The "Bully" Pulpit

There's more bad news today for the American culture and the United States Constitution.  Specifically, I refer to the fact that the United States has always been - although not so much now - a nation of laws and not men.  This is one of the basic premises of our founding; that we are not subject to the whims of those in power.  That seemingly has changed through the bullying from those in Washington

There are many, many examples of this.  The most recent is Arizona Governor Jan Brewer's veto of SB 1062, the Religious Freedom Bill.  Leftist opponents renamed it the anti-gay bill, in keeping with their practice of demonetization and changing the debate by changing the language.   What the bill simply said was that everyone was empowered to practice his religion in his place of business, as he does at home or in church.  So if you're a baker or a photographer who would rather not bake a cake or visually record a homosexual wedding based on your religious convictions, there was no compulsion, neither legal nor moral, to do so.  Freedom of choice.  Pretty straightforward, right?  Not according to the GLBT lobby, who along with their allies on the left, bullied Governor Brewer into vetoing a law that should be self evident in a free society.  But the pressure was intense to nullify what the state legislature - lawmakers placed in office by the citizens of Arizona - clearly passed as being the will of the people.  But it's discrimination, you see, and it can't be tolerated.  Yet the individual freedom it tramples is manifest:  if you're queer, go get your wedding cake created by queer-friendly bakers. If you're disinclined to deal with homosexuals, feel free to service whatever customers you choose.  There is no scarcity; there are bakers and photographers aplenty, and free choice allows like to attract like.  But it's not about freedom of choice.  It's about the destruction of anything that accepts moral absolutes.  And the bullying from the minions of the executive branch.  Take it a step further.  Let's say you believe homosexuality is a sin because your religion, that is, your underlying moral authority, says so.  Let's also say that you believe murder and predatory sex with minors is a sin for the same reason.  Why then does a well funded GLBT lobby advocate for homosexual in-your-face actions, yet continues to frown upon and punish murder and predatory sex with minors?  Homosexuality and murder is a sin in many major religions, Christianity and Islam among them.  Selective enforcement, obviously.  But we must eradicate the culture of personal freedom and morality, and nothing can stand in the way of that goal.  I can guess who is really behind these coordinated and well financed affronts on freedom and moral culture.  Qui Bene?

Another example of dwindling freedom is the erosion of our concept of separation of powers.  Many folks, both in government and in academia, are sounding the alarm about the usurpation of the power of the legislative and judicial branches, especially as it concerns balancing the power of the executive branch.  During testimony before the House Judiciary Committee yesterday, liberal constitutional professor Jonathan Turley said that the Obama's (as well as George W. Bush's) blatant overreach of executive power is “accelerating” and that the growth of such power has brought us to a constitutional tipping point.  “I believe we are now at a constitutional tipping point in our system,” Turley, who teaches law at George Washington University, said. “It’s a dangerous point for our system to be in, and I believe that your response has to begin before this president leaves office. No one in our system goes it alone.”  Turley noted that while he agrees with the President on most of his policies, it still “does not alter the fact that I believe the means he is doing is wrong” and that the continued acceleration of executive power can be “a dangerous change in our system."  No kidding!  The legislature writes laws, that we, as a constitutional republic, require them to do.  The executive branch - the president - enacts those laws:  he may neither write law (except by executive order) nor may he change laws, nor selectively enforce laws to his whim.  Yet the Kenyan has done  so - over 23 changes to ObamaCare since July 2013 alone - without so much as a raised eyebrow from congress.  In fact, Attorney General Holder this week encouraged various state attorneys general not to enforce those laws to which they feel morally opposed!  Screw the law, we'll  enforce only what we think is right!  Such is the attitude of this regime:  the law is simply what we say it is, and only when we say it is.  The castrati in congress wring their hands but do nothing, and the judicial branch fear reprisals should they dissent.  See Judge Roberts.  All the while the concept of a nation of laws and not men slowly erodes into history.

Land of the Free?

For those readers who still naively believe that this country is still the land of the free, let me highlight recent lawlessness perpetrated by this government.   

