Observations of Columbo with my son

As a Christian I try hard to limit my exposure to the profligate life styles portrayed in the theaters and on television, preferring the less "in-your-face" shows and movies.  However, as a father, I am even more keenly aware of that to which my children are exposed.  In this regard, I strive to maintain a balance.  I neither wish to become a legalistic iron-fisted totalitarian nor the anything-goes parent.  I do not believe you can shelter your children from all evil in this world, but I strongly believe you can build a base of principles in your children by which they themselves can make wise moral decisions.


With that in mind, I found myself during this summer with my children at home all day, wanting to enjoy a good TV show with my family.  At first, we decided to watch the Monk series via Netflix.  My children were extremely amused by the obsessive compulsions of Adrian Monk.  However, after only a few episodes, it became apparent that the seemingly benign show was replete with profanity and even some occasional sexual connotations, something to which I do not want my children exposed.  It then occurred to me that there is no modern show that I could feel safe watching with my children.  It was about this time that the news came about the death of Peter Falk.  In a mood of nostalgia brought on by this news, my wife decided to Netflix an episode of Columbo and, being a show from the early 1970's, knew that it was perfectly fine for our son to watch with her.  Thus started the summer trend of watching Columbo with my son.  My daughter will even join us, but she seems less captivated by the disheveled antics of Detective Columbo than my son and I.

Last night, while engrossed in yet another murder mystery that only Columbo could solve, my son and I were discussing the differences in the life styles of today versus those portrayed in the show.  I commented on such things as: "Notice that no one has a cell phone?", "Do you see anyone wearing a seat belt in their car?", "Did you hear the price of those expensive shoes?  We couldn't buy a cheap pair of shoes for that much today.", "Did you notice how those people greeted that person right as they were getting off the plane?  That's not allowed today."

It was an engaging conversation with my son that led to comments from him such as: "Wow, you were born at a cool time.  How many freedoms have we lost since you were a kid?  I wish things were like they were back then."

The lesson from this experience is that we have lost so many freedoms over such a long period of time, that most of us fail to realize the full impact.  It is the slowly boiling frog phenomenon at work.  Only when we look back at life from a generation past and submerse ourselves in it for an hour or so that we truly begin to comprehend the full severity of our condition compared to those of our childhood.

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Potential Food Price Explosion?

As I have recently been reading various news reports concerning current world events, both natural and man-made, I get a real sense of foreboding when I consider how food prices and even availability may potentially be affected.

Here is a list of things I have come across just recently:

1. Japan has been importing U.S. beef at record levels recently
   http://www.agrinews.com/beef/exports/to/japan/are/up/dramatically/story-3542.html
2. The Federal Government has been blowing up levees around the Mississippi due to record flooding.  All this has resulted in 1000s of acres of farmland around the Mississippi being rendered unusable this year.  That means reduced crops and thus reduced supply.
   http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/levee-blast-means-lost-936392.html
3. Record dry weather and out of control fires across Europe and the Southern US are wreaking havoc on grain crops.
   http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-04/grains-may-suffer-as-dry-weather-persists-according-to-hgca.html
   http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-02/parched-kansas-wheat-boosting-prices-for-panera-bread-wheaties.html
   http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/7552100.html

All of the above ongoing events coupled with the Federal Reserve's incessant money printing (they call it Quantitative Easing) and Washington DC's profligate spending appears to me to be a recipe for some very serious food price increases if not outright food shortages in the coming months as ever more dollars chase after diminishing goods.

The situation is dire and I doubt very seriously if the average American citizen is even aware of what is going on.  We are too wrapped up in weddings, reality tv, politically expedient military operations, and all the other sycophantic rhetoric being spewed by the main stream media to take notice.  I wonder what it will take for the majority to notice?  $20 milk? 10$ loafs of bread? Empty shelves?  I fear we will soon find out, but only just after it is too late.

 A hungry citizenry is an easily controlled citizenry.  Our so-called political leaders have already said "never let a good crisis go to waste".  A good food crisis would be just the thing to avail themselves of more power grabbing, freedom robbing actions.

