After reading about how Yonkers proved Socialism is a failure I’ll look for you to do the same for Capitalism by citing the JP Morgan fiasco.

(but I know that you can conjure up some way of blaming the government for the big loss)

In your world business is sacrosanct.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-11/jpmorgan-loses-2-billion-as-mistakes-trounce-hedges.html

JPMorgan Loses $2 Billion on Unit’s ‘Egregious Mistakes’ (Update 1)

Sincerely yours,
Donald M Stebbins
BS 1961

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Stebbins, Donald M. (MC1961)

[JR: I responded, but in the interest of not monopolizing the conversation, I moved it to this week's ENDNOTE. Thanks for the "gift", I was running out of ideas.]

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2012-May-13

Dearest Jasper Stebbins:

Thanks for “tee-ing” this softball. Now let me hit it out of the park!

Of course, this is the Gooferment’s fault, but probably NOT for the reasons you think.

They have permitted the “moral hazard” to exist. And, because imho, it suits the politicians’ and bureaucrats’ purposes, Big Banking has been permitted and encouraged to exist.

Politicians like easy “campaign contributons” and Big Banks are their own little slush fund. Look how many Big Banks and their executives give to BOTH parties. Can you say “advance auction of future favors”? Bureaucrats “love” Big Banks because it gives them a job “regulating” them and then future employment after “gooferment service” to feather their nests. Look at Bush43′s and BHO44′s Treasury Departments, any wonder why Goldman Sach’s was a big winner in all the bailouts?

That’s corruption. And not a “free market” by any stretch of the imagination.

And, the political class likes it just fine. Screw “Main Street”; it’s “Wall Street” that donates.

It’s not “Business” that is sacrosanct; it IS “GREED” that is.

Capitalism, raw naked greed, has done more for “human progress” that any other meme. And, I’d include “Christianity” or “Catholicism” in those memes considered for corination as MIM (most important meme). It induces irrascible, uncooperative, and generally unruly human beings to cooperate without force or “slavemasters / overseers”. Greed, singlehandedly, drives mankind to work itself / themselves harder than any King or Cross. Midnight oil is expended liberally in the drive to be the next Zukenberg.

Look at the Third World, it’s only their acceptance of corruption and the value that they place on women and children that allows us to stay ahead of them. Human energy is driven when given a goal.

Anyone who doubts human ingenuity need only look at America’s prisons where drugs, cell phones and other “contraband” are freely available and cigarettes are “money”. Then tell me about Greed and the American drive to succeed?

It was only when the country turned Socialist by giving women the right to vote that “we” (the collective) began to lose our way.

(I’m popular at family functions when I link the “women’s right to vote” to “Prohibition” to “Organized Crime” to the “(pseudo) War on (some) Drugs” to the rise of the “Fascist State in Amerika”! Proabably as popular with the womenfolk as I am with you!)

Prohibition, The Federal Reserve, the Income Tax, Gooferment Skrules, and all the subsequent implementations of Socialist meme in the new Amerika have DESTROYED the American Experiment in “republican (little R) self-government”.

So I’d urge that we reject the current scheme of “Socialist Capitalism” and get back “to raw naked Greed”!

Let folks in biz FAIL! Miserable, big time, not bailouts. Let the Zuckenbergs of the future swing for the “fences” at their OWN peril.

When some of them fail, let us CELEBRATE and APPLAUD as they spin, crash, and burn in a “death spiral” to bankruptcy and poverty.

But, when they win, let the keep it ALL.

No meme advances the collective good better, faster, and cheaper that Capitalism.

No Gooferment welfare; private charity. No bailouts; bankruptcy. No social engineering; let people grow however they see fit. No Gooferment “safety net” that traps people into perpetually poverty and moral bankruptcy.

Sigh.

It seems so simple to me? Guess I just really don’t understand. 

But I want “flush toilets” and don’t mind playing plumbers outrageous rates at 3AM to make it work. Never saw a poor plumber. And some of them are really smart nice guys. 

Unlike some of those snooty Jaspers from up the hill that look down on the barbarians in Fanny Farmer.

