Tag Archives: DOUG SMITH

Doug Smith: A Way to end the “Cornfusion” in Iowa

30 Jan

 

 DOUG SMITH

Doug Smith:  Author, Historian and lead contributor to Free State Patriot

It is time to clear up the Cornfusion in Iowa.

 Ethanol from Corn has NOT worked out as a fuel source. Neither has Cold Fusion. (See what I did there?)   After all, what has Iowa given us? The Music Man, Jimmy Carter, Barack Obama, and ethanol.

ETHANOL

 We don’t need ethanol in our cars. We certainly don’t need another Jimmy Obama. We do need that clarity.  So, here are my thoughts: 

 My neighboring state of Kentucky has a successful industry converting corn into ethanol. The Kentucky form of ethanol does not pollute or hurt car engines. It does not required taxpayer subsidies to survive: it sells very well, without coercion, and produces a tidy tax base.

 Whiskey has a long tradition in America. It was once practically currency. (See the Whiskey Rebellion)

 The 2 big centers for American Whiskey are Kentucky and Tennessee. Once, the technology centers were Boston and Silicon Valley. Then Raleigh, NC came up with Research Triangle and the 3rd great center was born.  

rye

  The time has come for Iowa whiskey. The corn is already there. Distilleries are already there. Add some oak barrels, some transplanted Scots, or Irishmen, or Kentuckians, and we have a whole new industry, ready to explode on the scene.  

 Or…NASCAR.  I can see it now: The Ethanol 500. We’ll promote it at the Newton Motor Speedway in Iowa. All cars for the race will be modified to run on pure Iowa Whiskey. It doesn’t need to be aged in Oak barrels for this. West Virginians will be glad to supply them with Mason Jars.  

  Never mind, we will work out the details.  I’ll get a jacket for the Landon Cassel (NASCAR driver from Iowa, for the uninitiated) team.  Kellogg’s can be a sponsor. 

 We can further start an Off Broadway venue and drum (see what I did there?) it up as the new face of Iowa. We can build the Professor Harold Hill Theater, on River City Drive. And the patrons, who will come from far and wide, can have a few shots of Paroo Whiskey along with their Corn Pudding for dinner before the show. 

 Baseball!  Kevin Costner showed us the way. Baseball diamonds in the midst of corn rows. Iowa needs the next MLB expansion team. Who doesn’t love baseball, and of course, Corn Dogs!

Ethanol_plant

 Politics is only every 4 years, but whiskey is all the time. Baseball has a nice long season. And they will all turn out for the games. Yes, the Sioux City Hawks will have a large and loyal following. Taking a note from Green Bay, they can wear a corn cob hat. 

 Those Hawkeyes are not very good at politics. The winners of the Hawkeye “Cauceye” are more often the loser than the winner of the big Enchilada. (That would be the Presidency, not the Mexican food made with, yep, you guessed it, corn). Yes, they will be making so much money, and having so much fun, that the next political train wreck “a La Carter” or Obama will have to come from somewhere else.

 Arkansas, perhaps.  

 This will work!

 

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It’s time for U.S. to deal with “Jihadist” abuse

26 Dec

DOUG SMITH

Doug Smith: Author, historian and lead contributor to Free State Patriot

12.26.15

islam first

 

The Muslim world is rampant with cultural pathologies that keep it living largely in the mean and barbaric world of the 7th Century Arab peninsula. Common sense says that Western, civilized nations will look askance at that world, and view them with suspicion, and natural fear, and a sense of self preservation.  We do not fear the Muslim world because they look, speak, or believe differently. We do so because they demonstrably generate people who try, often successfully, to kill us because we look, speak, or believe differently. Fearing this is a sensible thing to do. Defending against it is a sensible thing to do.

Rational people begin to question why leaders continue to assure them of things they know to be wrong. They wonder why they tell them not to fear that which they know to be fearful, and trust that which they know to be undependable.

islam 1

I think one answer may be that Islamists are analogous to abusive men, and their apologists play the role of the battered woman. He didn’t really mean to hit me.

(They don’t really want to blow us up, they love peace.)

 

It was my fault. I started it. I told him that he needed to get a job and stop drinking.