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The Truth About Japan

In this day of watered down information being disseminated by the main stream media (MSM), it is at least relieving to find bits of real truth from some of the alternative media. I often find RT news to be far more informative than the likes of MSNBC, CNN, and FOX.

With that in mind, I could not, in good conscience, refrain from making a post on the following RT news segment covering the real truth of the situation concerning the nuclear meltdown occurring in Japan.



The situation is far more grave than most Americans realize. But lest we actually become aware of anything other than Dancing With The Stars, or Britney Spears, let us go back to sleep like good little sheeple.

Korea Buys 96,000 acres of Texas

A lowly worker, bereft of much wealth, I find the purchase of a mere 20 acres in Texas to be illusive, at least by means other than enslavement to debt, and much to my consternation, a foreign country sweeps in and consumes nearly 50,000 times as much in a single land grab. And even more diconcerting is the reason behind such an acquisition...

The purchase of 80,000 acres is located in the Eagle Ford Shale section, which is believed to have rich deposits of oil, natural gas and liquids...

Read the full article here

Does this bother anyone?

Does it at least distract from the daily frivolities of Dancing With The Stars, American Idol, and Justin Bieber?

Or, perhaps, all we sheeple have become so apathetic to events unfolding around us, that nothing shy of cataclysmic would penetrate the indifference of our mundane existences.

Japan Earthquake Good for the Global Economy?

It is a sad day in the USA when so-called leading economists actually claim that the recent earthquake/tsunami in Japan will actually help to stimulate the economy.

For example, Larry Summers, president emeritus of Harvard University and former director of the White House National Economic Council, recently told CNN...

"It may lead to some temporary increments, ironically, to GDP, as a process of rebuilding takes place."

Read the full article

Mr. Summers reminds me of another wacko with an evil slant...

Internet Freedom Under Fire

The Obama Administration is currently pushing forth an agenda to take away internet freedom under the guise of "security".

The following article gives some light into the push for a new centralized Internet ID for American citizens...
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_162-20027837-501465.html

One particular quote that I found interesting:

"We are not talking about a national ID card," Locke said at the Stanford event. "We are not talking about a government-controlled system. What we are talking about is enhancing online security and privacy and reducing and perhaps even eliminating the need to memorize a dozen passwords, through creation and use of more trusted digital identities."

What a bold faced lie! This is all about centralizing government control of the last bastion of freedom coupled with big government's dream of a National ID. If you think I am paranoid, just consider the fact that your Social Security Card was never supposed to be used as a form of identification. In fact, early cards plainly stated on the front, "FOR SOCIAL SECURITY PURPOSES * NOT FOR IDENTIFICATION"



Just like social security cards, any attempt to centralize identification of American citizens will ultimately be absorbed and used by government to control the populace. It is not a matter of if they will do it. It is only a matter of when.

It is also my opinion that centralizing identification is a policy that criminals will absolutely salivate over. If you think identity theft is bad now, wait until this is in place.

EPA Power Grab in Texas

I personally consider the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to be an out of control, power hungry agency of the Federal government that is bent on violating the US Constitution at every available opportunity.

In yet another power grab, the EPA tells Texas to go shove your 10th Amendment rights where the sun doesn't shine...

"The unwillingness of Texas state officials to implement this portion of the federal program leaves EPA no choice but to resume its role as a Clean Air Act permitting authority in the state."

Read the full article: EPA takes over Texas pollution permits

The EPA will not stop until they have complete and utter control over every single citizen. You won't be able to sneeze without a permit from the EPA if this power grab continues unabated.

The EPA is a job destroying, wealth consuming, freedom robbing juggernaut that must be stopped!

Garbage Police? Are you kidding me?

It appears that even the freedom to toss your garbage the way you prefer is quickly becoming a thing of the past. Especially if you are living in Cleveland, Ohio.

• In 2011 some 25,000 households will be required to use recycling bins fitted with radio-frequency identification tags (RFIDs) -- tiny computer chips that can remotely provide information such as the weight of the bin's contents and that allow passing garbage trucks to verify their presence.
  
