Free In Idaho!

Jonah Goldberg, author of Liberal Fascism, makes a point over at National Review about the constant call for “a new New Deal“.

Since George W. Bush was elected, liberals have been calling for new New Deals more frequently than my daughter asks “are we there yet?” whenever we’re in the car. After 9/11, Sen. Charles Schumer argued that the terrorist attack proved the need for a new New Deal, and that “the president can either lead the charge or be run over by it.” After Hurricane Katrina, left-wing journalist William Greider spoke for many when he said that the natural disaster required a “new New Deal.” Last January, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley said the looming recession was all the excuse government needed. The head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Rahm Emmanuel, wrote last January that we need “a New Deal for the New Economy” that provides everything from universal health care to sweeping job training, in response to globalization.

Now it’s the financial crisis that requires a you-know-what.

This, by itself, isn’t disturbing.  It’s what Liberals DO.  And for you 2008 Democrats, it’s what Progressives DO.  The constant drive to grow government until it not only touches but also controls every aspect of the American life is the logical end result of a philosophy and world view that understands mankind as basically good, but a victim of myriad outside forces.  What forces?  Racism is popular lately.  Greedy big business is another, especially big bankers and mortgage companies.  Religion.  Global warming.  Wealth.  Poverty.  Fear.  Guns.  Pregnancy.  Lack of education… all of these forces are things that the government can and should control.  Given the right people in office, and enough money, the Total New Deal will solve these and all other mankind’s problems.  Salvation.  Heaven on earth.  Hallelujah, where’s my ballot, gimme some of that!

No, that in itself isn’t disturbing.  What IS disturbing is how much of that package of poop today’s GOP has called its own.  What, you don’t believe me?  Bush’s mortgage bailout plan?  Good government?  Not by historical conservative principles.  Bush’s bailout plan is pure big government intervention where it has no business or constitutional authority.  From Cato

Some in the news industry have described all this heavy-handed political intervention as the Bush administration’s “free-market approach” to the threat of nonperforming mortgages. On the contrary, honoring contracts and property rights is absolutely essential to the proper functioning of a free society and free economy. A mortgage is a binding contract between consenting adults. A mortgage-backed security is private property. It is the antithesis of a free market for the government to fix prices, pressure mortgage service companies into renegotiating contracts, and thereby expropriate property rights of those stuck holding mortgage-backed securities.

Don’t get me started on No Child Left Behind, out of control government spending, amnesty, or the drug program.  We’ve had years of Mr Bush, so none of us can plead ignorance here.  But what about Mr McCain?  More of the same.  His environmental proposals, higher CAFE standards and global warming policies included, increase big government regulation and control of business and the way people live their lives.  Do you remember his job insurance idea?  From his website

John McCain will overhaul unemployment insurance and make it a program for retraining, relocating and assisting workers who have lost a job. The unemployment insurance system needs to be modernized to meet the goals of helping displaced workers make ends meet between jobs and moving people quickly on to the next opportunity. John McCain will reform the half-dozen training programs to approaches that can be used to meet the bills, pay for training, and get back to work. John McCain believes that we can strengthen community colleges and technical training, and give displaced workers more choices to find their way back to productive and prosperous lives.

From US News, a little more detail

McCain expanded on this in a recent chat with the editorial board of the Detroit News:

McCain said that a displaced worker who ends up at a fast-food restaurant or other lower-paying job shouldn’t be penalized because the economy is changing…. “If someone has to work at McDonald’s, I will compensate them for the loss of income for some period of time,” McCain said. “We need to compensate them for the difference as an incentive to stay in the workforce.” The concept could be costly in Michigan. Thousands of autoworkers, who are paid an average of $28 per hour, have lost jobs in recent years, and national surveys have shown that fast-food workers make an average of $7.50 to $8 per hour…. McCain said he would reallocate money spent on existing retraining programs to help pay for his proposal, although he had no estimate on how much it would cost.

My intent here is not to complain about John McCain.  My intent is to once again point out that the principles that made this country great, especially small government and individual liberty and excellence, have gone to the wayside as more and more folks across the political spectrum no longer worry about the size and direction of government, they are too concerned with growing it in their own image, and getting a bigger slice for themselves.

To the question “Are we there yet?” I can only answer, soon child, soon.  But you’re not going to like where “there” is.

