begging for mercy or offering appeasement.

"Evil grants no mercy, and to attempt to appease it is nothing more than a piecemeal surrender to it. Surrender to evil is slavery at best, death at worst. Thus your unconditional rejection of violence is really nothing more than embracing death as preferable to life.

"You will achieve what you embrace.

The right, the absolute necessity, of vengeance against anyone who initiates force against you is fundamental to survival. The morality of a people's self-defense is in its defense of each individual's right to life. Its an intolerance of violence, made by real unwavering willingness to crush any who would launch violence against you. The unconditional determination to destroy any who would initiate force against you is an exaltation of the value of life. Refusing to surrender your life to any thug or tyrant who lays claim to it is in fact embracing life itself.

D&D Character

For those of you who are into D&D...
This is actually a fairly decent quiz as it has quite a few questions and possibilities so it can nail ya down well.


I Am A: Chaotic Good Elf Ranger Druid


Alignment:
Chaotic Good characters are independent types with a strong belief in the value of goodness. They have little use for governments and other forces of order, and will generally do their own things, without heed to such groups.


Race:
Elves are the eldest of all races, although they are generally a bit smaller than humans. They are generally well-cultured, artistic, easy-going, and because of their long lives, unconcerned with day-to-day activities that other races frequently concern themselves with. Elves are, effectively, immortal, although they can be killed. After a thousand years or so, they simply pass on to the next plane of existance.


Primary Class:
Rangers are the defenders of nature and the elements. They are in tune with the Earth, and work to keep it safe and healthy.


Secondary Class:
Druids are a special variety of Cleric who serves the Earth, and can call upon the power in the earth to accomplish their goals. They tend to be somewhat fanatical about defending natural settings.


Deity:
Solonor Thelandria is the Chaotic Good elven god of archery and the hunt. He is also known as the Keen Eye, the Great Archer, and the Forest Hunter. His followers respect nature, and only hunt when needed, but are quick to defend the forest from intruders. Their favorite weapon is the bow, and they tend to be extremely talented with it. Solonor Thelandria's symbol is an arrow with green fletchings.


Find out What D&D Character Are You?

What gun are you?

Props to Bane on this one.


Smith & Wessen .44 Magnum. You are old school. Fat
Sheriff Deputies fancy you. Reliable but not
too practical.


What handgun are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Bumper Sticker

Another interesting item found at the gun show was a bumper sticker that states "Question: You are locked in a room with a lawyer, a child molester and a murderer. You have a gun with only two bullets, what do you do?
Answer: Shoot the lawyer twice and pistol whip the SOB till you are sure he is dead"

Nikki found this one at an Army Surplus store
"Kerry/Edwards!
So full of sh*t it needs two johns!"

Gunshow

As I said saturday, Nikki and I went to a gunshow on sunday. As with every show there was some lame stuff and some really cool stuff. And then there is the stuff that makes ya drool. I found one such item. AKs, .50 BMGs and AR-15s a plenty but the thing I liked the most was a custom machine gun.

2 Ruger 10/22s (.22 caliber) attached so the tops were together and the grips were horizontal to the ground. What appeared to be, but werent, cooling barrels (like you see on real machine guns) were over the Ruger barrels. The stocks of the rifles had been removed, and underneath the rear was a new trigger assembly that was attached to the Ruger triggers, while on the right was a wheel that was the actual trigger. (Squeeze the new trigger to engage the wheel, spin the wheel to fire) All this upon a fully articulating tripod and I was drooling. $900 is a bit steep for a college student however. Perhaps I will be able to find plans online to make one myself.

More Blogneglect

For those of you who read my blog regularly, I apologize for my inattentiveness. This time I am gonna blame it on the beautiful and talented Nikki. Today we have been together for a month(YaY) and between work, school, and spending time with her I havent even had time to keep up on others blogs (which I do before my own) Tomorrow we are going to a gun show and will be taking another lesson for swing dancing (4 left feet between the two of us) I'll let ya know if I buy anything interesting at the show.

Odd quote

I came across an interesting quote in an AP story. "I think in the next few years, synthetic urine will replace human urine"

It isnt so bad taken in context however. Story here.

Zod's Blog

I really should be studying but umm, anyways, I took a quick peek at Zod's blog and the picture that greeted me was a pleasant site.

Log Cabin Republicans

Found an article over at Claire Wolfe concerning the Log Cabin Republicans. For those who dont know, the LCR is a homosexual activist group that happens to be more conservative (fiscally etc). Since the beginning of his administration, Bush has been courting this group with weekly calls to get their input on policies and input. It seems however that, once again, the Republicans simply dont know who their friends are. It is not yet known who the LCR is endorsing but it is clear that it won't be Bush.

Republicans are politically inept. They reward their enemies (Planned Parenthood) court those who will never befriend them (LCR) and ignore their core constituency (Religious Right.) Is there hope for this party?