Thanks for the “gift”, I’m sure you’ll say I just do NOT understand, like the fat old white guy injineer from Fannie Farmer Land I am.

fjohn68

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http://andreascetinski.blogspot.com/2012/05/part-one-of-series-of-reports.html

Cetinski, Andreas [MC1992]

Thursday, May 3, 2012
Part One of a Series of Reports……

*** begin quote ***

“A City In Decline, What is Truly Happening in The City of Yonkers, NY” or maybe a better title, “The City of Yonkers, Uncovering the Truth” so lets begin, since we have to begin somewhere, full dislclosure, i am a Yonkers Fire Lieutenant and have been a member of the YFD for a little over 11 years………..just went to a Yonkers City Council townhall type meeting at Lincoln HS in Yonkers, where the residents and employees of Yonkers get to voice their concerns over the proposed budget from the Mayor and i have to to say i was extremely disappointed, first off, some residents seem to live in a bubble where all that matters is education, we can all agree education is crucial but without police keeping the streets safe and firefighters keeping you safe and sanitation workers keeping the streets clean then what kind of learning environment can children thrive in? it takes all of these services working together to make a city thrive and be alive.

*** end quote ***

AHHhh, it’s nice to see someone recognizing that “socialism doesn’t work”.

The powers that be, masquerading as a fiction called “The City of Yonkers, NY” — which ”We, The Sheeple” actually treat as if it exists — allow the gangsters to provoke a fight between those that want education and those that want police and those that want firefighters. Argh!

Compare that to the Free Market, or what we know today as the SEMI-FREE market. (The only true free market is the underground or Black Market.) 

You want Burger King and I want KFC. The invisible hand of the free market provides each of us exactly (almost) what we want at a price we are willing to pay. 

No fights between the KFC-ers and the BK-ers. Peaceful commerce. 

Now return to the Socialist scenario. After helping themselves to vast quantities of loot disguised as salaries, pensions, and benefits! And, after all the corrupt double dealing tricks that are all very illegal! The peons get to fight over how to allocate the few pennies that are left. All those who want more — “Please, sir, may I have some more?” — are pointed at casinos, developers, “the rich”, … <insert favorite scapegoats> … the crazy Libertarians who say “weze vein’ robbed” to extract the needed wealth.

Yes, you want education? Don’t ask for others to pay for it. 

Yes, you want fire protection? Don’t ask for others to pay for it.

Yes, you want a “peace officer”? Don’t ask others to pay for it.

Ben Franklin came up with “fire insurance” to pay for the fireman. Great concept. 

Let’s revive it.

<Insert argument about “You had those kids. You feed ‘em. Why do I have to eddykate them.”>

Anyway, you get the idea of this endnote. “Don’t let fictions cause friction”.

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Published on Mar 10, 2012 by creativelab7

*** begin quote ***

Will you vote the values that will stand the test of fire? Some things are more important than high gas prices or a faltering economy. They are life, marriage and freedom. This November, Catholics must stand up and protect their sacred rights and duties.

*** end quote ***

[JR: Seems like the gloves are coming off in the battle of Church and State. Now, I'd like to this I always vote my principles. Even though, I rarely vote for a winner. The ad doesn't say who to vote for, but I think it's obvious. Should be a "fun" election.]

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Thursday, April 12, 2012
That Rare Breed of Guys

*** begin quote ***

Last week, I was going to my journalism class and I showed up about an hour early. I decided to leave my stuff in the classroom anyway so I wouldn’t be walking around with all my baggage (those who have seen me on campus know I carry a lot of baggage, haha). When I walked into the classroom, I saw a guy standing on the platform cleaning the whiteboard. He had shoulder length hair, and a newsboy cap, and I couldn’t tell if he was a professor or a student. So I asked. To my surprise, he was a student.

He was cleaning the whiteboard with that chemical spray, and he was diligently trying to clean the marker streaks from the board. He made it clear that this was something he was not told to do, so I asked him why he chose to do it.

He told me that his professor wasn’t going to clean it, and he didn’t want the board to be dirty for the next class. He also picked up one of the whiteboard erasers and showed that the erasers do more harm than good.

*** and ***

They don’t really make them like that anymore. A lot of guys my age are not like this, Christian or not. I thought my single problems were exclusive to me because of my faith, but later on as I was telling my friends this story, they said they have the same problem too.

All the good guys are taken! The rest of them tend to be immature, self-centered, not willing to commit to anything, slackers, or too shy/weak to “man up and take initiative”…I mean, not *all* single guys from ages 18-22 are like this, but you get the point.

Oh, mighty men of valor, WHERE ARE YOU?

Posted by Nicole Marie at 4/12/2012 08:29:00 AM

*** end quote ***

Vacca, Nicole Marie (MC2013) blogging in Musings of a Female College Student

Sparks this week’s rant. Having spoken recently to Flynn, Bro. Gregory (MC1967), I’m humbled by his greatness. So to echo the supplication: “Oh, mighty men of valor, WHERE ARE YOU?”.

