Delta Gives Discount to Terrorists

A bit of a stink occurred last week when Delta Airlines was taken to task for charging Uncle Sam’s assassins extra baggage fees. This decision by Delta was accompanied by outrage from US loyalists and military cultists who decried such an action as disrespectful to their beloved killers. Here’s the video from two whining saps that catapulted the display of outrage among military devotees and bootlickers.

Apparently, soldier boys (along with their jackboot brethren in law enforcement) hold a much higher spot in the pecking order of humanity by simply being obedient, military slaves. Their special status allows them not to be held responsible for paying the complete cost of their transportation as lowly civilian, tax serfs are expected to do. “Equality” is only for those who scrape and claw an honest, peaceful, and non-coercive living for themselves.

Apparently, the airlines are expected to sacrifice revenue as a righteous act of appreciation for these holy warriors. Is it only airlines who are expected to sacrifice? Are their other potential businesses that are expected to share the same burden? What about grocery stores, pharmacies, taverns, hookers, car dealers, gas stations, and other merchants who may come in contact with these rampaging mercenaries? Are they all also expected to offer discounts and freebies to these arrogant swads? Will they also be considered unpatriotic and disgraceful if they balk at such action?

My first response when hearing about this event is not whether Delta should charge these individuals for extra bags. My immediate thought was why were these individuals even allowed on a plane?

If you use profiling as a method of security screening, here are the indisputable facts you will gather when doing an unbiased, rational threat analysis of these individuals wearing the state’s clown suit:

1) These individuals are recruited, trained, employed, paid, and tightly controlled by an organization with a proven history of global terrorism.

2) These individuals, as a group, are known hired killers, known to be prone to violence when among civilians, have committed previous acts of terrorism (by any definition of the word), and tend to be emotionally unstable.

3) These individuals, as a group, experience a high rate of suicides and coupled with their willingness to follow any order, make the perfect candidate for a suicide terrorist.

Israel, which has a long history of dealing with suicide terrorists, offers a few general characteristics of a suicide bomber. Although demographic characteristics (age, education, marital status) don’t quite match the group in question, the key characteristic (and more relevant one, in my opinion) is this one:

“Suicide bombers participate in months of indoctrination training. When ready for the mission, they are in a hypnotic state, believing that the mission will open heaven’s gates.” [Or, in the case of US terrorists, create heaven on earth through colonialist occupation and rule by corporatist oligarchs.]

This possibility of such a military developed suicide terrorist has already been realized by a military psychiatrist whose job was to treat these same mentally damaged individuals!

Airport security would be smarter to focus on these very individuals whose professional and even personal history are blatantly disturbing, rather than harass and terrorize elderly, handicapped women and strip search children.

The false meme continues to thrive that “The Troops” defend and protect the wonderful (and steadily decreasing) freedoms you enjoy. Some members of this scary cult will go as far as crediting the very air you breathe to be a gift of compassion from these generous, altruistic warriors. They are therefore rewarded by their loyal, enthusiastic admirers with shouts of support, special favors, and lower baggage fees. Outrageous!

Is my analysis harsh and unfair? Are my concerns misdirected? Please remember, these military slaves take orders from and are compensated by the very gangsters that blanket our lives with an oppressive, ever-growing police state, break down the doors of our homes at will and murder us, and bleed our bank accounts dry with steadily increasing taxes and mandates. They willingly participate in illegal acts of aggression and occupation around the world, enforcing their political master’s edicts with whatever deadly force deemed necessary. They “serve” the very organization that has planned and executed false flag acts of war and “terrorism” throughout history. You can be certain there are more to follow.

Until oppressed individuals recognize that these state directed terrorists are (along with "law" enforcement) the key enforcers of the above mentioned oppression and proudly defend those who instigate this oppression, this state-lead tyranny will not only continue, but will expand with increasing brutality.  And once this realization is reached, how can anyone continue comfortably flying with them?

