Friday, December 28, 2012

A Very Happy New Year to All!

Your beloved Peasant wants to extend to you,
my beloved readers, my wishes for a very Happy
New Year! May you all have a year of prosperity,
of success in your business and educational
endeavors, and whatever other endeavors that
you may be undertaking. May you all have an
abundance of not only financial and material
success but an abundance of love, companionship,
health, and joy; the things that make life truly
enjoyable!

This post is also your prolific Peasant's 200th to date!
Without you, my great and grand readers, this
milestone would not have been possible; for that
matter, neither would this blog! You are the fuel
in my tank, the encouragement that coaxes me
on, my reason for doing what I do --- sharing
my point of view and insight into the issues and
the challenges which we as a nation face, looking
for fresh ways of taking care of our business with
an ear tuned to the wisdom form our forefathers
who brought our great country into being.
These things will not only be good for you and your
loved ones, they will also be a poke in the eye to
Obama and his fellow Democrats, especially the
prosperity part! As a wise person once said long
ago, success is the best revenge; let us take that
advice to heart and use it to thumb our noses at
the regime in Washington! We won't let these
creeps mire us in depression, be it emotional or
financial!

Let us make this new year the best year ever!


MEM

Norman Schwarzkopf, R.I.P.

Just yesterday we lost a great military leader,
humanitarian, and patriot; General Norman
Schwarzkopf, who with General Colin Powell
led the American and allied forces in the Persian
Gulf War in 1991, passed away at the age of
78. He had been suffering from pneumonia.

Schwarzkopf's legacy famously includes his quick
and crushing defeat of Saddam Hussein's forces
in Iraq, which took just six weeks to accomplish.
This was done with minimal allied casualties, and
had freed Kuwait from Iraqi occupation. He was
feted as a hero at home and abroad; the soldier
known as "Stormin' Norman" was decorated for
his efforts in that war by President George H.W.
Bush and was given an honorary knighthood by
Great Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, among his
many accolades.

The general was known as a soldier who loved
soldiers; he was a West Point graduate and made
the Army his career, and he cared deeply about
the well-being of his soldiers under his command
as well as U.S. soldiers in general. He lived out
his storybook life in Tampa, Florida, where he
was last posted as an active military member,
and where an elementary school named for him
stands, reflecting the high esteem that the city
has for this warrior and humanitarian. He was
involved in veteran's affairs and children's
charities while declining offers to run for public
office as well as largely shunning the spotlight.

General Schwarzkopf was legendary yet humble,
larger than life in accomplishments but modest in
bearing. A fine soldier, a great military leader,
a caring citizen, and a true patriot, he will be
missed and remembered with fondness and
gratitude. May he rest in peace.


MEM

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Robert Bork, R.I.P.

Our country lost a great legal scholar six days before Christmas.
One of the greatest legal minds that we have ever been blessed
with, and yet was blocked from becoming a U.S. Supreme Court
justice in a fear-and-loathing smear campaign waged against
him in the U.S. Senate, a distinguished law professor and a most
able U.S. Court of Appeals judge, Robert Bork passed away
on Wednesday, December 19 at eighty-five.

Judge Bork's defeat in his quest for confirmation to the Supreme
Court in the Senate was by a roll call of 58-42, the most votes
ever against a Supreme Court nominee. This galling defeat came
to be known as "Borking" --- the term was entered into the
Oxford English Dictionary, with the definition being the attempt
to prevent candidates for public office from attaining same by
"systematically defaming or vilifying them." The campaign waged
against Bork's nomination to the highest court in the land focused
more on his ideology rather than his qualifications. Ever willing
to share his opinions on legal matters and legislation, the
conservative judge left a paper trail which his left-wing enemies
were just as willing to use against him in the nomination hearings.
Advocacy organizations borrowed a page or two from political
campaigns, buying up space in print and air on radio and tele-
vision broadcasts to lobby against Bork's elevation to the Supreme
Court. The anti-Bork campaign began almost immediately
after President Ronald Reagan announced his choice of the
Constitutionally mindful judge for the seat on the Supreme
Court that was being vacated by the retiring Justice Lewis F.
Powell in 1987. Right away, then-Senator Joseph Biden (he has
long been a political mischief-maker) announced that he would
lead the fight against Judge Bork with a typical Bidenesque
statement: "I don't have an open mind; the reason I don't is
that I know this man." Biden was partially right about the first
part of his declaration; he doesn't have an open mind --- he
has no mind. As far as his knowing Judge Bork, he knew this
fine example of constitutional jurisprudence from hunger.
But he rallied his fellow Democrats, along with some liberal
Republicans, to stop Bork's attainment of a seat on the big
court, with the help of the aforementioned advocacy groups,
which included People for the American Way (a misnomer
of a name for that far-left wing political group!), the American
Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the National Organization for
Women (NOW), and various other liberal organizations
banded together in a wide alliance.