• If a household does not put its recycle bin out on the curb, an inspector could check its garbage for improperly discarded recyclables and fine the scofflaws $100.
• Moreover, if a bin is put out in a tardy manner or left out too long, the household could be fined.
• Cleveland plans to implement the system citywide within six years.

read the full article

Is this about forcing people to be "green" or is it really about finding new sources of revenue for municipalities that are running low on tax income while faced with ever increasing budgets deficits from out-of-control spending?

To me it is just a vicious cycle of governments at every level grabbing more power from the populace while simultaneously producing more dependence on that government by the populace.

If this trend continues, look for ever more intrusive policies to invade your life.

How about a toilet that records your flushing habits and sends them to the local water usage inspector?

Why stop there? Let's go ahead and add a fecal monitor to that toilet so big brother can detect how much sugar, fat, and fiber you have in your diet? And while we are at it, let's share that information with your health care provider and increase your mandated health insurance premiums if we detect that your turds are in violation of your doctor's diet recommendations.

Sound ridiculous? I'm sure the idea of monitoring a person's garbage would have sounded absurd 20 years ago.

So how long before more of the freedom robbing nonsensical becomes reality? And what will you do in response?

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Planes Trains and Automobiles - A Groping We Will Go

If your intention is to avoid sexual harassment from the TSA by steering clear of airports, you might be disappointed to learn that airports are not the only places where you might be groped. The TSA has already been launching pilot programs to implement the same style frisking in train and bus stations.

This is an absolute violation of our 4th Amendment rights against illegal search and seizures.

4th Amendment

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, 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.

Just take a look at this news cast from back in April of this year...



So how long will it be before you are groped at shopping malls, grocery stores, or heaven forbid, church?

Is this America or Nazi Germany? Papers please! Now bend over and prepare for your anal probe!

I am utterly disgusted.

Serf's Up!

Freedom... it's so yesteryear! It's out of style, man. It's like... not happenin', dude. Catch my drift?

Now Serfdom... that's a lifestyle I can get into. It's hip, it's trendy, it's vogue, it's the "in thing" man!

Break out the credit cards. It's time to max out! There is so much Chinese made crap out there that I really don't need but I just have to have.

I need a new car! Can you get my payment down to $200/month? Sure, I don't mind financing it for 10 years. Just get my payment right Mr. Salesman!

I want a big house with built-in everything, home theater with the biggest 3D TV I can possibly charge on credit, the finest furniture, everything nice! Set me up with an adjustable rate mortgage, Mr. Salesman. Make my payment fit my salary now. I'm sure I'll get a raise at my job before the mortgage adjusts in 3 years. Property taxes? Who cares, just roll that escrow into my payment and make it fit.

I need a vacation! All these bills coming due, I just can't handle the stress. Honey, let's book a trip to the Bahamas. We still have plenty of credit left on the MasterCard. Besides, we will accrue a lot of travel miles we can use for another vacation later. It will do us good to spend some time with the kids. I don't see them much now that I have been working a lot of overtime. Sure hope I get a raise soon.

Honey, why was the grocery bill twice as much this month as last month? We can't afford to buy all this food, we have bills to pay, woman! Let's start a garden. Oh, we have to get a license to put in a garden? How much is that?

Honey, I had to reduce our health care coverage. The premiums have almost doubled since last year and we just don't have the money to pay for it. I really hope I get a raise this year.

Honey, why is the vehicle inspection so high this year? The new cap-and-trade law requires a minimum carbon tax based on fuel efficiency? But our new cross-over get's 23 miles to the gallon. Oh, 35 mpg is the minimum for exemption? But we have 4 kids. What car big enough to hold 6 people can possibly get 35 mpg?

Honey, I just found out that they are laying off more people at the office, no raises again this year and Christmas bonuses are being canceled. There's not enough money in our account to pay all the bills this month. The rate on our mortgage has just adjusted 5% higher. What are we going to do?

All we like sheeple have been led astray. To live like kings for a brief moment, we have sold ourselves as serfs to a system of governance that grows ever larger and ever more hungry for the fruits of our labor and the freedoms we need to maximize those fruits.

Time to starve the beast before the beast starves you!

