Class Warfare Rhetoric and Reality

Great article on the Class War started recently by our Class Warrior in Chief...


Class Warfare Rhetoric and Reality

Infant mortality figures for US are misleading

I have been saying this for years. The reason the US has such a bad infant mortality rate is because:

1. We consider every baby that is delivered, that takes a breath and appears to be "alive", to in fact, be alive. In some countries babies have to weigh more than 500MG ( about 1.7 lbs) and survive 24 hours. If they do not meet this criteria, they are considered still born.

2. Since we do not have a Socialist health care system, our medical people take extreme measures to save the life of every baby.

Please follow the link for the full story:

Infant mortality figures for US are misleading

A Jumble of Current Events

It has been a while since my last post. I have been rather busy working a new job that requires extensive travel. I have yet to have enough airline status to get a seat wherein I can actually open my laptop on one of those tiny trays designed to make the terrible food they sell you at a high prices look like more food than it actually is.

I had been asked to comment on the Wisconsin standoff. Here is my take on it. - 

 

Public Unions... I believe that they are an oxymoron. Unions were originally organized to get better working conditions and pay for their members from the "Evil Robber Barons". In this relationship there is a natural limit to what the Unions could get from said Evil Capitalist. That limit was the viability of the business. If the Evil Capitalist gave the Unions more than the Business could bear, it went bankrupt. There is no limit to what a public Union can receive from a Municipality, State or the Federal Govt. They have bottomless pockets, or so they believe.

 This is the scenario which caused the state of Wisconsin (among others) to put itself into 3.2 billion dollars of debt. It goes like this:

1.  Corrupt Politician gets huge campaign donations from Public Union
2.  Corrupt Politician gives Public Union exorbitant pay raises and benefits
3.  As a reward, Public Union gives Corrupt Politician huge campaign donations from member dues, and Union Members work for campaign free which helps politician get elected over and over again.
4.  See number 2

This type of Union Political corruption has led to municipal employees of all types (Janitors, Bus Drivers etc.) that make six figure salaries and retire with high five, low six figure incomes at ages as low as 50. In Wisconsin, the average state employee paid only 6% of their Health insurance premium, and nothing for their retirement. The change that the Union was fighting was that they would have to pay 12% toward their health insurance and 8.5% toward their retirement. They also lost the ability to use "Collective Bargaining" or the ability to strike without losing their jobs. If Collective Bargaining had not been rescinded, the changes to the health insurance and retirement plans wouldn't be worth the paper the law was written on. They could just strike to get them back.

-- Whoa, there big fella, don't you mean that the Unions lost their "Right" to "Collective Bargaining"?--

 Hold on; let me look at my pocket Constitution real quick...... Nope, I don't see any right to Collective Bargaining in the Constitution.. Let's give it the inalienable rights test.. Is it something that requires the action or resources of someone other than the individual exercising it? Would or could the use of this so called "Right" infringe upon the rights of another? If the answer is Yes and Yes... I am sorry, it isn't a right, it is a privilege. When privileges are abused, they can and must be revoked.

  A simple illustration of the above would be the "Right" to health care. In order to exercise this "Right" you first have to have someone or some entity that will provide the healthcare. How can you have this "Right" if there are no Doctors or treatment available? The answer is you can't, therefore it isn't a "Right". On the other hand "Free Speech" is a right. Speaking does not require anyone but the speaker's participation. I may say whatever I wish. Of course, no one has to listen. I have the right to speak, not the right to force someone to listen. Then again if what I say offends someone, I must accept the consequences of my actions. The only entity that may not (within certain limits) take action against me for my speech is the U.S. Govt.. Something that most Actors and Musicians don't get, when they say something stupid, and there is a public backlash, they whine about their right to Free Speech (The Dixie Chicks come to mind).

 

  By the way, Wisconsin is projected to be in the "black" by the end of this fiscal year. Many Wisconsin school districts went from deficits to surpluses within 3 months of the passage of this law.

 

 The Iowa Debate: 

  Big Winner: Mitt Romney -

                He is the current front runner. As such he is like the Champ in Boxing. To beat the Champ, you have to decisively beat him, you must either knock him out or at least knock him down multiple times. A split decision almost always goes to the Champ. No one laid a glove on Mitt.. By the way, what kind of name is "Mitt" anyway?

                 -- You are tipping your hand BigMan.. You like Romney!--

                 No.. I don't think so. I received an email the other day from my state Attorney General asking me to join him in campaigning for Romney as he had just been appointed the Romney State Campaign Chief. I replied that I would not be supporting Mr. Romney as I was hoping a conservative may yet run. Further, in my opinion, Romney has at least three strikes against him:

1. Massachusetts Obamney Care
2. He believes in Anthropogenic Global Warming (caused by man) and supports Cap and Trade. 
3. Amnesty for illegal aliens.                