(It was our fault. I started it. We locked up some of the murderers and noted the fact that such murderers seem, overwhelmingly to issue forth from one group of people. We said stuff they don’t like. Of Course they would want to murder us in return.)

islam 2

 

He’s really sorry.  He’s being so nice now. I have to forgive him or he’ll get mad again.

(CAIR regrets that people died. Muslims are really worried that we will get made and hurt their feelings.)

 

All I have to do is figure out how to change so that I never do anything to set him off. .  I know if I’m nicer to him, he won’t hit me again.

(All we have to do is do everything exactly like they do, and we won’t set them off.)

 

Reality check?

Abusive men will beat and assault the women in their lives many times before they report it. They will finally either kill her, unless she finally manages to escape.

islam 3

The cycle repeats over and over, building tension, violence, contrition and affection.  Finally the learned actions no longer work.  Avoiding the things that set him off don’t matter: he will still beat her. Giving him what he wants always, being properly submissive no longer works: He will still beat her.

And in dealing with Islamism, they attack and murder over and over. They plan, prepare, attack, then we hear how the big fear is not the attackers murdering us, but the victims over reacting. No matter what the West does, it is not enough, and leads to more attacks. Many try to deny it, or excuse it, but still they beat their victims.  (Is it totally coincidental that in Islamist countries women are beaten regularly, legally, and often fatally?)

The abusive man does not cease to abuse because of what his wife or girlfriend does to change him.  He stops because either he gets help for his issues, he kills her, she kills him, or he is shot by police.

Or:

She finally manages to overcome her learned helplessness and escapes to a shelter. She finds protection from someone stronger.

For the abusers of Islamism, their victims have limited escape: the West. Most notably, the US.

They can gain safety because the US military, like the police, will react with outrage to atrocious acts. The US, like right thinking people, will defend their victims, and kill murderers until they are unable or unwilling to murder any more.

Unless the US becomes the battered victim.

martial law

It is time to remember that we are strong. It is time to stop being the helpless victim, trying desperately to placate the one who beats us at a whim, and at will.

It is time to remember that we are still, for the moment, the biggest dog on the porch. And that biting our tail, or stealing our food, is a terrible mistake.

 

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Doug Smith: Cry ‘Havoc,’ and let slip the dogs of war

14 Nov

doug smith

Doug Smith: Author, historian and lead contributor to Free State Patriot

11.14.15

 And Caesar’s spirit, raging for revenge, With Ate by his side come hot from hell, Shall in these confines with a monarch’s voice Cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war, That this foul deed shall smell above the earth With carrion men, groaning for burial.

Marcus Antonius

Julius Caesar Act 3, scene 1, 270–275

300px-Punch_-_The_Dogs_of_War

When faced with barbarous, murderous intent on the part its enemies, a civilization is left with 2 roles it can play in the great drama of life.

  1. The Victim

Maybe they will not hate us so much if we are nicer, if we don’t call them murderers, if we refuse to raise the sword or the shield.  Barbarians, whether they run Auschwitz, or immolate people, or behead prisoners, or make sex slaves of women and children, will follow a simple rule. “Age quod Agis”.  (Do what you do best)  Eventually they will get around to you.

  1. The Fighter

You don’t have to hate your enemy, or pity him, or love him. But you must kill him.  You must keep on killing him, until you kill all who intend to kill you, or break his will to kill you anymore. These are the bare bones realities of victory and defeat. If you are to be victorious over your enemy, you must defeat him or kill him. And he must KNOW he is defeated. In 1945, our enemies knew it.

Now there are those who formulate grand ideas of how it “should work” in campus coffee shops, or faculty lounges. These folks have never heard a bullet “Whiz” past their heads (sorry Hillary, fictional stories don’t count), or faced the reality of a determined enemy trying to kill them, personally. They do not believe you ever truly need to defeat an enemy. If you understand him, and help him understand you, he will cease to be an enemy. Or a barbarian.

They cling desperately to their faith that it should work, so it must.

History has shown that they are desperately wrong.