Why, Breda, of course!  Good job gal.   And that evil blueman target would look pretty BSU-ish at the range here in Boise, next to the orangeman targets they sell.

Sunday Music for the first Sunday after Easter is “Everlasting”.

Did you get a chance to hear Rush yesterday, when he did a segment on “What are you proud of, America?”  He was illustrating how so much of American business has been demonized by the liberal and socialist elements in their quest for the power and control of government.  Spot on the money!  He started from a discussion about oil, and the misconception that oil is evil.

RUSH: I want to continue this discussion about oil and alternative fuel sources and so forth and the whole notion of a free market, and entrepreneurism, and zero-sum games.  Way too many of you, because of the effort to demonize oil — not just because of the mistaken notion that our purchases of oil are funding terrorism. That’s ridiculous.  Terrorists are not using oil revenues to be funded.  Even that aside, oil has been successfully demonized in this country to the point that otherwise intelligent, educated people think we can just get rid of it tomorrow.  They’re operating under the assumption that there is an alternative energy already out there, “We just refuse to use it,” because Big Oil and Big Lobbyists and Big Republicans are keeping us from this alternative energy.  Let me tell you. Look at me, folks.  Look at me.  The only alternative energy that we have right now or for the next 20 or 30 years, is the energy we refuse to drill for in ANWR: oil.  The only alternative energy we have for the next 20 or 30 years is oil in the Gulf of Mexico that we refuse to drill for but the ChiComs and the Cubans are drilling for it in the Gulf, and the Mexicans are.  We did lay claim to a huge field up in the Arctic Circle recently. 

But the liberal Democrats will not let our country pursue this alternative energy.  They will not let us drill for it; they will not let us refine it. They will not allow it to happen.  Above and beyond that, this zero-sum game aspect, the idea that we can just get rid of oil tomorrow or next year or five years from now, and replace it with something that’s just as productive, efficient, and economical is absurd.  It is just intellectually absurd. 

So is the notion that oil is evil.  So is the notion that it has been so demonized. 

He goes on to talk about how so many things in this country have been demonized by the Left… the insurance industry, the auto industry, home builders, pharmaceuticals, the military.  But do you like the government?

Do you like government?  “Oh, yes!  Oh, yes!  Government cares for me.  Government loves me.  Government wants me to have health care, that they don’t have to pay for, and government wants me to be safe from storms, and government wants me to not have to pay taxes.

“Government only wants the rich to pay taxes.  Oh, we love government. We are really proud of our government in America.”

Not George Bush’s government.  Certainly not.  But HRC or BHO’s government?  Oh yes, that’s a government who cares. 

You ought to read the whole thing, because it makes a great point.  Read all the different things we’ve been taught to hate about America.  We used to be proud of this country, the opportunities it provides and the amazing accomplishments that have been made.  Now, not so much.  We’ve been trained for years by the Left and the big media to hate much of what makes this country great.  This isn’t just a poor little rich girl like Michelle Obama bitching and whining about white America.  This is spread throughout our culture today.  I’ve heard this “ashamed of America” crap in my own family.  The same folks who say they revere JFK are solidly behind the “Hope and Change for Evil America” campaign.  “Ask not what your country can do for you” is an alien idea today, and “God damn America” is now a campaign slogan.  If you think that is just some deluded old Black separatist preacher talking, think again.

Hatred for America is real.  You’ve seen it. You’ve heard it. You’ve read it. It’s out there, and it’s in larger numbers than you know.  And the people who hate this country are the genuine mind-numbed robots.  They have been talked into it with years and years and years of propaganda.  Just ask yourself, when you have a free moment — maybe bring it up at dinner if you have a family still eats together now and then. Ask them, “What are you proud of in America?”  Don’t lead ‘em anywhere.  Just say, “What are proud of, when you think about America. What are you proud of?” and then deal with what you get.  It will be interesting.

Wolf delisting happened today.  Wolves as an endangered species is certainly a subject that arouses much emotion, and bitterness for many, on both sides of the issue.

Idaho, Montana and Wyoming now have full control of wolves. The Idaho Department of Fish & Game is drawing up plans for a fall wolf hunt, the Idaho Legislature passed a law Wednesday that makes it easier to kill wolves that attack or harass livestock or pets and environmental groups are gearing up for a court challenge aimed at restoring federal protection of wolves.

