Rathke (co-Founder of ACORN) has repeatedly blasted the news media and conservative groups for intentionally targeting ACORN because of its progressive agenda. In a posting on his “Chief Organizer Blog,” Rathke said the Census Bureau’s decision to break ties with ACORN showed “how willing the Obama administration is open to a cave-in to the conservatives on false pretenses on a completely fake ‘issue.’”

via Big Government

Ha ha ha.  These people are as nutty as their name.  It’s funny.   I like how their tormentors keep releasing video’s it’s kind of funny too. Moral relativists trying to say what conservatives are doing to them is wrong.  SO FUNNY!!!  (Moral relativists saying something is wrong, ha ha ha).   And to think of the millions of tax dollars these people have gotten to0.  American’s have been fools for giving up our money to go to causes like these.  These are some sick people here…

The thing about freedom is that it is inherently insecure. There were slaves who did not want to leave the plantations after abolition because they were so afraid of not being able to make it. Freedom is terrifying because… you can fail, because things may not work out, because there are no guarantees.

Slavery is very secure. Everyone is cared for, all the needs are provided, there is equality (roughly) and no one has to fear; that is they don’t have to fear anyone but the slave master.

It is interesting that the same leftists who hated the security of social systems and protested against them (giving us no-fault divorce, abortion on demand, “free love”, sexual liberation, etc.) because of their restrictions on “freedom” now want the restrictions of state imposed slavery and trade off their freedom for it.

via Comments on AmericanMissive.com

Freedom is something I am passionate about as should be pretty apparent from the title of the site!  So, I can’t help but to expand on this comment.

I ask my children when they fall down or mess up, “What do you do when you fall down?” There answer is and should always be “I get back up.” I train them to think in that manner. My two year old knows it by heart. She falls down and before I even ask her she says, “I get back up.” And she hopes up seldom with even a tear.

This should be ingrained in the mind of every human being. As long as you get back up failure doesn’t exist.  Only when an individual decides in their mind they can’t get back up do they become a failure. Failure is a lie. It is a state of mind not of reality.  It is self-imposed.  We are all invincible to the extent in which we truly believe ourselves to be.  Even unto death failure is a lie. Shot me in the head until I am dead and I do not believe that I would have failed at anything because only then the best is yet to come.   People that fear failure need God.  As Jesus said,

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Fear of failure is a lie of the devil meant to restrict and mislead man. Freedom! Now that is something given by a higher power. The freedom of life and liberty endowed by our Creator.  Alas though, man is fallen.  We bury our “talents” in the ground.   Man must give away his freedom for slavery.  It is in his nature and true freedom as always is purchased with blood.   And it must be so until the end of history, as Tolstoy wrote in War and Peace even, “A king is slave to history.”

We will give it away because of our fallen nature.  Because we ignore the man from the underground.  Because we buy into the lie.  Because of cowardice and vice.  Because of a thousand other reasons.

However, man may sell us all into slavery but let me tell you something that I believe.  I will not fail! My family and I will remain free even unto death because I do not believe in failure and I love freedom even though blood may be spilled out on the ground.  Freedom is a worthy goal and failure is a lie!

Why do I say this? Read on…

Despite the seperation of church and state doctrine.  The state department appears to have issued a memo encouraging State Department officials to help organize campaigns to raise food for local area mosques and communities.

Say, what?!?!?!

Organize a food-drive for the end of Ramadan with religious leaders and citizens in Muslim communities to donate to a local mosque or community…

Yep, you read that right.  No Ummah or main religious leader in Islam has ever appologized for 9/11.  And perhaps as few as 200,000,000 Muslims and as many as 900,000,000 Muslims are cool with the idea of violent Jihad according to research.  And the “Religion of Peace” is still clocking in at 3-4 average documented killings EVERY DAY but moderate Muslims remain pretty silent.  Yet according to the memo I linked to our State Department should try and organize fund raising events for mosques to commemorate 9/11!

