The Taxman Cometh
here’s been a lot of talk about Chris Coons ideological leanings, all of which is important.
His inclination toward liberation theology aside--well, not really, as taxes are one of the main ways to redistribute wealth--there are some very practical economic reasons any New Castle County resident as well as all other Delaware citizens should be concerned, because the truth of the matter is that Chris Coons is THE TAXMAN.
Today I took a look at some of my old invoices for county and city services.
A cursory look at my water bill reveals Coons tax policies at work. In 2005, my average quarterly water bill was about $50. Since then, sewage taxes have raised the bill to around $75.00 per quarter.
Now, I don’t want to put matters indelicately,but I have lived here alone for the last five years and have not dumped (pun intended) any more sewage down the toilet in 2010 than in 2005. Yet there’s been a 50% increase in taxes on sewage.
Why? Inquiring minds want to know.
Looking at my mortgage escrow fund, I note an increase in New Castle county taxes of about 48% since 2005. About one third of my monthly payment to the bank now consists of insurance payments AND more county taxes. The increase in taxes has nearly canceled out any reduction in interest. Meanwhile, since 2004, when I bought the property, the value of my home has depreciated about 25-35%. Yet my taxes on my modest town house have increased exponentially.
Why? Inquiring minds want to know.
After all, it’s not as if services from the county government have increased. On the contrary, my neighborhood, though officially an historic district, has received very little notice or help from the county. So where, specifically, are my tax dollars being allocated? Not to my neighborhood, that’s for sure. Pensions, perhpas?
I won’t even speak of what will happen to my electric bill if Coons is elected and supports the Obama agenda of “Cap and Trade.” Obama himself has said the rates will “necessarily skyrocket.” Chris Coons supports the Obama agenda, so I can expect my electric bills to skyrocket even further?
As if they haven’t already? When I first moved to Delaware, my monthly electric bills amounted to about $50-65. My last bill was $143.00. On average, my electric bills already have increased 110-120% from when I first moved back to Delaware in fall of 2004. What will the electric bill amount to if Coons is elected?
Inquiring minds want to know.
In the meantime…Help! Please help me! I’m asphyxiating from the increased weight of taxes!
But wait! Don’t call 911. Coons want to tax my calls for help.
Arrrrgggghhhh. Gasp, gasp. Gurgle, gurgle.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Monday, October 11, 2010
Miss Biddle
My second grade teacher, Miss Biddle of Chesapeake City Elementary School, was an absolute dictator.
She had rules, and God help her trembling charges who broke them. Students even had to pee on schedule, a stipulation that got Timmy Walston into a deep puddle of trouble when he wet his pants while sitting at his desk. He got punished by having his chair moved into a corner. The ancient upright piano—it was never played– was shoved catty-corner in front of the chair so he couldn’t get out. All the children then filed by him on the way to recess. He was sobbing his eyes out, but to no avail.
One of her favorite tactics was to stand an offending child on a stool in front of the class and encourage the rest of the class to ridicule the kid as a “cry baby.” “Look at her cry, class,” she would say. And, of course, the child would oblige by turning on the water works, crying her heart out.
Yes, Miss Biddle had rules.
Lots of rules.
One day she handed out a picture for us to color. It was of a robin sitting in a nest. By now, having experienced Miss Biddle’s wrath on more than one occasion, having spent time on the “fool’s stool” and having had my head thumped against the blackboard, I had learned to follow the rules exactly. I colored the robin orange and brown exactly within the lines as precisely instructed by our beloved teacher; and so did just about every other kid in the class. Heaven help the budding Jackson Pollack who dared to do anything free form–likewise anyone who wanted to color a Miro-like fantastical bird with rainbow wings and a purple tail.
Needless to say, Miss Biddle’s rules suffocated initiative and creativity.
But that’s what too many suffocating rules, regulations and punishments do to children. They stifle their spirits and dumb down their creativity.
Welcome to Miss Biddle’s world writ large, American “children.”
Our state and federal governments are having the same stifling effect as my second grade teacher’s plethora of rules and punishments—suffocation.
Few put the consequences of too many laws and punishments as eloquently as Philip K. Howard, who in a recent article in the NY Daily News, sums up the results of too many laws, rules and regulations: “Government is broken and the economy is gasping.”
Did you know that a new governor of most states, including Delaware, will come to office and find that about 90% of the state budget is “pre-committed to entitlements and mandates enacted by politicians long dead;” and that, among other things, in stark contrast to Miss Biddle’s cruel authoritarianism (but equally a pox on creativity and learning), “Teachers no longer have authority to maintain order in the classroom?” Heck, they can’t even hug a crying student without fear of a law suit claiming they are pedophiles.
And what about small businesses, the engines of our economy?
There is so much legal sludge to slog through that it is impossible for small businesses and entrepreneurs to wade through the legalities. Innovation has been stifled by impossibly complex laws and an incomprehensible tax code.
To make things worse, “Hardly any social interaction is free of legal risk”—and consequent punishment. Legalities are so pervasive that any given American at any given time is automatically guilty of breaking the law and thus open to persecution from governmental entities armed with platoons of lawyers anxious to put an offender on the equivalent of Miss Biddle’s “fool’s stool.”
What is the answer to the “Biddleization” of our country?
As Howard points out, “Changing leaders or parties will not solve [the] problem…What’s required to revive America is a major structural overhaul. This is a task of historic proportions—not unlike the simplification of law by Justinian in ancient Rome. Our founding fathers never imagined that democracy would become a one-way ratchet—always adding laws but never repealing them. Nor did they intend law to be a form of central planning. The Constitution sets forth our governing goals and principles in only 16 pages.”
