ISIS Needs A Dictionary

Well, the only thing I can figure is ISIS has a different dictionary than I do!

I just read where they are trying to build a terrorist force in the Sinai so they can 'destroy' Israel and 'liberate' Jerusalem.

Liberate? Really?

What is there about radical islam and radical islamists that would EVER bring someone to put any word relating to freedom in the same paragraph, much less sentence, with it or them? Other than 'liberating' psychotic misogynists and sadists from any semblance of civilized restraints, that is.

I mean really! Compare and contrast life in Israel vs life under ANY strict islamic rule. There is NO objective measure by which anything could be considered to be BETTER under islamic rule compared to life in Israel, or any developed society for that matter.

Under radically strict islamic rule would you:
     Be allowed to speak with your opposite sex neighbor on the street unattended - NO
     Freely paint/draw/sculpt any object or topic you liked - NO
     Dress in any fashion you chose if you are female - NO
     Drive a car if you are female - NO
     Change your religion - NO
     Have no religion - NO
     Freely travel with whom ever you wish, where ever you wish - NO
     Be homosexual/lesbian - NO
     Get an education if you are female - NO

Need I go on?

And the answer to each and every one of these questions if you live in Israel, or ANY advanced society, would be a resounding YES!

So just what are they looking to liberate Jerusalem from? The shackles of 15 centuries of social development so that they can return to the bliss of a near Stone Age misogynistic/sadistic state?

I'm sorry, but that would appear to be the opposite of 'liberation' to me.

Or so it would seem to an old farm boy.

Dazed Purple And Confused

Wow! I must be soooo far out of touch I'm going to need a transfer ticket or two in order to reach modernity.

Had I heard of Prince? Of course I had. Could I have told you he was a little androgynous looking popular music personality? Yes, but that about ends my familiarity with him and his resume.

Because of this, I'm a bit bemused by the reaction to his death that I'm witnessing in the news. He seems to be getting as much play as Michael Jackson's passing. (Which affected me only marginally more than Prince's.)

Don't get me wrong. I morn the passing of these individuals. Much as I morn the loss of any good person's life who I did not directly know.

I guess where I'm confused is where people are brought to sobs and tears for someone they never knew or had personal contact with. It's like someone crying when the guy who installed the steering wheel on their car died.

Just because someone is in the news doesn't mean you know them and had a personal relationship with them. They aren't your Aunt Agnes. They didn't come over for your birthday or send you a card for Christmas. Why all the angst?

Is this a sorry outcome of the age we live in? A time where people conflate a virtual life with a real one? Is this the way we react in the new wussified society when "feelings" rule the day and there are damn few real adults left?

I'm starting to fear for the future and wonder if there will be enough real adults to protect and run the country so all these special little snowflakes can be free to "feel" and be sensitive!

Or so it seems to an old farm boy.

The Demise Of The American Two Party System?

So, just what is it that we are observing in the political landscape?

Are we currently seeing the demise of the two party system?

That’s what it would appear to be as neither party seems to be responsive to large portions of their bases. The Democrats have fostered this “government is the answer to all your problems” approach for so long that they have now engendered a whole segment of the population that is Socialist at best and Communist at worst. They now expect the government to provide them with food, shelter, their new iPhone, etc. at no cost to them. They believe this is possible because the left has run our “education” system for so long that few of the younger folks actually understand how economies and finance work

This can be seen in the outpouring of support for Bernie Sanders. Millions of young folks from 18 to 35 are supporting the Bern with the hope that he will take power and make others pay off the debts they have accrued and or the things they desire. 

Bernie, who never had a steady job outside of leaching off the general populace, is doing his part by promising to make the “rich” pay for all this. He would fit right in with the Castro brothers, accept he seems to be a bit more of a true believer than they are. He doesn’t seem to be living high off the hog, just modestly above the hoi paloy, but still off the sweat of someone else’s brow.

The Republicans are also paying the price for what they have been telling their base for years. Their difference is, they have told folks that when they go to Washington they will be fiscally responsible and make the government smaller and get out of the way of people, but when they get their, they become Democrats Lite. They grow government just like the Dems, just at a slightly slower pace.

Surprising to both parties’ establishments, their bases are revolting. (It turns out we aren’t quite as dumb as they thought.) The left because they want cradle to grave coddling where others pay for what they feel they are owed. The right because they have been promised they will get to stop supporting the cradle to gravers, but it just continues on apace. 

Are we about to see the start of a 3 party system?

I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to see the rise of a viable Communist/Socialist party and the growth of the Libertarian party to where they become viable political options. 

If this were to happen, I believe the remnants of the Republican and Democrat establishments would coalesce into the third leg of the stool that would be American politics. If this were to take place, it would then require coalitions between various groups in order to pass legislation. 

