Gospel of the New Truth

The Danger Grows

May 9, 2008: The following excerpt is from a column posted by Matt Stoller, Open Left at 7:47 AM on May 8, 2008, in the Alter Net online publication, titled Obama's Consolidation of the Party:

"All I'll add is that it's time to think through the consequences of a party where there is a new chief with massive amounts of power. I've been in the wilderness all my political life, as have most of us. The Clintonistas haven't, and they know what it's like to be part of the inside crew. We have a leader, and he's not a partisan and he can now end fractious intraparty fights with a word and/or a nod. His opinion really matters in a way that even Nancy Pelosi's just did not. He has control of the party apparatus, the grassroots, the money, and the messaging environment. He is also, and this is fundamental, someone that millions of people believe in as a moral force. When you disagree with Obama, you are saying to these people 'your favorite band sucks'(emphasis added)

. Like many of us, I endorsed Obama, gave him money, and I intend to work to get him elected. He is attempting to completely rewrite the rules of politics, and we should try to figure out what that means for where we take our meager work. Obama is now the party leader. And he has ensured and we have given him the mandate that when he speaks, he speaks for all of us. I hope he's a vibrant progressive when he gets into office, and we should begin figuring out how to put ourselves in a position to help him take the country in a progressive direction."

The onward march to liberal fascism continues - the danger grows. Indicative of my contention is the line about disagreeing with Obama - a reaction that liberal fascists have had, about any disagreement with them, for the past 100 years. Progressivism, in reality, is only another description of socialism. This is exactly the kind of scenario I've been warning about in my previous blogs. As George Santanya wrote, those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. -30-

The OBAMA Acronym

May 8, 2008: It appears that in the current Democrat Primary climate, Senator Obama will be the party's presidential nominee, and there's a good chance, at this time, that Obama could win the election.

Until proven wrong, I have some strong fears about that occurrence, for a number of reasons. In no particular order,

• inculcation by Pastor Wright of his views on American society, most notably expressed by Michelle Obama

• Obama's continued speeches about uniting the country, including building and maintaining a bi-partisan cooperative existence in the halls of Congress (a corporatist action)

• Michelle Obama's remarks about evening out the economic pie - spreading the wealth

• Obama's early statements that show he would delegate much of the presidential management work

• a lack of evidence proving Obama's professional capability to assume the office (other than making lofty speeches)

• the weakness of both houses of Congress in carrying out their duty of "checks and balances"

It appears to me that what we have here is the OBAMA Acronym: "Obamas Believe America should be a Marxist America".

That doesn't change my previous opinions that Obama is a liberal fascist - Marxism and liberal fascism are shirts cut from the same cloth. What we have is the socialist call for corporatism (control of a state or organization by large interest groups; "individualism is in danger of being swamped by a kind of corporatism"; important - read this). This unity called for by Obama is a nationalist call - in itself a good thing - but as expressed in opinions by Michelle Obama, indicates a desire to denigrate capitalism and replace it with a more socialist economic approach.

Now this is not a new idea from those who would - and did - lead this country, except that in the end, because we really know that a strong capitalism is what has made us the great country weare, it has not worked. Of course, there's no guarantee that it won't, now, given the ideologies in which many of our recent crops of college graduates have been immersed.

"The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there" - Anon

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More Questions About Obama

May 5, 2008: The other day, it was reported that Al Sharpton threatened mass riots by black voters if Obama did not receive the Democrat Party nomination. This is the second civil disobedience, or worse, threat made by Sharpton in the past few weeks - the first concerned the judge's ruling in a New York City police shooting case. So far, nothing has been heard from the great uniter, with reference to Sharpton's threats. In a recent speech, Obama talked about providing a college education for everyone, or words to that effect. Another "chicken in every pot" promise. The only problem with the state (our federal government) giving everyone a "free" college eductaion is that it smacks of Bismarkian, Mussolini-istic, Hitlerian National Socialism. A program of that type is bad, because it makes the grant receiver a property of the state - just what is found in liberal fascism, or Fascism per se. It is just another "Brave New World" concept. We are now beginning to hear commentators talk about the high probability that Pastor Wright has said what we've recently heard because he doesn't want Obama to be elected. That might also be on the minds of Al Sharpton and other black leaders/spokesmen. That might not be as strange an idea as one might think. Shelby Steele, who wrote the book A BOUND MAN: WHY WE ARE EXCITED ABOUT OBAMA AND WHY HE CAN'T WIN, has laid out the concept very simply (as I have written about in the past)- the power of black leaders is held in the concept that the "man" is holding blacks down, therefore much noise can be made about that, as well as laying guilt on the white man's shoulders. Once that concept is proven false, vis-a-vis Obama's election, then those "leaders" lose their power. This Democrat Party primary race has some pretty interesting depths to it. -30-