Yet despite the need to simplify, the new healthcare bill—as one example—adds 2,700 pages of new regulations, agencies and requirements. This is to say nothing of what would happen if “Cap and Trade” were to be enacted. Imagine what small businesses would groan under if yet another 2,000 or more page monstrosity was to be enacted?
The truth of the matter is that there will be no going forward until America gets free of the Miss Biddle authoritarian mentality. The “color between the lines” mentality has meant a legal straight jacket that paralyzes the American spirit, suffocates the entrepreneurial spirit and vitiates the body politic.
Those we send to Washington or to the Delaware State House must be committed to radical reform of the law of the land.
We need Justinians.
Miss Biddle has got to go.
She had rules, and God help her trembling charges who broke them. Students even had to pee on schedule, a stipulation that got Timmy Walston into a deep puddle of trouble when he wet his pants while sitting at his desk. He got punished by having his chair moved into a corner. The ancient upright piano—it was never played– was shoved catty-corner in front of the chair so he couldn’t get out. All the children then filed by him on the way to recess. He was sobbing his eyes out, but to no avail.
One of her favorite tactics was to stand an offending child on a stool in front of the class and encourage the rest of the class to ridicule the kid as a “cry baby.” “Look at her cry, class,” she would say. And, of course, the child would oblige by turning on the water works, crying her heart out.
Yes, Miss Biddle had rules.
Lots of rules.
One day she handed out a picture for us to color. It was of a robin sitting in a nest. By now, having experienced Miss Biddle’s wrath on more than one occasion, having spent time on the “fool’s stool” and having had my head thumped against the blackboard, I had learned to follow the rules exactly. I colored the robin orange and brown exactly within the lines as precisely instructed by our beloved teacher; and so did just about every other kid in the class. Heaven help the budding Jackson Pollack who dared to do anything free form–likewise anyone who wanted to color a Miro-like fantastical bird with rainbow wings and a purple tail.
Needless to say, Miss Biddle’s rules suffocated initiative and creativity.
But that’s what too many suffocating rules, regulations and punishments do to children. They stifle their spirits and dumb down their creativity.
Welcome to Miss Biddle’s world writ large, American “children.”
Our state and federal governments are having the same stifling effect as my second grade teacher’s plethora of rules and punishments—suffocation.
Few put the consequences of too many laws and punishments as eloquently as Philip K. Howard, who in a recent article in the NY Daily News, sums up the results of too many laws, rules and regulations: “Government is broken and the economy is gasping.”
Did you know that a new governor of most states, including Delaware, will come to office and find that about 90% of the state budget is “pre-committed to entitlements and mandates enacted by politicians long dead;” and that, among other things, in stark contrast to Miss Biddle’s cruel authoritarianism (but equally a pox on creativity and learning), “Teachers no longer have authority to maintain order in the classroom?” Heck, they can’t even hug a crying student without fear of a law suit claiming they are pedophiles.
And what about small businesses, the engines of our economy?
There is so much legal sludge to slog through that it is impossible for small businesses and entrepreneurs to wade through the legalities. Innovation has been stifled by impossibly complex laws and an incomprehensible tax code.
To make things worse, “Hardly any social interaction is free of legal risk”—and consequent punishment. Legalities are so pervasive that any given American at any given time is automatically guilty of breaking the law and thus open to persecution from governmental entities armed with platoons of lawyers anxious to put an offender on the equivalent of Miss Biddle’s “fool’s stool.”
What is the answer to the “Biddleization” of our country?
As Howard points out, “Changing leaders or parties will not solve [the] problem…What’s required to revive America is a major structural overhaul. This is a task of historic proportions—not unlike the simplification of law by Justinian in ancient Rome. Our founding fathers never imagined that democracy would become a one-way ratchet—always adding laws but never repealing them. Nor did they intend law to be a form of central planning. The Constitution sets forth our governing goals and principles in only 16 pages.”
Yet despite the need to simplify, the new healthcare bill—as one example—adds 2,700 pages of new regulations, agencies and requirements. This is to say nothing of what would happen if “Cap and Trade” were to be enacted. Imagine what small businesses would groan under if yet another 2,000 or more page monstrosity was to be enacted?
The truth of the matter is that there will be no going forward until America gets free of the Miss Biddle authoritarian mentality. The “color between the lines” mentality has meant a legal straight jacket that paralyzes the American spirit, suffocates the entrepreneurial spirit and vitiates the body politic.
Those we send to Washington or to the Delaware State House must be committed to radical reform of the law of the land.
We need Justinians.
Miss Biddle has got to go.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Food Fight
Approximately two out of every eight denizens of New York city--plus some forty million Americans across the nation-- are buying groceries with the assistance of government issued food stamps.
Prohibitions against using food stamps to buy alcohol, cigarettes, pet food, vitamins or household goods already exist. But in the interest of restraining the epidemic of childhood obesity and encouraging delinquent parents to supervise their children’s diets more closely, NYC Mayor Bloomberg and Governor David Paterson have issued a fatwa against sugared drinks for the impoverished masses receiving the food stamps.
Bloomberg, who has already been responsible for outlawing trans-fat in restaurant foods and for restaurants posting calorie content on their menus, has joined an anti-salt campaign as well. He is quoted as saying: “This initiative will give New York families more money to spend on food and drinks that provide real nourishment.”
Right.
Maybe New York families living on the edge of poverty will suddenly become avid nutritionists, but probably not. It seems anxieties over economic survival, rampant crime, lack of employment and the disintegration of the family are some of the prime reasons for worries among inner city residents, trumping anxiety over the excess consumption of Coca-Cola. They just don’t seem all that worried over sugar.