Single Issue Voter Guide

In a continuance of my voter guide I present my 'single issue' guide. This is for all those people who decide whom to vote for by a single overriding issue such as abortion or 'green' policies. I'll give the top two candidates for each issue.

Abortion (Pro-life)
Michael Anthony Peroutka (Constitution)
Michael Badnarik (Libertarian)

Abortion (Pro-choice)
John F. Kerry (Democrat)
Ralph Nader (independent, formerly Green party)

Constitution (acting according to its wording
Michael Badnarik (Libertarian)
Michael Anthony Peroutka (Constitution)

Taxes (reduced taxation, abolishing the IRS)
Michael Badnarik (Libertarian)
Michael Anthony Peroutka (Constitution)

Eco-Friendly (Gov mandated rules/regs)
Ralph Nader (independent, formerly Green party)
John F. Kerry (Democrat)

Eco-Friendly (free market)
Michael Badnarik (Libertarian)
Michael Anthony Peroutka (Constitution)

Economy (growth, cutting inflation, job creation)
Michael Badnarik (Libertarian)
Michael Anthony Peroutka (Constitution)

Abolition of the Federal Reserve
Michael Badnarik (Libertarian)
Michael Anthony Peroutka (Constitution)

Drug War (keeping as is or tougher)
George W. Bush (Republican)
John F. Kerry (Democrat)

Drug War (abolishing)
Michael Badnarik (Libertarian)
No second place on this one

Illegal Immigration (curtailing)
Michael Anthony Peroutka (Constitution)
Michael Badnarik (Libertarian)

Secure Borders (military/border patrolled
Michael Anthony Peroutka (Constitution)
Michael Badnarik (Libertarian)

War on Terror (as is being fought)
George W. Bush (Republican)
John F. Kerry (Democrat)

Welfare State (reduce, abolish)
Michael Badnarik (Libertarian)
Michael Anthony Peroutka (Constitution)

Best Looking Daughters
George W. Bush (Republican)
John F. Kerry (Democrat)

On Illegal Immigration and Secure Borders: I gave this to Peroutka as I believe he would be more likely to use force to close down those areas (as I believe they need to be) legal immigration = good, illegal immigration = bad

On Constitution: I gave this to Badnarik as he is an actual Constitutional Scholar, unlike our current President who declared "How would I know what's unconstitutional?"

Abortion Ban Ruled Unconstitutional

Abortion Ban 'unconstitutional' again.
This third ruling rules similarly to the other two, destroying the 'partial birth abortion' ban. I am sure that Republicans will say that there is still a chance at the Supreme Court level, but I say there is as much chance of that happening as the IRS giving me my money back. Not only will the courts not allow a PBA-Ban the PBA-Ban never did anything in the first place. In the legislation the procedure was defined as something other than the current procedure, so this ban never would have stopped a PBA in the first place.

So to recap the Republican 'progress' on abortion
1. PBA not actually outlawed in the Ban
2. the PBA-Ban is ruled unconstitutional
3. Reps actually increased funding for Planned (un)Parenthood by 60 million
4. Bush stated in the 2k race that he would not use pro-life views as a 'litmus test' for his Court nominees.
5. Bush appointed the Texas Supreme Court judges that struck down a bill that would require parental notification for minors having abortions.

If you are a single issue voter, and abortion is that issue, how can you still support Bush? How could we have more abortions under Kerry than we do under Bush? Or for that matter, is it possible to have less abortions under Bush than Kerry? (Kerry's face is something of an antiaphrodisiac, and therefore would reduce the number of pregnancies worldwide were he to have daily coverage.)

Stream of Conscience

News story on the AP wire about a woman finishing the Santa Fe Trail over 8 years. I'd like to hike the Colorado Trail. The Colorado is a shorter at only 500 miles but it crosses several mountains, even one thirteener.

What possesses someone to want to squirt milk out their eye? And should someone have that problem, why shout it to the world by trying to get a world record? Maybe his prize can be some counseling?

Nikki and I made some homemade ice cream yesterday. Not the machine kind, but by shaking it till it turned into ice cream. Very good and a lot of fun, highly reccomended.

Yigal Amir, serving a life sentence with no parole for assasinating Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, was married by proxy this past month. The couple is trying to get the Supreme Court to allow conjugal visits, while the state is worried he might get out his 'radical' message to his supporters. I dont know what I think on that one.

Another headline states "Miss Universe Suffers Wardrobe Malfunction." I think this term is here with us to stay. pretty sad really. The other thing that is pretty sad is that I have put up so much useless stuff on my blog! I am fairly well rested and have nothing to do, but dont worry, Miss Nikki keeps me from that too much. (o= shalom

Packet Tracer 3.1

If there is anyone out there studying Cisco routers or is just a geek (like me) looking for a way to learn some networking, Packet Tracer 3.1 is a fantastic tool. It is part of the curriculum at the academy so I know it works well. Just make sure you subnet properly so your routers can talk.

