Revolutionary Indicators

We are living in revolutionary times. Institutions that we have taken for granted are being completely revamped. People's perception of government is radically changing. Power is escaping its Constitutional cage.

I believe the form of the future is always around us -- the seeds of which were planted yesterday, are quietly growing today, and ready to bloom tomorrow. The key to being ahead of the curve is to be observant of those small shoots. I'll present some of them here.

Indicator 1: Massive Washington Tea Party

While the probable count was around 1.5 to 2 million, each individual who attended represented ten to twenty people who could not.


Indicator 2: Internet search terms

I subscribe to a bi-monthly digest of top Internet search terms. In the past, I just took a quick look through the search words (mostly pop culture and porn) but this year began to take a closer examination. I compiled conservative search terms with their ranking in the list. Interesting.

Indicator 3: American's attitudes toward traditional seats of power



I am not aware of any recent President falling so fast, so soon. And the Main Stream Media? Time to pull the plug. The brain died years ago.

Indicator 4: 2nd Amendment purchases

Far from mere talk, these people are laying down cold cash to support their beliefs even in the face of a severe economic downturn. It is estimated that two billion extra rounds of ammunition have been purchased this last year over and above the seven billion usually sold. Gun sales mirror this increase. NICS background checks only cover a portion of 2nd Amendment sales, the actual volume is likely significantly higher.

Indicator 5: Abandonment of houses and debts

Strategic default is the term used for those who bail out of a house to preserve what capital they have. Couple this trend with those who are maxing out credit cards without any intention of paying - credit charge off rates are approaching 12%. It seems as though the cost in a ruined credit score is not enough to stop them - like there is no tomorrow.

Indicator 6: Tenth Amendment assertion by individual States

Each point represents a state that has explored in some degree their 10th Amendment rights in defiance to an expanding federal government.

Indicator 7: Civilian law enforcement by military personnel

Despite the traditional prohibitions of Posse Comitatus, these are some of the verified law enforcement-like activities of the US military within CONUS over the past year, usually under the aegis of NORTHCOM:

Pittsburgh
The Kentucky Derby
Samson, AL
San Bernardino County, CA
Boston
Indianapolis
El Paso
Interstate 35 in Texas
Whiteville, TN
Kingman, AZ
Newport, KY
Washington, D.C.

Taken together, these indicators seem to say it's not 2009. It's 1764.

-Hugh Farnham

Two Million March Against Obamismo

NY Slimes called it "Thousands...

WaPo called it Tens of Thousands...


... but it took a respected British paper to call it what it was: Millions!

Up to two million people marched to the U.S. Capitol today, carrying signs with slogans such as "Obamacare makes me sick" as they protested the president's health care plan and what they say is out-of-control spending.

The line of protesters spread across Pennsylvania Avenue for blocks, all the way to the capitol, according to the Washington Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency.

People were chanting "enough, enough" and "We the People." Others yelled "You lie, you lie!" and "Pelosi has to go," referring to California congresswoman Nancy Pelosi.

This quote was typical:

Like countless others at the rally, Joan Wright, 78, of Ocean Pines, Md., sounded angry. "I'm not taking this crap anymore," said Wright, who came by bus to Washington with 150 like-minded residents of Maryland's Eastern Shore.

"I don't like the health-care [plan]. I don't like the czars. And I don't like the elitists telling us what we should do or eat."(Source: Daily Mail)

Matt Welch, Editor in Chief of Reason Magazine was there and gives us his libertarian impressions:

Big crowd. Do not believe any description that says "thousands." If there weren't at least a healthy six figures there, I will permanently revoke my head-counting license.

Of the people I ended up talking to, the general vibe was that they were conservative, and then either Republican, formerly Republican, or independent.

Every single one had unkind words to say about George W. Bush's spending and governing record, though none had protested him. None expressed trust in Republicans, and most preferred a "throw-all-the-bums-out" strategy.

All but one did not care about Obama's birth certificate controversy, and those I asked thought it was foolish to bring guns to political gatherings.

How do we know everybody behaved themselves? Because if there had been one swastika or racist comment, it would be plastered wall-to-wall, 24/7 by Obama's state-run media lapdogs at CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS and NBC...

What a fun loving crowd! Unlike the angry, drug addled rabble on the left that protests anything their agitation leaders with bullhorns tell them to.

Notice how the US state-controlled media has really played this down? I guess protest is not authentic when done by people with jobs who pay their own way, bathe regularly and don't throw feces or burn flags.