More pressing anxieties aside, do any but the most dedicated health food advocates really think food stamp recipients are going to stop buying sugary drinks—much less cigarettes and alcohol--just because of new regulations?
Of course not.
For those already offended because their idea of a enforced health food utopia has been sullied; yes, excess consumption of sugar is not healthy.]
And by the way, does anyone really think Mayor Bloomberg is going to serve guests invited to NYC’s galas club soda and carrots instead of alcohol, sweets and other forbidden goodies—goodies also paid for by tax payers’ money?
Of course not.
But as usual, austerity measures are applicable to the lower classes, not to the ruling class. Carrots for thee, but caviar for me. But isn’t this the usual bifurcated standard for the virtuous ruling class, whose motives are, of course, impeccable but whose actual behavior is not expected to be held to the standards they apply to those on the government handout list?
Regardless of whether the anticipated virtuous outcome will match the sterling motives of the originators of the new regulations, Mr. Bloomberg’s push for new rules dictating what the recipients of food stamps may and may not eat are clearly illustrative of a larger issue than children swilling Coke and Dr. Pepper.
The fact of the matter is that whenever government doles out largess, for whatever sacrosanct reasons—in this case supposedly the health of youngsters—that largess always comes with the big, fat price tag of government control and intrusion into family life and individual choices. It also will come with a new bureaucracies complete with employees whose nanny state mentalities compel them to look into every suspected unhealthy purchase. If the USDA approves Bloomberg’s new regulations, many “well meaning” US citizens will be involved in making sure those regulations are enforced against their comrade citizens.
All for the greater good, of course.
What can the unhappy beneficiaries expect? Is it outside the realm of possibility that every checkout clerk in every grocery store will be required to supervise what food stamp recipients buy, acting as a quasi Stasi citizen food police looking out for food transgressions?
Is it difficult to envision an extension of the rationing, controlling, supervisory mentality to include benefits given—or denied--to recipients of health care? But of course, we already have such a health care system in place, complete with the 159 or so new bureaucracies and agencies “needed” to run it.
In the meantime, we are learning there’s not only no such thing as a free lunch, but apparently, there’s also no such thing as an unregulated lunch--at least not for food stamp recipients. Who knows who is next? Maybe those nefarious three martini business lunches could be brought under state control by requiring everyone to submit his/her lunch selections to a supervisory health board concentrating on business executives. Then again, with the current anti-corporation mentality, it might be better to let the greedy capitalist pigs have their rib roast and booze, the better to hasten the demise of the evil profit mongers.
Bottom line, it just won’t work.
Fact of the matter is, that for every heath food devotee, like Jerome Rodale, who died on live TV-- doubtless from eating too many roots and berries coupled with asparagus boiled in urine—somewhere in Japan there’s a little 112 year old man who will attribute his longevity to drinking twelve bottles of sake per diem.
Plus, recipients of food stamps are just as bright as the next guy, and will be busy subverting regulations every way they wish to.
So why continue pushing nightmarish and ultimately unenforceable regulatory complexities?
How much simpler it would be to encourage the education of parents (and children) about basic rules of nutrition and health in order they begin by their own free will to make sound choices for themselves and their children. The basics of the food pyramid are not all that hard to learn and implement.
But I guess that would be just too easy.
Prohibitions against using food stamps to buy alcohol, cigarettes, pet food, vitamins or household goods already exist. But in the interest of restraining the epidemic of childhood obesity and encouraging delinquent parents to supervise their children’s diets more closely, NYC Mayor Bloomberg and Governor David Paterson have issued a fatwa against sugared drinks for the impoverished masses receiving the food stamps.
Bloomberg, who has already been responsible for outlawing trans-fat in restaurant foods and for restaurants posting calorie content on their menus, has joined an anti-salt campaign as well. He is quoted as saying: “This initiative will give New York families more money to spend on food and drinks that provide real nourishment.”
Right.
Maybe New York families living on the edge of poverty will suddenly become avid nutritionists, but probably not. It seems anxieties over economic survival, rampant crime, lack of employment and the disintegration of the family are some of the prime reasons for worries among inner city residents, trumping anxiety over the excess consumption of Coca-Cola. They just don’t seem all that worried over sugar.
More pressing anxieties aside, do any but the most dedicated health food advocates really think food stamp recipients are going to stop buying sugary drinks—much less cigarettes and alcohol--just because of new regulations?
Of course not.
For those already offended because their idea of a enforced health food utopia has been sullied; yes, excess consumption of sugar is not healthy.]
And by the way, does anyone really think Mayor Bloomberg is going to serve guests invited to NYC’s galas club soda and carrots instead of alcohol, sweets and other forbidden goodies—goodies also paid for by tax payers’ money?
Of course not.
But as usual, austerity measures are applicable to the lower classes, not to the ruling class. Carrots for thee, but caviar for me. But isn’t this the usual bifurcated standard for the virtuous ruling class, whose motives are, of course, impeccable but whose actual behavior is not expected to be held to the standards they apply to those on the government handout list?
Regardless of whether the anticipated virtuous outcome will match the sterling motives of the originators of the new regulations, Mr. Bloomberg’s push for new rules dictating what the recipients of food stamps may and may not eat are clearly illustrative of a larger issue than children swilling Coke and Dr. Pepper.
The fact of the matter is that whenever government doles out largess, for whatever sacrosanct reasons—in this case supposedly the health of youngsters—that largess always comes with the big, fat price tag of government control and intrusion into family life and individual choices. It also will come with a new bureaucracies complete with employees whose nanny state mentalities compel them to look into every suspected unhealthy purchase. If the USDA approves Bloomberg’s new regulations, many “well meaning” US citizens will be involved in making sure those regulations are enforced against their comrade citizens.
