Medary.com – Democrat = Censorship

Censorship of the Internet Takes Center Stage in “Online Infringement” Bill[*1]

Senator Patrick Leahy yesterday introduced the “Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act” (COICA).
. . .
This is a censorship bill that runs roughshod over freedom of speech on the Internet. Free speech is vitally important to democracy, which is why the government is restricted from suppressing speech except in very specific, narrowly-tailored situations. But this bill is the polar opposite of narrow — not only in the broad way that it tries to define a site “dedicated to infringing activities,” but also in the solution that it tries to impose — a block on a whole domain, and not just the infringing part of the site.

The step from where the Democratic Party is now to where continental Europe found itself in the 1930’s is not very far at all. The European politicians of that era (inspired, by the way, by the American Progressives like Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson) thought they knew all the answers, and knew better than anybody else how to make life better for everybody, too. And if a few eggs had to be broken to make a better omelette, well then that was the price that we all had to pay, wasn’t it?

This could end quite badly indeed.

Karl Denninger is really starting to scare the bejeesus out of me . . .

His latest: Avoidance Will Not Work[*1] :

Bernanke doesn’t have this under his control. He wants you to think he does, but he does not. His “nuclear option” forces him to monetize roughly thirty trillion of rolling debt. If he does it, the currency instantly collapses and the government very well might go with it.

Geithner definitely doesn’t have this under his control. The Government can only give him that control by ceasing deficit spending. We’re talking about a 50% cut in the Federal Budget – including entitlements. Are you willing to accept that? You’re going to have to be – because ultimately, that’s going to have to happen.

And Obama doesn’t have this under control at all. His only mantra? Spend more money we don’t have. Pure insanity – the very reason we’re in this mess.

No, folks – the power and choice is yours, but if you choose not to act – here and now – once that line is crossed it isn’t going to make a damn bit of difference what you do.

Your wealth – all of it – will be lost.

Yep. Bejeesus. Scared. Totally out. Gimme a beer.

We Are So Screwed.

“The Insurgency”

I prefer “The Restoration,” personally.

The question is: Are you with the people, or are you with the powerful?

Choose wisely. This is still America. For a little while, anyway.

Anyway, This from a two-part article (Part one[*1] , Part two[*2] ) at the new RightNetwork, which pretty much hits the nail on the head:

The Insurgency began in the fall of 2008, when President Bush, Senator Obama, and Senator McCain appeared together to endorse the TARP bailout. At that moment the lights came on for many Americans. It was glaringly obvious that both political parties jointly operated the system, and the system existed to protect the well connected at the expense of everyone else. The public opposed the TARP bailouts; the banks got their money anyway. The Insurgency, long brewing, began.

The Insurgency is a movement of citizens directed against unsustainable government taxation and regulation, and spending, both of which benefit insiders rather than ordinary people. The target of the Insurgency is a leviathan in Washington, D.C. that will ruin us all if it is not dismantled.

The Insurgency is part of a long tradition of mass political movements in our history. It has the potential to make a fundamental change in American life—for the better.

. . .

The Democrats have been the main advocates of bigger government, so they are the most threatened by the Insurgency, and their servile allies in the legacy media have responded with the usual dishonest campaign of vilification. They have tried to demonize this new mass movement, and to alienate it from the center of the American electorate. So far, they have enjoyed only limited success in their shrill efforts at defamation. Labeling as “racist” all disagreements with any so-called Progressive position is an overused, worn-out weapon at this point, for instance—and leftists similarly overused and neutralized the word “fascist,” as George Orwell memorably recounted over 60 years ago. No one is fooled.

Nonetheless, the Republican Party will derive little joy from the Insurgency. It has similarly been stunned by the appearance of this massive outbreak of popular feeling and activity. The post-1994 decay of the GOP, especially during the Bush era, has shown the American people that no relief will come from the Republican Party unless it reforms itself first. The voters repudiated the GOP in 2006 and 2008, and with good reason.