Here's a CNN report I found on Breitbart TV. The reporter lady can barely be heard over the crowd shouting "Tell the truth!" and "Glenn Beck!"

Conservatives Outnumber Liberals 2-1, Pt 2

Alternate theory: Many liberals don't like to label themselves as such, so they call themselves "moderate" when the pollsters call. I hate to accept it, but that is probably closer to the truth. If 3/4 of so-called moderates are really liberals in denial, then that breakout matches the 2008 presidential election almost to a T.

I still like Glenn Beck...

Conservatives Outnumber Liberals 2-1

Results from the latest Gallup poll may just explain why the Democrats are trying to rush their agenda through: Self-identified conservatives outnumber self-identified liberals two to one. WSJ reports that support for an activist government is on the wane.

Gotta fleece the yokels and wrap up this flim flam jig before the townsfolk get out the tar and feathers!

The liberal zeitgeist sweeping the nation is not powered by enviro-friendly solar panels or Quixotic windmills, or even hot air from Al Gore. It's powered by charisma. Barack Obama's popularity is the miraculous engine driving a progressive agenda in a still-conservative nation. Once his popularity drops, liberalism will collapse like the rotten, intellectually-bereft edifice it is.

Like Glenn Beck says, We Surround Them!

Tina Brown reminds us that lib women really know how to stand by their misogynist man:

Letterman’s joke may not have been his finest hour, but at least he swiftly apologized. Meanwhile, the nation’s hockey mom scores another goal for intellectual dishonesty.

Conservatives Outnumber Liberals 2-1
Results from the latest Gallup poll may just explain why the Democrats are trying to rush their agenda through: Self-identified conservatives outnumber self-identified liberals two to one. WSJ reports that support for an activist government is on the wane.

Gotta fleece the yokels and wrap up this flim flam jig before the townsfolk get out the tar and feathers.

The liberal zeitgeist sweeping the nation is not powered by enviro-friendly solar panels or Quixotic windmills. It's powered by charisma. Barack Obama's popularity is the miraculous engine driving a progressive agenda in a still-conservative nation. Once his popularity drops, liberalism will collapse like the rotten, intellectually-bereft edifice it is.

Like Glenn Beck says, We Surround Them!

Evangelicals, Catholics Agree with 80% of What Obama Says

That didn't take long. Catholic Bishops are popping up all over to slap down Nancy Pelosi's ignorant comments regarding abortion and the Catholic Church. In no uncertain terms, the Bishops have stated that willful procurement of an abortion is a sin, and it always has been, going all the way back to the beginnings of Christian practice. I guess Madam Speaker has been too busy scheming against the president to read her catechism.

What really caught my eye though was this provocative statement in the WashingtonTimes article:

"The push for the Democratic Party is to have a new position on abortion," said Steve Waldman, editor of the religious Web site beliefnet.com. "When you look at Catholics and Evangelicals, you see that they agree with 80 percent of what [Mr. Obama] says, but there's this stumbling block with abortion."

I couldn't believe my eyes. How could this man, Steve Waldman, of a web site called beliefnet.com, say such an ignorant thing?!

Answer: He's ignorant. And his web site is a squishy, perfumed bog of it's-all-good spirituality that does harm to every religion it features. Do you love your God and your faith? Then stay away from this empty, flowery, New Age wisp of nothingness. There might be a few feel-good prayers there, but if you need serious spiritual guidance, go see your pastor or rabbi.

Now, back to this absurd statement that Catholics and Evangelicals agree with 80% of what Mr. Obama says:

Do Catholics and Evangelicals support Mother Earth worship proposals like cutting carbon emissions 80% by 2050, effectively rewinding our economy back to the frontier days?

How about Obama's belief in socialistic government solutions over free market ones to cure every perceived ill?

Do Christians want a nanny state instilling values in their kids, or would they rather do it themselves and tell the bureaucrats to butt out?

Do Catholics oppose school vouchers and school choice, as Mr. Obama does?

Do Evangelicals support President Obama reaching out to anti-semitic wackjobs like Ahmedinejad of Iran?

No! The answer to all of the above is No. I don't know what Steve Waldman's religion is, but I suspect it's feel-good progressivism with some Gaia worship thrown in. Seems he's recently found a new messiah as well.

He sure loves preaching the Democratic Gospel, calling all Christians to abandon their evil conservative ways and join with the gay marriage, pro-abortion, Hollywood values Democratic party. It's a natural fit, right? Nancy Pelosi thinks so.

