Friday, April 22, 2011

 

Blog Directions

Revamping the basis for Rightwords---April 22, 2011, Revised April 26, 2011

 
Themes
1.   Preserving and improving the American way of life
2.   Philosophical basis for practical decisions—a bridge between them
3.   Promoting freedom, liberty, and the Constitution
4.   Affirming an American Culture superseding all others
5.   Patriotism born of love of country and its people
6.   Affirming Natural Law, Rights and Duties
7.   Defending the nation from attacks from without and within
8.   Countering media bias
9.   Religion, moral absolutism and religious rights affirmed, excepting religions that are dedicated to the overthrow of the nation.
10. Critique of military forces engaged in various conflicts.
11. Ensuring that changes to our laws do good and not harm.
12. Ensuring that our laws are enforced properly throughout the nation. We are to be ruled by laws, not men.

Issues

Here is my list of the 100 major horrors we face in America today
To absorb this list all at once is a truly frightening thing! While it is basically a phrase outline with notes at this time, the list represents a hundred or so of the major issues, problems and directions we Americans need to monitor, analyze, disassemble and then revise, redo or rebuild in better form.
The list is not complete, obviously, and the huge stories behind each of the items listed need to be told in depth. Some of the items are overlapping in context, but so be it. I intend to refine the list as time go on.
Here is the list in no special order except as they occurred to me:

