Allison Benedikt explained...poor thing.

Would you take life advice from this woman?

Unfortunately, if you are as poorly educated as Benedikt is, you are likely to fall under the influence of a man who tells you what to think.

If you do a Google search for Allison Benedikt you will get a slightly different perspective on what she calls a bad person. You see, Benedikt grew up Jewish. Then she married a man named John Cook who, by her testimony, hates Jews. At the least, he hates Israel, everything it stands for and everything it has ever accomplished. His hatred is so visceral that he constantly harangues his wife and anyone else in earshot with venomous tirades against Israel.

Apparently, Benedikt does not think that this makes him a bad person! She married him. Since she received an inferior education she cannot stand up to her husband. He has browbeat her into thinking as he does.

RTWT.  Spineless, self-loathing and arrogant is no way to go through life, girl.

Heading for the dustbin of history

Folks, whether you like it or not, money makes the world go 'round.  Deal.

America has been the bedrock of the world economy for generations.  Ever since national credit ratings were established, we were AAA--rock solid.  Now, under the administration of Our Glorious Lightbringer, we've taken at least two downgrades in our credit rating, and we're likely headed for a third pretty soon.  But who cares, right?  We're America!!  F*ck yeah!!  The world can't do squat without us, right?

Think again.  Take a look at what the tyranny of this administration's IRS is bringing upon us...

Surely a significant European bank must do some business in the USA, I asked. Can the world’s largest economy really be so onerous that you truly want nothing whatsoever to do with it?

Well he was rather guarded and he knew I was a blogger, which I suspect made him a bit uneasy at the prospect of being quoted, which is why I am naming no names. But to paraphrase the reply I coaxed out of him, it was “yes, the USA is simply not worth the trouble and so rather than complying with their endless diktats and the uncertainties of what are increasingly capricious rules… well… there is a whole great big world out there for us to do business with that does not include the United States.”

Yet I suspect the powers-that-be in Washington could not care less and moreover the notion that sophisticated foreign bankers are starting to see American not as the land of opportunity, but as a place to be avoided at all costs, would strike them as preposterous. Indeed had I not had those documents laid in front of me asking me to attest to a complete lack of economic links to the USA or anything associated with the USA that the US state might claim extraterritorial jurisdiction over… well, I would not have believed it myself.

Bold text is mine.  RTWT.  This collection of self-important douchebags will be the death of this country, both at home and on a planetwide scale.

God help us.

Always browse the comments.

From "RedStater," a comment on this article in AT reposted in full:

Of all the faults of modern liberalism, this is the one that is the most baffling: their inability to see how their ideas and policies have the opposite affect of what it is they claim to wish to achieve. The "war on poverty" has not dented the percentage of the poor among us, but is has hastened the demise of the family by making fathers unnecessary, the work ethic irrelevant, and the population even more segregated by class, as economic mobility is stifled. The pursuit of green energy has not lessened our dependence on fossil fuels an iota, but has made certain our dependence on foreign oil, notably that of Islamic regimes pledged to our downfall, for generations to come. It also guarantees our need to continue intervening militarily in the Middle East to keep the oil coming. Federal meddling in education to create a uniform standard has increased illiteracy, not lessened it. One could go on all day.

The reason modern liberalism is such a colossal failure is that at its root it denies human nature and thinks our innate qualities can be supplanted with good intentions and enough of other people's money. They don't seem to get that confiscating wealth from the earners and giving it to those who did nothing to warrant it except fail at life only creates resentment: from the givers, who are being asked to believe that their wealth confiscation is somehow "charity", and by the receivers who are stripped of the dignity that comes from overcoming want and adversity and are deprived of the self-respect that only self reliance can provide.

There is an axiom in economics 101 that states that whichever things one wishes to discourage, that thing needs to be taxed. And whatever thing one wishes to encourage, that thing is to be subsidized. Is it any wonder that we have more people receiving government assistance in some form than those who are not? That businesses have shut down or fled the country in droves? That only the super-rich not bound by our borders are increasing in wealth, while the middle and upper middle class have watched their profits shrink and in some cases disappear?

We even assign the vulgar term "entitlement" to the aid we provide. Is it any wonder that those receiving it are not only not grateful to receive it, but are constantly demanding more?

Republicans have done a lousy job explaining capitalism, because they too have lost sight of human nature. The person who earns their own way, provides for themselves, and is rewarded for innovation is the one who advances the culture. The ones who are allowed to suffer the consequences of their bad decisions are the ones who will overcome them, develop courage and discipline and join the ranks of the achievers. Yes, there will always be exception, always the needy will be with us. But we have taken dependency to a level that is unimaginable to our founders.
 