Based on what Brother Gregory told me at least two of them are reading Jasper Jottings.

Today’s “culture of crudeness”, where TV shows glorify casual sex, demean both women (mostly) and men (as objects of derision). Where, in fact, is the glorification of men, in the image of Saint Joseph the Worker, who make a vow, pick up their cross, and carry it to the finish line, humbly and patiently and uncomplainingly? You surely won’t see them on TV. But they are out there.

Argh!

Unfortunately they don’t make the news.

As a sign of the time, Heraldo Rivera wants every birth certificate to have a father’s name. Wouldn’t it be better to have a real father?

Double Argh!

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Harry The Librarian
About Me: Librarian, Rotarian, music lover, philosopher, narrator, public speaker, creator of the “Famous Library as Barn Raising” Speech.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Who Needs Libraries? We All Do!

*** begin quote ***

I was at the world premier of this wonderful video at the Massachusetts State House this morning as part of Library Legislative Day. Enjoy.

*** end quote ***

Williams, Harry Roger III [MC1970]

NOW FROM THE LOYAL OPPOSITION:

http://reinkefaceslife.com/2010/03/09/political-too-many-parks-socialisms-economic-calculation-problem/

POLITICAL: Too many parks; Socialism’s economic calculation problem

*** begin quote ***

Only at the very grossest level can we opine on government spending. Suppose that a park was a “for profit” operation, like Disney World, and it had to carry its costs. This is the specific argument that I have with the South Brunswick “Public Library”. They take money from property taxes and “fund raising” that they do. People in and around South Brunswick didn’t support a movie theater; it went out of business. How can the “Public Library” go out of business? It can’t. The State Gooferment “legislates” that there be one for every Municipal Gooferment. It’s politics; not economics.

*** end quote ***

[JR: Do we need "libraries"? Absolutely! Should they be funded by taxes extracted at the point of a gun?  Absolutely not! The South Brunswock library is beautiful. Well used. Some what innovative. And, mostly funded by extortion of the property owners in South Brunswick. It's fiscally irresponsible. And, there's not a thing that this taxpayer can do about it, but use an get some value out of my stolen wealth. When the people didn't support that movie theater, it folded and it's now a drug store. That's the invisible hand of the free market giving consumers what they want. At a cost they are willing to pay. So shouldn't the library be the equivalent of Gold's Gym for minds? Rise and fall on how well it serve the consumer in a free market. Argh! Sheeple!!! ]

# – # – # – # – #  2012-Apr-12 @ 08:38

70 Years Later, Fordham Football Star Not Forgotten
By Kristen MeriwetherEpoch Times Staff
Created: April 12, 2012 Last Updated: April 12, 2012

*** begin quote ***

NEW YORK—College football in the early 1900s was a different game without much competition from the National Football League. College football was king and Ivy League schools such as Yale, Harvard, and Cornell, dominated. Fordham University, located in the Bronx, was also a powerhouse.

Football was not the modern game played now, but a primitive, often violent version. Leather helmets and thin padding were all that protected the young men from each other’s wrath. Serious injury was not uncommon and every year football claimed the lives of the players who entertained the masses.

*** and ***

In addition to losing the game, three Fordham players were carted off the field—Paul Howell, John Szymanski, and Cornelius “Connie” Murphy. Szymanski, who had come in to relieve Murphy after his injury, left the field unconscious.
Cornelius “Connie” Murphy in an undated photo. Murphy died from injuries he sustained in a football game on Nov. 21, 1931.

Szymanski was the one that people were worried about and Murphy seemed to recover fine. But on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 1931, a blood vessel suddenly ruptured at the base of Murphy’s brain and he passed away. The death sent shockwaves through the campus and changed generations in the Murphy family forever.

*** and ***

A Dec. 10, 1931, news clipping from “The Ram,” Fordham’s weekly newspaper, described a solemn tribute mass for Connie that included many students and even football players from nearby New York University, Columbia University, and Manhattan College.

Connie was the first in his family to go to college and was hugely popular on campus, excelling athletically and academically.

“Fordham honors Connie, not for his football fame. For such glory is transient and each year’s star is lost to memory in the brilliance of the following season’s favorite. It is the gentleman, gallant, courageous, clean, that brings to his acquaintances, a sense of loss, to his intimates, a deep-rooted grief,” student Francis J. Bauer wrote in The Ram, which was later reprinted in the Fordham Alumni Magazine.