Having 3 viable parties would also seem to make the parties more responsive to their constituents since there are more alternatives they could choose from. It also would make it harder to draw the old dichotomies. Us good! Them evil! 

Hopefully then they would need to actually make their arguments based on their merits rather than demonizing the other side as evil bastards who want to steal my hard earned money or ones who want to poison the air and water.

Or so it would seem to an old farm boy.

Divided We Fall

I'm sitting here thinking about the state of America and I just want to pick up a bottle of Jamison's  and say "Fuck'em All"!

I'm soooo disgusted with this whole group identity allegiance above all else I just want to wretch. In America, you should think of yourself as an American above all else. Not a Scottish-American, or Chinese-American or Martian-American!

Once you identify as American, all the other qualifiers need to cease to exist! Your being lesbian, bi-sexual, homosexual, tri-sexual, vegan, liberal, conservative, wicken, whatever is not of consequence to the society as a whole.

Yes, it's of consequence to you as an individual and to those who are like minded, but to America as a whole, it doesn't matter! That's the great thing about America that you won't find most other places. You come here and identify as an American, the rest doesn't matter. Our Constitution insures your right to be what ever you want to be, so long as you allow everyone else the same rights.

It's when you start thinking that your rights superseded those of someone else's that the problems begin.

In this country, no matter your race, religion, country of origin, sexual preference, skin pigmentation, sex or age, you are equal to any other and have the same opportunities. Your limiting factors are your native abilities, desire and willingness to work. The "man", or this group or that is not keeping you down. "Your" choices may be holding you back, but the system is not at fault there.

If you chose to major in gender studies or comic books, excuse me, graphic novels, don't blame the system because nobody is interested in paying you good money.

If you slacked off all the way through high school and aren't willing to take a menial job to get in the door and start the process of learning a trade from the ground up, don't blame it on the "male hierarchy" or "white privilege". It's your fault.

In America the system is rigged in favor of success. You can easily point out individuals of virtually any description who are successes despite humble beginnings or sexual preferences. Virtually all of whom do not limit themselves by identifying in a hyphenated manner, but rather identify as Americans and move on from there.

If you chose to come here or stay here, you need to accept the American culture as the dominant culture. Of course you can continue to observe cultural mores from where your roots are, but don't expect the country as a whole to give a shit or make special efforts in your direction. Be happy you are in a country that doesn't hold you back for it.

You go to other countries, they don't make you "press 1 for Spanish"! If you don't want to learn English and accept the American culture there is a simple solution. Don't come here.

In America you are to be judged by the content of your character, not the political correctness of your hyphenation!

Or so it seems to an old farm boy.

Moral Equivalency Flimflamary

I keep hearing liberals say "Christianity tortured and used 'conversion by the sword' so they are in no position to judge the radical Islamists for the outrages they are currently visiting upon the world.

Bullshit!

This moral equivalency across time is a total fraud, foisted upon us by academica. For this to be true, you would have to ignore the fact people, cultures and religions are all capable of growth and development. These self same academics acknowledge that they themselves have/are advanced (a questionable supposition in itself) over those who came before. Yet they are judging Islam against a Christianity that was, not the Christianity that is. That is like telling a 20 year old that it's ok to pee in their pants because you used to pee in yours when you were 2. It's ludicrous!

The ONLY place where this could be seen as a sane argument would be in academia where logical thought viewed in a world perspective is considered to be "reactionary"! They use exclusionary and bombastic terms against those who say the Emperor has no clothes to keep them marginalized and as a way of inoculating their acolytes against those who disagree with their insanity. These ideas are then parroted by the media and others who want to be thought well of by the "cool kids" in academia and liberal think tanks.

Large segments of the population then think, "well if Brian Williams or Bill Moyer say I should believe this then it must be so". Circular logic that leads to such self-destructive thoughts and behaviors as "moral equivalency" and "cultural relativism". Both intellectually bankrupt ideas that if pursued will lead to societal suicide.

To claim that any culture is equal in value to any other culture is to claim that a cannibalistic culture is equal to modern. Ludicrous! If that were true, Bob's Burgers would have a completely different meaning.

Then they compound such philosophic flimflamary by trying to equate such relativism across time. It is the height of stupidity!

Christianity turned away from such barbarism long ago. Any "Christian" who espoused such barbarous acts, or even intolerance today would be roundly condemned and cast out. I give you the Westboro Baptist Church and its adherents as example number 1.

If anyone ever tries to sell you one of these moral/cultural equivalency pigs in a poke, cast them out as the charlatans they are!

Or so it seems to an old farm boy.

Congratulations To The Anarchists And Alinskyites!

Congratulation Anarchists!

Well, it seems that the Anarchists and Alinskyite fellow travelers are on the verge of achieving their goal. America is on the verge of anarchy!

How did this happen over night?

