Saturday, December 28, 2013

Happy New Year to All!

To my terrific and tremendous readers,
Your faithful and grateful Peasant wishes
all of you a Happy, Prosperous, Abundant,
Joyful, and Blessed New Year! May 2014
be the best and brightest year ever! Let us
love one another, love our country, and
reclaim another piece of our government
by taking back the Senate in the fall!

See you next year!


MEM

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Merry Christmas to One and All!

Your favorite Peasant wishes you, my fabulous readers,
a bright, beautiful, blessed, joyful, and very Merry
Christmas! May you all be together with your loved
ones and exchange lots of hugging and kissing, presents
and joy on this special day.

You all are my gift, my grand readers and loyal friends!
You are the reason that I publish this blog, and why I
persevere. Your friendship, your encouragement, and
your support mean more to me than I can ever say with
mere words! To have confidence in yourself and your
efforts are important, no question; to have people who
believe in you stand with you makes the meek mighty,
the small large, the weak strong --- and the strong
victorious. These past four years we have spent together
have been wonderful beyond measure; the coming new
year and those to follow shall be even better!

So let us toast one another at Christmas and together savor
our triumphs, while we prepare ourselves for even bigger
victories in the time to come! Love and joy be with you
all!


MEM

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Lou Reed, R.I.P.

A music legend who was an icon, musically, artistically,
and politically, a man with fiercely loyal fans on both
sides of the Iron Curtain during the Cold War, and an
singer, songwriter and musician with a deadpan voice
and poetic lyrics that captivated people around the world,
Lou Reed, passed away in mid-autumn at the age of 71.
Reed was the artistic driving force behind The Velvet
Underground, a band which he helped form in the
late 1960s which although was not a commercial success,
was in fact the catalyst for Reed and his unique brand
of music. It was said by English composer and musician
Brian Eno that although The Velvet Underground's
debut album generated only 30,000 copies sold
"everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies
started a band". Well, that may or may not have been
accurate, but their songs certainly caught the attention
and fueled the imagination of many aspiring musicians
in the day.

Leaving the group to go out on his own, Reed launched
his solo career in 1972. The following year Reed had his
first hit single "Walk on the Wild Side", a particular
favorite "70s rock song of your favorite Peasant's. Oh,
yes, I too enjoyed Lou Reed's songs, among them were
such great tunes such as "Sally Can't Dance No More" and
"Dirty Boulevard". Reed wrote songs that covered many
topics that some of his contemporaries were not comfortable
in bringing up; these included sexuality (Reed was bisexual,
and when in his teens was committed to a mental hospital
where he received electroshock treatment to "cure" him of
his bisexuality), drugs, the paranoia of urban night life,
domestic abuse, and the sense of inescapable despair that
accompanies such troublesome things.

His songs sparked a feeling of independence, adventure,
and a quiet sort of rebellion in Eastern Europe during some
of the most tense years of the Cold War. Reed himself was not
political in the sense of party politics and ideological preference,
but rather in supporting the marginalized in society, giving
them a spotlight and a voice in his songs without advocating
any particular remedy for their difficulties but always portraying
them and their plight sympathetically, always working to draw
attention to these people to make sure that their situations
were acknowledged and their stories heard. He simply wanted
people to care.

Lou Reed was truly in a class by himself. May he rest in peace.


MEM


Thursday, December 12, 2013

Nelson Mandela, R.I.P.

A remarkable man has left this world. This man,
an activist who achieved a stunning transformation
of his country after first achieving a stunning
transformation of himself, becoming the head of
his country's government and limiting his time
in that position to a short term when he could have
easily proclaimed himself leader for life, a man
who was imprisoned in a hellish prison but
forgave his persecutors and captors in what would
be his first step in his aforementioned transformations
of self and nation, truly left his land, his countrymen,
and this world all better places than they were when
he first appeared in them, was Nelson Mandela ---
who went from being a violent left-wing revolutionary
to a champion of freedom, peace, justice, and democratic
values.

Born in South Africa, a nation riven with racial politics
and resultant demarcations and restraints, the latter
imposed on those who were not white, Mandela
involved himself in the struggle to gain civil rights
for blacks like himself and later Asians and other
non-white citizens of that country. He first thought
that the best way to achieve his goal was to join
with Marxist revolutionaries, and wage violent
confrontations with the Afrikaner government and
its supporters. The turning point for both Mandela
and South Africa was his more than a quarter century
imprisonment for his anti-apartheid activities, in
which he developed friendly relations with his captors,
even learning the Afrikaner language (the version of
Dutch spoken by many white South Africans; the nation
was founded by Dutch and British settlers) so that he
could have a better dialogue with them and understand
them better.

After his lengthy incarceration, Mandela rejected the
Marxist notions that he once embraced, eschewing the
ways of Cuban communist dictator Fidel Castro and
Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe, the latter having
instituted the forcible seizure of white farmer's lands
and killing many of them in the process in addition to
establishing a socialist state which begot a stagnant
economy, ruining the lives of all citizens of that woebetide
nation regardless of color. Mandela replaced these ideals
with those of his new heroes, Martin Luther King Jr. and
Mahatma Ghandi (who, by the way, began his activism
in South Africa, where he was a lawyer), practicing and
advocating nonviolence, understanding and forgiveness.

Your faithful Peasant thought at the time of Mandela's
achieving election to South Africa's highest office that
South Africa would be another all too familiar story of
an African nation having a bloody episode resulting in
the purging of all political opposition mixed with racial
cleansing. I have never been so delighted and grateful to
be proven wrong.

Others have, over the years, have made similar mistaken
assumptions about Mandela, and even now are reading
the man wrong. Many castigate him for what he was,
rather than seeing him for what he became. So many
see him where he was, not where he now is. And that
is a tragedy. Mandela is an example of how one can
change, how one can transform oneself, one's life, and
everyone around one when one commits oneself
wholeheartedly to the task.

When Mandela ascended to the position as head of the
South African government upon leading the changeover
from apartheid to a more democratic political system
which did not place any premium on the color of a South
African's skin, he realized that our freedom is inseparably
connected to that of others. He wrote, "For to be free is
not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way
that respects and enhances the freedom of others." This
should be the standard for all heads of state in all nations,
for all political activists of all stripes, and for all people.

Rest in Peace, Nelson Mandela. You leave behind a
world grateful for having had you in it for 95 incredible
years, and giving us an incredible legacy --- the triumph
of the human spirit over the darkness of oppression, and
the spreading of the light of hope and freedom to banish
oppression.

Godspeed.


MEM

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Tom Foley, R.I.P.

Former House Speaker Tom Foley, veteran Democrat
politician and longtime member of the House of Rep-
resentatives from Spokane, Washington, passed away
recently after being weakened by a stroke. He was 84.

Foley served thirty years in Congress, culminating in
becoming the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
He lost his seat in the House in the 1994 elections,
which saw the Republicans rout the Democrats in many
races across the country, including gaining a majority in
the House for the first time since 1952. It is a very un-
common happenstance to see a House Speaker voted out
of office; such was the magnitude of the GOP victory
that year in which the party roared its displeasure with
Democrat President Bill Clinton and his policies.

But Foley was no radical; solidly left-of-center to be sure,
but he broke with his party on some key issues such as
gun control. In fact, Foley was an NRA member. The man
at least had some consistency in his approach to politics,
which is more that can be said for too many people in
both political parties, who demand that the people do one
thing while they themselves do another.

May the former Speaker of the House rest in peace.


MEM



Monday, November 25, 2013

Thanksgiving Greetings and Thoughts of Gratitude

My dear readers, your grateful Peasant wishes each and
every one of you and your families a beautiful, blessed,
happy Thanksgiving! I am grateful for your readership,
your friendship, and your support, without which I could
not succeed with this endeavor.

Let us all be thankful for the many blessings in our lives:
our good health; our homes, our food (especially our
Thanksgiving turkeys and trimmings!); our jobs (those of us
that have them; the prospects for new employment for those
who lost their jobs in the Obama Economy are slim); our
families and friends; our pets; being able to enjoy yet
another bright, rosy sunrise and yet another beautiful,
soothing sunset; to be able to hug our family members and
tell them how much we love them; to go for walks or rides
in the country; to watch and hear little children playing
in a nearby yard or playground, hearing their joyful
laughter; to putter in our gardens, our kitchens, our
hobby rooms, our dens, our workshops and our garages;
to worship at our houses of worship, be it to attend a
service or just to pray on our own, on our knees, to He
who has given us these many blessings; to volunteer
our time and labor to these places as well as to our schools,
charities, and neighborhood efforts such as street cleanups,
or to simply help a neighbor who is in a tough spot and in
need of repairs to his home, food to feed his family, pay
their mortgage or rent, or to babysit their children when
they can't afford to hire someone to do the job; to work
on the campaigns of office seekers whom we support,
and to vote for them on election day; to celebrate our
country's birthday with Fourth of July picnics, parties,
brass bands, and fireworks.

And most of all, that we are citizens of what is the most
remarkable, prosperous, just, and free nation among nations;
the greatest guarantor of individual liberty and autonomy;
founded by an outnumbered, outfunded, ill-equipped yet
proud, bold, and resolute populace of oppressed colonists
of what was then the world's biggest superpower, who
waged a long and bloody but victorious war against all odds
to give birth to her upon a bed of devastation and carnage;
the United States of America. Let us be forever grateful for
these colonists' sacrifice, and for the inheritance we have
received from them, and to defend our inheritance from
those in the present who seek to take it away.