*** end quote ***

[JR: I caught this story in my automagic searches because of the reference to Alma Mater. At first I discarded it, then I thought better of it. There's a lesson here. No, not "don't play football without a helmet". But that our good works are remember far more that we know or expect. And that even our "opponents" are watching our conduct. My Mom gave me her mandate a standard to conduct myself by: "Don't embarrass us." So that's always been the standard, "Can I tell Mom?". While I've fallen short more times than I care to think, and I'm sure my fellow alums never would fail, I do think that this Fordham exemplar can be "stolen" as an honorary Jasper. Even our "opponents" can teach us. This teaches me to think about what I leave behind.]

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Jesus loves gay people
Sean Brennan
Gay Christian Examiner

*** begin quote ***

So why not start with the main message right from the start: Jesus loves the gays!  How do I know this?  Well besides the obvious–that He loves everyone–it seems to me that minorities like gay people have a special place in Jesus’ heart.  Yes, right there in the sacred heart of Jesus is a special place for me and my fellow homos.

Now I’m no theologian, but I’ve read my bible cover to cover several times, have my bachelor’s degree in theology from Manhattan College, and lived as a monk for four years.  Does any of this make me an expert?  No.  But neither are most loudmouths you’ll hear on this topic either.  And I can tell you with every fiber of my being that Jesus Christ Himself was and is gay friendly.

*** end quote ***

I too have had all the courses.

At least those theology courses required of a fat old white guy injineer — Man, did I hate hiking up the hill; always late and sweaty. Almost as much as Father Bruce Ritter hated having “the barbarians from down the hill” in his class. Him and his constant references to “Danny Lou” and “God and the ways of knowing. I have the D’s to show for my miniscule effort and even smaller understanding — but one thing that Father Bruce did communicate is that when you fail to “love” another human being, you are “wrong-er”. Even the worst sinner is a “child of God”.

So, Father Bruce’s point was the “beam in your own eye; rather than the mote in your neighbor’s”.

So, like many things in this Universe, it’s far above my paygrade. I have too many flaws of my own to work on. Not the least of which is recognizing that my fellow alums are further along the path to enlightenment than I am. That path, was probably NOT designed by an injineer, because it would be a superfast highway with explicit signage.

I’ll bring that up when I arrive at the Finish Line. If directed to the down escalator, I argue it wasn’t my fault — poor signs — and appeal. If directed to the up escalator, who cares!]

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http://niklowe.blogspot.com/2012/03/i-think-im-now-officially-troll.html

Off topic from the Jasper Jotter, but something I thought that your injineerin’ mind might enjoy!
Hope all’s well and that MC’s enjoying the start of Springtime!

:)
Michael

McFadden, Michael J. [MC1973]

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[JR: Au contrair, mon ami! This is perfect fodder for an ENDNOTE!]

*** begin quote ***

Green thinking – more harm than good?

When the climate took a turn for the worse during the so-called Younger Dryas period some 12,000 years ago, our ancestors didn’t don a hair shirt and hope for the best. They innovated. A sharp return to ice age like conditions helped precipitate the development of agriculture in the Levant, a hugely successful innovation that soon diffused to other settled regions. So if contemporary climate change is to be taken as seriously as many Greens urge, our response should also be innovation driven. Why then does much of our current Green thinking focus on environmentally and socially regressive ideas?

While the development of agriculture during the Neolithic revolution was to change the world for the better, the real awakening from millennia of Malthusian stagnation was the industrial revolution. Whether through the far-reaching ideas of the Scottish enlightenment or the innovations of James Watt, it was realised that the future could be radically different from the past.

*** end quote ***

I loved the post for it’s logical building.

As much as I agree with Ron Paul, we really urgently need to have honest money. It confuses all the calculations. Imagine surveying with a variable length?

As mush as disagree with Newt, he’s right we should be getting off this rock we call Earth.

As much as I disagree with BHO44, he’s right in that “we” are the problem. Just not in the way he says we are. We don’t allow people maximum freedom “to be all that you can be”.

It’s a great thought provoking piece. I had to read it several times, but I’m sure that my fellow alums can skim it once and grok it.

Thanks, Michael, for the ENDNOTE!

# – # – # – # – #  2012-Mar-23 @ 07:50

*** begin quote ***

Trillions of dollars have been stolen from U.S. taxpayers.

You and I, right now, are seeing the worst plundering of a country’s wealth in the history of civilization, led by an out-of-control Federal Reserve.

But you and I together CAN put a stop to it all.

*** end quote ***

Can we? I’m not so sure of that.

National debt of 16T$. Unfunded liabilities of between 20 and 200 T$. Deficits in the T’s of $ for as far as the eye can see.

