Archive for August, 2009

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THE COUNTRY of TEXISIANSAS

August 27, 2009

Received in an email from a good friend, I couldn’t be sure if this was based in humor or a real assessment. I’m betting that my good friend and fellow blogger TexasFred will enjoy this, at least to a point.

Much of what follows can also be said of the Inter-mountain West States, with a notable exception. We, who are collectively referred to as “fly over” country by the elitist’ in government have virtually all of the uranium. Both as raw material, and in finished weaponry that can reach anywhere in the world with the push of a button.

Should secession become a reality it would behoove the Marxist’s on both coasts to remember that simple fact, as well as the fact that Texas would not be standing alone…

Note: edited for clarity

THE COUNTRY of TEXISIANSAS

In case things get a little tough during the next few months we IN LOUISIANA, TEXAS , OKLAHOMA , & ; ARKANSAS have a plan.

Maybe you don’t know it, but LOUISIANA , TEXAS , OKLAHOMA , & ARKANSAS HAVE legal right to secede from the Union . (Reference the Texas/LOUISIANA-American Annexation Treaty of 1848.)

US TEXISIANSAS love y’all Americans, but we’ll probably have to take action since Barack Obama won the election and is now the President of the U.S.A. We’ll miss ya’ll though.

Here is what can happen:

1. Barack Hussein Obama, after becoming the President of the United States , begins to try and create a socialist country, then Texas , LOUISIANA , ARKANSAS , & OKALAHOMA announces that it is going to secede from the Union .

2. George W. Bush becomes the President of the Republic of TEXISIANSAS . You might think that he doesn’t talk too pretty, but we haven’t had another terrorist attack and the economy was fine until the effects of the Democrats lowering the qualifications for home loans came to roost.

So what does TEXISIANSAS have to do to survive as a Republic?

1. NASA is just south of Houston , Texas . We will control the sp ace industry.

2. We refine over 90% of the gasoline in the United States .

3. Defense Industry–we have over 65% of it. The term “Don’t mess with THE SOUTH,” will take on a whole new meaning.

4. Oil – we can supply all the oil that the Republic of TEXISIANSAS will need for the next 300 years. What will the other states do? Gee, we don’t know. Why not ask Obama?

5. Natural Gas – again, we have all we need and it’s too bad about those Northern States. John Kerry and Al Gore will just have to figure out a way to keep them warm…

6. Computer Industry – we lead the nation in producing computer chips and communications equipment – small companies like Texas Instruments, Dell Computer, EDS, Raytheon, National Semiconductor, Motorola, Intel, AMD, Atmel, Applied Materials, Ball Misconduct, Dallas Semiconductor, Nortel, Alcatel, etc. The list goes on and on.

7. Medical Care – We have the research centers for cancer research, the best burn centers and the top trauma units in the world, as well as other large health centers.

8. We have enough colleges to keep educating and making smarter citizens: University of Texas , Texas A&M, Texas Tech, UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA , OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY, UL-LAFAYETTE, UL-MONORE, UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS , LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY , ARKANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY .

9. We have an intelligent and energetic work force and it isn’t restricted by a bunch of unions. Here in TEXISIANSAS, we are a Right to Work State and, therefore, it’s every man and woman for themselves. We just go out and get the job done.. And if we don’t like the way one company operates, we get a job somewhere else.

10. We have essential control of the paper, plastics, and insurance industries, etc.

11. In case of a foreign invasion, we have the TEXISIANSAS National Guard, the TEXISIANSAS Air National Guard, and several military bases. We don’t have an Army, but since everybody down here has at least six rifles and a pile of ammo, we can raise an Army in 24 hours if we need one. If the situation really gets bad, we can always call the Department of Public Safety and ask them to send over the Texas Rangers.

12. We are totally self-sufficient in beef, poultry, hogs, and several types of grain, fruit and vegetables, and let’s not forget seafood from the Gulf. Also, everybody down here knows how to cook them so that they taste good. We don’t need any food.

13. FIVE of the ten largest cities in the United States , and THIRTY TWO of the 100 largest cities in the United States are located in TEXISIANSAS.  And TEXISIANSAS also has more land than California , New York , New Jersey , Connecticut , Delaware , Hawaii , Massachusetts ,  Maryland , Rhode Island , and Vermont combined.

14. Trade: FIVE of the ten largest ports in the United States are located in TEXISIANSAS

15. We also manufacture cars down here, but we don’t need to. You see, nothing rusts in TEXISIANSAS so our vehicles stay beautiful and run well for decades.