Ignoring the 1st Amendment

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech; or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

As many know, government's censorship of free speech has been on the march for decades.  Opposition to state-forced acceptance of certain issues are verboten, and if uttered, are labeled "hate speech."  We all know the penalties for not thinking in line with the government progressivism: personal destruction.  Further, the government attack dog, the IRS, has been unleashed on any group known to hold ideas contrary to the government's stated edicts, specifically those groups who identify as conservative and/or Christian.  Now, emboldened by the lack of any resistance to this usurpation of free political speech as guaranteed in the First Amendment, the FCC seeks to infiltrate radio and television newsrooms with government thugs, er, monitors, to determine what stories are to be aired. This quote is from Mr. Ajit Pai, a commissioner with the FCC, in a recent Wall Street Journal article:

" . . . The purpose of the CIN [Multi-Market Study of Critical Information Needs], according to the FCC, is to ferret out information from television and radio broadcasters about "the process by which stories are selected" and how often stations cover "critical information needs," along with "perceived station bias" and "perceived responsiveness to underserved populations.  How does the FCC plan to dig up all that information? First, the agency selected eight categories of "critical information" such as the "environment" and "economic opportunities," that it believes local newscasters should cover. It plans to ask station managers, news directors, journalists, television anchors and on-air reporters to tell the government about their "news philosophy" and how the station ensures that the community gets critical information . . . "

This is a far more heavy-handed regurgitation of the failed policies of the FCC's so-called Fairness Doctrine, which was repealed in the late 1980s.  Under this policy the news is whatever the government says is news:  goodbye checks and balances, hello disinformation and propaganda.

Ignoring the 4th Amendment

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, homes, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

What could be further from the intent of this fundamental guarantee of personal security than the massive, invasive and all-encompassing NSA spying?  Speak on your cell phone, and you're on talk radio.  Send an email or text and you've published news.  Stop and Search policies are used by police departments all over the U.S.  And now, with life imitating art, we have a budding pre-crime appartus that's been in develpment for years at DHS.  You can now be detained or arrested, and without redress, for merely the appearance of doing something the government deems threatening. 

Ignoring the 2nd Amendment

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep an bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

There's no question as to why the government wants to limit, restrict and ultimately confiscate your guns.  As the founders knew, an armed citizenry is "necessary to the security of a free state." Are you beginning to see why there's such a push for gun control?  Are you beginning to see why the issue is so contentious, and why elected officials who support this nonsense have been recalled and removed from office?  Are you wondering why non-military federal agencies like DHS, IRS and TSA have purchased over two billion rounds of handgun ammunition?  That's about 5,000 rounds for each agent in those departments.  How many rounds do you have?  This isn't about hunting.

Why is there such a rampant, lawless disregard for the fundamental freedoms upon which the United States was founded?  The actions by this government transcend mere political ideology.  This government is in the process of transforming the basic premise of this marvelous experiment in self governance into the tried and failed policies of totalitarianism.  People need to see what's right in front of them, and to reflect deeply on what they want their future to be.  We're no longer the land of the free, but I'm praying we're still the home of the brave.

The New Ice Age

The hapless John Kerry, all coached up by the anti-capitalists on his message, is in Indonesia sounding the alarm about global warming, er, I mean climate change.  Never mind that Indonesia, of all places, is dominated by active volcanoes that are formed due to the stress caused by interaction between the Eurasian and Indo-Australian tectonic plates, and that these volcanoes spew ton upon ton of vaporized matter into the atmosphere.   And never mind that weather cycles on our fair planet correspond rather closely with solar activity, which is entering an unusual phase that has produced a very quiet period of sunspots.  No, according to the environmentalist whackos, climate change - a total misnomer on it's face - is caused by human activity.  The fact is there is no man-made global warming, and even if the Earth was warming, it isn't caused by human activity, and certainly couldn't be abated by simply assessing a "carbon tax" on industrial nations . . . well, other than China and India, the planet's biggest polluters.

Nope, global warming isn't taking place at all.  Whatever anomalies may be occurring in Earth's weather patterns are due to predictable and reoccurring influences of the sun.  The sun emits radiation at varying levels throughout its 11 year cycle, and the jet streams react to the change in charged particles entering the atmosphere, affecting how they circulate in their usual patterns.  Further, there's such a thing as space weather, which affects the Earth's atmosphere, and subsequently, Earth's climate.  Add to that the affect of both magnetic and electrical fields emanating from the sun and encompassing Earth, and the complexity - and wonder -  of our weather is obvious.   Science is just beginning to understand this affect, because we lose billions of dollars in satellites every year due to a variety of these space weather factors.

