Sharing Some Wisdom

Today I'll not berate the sparse few who have meandered over to this diminutive corner of the series of tubes called the internets. I will take it upon myself to impart some wisdom. Unfortunately that wisdom is gleened from the minds of others. I know I have some but I think I misplaced it somewhere. A mind, that is.

I'll start with the quote below that is specifically intended to describe the current political atmosphere here in Amerika.

Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.

C. S. Lewis

For my buddy, Joe

If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.

C. S. Lewis

and...

"Atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning..."

--from "Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis

Joe and I can probably agree on this one as well. Only we come from different perspectives.

"Of all bad men religious bad men are the worst."

--Reflections on the Psalms, C.S. Lewis

Atheist Plaque Next to Nativity Scene in Washington

The post title links to the article of the same name posted at OneNewsNow.com. The paragraph that jumped out at me and makes an incredible amount of sense is the following;

“I don’t believe in unicorns, so I just go about my life as if there are no unicorns. You’ll notice that I haven’t written any books called The End of the Unicorn, Unicorns Are Not Great, or The Unicorn Delusion, and I don’t spend my time obsessing about unicorns. What I’m getting at is that you have these people out there who don’t believe that God exists, but who are actively attempting to eliminate religion from society…There has to be more going on here than mere unbelief.”

That's a quote from Dinesh D'Souza in an interview for Salvo magazine. My buddy Joe would disagree with the premise if I'm not mistaken.

Marine Base Bans Anti-Islam Bumper Stickers

This one should stick in the craw (whatever those are) of my buddy, Joe. Being staunch defenders of the first amendment, we disagree on things at times but we both agree that we should not be censored in any way. This story is political correctness at it's evil worst. Regardless of your position on the war on terror, the actions of this military installation are heinous!

Click the post title for the full story

Today's Quotes

This first quote from Samuel Adams is aimed specifically at Barack Obama and his associations that are rightly being called into question -

"He who is void of virtuous attachments in private life is, or very soon will be, void of all regard for his country. There is seldom an instance of a man guilty of betraying his country, who had not before lost the feeling of moral obligations in his private connections." --in a letter to James Warren, Nov. 4, 1775--

This too, is directed at Obama in regards to his "spread the wealth" viewpoint he expressed to Joe the Plumber

The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
- Thomas Jefferson

This one can definitely be said of most of the recent sitting Congress'

In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress.
- John Adams

The next two just happen to be for Joe. I know he'll give me a bucket of chum in return. I expect it and welcome the banter.

We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other.
- John Adams

It is when people forget God that tyrants forge their chains.
- Patrick Henry

An appropriate quote in regards to the current financial meltdown throughout our country and the world.

History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling the money and its issuance.
- James Madison

Corrupt or incompetent men will be appointed to execute the laws; the public revenues will be squandered on unworthy men; and the rights of the citizens will be violated or disregarded.
- Noah Webster (the father of public education in America)

The Founders Knew Not To Raise Taxes

So why doesn't Obama understand the concept? Joe was in agreement with me that Obama's statement regarding "spreading the wealth" made him cringe. I not only cringed, I hypothetically ran sreaming down the street pulling my hair out. Why don't people see Obama as the socialist that he is? Today's "voters" form their opinions on a 30 second TV commercial that says nothing. They listen to the alphabet soup networks proclaim him as the messiah and fall in lock step with the other drooling sheeple that get all their information from the idiot box. I really think that if you want to vote, you should be required to take a basic test of your understanding of the issues and players. If you haven't been paying attention, you don't get to play along.

This Howard Stern "Man on the Street" interview of Obama supporters in Harlem shows how clueless the electorate that I am describing, is.


Back from the tangent here and on to notable quotes from the founders about taxes.

Alexander Hamilton
1787 - Federalist No. 21

If duties are too high, they lessen the consumption; the collection is eluded; and the product to the treasury is not so great as when they are confined within proper and moderate bounds. This forms a complete barrier against any material oppression of the citizens by taxes of this class, and is itself a natural limitation of the power of imposing them.

