Category Archives: Politics & News

“We have met the enemy and he is us.”

Obama a Great Christian

Posted on by

You will never hear the words “We want to enslave you” from a left-wing American politician although most left-wing politicians will have you believe their counterparts, the right-wing politicians, want to keep slaves.

The North American Freedom Foundation (NAFF) defines slavery as “forced, unpaid service or work.” They include this caveat: “Due to its graphic content, this website is not suitable for children.”

That definition of slavery as the systematic exploitation of labor is incomplete. “Chattel slavery” refers to people who are the actual or apparent property of another person, company, or government. Let’s repeat that for emphasis: Chattel slaves are the apparent property of a government.

And we haven’t even thought about wage slavery, peonage, debt bondage, or indenture. Or the fact that slaves cannot refuse to work (“unemployment” as well as “workfare” programs). Slaves cannot leave home without explicit permission (meaning they need a passport). And so on.

Evidences of slavery predate the written history in Sumer where history itself began; man has enslaved other men on every continent and in every time that man has lived. It is so pervasive that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 states: “No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.” Period.

There is a moral absolute there.

Many religions (including the entire Judeo/Christian/Islamist hierarchy) hold that their systems of morality derive from the commands of God.

There is an opposing moral absolute in religion.

Slavery “was established by decree of Almighty God … it is sanctioned in the Bible, in both Testaments, from Genesis to Revelation … it has existed in all ages, has been found among the people of the highest civilization, and in nations of the highest proficiency in the arts.” Jefferson Davis said in 1850. “The right of holding slaves is clearly established in the Holy Scriptures, both by precept and example.” Baptist minister Rev. R. Furman said.

Huh. The Bible endorses slavery?

Well, yes. Our Bible indeed recognizes and regulates the practice of keeping slaves (see Colossians 4:1, Deuteronomy 15:12-15, Ephesians 6:9, and First Timothy 6:1-2).

Makes slavery the Christian thing to do, innit. Slave owners would agree. Slave owners must provide everything for their slaves: housing, education, medical care, protection, and love. They do what is best for their slaves.

It’s the Christian thing to do.

Are Americans slaves?

The government already supplies most education, some housing, police protection, and guards the borders against all ingress as well as our egress.

The government Senator Obama would lead wants to take over all the medical care and love, too.

It’s the Christian thing to do.

Senator Obama has one moral absolute: he would lead all Americans on the path of righteousness for its own sake. In his world that is the path of total care, from cradle to grave. His left wing policies would take the sweat of our brows, all of it, and “give” us back our guards, our housing, our medical care, our policing, and our schooling. And, of course, his government would love us totally.

Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard about the “tax cuts.” Anything that increases the national debt ain’t a tax cut.

Owing your soul to the Company Store is slavery, no matter how you gussy it up.

Barack Obama must be a great Christian to want to further enslave us that way.

After all, it’s the Christian thing to do.

The news is all Election all the time. Even I have written about it a couple of times. Conventional wisdom holds that voters don’t usually think about the election until after the World Series. This is not a usual year. The Phillies and Tampa Bay are in the World Series. Most peeps don’t even know Tampa Bay has a baseball team so there is nothing else to talk about.

This morning, Radio Guy asked TV News Guy, “Is there anything else going on out there?” There is. There’s a school shooting in maybe Arkansas with a couple of deaths. I couldn’t even find that on Google news. And a TV news anchor, severely beaten in what police think was a random attack, has died. Oh, that was in Arkansas.

Throw da bums out. Then we’ll have something worthwhile to talk about.

Toilet Paper

Posted on by

The University of Vermont announced recently that it will “go green,” at least in the toilet paper department. The college has eschewed the once-beloved super puffy Charmin in favor of an unbleached, 100% recycled fiber product approved by the Forest Crimes Unit, a student group.

I have a long, personal history with toilet paper but not as long as my dad did. He went to work for Scott Paper Company right out of college, exactly one week before I was born. He toiled in Export Sales for Scott until 1968.

He was a company man through and through. We used ScotTissue and Scotties and even ScotTowels which are pretty bad paper towels. He once tore up a box of [Kleenex] he found in the home of a manufacturer’s rep who sold Scott products in Africa. Now, of course, Kimberly Clark owns Scott. Despite that, I still use ScotTissue because it is the most benign product for septic tanks. I like the price, too, although the size of the “squares” (they are actually rectangles now) gets smaller and smaller.

