Pure Common Sense
Doesn't the world seem just like one giant satire of itself?
Time for the summer to roll in
19 days
Well summer is finally here and its coming in full force. Its time to put politics aside and enjoy ourselves for just a brief moment here….Well maybe not just yet 
So I had a little chuckle this morning when I got wind of the recent President Obama’s humor goes to the ‘dogs’ during annual dinner thing. I must say its quite amusing to see these get all perky like this. Now where was I, Oh yes, like I was saying summer is in full swing and this season I really am going to learn how to refinish hardwood floors and I’ll get my wife and kids in on it so I don’t end up being the only one who’s doing it.
In other news, I’m pretty sure everyone here has heard of the recent N. Korea vs. S.Korea debacle and how they threatened to smoke everyone to heck. Clearly, this is nothing more then just a plea for free food. We’ll see how it all unfolds I guess.
Well Summer is here and so I hope that everyone really enjoys ourselves and not get too caught up in all the politics that goes on around us. We need to take this time and relax a bit and lighten up our mind and take a load off. Here’s to a fresh cold beer cheers
The politician in all of us
21 days
So it dawned on me that everyone has a little bit of that political spark in them.
Which of the following would you really like to be able to do?
Be considered charismatic and have people hang on to your every word?
Know how to use hypnotic language to ensure that people want to support you?
Learn how to influence people in such a way as to effect positive change?
Be able to speak in public without using notes or feeling nervous?
Garner support of the voters and fellow politicians to partake in government?
Are you passionate about improving the lives of people in your constituency and the country, yet feel that you can not express yourself in a powerful and evocative way?
Do you want to be part of a winning team, acting with integrity and passion to bring to reality your strategic vision that improves dramatically the lives of the people you represent?
Passion
Integrity
Vision
With these 3 empowering beliefs together we can easily transform you into the politician that can look at themselves in the mirror at 3 o’clock in the morning and say – “I am proud of what I have done”
Like a sculptor creates a masterpiece by removing the unwanted chips of stone in a rock, together we can locate the real powerful, charismatic person within you that will achieve your political dreams.
Whether it is standing at a constituent’s door or speaking at a political rally or putting your point forward in the Dail, you need to be confident that what you are saying is delivered with believability and conviction.
Case Study:
A Dublin City Councillor who was not particularly strong at public speaking wanted to get the party nomination to replace one of the longest standing dail members, who was vacating his seat as an electoral candidate.
As an unknown, she was not in favour with the party powers that be. She had to deliver a speech at the electoral convention to secure her nomination.
She was terrified before we started our first session. But she was still passionate, honest and knew her strengths and how she could use them if given the chance. She had three 45 minute sessions and then delivered a speech that completely amazed all who were present.
Together we found a way to harness her fear to create something amazing. She got the nomination and is now working hard as a team player with her running mate to woo over the constituency.
She has an amazing chance, because she has so much confidence. She now knows how to ask for votes in a way that will get her way more than her fair share – Because immediately people will trust her. And because of the way we have boosted her current level of confidence, integrity and passion, everyone knows that she will deliver what her constituents need.
Dubya Tries to Hop on Tea Party Bandwagon
533 days
As the Tea Party has been gathering steam, people from all over are cramming in to see if they can catch a piece of the pie. And the pie gets bigger by the minute – with four Senate seats – those of Rand Paul (KY), Pat Toomey (PE), Marc Rubio (FL) and Mike Lee (UT) – being claimed by the Tea Party movement. There is even talk of a Tea Party Caucus in the Senate and House during the next congressional cycle. Former President George W. Bush has been trying to capitalize on the political success of the movement like any other. It may seem odd that he would do that, given that his two constitutionally legal terms of office are over and he cannot rise any farther than he has been in the past. But his brother Jeb is now being speculated about as a potential Republican candidate for the 2012 presidential election. Now George seems to be trying to mobilize Tea Party support for his Jeb’s run to follow in his footsteps.
The Tea Party movement and its members would have to have really short memories if they were to follow the former president’s lead and throw their support behind another Bush. It is important to remember that the Tea Party originally rose in response to cronyism overspending by the BUSH Administration which has been expanded and continued by the Obama Administration. It is easy to forget – with all the attention centered around Obama – that Bush was the original target of the movement. The Tea Party will only get behind candidates true to their values and RINOs like Bush will not qualify. Sure, the Tea Party was largely behind Scott Brown here in Massachusetts and he’s a centrist on fiscal issues, but he was the best the Tea Party could settle for in the bluest state in the nation. Let’s not forget that George Bush snubbed now Senator-Elect Marc Rubio when he was running in the primary against establishment candidate Charlie Crist. Now Bush is playing like he knew the Tea Party was the real deal all along.
