The Right Lane 1.04.13

In pursuit of Constitutionally grounded governance, free markets and individual liberty

"There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily." --George Washington

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Bill O’Reilly: There’s "No Question’ President Obama Wants to Redistribute Income"

Bill O’Reilly’s back for his first new show of the New Year! Tonight in his Talking Points Memo, the Factor host reacted to the fiscal fallout and reveals what he says is President Obama’s true agenda. According to The Wall Street Journal, the fiscal debate was a “fake crisis.” O’Reilly agreed with that editorial, saying, “The deal Congress struck could’ve been done last August, but the politicians in both parties wanted to posture, setting up phony scenarios for their own personal aggrandizement.” He pointed out that President Obama was successful in raising taxes on every working American. Individuals making below $400,000 a year will pay a variety of Obamacare taxes and see a rise in their Social Security tax. In a press conference, President Obama said, “We can’t simply cut our way to prosperity. Cutting spending has to go hand-in-hand with further reforms to our tax code so that the wealthiest corporations and individuals can’t take advantage of loopholes that aren’t available to most Americans.” The president doesn’t care about cutting spending, O’Reilly charged, adding that “There’s no question now, no question that the American people have voted for a president who wants to redistribute income.”

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Uproar Over Bloated Sandy Aid Package Amy Payne

Leaders from New Jersey and New York blew up yesterday after House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) postponed a vote on an aid package related to Hurricane Sandy. But the bill is so loaded with pork projects that these officials should consider directing their anger at the Obama Administration, which is hijacking the aid meant for their constituents. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie “in an angry news conference decried the ‘selfishness and duplicity,’ the ‘palace intrigue,’ ‘the callous indifference to the people of our state,’” ABC News reported. Representative Peter King (R-NY) accused Boehner of “plunging ‘a cruel knife in the back’ of storm-ravaged residents ‘who don’t have shelter, don’t have food.’” The real “selfishness and duplicity,” however, comes from those who insist that this bill is meant for Sandy’s victims—when in reality, it is a special-interest money fest. This is a terrible way to treat storm victims, by piling on other projects and tying them to an emotional legislative vote. It amounts to exploiting disaster victims, which is inexcusable. That’s where the anger should be focused. The estimate of insured losses from Sandy comes in around $20 billion—but the total aid package proposed is three times that amount. Roughly $28 billion of the request is marked for future disaster-mitigation projects. The bill includes funding for Head Start, the federal day care program. As Heritage’s Lindsey Burke, the Will Skillman fellow in education policy, explains, some Head Start centers may need repairs from hurricane damage, but handing the program $100 million—as the Sandy aid package would—is a large expenditure that deserves more scrutiny. Other questionable items in the package, which have received wide media coverage, include money for fisheries in Alaska, free money for the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and repairs to the Smithsonian. Heritage’s Patrick Louis Knudsen adds that “there is the truly audacious $17 billion in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds, an embarrassingly transparent slush fund.”

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US in Danger of European Style Debt Crisis By: Newsmax Wires

The United States risks a debt crisis just like Europe’s if we don’t get our act together soon on the budget, says Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala. He was one of eight senators to vote against the fiscal cliff agreement.  “We’re always wanting to spend and promise and spend and borrow, but not cut,” he told Fox News Wednesday. “We’ve got to get real about this. We’re headed down the road that Europe’s already on.” Greece, Spain, and Italy have been thrown into financial and social crises thanks to their exploding debt, and much of Europe is now in recession, reports Politico. Shelby was disappointed that Democrats and Republicans once more failed to reach a comprehensive budget deal. “I [would have liked] to see a grand bargain,” he said. “And I believe if we would have held out, maybe it would have done something . . . We need fundamental tax reform. We need to reform our entitlements. We need to look at the spending ledger.”

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Poll: 62 Percent of Voters Favor Comprehensive Spending Cuts

A hefty 62 percent of likely voters favor across-the-board spending cuts in the federal budget, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll. That compares to 26 percent who disagree. But only 39 percent of voters think it’s likely that spending will be significantly reduced over the next few years, while 57 percent don’t think so. Given that government spending has increased every year since 1954, that’s not an unreasonable assumption, according to the Rasmussen study. “Voters are far more willing than their politicians to make the hard choices that are needed to address fiscal policy realities,” it states.
The report shows that respondents don’t support spending cuts when some areas of the budget are exempt. For example, only 28 percent of voters want spending to be reduced for all areas but defense, while 62 percent reject that idea.