This just names a few of the items that will keep the Republic of TEXISIANSAS in good shape. There isn’t a thing out there that we need and don’t have.

Now to the rest of you folks in the United States under President Obama:

Since you won’t have the refineries to get gas for your cars, only President Obama will be able to drive around in his big 9 mpg SUV. The rest of the United States will have to walk or ride bikes.

You won’t have any TV as the Space Center in Houston will cut off satellite communications.

You won’t have any natural gas to heat your homes, but since Mr. Obama has predicted global warming, you will not need the gas as long as you survive the 2000 years it will take to get enough heat from Global Warming.

In other words, the rest of ya’ll in the USA are screwed!

Signed, The People of TEXISIANSAS

P.S. This is not a threatening letter – just a note to give you something to think about!

Sleep well tonight ’cause the eyes of TEXISIANSAS are on YOU!!

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Legal Tender: IRS Thuggery

August 27, 2009

Seems that the good folks that brought you the thuggery at the BATFE are onto another method of suppressing liberty and freedom. They cannot follow their own rule of law so they go after American’s to vent their anger and frustration. Downsize D.C. exposes this latest outrage from the people that brought you Ruby Ridge, and the Waco holocaust. Read on…

Quote of the Day: The government called three accountants to testify. The defense asked each one, “What is the proper way to calculate income for purposes of the Internal Revenue Code if you are paid in a gold coin that has a $50 face value on it?” All three of them responded, “I do not know; I’ll have to research that.” — Mike Zigler, reporting on the 2007 case against Robert Kahre that ended in a hung jury

Subject: How can legal tender be illegal?

Robert Kahre is facing up to 296 years in prison. His crime? He hired workers on mutually-agreed terms, and paid them in gold and silver dollars rather than in Federal Reserve dollars.

First, some background . . .

* The face value of the U.S. Mint’s gold and silver coins are legal tender, meaning they must be accepted in payment of debt
* But a Gold Eagle coin that has “$50” printed on it is legal tender only up to $50, while its gold content is worth about $1,000 in Federal Reserve notes
* No law or IRS regulation requires that receivers of Gold Eagles and other U.S. Mint coins must report the market value of the coins instead of the legal tender value

After extensively researching the issue, Kahre . . .

* hired workers as independent contractors, so he would not pay the payroll tax for their labor
* paid them in gold and silver coins, whose face value – that is, legal tender value – was so low that the workers legally didn’t have to report it as income to the IRS

For instance, if a worker was annually paid in gold coins with a legal tender face value of $2,000, the market value of the gold content in those coins could be $40,000, but only the legal tender face value of $2,000 would theoretically count as taxable income. That face value of $2,000 is low enough to be non-reportable to the IRS. But . . .

Even though the coins Kahre used were legal tender, the Justice Department alleged that Kahre’s system was a fraudulent, tax-evading scam.

We agree with Jacob Hornberger who asserts that the federal government’s prosecution of Kahre is self-contradictory . . .

* if you owe $100 in taxes and pay with gold coins with face values totalling $100, the IRS will accept the payment as $100; it could then sell the coins on the market for twenty times that amount and keep the difference. The government will accept your payment as “legal tender.”
* but if YOU receive gold coins from someone else in a private transaction, the IRS says you must report the market value of the coins, not the face value. That is, YOU CANNOT TREAT THE COINS AS LEGAL TENDER.

The government fears that if more people took the law at its word and behaved like Kahre . . .

* people would demand payment in the Mint’s gold and silver coins and have far fewer reportable “dollars” in income, meaning fewer people would pay income taxes
* the market would soon prefer the coins produced by the Treasury Department’s Mint that are regulated by law – not the inflated dollars created by order of the independent Federal Reserve Board
* good money (gold and silver) would drive out the bad (paper Federal Reserve Notes and electronic keyboard strokes), whereas the federal government needs inflated, deficit-driven money to pay for its endless wars, failed welfare schemes, and expanding police state

No wonder the government views Kahre as a threat, and is willing to made a mockery of its own legal tender laws to destroy him!

DownsizeDC.org, however, believes Kahre was on to something. That’s why we endorse the “Honest Money Act,” which would repeal the legal tender law that gives the Federal Reserve a monopoly over the money supply. This bill, along with the “Tax-Free Gold Act” and the “Free Competition in Currency Act,” is a plank in our End the Inflation Tax Campaign.

Repealing the legal tender law would foster the creation of HONEST free market money, and protect people from the Federal Reserve’s endless onslaught of legalized counterfeiting, which constantly reduces the value of your money.