S.510 - The End Of Farmers Markets

The Senate recently voted 74 to 25 to pass cloture on the new Food Safety and Modernization Act (Senate bill 510). This means it will have 60 days from the time of the vote (November 17, 2010) for any final amendments before it is passed as law.

If passed, S510 will be a massive power grab by our Federal Government over the very food we eat. It could literally mean the end of Farmers Markets where small farmers and home gardeners trade produce with the general public. If you like buying your produce from local farmers, farmers markets, and road side produce stands instead of big corporate factory farms, then you should be outraged by this bill.

S510 is being sold to the American public as necessary to prevent food contamination. I find it sadistically ironic that the only ones who will be capable of adhering to the licensing, paperwork, and mountains of bureaucratic red tape that this bill will require of anyone selling food to the public are the big corporate factory farms. Yes, the very farms that have brought us massive recalls in meat, dairy, and vegetable produce due to contamination from unsanitary conditions. Anyone remember the recalls of E. coli contaminated meat, salmonella contaminated eggs, or contaminated peanut butter. All courtesy of big corporate factory farms bereft of common sense sanitation.

So, the very bill that is supposed to protect us from these big corporate factory farm contamination incidents is guaranteeing that they will be the only choice we will have left.

Say good bye to yet another freedom. How long will it be before they expand this power grab to cover even the very garden you have in your own back yard? You will still have the freedom to grow your own food, so cherish it. It may not last long.

TSA Coverage Too Late

It was the subject of TSA's body scanner/pat-downs that prompted me to start this blog with my initial post Don't Touch My Junk.

However, when the main stream media gives so much coverage to a single topic, you should become suspicious. Over the past few days I have been gathering bits and pieces of the untold story that has been unfolding for years now. Ever since the TSA was born into existence in 2003 when the Patriot Act was passed by the Bush administration, they have been practicing unconstitutional acts against American citizens.

In fact, the media was utterly silent several months ago when the body scanners could have been prevented due to concerns of health risks. One blogger sums this up nicely...

The corporate media could have blown the whistle on countless credible experts expressing their concerns about the health risks surrounding the use of these body scanning devices months ago. They could have also revealed that people like George Soros and Michael Chertoff have benefited greatly from the TSA's purchase of these body scanning devices through their involvement in Rapiscan a corporation responsible for creating these devices. Of course, instead of trying to provide legitimate coverage when we actually had a chance of preventing these devices from being installed in airports, we saw next to nothing on the subject from the talking heads on cable news or on the nightly news broadcasts.

The full post is well worth the read: http://www.roguegovernment.com/Corporate_Media_Saturation_Of_TSA...

There is no way the body scanners are going away, no matter how much people protest. The amount of money already spent on these devices precludes them ever being done away with.

So, why is the main stream media now giving so much coverage to this subject? My opinion is that big corporations which own and control the main stream media outlets are using this as a diversion tactic to remove the attention of the populace from other more important news. News that is receiving little to no coverage now, may also receive excess coverage once there is nothing that anyone can do to reverse the damage.

Taxes and Serfdom

I doubt many Americans have taken the time to consider just how heavily they are taxed in this day and age.  It is comparable to "death by a thousand scratches".  If each American were give a summary of the total taxes they pay in a year, they would be flabbergasted.  However, since they pay a little here and there, the totality of it never crosses their minds.

Here are just a few in a seemingly endless list of taxes that grows ever larger year over year:

1. Federal income tax
2. State income tax
3. State sales tax
4. Local sales tax
5. Property tax
6. Capital gains tax
7. Vehicle registration tax
8. Fuel tax
9. Alcohol tax
10. Phone tax
11. Hunting license tax

And the list goes on and on.  Add to that list the very nasty hidden tax of inflation.  That's right.  Every time the federal government decides to print more money and devalue the dollar it is simply another tax on the money you have been able to keep after all the other taxes (i.e. your savings).  And if you try to hedge against inflation by investing your money, any interest you make in return is considered to be capital gains.  Since capital gains are taxed, you necessarily have to make quite a bit more interest above the rate of inflation just to break even on purchasing power.

The government continues to grow larger and more intrusive on a seemingly daily basis.  To feed this insatiable beast, it is going to require more and more of your money in the form of taxation.