All for the greater good, of course.
What can the unhappy beneficiaries expect? Is it outside the realm of possibility that every checkout clerk in every grocery store will be required to supervise what food stamp recipients buy, acting as a quasi Stasi citizen food police looking out for food transgressions?
Is it difficult to envision an extension of the rationing, controlling, supervisory mentality to include benefits given—or denied--to recipients of health care? But of course, we already have such a health care system in place, complete with the 159 or so new bureaucracies and agencies “needed” to run it.
In the meantime, we are learning there’s not only no such thing as a free lunch, but apparently, there’s also no such thing as an unregulated lunch--at least not for food stamp recipients. Who knows who is next? Maybe those nefarious three martini business lunches could be brought under state control by requiring everyone to submit his/her lunch selections to a supervisory health board concentrating on business executives. Then again, with the current anti-corporation mentality, it might be better to let the greedy capitalist pigs have their rib roast and booze, the better to hasten the demise of the evil profit mongers.
Bottom line, it just won’t work.
Fact of the matter is, that for every heath food devotee, like Jerome Rodale, who died on live TV-- doubtless from eating too many roots and berries coupled with asparagus boiled in urine—somewhere in Japan there’s a little 112 year old man who will attribute his longevity to drinking twelve bottles of sake per diem.
Plus, recipients of food stamps are just as bright as the next guy, and will be busy subverting regulations every way they wish to.
So why continue pushing nightmarish and ultimately unenforceable regulatory complexities?
How much simpler it would be to encourage the education of parents (and children) about basic rules of nutrition and health in order they begin by their own free will to make sound choices for themselves and their children. The basics of the food pyramid are not all that hard to learn and implement.
But I guess that would be just too easy.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Now or Never
At different times during its history, a nation inevitably experiences “now or never” moments, turning points irrevocably leading to its restoration or to unmitigated disaster. At times, a yawning precipice opens up revealing a danger so wide, deep and threatening that if one more step is taken, the entire national enterprise falls off a cliff.
We can see such moments in retropsect: The expiration of the Weimar republic; the rise of the Bolshevik Revolution; the grand experiments of the Great Leap Forward. All signaled the absolute terminal point of national constructs.
The United States is at a "now or never" moment.
During the last decade, the annihilation of federalism proceeded apace as increasingly, big government trampled the constitutional principles of limited government and abandoned the commandments of fiscal common sense.
Since the elections of 2008, the accelerants poured on the bonfires ignited by the last administration have resulted in a raging inferno whose wildfire flames are devouring what little remained of our national structures.
Among the many foundational building blocks of our nation that have been consumed by the Obama arsonists, who consider the incineration of our nation’s traditions a mere bonfire of vanities: State sovereignty, as witnessed by the egregious attacks of the administration on the state of Arizona; equal justice before the law, as demonstrated by the failure to prosecute the Black Panther voter intimidation case; the free market economy, as evidenced by the government takeover of big banks, the auto industry and health care; the corruption of the governmental process by bribes and handouts; the great good of genuine civil rights, now being consumed by the inflammatory class and racial warfare; and the integrity of the economy, as shown by the volcanic eruption of federal spending and debt.
Stunned citizens, seeing the rapidity with which our country is being consumed, have reacted with shock—and with resistance. Suddenly, the conservative American center, alarmed by the prospect of a bonfire of personal liberties, the burning of the Constitution and cremation of true federalism, has risen to stop the country from falling off the cliff into an inferno. Suddenly, Americans realize that if they do not act, the inferno will, if allowed to spread, melt the Statue of Liberty herself; and in her place would rise, like Phoenix from the ashes, the terrible Medusa-like Leviathan of an iron fisted, all powerful State.
The great American conservative center has awakened. They know the election of 2010 is like none other in their nation’s history. They see the “now or never” moment for their beloved country is upon them. They agree the nation must be rescued and dragged back from the precipice and the pit of fire that lies beneath.
Conservative Americans realize nothing must divert their strength from the task of rescue before them. And nothing must prevent their turning out in droves to effectuate a devastating defeat to the powers that fiddle, play and tinker with the country's destiny while our nation burns.
Americans must erect a political firewall "now or never."
2012 might be too late.
We can see such moments in retropsect: The expiration of the Weimar republic; the rise of the Bolshevik Revolution; the grand experiments of the Great Leap Forward. All signaled the absolute terminal point of national constructs.
The United States is at a "now or never" moment.
During the last decade, the annihilation of federalism proceeded apace as increasingly, big government trampled the constitutional principles of limited government and abandoned the commandments of fiscal common sense.
Since the elections of 2008, the accelerants poured on the bonfires ignited by the last administration have resulted in a raging inferno whose wildfire flames are devouring what little remained of our national structures.
Among the many foundational building blocks of our nation that have been consumed by the Obama arsonists, who consider the incineration of our nation’s traditions a mere bonfire of vanities: State sovereignty, as witnessed by the egregious attacks of the administration on the state of Arizona; equal justice before the law, as demonstrated by the failure to prosecute the Black Panther voter intimidation case; the free market economy, as evidenced by the government takeover of big banks, the auto industry and health care; the corruption of the governmental process by bribes and handouts; the great good of genuine civil rights, now being consumed by the inflammatory class and racial warfare; and the integrity of the economy, as shown by the volcanic eruption of federal spending and debt.