Tell Congress to pass the bills in our End the Inflation Tax Campaign.

Use your personal comments to mention the hypocrisy involved in the Kahre case. If the feds are going to make it a crime to FOLLOW the legal tender law, then that’s just one more argument for repealing it. You can send your message here.

Thank you for being a DC Downsizer.

James Wilson
Assistant to the President
DownsizeDC.org

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Incorporation: Beast or Blessing?

August 25, 2009

Incorporation used in this context will apply to legal terminology.

First, I suppose that I will need to go pee in the various swelled headed Lawyers morning bowl of oatmeal. I believe that you simply do not have to be a Lawyer in order to understand the difference between what is right and wrong. Moral, or immoral. Lawyers write really neat briefs and such. However, as I pointed out to a Jury once. They are disconnected all to often with reality.

Now, on to the point that I intend to make. The Supreme Court, and in all the downstream Courts there is a hierarchy. The Supreme Court of the United States is above, or has authority over the Courts of Appeals, which have authority over United State District Courts, which can over rule State Courts, and so on down the line. My terminology may be a bit off here, but, after all I’m not in the business of Law. I am a retired Paramedic, and the son of a dead Marine. So, if any corrections are needed as to the chain of command I will accept them.

The point here is that within the legal community there are big dogs, and then there are bigger dogs, and so on. I was taught that Law operates in the same manner. As in, there is the highest Law in the land the United States Constitution, including the Bill of Rights. All this is pretty logical so far. There is indeed a clear cut chain of command. Not to tough for a kid that attended High Schools in Southern California to understand. Or anywhere else as far as that goes.

However, it seems that some people just can’t figure out that simple principle. Those people are called Lawyers, or at least that is how it appears. No, not all Lawyers. Some actually can think like normal people do. Others though, simply can’t understand normal thinking as an old Scot saying goes…

So now, as a result of illogical and quite possibly immoral action we the American people are about to be Lorded over yet again by a bunch of blithering nincompoops that probably should be tarred and feathered! Oh, I forgot, that they had that made “illegal” so that they can’t be held accountable…

Read on folks, and warm up some tar as you send you children off to the barn for Great grandma’s old feather bed.

A federal appeals court on September 24 will hear a high-profile gun rights case that’s a leading candidate to end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is likely to decide whether the Second Amendment’s guarantee of a right to “keep and bear arms” restricts only the federal government — the current state of affairs — or whether it can be used to strike down intrusive state and local laws too.

A three-judge panel ruled that the Second Amendment does apply to the states. But now a larger Ninth Circuit panel will rehear the case, a procedure reserved only for issues of exceptional importance, which means the earlier decision could be upheld or overruled.

Two other circuits have said the Second Amendment does not apply to the states, a legal term known as “incorporation.” If the Ninth Circuit’s en banc panel continues to disagree with its peers, the Supreme Court almost certainly would step in.

The Ninth Circuit case involves Russell and Sallie Nordyke, who run a gun show business that would like to rent Alameda County’s fairgrounds (the county includes Oakland and is across the bay from San Francisco). After being blocked, they sued. The author of the ordinance in question, then-county supervisor Mary King, actually claimed such shows are nothing but “a place for people to display guns for worship as deities for the collectors who treat them as icons of patriotism.”

The hearing is set for 10 a.m. PT in the federal courthouse at 95 Seventh Street in San Francisco.

A few other items:

California Update: I wrote an article three months ago about a lawsuit filed by the Second Amendment Foundation and the Calguns Foundation saying routine denials of concealed carry permits violate the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms. Oral arguments on a preliminary motion in that case are scheduled for the same day — September 24 — at 2 p.m. in Sacramento.

In a brief filed on Monday, Sacramento (one of the counties sued) says it wants more time to question the gun owners who filed the case to verify that they’re in a position to sue. “Defendants seek to depose the individual plaintiffs on these issues to determine the basis of their alleged ‘undisputed facts,’ what process each plaintiff has engaged in to the end of obtaining a carry concealed permit in Sacramento County,” it says.

Some Guns Are More Equal Than Others: Nobody has been hurt by the protesters who have legally carried guns to events where the president has been speaking, and I know of no evidence that they were even close enough to see the man.

Nevertheless, Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia’s non-voting Democratic rep in the U.S. House of Representatives, wants mandatory “gun-free zones around the president, his cabinet and other top federal officials,” according to a report by the local Fox affiliate. Similarly, the Brady Campaign told CBS News that guns have no place at such an event.

