Why Government-Controlled Health Care Makes As Much Sense As Punching Yourself In The Face

A Cautionary tale from LC Azygos, who is on the front lines every day.

The Best 55 Seconds on Race In America That You Never Heard

H/T Spats

The Wrong Direction

I admit it. I have not posted a lot lately. Work is one of the reasons. When the economy is down, people are more willing to fight over money that in better times, they are more likely to let go. But the bigger part of it is the day-to-day stupidity that is the hallmark of elected officals all over the country these days. Whether it is the outstanding bipartisan spirit increasingly demonstrated by the left (We won, you didn't, so you'll do it our way and like it!), or the constant assaults on the dignity of logic and reason that translate into daily outrages that pile up like cordwood. If I attempted to catelog them all, this blog would become a full-time job. However, the worst part is the conumdrum at the heart of our current predicament. As more comes to light to inspire mistrust and disgust with government, the kind that robs it of any pretense of legitimacy, the nation as a whole seems to be nonplussed. Those of you who are regular readers know that this is not the whole story, as the mainstream media completely abandoned any appearance of impartiality in the last election cycle and publically embraced the left, finally ceasing to pretend that they didn't have a bias. And they did their jobs well. The 52% of the voters in the last election decided to believe the hype, ignore the lack of substance in the current President, and the complete lack of any serious criticism or investigation of Barry H. Obama. Hope and Change were enough. And even now, when the man who champions the cause of transparency in government hires a tax cheat for the Secretary of the Treasury, and uses the economic downturn, which was orchestrated by 'community organizers' who bullied and threatened banks into makeing bad loans, and facilitated by Democrats in Congress who turned a blind eye the mushrooming of the debt bomb, and actively dissuaded any attempt at regulation and oversight which would have put a stop to the stupid lending practices that have created the current "crisis". As a result, the Congress and the President spent more on one piece of legislation than they typically spend in one year, under the guise of 'economic stimulus', although it contains so very much more. Billions for ACORN (hey, the attorneys necessary to fight the fraud charges are expensive), money for birth control, for green power, which, when the math is done is extraordinarily expensive for the resulting power achieved, computerizing every American's health records, so that government can second guess decisions about your care made by you an your physician, and so very much more. All passed by a Congress that could not have possibly reviewed the entire bill before voting on it. State governments that expanded into so many realms in which they had no business when times were good that now face such deficits that they look to taxpayers for even more money that the government itself did not earn, and to the federal government, which means you and me. These state governments are issuing IOUs to taxpayers who are due returns for last year. An IOU? Try giving one to government, and see what happens to you. But best part is this: If the Feds give some of our bailout money to states like California, then we, you and I, get to pay for all of the things Calfornia officials did that we did not agree with. Sanctuary cities? Yup? Health care, welfare, and the cost to the state legal system and state agencies for dealing with illegals? Yup. We will get to pay for that too! And what is the reaction to all of this by the 52%ers? Yawns. They don't see any downside to any of this. "Debt so large that my grandchildren will be paying it? Whatever. When is Obama going to fix my mortgage so I can stay in this home? Paying all my McDonald's wages to do it right now is a real bummer. I want to get a plasma screen. I hope he hurries up."

The rumblings are there. Words like "disinfranchisement", "crooks", "unconstitutional", and "illegitimate" are cropping up more than I feel comfortable thinking about. The last time so many people in this country were so completely fed up with the direction of government, it lead to years of the saddest bloodshed this nation has ever known. I don't want to see it happen again in my lifetime, but I also wonder how much longer I can fullfill my duties as an officer of the court, which adjudicates the laws of a government that I increasingly feel is abdicating its duty to its people in favor of ruling over them, and the paradox grows more obvious with each passing day. Perhaps the Fresh Prez of Bill Ayers would be well served by contemplating a quote by the man whose legacy he is so eager to claim, yet he fails so tragically short of: "A house divided against itself cannot stand".

L.A. College Professor Demonstrates Fascism While Crying It

***********************UPDATED********************************

Another case of a 'speech code' on campus defending the right not to be offended. Beautiful. The best part? I'm betting that the professor simply cannot grok the irony in his actions.

