Liberty Watchman

The End Is Near

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty Watchman) — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 07:39:00 +0000

Are you tired of the Watchman's doom and gloom? So is he. But the sky really is falling and without immediate fiscal adjustments, the sky is going to kill us.

It's absolutely imperative you understand that the world as you know it will soon cease to exist. A global financial panic like none the world has ever seen is warming up in the bull pen. When panic takes the mound, he will be an effective closer for he game we call prosperity.

His first strike was thrown in 1929 and it lead to the Great Depression. As bad as that was, it was just strike one. Worldwide debt levels were still relatively low so we were able to bounce back.

His second fast ball came in the fall of 2008. The world came perilously close to a total financial collapse at that time. The only things that saved us was 'Helicopter' Ben Bernanke. True to his earlier promise to 'drop bundles of cash from a helicopter' if that's what it takes to avoid deflation, that's just what he did. And it worked -- at least temporarily.

Strike three will come when the central banks of the world, having already blown their collective wads in 2008/2009, are unable to prevent the domino failure of one currency after another. The same 'print money' approach to the 2008 crisis, will only make the next crisis worse.

When will this chain reaction start? Nobody knows for sure, but the US Treasury Department marked the trail Friday when we estimated that the total US debt would reach $19.6 Trillion by 2015. At that point our national debt to GDP ratio will be at or above 100%.

Tthe US won't start the dominoes falling. The chain reaction will likely start in Europe and spread around the world. Banks (central and otherwise) hold debt from other banks. When the debtor nations start defaulting on their debts, there will be nothing to stop the whole thing from spiraling out of control. We'll probably be the last man standing, but who cares if you're the last one standing when everyone else is already dead.

Pick 3

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty Watchman) — Tue, 25 May 2010 07:04:00 +0000

Which of the following will do the most damage to the Obama presidency?

Obama's Katrina: The BP oil gusher
Obama's Impeachment: The Sestak bribe
Obama's Neutering: The November elections

Mull it over and see what you think. Then scroll down to read what the Watchman thinks.

The Sestak bribe actually has the potential to be the most damaging to the Obama presidency. Sestak has admitted in a televised interview that someone in the Obama administration offered him a job to withdraw from the Pennsylvania Senate race. Either he's lying or somebody in the Obama administration has committed a crime.

If the job offered was the Secretary of the Navy, as many suspect, then it's hard to imagine how a post that high could have been offered without Obama's knowledge. That, gentle reader, would be a 'high crime and misdemeanor' justifying impeachment.

But it's extremely unlikely to get that far. First, somebody needs to investigate it and with Obama controlling the Justice Department and democrats controlling Congress, that's not going to happen. Even if an investigation was started, Sestak is not likely to rollover on Obama while he needs his help to win the seat in November. After he loses, maybe, but don't count on it. Without a recording of the conversation, it's nearly impossible to prove something like this.

The BP disaster is hurting Obama, but it won't cripple him. He has wisely decided not to visibly 'take over' the disaster response even though he has the legal authority to do so. In a rare demonstration of humility, the administration has admitted that they don't have the expertise or equipment to take over the job.

The watchman maintains that it is not the federal government's job to clean up after disasters. It was not their job after Katrina and it is not their job after the BP blowout. Bush was unfairly criticized for the Katrina aftermath and Obama is now being unfairly criticized for the Gulf oil leak.

The biggest threat facing the Obama presidency is the mid term elections. This could be the greatest political defeat in our lifetimes. It's still too early to know for sure, but present indications are that the republicans could regain control of both the House and the Senate. At least 100 House seats and 10 Senate seats could flip. If that happens, it's the end of the Obama presidency.

While the mid terms could leave Obama neutered and stop his agenda from further crippling the nation, it will also leave the nation neutered. We'll have grid lock in Washington at a critical time in our history. If spending is not dramatically reduced during the final two years of the Obama administration, it may be impossible to pull ourselves back from fiscal disaster. So a victory in November is a necessary, but insufficient condition for our rescue.

Have We Gone Over The Cliff?

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty Watchman) — Thu, 13 May 2010 08:49:00 +0000

Everyone knows the US is in terrible fiscal shape. We're broke. We're bleeding red ink at what virtually all economists agree is an unsustainable rate.

But what if that unsustainable rate is even higher than we've been told? What if instead of a total bar tab of $1.5 trillion for 2010, the total is going to be $2 trillion or maybe even $3 trillion?

Yesterday's data from the Treasury Department couldn't be more grim. For the month of April, the feds ran a deficit of $82.69 billion. Compare that to the 'modest' $20.91 billion deficit a year earlier in 2009 -- when things were supposedly worse than they are now during 'recovery'. How can we have 4 times the deficit during a recovery month than we did during the deepest part of the recession?

Consider that April is a special month. Money is supposed to pour in during April because personal income taxes are due. But this April the government took in $20 billion less in income taxes than last April. Why? Because so many people are unemployed and many of those still employed are earning less. Even the government can't tax money we don't make.

Consider too that April is supposed to be a surplus month. In 43 of the last 56 years, the government took in more money in April than it spent. This year, the government had the highest April deficit ever. Ever.

If April is this bad, what will the rest of the year look like? A $1.5 trillion deficit for 2010? Don't you believe it, gentle reader. Even Obama's own budget director, Peter Orszag, said "the United States must tackle its deficits quickly to avoid the kind of debt crisis that hit Greece."

Ya think?

Enemies of the People

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty Watchman) — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 10:20:00 +0000

Enemies of America are loose in our land. I'm not talking about Timothy McVeigh or Nidal Malik Hasan. I'm not talking about Oklahoma City or Fort Hood. I'm talking about Washington DC and the enemies named Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Barack Obama.

Enemies? Watchman, that's ridiculous hyperbole. You have gone too far!

Have I? Jihadists think the American constitution should be overthrown in favor of a system based on Islamic ideals. So-called progressives like Pelosi, Reid and Obama think the American constitution should be overthrown in favor of a system based on socialist ideals. Progressives will never admit this but, their socialist ideals are as diametrically opposed to the limited government proscribed by the Constitution as sharia law is. The only difference between secular progressives and Jihadists is their means of revolution.

Or is it? The Jihadist's weapon of choice is the suicide bomber. Jihadists persuade their followers that sacrificing themselves for the cause, though contrary to their conscience, is the noble thing to do. The same tactics are being carried out this week in the U.S. Congress.

Previously House democrats were told that this is an historic moment, that no matter what their constituents tell them now, they will thank them once the healthcare bill is enacted. Voter anger this week --- which melted down the Capitol Hill phone system --- put the lie to that fig leaf. Naked and exposed, congressional leaders had no choice but to tell their members the truth: whether you pass this bill or not, you're going to take a severe beating in November. So you might as well do something epic on your way out the door.

The democrats are politically dead and they know it. This weekend many of them will lay down their political lives to achieve their progressive dream: socialized healthcare. Just as a Jihadist shouts "Allah Akbar!" right before he detonates his explosive vest, progressives will shout "Aye!" right before casting their explosive votes on the floor of the House of Representatives. Jihadists are promised an afterlife in which they can deflower 72 virgins. Progressive's like Ted Kennedy don't wait for the afterlife.

Jihadists are promised they can enter paradise after they blow up innocent bystanders. House democrats are promised they can enter public service paradise in the executive branch after they blow up innocent tax payers. Jihadists are promised that their sins will be forgiven in the next life. House democrats are promised that the sins of the 'Louisiana Purchase', the 'Cornhusker Kickback', and 'North Dakota Student Loan Exemption' will be forgiven by the voters in November.