Here's Thomas Jefferson denouncing Obama's recent "spread the wealth" statement to Joe the Plumber nearly 200 years ago.

Thomas Jefferson
1816 - letter to Joseph Milligan

To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it.

James Madison makes a point in regards to Obama seeming to think that those that make more money should pay more in taxes as a percentage of their income.

James Madison
1792 - Essay on Property

A just security to property is not afforded by that government, under which unequal taxes oppress one species of property and reward another species.

Political Compass Test

I followed a link from Joe's Big Blog to the Political Compass Test page and here are my results. I have to admit that some of the questions on the test I had never pondered so accuracy is relative. I was not necessarily surprised by my results. I think I would consider myself a bit more libertarian, however.

Long Time No Post

I have been chastised by Joe for my lack of posting hence this post.


Here is a picture I took near the NUMMI plant in Fremont. Waiting for the next batch of new Toyota's to be completed.


The entrance to the "Ghost Marina" in Alviso.


The former Laine's Grocery Store. Abandoned since the floods of the 1980's El Nino's


I don't think these boats would even float at high tide.

For My Buddy Joe

This would be an extremely "inside" post. Probably greater than 96% percent of my readers (right Mom!) would not get the connection. That's o.k. though, I'm not posting it for them, it's for Joe. It seems ironic that the logo for the railroad line pictured below could have so much significance for my buddy Joe. The dollar sign purposefully portrayed in the text, seemingly created just for him! His blog address with the gambling reference of "dice shooter" in it, an email address he has with a reference to money. Quite the co-inky-dink, huh?



Oh, and you're welcome Joe, for all of the free promotion and links I just gave you!

Traffic Report?

I found this little poll generator through Joe's Big Blog. Thought I would have some fun with it. Nobody reads my blog anyway so I already know what the poll results will be. What an optimist I am! Do me a favor and be a "daily" visitor just for my own sense of well-being.

Do you regularly visit this blog?
	Daily
	Weekly
	Monthly
	Annually
	What blog?
	Where am I?
pollcode.com free polls

More ACLU anti-American Activity

This from OpinionJournal.com is another bullet point on the long list of reasons the ACLU (American Criminal Lawyers Union) should, itself be prosecuted, defunded, investigated, whatever needs to be done. Just get rid of the bums. The opinion piece speaks of a current litigation that should not be too surprising since the ACLU was founded by people who belonged to the "American Union Against Militarism". They were an anti-war group dating back to 1914.

During the first 60 years of the organization, nearly eighty percent of the elected members had Communist Party affiliations. On top of that, a full ninety percent of the cases they were defending involved Communists. Here's a good informational site with lots of historical landmarks of the group.

There are a few fleeting moments in ACLU history where either the target or the outcome of their litigation actually provided some measure of good for the citizens of the U.S. Those fleeting moments are far out-weighed by their overt attempts to destroy our country through litigation as described in the opinion piece refenced above. Not to mention their attacks on religious freedoms (that's a whole other can of worms).

My whole rant here is due to the fact the ACLU are suing a private company for transporting government prisoners overseas. Read the opinion and try to figure out how the ACLU is justified in doing this. Who are they trying to protect? More precisely, who are they trying to impede? How is the company doing the trasporting of the prisoners being "unconstitutional"?

I know Joe will have something to say on this topic. I'm not sure as to what position he will take, but he WILL have something to say.

Political Incorrectness

I don't recall where I poached this image, but I just love it!!

Good Grief

Grief, that's what I got, but maybe not good. Joe always gives me a bucketful when I can't keep up with his frenetic on-the-clock posting. I'm in the wrong job. I DO think he will appreciate this poached graphic however....

