In The Age of Disbelief

Epistemology and Belief Systems

Ah, epistemology - the thorniest of all the philosophies, and the hardest to reconcile.  Epistemology deals with the study and nature of truth.  In  the tightest of definitions, it's how you know what you know.  Think about that for a second.  We all have opinions, and they are based on experience, knowledge, personal biases and more.  We all have a political position and I dare say it's primarily based on what we can glean from the news, from the internet, and from personal interaction.  So we defend our positions based on what we know.  Or think we know.

But what is the source of that knowledge we cling to so desperately?  Let's keep this discussion within a political context;  I won't engage in the debate raging right now between quantum theorists and general relativists regarding the beginning of the known universe.  For now, anyway.  When one establishes a political position, or belief system, he does so based on information he has at the time.  Now that information could be erroneous, or it may be correct.  It may be bad information arising from flawed data, or it could be straight up disingenuous propaganda   Or it could be true.  One has no way of knowing for sure, apart from direct observation.  Let's take a few examples of recent issues facing us today, and see if we can find sense by applying epistemology and logic.

Global Warming

This issue has adherents so strongly enamored of this topic that it is literally a religion to them. Wikipedia defines religion as ". . . an organized collection of beliefs, cultural systems, and world views that relate humanity to an order of existence."  Hmm.  That certainly applies to the GW crowd, who pejoratively refer to those who simply question their dogma as "deniers."  Yet report after report has shown that the data upon which their belief system is based is either incomplete, flawed or outright manipulated.  In fact, it's been debunked completely.  Yet the adherents cling to it blindly.  Why?  

Net Neutrality

Yesterday the Federal Communications Commission empowered itself to regulate the Internet.  Thousands cheered this move, because it supported their contention - dare I say religion-  that anything under private corporate management is "bad," and government oversight is "good."  In reveling in their delight over a perceived victory over Comcast, ATT, Verizon and others, they  miss the point entirely.  Those who championed this move - some the very essence of Silicon Valley - really stood up for free speech, didn't they?  They did, right?  Now that not only government oversight of charges by providers is on the table, but soon to come is licensing and censorship of content.  But, hey, we really put the screws to Big Communications, didn't we?  No matter that the baby went out the window with the bathwater.  Again, why?

How do we know what we know?  What is our basis for making decisions that have real and long term consequences?  Some would say directed government propaganda drives a demand for more tyranny and less freedom.  I would concur.  In both cases above, emotions were brilliantly played in order to justify more government takeover.  Here's the evil in that:  all government systems exist only to retain and seek even more power; of total and complete control of us by them.  Remember:  Power always seeks more power.

So the debate should not be whether the planet is cooling or warming - it does both over epochs of time - and neither is attributable to human endeavors.  The debate is why the government wants to curtail our use of energy, whether demanding we all drive electric cars, or killing off the coal and oil industries, or pouring money into unproven "alternative" energy sources.  But we do know why, don't we?

And the FCC isn't empowered to enact any regulation that hasn't been approved in advance by congress, yet it did so anyway.  And the FCC won't release the actual rules until after they're enacted.  Why?  Watch this space:  in the next two years of this administration's reign, you will see not an increase in economic freedom, but merely another government monopoly.  In the near future, expect some kind of internet use tax, then a campaign to curtail "hate speech" which will be aimed at any content that rises in opposition to an all powerful central government.  All this will be in the name of free speech and free and equal access, of course.  For the short term, your costs for internet use will increase, your connection speed will decrease, and your content will be censored.  In the long term, the internet will be nothing more than a digital version of government sponsored PBS.  And we know why, don't we?

Adoration of the Emperor

The not-so-hidden-hand in all these power grabs is the Kenyan, who has emphatically stated that he defies congress to vote against his policies of fundamentally transforming America; whether with caps on immigrant work permits, or the Keystone pipeline, or his refusal to deport illegals aliens, or even closing Gitmo.  Elections don't matter to the Kenyan.  He has the keys to the throne, and he's acting as emperor.  Yet he doesn't have the constitutional authority to enact  any of these things, it's just there's nobody bold - or brave - enough to stop him.

So what you know, at the end of the day, is that what you "know" is all a hoax. It's just propaganda disseminated by those who are adherents of the religion of totalitarianism.  There's a very real and orchestrated campaign to separate you from the concept of free and open government of, by and for the people. Our Constitutional Republic is being replaced with a totalitarian dictatorship, in which rights and freedoms are determined by the government, and to whom these rights and freedoms may selectively be granted.  And he has two more years, maybe even more - we'll see - to work his plan.  