Quotes of the Week

From the Light:
“As we have seen years ago in the U.S. government’s using immigration central planning to turn away Jews attempting to escape from Nazi Germany, and more recently in the U.S. government’s prevention of Americans from leaving the U.S., the more control we allow governments to have over the people, including their right to travel and right to work and do business, and the more power of intrusion we give to the government-monopolized police, the less freedom, security and prosperity we will have.”
Scott Lazarowitz

“War is the feces produced when patriotism eats too much stupidity.”
From a sign at a “Free Bradley Manning” rally in Leavenworth, Kansas

“Whenever the only defense of a policy is ‘it's the law‘, it's worthwhile considering whether that policy is, in fact, ethical. After all, it was perfectly legal for one human being to own another for much of history. Legality certainly is not the same as morality, and politicians have a bad tendency to conflate the two.”
Simon Black

“If we actually want freedom and not slavery, we cannot have one government for all. Freedom and one government for all are inconsistent with one another. They contradict one another. To have one government and simultaneously to have freedom is an impossibility.
To arrive at greater freedom, one has to have the freedom to remove the manacles imposed by a government that presumes to be the government for all. One has to be able to opt out of government laws. One has to be able to secede personally from a government.”
Michael Rozeff

“America doesn’t exist anymore. It’s the United States. America, which was basically an idea, a concept, is dead and gone. The United States is just another of 200 awful little nation-states that have spread across the face of the earth like a skin disease. There’s no longer any difference that I can tell between the U.S. and any other country.”
Doug Casey

“Republicrat U.S.A. has now become an extreme example of a society in which the ruling Party is closed off from the world, obsessed with building Party power and wealth, incapable of understanding the vast new developments in the world and totally incapable of creative responses to Reform our society to meet those changes in the world.
The party just trundles on and on like Frankenstein hell bent on walking off a cliff or killing some innocent people, totally oblivious to the cliff or forces closing in on him to destroy him.”
Jack Douglas

“Just as George Bush used national security as the great excuse to shred the Bill of Rights, the Obama administration is using illegal immigration as the excuse to achieve the socialist dream of bringing employer-employee relations entirely under government purview. It is a form of micro-nationalization.”
Lew Rockwell

"It is in the context of discussing fundamental political questions involving the government’s legitimacy that the idiot believes the phrase ‘love it or leave it’ constitutes a powerful argument. If the debate turns to the question of whether taxation is morally and legally synonymous with robbery, for example, the idiot thinks that anyone who doubts the government’s legitimacy should simply leave. It completely escapes the notice of the idiot that the question of what dissenters can or should do is completely irrelevant to the question of whether or not the government is legitimate."
Mark R. Crovelli

"Every invading army, every conquering empire, has been constructed out of wealth that was taken from productive people. The destroyers have always been funded by the creators; the thieves have always been funded by the producers; through the belief in ‘authority,’ the agendas of the evil have always been funded by the efforts of the good. And this will continue, unless and until the most dangerous superstition is dismantled. When the producers no longer feel a moral obligation to fund the parasites and usurpers, the destroyers and controllers, tyranny will wither away, having been starved out of existence. Until then, good people will keep supplying the resources which the bad people need in order to carry out their destructive schemes."
Larken Rose

“Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.”
H.L. Mencken

“Consortiums of criminal bands like the United Nations and the G8 are the sanctifiers of a corporate imperial order foisted on the globe by the most powerful states. Just as empires impose a foreign system on their outposts, so does the state itself force every individual into an existence defined by servitude to a ruling class
If the G8 has the moral authority to declare that Gaddafi must go, then every free, sovereign individual certainly has the same authority to announce to the state that it is no longer welcome in society.”
David D'Amato

“Freedom is like true love; like physical pain; like the fragrance of a rose. One can consult a dictionary for their definitions, and one can read all about them in encyclopedias, but until they are experienced, they cannot be truly understood.”
Tzo

“When America lies, its allies lie, too. When American leaders tell deliberate untruths and treat human lives as if they are entertainment in so-called snuff-films, those who live in the shadow of the world's super-mono-power are left to mumble in unison or face the consequences. It goes for the media too, of course. These days, instead of celebrating businessmen, America's mainstream media mostly lionizes the military class – its brilliant generals and intrepid warriors.”
Anthony Wile

“The belief that one person’s maltreatment is isolated from the rest of us, is essential to the maintenance of state power.
What we have in common is the need to protect one another’s inviolability from governmental force.”
Butler Shaffer

*************************************************************************

From the Darkness:

“Each generation of people has a job to do; a burden that falls to their time. Sometimes, it's a war or depression. Sometimes, it's the work of building the first railways and roads. Sometimes, it's a plague that wipes out half the population or a fire that destroys a whole city.
Looked at through this lens, our generation has it easy. Already wealthy and armed with new technology, we need to front up to the challenge of building a low-carbon economy.

