Yes, They Can

Please forgive the redundancy, but this is more of an add-on to my previous post, "An Incoherent Truth".

I got to thinking more about Uncle Sam controlling my health care and how this will indirectly give the government power over my entire life. Many of the interventionist fools I talk about this with just laugh at me, calling me paranoid. I reel off potential infringements of our liberties that may come to pass because of this scam, and I get laughed at again, with them saying things like "They can't do that!"

Well, I've got news for you: Yes, they can. Here is a real-life example I experienced a couple of months ago:

One Sunday afternoon, the Mrs. and I lugged our masses of bulk trash out to the curb, which, while close to the street, is still our property. A week goes by and the bulk trash still hasn't been picked up by the city. No biggie, I have no complaints about this...my stuff on my property. Then we get a notice from the city telling us we have 48 hours to clear the bulk trash from the curb...again, our property. Seems we missed the memo that accompanies the rest of the unnecessary junk in our City of Fort Worth water bill stating that bulk trash week has moved. Fine, my bad, but I tend to ignore the non-bill nonsense that typically accompanies my, again...and remember this...water bill.

Now, consider this: the next new bulk trash pickup day was only about a week and a half away, yet I was going to get fined if I didn't clear the bulk trash off the curb (to the garage, wherever) in 48 hrs, then have to drag it back out a mere week and half later. We call the city to point out how ridiculous this situation was. Sorry, move it or get fined. My first reaction was "Well, screw you, I just won't pay this silly-ass fine."

This is where the real-life example of government control over ones life comes in: Trash pick-up is billed via the City of Fort Worth Water Department. Had I left my trash out and gotten a fine, the fine would be tacked on to my water bill. If I chose only to pay the water portion of the bill, no matter, the city could still SHUT OFF MY WATER because I objected to paying an unnecessary punitive fine for leaving bulk trash on the curb of my property. I can, however inconvenient, live without the trash pickup...I have a truck and can haul it down to the dump if I so choose. Last time I checked, I can't live without water, nor do I have a reasonable alternative to the municipal monopoly on the water supply. Sure, I can still haul my own trash down to the dump if I want, but guess what? The city still gets to bill me for trash pickup because the local-government controlled water system is, naturally, tied to the local-government controlled waste management system. I no longer have the freedom to make a reasonable decision regarding bulk-trash on my curb. Liberty, albeit a miniscule piece, has been lost here.

And you interventionists want the government holding the keys to your healthcare? Can you not see the logical progression of this unmistakeably Orwellian disaster you are supporting, as demonstrated in the example above? Do you really want the government micro-managing your life in the name of cost-cutting(see my previous post)?

"Oh, they can't do that."

Yes, they can.

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An Incoherent Truth

I'm in one of "those" moods. It's my Incoherent Rant Mood, i.e. so many things in the world of politics are ticking me off I just don't know where to start ranting, so you might want to move along, there's nothing to see here but directionless rambling about things wayyy out of my control.

I think the latest "last straw" came yesterday while reading one of my favorite baseball blogs. Said blog is a brilliant mix of baseball, wit, politics, and more wit. Now, I don't know why I was so surprised to get bothered over one of the posts, I know the author is a "progressive" Democrat Obama-worshipper and that he works in D.C., so naturally he is going to spew Obamessiah "New New Deal" propoganda and regurge all of the "FDR Policies got us out of the depression" lies we were all brainwashed to believe in high school/college. But it did bother me. Subsequent comments on said blog just gave virtual nods to the interventionist bullshit, which just ticked me off further. The Cold War and all the trillions spent fighting government-enforced collectivism was for nought. Our nation has become infested with Big Government, feel-good collectivists. How the hell did this happen?

Later, at lunch, I go to the cafeteria, only to hear a cafeteria worker telling another how she got the government to pay for her analog-to-digital converter for her TV set. The sense of entitlement in her voice was flabbergasting. Our nation has become infested with entitlement-minded losers. How the hell did this happen?