This weekend the terrorist leadership of the House democrats will complete their suicide bomber training camp by holding their members hostage in Washington while they await Sunday's suicide bombing of the Constitution. As Mike Huckabee pointed out, this results in a form of the Stockholm Syndrome in which the psychological pressure on Blue Dog prisoners results in the captives expressing support of and even adulation for their captors.

Yes, the nation has been infiltrated by suicide bombers determined to destroy our country and overthrow our form of government. But they did not sneak across the border; We elected them.

Can the Republic survive?

Fear the Boom and the Bust

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty Watchman) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 08:41:00 +0000

As a young watchman I heard the name Keynes often in school. Hayek not so much. Here are the two in an amusing rap video. Who knew economics could be entertaining?

Rather than have political debates across America this summer, we should have Hayek/Keynes debates!

If You Are Going to Destroy My Country...

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty Watchman) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:14:00 +0000

...could you please refrain from applause?

On Friday, the House of Representatives voted to increase the national debt limit by $1.9 trillion. After the final gavel fell, house democrats applauded. Let me say that again. After increasing the national debt limit to $14.2 trillion -- a burden your children and their children for generations to come will suffer under -- the democrats gave a thundering round of applause.

We know that the ones applauding were Democrats because not a single Republican voted for the increase. C-Span cut the sound right after the applause started. Whether that was in collusion with congress (C-Span bellies up the the public trough of course) or in sympathy with a public whose ears could not stand the zen of even one congressional hand clapping, the Watchman cannot say. How long did they applaud the downfall of a nation? We may never know.

But of one thing we can be sure. There was no evidence of reluctance, no sign of remorse, no sackcloth and ashes, nor any wailing or gnashing of teeth. That will come in November when these dishonorable representatives of the people, these corrupt liars, deceitful cheats, unrepentant child molesters, and enslavers of free men will be turned out into the cold streets with a swift kick in their bare ballot box.

Yes, yes. I know they had to pass the increase or the 'full faith and credit' of the nation would be at risk. Horror! But they better never again applaud when they should be hanging their heads in shame and slinking down the steps of the capitol with their tails between their legs for the moral felony just committed. The righteous anger of the electorate has been aroused.

Big Bad Barack Blasts Bench

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty Watchman) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:45:00 +0000

Barak Obama is a genius, that's for sure. Have you ever seen a sitting President dis the Supreme Court like that? Did he ever take a psych 101 class? If he didn't like their last ruling, wait 'till he sees the next few.

You see, those folks in the black robes are sitting in the front row for a reason. They are a co-equal branch of the federal government. Barry doesn't understand that concept because he figures nobody is his equal. Well, surprise Mr President! The SCOTUS figures nobody is their equal either. And with lifetime appointments, maybe they have a point.

Lifetime appointments are designed to make them impervious to political pressure. So they don't like it when you chastise them on the floor of congress. One can only imagine how you would react, Mr Obama, if you were dressed down during a joint session of congress, broadcast for all the nation to see, with the yapping of one co-equal branch of government in one of your voluminous ears and the thunderous applause of a standing ovation from the third co-equal branch of government ringing in your other.

Sir, you are a fool. Think what you like about the court's decision, comment as you like in any forum in which the court is not present, but publicly embarrass your betters at your own peril.

Think it doesn't matter? Who cares if Justice Alito shakes his head in disdain while mouthing "Not true." Not true / you lie -- what's the difference? Alito was never going to vote my way any more than Wilson was. Again sir, if that's your thinking (and the Watchman wagers it will be after you view the video), you are a fool.

Every case before the court has strong arguments on both sides of the issue. If it were not so, why would we need the highest court in the land to hear them. Add to that the fact that the court is fairly evenly divided on most issues. Or hadn't you noticed? The margin between sustaining and overturning a ruling is usually one justice thin. Do you really think that a justice who is wavering on the case of "anybody vs the Executive Branch of the United States", isn't going to remember the gauntlet you threw down on the floor of congress?

You bet he will. He'll think to himself, "I can't believe that pompous excuse for an executive threw down on us on national TV! Who the $@&^% does he think he is? Constitutional law professor, my derrier. Does he have the slightest idea what co-equal means? Why he couldn't even clerk for me let alone be appointed to this august body. The twit."

How many split decisions did you just lose, Mr President. And what did you gain from it other than another cheap ego thrill? Big bad Barack blasts the bench! I'll be remembered as one of the most courageous president's in history!! "I'm urging Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that helps to right this wrong," bellowed a defiant Obama.

Well gee, Barry, why don't you just double dog dare SCOTUS to overturn that future law. Just how many of your suicidal party on the Hill will agree to cosponsor that legal affront? Wet-behind-those-massive-always-hearing-never-listening-ears just doesn't begin to describe you!

Time for a psych 101 refresher. Or maybe the Dale Carnegie course "How to win friends and influence people".

In his next post, the Watchman will explain why Barack Obama acts the way that he does. There is a common thread behind everything he does. Watch for it (pun intended)!

Missionaries Bring Water to Port-au-Prince

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty Watchman) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 08:19:00 +0000

Yesterday the Watchman shared with you a first person account of a missionary friend who was in Port-au-Prince on the day of the earthquake and who went back to help with search and rescue the next day. Tonight we share a post from his wife Leslie Rollings. She reports that large numbers of people are fleeing from Port-au-Prince, no doubt in search of water, food, and shelter. Today she and some co-workers took what aid supplies they could into Port-au-Prince. This is their story.

Everyone was happy they had gone to help out yesterday. They knew they had made a difference. We know that things are not in a place where we can continue installing [water] filters, but our workers wanted to do something to be helping out. It was decided that we would go to St. Marc to buy as much bagged water as we could put in our biggest truck, and some bread to hand out to the people that had been displaced. I decided I would go with a couple others because I wanted to understand. I’ve been watching things online and hearing Chris recount, but that is only part of it.

I went into St. Marc with Jean, our project manager, and his cousin Jackson. Jackson volunteered to go because he wanted to help people and Jean thought it was important that he experience that to understand so he could tell others in our area how things are. I think many people out our way are removed enough that it’s hard for them to truly understand. They don’t have television access, and the phones were down. Until this morning our workers hadn’t even seen a picture of the National Palace in it’s crumbled state. When we told them it was “kraze net” – totally broken, they didn’t believe us. I pulled up a picture online and they were left open mouthed. Pretty much the same reaction we had on Tuesday night.

We had to go to three places to buy enough water to fill the truck. The little sachets are sold in bigger sacks. Each sack holds 60 sachets. We bought 200 sacks – 12,000 sachets of water. And 300 pieces of bread. We tarped everything and headed into Port.

I like being the passenger in the truck because I get to see things that are hard to notice when you’re trying to drive and not get broadsided by a bus. One thing that we noticed very quickly is that every vehicle that passed us was loaded to more than maximum capacity with people. People were leaving Port au Prince en mas, taking whatever means possible. Every tap tap was full. Every bus was full. People were packed in worse than cattle. Men were sitting along the top rails of the sides on big transport trucks front to back, packed in like Pringles. Even dump trucks were full. Any vehicle heading north was full. Vehicles heading south into the city were either about half full or carrying supplies. Those that did have people had people that were most likely going in to get family members to bring back to the provinces.

I had been trying to prepare myself for what I would see in Port, but also knew that 24 hours later can change things. We came into Bon Repos, and then had to do some detouring through Santos because we forgot the bridge in Bon Repos was closed. Traffic was tight. People coming out and things not moving fast going in. There were massive line ups at every gas station, both vehicles and lines of people trying to fill gallon jugs. Even in our area gas and diesel are already in limited supply.