One of the biggest criticisms of Judge Robert Bork was a 1963
article in New Republic magazine in which he criticized civil-
rights legislation which barred public accommodations, i.e.
restaurants and the like from discriminating on the basis of
race. Bork slammed the racism behind the discrimination,
denouncing it as "ugliness", while also writing "having the
state coerce you into more righteous paths" is "a principle of
unsurpassed ugliness." Bork decried the cure as being as bad
or worse than the disease which it was crafted to eradicate.
Concerning abortion, Bork testified at a 1981 Senate hearing
that Roe vs. Wade was "an unconstitutional decision, a
serious and wholly unjustifiable judicial usurpation of state
legislative authority." Before the 1973 ruling which made
abortion legal throughout the land, the states had decided
as to whether to allow it or not, and if allowed then the
states each regulated abortions as they saw fit. Bork also
took issue with the 1965 Supreme Court decision in
Griswold vs. Connecticut which established a constitutional
right to privacy that allowed married couples to purchase
contraception; indeed, some legal scholars today state
that they see no such privacy right guaranteed by the
Constitution. All of which, in left-wingers' minds, were
more than sufficient to damn, excoriate, ostracize and
demonize Judge Robert Bork.

But the iconic conservative legal scholar had the last ---
and best --- word nine years later when he wrote and
published his famous book "Slouching Towards Gomorrah:
Modern Liberalism and American Decline" (1996). In
his treatise, Bork wrote that the Supreme Court was
having what he termed a "crisis of legitimacy" due to
"the judicial adoption of the tenets of modern liberalism."
Bork wrote that to remedy the situation a constitutional
amendment to make any state or federal court decision
subject to override majority votes in the House and Senate
could be passed.

Born in Pittsburgh on March 1, 1927, the only child of Harry
and Elizabeth Bork graduated from the Hotchkiss School
in Lakeville, Connecticut in 1944, after which he enlisted
in the U.S. Marines. Later on Bork would earn his undergrad-
uate degree in law from the University of Chicago and after
a second hitch in the Marines would return to his alma mater
to attend its law school for his graduate degree. Bork actually
started out as a socialist but converted to conservatism and
strict adherence to the Constitution, crediting what he called
the "rigorous analysis" of his university's economists.

He was named U.S. Solicitor General by President Richard
Nixon at the start of Nixon's second term in 1973. Bork was
soon embroiled in the Watergate scandal when, as acting
attorney general, fired independent Watergate prosecutor
Archibald Cox and ensured that a new special prosecutor,
Leon Jaworski, would be named to take Cox' place. Another
item that the lefties vilified Bork for.

Judge Robert Bork had a passion for the law, and for the
Constitution which lays out its scope and parameters in
its application and its practice. In these, he received the
enmity and hatred of the political left and the respect and
admiration of the political right. Will we ever see the likes
of such a jurist again? Only time will tell. Meanwhile, may
this legal giant know the comfort and peace of a better place,
a place where he will have no scheming enemies to combat,
who won't countenance any other views but their own,
attacking the good names of anyone daring to stand in their
way. Rest in peace, Judge Bork. Your work is your
testament.



MEM


Thursday, December 20, 2012

Christmas Greetings!

My fantastic, fabulous readers, your favorite Peasant
wants to extend Merry Christmas wishes to you all!
We shall get back together soon, and when we do I
shall have thoughts to share concerning the "Fiscal
cliff" showdown between our spendthrift president
and the GOP, along with same on the shocking, terrible
shooting tragedy which took place last week in
Connecticut. I also want to apologize for posting on
Wednesday of each of the last two weeks rather than
the per usual Thursdays; a combination of my schedule
and some online difficulties necessitated having to do
this. We shall now go back to getting together for our
weekly visits on Thursdays starting today. Thank you
all for your patience, your understanding, and your
enthusiastic support of your beloved Peasant and his
Pitchfork!

Merry Christmas everybody!


MEM

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

A Terrible Injustice

A family member posted an article on her Facebook page recently
which seized your favorite Peasant's attention and got his blood
boiling. The lady, a cousin who shares my love of our country if
not my brand of politics, showcased an article displaying a photo
of a young marine, a lance corporal in full dress uniform and
showing his battle-scarred face. He looks as if he may have lost
his right eye, that part of the photo is not very clear. A woman
sheds tears in the background as the marine tells of his time
in a war zone. The story begins by pointing out that our military
people serve twenty years to receive a pension which pays
them 50% of their regular pay, while members of Congress
receive 100% of their salaries after service of ONE YEAR!

The brave men and women in our armed forces sacrifice and
suffer greatly to protect us, including making the Ultimate Sac-
rifice in battle. They also, of course, protect our Congressional
members, who work and live in a rarified enviornment, where
they have air conditioning in summer and heating in winter,
the best food for their meals, comfy cushy offcies and comfy
cushy living quarters which they obtain with the generous
salaries that we pay them. Our military folk live in tents, are
continually exposed to the weather and elements wherever they
are depolyed, facing extreme heat in Afghanistan in summer
and frigid cold in winter in that war-torn country. Their meals
--- when they have time to eat them --- are rations which
generally consist of fruit cups, maybe some dried meat
such as beef jerky, and precious little else. And they are
always a target for enemy troops, And this is the thanks
they get for their shcokingly harsh toil, while we pamper
a bunch of elitist poultroons while they pick our country
apart with more and ever-increasing taxes and mind-
numbing regulations of our businesses and all other areas
of our lives!