MEM


Thursday, November 21, 2013

Thoughts on the Death of JFK

My dear readers, the 22nd day of this month is
the 50th anniversary of a most tragic occurrence;
the most recent assassination of an American
president. John F. Kennedy, our president at
that point in time, was shot dead while riding in
an open convertible through Dallas, Texas, when
he was visiting there to firm up support for what
would have been his reelection campaign in the
following year.

Much has been said about the terrible event in
the following years; some say that a lone gunman
committed the atrocity, others say that he was
part of a vast conspiracy to bring Kennedy and
his presidency to a quick and bloody end, still
others say that the man thought to be the gunman
did not kill President Kennedy but rather was a
chosen scapegoat to cover up who really did the
ghastly deed and anyone else who might have been
behind the plot. Your loyal Peasant has heard more
conspiracy theories concerning the Kennedy
assassination than I can keep up with, and these
certainly vastly outnumber those which I have
run across concerning any other event in our
country's history, therefore I shall neither pick out
the theory or thories that may seem to make the
most sense from the standpoint of likelihood of
happening nor add any theory of my own (by the
by, I haven't got any theory to add in any event).
All I wish to say, regarding this dark anniversary,
is that this was the fourth of four assassinations
of presidents of the United States, and that I am
grateful that there hasn't been any more since.
May there never again be another one, either!
One of the principles which our great and wonder-
ful country was founded on is the preference for,
and the moral superiority of, the ballot over the
bullet for making political change. May all of
our elected and appointed officials be kept safe
from those who would eschew the former for
the latter.

For that is how a free and civil society functions.


MEM

Thursday, November 14, 2013

The Government Shutdown Ends, and the Republican Senate Leadership Shuts Out the People

The impasse over whether or not to raise the debt limit
has ended, and now what remains is the aftermath. One
of the points of contention had been what to do with
the Affordable Care Act, a/k/a Obamacare; to fund or
to defund? Coming into the deadline to pass a budget
and to raise the debt limit this has been a source of
hostility and rancor, as well as stubbornness and
pettiness.

Congressional Republicans were united, or at least
seemed to be, behind eliminating Obamacare; the
House had drafted and passed legislation to do just
that, only to see the measure voted down by the
Senate, sparing the bill the president's veto. But
here, the GOP in both chambers could have gotten
President Obama to at the very least concede some
ground regarding his health care plan which would
have placed one-sixth of the nation's economy under
government auspices. First, the Republicans told
Obama that they would be willing to raise the debt
limit and allow Obama's spending measures in the
budget to stand, provided that Obamacare would not
see implementation. Obama would have none of it.
Second, the Republicans changed their stance on
Obamacare to defund it, that is, letting the
program sink or swim with what it had been given.
Obama again refused. Third, the GOP changed
its tack to delaying Obamacare for one year so
people could get a chance to see what they would be
expected to buy for health insurance and get them-
selves financially prepared to pay the horrendously
costly premiums (remember when Obama told us
that his health plan would save us money? And
that if we already have health insurance that we
are happy with we could keep it? Yet more mule
fritters from the Liar-in-Chief!). Obama's response?
Nothing doing.

And all the while, Obama made sure to make the
government shutdown as painful as possible for as
many people as possible, and tried his damndest to
get people to believe that the Republicans were entirely
to blame. Remember what happened to the WWII
veterans who came to visit their memorial? That
was but one of many shocking examples of Obama's
arrogant, petty, vindictive behavior, showing him
as less of a president and more of a dictator.

But in the final version of the budget, the Republicans,
led by House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority
Leader Mitch McConnell, helped pass a budget that
does nothing --- NOTHING --- to address the most
serious fiscal problems facing our nation and does
nothing to repeal, defund, or delay Obamacare; the only
thing that the Republican jellyfish gained on the latter
was income verification measures to verify eligibility
for Obamacare subsidies to assist with the premium
payments. Crumbs off the table instead of a slice of
roast beef! The Republicans did what they all too often
do when in a fight; they wimp out and turn tail. But
there's more, and it ain't pretty.

Sen. McConnell was offered a sweetener by President
Obama: a $2.9 billion payment to build a dam in his
home state of Kentucky if he would accept Obamacare
as is and pipe down. Moderate-liberal Sen. Lamar
Alexander (R-TN) wrote the amendment into the bill
to seal the deal. Meanwhile, Kentuckians and their
families will see their health insurance premiums rise
and their number of available providers dwindle. No
relief for them, nor for anyone else in the other
forty-nine. Too bad, so sad. The elitists score big,
while us peasants get shut out. And their pals in
the pharmaceutical industry will reap big gains from
this foul bargain; $35 billion in profits. No wonder
so many Big Pharma corporate bigwigs were gung ho
for Obamacare! No defunding, no delays. And McConnell
gets his "Kentucky Kickback", and further invitations
to Washington cocktail parties as his thirty pieces of
silver. This is crony capitalism at its worst!

Then the bill was sent back to Boehner and the House.
In that chamber, the Republicans were split along
ideological lines, with 86 representatives voting for
this wholesale sellout and 144 stout souls sticking to
their principles and the people who sent them there
to rein in a runaway budget and bring down the mon-
strosity that is Obamacare.

Again, your enraged Peasant wishes to remind you, my
grand readers, that this sort of behavior by the GOP is
the reason why I left the party and have been a conser-
vative independent ever since. I saw this atrociousness
on other issues back during the second Bush admini-
stration, the selling out of the party's conservative core
and core supporters like myself, just to line some pockets
and get ingratiated with the D.C. "swells" as well as with
Wall Street and some big corporate interests, and it made
me sick to my stomach. And I know that this latest
fiasco from Washington is making you folks reach for the
barf bags and the Kaopectate as well. So here's the cure
for what ails us: starting with next year's elections, we
get rid of the spineless, the schemers, the sellouts, and
the hoity-toities who have gotten fat on the clubby
surroundings there in Washington, forgetting who sent
them there and the reasons why! We shall "primary"
these jerks by sending true conservatives with titanium
spines, crystal clear minds, and impeccable integrity.
We won't forget those on the other side of the aisle
either! We shall send candidates of this very caliber to
challenge and defeat them come the general election.
We'll strengthen the House and take the Senate, sending
the country clubbers packing along with the far-out,
far left-wing Democrats! And in 2016, we'll field a
true conservative --- not a "Beltway conservative" ---
to be the Republican presidential nominee, and field
a like-minded running mate for him/her. No more
McCains and Romneys! Only REAL conservatives
need apply! We need, and we must, nominate and
elect people who will fight for us and not tire quickly
of the battle, who will not retreat, who will never
surrender. Our country is in dire need of such leaders,
therefore our duty is clear. We can not depend on
many of those now in Congress; we must now depend
on ourselves.

And time is of the essence.


MEM







Thursday, November 7, 2013

Honoring Our Brave Veterans

Friends, Veteran's Day is close at hand.
Your loyal Peasant has shared many thoughts
and observations of the day and those for whom
this day was established; but keep this one, basic
thought in mind on this Veteran's Day and every day:
If you enjoy your freedom, thank a vet. Because that
vet bought you your freedom at a frighteningly steep
price! Repaying our vets is so very easy, though;
just walking up to one of our warriors of any present
or past war, shaking thier hand and saying "Thank you
for your service and scarifice" makes their day!

Want to do more? Volunteer at a VA hospital or a
vet's home. If you drive, offer a ride to a vet to take
him or her to their doctor for their appointment, or
to take them shopping for groceries or whatever
else they may need. Invite them to participate in
your community's parades on Veteran's Day,
also Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, or just
a parade solely to honor them at any time at all!
Are you a history buff? Fancy yourself a historian?
Offer to record the stories, the memories, the thoughts
of a veteran and his or her service. Know this,
however, that many of our vets are rather reticent
about their wartime exploits for varying reasons,
but you'll find more than a few who will be all too
happy to share tales of their experiences with anyone
who has an appreciation of them and their service.
They would feel so honored, and very touched that
someone cares so much for and about them!

You can certainly come up with more ideas like these
to act upon. And you will make Veteran's Day, and
every day, so much more meaningful for the vets that
you help --- and for you as well.


MEM

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Rep. Alan Grayson is Not Fit to Serve in Congress!

An especially vitriolic denizen of the far Left has
recently spewed his especially toxic venom against
the Tea Party recently. How fitting that this monster
has unleashed his most horrible and terrible attack
on those of us who only want our government to
readhere to the Constitution in its governance, to
limit itself in scope and power, and to be account-
able to We the People instead of forcing us to be
subservient to it --- just as the founding fathers
desired and made clear in drafting our Constitu-
tion --- just before Halloween.

U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) had sent out a
poisonously hateful e-letter likening the Tea Party
to the Ku Klux Klan, complete with a photo of a
KKK cross burning with two Klanscreeps in full
white regalia, and the burning cross presented as
the letter "T" in "Tea Party" spelled out next to the
cross. Beneath the picture is a caption saying
"Now you know what the "T" stands for".

Now, Grayson has a reputation for saying outrageous
things about Republicans, especially conservative
Republicans, their legislation, and their opposition
to Democrats' legislation that range from simply
intemperate to forest fire-raging hateful. This
individual --- I hesitate to refer to him as a man
--- has been in and out of Congress and elected
political offices of other sorts largely because of
his offensive behavior and statements. Since his
being returned to the House by virtue of running
for a seat from a different district, Grayson has
gone on the warpath against all whom he politic-
ally disagrees with, reaching new lows in the
process. This e-letter that he sent out, your out-
raged Peasant does not know whether it went
out to his constituents in his district or to
supporters near and far for fundraising purposes,
also includes some transcripted conversation
with fellow left-wing hatemonger Al Sharpton
when Grayson was on Sharpton's MSNBC
show earlier this month. The exchange between
these two moral microbes compliments the
rotten photo all too well, is all that your angered
Peasant will say about that!