Machine conspiracy

May 1, 2008: Did you ever have the nagging thoughts that one of your major household appliances was going to fall apart and you weren't going to be home to take care of it? Well, I've recently had that thought several times when I was going out of town for a few days. I kept thinking that my 12 year old hot water heater, which I carefully maintain, was going to end up spouting water while I was down in Laughlin for a few days of R&R. Not only would the Las Vegas Valley Water District be sending me a big bill for wasting water, but I would probably have a lot of neighbors PO'd. I worried about that since the warrantee for the unit was six years, there was some cause for concern

Anyhow, I was reading an article in this morning's paper about what you could buy with the $600 rebate we're all getting - hopefully, ours will arrive sometime in the early fall. But I read that article just for curiosity's sake, since I knew where that money was going to go - our dishwasher suddenly began making noise about two weeks ago (around April 15), and finally ceased its life a couple of days ago. I'm waiting for delivery of a new one as I write this). Well, OK, I thought when the dishwasher stopped working, at least most of it will be paid for with the rebate.

But wait!. I believe artificial intelligence is at work, because no sooner than did we order the new dishwasher, than the hot water heater began leaking...what is it with these machines, are they engaged in a conspiracy to see which one could spend the rebate the fastest? So today I have two new pieces of household equipment arriving - hey, at least I won't have to worry about the hot water heater leaking when I'm out of town - some consolation. This is the first time I've had to replace either unit in any home I've had. So either that's a sign of AI, or it is just that, even though the technology has greatly improved over the years, perhaps quality hasn't.

Just remember, when you hear odd noises in the night, it's probably your appliances conspiring with each other. 

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Machine conspiracy

Machine conspiracy  

May 1, 2008: Did you ever have the nagging thoughts that one of your major household appliances was going to fall apart and you weren'r going to be home to take care of it? Well, I've recently had that thought several times when I was going out of town for a few days. I kept thinking that my 12 year old hot water heater, which I carefully maintain, was going to end up spouting water while I was down in Laughlin for a few days of R&R. Not only would the Las Vegas Valley Water District be sending me a big bill for wasting water, but I would probably have a lot of neighbors PO'd. I worried about that since the warrantee for the unit was six years, there was some cause for concern

Anyhow, I was reading an article in this morning's paper about what you could buy with the $600 rebate we're all getting - hopefully, ours will arrive sometime in the early fall. But I read that article just for curiosity's sake, since I knew where that money was going to go - our dishwasher suddenly began making noise about two weeks ago (around April 15), and finally ceased its life a couple of days ago. I'm waiting for delivery of a new one as I write this). Well, OK, I thought when the dishwasher stopped working, at least most of it will be paid for with the rebate.

But wait!. I believe artificial intelligence is at work, because no sooner than did we order the new dishwasher, than the hot water heater began leaking...what is it with these machines, are they engaged in a conspiracy to see which one could spend the rebate the fastest? So today I have two new pieces of household equipment arriving - hey, at least I won't have to worry about the hot water heater leaking when I'm out of town - some consolation. This is the first time I've had to replace either unit in any home I've had. So either that's a sign of AI, or it is just that, even though the technology has greatly improved over the years, perhaps quality hasn't.

Just remember, when you odd noises in the night, it's probably your appliances conspiring with each other. 

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We're Losing Perspective

April 28, 2008: Well, I just finished reading Senator Barack (Barry) Obama's ode, "Dreams from my Father". So what did I learn? Well, the Senator discovered that he wanted to be a black man, he learned that political hustling in Chicago is a given in the black community, that whites are evil, that being black in Southern states was difficult, and that the Senator thinks he's pretty hot stuff.