Of course, he still doesn’t seem to grasp what the Tea Party actually stands for. He says: “Here’s what I am most concerned about: isolationism, protectionism and nativism, the evil triplets that occasionally hold hands in America,” Wow, sounds a lot like his “axis of evil” – time to play the demagogue all over again. Unfortunately he’s 0 for 3 on this. The Tea Party is not isolationist or protectionist or nativist. The Tea Party supports a culture of liberty where free enterprise is left alone. This requires a government which remains in its proper functions. This would entail a pragmatic but strong foreign policy (not isolationist), free trade so that our market can prosper along with others (opposite of protectionism) and the fact that the Tea Party is a welcoming environment for people of all races and creeds who want to help out. This is neither nativist nor racist as many in the mainstream want you to believe – a manufactured Conventional Wisdom which clashes violently with Common Sense.
A lot of people are scratching their heads trying to figure out who the true leaders of the Tea Party are. Well, that’s a very difficult question to answer. Or perhaps the best answer is that the Tea Party has no real central leadership because it’s a genuine bottom-up movement and doesn’t need one – nor would it accept one. A lot of people have recognized the success of the Tea Party and have reacted to it. Several contenders looking to oust Michael Steele as RNC Chair have promised to give more resources to the Tea Party movement in future elections. A lot of people are under the misconception that Fox News is behind the Tea Party. This is blatantly untrue and should seem laughable to someone who looks at the facts through a Common Sense perspective. It’s true that as the Tea Party grew, Fox covered it while all the other major networks snubbed it. But this does not mean that Fox is the Tea Party. The truth is that the Tea Party is a grassroots movement which started with the actions of local activists. The major networks other than Fox all worshipped Obama like a god and made every move to discredit the Tea Party activists because they opposed the policies of Obama. Fox gave them a fair hearing. So, Fox may not be connected with the Tea Party, but Fox is the only media source which can be trusted with giving out credible Tea Party information.
Of course, just because Fox is not the Tea Party, that does not mean that Fox personalities will not try to cash in on the momentum and publicity of it. Mike Huckabee, who was a notorious tax-hiking RINO as governor and has been called a semi-socialist by some, now claims he was “tea party before it started.” Sarah Palin has only recently joined Fox but she was involved with promoting Tea Party candidates and events long before then. However controversial she may be, she is a true maverick, but the fact that she’s on Fox now does not help to extinguish the Conventional Wisdom that Fox News and the Tea Party are synonymous. Glenn Beck has done his homework on some of the main points of the Tea Party movement in order to become one of them, but I know firsthand that many Tea Partiers remain skeptical of him. He has become better over time, but he was not so quick in the beginning to support Ron Paul, the man who more than anyone else deserves credit for starting the Tea Party movement and whose son Rand has now been elected Senator. I see promise in Rand. He is much like his father but more realistic and pragmatic in his actions. I feel I can relate to him more and he helps bridge the gap between his father’s dreams and building a practical better future. The Tea Party needs to through its full and unconditional support behind him – not any tarnished poser with an ego.
Judge Napolitano’s Major Fail
534 days
Fox news commentator Judge Napolitano has recently committed political suicide by publicly associating himself with ridiculous 9/11 conspiracy theories. He said in an interview that he questions what has come to be established as the obvious truth and Common Sense of the matter.
“I think 20 years from now, people will look at 9/11 the way they look at the assassination of JFK today,” he added, in an interview with radio host Alex Jones. “It couldn’t possibly have been done the way the government told us.”
I was surprised to hear that Fox, which typically holds a center-right tendency, will not be taking any action in response to these surprising comments. I was personally shocked to hear these anti-Common Sense remarks coming from a man who has at times acted like a Common Sense warrior in the past. I even own one of his books. He has such a down-to-earth and vast knowledge of history, our Constitution and the way that the law should properly be carried out based on the principles the country was founded on. He may not have directly stated that he believed 9/11 was an inside job but this is still too much of a step over the edge. When he hints at lending undeserved credibility to crackpot conspiracy junk, he not only diminishes his own credibility but also the credibility of the other ideas he promotes as an individual. The Common Sense warrior becomes a Common Sense liability and stands counterproductive to the spirit of what he champions. I used to admire him a lot and now I need to be ashamed of that.