It’s Official: Congratulations to the Calguns Foundation for being awarded non-profit status by the IRS. Gene Hoffman, chairman of the Calguns Foundation, told me on Monday evening that the group is now officially a 501(c)(3) non-profit; previously, the non-profit status had been pending.

Montana Update: You may remember that a Montana state law seeks to challenge the federal government on the manufacture and sale of guns made entirely within the state. It takes effect on October 1. As soon that happens, according to Montana Shooting Sports Association president Gary Marbut, gun-rights types will have a lawsuit ready to file to prevent federal prosecution of local would-be gunsmiths.

“We have some strong arguments to make, including some that have never been argued before about the (U.S. Constitution’s) Commerce Clause and the Tenth Amendment, as far as I know,” Marbut told me on Monday.

Paging The Ninth Circuit: I just noticed yet another case in which a judge has declined to extend the Second Amendment to state or local laws. The case is called Slough v. Telb and arose out of a gun seizure in Ohio.

U.S. District Judge David Katz ruled on August 14: “The United States Supreme Court has never held that the Second Amendment is enforceable against the states by incorporation into the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Courts in other circuits have held that Second Amendment rights are not enforceable against the states under (civil rights laws). As the weight of authority holds that the individual right to bear arms may not be enforceable against the states, the constitutional right to do so is anything but clearly established.”

Declan McCullagh is a correspondent for CBSNews.com. He can be reached at declan@cbsnews.com. You can bookmark the Taking Liberties site here, or subscribe to the RSS feed.

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Posted in Economics, Editorial, Opinion, Education, Gun Control, Historical Quotes, Law, Men's Issues, mysandry, News, Non Compos Mentis, Politics, Stupid is as Stupid Does, Uncategorized, Wordpress Political Blogs | 2 Comments »

Erin Go Bragh? Probably not…

August 25, 2009

Ireland Forever, or Erin Go Bragh in the bastardized version. My people first came to America more than two centuries ago. As indentured servants of Anglo masters, and a later wave that sought escape from the British tyranny, and overt starvation if the legends are true. My people were, as a Sioux friend calls us, the first wave of “Boat People.” Nevertheless, they were fiercely loyal to the new homeland. Despite overt prejudice based upon racism and religious intolerance they always called themselves Americans.

Hyphens were not allowed at all. While at the same time never forgetting their heritage. Be that from pride, or as a tool so that what they had gone through in the past never be forgotten by the generations to come. Seems that the good folks still inhabiting the emerald isle learned nothing from all the trials and tribulations though. At least they are following in lock step with the failed British social experiment that destroys the Rights of Englishmen everywhere it has been tried. Indeed, as Americans acknowledge, our very Constitution is based in large part upon the Magna Carta. The foundation of modern liberty.

Now, at a time when all of Europe is under assault by terrorist’s in the guise of Islam Ireland’s government seeks the  death and destruction of it’s very people via a weapon control scheme. The same old tired arguments of tyrants are being used as cover for this act against their own blood.

Perhaps the Irish Republican Army was right in fighting the powers that be. No, I do not condone their socialist agenda, or methodology. But the underlying ideology of Irish liberty and freedom, is difficult to ignore.

Read about this pathway to Irish servitude HERE.

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Humor in Politics

August 25, 2009

If we can’t laugh at ourselves from time to time then it’s time to back up and review just what we are all about. I’m no Psychologist, not by a long shot but I also don’t think that you have to be one in order to understand that concept any more than you have to be a Lawyer to understand the difference between right and wrong.

Hat tip to the Pesky one for this!

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And here it comes…

August 24, 2009

There are many ways to undermine Liberty. Make gun control into a “health” issue is one. More on that at a later date… Then, as if that isn’t outrageous enough. The anti liberty and freedom crowd are making traditional human things into First Amendment arguments. That’s right, hunting and fishing are on the table for the Black Crow Cowards. As a First Amendment issue no less...

Full Story

What next? Will WordPress become a Tenth Amendment issue because some bloggers here post things that some people take offense too?

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Posted in Editorial, Opinion, Education, Gun Control, Hunting Fishing and the Great Outdoors, Law, mysandry, News, Politics, Wordpress Political Blogs | 2 Comments »

Taking a bit of a break

August 24, 2009

After receiving an email from one of my best friends, I decided that it was time to take a break from politics and such. Albeit a brief one. One things for sure, the Hate America First crowd will not like this presentation. Their loss.

The scenes and background panoramas will be recognized by any that have lived along Colorado’s Front range, the Buffalo area of the Big Horn Mountains, and the Badlands.