1. Government spending: hyperinflation is near at hand!
2. Government growth
3. Government arrogance
4. Judicial activism is not an allowed function of courts, and it subverts the Constitutional system of checks and balances.
5. Attacks on the Constitution must be thwarted.
6. Political correctness and multiculturalism (PCMC)
7. Secularism and the ACLU are driving God out of the public square.
8. Government lying, shading the truth, cooking the books
9. Gun control efforts to disarm the public and leave them defenseless. Law-abiding citizens should have an arsenal and be able to use the weapons effectively.
10. Anti-military and anti defense movements
11. Open borders clowns subverting our sovereignty in a bald vote-buying move.
12. AGW supporters gone hyper over something we most likely cannot fix.
13. Public sector unionism
14. Islam and Jihadism, the GWOT must be renamed GWOI
15. Growth of entitlements with vastly increased future costs.
16. Amnesty for Illegal immigrants—why? Because they are here? No, they broke the law.
17. Judicial soft-heartedness; revolving-door prisons, unusually light sentences, etc.
18. Internationalism and the UN; we are not ready for world government. There are too many amoral or immoral nations and their corrupt leaders still standing.
19. Erosion of property rights by the Supreme Court
20. Downgrading State’s Rights; accumulation of power by the Federal Government. We must achieve a proper balance.
21. Abortion and abortionists, infanticide
22. Potable water, irrigation water must be ensured.
23. Gay rights, gay marriage, gays in the military, DADT
24. Obamacare and the thrust to nationalization of the healthcare system must be stopped.
25. Federal Reserve System should be reformed
26. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are toxic to our financial system
27. Government ownership or takeover of private businesses—subverting private enterprise and private failure as a market economy requires for its proper functioning.
28. Multiple-term, career congressmen and senators growing senile in office, voting themselves raises and perks galore. We need term limits.
29. Direct election of senators, downgrading States, instead of having State legislatures appoint their representatives.
30. Non-enforcement of laws on the books
31. Earmarks
32. Misuse of the Commerce Clause
33. Crooked politicians, especially those that are allowed to stay in their jobs.
34. Collectivism in all of its forms
35. Atheists active in promoting their views to our regret
36. Anti-Christian groups and individuals
37. “Blockers” of all stripes
38. The tort system and trial lawyers
39. Campaign financing
40. Corrupt political machines
41. Our leftwing State Department
42. Unnecessary agricultural subsidies
43. The floating dollar not backed by real assets
44. Flight of manufacturing overseas
45. Bleeding heart mentality
46. Sovereignty under attack
47. Misleading the citizenry
48. Closed government run by czars without a legal basis.
49. Foreign policy debacles, Barack Bowing
50. Progressives, especially politicos and professors that indoctrinate their constituents and students.
51. Anti-Americanism and unpatriotic citizens.
52. Moral relativism—not in our government
53. Monetary policy
54. Moral degeneration of our society
55. Nihilism
56. Radicalism of the left, and the right
57. RINOs
58. Elites of the left
59. Democrats and leftists in general promote irrational programs.
60. War policy in Iraq
61. War policy in Afghanistan
62. War policy in Iran
63. North Korea problem
64. Number of federal agencies, boards, commissions, etc (1,177) is obviously excessive. Pseudo agencies like ACORN need ending.
65. Quashing investigations regarding lawmaker’s sins
66. Using race as a weapon
67. Deep Federal intrusion into education
68. Distortion of a proper energy policy; we need oil, so drill and pump! Meanwhile, exploit coal, natural gas, wind, solar, tides…
69. Environmentalism out of control
70. PITA and animal rights out of control
71. We have progressive taxes instead of a fixed consumer tax
72. Redistribution of wealth by the government is theft
73. Welfare should be for the provably needy only
74. Corrupt police anywhere is a problem; strong-arm tactics must be disallowed.
75. TV commercials now take up 24+ of every 60 minutes and have 8 three-minute interruptions per hour.
76. TV in general is a waste of time, with a very few exceptions.
77. Media bias to the Left leaves the majority of citizens without proper information to make or support decisions.
78. Legislators do not read the legislation they are voting on; they rely on their unelected staff to tell them what is in a bill.
79. Legislative tricks to pass huge, unread, 2,000-page, unpopular bills. Rule of conduct for legislation should be fixed by law and not left to the party in power to decide.
80. Legislators ignore the will of the people. Do you think they know best?
81. Political polarization left and right—“winner take all” mindset.
82. Untruthful and misleading attack ads; all ads for that matter!
83. The motivations of greed and power are too blatant now. How is it that our representatives become multi-millionaires?
84. Policies towards Israel and Palestine are sick.
85. FTC power grab is the worst imaginable.
86. Celebrities talking when they should be singing or something.
87. Scams, frauds, and con games on the public-- even on TV.
88. Internet hackers and their methods, including ID theft.
89. Rejection of personal responsibility for one’s life.
90. The cost of a college education is unreal now. Why?
91. The strong family should be heavily supported and admired.
92. Ethics and virtues need an overhaul at work, in the home and at school.
93. Pornography is rampant and far too accessible by children.
94. The drug war needs a significant boost, and it isn’t legalization of drugs!
95. Education in most K12 schools and in churches is terrible, especially about American history, its government, values, civics, and freedom as opposed to all other forms of governance.
96. Every government organization needs a thorough-going audit and review of its necessity, budget, personnel and policies with a view to downsizing, eliminating, consolidating, or streamlining their operations.
97. Reject pacifism at all costs!
98. Reject the proliferation of so-called social needs.
99. Scientific programs that benefit man should be supported. Others should be reviewed for possible termination.
100. Beware of con men spouting “hope and change” slogans; remember that that is exactly what they are---slogans.
101. Nuclear proliferation must be solved before we have a catastrophe.

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Tuesday, April 19, 2011

 

Hypocrisy Reigns

Verbal political battles are rife with hypocrisy.

The tactic of saddling a political party or an individual with historical misadventures is a well-developed art. It presumes that the misadventure of years ago in different circumstances and for rather uniquely different reasons is cause to believe that the same or very similar decision or policy would be promoted the next time the party or the individual is in a power position. So beat them over the head with it till they bleed!

Such a tactic wilfully ignores several points: 1) Parties and people do learn from their mistakes and will most likely take a far better position the next time out; 2) The accusers most often do not have all of the facts, and wilfully ignore what actually was the case for political reasons. Then too, hindsight is so much more accurate than foresight! The real factual basis quite often turns a trumped up losing proposition into a winner if you maintain your objectivity; 3) Quite a few of the accusers are simply twisting the facts around to create a (false) club with which to clobber the opposition and influence the average voter; 4) The emphasis should be on the NOW and not the past; and, just to be a tad facetious, 5) Political promises are not worth very much in the scheme of things to begin with. We have ample proof of that in the last two years from Obama, and from other Presidents as well, as we all know! Circumstances alter cases, as the saying goes, just to make things more difficult for you and me.

You know who your are and which tactics you use–honest or dishonest!