  Big Loser: Tim Pawlenty -

                I spoke to MBB (my big brother) on Friday evening about the Debate, I then opined that Pawlenty was the biggest loser because he looked like he was beating up on the girl (M.Bachmann). It did him no good. He should have been going after Romney. He coined the term "Obamney Care" and was afraid to whip it out twice. Once in the New Hampshire debate and again Thursday night. He has since folded up his tent because of his poor showing in the straw poll.

               

 Winner: Michele Bachmann -

                She ended the debate firmly in Second place which was reflected in the straw poll. Romney and his campaign didn't really play the straw poll game so his poor showing was no big deal. I told Big Mama (just a nickname not a description) that most of what she said was designed to get big applause lines. Several times she waited and they didn't come.. I think she would make a decent VP, but as of now, I am not impressed. 

I say she ended the debate in second place because Saturday Rick Perry announced, he is now the primary challenger to Romney.

               

 Loser: Ron Paul -

                As a Libertarian, I like most of what Ron Paul says. Then he goes and says the most moronic things. Like "I would not be worried about Iran having Nuclear weapons any more than I would be worried about Russia and China" (I am paraphrasing so don't send in a complaint that I misquoted him). That is the most idiotic thing I have ever heard. The leaders of China and Russia don't want their countries to be turned into sheets of radio-active glass. Ahmadinejad is crazy, he wants a nuclear war. He is a twelver. He believes that the earth must be engulfed in fire and blood for the twelfth imam to come back and create Islamic heaven on earth.

               

 Big Was he really there?:  Rick Santorum -

                The Former Senator from Pennsylvania says the right things at the right times.. No one hears him or cares. He is one of the Marathon Runners that is good enough, but not good enough to Win/Place/or Show.

               

If he was only more Consistent: Newt Gingrich -

                I actually met the former speaker while on a transcontinental flight about 7 years ago. I sat across the aisle from him in first class. I spent most of the five hour flight reading a book by Ann Coulter. One of the chapters in this book described the typical Liberal/Democrat/Progressive tactic of trying to make an opponent appear stupid or incompetent (George W. Bush). If that isn't possible, then the individual is obviously evil. She used the Time Magazine cover "The Gingrich That stole Christmas" as an example. Shortly before the Airplane landed I looked over at the former Speaker, he was reading a history book and high-lighting passages. He happened to look up at me and I smiled and said "Mr. Speaker, I had forgotten how much of an evil Son-of-a-bitch you were." He was momentarily taken aback until he noticed the book I had been reading. He then smiled and for the next 15 minutes we talked politics. He gave me his autograph on a business card which I believe is still in that book somewhere in my library. Anyway, Newt, like Ron Paul, has some of the most intelligent and common sense ideas. Then he pulls a "What the hell was he thinking!!". Your honor I submit his Public Service Announcement on the couch with Nancy "You gotta Pass it to find out what's in it" Pelosi on Global Warming as evidence...

               

Was he really there?: John Huntsman -

                I don't trust this guy as far as I could drop kick him. First he accepted the position of Ambassador to China from PapaDoc, No small job in the Administration. Then he quits two years later to run against the individual that gave him the job. Why would he accept a high profile position from this administration? Why would he then quit? He is either an ungrateful back stabber or a plant.

               

I wish he had more substance: Herman Cain -

                I have heard him speak on several radio shows. I like what he says and what he has done in the business world. He didn't know what the "Right of Return" was as it pertains to the Palestinians. I am a simple IT professional and I know what it is. You would think that he would have taken a crash course on Foreign Affairs.

               

The 400lb Gorilla in the Room: Rick Perry -

                Don't know enough about him yet. He has been a successful Governor of one of the largest states, Texas. Texas has the lowest unemployment rate of all of the states.. He is or was in favor of amnesty for illegals so that may be a strike against him. He also received more than 700 write in votes in the straw poll without campaigning or having anyone on the ground in Iowa. Romney received 65 votes.

               

               

     The Budget/Debt Deal          

               

 One last thing, the recent budget surrender.. I mean deal. There has been an article written that has simplified the amounts to proportions that are more easy to comprehend. This article has been referenced on several radio talk shows. I tried to find the original article to provide a link to no avail. Here is a close approximation:

    

     Federal Budget 101

    

      The U.S. Congress sets a federal budget every year in the trillions of dollars. Few people know how much money that is so we created a breakdown of federal spending in simple terms. Let’s put the 2011 federal budget into perspective:

    

         U.S. income: $2,170,000,000,000

         Federal budget: $3,820,000,000,000

         New debt: $ 1,650,000,000,000

         National debt: $14,271,000,000,000

         Recent budget cut: $ 38,500,000,000 (about 1 percent of the budget)

    

     It helps to think about these numbers in terms that we can relate to. Let’s remove eight zeros from these numbers and pretend this is the household budget for the fictitious Jones family.