The tool we'll use is a carbon tax that seeks to subtly redirect some of our choices. Cut your power bill by more than the compensation offered and you get to keep the change.
Is that really so onerous compared with a depression or war?”
Richard Glover, The Sydney Morning Herald

“If we had the threat of war, had a military buildup, you’d be amazed at how fast this economy would recover.”
Paul Krugman

"Whoever the Republican nominee is will have to have the support of the Tea Party movement, the entire Tea Party movement."
Chairwoman Amy Kremer, offering more proof that the TP is a bunch of phonies.

"Our economy depends on the ability of companies to provide trusted, secure services online. As new cybersecurity threats evolve, it's critical that we develop policies that better protect businesses and their customers."
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke [Who, exactly, is "we?"]

"The truth in no online database will replace your daily newspaper, no CD-ROM can take the place of a competent teacher and no computer network will change the way government works."
Clifford Stoll, Newsweek, in 1995

"We would hope that some consideration be given to repaying the United States some of the megadollars we have spent here [in Iraq] in the last eight years."
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher during a one-day visit to Iraq by a group of six U.S. congressman

DVD Reviews

The Way Back:
This entertaining survival feature is based on a true story about a small group of prisoners who escaped a Soviet gulag in Siberia and walked 4000 miles to India. An attractive film to those who enjoy accounts of great human “journeys” that display the finest in persistence and celebrate the yearning to live and die free.
Recommended

Ordet:
This 1956 Norwegian film, beautifully filmed in black and white, explores the life of a farm family whose members have differing degrees of religious faith. A tragedy helps them realize the extent and value of unbending faith in God.
Recommended

The Cartel:
Reporter Bob Bowden created this well written and researched documentary about the public schools (particularly in New Jersey) and the stifling teacher’s unions, corruption and the unaccountable waste of tax money that accompanies some of the poorest school performance in the U.S.
Recommended

Frontline- The Quake:
This report examines the suffering of Haiti after its devastating 2010 earthquake. It looks at the problems involved in successfully rendering aid and even a brief look at the history of embargoes by other countries in the past that helped impoverish this country that was once productive and wealthy.
Recommended

Freakonomics:
This documentary is based on the book, where the authors utilize the principles of incentive and cause and effect to analyze common, everyday social problems. Though the material seems to be more of the kind of fluff content you might see on one of those goofy, network TV morning shows, the two authors are bright and entertaining and do offer some useful insights, though you certainly won’t agree with all of them. Make sure to catch the additional interviews offered on the disc.
Recommended

George Thorogood and the Destroyers- 30th Anniversary Tour Live:
This concert, recorded in Europe in 2004, has George and his Destroyers rocking through a tight set of blues and roadhouse rock and roll. There’s never a shortage of sonic energy when Thorogood straps on his guitar and cranks up his amp.
Recommended

Little Fockers:
Viewing the third installment of the Fockers saga found me waiting and waiting for the laughs to start but they never came- just a couple of chuckles. What a cinematic crime to collect such a great cast of actors to execute such an inept screenplay.
Not recommended

Black Fox:
This made for TV western starts out on the wrong foot when the first scene is captioned as “Texas, 1861” when it is obviously filmed in northern California. Then it stumbles again when blaming slavery for the start of the “Civil War.” Overall, this isn’t a bad western but Lonesome Dove and its sequels proved that quality made-for-TV westerns are possible.
Not recommended

