September 30, 2005

A Rare Victory for Individual Rights

On Saturday the people of Florida will have a very basic right restored to them that had been taken away by the courts of the state. I only hope other states will follow this example and stop taking away rights of individuals.

At issue is the "force with force" law. Previous to this law going into effect, if you were attacked or threatened by a criminal, you were required, by law, to retreat, and you were not allowed to defend yourself. If you defended yourself against a violent attack, you could be arrested for attacking, too.

Fortunately, that all is about to change. The new law will actually allow citizens to use force to defend themselves when they are attacked. It is an excellent law, and should be simple common sense -- but the courts in Florida removed all common sense and made criminals out of victims and victims out of criminals.

The wack-jobs that oppose freedom, as might be expected, are yelling and screaming, and trying to discourage people from traveling to Florida. To show their ignorance, people like Representative Eleanor Sobel (Democrat Loon from Hollywood, FL) said:

We're the wild, wild West and I think criminals will abuse it

For those who remember the "discussions" regarding concealed carry laws a number of years ago, you might recognize the statement. It's the same one that was made when people were actually allowed to carry their own weapons. And that statement was total crap then, as has been proved by the fact that the state isn't engaging in shootouts yet.

In addition, it shows the incredibly warped liberal mindset. Did you catch that part? "Criminals will abuse it." So if you're a criminal, which is someone who breaks the law, then you will use force to defend yourself when attacked, and that's abusing the law. Am I the only person left on the planet that actually knows that a "criminal" is someone who ALREADY breaks the law?

Nice job, Florida.

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Government Knows Best

The North Carolina government, in it's infinite wisdom, has decided that you, the serfs citizens of North Carolina are sort of okay, but not really. You see, the state is monitoring your "quality of life" in EIGHTY-FOUR categories across the state, and they've decided that your qualify of life is just not good enough.

Why? Well, that would be a question for the loony liberal Democrats who have the time and take taxpayer money to do such reports and examinations. My question, rather than "What are the results," is "Why in the heck does government CARE?"

Where in any Constitution (state or federal) did we decide that government is supposed to determine what is good and what is bad? As you might imagine from a government report, the solution is the same that it ALWAYS is: not enough money is being spent by the state.

We have spent over $2,500,000.00 on this group so they can study whether the peons citizens have what this group decides is a certain "quality of life." Can you think of a better way to spend $2.5 million? Oh, but I forgot, the North Carolina budget, with it's $1.5 BILLION in increases and higher taxes this year was "cut to the bone."

Keep electing Democrats, and you will keep getting this utter wastefulness.

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September 29, 2005

Carnivals and Hosts

First, let me point you once again to the weekly Carnival of Liberty. It's a great carnival that really highlights some true ideas of life, liberty, and property. If you only read one carnival a week, that one should be it. Seriously.

Unfortunately this week I once again forgot to submit my own entry. I used to send out all my carnival posts on Friday night or Saturday morning, but these days there's apparently too many things going on during those times for me to remember. I guess I just need to find a new day to send them out so I can play, too!

On a related note, there's other interesting carnival news. First is the now-old Showcase Carnival. This is the carnival that highlights new blogs -- those less than 3 months old. It needs hosts! It's very simple to host and gives you the entertainment of reading, seeing, and linking to the newest blogs. It's also got a really wild new layout -- go take a peek.

Don't you remember when you had a new blog that no one knew about? I bet you remember who your first commenter was, don't you? New blogs need a little help getting going, and the New Blog Showcase Carnival is where it's done. Head on over, check the open dates, and volunteer to host if you're so inclined.

Finally, there's a new carnival that's starting up, the Carnival of True Civil Liberties. The primary purpose of this carnival is to highlight

our civil liberties that are being stripped away via judicial activism.

Head on over and read all about it and see if you've got something to post for it.

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Stop the ACLU Blogburst

The ACLU, who claim to be Americas guardian of liberty is ironically the most active religious censor in America. For nearly two generations it has relentlessly forced countless communities into submission when it comes to public expression of faith, particularly Christianity.

California has been fighting to save their seal, its history and heritage from the clutches of the ACLU's secular cleansing with everything they've got. The people voted to keep the seal, but the ACLU is not interested in democracy. They believe they know what is best for society, and are willing to force it on people through their finely tuned skills of judicial activism.

