Even atheists will have a "come to Jesus" time

I make no bones that I'm a born again Christian. There are a number of references in Scripture that state there is a time certain when "every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father". Even satan and all demons will bow and confess to this all pervading and ultimate truth. I've stated a number of times that the truth is, has been and will always be hard, inflexible, inviolate. That the truth wills out always. Seems Governor-elect Jerry Brown is facing what all lefties will ultimately have to face and acknowledge: the complete collapse of their economic system and beliefs as the glaring truth and final reality of real world economics hits them center-point at the brow ridge.
Brown says referring to his upcoming budget proposal "We’ve been living in a fantasy world.It’s much worse than I thought " A brutally hard admission for a lefty. Brown goes on to state, in a rare moment of intellectual honesty that he'll-" deliver a budget free of any of the gimmickry that both the executive branch and lawmakers have used to pass budgets this year.

Brown cited the LAO’s estimate that at least 75% of the solutions used to bring the last three state budgets into balance were either short-term in nature or failed to materialize, without addressing the long-term structural imbalance between spending and revenue. " (emphasis mine). In other words, the radical left-wing, beholden to the unions and especially the public employee unions Democrat controlled legislature was completely out of touch with economic reality and truth... for at least three budget cycles. And they, and Governor-elect Brown must now face the hard, harsh, inflexible , inviolate real, adult world of real world economics. Well, at least brown acknowledges hard truth. Whether or not he really acts on it is another issue.

Now don't get me wrong. Governor Herr Terminator also refused to live in the real world and has his fingerprints all over these past budgets and now current problems/crisis. If Governor-elect Brown truly pulls this off, I'll be one amazed conservative. After all , he'll need to pull along a large number of "it has to happen this way because I say it will happen this way" ultra left wing Democrats in the California state legislature. And good luck with that!

Even more scary, California is a small world example of Congress.

One can kick the can down the road just so many times.

Happy Birthday Original Tea Party!!!

Yes true patriots, today is the 236th anniversary of that daring foray into telling the government to "stick it!", the original Boston Tea Party. There is a Fox News story where the telling comment is "

By the 1760s, American colonists consumed more than a million pounds of tea each year. Britain, which produced the stuff in India, should have been swimming in revenues from the trade. But taxes and regulation, as they often do, fouled the situation."
Think that happens here in America? Today? As it has from time eternal? Reminds me of Pemex, the Mexican oil company, that when oil hit a peak a couple of years ago, was losing money.
Always remember, there is nothing that Big Government can't, and won't, screw up.
Gotta love the Sons of Liberty!
Now, go have a nice cup of joe and toast the SOL.

What I learned from Al Franken

I was asked to be involved in the Emmer/Dayton recount. I was a Floor Captain for Scott County. It was my job to organize and watch over the process as it evolved.
I keep reading the comments in Prairie Pravda from all the Dayton flacks who seemingly fail to understand that the recount is not the Emmer campaign's idea. It's required by law. Dayton's poorly educated lemmings seem to miss this point. They also whine and moan about "frivolous" ballots.
I challenged a number of ballots Monday and Tuesday. And all I did was use the Franken Ballot Challenging Primer (2008 edition).
So, Senator Franken, thanks for the training material.

Even yacht owners!

Not knowing that my two entries this week would involve boats, there is this story about how even the uber rich (well, at least those who marry the ones who married the uber rich) seem to appreciate money...when it comes to their own at least.
Seems that Senator John and Teresa (Heinz) Kerry prefer not to "invest" their money into the local Massachusetts taxing authority.