The immorality of “free stuff”, the dumbing down of the electorate, and the rampaging welfare / warfare state make me very pessimistic.

I’ve blogged about the 52% who are net takers from the 48% who are the net makers. How can those “dining on the largess” ever be out voted?

No, like the advice I gave Holy Mother Church, we have to just stop playing along.

Like the little red hen, we just don’t make the bread for everyone else to eat.

Then, we can get back to basics.

Without the “overhead”.

If the politicians and bureaucrats would lead the charge into battle in the various war they want us to fight, then at least we’d thin the herd.

How else can we get rid of these parasites and tics? Can’t jump out of the water and slam back in like the whale in that insurance commercial. Has to be a way?

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What if American Catholic hospitals close?
March 02, 2012

*** begin quote ***

If Catholic hospitals close their doors because of the Obama contraception mandate, could the public sector absorb the cost of substituting for those medical services? The Fiscal Times examines that question.

The Catholic Church administers roughly one-eighth of all American hospitals and serve roughly one-sixth of the patients, running up total expenses close to $100 billion. The Catholic institutions serve a disproportionate number of needy patients.

*** and ***

These sobering statistics, the Fiscal Times analysis notes, do not account for Catholic institutions other than hospitals: nursing homes, clinics, infirmaries, and other facilities that provide health care.

*** end quote ***

Sorry to say, but if Holy Mother Church is going to be force to perjure its beliefs, them She has no choice but to withdraw.

To do less will allow the gutting of the First Amendment.

Once again The Church has to protect the peasants.

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February 22, 2012The Coming Age of the Laity
by Christopher Manion

*** begin quote ***

Well, that is going to end.

Why? Because for years the USCCB has coddled the Democrats who are now our most hostile enemies in this war. Obama, Biden, Pelosi, and company will not care a whit that we cheered them on with partisan pastorals on racism, economic justice, and amnesty, while we pulled our punches on homosexuality, reception of the Eucharist, and ObamaCare. Laymen understand what bishops apparently don’t: politicians have allowed us to play in their taxpayer-funded trough because we have played by their rules. To put it bluntly, politics is tit for tat. Our former pals are not going to continue scratching our back if we punch them in the nose.

*** end quote ***

[JR: I don't think that the R's are any better than the D's. But it seems that there are a lot of CINOs with a D label. "Secular Progressives" preaching "Social Justice"! Think that the Church Leadership is ready to say "no" to the Gooferment? It's going to be messy. Will a Catholic Hospital just shut its doors? Not sell out. Not allow the Gooferment to take it over. Just close. Make a fight! First Amendment, Fifth Amendment, Fourth, Tenth. Any? What "hill" will Holy Mother Church "die on". And, how many of us will be there with her? May be surprising. Have we reached the breaking point?]

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American Catholicism’s Pact With the Devil
Paul A. Rahe · Feb. 10 at 5:21pm

*** begin quote ***

In the nascent American republic, this principle was codified in its purest form in the First Amendment to the Constitution. But it had additional ramifications as well – for the government’s scope was limited also in other ways. There were other amendments that made up what we now call the Bill of Rights, and many of the states prefaced their constitutions with bills of rights or added them as appendices. These were all intended to limit the scope of the government. They were all designed to protect the right of individuals to life, liberty, the acquisition and possession of property, and the pursuit of happiness as these individuals understood happiness. Put simply, liberty of conscience was part of a larger package.

This is what the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church forgot. In the 1930s, the majority of the  bishops, priests, and nuns sold their souls to the devil, and they did so with the best of intentions. In their concern for the suffering of those out of work and destitute, they wholeheartedly embraced the New Deal. They gloried in the fact that Franklin Delano Roosevelt made Frances Perkins – a devout Anglo-Catholic laywoman who belonged to the Episcopalian Church but retreated on occasion to a Catholic convent – Secretary of Labor and the first member of her sex to be awarded a cabinet post. And they welcomed Social Security – which was her handiwork. They did not stop to ponder whether public provision in this regard would subvert the moral principle that children are responsible for the well-being of their parents. They did not stop to consider whether this measure would reduce the incentives for procreation and nourish the temptation to think of sexual intercourse as an indoor sport. They did not stop to think.

In the process, the leaders of the American Catholic Church fell prey to a conceit that had long before ensnared a great many mainstream Protestants in the United States – the notion that public provision is somehow akin to charity – and so they fostered state paternalism and undermined what they professed to teach: that charity is an individual responsibility and that it is appropriate that the laity join together under the leadership of the Church to alleviate the suffering of the poor. In its place, they helped establish the Machiavellian principle that underpins modern liberalism – the notion that it is our Christian duty to confiscate other people’s money and redistribute it.