Meanwhile, Tea Party activists, especially black
conservatives in the movement, are beyond offended.
They are way past angry. They want to run this
bully out of Congress! Lloyd Marcus, a friend of
your faithful Peasant and one such black conservative
in the Tea Party movement, said in an e-letter sent
out to those on the Conservative Campaign Committee
members list, "As a black conservative who has been
a headliner at hundreds of Tea Party rallies, and
penned the "American Tea Party Anthem", I take
special offense over the hateful words and conduct
of Congressman Grayson .... " The e-letter went on
to show the conversation Grayson and Sharpton
had.

Marcus continued, "Enough is enough! In the
'American Tea Party Anthem' I wrote this line:
'So when they call you a racist, because you
disagree, it's just another one of their dirty tricks
to silence you and me." And Congressman Grayson
is trying to silence us ... ".

Grayson, like so many, too many in the Democrat
Party, knows nothing about his party's shameful history
of keeping black people down; enslaving them, keeping
them from voting and running for office, consigning them
to separate but very unequal accommodations, jobs, and
quality of life in our country. As we know, my dear readers,
the Democrats had not just tolerated slavery and these other
injustices done to blacks but had instituted them. It was
the Republican Party, which was founded in the 1850s,
which did away with these wrongs starting with Abraham
Lincoln's presidency and continuing through a savage
civil war and subsequent Republican administrations.
Republican Dwight Eisenhower, while serving as
president, ordered the desegregation of the school in
Little Rock, Arkansas, where Democrat Governor
Orval Faubus refused to obey a federal order to let
nine black students attend class. Republican Ronald
Reagan appointed Clarence M. Pendleton to be the
first black American Chairman of the U.S. Commission
on Civil Rights. George H.W. Bush, Reagan's Vice
President and successor in the White House, appointed
Clarence Thomas, a black judge, to the U.S. Supreme
Court. These appointments marked a turning point in
the lives of black Americans, shattering the ceiling
imposed over them in terms of what they could accom-
plish in American life and what quality their lives would,
and could, have via American law. And let us not forget,
that Republicans in both houses of Congress were integral
and indispensable to the successful effort to pass the 1964
Civil Rights Act; a greater proportion of Republicans in
the Senate than that of their Democrat colleagues voted
in favor of its passage in that chamber, with the very
conservative Republican Senator Everett Dirksen of
Illinois leading the charge. But all of this is lost on
Rep. Grayson and his fellow hatemongers of the Left,
who have much sway in the Democrat Party these days.
And these beasts are not only haters, bullies, libelers and
slanderers but hypocrites as well, for they then turn
around and accuse Republicans and we in the Tea Party
movement of doing to them precisely what they them-
selves do to us!

Someone once said that you can't fix stupid; I say that you
can't fix evil either. It's time to throw Alan Grayson out of
Congress! In next year's Congressional election we Tea Party
folk have to make giving this spiteful fiend the boot; this
we must put on our "to do" list for 2014! And we should also
work to defeat any and all other elected officials and candi-
dates for public office who engages in slinging not just mud
but manure at decent, honest, concerned Americans who
only want to return fiscal sanity and responsibility along
with respect for the Constitution and for We the People.
If we are to reclaim our country, this is essential.

This magnificent country belongs to decent, civil, temperate
people. Hysterical, unhinged, deranged losers like Alan
Grayson have no business being involved in our country's
governance.


MEM

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Halloween Greetings!

Enjoy Halloween, my fantastic readers and your families!
Enjoy Trick-or-Treating with your children, host Hallo-
ween parties, watch scary movies that are in keeping with
this unique day, and scare a liberal!

To do this last thing, try any or all of the following:

*Wear a shirt or sweatshirt with Ronald Reagan on it.

*Wear a shirt or sweatshirt with John Wayne on it.

*Plaster your car or truck with conservative candidate's/
causes' bumper stickers and drive around in a solidly
liberal neighborhood or town. Wear a Reagan mask,
too, if you have one!

*For that matter, have your child go Trick-or-Treating
while wearing a Reagan mask, if you live in such a
community! But accompany your child just in case
some lefties try some nasty tricks, i.e. setting dogs
after your little goblin.

*Put up scary Halloween images, i.e. ghosts, monsters,
vampires, zombies, and skeletons wearing or holding
signs daying "Liberals stay away!" Come to think of it,
these would be quite useful during an election season,
especially with Halloween coming so close ahead of
Election Day.

*When decorating your yard with aforementioned images,
top it off with playing recordings of speeches by Ronald
Reagan and Barry Goldwater, and recordings of editions
of "Firing Line", William F. Buckley's talk show.

But best of all, and you can do this any time of the year,
each and every day really; live your lives as the proud
Americans that you are! Wear your candidates' and causes'
pins and clothing when you go out, campaign for same,
attend your services in your houses of worship, help a
neighbor in need, tutor a child who is struggling in school,
clean up your neighborhood, donate money, food, clothing,
and furniture to the poor, do whatever thing or things which
will benefit someone. For that is what we conservatives are
about; service is at our core, and pride in our heritage and
in our great country is our mantle.

Have a Happy Halloween!


MEM

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Nobody Knows the Trouble Obamacare's Seen

By now we all learned of the huge technical malfunction
that has ensnared the Affordable Health Care Act, a/k/a
Obamacare. People trying to access the web site at least
to see what plans are offered under this most controversial
act, let alone sign up for and pay the initial premiums for
the plans chosen. In Connecticut, the opening day saw a
whopping 22 people (yes, I'm being pointedly humorous
here!) enroll for plans offered under the act's umbrella.
Washington D.C. had around 170 registrants. Your Badger
State Peasant has yet to see any numbers from my home
state, but I heard how some members of the TV media tried
accessing the site to see what there is to see and to share with
their audience, and they got an air message stating that access
was not possible at that time due to technical difficulties,
and that they should try again sometime later. And the system
did not crash because of any great rush of people chomping
at the bit to sign up for Obamacare; the trouble started before
the Grand Opening of the site! Some accounts have it that
problems manifested the night before, befuddling IT personnel.
And this is the smooth, efficiently functioning web site that
the Huckster-in-Chief promised all that would be awaiting
them and that registration would be quick and easy. Of course
he also said that under this legislation that we could keep our
doctors and our health care coverage plans if we liked them
and wanted to keep them. But there's more bugaboos in this
dubious setup:

*A study released by the Society of Actuaries predicts that
costs will soar an average of 32% by 2017 for insurers serving
the individual health care market.

*Economists, business owners, and employees all report that
Obamacare is shrinking the number of full-time jobs as they
are being replaced by lower-paying part-time jobs, which are
also mush less stable than the outgoing full-time positions had
been.

*A Quinnipiac University poll shows two-thirds of self-
identified Democrats expect the law will either hurt them or have
no benefit.

*Obama and his pals are trying to rush implementation of their
health scam lickety-split, above the protestations of the Repub-
lican members of Congress and a growing majority of the
people.

And life in America goes on.


MEM

Thursday, October 10, 2013

A Most Crowning Insult

My fabulous readers, your beloved Peasant has been
a political activist for close to forty years; there is very
little that I have not yet seen, especially that which
surprises, shocks, or befuddles me. But this week, I came
across a story that outrages me beyond words, a story
that has made me more angry, far more angry than
any other story from the political realm (or any other
realm for that matter). This story has enraged me even
more than when President Carter gave away the Panama
Canal with the help of a senate which cavalierly ignored
the protestations of the American people who were
concerned about the very possible negative impact that
the loss of control over the canal might have on our
national security, as well as that of the region where the
canal is located.

An Honor Flight group of World War II veterans which
traveled from Chicago to visit the WWII Memorial in
Washington D.C. arrived at the memorial only to find it
barricaded by order of the White House. This shameful
event came about because of the impasse over the
budget talks in Congress, and President Obama's reluctance
to negotiate in good faith with Congressional Republicans;
the GOP members compromised twice on Obamacare,
going from repealing to defunding to delaying the program's
implementation for a year, in large part due to the individual
mandate provision still being upheld for individuals and
families while exemptions made for unions and some
large corporations as well as members of Congress and
of course (doesn't it figure?) the First Family, and
systemic difficulties cropping up on the morning of the
first day of registration for Obamacare resulting in so
very, very few enrollees nationwide, with very few
people even gaining access to the registration web site
just to have a look at what the plan offers. As of today,
the technical malfunctions still abound. Now, the HHS
and the Obama Administration had three years to set up
the web site and get it ready for their October 1, 2013
debut; they STILL couldn't get it ready for the big day!
But our imperial prez wouldn't hear of it! Full speed
ahead with his health care plan or no budget deal.
The GOP would not give any more (Bravo to them
for showing some backbone!) so the deadline for
reaching an agreement came and went with no deal.
The Government shut down except for "essential"
staff and functions. Apparently, it was not deemed
"essential" by the Elitist-in-Chief to have the WWII
Monument kept open for this group of 90-year-old
soldiers, sailors, and marines to visit and to remember
their fallen friends in the biggest, bloodiest war that
ever took place, a war that was for the preservation of
freedom and democracy in the world. These members
of our "Greatest Generation" might not get another
opportunity to visit this gesture of gratitude made just
for them, as they are now aged, frail and not long for
this mortal plane. But all that be damned; there's politics
to pay attention to. And there's a chance to make the
GOP the fall guy for the budget talks stopping without
an accord. Oh yes, Obama and his minions want to con
these vets, our grand heroes, along with the rest of the
populace believe that the Republicans caused the budget
impasse and the closure of places like the WWII Memorial
with it. 