Hollywood Conservatives out of the Closet

If you hate the overflowing sewer on the cultural landscape that is Hollywood, you must go see An American Carol when it comes out in October. It mocks political correctness, Michael Moore and the Bush Derangement Syndrome crowd. It should be quite an antidote to the anti-American, military-hating stink bombs that have debuted (and failed) in the last few years.

David Zucker, director of the funny movies Airplane!, Naked Gun, and Kentucky Fried Movie, is the driving force behind the project. He is also an unabashed conservative. As the Weekly Standard article states, conservative in Hollywood is the new gay. Most are still in the closet.

But that is changing. Hollywood conservatives have an informal club called the Friends of Abe. Kelsey Grammer is out as a conservative and there is hopeful talk of him taking on Barbara Boxer.

Liberals who had no problem with Michael Moore trashing our president and twisting the truth are already howling like scalded dogs over this movie, which is a comedy, not a pseudo-documentary. Here is an excellent example of liberal scorn for this movie:

This is just more of the right wing believing their own BS to make themselves feel better. They know their time is almost up. A great deal of effort is put forth daily to keep morale up (see talk radio, right wing blogs/forums, Fox News) among the true believers. This film is another example.

And how ironic is it to usurp the Dickens classic about class exploitation as a vehicle promoting the current regime of haves and have mores. Yeah, lets talk about EVIL. The right wing think they are the only ones who can recognize it. Well most of it is banal and born of stupidity (see Katrina as just one example). It's not always a dark-faced man with a bomb.

Also, it appears the film will mock anti-war protesters as idiots. I can laugh at that too, like Jay Leno's "Jaywalking" segment or similar vehicles. But it gets old after awhile. And I'll stack up the left in general (despite airhead college protesters) against the talk radio/Fox News audiences, rednecks, neo-con paranoids, racists (oh yeah, it still abounds), militia members, neo-Country Western crappy musicians (you know who they are), etc. etc., as to who is better informed.

But it appears we can finally put to rest the notion that Hollywood is all liberals - nah, probably not. Too convenient a target for the low fruit pickers on the right. Also, it's sad that a bunch of wealthy movie makers will carry water for a party that considers many of the gay and lesbians they work with in the industry as second class citizens. Evil, recognize it. Got to keep their taxes low though.

Come October, the film may do well, if a campaign like the one for "Passion of the Christ", along with a "let's stick it to the liberals" message is ginned up via the usual outlets.

So go and have fun liberal-haters, laugh all the way into the political graveyard, you are proud to be part of an ugly history which will not be judged mercifully.

Oh, and Michael Moore is FAT!!! Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha... /sarcasm

Go read the Weekly Standard article about the movie, Mr. Zucker, and his surprisingly large group of conservative Hollywood pals. More importantly, go see An American Carol when it comes out. Hollywood conservatives are standing up for the cause, let's show them we've got their backs. Anything that's got liberals this riled has to be good!

Political Joke for the Weekend

Democrat-ran New Orleans floods out, big humanitarian disaster, and Republicans are blamed. Liberal social policies have Democratic-ran California near bankruptcy and overran with illegal aliens and gangs, but they continue to vote Democratic. Michigan is a Democratic state whose economy is in the dumper. Texas, Oklahoma, and Tennessee, just to name a few Republican-dominated states, are enjoying prosperity, but miserable Michigan residents still blame President Bush. I don't understand it.

This joke offers an explanation:

A woman in a hot air balloon realizes she is lost. She lowers her altitude and spots a man fishing from a boat below...

She shouts to him, 'Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am.'

The man consults his portable GPS and replies, 'You're in a hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet above a ground elevation of 2346 feet above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.0 9 minutes west longitude.

She rolls her eyes and says, 'You must be a Republican!'

'I am,' replies the man. 'How did you know?'

'Well,' answers the balloonist, 'everything you tell me is technically correct, but I have no idea what to do with your information, and I'm still lost. Frankly, you're not much help to me.'

The man smiles and responds, 'You must be a Democrat.'

'I am,' replies the balloonist. 'How did you know?'

'Well,' says the man, 'You don't know where you are or where you're going. You've risen to where you are, due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise that you have no idea how to keep, and now you expect me to solve your problem. You're in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but, somehow, now it's my fault.

Beer and A Joke for the Weekend

George Will has written a scholarly but highly readable (does he ever write any other way?) treatise on the benefits of beer and it's role in human survival throughout history. This reminded me of a joke I got in an e-mail awhile back about Beer, Conservatives, and Liberals. I apologize in advance to my liberal friends; it's just a joke :)

Beer, Conservatives & Liberals: A History Lesson

Humans originally existed as members of small bands of nomadic hunters/gatherers. They lived on deer in the mountains during the summer and would go to the coast and live on fish and lobster in the winter.