But as we've seen, logic and epistemology have no place in this government's narrative.  Don't think, just do as you're told.  Now that's what I call a fundamental transformation of America.

Will No One Rid Us of this Turbulent Priest?

Will No One Rid Us of this Turbulent Priest?

OK, with apologizes to King Henry II regarding his lament about Thomas Beckett, I do wonder who will save us us from the destruction perpetrated by the High Priest of Tyranny, our own treasonous dear leader, the Kenyan.  And when.  With news just the other day that Mitch McConnell will have Senate Republicans throw in the towel on the vastly unpopular - and blatantly illegal - amnesty program, the Kenyan knew the deal was done, and flew off to sunny Miami for some golf.  As the image indicates, will none stop this blatant destruction of the rule of law, from which there can be no return?  Like the Kenyan, every one of the five hundred and thirty five members of congress swore an oath to defend the constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic.  Yet no arrest has been made, no impeachment enacted.  The Kenyan has broken more laws than all other presidents before him combined, by orders of magnitude.  Roosevelt?  Carter?  Nixon?  Clinton?  Mere choirboys in comparison.  Yet the vengeful, petulant spoiled child continues on, simply because he can.  No one dares stop him and our "free" press encourages and enables him.  And he has two more years to exact even more destruction, revenge and punishment from America, to rectify what he sees as her sins.   He's one man who seeks to inflict harm upon three hundred fifty million others, and yet he walks free as the breeze.  Our enemies too, see that to the Kenyan, America is the enemy, and by this undeniable observation are ever emboldened in their attack on us.  He will let them finish what he himself cannot do.   Astonishing.  Will no one rid us of this turbulent priest?

Enemies Within and Without

Crusaders and Saracens, circa 21st Century

Ever emboldened by the western culture's refusal to reply in kind, the Islamic State again shows the world that it is the absolute epitome of barbarism.  All the whitewash and sugar coating in the world cannot downplay the evil of which this religion is comprised.  And it's not new; this war continues today as it has for the last fourteen hundred years.  What is new, however, is the slick propaganda production the butchers have employed.  Video and internet can take their message to the world in the blink of an eye. The Islamic State’s Al Hayat Media, the group that has published the previous beheading videos in the Middle East, produced the Libya video titled, “A Message Signed With Blood To The Nation Of The Cross.”  I wonder who they mean by that.  A reference was made to "all crusaders" and "we will conquer Rome."  That sounds like a declaration of war.  The most recent victims, 21 Coptic Christian men whose only crime was not being Muslim, were gruesomely beheaded while the voice over spews the same old rhetoric.  At least Egypt's government has vowed retribution, and conducted airstrikes almost immediately.  Here at home, however, the Kenyan has yet to comment on the slaughter, since he was golfing on Sunday at a private golf course owned by billionaire Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle.

And this act of barbarism is no coincidence.  Aided and abetted by the Kenyan's inane and inaccurate comments at the National Prayer Breakfast a few weeks ago, wherein he compared the current atrocities of the IS to alleged "atrocities" of Christian crusaders a thousand years ago, the Islamic State exacts its revenge on a few Egyptian Coptic Christians.  It's this writer's opinion that this is planned; that every utterance of the Kenyan is tacit permission for IS to wage their terror war on Christians and Christian nations.  

So now what do we have?  We have a rich and powerful Islamic State killing and maiming Christians and others alike all over the world. Even Denmark is no longer spared their carnage, as jihad reaches a Free Speech Conference.  Ironic.  The recent mass "immigration" of Muslims in Europe and the US is disguised as normal and peaceful, but it is anything but.  Think London, Dearborn Michigan, and north Texas as examples of demographic changes within Christian countries.  Sleeper cells are everywhere, in every western nation, invisible but ready to strike, as evidenced by CAIR exposed as a terrorist group.

So as yet another poke in the eye to Americans, the Kenyan vows to "squeeze every drop of change" out of his last two years in office.  That means giving illegal aliens, most of whom don't speak English, not only amnesty, but also the unearned right to vote.  Apart from inviting foreign nationals into the US as fully fledged citizens, and apart from encouraging IS atrocities here and abroad, the Kenyan has now decided to render Americans as defenseless as possible. Yes, folks, ATF (now the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) has already taken three major executive actions on gun control. First, it was a major change to what activities constitute regulated “manufacturing” of firearms. Next, BATFE reversed a less than year old position on firing a shouldered “pistol.” Now, BATFE has released a “Framework for Determining Whether Certain Projectiles are ‘Primarily Intended for Sporting Purposes’ Within the Meaning of 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(17)(c)”, which would eliminate M855’s exemption to the armor piercing ammunition prohibition and make future exemptions nearly impossible.  

