A Great Article To End Year

In today's Christain Science Monitor:

By the Monitor's Editorial Board / December 31, 2009

Can’t quite settle on a New Year’s resolution? How about this: Resolve not to repeat the media’s mantra of America in decline.

The airwaves and netwaves are full of reviews of the decadem horribilis – a decade of terror attacks, two hot wars, hurricane Katrina, a great recession, a record federal deficit, and more.

The common conclusion is that the American sun has set, much like the end of the British, Ottoman, and Roman empires.

That’s, well, nonsense.

There’s no denying that these past years have been tough for many in the United States, especially military families and the unemployed. But focusing on decline blinds one to the deep well of renewal that has always defined America in difficult times. Accepting a fall as a fait accompli avoids the opportunity to learn from mistakes. It obscures facts that would encourage.

The US is still the world’s largest economy, though fast-growing China moved up to third place in 2009. Despite US trade and fiscal deficits, the dollar remains the world’s reserve currency. The World Economic Forum ranks the US as No. 2 in global competitiveness, and still No. 1 in innovation. That’s hugely important, because new ideas spark new industries and jobs.

Corporate spending on R&D may have slowed, but peek inside engineering schools and home offices. Innovation is humming. The Wall Street Journal reported recently a surge in “tinkering” as plummeting prices on materials and equipment allow individuals to turn their ideas into inventions. Engineering schools are reporting more students wanting to do hands-on work. “Hackerspaces,” where tinkerers can share ideas and tools, are blossoming across the country.

Financial upheaval in the late 19th century sparked a golden age of independent inventors in the US. Will that happen again?

It could be that individuals – as opposed to institutions – lead the way into the next decade. That wouldn’t be surprising. Americans are renowned for their can-do attitude and resourcefulness, and the Internet gives them more voice and opportunity.

Unlike Washington and Wall Street, Americans in general seem to have learned from the Easy Street values that begot the stock market and housing bubbles. Lost wealth jolted them into saving (though whether they’re saving enough is still an open question). They’re also practicing a personal pay-as-you-go policy – choosing debit over credit cards.

Many jobless Americans are doing their utmost to take responsibility for their lives. A December New York Times/CBS poll of unemployed adults found that over 40 percent had moved or were considering moving to find work. Meanwhile, 44 percent have pursued job retraining or other education. Online learning is growing, making it easier for Americans to improve their skills.

Americans also want to help others. Community service has soared over the last 20 years.

“If you want to feel depressed about the country, think about the government. If you want to [be] really optimistic about the country, look at people under 30,” New York Times columnist David Brooks said recently on PBS’s “NewsHour.” Youth violence, crime, and teen pregnancy are all down.

Of course, it’s easy to get down about polarized Washington. But don’t give up yet. Both parties back education reform based on performance – a key ingredient for a healthy economy. And the government has made a down payment on infrastructure, essential to moving goods and people and improving competitiveness.

Concern about the federal debt is mounting on both sides of the aisle. The states, meanwhile, are in the forefront on tough issues like greenhouse gases.

Overseas, America is working hard to win back respectability. Unlike Rome, London, or Istanbul, though, it hasn’t sought an empire. Its interest is the promotion and defense of freedom – the basis of American greatness, but also of world greatness, if countries embrace it.

That national characteristic hasn’t changed. It’s why applications for US citizenship are still rising, despite much higher fees. Outsiders see the promise. Americans should, too.

H/T Instapundit

Is America Exceptional?

There are only two answers to that question - "yes" and "hell yes". Bill Whittle proves the later.

H/T Tigerhawk

9/12 March On Washington, DC

From The Rhetorican:

"I dunno if that’s 2 million. But really, who the hell cares? Put any number you want on them. The video speaks for itself. And this is what it says: It’s not just a Mob. It’s a popular movement."


It was easy for the administration and the MSM to dismiss the the Tea Parties because they were dispersed all over the country. But if you took the time to tally up attendance numbers you would have found 500,000 in March, over a 1,000,000 in July and the only thing I can say about the August town halls is Congress is lucky there were only 31 days in the month. EVERYDAY CITIZENS DON'T HAVE THE TIME TO TRAVEL TO DC. WE'RE BUSY MAKING THIS COUNTRY WORK AND WE ONLY WANT THE GOVERNMENT TO GET OUT OF THE WAY.

