Our unwillingness to defend ourselves

Our unwillingness to defend ourselves

 by Walter E. Williams
The U.S. Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that 2012 losses because of personal identity theft totaled $24.7 billion. The money losses from identity theft pale in comparison with the costs of paperwork, time and inconvenience imposed on the larger society in an effort to protect ourselves. According to LifeLock, while the laws against identity theft have gotten tougher, identity theft criminal prosecution is relatively rare. Unless we develop a low tolerance and a willingness to impose harsh sentences, identity thieves will continue to impose billions of dollars of costs on society.

Today’s Americans tolerate what would have been unthinkable years ago. According to the National Center for Education Statistics and the BJS, 209,800 primary- and secondary- school teachers reported being physically attacked by a student during the 2011-12 academic year.

Hundreds of thousands more are threatened with injury. On average, 1,175 teachers are physically attacked each day of the school year.

These facts demonstrate an unwillingness to defend ourselves against these young barbarians, who often will grow into big barbarians.

During the 1940s and early ’50s, when I was in school, assaulting or threatening teachers was unthinkable. Corporal punishment in school and/or at home would have been the result of an assault or threat against a teacher. Starting in the ’50s, following Dr. Benjamin Spock’s advice, what worked for centuries was exchanged with what sounded good. In 1970, Thomas Gordon, best-selling author of “Parent Effectiveness Training,” told parents to stop punishing their children and to start treating them “much as we treat friends or a spouse.” Corporal punishment has been criminalized.

Other forms of punishment have been replaced with “timeout” and other such nonsense.

When young barbarians grow up to become big barbarians, often there’s still an unwillingness to defend ourselves. In many poor neighborhoods, the police know who the criminals are, but their hands are tied by the courts. These criminals are permitted to prey on the overwhelmingly law-abiding members of the community, who, because of ineffective police protection, are huddled behind bars in their homes. Sometimes these criminals go downtown to single out white people, whom they sometimes refer to as “polar bears,” to play the “knockout” game. What’s worse is that sometimes, as in the case of Rochester, New York, the police characterize these brazen attacks as harassment rather than assaults.

Though most of these attacks are against white people, the news media and police are reluctant to call them racist hate crimes.

It’s in the international arena where we face the greatest threat from our unwillingness to protect ourselves. Most of the international community sees Iran as a sponsor and exporter of terrorism. There’s no question that if Iran develops nuclear weapons, it doesn’t bode well for the world. But what does the world do, led by the U.S.? It allows Iran to go full speed ahead in the name of what the Iranian press calls “the Iranian nation’s nuclear rights.” The U.S. alone has the power to tell Iran to permit unimpeded inspection of the country’s nuclear facilities, with the threat of bombing if it doesn’t comply.

The West, led by our country, is doing exactly what it did in the run-up to World War II. It knowingly allowed Adolf Hitler to rearm – in violation of treaties – which led to a war that cost 60 million lives. In 1936, France alone could have stopped Hitler.

We have a similar lack of willingness to effectively deal with terrorists. Our intelligence community knows the national origin of those who attack Americans. At least one part of our strategy should be to inform nations that we will exact a heavy price from them if they become a staging ground for terrorists.

Unfortunately, for the future of our nation and the world, we are too focused on government handouts rather than the most basic function of government: defending us from barbarians.

My Response to ‘Native American’ Elizabeth Warren and her '11 Commandments of Progressivism’

My Response to ‘Native American’ Elizabeth Warren and her '11 Commandments of Progressivism’

by Gary DeMar

Crazy leftists want Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren to run for president in 2016. She’s described as a “liberal superstar.” Many are dumping Hillary for Warren. It could be the battle of the sexless in 2016. What were the people of Massachusetts thinking? She's not only a plague on Massachusetts, but she's a plague on the nation since she has a vote.

Speaking at Netroots Nation, a convention for liberal bloggers and activists, Elizabeth Warren outlined her “11 Commandments of Progressivism.” My brief commentary follows:

1. We believe that Wall Street needs stronger rules and tougher enforcement, and we're willing to fight for it.

There is no single entity called Wall Street. What we really need are stronger rules and tougher enforcement on Washington that bails out faltering companies and banks. Washington spends money it does not have. Elected officials like Warren steal from the working class so they can give it to non-workers who will continue to vote to keep politicians like Warren power. There is an unhealthy relationship between government and business that only the free market can fix.

2. We believe in science, and that means that we have a responsibility to protect this Earth.

Actually, Progressives don’t believe in science or they wouldn’t support same-sex sexuality (the biology and anatomy are all wrong), evolution (something from nothing), and the skewed and manipulated numbers that go into fabricating the crisis of Global Warming, Climate Change, and now Climate Chaos. Furthermore, if Progressives truly believed in science, they would engage critics of Global Warming in debate. Instead, the claim is made that “the debate is over.” Progressives don’t want debate because there’s too much money in a global “crisis” like global warming.