But these brave warriors from a long-concluded war showed
all just how they came to be called The Greatest Generation.
They had an ace up their sleeve. With some congressional
Republicans in the amassed crowd watching, some of the
vets stepped up to the barricades, unhooked them from one
another, and simply moved them aside! This done, they all
came forward to have a proper visit to their memorial, their
monument to their steadfast service and harrowing sacrifice.
And to give his Self-Imagined Majesty Obama a huge PR
black eye! Oh, to have been there to witness this first-hand!

And His Nibs' response? Maintaining the closure of the
national monuments like this one, along with the national
parks and forests, and all other places under the Department
of the Interior's purview, along with this arrogant provision:
that anyone trying to do what these elder patriots did at the
WWII monument be arrested for trespassing. This is what
further fuels your outraged Peasant's rage!

So what does this mean? Will any subsequent Honor Flight
vet groups planning to visit this site or any similar site that
is under the auspices of Uncle Sam have handcuffs clicked
around their bony wrists, their delicate bodies which once
got them through the battlefields of Europe and the pacific,
performing almost super-human acts in crushing the enemy
and freeing nations from the foe's iron grip, hauled up out
of wheelchairs and shoved into paddy wagons to drive them
to police stations to book and jail these heroes? Or will
these ever-brave souls face gun-wielding guards threatening
to shoot them if they don't move along quietly and go home
without seeing the monument created as a gift of love and
gratitude for their heroic actions in a dark chapter of our
country's and our world's history?

One of your favorite Peasant's favorite conservative radio
talk show hosts, Mark Levin, announced on his show that
if the government, through its guards, lays a finger on any
one of these honored veterans, that he will mobilize a throng
of 500,000 Americans to protest right there on those very
grounds. This would send a clear and unmistakable message
of dissent, rebuke, and repudiation of our grandeur-deluded,
hyper-elitist, contemptuous abomination of a president and
his political allies.

And your loyal Peasant will be in that gathering.


MEM

Monday, October 7, 2013

Tom Clancy, R.I.P.

Tom Clancy, insurance salesman-turned-bestselling author
of political thrillers which include "The Hunt for Red October",
"Clear and Presnet Danger", and "Patriot Games", passed away
at the age of 66. No cause of death was determined for the renown
conservative, who has a final novel, "Commnad Authority" set
for release in December. A movie adaptation of a recent novel,
"The Sum of All Fears", is set for a Christmas Day release date
this year.

Among Clancy's fans were President Ronald Reagan, whom the
author met. Clancy also met Presidnet Bill Clinton, of whom he
remarked was someone of great charm but possessing
"no character at all". Uber-left Hollywood took a shine to Clancy's
espionage and international political novels, promptly optioning
several stories of his featuring CIA hero Jack Ryan into hit
films starting with "October". Although not at all keen on Clancy's
brand of politics, Hollywood certainly recognized a cash cow in
Clancy.

Unlike so many books which come under the international political/
espionage genre, Clancy's novels presented our country's real-life
enemies, i.e. the Soviets and the radical Islamists rather than showing
our military or our government as the villains. Tom Clancy was an
unapologetic, patriotic American who loved his country and refused
to embrace any politically correct, revisionist claptrap in his books,
in contrast to what Hollywood is enamored with and romanticizes
in too many other movies. This man wrote for the like-minded,
make no mistake! His death comes on the heels of another author of
similar adventure novels with the same perspective, Vince Flynn.
Although not quite as well known as Clancy, Flynn showed his
unabashed conservatism in his books as had Clancy.

Our country has lost a fine storyteller who presented America
in an honest light in each of his novels. Clancy wrote for Americans
who saw our our country as the champion of freedom in our world
and not its foe. He will be greatly missed. Rest well, Mr. Clancy;
your work is your testament.


MEM


Thursday, October 3, 2013

An Appalling Absence of Leadership

Well, it appears that the Free World has a new leader.
No, Barack Obama has not stepped down as our
president (darn it!), but he has been replaced, or so
it seems, as the Leader of the Free World --- by, of
all people, Russian President Vladimir Putin. You
know, the fellow who was the KGB chief during
Russia's Soviet days who next jumped into Russian
politics and climbed to the pinnacle of Russia's
government, establishing a government with some
sinister overtones and leaving one to wonder whether
or not Russia will come under totalitarianism again,
albeit a different version than the communist regime
which oppressed this nation for 74 years in the
previous century.

Let your faithful Peasant explain. Obama has been
searching for a way for us to intervene in Syria,
where their dictator Bashar Assad had been waging
an especially bloody civil war. He has seen fit to
attack the opposing forces and even innocent civil-
ians with chemical weapons, causing the most painful,
horrible deaths. Women and children were not exempt;
they died in ghastly fashion as well. But the other side is
backed by Al-Qaeda, the folks who brought us 9-11
over a decade ago. As terrible as things have become
for the people of that war-torn country, the U.S. has
nothing to gain and lots to lose by getting militarily
involved. But Obama wanted to play knight-in-
shining-armor and ride to the rescue, so he could
show the world (and his detractors at home) that his
foreign policy is robust, forceful, and decisive;
not weak, wimpy, and muddled, as many observers
at home and abroad have concluded.

However, Putin and Russia have an interest in Syria
themselves; they have a military base there, serving
not only their military objectives but their political
objectives as well. While Obama has babbled about
a "red line in the sand" concerning getting Syria to
turn over their remaining chemical weapons to the
international community lest they face sanctions and
a military strike, Putin set his diplomats to work in
helping the Assad regime to turn over said chemical
weapons and head off any attack by U.S. forces.
And Obama could not muster any allies to back him
up in making a military strike to punish Assad for
killing hundreds of his people with the chemical
weaponry. So, the resulting equation was formed:
no international cooperation for the U.S. plus
Russia blocking any attempts to levy sannctions
against Syria equals Obama being made to look like
a fool. His subsequent move? Ask Congress for a
war authorization to strike Syria. This would be a
sort of a CYA move if Congress gave this permission,
and a handy out in the form of blaming the Republicans
if this permission were denied. And Obama is
exposed as a poor leader who couldn't make a tough
decision, and all too eager to take any way out to
avoid responsibility. The deadlines and timetables
Obama had set for Syria to comply with the demand
to turn over their chemical arsenal? Disappeared in
a puff of smoke. Putin took advantage of Obama's
weakness and let it be known that he would only
allow rules for conduct that would not threaten
Assad's rule in Syria, including demands that the
U.S. promise not to attack Syria or help the rebels.
Obama is now in the subordinate position to Putin,
and all because of a community organizer finding
himself in over his head in the world of international
politics. Putin successfully backs a bloody tyrant
who thinks nothing of slaughtering his own people
in the most hideous way that he can, orders the U.S.
about like a naughty child in need of disciplinning,
and the rest of the world sees all this and wonders
"What the hell happened here? What did we just see?"

What the world saw was the abdication of leadership
by the lone military and political superpower on Earth,
committed by a naif who never should have been
elevated to the highest position of power in its
government, a position far beyond his abilities and
competency. And the world, especially the Middle
East part, is a lot less secure as a result. And Putin
makes sport of the U.S., ridiculing our country
and our president to anyone who will listen, even
writing a guest editorial piece in the New York
Times to this effect!

Ah, hope and change abroad.


MEM



Thursday, September 26, 2013

Two Train Wrecks in One

Your bemused Peasant reported a few weeks ago
that U.S. Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) admitted that
the implementation of the Affordable Care Act,
a/k/a Obamacare, will be a "train wreck" for all
the inherent complications in setting it up, along
with some additional snags; this from a senator,
by the way, who was one of the principal archi-
tects of this hellacious legislation. It's par for the
course, as the act itself is a train wreck as well.

As the deadlines approach for getting us all enrolled
in the program, the consequences of this mess are
now becoming manifestly apparent. And a burgeon-
ing movement has begun to defund or repeal outright
the act. What is most astonishing, though, is that
there are some Democrats joining the chorus!
Former DNC chieftain Howard Dean, a physician
by trade and a long-time supporter of government-
provided health care no less, has called for repeal.
35 House Democrats voted with Republicans to
delay the "individual mandate" part of the plan
for a whole year. President Obama himself has
unilaterally waived the Employer Mandate until
after next year's elections, as the forecasted loss
of jobs, the downgrading of many full-time jobs
(30 hours or more) to part-time status (29 hours
or less), the cost to businesses, and the public
outrage prompted Obama's decision, as he does
not want to risk not only failing to regain the
House from the GOP but losing the Senate to
them as well. The president wants to bring this
mandate back after the election when he thinks it
will be safe from an electoral standpoint for his
party.

Among the complications in Obamacare:

*Congress repealed the IRS 1099 reporting mandate
in 2011, after it was shown to be a significant finan-
cial burden on small businesses.
*$500 billion in cuts to Medicare Advantage which
were to go into effect last year were put off until this
year, so as to stave off electoral anger that may have
prevented Obama from winning a second term.
*The CLASS Act insurance provisions were repealed
as part of the "fiscal cliff" talks (remember them?)
when both sides agreed that it was, in essence, a
"ponzi scheme" and "unworkable".

Obama also delayed anti-fraud and income verification
measures until 2015, so as to increase participation in
the health care exchanges. But the prez also added a
provision that would exempt Congress and their staff
from participation; they will continue to receive the
health care plan that the taxpayers have paid at least
75% of every year! Furthermore, he has assured his
union supporters that they too will not lose their
fantastically generous health care coverage as they
too will be exempted from Obamacare! Question:
if the Affordable Care Act is such a great health
care panacea for the American people, if it is the
health insurance equivalent to a wonder drug, if
it is the greatest thing to come along since ice cream
(or at least penicillin), then why are Congress, labor
unions, and other chums of Obama's all so anxious
to avoid being ushered into registration for the
plan along with us peasants? And of course the
First Family will never have their names on the
plan's rolls!