But yet here they are, and yes indeed, that is a lot of folks by any measure. As I have said from the very beginning - this administration is working overtime to piss off all the wrong people. I wish I could have been there myself but instead I am flying my Gadsden flag and am there in spirit. When you have that many everyday citizens that feel they need to march on Washington to show their disapproval for the current administration's policies, someone, somewhere had better start to pay attention. If they don't, this isn't going to end well for them.

Any other interesting side note from Instapundit:
"I’ll tell you what I find impressive. I’m watching the Fox news video about 15 minutes after the end of the event. The crowd has thinned out enough that you can see the ground and there is not a speck of trash on the grass. Absolutely clean. To contrast, google ‘pictures of litter on the mall after the inauguration.’”

In My E-Mail

I recently received an e-mail from Michael Steele, the Republican National Committee Chairman entitled "Voice your patriotism: Remind the Democrats who they work for...". In this smarmy e-mail Steele asks me to send a “virtual postcard” to the Democrats telling them “I won’t tolerate their socialist power grab”. Steele then reminds me “Our government is of the people, by the people, and for the people. Those aren't just fancy words. They are the bedrock upon which our republic was founded. Whether power hungry officials in the White House and on Capitol Hill like it or not, they are to serve the interests of the people -- not the other way around.” And “That's why you still need to show your support for the principled position of fiscal restraint, personal responsibility, and unfettered liberty as opposed to the Obama Democrats in Washington who are trying to force leftist "change" upon our country. Oh, and don’t forget to make a contribution to the Republican Party.

Here is the response I sent:

Dear Mr. Steele,

You are as breathtakingly ignorant as the Democrats. Take me off this ridiculous mailing list and never bother me with these pathetically disguised money requests again. For your information, any attempt on your part to co-opt the grass roots protest movement going on in this country will not end well for you. In case you didn't notice, Conservatives didn't wait for or accept marching orders from the GOP. You and your party are as much to blame for the current state of affairs as the Democrats.

Rest assured, when we come to Washington, we're coming for all of you!

A plague on both your houses.

It's Not A Threat, It's A Promise

The Revolution Begins Anew

Over at Instapundit Glenn Reynolds asks the same questions I have been asking and comes up with the same answer (emphasis added):

JEFF JACOBY: Lawmakers, read the bills before you vote.

Hoyer conceded that if lawmakers had to carefully study the bill ahead of time, they would never vote for it. “If every member pledged to not vote for it if they hadn’t read it in its entirety, I think we would have very few votes,’’ he said. The majority leader was declaring, in other words, that it is more important for Congress to pass the bill than to understand it.

“Transparency’’ is a popular buzzword in good-government circles, and politicians are forever promising to transact the people’s business in the sunshine. But as Hoyer’s mirth suggests, when it comes to lawmaking, transparency is a joke. Congress frequently votes on huge and complex bills that few if any members of the House or Senate have read through. They couldn’t read them even if they wanted to, since it is not unusual for legislation to be put to a vote just hours after the text is made available to lawmakers. Congress passed the gigantic, $787 billion “stimulus’’ bill in February - the largest spending bill in history - after having had only 13 hours to master its 1,100 pages. A 300-page amendment was added to Waxman-Markey, the mammoth cap-and-trade energy bill, at 3 a.m. on the day the bill was to be voted on by the House. And that wasn’t the worst of it."

If companies that are “too big to fail” are too big to exist, then bills that are “too long to read” are too long to pass. This sort of behavior — passing bills that no one has read — or, that in the case of the healthcare “bill” haven’t even actually been written — represents political corruption of the first order. If representation is the basis on which laws bind the citizen, then why should citizens regard themselves as bound by laws that their representatives haven’t read, or, sometimes, even written yet?