Now let's talk about "climate change."  What we are witnessing in recent weather extremes is not a change in climate as it is a cycling of weather patterns.  We didn't have the scientific sophistication hundreds and thousands of years ago to sufficiently monitor weather patterns on a global scale, so we're making some strong assumptions based solely on ice core and geological layering analysis. And this study essentially limits itself to the Northern Hemisphere.  But the weather has obviously morphed from a global tropical climate in the Jurassic era, to the Little Ice Age that covered the Northern hemisphere, and human activity is unlikely the cause.

The National Center for Policy Analysis, in an article published in August 2003, comes to this conclsuion:
"The scientific evidence, including the two most recent studies of the climate for the past 1,000 years, strongly indicates that Northern Hemisphere temperatures have been both as warm as and substantially cooler than the present, absent any possible human influence. Such evidence should not be dismissed or manipulated to support predetermined conclusions, as the IPCC's Third Assessment Report does."

So John Kerry and the other alarmists have a hidden agenda in their climate change claims, and it more concerns wealth distribution than it does correcting weather patterns.

Psychic Vampires: Hiding in Plain Sight

Have you ever known a psychic vampire?  Someone who seems to pull the oxygen out of a room?  Someone who you inherently fear or distrust without really knowing why?  Or someone who raises the hair on your neck by just being in their presence?  While many folks would consider this a rhetorical question, as psychic vampires heretofore have been essentially mythical characters, modern psychology has taken a more insightful look at people who could very well be considered as such.  If a psychic vampire can be defined as someone who can suck the chi, the life force, from someone else, then they certainly exist - and you probably know several.   

Of course, in modern times people exhibiting these traits are called sociopaths, or psychopaths.  Psychopathy is among the most difficult personality, or mental, disorders to spot because psychopaths can appear normal, successful, even charming. Yet underneath, psychopaths lack conscience and empathy, making them manipulative, volatile, given to homicidal fantasies and often, but not always, criminal. Further, they are an object of clinical anguish: while psychopathy can be readily diagnosed, it is largely impervious to treatment. It is a behavioral disorder, which is a mental illness.  But what's worse is that psychopaths may know they're different, but are very often in deep denial about the extent to which they are disordered.

Just last year a law professor and attorney has written a new book about what it's like to be a diagnosed sociopath who's never killed anybody and excels at her job.  "Confessions of A Sociopath" by M.E. Thomas, a pseudonym, reveals its author is a Mormon Sunday school teacher who's well liked by her law school students. She also has a cold stare and fantasizes about killing people.  A professional diagnosis of her condition reveals that although she is aware that she is different from most people she knows, she really doesn't view herself as being disordered in terms of suffering from a form of mental illness.  In fact, to the contrary, she is content with her life and her success and is completely indifferent to the affect - and harm - she has imposed on others.  This attitude in of itself is emblematic of highly psychotic individuals.  The fact that she has had experienced relatively little negative fallout resulting from her manipulation and abuse of others indicates that she's a "socialized" or "successful" psychopath.

But there's a far darker side to this story.  While Ms. Thomas' "outing" has shed some public light on the condition, there are probably millions of other people who have this disorder who are not socialized, and are far from as candid.  And unfortunately, the friends, co-workers, family and lovers of these psychopaths suffer daily in their attempts to deal with a mental illness not their own, and their lives are diminished because of it.  All the while the undiagnosed - and untreated - psychopathic psychic vampire goes blithely along, feeding on its diet of physical and psychological abuse, evil and destruction. 

Cuisine and the American Man

When my brother and I were growing up back in the day, our mother decided she’d teach us the fine art of domestic self-sufficiency.  Of course, the notion of men and domestication wasn’t popular back in those days; the renaissance man had yet to be invented.  Imagine: boys who could cook, clean and iron!  But what it did was make both of us responsible in a way that has served to make us self sufficient in any number of ways.  There’s a certain personal freedom and power that arises from being self sufficient, and readers of this blog know I'm a tireless advocate for personal power.

 

Because I love to cook, I’ve accumulated some delicious recipes over the years from some eclectic sources, from Golden Spoon restaurants to passed-down family recipes to favorites of old black Delta blues men.  So today I thought I would present one of these recipes that can be easily mastered by the average American man, using basically what’s already in the kitchen cabinet.  No foo-foo exotica here, my friends, just real good American cookin’!  So go to it, guys.  Have a ball!  Cooking is easy, it’s fun, and it’s inspirational.  And if you’re cooking for that special someone, she’ll be more than impressed.  Trust me on this.   But remember, though:  clean up afterwards and do your own dishes!

