First We Have to Pass It to Find Out What's In It

We do not consider whether the Act embodies sound policies. That judgment is entrusted to the Nation's elected leaders. - Chief Justice John Roberts, National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius

Upgrade

So far, I've made it through life with almost all my standard equipment - I still have my tonsils and appendix, for instance. I did have my wisdom teeth removed when I was eighteen, but other than that, no surgery.

This morning, however, I'm getting an upgrade. My standard-issue eyeballs, Mk. I Mod 0 will be laser-modified to Mod 1. I'm getting custom LASIK to correct myopia and astigmatism.

Let's hope that tomorrow I'll be glasses-free for the first time since I was about six.

Deorbital Burn

The most recent XKCD:



As the rollover says, if the Earth were a basketball, in the last 40 years no human's been more than a half-inch from the surface.

But we have flying cat corpses!

Our Cold Civil War

A long time ago Jay Solo asked the question, "Do you expect the "reset button" to need to be used in our lifetimes?" I responded:

Do I expect it to be used? Yes. Will it be effective? I doubt it.

I think we've passed the point at which "using the reset button" would be useful.

Obviously, being me, I had a lot more to say on the topic, but that was the gist of it.

That may still prove out, though in the intervening years I have found the idea of another American Civil hot War to be less and less likely. However, yesterday's Quote of the Day brought up some thoughts that have been ongoing here since Jay asked that question back in December of 2003.

In September of 2004 I wrote How Divided ARE We? as George W. Bush ran for reelection and Bush Derangement Syndrome kicked into high gear. It seemed at the time that hostilities were imminent, but I link to that piece because of a quote from Thomas Sowell I put at the end of it:

The left takes its vision seriously -- more seriously than it takes the rights of other people. They want to be our shepherds. But that requires us to be sheep.

(This is where I'm really pissed that my Echo comments did not transfer to DISQUS, because there was a lot of excellent content in the comments that I would love to be able to mine today.)

On November 6 of 2005 I posted Tough History Coming, an exploration into just why we're in this handbasket and where we're going. In that piece I linked to a column at The Belmont Club, Terrible Slow Sword that linked to a post at the Syrian blog Amarji that not only accurate predicts today's events in Syria, but first raised the concept of our "Cold Civil War" to my attention:

Syria, barring a miracle, has the potential of turning into an ethnic and sectarian quagmire that will make Iraq and Lebanon in the heyday of its civil war look like a stroll in the park .... While neocons and liberals ... argue ... there are parts of the world that are going to hell in a hand-basket, reflecting the new cold war climate created by this internal debate. It looks as if America is having a nice cold civil war by proxy over its own identity and future.

The ideological components of this war might be taking place in the halls of academia and the congress and through US and international media, but the physical aspect is taking place in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, etc. Each camp here is producing, wittingly and unwittingly, its own allies there, both ideological and tactical. And like in all proxy wars, these allies are quite capable of furthering their own particularistic agendas by stoking the debate here. ... this new American civil war ... has to come to an end. Otherwise the war on terror can never be won and Iraq will be followed by Syria, then Lebanon then Sudan, then Saudi Arabia, then… You get the point.

(My emphasis.)  Someone from outside the country, with the proper perspective, diagnosed what was going on here. Wretchard discounted the diagnosis:

The political "civil war" described by Amaraji is hardly unique to America. The same kind of hesitation over how to deal with terrorism afflicts nations in Europe, Asia and Africa -- almost anywhere in the globe.

Before concluding:

It might even be possible to argue that what Amaraji calls the 'New American Civil War', instead of driving events in Syria and Lebanon, is itself being driven by the structural shifts of the new century. It would go a long way toward explaining why the political structures of the late 1990s have been so deranged by September 11. The United Nations, transAtlantic diplomacy, the doctrine of deterrence which underpinned Cold War strategy, the entire multicultural and globalizing agenda -- all of it -- has been called into question not by a small cabal of neo-conservatives -- that would be ludicrous -- but by the pent-up force of thousands of events in a world now striding to the center stage of history.

No, it wasn't "a small cabal of neo-conservatives," and it isn't just a war by proxy.

A few days after Tough History, I wrote March of the Lemmings, where I quoted several bloggers; Donald Sensing, the Geek with a .45, and one that I have quoted several times through the life of this blog, Ironbear from Who Tends the Fires (no longer online):

I have read a great deal of history. And I have read a great deal of past political debate and discourse. Like (Billy) Beck, the last time I recall that we were this irrevocably divided between major factions was in the 1850's and 1860's - and we actually went to war within ourselves over it.

The divide is once again that stark, and that bleak. It's not "1968 all over again", it's 1858.