Update - I posted this comment at Tigerhawk this morning:
According to Dr. James McHenry, at the close of the Constitutional Convention Dr. Benjamin Franklin was asked by a woman “Well Doctor what have we got - a republic or a monarchy? A republic replied the Doctor if you can keep it.” It has always been a struggle to keep the Republic and our time is no different.

Should we pass laws or constitutional amendments so those elected to conduct the people’s business are forced to actually do it? What, exactly, do our congressional representatives think they were elected to do? Somehow, reading and understanding any bill they vote on would seem to be the least they could do. But as recent events have shown, it does not appear they can even rouse themselves to do that much.

Which brings us back to Glenn Reynold’s point – “If representation is the basis on which laws bind the citizen, then why should citizens regard themselves as bound by laws that their representatives haven’t read, or, sometimes, even written yet?” The answer is self-evident. The process of “keeping our Republic” has begun anew and the only question is how best to accomplish that goal.

I submit that it is not accomplished by petitioning our elected representatives to do their jobs.

When The Time For Discussion Is Over

We Hold These Truths To Be....

For those that have not seen the excellent "John Adams" the people sitting in this room are Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin.

Oh, Say Can You See....

Happy Independence Day!

Bring It On

Only In America

Everyone in this family loves Sriracha chili sauce. We use it in everything from pho to scrambled eggs - basically any dish that you want to smack with garlic and light up with some heat.

Here is an interesting article from The New York Times about the Tran family that invented and produces Sriracha. The Tran's immigrated to the United States from Vietnam and are of Chinese ancestry. The chili sauce they make in the US is named after an area of Thailand. But the quote from the story which really made me think "Only in America" was this (emphasis added):

"In 1996, the company expanded, adding processing and storage capacity to meet demand. More than 10 million bottles of sriracha now roll off the Rosemead line each year. With the purchase of a nearby warehouse, the company has begun storing its peppers where Wham-O once manufactured those icons of pop culture, Frisbees and Hula-Hoops."

Awesome.

Give 'Em Enough Rope

A friend recently asked me "How should we deal with the mess in Washington?" and I replied "Rope."

"What's In Your Wallet?"

Currahee!

Spend a few minutes and watch this tale of heroism. And check your cynicism at the door.

P.S. Note to CBS - get with the program guys. Putting an auto start on an embedded clip that activates every time the page is loaded or refreshed is as annoying as it is stupid.

My First Bumper Sticker

Inspired by the Tea Party sign below.

We The People Stimulus Package

Talk About Turkeys

Governor Sarah Palin pardoned a turkey destined for the Thanksgiving Day table on Thursday and then ignited a fire storm by giving a three minute interview while two other turkeys were being dispatched over her left shoulder.

Governor Palin should know better by now than to trust any form of media. While she is being flailed by the "candy asses" at the Huffington Post and MSNBC I don't think any of them have questioned the intentions. motivations or integrity of the camera crew. So score one for the media; Sarah Palin did what any number of politicians have done and will continue to do - say something "off color" into a live microphone or be filmed driving a tank.

This kerfuffle also points out a much deeper issue that becomes apparent when urban Americans encounter realities rural Americans take for granted - which often revolves around "food" and how it gets to the table. We are all hunters in this clan and during a recent birthday feast for yours truly our table was graced with elk and venison - a meal truly fit for a king. We are under no illusions about the efforts involved in bringing that food to table because it most certainly did not come shrink-wrapped in plastic from the grocery store. The unwillingness of so many to show even a basic level of understanding about where their food comes from or take any responsibility for what is being done on their behalf is, at best, hypocritical. But to be outraged by the "reality" of the situation is just intellectually dishonest.

"You Can All Go To Hell - I'm Going To Texas!"

Uncle Ted pulls out all the stops on a radio show in California:

"Your logic, your truth, your good will, your decency, your work ethic -- it still is the guide post of America. You are "We the people."

It is the lunatic fringe that is celebrated by a media bent on socialism, bent on revitalizing the Mao Zedong agenda -- you are not the minority, you are the majority.
You know rush hour? What a pain in the *ss rush hour is? Do you have rush hour in Bakersfield? I bet you have rush hour. You know what that is? You know what that is? Those are people with alarm clocks. Those are people who get up because they have a burning fire in their soul that says, "You must be productive. In order to be a good, decent human being, you must be an asset. You must work hard before you play hard."