ENJOY

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Whe you need it done right, the first time…

August 23, 2009

Hat tip to Romantic Poet for this. When things need to be done correctly the first time. You certainly can do much worse than calling upon a United States Marine.  No better friend, no worse enemy.

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He Had a Gun and Nothing Happened

August 22, 2009

He Had a Gun and Nothing Happened

by Larry Pratt
From New Hampshire to Arizona, Americans openly carrying firearms have been seen outside Presidential appearances. The most remarkable thing about this is that some find this behavior to be remarkable.

American citizens are the sovereigns in our system of government. Indeed, We the People created the government which, at least in theory, only does what we tell it to do in the Constitution. Sovereigns are expected to be armed.

The Second Amendment was added to our Constitution to insure that the individual right to keep and bear arms not be infringed. Infringement would impair the proper functioning of the militia, which had been America’s homeland security system all through colonial times and well into our republican era.

The armed attendees made it clear that they were exercising their right to keep and bear arms. Zero tolerance of firearms has become so extreme that even a picture of a gun can get a student kicked out of school. The presence of armed citizens helps correct the notion that guns are inherently dangerous.

Americans are increasingly deciding to go about openly carrying firearms even when they might legally carry concealed. Some would like to say that this constitutes disturbing the peace. It is a strange view that accepts as normal a police officer openly carrying a firearm, but finds it alarming when a sovereign citizen – the cop’s boss – does the same.

In addition to the educational value of going about openly armed, the presence of such citizens has another positive impact. Real homeland security is being maintained. The Secret Service is tasked with protecting the President and other select individuals – and nobody else.

For those who object to openly armed citizens being present near presidential events, do they have any concern for the well being of those who do not benefit from Secret Service protection?

A few years ago, I was at a conference where the governor of the state of Arizona was to speak. Shortly before the appointed time a member of the governor’s security detail came into the room from a service entrance, looked around the audience, which included at least a dozen people openly carrying sidearms, ducked out of sight and returned with the governor.

The governor’s security was aware of the armed attendees, and was also aware that the guns were holstered and obviously under control. They evidently thought that was proper gun control.

There are those who don’t like Americans owning guns at all, let alone carrying them about. They can be counted on to run about squawking like Chicken Little that the sky is falling – a calamity brought about by the presence of an armed citizen in public. We are warned that: “Somebody might grab the gun and do something bad! The armed citizen will intimidate others! Tempers will flare and blood will run in the streets!”

These are the same alarms that are sounded when any measure designed to facilitate citizens keeping and bearing arms is advanced. And the alarms are always false. One would think that consistently being wrong would be embarrassing, but one would be wrong about those who assume that common citizens are untrustworthy and dangerous.

A tip of the hat to those who have stirred the debate. And, our thanks to them for exercising proper gun control and reminding us of how homeland security should be conducted.

Larry Pratt is Executive Director of Gun Owners of America.

http://www.gunowners.org

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You asked for “change” you got it!

August 22, 2009

This is for all those Americans that so desperately wanted “change.”

Americans had to work from January 1 until August 12 this year just to cover the cost of government.  That is 26 days more than they had to work last year to cover the cost of government.

“Cost of Government Day” this year fell on Wednesday, August 12, according to Americans for Tax Reform, the conservative group that calculates when the day occurs.  Cost of Government Day is the day in the year when the American people have earned enough income to pay the total cost of the spending and regulatory burden imposed by government at the federal, state, and local level.

The August 12 date is 26 days later than Cost of Government Day came last year, when it fell on July 16.

In fact, this is the first time the day has fallen in August. Until this year, July 20 was the latest date marking Cost of Government Day. That happened in 1982.

The day takes into account all taxes paid to all levels of government as well as the costs of complying with all federal, state, and local government regulations. ATR calculates that in 2009, the cost of government will consume 61.34 percent of national income.

Those costs are detailed in a 45-page report authored Monika Ciesielska, a fellow at ATR’s Center for Fiscal Accountability.

Of the 224 days it required Americans to pay for the cost of government in 2009, 111 went to federal spending, 49 to state and local spending, and another 65 to pay for regulations imposed by all levels of government.

“In 2009, federal spending has expanded by almost one trillion dollars, mostly due to the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and the American Recovery and Relief Act of 2009, passed under the guise of economic stimulus,” Ciesielska said in her report.

“We have calculated that had Congress not passed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 that created TARP, Cost of Government Day would have fallen on July 25. That means that it would have been 18 days earlier.”

Full Story

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