3. We believe that the Internet shouldn't be rigged to benefit big corporations, and that means real net neutrality.

Governments should keep their hands off the internet. Once any type of control is given, there is no end to it. Progressives will end up controlling the oversight committees that make the laws and turn the internet into a State-run media congolmerate. Those supporting net neutrality tell us that it would not be directed by the government; that it would make the internet more free and open. Don’t you believe it. If a liberal like Elizabeth Warren is behind it, it must be a bad idea for freedom. The internet is doing just fine. Businesses are created every day. The little guy can be up and running in a day. See “Killing Net Neutrality Helps Underdogs Succeed.”

4. We believe that no one should work full-time and still live in poverty, and that means raising the minimum wage.

Calls for raising the minimum wage are ongoing. Once again, the government should get out of telling companies what they should pay. They are already burdened with paying the employer’s side of Social Security and Medicare and unemployment compensation tax. This says nothing about insurance, rent, upkeep, training, inventory costs, etc. Raising the minimum wage will force some employers to let employees go because of increased costs. The extra work will be passed on to the more experienced retained employees.

5. We believe that fast-food workers deserve a livable wage, and that means that when they take to the picket line, we are proud to fight alongside them.

Liberal policies already control the marketplace. Who will define a “livable wage”? The government will. There will be no end to what a livable wage might include: a certain size house; so much for food each month; a clothing allowance; paid vacations; transportation; education, birth control, etc. The most inexperienced workers will be shut out because of hiring expenses. The less qualified will find it harder to get a job. Teen unemployment will rise. “[M]inimum-wage legislation discriminates against teenage black males. This has been known by economists since at least the mid-1950s. The statistical evidence on this was overwhelming.” Walter Williams argues: “‘How does someone who is part of a group that is discriminated against find a way to prove to somebody doing the discriminating that his assessment is incorrect?’ It was really this question: ‘How do undesirables break through the discrimination against them?’”

6. We believe that students are entitled to get an education without being crushed by debt.

Entitled? Should I be forced to pay for the education of other people? No one forced these people to go into debt. No one has to go to college. There is no requirement that a college education has to be completed in four years. No one is forcing anybody to go to expensive schools. The case could be made that government money and cheap educational loans increases the cost of college.

7. We believe that after a lifetime of work, people are entitled to retire with dignity, and that means protecting Social Security, Medicare, and pensions.

Who will be made to pay for bankrupt pension programs? Should I be forced to pay? Our government enacted legislation that gave us Social Security and Medicare. They have grown in scope far beyond their initial implementation. Medicare is bankrupt. Warren’s solution is more taxes.

8. We believe — I can't believe I have to say this in 2014 — we believe in equal pay for equal work.

There’s no such thing as “equal work.” All types of factors go into hiring and paying. If employees are not happy with what they are paid, they can (1) start their own business or (2) look for another job. I can’t believe I have to say this in 2014, but it’s no business of the government what an employee is paid. People like the idea of equal pay, but don't want to embrace "equal work".

9. We believe that equal means equal, and that’s true in marriage, it’s true in the workplace, it's true in all of America.

Warren wants “equality” in everything. Forced equality leads to equal poverty. Equality before the law is the goal, but not equality in everything. There is no such attainable ideal unless we’re talking about Communism. But even with Communism, some people are more equal than others. There already equality in marriage. No one is stopping two people from getting married as long as they are of different sexes. The law has been equally applied. Changing the definition of marriage by claiming that people of the same sex can marry is not equality; it’s insanity.

10. We believe that immigration has made this country strong and vibrant, and that means reform.

This is one of her “commandments” that I and millions of others can agree with. The question is, however, what types of “reforms” do Progressives want?

11. And we believe that corporations are not people, that women have a right to their bodies. We will overturn Hobby Lobby and we will fight for it. We will fight for it!

Try owning and running a corporation without people. Corporations are owned by people, whether it’s one person or a group of people. Corporations are people. When Warren and her liberal thugs want to force their economic agenda on a corporation, who pays? People! Did people from Enron and WorldCom go to jail? Berrnie Ebbers of Worldcom was sentenced to twenty-five years in a federal prison. If corporations aren’t people, then why do they pay taxes, and why is Ebbers in prison?

One of the reasons the “corporations aren’t people” argument keeps coming up is because of the intrusive nature of government. Congress passed and the Supreme Court upheld the passage of the Affordable Care Act. Now the government has direct control over healthcare. As a result, for every question about the Act’s applicability and enforcement, the government must decide.