Unlike the first one, the dividing lines don't cut across states. Like the first one, the dividing lines are drawn across views of the ownership of men.... of whether we are owned by ourselves or by The State.

It would be a mistake to paint the conflict exclusively in terms of "cultural war", or Democrats vs Republicans, or even Left vs Right. Neither Democrats/Leftists or Republicans shy away from statism... the arguments there are merely over degree of statism, uses to which statism will be put - and over who'll hold the reins. It's the thought that they may not be left in a position to hold the reins that drives the Democrat-Left stark raving.

--

This is a conflict of ideologies...

The heart of the conflict is between those to whom personal liberty is important, and those to whom liberty is not only inconsequential, but to whom personal liberty is a deadly threat.

At the moment, that contingent is embodied most virulently by the "American" Left. This is the movement that still sees the enslavement and "re-education" of hundreds of thousands in South Vietnam, and the bones of millions used as fertilizer in Cambodia as a victory. This is the movement that sees suicide bombers as Minute Men, and sees the removal of a brutal murder and rape machine from power as totalitarianism. This is the movement that sees legitimately losing an election as the imposition of a police state. This is the movement that believes in seizing private property as "common good". That celebrates Che Guevara as a hero. The movement who's highest representatives talk blithely about taking away your money and limiting your access to your own homestead for your own good. The movement of disarmament.

The movement of the boot across the throat.

Think about it. When was the last time that you were able to engage in anything that resembled a discussion with someone of the Leftist persuasion? Were able to have an argument that was based on the premise that one of you was wrong, rather than being painted as Evil just because you disagreed?

The Left has painted itself into a rhetorical and logical corner, and unfortunately, they have no logic that might act as a paint thinner. It's not possible for them to compromise with those that they've managed to conflate with the most venal of malevolence, with those whom they're convinced disagree not because of different opinions but because of stupidity and evil, with those who's core values are diametrically opposed to what the Left has embraced. There can be no real discourse, no real discussion. There's no common ground. There can be no reconciliation there - the Left has nothing to offer that any adherent of freedom wants. The only way they can achieve their venue is from a position of political ascendency where it can be imposed by force or inveigled by guile.

And all adherents of freedom have far too many decades of historical precedent demonstrating exactly where that Leftward road leads - to the ovens of Dachau.

Read that whole piece and the links that still work, it's worth your time. Not much has changed, but I think that one post illuminates the whole "Cold Civil War" we're engaged in.

Michael Walsh, writing under the pseudonym David Kahane published a piece at NRO in November of last year, Cold Civil War, in which he exhorted the Right to get off its ass and fight back:

Despite all the evidence of the past several decades, you still have not grasped one simple fact: that, just about a century after the last one ended, we engaged in a great civil war, one that will determine the kind of country we and our descendants shall henceforth live in for at least the next hundred years — and, one hopes, a thousand. Since there hasn’t been any shooting, so far, some call the struggle we are now involved in the "culture wars," but I have another, better name for it: the Cold Civil War

In many ways, this new civil war is really an inter-generational struggle, the War of the Baby Boomers. America’s largest generation, the famous “pig in the python,” has affected everything it’s touched, from the schools of the 1950s (not enough of them) through the colleges of the 1960s (changed, changed utterly), through the political movements of the 1970s and ’80s (revolution and counter-revolution), and into the present, where the war is still being waged.

Read that whole piece, too.

You see, there are three groups involved in this Cold Civil War: the political Left, which is heavily engaged; the political Right, which hasn't recognized it as a war for the soul of the nation, and (I would hazard to guess) the Tea Party people who finally have. This isn't a blanket statement, there are surely people on the political Left (the useful idiots) who don't understand what "fundamentally transforming" the nation really means. There are those few on the political Right who do understand what it is, and there are Tea Party members who are completely clueless other than understanding that something is very, very wrong.

Then there's the overwhelming majority of the population that just wants to know when the next episode of Jersey Shore will air.

But the rise of the Tea Party is, I think, a visceral response to the inaction of the political Right (in the form of their weak doppelgänger, the Republican Party) in the face of this war.

Thomas Sowell is right, the Left's ideology requires them to be our shepherds - controlling our soft-drink, salt and nicotine intake, providing our health care, taking away our guns, telling us what kind of cars we ought to drive and where we should live - but that requires us to be sheep. Ironbear was right - to that ideology, personal liberty is a deadly threat.

And the Geek with a .45 is right when it comes to not only domestic, but world events:

Entire Societies Can and Have Gone Stark Raving Batshit Fucking Insane.

We're watching Europe and the Middle East do it right now.

How long before it spreads here?