Everywhere we went there were people walking with whatever personal possessions they could carry, and that was it. In one particular area we got stopped for a while and watched several police and aid vehicles go by. Their contents were grim but the dead were respectfully covered by whatever means available. Caskets went by on tap taps and I saw people on the side of the road making simple wooden coffins. In parts of town a sickly sweet smell filled my nose and I realized that’s what death must smell like.

I didn’t go into the area that Chris was in with our staff yesterday and I know that what I saw was the least of the worst, so to speak, but there were walls down and parts of buildings collapsed around us. We decided to take the water to where people were camping out, generally in whatever open areas they could find, under covers made from nothing but sticks and whatever large pieces of fabric or tarps could be found.

I was trying to prepare myself for what we would encounter when we started handing out water. In situations like this there are two types of people. There are those that are grateful for what they can find or are given and are often humble. There are others who in that state of need feel that they have to take more than they need because they might not ever have again. We encountered both today and it was difficult and frustrating. After handing out bread from the truck in a giant, open former sports arena now turned refuge camp the only thing Jean could say as we drove away was, “It’s so hard to help.” His point was that sometimes the very people you are trying to help make it difficult for themselves and others. Jackson and I looked at our hands that were scratched and bleeding from being mauled and it made me sad. I was sad because I saw the desperation in the eyes of some of the kids that so badly just wanted one piece of bread, but had to fight those that felt they needed to take everything they could. I tried my best to try and connect one piece of bread with one hand at a time to make sure it got spread around, but it was hard. So very hard.

As we headed home we stopped at the bus station and loaded up the truck with people headed out of the city. When Jean got in to start driving he said that people kept trying to give him money for gas and when he refused they were so surprised. As we stopped in various places along the road home to drop people off the gratitude that they shared made the whole day worth it. Some you could see the burden lifted off their shoulders.

When we got home Jean and I talked for a minute and both agreed that we were happy we could help people, but it would have been more effective if done through a point person, which was hard to set up on short notice. We know that with aid teams and supplies arriving we are best used when we can do what we do well, which is building filters. We will keep our focus there and continue working with other communities, and when it’s possible for us to go back into Port au Prince we will. We have been here for years and we know that the relief efforts will stop at some point and that’s when we come in and work with people long term to build a life for themselves, or in this case, rebuild.

I admire the Rollings willingness to help out folks in need. I only hope that they will stay safe. With the water shortage so acute in Port-au-Prince, aid convoys will need armed guards.

Pray for Haiti

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty Watchman) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 04:28:00 +0000

Chris Rollings is a missionary friend of the Watchman who serves with Clean Water for Haiti. He was in Port-au-Prince when the earthquake hit. Thankfully he was outside at the time and was not injured.

What follows is his heart rendering blog post describing his attempt to rescue teenage girls from a collapsed three story school building today. It's an emotional read, but an important one for all of us in the US to absorb I think.

Yesterday was absolutely terrible. I’m going to share my whole experience because I’m hoping it will be therapeutic. In any case I think I’m going to have nightmares for a long time.

I spent the day in Port au Prince getting a loaner vehicle from the Toyota dealer and then taking care of some mission business. On my way out of town in the afternoon, I was on Delmas 9 (I think) and the loaner vehicle I had just picked up broke down. I called the dealer to come get it. Shortly after they arrived, the earthquake hit.

I’m ashamed of the first thought that went through my mind, which was “Cool, I’ve never been in a big earthquake before!” As the quake rolled on, though, I remembered the conversations I’ve had with the other missionaries about what an earthquake would mean for Haiti. Of course, it would be devastating. Construction materials and methods aren’t just shoddy, they’re suicidal, but now isn’t the time to rampage, just to tell you about my experiences.

I didn’t actually fall on the ground, but I stumbled around quite a bit. When the tremors ceased, a large dust cloud was rising from the building a few doors down. A 3 story school full of teenage girls had collapsed. I stood around looking stupid for longer than I’d like to admit. I looked at the truck from Toyota, tried to call my wife (the service was out) and looked around me at people’s reactions. Virtually everyone reacted in strange ways. Eventually, I went to the school and started working to pull trapped students from the wreckage.

The work was very hard because I was working by myself. People would come up and shout into the wreckage, “Is so-and-so inside?” at the top of their lungs repeatedly. I would ask for help in moving rubble and they would say they have to find their own people. One guy stayed and helped, on and off. I got one girl out, who was very frantic. I told her to stop shouting and pray for help. She was about 10 feet deep under the collapsed cement roof of the building. At one point I went and borrowed a hammer from someone to break up the large piece of cement that she was trapped behind. The aftershocks scared the crap out of me, and I really didn’t like being under that cement slab. There was an obviously dead woman under the slab with us.

When the girl was out, I took my hammer and moved over to find the next trapped girl. All I could see was her face and left arm, and she frantically called out to me. I asked her to calm down because it would help me to work and asked her to pray for both of us. She calmed down and became very brave. I was having trouble seeing her where she was jammed under the slab. I pulled out a very large piece of rubble that didn’t really help Jacqueline at all (her name was Jacqueline). There was some sort of object behind that rubble and when I went to move it it turned out to be another girl’s bottom. The girl cried out but I could barely hear her – her whole head was underneath rubble.

At this point I began to realize that I was in over my head. All I had was a hammer, and it was quickly becoming pitch dark with twilight fading and no electricity anywhere. I tried to borrow a flashlight, but it was impossible. I had a moment of feeling intense helplessness. After thinking and praying for a minute, I told Jacqueline that I had to leave her and find more help. I couldn’t do anything without a flashlight, and she needed to keep praying and remember that her parents were coming to look for her.

I walked 4 or 5 miles to a place where I could get a bus, then got on one eventually made it home just after 9pm. On my way home, I resolved to return to Port au Prince the next day with 2 trucks full of tools and workers to do whatever we could. I met a guy on the bus who was holding a sandwich. He had left his house to go buy a sandwich when the earthquake hit. He returned to his home to find it flattened, then went to the school that he teaches at to find it flattened. With nothing left but a sandwich in his hand, and $7 in his sock, he set out for Cap Haitien to be with the rest of his family.

I slept a little bit last night even though I kept thinking of Jacqueline and her classmate stuck in the rubble, in the dark. This morning all of the workers enthusiastically loaded all the tools we could use into the trucks along with food and water and set off for Port au Prince. I took them to the school and quickly made my way to the place Jacqueline and the other student were but both of them were dead.

Some of the local people had been working through the night to rescue their loved ones. They had found lighting and hack saws and had already pulled some people out, including a lot of bodies. We joined their efforts with our power tools. Quickly, we pulled out two more living girls and then a third. The fourth and fifth were a lot more work and each had a severely crushed foot. After that, there were no more cries for help, even when everybody went quiet in order to listen. Lots of dead bodies were still stuck, but getting at them would require large machines.

At that point, I decided to tackle the problem of the growing pile of bodies, which were starting to smell. A volunteer from the community collected all the identifying information he could, and the various family members all signed off. It turned out to be a mistake. The General Hospital, which houses Port au Prince’s only government run morgue, has been destroyed. After we had already loaded the bodies (10 or so) the problem was explained to me. I saw some nuns driving by and asked them where I could find a morgue and they told me that they buried their dead directly, and they heard talk of a big hole being dug out by Ti Tanyen for the others. So we unloaded the bodies back into the lane, where I’m sure they still remain.

We spent an hour boring a hole through a floor into a collapsed chamber to try to rescue a 2 year old child but the cries had stopped before we even began.