Warren and her ilk want to control every area of life, even unborn children by allowing women to kill them. They want to empower the State to force companies to pay for abortifacients that kill unborn babies. Women have a right to control their bodies, but they should not have the right to kill an unborn body that is not their body.

As has been reported over and over again, Hobby Lobby did not deny any woman anything. Warren wants power to force companies to pay for healthcare that she wants to define. More could be said on all these topics. Elizabeth Warren is the new face of the Democrat Part. Blatantly liberal and progressive with a bent towards Socialism.

What Is Gun Violence?

What Is Gun Violence?

by Kevin Michalowski, contributor

The term “gun violence” seems to have been coined by either the anti-gun media or some other anti-gun group in an effort to vilify the tool used to perpetrate violence on another.

Somewhere someone said, “If we call it ‘gun violence’ that will make it sound like guns are bad. We should do that.”

You and I know guns are neither good nor bad. Guns cannot do anything on their own. A gun cannot be violent any more than can a hammer, or a bowling pin or a rose bush. A gun can be used during violent acts. But here is something interesting: A violent act is not always a bad thing. Righteous violence in defense of the innocent is a good thing and should be applauded. Yet still the media and anti-gun politicians continue to beat the drum of “gun violence” in America as if to say, “If we take away all the guns, there will be no more violence.” Several years back, politicians also said, “If we take away all the booze, no one will drink and all those problems will go away.” We saw how that turned out. It spawned the largest crime wave in U.S. history and directly gave rise to criminal syndicates that are still running today.

Since 1993, crime has been dropping. Despite a few recent high-profile cases, the numbers of mass shootings have been dropping. Armed citizens regularly intervene to protect others by employing or threatening to employ violence with a gun. But the media doesn’t report on that. Criminals are much more interesting. Guns work. Violence, when employed against criminal predators, benefits honest citizens.

So I ask again, “What is gun violence?”

It is a fantasy term. It is political spin designed to dupe the masses. If the media and the politicians can keep you thinking that guns are bad and keep telling you that reducing the number of guns will reduce crime, maybe you will believe them and one day give up your freedoms.

Our Founding Fathers knew that each individual citizen of a free Nation would need guns in defense of those freedoms. To restrict guns is to restrict our ability to, when needed, draw a line in the sand and be able to back up our words.

So many liberals will decry such ideas as something that will never happen and will say that the right to bear arms against the government is something that simply is not and will not be needed.

I give to you “The Battle of Athens, Tenn.” In 1946, after election fraud and voter intimidation in the elections of 1940, 1942 and 1944, the citizens of McMinn County took up arms to finally stop corrupt politicians.

We need guns. Righteous violence works to protect Americans. Don’t let liberals use the term “gun violence.” Call them on it, every time. Guns are not violent.  Inanimate objects cannot behave as humans do....remember that.

You know your country is being run by idiots when:

You know your country is being run by idiots when:

The following list has been attributed to comedian Jeff Foxworthy. Snopes says Foxworthy is not the author.

The original compiler is a man named Fritz Edmunds.

1. If you can get arrested for hunting or fishing without a license, but not for being in the country illegally, you live in a country run by idiots.

2. If you have to get your parents' permission to go on a field trip or take an aspirin in school, but not to get an abortion, you live in a country run by idiots.

3. If you have to show identification to board an airplane, cash a check, buy liquor or check out a library book, but not to vote on who runs the government, you live in a country run by idiots.

4. If the government wants to ban stable, law-abiding citizens from owning gun magazines with more than ten rounds, but gives 20 F-16 fighter jets to the crazy leaders in Egypt, you live in a country run by idiots.

5. If, in the largest city, you can buy two 16-ounce sodas, but not a 24-ounce soda because 24-ounces of a sugary drink might make you fat, you live in a country run by idiots.

6. If an 80-year-old woman can be stripped searched by the TSA but a woman in a hijab is only subject to having her neck and head searched, you live in a country run by idiots.

7. If your government believes that the best way to eradicate trillions of dollars of debt is to spend trillions more, you live in a country run by idiots.

8. If a seven year old boy can be thrown out of grade school for saying his teacher's "cute," but hosting a sexual exploration or diversity class in grade school is perfectly acceptable, you live in a country run by idiots.

9. If hard work and success are met with higher taxes and more government intrusion, while not working is rewarded with EBT cards, WIC checks, Medicaid, subsidized housing and free cell phones, you live in a country run by idiots.

10. If the government's plan for getting people back to work is to incentivize NOT working, with 99 weeks of unemployment checks and no requirement to prove they applied but can't find work, you live in a country run by idiots.

11. If being stripped of the ability to defend yourself makes you more "safe" according to the government, you live in a country run by idiots.

If you are offended by this article, you probably voted for the idiots who are running our country into the ground.