Now they are at it again- this time in the small village of Tijeras, New Mexico (population 474). Earlier this week, our friend The Mary Hunter at TMH's Bacon Bits told us the story, and asked, where is the ACLU?

Two residents of a New Mexico town are suing to remove three crosses from the official town seal. The suit says "the crosses serve no governmental purpose other than to disenfranchise and discredit non-Christian citizens" and accuses the city of violating the plaintiff's constitutional right to religious freedom, invading their privacy, and violating the civil rights act of 1964. The mayor says he plans to fight the lawsuit since, he says, the crosses have a historical reason for being in the logo. After all, the town in question is Las Cruces, which is Spanish for "The Crosses."

The Alliance Defense Fund will be stepping up to the plate once again to defend religious liberty.

TIJERAS, N.M. - The village council of Tijeras agreed Thursday to be represented by attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund in their battle against a lawsuit threatened by the ACLU. The ACLU claims the village logo violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution because it depicts a small cross.

"We have carefully reviewed the ACLU's allegations and believe the seal is entirely constitutional under the law," said ADF Senior Counsel Gary McCaleb. "The main feature of the city seal is not the cross but the Zia, which is a Native American religious symbol. The symbols of the seal reflect the history and culture of this ancient village. Many of the same design elements, such as the Zia, are found in the state flag. Why isn't the ACLU suing against the state flag?"

The seal, which depicts a conquistador's helmet and sword, the Native American Zia symbol, and a small rosary, was designed in 1973 to accurately reflect the village's history and not to further any religion.

"The ACLU is once more specifically targeting a cross while it ignores Native American religious symbols. It reveals their desire to target all things Christian, regardless of the fact that the cross in the Tijeras seal is clearly an historic symbol and not an attempt to endorse any particular faith," McCaleb said.ADF

This small town is standing up to the ACLU, and that should be commended. With a population of 474 this is no small feat. Its these small communities the ACLU love to prey on. These kind of lawsuits are the ACLU's specialty, and its sad for an organization that claims it is protecting our civil liberties, to be one that practices daily at stripping them away. We applaud this small town for standing up for their liberty. Thank goodness we have the Alliance Defense Fund out there protecting religious liberty from the secular cleansing of the ACLU. Why the ACLU are allowed to continue their destruction of liberty is beyond me, but its high past time for people to do something about it!

Join us in our fight against the ACLU and its secular cleansing of America. We are a grassroots organization trying to gather the troops to fight the ACLU, expose their agenda, awaken America, and save liberty from the clutches of the secular agenda.

This was a production of Stop The ACLUblogburst. Over 100 blogs are already on board. If you want to join us, just register through our portal. We will add you to our mailing list, and send you the info on how to get aboard and fight the ACLU.

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More NC Taxes for you

More government in North Carolina, after raising taxes quite literally billions of dollars this year, still have decided they don't have enough money and they want you to pay even more taxes. The city of Durham decided they wanted to charge another hidden tax -- an impact tax -- and so they did, without legislative approval.

The impact tax is a completely hidden tax in that people do not see it. This is the newest favorite tax of politicians for that very reason. The impact tax would add thousands of dollars to any home purchase -- but since most people see only the mortgage payment, most would not realize they'd just been soaked by the county and city for even more money.

In many cases, both the county and the city are likely to charge the impact fee. This would raise the cost of a house by even more, and again, few would notice. Currently there is a lawsuit that says that the counties and cities do not have the authority to raise these taxes. If the ruling is in favor of the city, prepare for ALL house costs to go up at least $1,000-$2,000 immediately.

Either that, or elect good people to represent you in your county and city. I'll let you know when I find any.

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Counties want more money

Well of course they do -- doesn't everyone? The biggest problem here is that in order for the counties to get more money, they have to TAKE IT from people by force!

At issue here is the ever growing, expanding exponentially, completely unconstitutional program called Medicaid. In North Carolina, the federal government pays 60% of the Medicaid bills, the state pays about 30%, and the county is expected to pay 10%.

The problem is that the county doesn't get to decide WHO gets Medicaid. So in other words, this is a completely unfunded mandate -- the state and the federal government tells the county to spend money on a program, tells them how much to spend, but then doesn't provide the money.