Hey,I'm not trying to be mean, but that's the perception I got from the book. Of course, the book isn't what you would call a scholarly piece - it was written, as Obama wrote, because his publisher thought a book by the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review - something he mentions more than once - would be a good seller.

The book did make the New York Times Best Seller list, and I would imagine that his target audience bought a few of them, but I wonder how many people were actually able to read this work? It's not the most interesting read around. But the most important thing I didn't learn from "Dreams from my Father" is why Obama should even be considered for the office of the President of the United States of America. Aside from the book,I believe we're losing our perspective about what's really important for Americans now. Listening to commentators and reading magazine articles, you would think that the Environment is the item of prime importance to our peoples. More important than the economy? health and welfare? earning a living? living in a peaceful world? political and economic liberty? Come on...!

Everyone is working so hard to be green (sort of the color you turn when gangrene sets in), that they lose touch with reality. If we're working to make sure planet earth will be in good shape 10,000 years from now, we sure as hell have the wrong perspective on reality. We need more oil - so we should drill for it. Forget carbon footprints, carbon dioxide, and all that good stuff. Of course, if the world would stop producing so many people, the environment wouldn't be a problem. But when land begins to be converted to housing and its required infrastructure, when local governments call for more and more growth, destroying our forests, agricultural areas, waterways, and so forth, of course people are going to yell that the environment is important.

When we decided to produce corn for fuel production, we put ourselves on the road to a food crisis. But after all, if we use corn ethanol, we don't have to drill for oil in Alaska, off the coast of Cape Cod, or any other place NIMBYs live.

Perspective - what does that mean?

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You've Gotta Luv Las Vegas

 April 27, 2008: There are still a lot of people in this world who don't believe - or realize - that Las Vegas (that is, Nevada - not New Mexico) - is a place where people actually live. Now that's not an unexpected misconception, what with everything people see and hear about the city and county (since Las Vegas is in Clark County, as is the Strip, which actually isn't in the city , but only the county, and which is referred to as Las Vegas - oh well..) is from movies, TV shows, and maybe some books - all of which mostly focus on downtown Las Vegas and the Strip.

Some people around the world seem to have the perception that Las Vegas is a country unto itself, and they may not be too far off the truth - that is, as long as we can keep all those new people moving in (Californians, that is) from remaking the Las Valley into what they left.

A dozen years ago my wife and I were on our honeymoon in Italy, and being that we dress indigenously (western clothes), locals in Florence and Milan always shouted greetings of "Hi, Texas", so part of our enjoyment was getting those folks straightened out. Anyhow, in Milan, while strolling down one of their interesting streets, a couple of carbineer came up and shouted "Texas". When I said no, Nevada, I was greeted with a blank stare, but as soon as I said "Las Vegas", a big smile came across their faces, and one of the cops high-fived me, with the shout "Mafia!". Las Vegas sure is a great town.

Of course, here in the Valley we have some very interesting social situations. For instance, we have Las Vegas welfare - where you are bombarded with gifts and cash from your local casinos - one of the strange (to outsiders) benefits of life in this part of the high desert. Of course, all this proves businesses can make a lot of money from giving away money (most of the time you don't get to keep it - it's all in the machines as 'Xtra Play Cash'), and giving away great merchandise (most of the time. Why, if you're a pretty smart gamer (Nevada parlance for gambler), you can get a pretty good collection of useful merchandise - coffee makers, pots and pans, tools, and, of course, the most popular article of clothing for most people moving into the area, T-Shirts. T-Shirts, shorts, and sneakers seem to be what is considered "real fashion" by too many residents. The "good old days" of dress in the town have just about gone away, unfortunately.

We also have what I call "Las Vegas Alzheimer's" - go away for a week or two, and when you come home, you see buildings you don't remember ever seeing before..

Another phenomenon here is the rapid growth of shopping centers, The Valley has around 6000 new residents per month, with about half that number leaving, so with this growth, new shopping locations are required. No longer do you have to drive across the Valley to find the store you need - a good thing these days, since what used to take up to twenty minutes is now about a one hour drive. All you have to do, figuratively, is fall out of bed and you can roll into a new super-dooper shopping center. These are not your old fashioned strip centers, although there are plenty of those in the area, but upscale palm tree designed locations that have a wide variety of fancy and not so fancy retail establishments, with plenty of local bars and food markets supplied with your favorite video poker machines.