Thirty states, including your loyal Peasant's home
state of Wisconsin, have refused to set up any
exchanges, stating that if this nightmarish program
is to go into effect, that the federal government could
jolly well set them up itself. Bravo to my state's
courageous governor, Scott Walker for taking this
tack! And Obama and the HHS have sent loads of
money to Democrat constituency groups, such as
the NAACP, the AFL-CIO, and a few major unions
including the Service Employees International Union
(SEIU) to hire, train, and send out "navigators" to
go out into targeted communities, mostly economic-
ally hurting ones, to sign people up for the exchanges
and ultimately the program. But the training has been
so hurried so as to be slapdash, and many of the
"navigators" themselves don't know much more about
the program and how to get enrolled for it than the
people they are supposed to bring on board! Keep in
mind, my dear readers, that these same unions and
their umbrella outfit the AFL-CIO don't want to, on
the one hand, be required to join the rest of us in
Obamacare, but they are all too happy to take money
from Washington, OUR money, to sign us up for it!
Hypocrisy and elitism are the order of the day!

Meanwhile opposition to Obamacare is growing, as
tracked and measured in opinion polls throughout
the country, and the Democrats are hard-pressed to
assure the public that this sorry program is not the
horror that it in reality is, lying like they never have
before. But the implementation of this atrocity is
coming closer, and will be upon us, unless the
Republicans can muster the guts and the votes to
stop it --- cold. Your faithful Peasant has written
and petitioned both Republicans and Democrats in
Congress to do just that; I know that many of you,
my indefatigable readers have done likewise,
and that is why the push to ram this plan down our
throats has been stymied for the time being. Let's
keep up the pressure until this awful thing has been
turned back once and for all!


MEM

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Gratitude for Four Great Years!

Your joyously grateful Peasant thanks you,
my fantastic, fabulous, loyal readers, for
four great, wonderful years together! The
day after tomorrow is September 23, the
anniversary of the establishment of this
blog. That is the date when we met and
started to become acquainted with each
other, forming a friendship based on our
desire to preserve our great country and
the ideas and principles upon which it was
founded. And, of course, to engage in a
studious overview of the political and
economic news of the day with the aim
of learning the whys and wherefors of
these stories and identifying those who
have acted for the good of We the People
and those who have acted for the selfish
schemes of themselves and their chums,
politicians and others alike.

We have both praised and criticized those
in our ongoing conservative movement;
the former to commend those who exhibited
their committment to constitutional, limited
government and the preservation of our
liberty and our property, the latter when
some in our ranks have shown some squish-
iness rather than firmness in same, and
certianly when some have just plain sold
out to gain favor from our political enemies,
as well as when some have not practiced
our conservative principles in not just
governance but in their private lives
(former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford
for one!).

We also have praised those uncommon few
from our opposition for their actions which
have proved beneficial to our society by
going against their side's "conventional
wisdom" and general way of doing things;
recently your appreciative Peasant wrote
a tribute of high praise for the late liberal
journalist Jack Germond, who had shown this
inclination and willingness to do precisely this.
I even had some complimentary things to say
about U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, who was a
shameless RINO who eventually left the GOP
to return to the Democrats whom he began his
political career with. The late senator did, and
your grateful Peasant shall indeed always be
grateful, for his forceful defense of Clarence
Thomas when Thomas came under fire from
radical feminists and their point woman Anita
Hill when Thomas was a nominee for a seat
on the U.S. Supreme Court. The shameless
and vile attempt to besmirch Thomas and his
reputation was quashed largely due to Specter's
unexpected and unequivocal words of support
for the man who would go on to be confirmed
for that very seat as a result.

In the coming year, and all subsequent years, we
shall continue to gather here to critically examine
the stories from the political battlefield, praising
the heroes and sticking the prongs of truth into
the backsides of the villains in exposure of their
self-serving actions --- and having a ball doing so!
God bless you all, my loyal readers! And God bless
America!


MEM

Thursday, September 19, 2013

An Announcement of Technical Difficulties

My grand and wonderful readers, your frustrated
Peasant has had some technical difficulties with
the website on which I post this blog for your
enjoyment. Over the course of this summer I
have had some entire days where I could not
post anything because I could not get the cursor
to appear in the text box, thus preventing me from
typing text. At first this had occurred about every
other day, then it began occurring more frequently;
this week and last I had only two days each week
where this problem had not come up.

At first I thought it was because of the computers
I had been using, but as I use the public access
computers in two local libraries I had encountered
the same problem at both. Then I thought it was
because of abnormally heavy traffic, or usage, of
the internet, with many people being online at the
same time. This can affect one's ability to acess
anything on the 'net, as I learned long ago.

Now, I think that this is something that Google,
the company which purchased Blogger and its
blogging web site a few years ago, can and should
do something about. Toward that end, your concerned
Peasant had e-mailed them to let them know of this
problem and asked them to look into and ultimately
solve it --- this was never done from what I can tell.

Well, I shall discuss this matter in more detail with
you, my wonderful readers, perhaps as soon as next
week. In the meantime, I shall post whenever I can,
it will not always be on a Thursday as I have been
doing; but post I shall, whenver the technical bugaboo
does not crop up to wreak more havoc. In the meantime,
your grateful Peasant thanks you all for your patience
and understanding. By the by, the 23rd of this month
will be our fourth anniversary of getting together at
this blog to examine the political and economic news,
identifying the heroes and villains in the stories,
praising the former and castigating the latter while
offering solutions to the challenges we face whenever
we are able! Thank you, my beautiful readers, for
a fantastic four years together! May we have many
more to enjoy!


MEM

Monday, September 16, 2013

Orwellian-speak Simplified

National columnist Charles Krauthammer wrote a splendid
piece recently detailing the language used by the Obama
Administration and the State Department in regard to certain
events which transpired at home and abroad. What lengths this
cabal won't go to in order to whitewash tragedies which
happened to us, especially those which Team Obama have
wrought with their lackadaisical inaction or grossly
inept action.

Krauthammer shared the following examples of Obama-speak:
Jen Psalki, State Department spokeswoman, stated that the 
evacuation of our embassy in Yemen was not an evacuation but
"a reduction in staff". That alleged staff reduction got the staff
in the reduction out of dodge and back home mighty fast!
Janet Napolitano, outgoing head of Homeland Security,
told us that terror attacks are merely "man-caused disasters".
Nothing to worry about, folks, go on about your business.
Just someone having carelessly caused a disaster, no big deal.

Nidal Hasan, the traitor who shot 13 American soldiers dead
and wounded many others at Fort Hood boasted to a military
court that he killed the soldiers he killed in the name of jihad;
no matter, the government has simply labeled the whole affair
as "workplace violence". Just a soldier having a little too much
pressure to cope with? Ha!

And then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrogantly declaring
before Congress "What difference does it make?" regarding the
four dead Americans killed at our embassy in Libya, murdered
by Al-Qaeda -backed thugs in what the administration tried to
pass off as a demostration gone awry. The difference, Hill, is ---
as Krauthammer explains in his piece --- first, truth is a virtue.
Second, if you keep lying to the American people, they'll question
everything that you say from this point forward. Your leery Peasant
would pull out a pocket calculator to check Clinton's statement if
she announced that two plus two made four! And third, leading the
country through a long struggle requires both honesty and clarity.
All the Obama folks do is lie and obfuscate to cover their
backsides.

Also, President Obama cannot bring himself, according to
Krauthammer, to utter or allow any of his administration to utter
the word "Islamist". Apparently the man won't acknowledge just
who our biggest enemy in the world at this point in time is. And
he forbids his administration to do so as well. All this points to
what Krauthammer calls the world's first lexicological war, a war
in which one parries and thrusts with linguistic tricks and other
such obfuscative maneuvers. Meanwhile, as he treats the real
enemy with kid gloves, Obama persecutes Tea Party activists and
others who dissent regarding his policies by having the NSA spy
on them, snooping on ther telephone and e-mail conversations,
as well as having the IRS harrass then with endless audits.

Krauthammer concludes by stating that "This isn't about language.
It's about leadership. The wordplay is merely cover for uncertain
policy embedded in confusion and ambivalence ..." Your faithful
Peasant couldn't put it better. This is what happens when a country's
leaders have contempt and disdain for the country's people and its
laws. George Orwell warned the world about such things in his
books, among which were "Animal Farm" and "1984". 

Read them sometime, my grand readers, and see the eerie parallels.
1984 came late, but it has indeed arrived.


MEM



Thursday, September 12, 2013

Jack Germond, R.I.P.

A journalist whose work your appreciative Peasant
has long enjoyed, even though he was a liberal,
Jack Germond, passed away in August after a long
spell of poor health at the age of 85.

Germond was a reporter, columnist, and commentator
in print and on television, plying his trade for nearly
50 years, nearly half of those years with the Baltimore
Sun. He worked in the Sun's Washington bureau,
covering the White House and Congress.

"Jack was a truly dedicated reporter and had an old-
fashioned relationship with politicians. He liked them,
but that did not prevent him from being critical when
they did bad things and behaved badly. That was a
trademark of Jack's," said Jules Witcover, his writing
partner of many years.

Germond was the only child born to his engineer father
and homemaker mother in Boston, Massachusetts.
After a brief stint in the Army, he attended the Univer-
sity of Missouri where he earned degrees in journalism
and history, soon afterward becoming the sports editor
of the Jefferson City Post-Tribune. His next position was
as a columnist for the Monroe (MI) Evening Times.
Germond held these positions in the early 1950s.