*** end quote ***

While this is a little nose-bleed-ish for this fat old white guy injineer, it does strike to the heart of the issue.

I’ve critiqued the decision not to fight Gooferment Skrules on a First Amendment basis. The Gooferment should not be propagandizing future voters. And, dumbing them down. That was the goal of the Prussians when they introduced the whole idea. And, ”We, The Sheeple” just went along.

How do we put some spine back into the Church folks and the American People in general?

Maybe BHO44 has done that for us?

This is just the first shot at religious freedom. If BHO44 gets reelected, then Obamacare will open the flood gates of these type issues.

Do Catholics have the courage of a MLK or Gandhi to stand together in defiance of the civil authorities?

Sadly, I don’t think so.

It’s a war for the soul of America. A war that may have been lost in 1913. And, these are just the final skirmishes. Before there’s total capitulation to the “Secular Progressive” meme.

Argh!

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Milwaukee archdiocese faces 550 abuse claims in bankruptcy proceeding
February 03, 2012

*** begin quote ***

More than 550 people have filed claims for compensation because of sexual abuse by clerics of the Milwaukee archdiocese.

*** end quote ***

[JR: This shameful episode in Church history just keeps going on. It's like the Inquisition, the Crusades. or selling indulgences. Can't get past it.]

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Media Go to Bat for Abortion Giant, Ignore Catholics vs. Obama Controversy
Study: 76% of Sound Bites Favored Planned Parenthood Over Komen
By: Matthew Balan
Friday, February 03, 2012 6:35 PM EST

*** begin quote ***

When the Susan G. Komen Foundation, the U.S.’s largest breast cancer charity, announced on February 1 that it would no longer be donating to Planned Parenthood, the Big Three networks — ABC, CBS, NBC — rushed to the defense of the left-wing organization, which is the largest abortion conglomerate in the United States. Over the course of about 60 hours, ABC, CBS, and NBC emphasized the controversy with a whopping 13 morning and evening news stories. The soundbite count was loaded: 76 percent of the quotes came from supporters of Planned Parenthood (35 in total). Only 11 clips or statements came from Komen representatives or new allies.

*** and ***

On ABC’s World News on February 2, Shipman concluded that the apparent outrage at the breast cancer charity “shows the passion in this country among women on the issue of women’s health care- access to services. I think we’re going to hear a lot more of that over this campaign year.”

In their coverage of the Komen vs. Planned Parenthood dispute, the Big Three clearly showed that they were willing to rush to the defense of the abortion giant over a few hundred thousands dollars in grant money. But when the Obama administration handed down a policy that clearly violates the consciences and the religious beliefs of Catholic institutions across the country, the networks barely raised a peep.

*** end quote ***

There are two take aways imho from this.

* The Main Stream Media is the propaganda arm of the ”Secular Progressives”. So, watch for the bias incoming.

* Pro-life is NEVER going to get fair treatment in the media or in the Democratic Party. Find a D who’s pro-life?

So regardless of where you come down on the issue, almost any issue, you should be concerned by the polarization and the fight for control of “the levers of government”.

Remember FDR and the Amendment to limit Presidential terms? The R’s pushed it to keep from ever getting another four term D. Guess who was the first Prez term-limited? You, an R! Ike.

So, even if “your side” has the controls now, you should be ABSOLUTELY opposed to increasing the power of the Gooferment. Why you ask? Because “your side” is not always going to be in control. DO you really want the “other side” to have the power. Whatever that power is.

The Dead Old White Guys were fearful of Gooferment, having just fought a revolution, having too much power. Have we forgotten it.

Kill anyone, even American citizens, without due process, to “fight the war on terror”? Don’t be surprised if that’s turned on you someday. Can’t happen here? Remember the Japanese America Internment, Waco, Ruby Ridge, the Philadelpia AIM fire?

Argh!

Fight the duopoly on EVERYTHING they want to do. Because eventually it’ll be done to you.

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Ship’s Captain To Be Put Under House Arrest

*** begin quote ***

“Now you go to the bow, you climb up the emergency ladder and co-ordinate the evacuation,” the official reportedly tells him. ”You must tell us how many people, children, women and passengers are there and the exact number of each category.”