We’re not going to go back tomorrow because I strongly suspect that most people that can be rescued have already been rescued, and buildings that still have survivors will have plenty of volunteers from now on. Today was by far the most important day for rescues.

This has been a very emotional experience for me. The bodies stopped bothering me after a while, but I think what I will always carry with me is the conversation I had with Jacqueline before I left her. How could I leave someone who was dying, trapped in a building! That’s so wrong! At the very least, she needed someone to sit and comfort her in her last hours. But if I hadn’t found my way home last night, then today I wouldn’t have been able to bring the CWH crew in. Still, leaving her was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. She seemed so brave when I left! I told her I was going to get help, but I didn’t tell her I would be gone until morning. I think this is going to trouble me for a long time.

Clean water has always been a rare commodity in rural Haiti. Now it is a rare commodity everywhere. Clean Water for Haiti builds and distributes gravity fed, sand/gravel water filters. Demand for them will now be through the roof. Please make donations at http://cleanwaterforhaiti.org

The Crotch Bomber Will Walk

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty Watchman) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 19:50:00 +0000

*** Liberty Watchman Exclusive ***

In a White House press briefing this week, spokesman Robert Gibbs made this amazing yet little reported admission (at 20:10 in the clip above).

Question: Does the president believe that if he [the crotch bomber] was an enemy combatant they would still be able to get intelligence out of him?

Gibbs: Abdulmutallab spent a number of hours with FBI investigators in which we gleaned useable actionable intelligence.

Oh really? Was Mr Abdulmutallab's attorney present for those "number of hours"? You can bet what's left of your 401K that he wasn't because no attorney would allow his client to give "useable actionable intellegence" to the FBI when his client is facing federal charges. It just would not happen.

Does the Obama administration think it can eat its cake and have it too? Have they not heard of the 5th amendment to the constitution? This is yet another example of Obama's rank amateurism in the war on terror.

One thing is now certain and another probable. Any evidence collected by the FBI prior to the crotch bomber getting an attorney will certainly be ruled inadmissible in court. And its very likely the judge will throw the whole case out due to the violation of the crotch bomber's 5th amendment rights.

You read it here first: The pantywaist will walk.

He should never have been brought to a civil court and Obama should never have been elected to the highest office in the land. We can only hope that both errors are corrected soon.

To Forgive Is Devine

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty Watchman) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 08:51:00 +0000

Brit Hume's suggestion on Sunday that Tiger Woods should turn toward Christianity to find forgiveness and redemption has some observers objecting. But what did Hume really say?

Whether he (Woods) can recover as a person depends on his faith. He's said to be a Buddhist. I don't think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith. So my message to Tiger would be, "Tiger, turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world."

Whether you like Hume proselytizing on a Sunday morning news program or not, his point is a valid one. Buddhism, like many Eastern religions, is not big on absolutes. Where there is no certainty about right and wrong, there is no need for forgiveness. A key Buddhist teaching on forgiveness goes like this:

Have forgiveness in your heart for anything you think you've done wrong . Forgive yourself for all the past omissions and commissions. They are long gone. Understand that you were a different person and this one is forgiving that one that you were. Feel that forgiveness filling you and enveloping you with a sense of warmth and ease.

Absent from Buddhist doctrine is any idea that a wrong creates a debt. So Tiger owes no debt for his broken marriage oath. He owes nothing to his wife or children. He does not need to seek their forgiveness. He only needs to forgive himself . Or more accurately, his new self needs to forgive his old self for a perceived wrong -- a strange concept considering no actual wrong and no actual debt has passed between the old Tiger and the new. In fact, what is the difference between the old and the new Tiger that the one needs to forgive the other at all?

No my friends, right and wrong are real life concepts established by a just and loving God. Mental gamesmanship cannot erase that reality. Tiger may be able to redeem his career, but no amount of self forgiveness can redeem Tiger's soul. He needs to seek forgiveness from his family and from God. Only then can he be whole again.

Good on ya, Brit, for telling it like it is.

3 Things Affect Your Life. You Can Change Any Two of Them.

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty Watchman) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 07:41:00 +0000

In a previous life the Watchman worked as a technology consultant. When a client would question the cost of a project, he would tell them that there are three parameters that define a project and the client is welcome to change any two of them. The third one will then compute itself.

Cost
Scope of Work
Delivery Date

If the client wanted the project to cost less while still being done quickly, then he or she would have to accept a reduction in the scope of work. Want all the bells and whistles for a low price? Then don't expect it to be finished quickly. You can control any two, but not all three.

A similar triad exists in the public sector:

Personal Taxes (Cost)
Entitlements (Scope of Work)
Public Debt (Delivery Date)

The only difference is that in the private sector the third item refers to the delivery date of the work while in the public sector it refers to the delivery date of the bill.

For years -- decades actually -- Congress has been exercising control over the first two and allowing the third to compute itself. The result of this policy is shown below.

When this line gets high enough, life as you have known it will be over. That's no exaggeration; it's the unvarnished truth. And it will not happen slowly in the way that the debt was accumulated. It will happen suddenly like any other 'run' on a bank does.

When will it happen? Nobody can say for sure, but the current ratio of Gross Debt to Gross Domestic Product in 2009 is 90%, up from 70% last year and on it's way to 100% next year. It can't continue much longer at this rate without causing a meltdown. In 2006, Professor of Economics Laurence Kotlikoff, Boston University, argued the United States must eventually choose between "bankruptcy", raising taxes, or cutting payouts.

Do those options sound familiar? They're the same triad as Taxes/Entitlements/Debt. You can control any two of the three but the third one computes itself.

If we are to avoid national bankruptcy -- and we must avoid it -- we no longer have the option to control 2 out of 3. Debt is now King and it must not be allowed to increase. This is no longer a point for political debate. Any politician who attempts to spin this should be publically rebuked, shunned, and then voted out of office at the next opportunity.

The people of the United States must immediately demand a constitutional amendment limiting the Gross Domestic Debt to a fixed percentage of the Gross Domestic Product. We can debate what that percentage should be, how close to the edge we want to dance, but it can no longer be allowed to float.

For too many generations, Congress has run this country like a drunken frat house with the healthcare bill only the latest keger party. Sure it's all just innocent fun until somebody loses an eye -- or inflation reaches 10% per month and bundles of greenbacks are cheaper fuel for wood burning stoves than wood.

You know, I wish we could offer free health insurance to everyone in America too. But we can't. Maybe we could have before we squandered the fatted calf, but our reserves are gone. We can't afford universal health care now nor in your lifetime or mine. The CBO cost saving estimates are a frat boy's wet dream and just as much a fantasy. Look at the numbers. One generation partied and another has to face the hangover. It's time for the nation to grow up, throw up, sober up, fess up, wise up, and then clean up this place before the Chinese cops break down the door and cart us off to economic jail.

When our head clears we'll see that the two options are really down to one. Increasing debt is not an option and neither is increasing taxes. We can't tax ourselves to prosperity. If we try we'll end up with the perpetual slow growth of Europe or Japan. Choke the American economic engine with taxes and the world will stall. Slow growth will become no growth. No growth will become a viscous deflationary spiral that will make the middle ages looks like the roaring 20's.

Heck of a party wasn't it? Let's have another one next weekend!

It's time to grow up folks. Irresponsible college living is over. It's time to put on a suit and get a job. Mom, Dad and your Uncle Sam are done funding your housing and three squares a day. Not making enough money to continue living in the decadent life style you had in college. Poor baby. I guess you'll have to make some cuts, won't you? Start here.

The next time a politician tries to draw you into his drug induced fantasy, you slap him silly and tell him to grow up.