Stunned citizens, seeing the rapidity with which our country is being consumed, have reacted with shock—and with resistance. Suddenly, the conservative American center, alarmed by the prospect of a bonfire of personal liberties, the burning of the Constitution and cremation of true federalism, has risen to stop the country from falling off the cliff into an inferno. Suddenly, Americans realize that if they do not act, the inferno will, if allowed to spread, melt the Statue of Liberty herself; and in her place would rise, like Phoenix from the ashes, the terrible Medusa-like Leviathan of an iron fisted, all powerful State.
The great American conservative center has awakened. They know the election of 2010 is like none other in their nation’s history. They see the “now or never” moment for their beloved country is upon them. They agree the nation must be rescued and dragged back from the precipice and the pit of fire that lies beneath.
Conservative Americans realize nothing must divert their strength from the task of rescue before them. And nothing must prevent their turning out in droves to effectuate a devastating defeat to the powers that fiddle, play and tinker with the country's destiny while our nation burns.
Americans must erect a political firewall "now or never."
2012 might be too late.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Abattoir
ABATTOIR:"A public slaughterhouse."
In August 1941 Heinrich Himmler travelled to Minsk, as he wanted to see with his own eyes how the einsatzgruppen were performing their extermination campaign against the Jews. While there, he witnessed 100 Jews being shot in a ditch outside the town.
SS-Obergruppenführer Karl Wolff described the event in his diary: “Himmler's face was green. He took out his handkerchief and wiped his cheek where a piece of brain had squirted up on to it. Then he vomited.”
Wolff records that after shakily recovering his composure, Himmler proceeded to give the SS men a lecture on following the "highest moral law of the Party" in carrying out their work.
Though Himmler was revolted, he did not change his ideology, no matter how gruesome its actualization proved. Instead, he gave orders that a more efficient means of killing be devised.
Later, after the war was ended General Eisenhower would demand that German citizens be forced to go to Buchenwald not only to see the results of Himmler’s efficiency but actually to load the corpses on wagons for disposal.
Time and again the German folk would say, “We didn’t know.”
Blindness similar to Himmler’s prevails among the ideologues of the “pro choice” crowd. No matter how gruesome the actualities of the mega buck abortion industry, no compromise is accepted. Abortion on demand throughout pregnancy is adhered to steadfastly, though the means of killing the pre-born may vary according to efficiency and assurance of result; namely, a dead baby.
And so the carnage goes on virtually unobstructed.
But once in a while, the veil of secrecy is rent and the entire populace is given a glimpse of the horrors of the lucrative abortion industry.
On August 12 in Elkton, MD, just across our state line, an 18 year old girl who had been 21 weeks pregnant was rushed to the hospital. Her uterus, bowel and vagina had been pierced by one Dr. Nicola Riley, who flew in from Utah every other week to do late term abortions.
The abortion had been initiated by New Jersey abortionist Steven Chase Brigham, who runs a chain of 15 abortion mills. He had inserted laminaria to dilate the teenager’s cervix so the baby could be dismembered and pulled out piece by piece. But things did not go according to plan. Not only did Riley lacerate the girl’s organs, but the abortion was incomplete. The baby’s head was detached and pushed through the uterine wall into the abdominal cavity.
The semi-conscious teen was dropped off at the hospital by Riley and Brigham in a rental car. Riley then left the bleeding patient to go perform another abortion. The girl herself was flown to John Hopkins hospital where, at last report, she remains in critical condition.
When police raided Brigham’s Elkton “clinic,” they found 32 late term fetuses—one of which was 35-36 weeks gestation--tossed in a freezer. A search for documents revealed there were no medical records for most of the women and girls who had undergone abortions.
I wonder if the police threw up.
Certainly they, like Elkton residents, came face to face with the revolting and grim reality of the abortion industry. Unlike the German citizens who supposedly “Didn’t know what was going on,” Elkton police and residents now can’t use the “I didn’t know” excuse.
They know.
So what happens to the 32 tiny flash frozen corpses?
What may not be known to Elkton residents is that sale of fetal parts is a lucrative companion business to the abortion industry. As the aborted infants have no status under law, they can be and are sold for use in medical research. The biggest demand for human fetal parts comes from pharmaceutical and biological firms, government and university research laboratories.
Doubtless the pre-born frozen babies were going to be sold to such organizations, some of which place orders specifying the body parts come from live survivors of the abortion process. No frozen goods for those picky types. They want fresh samples.
Now Elkton residents know this, too.
So the question for Elkton residents (along with the rest of US citizens) is why, now that they know exactly what is going on in their town, they would continue to tolerate the grisly practices of abortionists like Steven Brigham and Nicola Riley?
Other questions Elktonians should think about: How are the practices of abortionists Brigham and Riley any different from the execution of Jews by the SS? How is the sale of fetal body parts different than turning Jews into soap and lampshades?
Elkton residents now know there has been a baby abattoir in their back yard. While it is presently under investigation and closed down, there is no legal reason why other enterprising abortionists can’t open yet another “clinic.”
So what are they to do? What can they do?
They must work to stop the carnage. They must cease looking the other way. They must stop the denials of the truth and look at it in those frozen, tiny faces.
Why?
Because now they know.
In August 1941 Heinrich Himmler travelled to Minsk, as he wanted to see with his own eyes how the einsatzgruppen were performing their extermination campaign against the Jews. While there, he witnessed 100 Jews being shot in a ditch outside the town.
SS-Obergruppenführer Karl Wolff described the event in his diary: “Himmler's face was green. He took out his handkerchief and wiped his cheek where a piece of brain had squirted up on to it. Then he vomited.”
Wolff records that after shakily recovering his composure, Himmler proceeded to give the SS men a lecture on following the "highest moral law of the Party" in carrying out their work.
Though Himmler was revolted, he did not change his ideology, no matter how gruesome its actualization proved. Instead, he gave orders that a more efficient means of killing be devised.
