"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt." -- JP Curran, 1790

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Offering Common Sense

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Offering Common Sense announced some time ago that there would be changes to improve content for the greatest, most informed readers in the blogosphere! Those changes are now imminent. The new domain name has been purchased, and we are now working on our web design to bring you even more hard-hitting conservative commentary. You can check out our progress at www.offeringcommonsense.com, and once the site is complete, you'll get the best of this blogspot site, and our wordpress mirror site!

More to come! Sphere: Related Content

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Pres. Obama Gets It Right

President Obama gave the order to use force to rescue the American hostage, and the US Navy successfully carried out the operation. They both deserve credit for a job well done in this case. It is important now that the United States declares war on Somali piracy, and end this threat to American interests. Write your Representatives and Senators and demand a War Declaration! Sphere: Related Content

Capt. Phillips FREED!

Happy Easter everyone. It looks like first reports are now coming in that the American hostage to the pirates was freed today by a Navy operation. Three Somali pirates were killed, and the 4th was injured and is in custody! Capt. Phillips is unharmed according to Foxnews. This is the best possible outcome, and it's good to see that the military was able to take swift action. They missed the first chance to get Phillips, but it sounds like the heroic Captain made a second attempt. Sphere: Related Content

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Navy Turned Back by Pirates?!

Read this.

Is the Navy under orders not to shoot, or are they just making sure they don't hit the hostage? Inquiring minds want to know.

Either way, this is an even bigger act of war, and we have NO WAR DECLARATION FROM CONGRESS and a President who is eerily SILENT on the issue. Sphere: Related Content

Things that make you go...What the HELL?!

Where's all of that good will that Pres. Obama was supposed to get together from the world community? I seem to recall that North Korea tested a long-range missile, despite our warnings and everyone's objections, but I see no threatening UN Security Council resolutions coming into play?

Where are the two American journalists who were captured on the North Korean border, supposedly as an insurance policy against our intervention? Shouldn't we be hearing something about that, about now? Should we not threaten military action against Pyongyang, if we don't see our citizens returned, unharmed?

What is it about liberals (and not-far-right-enough Conservatives) who try to reason with tyrants? Remember the Cold War? Reagan had it right when he called a spade a spade, and said he would defend our nation, and build the military to levels that the Soviets just couldn't match. In retrospect, short of a nuclear war, we could have put tanks in Moscow in the 1970's and toppled the communist regime if we'd had the gumption. North Korea is no Soviet Union, neither is China. Perhaps we should call their bluff, and have a little less talk, and a lot more action.

So the pirates are sending reinforcements? Are you kidding me? Is it just me, or are the Somali terrorists of the seas keenly aware that we now have a liberal head of government, in the spirit of Jimmy Carter, who will try to acquiesce and wait for UN response? This is an act of war, and I'm surprised to see that not even our Republican leaders have even started a war resolution.

Congressman Doug Lamborn (R, CO - 5), as my representative, I urge you to begin drafting a war resolution against Somalia for their implicit support of the lawless regimes that wreak havoc on the seas, and free trade. Do we need another Lucitania, a Pearl Harbor, or even worse, a 9/11 to go to war?

Remember when President Bush said that Iran was a threat, and that he expected them to accept their wrongdoing before coming to the international table? Well, since Pres. Obama has come on the scene, they've made a mockery of him, and made him look foolish and naieve. They now have 7,000 centrifuges humming away to produce material for nuclear bombs, and if the U.S. (and even Israel) won't do anything now, what do you think they will do if Iran can nuke Europe?

The world is always spinning out of control, and "the war" is every single day. There are always groups out to kill us, and there are always forces out there seeking to create chaos and fear. The United States stands alone as the watchman and protector of civility and freedom. While we are not everywhere, and we have not freed everyone, we have done more good than harm (far more), and I believe firmly that this trend (in the long run) will continue. Unfortunately, we now have a government that seeks to build consensus, where none can exist. Sometimes people are just wrong, and the tyrants of North Korea and Iran are just plain wrong here. The Somali pirates (pirates are terrorist with boats, just so you put this into proper perspective) are wrong, too.

President Clinton's inaction during the 1990's to numerous terrorist attacks on US soil and interests, helped to embolden the terrorists which culminated in the 9/11 attack. Will President Obama repeat these mistakes? Sphere: Related Content

You want free speech or press? Sign this form first!

From time to time I like to point out to you that seeminginly innocuous stories actually pose more of a threat than is reported by the mainstream press. Here's a prime example.

A journalist was stopped by Department of Veterans Affairs security guards when their public affairs person complained that he was trying to interview a patient. He was strong-armed and had his memory stick (with the recording of the interview) 'detained' by the officials because the VA wanted to "protect" the patient. The patient was not a minor child, and was willingly giving the interview. So just what was the VA's problem? A form wasn't signed.

Taken at face value this seems like a non-issue. Well why didn't he just sign the form, then, you might ask. What's the harm in that? I'll tell you. By even daring to have the form in the first place, the VA is presuming to have some say in the Constitutional matters of free speech and the free press. It's as if they're saying, "Well, we agree in your freedoms, but before we grant them, you must sign here." That completely defeats the purpose of the Constitution, just in case you weren't aware. Our founders granted us no rights. They never gave us free speech, the right to bear arms, or anything of the sort. What the founders did was put their necks out, take a stand against an empire, and say that we have inherent rights from God b/c we exist. Those rights apply whether or not the VA chooses to accept it.