We left North Korea as a blight on the world stage in 1953. They have not played nice.  When the Russians invaded Hungary in 1956 we ignored their pleas for help and left them to the Gulags for 3 decades.  We abandoned Southeast Asia in 1975 and permitted the Killing Fields and the slaughter of millions.  In 2009 we began to announce and carry out an abandonment of the Middle East.

None of these choices worked out well. No matter how nice we are, the barbarians at the gate will still be barbarians. Barbarians will still rape, pillage, plunder, and murder.

No words or promises of ours can make them cease to be barbarians. But we can close the gate and push them away from it.  We can protect civilization and let the barbarians live in the savagery which they choose. We can decide the time for words has passed, and the time has come for the sword.

Sadly, some of our gatekeepers cease to see it as their duty to keep safe those behind the gates.

Now, it has been that said people fall into 3 categories.

Sheep, who will not defend themselves from danger, but simply huddle together, and leave the stragglers to their fate.

Wolves, who will attack the sheep and eat them at their leisure, happily feeding on the stragglers which the flock abandon.

And there are Sheepdogs.

They live and wander about quietly among the sheep. Sometimes herding them away from danger, watching all around them. And they kill wolves, or drive them off.

More often than not, for the past century, Sheepdogs have worn American flags.

So, cry Havoc! And let loose the Dogs of War.

Sheepdogs.

With American Flags.

Who kill Wolves.

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Doug Smith: Modern Day Progressive Slavery

18 Oct

Liberal benevolence has never been about caring

DOUG SMITH

Doug Smith: Free State Patriot Lead Contributor

10.18.15

The modern Democrats, from the “purest and highest of motives”, wish to give people everything they need. More, they wish to give them everything they deserve, and much of what they want. These folks judge themselves, and others, on the basis of how much they want to give to people. They form their philosophy of government on the basis of 2 beliefs:

  1. We are smarter, wiser, and more benevolent and know, far better than you, what you need.
  2. Only we can supply what you need, without us you are not capable of caring for yourselves.
  3. And, not coincidentally, we are entitled to a rich and lavish lifestyle because of 1 and 2, above.

slavery 1

154 years ago, that mentality belonged to the slave owning aristocrats of the South. The slaves are, except for the small matter of liberty, happy in their lot and better off than they were in Africa (that at least is largely true.) They are not nearly as wise, smart, industrious, or clever as we are, and without us, would starve and die. They have no need for education beyond what we want them to know, so don’t burden them with “book learning”, or in fact, teach them to read. They might pick up dangerous ideas.

We will supply them with houses, (not as nice as our palatial estates, but with a roof.), food, (not what WE eat, of course), and clothing (all a working man needs is a pair of pants and a rough shirt), and useful, productive work. Of course, their work will be done to serve us, and we expect them to defer to us in return for our benevolence, and we will remain in charge, and wealthy. But like wise and caring parents, we will care for them from cradle to grave, and treat them as the infantile, helpless servants we expect them to be.

In 1860, those folks were also Democrats. Some things never change.

slavery 2

People who form governments have 2 choices of direction. The one above, Noblesse Oblige, dictates that power and wealth will be gathered to the self-proclaimed “best and brightest” and doled out and their benevolent inner instincts dictate. The enduring problem of this approach is slavery. Oh, pretty it up and call it dependency if you prefer. But the fact is that for Democrat Liberal politicians to give away a smorgasbord of free stuff, “the Dole” they must take it away from someone else. The Clintons are worth about $ 100, 000,000. There are 48,000,000 living on food stamps. Even if you went to a Democrat controlled public school, you can do that math. How far does her fortune stretch among all those people?

So liberals who make lavish promises to give stuff away, have a hidden, and sinister promise implied: We will enslave you.

Free healthcare? We will make Doctors work for less, and take a lot of money from some who produce to pay for it. (Because we are government, we own and produce nothing.)

Free college? We will make University administrators cut their $ 500,000 salaries. No, wait, Democrats will NEVER do that, so we will just raise your taxes and pay them. And that “free “tuition.