Later, after the war was ended General Eisenhower would demand that German citizens be forced to go to Buchenwald not only to see the results of Himmler’s efficiency but actually to load the corpses on wagons for disposal.
Time and again the German folk would say, “We didn’t know.”
Blindness similar to Himmler’s prevails among the ideologues of the “pro choice” crowd. No matter how gruesome the actualities of the mega buck abortion industry, no compromise is accepted. Abortion on demand throughout pregnancy is adhered to steadfastly, though the means of killing the pre-born may vary according to efficiency and assurance of result; namely, a dead baby.
And so the carnage goes on virtually unobstructed.
But once in a while, the veil of secrecy is rent and the entire populace is given a glimpse of the horrors of the lucrative abortion industry.
On August 12 in Elkton, MD, just across our state line, an 18 year old girl who had been 21 weeks pregnant was rushed to the hospital. Her uterus, bowel and vagina had been pierced by one Dr. Nicola Riley, who flew in from Utah every other week to do late term abortions.
The abortion had been initiated by New Jersey abortionist Steven Chase Brigham, who runs a chain of 15 abortion mills. He had inserted laminaria to dilate the teenager’s cervix so the baby could be dismembered and pulled out piece by piece. But things did not go according to plan. Not only did Riley lacerate the girl’s organs, but the abortion was incomplete. The baby’s head was detached and pushed through the uterine wall into the abdominal cavity.
The semi-conscious teen was dropped off at the hospital by Riley and Brigham in a rental car. Riley then left the bleeding patient to go perform another abortion. The girl herself was flown to John Hopkins hospital where, at last report, she remains in critical condition.
When police raided Brigham’s Elkton “clinic,” they found 32 late term fetuses—one of which was 35-36 weeks gestation--tossed in a freezer. A search for documents revealed there were no medical records for most of the women and girls who had undergone abortions.
I wonder if the police threw up.
Certainly they, like Elkton residents, came face to face with the revolting and grim reality of the abortion industry. Unlike the German citizens who supposedly “Didn’t know what was going on,” Elkton police and residents now can’t use the “I didn’t know” excuse.
They know.
So what happens to the 32 tiny flash frozen corpses?
What may not be known to Elkton residents is that sale of fetal parts is a lucrative companion business to the abortion industry. As the aborted infants have no status under law, they can be and are sold for use in medical research. The biggest demand for human fetal parts comes from pharmaceutical and biological firms, government and university research laboratories.
Doubtless the pre-born frozen babies were going to be sold to such organizations, some of which place orders specifying the body parts come from live survivors of the abortion process. No frozen goods for those picky types. They want fresh samples.
Now Elkton residents know this, too.
So the question for Elkton residents (along with the rest of US citizens) is why, now that they know exactly what is going on in their town, they would continue to tolerate the grisly practices of abortionists like Steven Brigham and Nicola Riley?
Other questions Elktonians should think about: How are the practices of abortionists Brigham and Riley any different from the execution of Jews by the SS? How is the sale of fetal body parts different than turning Jews into soap and lampshades?
Elkton residents now know there has been a baby abattoir in their back yard. While it is presently under investigation and closed down, there is no legal reason why other enterprising abortionists can’t open yet another “clinic.”
So what are they to do? What can they do?
They must work to stop the carnage. They must cease looking the other way. They must stop the denials of the truth and look at it in those frozen, tiny faces.
Why?
Because now they know.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Religion Matters
Those who believe citizens should “Keep religion out of politics” betray a lack of knowledge about both. For the truth of the matter is the two have always been inextricably intertwined--never more so than today.
The current president as well as Delaware’s Democrat nominee for the senate, Chris Coons (among others either already in or presently seeking high office), hold strong religious/political beliefs based on a contemporary distortion of Christianity known as liberation theology.
President Obama learned much of his theology as a congregant of Jeremiah Wright, whereas Mr. Coons became a convert to the new theology during his stay in Africa and through his studies at Yale Divinity School. Both men share similar world views; views that infuse and inform their politics.
For those unfamiliar with theological trends, liberation theology as propounded by its founder, Gustavo Gutierrez and his followers and imitators such as James Cone and the aforementioned Mr. Wright, sees salvation not as an individual relationship with Christ, but as a collective sanctification of an entire society. For the proponent of liberation theology salvation is both social and political.
To put it another way, sin is no longer primarily of individual origin (original sin) but is collective, finding its origins in social structures which must be dismantled and rebuilt according to new salvific principles. Basically, those principles involve integrating the Marxist critique of capitalism within the framework of a re-interpreted Christianity. The concept of individual sin and individual redemption is replaced with the idea of collective sin stratified in class and social structures which need radical, “fundamental change” if humanity, especially the poor and oppressed of humanity, is to be collectively saved.
A new communist/socialist/”Christian” economic system is to replace capitalism, which is seen as inherently evil and oppressive. Capitalism is seen as creating poverty, fostering oppression of minorities and favoring only a few rich people.
Further, liberation theology proponent James Cone, who heavily influenced Jeremiah Wright, saw the most oppressive class as white, believing white racism alone was responsible for the oppression of minority status blacks, but he did not stop there. He not only integrated Marxist economic thought with Christian belief, but called for a complete liberation of blacks from racism, capitalism and imperialism.
Our current president’s domestic and foreign policies are explicable in terms of black liberation theology, as he fights all three fronts—racism, capitalism and imperialism—from his position in the White House. Further, his foreign policy is an offshoot of liberation theology in that it exhibits strong “third worldism;” that is, a belief that the poverty in Africa and elsewhere is the fault of Western capitalist structures which keep the boot on the neck of impoverished nations. All wealth has the stench of unjust gain, and only redistributing unjust gains made at the expense of the poor will redeem society. Third-worldism also involves giving support to Third World national liberation movements against the West, as the West is the premier example of collective guilt by virtue of its sinful social structure.