Location, Location, Location - updated

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty Watchman) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 03:48:00 +0000

Or perhaps in the case of the Thomson Correctional Center the saying should be amended to 'Never give a sucker an even break.'

Liberty Watchman is on record as being opposed to bringing terrorist detainees from Guantanamo Bay to the US. However, the Watchman's mama didn't raise no chumps. When the sale is inevitable, when you've got a prime piece of real estate and a motivated buyer, you hold out for top dollar.

Governor Quinn seems oblivious to his cat bird seat. He plans to get three appraisals which he believes will get us "fair market value".

Forget that Pat. You aren't selling the family homestead or posting a used riding mower on eBay. Did you learn nothing from your mentor, Rod Blagojevich?

"This thing is is golden. You think I'm just gonna give it away?"

This is Illinois, Pat, sell it the Chicago Way.

"So dair Mister Obama -- can I call you Barack? So yooze guys in DC are lookin' to buy a lock-up, is you? Weeeell, dose just don't grow on trees, now do dey? But seein' as how yer a home boy, I think we can woyk out a deal. We wuz hangin' on to da joint for incarceration of past and future Governors, but even that won't fill up da joint. So for you? We can make you an offer you can't refuse."

Forget the appraisals, Mr Quinn. Figure out how much we paid to build the thing. Then add every dollar we ever spent on maintenance right down to the street sweeper. Then multiply the result by ten. Or maybe multiply it by 100 to give yourself some negotiating room.

If Obama balks at the price remind him that every dollar he spends to buy the Thomson facility is one less dollar he'll have to give us in the bailout of the State of Illinois treasury next year.

Pat, whatever price you ask for is the price you will get. If Obama doesn't buy it what's his plan B? For that matter what is his plan 'C'? You will never encounter a more motivated buyer, Pat. Yield him no quarter. Nor nickel nor dime.

Then once you've sold it... block the transfer of Gitmo prisoners to Illinois. Now, that's the Chicago Way!

Update: Quinn, don't sell this on the cheap with an expectation of a quid pro quo down the road. Obama is a one termer so you've only got 3 years to grovel for payback. And recall that Obama hasn't exactly lavished his home state with goodies in his first year. Even the Porculus bill wasn't a big winner for Illinois. Get the cash on the barrel head at the time of sale.

Blaming the Banks

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty Watchman) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:30:00 +0000

Today President Obama summoned executives from the nations 12 largest banks to the White House to chastise them for... operating their banks in a sound and profitable manner that does not again imperil the world financial system. That's not what he said of course. But whether he knows it or not, that's what he did.

Liberty Watchman encourages President Obama to learn about how the banking system works by watching this video. It's an easy to understand explanation of how banks work. The story is told through a cartoon video so even children can understand it. Even a man-child President can understand it.

In case you didn't know, dear readers, banks do not loan out depositor's money. We think that's how it works, but it doesn't. For every one dollar on deposit, a bank can loan out $10 (or more). They create this money out of thin air. You think I'm joking? Watch the video.

Banks are licensed money machines. They create money from nothing whenever a loan, mortgage, or other debt instrument is issued. No money is created in the US (or the world for that matter) until it is borrowed. It is at the point when it is borrowed that it is manufactured out of thin air. No printing press prints it. It's created electronically in the bank's computer.

Don't you wish you were a bank? You could loan out money you don't even have, get paid interest on that money and over time even get paid 'back' the money you loaned that you never possessed in the first place. Loan out a million dollars you don't have and get paid back 2 or 3 million Sounds like a scam or something that should be illegal, right? Well, it isn't illegal, it's federally licensed.

If you could loan out money you don't even have, you'd make every loan you could right? You would only have two concerns:

Make sure you loan it to people who will pay it back. If they default on the loan, then *you* pay for the loan out of your checking account.
For every $10 you loan out, you have to keep $1 under your mattress (in the vault). If you fail to hold enough 'reserves' the government will take away your right to produce money out of thin air.

In this scenario, would you not make every loan you possibly could? Of course you would because it's a cash generating machine like no other in the world.

Does President Obama think the bankers don't know this? Does he think they don't know that making loans is in the banks' best interest? If bankers aren't making loans it is for one of the two reasons above. They either have insufficient reserves or can't find credit worthy people to make loans to.

Bank regulators recently increased the reserve requirement, drying up the amount of money banks have to loan. The economy is struggling so there are fewer people and businesses that want to borrow money. Less supply of money to loan out plus lower demand for credit equals the natural condition the banks are in now. Yes, the banks aren't loaning money but there are very good reasons for that. Sound business reasons.

The reason the financial system almost crashed around our shoulders last year is that congress thought the banks weren't 'loaning enough money' so they pressured the banks to make unwise loans which then, en masse, blew up. Now Obama is setting up the same dynamic again by pressuring the banks to make stupid loans again.

Is Obama too stupid to know why the banks aren't lending? It's either that or he's just grandstanding, pretending to fight 'for the people' when he knows it's all claptrap. The latter is just distasteful while the former gravely endangers our financial future.

The Death of Objectivity

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty Watchman) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 03:33:00 +0000

A civil society needs at least some non-partisan institutions. Where there are no umpires, the players argue incessantly. Where there are corrupt umpires, the players riot.

Who then are the umpires of American society? At one time the Fourth Estate played that role, but no longer. The left leaning main stream media utterly abandoned any pretense of objectivity with the coming of their King, Barack Obama. That slobbering love affair has been fully consummated and government tyranny is their demon seed.

Bloggers have admirably stepped up to the plate to call the balls and strikes, but it's not clear which if any of them -- with the exception of the Watchman of course -- will gain the respect of the fans. Which citizen journalists will pass the test of time and win the right to put on the striped shirts? At the moment it seems that each side has their own umpires with no widely accepted arbiter of the truth in sight.

And this month a second grand American institution was thrown on the ash heap of objectivity. Who can be more unbiased than a scientist, right? Scientists care not about politics or consensus, only analysis and truth. Scientists welcome critique of their work. They not only welcome it, they actively seek criticism through peer review. Until recently, that is.

A few weeks ago we learned that 'researchers' in England lied about global warming. There is no other word for it. These clowns were not even pretending to engage in scientific inquiry. They intentionally misrepresented their findings to fit their world view. That is anathema to a true scientist. They destroyed underlying data so that their findings could not be verified or replicated. That's the scientific equivalent of a mortal sin.

The climategate exposé does far more than raise doubts about global warming. It shakes the foundation of peer reviewed scienctfic 'fact' to the ground.

We can't trust journalists. We can't trust scientists. We never have been able to trust politicians. Who, but the Almighty himself, are we now able to trust?

Lost in the details of these events is the realization that two pillars of civil society have crumbled. Some will argue that less dependence on trusted intermediaries is a good thing if it drives citizens to make their own truth inquiries and evaluations.

The trouble is, that won't happen. We live in a complex world and none of us can practically absorb and evaluate all the details. We don't have the time or the capacity. We need trusted intermediaries to summarize and report to us in a balanced and reasonably unbiased manner. Without them, who will speak truth to power?

We need to wake up. Tyranny is already on the march in America. Without journalism and science to shine
the white hot light on scoundrels, we need to increase our personal vigilance. As Ronald Reagan warned us:

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

That is more true -- and more possible -- today than at any time in our nation's history.

Party Crashers Highlight Problem

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty Watchman) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 01:42:00 +0000

Three months ago Liberty Watchman sounded the alarm concerning the need to increase security for President Barack Obama. Threats against the president are up 400% yet serious security lapses continue to occur. This week Tareq and Michaele Salahi slipped past the secret service to gain entrance to a state dinner at the White House.

They did more than gain access to the dinner. They shook hands with the President.

