Some frightening food for thought from Charlie’s Blog this morning. I never thought I’d live to see this day, but the really terrifying thing is that everyone in this country is just sitting around letting it happen. We will soon reap what we’ve been sowing for the past couple of decades, and that’s why I want out:

MILITARY DETENTION OF AMERICAN CITIZENS

The two senators I despise most right now are Lindsey Graham and John McCain. Those two fasctards [his invented word for “Fascist Retards”–dpk] …are desperate to eradicate what is left of freedom here in the USA. Let’s face it, folks. The terrorists have won. When people sworn to uphold the Constitution turn around and shred it, how is this not a triumph for evil and tyranny? We’re clearly sliding down that slippery slope at an unprecedented rate. What’s next? Are we going to abolish the judicial system? And where is the Supreme Court in all of this?

I don’t fear al Qaeda. I fear my own government. I fear those goddamn politicians who can decide on a whim that I am a threat and have me incarcerated without due process. It just boggles the mind that this once great nation has descended to this point. I have to wonder why the USSR ever bothered with nukes when all it took to bring down American freedom was some box cutter knives.

I suppose that in truth I shouldn’t speak too loudly–no telling if under these new provisions being rammed through the Defense Budget bill some politician might get upset, label me a “terrorist” and have me thrown in the slammer.

And yet people here–epitomized by the OWS morons (using “people” here might be stretching it a bit)–want even more government…

Here, in a nutshell, is why you should go with the Tea Party instead of the iPhone-wielding, Starbucks-swilling Marxists (courtesy of Charlie’s Blog):

Tea Partiers smell much better than Occupiers. Plus, Tea Partiers leave a tip for the waitress at IHOP. Occupiers eat, refuse to pay, and piss on the floor. Then, they burn the place down.

Now here’s something I’m really worried about and have been for a long time. Something that makes me more uncomfortable than just about any US Geopolitical or Military action in my lifetime: the expansion of the “Drone War”, particularly the covert version run by the CIA. Link to this excellent article:

The Risks of Obama’s Immoral Drone War

As a longtime student of military history and a proponent of actual armed combat when absolutely necessary, I have a serious problem with the United States feeling that it is perfectly within its rights to run a remote-controlled war in countries where we have no business being. The very thought of someone sitting comfortably at a desk in Langley, VA operating a robot weapon a continent away is something completely appalling. Is it really okay running military and foreign policy like a video game?

The constitutional, not to say moral implications, are staggering in my mind. Where’s the accountability? The transparency? The legality? The following of our constitutionally constructed separation of powers? Killing of American citizens without due process?

Here’s a particularly trenchant paragraph I quote from the article:

Put another way, this single C.I.A. program weakens the separation of powers, the Bill of Rights, and the accountability of America’s leaders to its citizenry. It weakens the separation of powers by diluting Congress’ role in declaring war and shaping foreign policy, as the executive branch operates in any country it sees fit; it weakens the Bill of Rights insofar as it has targeted and will continue to target American citizens for assassination without any due process; and it diminishes the degree to which government is accountable to voters in three ways. 1) It vests substantial power in an opaque bureaucratic agency whose leadership is unaccountable to voters; 2) insofar as it diminishes the Congressional role in foreign policy, it also lessens the people’s influence, especially  as exercised through the House of Representatives; 3) by operating in secrecy, it prevents voters from having enough information to judge even the behavior of the president, who has an incentive to hide not just acts that are sensitive for national security reasons, but behavior that would hurt or inconvenience him politically.

The article’s title is a bit provocative and could be construed as being partisan, so let’s be sure to say that the drone programs were begun under President Bush–but they have been radically expanded under “Hope & Change”, Nobel Peace Prize-winning President Obama. Is this really what the morons in Stockholm expected when they jumped the gun and awarded him that prize simply for being elected and not actually doing anything? This is also a perfect example of what folks at the Cato Institute frequently call the “Bush-Obama” years–the political party doesn’t matter at all, it’s the entrenched and over-sized federal government that is breaking all the rules, disregarding constitutionality and radically reshaping the way the US operates.

“But we’re at war!” Or perhaps, “But the terrorists are dangerous and should be taken out”, you might protest.

Bullshit. We’ve gotten completely carried away fighting people in places we have no business being (like Libya–you know, so that our Peace Prize-winning president can parade yet another murdered enemy to the genuflecting press).

If we indeed want to fight, let’s at least be ethical about it by putting boots on the ground and getting after the bad guys, not simply let some CIA agents–trained by playing years of first-person shooters on their PS2s and XBoxes–reduce it to just another game fought during office hours, followed by a nice dinner at home with the family and a beer on the couch in front of the evening news.

As I remember reading in some other online post about this (sorry I can’t recall where), if the US president now has the ability to order the remote-controlled execution of American citizens and others in places like Pakistan or Somalia–why not Chicago? Or Dallas?

No, I’m extremely disturbed by the very idea of remote-controlled warfare…

In a brilliant “Opposing view” piece in USA Today (read it–it’s really short), Competitive Enterprise Institute founder and president Fred Smith hits the big nail on the head:

The problems we face come not from capitalism, Wall Street variety or any other, but rather from crony-capitalism.

As he points out throughout the piece, the “Occupiers” are idiots for thinking the answer to Wall street “Capitalist” excess–which was caused by government intervention in the first place–is more government.

The inmates are running the asylum.

You need look no further than Solyndra to see that it doesn’t matter which side is in power, when government steps in to mis-allocate capital and play favorites–and when business starts to rely on government incentives/coercion rather than innovation or providing good products and services through hard work–they benefit and the rest of us get screwed. Government bureaucrats and politicians are the biggest cronies on the face of the earth.

It’s like every day’s headlines are being lifted straight from the pages of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged…

I just received another excellent email from Simon Black at Sovereign Man. The more I watch the news about the giant morass the world economy is sinking into with the full complicity and collusion of governments everywhere, the more I appreciate the rational things he’s saying.

Today’s post was very thought-provoking. What do people tell their kids about money nowadays? What does it really matter, since everything that used to be true about finances and money are now being thrown out–indeed, being turned completely on their heads. As I sit here at my computer keyboard watching my equity and savings melting away before my very eyes, how am I supposed to believe anything that the world’s bankers and politicians tell me (in between their lavish vacations and multi-course gourmet meals)?

I think this section of his post really hits the hardest:

I have to imagine that any child watching the goings-on of American politics would conclude that:

– debt is wealth
– living beyond your means is completely sustainable
– if anyone tells you otherwise, denounce their mathematical errors
– if at first you don’t succeed, keep trying the same thing over and over
– working hard and saving money is bad
– spending money and not working is good
– if you have a problem, the government will bail you out
– people are entitled to things that they didn’t work for
– no one should be held accountable for the consequences of the risks they take
– it’s not illegal if the government does it
– despite what our eyes and ears tell us, inflation is not a concern
– everything is going to be OK simply because the government says so

Herein lies the tragedy that is going to engulf us all very soon. I’m sure we will shortly see London-esque rioting and criminality on our own shores.

Do yourself a favor and go read the entire post here.