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.

Polluting the Message of Liberty With Irrelevant Christianity

When it comes to alliances in the fight for liberty, I am not one who subscribes to the "Politics makes strange bedfellows" way of thought. I often butt heads with my fellow libertarians on this issue when fiscal-sanity/smaller government "alliances" are proposed with groups like the Glenn Beck 9/12ers, The Constitution Party, Republican Tea Partyists, Meetup.com groups like the Texas Liberty Campaign, and yes, to some extent, The Campaign for Liberty, aka Ron Paul Republicans.

Why? All of the above groups(some CFLers) seem to insist upon injecting their Christian beliefs into the fight-for-liberty equation. Case in point: this meetup posted by the Texas Liberty Campaign. In what universe does Christianity have ANYTHING to do with responsible fiscal policy and limiting the size and scope of the federal government?

"But why not ally with these groups in order to win the battle for fiscal sanity and smaller government? Strength in numbers, you know."

Simple. I do not want to trade one form of tyranny for another, i.e. Big Government for Big Theocracy.

"Well, aren't you injecting your atheism into the same equation?."

No. Take the inane meetup linked to above. Did you see the text of the signs being proposed for the "liberty sign wave"? Here they are:

Side 1:Be Free in Christ
Side 2:Christian Libertarian (or Christian Constitutionalist) ETC

Side 1: I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war.
(Psalm 120:7)
Side 2: Jesus Christ: Prince of Peace

Side 1: No King but King Jesus
Side 2: Resistance to Tyranny=Obedience to God (Debbie's personal favorite!)

Side 1 and Side 2: Fish swimming against the tide/school of fish image

Side 1: It was for freedom (Galatians 5:1)

Side 2: that Christ set us free

My desired ommission of the Christian nonsense proposed above is NOT "injecting my atheism". Read up on the burden of proof fallacy if that's what you were thinking.

Now, if this were MY "Celebrate Freedom Sign Wave", I'd at least keep it honest. You'd never see something like "Freedom From Religion", "The Bible is Bullshit", or other non-fiscal policy/smaller government sayings on the flip side of my liberty signs. THAT would be injecting atheism into the equation.

Again, what the hell does any of the above Xtian signage have to do with liberty?!? (I especially love the contradictory "Resistance to Tyranny=Obedience to God" proposed sign.) Yeah, I know, the meetup specifies that it wants to "Spread the Liberty Message to Christians..", but it's doing this at the "Celebrate Freedom Sign Wave"! And to boot, this meetup is posted on a religion-neutral sounding meetup called "Texas Liberty Campaign"! How in the name of Jeebus can you possibly "Celebrate Freedom" in one breathe then brag about "Obedience to your imaginary master" in the next?

Anyway, I believe all of these pseudo-libertarian groups don't give a crap about true liberty. Their ultimate goal is a Christian Theocracy, and as I said earlier, I will not ally myself with people trading one form of tyranny for another. I will not exhaust my energies in the battle for fiscal liberty, only upon victory to have to fight again for social liberty.

So to all of the above groups, stop calling yourselves "libertarian", you are nothing but refried neo-conservative sore-losers. Leave your religilous idiocy out of the fiscal sanity/smaller government equation, and I'll be happy to chat with you about alliances.

----
Image from here.

When "Belief" Becomes "Delusion" (Part Two)

I think the slaying of Dr. George Tiller says more about this than I could ever write. (Yes, I'm in another blogging rutt)

EDIT - ...and the religilous nut discussed in this Whited Sepulchre piece is just icing on the cake.

When "Belief" Becomes "Delusion" (Part One)

The last couple of weeks I've spent quite a bit of my time arguing with those of the religious persuasion. The arguments have included a variety of topics, including why I consider the "We believe in God" principle of the Glenn Beck 9/12ers to be divisive and unnecessary in the fight for less government and fiscal sanity, the effectiveness of prayer, the existence of Jesus, "God" as a delusion, and even the nature of the "real world". Each culminated, just as they usually do, in either the incredibly weak "it's all about belief/faith" rationalization/surrender or the "agree to disagree" compromise.

(Note: henceforth, I'll use the words "faith" and "belief" interchangeably, since the two are equivalent within the context of this discussion. Also in the context of this discussion, I will be using the following definition of the word Faith: firm belief in something for which there is no proof (i.e. blind faith), and NOT - Faith: complete trust (i.e. contingent faith), which the religilous love to falsely equivocate.)

