Nuclear Winter?

Tensions are rising between India and Pakistan. Russia is sending envoys to Cuba and Venezuela. Iran has been reported to have enough enriched uranium for one nuclear weapon. China is still engaged in sovereignty struggles with Taiwan and Tibet. I don't know if you guys have heard of this little country called Israel, but they aren't doing too well internationally either.

Now North Korea is saying that they are going to turn their nuclear reactor back on. Experts agree that the main purpose for this maneuver is to try and show the United States that they won't be pushed around by any one country. Pyongyang wants to maintain the six country talks but not submit to unilateral pressure. That makes complete sense. We, most of all, should understand this. While we won't bend to the desires of Russia or Iran, we will listen to NATO or the UN. Nobody wants to be bullied.

It makes sense for us to be worried about any other nation to gain nuclear armaments. It also makes sense for other nations to be wary of our current ownership of such. What right do we have to be the sole owner of these weapons? Who gave us permission? Did we ask? Do we have to? The answers are none, nobody, no, and no. The answers for any current non-nuclear nation is sovereignty, nobody, no, and no. If a sovereign nation wants to make nuclear weapons than they can, because they are sovereign. Look up the word and realize that that means the United States cannot dictate terms to anyone else.

Notice also that North Korea is perfectly willing to do without American aid and doesn't mind being on the blacklist of terror-supporting nations. They don't need our help and don't recognize our list as anything with power. Good for them. Maybe if more countries acted this way we would stop being imperialist. I have a feeling that this won't be the last we hear about nuclear weapons because of the first pararaph of this blog. Get settled in for a long nuclear winter.

Aw, Cheese and Rice

Libertyhound has been making fun of my accent lately, and rather than saying Jesus Christ, some people say Cheese and Rice since it sounds similar. You kind of had to be there, but I laughed.

Anyway... back to the news. Apparently it is in the Kentucky Department of Homeland Security charter that they have to officially thank God for his help in maintaining the security of the Commonwealth. I have a few questions. Whose God? Even after you pick a religion, there are several different interpretations of the deity in each. So after whose god, which of their gods? Let's just go with the Christian Southern Baptist Male Father God. If the government thanks Him for His divine intervention, does that mean that the government is both supporting the belief in and invoking the name of one deity of another? I'll make it easy, yes. That breaks with the founding fathers' desire to prevent state-sponsored religion.

This country wasn't started by a bunch of Christians who wanted to get away. That's what started the colonies, sure, but they were British Christians. When we became Americans we wanted to prevent another Anglican Church and therefore allowed citizens to practice if and how they wanted and also kept it out of the government. Money says, "In God We Trust" because many of the founding fathers were deists who believed in the existence of a supreme power, but didn't label it or persecute others.

Sorry, I got off on a tangent. It comes from my actual study of American history. It is not for the government to pray for the protection of any deity. Members of the government are free to do as they please and religious organizations are formed for that very purpose. God and government do not go together like peanut butter and chocolate. God, I mean any non-specific deity, is good and government, I mean any non-specific ruling body, is not. Worshipers of gods may not be good and members of governments may be good, but that is a reflection of the duality in humanity not the nature of the groups they are in. Basically, keep your god out of my government and I'll keep my government out of your god. That's how Thomas Jefferson and a few others wanted it anyway.

Russo Sino Presto Chango

This guy in Taiwan is upset because the US is inconsistent of its treatment of Georgia with regards to Russia and its treatment of Taiwan with regards to China. I think I'm going to have to outline my personal feelings on our foreign policy if I haven't already: we shouldn't have one. I don't really want to go into it because it's pretty simple. Question 1: does the proposed policy deal with our nation or a different nation? If yes, perfect it and implement it. If no, burn the paper and fire the author.

The farthest we should go when it comes to international policy is maintaining membership in the UN to make sure that our domestic policies are protected. The Monroe Doctrine, Roosevelt Corollary, Truman Doctrine, Bush Doctrine, and our membership in NATO should be discontinued. Libertyhound does not agree with UN membership, but I think that we should support a global government (hence the moniker Leviathan, it was a book). I realize that sometimes this country doesn't treat other countries fairly or properly and there should be someone to, at the very least, slap our wrist to let us know we did wrong. Please refer to the last blog I wrote about how the World Court should shine an eye on us also.