9.3 meg file on a slow server so it takes a while.

Decidedly Un-manly Poetry

I read in SOF that John Effing Kerry is refering to the 'great' american poet Langston Hughes' work "Let America Be America Again" Check it out if you want to, but let me just tell you it really isnt much worth reading. Of perhaps more interest is not that particular piece of work, but who Langston Hughes was and the other things he has written. Hughes was a G-d hating man and a communist. Of particular interest to me is his poem "Goodbye Christ"

A bit from that last piece...
You ain't no good no more.
They've pawned you
Till you've done wore out.

Goodbye,
Christ Jesus Lord God Jehova,
Beat it on away from here now.
Make way for a new guy with no religion at all—
A real guy named
Marx Communist Lenin Peasant Stalin Worker ME—
I said, ME!

Go ahead on now,
You're getting in the way of things, Lord.
...
And step on the gas, Christ!
Move!

Don't be so slow about movin?
The world is mine from now on—
And nobody's gonna sell ME
To a king, or a general,
Or a millionaire.

80's Movie Test

A short test to match 80's movie quotes to the movie
I got 7 of 10 but I marked one wrong so it shoulda been 8.

strUctUrEd rAndOmnEss

Been thinking on James 2:16 today. Itsays "And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be [ye] warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what [doth it] profit?" Been thinking on charity and how to apply that in my life (towards others obviously)

Does China have the economic clout to bully the US? Has it done so to get things like Most Favored Nation Status?

What sort of things can I/we do to raise awareness of Peroutka & Badnarik? And when will Christians awake to the evil of our government?

Hope you all get a long weekend and have loved ones to spend it with.

Meterstone

I'd call it a mile stone, but it is closer to 1000 which is more the metric thing. Anyhoo, I made it to a 1000 visits today. Do you have any idea how hard it is to clear your cookies some five hundred times and while refreshing this page so that I could get here? (o=

Scary Thought

With a nod to Gypsy (commenting on Nates Blog)

Well, I think George Carlin said it best -

"Imagine how stupid the average person is, then realize HALF of them are dumber than that."

Pro-"choice" Demonstrators

Yesterday, coming back from a joyride across the mountains and enjoying ourselves thoroughly, we came across a demonstration by a 'pro-choice' group. About 16 or so women, one young man and a boy (important later) This group was at a major intersection holding signs, hooting and hollering and jumping up and down trying to get peeps to honk and just plain being loud. Now, I am fairly easygoing bout stuff like this. I firmly believe it is your right to believe how you want and to demonstrate. But it was their exuberance at killing babies that got me, so I had to stop.

I made a quick lane change so I could pull in to a parking lot. Got out the car and walked to the closest set of ladies (2) and tried to engage them in a civil conversation. I knew it would do little good, but I had to try. Right off the bat Lady #1 accused me of being a "hypocritical Christian" without my so much as identifying myself as one. This is of course because we Christians all support war and the death penalty but not abortion. That one young man came up holding his sign saying "Where's Your Voice?" and made a comment about how I came up to two ladies when there are guys all around. I guess he thought the guys going into the Western Sizzler were supporters of his cuz those were the only other guys around.

Back to the ladies, Lady #2 said that they weren't just demonstrating for abortion, but for the right to do with their bodies as they choose. "that's great" I say, "So you are against the War on Drugs then, right?" Needless to say I got a blank look from lady #1, and then a stammering reply that they can be against drugs and still be for the right to do as they choose with their bodies. I tried to point out the illogical stance, which they, of course, didnt accept when the young man put his sign "Where's Your Voice" in my face (oddly enuff, with the wording towards me) Realizing there was no more point to being out there I started to leave.

The guy couldn't just let me leave however, so he decided to make a couple comments. "Did your daddy buy you that real nice car?" and then the one that about set me off "Did your daddy get you her too?" (referring to Nikki) I seriously considered going over the railing at him at that point. Naah, he isnt worth it, and I am packing, so I cant just go starting fights. Nikki replied that he should talk to her rather than about her, but big man that he was he decided (wisely) not too. We went on our way and fought in the only way that is going to affect them, in prayer.

Social InSecurity

In an AP story, Greenspan is saying that Congress needs to "move quickly to trim the Social Security and Medicare benefits that have been promised to the baby boom generation." Not doing so is going to lead to problems (as if everybody didnt already know that)

So in response, since I am sure they are going to ask for my response, here is my plan to save social security. Leave SS just as it is, except anyone under the age of 40 no longer gets it, and no more taxation for it. Instead, all that money will be freed up for the under 40 crowd to prepare for their own retirement. That works out to be a combined 15% of their pay. If you cant get a decent retirement plan going with 15% of your pay you shouldnt be in control of your own money.