From 1953 until 1973 Germond was a reporter for the
Rochester Times-Union, then became the Washington
Bureau Chief for Gannet Co. Newspapers, which owned
the Times-Union back then, holding this position from
1969 until 1973. He then joined the Washington Star
and was with that paper until it ceased operations in 1981.
Germond was political editor and later assistant managing
editor for the Star, where he met and started collaborating
with Jules Witcover.

When the Star ceased to shine, Germond and Witcover
were hired by the Baltimore Evening Sun. They co-wrote
a column for that paper until it too ceased operations and
the pair went over to its sister publication, the Sun, where
they continued their column. They came to specialize in
covering presidential campaigns, and became trusted and
admired for the thoroughness of their work, which entailed
giving much more print to their coverage than many of
their rivals at other papers around the country. The portly
Germond came to be affectionately referred to as the
Fat Man.

Germond was a regular member of the often rambunctious
gathering of journalists on the political talk show The
McLaughlin Group, hosted by former Nixon speechwriter
and former catholic priest John McLaughlin. The quirky,
unnerving McLaughlin and Germond were at odds both
in front of and behind the cameras, and Germond eventually
left the show. While there, however, Germond met and struck
up a friendship with the very conservative late pundit
Robert Novak; Germond proved that he could indeed get on
well with people from across the political divide, McLaughlin
aside. Your bemused Peasant has to say that, as a frequent
viewer of this TV show, the host certainly did come off as
a "mad hatter" with his antics, which included childish-
sounding play with panelist's names. McLaughlin called
The New Republic's Fred Barnes "Fred The Beetle Barnes"
many a time on the air! I would remark to myself "Is that
necessary?" in dumbfounded amazement.

Retiring in 2000, Germond had concluded a career that listed
among many accomplishments six books about politics and
covering politicians, successful solo and collaborative columns,
many political stories broken (that is, brought to the public's
attention ahead of rival reporters), countless TV appearances,
and widespread renown. What your admiring Peasant liked best
about jack Germond was the fact that he never let his politics
get in the way of reporting the truth about people or events; if
someone was a good actor Germond said so. If one was out
for himself at the expense of others Germond made that known.
The politicos that Germond was friendly with knew this about
him and rarely tested the Fat Man, for they knew that he was
a man of unshakable ethics and integrity. This is, sadly, a trait
that has become an increasingly rare commodity among today's
journalists, regardless of political tastes.

Jack Germond has left us. May it be that conscientious journalism
has not left us as well. Rest in peace, Mr. Germond. A job well
done, sir.


MEM




Thursday, September 5, 2013

This and That

Here's a random sampling of the latest political and
economic news for your perusal and enjoyment, my
fabulous readers:

Elitism grips Congress; Congressional lawmakers and
their aides will, for the foreseeable future, continue to
have nearly all of their health care costs paid for by the
taxpayers, while exempting themselves from Obamacare
(the Affordable Health Care Act). This means that not
only will the members of Congress continue to receive
out-of-this-world health care coverage paid for by you
and I, but we lowly peasants will have to purchase and
pay through the nose for inefficient and costly coverage
for ourselves as mandated by Obama's health care scheme.
We thus get a double shafting! Thus far congressional
Republicans have yet to do the one sure-fire thing needed
to do away with Obama's scam, and that is to stop all
funding for this nightmare. What's keeping them? And,
dare your favorite Peasant ask, how many GOP members
of Congress have voted for exempting themselves from
going on Obamacare? We deserve some honest answers
to these questions!

President Obama claims that his policies are helping to
create many new jobs across the country; indeed this is
so. However, what he is conveniently not telling us is
that they are nearly all part-time jobs. That's right, out of
the 935,000 jobs created so far in 2013, 731,000 are jobs
with less than 30 working hours per week. Obamacare is
a big factor in this, as one of its stipulations is that employers
will have to spend a certain set amount of money for health
care coverage for their full-time staff. They are getting
around this rule by cutting back work hours for many of
their employees, mainly hourly wage earners. Now, many
workers will have to work a second, some even a third, job
just to stay in place from an economic standpoint, not
including health care and retirement benefits. But at the rate
in which many other jobs are dying out because of the sickly
economy, lots of luck trying to find any extra jobs! One way
or another, Obama and his pals are going to get us, and get us
good, unless the Republicans get their act together and do
what we elected them to do.

Apparently, many of Obama's fellow Dems and Dem constitu-
ets are not all that keen on Obamacare anymore, now that they
have had a chance to see just what's in it. Soon to be retiring
U.S. Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) called its implementation "a
train wreck". Many labor union chieftains are, like Congress,
not fond of the idea of giving up their Cadillac health care
coverage plans for the clunkier Obama package. But are these
union stalwarts demanding that Obamacare be scrapped and a
new plan created in its place? They instead are demanding that
they, too, be exempted like Congress from participating! They
are in effect saying "Make the rest of the country go on the
plan, leave us and our incredibly cushy health plans alone!"
Don't you just LOVE the way that unions stick up for the
regular folk, the Joe and Jane Paycheck lot? All of this looks
like Obama is getting more blowback than he thought he'd
face on his national health care scam, and that its ultimate
implementation is not a given after all.

At Central Missouri University, the College Republicans were
turned away from a speech by President Obama, even though
they had tickets for admission. The campus organizers for the
event denied entry to any students wearing "Tea Party" or other
patriotically-themed clothing, citing (your amused Peasant will
try hard not to break out in laughter here!) "security concerns".
Well, naturally, the organizers of this wingding wanted to secure
the Great and Powerful Obama's feelings from being hurt by the
sight of upstart right-wing peasants from even quietly voicing
their political disagreements with His Nibs. Can't have The
Great One in a funk, now, can they? Remember when the buttons
proclaiming "Question Authority!" were ubiquitous during the
George W. Bush years? They disappeared as soon as Obama first
won election to the White House in 2008, and have not resurfaced
since. Apparently that message only applies when there is a
Republican president.

More bad news about Detroit: As this piece is being typed, Detroit
owes money to over 100,000 creditors. That figure is about one-
ninth of the Motor City's current population figure, which is still
dropping like a stone in a lake. At least there's affordable housing
aplenty there; many houses in Detroit are currently on sale for $500
OR LESS (emphasis mine)! About one-third of the city's 140 square
miles are either vacant or derelict. 40% of Detroit's street lights
do not work. The murder rate is 11 times higher than that of New
York City, and police solve less than 10% of Detroit's crimes these
days.Crime has gotten so bad in Detroit that the police are telling
people to "enter Detroit at your own risk". Your loyal Peasant is
neither that bold, nor that foolhardy!

Elliot Spitzer, the disgraced former New York Governor (Love
Client #9) announced his candidacy for New York City Controller
in July. His opponent? Kristin Davis, the "madam" who supplied
the ex-gov with call girls when he was governor! You just can't
make this stuff up! They will be joined on the ballot by the disgraced
ex-U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, who is running for Mayor of the
Big Apple. And on this blog we discussed the troubles that this
guy has seen! Perhaps someone should wrap New York City's
politics and politicians in a plain brown wrapper!

Few mainstream, or maybe your bemused Peasant should say
"lamestream" media outlets made mention of the over 100 demon-
strations nationwide that occurred on July 4 protesting the NSA's
snooping on Americans, especially those who are not enamored
with the Almighty Obama. The "Restoring the Fourth" demonstra-
tions sought to restore fourth amendment protections against
"illegal search and seizure", and that surveillance methods should
be "constitutional, limited, and clearly defined." No fishing
expeditions! The gatherings ranged in size from several dozen to
several thousand people, as the demonstration in New York's
Union Square had. Is there any doubt anymore about the bias
of our media? The watchdog for the public interest is not asleep,
it has been co-opted.

Have a great week everybody!


MEM



Thursday, August 29, 2013

Ed Schultz Knows From Hunger on Detroit (and Other Subjects)

A few weeks ago, Ed Schultz, one of the MSNBC
commentators on the political scene, contributed
his two cents as to why Detroit has suffered
economic collapse. Judging his thoughts on the
matter, I'd say that one of the two pennies he
gave is counterfeit and the other badly tarnished.

He posited: "Michigan used to be a symbol of
industrial strength in manufacturing in this country.
But thanks to a lot of Republican policies, the city
is now filing for bankruptcy. Now, it's the largest
public sector bankruptcy in U.S. history, and the
consequences could be devastating if you care
about people ... Roughly 30,000 retired workers
are concerned about their pensions ... Make no
mistake, Detroit is exactly what the Republicans
want. They outsourced manufacturing jobs,
attacked unions, cut public services, and this is
the result. Now they can wipe the slate clean
because now they can start privatizing city
assets."

Now, my wonderful readers, your faithful
Peasant has given the reasons why Detroit
is now stony broke just a couple of weeks
ago on this blog. And I averred that Detroit
has not had a Republican mayor in a half
century, nor has it had a Republican-led
city council in all that time. I also commented
on how payments into the public employee
pensions were deferred with much of that money
going into the pockets of the Democrat pols
and their pals. The approximately 30,000
retired public workers are being rewarded
not for their years of service but for their years
of voting for Detroit Democrats who have
thus stabbed them in their backs and in their
wallets. But somehow this MSNBC lunatic
thinks that it's not the Dems but the GOP
that is to blame for Detroit's sorry condition!
What would repair this fevered fool's sorry
mental state; electroshock therapy, a course
of lithium, or a lengthy stretch in a padded
cell while trussed up in a straitjacket?
Perhaps Schultz needs all three!