We should treat Russia, China, Georgia, Taiwan, and any other country the same: leave them alone. If Teddy Roosevelt did one thing right, it was Big Stick Diplomacy. We should let everyone know that we are powerful enough not to be messed with, but not actually hit anybody with our stick. Sticks break, wars last longer than they are supposed to, and WMDs disappear.

The Politics of Justice?

Shouldn't our politics take into consideration everyone else as well? Sorry, I like puns. The article comes out of Egypt's equivalent to TIME magazine. It discusses why some criminals on the international stage are dealt with more severely than others.

The International Criminal Court shouldn't be concerned with the politics of nations. However, realizing that no system can ever be implemented perfectly, I'm not going to go into that argument. I also recognize that the ICC is a part of the World Court, which is a subsection of the UN, and therefore any of its actions can greatly impact the dealings of any of the member nations of the UN. The World Court has to be even more careful not to come to a quick judgment than the US Supreme Court. I think that the ICC needs to follow some advice I got when I was running for office: Either be completely clean or completely dirty.

What I mean by that is that the court can go one of two ways. If the court wants to make sure that no decision it makes ever disturbs any nation's political institutions ever, then that's fine, it can make nominal convictions and nobody will ever really care about the international court. If the court wants to make convictions of real meaning so that even governments know hat nobody is above the rule of law and that justice is universal, then they will have to start muddying the water a little bit.

The author of this article mentions George W. Bush a little bit. The court is well within its charter to investigate whether or not the United States government acted legally and if not prosecute it. They should also look into whether or not Putin and the Russian government and Saakashvili and the Georgian government acted legally last August. How about the civil wing of the World Court look into international corporation tactics and see if they are acting legally also. Just some ideas. But this line of action would piss off a lot of people and upset a lot of current political and business practices.

I guess the title should have been politics or justice...

Get 'em While You Can

With the Obama presidency only 64 days away its time to stock up on all the guns you can. Gun sales are at an all time high in this country in preparation for the coming growth of government control over gun rights. President-elect Barry has stated many times his feelings on gun rights. He supported gun bans in Chicago, Detroit, and DC which still have the highest murder rates in the country. According to the NRA, "Since D.C. imposed its 1976 laws, it has earned the unfortunate distinction, “murder capital of the United States.” D.C.’s murder rate had been declining before 1976, but it increased thereafter. Between 1976-1991, it rose 200%, while the U.S. murder rate rose only 9%. (FBI, D.C. Police)" The DC gun ban was ruled unconstitutional on March 9th, 2007, so it had to be changed. The current law is still a de facto ban which makes it nearly impossible to own a gun. There is plenty of info out there about this new ban so i wont post any particular link. Some of the problems are that the "Gun Free Zones" take up a large portion of the city. The law was specifically worded to make carry nearly impossible but if you can get a license, you can own a gun in your home. In a city where even the postal workers are armed, I would want to carry mine. Also any bottom loaded gun (which is most modern handguns) are considered machine guns and may not be owned.

Here is a thought. ANY GUN BAN IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL. I believe in militias, armed citizens, and guns for everybody. Most of these laws are no longer even argued as being for crime reduction because there is a complete lack of evidence. Violent crime goes up when gun laws go into place. Obama and his socialist friend Nancy Pelosi will quickly push for gun restrictions that ban certain types of guns. Most of the differences in "assault rifles" and hunting rifles are cosmetic. These bans do nothing but raise gun prices, which leads to more crime, and it makes it harder for honest citizens to protect themselves. Everyone go out and buy an AK-47, blast out a few rounds at the range, then shoot any hunting rifle off the Wal-Mart shelf and tell me there is a huge difference. We all must start the work now of protecting our rights. Freedom is a constant battle against those who would take it away. unfortunately that is the federal government in this country. If you want to read a bit more about gun rights read this.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul211.html

Coup Ne Pas

The United States has one government and only one president at a time.

With that President-elect Obama let the press know that even though he was elected on a basically anti-Bush platform, he respects the administration and does not intend to try to do anything presidential until he is actually president.

The speech was decent, but I thought the question and answer segment was the most interesting part of the article.

I am gunna get married and become a Christian

I saw the recent post about the pastor telling the women to have more sex and it reminded me of this wonderful gem of religion on the internet. I think the Leviathan needs to hook up with one of these girls. If he can stay of church long enough to get it on.

http://christiannymphos.org

Wood Not Linked to Fire

Oxygen and Heat also among the list of possible suspects, though local authorities are not going to say who is at the top of the list. This coming just days after Gas was fined for contempt of court for its inflammatory attitude.