As for the folks already on SS, or the 40+ crowd, we will continue payments as promised. The funds will come from selling off gov property to private individuals/groups. This will happen over a period of some 40-50 years so as to continously fund the program as well as not flood the market causing property devaluation. The 40+ crowd will also have the advantage of the 15% of their pay to invest wisely for their retirement.

Problem solved. Gov officials, you know how to get a hold of me if further clarification is needed.

Blogroll Update

In an effort to both broaden my mind, and to perhaps force Elena to actually post more often, I am adding her poetry blog on my blogroll. CuppaTeaNThee

Current Favorite Song

Altho Nikki described it as sounding like "a cat fight" AH! Vous Dirai-Je, Maman as performed on The Art Of Sumi Jo is my current favorite song. This song is actually where we get the tune for such classics as Ba-Ba Black Sheep and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Ignore that however, cuz this is no children's song. Sumi Jo plays the part of a child arguing with her father because her father wants her "to reason like a grown-up." Her position is that candy has greater value than reason.

Perhaps if I understood French I could tell you the resolution of the arguement, but till then I will enjoy listenin'.

Teaching an old dog old tricks...

Can ya teach an old dog a new trick? How about reteaching him some basic elementary stuff? Like fire is hot, water is wet, and holding a wet appliance and plugging it in is really really really fantastically stupid?

Lesson relearned (I hope)

Such Eloquence

HOLLYWOOD (Reuters)
"If you are listening to a rock star in order to get your voting information on who to vote for, you are a bigger moron than they are. Why are we rock stars? Because we're morons."

-- Shock rocker ALICE COOPER.

State Garage Sale

The Terminator is doing something a bit off the wall. Holding a state sale. He is trying to keep his promise of no new taxes and is selling off un-needed items this friday/saturday. I think this is a great idea. Get rid of 'junk' and free up storage space which may mean they can stop paying on that space also. A twofold savings. My biggest question is why does California own jewelery?

I think every state should do the same, rebate the money to the citizens and cut taxes accordingly. As Dictator For Life of Never-La (all the intellectual property bordered on one side by Never Never Land and bordered on another by LaLa Land and bordered on the third side by a Land called Honalee) I will institute this idea forthwith.

The Things I Say

I found an old compilation CD put out by Release magazine (I think) SODA, volume 1 by name and decided to put it back in for a spin or two. And while Lounge Freak's cover of JoC's Flood is always interesting, it was the song by Rob Frazier that really got my attention. Some of the lyrics are as follows...

I say I believe in a G-d of love then I find myself thinking of all the ways I could put somebody down because they hurt my pride somehow
I say I believe in a G-d of peace but the wars inside me never cease how I think, the battle for my mind, how I live and how I spend my time
I say I believe in a G-d of grace then I put somebody in their place telling them they have crossed the line when G-d forbid I should pay for my own crimes
...
I say I believe that the world is lost without the message of the Cross, but still I stay inside my room afraid to leave my comfort zone

I say, I say what I believe, do I believe the things I say?

That last line about says it all.
Shalom

Whistle Blower

Just walked in the house with my new subscription to Whistleblower magazine from WorldNetDaily. I got two free books Shooting Back: The Right and Duty of Self Defense and Guns, Freedom, and Terrorism. I also got a letter from a friend that gave me a laugh.

The package was so shoved into my mailbox that I literally had to cut it open inside the mailbox and remove the items one at a time to get them out. I'll let ya know how the literature is when I get around to reading it all.

Election Watch 2004

Headline "Bush criticizes anti-Kerry television ad"

I am becoming convinced that Bush is trying to lose this election. He hasnt taken a single opportunity to get one on Kerry even tho Kerry sets himself up all the time. Now Bush is going so far as to oppose groups opposing Kerry. Does GW think he is taking the high road? or is he attempting to self destruct so he doesnt have to deal with whatever event(s) is upcoming?

Bloglect (blog neglect)

Excuses for not blogging...

1) I've been busy
2) I've got school coming up (last few free days)
3) A certain special young lady and I have been hanging around a LOT
4) We are going dancing tonite, so I cant really blog now.

Shalom

The Monkey's Paw

I was listening to Smalltown Poets the other day and was thinking on their song "Monkey's Paw" I had read the short story some years ago and enjoyed it (found here, tho it has typos in it) Basically the Paw would grant three wishes, but those wishes came at a horrible cost. The first wish in the story is for a small amount of money, and it comes at the cost of their only childs life. The song ends with "So I brought my spoil to the alters edge, heard You say 'obey instead', and all of my labors and best laid plans, had only earned a reprimand, forever-more to understand that dreams come true can kill a man, if never graced by sovereign hands"

So my question is are my dreams graced by His hands? A good question cuz my "labors and best laid plans" are well, to quote the Goo Goo Dolls "F---ing up takes practice, I feel I'm well rehearsed"

My other question is, would ya all wish and if so, what for?