*** end quote ***

[JR:  Is anyone struck by the contrast between Captain Coward and Captain Sully? I wasn't in either situation. (I guess I'd be more like C and less like S.) But, I'm just struck by the comparison. I hope I'm more like S. I'm sure my fellow alums are S's in the garb of commoners. Just waiting for the right situation, to emerge in their Super Hero costume. ]

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Obama vs. Catholics
So when to the TV networks notice that Team Obama has an ideological agenda against faith-based charitable organizations, most especially the Catholic Church? Across the country, Democrats have been pushing Catholic social workers out of government cooperation.
By: L. Brent Bozell
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 9:07 PM EST

*** begin quote ***

Take the order promulgated by Obama’s Department of Health and Human Services on Friday to require virtually all employers to offer insurance coverage of sterilization, abortifacients, and contraceptives without deductibles or co-pays in their employee plans by August 1. Churches are exempt, but not religiously inspired hospitals, schools, and other charities that hire outside their faith tradition.

“The government should not force Americans to act as if pregnancy is a disease to be prevented at all costs,” insisted Archbishop (and Cardinal-designate) Timothy Dolan of New York, head of the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops. “Historically this represents a challenge and a compromise of our religious liberty.”

That’s putting it mildly. What it means is that the Catholic Church is faced with closing down its hospitals, universities, and charities – or committing mortal sin.

*** end quote ***

I know readers here think I’m a real tin foil hat. The Gooferment at war with the Catholic Church, Christianity, and organized religion? Impossible! Couldn’t happen here.

Remember Waco?

So when are we going to stand up for our First Amendment rights?

You only have the rights that you are willing to fight for.

I’ll go one step further. We should be pushing back with an Human Life Amendment. How about “With respect to the right to life, the word ‘person,’ as used in this article and in the fifth and fourteenth articles of amendment to the Constitution of the United States, applies to all human beings, including their unborn offspring at every stage of their biological development, irrespective of age, health, function, or condition of dependency.”

Now as a little L libertarian, I don’t want to put the Gooferment in charge of woman’s body, or insert anything between a woman and her doctor. By the same token, we are killing ourselves as a species. There has to be a middle ground.

Let’s go on the offensive?

When ”Secular Progressive” say that “the rich aren’t paying their fare share”, and Bill O’Reilly pushes back with “What’s Fair?” and waits for a number. They wriggle like speared fish. Andrew Neapolitano does it even better: “Who gets to decide what’s fair?”

We need to push back. It’s not about abortion. It’s about when does life begin? When do those inalienable rights inure to “a person”? “Among these are the Right to Life, Liberty, and Property.”

So when is it?

Certainly, we can all agree that it’s some point between conception and the child’s 21st birthday.

So when is it?

Let’s stand up for OUR rights.

If they can kill babies, American citizens without due process, or anyone who’s unlucky enough to to be in the way of drone strike, then it won’t be long before they will be killing us fat old white guy injineers because it’s too expensive to care for us.

So when is it?

“…if you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.” -Churchill, The Second World War, vol. 1, The Gathering Storm (London: Cassell, 1948, 272, on the British guarantee to Poland in Spring 1939.

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Irish woman trapped in a 12-year-old girl’s body, pleads for medical help
25-year-old Kate Quinn suffers from rare Caudal Regression Syndrome
By CATHAL DERVAN, IrishCentral.com Staff Writer
Published Saturday, January 7, 2012, 7:45 AM
Updated Saturday, January 7, 2012, 7:45 AM

*** begin quote ***

A brave Kilkenny woman has gone public to reveal her torment at being trapped in a 12-year-old’s body – at the age of 25.

Kate Quinn from the village of Mooncoin suffers from a rare medical condition called Caudal Regression Syndrome (CRS) which results in an abnormal development of the lower spine.

*** end quote ***

There stories should be read to children. Those tweens and teens who can’t possibly value the gift that they’ve been given. Good health!

I read this story, and I admit my bias since Frau Reinke died of an unidentified blood disorder, and felt tremendous empathy for this young woman.

The lesson I hope that I take away is that life is complex. The old man in the funny white hat, as his predecessors have done, campaigns for human dignity and the sanctity of life itself.  In my blunt fat old white guy injineer’s way, I’d phrase it differently: “Don’t mess with what you don’t, maybe can’t, understand. Add that to the fact that the USA has aborted enough babies to populate a large city. And, you have a feel for the depth of the problem.

Here we have human afflictions that beg us “study me” and “we” have a lot of time, talent, resources, and attention focused on a species-wide extermination project. Wether it’s aborting girls in India, subsequent children in China, or the inconvenient here in the USA, it’s just nuts.

For my part, I just marvel at the Universe’s, God’s Plan, or Evolution’s miracle.