This blog is a joke, but the title is the actual title of the news article out of Australia; it's linked, read it and see.

A Good Example

Here's an example of how the free market works. The Nintendo DS is not a new system. It's not even really the best handheld out there. Now the DS is coming out with new games that are focusing on trying to help people improve themselves. The game specifically mentioned in the article is My Stop Smoking Coach. A game that helps people quit smoking. Did the government tell Nintendo to do this? No. Was there a voter referendum saying that games are too pro-smoking and that a non-smoking alternative needs to be marketed? No. A private business realized that it had the potential to both help people and make money. Welcome to the invisible hand, ladies and gentleman.

Sex for Jesus

More sex is one of the best things you can do for your kids. That's what the minister of this megachurch is going to say on Sunday. I can't say I agree with his logic, but whatever. I don't know if I'm comfortable with ministers telling their congregations to get busy, but whatever. Makes me almost want to get married and move to Dallas...

Slipping into Socialism

First off, lets get one thing out there. The American people have developed this attitude that when a problem arises it is the job of the federal government to fix it immediatly. This philosophy of the cult of the omnipotent state has permeated the electorate of this nation like a plague. There was a time when this nation's policy was based on simple foundations like liberty. Now, we have moved into a method of reaction. The faith in liberty which once kept us calm in times of crisis now had been replaced by an panic and outcry to the government to fix everything for us. We beg Uncle Sam to save us from ourselves by making drugs illegal, stoppping us from smoking, and forcing us to wear our seatbelts. It is this kind of regulation in business, economy, and our personal lives that has created many of this nation's problems that we are now crying out to the government to fix for us. It seems odd to me that if a person takes their car to a mechanic over and over and the car keeps getting worse they take it to another garage, but when the government keeps dropping the ball we go right back to have them fix the problems they casued. The recent economic crisis caused by the FEDs dramatic slashing of interest rates, the debasing of the dollar, and the government proping up Freddie and Fannie for years has been "solved" by the creation of TARP. The Troubles Assets Relief Program gives Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson far more power then he was ever intended to have. Congress appropriated 700 billion dollars for this program to bail out troubled lending institutions. This program was created under the guise that the money would be used to buy up defalted mortgages. Now, Paulson says this money will be used to buy massive amounts of stock in failing companies to flood them with money. This, in effect, will make the federal government part owner of all the countries major lending institutions. There are problems with this.

As you will all learn of me, I believe in principles. There is a word for the Government owning business. That word is Socialism. Is our political memory so short that we do not remember the years our young men died fighting socialism and communism? Now we beg the government to take ove the education of our children, our medical care, our economy, and our lending institutions. Now, Dems are begging for money to bail out the auto industry! Does no one care that this is YOUR MONEY? Does no one care that a once free nation is plummeting into socialism. This nation was once the most prosperous on the planet. We became the premier superpower on this planet under the protective umbrella of liberty and a free market. Now, our freedoms are dissolved to nothing and the market is anything but free. If a business takes part in bad business practices they should fail and make way for those who have dedicated their lives and money to good business practices. When we bail out the businesses that are in trouble because of bad business practice we perpetuate these bad business practices. The government is here to protect the people. Not to give out guarentees. Freedom gives you a chance, not a guarentee. Okay, so we raised FDIC by more than double. Great! Inflation had made the $100,000 protection chump change. We cannot sit out a abide by the federal governmetn giving out billions of dillars of OUR MONEY.  We cannot abide by this nation, that was once free and prosperous, slipping into the failed system of socialism. We must begin to not only ask the question what should the government do, but we must ask should the government do anything? Markets peak and valley. It is just the way it is. When the federal government tries to control a force of nature, like an economy, the peaks and valleys only get bigger. Sorry AIG, you made your bed, and its bed time for you.   