Then I hear bits and pieces on the news about the inevitable national healthcare system that is about to be thrust upon us. All the feel-good interventionists seem to care about is that "the poor" and "everyone" get insurance coverage. That seems to be all that matters to them, forget the quality of care or the inevitable rationing of healthcare(see Canada), just as long as they can say everyone is "covered", everything will be utopian. None of them seem concerned about the rest of us ultimately being forced into this socialized medicine disaster and all of it's unintended consequences. Think about this for a sec: Uncle Sam is in charge of your healthcare needs. Uncle Sam needs to keep costs down, so suddenly, Uncle Sam can start dictating how you live your life, i.e. the risks you are willing to take with your health, be it riding a motorcycle, climbing a mountain, or eating too many cheeseburgers...the government can now penalize you in the name of cost savings. Why? Your risk-taking is bad for the collective. Because YOU took the risk of riding that motorcycle and getting in a wreck, YOU climbed that mountain and got injured, or YOU chose to eat too many cheeseburgers and got fat, YOU have run up costs for the collective. Our nation is surrendering individual liberty, the absolute keystone of this nation's founding, to feel-good collectivism.

How the hell did all of this happen?

Baseball, Apple Pie, & False Patriotism

So I've had a few days to reflect upon my July 4th weekend, a time of mixed emotions for me since my feline friend of 16.5 years, "Bill the Cat", died on July fourth of last year. Despite this sad reminder, I did enjoy an outstanding weekend of baseball(Rangers swept Tampa), apple pie, and love of country. Unfortunately, I was also subjected to numerous incidents of dishonest, false patriotism. Even though these incidents annoyed the shiite out of me, I was going to abstain from posting an angry diatribe here on the Interwebs. Then I ran across this story. Several of my biggest soap-box "buttons", dear readers, were subsequently pushed.

Seems that in August of 2008, this unfortunate fan at Yankee Stadium decided to go take a whiz during the 7th inning stretch singing of that annoyingly false anthem, "God Bless America". Said Whizzer was ushered out of the stadium by the NYPD under the pretense of "drunk and disorderly conduct". The man says he had two overpriced beers...one hour apart.

Now, I wouldn't blink an eye if this story took place here in Jesusland(Texas), hell, I'm surprised the Jesus-Police haven't already locked me up for my deliberate butt-planting at Rangers Ballpark during the 7th innning stretch. But [NASCAR Redneck Voice] Newww York City? [\NASCAR Redneck Voice] That bastion of Blue State, "progressive" thought? I couldn't believe what I was reading. I did some additional reading-up on this, only to find out that this was an ongoing issue at Old Yankee Stadium, and that stadium ushers used to chain up aisle barriers to prevent people from leaving their seat during "God Bless America". Again, in Newww York City?!? No freakin way!

Then I had to remind myself that Newww York City is also the country's petri dish of Nanny-State thought leading us down the road to, yes, I'm going to say it: a Police State. You scoff. I can hear you scoffing through the Interwebs, really. But think about this for a sec. A citizen of this "free" country was ejected from a baseball game because he was being "disrespectful to his country". He failed to obediently stand during a fking song! The Jackboot who ejected the man pulled the "drunk and disorderly" card, which is Orwellian Police-State code for "Urinate on the Bill of Rights". Fortunately, the man sued Newww York City and won.

ANYWAY, while I was surprisingly not jack-booted from Rangers Ballpark this weekend, I was subjected to our ballpark PA announcer's false-patriotic preamble to the singing of GBA...he always says something to the tune of "To honor our men and women serving in the armed forces around the world, please stand as [some twit] sings "God Bless America". No thank you. I will honor our service folks by keeping my rather large buttocks planted firmly in my undersized, maximum attendance-generating seat. "But why?", you ask with incredulous indignance. Simple. What the hell are our members of the armed services (alledgedly)fighting for, or more appropriately, against? They are fighting against this exact form of false patriotism, a.k.a. Islamacism, a.k.a. Theocracy, a.k.a. Marriage of Church and State.

How do we combat this domestically? Easy. Start with the Separation of Church and Baseball: keep your hiny planted during "God Bless America".

I refuse to embarass myself by believing in Bronze Age fairy-tales, yet I still bleed red, white, and blue. Imagine that.