It is a shame that the Tea Party and the Campaign for Liberty find themselves infiltrated with conspiracy theorists and other fringe elements. The traditionalist position stands against the tyranny of the status quo and that makes the position of liberty seem like that of an outsider sometimes. This creates temptation to ally with others who feel like outsiders to build a stronger force. 9/11 Truthers are treated as fringe outsiders by the elite – and rightfully so, unlike the Tea Party movement. However, they also have an anti-big government, anti-establishment streak to their rhetoric which deludes some into believing that the Truthers and the Tea Party should be allies. All too many Tea Partiers carelessly accept them into their ranks and weaken the viability of their own positions. It reinforces the fringe image of their platform propogated by elitists, propaganda artists and Big Media. People like Judge Napolitano cripple themselves through such pandering.
I think the former President is giving these people no more or less credibility than they deserve. It is a very unusual day that I give more props to Bill Clinton on an issue than I do to Ron Paul. I can’t criticize his approach to this – it’s perfect. He listened to them say their junk and he gave the appropriate response. Blunt and plain Common Sense at its finest! In the second and third videos you can even see near the end some burly security guards removing the hysterical hecklers from their presence. Classic! Oh, and don’t forget how Clinton said “how dare you” in the third video. I think that line is good for this issue in more than one way. In failing to make a statement like Ron Paul or Bill Clinton to these arguments, Judge Napolitano has diminished the integrity of the messages he claims to back. Judge Napolitano, how dare you!
Napolitano may just have to go down the path of Debra Medina after his comments the other day. Debra Medina was a candidate for the Republican Party nomination for Governor of Texas early this year who supported the Tea Party platform of liberty and showed a lot of promise – until that fateful day she went on the Glenn Beck show. Glenn Beck is of course a spokesman for many in the Tea Party movement, even if he gets a big head and tries to run the show sometimes. Beck had been considering endorsing her beforehand but he just had to ask her about 9/11 because there were some chilling rumors that she thought that it was possibly an inside job. Instead of giving the direct, obvious answer, she dodged the question, jumped around and declined to take a strong sense. Needless to say, in her interview for Glenn Beck’s seal of approval, she failed. Her bid for governor, which was gathering steam in the final weeks leading up to the primary, took a dive because she failed to distance herself enough from the radical fringes. She got what she asked for and was steamrolled in the primary and driven out of the picture by candidates who might not have had as much Common Sense as her on other issues, but at least had the Common Sense NOT to make a fatal mistake that cost her entire political career. Now she had her chance and if anyone is to take her place they must learn from her mistake. I suspect there will be repercussions for Judge Napolitano as well.
The bottom line is that 9/11 was not an inside job. It was not perpetrated by the government in any way. Period. Anyone who has questions or doubts on the subject should watch this video. No one with any Common Sense should associate themselves with fringe conspiracy theories. Fox News President Roger Ailes should take appropriate action against Judge Napolitano if he wants to save his network’s reputation. Keith Olbermann of MSNBC said it right: “Ailes has to fire Napolitano, and if he doesn’t Beck, Hannity and O’Reilly need to condemn Ailes and Fox and call them unAmerican for not firing him. Go ahead, put your outrage where your money is.” Now the difference between when Olbermann reads that quote and I do is that Olbermann is trying to sarcastically smear them while I’m trying to give them helpful advice. Standing true to principles in politics sometimes means shedding off some dead leaves and unfortunately our dear Napolitano has outlasted his usefulness if he promotes fringe conspiracy theories. If nothing else then Beck certainly can’t let him substitute host on HIS show anymore. It’s for the good of the movement – and that is bigger than any one man.
Four Loko, Good – Sore Lamo, Bad
Just over a week ago, a 21 year-old Marylander named Courtney Spurry passed away in a drunk driving accident after consuming two cans of Four Loko and getting into her car a half an hour later and crashing it into a tree. Her untimely death was greeted with a memorial service attended by her friends and family. Over 10,000 drivers in this country die in similar car crashes every single year. However, before she succumbed, this girl made the claim that her death was somehow different because it was not she, but the drink she consumed, which was to blame for the accident. This drink was of course Four Loko – a hard energy drink which combines liquor and caffeine.