Free anything? We have to steal it. But not in the honest straightforward way of a gangster like Al Capone (who gave away free stuff: he funded soup kitchens,) but at least sold an illegal, but desired product. No, Democrats will steal it by picking your paycheck every 2 weeks, with the force of the guns of the IRS and the FBI behind them.

slavery 3

Medieval kings gained their kingdoms by being the best soldiers around, and it was their Army which compelled the serfs to work their entire lives to provide the Royal treasure. Of course, the King would, Noblesse Oblige, provide for his serfs. With money and work he had taken from them. At the point of a sword.

Governments who come together to provide “free stuff”, must do so at the sacrifice of free people.

One unique time in history, men came together to wrest power to create free men, not take goods. They fought an empire and a king which enslaved them, for the right to be free. Free to strive and prosper, or to laze and starve, but at their own choosing and of their own efforts.

And of that same beginning, free men came together to risk life, and limb, and fortune, to wrest power from those aforementioned slave owning Democrats, and end their tyranny over men.

Those free men, history reminds us, were called Republicans.

clinton 3

But the Democrats like their power, and their money, and found it a good bargain to buy men’s freedom for their own gain using the fruits of enslaved people’s labor. One which they ardently wish to continue.

2 things are worth remembering in light of all this.

The modern Progressive movement was started by an elitist, Ivy League, Southern Democrat – Woodrow Wilson.

Hillary Rodham Clinton is an elitist, Ivy League, Southern Democrat.

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Doug Smith: Politics attracts the worst of us

19 Sep

DOUG SMITH

Doug Smith: Author, historian and lead contributor to Free State Patriot

9.19.15

Politics attracts and rewards the very worst among us. Politicians and lawyers account for the largest congregation of sociopaths in our society.

Now, I don’t like Donald Trump. Let’s start there, shall we? I find him obnoxious, self-important, arrogant in the extreme, abrasive, and for all his money and education, as crude an individual as I have ever experienced. And I think it increasingly likely that he will be the GOP nominee for President in 2016, and the next President. I can’t say I’m happy about that idea, but I prefer The Donald, far and away, to the Barack, or the Hillary, or even the Bernie.

Who could beat him?

barack bernie donald hillary

The Democrats? Be real! After 7 years of the real pain, fear, and anger people feel on Main Street, despite the lies and pabulum of the Pres, the Democrat brand is damaged badly.

What do they offer?

The summer, fall, Year, Decade, you name it, of recovery? Promises of jobs, soon, any day now, this is the year, no kidding, trust us, one more time. For all their smoke screen about the 5.6% unemployment, there are 94, 000, 000 unemployed voters who know why the roses grow so well at the White House.

And who do the Democrats offer? Hillary Clinton? Please.

“There are concerns about her honesty?”(Really?)

“She travelled A LOT, and she cares about women.” (So did Bob Hope.)

Dems will as always appeal to the Give me stuff crowd, but they are badly damaged.

But what does the GOP offer us?

Anger has grown in the folks, like me. We turned out in droves to give the GOP more power, and the mandate to fight Barack Obama.

And we have seen them, time and time again, fold at the first volley, and write Obama a blank check to do what we oppose, and what they promised to stop in its tracks. Each time they whine, we need more power, each time we give it to them, and each time they lie. Then they fight an utterly meaningless fight, after they sign the check and it is too late, and expect us to blindly keep trusting them and believing them.

What, then, are we left with?

The Dems lie, cheat, steal, and drain the treasury.

The GOP makes noises about how wrong that is, then quietly, a little embarrassed about it, do, or permit the same things.

The Folks are “Mad as Hell, and not gonna take this anymore.”

Enter Donald Trump. Right or wrong, he does have success behind him. He says, without fear, worry, apparent conscience, or regret, the things most of us are thinking.

A pox on both your houses!

He voices our anger.

If he is the GOP nominee, the GOP leadership will hate it. That is almost reason enough for me to vote for him. If he is the nominee, they will have no one to blame but themselves. We have rallied behind them, given them the power to fight for us, and they have shown that they will not do so.

Now to the Conservative purists, the 4 million of you who sat out the 2012 election and elected Barack Obama ( how s that decision feel now?), who would rather go down in flames behind a “True Conservative” than compromise and work with a so-so Conservative who actually wins, how is that working out for you? Going down in flames because you are stuck with 80% of what you want instead of 100% has 2 results. You burn. And you get 0%.