A Chance Encounter and Joe Saves the Day

I don't normally get down to the plant, especially when my buddy Joe is still working (or does he really work at all?). I had to take the loaner car back and pick up the regular car. My swing man didn't fuel up the loaner car because there is no gas card in it, only a card that can be used for fueling at the plant. I didn't figure it was a problem since I had enough gas to get there. My regular car needed gas as well. However, the gas card was missing from the visor and I was stumped as to how I was going to get gas since I had already dropped the keys for the loaner car in "the box". Along comes Joe to save the day. He had no idea that he would be saving any days, though. He unlocked the transportation office and found the "red" fuel card that allows fueling any vehicle. The gas cards that are in the cars are specifically assigned to the ones they reside in. I got my full tank of gas, a mini reunion, and the papers we needed for the carrier shortage. A veritable tri-fecta!

Joe and I talked for awhile about our blogging and his scooter rides and the scenery pictures he posts from his rides. We don't usually get to do the face to face. Normally we swap comments on postings or the random email. It was good to have a real conversation and not just a few pecked words on a keyboard.

Stumbled Across PodBean.com

I seem to be doing alot of stumbling lately. Whether it's in life or on the job or even, yes, on the web. I've most recently stumbled across PodBean.com while trying to find a way to post audio to my blog. Unfortunately you can't. Previously we were able to do an audio post on Blogger with a phone call, kind of nifty. No mas (that's "no more" for those of you not living in Mexifornia). So here's a site that allows you to podcast for free. Anyway, this is my PodBean page. After you read the post you have to clink the link in the right hand column to hear the song. I was a newbie and didn't find out about that until after I entered my text!! Maybe my buddy Joe will get sucked into the podcasting vortex as well. I would actually love to listen to his rants more than I would read them. He has such a quiet and demure way of getting his point across (luv ya Joe!)

If The Previous Post Didn't Get You Thinking....

....then this one certainly should. That would be after you read it, of course. The column is A Skeptic's Take on Global Warming by Bill Steigerwald over at HumanEvents.com.

I need to add that the flurry of recent posting is mainly for my own edification. I had noticed that my tally of posts for 2007 was in the single digit range. I did not want to be summarily humiliated by Joe for my lack of posting. I do need to point out that Joe posts individual pictures as a single posting. Rather than post several pictures with descriptions on a single posting, Joe has felt the need to artificially inflate his numbers. I, however, find this to be a distasteful practice and frown upon those who use this system to manipulate their standing in the blogosphere hierarchy.

Hopefully Joe will actually read this post and I will get a reaction out of him. I think he has read one or two other postings of mine. He is a very busy man so I don't expect him to pay much attention to the amoeba's of the blogosphere like myself. I would like to take a moment to point out a grammatical error on his latest post. The title of his post is "A RV Blog". The abbreviation in the title is of the words "recreational vehicle". Truncating those words to a supposed acronym of "RV", creates a grammatical error. "A Recreational Vehicle Blog" is perfectly acceptable grammar. If we read the page "How To Use Articles", we can determine that Joe has incorrectly used the article "a" instead of the article "an" in his title.

The resource noted above should answer any questions in regards to the proper use of articles in titles, or anywhere else for that matter. The letter "r", when pronounced, uses a variation of an "a" sound. Therefore it must be preceeded by the article "an". The correct title for his post should be "An RV Blog".

This post makes me sound a bit like a Joe stalker of sorts. I'll get over it....


***looking forward to be flamed, Joseph!

Thanks Joe!

Hat tip to Joe for the freebie advert! I appreciate the glowing remarks on my "skills" around the house. I must say that it's been 20 years since I have been actively doing any sort of construction/remodel work and the details definitely seem to fade with time.

On the sleep thing....I had mentioned a bit of insomnia the other day. Well, last night I woke up 45 minutes into my shift! I had been to a doctor appointment and had put my phone on vibrate. I do that because a certain fellow employee/friend tends to call, it seems, at the most in-opportune times. I never changed the ringer after the doctor and at two o'clock this morning I had that adrenaline rush wake-up. I looked at the clock and......@!%$?*&. I'm not sure exactly why I woke up from a sound sleep without an alarm clock. I popped awake like I had been startled by something and it was not the phone.