Had these two people been assassins rather than reality TV wannabes, a grieving nation would be invoking the 25th amendment right now.

An investigation will hopefully shed light on how this happened. To the Secret Service's credit, they are taking full responsibility for the breach. They claim the Salahi's did pass through magnetometers, but they were not on the guest list and the secret service let them pass anyway. However, there are reports that the White House's social secretary office did not have a staffer present to screen guests as has been the usual practice in the past.

Another example of a White House that doesn't know the first thing about the job? Perhaps, but the nation should not wait however many months an investigation will take to improve security for the POTUS. Liberty Watchman again calls for an immediate and substantial increase in the President's security detail, whatever the cost may be.

Give Thanks

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty Watchman) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 23:11:00 +0000

On the eve of our annual day of gratitude, let's remember the true significance of the day. Below are two examples of how our continental forbears marked this day. A common theme, both then and now:

Times were difficult
The difficulty was sent by God
Yet His mercy sustained us
We owe a debt of gratitude

Our present day notion of thankfulness lacks this context. Thankful in affliction? We're grateful for blessing, but rarely thankful for our problems. God sends affliction? How does that square with our prosperity gospel? And the thanks we do give lacks direction. We say that we are thankful for this or thankful for that, but rarely do we say to whom we are thankful.

On this Thanksgiving Day, let's remember the simple Latin phrase inscribed on the tip of the capstone of the Washington monument: Laus Deo. Praise God.

The First Thanksgiving Proclamation, June 20, 1676

The Holy God having by a long and Continual Series of his Afflictive dispensations in and by the present War with the Heathen Natives of this land, written and brought to pass bitter things against his own Covenant people in this wilderness, yet so that we evidently discern that in the midst of his judgments he hath remembered mercy, having remembered his Footstool in the day of his sore displeasure against us for our sins, with many singular Intimations of his Fatherly Compassion, and regard; reserving many of our Towns from Desolation Threatened, and attempted by the Enemy, and giving us especially of late with many of our Confederates many signal Advantages against them, without such Disadvantage to ourselves as formerly we have been sensible of, if it be the Lord's mercy that we are not consumed, It certainly bespeaks our positive Thankfulness, when our Enemies are in any measure disappointed or destroyed; and fearing the Lord should take notice under so many Intimations of his returning mercy, we should be found an Insensible people, as not standing before Him with Thanksgiving, as well as lading him with our Complaints in the time of pressing Afflictions:

The Council has thought meet to appoint and set apart the 29th day of this instant June, as a day of Solemn Thanksgiving and praise to God for such his Goodness and Favour, many Particulars of which mercy might be Instanced, but we doubt not those who are sensible of God's Afflictions, have been as diligent to espy him returning to us; and that the Lord may behold us as a People offering Praise and thereby glorifying Him; the Council doth commend it to the Respective Ministers, Elders and people of this Jurisdiction; Solemnly and seriously to keep the same Beseeching that being persuaded by the mercies of God we may all, even this whole people offer up our bodies and souls as a living and acceptable Service unto God by Jesus Christ.

Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation, October 3, 1863

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.

I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

Incompetence Thy Name Is Holder

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty Watchman) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:08:00 +0000

Just as Tiny Tim was anything but small, and Pete Best was the worst of the Beatles drummers, Attorney General Eric Holder seems unable to actually hold. In fact, he's doing everything possible to loose the 9/11 terrorists.

Think of it. He's got them all bottled up -- held -- there in Gitmo and all he can think to do is scatter them to the wind. Some to come to NY for the show trial of their dreams, some to arrive in IL for R&R at the Thomson facility for wayward Jihadist boys, and others... well, who knows where they will end up.

Holder's incompetence in planning for a trial of the 9/11 terrorists was highlighted during today's Senate hearings. In an exchange that will go down in history, Senator Linsey Graham asked Holder,

"If we capture Bin Laden tomorrow will he be entitled to Maranda warnings at the moment of capture?"

Holder replies,

"[brief pause]Again... I'm not... that all... that all depends."

That was red meat for Graham who interrupted Holder loudly saying,

"THAT DOES NOT DEPEND! If you're going to prosecute anybody in civilian court, our law is clear that the moment custodial interrogation occurs, the defendant -- the criminal defendant -- is entitled to a lawyer and to be informed of their right to remain silent.

"The big problem I have is that you are criminalizing the war. That if we caught Bin Laden tomorrow we have mixed theories and we couldn't turn him over to the CIA, the FBI, or military intelligence for an interrogation on the battlefield. Because now we are saying he is subject to criminal court in the United States and you're confusing the people who are fighting this war."

What would you tell the military commander who captured him? Would you tell him you must read him his rights and give him a lawyer? And if you didn't tell him that would you jeopardize the prosecution in a federal court?"

Bill O'Reilly said that Holder looked like a third grader at that moment. I guess that proves that Hold is not smarter than a 5th grader.

Pat Buchanan makes a cogent argument for Holder's incompetence when he lists the myriad enemies of our country who were not granted all the rights and privileges of citizens and were not tried in federal court. Even John Wilkes Booth, a bona fide citizen who committed his crime on US soil, was considered an enemy combatant and was tried and hung by a military court. Why do we give Khalid Sheikh Mohammed more rights than Booth?

Holder's conflicting thoughts and statements are a wonder to behold. He states repeatedly in his Senate testimony that the nation is at war, yet grants the rights of citizens to our enemies. He boldly declares that the accused will be convicted while saying he will not use the most convincing evidence of all -- their own confessions -- in court. He asserts that they will be convicted, but it they are not, they will not be set free on the streets on New York.

Does Holder make our justice system look like the envy of the world? No, he makes it look like a rigged Chicago election. Who cares what the vote count is or what the jury says. Either way we'll get this done the Chicago Way.

Holder is a buffoon. There is no more accurate way to say it. These terrorists have not been 'Mirandized' but they have been coercively interrogated -- some would say tortured. Any federal judge worth his legal precedence would be compelled to throw this case out of his court room and let the defendants walk.

And what of the Jihadist car-bomber just aching to take himself and KSM to the 70 virgins while sending a few dozen -- or few hundred -- innocent Americans to Hell at the same time. Prison officials in New York are saying they don't have enough resources to ensure safety for these trials.

And finally this. Why doesn't Holder recuse himself from this decision considering his past (and present) association with a law firm which is presently defending 17 Gitmo detainees.

Incompetence might be too kind a moniker. This stinks out loud as so many of the decisions coming out of the Obama administration do.

Please Don't Forget #14

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty Watchman) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:24:00 +0000

Words matter. Numbers matter. Life matters.

As Liberty Watchman pointed out last weekend, the Ft Hood massacre was a cowardly act of murder carried out by a Jihadist terrorist. I wrote this because there was so much equivocating and hand-wringing going on in the Lame Street Media -- even by the likes of the generally more intellegent Bill O'Reilly -- about whether or not this was a terrorist attack or just a run-of-the-mill shooting performed by an unstable man who 'just snapped'.

In the week since the atrocity occurred, there has been some improvement by the LSM in terms of enemy identification. However, they remain mealymouthed about certain descriptions and accounts of this travesty. For example, the most frequent phrase I read in the press is 'Fort Hood Tragedy'. What happened at Ft Hood was indeed a tragedy, but that is about the mildest descriptor one can apply to this travesty, this massacre, this atrocity, this murderous abomination, this... well, you get the idea.

