The Savage Republican

G8 and IBM ads

I don't know how many of you remember the recent IBM ads with Knights of the Round Table.
There is one where it's acknowledged that there is a grievous threat approaching the kingdom.
King Arthur asks what weapon shall be used? A consultant addresses the king and suggests a catapult. When asked what ammunition shall be used, the consultant heaves a large bag up onto the Round Table that jingles and jangles. Arthur looks at the consultant and asks with an incredulous tone "You propose to throw money at the problem?" "Precisely" says the consultant. Arthur puts his head in his hands.
And once again, we see the lefties in control of the G8, including GWB, where they propose to throw money (other peoples money, your money, taken by force) at the problem of African poverty. Now, never mind that nowhere in history, especially recent history is there ANY evidence that giving someone else's money to poor strangers has ever alleviated poverty.That they admit as much as they are being told by long hair aging millionaire hippies to forgive/cancel debt from development loans that never worked and the development didn't happen, despite the fact that the plan was that they would create a paradise of development and the loans would be paid back with interest! Matter of fact they, and all such programs, only make the victims of government largesse poorer (namely the wealth creator, the worker and job creator). And by recent history, I would have hoped that GWB would have said to the G7, in that light Texas drawl,"Look y'all. We over there in good ol' America have found that in the $6,000,000,000,000 War on Poverty that, well, poverty wins. All the money, and all the programs in America just haven't changed human nature. Dang it. We've had the same success passing laws about day light savings. But, we don't get anymore sunlight.Dang it again. All we can do is take from sunrise and give to sunset. It just don't work. Seems it hasn't worked in any of your countries either. Y'all know, seems to me that every single plan we've ever come up never works. And yet, we keep coming up with them there plans. And we keep promising that this new plan, or any new plan, will be the one that works. And also will cure all the problems that the old one, all the old ones, didn't. Or the problems that the old plans created. Ya know, these plans and us, well they kinda remind me of Lucy and Charlie Brown and a football. Y'all remember Peanuts? Oh. Didn't get that comic in the Sunday funnies in your country, did ya? Well let's try something else other than what those rich music hippies over there are proposing (By the way, anybody know where and when they're giving up their millions for African poverty? Anyone know? They aren't? Oh.). Private enterprise seems to work well. Hey, isn't that the way those ol' music hippies made their millions? Private enterpirse? Free markets? Seems free enterprise does work. At least if you've got a Fender Stratocaster or two and a few millions watts of amplification. Free enterprise? As long as we in the government stay out of the way. Whaddaya think guys?"
A wonderful analysis is G8-Socialist Gospel at www.thomasbrewton.com/ .
Also, what is the largest source of foreign aid? www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1435769/posts The source will surprise you. Then again, maybe not.

London...

I agree with my colleague, Savage Republican, and I won't blog on for days about London.I've been to London and Great Britain twice. It appears that all my friends are safe, but scarred. I remember my own feelings on 9-11. Other than shock, I was angry. No, that's not accurate. I was furious! I even tried to enlist.The Brits are our closest friends. An attack on them is an attack on me and my friends.
And I also agree with Savage Republican in substance about the left-they don't get it, ever!
The first mouthful of hate they spilled out was "It's GWB's fault. Iraq. That's why they hit London!" etc.I heard James Lileks last night on Hugh Hewitt (5-8, AM1280 The Patriot). He made the point that the radicals on the left forgot that OBL, in 1998, came out for war on America because of UN sanctions on Iraq (hey, wait a minute. Who was President again in 1998? Oh, that's right. He was distracted because of the vast right wing conspiracy uncovered by the smartest woman in the world, his wife, the Co-President.).And so, if we didn't invade Iraq, and Saddam were still running rape rooms with 12 year old girl victims, and his sons were still torturing national soccer players for losing, and there were many more billions in the food for oil scandal (that makes Enron look like a lemonade stand operation), that if ALL these were still in effect (and you never, ever hear the lefty pukes saying they're glad these horrors are gone) that there would never ever be another bombing. Ever?!?!
And OBL was convinced that America would flee at any confrontation thanks to the cut and run we did in Somalia in 1993.Hey, wait another minute..who was the President in 1993?
And so, MR. and Msssssssssss Lefty, why the bombings in Bali? Why 9-11? Why the first WTC bombings (who was the President then?)? Why the embassy bombings in East Africa(who was the President then?)? The Cole bombing (who was the President then?)? What was the impetus for all these bombings?
The left's hatred for Bush shows so wonderfully how they have no reason, no logic. Ever.Their hatred for Bush passes their desire for anything else, including defense...other than getting rid of GWB. It would appear that this hatred has no end, and I would hope that it continues, as it would even eclipse their desire for self-preservation. Should life be so good.
This shows why these people, at any level (national, state, local) can not be allowed to even put their fingers, let alone their hands, on the levers of power.