I saw a picture on line the other day. It was an image of a thumb drive, and it said under it "CAPITALISM: this single device has saved more trees than Greenpeace ever has or ever will." Truer words were never spoken, and it is something we should be shouting from the rooftops. It is capitalism and nothing else that will elevate the poor, save whatever parts of our planet that needs saving, educate our children. Not Medicare, not welfare, not subsidized housing, not the EPA, not teacher's unions, not free breakfast and lunch programs.

Amen.  Read the article, too, while you're at it.

Here I am.

As I promised, the face behind the posts.  Now, the only way to someone to claim they're me would be through serious, disfiguring plastic surgery, and I'm just not important enough to the PTB for that.

Economics, ethics and a "Living Wage"

Sarah Hoyt breaks it down for us.  (And I'm not posting this just because she uses a penguin timer.)

The problem here, the problem with this article, the problem with the whole controversy over a living wage is that it mixes ethics and science.  The two never mix.  You can’t question the morality of the formula H2O.  You can’t ask if it would be a more balanced world if it were H2O2.  You can’t really say “Should humans have tails?”  (Well, you could, but then you’d be my older child.)  Or “Is it fair that humans have opposable thumbs when most species don’t?” – it is what it is.

Economics is what it is.  We can discuss the ethics of it, of course.  Older son, in his bio major, studied ethics.  But he studied them as a separate discipline, NOT AS BIOLOGY.

Meanwhile, younger son, whose engineering major requires a hefty dose of Business classes had to take an economics course where the professor seemed to think he was teaching Sunday school.  It was all about what is more moral, and what is better for the community.  Oh, please!  Do have Ethics of Business Practices (not getting in bed with government to create a virtual monopoly would be something to teach the kids – because it’s bad for the economy and the community.  Curiously, this was not something ever discussed in this very confused class.  Go figure.)  BUT don’t call them “basic economics.”  Basic economics are matters of investment and profit, of marketing and selling.

RTWT, especially you people who think we should raise the minimum wage to something like $100/hr.  Your own throat.  You're cutting it.

(HT BRM)

Just read it.

Welcome Alpha is Assumed (wait...I see what he did there!) to RTD.

GIA is reflected in America’s founding documents, the wings of the conservative/libertarian movement, the effective application of rhetoric and game, economic law, the Trinity, and in innumerable other ways.  Once you recognize her (I’ll refer to GIA as “she” because “it” gets boring after a while), you’ll see her everywhere that things actually work.  You’ll also notice how things that don’t work result entirely from misunderstanding her or one of her components.

I realize that many of you don’t believe that the Bible is a sacred text.  Even if it’s not, it is the foundational text of Western Civilization (supplemented by the writings of Aristotle), and as such, even if it’s nothing more than a collection of “desert fairy tales”, it should not be disregarded.

So I’ll present GIA through one of the ways in which she was most succinctly expressed in the past:  the desert temptations of Matthew 4.

Because THIS.

Seriously, a long and involved study of this man's writings may go a long way toward understanding the human condition, science and faith.  Prepare yourselves to exercise your gray matter.

Anonymous no more.

Well, sorta.

See the post below:  Ann has it dead on.  We have to know how to recognize each other from more than just blog and email quotes, or we're sitting ducks for infiltration and defamation.

Now, I'm not going to post my name, address or employer.  The professional Bad Guys already know who I am, but I'm not going to make it easy for the amateurs.  But, before Monday, you will see the Wraith in all his studliness averageness OH DEAR GOD COVER YOUR EYES.  Chrome dome, tats, graying beard, paunch and all.  (No, I'm not doing a Speedo shot, which is just as well for your sanity.)

So, if someone says he's me, you'll know if he's full of it.  (Of course, if it IS me, you'll have to roll save vs. turn to stone...)

Inversion of the tactical table

Folks, she's making some points you ought to read and think about.

Now stop and think about this.  How can I possibly, possibly confirm that this guy, who I have indeed corresponded with via email, actually is who he says he is?  We all now know for a metaphysical certitude that all of our email has been logged and may have been read by FEDGOV.  We MUST assume that FEDGOV is every bit as knowledgable of our data and correspondences as we are.  How do I know that this man standing before me really is ‘Disturbed Citizen’?  There is no possible way for me to confirm this.  I don’t know what ‘Disturbed Citizen’s’ name is, so asking for an I.D. is pointless.  I don’t know what ‘Disturbed Citizen’ looks like, so visual confirmation is off the table.  And the enemy has FULL ACCESS to all correspondence between myself and the real ‘Disturbed Citizen’, and thus can quote and make references WITH FULL CONTEXT AND DETAIL.

Do you see this?  Given the tactical situation, the proper course is NOT for us to hide.  That ship sailed a LONG time ago.  The only thing that hiding behind aliases, handles and noms de guerre accomplishes is opening a HUGE door to the enemy such that they can infiltrate us with ease never-before-seen in the annals of war.  The proper tactic is to BE NOT AFRAID and come out from behind aliases and handles NOW.