Heroic Females in Poetry

From my selection of poetry so far one might come to the conclusion that either there are no females in this type of poetry or I just ignore it. Not so. So I give you this offering, A Legend of Bregenz by Adelaide Procter. This is a rather large poem, my apologies. If its too long for ya just scroll down to the comments and flame me =oP

Girt round with rugged mountains the fair Lake Constance lies;
In her blue heart reflected, shine back the starry skies;
And, watching each white cloudlet float silently and slow,
You think a piece of heaven lies on our earth below!

Midnight is there; and silence, enthroned in heaven, looks down
Upon her own calm mirror, upon a sleeping town:
For Bregenz, that quaint city upon the Tyrol shore,
Has stood above Lake Constance a thousand years and more.

Her battlements and towers, upon their rocky steep,
Have cast their trembling shadows for ages on the deep;
Mountain and lake and valley, a sacred legend know,
Of how the town was saved one night, three hundred years ago.

Far from her home and kindred a Tyrol maid had fled,
To serve in the Swiss valleys, and toil for daily bread;
And every year that fleeted so silently and fast
Seem'd to bear further from her the memory of the past.

She served kind, gentle masters, nor ask'd for rest or change;
Her friends seem'd no more new ones, their speech seem'd no more strange;
And, when she led her cattle to pasture every day,
She ceased to look and wonder on which side Bregenz lay.

She spoke no more of Bregenz, with longing and with tears;
Her Tyrol home seem'd faded in a deep mist of years;
She heeded not the rumors of Austrian war or strife;
Each day she rose, contented, to the calm toils of life.

Yet, when her master's children would clustering round her stand,
She sang them the old ballads of her own native land;
And, when at morn and evening she knelt before God's throne,
The accents of her childhood rose to her lips alone.

And so she dwelt: the valley more peaceful year by year;
When suddenly strange portents of some great deed seem'd near.
The golden corn was bending upon its fragile stalk,
While farmers, heedless of their fields, paced up and down in talk.

The men seem'd stern and alter'd, with looks cast on the ground;
With anxious faces, one by one, the women gather'd round;
All talk of flax, or spinning, or work, was put away;
The very children seem'd afraid to go alone to play.

One day, out in the meadow with strangers from the town,
Some secret plan discussing, the men walk'd up and down.
Yet now and then seem'd watching a strange, uncertain gleam,
That look'd like lances 'mid the trees that stood below the stream.

At eve they all assembled, all care and doubt were fled;
With jovial laugh they feasted, the board was nobly spread.
The elder of the village rose up, his glass in hand,
And cried, "We drink the downfall of an accursed land!

"The night is growing darker; ere one more day is flown
Bregenz, our foeman's stronghold, Bregenz shall be our own!"
The women shrank in terror, (yet pride, too, had her part,)
But one poor Tyrol maiden felt death within her heart.

Before her stood fair Bregenz, once more her towers arose;
What were the friends beside her? Only her country's foes!
The faces of her kinsfolk, the days of childhood flown,
The echoes of her mountains, reclaim'd her as their own!

Nothing she heard around her, (though shouts rang forth again,)
Gone were the green Swiss valleys, the pasture, and the plain;
Before her eyes one vision, and in her heart one cry,
That said, "Go forth, save Bregenz, and then, if need be, die!"

With trembling haste and breathless, with noiseless step she sped;
Horses and weary cattle were standing in the shed;
She loosed the strong white charger, that fed from out her hand,
She mounted and she turn'd his head towards her native land.

Out -- out into the darkness -- faster, and still more fast;
The smooth grass flies behind her, the chestnut wood is pass'd;
She looks up; clouds are heavy: Why is her steed so slow? --
Scarcely the wind beside them can pass them as they go.

"Faster!" she cries, "O, faster!" Eleven the church-bells chime:
"O God," she cries, "help Bregenz, and bring me there in time!"
But louder than bells' ringing, or lowing of the kine,
Grows nearer in the midnight the rushing of the Rhine.

Shall not the roaring waters their headlong gallop check?
The steed draws back in terror, she leans above his neck
To watch the flowing darkness, the bank is high and steep;
One pause, -- he staggers forward, and plunges in the deep.

She strives to pierce the blackness, and looser throws the rein;
Her steed must breast the waters that dash above his mane;
How gallantly, how nobly, he struggles through the foam,
And see, in the far distance shine out the lights of home!

Up the steep bank he bears her, and now they rush again
Toward the heights of Bregenz, that tower above the plain.
They reach the gate of Bregenz just as the midnight rings,
And out come serf and soldier to meet the news she brings.

Bregenz is saved! Ere daylight her battlements are mann'd;
Defiance greets the army that marches on the land:
And, if to deeds heroic should endless fame be paid,
Bregenz does well to honor the noble Tyrol maid.

Three hundred years are vanish'd, and yet upon the hill
An old stone gateway rises, to do her honor still.
And there, when Bregenz women sit spinning in the shade,
They see in quaint old carving the charger and the maid.