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Monday, April 18, 2011

 

Preserving and Improving America

Conservatives are in the business of preserving and improving any and all worthwhile aspects of the American way of life as they perceive it.

This includes, among many factors:

1. A nation of laws: the Constitution, civil or positive laws, customs and rules.

2. Freedom and Liberty for all citizens, including strong property rights, and the right to own and use guns, as well as freedoms of speech, travel, association, and religion.

3. The free market system, yet with adequate active regulation that effectively prevents fraud and abuse.

4. Maintaining the full and complete sovereignty of the US, and not ceding any aspect of sovereignty whatsoever to an international body, especially not the UN.

5. Natural rights, natural laws, and natural duties.

6. Financial rectitude and budgetary common sense. We support adequate control of spending and borrowing, and orderly and effective reduction of the national debt over time.

7. Charity (that many call welfare) for the needy, the ill, and the destitute.

8. A strong defensive capability for both homeland protection and foreign wars if and when necessary. We believe in just war.

9. Preserving social institutions, customs, and traditions of the nation against the onslaught of progressive changes that would harm a majority of the people.

10. Education of all citizens that succeeds in preparing them to be good and creative citizens in our republic, but not fostering a costly Federal bureaucratic educational superstructure and unions. We need to revert to the tried and true subjects and texts, and the unbiased teachers of yesterday.

11. Moral rectitude and belief in the Golden Rule.

12. The use of science to make life better for all, and to improve our knowledge in all directions.

13. Belief in the nation, patriotism.

14. Outreach to troubled nations.

15. Being a staunch ally to those that we make common cause with by either treaty or simple agreement.

16. Unwavering, implacable enemy of those that would damage or destroy the US or our real friends.

17. The idea of being successful at all that we undertake, be it: social, political, economic, military, environmental, or religious.

18. The exceptionalism of the American experiment in governance: the Constitution of the United States of America as a nonpareil system of thought.

19. The custom of admitting immigrants by a legal process and assimilating them within a generation or so is proper. The necessity is clear for deportation of illegal immigrants and not amnesty.

20. Minimal taxation necessary for running the government, but not for redistribution of wealth per se. Fair taxation is the goal, while progressive schemes are not acceptable. The goal is to let each citizen keep as much of his earnings as possible.

21. Identification of elements that need changes over time, either by expansion or by collapse, and working carefully to institute them using both the legal procedures of the Constitution, and the legislature, and the judiciary and the administration, as the Constitution envisions it to take place.

22. Understanding that Islam is not compatible with our freedoms and liberty, that its jihadist element is an existential threat to the US and way of life, and hence Islam has no standing as a non-threatening religion under our Constitution.

23. Belief that public unions should not be allowed in government at all, and that unions whose actions imperil the citizenry, such as preventing dairy supplies from entering a city, not manning aircraft controller positions, or impeding the defense of the nation, should be completely barred from such actions. In other words, life and survival come before the demands of a union.

24. We feel that there are proper subjects that can be promoted by government seed money under careful supervision, and, eventually, partial or full withdrawal by the government from the arena. Space is an example.

25. Social problems must be addressed properly, including abortion, and same sex marriage. Perhaps a national referendum is in order to ascertain whether the majority of voters favor or disfavor these issues, with legislative action to follow in accord with the wishes of the voters.

26. It is unfortunate that we do not have a free press or a free media. The ideal of the media being a major counter-balance to ensure effective government has been largely destroyed by a virtually complete bias on their part in favor of Leftist positions and Leftist candidates. This is an extremely unhealthy situation for our republic.

April 18, 2011

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Sunday, April 10, 2011

 

A Bit of Joy

Staring as I am way out to sea from my perch on the nineth floor balcony, with the sun on my face and a cool breeze to ward off the heat, and with hundreds of bathers and jet skis on the water, I become lulled into the rhythm of the ocean waves and the smell of salt water. This moment, this little bit of joy, out of months of tension and dire straits, is most welcome. In fact, it is rejuvenating to my spirit and even reaches my soul with a message of pleasure and basic sanity. The world is still there in all of its natural beauty, and at least some people are out for fun, not war. A week full of sun and wind and water, wonderful food, and new things to see makes for a fine vacation, doesn't it?

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