Embrace the Future

Since the government has such a wonderful track record of running businesses as varied as the US Postal Service, Amtrak, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, I've decided to embrace the future and accept the takeover of GM and Chrysler. I'm really looking forward to the new model lineup, sure to include such best sellers as the Dodge Dodd, the Chevy Byrd made in the new West Virgina plant, and of course the amphibious Jeep Kennedy.

Mendacious Obfuscation?

Words matter. I've worked in large bureaucratic organizations all of my adult life, where clear, concise writing is rare. What you usually find is leaden prose designed to obscure the fact the writer is an idiot. (Yes, I know I am. Deal with it.) The other purpose, obscuring the truth.

The current administration wishes to change the vocabulary in a way that would make Orwell proud. Elected as an anti-war candidate, we're not sending seventeen thousand troops into Afghanistan in the Global War on Terror. No, you see, it's not a war at all, merely an Overseas Contingency Plan. Quoting Hayek:

Everything which might cause doubt about the wisdom of the government or create discontent will be kept from the people. The basis of unfavorable comparisons with conditions elsewhere, the knowledge of possible alternatives to the course actually taken, information which might suggest failure on the part of the government to live up to its promises or to take advantage of opportunities to improve conditions -- all will be suppressed...The word "truth" itself ceases to have its old meaning. It describes no longer something to be found, with the individual conscience as the sole arbiter of whether in any particular instance the evidence (or the standing of those proclaiming it) warrants a belief; it becomes something to be laid down by authority, something which has to be believed in the interest of the unity of the organized effort and which may have to be altered as the exigencies of this organized effort require it.

Isn't change wonderful?

Compare and Contrast

I wonder if we could borrow this guy for four years. This may have been in the European Parliament, but good God, you really have to admire Brit politicians for their ability to absolutely skewer their opponents.

Now, having seen that, compare it with the excerpt from a House Financial Services Committee hearing below.

The Peter Principle

It is hard for me to believe that this creature is actually representative of her district. There can be no doubt that she has risen to her level of incompetence.

Change

H/T Riehl World View

QOTD

He is clearly an intelligent man; but his intellect is occupied with drivel, indoctrination, academic theories and pet causes... but nothing REAL, or USEFUL, or of any substance.

It is not so much that he has no honor, or loyalty, or backbone; it is that he doesn't even understand the concepts; or worse, denigrates and derides them.

I sincerely wish this were not true. He even had the gall tonight to say with a straight face that he struggles with the abortion issue. His anguished study of this issue doesn't seem to have informed any of his votes.

A Gentle Reminder

The creation of crimes after the commission of the fact, or, in other words, the subjecting of men to punishment for things which, when they were done, were breaches of no law, and the practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all the ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny -- Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84

Now a little from Glenn Beck:



Lest you think that AIG is the only bailed out firm with executives receiving bonuses, here's a little tidbit from the Washington Post. Gee, why no faux outrage? Could it be that these guys work for a government sponsored entity? I guess their contracts are inviolate.

One final quote:

The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. -- John Adams

UPDATE: I ran across this after publishing the post.

Adrift on a Turbulent Sea

If you think you've got it bad, read about this poor guy and his lost treasure.

Outrage upon Outrage

What's amazing is that this piece isn't the most outrageous thing I've read today. This one is. Our representative republic is dead, and our new masters have no honor. If Eric Shinseki had any integrity left, he'd resign.

Two Completely Random Quotes

Finance, the proper use and easy flow of capital, and the development of the banking structure of a nation must not be underestimated when one has to face the clear responsibility of building a state or of leading a people out of chaos. -- Benito Mussolini

Never let a good crisis go to waste. -- Rahm Emanuel

Steyn Today

"Barack ain't run nuthin' but his mouth." Just read it all.

Another One Bites the Dust

Chas Freeman, Saudi shill, and Chicom apologist has withdrawn his name from consideration for National Intelligence Council chair. There are also reports that in addition to the Gordon Brown snub fiasco, the Brits are having trouble getting in touch with Treasury.

The lights are on, but nobody's home.

Nothing Special

It is truly comforting to know that the current administration has such a nuanced attitude toward foreign relations. After eight years of "cowboy diplomacy" characterized by improved relations with our most important allies things could only get better, right?

The real views of many in Obama administration were laid bare by a State Department official involved in planning the Brown visit, who reacted with fury when questioned by The Sunday Telegraph about why the event was so low-key.

The official dismissed any notion of the special relationship, saying: "There's nothing special about Britain. You're just the same as the other 190 countries in the world. You shouldn't expect special treatment." The apparent lack of attention to detail by the Obama administration is indicative of what many believe to be Mr Obama's determination to do too much too quickly.