I hope the memo is a fake.   Cooperation relys on trust.  A group of people from whom no leading figure has ever apologized and from which the moderate community remains silent cannot establish a relationships of trust.   If their can be no trust there can be no cooperation.  Cooperation implies atleast two (groups or individuals) working together not one working alone.  Especially, while a large portion (20-40%) of the group not working together is actually working to stick a knife in the other groups/individuals back.  But what would somebody expect from our politicians? Less stupidity!

On the jobs front, the Labor Department said initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to a seasonally adjusted 550,000 from an upwardly revised 576,000 in the previous week. The number of people continuing to receive benefits fell by 159,000 to nearly 6.1 million, the lowest level since early April.

via The Associated Press: Trade, jobless claims figures show recession fades.

Us American’s really appreciate the fact that now for 35 months straight new jobless claims have top 500,000 mark.   At this rate another 2 years from now the rate might actually dip below the half a million mark.  Usually people look at the the results of their work to determine if they’re doing any good.  Not American politicians they look at the words they speak if they say loosing 500,000 jobs is  a good thing then it is a good thing.  So, hooray only 500,000 jobs were lost this month.

Yet, I don’t feel happy? And why do I get an ominous feeling?

Arnold Kling makes a pretty good summary of the speech here.

Medicare spending will never be brought under control under his watch. And if Medicare spending is not brought under control, then he certainly will not be the last President to have to address health care reform.

Basically, it was a “Win one for the Gipper” (in this case, Ted Kennedy) speech. Intellectually, it amounted to a vacuous claim that health reform will be a free lunch, because we’ll get rid of all the waste, fraud, and abuse.

via What’s Wrong with Obama’s Health Care Speech – The Atlantic Business Channel.

Blah blah let’s just start this revolution and get the darn thing over with…

The report said that a $5.4 billion portion of the $10.5 billion owed by Chrysler is “highly unlikely” to be repaid, while full recovery of the $50 billion sunk into GM would require the company’s stock to reach unprecedented heights.

via U.S. ‘Unlikely’ to Recoup Auto Outlay, Panel Finds – washingtonpost.com.

Like…DUH! I said this back as soon as it happened.  Obama said he would get a 19,000%+ return on his funds (in five years).  As an expert investor myself who knows how to get above average returns I knew that Obama was lying through his teeth and called him on it here.  Foolishness and more foolishness from those that believed the auto bailout was a good thing!  I wonder how much more money will be sunk here when GM is unable to recover even from with the $50 billion?  It’s no surprise when the government spends money usually bad things happen.

History holds an important account of the debate between the value of the individual and the value of society.  Philosophers through the ages such as Locke, Hobbes, and Hume have basically argued for the importance of a “social contract” which stems from “natural law” (for this one can go back as far as Aristotle but also Aquanis and Hobbes).  This “social contract” is provided only by the consent of individuals as natural law doesn’t apply to the society as a whole but to the individual.  In other words, the “social contract” does not exist without the individual rights aligning themselves with the contract first.  Therefore, the individual is superior to the social contract itself and the individual is superior then society as a whole.

Of course those that place society first will generally out of misunderstanding align themselves with the opposition.  The opposition is not to shabby either.  Marx, Neitzsche, or even though to a lesser extent Rousseau were effective in their criticsm of liberal values.  The strongest of these of course being Marx who viewed history as the history of the struggle between classes of society or better said…

“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles” – Marx

The United States of course was founded on the ideas of Locke, Hobbes, et al, as the Constitution itself was intended to protect the individual rights of man and out of this of course sprang the Bill of Rights.  On the other hand Marx of course is famous for his ground breaking document the Communist Manifesto which attempts to lift society up first, as the individual serves the greater good.  What you get is statism, behavorism and a proletariat morality if you attempt to make a cohesive worldview.  In my opinion a dangerous path indeed.

Which do you think should get the highest priority or be the most important? Society or the individual? Let the sages of ages past answer for me…

“You have rights antecedent to all earthly governments: rights that cannot be repealed or restrained by human laws; rights derived from the Great Legislator of the universe.” – John Adams

“The bill aims to “protect national cybersecurity” in an age of high tech terrorism. Like most pieces of security legislation coming from Washington, the security promises are great, but the infringement on our rights is greater.”