A couple of the guys had left a few voicemail messages for me on my cell. I called an asked if I had been replaced (secretly hoping I had been!) and was told "no". Begrudgingly I made my way in to work. Fortunately Wednesday is a small day paper-wise. There were only two sections to distribute so they were not short handed. There were still three guys distributing even without me being there.

Enough chatter, I've got another job to go to...yee haa!!

Vacation, and not a moment too soon!

After I punch out this morning I have 10 glorious days off! Well, I guess I can't really categorize them as glorious since I will be doing things like re-tiling and grouting my kitchen counter tops, painting and possibly even re-doing the floor in one of my bathrooms. Maybe I should just stay at work and not take the vacation?

I might get to a few more postings on vacation than I do in a regular work week (or month). Joe would probably say that any post is more than I do now. If I could only achieve one tenth of the posts that Joe does, I would be a better man for it.

Just a quick link as I get out of here. Oliver North has a great piece on the politicians who just don't care about the outcome in Iraq.

Establishment Clause Bantering

Joe over at Joe's Big Blog and I have an ongoing friendly (and sometimes heated) discussion over the establishment clause in the First Amendment. He's a good friend, fellow blogger and co-worker and we love to "torture" each other over this topic. In my last post I linked to an article about Chuck Norris becoming a board member of the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools.

Joe commented that it would be better for "parents to directly oversee the relgious teachings of their children". This, as I replied to Joe, missed the point entirely. I'm not dumping on Joe, I think it's a great start to a passionate discussion by both sides.

The Constitutional language that states...

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion"

...refers to the two clauses in the First Amendment that guarantee freedom of religion (not from). The establishment clause prohibits the government from passing legislation to establish an official state religion or preferring one religion over another.

The Bible is an historical record of facts. The people and places written about are historically accurate. The Bible is also backed by writings from other secular authors as well as archeological finds that all substatiate it's accuracy.

Here is a link to an excellent page that shows the evidence that I refer to. This is a must read page if one is to understand the foundation of this disagreement. It is a lengthy and detailed page but certainly provides ample evidence.

The following excerpt is from an article on the Liberty Legal Institute's website. The quotes are from Hiram Sasser, director of litigation for Liberty Legal Institute, attorneys for the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools.

Attorneys for NCBCPS respond to Texas Freedom Network’s (TFN) attack on an elective Bible course offered in public high schools across the state.

“It is ironic that a group which claims to be against censorship is now attempting to become the biggest censor in the state of Texas.”

The NCBCPS curriculum has been approved by 300 school districts in 37 states and endorsed by many of the nation’s leading constitutional scholars, public officials and law professors. In the case Abington v. Schempp, the U.S. Supreme Court stated that “the Bible is worthy of study for its literary and historic qualities,” so long as it is “presented objectively as part of a secular program of education.”

In addition to providing an interfaith perspective on the material, NCBCPS
curriculum is also designed to broaden perspectives and stimulate discussion and
thought.

“NCBCPS course material is designed to utilize the vast historical and cultural
insight found in the Bible,” Sasser said. “Depriving students of such important
study is totally ridiculous and contrary to the U.S. Supreme Court statement.”

Unfortunately the frantic folks at the "Asinine Communist Liberal Uber-anger" society ("ACLU" for those who read mostly MSM) who hate everything this country stands for won't be happy until all traces of religion, or references to, are eliminated from society. Somehow in their faith tradition (Liberalism - which is a religion unto itself) they have determined that all other religions are invalid and should therefore be eliminated. Sounds a bit like the current swath being burned by radical Islamo-fascists.

I just had to include some quotes below from the Founders. I'm a sucker for the folks who gave up everything to preserve their freedom.

"The Bible is a book worth more than all the other books that were ever printed."
Patrick Henry

"It is impossible to enslave mentally or socially a Bible reading people. The principles of the Bible are the groundwork of human freedom."
Horace Greely

"I have always said, and will always say, that studious perusal of the sacred volume will make us better citizens."
Thomas Jefferson

While President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson was elected the first president of the Washington, D.C. public school board, which used the Bible as a reading text in the classroom.