In sum, for those whose beliefs are based on liberation theology, salvation for the world involves ridding the US of its faulty capitalist economic and social structures and leveling the classes by distributing the wealth of the rich. Thus both the US and the entire world will be collectively redeemed. That is why our president speaks so often of “collective salvation.”
The ferocious drive of the left to radically transform and fundamentally change the social and economic structures of the US and the entire West—to say nothing of the entire world-- then, often arises from their strongly held religious/political world view, a view which amounts to forcing a religion down the throats of the masses.
***
The above thoughts are pertinent to the hurly burly of the current senatorial contest in Delaware. For Delawareans, it is important to know Mr. Coons’ background and convictions are those of liberation theology. As Delaware is the corporate capital of the nation—capitalism defined!—it might not be a good idea to elect a man whose theological and political weltanschauung is intrinsically anti-corporation, anti-capitalist and anti-rich (anti-business class). It might be ruinous to elect a senator who has already indicated redistribution of wealth by heavy taxation is a cornerstone of his world view.
There is a reason Mr. Coon is attracting favorable notice from the White House. He shares Obama’s liberationist beliefs and has already indicated he is on board with the Obama agenda of radical restructuring of America—"fundamental change."
Delawareans should beware.
Someone else’s religion is about to be forced on you.
***Post script on an article just found: It appears I have a doppelganger in Jeffrey Lord of American Spectator, whose article on Coons and liberation theology provides much more exhaustive coverage than my own piece on the subject. For those interested, go to the following link:
http://spectator.org/archives/2010/09/20/chris-coons-volunteer-for-libe
The current president as well as Delaware’s Democrat nominee for the senate, Chris Coons (among others either already in or presently seeking high office), hold strong religious/political beliefs based on a contemporary distortion of Christianity known as liberation theology.
President Obama learned much of his theology as a congregant of Jeremiah Wright, whereas Mr. Coons became a convert to the new theology during his stay in Africa and through his studies at Yale Divinity School. Both men share similar world views; views that infuse and inform their politics.
For those unfamiliar with theological trends, liberation theology as propounded by its founder, Gustavo Gutierrez and his followers and imitators such as James Cone and the aforementioned Mr. Wright, sees salvation not as an individual relationship with Christ, but as a collective sanctification of an entire society. For the proponent of liberation theology salvation is both social and political.
To put it another way, sin is no longer primarily of individual origin (original sin) but is collective, finding its origins in social structures which must be dismantled and rebuilt according to new salvific principles. Basically, those principles involve integrating the Marxist critique of capitalism within the framework of a re-interpreted Christianity. The concept of individual sin and individual redemption is replaced with the idea of collective sin stratified in class and social structures which need radical, “fundamental change” if humanity, especially the poor and oppressed of humanity, is to be collectively saved.
A new communist/socialist/”Christian” economic system is to replace capitalism, which is seen as inherently evil and oppressive. Capitalism is seen as creating poverty, fostering oppression of minorities and favoring only a few rich people.
Further, liberation theology proponent James Cone, who heavily influenced Jeremiah Wright, saw the most oppressive class as white, believing white racism alone was responsible for the oppression of minority status blacks, but he did not stop there. He not only integrated Marxist economic thought with Christian belief, but called for a complete liberation of blacks from racism, capitalism and imperialism.
Our current president’s domestic and foreign policies are explicable in terms of black liberation theology, as he fights all three fronts—racism, capitalism and imperialism—from his position in the White House. Further, his foreign policy is an offshoot of liberation theology in that it exhibits strong “third worldism;” that is, a belief that the poverty in Africa and elsewhere is the fault of Western capitalist structures which keep the boot on the neck of impoverished nations. All wealth has the stench of unjust gain, and only redistributing unjust gains made at the expense of the poor will redeem society. Third-worldism also involves giving support to Third World national liberation movements against the West, as the West is the premier example of collective guilt by virtue of its sinful social structure.
In sum, for those whose beliefs are based on liberation theology, salvation for the world involves ridding the US of its faulty capitalist economic and social structures and leveling the classes by distributing the wealth of the rich. Thus both the US and the entire world will be collectively redeemed. That is why our president speaks so often of “collective salvation.”
The ferocious drive of the left to radically transform and fundamentally change the social and economic structures of the US and the entire West—to say nothing of the entire world-- then, often arises from their strongly held religious/political world view, a view which amounts to forcing a religion down the throats of the masses.
***
The above thoughts are pertinent to the hurly burly of the current senatorial contest in Delaware. For Delawareans, it is important to know Mr. Coons’ background and convictions are those of liberation theology. As Delaware is the corporate capital of the nation—capitalism defined!—it might not be a good idea to elect a man whose theological and political weltanschauung is intrinsically anti-corporation, anti-capitalist and anti-rich (anti-business class). It might be ruinous to elect a senator who has already indicated redistribution of wealth by heavy taxation is a cornerstone of his world view.
There is a reason Mr. Coon is attracting favorable notice from the White House. He shares Obama’s liberationist beliefs and has already indicated he is on board with the Obama agenda of radical restructuring of America—"fundamental change."
Delawareans should beware.
Someone else’s religion is about to be forced on you.