And when to guard old Bregenz, by gateway, street, and tower,
The warder paces all night long, and calls each passing hour:
"Nine," "ten," "eleven," he cries aloud, and then (O crown of fame!)
When midnight pauses in the skies he calls the maiden's name.

Manly Poetry, part 4

This poem is about a group of patriots led by Francis Marion. By 1780 it seemed that the Britons had subdued the South. During this time Marion raised and maintained a band of trusted patriots, beginning with less than twenty. So troublesome was Marion's Brigade that the Brits sent a special detachment, led by Colonel Tarleton, to capture Marion dead or alive. It was from this that he gained the name "Swamp Fox."

Song of Marions Men

Our band is few, but true and tried,
Our leader frank and bold;
The British soldier trembles
When Marion's name is told.
Our fortress is the good greenwood
Our tent the cypress-tree;
We know the forest round us,
As seamen know the sea.
We know its walls of thorny vines,
Its glades of reedy grass,
Its safe and silent islands
Within the dark morass.

Woe to the English soldiery,
That little dread us near!
On them shall light at midnight
A strange and sudden fear:
When, waking to their tents on fire,
They grasp their arms in vain,
And they who stand to face us
Are beat to earth again.
And they who fly in terror deem
A mighty host behind,
And hear the tramp of thousands
Upon the hollow wind.

Then sweet the hour that brings release
From danger and from toil;
We talk the battle over,
And share the battle's spoil.
The woodland rings with laugh and shout
As if a hunt were up,
And woodland flowers are gathered
To crown the soldier's cup.
With merry songs we mock the wind
That in the pine-top grieves,
And slumber long and sweetly
On beds of oaken leaves.

Well knows the fair and friendly moon
The band that Marion leads
The glitter of their rifles,
The scampering of their steeds.
'Tis life to guide the fiery barb
Across the moonlight plain;
'Tis life to feel the night-wind
That lifts his tossing mane.
A moment in the British camp
A moment and away
Back to the pathless forest,
Before the peep of day.

Grave men there are by broad Santee,
Grave men with hoary hairs;
Their hearts are all with Marion,
For Marion are their prayers.
And lovely ladies greet our band
With kindliest welcoming,
With smiles like those of summer,
And tears like those of spring.
For them we wear these trusty arms,
And lay them down no more
Till we have driven the Briton,
Forever, from our shore.

~~ William Cullen Bryant

Sixpence-Now The Poorer

Okay this is rather upsetting. My favorite band for the last decade straight is now no more. Sixpence None the Richer is officially gone. I wouldn't have even known it except I looked at an email titled "Astronaut Pushers" which was in my email bulk folder. AP is Matt Slocums new band and as he was the main song and music writer for Sixpence I can assume that I will like Astronaut Pushers but it just wont be the same.

On the bright side I will now have two bands that I like a lot. Matt is an incredible writer and musical arranger and Leigh Nash's voice is incredible no matter what she sings or who she is with. Leigh has done some really good work with The Choir and one of the guys from Jars of Clay.

Farewell Sixpence. It's been a rough road for you but for us the listeners and fans it has been a wonderful journey. Thank you and good luck on your new projects.

Quotes for the Status Quo

I heard something today that just made me shake my head. It was from a co-worker railing against the 'evil' of the Democratic party and in support of the angelic Republicans who never do a thing wrong. In defense of 'Conservatives' he stated "Jesus told the disciples to fish from the right side of the boat." WTF?! He would have continued too but I was too incredulous that he tried to make that into a political support for the Repugs.

Some people shouldn't think lest they hurt themselves or others.

Favorite Kitchen Tool

I just wanted to sing some praises for my George Foreman jr grill. (If they have a jingle, insert it here) Heats up in about two minutes and cooks a steak to perfection in 6 minutes. As a bachelor this is extremely important. I can now have steak for breakfast!

But really, why bother when there is pie in the fridge?

Essential Reading

Were I a school teacher there would be two pieces of required reading material in my classroom. Well three including good poetry. Piece number one would be Henry David Thoreau's Civil Disobedience. The second would be Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter From A Birmingham Jail." These two pieces are essential to a proper understanding of liberty and doing what is right regardless of cost. Both men spent time in jail for their beliefs, both were misunderstood by the people of their time. Both men, thru their lives, called us to live differently.

Dr. King writes "But as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a bit of satisfaction from being considered an extremist. Was not Jesus an extremist in love... Was not Amos an extremist for justice...Was not Paul an extremist for the gospel of Jesus Christ... Was not Martin Luther an extremist- "Here I stand; I can do none other so help me G-d." Was not John Bunyan an extremist- "I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience." Was not Abraham Lincoln an extremist... Was not Thomas Jefferson an extremist... So the question is not wether we will be extremist but what kind of extremist will we be. ... Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice - or will we be extremists for the cause of justice? ... So, after all, maybe the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremist."