There's a real, real easy solution to this problem for the county -- tell the state and the feds where they can go. Inform them they need to take a long walk off a short pier. What can they do? Is the federal government going to stop giving the county the rest of the money? OoooO!

Is the federal government going to come crashing into North Carolina and arrest the county commissioners for NOT spending money? I'd LOVE to see that one!

The Medicaid program is way out of control. It's very obviously unconstitutional and it is NOT compassionate in any way, shape, or form -- it's theft. Counties, if you want to control your budgets, get out of the Medicaid business -- it's YOUR county, YOU get to decide what to do there, NOT the federal government.

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September 28, 2005

More Hurricane Whining

It is the end of the world! The sky is falling! Repent! Repent! How do I know? I've been told, according to Louisiana Calcasieu Parish Police Jury President Hal McMillin, living conditions are horrible in his area, and he needs more money because "HIS" residents face the unthinkable! They might

be without air conditioning, and risk insect bites

Oh, the horror! How can we permit people to live this way? Quickly, mobilize the national guard and arrest anyone who attempts to survive at any exterior temperature other than exactly 70 degrees Fahrenheit! If someone dares to turn their own, working air conditioner off, they must be arrested immediately and placed in a detention center where the air is exactly monitored.

And the mosquitoes! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

The only possible solution is for the federal government to nationalize SC Johnson's Off! Insect Repellent. We must devote our scarce national resources to not permitting any person in Louisiana from being bitten by a mosquito. If even one child is bitten, President George Bush has failed as president and should be impeached if he does not resign.

Of course, we have to be very careful to not actually kill any of the mosquitoes, as they have just as much a right to live as humans, so we can only repel them from attacking people.

P.S. Hey Hal, I'll provide you with the same tip as Sheriff John from an earlier post: Shut your pie hole, get out from in front of the cameras, and try working for something instead of whining about what others haven't GIVEN you.

Posted by: Ogre at 02:02 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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Government Insurance

Wow. 33 different Christian Views Symposiums already? I'm impressed. I'm also embarrassed to note that I've only provided the correct answers to 14 of them. Well, I'm trying to be consistent and answer them each Wednesday.

The questions are provided each week by Lennie of Cross Blogging. Each week he provides a question and seeks answers from all people -- Christians and others. To join in, you just have to post your answer to the question on your blog, or even in his comments. This week is in response to a quote from John Stossell. You can read his entire quote over at Lennie's.

1. Should the government provide cheap insurance to anyone? Why or why not?
2. If you do not carry insurance on your property should the government pay for you to rebuild?
3. Should the government pay for local projects like rebuilding the levees in New Orleans?
4. What role if any should the military have in natural disasters?
more...

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Cavemen Had Cars

Apparently someone has been educated by the government school system in Texas -- and the was elected to a government position, likely based in part on his excellent education. Sheriff John:

We have been living like cavemen, sleeping in cars, doing bodily functions outside

Uh...okay. I wonder what kind of cars cavemen had? According to the Cartoon Network, the dinosaurs and cavemen lived about the same time, so the dinosaurs hadn't died yet to give us oil, nor did Evil Haliburton (TM) exist to refine the oil to gas (only to make profits), so there couldn't have been any gasoline.

Does that mean that cavemen had electric cars? Or does it mean that people in Texas have cars that don't run on gasoline? Oh wait, now I see what's going on in Texas:

fred_barney_car.jpg

Man, those people have it pretty good. Dinosaurs to wash the dishes, they get to walk around in bare feet all the time, good union jobs at the rock quarry -- I think we need more hurricanes to hit places so things will get even better!

P.S. Hey Sheriff John: Shut your pie hole, get out from in front of the cameras, and try working for something instead of whining about what others haven't GIVEN you.

Posted by: Ogre at 08:04 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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More Corporate Welfare

To those who support welfare, I'm sure you will be glad to know that Dell, Inc. is getting some of your welfare money -- I'm sure, just because Dell is impoverished, black, or "trapped in poverty." I'm sure they wouldn't survive without the $318+ million dollars of taxpayer money they are receiving.

This example CAN be compared the the welfare that is giving to individuals -- in order to have welfare at all, no matter the recipient, you have to accept that government has the right to take money from one person or individual and give to another.

If you accept that position, then you give government the ability to determine who it is, exactly, that gets to have that money. Government is now in the business of determining how much money every person has in this country. If government likes you, you get cash -- taken from someone else. If government doesn't like you, you get money taken away from you.