     

    

         Total annual income for the Jones family: $21,700

         Amount of money the Jones family spent: $38,200

         Amount of new debt added to the credit card: $16,500

         Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710

         Amount cut from the budget: $385

    

     So in effect last month Congress, or in this example the Jones family, sat down at the kitchen table and agreed to cut $385 from its annual budget. What family would cut $385 of spending in order to solve $16,500 in deficit spending?

    

     It is a start, although hardly a solution.

    

Now after years of this, the Jones family has $142,710 of debt on its credit card (which is the equivalent of the national debt).

               

               

               

               

Update On the BigMan

I have busy since my last post...
Big Mama (just a nickname, not a description) pulled the trigger on a complete remodel of the Cocina de la hacienda de grande hombre (the Kitchen). Luckily she allowed me to contract some professionals to do some of the work. Therefore it may get done this decade. I have spent much of my time coordinating the contractors... In hindsight it may have been easier to do it myself.

For those of you who may doubt the accuracy of my nome de plume, A quick little story. The commode in the main bathroom of the hacienda became clogged. I attempted to plunge the blockage out to no avail. I determined that I needed to await the services of a plumber. About this time Big Mama (just a nickname, not a description), began yelling from the basement about a leak. Water was streaming from just below said stool (no pun intended. After frantically moving my bodacious television away from possible damage and strategically placing buckets to catch the water, I, much to Big Mama's (just a nickname, not a description) horror, I cut a hole in the ceiling (her horror at my cutting holes in the ceiling is a post unto itself) to determine the location of the leak. It was definitely coming from the area of the offending contraption. Although I could not determine why. I decided that I await "Benny the Plumber" an have him fix the clog and determine the cause of the leak which had by now subsided. "Benny the Plumber" discovered that the BigMan had plunged the thing with such force that I blew out the wax ring between the Toilet and the WC connection. By the way the clog was over 50 down pipe from the bathroom and "Benny the Plumber" almost didn't have enough "snake" to reach it.

Speaking of snakes;I have completed the Copperhead Hat Band. In fact there was enough of the skin to make two hat bands with a little left over. I gave one of them to MBB (My Big Brother, Age not a description), and I purchased a black Stetson on which to place mine. I will be providing details and photos soon.

Just this last weekend I led a back backing trip of 17 including myself. We stayed in the back country overnight and hiked a distance of approximately 12 miles. All of which was in the Appalachian Mountains. Approximately 5 miles of it was on the Appalachian Trail. While this might not sound impressive on first blush, 12 of the 17 Hikers were females of various ages.  I understand that I have been nominated for canonization. Which is doubly impressive because I am not even Catholic.

By the way... Obama wasn't that brave in ordering the raid on Osama. At least 16 other people knew that he knew where Osama was. It took him 16 hours to give the order.. If he would have not done it, when it got out that he knew where he was and didn't try to get him.. He would have been finished politically..

We can only hope he is anyway.

From the files of "Who's side is he on?"

"The British newspaper The Telegraph has reported that part of the price which President Obama paid to get Russia to sign the START treaty, limiting nuclear arms, was revealing to the Russians the hitherto secret size of the British nuclear arsenal. This information came from the latest WikiLeaks documents.
To betray vital military secrets of this country's oldest, most steadfast and most powerful ally, behind the back of the British government, is something that should set off alarm bells. Following in the wake of earlier betrayals of prior American commitments to put a nuclear shield in Eastern Europe, and the undermining of Israel and calculated insults to its prime minister, this pattern raises serious, and perhaps almost unthinkable, questions about the Obama administration's foreign policy." - Dr. Thomas Sowell

 Makes you wonder what the hell he was thinking.. Of course the START treaty is with an enemy we no longer have. The Russians will meet their obligations as they always have, by eliminating missiles and weapon systems that are obsolete and that they had been planning on getting rid of anyway. On the other hand we will actually reduce our capabilities.

Hey BigMan..What do we need Nukes for anyway? It's not like China is building up their conventional and Nuclear capabilities. Also Russia are our friends now, we can trust them..

Put the crack pipe down and step away.... Russia is and has been backing Iran along with China. China is using all of the money we have been showering upon them to build up their military. They are building a Super Carrier (think Nimitz Class), and they have developed a missile which makes all of our carriers vulnerable.

In the words of the great philosopher Alfred E. Newman "What, me worry?"

The True Islamic Minority

We have been told over and over again since 9/11, that the Muslim or Islamic Extremists are a minority. That they are but a small portion of the over 1 billion Muslims. After all, most of the adherents of the religion of peace are tolerant. We have been told that back in the 6th and 7th centuries, Islam gave women equal rights. Further, unlike Christianity of the same era, Islam was tolerant of other religions.