Now, take me, for example.  If I were to roll into some event somewhere, people would know who I was by name and by sight, and if they did not know who I was, I could quickly and easily confirm my identity and bona fides.

RTWT.  The way you lose is by fighting the last war...

Ann Barnhardt gets a facelift!!

Well, her site did, anyway.  Now you can direct-link, access archives and do all that cool stuff that you can do on any blog.

Except comment. 

Sorry, libs and Jihadists, you'll just have to continue sending your screams of profanity-laced incoherent psychotic rage to her email.  If they're off-the-wall enough, she might even post them for the civilized people of the world to peruse, pity, and weep at the evidence of how God's children can become so thoroughly twisted by the Enemy.

As for Ann herself, she doesn't need a facelift...although her balls may require a forklift.

Amen.

Actually I’m sick of “race,” period.

Yep, me too.  I don't want to think about race.  I don't give a chrome-plated crap about race.  I resent people pushing it in my face and blaming everything bad that's ever happened to anyone on RAAAAAACIIISSM!!

I am color-blind.   I do not care.  When I first read Dr. King's proposal of judging people by character over color, I was all like, "DUH."  Why would you judge someone by what they are, rather than who they are?

I'm not keeping anyone down.  I don't want to keep anyone down.  I want every single individual human being on Earth to be the best they can possibly be, for their own benefit, the benefit of the human race as a whole, and the glory of our Creator God.  Of course, there will be honest competition, and that's a good thing.  But the only thing keeping any of us down--regardless of color, gender or hairstyle--is ourselves.  We can all be better than we are today.  We can all improve ourselves and our station in life.  We can all overcome our personal trials and setbacks.  All of us.

And the best way to do that is to focus on changing ourselves, not blaming everyone else for our own mistakes.  That goes for everybody.

Welcome Theolitics to TIPB.  Because this.

Nothing sinister here, move along.

Absolutely nothing creepy about this.

OF COURSE a town with these types of crime stats needs a FREAKING TANK.  Whaddya, soft on crime or something?  You want the terrorists to win?

This bodes not well.

(HT Xenolith)

This well-deserved ass-kicking brought to you by...

...the free market.

Now 17 newspaper employees have been laid off. Among them was the editor who published the gun owner’s information. This is the first time I’ve seen online media clearly punish a bricks and mortar media firm. This is a good start, but don’t stop. I hope the paper is driven out of business.


Can we do the same to some other papers as well?

Is the real America coming back?  One can only hope...!!

The only reason we can still blog

Yep, he's right.

Because 'they' don't care. Let us complain. Let us shout our discontent. So what? If any of us were to actually plan to act, we'd be rounded up and disappeared. You know. The "patriot" act. The powers that control our country sit back and laugh at our feeble attempts to further our rights. They know they have the power. And we, those of us who speak out against tyranny have no chance of making a difference.

Our forefathers had the ability to meet and compare notes. Make plans. Decide on a course of action.

What do we have? 24/7 surveillance, unmitigated monitoring, video and voice records of every move we make. If I were to try to start a movement in my town to stand against the tyranny of our Muslim Asshole in Chief, I would be declared a traitor, displaying treason to this country, and either quietly removed to a dank cell, or, of course 'accidentally' be literally "droned" out of existence as an enemy of the state.

We're done.

Choking on the irony

Here's the quote:

You need to grow up, get some life experiences and then maybe you’ll have the right to sermonize about parenting.

Here's the context.

“Matt, I heard your horrible conversation today about parenting. A few comments in response:

1) Based on your remarks, I have to say I feel bad for your kids. You sound like the sort of person who never should have been a parent. You said you plain to teach your kids “how to think.” I guess this is common in right wing religious fundamentalist households. Personally, I let my child form his own conclusions about things. To impose your views on a child is tantamount to child abuse. Do them a favor, let them think FREELY.

2) You greatly exaggerate the importance of “chores.” Also, the idea that a kid should be forced to “get a job” is abhorrent. My son was very gifted so we gave him all the tools to succeed academically. This meant we didn’t turn him into slave labor and we certainly didn’t tell him he needed to go work behind a cash register. He concentrated on his school work, and we did our job as parents and financially supported him.

3) It’s easy to mock a “30 year old who lives with is parents.” My son is almost 29 and he’s been home with us since he graduated. Unfortunately the job market isn’t the greatest (maybe you hadn’t heard) and I’m not going to let him starve on the street. He has a college education, it’s pointless for him to be out working in a retail store or some other menial job. I will be here for him until he is able to get the job he deserves.

You need to grow up, get some life experiences and then maybe you’ll have the right to sermonize about parenting.

-Nick”

For the love of God, someone please tell me that this is a brilliant satire.  Because if this was actually written in seriousness, we can just kiss civilization goodbye.