Quote of the Day - Paradigm Shift Edition

From Michael Walsh's PJ Media column, First Principles:

Now we are engaged in a great Cold Civil War. But the decision American voters will make in November is far more than merely an ideological clash about what the Constitution meant or means. For that supposes that both sides are playing by the same rules, and have a shared interest in the outcome. That presumes that both sides accept the foundational idea of the American experiment, and that the argument is over how best to adhere to it.

That is false.

For some, this is a difficult notion to grasp. To them, politics is politics, the same game being played by the same rules that go back a couple of centuries. The idea that one party — and you know which one I mean — is actively working against its own country as it was founded seems unbelievable.

But that is true.

Don’t take it from me, take it from Barack Hussein Obama who famously said on the stump in 2008: "We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America."

The election of Barack Obama was the culmination of efforts that began near the turn of the 20th Century.

Ah, Um, Er, Uh....

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I Wonder if This One Will Be There

The Gun Blogger Rendezvous occurs the same weekend as the Reno Balloon Races.


Think I'll see this one?
UPDATE (from comments): Yes, this one's better.

Bacon!

Yep, I resemble that remark.

That's What Unions are For

I'm just going to quote the whole piece:

Nine students have been suspended from a San Diego middle school after classmates claimed they were watching porn on cell phones and masturbating in class.

The U-T San Diego says the suspended students were in an all-boys English class at Bell Middle School in Paradise Hills.

The school told the newspaper on May 29 the reason for the suspensions could not be released. Parents of students in the class say they haven't been told anything.

The paper has obtained and reviewed testimonials written by 22 students in the class.

Several said they raised their hands to report the behavior but the teacher kept reading a book.

The teacher has not replied to a newspaper request for comment but a union representative is rallying support for him.

Does California have "rubber rooms" for its useless, unfireable teachers?

Once a Month Until the Election

Kids and Guns

And "safe-storage" laws.

The anti-gun, er, gun control, ah, gun-safety supporters tell us that guns and children are a dangerous mix, and that all guns should be locked up, separate from their ammunition.  In addition, any parent that leaves a loaded firearm unattended where kids can get to it are (or ought to be) criminally negligent.

I don't think so:

Phoenix boy, 14, shoots armed intruder while watching three younger siblings

A 14-year-old Phoenix boy shot an intruder who broke into his home while brandishing a gun as the teenager watched his three younger siblings, police said.

The teen and his brothers and sisters were at home alone at their residence at 55th Avenue and Baseline when a woman rang the doorbell Friday. The teen didn't open the door because he didn't recognize her, Police Officer James Holmes said Saturday.

Soon after, the teen heard a bang on the door, rushed his siblings upstairs and got a handgun from his parent's bedroom. When he got to the top of the stairs, he saw a man breaking through the front door and point a gun at him.

The boy shot the 37-year-old man, who is in critical condition but expected to survive and be booked into jail.

Sounds to me like mom and dad did a helluva job raising their kids, and if that handgun hadn't been available and loaded, things could have been much, much worse.

UPDATE: According to this report, the intruder was armed with a rifle.

Roku Won't be Getting Any More of My Money

I bought my first Roku box on the recommendation of Instapundit back in April of 2011.  Streaming Netflix to my TV!  How cool! 

But in February, 2012, it croaked, and Roku's warranty is 30 days - period.  Including shipping, $95.26 and ten months of life.

Well, OK, sometimes you get a bad piece, and in the mean time new models with higher performance had come out, and I didn't see a competing device that was any better so I popped for an upgrade - $98.18 with free shipping.

It's dead, Jim.  Four months old and it's a paperweight.

I'm done.  No more Roku anything.  Apparently "Roku" means either "junk" or "sucker!"  Either way, once is happenstance; twice is coincidence.  Three times is enemy action. 

UPDATE: One of these is on order. With my Amazon.com points, it was $87.50. And I can watch YouTube videos on it, which Roku doesn't allow.

Fast & Furious and Executive Privilege

Bill Whittle opines in seven minutes:




Bill?  They smuggled semi-automatic rifles, not "assault rifles."  Just sayin'.

Dave Kopel goes into much greater detail over 47 minutes.

Both are worth your time.

Atheist President?

Primeval Papa links to a recent survey that says that atheists are no longer the most distrusted people on the planet. For the first time since the question has been asked, a majority of people would be willing to vote for an atheist for president.

As I noted in my comment, being an atheist myself (small "a" version) I don't have a problem with someone who does not hold a belief in a divine creator still being a moral and trustworthy individual. However, the Big "A" evangelical Atheists who hold the belief that THERE IS NO GOD! rub me the wrong way. With sandpaper. Just like Fred Phelps does. So it depends on what kind of "avowed atheist" is running.