Islam is not a religion, it is a way of living that encompasses Religion, Law (Sharia), Politics and Finance (Sharia). In the early days of Islam, it was "spread by the sword". When an area was conquered, the inhabitants that had not been killed were offered two choices, convert or pay the "Jizya", Jizya is a tax levied on non-Muslims only. In fact it was this Tax that financed the expansion of early Islam, this was the munificent tolerance that we have been told of. The Jizya was so punitive in the Ottoman Empire that many non-Muslim families had to trade their children to the state in order to settle their tax debt. The boys given to the Ottoman Government as a Tax payment were trained as warriors and became the renowned Janissaries. Eventually Islam spread through conquest through out the middle east and into Europe. At one point, the Islamic Empire or Caliphate which became the Ottoman Empire, controlled most of Spain in western Europe and was defeated twice at the "Gates of Vienna", the first siege of which occurred in 1529, the second and final siege in 1683. The most successful of the Crusades against Islamic expansion (oops I am not supposed to use that word because it offends Muslims... Tough) known as the "Reconquista" was completed in 1492 and the two victorious Iberian Kingdoms sealed their victory with the Marriage of their monarchs Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon (yes, the Isabella that financed Columbus).
    
So, are most of the 1 billion Muslims moderate and only a small minority violent? No, the tolerant Muslims are the true minority. Just because they do not actively participate in violence does not mean that a Muslim is moderate. The violence perpetrated by "Extremists" is condoned and even celebrated as we saw for ourselves on 9/11. There are instances of more violence perpetrated against non-Muslims everyday. Burning of the Coptic Churches and murders in Egypt. The slaughter of Christians in an Iraq Church. This violence is now claiming moderate Muslims.

Salman Taseer, a popular Pakistani governor, was assassinated this week by one of his bodyguards because he was critical of Pakistan's blasphemy law. His former bodyguard, Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri is being held for trial.

  Hey BigMan, the dirt bag is being brought to justice! What more do you want.
 
Yes he is being brought to justice; against the wishes of the Pakistani people.  A facebook page was created celebrating Malik Qadri, and had to be shut down because it was being overloaded with people "like"ing it. In fact Mr. Qadri stated to a TV camera, while being transported, after being asked why he shot the Governor 40 times;"Salmaan Taseer is a blasphemer and this is the punishment for a blasphemer".

 Well BigMan, maybe the guy did something so heinous that he deserved it..

Yes, what he did was considered heinous to most Pakistani Muslims apparently.. Brace yourself... He was killed for.... Speaking out against the execution of Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian charged with speaking against Mohammed.

Ms. Bibi was apparently performing manual labor with a group of Muslims. She had the temerity to offer them some of her water. At that point she found out that a "Good" Muslim can't drink water touched by the filthy hands of a Christian. She then defended herself and her religion, which of course means that defending Christianity is blaspheming Islam, and by default, Mohammed. The Muslims then Gang Raped Asia Bibi. When she went to the authorities for Justice, were the attackers arrested? No, she was sentenced to hang for blasphemy of course.

Salman Taseer was a "Moderate" Muslim, Malik Qadri was an "Extremist" Muslim. Whom did "the people" side with?

  OK BigFella, Ok.. But the "Islamic Authorities" didn't condone this murder did they?
 
A group of more than 500 leading Muslim scholars, representing what the Associated Press describes a "moderate school of Islam" and the British Guardian calls the "mainstream religious organizations" in Pakistan not only celebrated the murder, but warned that no Muslim should mourn Taseer's murder or pray for him.

They even went so far as to warn government officials and journalists that the "supporter is as equally guilty as one who committed blasphemy," and so therefore they should all take "a lesson from the exemplary death" of Salman Taseer.


The exemplary death of Salman Taseer. Exemplary Death.. Of a "Moderate" Muslim, whose crime was that he verbally defended a Christian woman. This type of incident, like Church and Synagogue burnings, are not unusual in the "Muslim" world. Our Main Stream Media just doesn't report these incidents because they don't follow the party line. Muslims are peaceful and tolerant, we Americans are Islamophobic. How many Muslims have been killed in the US since 9/11? I could only find three probable killings, and a handful of verifiable Graffiti or other acts of property destruction that could be listed as a "Hate Crime" (I think hate crime legislation and laws are a load of crap, but that is for another post). In a supposed Islamophobic nation of 350 million people, with over 60 million fire arms, there have been only three deaths and five acts of vandalism in almost 10 years. In Egypt alone, this year 20 Christians were murdered and two churches burned.

Are the Extremists and their adherents the minority or are the Moderates?

Which of us is truly tolerant and where does the hate reside?