Oceans of Eleven

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month 90 years ago, leaders of the world joined together in Paris to sign peace agreements ending the "war to end all wars." Wilson rode victoriously into Paris even though we really didn't show up until the end of the war and his attempt to have big government reign over the whole world has led to this country's current predicament. If you wish to hear people whine about US imperialism, ask Libertyhound or a million other bloggers. Back to what I was talking about. Regardless of politics or ideology, veterans are this country's second greatest resource after children. if we could get veterans to teach children lessons of service, duty, and pride who knows what could happen? I digress. If you know any veterans, please try to let them know how much you appreciate their sacrifice. My grandfather served in WWII, many of my friends have served in Iraq, and a lot of my new political contemporaries (old people) have served in Korea and Vietnam. I am pleased by how big of a turnout we had this election cycle. Many have died and struggled so that we can have the right to take power through election, and we at least owe them to use it. Please remember the 11th of November and all of our veterans.

New Writer

I hope you all enjoy the newest member of my writing team. I am changing the format of my blog slightly with this move. It is going to be, basically, a political blog. Libertyhound, who will have to reveal his own name if he wants it known, is a very good friend of mine who is strongly Libertarian and feels strongly about his views. While I don't agree with him on everything, I think his views are valid and should be heard. In Time I will try to find other writers who have other points of view so that you all can hear as many different viewpoints as possible.

I will continue to write mainly about news articles that I read, and if any of you want to get a copy of my subscription list, just ask for it. I will also continue to share articles that I think are worth reading but not really needing of comment. I'm hoping that this change won't alienate my current readers, but rather increase the reader base and improve the political conversation in our country.

7 Steps To a Better America

Over the last 232 years this nation has taken a tremendous turn. We were once a nation of ideals and personal responsibility. Freedom was the word on the lips of every citizen and liberty was the ultimate value. Now, with every passing day, we turn away from those ideals and values. We are a nation who exists only to fear, obey, and consume. The catalyst for our war for independence was essentially a 3% tax on paper goods. Now, we never even see nearly 33% of the money we earn. On top of this everything from gas to death is taxed. With our citizens being choked to death by taxes, we are still nearly 11 TRILLION dollars in debt. Our extravagant spending habits must be curtailed. We MUST get this nation back on track before we are completely owned by the Chinese. We are basically slaves for 4 months of the year to pay the bill to oppress Arabs, limit freedoms here in the US, and give your money to those who are in their 4th generation of people who have never worked.
In order to get our nation back on track there are sacrifices that must be made. ONE OF THEM IS NOT FREEDOM. If we make these changes we will see more prosperity and security than can ever be desired. WE MUST:

1. End the income tax. We must end slavery in America and choke out the spending power of the federal government.

2. Bring home our troops. Not only from Iraq, Iran and Syria but from all the 130 nations where they are currently exploited.

3. End the war on drugs. WHY THE HELL ARE THERE PEOPLE IN JAIL FOR SMOKING POT?!?! In order to be free people we must own our own bodies. I have to have the ability to abuse and poison my body to be free. Government intervention in this issue does nothing but take away your freedom and exacerbate the drug problem.

4. End social welfare. Jesus died for preaching that we should love and help each other, especially the poor. Now, we have given that responsibility away to the government and they are doing a terrible job. Welfare programs do nothing but breed crime and ignorance. If kids are working they aren't joining gangs.

5. We must never again interfere in other nations' issues. When we give large amounts of military and economic aid to other nations we hurt them far more help them. We destroy their economies and enter into entangling alliances that have never worked for us in the past.

6. We must end fiat money. We need commodity based currency so that we aren't destroyed by inflation. Currently the dollar trades internationally at record lows. This raises the price of all imported goods. Currently gas prices are so high because we have oil barons running the country and it takes far more dollars to pay the same cost internationally. If the value of the dollar is high it takes less dollars to buy oil from foreign countries and the price domestically drops.

7. Stop Public Education. When schools have to compete, educational values go up. Since the federal government put its filthy hands in the education of our children, The quality of education in this country has dropped significantly. Those who make it to college these days will see that people are functionally illiterate at best. Public education is no longer about educating the children and has become about teaching a test and portfolio so that schools can get a bigger budget and more sports arenas.

WE THE PEOPLE must stand united to fight the eternal fight for freedom. Prosperity will follow as a natural effect of liberty. Look at history. When we traded freely with all nations and kept our military here for defense our nation became a superpower. Now that the government has its hand in every aspect of society, we cannot even pay our bills and we have great enemies that threaten us at every turn. It would be great if government could make everything perfect, but we all know this isn't the case. We must take care of our own to keep Uncle Sam out of our lives and pockets.