Before your fit-to-be-tied Peasant has a fit of apoplexy,
I shall share the remedy to this travesty which was reported
in the article, a proposed constitutional amendment which
states:

"Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of
the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators
and/or Representatives, and Congress shall make no law that
applies to the Senators and/or Representatives that does not
apply equally to the citizens of the United States."

What this amendment, which if passed will become our
28th Amendment to the Constitution, says is that our
elected members of Congress shall pass only laws which
are applicable equally to all American citizens; that is,
there cannot be one rule for Congressional members and
another for the citizens. Neither group shall be treated
better than the other by the law. Regarding the matter of
pensions, Congress would not be able to vote themselves
a pension greater in payout nor in exchange for less time
of service than military personnel, nor vice versa (of
course, there's very little danger of Congress doing the
latter!).

Your outraged Peasant cannot say anything more about
this inequality except that we citizens should hammer this
point home to our representatives and senators right away!
In the meantime, visit my Facebook page to see this article
and the picture of the disfigured marine. Just click the Face-
book badge on the right side of the screen. Those of you, my
grand readers, who are on Facebook, please share this piece
on your pages and encourage family and friends on Facebook
to do the same. We MUST get this story out so that we can
get as many people to take action as possible! It's about time
that Congress joins us in the Real World, and to show some
regard and respect for our family members, friends, and
neighbors in uniform. For all that they do for us, we can
do no less; how a nation treats its veterans says a lot about
the nation.


MEM

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Warren Rudman, R.I.P.

Our country lost a tremendous fiscal warrior on the nineteenth
of November, a man who served two terms in the United States
Senate with distinction and was a founding co-chairman of The
Concord Coalition, a fiscal responsibility advocacy group which
your faithful Peasant supports; former U.S. Senator Warren 
Rudman died at 82. Rudman was a member of the Senate from
1981 until 1993, having had no experience in elective politics.

The retired Republican senator was praised by many government
officials from both the Democrat and Republican parties over the
years he represented New Hampshire in the Senate for his
honesty, integrity, courage, and hard work in standing up for the
country's best interests. Vice President Joe Biden praised Rudman
for his respect for the American people and his faith in their judge-
ment stating "He was forthright, he was frugal and he was fair."
Biden's praise for a member of the GOP is something more rare 
than snow in July, so this praise commands attention.

Peter G. Peterson, a former U.S. Commerce Secretary and a fellow
co-founder of the Concord Coalition, remembered Rudman thus:
"He knew the facts of our budget reality and spoke of them with
a clarity and a passion. But what struck me was how much he
really cared. He wasn't just saying the words; he meant them." 
With the late Sen. Paul Tsongas (D-MA), these three men 
co-founded Concord twenty years ago.

Rudman was also masterful on other issues of importance to the
nation; in 2001, eight years after his retirement from the Senate,
he co-authored a report on national security with another former
U.S. Senator, Democrat Gary Hart, which forewarned that a
major terrorist attack on the United States within 25 years of
the report's issuance was likely. At the time of its release, no
one seemed to take the report's findings seriously, but as things
turned out we didn't have to wait 25 years for the worst to
happen --- it came that very year on September 11. Rudman
himself had military experience; he was a Marine Corps
officer. This experience helped him to land a seat on the
Defense Appropriations subcommittee. While making sure
that our military people got the equipment and other items
they needed, Rudman drew the line on wasteful spending in
making sure that the Defense budget would reflect his
standards of fiscal responsibility and accountability.

In the 1980s Rudman helped craft the Gramm-Rudman-
Hollings Act, which was designed to end federal deficits
by 1991 and mandated automatic spending cuts if annual
deficit targets were not met. A bold plan, to be sure.
However, Congress kept rolling back the timetable
every year, and in 1991 the budget that was supposed to be
balanced carried the second-highest deficit in U.S. history.
Instances such as this caused this dedicated, principled,
tough and gritty ex-marine to exit the Senate after twelve
years, announcing the next year that he would not seek
another term. A moderate on the whole, Rudman was not
at all squishy on any issues, especially fiscal issues;
contrast that to the "moderate" Republican senators of
the present, i.e. Sen. Olympia Snowe, the soon-to-retire
senator from Maine. If they are not squishy, then they are
foursquare on the left like Snowe had been. Rudman was
a moderate GOP sort whom conservatives could respect,
admire, and confidently work with. Whenever you hear
or read the laments from lamestream media pundits about
the dwindling ranks of GOP moderates, you can agree with
these apologists for liberals-in-true-moderates'-clothing
on a TRUE moderate: U.S. Senator Warren Rudman.
May he repose in the most perfect peace.


MEM