Baraka:
The title means “blessing” and is another project of camera genius and director Ron Fricke, who was instrumental in creating the “-qatsi” movies. This is a gem filmed in 70mm widescreen with no narration that captures the glories and ravaging of nature as well as the diversity, energy, and wonder of human culture and interaction.
Recommended

Farewell:
This is an entertaining tale of espionage during the latter years of the Cold War between the US and Soviet Union, with France being the intermediary party. The dialogue moves back and forth between Russian, French and English. Some real life characters including Ronald Reagan are used but I don’t know if this is based on a true story or not.
Recommended

The Hit List:
Cuba Gooding, Jr. is totally miscast as a dying, government hit man who aims to go out in a blaze of glory. Instead, he comes across as stoned, sleepy zombie, looking for a place to lay down and take a nap. This movie could have been salvageable if an actor of the order of a young John Malkovich or a young Bruce Dern had played the part.
Not recommended

Best Man:
This is filmmaker Ira Wohl’s sequel to his award winning Docu-drama, “Best Boy” where he filmed several years in the life of his mentally handicapped older cousin. In that film “Philly” was in his early 50’s and starting to live more independently of his parents. This sequel takes up the story 18 years later as Philly approaches age 70. This is another heartwarming close-up view of what power a loving family and friends can have when it works to bring the best out of people.
Recommended

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band- Live in New York City:
This two-disc, concert video recorded at Madison Square Garden is one of the best I’ve ever viewed. Having never seen Springsteen in concert I now appreciate what all the fuss is about from those who have. This is one of the best, most entertaining, driving rock and roll performances you’ll probably ever view on video. Springsteen and his incredibly talented, tight band offer us an emotionally charged and inspirational musical exhibition in the Church of Rock and Roll.
Recommended

Casino Jack:
Kevin Spacey is just the guy to play Jack Abramoff, the overly ambitious and often corrupt lobbyist who defrauded several American Indian tribes. The movie also exposes the hypocrisy of politicians who demonize people such as Abramoff after directly participating in and benefiting from his activities.
Recommended

Secretariat:
Movies about horse racing make excellent vehicles for dramas, though most wind up kind of hokey. This Disney effort succeeds, in part, because of the true story involving an incredible animal who won the Triple Crown in 1973. The story also revolves around the tenacious, female owner who persevered and wouldn’t give up on her quest to succeed. Diane Lane (who looks even more attractive now than she did 25 years ago in Lonesome Dove) fills that part well and John Malchovich is well cast as the eccentric trainer. You also get to enjoy some really nice camera work in the racing scenes.
Recommended

GasLand:
This 2010 documentary is a must see by anyone who cares about the water they drink. Filmmaker Josh Fox travels around the country gathering interviews from victims of gas drilling. He also exposes brilliantly the corruption inherent in the government agencies charged with preventing such problems. Of course, these agencies are created and directed by the very industry they’re charged with “regulating.” A fine illustration of American style corporatism.
Recommended

Tom Waits- Under Review- 1983-2006:
A number of music journalists examine specific years in the long career of one of the most unique, eclectic writing, singing , and acting talents in contemporary American culture. Waits continues to innovate and surprise his audience without selling out to “industry standards.”
Recommended

'Remember' - An Update

I was very pleased with the popularity and reaction to my video, “Remember,” which I uploaded to YouTube on Memorial Day weekend. Checking this morning, I see where it has over 33,000 views, 100 comments, a favorable rating of 98%, and has been viewed on every continent. Well, we‘re not sure about Antarctica. My delight is sobered, however, by the fact that a thirty second video of a screaming cat has received nearly 54 million views.

Regardless, this experience has convinced me of the power and reach of the internet (particularly YouTube) and has made me realize that, like it or not, more people will watch a video than ever read an essay, let alone a book.

I’ve always believed in the power of the written and spoken word as an effective tool to educate, persuade, motivate and inspire others. I’ve also believed that a well composed image delivered within the proper context can be just as powerful and effective. But if you combine these two methods you can really knock people’s socks off.