King also writes in the same letter upon the state of the Church. " There was a time when the church was very powerful. ... In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Wherever the early Christians entered a town the power structure got disturbed... Things are different now. The contemporary church is often a weak innefectual voice with an uncertain sound. ... Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent and often vocal sanction of things as they are. But the judgement of G-d is upon the church as never before. If the church of today does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authentic ring, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century."

A Libertarian Primary

The Libertarian Party is experiencing a first here in Colorado.

A Primary.

Up until this point we have never needed to choose one Libertarian over another to put on the November ballot. But we do now. This is a good thing as it means we are growing. Here is the article in the Denver Post.

Poetry

I have another poem for ya'lls enjoyment. This one is just for the fun of it.

The Wonderful One Hoss Shay by Oliver Wendell Holmes. As it is a tad long and I didnt actually have to type this one in I am going to use the work of others.

Change the Electoral College?

I need some help here guys. Colorado has a proposition on the ballot that will change us from a winner takes all (currently 9 votes) to a proportional system where the winner gets 1 vote plus a percentage of the rest. Now Colorado is often split pretty much down the middle with a titch more voting GOP than DNC. So the end result could be a 5-4 split for the electoral college. Now if this system had been in place last election Algore would have won.

Arguements

Con: Colo's 9 votes makes us worthwhile in the election. If it is changed to the proportional system then it would only be 1-2 votes and therefore we would be ignored/have no pull.

Pro: This seems the quickest way to make a third party viable. It would also help to break up the stranglehold that the one party/two faction system currently has.

Dems of course love this system for the midwest states as it would gain them votes, conversely getting this system on the coasts would lose them votes. I am trying to decide whether or not to support this initiative and am not sure if I am seeing all the sides here.

Open Debates

I came across a petition to 'reform' the debate process. The Petition calls for replacing the current (left-leaning) Commission on Presidential Debates with a new group that will include "popular independent and third party candidates."

Only by cracking into these debates will our candidates ever get enough exposure to change things. Especially with the "campaign-finance reform" laws that dont allow advertising. Yes political ads are annoying, but they are the life-blood of third parties as the media only carries news on the Dems and the GOP.

Comparative Policital Parties

Just a quick comparison of politcal party planks.

Taxation
LP: Repeal 16th Amendment; Amnesty for 'tax evaders'; oppose all personal and corporate income taxation, including capital gains taxes
CP: Repeal the 16th; opposed to the flat-rate tax, national sales tax, and value added tax; it is our intention to replace (current taxation), with a tariff based revenue system supplemented by excise taxes ... To the degree that tariffs ... are insufficient to cover the legitimate Constitutional costs ... an apportioned "state-rate tax" ... in accordance with their proportion of the total population.

Abortion
LP: We condemn state-funded and state-mandated abortions. It is particularly harsh to force someone who believes that abortion is murder to pay for another's abortion; We oppose all laws likely to impose restrictions on free choice.
CP: It is ... the duty of all civil governments to secure and to safeguard the lives of the pre-born; Under no circumstances may the federal government fund or otherwise support any ... government or any organization or entity, foreign or domestic, which advocates, encourages or participates in the practice of abortion.

Arms
LP: We oppose all laws at any level of government restricting, regulating ... ownership, manufacture, transfer or sale of firearms or ammunition. We oppose all [registration]laws

CP: We oppose attempts to prohibit ownership of guns by law-abiding citizens, and stand against all laws which would require the registration of guns or ammunition; repeal of all federal firearms legislation, beginning with Federal Firearms Act of 1968.

Be a hero, vote LP or CP in November. (Matt posting on VoxDay's Blog)
Either party is preferable to what we have now. More on this later.

Selective Abortion

Remember that lady who killed two of her three unborn babies so she wouldnt have to change her lifestyle? Turns out she wasnt just some random woman, she "was a New York Planned Parenthood advocate and consultant to Gloria Steinem." Julia Gorin wrote about it in her latest column.

"Never Again" the book

A book was recently put out called "Never Again: A Self-Defense Guide for the Flying Public." which gives techniques for defeating a terrorist in a plane.

As the writer of the article says "My stance on terrorists hasn't changed since 9/11. If a terrorist attempts to seize control of the jumbo jet in which I am riding, I am totally in favor of doing whatever is necessary to hasten his reunion with the 72 dark-eyed virgins awaiting him in heaven, as long as I don't have to go there with him. (I'm quite shy around large groups of attractive women.)"

Musing upon Music

You're taking a chance, risking it all
For the thrill of the moment
Taking a stand, you ain't gonna fall
You've always known it

They're dying to shake you,
Trying their best to break you
And though the going is rough,
you're going home as a hero
...
Don't lose that feeling
Don't ever stop believing
There's one more moment of truth
and you're gonna face it

Lryics from the song Thunder in your Heart from the soundtrack for the movie Rad. One of the best movies ever. Why dont songs have lyrics that pump ya up anymore? Because we have weenies like Elton John (a pedophile) doing the songs for movies. And the remaining songs are about violence sex (ho's) and drinking/smokin'. Oh yeah, that nebulous 'love' too. Nothing with much substance these days.