The GOP seems to have initially believed that it could somehow ride public anger to victory in 2010 without offering any basic change in the way the game is played. The ongoing political massacre of establishment GOP politicians shows that this was incorrect; the public is onto their game. Time is running out for the GOP. The years 2010 and 2012 will be the GOP’s last opportunity to reform itself, and if it fails to do so, the GOP will be the first major victim of the Insurgency.

Much more. To understand the Tea Parties, to understand The Insurgency, to understand The Restoration, go and Read The Whole Thing, else you be as ignorant as our “betters” in Washington.

A note to Democrats I have (or will) offend

Yes, I hold you and your political party responsible for the current state of this country.

You and your party led the charge for the disastrous “make home ownership more affordable” policies of Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and the Clinton Administration which was the precipitating cause of the current economic troubles.

You and your party have worked tirelessly to bloat the educational system with bureaucrats and paper-pushers instead of concentrating on the simple yet complex act of transmitting knowledge from teacher to student.

You and your party have turned concern for the Earth’s ecosystem (good) into a Holy Crusade to stamp out any impact of human activity on the planet.

You and your party have advocated the welfare-state-at-all-costs mentality which has bankrupted this country.

You and your party have lead the charge to corrupt and undermine all of the institutions of this country, from the Constitution to the Federal Government to the universities to the media, which were supposed to guarantee the freedom and liberty of every individual citizen of the United States.

For that, I hold you responsible.

But wait–I hold the Republicans, and myself for voting for them, responsible for a lot of this as well.

Because far, far too often, Republican politicians have said one thing during elections (freedom! liberty! free markets!) but as soon as they get elected, turn around and become enablers for all of the above Democrat wrecking balls swinging at civil society.

And Republican voters like me let them get away with it, because a lot of us saw the Republicans as the lesser of two evils. I know a lot of Democrats didn’t really like their candidates either, but saw them similarly as the lesser of the evils. Different people, different opinions, but the same result.

It is the entire political industry in the U.S.A. that the Tea Party is aiming to replace. The Tea Party movement is at its core a Good Government uprising of the people against an increasingly intrusive government.

It just so happens that in 2010 it is the Republican enablers of the primarily Democratic big-government movement whom the Tea Party movement are coming after this election. This is happening in a political year of immense antipathy towards government in general. And the Democrats control the Congress and the Presidency. But what is happening is NOT a Republican movement.

The Republican enablers of Democrat-sponsored big government are running scared, and are becoming increasingly desperate. That explains why the Republican Senators did not strip Alaska Senator Murkowski of her senority positions, even when she announced she would attempt a write-in campaign against the duly elected Republican candidate for Senate in Alaska.

The point being that the Tea Party insurgency is a revolt against intrusive government, not against just Obama, or just the Republicans, or just the Democrats. It’s a revolt against the entire corrupt, obnoxious, officious, increasingly oppressive government which is opposed to every political principle upon which the United States of America was founded.

So, friend Democrat, where do you stand? Are you with the “Progressives?” With the technocrats? With the authoritarians? With the busybodies? With the bureaucrats? With the social engineers? With the socialists? With the Gramscians? With the Marxists? With the Maoists who have been, and are currently in the Obama Administration?

Or, are you ready to consider another choice?

Come back to American values. Reassert your American citizenship based on American values.

Come back to us.

Join your fellow citizens. Help us clean up our political mess–clean up our financial mess–clean up our educational mess–clean up our intellectual mess–clean up our country.

Embrace freedom. Embrace liberty. Embrace the beautiful chaos of a vibrant free economy under a rule of law which does not tilt the balance towards the rich, or towards the poor, or towards the powerful, or towards the well-connected. Justice, impartially delivered to rich and poor and strong and weak. We have strayed far from that today in this country–very, very far. Help your neighbors bring this country back to that vision.

Join us.

None of us have lived up to the promise of America’s founders. But the promise is still there.