So Gary, you are not along. But, what the real curse is, it's not the lying, left-wing, Mao media, it's those of us who know better, but don't speak up. The people of California have backed down. The people who are productive in California have backed down to the pimps, and the whores, and the welfare brats, and their media, and their politically correct representatives, Boxer, Feinstein, Schwarzenegger, who literally will lie through their teeth to benefit some blood sucking constituency while your paycheck is being raped and pillaged to pay for some bling-bling infested punk.

You've got to start raising Hell -- and I am constantly being gunned down by the media; I'm a curse, I'm a dangerous guy, I'm a madman, I'm scary, I have too many guns, I shoot all the deer -- eat me. I stand up and I take the bullets because my name is Davy Crockett. This is the wall of the Alamo. If you can't shoot Santa Anna's men, shut up and load my gun. So get tough and get tougher.

You don't need tough love in America, you need tougher love. Around the water cooler, at the church, at school. At the work place, at the picnic, and the bowling alley. You should be pounding the desk with your fist, raising hell, and take this beautiful state back from the pimps, and the whores, and the welfare brats, and the gang-bangers who seems to have all the rights in the world while the good people, the productive, law abiding people don't have jack squat -- and I think I am going to throw up."

From 52 To 48 With Love

From TigerHawk:

"Here's a little online community art project that is either a heart-warming affirmation of America or a teeny bit nauseating, depending on your personality.For my part, I think it is a friendly gesture from a bunch of undoubtedly nice people. I just worry that the same folks believe that this might also be the best path to peace in the Middle East."

This one is my favorite. We are definitely at the "actions speak louder than words" stage.

How Beautiful We Were

Van der Leun at American Digest:

A short list. In no particular order.

We told our children that any child could grow up to be President. And then we made it come true.

We had car shows, boat shows, beauty shows and dog shows.

We ran robots on the surface of Mars by remote control.

Our women came from all over the world in all shapes and sizes hues and scents.

We actually believed that all men are created equal and tried to make it come true.

Everybody liked our movies and loved our television shows.

We tried to educate everybody, whether they wanted it or not. Sometimes we succeeded.

We did Levis.

We held the torch high and hundreds of millions came. No matter what the cost.

We saved Europe twice and liberated it once.

We believed so deeply and so abidingly in free speech that we protected and even honored and in some cases even elected traitors.

We let you be as freaky as you wanted to be.

We paid you not to plant crops and not to work.

We died in the hundreds of thousands to end slavery here and around the world.

We invented Jazz.

We wrote the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Gettysberg address.

We went to the moon to see how far we could hit a golf ball.

We lifted a telescope into orbit that could see to the edge of the universe.

When people snuck into the country against our laws, we made parking lots and food stands off to the side of the road so they wouldn't get hurt, and we let them use our hospitals for free, and we made their children citizens.

We didn't care what God you worshipped as long as we could worship ours.

We let the People arm themselves at will. Just to make sure.

We gave everybody the vote.

We built Disneyworld. Just for fun.

We had a revolution so successful it was still going strong two and a quarter centuries later.

We had so many heroes, even at the end, that we felt free to hate them and burn them in effigy.

We electrified the guitar.

We invented a music so compelling that it rocked the world.

We had some middling novelists.

We had some interesting painters.

We had some pretty good poets.

We had better songwriters.

We ran our farms so well we fed the globe.

We made the automobile and the airplane.

We let you get rich. Really, really rich. And we didn't care who you were or what you were or where you came from or who your parents were. We just cared about what you made or what you did.

We had poor people who, even at their most wretched, were richer than any other poor people on the face of the planet.

Even towards the end, as we dissolved in petty bickering and the idle entertainments that come with having far too much leisure and money, we were trying to make it higher, finer, brighter, better and more beautiful.

Even towards the end, the best of us declined to give up and pressed on. "Where to? What next?"