My guess is the game isn’t over yet, and this issue will not go away very soon.  My understanding is the wolf population has been increasing at about 24% annually for the last few years (somewhat less in 2007, but the results and the reasons aren’t definite yet).  From the original limited reintroductions in the mid-90’s, there are now nearly 800 wolves in Idaho, and around 1500 in the three state Rocky Mountain region of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming (I know personally of sightings in Washinton State as well, in the North Cascades, but those are likely Canadian wolves travelling).  I’ve talked to a lot of hunters and hikers who have seen wolves in the last few years, and I saw one myself last fall.  Anecdotal stories aren’t sufficient though.  I’m willing to give the Idaho Fish and Game the benefit of the doubt, and let them show what they can do as far as managing the population goes.  The idea of a limited hunt is intriguing.   No, I don’t see wolves, or any other animals, as some kind of wonderful, mystical spirit beings.

Slip over to Huckleberries Online for a nifty photograph of an elk chased into the river by a white wolf.

Another loony symbolism over substance display, this time from the Gaia worshippers trying to raise our consciousness about global warming and reducing our carbon footprints

 (CNSNews.com) - Millions of people around the world are expected to turn off their lights for an hour over this weekend in a concerted global dimming campaign meant to draw attention to climate change. “Earth Hour,” an initiative of the World Wildlife Fund, begins in New Zealand at 8 PM local time Saturday, and then moves westward as cities in other time zones reach that hour. In Sydney, Australia — where the campaign debuted last year — municipal authorities have agreed to turn out lights on the city’s iconic Harbor Bridge and Opera House.

Give me a break.  The whole carbon footprint/carbon offsets deal is a scam of ridiculous proportions, but you can count on the usual folks to get behind this one

This year the initiative has been expanded, and 27 “partner cities” are named on the campaign’s Web site, including Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco and Phoenix.

The usual suspects, indeed.  And of course, the other usual suspects are calling BS on the whole thing, and calling for counter-measures

Bloggers skeptical about theories of human-induced global warming are promoting a counter-campaign, urging people to use as many lights and as much electrical equipment as they wish during the targeted time period.

Me…skeptical?  Full glow here boss.

I just checked out the Blog Cuss-O-Meter and came up with a “0% of the pages on this blog contain cussing”. That would make my Mom proud, were she still here to see it.

I’m not going to use their cute little logo though, because it contains links to a dating site, which links I don’t want to give or get. And that would make my Dad proud (if he cared about blogs).

It didn’t snow today, here in the valley (the hills have fresh snow on them), but it did start raining, so the yard and garden work has to wait awhile.  Darn.  Nothing else to do but head off to the new scope emporium and get a good piece of glass to learn how to shoot long.  Nikon Buckmaster 4.5-14 x 40 Mildot ought to serve nicely.  Too bad it’s raining… now I need to get out to Sand Hollow or the desert and sight this in.  If I practice all summer, maybe I can hunt next fall.  And then, next spring, Boomershoot!  God willing.

Clayton Cramer is running for State Senate in District 22 (Boise and Elmore counties), against a Republican incumbent who isn’t as conservative as his district probably is.  There is a noticeable creep towards the middle by Idaho Republican candidates over the last few years.  Clayton Cramer is a good example of a candidate that will halt the slide into the mushy middle.  I wish he lived in my district.

No, I’m not talking about her recollection of dodging snipers, which, if you ask me, is a flat out lie, not a “misspoke”.  No, I’m talking about her complete misunderstanding about what it means to be President, and just what the bounds of the job really are. 

As much as she focused on ways to ease the mortgage crisis, Senator Clinton also dwelled on what she called “a crisis of confidence in our country,” and portrayed herself as the candidate best able to address the economic problems of middle-income and economically struggling families.

“We need a president who can restore our confidence,” she said. “We need a president who is ready on Day 1 to be commander in chief of our economy.”

NO!  It is NOT the President’s job to be “commander in chief of our economy”.  That’s precisely what’s wrong with our economy right now.  Too many people think that it’s the President’s, or the Congress’, or (God help us) Bernanke’s job to control the economy.  Damn socialists.  Read the Constitution, please.  Then stop mucking with it!