Sorry ya'll, just had to rant a bit (o=

BOB Update

Well I finally got off my duff and started putting my BOB (Bug Out Bag) together today. I had been putting it off, but what good are the components if they arent assembled? That custom 1911 is useless if it is field stripped. So I just need a few other things to toss in. Namely a good knife, sunscreen and toiletries. I am also thinking of a good slingshot. A nice rock is much cheaper (and quieter) than a bullet, and a .357 rather seems a waste for a rabbit or esp a bird.

Also since I dont really want to put in clothes that I wear on a regular basis I tossed in my military BDUs. Durable, proper color and cheaper than Walmart clothes. Or at least it is in a military town, I know some places dont even have surplus shops which would make obtaining BDUs difficult.

Musical Tastes

In the past few weeks I have been very discontent with both the radio and all my music so when in the car I use the remote to flip thru stations relentlessly in search of something good. In all the searching I have found that I prefer male or female voices depending on the genre. For country, rap/hip-hop, rock, metal and big band I prefer male voices. For jazz, opera/classical, celtic(Enya-like) and any ethereal lyrics I prefer female.

Is it just me or do you all have similar tastes? Beyond the exceptions which we all have of course.

Blog Value

Okay, no idea what this is exactly, but according to Blogshares.com my blog's value is $1,999.23 To put things in perspective, it values Vox Popoli at $27,055.67

It states that my outgoing link value is $419.85 But for you all, I will discount that rate. For a limited time only, one link for $350, 2 for $500. Small unmarked bills please.

Competetive Jump Rope

I realize that most of you have never heard of this before and there is good reason for it. It is fairly new and certainly wasnt around when I was a kid. Or not really anyways. I know you are thinking, What is Erik thinking? Jump Rope? yeah. My Niece has been involved since the begining of the last school year and I finally got to see her team perform today. WOW Very impressive. Flips, somersaults, hand stand-kicks and push-up type jumps, and ropes moving so fast ya cant see 'em at all.

This weekend they will be at the Jr. Olympics in Iowa, with their competitions spread over three days. She will be performing in Speed, Doubles Unders, Two Person (two singles, more or less synchronized), Single Double Dutch, and Two Person Double Dutch. Remember those Jelly Ropes and how much they hurt? Yeah, they use a wire cable with only a thin coating on it for speed and double/triple unders. And the Age 15+ dont even get that coating when they have to do triple unders.

If ya ever hear of a competition check it out. These kids work real hard on their routines and seem to have a lot of fun with this. A link to the United States Amateur Jump Rope Federation

Secure Borders

The Lizard Queen, Hillary, is supporting the need for closed borders with her statement and the DNC "We need to secure our borders." Sounds great, cuz we do need to close the holes up. Our borders are lawless, dangerous and hole-ier than swiss cheese. But as always, the Lizard Queen has a gov 'solution' that wont help matters and only increase the size of the fedgov. We need to reorganize our federal government to meet the new threats of these times. We need to make sure that homeland security is properly funded..."

Here is a thought. Lets pull out of some of the countries that we are in. We have military in IIRC 140 countries, not counting our embassies which we need to continue to protect. How about we close 70, send half of those soldiers to the remaining 70 countries thereby making those places (potentially) safer and bringing the other half home to secure the borders here. We could then sell the bases and fund the transfers as well as reduce overhead and allow for more important things, like bullets, so our soldiers can train. Shortages for bullets go back before 9/11 as evidenced by this article on NewsMax dated Feb 8th 2001.

I have been accused of being anti-military by some for this stance, but their idiocy doesnt change facts. Our military is the best in the world because our respect for life (oddly enough) and our superior training. Anything that stands in the way of either of those two harms us.

US War Making Powers

In a conversation with a colleague the subject of US War Making Powers was brought up. He insisted that the President is allowed to wage war for 90 days without congressional approval (because of what he heard in a movie) while I insisted it was Congress' authority alone. Well, I did some research and here is what I found. 50 USC §§ 1541-1548 is the "War Powers Resolution" adopted in 1973 over Nixon's veto. It provides a requirement upon the President to provide a report to Congress within 48 hours after deploying US Forces. Congress may immediately vote to cease the deployment, and it may not continue after 60 days without express approval.

The more pressing issue in my mind is what the Constitution actually says. Article 1 § 8 line 11 gives Congress alone the authority to declare war. Lines 12-13 allow for a temporary army, and a permanent Navy. Article 2 states the authority of the President and nowhere do you find the word 'war.'

In a society based upon a constitution there can be no laws that circumvent that document. Either the constitution is of no effect, or the new law is. I see no room for middle ground. Obviously no Congress or President in living memory has chosen to abide by the Constitution, sadly not even the Gipper changed that much.