***Post script on an article just found: It appears I have a doppelganger in Jeffrey Lord of American Spectator, whose article on Coons and liberation theology provides much more exhaustive coverage than my own piece on the subject. For those interested, go to the following link:
http://spectator.org/archives/2010/09/20/chris-coons-volunteer-for-libe
Friday, September 17, 2010
Gollum
Every candidate for office dreams of the day his opponent is tagged with an unforgettable, indelibly etched, iconic moment. Usually it’s a photograph, but it really doesn’t matter what the moment consists of. The opposition is doomed because the event is emblazoned on the voters’ memory and nothing else computes. It’s no use. It’s over. Speeches are no longer remembered, policy statements fall on deaf ears, the candidate’s protests and explanations automatically muted. The candidate is doomed.
Who can forget helmeted little Michael Dukakis with his dopey grin riding in M1 Abrams tank? How could the guy who released Willie Horton pull off a warrior stance? It was a risible and unforgettable image. Dukakis never recovered.
People are still laughing over Jimmy Carter and the rabid swamp rabbit incident. According to the eye witness account, the rodent came at the canoe, “hissing menacingly, its teeth flashing and nostrils flared and making straight for the president.” Would the beast had been a bear instead of a rabbit, as the image of Carter flailing at the desperate creature with a canoe paddle seemed to define his timid presidency perfectly.
Or, who could conceal (admittedly undeserving) snickering over President Ford’s pratfall down the stairs of Air Force 1? To make matters worse, he even fell up the same stairs while wearing ...well,uh…an extremely unattractive and clownish brown and gold plaid jacket. The apparent clumsiness of someone who was actually a fine athlete was a godsend for the opposition, who used the images to their own nefarious ends. Ford was not helped by the fact he made a serious foreign policy goof by claiming during televised debate that Eastern Europe was not under the control of Russia. The clumsy image stuck. He was done for.
But iconic images are in the making for today’s races, most notably one gifted by Harry Reid to the O’Donnell campaign. Reid has called Mr. Coons, O’Donnell’s opposition, “My pet.”
Oh, dear.
No sooner had he spoken than Michelle Malkin had the perfect photo shopped image up on her web site, the headline saying it all: “Creepy Harry Reid Hands O’Donnell her First General Election Ad on a Silver Platter.” Here is the unfortunate and soon to be iconic image of Ms. O’Donnell’s opponent:
http://michellemalkin.com/2010/09/15/creepy-harry-reid-hands-odonnell-her-first-general-election-ad-on-a-silver-platter/
My guess is that Coons won’t recuperate any time soon from this image, as Reid’s fatally condescending and diminishing words indicate to every voter that Mr. Coons is not his own man, but is merely a pet for Harry Reid and the Democrat establishment. Many commentators have said and written as much, but the iconic Gollum image will fix that perception in the mind of the public as nothing else would.
In a way, that’s too bad, as the policy differences between Ms. O’Donnell and Mr. Coons could not be more starkly delineated or more deserving of deep and serious discussion. After all, one candidate stands for Reagan style conservatism and the other stands for the Obama agenda. They are, regardless of iconic images, representative in symbolic and real terms of the politics dividing our country.
Nonetheless, we can doubtless expect more photo shopped images of Mr. Coons, whose physiognomy will now appear in a burst of creative and unflattering images put together by busy computer geeks working in their basements.
Who can forget helmeted little Michael Dukakis with his dopey grin riding in M1 Abrams tank? How could the guy who released Willie Horton pull off a warrior stance? It was a risible and unforgettable image. Dukakis never recovered.
People are still laughing over Jimmy Carter and the rabid swamp rabbit incident. According to the eye witness account, the rodent came at the canoe, “hissing menacingly, its teeth flashing and nostrils flared and making straight for the president.” Would the beast had been a bear instead of a rabbit, as the image of Carter flailing at the desperate creature with a canoe paddle seemed to define his timid presidency perfectly.
Or, who could conceal (admittedly undeserving) snickering over President Ford’s pratfall down the stairs of Air Force 1? To make matters worse, he even fell up the same stairs while wearing ...well,uh…an extremely unattractive and clownish brown and gold plaid jacket. The apparent clumsiness of someone who was actually a fine athlete was a godsend for the opposition, who used the images to their own nefarious ends. Ford was not helped by the fact he made a serious foreign policy goof by claiming during televised debate that Eastern Europe was not under the control of Russia. The clumsy image stuck. He was done for.
But iconic images are in the making for today’s races, most notably one gifted by Harry Reid to the O’Donnell campaign. Reid has called Mr. Coons, O’Donnell’s opposition, “My pet.”
Oh, dear.
No sooner had he spoken than Michelle Malkin had the perfect photo shopped image up on her web site, the headline saying it all: “Creepy Harry Reid Hands O’Donnell her First General Election Ad on a Silver Platter.” Here is the unfortunate and soon to be iconic image of Ms. O’Donnell’s opponent:
http://michellemalkin.com/2010/09/15/creepy-harry-reid-hands-odonnell-her-first-general-election-ad-on-a-silver-platter/
My guess is that Coons won’t recuperate any time soon from this image, as Reid’s fatally condescending and diminishing words indicate to every voter that Mr. Coons is not his own man, but is merely a pet for Harry Reid and the Democrat establishment. Many commentators have said and written as much, but the iconic Gollum image will fix that perception in the mind of the public as nothing else would.
In a way, that’s too bad, as the policy differences between Ms. O’Donnell and Mr. Coons could not be more starkly delineated or more deserving of deep and serious discussion. After all, one candidate stands for Reagan style conservatism and the other stands for the Obama agenda. They are, regardless of iconic images, representative in symbolic and real terms of the politics dividing our country.
Nonetheless, we can doubtless expect more photo shopped images of Mr. Coons, whose physiognomy will now appear in a burst of creative and unflattering images put together by busy computer geeks working in their basements.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)