This is wrong. This is anti-freedom. This should not happen in a free country. However, in North Carolina, this is what Democrats believe -- only they can determine how much money each person and business should have in the state -- and if you're not a Democrat, they don't like you.

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September 27, 2005

Another Politics Quiz

You never know how these quizzes are set up, and certainly some of the questions begged explanations, but why not? My results:

You are a

Social Conservative
(33% permissive)

and an...

Economic Conservative
(85% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Strong Republican



Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid

(Hat tip to Flight Pundit).

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Hurricane Responses

This week's Homespun Blogger Symposium asks,

What did you see different in the preparation and aftermath of this storm compared to the one that devastated the Gulf Coast regions of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama?

Was the response better? Worse? What would you change?

The Homespun Bloggers are a group of non-professional bloggers that congregate and formed a group of very loose affiliation. Each week a question is presented to the group members for answering if you wish. Join them, if you like, or just answer the question yourself on your own blog -- it's fun! more...

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ID in Schools

A self-proclaimed "expert" from Duke University, with all the usual "holier than thou" attitudes and ivory tower proclamations has declared, with an expected immediate deference to his much-more-knowledgeable-than-you ruling, that mentioning that evolution might not actually be 100% correct is unconstitutional.

This is just another liberal who has decided that he knows better than you and should be obeyed at all times. He claims that mentioning anything other than his one, true religion, materialism, in government-run schools is a violation of his right to free speech because his religion (naturalism) is correct and all other religions should not be allowed in any government institution.

In a related, but underreported lawsuit, an unnamed individual has sued the state of North Carolina, demanding that the laws against murder be repealed because they are very clearly an unconstitutional infringement on religion and an establishment of religion.

"The Bible clearly states that 'Thou shall not murder,'" says the lawsuit, filed today in Loon County, "so the state simply cannot have that law. It is an obvious attempt by Christians to enforce their own moral and religious rules on the rest of society."

The lawsuit continues, "In addition, this prohibition on to what many deem to be a sacred religious right, murdering infidels, clearly prohibits law abiding citizens from exercising their own religion. If one person's religion deems that murder is required by their god, who is the state to tell them their religion is wrong?"

The Supreme Court is expected to rule on both lawsuits simultaneously, as the ruling in one lawsuit will most certainly be expected to be applied to both.

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Government Begets Government

The complete failure of a system known as the "Charlotte Area Transit System" continues to expand despite spending billions of taxpayer dollars. Last night the CATS system asked the city council for 50,000 square feet of "office space" in a prime area of the city, on some of the most expensive land in the state.

"Public Transportation" is out of date. It was a nice idea 20 or 30 years ago. It's nonfunctional and incredibly wasteful. Government has no business even providing any public transportation. However, they continue to expand without any end -- for no reason other than so they can spend more taxpayer money.

I want to run a bus service as a business. However, I'm not allowed to because government has a monopoly on bus service, and they have artificially lowered prices because they collude with one another to ensure the price stays lower than can be profitable -- and picking up the costs by slapping the taxpayers with the costs.

So yes, if you work and are productive in Charlotte, NC, you are paying for bus fare every single day, whether you use the buses or not. It's wrong. Are there any lawyers out there who will take my lawsuit against the city for monopolistic practices and unfair competition?

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NC Lottery Good 'Ol Boys

Governor Easley & his Democrat buddies in the Legislature have appointed members to the newly created "lottery board" to bring monopolized state-sponsored gambling to North Carolina so that more people will be kept down and in poverty while pinning their hopes on life on 1:100,000,000 odds. Not surprisingly, all the members of the board are high-ranking Democrats.

Linda Carlisle was a Democrat trustee at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The leader of the new group is Charles Sanders, who ran for the Democrat nomination for US Senate from North Carolina 10 years ago.

Bryan Beatty is the current North Carolina Secretary for the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety, another strong Democrat. Kevin Geddings was a Democrat aid to a governor. Malachi Greene was a strong, strong Democrat on the Charlotte City Council.

If you want to get involved with anything related to the state in this state, you must be a Democrat. Republicans are very obviously not welcome -- despite the vast number of citizens who are are registered Republican and want their points of view heard as well.