This is the kind of thing you need to watch, ladies and gentlemen. Don't let any government agency presume to tell you that your rights only apply if they say so. Sphere: Related Content

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Happy Birthday Belle-Belle

My youngest of 5 just turned one today. She is the spitting image of her older sister (who is 5), but she has her own funny personality, too. We just call her Belle Belle, but she is definitely a happy baby!

Sphere: Related Content

President Declines to Comment on Pirates

Apparently the President of the United States doesn't feel that the first pirate hijacking of an American vessel in 205 years doesn't warrant his time or efforts...I mean after all, they are "monitoring" the situation, isn't that good enough for you people?!

For those of you who don't think this is a serious issue, you'd better look again. Consider that for your entire lifetime, and the lifetimes of your parents and grandparents (and even further back depending on your age) pirates dared not mess with the United States. Our clout and military might meant that if you were a citizen of this nation, that pays taxes in this country, elects your own representation, and flies the stars and stripes on your vessel, you were probably safe from this type of terrorism.

We know what is says about the Somali terrorists that they are stupid enough to attack an American ship, but what does it say about our President that he has "no comment" to an act of war?! Are we going to tolerate another Bill Clinton-style policy of waiting, reacting with useless words, and appealing to the United Nations for our own national security? Do any of you remember the night after the first WTC bombings when Pres. Clinton, rather than declare war on those who would kill Americans and commit terrorist acts on our own soil, called the matter a law enforcement issue...as if you could arrest and prosecute bits and pieces of what remains of a suicide bomber.

Pres. Jefferson had it right, and he sent the military to take care of pirates. Pres. Obama has no comment. Sphere: Related Content

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

WAR!


News reports this morning spoke of an apparent hijacking of an American vessel by Somali pirates. A few hours ago the only thing we heard from the White House was that they were "monitoring the situation." That's the best our own President can do? Monitoring is what you do when you're a government bureaucrat concerned with seeing the hit you might take in the polls, rather than someone who has any real responsibility to ACT. We heard that the nearest U.S. Navy vessel was en route...one has to wonder whether this was something the commander of the ship took upon him/herself, or if this was an order from the SECDEF or POTUS. One can only hope.

In all of the recent reports of various vessels being hijacked by Somalis, none had actually targeted an American-flagged ship with an American crew. World Wars have started for less offensive acts, and all our government can do is "monitor." Our government is shifting to a groveling, useless entity that seeks only to ridicule private citizens like the Harvard Law student that dared to question Rep. Frank's sense of responsibility (or lack thereof) for our current situation, and tax productivity, thereby driving out business to actual business-friendly nations (no, the United States is not on that list any longer).

Still, while the American government has shifted to the ostrich approach of seeing threats, while sounding alarms all over the place about free enterprise, the American spirit is not dead. Reports are now trickling in (here) that the American crew has RETAKEN THE SHIP! First reports are often sketchy, but hopefully we can be soon assured of the safety of the American crew, and I sincerely hope that the pirates that got away did so swimming for their lives under a barrage of bullets!

While we may wake up tomorrow to find the accounts to be inaccurate, if the pirates did attack an American vessel, it is clearly an act o war. I fully expect my Representative and others in the Congress to investigate the reports we've seen today. If they find the reports are true, a declaration of war should be imminent.

We've come through a lot in this nation. We've fought against the greatest empire on the planet to earn our independence, we've nearly torn each other apart (and I must say the biggest black eyes we ever got as a nation at war was when we fought ourselves...no one matches our military might), and we've come through 2 World Wars, a Great Depression, multiple recessions, a Cold War, and so much more.

We are still Americans. We hunt, fish, farm, fight, fly to the moon, create great technology, and kick anyone's ass who wants to threaten our freedoms. The rest of the world would do well to remember that. To those who would do us harm, don't take much comfort in our new liberal government...liberal governments are fleeting, but the American spirit is eternal. Sphere: Related Content

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Cybersecurity and You!

As I seek a balance between productively working on my thesis (M.S. in Information Assurance) and writing about the ineptitude of our elected leaders, I find myself with a story that fits nicely between the two worlds. The CyberSecurity Act of 2009, introduced by Sen. Rockefeller, a few other Democrats, and, of course, Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine (RINO*), is just another example of our elected leaders looking for excuses to encroach upon private enterprise. While I acknowledge the need for a greater need for a focus on cybersecurity for not only critical assets (power grids, nuclear reactors, military forces, etc), asking the government to do so is about like asking your dog to perform brain surgery...in either case it probably won't end well.

More important than this single bill, is the trend that our elected leaders have shown over the past few months of the Obama Administration. We see bailout after bailout, a government that refuses to accept their money back (I mean come on, if the banks pay that money back how will the government control them without declaring all-out communism?), and czar after czar for almost every aspect of our lives! Seriously, did Russia have that many czars?!

At issue here is the difference between a reason and an excuse. If you have a reason to act, you're acting to solve a problem. If the North Koreans bomb Hawaii, we'd have a reason to declare war. If the North Koreans bomb Hawaii, and hit a telephone poll, we would not have a reason to suddenly take over all of the telecommunications industry and make them a public government agency...I suspect the Democrats and Sen. Snowe would be on board with that.

You need to seriously ask yourself what the true intent of each new piece of legislation is that comes out of Washington, D.C. Ignore their words, and read the legislation! They'll always call it the "save the babies from corporate fatcats act" or "fluffy bunnies and kitties act" in hopes that you won't get past the title page...get past the title page, people. Do you really think the government is trying to save industry or jobs? Do you think they want to protect your tax dollars as if it were their own money? If that were the case, why is the President refusing to accept repayment of TARP funds? That's a huge question that I haven't heard a good answer to just yet. Why on earth would you not accept repayment? There's only one logical conclusion... Sphere: Related Content

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