I would like to offer my heartfelt condolences to Courtney’s friends and the surviving members of the Spurry family. Courtney’s death at such a young age was truly a tragedy and we can all hope she is in a better place. Now, that being said…wow! What a stupid moron! This retarded babe was asking for it – not only did she drive drunk – she drove after having 8-10 standard drinks of alcohol in under an hour AND passing out. One of her friends gave her take on the situation
“She was not the same person. She could not remember people’s names. She was passed out within 30 minutes of having the alcoholic beverage.”
Well, no shit Sherlock, when you have that much to drink in such a short period of time it’s going to have some kind of drastic effect on you. I’ve never been a believer in the idea that some kinds of liquors affect you more than others. It’s the amount that counts. One shot of liquor equals approximately one glass of wine equals approximately one 12 oz. beer. It varies by the alcohol content. Four Loko has about 12% alcohol by volume and Courtney probably would have been in a similar state after drinking the same amount of something else with the same alcohol level. The alcohol level is clearly displayed on the can. Four Loko also comes in a big can and with that level of alcohol it comes to more than four standard drinks in each can. A lot of people make the mistake of counting it as less than what it is because it’s all in one can and I’m guessing that’s what Courtney did. Nevertheless, the alcohol level is clearly displayed on the can and the manufacturers cannot be blamed for the inane misuse by the customers. Personal Responsibility, people!
Something I hear a lot from people talking about “how bad Four Loko is” is that the combination of caffeine and alcohol is lethal. In this respect it’s no different than Irish Coffees, Rum and Cokes or Jager Bombs (Red Bull mixed with Jagermeister.) Alcohol is alcohol is alcohol. I have had Four Loko in the past and as a responsible drinker, I did just fine, since I know what I am drinking and how much alcohol is in it. Some claim that it’s possible to keep track of how much you’ve had to drink if you mix in caffeine. That’s pseudo-logic. It’s not that hard to keep track – just count how many drinks you’ve had. Each beer, each shot, each glass of wine, etc. When a drink is mixed, take into account how much is alcohol by the volume and the mixture. Anytime you have a drink without knowing the precise content, you take a risk on your own accord. As for all the juveniles and teenagers who get sloshed on their stuff, all I got to say is where are their parents in all this?
Not only have several states been moving against this alcoholic beverage like any other, but the FDA and the Federal Government are taking action as well. Not only is this based on unfounded logic, but the Federal Government was never supposed to be involved in the matter of banning or regulating common market goods when the framers wrote the Constitution. Some activist judges have said otherwise in recent years, but the original intent remains timeless. The American Revolution of 1776 was preceded by several stingy and frivolous laws passed by the government of the British Empire. Along with freedom one must accept Personal Responsibility – that’s Common Sense. If you are not free to choose wrongly and irresponsibly, you are not free at all. One of Courtney’s friends, pretending to be among the unjust victims of this controversy, declared “we have the ability to get Four Loko off the shelves nationwide.” It stinks to lose a loved one and there is understandably a strong feeling of urge to punish someone to blame – as though it’s anyone but Courtney herself. It’s never the most attractive option to blame yourself for your misfortunes, but it’s part of being responsible. As her friends act on this emotional impulse against freedom, they defy basic logic, Common Sense and the true unjust victims of this controversy – the Four Loko manufacturers and their customers. This music video gives tribute to them in this tough time.
Financial “Reform” Bill is Anti-Personal Responsibility
688 days
Joined by my friends in the Tea Party movement, among them Adam Guillette, Christen Varley, Carla Mora and Loren Spivack, I stood outside of Senator Scott Brown’s office yesterday to encourage him to do the right thing and vote “No” on the financial “reform” package that was muddled together by Senator Chris Dodd and Congressman Barney Frank. Unfortunately, I have a hunch that the Tea Party is widely misunderstood and not enough people bother to take a close enough look at their Common Sense message for what it really is. This financial “reform” package makes no sense whatsoever, let alone Common Sense. It adds more tax dollars to the equation, creates yet another inept and useless federal bureaucracy and is fundamentally anti-personal responsibility. It protects consumers from themselves by limiting their decision-making and creates a special fund for future bailouts so these degenerate too-big-to-fail bimbos are free to run their companies into the ground and be all-but-assured that the decent hard-working taxpayers will pay the tab for any stupidity they commit.