Well, it didn't. This has been a long time coming. It got a toe hold back in the days of Joe McCarthy, who has become the personification of evil, thanks to the media and our "higher" education system. (While his tactics may have been overboard, it turns out he was right in many instances.) While McCarthy and his compatriots outed many communists in American society and government, many more were left in place.

The Vietnam War became the next opportunity for the Anarchists and Alinskyites to make headway, with the help of a willing media. They attacked the government and sowed the seeds of discontent. They preached disrespect for any and all authority. Colleges and Universities where the epicenter of this push. It is not a coincidence that Colleges and Universities are where many of the McCarty era Anarchists and Alinskyites had found a safe haven earlier.

In their safe haven of "intellectual freedom" they were allowed to spread their ideas to youth who were prone to antiestablishment thoughts as they try to establish themselves but are faced with those who came before and already were established. They were able to push these young people into creating such organizations as the SDS and the Black Panthers. Organizations bent on destroying American society as it existed. Spawning such "luminaries" as Abby Hoffman, Jane Fonda, Bernadette Dorn, Malcom X, Bill Ayers, and on and on.

These individuals and all their fellow travelers in the Universities and Media have, for the past 50 years, been preaching about how people are oppressed by this that and the other. That it is unfair for someone to have worked harder and been smarter and thus to have accumulated more. That's not "fair" that they should have the nice things, while their under achieving asses were relegated to store brands and knock offs. God forbid they should avail themselves of the opportunities that this country places before all of us.

It has now reached a point where a large portion of the populace believes they are "owed" $15 an hour, though they have no skills that can justify such a wage. They believe that hey are "owed" health care, though they have done nothing to earn it, never mind that for them to have "free" ANYTHING it must first be taken from somebody who earned it or somebody who DID develop their skills. Somebody who must be forced to provide these services without just recompense. To the best of my recollection we fought a civil war to end such forced labor scenarios.

And yet our Universities and now even public schools are indoctrinating the youth of our nation that they "deserve" or are "owed" things they have done nothing to earn. They should be able to merely take what they want. And any one or any group that would keep them from having whatever they desire is to be hated and destroyed. Most visible among these groups are Law Enforcement.

People have been taught that LE is not to be trusted. They are your enemy because they keep you from taking other's stuff. Don't be a snitch. Don't work with LE. Laws are for chumps.

And that brings us to our current situation. I believe this is a major underlying factor in what we see today in Baltimore, Furguson, Chicago, etc. etc. etc.

So a big round of applause to the Alinskyites and the Anarchists for having the patience to play the long con! They did it to a T. They have their fellow travelers in the highest seats of power. And the entire time they have had the major media outlets supporting them, Dan Rather, Jim Lehrer, etc. giving them the patina of objectivity when in fact they have been sculpting the messages we hear for the past 75 years.

Or so it would seem to an old farm boy!

The Tyranny Of The Offended

The Tyranny Of The Offended Few

I need to start this piece with a qualifier. I am a bone deep libertarian and fully believe that what you choose to do is totally your business as long as it doesn't interfere with the next persons right to life, liberty or property. So I don't believe that drugs should be outlawed, but don't believe public funds should be expended on individuals who chose to use them and then have issues. I also believe you can share your private parts with any and every consenting adult or creature you chose, but public funds should never be expended to ameliorate issues that arise due to your lifestyle.

After having said this, it seems to me, a poor old farm boy, that many who live minority lifestyle choices feel that they must force the rest of us to accept their choices as part of "normal" behavior. Like free speech, you have the right to say what you like, you are not immune from the consequences of what you say. I totally support an individual's right to have whatever sex life they chose in private, but to force the majority to observe it without comment is to take their right of free speech from them. The media has been a willing accomplice in muting the majority and attempting (to a large part successfully) to shame them into silence. Calling them ugly names like bigot or homophobe.

The media has responded to the minority activists because they make so much noise or they agree with their position. It really makes no difference which. But when you look at today's media offerings, you seldom see a TV show without a positive gay character. (Many of these characters I fully enjoy.) But this would seem to misrepresent the proportion of non traditionally sexually oriented individuals. The latest survey figures I read indicated that approximately 3 to 4 percent of the population self identify as non traditionally sexually oriented.

So how is it that such a small percentage of the population is so impactful on the culture?

I would postulate that in America, our self image is that of a tolerant and accepting people. So we are easily cowed by those with a minority perspective. We flee from accusations of bigotry or racism or what ever the politically correct bullies have decided is the cause de jour.

This Tyranny of the Offended needs to stop. I will defend your right to do what you want with whom ever you want, in private. I staunchly oppose your trying to force others to accept your choice as common. Be happy that in this country, you are able to live your private life as you see fit. Most of the world doesn't allow you to do this. But quit making your private life public. The majority of us don't want to see what you are putting where on whom. And this goes for the majority folks as well! Keep your private life private!

Or so it would seem to an old farm boy.