The Ubiquitous .223 Cartridge and Variants

The M855 cartridge is the green-tipped variant of the very same ubiquitous M193 .223 caliber (5.56mm NATO) round that nearly everyone who owns an AR-15 style rifle has laying around the house.  It has a tiny steel tip on the bullet.  An explanation of the variants of this cartridge here.  Oh, by the way, BATF will take comments from the public until March 16, 2015.  I'm sure public input will weigh heavily on the predetermined decision.  This is the camel's nose under the tent; if M855 can be banned, why not the M193, or .45 ACP, or 9 mm Luger?  Own a gun or ammo?  Be prepared to become a criminal.

If you're awake and can read the news, and you're still not extremely concerned as to the direction this contry is going, well, you're just not nearly paranoid enough. 

Stopping the Government Monster

ETC wants to regulate the Internet

As the federal government seeks more and more power and control over its citizens, and as new federal criminal laws pass year after year, and as it's impossible to go about our daily lives without breaking some federal law, are you starting to feel powerless and vulnerable?  Are you concerned that both political parties are vying for control that will result in policies that are not in your best interests?  Do you instinctively fear those alphabet government agencies like IRS, DHS, TSA, FEC, FTC, BLM, and many others - their agents all armed to the teeth - will somehow detain, arrest, imprison you, or seize your assets like your guns, your bank accounts and your home and land?  As the federal government now seeks to regulate - that is, monitor, control and censor - the internet, are you just a bit concerned that you may be tracked while viewing some sites that are not government approved?  Are you a little afraid to voice your views on topics such as homosexual "rights," or the growing influence of Sharia Law invading local and federal governments?  Are you concerned that the erosion of Christian morality is being not only mocked, but displaced, by the Jewish owned media?  Yeah, me too.  You're not alone, and you're not nearly paranoid enough.

www.americanpreppersnetwork.com

But many folks are content to rant only in the relative safety of the Ethernet, hoping they may add a little weight to the liberty conscious, albeit anonymously.  Let me say this about that:  Continue on with voicing your dissatisfaction and alarm at the growing government monster, but be wary, armed and prepared as well.  Am I a prepper?  Not in the pejorative lunatic fringe sense that the media has defined that term, but I do believe wholeheartedly in being self sufficient and surviving. I am consciously and acutely aware that our American way of life can change in the blink of an eye, and like millions of other Americans, I recognize the danger that this unchecked monster of a tyrannical government poses.

Deterrence by Force of  Arms

So what can we do?  First, as many have pointed out, it's the Second Amendment that guarantees the rest.  So yes, I own firearms, and yes, I have a concealed carry permit, and yes, I carry a gun every day everywhere.  And so does my 104 pound attractive blonde attorney wife.  That protects me at the personal level.  But on an legislative and judicial level, I am a life member of four major gun rights groups, and I encourage each of you to become members of one or all of these.  They are:  National Rifle Association (NRA), Gun Owners of America (GOA), Citizens Committee for The Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA), and Second Amendment Foundation (SAF).  These groups constantly challenge the courts and legislators to ensure Americans keep their God-given rights to self defense and liberty, and are very successful at what they do.  See the NRA sidebar on this blog.  In fact just yesterday, the handgun interstate sales ban, part of the Gun Control Act of 1968 signed into law by Lyndon B. Johnson, was overturned as being unconstitutional.  This was an effort by CCRKBA and SAF attorneys.  Take heart -  the good guys do win.

Vote for Liberty always

In a civil way, continue to pressure your elected representatives to stop this expanding federal government monster that's intent on taking over every aspect of our lives.  And personally fight every liberty-reducing enactment from red light cameras, to the insidious RealID Act,  to Samsung's "I'm watching you" television, to TSA search-and-grope policy nonsense, to IRS seizing Tea Party member accounts, to NSA's and other government agencies' constant violations of the Fourth Amendment, to KenyanCare mandates, and to every other overreach of the federal and local government.  Fight to keep your God-given rights, so that our children and grandchildren can know the freedom we once had, and will have again.  Don't let the will of the people be corrupted or ignored by the people we place in office.  Make them do their jobs according to their sworn oath of office.  That's the American way.