Somebody Call Christopher Walken

Because I really need to hear him say, "Wow!" American Express wants to become a bank. I guess next week when Bush has to ask for the last $350 billion of the TARP funding American Express is going to ask for their cut. Wow! Someone over at American Express was actually thinking.

Irony Anyone?

The linked blog is titled 'Could AIG Kill GM?' How ironic would that be? An auto insurance companytaking all of the money necessary for the survival of an auto maker. I think if more cars were made the price would drop and then more people could afford cars and then the new car owners would have to buy car insurance. But for that effect to happen AIG would have to be contented to wait for up to a cuple of years for that kind of cause and effect to come through. In the world of quarter to quarter profits has anyone thought about what is best for their customers, or even the long-term survival of their company?

Racial Junction

Conjunction: a word that connects a racist attack and Barack Obama.

I think the guy has a good point but I don't really like how he says it. I do like that one line though. Classic.

Three Months?

Three months? Dude rapes his 14-year-old step-daughter and he only gets three months? Then his lawyer says the ruling is too harsh? You have got to be kidding me. I normally don't look at this news, but come on... seriously. Three years might not be enough. If I would have had consensual sex with that girl I would have gotten more than three months. I was only 20 at the time.

Slow Your Roll

The writer of this opinion needs to slow his roll. He's telling Obama to increase the size of the government and get really progressive. There's a difference between progressive and big government. This other article makes an argument that conservative isn't just the Religious Right. Same principle, other side. There are ways to make the society more progressive and socially liberal minded without increasing taxes or spending or regulation. Now that we are starting to see the major differences in party membership it is especially important for people of our generation to buck off the two-party trend of our ancestry and start fresh. There should be at least five major national parties (I'll even keep some of the common names): Democrats- big government, socially liberal; Republicans- big government, socially conservative; Libertarians- small government, socially liberal; Conservatives- small government, socially conservative; and Centrists- do I need to explain? There are a lot of people who don't really care about politics that would do well to vote for Centrist Party members. Heck, they might even have a majority in Congress. It might help avoid the dramatic swing of the two parties.

By having those five basic parties people can become more closely aligned to other members of their party. Right now I am a registered Democrat and I am grouped in with a lot of big governmment nuts. (You're not really nuts) I would convert to the Libertarian Party but third party members don't get elected right now. I think the United States and Britain are the only democracies in the world with two parties. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Knock It Out

This video is only really appropriate for 18-25 year old males. Anyone else can watch it, but don't say I didn't warn you...

An Answer to the Call

Nancy Gibbs wrote this article.

Fareed Zakaria wrote this one.

Please read them both, they don't really need a comment from me. In the new light of my recent election loss, I would like to say that I intend to do as Obama has asked me and everyone else to do. I am going to continue to try to make change and help others and make a better place for those that are coming after me. Just because I am not one of the people in official power doesn't meant that I am not a person in actual power. I have gotten the attention of the Pikeville establishment and I have 664 people who think that I know what I'm talking about. It all starts in the cities and moves up to the nation and I will do my part to help. Will you?

An Exception

I don't normally like to comment on other people's opinions, but I had to this time. Please read the article, it's really short.

There.

How dumb is this lady? Hillary Clinton is more qualified than any Bush Secretary except Condaleeza Rice and is more than capable of taking any cabinet post except Secretary of Defense (in my opinion).

Secretary of Health and Human Services... does anyone remember that whole healthcare plan that everyone loved Hillary for.

Secretary of State... she does know a lot of foreign heads of state and she was hanging around her husband an awful lot on those overseas trips.

Secretary of Education... who doesn't like helping kids learn how to read good. Even if the building is barely big enough for ants. Thanks, Derek.

Those are the three I think she'd be really good at, but she certainly has the intelligence and ability to be able to give Barack good advice in any of the others. A cabinet post is always better than a cupboard stub.

Election Blues

Hey everyone. I'm glad that Barack Obama won and sad that Bruce Lunsford lost. In other news... the terrorists haven't invaded yet. I lost. Big. I had 664 votes and the other 4 had a mean of 1500 each. It really didn't help that I was fifth on the ballot of a pick 4 vote. Meh. I had a lot of fun doing this. I can't believe I actually go that many votes. Nor can anyone else. Thanks to all my supporters and congratulations to the victors. See you again in two years :P I guess I'll have time to blog again.