Now, Trump may not be the best candidate. Or the best President. But if he is the GOP nominee, I will absolutely vote for him. We cannot afford another 8 years of Democrat Socialism. I hope it is not him. I would certainly prefer Ted Cruz, or Dr. Carson.

But it is time to restate the Buckley principle: Support the most right leaning, viable candidate. A pure conservative who cannot win does not help anyone. Except Hillary. God help us.

Remember the Dole, McCain, and Romney Presidencies?

Neither does Barack Obama.

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Doug Smith: Pity the Liberal

14 Sep

doug smith

Doug Smith is an author, historian and regular contributor to Free State Patriot.

9.14.15

Pity the modern liberal. He, no, sorry, she, no wait we can’t use gender centric language. Well, She-it. Ok, She-It has to defend some pretty difficult positions.

To be a Liberal Democrat (henceforth LD), you must argue your Bills carefully. Clinton’s abusive treatment of women is excused, and he is an advocate of women’s rights because he “feels their pain” (and supports abortion.) Cosby’s behaviors toward women are not excused, because his positions are at odds with the Liberal dogma.

bill cosby bill clinton

But pity the poor liberal, who must defend Willy and condemn Cos for the same moral failings. While we are at it, we must accept Hillary as an advocate for women, despite paying women on her staff less than men, and acting as the attack dog on women who were objects of Bill’s predilections. All for the good of the cause. Pepto Bismol, anyone?

The LD must defend Planned Parenthood, because it is the sacrament of the religion of liberalism. Sheit must defend it as a “Women’s Health” organization helping with Breast Cancer, ignoring that is does no such thing, and attacks another organization which does so for withholding money. Extortion, anyone? Vito Corleone would be proud. LD s must defend PP for “keeping women out of back alleys, and in the hands of butchers, while ignoring and defending unsafe clinics and abortionists who do indeed, even in the 21st Century of Roe V Wade, maim and kill women with impunity. No criticism or attack can be tolerated. Hence, the LD has to somehow defend an abortionist cutting through the face of a living baby to remove his brain. He is, apparently, a blob of tissue, until he can be enrolled in a LD approved, state sponsored Head Start program. Wow. Pepto?

planned parenthood 2 planned parenthood

The LD must turn hits (in Appalachia that is proper grammar. For the gender confused LD it is an amalgam of his her its, and one more reason to reach for the Pepto) logic inside out to insist that Obamacare, which is on the approved list, is the “law of the Land” and must be obey, nay, praised, Nay Worshipped!, but yet Barack Obama can unlawfully alter it dozens of times, fail to implement troublesome parts, and that is an acceptable heresy.

The LD must revere, rightly so, the work and dream of Martin Luther King, yet at the same time eschew criticism of Barack Obama’s failings, and his reversals of the gains won by MLK based not on the content of his character, but on the color of his skin. For no criticism of Obama is accepted and debated, rather, the critic is loudly labeled a racist for his disagreements. Pity the LD, and pass hit the Pepto. MLK must come to Sheit in hits dreams and thunder “Were you not listening?”

Pity the LD, who, supporting the law, turns on law enforcement; who, supporting black lives, must be blind to hundreds killed the right way; who, ( oh my poor aching belly, ) must condemn every shot fired at a black criminal, and, by silence, condone every killing by a black criminal, whether of a white or ( most frequently,) another black. Sheit must condemn blacks who say “We have got to stop killing each other”, and put the blame on, who? Sheit must check with Josh Earnest to see who is at fault this week for the 2000 shootings and 350 murders so far this year in Chicago. Sheit must suspend common sense, and the evidence of hits eyes. Pepto?

mike brown 2 mike brown

The LD must be ok with the lawlessness of ignoring property rights, and rewarding the UAW over bondholders in GM, by Obama, not by, as 100 years of precedent dictates, by a judge, and publicly deriding investors who protest getting pennies on the dollar as greedy, while rewarding the greed of UAW contracts with a company in default. Sheit must be ok with suspending the law, and committing robbery on private individuals, to reward the friends of a corrupt politician. It’s the pink bottle, right there in the front of the fridge.

false 3 false 2

In short, Sheit must be ok with suspending common sense and the law when it serves “the greater purpose.”