I contend that the burden of perpetually growing taxation of Americans is turning them into serfs who are in servitude to the feudal lord known as our government.  Here is the definition of a serf according to dictionary.com:

1. a person in a condition of servitude, required to render services to a lord, commonly attached to the lord's land and transferred with it from one owner to another.
2. a slave.

Foreclosure Fraud and Washington Oddness

I find myself perplexed by what I have discovered today concerning a bill that has been floating around Congress since last fall.  The extremely baffling realization that the Obama Administration may have actually done something right.  I say that with the utmost of caution.  However, unless I misunderstand the implications, I must hold to my inclination.

House of Representatives Bill H.R. 3808, the full text of which you may find here...
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c111:4:./temp/~c111zjtfiR::

Basically, the bill would make it a requirement for "any Federal or State court to recognize any notarization made by a notary public licensed by a State other than the State where the court is located when such notarization occurs in or affects interstate commerce."

 The proverbial "fly in the ointment" being Section 1.2.B of the bill where it states  
"in the case of an electronic record, the seal information is securely attached to, or logically associated with, the electronic record so as to render the record tamper-resistant."


Before your eyes glaze over, think about the "robo-signers" situation. Essentially there was notarization of thousands of mortgage documents without anyone ever having reviewed the documents.  HR 3808 would essentially legalize that sort of practice and give homeowners one less legal option to fight against the fraud being engaged by big corporate financial institutions.

President Obama actually vetoed the bill as you can read about here...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/07/obama-pocket-veto-foreclosures_n_753987.html

However, the House recently attempted to override the veto by a 2/3 vote which failed on Nov 17, 2010.  You can see the results here...
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h2010-573

What I find to be very odd, is that all but 16 Democrats voted against the bill while all but 5 Republicans voted FOR the bill.  At this point I was struggling to understand why my view would be against the Conservative party.  However, once I noticed that Ron Paul, the very bastion of true conservatism in Washington, was one of the 5 Republicans who voted against the bill, I found solace in my conclusion.

In summary, I grow ever more distrustful of either party in Washington and less hopeful that my freedom is safe while the two party system continues in perpetuity.

Don't Touch My Junk!

It is as if I have been trapped in a nightmare and cannot awaken from the deluge of assaults on the freedoms once enjoyed by all Americans. I must say that I realize many of the freedoms enjoyed over the life of this country were snuffed out long before I was born. One need only dust off the history books and spend a few minutes reading to come to this conclusion. However, it does not make it any less horrific to my senses to contemplate the loss of freedom just in the past 10 years.

The subject of this blog post is the "nail-in-the-coffin" moment that prompted me to start this blog. I am not sure how often I will post my thoughts here, but I can no longer sit by and shake my head in disbelief.  I must voice my opinions if for no other reason than to placate my temper.

"Don't Touch My Junk!"... the phrase that rang out across the world. An average American traveling by air refused to be virtually defrocked and exposed to radiation by the airport scanners was given only one more option... the groping, humiliating, and utterly unconstitutional pat-down. He could not help but protest. I believe I would have done the same.
http://theweek.com/article/index/209417/the-dont-touch-my-junk-guy-should-the-tsa-leave-john-tyner-alone

You see, there is a breaking point for every person. The point at which we say "enough is enough". I already despised air travel due to the humiliation of being treated as "guilty until proven innocent". But this new invasion of privacy and violation of liberty is the breaking point for me. Short of an absolute repeal of these procedures, I do not believe I will every travel by air again.

The truly sad fact is that I believe the latest uproar about these procedures is just a little bit of hot air before the masses settle down and accept the loss of more of their freedoms. I doubt very many know what our founding forefather, Benjamin Franklin, had to say on the subject...

"Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one."

There are so many things going wrong in America today that I shudder to think of them in whole.  This subject of airport scanners and pat-downs is simply a small piece of a very rotten pie that is being force fed to the populace.

So, I leave you with this question.  When will you reach your breaking point?  Will it be naked pat-downs? Or anal probing?  Perhaps being restrained in your seat with shackles will be that moment?