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September 26, 2005

Carnival, carnival!

New carnivals posted for your reading pleasure:

I always love to read The Tarheel Tavern. This carnival is posts about and from people in North Carolina. It's posts and information from all across the spectrum -- sometimes there's political stuff, there's almost always some poetry, and sometimes really good personal thoughts.

This week the tavern is hosted by Pratie Place. Head on over there and see all the different things and ideas that come out of North Carolina (in spite of it's oppressive political atmosphere).

The New Blog Carnival Showcase is up at Striving for Average. This is a weekly traveling carnival that highlights the newest blogs that appear on the internet. If you've got a blog that's 3 months old or less, feel free to join in!

The details are on the brand-spanking new Showcase Carnival Page. Go take a look -- really. Feel free to leave a comment on the new site design -- it's rather... bright...

Posted by: Ogre at 07:04 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Naturalistic Faith

If you believe in naturalism and evolution as presented by today's scientists, there are a number of things in which you must have faith. I don't have enough faith in random chance to believe that our entire existence is a cosmic accident.

In this posting, which will be rather long, I'll point out a few of the absolute requirements for just matter to exist -- not even mentioning how much more complex the requirements are for life. Then I'll illustrate the mathematical probabilities that these few conditions can exist via random chance. I'm not presupposing any conclusion -- just read and view the facts of physics and draw your own conclusion. more...

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Guard Our Borders

Here we are again. It's time for the Guard the Borders Blogburst, so let's get started.

This Mexico travel site is complaining about Arnold's trip to Mexico. The amusing part about this article is this quote, in reference to Arnold being "anti-immigrant":

“He doesn’t want Mexicans to go,” to California, said Victor Faz, a 16-year-old street taco vendor in Mexicali. “And they are the ones that help the state get ahead.”

Thank God for 16-year-olds, right? I mean, without them, how would we ever know what's really going on?

For the record, Arnold isn't "anti-immigrant". Neither are most of us complaining about the immigration problem. I am, however, anti-illegals who come here without following the proper laws to get here and then have the balls to think my tax dollars will support their livelihood. To be quite honest, I'm anti-anyone who comes here illegally, period. I don't care if you're working 14 hours a day in a warehouse to send money home, sitting on your butt in an apartment using your welfare check to snort crank, or standing on the street corner offering boom-boom to whoever happens along.

Which brings me to my next point. Green card marriages. Mad Canuck has something about this:

Business marriages and other forms of immigration fraud really rankle me. As a foreigner myself living here in the United States, I have a lot of legal hassle I have to deal with, and I do not appreciate the concept of people getting a free ride, speeding past law-abiding people like myself by doing something illegal. And, as a married man, I also have a real problem with someone making a mockery out of the institution of marriage by entering into it fraudulently.

Well spoken. The immigration problem needs to be stopped, and it needs to be stopped now. Bush needs to stop appointing idiots to posts of authority within the immigration law enforcement agencies. With the recent natural disasters that have hit the U.S., it's imperative that we pay even closer attention to our borders. Otherwise, we're going to wake up one day to find that more than a hurricane has demolished our cities.
----------
This has been a production of the Guard the Borders Blogburst, held every Monday at Euphoric Reality and other blogs. Our mission is to keep immigration issues at the forefront. If you'd like to be a part of it, send your blog URL and name to kit.jarrell@ gmail dot com.

Blogs on Board:

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Terrorists Terrorize

Terrorists terrorize. That's what they do. They only stop when they are killed. Israel, who ought to know this, is finding it out yet again.

You may remember when earlier this year Israel forcibly removed it's own citizens from Israeli land so that they could give the land to terrorists (Palestinians). Supposedly the terrorists (Palestinians) would stop terrorizing and killing the people of Israel if they gave them some land for their own.

Well, Israel gave them the land, and the terrorists continued to attack and kill Israelis. Why? Because they're terrorists! They seem to be incapable of doing anything else. They certainly will not be appeased until all Israelis are dead -- at least they're not stopping trying to kill the people of Israel.

Fortunately, Israel is doing what needs to be done (this time) -- they're fighting back. Hamas and the Palestinians have launched new attacks on Israel, so now Israel is fighting back. I only hope it's not too late. Israel should just take back the Gaza strip and raze it -- to create a buffer between civilization and terrorism.

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