Gaming is the life-blood of Southern Nevada, as well as most of the state. I believe we may have lost our last local ranch a short while ago, and it's getting more difficult to find property to keep some horses. Cattle?, forget about it. And like being a bad place to raise children - a lousy school district, not enough for the kids to do, and a growing gang and crime problem, regardless of what law enforcement and local government reports may say, even the horses can have problems, due to the increasing number of cars and air pollution which causes skin problems on those great animals.

Oh, yeah, lest I forget, this is a beautiful area - the mountains surrounding the Valley continually change colors with the rotation of the earth - becoming more colorful as the day goes on. And the light effects provide a Japanese-like painting scene in the late afternoon Unfortunately, developers ignore that beauty by building more shopping centers and blocking much of the view when you're driving to you favorite casino.

Not withstanding the above remarks, I can't think of a better place to live - as long as people don't try to screw it up. Las Vegas is a place where you can be what you want, a tough town for many people, but a great place for those who want to be independent, who have the determination to make it (that's for the younger folk), and who want to be a citizen of Nevada - the state always advertised as the "real West".

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Thoughts from a Classical Liberal

April 23, 2008: I have previously written that I am a classical liberal, meaning that I strongly believe in political and economic liberty. In the practical sense, that means that I believe those liberties which this country's founders fought for against their English rulers - the liberty to be free from political and economic government restraint, with the caveat that such freedom doesn't put us into collision with the Constitution.

The government has certain basic duties, mainly to protect our borders from foreign incursion, to protect individual rights under the constitution, and to adapt those protections to conditions created by technology.

People should be free to have the religions they wish, as long as those religions do not in themselves become power units affecting the political and economic liberty of all individuals. Those liberties do not include infringing upon the political and economic liberties of those who are not interested in behaving  or believing what the various religious organizations would like for all to believe. Companies should have the economic liberty to trade with whom they wish, without restraint, as long as those companies do not harm the basic liberties of our citizenry.

People speak against globalization, but globalization is here to stay. The world has been growing more compact every year, certainly helped to do so by the Internet. Western ideas have now become almost de rigueur as capitalism is now the goal of more and more countries which previously decried that economic concept, because those countries know that regardless of what they would like to believe, without strong trade, both internal and external, the prospects for a strong and secure nation are very weak.

Which brings me to Senator Clinton's Pennsylvania primary victory speech. It was interesting to hear many anti-Clinton pundits talk about how good the speech was. Now I've previously written that I'm not a fan of any of the candidates, and that I believe both Obama and Clinton are Socialists, with Obama being more of a liberal fascist than Clinton. I've also written that there are some points the liberal left make that are worthwhile enacting because they would be good for the country.

Clinton's speech was a very good one - it appeared to be nationalistically inclusive - and she gave the impression that her socialist leanings would not be Bismarkian, but would be more open - that is, not of the kind of socialism that would force everyone to worship statism, but would be open to dissent. If that's what she has in mind, that's fine, after all we are already living in a sort of "gentle fascism" state, except try denouncing environmental concerns, the greening of America, and other "hot key" issues, and you will find yourself looked upon as some kind of anti-American - just as those who denounced the Iraq incursion in its first few years were called traitors by the Bush Administration.

One topic is important, and that is Clinton's idea of medical coverage for all citizens. Notwithstanding the fact that there are a number of problems this could, and probably will, present, health care is an extremely important issue for the United States of America, if it is to regain its political and economic superiority. A society in which everyone knows their health problems will have the opportunity to be repaired will be one which can then concentrate on those other issues which will enhance lives - economic, political, and personal.

Developing a strong nationalistic society is desirable and it does not have to be in the same mode as Hitler's National Socialist Party (Nazi), nor does it have to be Fascism.

As long as individuals know they have political and economic liberty, that they do not have to worry about their health care, the peoples of this nation can unite in making us, once again, the powerful and respected world leader that the United States of America has always been.