Yet, there is a problem with that suspension of conscience. As Robert Bolt has Sir Thomas More state it in “A Man for All Seasons”,

“And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned round on you—where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws from coast to coast—man’s laws, not God’s—and if you cut them down—and you’re just the man to do it—do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then?    Yes, I give the Devil benefit of law for my own safety’s sake. “

progressives

And there is, perhaps, the crux of the problem. The LD sees the law as a hindrance to do what Sheit wishes, instead of the protection against the worst urges and greed of barbarians, bandits, and tyrants.

And it is not working for her. Him. It.

Well, Sheit! Pepto?

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DOUG SMITH: A MARK OF NOBILITY

9 Aug

DOUG SMITH

Doug Smith is an author, historian and regular contributor to Free State Patriot.

8.9.15

I think you may judge of a man’s character by the persons whose affection he seeks. If you find a man seeking only the affection of those who are great, depend upon it he is ambitious and self-seeking; but when you observe that a man seeks the affection of those who can do nothing for him, but for whom he must do everything, you know that he is not seeking himself, but that pure benevolence sways his heart.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

—–

It’s true, too. We are a flawed people, led by flawed people, subject to all the foibles and weaknesses of flesh. Yet, a flawed man whose conscience nags him may still do the right thing, despite his faults. Or, he may say the right thing.

Which brings me to Donald Trump. I don’t like the guy. I find him unnecessarily rude, crude, and offensive. It think it is very likely that if he worked for anybody but himself, he would hear the phrase “You’re fired” often.

donaldDONKEY

He is, in short, an ass.

Yet he says some things that really resonate. The flood of illegal, uneducated foreigners coming to the US while maintaining the peasant culture, language, or mores from which they sought to escape is a huge problem. We need the courage to say so, and to act accordingly. Trump spits that truth out, crudely, but accurately.

We are in the 7th year of a failed Presidency, both in terms of economics, and foreign policy. We are suffering greatly from the policies and arrogance of Barack Obama. It is not racism to say so, though the President and his supporters hide behind that shield. But not from Trump. He calls it accurately, and in so doing hits a chord with millions who are out of work in the Obama economy, and do not feel they are suddenly racist for saying “Where is my job, Mr. President?” Trump doesn’t care what Obama or anyone else thinks about him. And that is admirable.

Yet, it is not so much the point that a billionaire, who will still be a billionaire if his mouth causes the whole world to stop doing business with him, can say what he will and not fear the backlash. It is not the number of politicians to whom he can purchase access.

It is rather how he acts on the other end of the spectrum.

And in this, Donald Trump seems to lack a basic morality. If he wants to call the President of the United States a blithering idiot; that is moral courage. When he calls to task an employee, or a reporter, or a waiter and talks to them like a common street bully that is not courage.

A mark of greatness in a President is not his deference to Queen Elizabeth, but his kindness to the cooks and maids and travel agents in the White House. In this respect, the Coolidge’s and the Reagans showed that common touch, while the Clintons did not.

Now Trump brings a bit of spine to the arena that has been missing. He has framed the questions that many have been afraid to even speak and put them on the national stage. For those things he is to be commended. But I’m not sure we want the maids to discover that they are a “bunch of bimbos.”

Other candidates can take a page from Trump and learn that the American public is sick of politics as usual, pick up the message there and say, Yes, Donald is right about that. And here is what I’ll do about it. Trump brings up some great points, and has some sound ideas.

Being a bully is not being brave. We know how Trump acts to the powerful.

Other Republicans should, and can, learn from his success in this coming year. I’m not sure Trump can stop being an ass in a year.

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Doug Smith: The Trouble with Tribbles

5 Aug

DOUG SMITH

Doug Smith: Author, historian and regular contributor to Free State Patriot.

Star Trek fans will remember the tongue in cheek episode “The Trouble with Tribbles”. (David Gerrold, 1968.)

ST_TroubleWithTribbles

The episode posits a small, seemingly harmless critter, the Tribble, which emits a soothing sound that makes people want to hold it for comfort and pet it. It is just a small ball of fur, and, again, “seemingly” harmless.