Calling the events of November 5th a mere 'tragedy' is to praise with faint damnation. When a plane crashes it's a tragedy. A car accident is a tragedy. A stage play is a tragedy. A 'C' on your child's report card is a tragedy. But none of these things happens because some monster woke up on November 5th, put on his US Army uniform, prayed toward Mecca, grabbed his two guns, drove to work, and killed 14 people at point blank range, not stopping after seeing the profoundly shocking and nauseating effects of the first shot, or the second shot, or even the third. You want to talk about 'snapped'? How does the sight of the blood and broken bodies of the first, second, or seventh victim not 'snap' a person out of his murderous stupor?

So let's not call it a mere 'tragedy' any longer.

And let's stop saying that there were 13 people killed at Fort Hood when in fact 14 human lives were snuffed out. Twenty-one year old Francheska Velez, back from a tour of duty in Iraq defusing bombs, was 3 months pregnant at the time she was murdered.

It's not a surprise that the LSM doesn't acknowledge the life of Francheska's child, of course, but the sheer scope of the back-turning is breathtaking. A search of Google News turns up 1,755 hits for "13 people killed". But "14 people killed"? Only 18 hits -- and not one of them refers to the Ft Hood massacre.

So is it any wonder that Hasan was only charged with 13 counts of murder today? It's not a wonder, but it is a travesty of justice.

Conservatives know better, right? The Watchman just received this email from the the National Republican Trust (a political action committee). It begins:

Dear Supporter:

I want to share my latest column on the murder of 13 Americans, and wounding of 40 more, last Thursday on the Fort Hood Army Base.

Come on conservatives! Words matter. Numbers matter. Life matters.

Ft Hood Shooting Was a Terrorist Attack

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty Watchman) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:06:00 +0000

The blame-America-first lame stream media are holding a pity party for the Fort Hood mass murderer Major Nidal Malik Hasan. Poor boy. Picked on by bullies and forced to do his duty to his country, if not his God, we're told we should have compassion for this tortured soul. It's our fault of course. And we can expect more of the same if we don't change our ways.

And then comes a dose of truth from Lt Col Ralph Peters.

Hasan is unquestionably a terrorist. He didn't just 'snap' from emotional stress. He adhered to violent Islamist doctrine for years prior to the shooting. In the days before the attack he bought two guns and sold or gave away many of his possessions. His killing spree was a premeditated act of mass murder.

The Fort Hood attack was also an act of treason. He took up arms against his own country and his own countrymen while wearing a US uniform. He swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and then carried out a Jihadist attack on his fellow defenders of that Constitution He should be charged with both murder and treason.

Some say he was under emotional duress at the thought of being deployed against an enemy that shares his cultural and religious heritage. Tell that to the German-Americans and the Japanese-Americans who fought against their homeland during World War II. Many of them actually fired weapons and took lives in that war. Hasan was not being asked to shoulder a rifle in Afghanistan. His role overseas was going to be no different than his role in the US: psychiatry. Some emotional duress.

And isn't a psychiatrist trained to recognize and treat cases of mental and emotional stress? Physician heal thyself.

Some say he had heard too many horror stories from returning veterans and that also weighed on his mind. If that's true then Hasan is also a coward.

That's a word you don't hear very often these days. It fell out of favor when General Patton slapped a coward during World War II. The lame stream media of that day made a stink about the slapping and Patton was forced to apologize to the coward and to the whole Third Army. That was the day cowardice was allowed into the American Army. Perhaps if Major Hasan had been slapped silly a few times by his superior officer we would not have 13 dead Americans at Fort Hood.

His family say that Hasan is a 'good American'. Benedict Arnold was a good American at one time too. In fact he was a decorated officer in the Continental Army and achieved much more for his country than Benedict Hasan ever did. And just as Arnold's plot to surrender West Point to the British made his name synonymous with 'traitor', so too should Hasan's murderous killing spree of unarmed American soldiers make his name forever synonymous with treachery and treason.

Nidal Malik Hasan is a coward, a murderer, and a Jihadist terrorist. His murderous actions at the largest Army installation in the US constitute the worst terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11. As Commander-in-Chief, President Obama must publicly acknowledge these facts and explicitly denounce Hasan as the coward, murderer, and terrorist that he is. To do any less, to equivocate on Hasan's motives or actions, is to aid and abet this terrorist monster and his Jihadist philosophy and to disgrace the office of President by spitting on the honor of the men and women who so courageously defend this nation.

Win small, Lose Big(gert)

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty Watchman) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:59:00 +0000

One step forward, two steps back?

On Tuesday the City of Naperville heeded the call to put on hold any further development of the Joseph Naper Homestead Park. Echoing the Watchman's wisdom, Councilman Paul Hinterlong said,

"We don't need to do anything right now given our situation with the economy. The property has looked that way for years and years and years, and there's no reason not to wait a couple (more) years."

Bravo Mr. Hinterlong! My thoughts exactly. And in the face of the city's looming $14 million budget deficit, those should be the foremost thoughts of the council as they weigh every single expenditure going forward.

Oops, too late. In the very same meeting the council approved $1.3 million to upgrade a portion of Naperville's famed Riverwalk. Never mind that the Riverwalk was just improved last year to the tune of $1.44 million. This is Naperville, by golly! Nothing but the best no matter how much we have to soak the tax payers!!

And soak the taxpayers, the city is. Just a week ago the city council approved a 2.8% increase in residents' property taxes. If that proves insufficient to fund their drunken sailing ways, the council has a new citywide sales tax just waiting in their back pocket.

Adding audacity to injury, Councilwoman Judi Brodhead said the property tax increase is, "a very minor one on people's tax bill." So be sure and send your tax bill to Ms Brodhead -- just before you vote her off the council.

In fact, the only council members worthy of your vote next time around are the ones who opposed this tax-and-spend orgy: Wehrli, Furstenau, Fieseler, and Hinterlong. Oh wait, all of these jokers voted for the Riverwalk boondoggle with the exception of Furstenau. So maybe we should return Furstenau to office and run the rest of them out of town on a rail.

And let's put US Rep Judy Biggert in the caboose for her breathtaking hypocrisy on the Porculus bill. Despite her longstanding opposition to the Obama stimulus plan, Biggert applauded the fact that the City of Naperville will be receiving $10.9 million to upgrade the city's public utility with so-called 'green' electric meters. Judy, you can't have it both ways. You can't criticize the spending only to praise the bucks that land in your district.

Politicians, repeat after me: We. Can't. Afford. This.

Voters, repeat after me: My politician is not my sugar daddy. The less he brings home, the better I like him (or her).

Porculus Illinois

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty Watchman) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 09:18:00 +0000

So... how's that $787 stimulus spending bill going? It's all about jobs, jobs, jobs, right?

According to the federal government's official site for all numbers Porculus, recovery.gov, as of October 10, 2009, Uncle Sam has created a staggering... 30,383 new jobs across the fruited plain. We have 138 million workers in the US and 15 million of them are out of work yet the full-faith-and-credit of the US government could only create 30,383 new jobs. That's a city about the size of Woodridge, IL. Blink and you miss it.

And it gets worse.

Illinois has the 13th highest unemployment rate in the nation at 10.55%, yet Porculus only generated 287 new jobs in Illinois. That's about 1% of the population of Woodridge. Illinois ranked only 30th on the list of states/territories with new job growth.

Although President Obama learned the finer points of political threats and intimidation during his time in Illinois, he needs a remedial course in Chicago style patronage. But what should we expect from a man who couldn't even put in the fix on the Olympic games? "We don't want nobody that nobody sent." Unless there's a job attached!

So where did this cornucopia of work get poured out? In blue states mostly. Two out of every three new jobs was created in a state that went for Obama in the 2008 election. Honestly, that seems only fair. To the victor go the spoils, right? It's certainly the Chicago Way. And let's face it, most of the states went for Barry this last time so two-out-of-three seems about right.