LOS ANGELES - A college student has filed a lawsuit saying a public speaking professor berated him in class for making a speech opposing same-sex marriage.

Yeah, how dare that student express an opinion on a topic that VOTERS in the state recently expressed opinions on with their votes. Straying from the path of unicorns who poop rainbows out their rears when speaking in the once-hallowed halls of acedemia is a poor choice. Danger Will Robinson! Danger! Danger!

In the federal court suit filed last week, student Jonathan Lopez said that midway through his speech, when he quoted a dictionary definition of marriage and recited a pair of Bible verses, professor John Matteson cut him off and would not allow him to finish. He said Matteson also called him a "fascist bastard."

I can almost see this professor now...wild eyes, spittle flying from frenzied lips screaming "You're done! Done! No more! I don't care that you are citing the source material from one of the most influential tomes in Western Civilization! I don't care that you are citing the dictionary!!! I don't like what you are saying and that makes it untrue, inappropriate, and hate speech!!"

A student evaluation form included with the lawsuit lacks a score for Lopez's speech, and reads "ask God what your grade is."

Not acceptable. It won't be enough to cost this bully his job. He needs to be given a homework assignment in which he must research the history of American Higher Education and the purposes and results of its implementation. He sullies the heritage of the American higher educational system with his actions and hostility to religion.

In a letter, Dean Allison Jones wrote that she had met with Lopez, considered his complaint "extremely serious in nature," and had begun a disciplinary investigation. Jones said in the letter she could not elaborate because of concerns for Matteson's privacy.

The careful answer, but I suspect that nothing will come of it. Call it a hunch.

But Jones also wrote that two students were "deeply offended" by the speech, and quoted one as saying "this student should have to pay some price for preaching hate in the classroom."

And this is why. Truly, the Dean misunderstands. As a community college, I'll wager that the school accepts taxpayer dollars, and I'll also bet that the school probably is chartered through the state government. That would make it a government entity. That means that ANY restriction on the speech of a citizen SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED, no matter who gets offended. You don't like it if a student points out that a "marriage" between Neal and Bob doesn't meet the definition of marriage? Tough. You don't like it that the Bible has specific proscriptions against homosexuality? Too bad. Despite the popular opinion, this nation was founded on primarily Christian principals. Yeah, I said that out loud, and I have been doing the research to back it up.

Matteson did not immediately respond to calls and e-mails seeking comment early Monday. Offices of the Los Angeles Community College District were closed for the Presidents Day holiday.

No Surprise there.

Lopez made the speech at Los Angeles City College in November, days after the passage of Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California.

Topical and well-sourced? He'll never get anywhere in academia that way. What was he thinking?

"Basically, colleges and universities should give Christian students the same rights to free expression as other students," David J. Hacker, an attorney for the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal organization that is representing Lopez, told the Los Angeles Times.

And considering that colleges and universities were once founded by Christians to provide an educated and knowledgable clergy to preserve and foster a free and just society, that really isn't too much to expect.

Lopez and his attorneys are seeking financial damages and want the court to strike down a code at Los Angeles City College forbidding students from making statements deemed offensive.

And I hope they take it as far as they have to get that result.

************************************************************************
Apparently I was wrong. The Dean does get it, and has sided against the First Amendment. Maybe she is counting on the courts to get it wrong.

From Mike S. Adams at Townhall.com

Following the inaction of Dean Jones, Mr. Lopez sent, via counsel, a second letter demanding action in his case. Dean Jones responded by saying that the situation had been appropriately addressed. She then brazenly stated that any service of process or tort claims could be served on the District’s General Counsel.

Methinks some personal liability under a section 1983 civil rights suit might get this worm's attention.