There is just one problem. Tribble only do 3 things. Just three. They purr. They eat. And they, ah, reproduce. They purr in a most lovely manner. And they eat. Everything. As they reproduce. Rapidly. They will quickly eat and, ah, frolic (?) to the point where all food, and space for them to live, is gone. It must be noted, of course, that if you have been petting one for the soothing sounds they make, you, too, will be out of food, and room. Pity Captain Kirk. Commander of a state of the art space ship, he is engulfed in the little critters, at risk of losing a shipment of grain which will cause millions to starve, and barely able to turn around, let alone con his ship, for the soothing little “ purr balls”, still making noises to tell him everything is fine.

Tribbles, it seems, are Progressives. The soothingly tell us that all is well, they have their hearts set on our best interest, but no, fatherless families are not a problem. Meanwhile inner cities burn and writhe in violence.

They assure us that “carbon emissions are at their highest level in 800,000 years”, never mind there was no industry to speak of even 200 years gone, and global “warming” has decreased for 25 years. Get out your long johns, climate change is coming. We can fix it with Solar panels. Pause. From Solyndra?

But don’t worry, here, rub a Tribble. Purr. Purr.

We are assured that spending just a little more on government programs for education will make us the envy of the world. Trillions of dollars later, Johnny can’t read his arrest warrant, or sign his welfare check. No worries, we will go to a card for him. Because the check-out guy can’t read it either, so we’ll just swipe it. Because neither of them can do the math either. But no worries, give us more money and we will really fix it. This time. Here, pet the fur ball. Purr. Purr.

We are told, from the New Deal, to the Great Society, to the War on Poverty, to Obamaphones and Government Motors, that more government spending will eliminate poverty. Meantime, jobs vanish, more people are in poverty than ever before, and fewer than ever are motivated to get out of it. But no worries, they may be poor, but they can Vote! Here, relax, rub a Tribble. Purr. Purr.

What we really need, they assure us, is for everyone to pay their fair share. Never mind that the producers of goods and services are paying 85% of all they take in. Never mind that nearly half are living off the hard work and effort of the other half. Never mind that we have the highest taxes in the corporate world. Never mind that we have the population of Germany (by numbers) unemployed. Never mind that black young men are unemployed at a rate of 45%. Never mind that we have borrowed more than we are ever likely to pay, that in 7 years we have racked up more debt than the entire history of the Republic. It’s not like we are ever going to pay it! Here, rub a Tribble. Purr. Purr??

It is time to stop feeding the Triberals. They never get enough. Every inch is a light year by the time they are done. It is worse than feeding a stray dog or cat.

In the Star Trek episode, they sent all the little pests to the engine room of their enemies to be a nuisance for them for a change. Perhaps deporting 11 million illegal aliens to Mexico is not viable. But might we send a few million Progressives to Iran, or China, or Russia?

Where I’m sure, (sorry, Scotty,) they’ll be no Tribble at all.

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Doug Smith: Admiral Rickover helped shape his century

8 Jul

doug smith

Doug Smith: Author, historian and regular contributor to Free State Patriot.

“The more you sweat in peace the less you bleed in war”

Admiral Hymen G Rickover

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In 1904, half a century before my birth, Abraham the Tailor sent for his family in the Russian Empire, to join him in New York. I would owe Abraham a debt someday.  For he brought with him his son, Hymen.  Hymen was a very driven, scholarly, and hardworking boy. Demanding, and a loner, Hymen did not endear himself to people.  He was educated at the Naval Academy and at Columbia.

He did little to endear himself to the Navy brass either; ignoring rank in favor of ability, working hard and demanding the same of others. His standards were simple: Excellence. By 1948, he was head of the Naval Reactors brand of the Atomic Energy Commission. In 1954 he presided over the launch of the USS Nautilus, SSN 571, and the world’s first nuclear powered submarine.

My debt, and yours, to Admiral Hymen G Rickover, increased markedly that year. I was quite unaware of it, having not yet reached the level of a “twinkle in my Daddy’s eye.”  By the time I would make my entrance, late the following year, Nautilus would have signaled “Underway on Nuclear Power”, and would be on the way to circumnavigating the world, sailing to the North Pole, and steaming 250,000 miles under the oceans.