Military, Civilian, Scout Manuals

But also do what you can to hedge your bets as a fail safe.  Take a stand.  Don't become a casualty if and when the SHTF (Shit Hits The Fan), the euphemism for when All Things Break Down and Collapse.  Many people don't have even basic survival skills that some of us learned in the Boy Scouts or through advanced military training.  For those who lack these basic skills, learn something new by perusing some of the prepper and survival sites as linked above, or buy a military survival manual to see what you can do to help yourself, your family and neighbors.  The Army and Air Force have excellent field survival manuals available on Amazon and elsewhere.  Here's a free downland of the Army Manual FM 21-76.  Exhibit that common sense self reliance that we all were taught in what seems like another, safer age.  Be prepared.  Count on yourself.  Assess.  Evaluate.  Act.  Knowledge is power.  That's the American way, too. 

The Glorious March Continues

If y'all thought I was kidding last November when I opined that the Kenyan, having only two more years in his pathological campaign to destroy and end America, I wasn't.  As story after story comes in, we see he has pulled out all the stops to inflict as much irreparable damage as possible.  Consider just today's headlines:

Amnesty

The Department of Homeland Security has set up hotlines for illegal immigrants who believe their rights under President Obama’s amnesty policy have been violated.  Border Agents are now merely social workers.  And if they complain about their forced change of mission or attempt to obey the law, the Kenyan has issued a memo that illegal aliens, now called "stakeholders," can file complaints against federal workers who fail to comply with the unlawful amnesty programs.  In a memo announcing the customer complaint line, U.S. Customs and Border Protection asked illegal immigrants to “please tell us about your experience” if they believe they were treated “contrary to the new DHS enforcement priorities.”  The Germans used this tactic seventy years ago with the creation of the Gestapo.  As you know this was a secret state police whose mission included meting out harsh measures to political opponents and those who resisted Nazi doctrine.  Sound familiar?  Think state-enforced illegal amnesty, or IRS controlled and mandated ObamaCare.  Not to fear that we're aiding and abetting Islamic terrorists, however, in this push to accept the worst of humanity.  No, Jeh Johnson tells us DHS is doing a pretty good job of tracking them. Whew.  That's a relief.

Free Speech

College campuses are always bastions for the evil of applied political correctness, but at the University of Michigan has reached a new plateau.  Titled the ‘Inclusive Language Campaign," this new campaign is an attempt to stifle certain words or phrases that may cause other students harm. University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald told The College Fix in an email the campaign aims to “address campus climate by helping individuals understand that their words can impact someone and to encourage individuals to commit to creating a positive campus community.” Students have been asked to sign a pledge to “use inclusive language” and to help their peers “understand the importance of using inclusive language,” according to campaign material.  I guess the take-away from this news item is that today's college students are so thin skinned that words or phrases can hurt them.  Give me a break.  Meet your future world leaders, folks, but just watch what you say.  They are very sensitive.

Jobless Lies

As it was with the Gestapo, here in the land of the free, any speech, thought or action contrary to the Kenyan's totalitarian regime is not considered merely a difference of opinion.  Oh, no, that's blasphemy.  So we have the CEO of one of the major pollsters fears for his life as he publishes the true numbers regarding the jobless state of our nation.  Think that's a stretch?  Consider this:  Wall Street on Parade reported that after years of unending news stories on U.S. government programs of surveillance, rendition and torture have apparently chilled the speech of even top business executives in the United States.  Yesterday, Jim Clifton, the Chairman and CEO of Gallup, an iconic U.S. company dating back to 1935, told CNBC that he was worried he might “suddenly disappear” and not make it home that evening if he disputed the accuracy of what the U.S. government is reporting as unemployed Americans.  The CNBC interview came one day after Clifton had penned a gutsy opinion piece on Gallup’s web site, defiantly calling the government’s 5.6 percent unemployment figure “The Big Lie” in the article’s headline. His appearance on CNBC was apparently to walk back the “lie” part of the title and reframe the jobs data as just hopelessly deceptive. Clifton stated the following on CNBC:“I think that the number that comes out of BLS [Bureau of Labor Statistics] and the Department of Labor is very, very accurate. I need to make that very, very clear so that I don’t suddenly disappear. I need to make it home tonight.” After getting that out of the way, Clifton went on to eviscerate the legitimacy of the cheerful spin given to the unemployment data, telling CNBC viewers that the percent of full time jobs in this country as a percent of the adult population “is the worst it’s been in 30 years.”  So today, challenging the regime can be a capital offense.