All will be forgiven–if you give up your dreams of power and glory. Give up your unrealistic visions of equality of outcome, of collective salvation, of redistribution of wealth. There is no path to those visions which does not end in utter carnage.

Embrace freedom–not just for yourself but for everyone else. Embrace the freedom to succeed, and embrace the freedom to fail.

Join us, today. Take another look at what Tea Party-backed candidates are REALLY saying–not what MSNBC, CNN, or the other networks are telling you they are saying. Actually read what Sarah Palin writes, not what the newspapers report. You will find something very disturbing.

You are being lied to. Lies of omission, mostly, but lies of commission as well.

Stop believing the lies. Join us and help us re-establish truth as the foundation of American political culture.

Moron, The Clown Congress

Isn’t it nice to know that the current, 111th Congress, has earned a name? Not many Congresses have aspired to a label. Most of them have been content with a number. Of course, we had the original ones, the Continental Congresses, which formed the United States of America in the first place. Few others, even the momentous post-Civil War Reconstruction Congresses, the Progressive Congresses before the First World War, the New Deal Congresses of the Great Depression, and the Civil Rights/Vietnam War Congresses of the 1960’s did not really coalesce around a single identity which could be described with a single name.

But the Congress elected with Obama in 2008?

The Clown Congress.

Unable to govern, the Democrats turn to Stephen Colbert[*1]

A Congress Of, By, and For Clowns.

Let’s throw the Clowns out this November, what do you say?

Here’s how Democrats steal elections

The Democrats can’t win this year–that is, not if they play by the rules. But it should be obvious to every single person in this country by now that for Democrats, rules are for Other People. They do Whatever It Takes to win.

This means that they’ll betray the very name of their party in their unquenchable lust for power. Here’s how:

Allow (allegedly) illegal aliens to vote, and have an (allegedly) corrupt judge cover for them when they get sued.[*1]

Commit blatant, race-based voter intimidation, then have a corrupt U.S. Justice Department cover for them.[*2]

Stuff the voter rolls in Texas (and, in fact, throughout the country) to the extent that there are jurisdictions that have more registered “voters” than there are people living there–and then have those phantom voters vote as necessary, for Democrats.[*3]

Just stuff the ballot boxes.[*4]

And if it isn’t the rampant Democrat election corruption, it’s their amoral, cynical political tactics, from utterly untrue political ads that go completely unchallenged by the Media-Government Complex to planting provocateurs at events and running false-flag operations like the laughable attempt to hijack the “tea party” name in Michigan. The list goes on and on.

And no, everybody does NOT do it.

If you’re registered Democrat, or if you vote for a Democrat, go into your bathroom, take a good long look in the mirror.

What you will be looking at is the face of corruption.

Yes, you.

What do you plan to do about it? When do you plan to bring your own political party under control?

Republicans are trying to do it, largely through the tea parties. (Yes, THAT is what the tea parties are about. Not racism. Stop getting your talking points from MSNBC or CNN.)

Take control of your own party, or be prepared for what comes next, because I guarantee it will not be pretty, or comfortable for anybody if this goes on much longer. That’s not a threat. It’s a nightmare.

Wake up.

The 2010 – 14-Day Alaskan Adventurer Cruise, Main Page

This is the front page for our journal of our Alaska cruise on Holland America’s ms Amsterdam from August 22 through September 6, 2010.

Here are the individual posts, collected all in one handy location for your reading pleasure. As we travel, we’ll be adding posts so you can follow our journeys.