That Should Leave a Mark Scar

Tell On Me

God, I love the new media. You won't see this on SNL:


Found at Theo Spark.

THIS SHALL NOT STAND!

Today is the seventh anniversary of the resurrection of Maj. Chuck Zeigenfuss, who was blown up by an Iraqi IED in 2005. Chuck is the creator of the Soldiers' Angels Project Valour-IT program that provides technology to help wounded service personnel adapt to their injuries.  Project Valour has been the designated charity that the Gun Blogger Rendezvous has supported since the second gathering in 2006, and Chuck himself has been guest of honor three times. But in this morning's post, Chuck asks:

I would appreciate it if you would consider making a donation today to Project Valour-it; the silver lining to this story. We're currently out of funds to provide wounded troops with the same tech that helped me recover.

This shall not stand. Please, if you can spare it, dig deep and contribute whatever you can.



Click on the picture to go to the donation page. And please spread this around.

"Watergate Didn't Have a Body Count"

Drudge today is BRILLIANT:




I just wanted to save that image.

Quote of the Day - John Taylor Gatto (Pt. 12)

One more, and I think I'll give it a rest for awhile:

Do you think class size, teacher compensation, and school revenue have much to do with education quality? If so, the conclusion is inescapable that we are living in a golden age. From 1955 to 1991 the U.S. pupil/teacher ratio dropped 40 percent, the average salary of teachers rose 50 percent (in real terms) and the annual expense per pupil, inflation adjusted, soared 350 percent. What other hypothesis, then, might fit the strange data I’m about to present?

Forget the 10 percent drop in SAT and Achievement Test scores the press beats to death with regularity; how do you explain the 37 percent decline since 1972 in students who score above 600 on the SAT? This is an absolute decline, not a relative one. It is not affected by an increase in unsuitable minds taking the test or by an increase in the numbers. The absolute body count of smart students is down drastically with a test not more difficult than yesterday’s but considerably less so.

What should be made of a 50 percent decline among the most rarefied group of test-takers, those who score above 750? In 1972, there were 2,817 American students who reached this pinnacle; only 1,438 did in 1994—when kids took a much easier test. Can a 50 percent decline occur in twenty-two years without signaling that some massive leveling in the public school mind is underway?

Every word out of their mouth was, 'We don't care.'

RCoB™ time:

Woman Sues City of Tulsa For Cutting Down Her Edible Garden

A Tulsa woman is suing the city's code enforcement officers after she said they cut down her garden with no cause.

Denise Morrison said she has more than 100 plant varieties in her front and back yards and all of them are edible and have a purpose.

She knows which ones will treat arthritis, which will make your food spicy, which ones keep mosquitoes away and treat bug bites, but she said none of that matter to city inspectors.

Last August, Morrison's front and back yards were filled with flowers in bloom, lemon, stevia, garlic chives, grapes, strawberries, apple mint, spearmint, peppermint, an apple tree, walnut tree, pecan trees and much more.

She got a letter from the city saying there had been a complaint about her yard.

She said she took pictures to meet with city inspectors, but they wouldn't listen, so she invited them to her home so they could point out the problem areas.

"Everything, everything needs to go," Morrison said they told her.

When she heard they wanted to cut it all down, she called police. The officer issued her a citation so it could be worked out in court.

She said she went to court on August 15, and the judge told them to come back in October. But the very next day, men were cutting down most of her plants.

They even cut down some of her trees -– ones that bore fruit and nuts -– and went up next to her house and basically removed everything in her front flower bed.

"I came back three days later, sat in my driveway, cried and left," Morrison said.

Morrison said she had a problem at her last property with code enforcement, so this time, she read the ordinance, which says plants can't be over 12-inches tall unless they're used for human consumption. She made sure everything she grew could be eaten, which she told the inspectors.

"Every word out of their mouth was, 'we don't care,'" Morrison said.

Morrison said she used many of the plants that were destroyed to treat her diabetes, high-blood pressure and arthritis.

"Not only are the plants my livelihood, they're my food and I was unemployed at the time and had no food left, no medicine left, and I didn't have insurance," Morrison said. "They took away my life and livelihood."

Morrison finally went to court last week for the citation she got last August at another property. The garden portion of the citation was dismissed and she pleaded no contest to having an inoperable truck in her driveway.

She filed a civil rights lawsuit this week, accusing the inspectors of overstepping their authority.

The City of Tulsa said it hasn't received the lawsuit yet, so it couldn't comment.

She's lucky they didn't send her a bill for the "gardening work." Luckier still the FDA isn't coming after her for self-medicating with unapproved medicines.