What I learned about economics from dinghys

Ponder, if you would, the two images below:






















I've raced sailboats for over a quarter century. The sailor who taught me to sail and race raced on boats similar to the ones on the right. He raced in a class named SORC (Southern Ocean Racing Conference). These are multi-million dollar boats, crewed by a dozen or more. The next class up would be America's Cup racers. In other words, these are serious sailors. The boat he raced on was the SORC Class winner for years.
When Bob introduced me to sailing, we sailed a 22 foot Creekmore. It was an aluminum hull, fractional rig boat. Lots of fun! But, here's what I learned about sailing: a dinghy went along with the Creekmore. It was similar to the boat on the left-small, single sail, center board. When Bob said he needed to tune up his sailing skills, or he thought that he needed to get in back to sailing basics, he said he'd go out on the dinghy. He said to remember that all the forces, all the fluid flow dynamics (air and water as a sailboat sails through two fluids) are exactly the same for a small boat as for a large boat.The Bernoulli Principle applies for any and all sailboats. When the tiller gets pulled or pushed, the fluid dynamics across the rudder are the same. When the sail is either trimmed in or eased, air flow principles are exactly the same. Laminar flow and separation along the hull don't care if the hull is aluminum, fiberglass, wood or carbon fiber. Physical laws are always obeyed. And it occurs to me, the same can be said of economics.
If in your family (or you as an individual) spend more than you take in, you go into debt. The further you go into debt, the lower your credit score and it costs you more to borrow to fund that debt (that cost is called "interest" which is a reflection of the risk that the lender is taking in lending to you). It will eventually get to the point where no one will lend to you, at any interest rate as it becomes apparent that the lender will never get the full value of the loan returned. The same principles apply to national economics. The only difference is that the government has the force of law to use to get its way. It can also print money and force its boss (the citizen) to pay more to it via taxes, tariffs, fees. You can not force your boss to pay you more and you can not print money. None-the-less, the laws of economics, like the Bernoulli Principle and fluid dynamics, are inviolate and not a respecter of an individual, families or governments.

We have inexperienced, arrogant helmsmen with their hands on the tiller that controls the rudder. They refuse to learn to sail or to heed the advice of experienced sailors. They are resolute in saying nothing of the lighthouse they passed sometime ago.They ignore the warning buoys and the readily visible wrecks of previous governments on the rocks and shoals of socialism, Keynesian economics and government intrusions.

If only they would be the only ones that drown when the wreck occurs.

Time for one of two things to occur: either experienced sailors take over the helm. Or it's time to man the lifeboats.

SCOTUS redux two years later

After a long hiatus, I find it interesting that my first entry is basically a link to an entry I wrote almost exactly two years ago. The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), in its typical year end flurry of decisions, came to a conclusion regarding the MacDonald 2nd Amendment case out of Chicago. Chicago, for years, has had some of the most stringent anti 2nd Amendment laws in America. And to go along with that distinction, Chicago was also the murder capitol of the United States for many years. But, again, my comments are not on the case itself but rather that the case decision was, again, 5-4.

The historic part of the decision is an amalgam: for the second time in over two centuries, the SCOTUS has ruled on the 2nd Amendment plus, for the first time as to whether it is an incorporated right. SCOTUS has a very long record of rulings on the 1st Amendment, the 4th Amendment and the 5th Amendment. The incredible legal twistings and rationales regarding the 1st Amendment over decades is truly breathtaking. I am so often reminded as of late what that great activist SCOTUS jurist ("great" being an adjective modifying "activist" not "jurist") Thurgood Marshall stated:" You do what you think is right and let the law catch up." (One word: YIKES! ) So, with all that activist sentiment regarding the incorporation principle for the Bill of Rights, the 2nd Amendment remained an orphan of decisions. Until now.

I've tried to remind my readers that so many people confuse what the Constitution is all about. They confuse the concept of a "federal" versus a "national" Constitution. The Constitution was all about establishing but more importantly restricting this newly created federal government. With the arrival of the 14th Amendment and its "due process" clause, the Constitution was on its way to becoming national, not just federal in some defiance of the 10th Amendment (aka Amendment X BTW). With this "due process" clause as background, there were four SCOTUS jurists that failed to find further incorporation to protect the citizens under the Constitution.

I am once again very distressed to learn that my unalienable rights hang on the decision of just one Supreme Court jurist. And as I predicted, the fight goes on as witnessed by Mayor Daley and his fight against Chicago citizens defending themselves.

"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt." John Philpot Curran

Blogger Making me move

Have to find a new Blog Update source but in the short term we will be at a new location:

This blog is now located at http://savagerepublican.blogspot.com/.
You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here.