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England Considering Ban On Kitchen Knives by Frank Camp

The slippery slope is usually considered to be a fallacious type of argumentation. By invoking the slippery slope, you are essentially saying that if one thing occurs at the top of this metaphorical slope, you have no other option but to slide down further. That being said–though it is often categorized with other fallacious argumentation, like ad hominem–slippery slope actually is applicable to some things.

For instance, consider the following story. According to The Inquisitor:

“A West Middlesex University Hospital group contends that violent crime is increasing in Great Britain and kitchen knives are used in approximately half of all stabbings. The team claims that many of the knife attacks are impulsive acts and that a kitchen knife is too convenient of a weapon.”

Apparently, in the wake of a rise in violent crime where the primary weapon used is long kitchen knives, a group of doctors is attempting to get those types of knives banned. This would be similar to measures taken in the 1990′s that put heavy restrictions on guns. In England, gun restrictions are so harsh, that self defense–post 1969–is no longer a good enough reason to own a handgun. According to The Wall Street Journal, owning a pistol could get you up to 10 years in prison in the UK. With all of these gun restrictions, you’d think England would be a much safer place–at least according to Liberal logic. Well, not so much. Once again, according to The Wall Street Journal: 

“Within a decade of the handgun ban and the confiscation of handguns from registered owners, crime with handguns had doubled according to British government crime reports. Gun crime, not a serious problem in the past, now is. Armed street gangs have some British police carrying guns for the first time…In 1987, Michael Ryan went on a shooting spree in his small town of Hungerford, England, killing 16 people (including his mother) and wounding another 14 before shooting himself. Since the public was unarmed—as were the police—Ryan wandered the streets for eight hours with two semiautomatic rifles and a handgun before anyone with a firearm was able to come to the rescue.”

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Al Sharpton: Knife Control Comes Next After Guns Listen

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The Body Count for the Media Just Increased by Three, But There Could Have Been Many More by Frank J. Dmuchowski

On December 24th, 2012 around 5:30 a.m. the Webster, N.Y. Volunteer Fire Department responded to a house fire. As they worked to put out the blaze, a convicted killer with a rifle and handgun opened fire on them, killing two firefighters and wounding two. The body count rose to three as the killer’s sister, who was missing at the time of the attack, was found in the ashes of killer’s house, which he set on fire. Taking a page out Al Qaida’s play book, the killer set fire to his home in order to lure the firefighters to the scene to produce his targets.  Of course the ultimate blame rests with the killer, but I indict the media as being complicit!! The media, including Fox News, gave us several days of reporting on the Newtown, Connecticut mass murder of twenty young children and two adults. They told us, over and over, who the killer was, posting his picture over and over, as well as, recounting his life history. They also recounted over and over the gory details of how the murders took place. Do they not realize that this is music to the ears, and pornography to the eyes of the sick minds who are sitting out there, feeling powerless and useless over their own lives? What a wonderful way for them to go out in a blaze of glory, leaving a powerful legacy behind. Aristotle, a Greek philosopher understood this in 300 B.C. when he wrote in his treatise, “The Politics”: “For man, when perfected, is the best of animals, but, when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all; since armed injustice is the more dangerous, and he is equipped at birth with the arms of intelligence and with moral qualities which he may use for the worst ends” (emphasis mine).

The criminally insane is separated from law and justice because they are separated from reality, at least the reality that most of us share. They are separated from their family and the community in which they live.  Now, in another time, we would have called this, “evil.” I personally believe that “evil” exists and that there is an author of all evil. However, speaking of the atrocities that these mass murderers commit as “evil” is not politically correct. Even with some, speaking of these monsters as mentally ill is politically incorrect! It is this ambivalence that allows these monsters to grow and develop and that keeps them loose in our communities. Someone like this should have been under supervision for life! He should not have been let loose again on the community. Time and time again, the justice system does this. How many more innocents must die until we, as a society, once again believes that the safety of the community of citizens must come first in dealing with these killers.

President Obama wasted no time after the Newtown shootings going on the National TV to demonize guns and their role in the killings, making it clear that something was going to be done about it. If he really wants to something about it, he should use his “celebrecred” with the Media to admonish them on their handling of situations such as this. Obama needs to tell the Media to tone their coverage way down. Tell them they must not, for National Security reasons, ever release the name of the shooter, his/her bio and pictures if the killer commits suicide, or is killed during the incident. The press will cry that such restrictions violate their First Amendment rights. However, the Media’s sensationalism of this type of mass killings needs to be treated as similar to their yelling fire in a crowded theatre. In doing so, they increase the likelihood of innocent people being hurt needlessly, just as would crying fire in a crowded theatre.