I received a number of wonderful messages from people about the video. But one of the most interesting was from a gentlemen by the name of NguyenKha PhamThanhChuong. Chuong is originally from Vietnam. Here is his website. He was one of the “boat people” who escaped the communist government in Vietnam in 1983. He returned to Vietnam in 1997, but was expelled for anti-government activities. He said he also lived in Forth Smith, Arkansas and Santa Ana, California from 2002-2004.

Chuong expressed a willingness to me to translate the text of “Remember” into Vietnamese and overdub the video. I was only too happy to oblige. He taped the translation, emailed me an mp3 file, and it was inserted into the show as the new soundtrack. It will be interesting to see how many people view it:

 
 
Chuong has been working for years, also, to convince others of the folly of war and state obedience: “My people, although experienced in many brutal wars, are still addicted to jingoism, glorifying wars and worshiping the State,” he says. Here are some of his essays published in the past at LewRockwell.com:

"Plea From a Simple Vietnamese"

"We, the People Can Make a Difference"

"A Piece of Myself"

"Please, Help Me!"

“I just do my tiny part in this common cause against statism, its deceitful 'righteousness' of nationalism, and its madness of war," adds Chuong. "I remember Ludwig von Mises said, so true, that, 'whoever wishes peace among peoples must fight statism.' I am doing just that, Roger."

 He says he has left writing in English to focus on Vietnamese audiences and readers.

Chuong thanked me “for being here with us and for speaking out on what many people dare not do." Thank you, Chuong for doing your part and for such a unique and satisfying partnership.

Quotes of the Week

From the Light:
“The ability to kill efficiently should not be a source of pride. And the fact that a small group of elites has the power to send thousands of people to fight, die, and kill, as well as cajole an entire society into tacit support, is a total aberration of humanity.”
Simon Black

“Needless to say, all anarchists should support outright and immediate abolition of the police. We’re talking about the enforcement arm of the state, after all. If you oppose the state monopoly, you must favor eliminating the state’s method of maintaining its monopoly – through the police. And indeed, if you distrust socialism, you should distrust law-enforcement socialism as much as anything, for this is the original sin that allows all other state depredations to follow. Also, when the state misallocates resources, it is not nearly so evil in itself as when it inevitably misallocates violence on a massive scale.”
Anthony Gregory

“Males value freedom over security; women, security over freedom. Men love venturing into the wild, whether in Silicon Valley or unexplored jungles, if any; women do not. Men are fiercely competitive; women, concerned with order and comity. Men are physical, enjoying, even needing, rough sports; women are not. To a man of my generation the country today is unbearably controlled, restricted, safe, and feminized.”
Fred Reed

“That Government is instituted for the benefit of the governed, there can be little doubt; but the interests of the Government (when once it becomes absolute and independent of the people) must be directly at variance with those of the governed. The interests of the one are common and equal rights: of the other, exclusive and invidious privileges."
William Hazlitt

“If advocates for the world's poor really want to do something that actually helps the world's poor, they should quit protesting sweatshops and start working to eliminate barriers to free trade and free immigration."
Art Carden

“We don't need to send the country into bankruptcy, in the name of the poor, by spending trillions of dollars on people who are not poor, and who could take care of themselves. The poor have been used as human shields behind which the expanding welfare state can advance.
The goal is not to keep the poor from starving but to create dependency, because dependency translates into votes for politicians who play Santa Claus.”
Thomas Sowell

“Regardless of whether the debt ceiling is raised, the US government is not going to go out of business. Why does anyone think that the President, who does not obey the War Powers Act, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, US and international laws against torture, or any of the laws and procedures that guard civil liberty, is going to feel compelled to obey the debt ceiling?”
Paul Craig Roberts

“Politics is the method of the thief who doesn't want to face the fact that he is the bad guy. That he is backed up by 'laws and The State makes no difference in the foundation of his actions.”
Kent McManigal

“If mentally incapacitated troops are being drugged with dangerous, mind-altering drugs and deployed to battle against their will, how can we say that we have a volunteer army?”
Alliance for Human Research Protection

“Liberty lies in the essence of man, not in documents secretly drafted in the dark of night by the few. The free spirit of the people must awaken before any real freedom becomes evident, and in that awakening they must realize the great importance of the individual and of individual responsibility.”
Gary D. Barnett