Anyway, I had also commented a much
longer time ago on Schultz and his illogical,
wild, incoherent ravings on political and
economic matters. His recent performance on
MSNBC regarding Detroit is his latest
theatrical offering in the theatre of the absurd.
And many left-wingers like Schultz are
slavishly mimicking his rantings. And these
are the same folks that voted for Obama twice,
who believe in the president's wild-spending
"cure" for our nation's economic troubles,
who believe that the scandals of the IRS,
the crackdown on the freedom of the press
regarding coverage of the administration,
and Benghazi are "phony scandals", and
call we dissenters (especially those of us
involved in the Tea Party) "extremists",
"terrorists", "bullies", "racists", and names
that your respectful and respectable Peasant
cannot print here.

Just another day in Obama's Post-Constitutional
and Post-Reality America.


MEM

Thursday, August 22, 2013

A Little Bit of Ireland in Milwaukee

The Peasant has returned from his annual Irish holiday
(at the Milwaukee Irish Fest) and boy the fun I had!
Four days of Irish music, cuisine (liquid and solid!),
currach races (currachs are Irish rowboats, commonly
sailed in by Irish fishermen and women), irish dog
shows (Irish Steeters, Irish Wolfhounds, Irish Terriers,
etc.), getting together with old friends and making new
friends, including making friends with internationally
renown singers Ronan Tynan and Tom Paxton, and
helping out again in the Aer Lingus music booth
selling CDs and DVDs ... man, life doesn't get better
than this for a part-Irish Peasant!

When I arrived at my work station, the aforementioned
Are Lingus booth, I received my 5-year volunteer service
pin from my booth coordinator. I worked in that booth
five years straight; now I've gathered some moss, so to
speak. On Friday I met American folk singing legend
Tom Paxton, and got his autograph. Tom and I have a
mutual friend who himself is in show business, actor
Mike Farrell (M*A*S*H*; he played Captain B.J.
Honeycutt in the TV series), and we are allies in the
quest to abolish capital punishment in the United States.
We're two liberals and a conservative, so I have little in
common politically with them, but these men are of great
integrity and are not at all the usual showbiz liberals
who affect a pose with their politics, spouting slogans
mindlessly just to appear "cool". What you see with
these gentlemen is what you get. Mike told me to
tell Tom that Mike "is a big fan"; this I dutifully did,
giving Tom a chuckle. The next day, our booth sold out
of the quantity of Tom's CDs and an illustrated book
with the words to a great child's song that he wrote
over forty years ago about a unique and unusual toy
that a little boy received as a gift from his dad, and the
joy and wonder it gave them. I told Tom that in the five
years of working in the Aer Lingus booth I never saw
anyone's merchandise sell out so fast; people began lining
up at our booth to buy Tom Paxton's CDs and copies of
his book before his concert at our stage concluded, and
next got in line at the autograph counter to get them signed,
and everything Paxton went in twenty minutes flat! The
veteran folkie was delightfully surprised, and told me when
I asked if he had any other merchandise with him he said
that he did not. Count on Tom Paxton to bring a truckload
of goodies with him should he return to our Irish Fest!

Meeting Ronan Tynan of The Irish Tenors fame was a treat.
I told Ronan that I heard him in concert in Saint Paul over
a decade ago when I lived up there, and I remembered his
accompanyist on pianp, an Australian gentleman who also
sang beautifully himself. Ronan was impressed and over-
joyed that I was that big of a fan! We talked about my friend
Chuck Ward, who was a co-founder of out Irish Fest with
his brother Ed and was in the local Irish music band Blarney.
I was wearing my badge with his picture, and told Ronan
that I wear the badge and have founded a song circle that
I named for him upon his passing in 2010. Ronan said that
he wished that hecould have met him. This great tenor is
a huge fellow, well over six feet tall, and broadly built,
but is a very gentle and joyful gentleman. He told some
wonderful anecdotes from his earlier career years and
spoke of his parents and the encouragement that he had
gotten from them to go after his dreams between songs.
What a joy and a privilege to have Ronan Tynan at our
Irish Fest! I still pinch myself to see if it really happened.

On Sunday after the Irish Fest Peace and Justice Mass I
was joined at my table in the Tipperary Tea Room, a
great place for bakery treats, tea and coffee (Irish coffee
too of course!) with a stage featuring great performers
all throughout the fest by Jeff Ward and his lovely wife
Dorothy, Jeff is an Irish native while Dorothy is a native
of Newcastle in Great Britain. Jeff has been singing at our
Irish Fest now for twenty consecutive years and I have met
him for the first time three years ago, but this time your
overjoyed Peasant got to send more time with him and his
wife as well. We talked of Irish music and my Irish and
English roots. What a warm and engaging couple. And
I got to hear Jeff in concert to boot!

I met up with a couple of my friends in our Chuck Ward
Celtic Song Circle and we caught some singers and bands
in concert, and attended the closing ceremonies called
"The Scattering" at nine in the evening. Nearly all of the
artists who came to perform throughout the concert were
onstage singing, dancing, and playing instruments for us,
closing with the traditional closing song of the Milwaukee
Irish Fest, "Will You Go Lassie Go", a song I know well
and dearly love. Then, we were treated to a grand fireworks
display to close out the fest. Well, not quite. One of my
Chuck Ward pals thought it would be fun to begin a song
session after the fireworks, and I said "Great! Let's do it!"
So we started singing some Irish songs and some of our
fellow fest attendees joined us! We kept singing as we
made our way to the gates to exit the grounds, and I led us
at the end singing "Galway Bay", getting loud cheers and
applause as we strolled out through the gates!
So we were the act to close out the 2013 Milwaukee Irish
Fest, as an impromptu and unexpected feature we were,
so to speak.

And this, my friends, is my annual vacation, my personal
Irish holiday. An Irish holiday without even leaving town!
One day, when my finances are stronger, I shall visit the
Emerald Isle itself, and I shall stay for a good long stay
too! But I love my hometown's Irish Fest with all my heart,
and I shall attend, volunteer at, and sing at the fest with all
my friends until I leave this world.

We'll get together again, my dear readers, next week. May the
wind be at your back, may the road rise to meet you, and may
you get to heaven an hour before the devil knows you're dead.
That's an old Irish blessing which I now pass along to you,
with my love and appreciation.


MEM



Thursday, August 8, 2013

It's Milwaukee Irish Fest Time Again!

My great and grand readers, your Irish-imbued
Peasant will be attending Milwaukee's Irish Fest
again in the middle of this month. The event
will go from 8/15 through 8/18, and since the
first day of it is on a Thursday, there shall be
no posting for that week. I shall be taking the
week off to prepare for the festival, in which
I again shall be a volunteer worker in the music
booth by the Aer Lingus Stage, my yearly
station at the Green Bash. The event is held at
the Henry Maier Fairgrounds on the shores of
Lake Michigan in downtown Milwaukee.

Also, I shall be enjoying many fine musical
performances by the assembled talent as well
as a theatrical performance of two as well;
the Irish are as good with theatre as they are
with music! In addition, I shall be getting
together with family and friends from near and
far (including from the Emerald Isle itself),
and will be enjoying loads of great food and
drink! Fine ales, Irish whiskey, corned beef
sandwiches, potatoes done up many delcious
ways, and anything else that looks and tastes
good --- I'm going for it all!

If any of you would like to come to the Irish
Fest here in my hometown, click this link for
details: www.irishfest.com./

It is the next best thing to visiting dear old
Ireland itself! Hope to see many of you there!
Drop by the Aer Lingus Stage music booth
and ask for me!


MEM

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Some People Never Learn!

By now, my great and glorious readers, you have
no doubt heard of the latest sexcapade of former
U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (SO aptly named!)
who is now a candidate for the office of New York's
Mayor. And it's the same activity which caused
his first scandal, causing him to relinquish his
seat in Congress! Indeed, it seems that the boy
just can't keep it in his pants and off the 'net!

The New York Times ran a reproachful editorial
on July 24 chastising the veteran Democrat for his
repeated disgusting behavior, even urging him
to quit the mayoral race in the Big Apple.
The Times Editorial Board wrote:
"At some point, the full story of Anthony Weiner
and his sexual relationships and texting habits
will finally be told ... in the meantime, the
serially evasive Mr. Weiner should take his
marital troubles and personal compulsions
out of the public eye, away from cameras,
off the Web and out of the race for mayor
of New York City." Sound advice. Your
skeptical Peasant doubts, however, that the
former Congressman will heed it.

The strong words from the Times came a day
after Weiner had, once again, publicly
admitted to his sexual misadventure. If you
are a liberal politician and you get into a nasty
enough scandal, and the ever-left Times tells
you to hang it up, then you know you're
through! "A Web site called The Dirty had
another woman's story, another round of sex
texts, and another picture of Mr. Weiner's
penis," the Times continued. "The marital
trauma that Mr. Weiner and his wife,
Huma Abedin, had said was behind them was
not as far behind as we thought." Well, not
when the serial perv indulges in a new round
of sexual adventurism. Continuing with the
editorial scolding, the Times stated "Mr.
Weiner and Ms. Abedin have been saying that
his sexual behavior is not the public's business.
Well, it isn't, until they make it our business by
plunging into a political campaign ... To those
who know his arrogance and have grown tired
of the tawdry saga he has dragged the city into,
this is not surprising." OWWW!

And how about Mrs. Weiner, a Hillary Clinton-
esque figure to be sure! She, like the former First
Lady, seems willing to suffer whatever indignities
that her husband puts her through with his tawdry
dalliances just to steer him to political power (and
herself as well). If she has designs on public office
as Hillary has it remains to be seen, but time will
certainly tell. Like the Clintons, they are a truly
gruesome twosome!