Hopefully, my fellow alums will see this as motivating them to do their part in this adventure.

Dona Nobis Pacem

p.s., I am sending this to my “old” friend who insists that CRS stands for “can’t remember <synonym for excrement>”. Obviously, he better be careful when he checks into the hospital and puts that on his form.

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EXCLUSIVE PHOTO: Nancy Pelosi: Livin’ La Vida 1%
by Mike Flynn

*** begin quote ***

I believe Leader Pelosi on this. I think she really has dedicated her life to the 99% and 1%. Its just that her focus has been on using advocacy for the 99% to get into the 1%. And it seems to be working. In 2010, her last year as Speaker, her net worth exploded by 62%:

Pelosi’s drastic growth, from an initial $21.7 million in 2009, is attributed to recent stock gains and smart investments. Her husband reported raking in $1 million to $5 million last year from a sale of Apple stocks.

Funny how so many of these politicians make so many “smart investments.”

*** end quote ***

Now, as a little L libertarian, I am all for EVERYONE working hard, doing good, and making millions. I’m for the freedom and liberty that “millions” can be denominated in whatever the individual deems important: Federal Reserve Note’s certificates of appreciation; units of recognition — Q rating like Donal Trump, the adulation of fame like Taylor Swift’s adoring teens tweens and fat old white guy injineers, or the teacher receiving the hugs of grateful students. Whatever floats your boat.

The politicians and bureaucrats, as well as all those who extract wealth corruptly from the process of Gooferment, seem to take advantage of their position.  Add that in to the Regulatory Capture of Wall Street. And, the Crony Capitalism and Corporate Welfare and you have the reason that those “smart investments” always seem to pay off.

Then, for the Speaker to “vacation” at a 10k$/day hotel while “supporting” “Occupy Wall Street” just puts a knot in my tummy. It’s OK for you to defraud us. Just don’t rub our noses in it.

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Health Teen Succumbs to Cancer After Stopping Treatment to Deliver Healthy Baby Boy
Posted on December 27, 2011 at 7:36pm by Liz Klimas

*** begin quote ***

POCATELLO, Idaho (TheBlaze/AP) — This is not the storyline you may expect in the case of teen pregnancy. Jenni Lake gave birth to a baby boy the month before her 18th birthday, though she was not destined to become just another teenage mother.

While being admitted to the hospital, she pulled her nurse down to her at bed level and whispered into her ear. The nurse would later repeat the girl’s words to comfort her family, as their worst fears were realized a day after Jenni’s baby was born.

“She told the nurse, ‘I’m done, I did what I was supposed to. My baby is going to get here safe,’” said Diana Phillips, Jenni’s mother.

*** end quote ***

[JR: You have to just marvel at humans. Facing her own mortality, she chose to give her child the chance for life. Now, I don't know what's right and wrong. I'm sure my fellow alums would know better than I. Pre-marital sex, bad. Killer cancer, bad. Motherless child, bad. imho Life, good. I'm not a great ethicist, just a fat old white guy injineer who will say a prayer tonight for Mother and Child. And, all who have taken that final journey. I think, in the end, the girl / woman did her best in a tough situation. Hope I never find myself in such. I need little challenges; commensurate with my limited abilities. I'll leave the heroic choices, challenges, and labors to the real heros. My fellow alums.]

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100 year old letter to Santa Claus found in Dublin home
Placed in chimney a century ago it comes to light
By CATHAL DERVAN, IrishCentral Staff Writer
Published Wednesday, December 21, 2011, 7:23 AM
Updated Wednesday, December 21, 2011, 9:50 AM

*** begin quote ***

A 100-year-old Santa letter written by a Dublin brother and sister has come to light – and offers a fascinating glimpse into the Christmas spirit of old.

The Irish Times newspaper has published the letter, written by the Howard family siblings to Father Christmas in 1911, and found in a Terenure house.

Builder John Byrne came across the handwritten note on a shelf behind a fireplace and the paper reports that it has been slightly scorched over the years.

*** end quote ***

This is a good example to end the Old Year or start the New Year with.

How little what we do or think will make any difference in the long run? Be it a child’s letter or strident political speech, it’s gone in flash when you take the long view. The great principles of life — do unto others, that which you do for the least, never say ill, if you don’t have something positive to say, first do no harm, mote in thine own eye, and my personal favorite MYOB.

A lot comes to mind with this little letter. Maybe those children wrote it for me?

In any event, HNY to all my fellow alums.

And, let me share one principle that was drive home to me this year: Hug all your loved ones because “you know not the day; nor, the hour”.

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