The last item I want to mention is education.  Until a better system is devised for basic schooling, it looks as though we are stuck with what we have. The important thing is for children to learn that learning is important, and this has to be a function of their parents. With so many illiterate parents around, it's no wonder than too many of the kids in our schools have no interest   in learning. If the country is to regain its world respect and leadership role, aside   from its citizens' health and economic opportunities, basic education is of primary   importance. The ability to read and understand (comprehension), understanding world history   and especially that of the United States is of utmost necessity; not the revisionist history   as is being taught on many school campuses, but the learning of what actually took place    in the founding of our country, and the reasons behind the wording of the Constitution    and the Bill of Rights, and how England's political history affected that document.

   The educational emphasis should be on the old "3 Rs - reading, writing and arithmetic".    because once those skills are learned, the road to possible economic success is open for travel.    A college education is not necessary for all, but the ability to learn new skills is. We    have to understand that there are many career opportunities available for the young,    and more become available every year. Making education important to elementary, middle school, and high school students    is a priority task for our educators - not just the ability to pass required exams (which too many students    fail).  

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It's Toffler to Huxley

 

April 19, 2008: Apparently a large portion of the Democrat party, along with some Republicans, are anxious for a change in the way the country's governance is conducted. And it's just as apparent that change for chanage's sake will do. 

So it looks like, according to what I think I'm hearing from the candidates - particularly the Democrat Party candidates - "future shock" is meeting "the brave new world". Alvin Toffler's shortest definition of future shock is a personal perception of "too much change in too short a period of time" ( see reference)

Listening to Senator Obama, we get a feeling that should he be elected, the country is willing to unite as one, where everything will be good for all people - sort of like Senator Clinton's "It Takes a Village" concept. So while we will be reeling from the effects of the sudden political change taking place, at the same time we will end up as one happy family (as long as nobody rocks the boat), and be happy in a zombie-like state of joy.

Maybe it's time for voters to read Huxley's and Toffler's books. Hopefully, the reading comprehension ability of those voters is "up to snuff".

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Apparent Decision Time

April 17, 2008: I think I have finally had it with the current presidential campaign - or is it still only the primaries? Aside from the obvious wearing down of the Democrat contenders,   our Republican apparent choice isn't exactly setting the world on fire.

  As I have probably written in previous blogs, there's not much of a choice on the table -   two socialist candidates and one who is some kind of conservative, but I don't   know which kind. Thomas J. DiLorenzo had it right,for this campaign season anyhow, that   a truly patriotic American would not vote (for president).

  For crying' out loud, even Maureen Dowd has noticed that Senator Obama is an elitist candidate,   really out of touch with most of the people in this country. The last time a real intellectual   ran for president - Adlai Stevenson - it was a pleasure to hear his speeches, but   nobody wanted him as the leader of our country (well, some Democrats did vote for him).

I don't think it's a matter of being snobbish, as has been written about Obama, it's just a matter of believing that the person running for the job is really in touch with his constituents - whether he really is or isn't. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who sure as heck wasn't one of the "common folk", had the ability to make everyone   think he was for them.  Roosevelt, like Obama and Clinton, was taken, to some degree, with   Mussolini's fascist socialism, as were many nations' leaders in the 1930s. And who knows how this   country would have turned under the various New Deal programs Roosevelt pushed, if   WWII hadn't intervened. Except for one thing - WWII was a call for all Americans to   unite behind its government in order to defeat the Axis powers. And those who spoke   out against the war were not looked upon kindly. The idea behind the internment   of American citizens of Japanese descent in the name of security was the same as   the Federalist Alien and Sedition of 1798, the Sedition Act of 1918, and the   atmosphere surrounding the Home Security Act; by the way, the two acts were during the   administrations of presidents who were not Republicans. The Bush administration's   practice of creating fear is more reminiscent of those old Federalists - and Wilson and Roosevelt   Democrats, and is all related to what we know is a tactic of a right wing socialist system.

  Anyhow. to make this story short, at this time I do not see how any intelligent, constitution loving   American can insult the country by voting for the current list of candidates. Clinton   may be less of a liberal fascist than Obama, and as I said at the top of the blog, I'm   still not sure what McCain is. So I'll vote for the other issues on the ballot, but   right now, I can't contribute to what I don't believe is in the best interest of   the people and the country.  

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