You and Me & G8 = Terrorist - So Say the Left

I didn't plan to blog on London for days.
I was instead worrying about my fellow workers in London (so far it appears none were injuried) and privatly admire the courage of the English people. But what I heard on local radio in MN forced me to at least make one comment.

As I was driving yesterday evening, I was searching for a station and scan stopped on Air America.
What I heard next was in some ways surprising and in other ways, I guess, what I expected.
After a quick (and unfunny) fake news headlines, Garafalo started her show talking about the bombings that morning (or afternoon) in London.
Her whole opening monologue was about how self absorbed we white anglos were. That people died all the time in Africa and Middle East. That the criminals who did this, if you want to call them criminals or terrorists or freedom fighters, are no different then the ones who are killing people in the Middle East and Africa everyday. And the fact that people are dying from bombs or from ...

And here we get to part were are liberal friends just don't get it .....

People dying from bombs or from the neglect of the G8 who are meeting ..
She then went on to start her show.

So there we have it again.
People who target civilians and plan the attack for the time when most people are in the area of the bombs are the moral equivalent of you and me, because we are not giving money to the corrupt governments of Africa who are slaughtering there own people.

And the left wonders why they continue to lose.

More later...

The Minnesota government shut down

I had the opportunity to be on a conference call with several of the leadership of the Minnesota Republican Party today. The subject of the call - officially - was the partial government shut down and the state of the negotiations. Governor Pawlenty was on the call to tell us about the progress (or lack thereof). We were not two minutes into the call when the real subject of the call (to me) became apparent. To me it appeared that the call was a set up for a bomb that is about to be dropped on us. The Governor spoke about how tough it is for "us" to get things passed with a closely divided government and how compromises are going to need to be made - short term compromises - in order to get this crisis resolved. Now, I will readily admit that I am still trying to digest the information that was dispensed today and I am certainly not attempting to put words in the Governor's mouth, but it a)sure sounds like a compromise is imminent and b) the base is not going to like it.

A sad day in the free world.

There is certainly nothing that I can say about todays sad news out of London that has not already been said, other than to say that the people of London are in my prayers tonight! Prime Minister Blair has a tough road ahead of him and he will certainly need our prayers as well.

Humor and Truth

I've always enjoyed P.J. O'Rourke. He is to me what Will Rogers was to my Dad.
I came across a page of his quotes. The one that leapt out at me was this one:
"The mystery of government is not how Washington works but how to make it stop." P.J. O'Rourke

A Thousand Words...

Her sticker says "Governor, we have a problem." Really?
Well, I'm your Mom's , and the Governor's employer and I don't see a problem...except that there are 9,000 "non-essential" employess laid off. Now, therein is the problem: non-essential.
And why should we hire back "non-essential" employees?
Her Mom did want their last name used.
Who do you think her Mom voted for in the last Presidential election?
If you had to guess?

Stormi Greener Mpls Star Tribune All rights reserved 2005

P.S. 7 July-I got a call from a member of the Republican caucus today. We did a rough calculation on what we could save if we eliminated 9000 "non-essential" state employees. Figure $50,000 per employee (salary and generous benefits. I was surprised ,being their employer, at how incredibly generous I am). Add what it costs to support them (computers, furniture, utilities etc.) and we came to a figure of about $900,000,000. Nice savings.
OK. I'm convinced. Congratulations, non-essentials. You are now a part of the solution.