This bill also has been the subject of concerns regarding personal privacy. In addition, the absurd regulations that are supposedly to regulate wall street will be much more detrimental to the small businesses that help drive the economy. The purpose of government should be fundamentally for providing law and order and national defense – that’s it! As far as the economy goes, the government can do very little if anything to help it but can do a lot to hurt it. One of the worst problems an economy can deal with is bad government. This financial “reform” bill is just that – an opportunity for politicians to say their helping when they’re not at all. We may not be quite as bad off as Africa and other such places with their corrupt third world dictatorships but still these kinds of problems we give ourselves hinder our coveted spot at the top. Now, we like being at the top. We’re there for a reason – let’s stay there! We do that by sticking to our principles. The free market economy has a fragile relationship between natural winners and losers that comes with the culture of personal responsibility. Common Sense says that we need to allow winners to win and we need to allow losers to lose.
Happy Memorial Day Weekend
Its always the last Monday in May. Guess it really went right to the end this year. And yes, I will do more posts now. I just had to handle some personal issues which left little time for blogging. But thats all done with.
Arms for the Women of Juarez!
813 days
I just saw a very powerful documentary the other day. It’s on the disappearance of scores of young women around the area surrounding Juarez, Mexico since the early 1990s. Now, some of these women are prostitutes who live double lives with their families and the shady nightlife, but a lot of the victims are also migrant workers with more respectable professions. The police department claims that they are investigating the issue, but this is all nonsense. In fact, the police officers are often the perpetrators of the crime. One woman who happened to be married was able to implicate some crooked cops after she was lucky enough to get away. Of course, due to the inept justice system down there the bastards got away with it. No wonder, since all the authorities are unreliable: the police department, investigators, the news media and even the Attorney General. It seems ironic that Mexico has been able to join the ranks of decent first world nations like the US and Canada with the NAFTA agreement.
Well, Common Sense says the solution to this is very simple. These people should all carry guns! Think about it – if every young woman in Juarez carried a concealed handgun on their person, that would make all the difference. They can’t rely on the corrupt law enforcement in their Kleptocratic locality, so they have to rely on themselves. “Oh, mister corrupt police officer, what’s that? You want to rape me and kill me?” Ba-bam! Problem solved. No sicko narco-trafficking here. Results are much more effective when individuals and citizen’s militias solve problems rather than the state, which has accepted protected narco-trafficking zones as part of their culture. This is no time to be defenseless. As the Romans said: “If you want peace, prepare for war.”
Fighting Big Business Kills Small Business
1107 days
It’s the same old story over and over and over again. Big business is the bad guy! Big business hurts everyone! Big business has got me down! We need to teach them a lesson! Forget about the fact that we live in a free society with freedom of decision-making and a strong value of liberty and individualism. Set that aside and lets engage in good old nineteenth-century style class conflict – which is one of the basic fundamentals behind the idea of a Socialist society. Of course, since we do live in a free society, we’re not allowed to get rid of big business (doesn’t it stink to live in a free country, huh?) so we’ll just regulate them so they feel our pain! Let them bear the burden. Battle for the little guy – yee-hah!
Give me a break. This prevailing Conventional Wisdom attitude has caused so much trouble I don’t even know where to start. And the economic lesson behind the scenes never seems to make enough progress, no matter how many times it is discovered. In fact, problems are caused by overregulation which further stimulates the demand for more regulation! Imagine a doctor trying to cure a hemophiliac by putting leeches on him. He’s not getting any better – quick, put more leeches on! He’s gotten worse since we started…ummm…more leeches, I guess? He’s dead, oh, dang – I guess we didn’t put enough leeches on. This humorous example reflects the sad truth when it comes to regulation in our economy – something that might be stepped up by the current administration.
Look at the typical scenario. Big business is big and small business is small. Opponents of big business often favor small business, if they favor business at all, that is. A regulation is going to hurt every business – not just the big ones. The big ones will be dealt a wound which will burden and inconvenience them, but they can continue on just fine. So, will that help the small ones? Wrong! The small ones are smaller in size and the effect of the regulation is therefore bigger for them. The blow may even be fatal – forcing them to go out of business. Big business will therefore have a larger share of the overall market than they would without the regulation. People who advocate regulation to help “stop big business” may be shocked to find out that they are, indeed, helping “the bad guy.”
Of course, I have no reason to knock big businesses myself. Businesses are all the same in substance. Every business was originally small but then grew and grew by meeting demand with their supply. Meeting demand with supply builds civilization and the big businesses are those who are the best at this – that’s how they got there! They have also lifted countless millions out of poverty through the jobs they have created. Think twice before knocking them for exploitation and malicious, will you!