(Click the Read More to see all the post links . . .) Part 1, Seattle, WA and at sea
Part 2, Ketchikan, AK
Part 3, Sitka, AK
Part 4, Skagway and Glacier Bay, AK
Part 5, Anchorage and Homer, AK
Part 6, Kodiak, AK
Part 7, Hubbard Glacier, AK
Part 8, Juneau, AK
Part 9, Victoria, BC, Canada

The 2010 – 14-Day Alaskan Adventurer Cruise, Part 9

The 14-Day Alaskan Adventurer Cruise, August 22-September 6, 2010, Holland America Amsterdam

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Nine

September 3 (Friday, Day 13, Juneau, Alaska, continued) –

Baked Alaska

Snookums, Filbert, Charlotte and Gary ate in the dining room in order to enjoy the Master Chef’s Dinner. It started 15 minutes earlier than our normal dining time and the waiters sang, danced and juggled. Everyone received the same first two courses and we had to choose our appetizer, soup and entrée. Everyone got baked Alaska for dessert and that was paraded around the dining room. It was a fun time and even Filbert, who hates the parade of waiters that occur on some cruises, enjoyed the dinner.

More after the jump . . .

The baked Alaska parade passes behind Charlotte

After dinner the four of us went to the Future Cruise Consultant since Snookums and Filbert had convinced Gary and Charlotte to go on a Transatlantic cruise that they had already signed up for. While there, Gary and Charlotte signed up for another Baltic/Transatlantic cruise, too, and then convinced Snookums and Filbert to go on it. So, both couples signed up for future cruises while on this cruise! Snookums and Filbert signed up for one and Gary and Charlotte signed up for two. (Well, Snookums and Filbert actually signed up for two since they signed up for an Amazon one on the first day of the cruise that they had been planning on signing up for anyway. You get extra perks from Holland America if you sign up for a cruise while ON a cruise and since you can still shop around for the best price from any travel agent, it’s a good deal.) All in all, it was a great day and a fun evening.

September 4 (Saturday, Day 14, At Sea) –

We slept in and enjoyed a room service breakfast on the balcony. It was sunny and nice. There was a special lunch at 11 AM for past cruisers that we all signed up for. Snookums, Filbert, Charlotte and Gary were going to meet Mom, Dad and Judy so that we could all sit together but Mom, Dad and Judy wanted to attend Lorna Luft’s morning interview so we were going to attend lunch in two smaller groups. However, while Snookums, Filbert, Gary and Charlotte were waiting in the crowd of people for the dining room to open, they spotted Mom so the five of us ate at the same table. We later saw Judy and Dad eating at another table. We had three other women at our table and they were part of the bridge group. A company sponsored a bridge cruise for serious bridge players so there were a bunch of people on the ship that played in bridge tournaments most days and attended lectures. We got our Holland America tiles at lunch. Other than that, it was a non-event. But, we had to go in order to get our gift of the tile. HAL gives a tile on every cruise and usually they somehow represent the type of cruise or the ship. This tile, though, was HAL’s normal blue “Delft” style and had two ships on it. It wasn’t too memorable.

After lunch Snookums spent time on the balcony reading her book and Filbert took a nap. After a bit, Snookums put on shorts and a t-shirt since it was so warm on the balcony! She wasn’t expecting to sweat on an Alaskan cruise, but she did. After 3 hours on the balcony it was time for dinner. Tonight was formal night and Filbert and Snookums decided to not dress up so they went to Lido for dinner with Gary and Charlotte. It was a pretty low energy day, but a good one. And the weather couldn’t be beat!

September 5 (Sunday, Day 15, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada) –