"You will never understand bureaucracies until you understand that for bureaucrats procedure is everything and outcomes are nothing."
Thomas Sowell

“Each individual has an inalienable, inherent right of ownership of one’s own life, person, labor and justly-owned property, and pursuit of happiness, and the right to be free from the aggression against one’s life by others, including agents of the State. With the right to life and the right to sustain one’s life, each individual has a right to trade his labor with others for a compensation or good in return for such labor, within a voluntary and mutually-agreed-upon contract, as long as one is peaceful and does not interfere with any other individual’s equal right.”
Scott Lazarowitz

“Cops couldn’t get away with their thuggish activities if they weren’t aided and abetted by their fellow cops, by their commanders and chiefs and commissioners, by their mayors and city councils, by the local judicial system, and worst of all by clueless citizens who mindlessly call them ‘heroes’ and whitewash them with clichés like ‘one bad apple in a barrel of good cops’ and ‘putting their lives on the line every day.’"
Garry Reed

“What is wrong for your neighbor to do is also wrong for the government to do, because there is only one standard of morality. Slam the door on the face of anyone who says differently.”
Wendy McElroy

*********************************************************************

From the Darkness:

“It would certainly be in our interest to see Iraq remain on its current path and become even more stable. As a member of the national security team, that would be my advice.”
General Martin Dempsey, The Emperor’s choice for chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, saying he’s willing to keep U.S. troops there past December.

“The conditions on the ground [in Afghanistan] need to dictate when we come home. We can’t have a political decision on a deadline. We can’t show the enemy our playbook.”
Sarah Palin [It certainly was a “political” decision to start the war in the first place.]

“Greenhouse gas legislation, either with a tax or with cap and trade – which is a more complicated way of getting at it but it has the advantage of politically sort of hiding the fact that you have a tax – but that’s what you’re trying to do.”
John Bryson, President Obama’s nominee to head the Commerce Department

“Abraham Lincoln, the president who ended slavery, and Barack Obama, the first black president of the United States, are peas in the same pod, both irredeemably stained by the hard fiscal decisions they had to make to save their nation.”
Andrew Leonard, Salon

"The U.S. military has never been at a loss in being told to find things to do. They've always had a full menu."
Defense Secretary Robert Gates

“America is, as the expression goes, putting ‘our money where our mouth is’ with respect to this part of the world - and will continue to do so.”
Defense Secretary Robert Gates [You always have plenty of “mouth” but there isn’t any “money” left.]

“These programs [increasing the combined U.S.-Australian naval presence in the region and expanding joint training with Singapore’s forces] are on track to grow and evolve further in the future, even in the face of new threats abroad and fiscal challenges at home, ensuring that that we will continue to meet our commitments as a 21st century Asia-Pacific nation - with appropriate forces, posture, and presence.”
Defense Secretary Robert Gates [Since when is the US an “Asia-Pacific nation?” Is Mr. Gates geographically challenged?]

“Making medical school free would relieve doctors of the burden of student debt and gradually shift the work force away from specialties and toward primary care. It would also attract college graduates who are discouraged from going to medical school by the costly tuition.”
Peter B. Bach and Robert Kocher, from a NY Times editorial

Thy Hand for..............a Medallion?

AP reports that President Barack Obama will award the Medal of Honor to Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Arthur Petry, who lost his hand in Afghanistan when he tried to toss an enemy grenade away from himself and two colleagues.

When examining the facts recollected within the Army's limited context (one battle involving a few individuals), Mr. Petry's actions most likely saved the lives of his colleagues. I am certain they are grateful and it is understandable that they would like to see Mr. Petry recognized.. But when analyzing this event from a much broader perspective, one can reach some different conclusions.