Lightfoot Cruise’s Pork Loin in Banana Leaves®
This crowd pleaser is easy to prepare, and you will be a star when you serve it. I’ve made variations of this recipe on the grill and in the oven, and the results have been spectacular with both.  On the grill I recommend a marinade to prevent over drying (see my Mayan Style Bitter Orange Marinade), but for roasting in the oven you can use a dry rub.  The dry rub is what we’ll explore here.  If you don’t have a banana tree in your back yard, you can generally find banana leaves at Asian grocery stores.  They can be frozen as well.

2 - 3 lb     pork loin

1             large banana leaf
2             very ripe bananas (soft with brown peels)
10           slices of pepperoni
1 cup       dry rub (garlic powder, onion powder, sea salt, ground black pepper, pinch of rosemary, tarragon  and oregano, in a mixture to suit your taste)

Rub the dry rub well into the meat, covering all sides and both ends, and let that sit overnight so the flavors can be absorbed.  Don’t trim any fat from the loin.  Spread the banana leaf on a flat surface, and place the loin in the center.  Cut a small section from each end of the leaf to use as an end wrap.  Place half of the pepperoni on each side of the loin, pressing the slices firmly down onto the meat.  Then carefully peel the ripe bananas and cut them in half longwise.  Place two banana halves on each side of the meat, ensuring the banana stays on the loin.  Then carefully roll the meat in the leaf, using the cut portions as the end caps, much like you were rolling a cigar.  Carefully place the wrapped leaf on a flat tray and roast in the over for about an hour and a half at 350 degrees.  Naturally a larger loin will take longer; small ones less.

Serve the entire leaf on a large platter, and slice the top open and spread the leaf to carve.  The banana will have cooked to oblivion, leaving just banana oil to create a sensational aroma.  The pepperoni will give the taste a little unexpected punch, and the overall wow factor is high!   The presentation is dynamic, and the roast will be delightful, moist and very tasty.

Well, how did it go?

Common Core and Freedom of Thought

Once again, traditional values have come under attack as the ever vigilant progressive movement continues in its mission to destroy American culture.  I'm referring to the so-called Common Core education standardization.  Most parents know instinctively that this government intrusion into their children's lives has the stigma of governmental control all over it, but the packaging and marketing has been successful.  So far.

The left has always used a false paradigm to sell their propaganda, which is the unquestioned assumption that they are, of course, always right in their positions, and any opponent is therefore universally wrong.  It's the application and implementation of these programs, not the notion of them, that is detrimental.  Emotion is always at the forefront in their marketing, and logic - that is, the details -  is murky at best or simply ignored. For instance who isn't in favor of clean air?  Of clean water?  Of preserving the environment?  No one, of course.  But it's always how one achieves those lofty goals that disagreement occurs.  Let's say we can agree that one clear duty of parenting is to educate our children at least to, and hopefully beyond, the levels to which we were exposed.  Who is in favor of educating their children to the highest level possible?  Most hands go up. But in progressive-speak, hands up, you're in favor of Common Core; hands down, you're opposed to educating your children. 

Not so fast.  That conclusion is logically flawed.  In short, it's a lie and a trap.  Tell us first what these standards are and how will they be applied. Reading and math, says the proponents, need to be standardized. Well, that's fine, but why does the federal government need to be involved?  Here's why:  the progressives in the federal government are of the opinion that the citizenry must toe the utopian party line, and the way to do that is get to them early while just starting out in school.  Set a "standardized" curriculum that stays in place for the full twelve years.  Yes, we'll have them read, but exactly what will they read?  Yes, we'll have them learn advanced math, but exactly how will we present it?  The goal is indoctrination through education, not education itself, because progressives believe our children belong to them, and parents should have little or nothing to do with child rearing.  Remember Hillary Clinton's famous "it takes a village to raise a child" pronouncement?  This is it being implemented.

Don't believe me?  Paul Reville, member of the liberal think tank Center for American Progress (founded by John Podesta, current counsel to Obama and former Clinton chief of staff) and former Massachusetts education secretary, in an interview with CNN, said, "Why should some towns and cities and states have low standards or no standards and others have extremely high standards when the children belong to all of us and would move [elsewhere during their education]?"  (Emphasis mine)  Wow.  My kids don't belong to the federal government, and I'm pretty sure you feel that yours don't either.  Nor do I want them indoctrinated into some failed utopian system of government that is diametrically opposed to the Constitution and the American way of life.