Only how come when blue states are getting 2/3rds of the jobs, Illinois -- the truest of blue states -- ranks only 30? For crying out loud, this is the President's adopted, home state -- maybe not the one he was born in because I mean, really, who knows where that was, but he lived here long enough to get hooked up with Rezko after all -- so you'd think we could do better than 30th place, right? Rahm, you gotta make sure the homie's down wit us!

OK, so which of those bad boy blue states got the bump? The ones that needed it the least, of course. One third of the states have unemployment rates above the national average. But only one third of that one third ended up in the top 10 gainers list.

Colorado took the gold with 4,695 new jobs in a state with only 7.02% unemployment. Rahm, on second thought, send our boy to the Rockies for that remedial patronage class.

Perhaps sweetest of all is the cost to the taxpayer of generating these jobs. This ones a little tricky to calculate because the government doesn't match dollars with jobs very accurately. They categorize expense as either a grant, contract, or loan. Let's assume only the contracts created jobs. I don't know if that's accurate or not, but it will give the lowest cost per job if we do it that way.

$539,261 was spent to create each new Porculus job. I mean it has to be that number, because if we throw in all the costs, it comes to $6,561,208 spent for each job created. Even government can't spend 100 times more than it costs to create a job, can it?

So let's recap. The federal government is creating too few jobs, that cost too much to create, in places that don't need them the most. Yup, that sounds like your tax dollars at work!

So whatdaya say we just rollover and let them run healthcare too. How bad can it be?

Fool Me Twice - Update

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty Watchman) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:02:00 +0000

The Congress is at it again. Will we, like Charlie Brown, keep falling for it?

Maybe not.

Lucy's latest rouse was to pull the so-called 'doctor fix' -- a $250 billion provision to increase the fees of doctors who provide medicare services -- out of the massive trillion-plus dollar Obamcare bill in the House of Representatives and pass it as stand alone legislation. These Lucillian Legislators are used to the Charlie Brown public being too dumb to realize that two spending bills which add up to a trillion dollars are just as bad as one bill that costs the same amount.

But this time the rouse didn't work. By a vote of 47-53, the doctor fix legislation got shot down. Much to the Watchman's delight, 13 democrats crossed the aisle to vote against it.

The 'doctor fix' legislation is Exhibit A in the case against believing any promise the congress makes about healthcare. The 1997 Balanced Budget Act was designed in part to control Medicare costs by limiting the dollar amount which Medicare would pay to doctors for treating Medicare patients. Every year for the last seven years, Congress has passed a bill overriding the cost reductions for that year. So there has been no cost saving. Ever.

You see the picture? In 1997 Congress trumpets the fact that they will balance the budget and then every year since then they rollback their previous work -- their previous promise. So no matter what they claim will be the deficit neutrality of Obamacare, it will change the following year because congress is as financially unconstrained as a bunch of drunken sailors on liberty. It makes no difference at all what they say today, because their motto is 'eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die'.

Let's face some facts. Obamacare is completely analogous to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Medicare alone has $89 trillion in unfunded liabilities. That means the government will need to come up with $89 trillion more than it currently has or even is projected to collect in the future to provide healthcare benefits to the elderly and disabled citizens we already promise to take care of.

It cannot be done folks. This ship cannot stay afloat as it is, let alone by adding trillions more for Obamacare. Rather than deck chairs, the analogy is this: Let's allow the passengers from the lower decks to come up on the top deck to spend their last few minutes having a cup of coffee (healthcare services) before the ship and all her passengers end up at the bottom of the sea.

I know. We're all tired of the healthcare debate. It took a lot of energy to write our legislators and show up at tea parties this summer. We're all tired. Even the Watchman is tired.

But we aren't the only ones who are showing signs of fatigue. On Capitol Hill, legislators and staffers alike are worn out.

"The daily grind of delivering floor speeches, holding intra-party caucus meetings and cranking out front-page news stories on healthcare reform has left many on Capitol Hill in a general daze.

Some frustrated staffers walk zombie-like through the corridors of Congress with bloodshot eyes.

One congressional leadership aide, who sneaked away for a rare 20-minute break outside in the fresh air, tossed his hands up, shook his head and vented about playing endless defense against he said/she said “developments” reported by a media starving for any healthcare news."

Now is not the time to rest. We're winning! Keep those cards, letters, faxes, and phone calls pouring into Washington DC.

UPDATE: A further sign that we are winning came this morning with reports that Nancy Pelosi concedes she doesn't have enough votes for a 'robust public option'.

Now that We The People are ready to kick this public option football out of town, Lucy... er I mean Nancy... plans to pull the ball away again. She's going to hide the public option in a 'trigger' -- a legislative provision that will automatically invoke a government takeover of healthcare if private insurers don't expand coverage fast enough. Does anyone doubt the 'trigger' language will be written in such a way that it is sure to be pulled?

More and more subterfuge. More and more obfuscation. More and more debt until we're floating in huge lipid pools of inflated, worthless greenbacks.

These people are not to be trusted. Rather than kick the football out of town, we need to kick Lucy out of town. The only trigger we need is the one on the Watchman's rifle.

Rush Drop Kicked

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty Watchman) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 03:38:00 +0000

Today Rush Limbaugh was apparently drop kicked out of the investment group attempting to purchase the St Louis Rams. Limbaugh, always the lightning rod, had drawn flags from owners, players, and the NFL commissioner due to previous comments Rush made about Philadelphia quarterback Donovan McNabb.

The Watchman will leave it to others to debate whether or not Rush was slandered or libeled by anyone during this process. Ultimately the courts will decide that issue. Two key conservative principles were demonstrated here: the right of free men to do as they wish with their private property and the right of free men to associate or not associate with others as they please.

Rush had no god-given right to become an owner of a NFL franchise, only the god-given opportunity. He took advantage of that opportunity and failed. Such is the nature of the American free market system.

The government played no role in this drama. When was the last time you could say that about anything.

Forrest Gump, Cracker Jack, and Bo

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty Watchman) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 18:27:00 +0000

Some situations are so ludicrous as to leave one's mouth hanging open with no words to speak. This is certainly the former if not the later.

Award the Nobel Peach prize to Barack Obama? This has got to be a joke, right? If not it lays the final ax swing to the once venerable prize. Soon the Nobel Peace Prize will be given out with each box of Cracker Jack.

Even Obama is trying not to laugh. “I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures”, says the President. Finally, he speaks the truth! He doesn't deserve this award and even he, the world's narcissist-in-chief, knows it.

Barack Obama leads a life more charmed than Forrest Gump.

And what is the the justification given by the Nobel knuckleheads? Thorbjoern Jagland, chairman of the Nobel committee, said the group, “in particular looked at Obama’s vision and work toward a world without atomic weapons."

Work? What work? Can one now win the Nobel Prize based on one speech to the UN and a press release? Obama has made zero progress in jump starting the Arab-Israeli peace process — long the gold standard for Nobel Laureate credentials. He was elected for his anti-war rhetoric yet he continues to preside over two wars while meeting today to decide how many more troops he will send into battle. His is hardly a Nobel Peace Prize record. Even Nobel Laureate Lech Walesa says this is a case of premature immaculation

Hey, you know what? Today is Bo's birthday! You know, the President's dog. Despite desecrating Force One on his trip to the International Olympic Committee (something Obama does ever time he steps aboard), Bo has done at least as much as his owner for the cause of world peace. They should give the award to Bo — in honor of his birthday if nothing more important.

Maybe somebody should check the addressee on that box of Cracker Jack.