Victoria

Today was our last full day on the ship. We docked in Victoria at 4 PM. We were all packed by then, but first we met with Dee and Shelby. They are the ones that won the $100 at the Skagway Alaska Shirt Company store. They are bridge players on the cruise. They wanted to buy us drinks as “thanks”. Snookums was glad to hear that they spent a total of $102 which meant they only spent $2 out of pocket for their free loot. We found out that Dee used to teach at Metro State in Denver and loves sports and already knows that the Women’s Final Four will be played in Denver in 2012. Snookums told her that she would keep her informed of the volunteer opportunities. Shelby bought a jacket that she’ll wear skiing (they both live near Denver). Shelby’s 59-year old husband doesn’t cruise but trains for ironman triathlons and plays baseball on a traveling team. We had a nice visit and they were very appreciative of us telling them that they were the winning cabin.Packing didn’t take too long. It’s always easier to pack to go home than it is to pack for the cruise since you just have to pack everything that’s in the cabin. We accumulated more things on this cruise than any other. Among other things, our “haul” included 3 t-shirts (two free Alaska ones and a Sarah Pale Ale one), a “Time Bandit” hoodie and book, a $15 ¼ zip fleece that Snookums bought on the ship, two free Ketchikan coffee mugs, two free Ketchikan baseball hats, our sea otter piece of art, a bar of glacier silt soap, a jar of kelp marmalade, free Alaska tote bags, free “trinkets” from the Alaska State Fair, and an empty bottle of Rogue Captain Sig’s Northwestern Ale. We definitely had more items to take home than we came with which was very unusual for us. However, it all got packed and we left the ship at 4:15 to see Victoria’s Inner Harbour. Since this was our last night on the ship, we decided to be back in time for our 5:45 dinner time. We took the 2-mile waterfront walk to the Inner Harbour and saw the ivy-covered 1908 Empress Hotel and the Legislative Buildings. There was a classic boat show in the harbor and lots of old, fancy wooden boats were on display. There were street artists and vendors, too. It was a very lively place and very beautiful with lots of flower baskets and pretty flora. We walked back to the ship and saw Mom waving at us from their balcony. We made it to dinner with one minute to spare.

BC Legislature
Empress Hotel
Flower bed at the hotel

Charlotte, Mom and Dad were at the table when Filbert and Snookums walked in. Mom said that Judy went on a walk, too, but said she would be back for dinner. Judy arrived around 5:55. We all knew that Gary wasn’t going to be joining us since he had been talking about eating in Victoria’s Chinatown practically the entire cruise. He wanted wonton soup! We had a nice dinner and everyone went back to their cabins.

Gary came by Snookums and Filbert’s cabin around 9:30 to say goodbye and to tell us about Chinatown. He was disappointed in it since he remembered it being more than two blocks long and now it is around one block long. But, his soup was good. We said goodbye and looked forward traveling together on the Transatlantic cruise we signed up for.

September 6 (Monday, Day 16, Seattle, Washington) –

We woke up to a cloudy, wet day, which means it was a typical day for Seattle. After a leisurely breakfast we went to Mom, Dad and Judy’s suite at 8:30 to leave the ship. Holland America lets you stay in your room until it’s time for you to leave which is nice. Some cruise lines make you wait in public areas until it is your turn to leave. We exited the ship for the last time, got a porter to haul our luggage and went to find a cab to take us to the airport. The cab company didn’t have any full-size vans in its line so the dispatcher ordered one but didn’t know how long it would take. In the meantime, Snookums went to the private vehicles to find out how much they charged to go to the airport. All the drivers wanted $65 but Snookums found an SUV-driver that would take $50. Sold! We piled in the SUV and got to the Midwest gate by 10 for our noon flight home.

The ride home

Our flight left on time and Jean, Snookums’s sister, was at the Kansas City airport to pick us up. Milly, Jean’s daughter and therefore Snookums’s niece, was visiting home over Labor Day and was catching a Midwest Airlines flight back to New York City. Her flight left one hour after our flight landed so we knew we would get to see her for a few minutes. Mom and Dad talked to Milly (their granddaughter) while Filbert and Snookums loaded the minivan. We drove Jean to her home and dropped her off and then went to Mom and Dad’s and dropped everyone else off. Then Snookums and Filbert took Dad’s minivan to their house. They got home by 6:30 PM.

After some basic unpacking, mail sorting, eating and showering, they were in bed by 10 PM. It was a completely no-hassle day to end a super-duper fantastic trip. Snookums has been on 30+ cruises and this was her second best one ever, after the 67-day Asia/Australia cruise in 2008. The Alaska weather was great, the wildlife and sealife were awesome, the views were stunning and we had calm cruising while traveling 3,930 nautical miles averaging 17.4 knots. In all, it was stupendous!