The two most important events in all of history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. The wheel was invented to get man to the beer. These were the foundation of modern civilization and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into two distinct subgroups: 1. Liberals; and 2. Conservatives.

Once beer was discovered, it required grain and that was the beginning of agriculture. Neither the glass bottle nor aluminum can were invented yet, so while our early humans were sitting around waiting for them to be invented, they just stayed close to the brewery. That's how villages were formed.

Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to B-B-Q at night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as the Conservative movement. Other men who were weaker and less skilled at hunting learned to live off the conservatives by showing up for the nightly B-B-Q's and doing the sewing, fetching, and hair dressing. This was the beginning of the Liberal movement. Some of these liberal men eventually evolved into women. The rest became known as girliemen.

Some noteworthy liberal achievements include the domestication of cats, the invention of group therapy, group hugs, and the concept of Democratic voting to decide how to divide the meat and beer that conservatives provided. Over the years conservatives came to be symbolized by the largest, most powerful land animal on earth, the elephant. Liberals are symbolized by the jackass.

Modern liberals like imported beer (with lime added), but most prefer white wine or imported bottled water. They eat raw fish but like their beef well done. Sushi, tofu, and French food are standard liberal fare. Another interesting evolutionary side note: most of their women have higher testosterone levels than their men. Most social workers, personal injury attorneys, journalists, dreamers in Hollywood and group therapists are liberals. Liberals invented the designated hitter rule because it wasn't fair to make the pitcher also bat.

Conservatives drink domestic beer. They eat red meat and still provide for their women. Conservatives are big-game hunters, rodeo cowboys, lumberjacks, construction workers, firemen, medical doctors, police officers, corporate executives, athletes, Marines, and generally anyone who works productively. Conservatives who own companies hire other conservatives who want to work for a living.

Liberals produce little or nothing. They like to govern the producers and decide what to do with the production. Liberals believe Europeans are more enlightened than Americans. That is why most of the liberals remained in Europe when conservatives were coming to America. They crept in after the Wild West was tamed and created a business of trying to get more for nothing.

Here ends today's lesson in world history: It should be noted that a Liberal may have a momentary urge to angrily respond to the above before forwarding it. A Conservative will simply laugh and be so convinced of the absolute truth of this history that it will be forwarded immediately to other true believers and to more liberals just to tick them off.

Conservatives Really are Happier

Conservatives really are nicer than Liberals. They're happier too, according to the General Social Survey. Peter Schweitzer has written a provocative article on the subject in The Daily Mail. You can read the full article here.

Here are some sample questions and responses:

Is it your obligation to care for a seriously injured/ill spouse or parent, or should you give care only if you really want to?
Of those describing themselves as 'conservative', 71 per cent said it was. Only 46 per cent of those on the Left agreed.

Do you get happiness by putting someone else's happiness ahead of your own?
55 per cent of those who said they were 'very conservative' said Yes, compared with 20 per cent of those who were 'very liberal'.

When asked by the World Values Survey whether parents should sacrifice their own well-being for those of their children, those on the Left were nearly twice as likely to say No.

Most surprising of all is reputable research showing those on the Left are more interested in money than Right-wingers.

He also observes those on the left seem more obsessed with self and feelings. Clinton-era navel gazing and a glance at Michelle Obama's college thesis confirm these observations.

Government Can't Bring You Happiness

I'm a happy person. I like being around other happy people. Arthur C. Brooks has written a book entitled Gross National Happiness about happiness and how it affects societies. He identifies a "Happiness Gap" in America that splits religious conservatives and secular liberals. Guess who's happier?


Here are the factors he identifies as causing liberal unhappiness:
- Secularism
- Overreliance on government to solve your (and societies) problems
- An addiction to security

Here are the factors he cites that make conservatives a happier group:
- Faith in God
- Work (job satisfaction)
- Marriage and Family
- Charitable giving and volunteering
- Freedom (economic, political, religious)

This is just a very brief summary. For more entertaining details, read his latest piece here.

This backs up what I've believed for a long time. People who expect things from government are angry because they are disappointed. On the other hand, people who go out and git'r done for themselves are much happier. Many of the latter group don't have much, but what they got is theirs and they got it fair and square through their own hard work. That and a loving belief in God Almighty brings a satisfied happiness that no government program can ever hope to match.