Mr. Petry swapped a piece of scrap metal in exchange for a God-given hand. In order to escape a life of pain and loss, Mr. Petry now faces a future of continual delusion and belief in the myths that inspired him to involve himself in such a conflict. He must preserve this delusion to prevent the realization that his presence in Afghanistan was illegitimate and not necessary. Any such realization will only create grief and displeasure that the sacrifice of his treasured appendage was not worth it. Trading a God-given hand sounds fair only if you believe the nation-state is your God and you are willing to sacrifice your life, blood, or limbs to help project its depraved power. It is only worth it if you believe that your life, limbs, health, and freedom are subordinate to the needs, goals, and directives of the nation-state to whom you submit and prostrate yourself in unbending allegiance.

No mention was made in the Army's account of the illegal act of aggression instigated by the US regime (under the leadership of Emperor George W. Bush) that put Mr. Petry in a country he had no business being in, in the first place.

No mention was made that if The Emperor had not illegally attacked Afghanistan that Mr. Petry would likely still have his hand today.

No mention is made that the so-called “enemy” mentioned in the account were merely inhabitants of this country that was invaded and were actively defending themselves. What should they have done? Allowed themselves to be overrun and massacred to please the US legions and their controlling political masters?

Finally, no mention is made of the inconvenient truth and sobering reality that the real hero in this particular incident is the individual who threw the grenade to defend his home from crusading, barbaric aggressors.

Just who is right and/or heroic in war is dependent on your perspective of the conflict. How your mind focuses and processes such information depends on your world view- whether you view actions as a free, critically thinking, empathetic human being or as an obedient, indoctrinated pawn, shackled by misplaced loyalties, fallacious faith, and jingoistic tunnel vision.

Quotes of the Week

From the Light:
“It's amazing that people demand more accountability from their favorite sports team. Any head coach who notoriously overspends a team's budget and has no strategy for success other than eloquent speeches about ‘victory’ and ‘sportsmanship’ would quickly be shown the door... .. and yet, a political system in which malignant forces steal resources from the productive, waste the vast majority on folly, and redistribute the breadcrumbs in order to buy votes and maintain the status quo, is hailed as 'rule of the people.’”
Simon Black

“When we say ’John is a patriot,’ we mean ‘John is a reliable member of our dog pack,’ nothing more. The pack instinct seems more ancient, and certainly stronger, than morality or any form of human decency. Thus, once the pack – citizenry, I meant to say – have been properly roused to a pitch of patriotism, they will, under cover of the most diaphanous pretexts, rape Nanking, bomb Hiroshima, kill the Jews or, if they are Jews, Palestinians. We are animals of the pack. We don’t admire patriotism. We admire loyalty to ourselves.”
Fred Reed

“Government is a blunt instrument that works in top-down fashion. Freedom is something that must bubble up from the grassroots if it is to be genuine and enduring. Oppressed populations will not have decent nations built by outsiders. They will have to make their own nations decent.”
Sheldon Richman

“The state serves only itself — and demands that you serve it too. Like any parasite, it will happily kill its host to further engorge itself. Your only possible escape from that fate is to pry its teeth out of your skin, throw it to the ground, and stomp on it, hard.”
Thomas L. Knapp

“So what is all this talk about democracy that they are feeding us? Why is Obama promising billions of American dollars to support these emerging Middle Eastern democracies and “human rights”? What’s the real agenda, for it sure isn’t what he says it is. I think we all feel the real agenda intuitively or in our bones: the power to control events and keep people in their place. If the dictators no longer can control the people in these countries in accord with U.S. aims, then switch over to ‘democracy‘, in which the control rests in the hands of representatives and parliaments. America is a prime example of how that works out.”
Michael S. Rozeff

“Though the ‘United States of America’ is in a terminal condition, ‘America’ – as a social system – may yet survive. America preceded the nation-state and, if we can revisit the basic assumptions that underlay the ‘founding fathers’ efforts, we may discover why conditions in which peace, liberty, and respect for life must take precedence over edicts offered by rulers who smirk and strut as they demand obedience to their every whim.”
Butler Shaffer

“Government, we are told from earliest childhood, after all, is the very repository of peace, order, justice, and the one enabling factor that allows human progress to continue. Yet, the most cursory examination, in ways far too numerous to cover in a single essay, demonstrates conclusively that this is anything but true; that in fact government – both as an idea and manifest institution – is the polar opposite of all of these things, and further, affords the individual no choice but to comply or be harmed.”
Alex R. Knight III