More judicial follies in Minnesota

Mitch over at Shot in the Dark has been covering the case of Jeff Skelton, who is accused of shooting his wife's lover 5 times (in the eye, the foot, the groin and 2 times in the chest), killing the man. Mitch goes into great detail on the case, how Mr. Skelton was released on bail, called a local radio station to brag about what he had done, was re-arrested for violating a condition of his parole (not contacting his wife) and was released yet again. While I agree with Mitch's outrage over the situation, I do not agree with his conclusion that it is Amy Klobuchar's (Hennepin County Prosecutor) problem solely . This is not just happening in Hennepin County (see my post "My heart is breaking...") - it is happening all over in Minnesota. If the blame is to be laid at any politicians feet, it should be laid at the feet of the man who wants to be our next governor - Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch! AG Hatch is the man who sets the pace for the county prosecutors - he sets the standards that the counties must abide by. Maybe we need to send the AG the memo that we are fed up with perps getting more rights than their victims! It is time for the people of Minnesota to stand up for the rights of the victims and make sure that their stories are heard!

My heart is breaking.....

As I have mentioned before, I am the parent of a grade school aged child. I also live in a suburb of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. It is with a heavy heart that I heard (yesterday) that Shasta Groene (the missing 8 year old Idaho girl) was found yesterday in the company of a known sex offender who had been released from a Minnesota jail. This is following the sad story of Dru Sjodin who was murdered by another sex offender who had been released from a Minnesota jail. As more and more comes out about Shasta's 6 weeks of horror, the angrier I - as a mother - get at the system.

Convicted child predators, like Shasta Groene's attacker, are supposed to register with the state. According to the US Department of Justice records, 67% of ALL sexual assult victims are under the age of 18. According to the same US DOJ records, there are approximately 550,000 convicted sex offenders in the country and 100,000 of them are "lost" - location unknown to law enforcement officials. Did you see that dear reader - 1/5 of the convicted sex offenders in the US can not be found by law enforcement!!!! One of them now stands accused of murdering 3 members of Shasta Groene's family, of kidnapping and sexually assulting Shasta and her 9 year old brother Dylan (before murdering him that is). The beast (for there is nothing human in my mind about him) was paroled from a Minnesota prison, where he was serving a sentence f0r raping a 6 year old boy.

What, in heavens name, are we - as a nation thinking, by placing the rights of people such as Joseph Duncan, John Couhey (who raped and murdered Jessica Lunsford in Florida), Roger Bently (who raped and murdered Jetseta Gage in Iowa) and Alfonso Rodriguez (Dru Sjodin's killer) above the rights of their victims? What happened to the rights of these beautiful little girls? Who is advocating for them? Starting now, this mom is! I am tired of having to explain to my child why he can not go do things that I used to do when I was his age. I am tired of having to train him self defense methods. I am sick and tired of being afraid for my child's life and safety.

We need to start - TODAY - to battle for the rights of our children. Our children deserve to be protected from the likes of those above who have no respect for anything but their own sick, twisted desires! We need to join up with groups like this who are fighting to do the right thing - to keep sexual predators of children locked up in jail for good! We need to get with our state and federal representatives and make jail terms for sex offenders longer and if they are paroled for any reason, they should be forced to wear an ankle monitor (if it's good enough for Martha Stewart...) and be on 24 hour GPS monitoring! We can no longer afford to "trust them" to check in with their Parole officer every 2 weeks or so! We need to hold these offenders AND the law enforcement system accountable for the deaths of these innocents! We need to do a better job protecting our children from the monsters of the night!