More from Byron Sunderland

“Meanwhile, from the hearts of multitudes the dignity of honest labor and the dictates of a sober and modest economy have died out, on the one hand increasing pauperism and crime and lending to misfortune the aggrivation of human improvidence, and on the other hand, fostering habits of false show, and thus increasing the temptation to deception, fraud, peculation, and all the dishonesties of the most high-pampered extravagance and excess. Moreover, the wanton neglect or abuse of our providential blessings, and the unconscious apostasy from every sentiment of purity and virtue, have served greatly to defile and degrade the mind of a large portion of the community and ill the centers of population with a low and vulgar herd, who throng at the open temples of obscenity and infamy. Thus the materials are prepared for human guilt and wretchedness, whose catalog of crimes and woes exhausts the power of language to express them. Beyond all this, political controversy and partisan strife for the reins and spoils of power, conducted without principal, and reeking with abuse, have taken so fierce a form as often to have driven the best men from the arena and left the worst upon the field. The selfish and prolifigate stand forward to control the nominations and elections to office, and afterwords gamble with its duties and obligations without shame and without remorse.”

I love this book, but I fear the wisdom it imparts.

More Protest From the Victim Class

NY's blind governor: 'SNL' insensitive to disabled

With a headline like that, you know what is coming...yet another cry from a "victim".

MORRISVILLE, N.Y. (AP) -- The legally blind governor of New York says a second parody of him on the television show "Saturday Night Live" promotes insensitivity against the disabled.

You'll note that there is no discussion of the fact that it was a parody of a public figure, more specifically, someone who put himself in the spotlight when he sought office. In fact, I'll wager that he exploited his condition to get elected in the first place.

Democratic Gov. David Paterson said Thursday that the show's continued parodies hurt disabled people not in a position to fight back.

Nonsense! The parody pricked his over-developed ego...the same ego that likely inspired him to run for office in the first place. After all, if one is a democrat and blind, where else can they seek lucrative employment? The executive branch of a state government is a perfect place for such a person to work!

A segment on Paterson aired last week featured "SNL" cast member Fred Armisen — with one eye closed most of the time, the other focused on his own nose — unable to see fellow cast member Seth Meyers or a prop. Armisen portrayed the governor as a clueless blind man with a past of youthful drug use and womanizing.

And this hurt disabled persons not in a position to fight back. Seems the governor has done a wonderful job using his position to fight back. And he does so using the Democratic playbook, too: Don't address the substance, swing at the emotional component. If he were my governor, I'd send him a box of hankies to cry into. He knows politics is a full-contact sport, but he has no compunction about exploiting his condition to get the result he wants. And people say I'm cynical.

NBC spokeswoman Sharon Pannozzo says neither the network nor the show would comment on Paterson's remarks.

Of course not. The Democratic Party's media arm has been properly chastised for turning its satire in the direction of one of their own. I'm sure they will perform the appropriate mea culpa and have a Sarah Palin skit or three this weekend.

For Those Of You Who Have Being Paying Attention...

Last week was very, very busy, and the weekend hasn't been much better.

Sig, the point is it is my motto, and I was pointed to that site which can be used to create such seals.

To those who participated in the headline contest, the answer is having government getting any deeper in to mortgages is wrong wrong WRONG!

I got my new book this week. It is "The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States", by Benjamin F. Morris. I have been so busy, I have not had a chance to really start reading it, but in reading the introduction, which was written April 14, 1863, by Byron Sunderland, it have found it remarkably prescient. An example?

"Our unparalled liberty has degenerated into dissolute indulgence; we have been so long without the burdens of government as to have almost forgotten the price of our birthright and to have cast away the only safeguards for its continuance; we have proved ourselves unworthy of our inheritance, in our contempt of the virtue which alone provides protection to our society, in our blind disregard of the Christian foundations on which alone the great interests of a nation can permanently rest."

I think I am going to really enjoy this book.

What's wrong with this headline?

GOP circulates plan to cut the cost of mortgages (AP)

AP - Senate Republicans circulated a sweeping plan to drive down the cost of mortgages by expanding the federal government's role in the industry, officials said Monday night as debate opened on an economic stimulus bill at the top of President Barack Obama's agenda.

Everyone post your answers in the comments. I'll grade them Friday.

sealmt8.gif hosted at ImageShack.us

Quickpost this image to Myspace, Digg, Facebook, and others!