Under Rickover’s direction, the world’s first nuclear power plant would be built, around the time I turned 2.

A strong proponent for excellence in education and safety in Engineering, Hymen Rickover was the force behind a United States Nuclear force with a 60 year record of Zero serious accidents or deaths. Our Russian counterparts cannot make that claim.  That Naval Submarine Force was silently, secretly, but integrally involved in pressing back the Soviets during the Cold War, and behind us all, there was Rickover.

Us?

Yes, my more direct debt to Admiral Rickover.  As I grew up, so too, did the Submarine Force. On 4 July, 1976, I reported for duty to the USS Gato, SSN 615; a hard charging Permit class Attack Submarine, a sleek, silent, and deadly predator; a shark. I became a “steely eyed killer of the deep”; ready to do incredible violence on your behalf, to protect you, or perhaps your parents, from enemies on or beneath the seas. What did we do? Well, I could tell you, but then…  No. Much of what we did will never be told. But we were out there, between our homes and our enemy, and behind us was Hymen Rickover. His name and his spirit and his presence were felt on every boat in the fleet, and by every sailor calling them home.

He helped to shape his century. On this date, July 8th, in 1986, Admiral Hymen G Rickover died, and was laid to rest in Arlington Cemetery. So today I will remember my debt to the tailor, and the engineer and leader.  Thanks, Abraham, for bringing him. And thanks, Admiral

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Doug Smith: Cautionary Tale from a Curmudgeon

2 Jul

DOUG SMITH

Doug Smith: Author, Historian and regular contributor to Free State Patriot

“The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.

The former are idealists acting from highest motives for the greatest good of the greatest number.

The latter are surly curmudgeons, suspicious and lacking in altruism. But they are more comfortable neighbors than the other sort.”

Robert Heinlein

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Some of our idealists and are enthusiastically celebrating SCOTUS’ ruling on Obamacare. So, for them: a Cautionary Tale.

Our vaunted Brethren (and Sisterns? ) reversed their own positions and found, because they wanted it to be so, that the words of a law did not say what they said, but rather what the Brethren thought they ought to have said, if the Congress intended what the Brethren thought the Congress ought to have intended.

The court, in very nearly the same breath, has said Government may NOT control your decisions, yet Government May control your decisions, depending 9 people’s whim of the moment. The Court, has, then, gathered to itself the role of Grand Arbiter, final word on all decisions of law or politics regarding what Government may do TO you.

How’s that again?

Our Constitution was enacted to protect citizens from what Government could do to its citizens, by people who had been subjects of a Government which could, and did, exercise arbitrary power at the whim of King or Noble. People who live under a monarch thought to rule by divine Right, unquestionable, are the Subjects of his will, and the whim of his lesser nobles. Or 9 Robed Arbiters.

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Citizens are protected by laws and rights that may not be infringed under those laws. Altering those laws, under the Constitution is, by design, possible, but difficult. We ought not to alter our laws on the whims of a few or a passing fashion, but by a dawning and sustained consensus that a change ought to take place, and carries popular support. Because what is so easily gained, “just like that”, can just as easily be taken away.

As part of this cautionary tale, consider that we fought a war to get the 13th Amendment, and how enduring it is. Whereas the 18th Amendment, which, like Obamacare, involved a Progressive Government controlling businesses and personal financial choices, lasted barely 10 years.

Prohibition, like Obamacare, was touted as “the law of the land”. But it quickly became unpopular, and was repealed. Why? Because it didn’t work, and was a financial disaster. Obamacare has been, and remains, hugely unpopular. Why? Because it doesn’t work, and is a financial disaster.

Our cautionary tale, then, suggests the Idealists might want to temper their celebrations. Or, perhaps, elect politicians who will vote and work to make it workable. To make it survivable, it would be necessary to change it to earn support.

Idealists don’t want to do that. They prefer that you accept their will since acting from highest motives for the greatest good of the greatest number.

But their neighbors are surly curmudgeons, suspicious and lacking in altruism. And we are comfortable with that.

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