Scott Paper brought the first rolls of toilet paper to market. The company was founded in 1879 by brothers E. Irvin and Clarence Scott who specialized in producing paper for privies and later for toilets. At first they purchased paper and tissue from outside suppliers, then cut, rolled and packaged the paper.

Early Scott advertisements suggested that “over 65% of middle-aged men and women suffered from some sort of rectal disease.” Inferior toilet paper, the ads proclaimed, was responsible because “harsh toilet tissue may cause serious injury.”

Kids have no sense of history.

You, dear reader, may wonder why I wrote about toilet paper instead of the “bailout” this week. Simple. I thought I could avoid weighing in again on this (latest)(greatest) Congressional financial scam. After all, I’m not an economist. I’m not a national expert. I don’t even have a mortgage.

OK, that last is not entirely true but it is a small, fixed rate note with a good bank that is not in trouble. It has about 5 years left on its term.

One of the pundits said the Congress critters don’t want to “reward bad business behavior.”

Horse puckey. Congress critters do that all the time, for themselves and for anyone whose sphere of influence they inhabit. The bankers and other financial peeps lied, cheated, and stole. Period. Their actions–and this latest bailout–has put three generations of Harper magic in the crapper while said financiers walk off with the perfume. Writing about toilet paper makes more sense than anything else you see on teevee.

These kids have no sense of history, but I repeat myself.

Do the Math

Posted on by

Lordy Lordy™. Do the math, people.

Oh.

Wait.

It isn’t math. It’s simple arithmetic.

Under the subject line, A Bail Out Plan That Works, I’ve been subjected to about 14 repeats today alone of the following bright idea:

I’m against the $85,000,000,000 bailout of AIG.

Instead, I’m in favor of giving $85,000,000,000 to America in “We Deserve It Dividend.”

To make the math simple, let’s assume there are 200,000,000 bonafide U.S. Citizens 18+.

So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billion that equals $425,000.00.

My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a “We Deserve It Dividend” …

It goes on from there.

I’m all for giving $700,000,000,000 to individual Americans in “We Deserve It” dividends (as long as it’s your money) but do the math, people.

85 billion dollare: $85,ØØØ,ØØØ,ØØØ
divided by 200 million peeps 2ØØ,ØØØ,ØØØ
= $425 per person


Maybe we should put the $85 million into our elementary schools instead of Wall Street.

And speaking of Wall Street, the yahoos in Congress blocked the bailout today (September 29, 2008).The DOW is down about 777 points, the largest one day point drop ever. Anybody want to guess how many Congress Critters are buying stock right now because they know, absolutely know, the market will soar when the package passes.Wouldn’t you? After all, we’re talking more than 10% right now for a few days “work.”

I love politics. It is so enriching.

Congress wants to make sure nobody on Wall Street gets rewarded for this mess. Do you suppose we could take away Congress’ parachutes and severance?

Lordy Lordy™.

Throw Da Bums Out, IV

Posted on by

The theme of this series has been the need for some loose cannons in politics. The Democrats (almost) have one as a V.P. candidate. The Republicans (almost) have two with John McCain’s surprise pick of Sarah Palin as his V.P. candidate. More than anything he has done in the last decade, that shows he still has a maverick streak. Despite the fact that James Garner will always be Maverick.

That’s a good thing. We need a loose cannon running for President, darn it. After all, the President sets policy, not the Vice President. The President writes pardons, not the Vice President. The President vetoes bills, not the Vice President. The President gets the glory and the barbs, not the Vice President.

I doubt it is enough.

Every candidate–incumbents included–since 1792 would have you believe he is an “agent of change.”

Candidates who want to “change the system” don’t want to change the system; candidates who want to change the system actually want their own policies implemented in the system. A true loose cannon doesn’t care about the system. A true loose cannon will subvert the system and find a way to get some real work done.

Change.

I am no longer a Republican Town Chair (political parties organize committees at the township level to nominate candidates, refine platforms, and get people elected) mostly because I now vote in Florida but also because even in liberal Vermont the Republican party has gotten too impressed with its dogma and not impressed enough with accomplishing anything.

I really may join the Librarian party.

Did you know there are more Library card carriers in these United States than there are card carrying Repuglicans and Demodonkeys combined?