The other major daily newspapers in New York
City have joined the Times in calling for Weiner
to get out of the mayoral race. But wouldn't you
know, Weiner has already said he will stay in the
race. Perhaps, though, something will prevail upon
him to see reason and exit the fray after all. We
can only hope. In the meantime, we are witnessing
another case of a politician all caught up in him-
self, thinking he is invincible where all from
criticism to scandal are concerned. Pride and hubris
always come before a fall; this is such a simple
lesson to learn, except for those who are long on
ego and arrogance while being short on smarts
and sense.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Detroit: From Model City to Ghost Town

This past week, the city of Detroit, Michigan had
filed for bankruptcy. Now, imagine the magnitude
of this event: think of who files for bankruptcy in
order to get court protection from creditors when
debts cannot be paid off; individuals, businesses
(including large corporations), houses of worship,
even small towns do this when they are hard-pressed
to make good on their financial obligations while not
nearly enough income or assets are on hand to do so.
Well, so can and do large cities, as evidenced by
Detroit, the largest city in our country's history to
take this drastic step.

Detroit was once one of America's model cities for
beauty, vibrancy, industry, and livability. The
American automobile industry fueled the prosperity
of the city; the assembly line was perfected there,
and copied by other manufacturers in other industries
throughout the country and the world. During World
War II Detroit produced planes and tanks that
helped our country to win the war. In the coming
years, Motown Records produced music that
gave joy to many Americans. And many, many jobs
were created from it all, as many other businesses
sprang up, providing still more jobs as well as needed
goods and services for the inhabitants of Detroit.
The city became one of the most populous cities
in the United States, peaking at 1.8 million in
population.

Visit Detroit today, and where there were once
gleaming office building and storefronts along with
bright, cheerful looking apartment buildings you'll
now see decaying husks of these edifices, many
having been abandoned and boarded up. Crime is
rampant, with a wide range of the criminal element
from muggers and looters to gangs roaming the
streets. If accosted by any of them, you almost may
as well not bother to call the police, for the average
response time to a call is about 54 minutes; the
national average is 11. The unemployment rate
in Detroit is 16% (the official rate, that is; like
with that of the country, the actual rate is most
certainly higher). Businesses and individuals have
fled the city steadily over the past few decades.
The public schools are a write-off, what with a
reading proficiency rating of just 7% for Detroit's
eighth graders. And fiscal management? More
like fiscal mismanagement, malfeasance, and
non-feasance! Unaffordable borrowing, state
grant rip-offs, never-ending taxing and spending,
and deferment of public pension contributions
have been the order of the day for too many days.
And Heritage Foundation's Alison Acosta Fraser
and Rachel Glazer tell us that "Detroit's tragic
downward cycle has reached its end." Detroit's
population is now approximately 700,000.
Will the last person to leave the city please turn
out the lights? That is, unless thugs shot them
all out.

The culprit(s) behind all this? The Democrats who
have controlled the city council and mayor's offices
steadily since 1962. Throughout their reign of
error and corruption there have been sweet deals
for public employee unions as well as slipping money
under the table to cronies who backed the mayors
and council members for election. Rather than
spend any revenue for repairing streets and street-
lights, any other infrastructure, or ensuring that the
police could do their jobs with speed and efficiency,
the so-called leaders of Detroit lined their pockets
along with those of their pals. And they have long had
very stringent gun control laws; isn't it funny how
cities that have such laws have more gun crimes than
those that have no gun laws, or at least less strict
gun laws? Your loyal Peasant will have more to say
on this phenomenon in the near future.

The state of Michigan has taken over the budgetary
aspects of Detroit's government, insofar as deciding
what will be spent on what and when. Michigan is
being the parent to Detroit's reckless, irresponsible
child, and it is a sad but necessary measure. Michigan
also passed a bill making the state a right-to-work
state, which will introduce competition and make the
state more business, and therefore more employer,
friendly, which will benefit both businesses and
employees. Michigan also lessened the strength of
public employees' unions, which should help both
the state and local governments reduce the pension
promises that took a huge toll on Detroit's finances
when combined with the city's government's cavalierly
ignoring same pension obligations. By the by,
Michigan's state government is now largely in
Republican hands; the GOP holds majorities in both
legislative chambers and the governor's office.
It is not difficult to see who are the grown-ups and
who are the unruly children in this scenario, and thank
heaven the grown-ups have the upper hand! But
wouldn't you know, the lefties are blaming Detroit's
sad state on the Republicans; never mind that there has
not been a Republican mayor there in over 50 years
and that you can count the number of Republicans
having served on Detroit's city council in all that
while on the fingers of one hand! Don't you love
the way that the left-wingers in and outside of the
Democrat party blame the Republicans for the
messes that these lefty crybabies make?

The workers in Detroit will be aided by the higher wage-
growth and superior compensation than what their
counterparts in non-right-to-work states have, and that
will make for a repaired tax base, Vincent Vernuccio of
the Mackinac Center avers. But in the meantime, this
once great and proud city lies on its deathbed, awaiting
either a miracle of epic proportions or the arrival of
the Grim Reaper. And if the latter occurs, the coroner
could state as the cause of death an overdose of
liberalism.


MEM







Thursday, July 18, 2013

Victory for the Unborn in Texas; the Left Loses Again

A bill came up for a vote recently in the Texas legislature
that would curtail a woman's ability to obtain an abortion
if she is beyong 20 weeks pregnant. What followed has
been a true Texas tornado; not of the weather variety
but a political one.

In the first round of the fight in Texas to protect the
lives of unborn babies, the abortion supporters won
with the help of a ten hour filibuster by state Senator
Wendy Davis (D). An unruly crowd of pro-abortion
demonstartors backed Davis to the hilt as the Demo-
crat contingent in the Texas senate, mostly pro-abortion
themselves, succeeded in blocking the bill which the
Texas House passed in June. This bill was drafted
because at this stage of a pregnancy, an unborn baby
can feel pain --- excrutiating pain in particular.
Science and medicine both have shown this to be so,
but it was not enough to sway the abortion backers
present; they would have none of it. The mob of
hecklers for abortion at all stages of pregnancy
outnumebred the peace-keeping officers on duty
in the senate chamber, and they pressed their advantage.
And to ensure their success, some of those in the
unruly assemblage snuck jars of urine and feces
into the chamber, hoping to throw their gross missles
at senators they disagree with on the bill and on
abortion in general. Classy!

But Governor Rick Perry (R) faced down this
travesty. Vowing to sign the measure into law, Perry
called a second special session to give this legislation
a fair hearing in the state Senate, and when it came
up for a vote, it passed. Gov. Perry also made sure
that there would be adequate security on hand to
dissuade any further threatening behavior by an
unruly mob in the chamber that might prevent the
senators from voting freely.

The abortion boosters were not deterred by this,
mind. They escalated their bedlam in the days that
followed by, among other things, sending hateful
messages via Facebook and e-mail to state Sen.
Donna Campbell and her daughter wishing rape
upon both; chanting "Hail Satan" in attempting to
drown out the pro-life supporters gathered in the
Texas capitol singing "Amazing Grace"(!); could
the abortion enthusiasts have been calling on their
source of inspiration for strength? And they
brought along small children, looking to be about
five or six years old by the accounts of people
witnessing this spectacle, pressing them into
carrying signs with slogans such as "Every child
a wanted child" and "If I wanted the government
in my womb, I'd f*** a senator!" Charming!
Let's hope that those dragooned kids had no idea
of what the messages on those signs meant!
Some other youngsters, along with some women,
carried signs with the image of a coat hanger
with a slash through the hanger. Your faithful
Peasant thought that were laws against the
exploitation of children!

Perhaps we should view this rabble in an analytical
manner, as they are clearly in the minority among
Americans on the issue of abortion; a national poll
taken in May shows a clear majority of Americans
desiring to make either all or most abortions illegal,
with 48% of Americans calling themselves "pro-
life" as opposed to 45% taking the "pro-choice"
label. Maybe the hell raisers at the Texas Capitol
are aware of this and this fact makes them desperate.
You know what they say about desperate people!
Besides, many Americans have been sickened and
angered by the accounts of late-term abortionist
Kermit Gosnell and his house of horrors in
Philadelphia; he has been tried in court and could
receive the death penalty for killing some babies that
he couldn't manage to kill while they were still in
the womb, as well as causing the death of one of
the women whose baby he was aborting. He'll at
least receive life in prison without parole, and that
would be enough for your horrified Peasant, as I
have stated in this blog that I am opposed to
capital punishment. At least this butcher won't be
able to destroy any more babies or women.
But to the creeps that gathered in Austin Gosnell
probably is a hero, as is a similar butcher closer
to home in Houston who made the news recently.

In all seriousness, though, the left-wingers carry on
like this as a matter of course. Remember their antics
in Madison over Gov. Walker's quashing of public
employee unions' ability to treat Wisconsin's taxpayers
as their own piggy banks? And their bedlam in Lansing
when Michigan's governor signed the bill that made
Michigan a Right To Work state, thereby clamping
down on all unions' ability to demand that workers
join their ranks in order to hold certain jobs? Maybe
these thuggish louts are merely desperate,
what with the country's populace rejecting their brand
of politics and the steep price to be paid for
implementing their favored policies in both money and
liberty, they are using the one thing that they have left:
threatening behavior. The only card left in their hand
that they now have to play is the bully card.

However, this card didn't get them what they wanted
on abortions after 20 weeks in Texas; it failed them
in trying to scrap Act 10 in Wisconsin; it did them no
good whatsoever in Michigan for preventing that state
from embracing Right To Work. They should know
by now that totalitarianism doesn't work, the people
reject it, and totalitarian tactics won't make it any
easier to bring about totalitarian governance. But let
them continue to behave like rabid degenerates;
they are only making it easier to defeat them, their
favored candidates and their favored legislation,
for the more people see them for what they are,
the less that they will want to have anything to do
with them. Hearts and minds are never won with
coercion.


MEM