The common thread I see among each of these arguments? : how "benign belief" (i.e. imagination, open-mindedness) can mutate into "benign delusion" (i.e. dogma, true closed-mindedness), and ultimately, provide the scaffolding for "malignant & destructive delusion" (i.e. flying planes into skyscrapers, undermining public school science classes with creation myths, electing fking morons to the U.S. Presidency)

Now, the simple cognitive act of believing in the possibility of something, i.e. the existence a god, gods, evil alien overlords that populated the earth by dropping souls into volcanoes, or alternate states of reality, is not, in and of itself, delusional. All of us have some degree of imagination, and simply positing the existence of something is harmless...life would be pretty boring if Gene Roddenberry had never imagined the world of Star Trek, Joss Whedon had never believed in the possibility of the Firefly universe (or simply 'Verse, as we Browncoats like to say), or the Wachowski brothers hadn't challenged our notion of "the real world" by positing The Matrix (and subsequently flubbing the sequels). Accepting the possibility of these and other products of the imagination that might be is benign belief. This is using one's imagination. THIS, is open-mindedness.

However, one begins descending into "benign delusion" and true close-mindedness when the "possibility" clause is removed from the notion of benign belief. When one starts actually believing that Lord Xenu populated Earth with(whatever the fk Scientologists believe), The Matrix is actually real, or that unseen deities actually exist and control our fate...again, actual belief without a shred of creditable evidence to support the belief(which is now a truth claim)...one has, by definition, become delusional.

So is the individual's delusion benign, or malignant? The delusion is relatively benign as long as the delusion motivated actions of the individual do not infringe upon the life, liberty, and property of other individuals who do not share the delusion. Building conceptual models of alternate realities, prayer, attending church, abstaining from sex, drugs, and rock n roll...all benign. Unfortunately though, when an otherwise benign delusion begins to be spread and shared amongst groups of individuals, the scaffolding for malignant delusion begins to manifest.

I'll tackle "malignant & destructive delusion" in Part Two of When "Belief" Becomes "Delusion". Right now, I'm hungry.

Random Rant: Preemptive War Muggering, Iraq, and "The Meth Lab Next Door"

So I'm helping man the Tarrant County Libertarian table at the Fort Worth Gun Show last Saturday, when up strolls the inevitable NeoCon Republican ready to educate us on why the libertarian policy of "isolationism" is just flat WRONG and why Uncle Sam was perfectly justified in the mugging of Iraq.

First of all, it's a "non-interventionist" foreign policy, not an "isolationist" policy....there is a HUGE difference between the two. See, Libertarians believe in "National Defense" in it's purist form, the optimal word of the phrase being "defense". If our nation is attacked, we believe in kicking the buh-jesus out of the attackers. We do not, however, subscribe to the notion of "The best defense is a good offense"...that phrase belongs on the football field, not in the State Department.

If libertarians had an "isolationist" policy, we would be against trade with other nations, which would contradict our pro-free market economy positions. Again, we believe in a non-interventionist approach when the military might of the US is concerned. The cost and unintended consequences of U.S. meddling in the middle east has been staggering. A non-interventionist approach would have saved us trillions, not to mention the lives that would NOT have been destroyed as a direct result of said meddling.

Anyway, the NeoCon mentioned above tried to rationalize the mugging of Iraq and preemptive mugging in general by comparing the baddies of the world to a hypothetical meth lab two doors down from your house. The meth lab, like Saddam, is a threat to your life and that of...wait for it...the chilllldren.

First of all, there wouldn't even BE a meth lab two doors down from you, much less one that would be a threat, if we would end this ridiculous and costly "War on Drugs"...but don't get me started on that...I'll save it for another post. Second, this guy's analogy is flawed beyond repair. In his world, it is the responsibily of the Arkansas State Police to eliminate the meth lab next door...you know, the one next door in...BOSTON (go Red Sox!). Which leads to, lastly, IT IS NOT THE JOB OF THE U.S. MILITARY TO POLICE THE FKING WORLD AND "SPREAD DEMOCRACY".

"But Saddam wanted to destroy us!"

Well, so does North Korea, Venezuela, and countless other nations around the world...so why aren't we in North Korea and Venezuela? North Korea has nukes and Kim Jong Il's horrible fashion sense, while Venezuela has the noxious fumes emitted from Hugo's armpits. Said NeoCon didn't have an answer to either one.

"But all the Kurds slaughtered by Saddam...how do we just let that happen?"

The same way we let millions die at the hands of warlords in Africa, gawd knows how many under Kim Jong Il, and countless others killed under the rule of other despots around the globe. The U.S. is not the world police, nor did the founders intend for us to be:

"...it is proper you should understand what I deem the essential principles of our Government, and consequently those which ought to shape its Administration. I will compress them within the narrowest compass they will bear, stating the general principle, but not all its limitations. Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none."
-- Thomas Jefferson, from his 1801 inagural address.

...THAT dear readers, is the heart and soul of a non-interventionist foreign policy.

The U.S. would be MUCH better off if we'd keep our noses out of other nations affairs. The cost and unintended consequences just aren't worth the price.