For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to
http://savagerepublican.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default.

Walk for Life

While everyone is at the GOP Convention I will also be helping raise money for the Alpha Walkf for Life

Walk for Life

Also, look for a new redesign of Site to come Soon!

Whoppee! It's TAX DAY!!!!!!

Today is April 15th, as we are required to voluntarily pay under threats from the IRS.
As I wrote a few years ago, the 16th Amendment was offered as "only a tax on the incomes of the rich." (Sound familiar at all?). Today, we make kitten and puppy stew to have those original tax rates back.
Tax Freedom Day (when the average worker has worked long enough to pay all his taxes) is usually around the middle of April. This means that you work nearly a third of a year just to pay the taxes you owe. Notice I said pay the taxes you owe. The Cost of Government Day which usually is in the first or second week of July is now out another month to August. (COGD means the total cost of government including taxes, regulations and the full burden on the economy government at all levels place on the taxpayer).

From Reason magazine: "Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society," said legendary Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. As students of Buck v. Bell could tell you, Holmes had a habit of being monstrously wrong, but if he's right about taxes and civilization, it's certainly worth asking whether we're getting what we pay for." Oh. So America is a club and taxes are dues. Or does that mean we were not civilized until the 16th Amendment?
And so, from Reason magazine, I present a short video for your edification on Tax Day.
Smile and be happy serf (even though a serf was much freer as he only had to provide 20-25% to his overlord. Didn't we go to war with a small island nation a few years back over a 3% tax on sugar?)

iPad vs oPad

From Hot Air (be sure to read the comments at this link at Hot Air):

A week ago Tuesday in Rochester

On 9 March, I had an eye opening encounter with the American health care system. I got up early and traveled to Mayo Clinic in Rochester for the first time in my life for a 7:30 a.m. appointment. Lots of paperwork at the office at St. Mary's Hospital-in addition to all the paperwork I filled out prior to the appointment. But, this was Mayo Clinic. At about 8:30 I had a 45 minute medical evaluation with the department head. We discussed prior treatments, current available treatments. He wanted to eliminate some concerns and explore a couple of possibilities. To that end he said he wanted an EKG, a blood draw and an MRI. He sent the requests out to his scheduler, Todd. Within 15 minutes, I had the EKG, blood draw and MRI all scheduled for that day. And all scheduled around a 1:00 p.m. audiology test I had scheduled for the same day. So, off I went. Going to Mayo Clinic and Methodist Hospital (right across the street). Todd and given me an itinerary and provided a map that he highlighted including where to park. If I ran into problems, he said to ask at any of the Information desks.
Now, Mayo is huge. The tests are run assembly line. But, everyone I ran into was friendly and efficient. And remember, Mayo is always ranked top five in so many categories.
And during lunch (yup, I had time for lunch too!), it occurred to me: ObamaCare in any form is a disaster; what was happening to me at Mayo, this day, could never, ever happen under ObamaCare. Mayo as it is would cease to exist.
And my resolve against the collectivists, progressives, lefties, RINO's was ratcheted up-markedly.

No words necessary

Convention Rules Time - Ask You Questions

Have a Question about Robert's Rules?
Wondering what to have in your BPOU or CD convention rules?
Always wondered what a Point of Order is?

Ask away in the Comments and I will do my best to Answer.

An important anniversary

Today is the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz Concentration Camp.
A small group of survivors braved the bone chilling cold to remember and give a human face to the past.


And at the opening in 1940:

And how was it that men could do this? Because they had the power. The evil in their hearts could roam free. It was just this type of government that the Constitution was meant to prevent (“Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.”-George Washington).
After the war, Germans were horrified at what they loosed on the world. Their protests were that this was not possible. After all, they were richly civilized people. They were the people of Beethoven, Bach, Handel and Goethe. Even Luther! But...