“There is always some great excuse for the trashing of the human freedom that built civilization as we know it. If the state cannot find one, it is glad to invent one. A population that is ideologically gullible or afraid for its security can permit government to run roughshod over people’s rights and liberties, and a government that gains such power never gives it back on its own. Rights and liberties must be reclaimed by the people themselves, and the spark that makes this happen is reversing the conditions that permitted the rise of statism. The people must lose their gullibility through ideological enlightenment, and they must lose their sense of fear that the world will fall apart if the tyrant is not in control.”
Lew Rockwell

“Terrorists have no ships, planes or tanks. They don’t even have uniforms. Terrorism is a tactic, not a form of government. Our liberty was never threatened by ‘radical Islam‘, but rather by the establishment that has ruled this country for close to a century.
The greatest threat of all comes from the millions of Americans who have allowed this establishment so much power with no regard to the consequences.”
Doug Newman

“A great war leaves a country with three armies: an army of cripples, an army of mourners, and an army of thieves.”
Anonymous

“We kill people, that kill people, to show people, that killing is wrong.”
A comment on You Tube

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From the Darkness:

"While a policy of non-intervention is sometimes appropriate, the doctrine of non-interventionism leads to isolationist policies that limit the options available to America, weakening its ability to defend freedom. It is a limitation the Founders did not adopt, and neither should today’s lawmakers."

Marion Smith, The Heritage Foundation

"The base budget of the United States military, in my view, shouldn't shrink. The rate of growth can be slowed down, but it shouldn't shrink in absolute terms."
Republican presidential hopeful Tim Pawlenty

“He’s fighting for an amendment to protect the right – not of average citizens, but of terrorists – to cover up their gun purchases."
Sen. Harry Reid, after Rand Paul helped introduce an amendment to the PATRIOT Act on Monday that attempts to safeguard American’s civil liberties by increasing oversight of government surveillance powers

"You know, I'm 70 years old. And I can tell you, people don't like to deal with it, but the fact of the matter is, the president's problems are in large measure because of the color of his skin."
House Assistant Democratic Leader Jim Clyburn

“Do I like foreign aid? Sometimes, but not every time. Don’t like giving money to our enemies, but I love giving money to Israel. And so there’s a picture there that people realize that, we stop helping Israel, we lose God’s hand and we’re in big time trouble.”
Rep. Dan Webster

“This is where I start having problems with you Libertarians: Everything is just black or white when it comes to money and what’s worth it and how is it worth, is it being spent and so forth. Calling Israel a `welfare queen’ compared to what the kind of money we waste domestically in this country, there has to be a value attached here. There has to be …. I think they’re a great ally. We, as the superpower of the world, have to do these kind of things to maintain our own position as a superpower.”

Rush Limbaugh [I quit listening to Rush in 1998 as I outgrew him intellectually.  It looks like his head remains in the same intellectual (though profitable) rut I left him.]

“I worship the ground that [US House Budget chairman] Paul Ryan walks on.. I hope he doesn’t run for president because that would ruin a good man who has a lot of work to do.”
Dick Cheney

“We look to Pakistan, to the Government of Pakistan, to take decisive steps in the days ahead.”
Queen Hillary, per her style, dictating orders to others

“Osama bin Laden is dead but al-Qaeda and his syndicate of terror remain a serious threat to us both.”
Queen Hillary, keeping the fear and myth alive

"I want the American people to understand we've got to leave room [in the federal budget] for us to continue our tradition of providing leadership when it comes to freedom, democracy, human rights."
B. Obama, wanting to continue spending money he doesn’t have
 
“If [Texas] HB 1937 [a bill that would make invasive pat downs by TSA agents a felony] were enacted, the federal government would likely seek an emergency stay of the statute. Unless or until such a stay were granted, TSA would likely be required to cancel any flight or series of flights for which it could not ensure the safety of passengers and crew. We urge that you consider the ramifications of this bill before casting your vote.”
U.S. Attorney John E. Murphy, threatening to cripple the airline industry in Texas if legislators did not back down on the legislation