Not only that, the Librarians are mostly willing to stand up to those who would erode our liberties by making us declare what we read. I may feel compelled to tell you what I’m reading but I hate being compelled to tell you what I’m reading.

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States…” A Librarian taught me that.

So what offices most worry us?

Remember the five basic responsibilities of Government. That means the next president needs to (1) teach the kids, (2) build the roads, (3) share knowledge and (4) encourage growth, and (5) keep other people including the government itself from robbing or nuking us.

(1) In the wake of the current “No Child Gets Ahead” program, none of the candidates is talking much about schools. A loose cannon in the Oval would surely understand that today’s first graders will pay my children’s Social Security.

(2) In spite of the epidemic of bridge collapses none of the candidates is talking much about roads. A loose cannon in the Oval would see there is a better way to fix the roads than “borrowing” from the transportation tax revenues for the general fund.

(3) Sharing knowledge has slipped from everyone’s radar. Every administration has tried to restrict information flow, whether about government action or scientific data. A loose cannon in the Oval would see that each good, open, scientific program has moved us from rolling stones on logs to rolling Rovers on Mars.

(4) Encourage growth? The dirty secret of the economy is this: the rate of invention, the rate of production, and actual income have all fallen, year after year after year. Popularly quoted statistics show only that our population and inflation have both grown. In fact, the population has doubled since 1950. More people mean more stuff but the rate of making stuff isn’t keeping pace. A loose cannon in the Oval would see that putting people to work is far better than talking about how it’s all working.

(5) Every American has heard about the pork-barrel spending^H^H^H^H, er, the “Omnibus Spending Plan.” Doesn’t that sound like the diesel fuel spreadsheet for a public transit company? There is no spreadsheet in it. Did you know the last 40,000-page Omnibus Spending Plan was bigger than Thomas Jefferson’s entire library? A loose cannon in the Oval would see there is a better way to spend my money than with an Omnibus Spending Plan.

I’m back to Paris Hilton.

If Ms. Hilton joins the Librarian party, I’ll vote for her. Heck, if she gives us a 30-second lesson in economics, I’ll vote for her in a heartbeat.

Unfortunately, the Librarians are all whackos who keep trying to shush me.

The only other choice is to vote for me at DickHarper.com/campaign . Keep trying. The site is very popular and very busy in this campaign season and it may time out.

Throw Da Bums Out, III

Posted on by

The rain that started last night continued this morning. I awoke at 1:15 to shut down the westerly windows.

Westerly is one of those odd words that means not only “facing the west” as I just used it but also “from the west” when writing of the wind and even “westbound” in the sense of moving toward the west as Daniel Defoe wrote. It is also is a train station in Rhode Island but not, to my knowledge, in Delaware.

The theme of this series is that we have been rained on enough; now we need a loose cannon in Western politics. The Democrats almost have one (actually two, if you count Vermont’s former governor, Howard Dean) in Joe Biden, the newly anointed Vice Presidential candidate.

Senator Biden is not a westerly candidate although he is considered a westerner everywhere else in the world. Except he is from the East so he is considered an Easterner here. Isn’t English wonderful? I like Senator Biden. He is a bright, thoughtful, articulate man who is absolutely unafraid of speaking his mind.

Unfortunately, Senator Biden’s assigned role is not that of loose cannon nor even “general smart guy.” Senator Biden’s assigned role is assistant principal. He gets to wield the paddle and chew on Senator McCain (his first major speech will portray Senator McCain’s chief financial advisor as Scrooge McDuck). Paris Hilton did it better. Worse yet, if Joe Biden spends all his time tearing down the other guy, he won’t have time to build better policy. Business as usual in the V.P. department.

The Obama/Biden theme is supposed to be “change.”

Candidates who want to “change the system” don’t want to change the system; candidates who want to change the system actually want their own policies implemented in the system.

A true loose cannon doesn’t care about the system. A true loose cannon doesn’t care about what the other guy does. A true loose cannon will subvert the system and find a way to get the real work done.

And we still need one running for President, darn it. After all, the President sets policy, not the Vice President. The President appoints the judges and signs the Executive Orders, not the Vice President. The President gets the public glory and the public pratfalls, not the Vice President.

The Republicans need one and there is still a (slim) chance they’ll pull it off. I’m not holding my breath.

In the upcoming (and we all hope final) episode of this series about the relative merits of balls for ordnance, I will explain why I really am joining the Librarian party.