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Cockeyed Conclusions About Connecticut by Dave Miller, Ph.D

In the wake of the horrifying rampage in Connecticut that left 20 children and six adults shot to death, reactions from the anti-Christian media and liberal politicians are exactly what you would expect: “We’ve got to get rid of the guns!” Never mind the fact that murder goes back to the beginning of the human race when Cain killed his brother—without a gun. Guns have been around only a few hundred years; people have been killing each other for thousands of years. You do the math. If there were no guns—clubs, rocks, and sharpened sticks would do the job. Building a bomb or setting the school on fire would accomplish the same or worse. Shall we outlaw rocks, sticks, matches, and fertilizer? Legion are the emotional, irrational explanations that have inundated the Web: “Adam Lanza and his mother both spent time at an area gun range” (Thomas, 2012); “Technology has rendered the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution obsolete” (“Adam Lanza’s…,” 2012); “New York mayor demands action on gun control” (“Connecticut…New York…,” 2012)”; “Connecticut Governor calls for a federal framework for gun control laws” (“Connecticut…State’s…,” 2012).“Time to get rid of the guns!” (Mackey, 2012); “The gunman had hundreds of rounds of ammunition!” (“Connecticut…Gunman…,” 2012); “The mother and father are Republicans” (Swain and Sanchez, 2012). Even the National Rifle Association missed the point when it announced, “The N.R.A. is prepared to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again” (“NRA News Release…,” 2012). As if money can fix morality. Interestingly, regarding the propriety of citizens having free access to guns, prominent Founder Thomas Jefferson approvingly quoted (1926, p. 314) from the celebrated Italian jurist, philosopher, and politician, Cesare Beccaria’s 1764 treatise, An Essay on Crimes and Punishments, words which are hauntingly prophetic of our present predicament:

"The laws of this nature are those which forbid to wear arms, disarming those only who are not disposed to commit the crime which the laws mean to prevent…."

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For the New Year and the Future of Liberty!

"Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and to repulse it." --Thomas Paine (The American Crisis, No. 1, 1776)

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U.S. Marine’s Scathing Response to Sen. Feinstein’s Gun Control Proposal: ‘I Am Not Your Subject. I Am the Man Who Keeps You Free’

The letter, written by U.S. Marine Joshua Boston, was titled “No ma’am” and was first posted on CNN iReport on Dec. 27. The letter has since gone viral and has been shared extensively on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, as it seemingly has resonated with a segment of the American population.

Read Boston’s entire “No ma’am” letter below and then share it with others:

Senator Dianne Feinstein,

I will not register my weapons should this bill be passed, as I do not believe it is the government’s right to know what I own. Nor do I think it prudent to tell you what I own so that it may be taken from me by a group of people who enjoy armed protection yet decry me having the same a crime. You ma’am have overstepped a line that is not your domain. I am a Marine Corps Veteran of 8 years, and I will not have some woman who proclaims the evil of an inanimate object, yet carries one, tell me I may not have one. I am not your subject. I am the man who keeps you free. I am not your servant. I am the person whom you serve. I am not your peasant. I am the flesh and blood of America. I am the man who fought for my country. I am the man who learned. I am an American. You will not tell me that I must register my semi-automatic AR-15 because of the actions of some evil man. I will not be disarmed to suit the fear that has been established by the media and your misinformation campaign against the American public.

We, the people, deserve better than you.

Respectfully Submitted,
Joshua Boston
Cpl,
United States Marine Corps
2004-2012

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Congressman: ‘We Buy Votes with Stolen Money’ by Gary DeMar

I will no longer let politicians define the debate. Even some of the good guys can’t tell the real truth. For example:

“The deal to avert the fiscal cliff which consists of special tax credits for green energy, Hollywood, distilleries and other industries, is a demonstration of Capitol Hill vote buying, Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.) said Wednesday.

The 154-page bill that passed the Senate and House on New Year’s Day to stop the tax hikes and spending cuts in the fiscal cliff contained 12 specific credits for green energy and 31 additional credits for various businesses, while increasing taxes on those earning more than $400,000. All this money is stolen. That’s what Rep. Mulvaney should have said. Every Congressman who voted for the 154-page bill is a thief. They used their congressional powers to reach into my bank account (and yours) to steal our money. With that stolen money, they bought votes to keep them in power so they can continue to steal money from you and me. It’s that simple, and don’t let anyone say it’s not.

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I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious."

--Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Ludlow, 1824