The Economically Freest Nation (oh, and WE ain't it)

Every year there is a study that ranks the nations in the world based on economic freedom. Not surprising those countries with more economic freedom also enjoy a higher standard of living (duh!).Let me pose the level of economic freedom with a question: You own an orange tree orchard. This is the harvest season. You and I strike up a conversation and my eyes fall on a particular orange. Now, I've never enjoyed an orange right off the tree and I decide that that one orange is for me. You, the grower/owner, pluck the orange off the tree and I pay an agreed upon price. Have there been any laws broken? If that orange is under 3 1/8 inches in diameter, both you and I have committed a crime. It's illegal to sell or to buy an orange of that size. Why? Because the Department of Agriculture says so. An agreed upon transaction, no force, no fraud. But illegal. A small segment (pun intended) of economic freedom is peeled away (intended again).
The Heritage Foundation does a study each year that ranks nations (161 this year) into four categories Free, Mostly Free, Mostly Unfree and Repressed. There are seventeen nations in the Free category. And the United States is NOT #1. Not even #5. #10? Nope.
We are #13. 13. Way below Singapore, below Estonia (Estonia?). Even below Chile (no offense to Guillermo, my first scrum half at the U of MN Rugby Club, who is a hard working capitalist in Santiago. My apologies Willy).
Click on United States and you'll see the category rankings and a graph of the past years ranking for that particular country. (www.heritage.org/research/features/index/countries.cfm )
The very first sentence in the introduction states "The U.S. Constitution provides strong protections for private property, and the vibrancy and dynamism of the U.S. economy are testimony to these constitutionally protected economic liberties." The listings were before the Kelo v City of New London Supreme Court decision.Go down the list to near the end where there is a ranking for Property Rights and read the dire pre Kelo predictions.
Now, the lefties will seize upon the comment under Regulations "By global standards, the level of regulation in the United States is low." Now, the lefties ALWAYS claim "It could be worse." Well, I've ALWAYS found little comfort for my misery by seeing someone else who's more miserable. Especially when that misery is inflicted on me by someone else by force.
Vox Day, in his column yesterday ( www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45111 ) , near the end he comments:
" The genius of America was its independence. As that independence has been systematically reduced over the years, so too has its competitive advantage over other, less free, nations declined. The best and brightest have been leaving the country for years, and the American brain drain is accelerating as the Internet has made it possible to run a software company from the Bahamas or an import-export operation from Ireland, where the taxes are lower and there's no danger of losing your home to a Wal-Mart."
I remember about a month ago, while I was stopped at Hwy 13 and Cty Rd. 42, looking around and trying to find one thing, just one thing that was not taxed and/or regulated (as regulation has a cost and is therefore a tax). I couldn't find a thing.
When I look around and see what we have, I wonder how much more we could be if the government just got out of the way.

The 4th of July and some brief thoughts

Today, after my morning Bible readings and prayer, I took a moment to thank The Lord that I was born in the United States of America.I've often thought about gratitude towards God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit and how I really don't show much.Certainly not anywhere close to what's due Them. When I see the bumper stickers saying "Proud to be an American" I've always thought that to make a true statement it should read "Blessed to be an American".Humility becomes us and shows real gratitude.None of us earned America, achieved America or have America coming to us. We inherited America as it was bequethed to us from The Lord and those who came before us.
I see the bumper stickers "God Bless America", and when and how does
"America Bless God"? How do you show your gratitude? To the Lord? To those who are "out there" on the wall for you and for me? What are you doing to reclaim the promise that our Founding Fathers (and Mothers) suffered and bled and died for to provide this nation that was founded on liberty for you and for me? And do you acknowledge that liberty which has been grossly eroded thanks to yours and my indifference?
Have you ever read the Declaration of Independence? In it's entirety? (I'm impressed at how closely the complaints against the king mirror what we could list against our present overseers in Washington and St.Paul. We went to war over a 3% tax on sugar and yet today tolerate working over half the year to pay for government [http://www.atr.org/national/cogd/ ] and then call ourselves free{ see my blog The Economically Freest}).
I just finished David McCullough's book "1776". I'm a student of history and have always been amazed at how great events in history have turned on very small incidents (the horseshoe nail and the fall of the kingdom). And in "1776" it's amazing how close we came to NOT being.
So, go out and enjoy what God and our predecessors have provided and our armed forces protect ("Our loved ones sleep at night because of those rough men who will do violence to those who would do harm to our loved ones").
Always remember: Freedom is not free.That the only acceptable currency for liberty and freedom is and has always been blood.
May America Bless God!
He has certainly blessed all of us.

The Savage Republican

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Friday, July 08, 2005