I must slightly disagree, the security promises are probably NOT all that great.   If the government had such great skill at preventing catostrophic attacks I doubt we would be living in a post-911 world, why didn’t they stop this wonderful economic crisis, why did they let the health care problem get to “crisis” stage and the list goes on.  The answer is Washington can “promise” security but we all know what a Washington D.C. promise means.  Nothing.  So there is no additional security here there is only more power for government.  The power to control freedom of speech.  Something Obama has been working on pretty dramatically as of late by taking over ABC for his health reform, blocking the rule of law, and requesting citizens to inform on others whose views oppose Obama.

The current government administration is obviously no friend to freedom of speech and we don’t know what following administrations will bring.  As I’ve pointed out before the Grand Inquisitor of Dostoyevski says, “In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us, ‘Make us your slaves, but feed us.”   In this case though the American people ask make us your slaves only protect us.

I am sitting in this tree to halt the blasting that endangers the residents of Pettry Bottom and Clays Branch. The people of Pettry Bottom, Clays Branch are living below a land slide waiting to happen and the only barrier between fallen trees, mud, boulders and water and the Pettry Bottom community is a wooden stake and tarp fence. The DEP needs to step in and protect its citizens – not Massey Energy – stop the blasting above Petty Bottom, and end mountaintop removal.

- Steepleton as quoted in the Charleston Gazzette Blog

I don’t know the details of the mining operations but I suspect that Massey has reasonable precautions to avoid a land slide.  On the interesting note is the discussion as it brings up issues of legality and freedom of speech in a somewhat tangential nature.  This got me thinking…

Obviously, these people were not on the coal companies property so they avoid trespassing crimes. I do wonder if they haven’t committed tortious/wrongful interference.  Since it is obvious that they intend to prevent services to move forward as they are near the blasting radius to hamper the blasting of the mountain to start the mining operation. Probably, they aren’t breaking a law since I doubt the coal to be removed is contracted for; however, it is interesting and I’m not a lawyer so I don’t really know.

From a personal opinion perspective though, I think it is one thing to protest something in a non-violent manner. But when an individual begins to use their protests to restrain or hamper other individuals the bounds of non-violence are getting slim. Somebody may protest as I enter a store but if they tried to physically restrain me the equation of non-violence changes. It is obvious these “protest” actions are meant as a physical constraint on the coal company’s blasting plans.

Is violent protest ever a viable option?  Apparently, to these individuals at least violent protest against corporate entities is at least somewhat ok if not in a semi-constrained sort of way.  Sort of like stealing from the rich to get, punishing those that are successful or restraining a corporation are morally ok when one operates on a basis of moral relativism.  I wonder how they’d like a taste of their own medicine if the coal operation decided that the end justified the means and went on an blasted the mountain.  I doubt they’d like it very much but that’s moral relativism for you.

Could it possibly be that those behind the current individuals in power are operating under “a doctrine of post-sovereign globalism in which America is seen as owing its principal allegiance to the international legal order rather than to our own Constitution and national interests”? According to the National Review Online that is exactly what is going on here.

Recall that the president chose to install former Yale Law School dean Harold Koh as his State Department’s legal adviser. Koh is the country’s leading proponent of transnationalism. He is now a major player in the administration’s deliberations over international law and cooperation. Naturally, membership in the International Criminal Court, which the United States has resisted joining, is high on Koh’s agenda. The ICC claims worldwide jurisdiction, even over nations that do not ratify its enabling treaty, notwithstanding that sovereign consent to jurisdiction is a bedrock principle of international law.

As the Republic draws to an end over the coming decades so does the sovereignty of our nation as the progressives push our Constitution aside for more international concerns.   The moral relativism of today slowly eats away at the freedom and justice of tomorrow in barely perceptable ways.   Tomorrow perhaps Rumsfeld and Bush can’t travel outside the country for fear of arrest.  The next day our soldiers returning from the battlefield are arrested by the a U.N. police force stationed in America.   Will it take 100 years, 50, or 20? Only time will tell.