Global Warming

And speaking of Big Lies, this climate nonsense is a hoax of mammoth proportions, and now more and more scientists are coming forward to discredit this environmental religion.   NASA and Goddard, for whatever reason, have "fiddled with" the raw data is ensure that the facts support the theory. Something very odd has been going on with the temperature data relied on by the world's scientists, writes Christopher Booker.  But anyone who may disagree, or who wants to set the record straight, is immediately tagged with the pejorative"denier." But the facts are in:  the ground based temperatures were raised to fit the narrative. "If the temperature records on which the entire edifice of the international global warming industry is based are a busted flush then we have all been victims of a scam so vast and all-encompassing it makes Enron look like a model of modesty and integrity."  So states James Delingpole of Breitbart.

The Kenyan has ingeniously employed Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals, as well as the Cloward-Piven Strategy.   And it's working - his fingerprints of destruction are all over the map - literally - and you gotta give him credit for that.  He's doing what America's enemies for two hundred years could not do.  All of these stories above are designed to overwhelm the system make it break and collapse upon itself, which results in chaos.   From that point on, it's martial law, and the total application of tyranny.  It's a very real threat. And one, I'm afraid, for which the vast number of Americans are unprepared.

Curiouser and Curiouser

Judge Ye Not Islam, For Ye Are To Blame

Indeed it has become quite curious, with apologies to Lewis Carroll.  The news today seems as though it may have come from Wonderland, as disjointed and out-of-orbit as insanity would have it.  The Kenyan's bizarre rant at the National Prayer Breakfast leaves one wondering if the man has gone 'round the bend, so ludicrous were his comments.  But where to begin?  To insinuate that there's a moral equivalency between the acts of Christians during the Crusades a thousand years ago, and the evil grotesque slaughter being committed by the radical Islamists today goes beyond the pale.  Comparing one religion, whose God demands that one kill the infidel where ever he may be found, to one whose God encourages one to love thy neighbor as thyself, is utterly without merit.  But that's exactly what the Kenyan did.  He literally compared - not contrasted, I hasten to point out - ISIS to the Christian Crusaders and the Inquisitors.  And to Jim Crow Laws and slavery in the United States.  Delusional much?  He then went on to lecture us by explaining that it is his view that the essence of faith is not certitude about one’s beliefs, but instead the opposite: doubt.  Seriously?  Doubt?  What kind of negative spiritual cognition is this?   The very essence of spirituality is an unyielding belief in a thing greater than oneself that cannot be quantified. But in this utterance, the Kenyan once again shows us that his grasp of religious faith is something  bizarre- and something other than Christian.

NYT:  Drop Anchor

Speaking of Big Lies, NBC Nightly News anchorman Brian Williams has been found to telling some whoppers.  After years of telling a story about his helicopter's shoot-down in Iraq by enemy fire, it's now been publicly revealed that it never happened.  Kinda like Hillary's infamous claim she and Chelsea took fire from enemy snipers in Bosnia.  It only took two days for her to see the light and retract that lie.  Williams, however, has basked in his stolen valor for years. In his recantations he digs himself ever deeper.  And true veterans are livid, as they should be, and even Tom Brokaw wants his head for it.  Yet we shouldn't be shocked: lying is standard operating procedure for liberals and Big Media.

Our Girl Lena

And because there's relatively little chaos and conflict in the world right now, we can certainly turn our attention to the plight of females in western society.  The narcissist Lena Dunham's mother has reassured us all that women are still fighting for basic rights.  Really?  I guess she's disappointed in little Lena's made-up rape story, or perhaps that she's making only $3.7 million from her recent book deal, or the windfall profits she's made from her inane TV show, Girls. I can only wish I had that level of inequality.  My own book grossed exactly zero.  But, hey. Who's complaining?

Distant From Reality

Not be outdone in championing women's issues, whatever they are, comes now the indomitable Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg to inform us that there will be enough women on the Supreme Court when it is comprised only of women.  Outstanding!  Western culture has been emasculated for decades by these screaming misandrist harpies, ever intent on eliminating any shred of masculinity from the planet.  Now Ginsberg joins the fray.  I've personally met Justice Ginsberg, and in a social setting she's frail and tiny.  In enduring some fifteen minutes of her soft spoken, incomprehensible blather, smiling and nodding, I to this day have no idea what she was talking about.  True story.  And she sits on the Supreme Court.