So before you succumb to the appeal of standardized education, ask yourself:  What's the agenda both seen and unseen, and more importantly, who's administering it?

Super Bowl XLVIII

Did y'all feel the same way I did about last night's Championship Game?  That it was slightly mundane, possibly mediocre?  Maybe somehow out of sync?  I sure did.  A contest between champion football teams should be somewhat an even match, I would think, and thus exhilarating.  This game was a rout, pure and simple.  I'm not sure the Broncos even showed up, the domination by Seattle was so utterly complete.  That was the most one sided game I've seen since my granddaughter's soccer team's defeat a few weeks ago.

And the commercials were - with perhaps a half dozen exceptions -  without imagination or creativity.  The Maserati ad was incomprehensible, the Coke commercial was downright insulting, and the others were obviously targeted toward the mouth breathers in the audience.  And what about the two-minute ad featuring Bob Dylan (Bob Dylan? Really?) promoting an American made car, even though Chrysler is wholly owned by Fiat?  That's like saying Nissan or Mercedes M-Class is an American made car.  They technically are, but gee whiz . . . they really aren't.  Horses and puppies always have a high "aww" value, and they didn't disappoint.  Audi and Volkswagen were clever and got the marketing point across.  Well done.

The Super Bowl is an American Cultural event, comparable to a national holiday.  The expectation is that it should be well worth the four hours the audience invests into it.  That includes a game that keeps you on the edge of your seat, and commercials that stimulate, titillate and entertain.  Super Bowl XLVIII did not meet expectations.

Thankfully the half time show rocked.  I have new respect for Bruno Mars.

More of the Same

In Florida House District 13, there's a special election resulting from the unfortunate passing of a good man, Congressman Bill Young.  Rep. Young (R), lived in and represented Pinellas County,was responsible for a good deal of  federal assistance for the military in this area, especially as concerns MacDill AFB in Tampa, and was a staunch small government, low taxes, constitutional representative.

But he passed away during his term, and a special election was called to replace him in congress.  His heir apparent, Mr. Tom Jolly, won a Republican primary for this seat, and now faces Alex Sink, a Democrat, and Lucas Overby, a Libertarian, in the run off.  Of the three, Overby and Jolly represent the best future for Pinellas County, as well as for congress.  They both are freedom loving, self reliant, low taxes, small government proponents and would bring needed change to the over-reaching nanny state bureaucracy in Washington.  Both are life long residents of Pinellas County as well.

Sink, in contrast, is more of the same big government statist elites who know better than we mere mortals.  Although she's a Southerner, which in of itself weighs mightily with me, she is also just another carpetbagger, which also weighs mightily with me.  The former is a virtue, the latter is not.  Back in September the Democrat Party wanted her to run for governor against incumbent Republican governor Rick Scott in 2014.  She declined, presumably because the party brass wanted to run the chameleon Charlie Crist, the darling of the silk stocking set, and a partner at Morgan and Morgan, the law firm pushing the "medical"  marijuana ballot issue.  As luck would have it a vacancy arose in District 13, and the party brass offered her the consolation prize - a shot to run against two virtual unknowns for the house seat; one Republican, one Libertarian.  Cool.  Piece of cake.

But wait.  There's a problem.  Alex lives in trendy rural Hillsborough County; she doesn't live in Pinellas and never has, and residency is a requirement for candidacy.  So in dark of night in September or thereabouts, Alex rents a modest house in Pinellas Park, and viola!  Instant resident.  Requirement met, say the Dems, press on.  Imagine if a Republican had done this.  The press wouldn't sleep until justice was served.  Yet not a peep from the St. Petersburg Times (now called the Tampa Bay Times in an effort to achieve legitimacy in the Tampa Bay area).  Nothing to see here, move on.

Shame on you, Alex Sink.  You have put the corruption of your party's ends-justifies-the-means policy ahead of your Southern heritage and your personal integrity.  Of all people in the world, as a Southerner surely you should be deeply sensitive to the stigma of a carpetbagger.  

I would respect her in a run for governor, that's a straight up contest.  But to so blatantly in-your-face roll over to the state's corrupt and vile Democrat party apparatus in seeking a house seat in this way leaves me with a very low level gag reflex.  Pinellas County is a politically diverse district, true, and she may prevail.  But for the future of my home county, as well as for the House of Representatives, I fervently hope not.