The best quote as a warning I can come up with today comes from none other than Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain)-"History doesn't repeat itself. But it sure does rhyme!"
"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt." John Philpot Curran

Once again , living history becomes past

I just read where one of the people who hid Anne Frank and her family passed away at 100. Miep Gies worked in Otto Franks office and agreed to hide and help the family for 25 months from 1942 to 1944. It was Mrs. Gies who found Anne Frank's diary in the aftermath just after the raid. From the stories I've read, she decided not to read the diary and kept it in full anticipation that she'd be able able to return it to the young diarist.
Anne Frank and her sister Margot died of typhus two weeks before her camp was liberated in 1945.
That being said, I remember coming across the only known movie film of Anne Frank showing a curious twelve year girl looking out a window at a wedding celebration.
Click on this link to view the short film (embedding has been disabled, much to my regret)

Always remember, this young girl died because of a government that had concentrated power, exactly what the Constitution was meant to stop.

One paintbrush

Mr. William Franklin Wanner's life is over.He's accused of molesting a ten year old girl a number of times. Even assuming that he's found not guilty, his life will never be the same. (Video footage seemingly corroborates the girls testimony. That being the case, adios.) But that's not why I'm writing. What prompted this entry was the end of the one sentence sixth paragraph: after describing that he's affiliated with Wanner Engineering, we also find out that he" has been a significant contributor to local and national Republican candidates." Oh. And why is that significant to the story in any way, shape or form? I forgot: it's the Star Tribune. Subtle smears against Republicans, Christians, etc are pro forma. This one isn't very subtle.
I'll keep monitoring the story for comments secure in the knowledge that that fact will be used by the commenters.
P.S. After 17 seconds of reflection, it occurs to me that another reason for the inclusion is to have all those candidates who received contributions from Wanner give back the money.

More canaries become worm food

First of all, the obligatory "Happy New Year". I happened to have slept through it, but...
I came across this headline yesterday:" Mayo Clinic in Arizona to Stop Treating Some Medicare Patients".Arizona-land of the snowbird and frozen tundra retirees. Arizona, where Phoenix is the kidnapping capitol of America. So, I read on. I discovered that Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic are non-profit (Mayo and Cleveland are ranked #2 and #4 ,respectively, in the nation). The article goes on to report that the Mayo Clinic Organization lost $840,000,000 treating Medicare patients last year, $120,000,000 of that in Arizona. The article goes on to say that there has been a 20% payment gap (for Medicare) nationwide, for at least a decade. Now, as a businessman, 20% means that in a non-profit atmosphere, that disparity is eating into your overhead recovery. In other words, you're not only not making money, you're losing money on each patient. And from the article, that's been going on for over a decade. OK, multiply 10 x 20% = 200%, meaning that 2 full years of revenue, not profit, but revenue have been lost over the past decade. Now, how does a business make up the difference? Only two ways: increase revenue and/or cut expenses. It ain't rocket science. Well, if you are offering a service with so many hours in a day and so many providers, you can charge more for those who pay in order to cover your losses (sound familiar yet? Now, you have another clue as to why aspirin in a hospital costs $10). Eliminating a non-profit or a pure cost item is eliminating an expense. Therefore, Medicare gets dropped. Yet, the Obamacare package is going to cut Medicare reimbursements by approximately $500,000,000.
So, where do Medicare retirees go now? What next? The article states that 92% of American doctors participate in Medicare, but that only 73% are taking new Medicare patients. I'm 60. I'm on the front edge of the wave called the Baby Boom. We will bankrupt the system that is now underfunded by tens of trillions of dollars. What will happen when the Baby Boomers behind me flood and overwhelm the system's ability to even come close to adequately funding the Medicare Plan? When you have the likes of Boxer, Feinstein, Franken, Klobuchar, Schumer, Jackson Lee who can't even give money away are now in charge of health care?
There will absolutely have to be rationing of health care. There is no way around it. The laws of economics are like the laws of physics- they are inevitable. There will be bureaucrats sitting someplace in a conference room. They will decide what treatments will be offered to what types of patients. Yah, that's right, people will have to die for lack of treatment for lack of money, aka the bureaucrats will therefore compose "death panels".
The truth hurts.
Oh, and you, me, everyone else-the good news: we can opt out. The bad news:but we'll be fined and/or be put in prison.
Bring it on...

P.S.- Seems even countries where there is complete and absolute government control experience the immutability of the laws of economic.