Nothing special. Just two world wars as allies, treaty commitments to mutual defense, seats on the UN Security Council, G7 membership, and that whole "mother country" thing. And GWB was stupid. Right.

Irony Defined

I can't resist pointing out that Tim Geithner testified before Charlie Rangel's committee on increasing compliance with the tax code. You just can't make this stuff up.

Class

Read this piece for a minor anecdote from the tragedy we find ourselves players in. Here's a teaser:

These gifts are even more impressive and thoughtful than these few paragraphs suggest, given the amazing story behind the Resolute and how it is a potent symbol of U.S.-U.K. goodwill. So Brown clearly outclassed Obama in that regard.

It's increasingly clear it isn't hard to outclass the One.

Health Care

I was going to blog something about health care tonight, but this Corner post by Stephen Spruiell says everything I was going to. Here's the money quote:

The last thing we need is public policy based around the idea that health care is a "right" to which we are all entitled. We've seen the results when other countries have adopted such policies: shortages, rationed care, higher taxes and a less innovative health-care sector — in short, a state of affairs that infringes on everyone's right to pursue the best care he or she can obtain.

The penultimate paragraph is great too, so read the whole thing.

Long Term Strategy

From Bloomberg, 2009:

Obama compared the daily market fluctuations to a tracking poll in politics and said he wouldn’t be adjusting his policies just to meet daily market expectations.

“If you spend all your time worrying about that, then you’re probably going to get the long-term strategy wrong,” he said.

From Marx and Engels, 1848:

The proletariat will use its political supremacy to wrest, by degrees, all capital from the bourgeoisie, to centralize all instruments of production in the hands of the State, i.e., of the proletariat organized as the ruling class; and to increase the total productive forces as rapidly as possible.

Of course, in the beginning this cannot be effected except by means of despotic inroads on the rights of property and on the conditions of bourgeois production; be means of measures, therefore, which appear economically insufficient and untenable but which, in the course of the movement, outstrip themselves, necessitate further inroads upon the old social order, and are unavoidalbe as a means of entirely revolutionizing the mode of production.

We wouldn't want to take our eyes off the prize, would we Barack?

A Response to a new AWB

No one has said it better than Hamilton in Federalist No. 20:

Where in the name of common sense are our fears to end if we may not trust our sons, our brothers, our neighbors, our fellow-citizens? What shadow of danger can there be from men who are daily mingling with the rest of their countrymen and who participate with them in the same feelings, sentiments, habits, and interests?

We should not fear arms in the hands of our fellow citizens. Indeed, experience across the world has taught us that when good people are unarmed, criminals flourish. Laws are no deterrent to the lawless. Do we all wish a peaceful society? Of course we do. Ensuring that end requires a citizenry able to defend itself.

I have given careful thought to the security of my family. As a result, I am seldom unarmed when I am in public, and never unarmed at home. I don't do this out of paranoia, but based on the knowledge that in the unlikely event that I am ever in a deadly force situation, the consequences of being unarmed are too high.

As part of my decision making process, I thought very carefully about what self-defense strategy would work the best under my circumstances. As a result, I've chosen a semi-automatic .223 caliber carbine based on the AR platform as my primary means of home defense. This rifle would be banned as an "assault weapon" were a new AWB imposed.

"Assault weapons" are often characterized in the press as "high-powered assault weapons", but anyone familiar with the history of such weapons knows that they actually represent a significant reduction in power over the previous generation of military arms. The AK platforms exhibit a similar reduction over their antecedents. What does this mean in practical terms for a home-defense weapon? For me, the major reason to choose the .223 platform is a reduced tendency to penetrate residential wall construction. The small projectile, moving very fast, has a tendency to shatter when penetrating wallboard, and in fact, is less likely to do so intact than the projectile from a 9mm handgun. At the same time, the AR is a lightweight, easily controllable system with minimal recoil, making it well suited to use by people of smaller stature than, for instance, a 12 ga. shotgun would be. Put simply, I can be assured that my wife can handle the weapon if she needs to and don't have to worry much about a projectile leaving the envelope of my house with enough energy to do harm. In a residential neighborhood, you can't ask for much more.

I could go on to discuss the differences between the cosmetic features an "assault weapons" ban would address and actual military assault weapons, but since actual military assault weapons have been illegal without a federal license since the National Firearms Act of 1934, I won't. Furthermore, ownership and transfer of them is restricted to those manufactured and licensed prior to 1986. So, if true assault weapons are already banned, why enact new law? Why, indeed.