Jesus Commands Deion Sanders to be Cheap

The Dallas Morning News reports Sanders has been battling a Dallas automotive shop over what he says Jesus told him to pay.

The owner of the repair shop said Sanders wanted to pay only $1,500 of the nearly $4,300 bill, saying that Jesus had informed him that was all he needed to pay.

I’m going to see if that excuse works for my upcoming anniversary gift.  (JK, Darlin’)

Tex Schramm

Tex Schramm has died.

This giant of the game made the Dallas Cowboys “America’s Team.” 

RIP, Tex.

Mean Mr. Mustard

Mean Mr. Mustard is removing himself from the blogospere. 

He has bravely voiced a conservative view from behind enemy lines - Berkeley.  Now he has to focus on school.

Thanks for the blog, sir, and good luck in law school.

This Day In History

The Crusaders Capture Jerusalem in 1099.  It’s estimated that 40,000 people died.

The Battle of Tannenberg was fought in 1410.  In this battle the Poles and Lithuanians stopped the eastward expansion of the Teutonic Knights.

The Second Battle of the Marne, which marks the turning point in WWI, began in 1918.

Jim Doyle vs. Tyson Foods

When and how should government be involved in labor disputes?

Here’s the background: Tyson Foods has a meat packing plant in Jefferson, Wisconsin.  It mainly makes the pepperoni for Tombstone, DiGorno, Domino’s, and Jack’s pizzas.  When it came time for a new labor contract, Tyson tried to negotiate some wage concessions from the local union in order to bring their wages and benefits into line with the rest of Tyson.  Naturally, the negotiations failed and the union (United Food and Commercial Workers Local 538) went on strike.  They have been on strike since February 28th.  Here’s a story on it.

So we have a union striking - nothing too unusual here in Wisconsin.

Concealed Carry

This is fantastic news.

Here’s the story:

It is absolutely verboten to carry a concealed weapon in Wisconsin - under any circumstances.

In 1998, Wisconsin passed a Constitutional Amendment that says, “The people have the right to keep and bear arms for security, defense, hunting, recreation or any other lawful purpose.”

These two laws collided in the Supreme Court of Wisconsin and the ruling came down today.  The case revolves around a guy who runs a store in a very bad neighborhood in Milwaukee.  Because of the danger, the storeowner took to carrying a weapon.  The police, on a routine license check, discovered that he was armed and cited him carrying a concealed weapon. 

The Supreme Court of Wisconsin voted 6-1 to overrule that conviction, saying that it violated the Wisconsin Constitution.  Essentially, it said that it was illegal for the state to prohibit people from carrying a concealed weapon on their own property if they are carrying it for a lawful purpose.

Furthermore, the Court advised the legislature to take up the task of rewriting the concealed carry laws in Wisconsin. 

We may yet regain our God-given right to self-defense.

Drugs Gone Wrong

All the more reason to “Just say no!”

Bastille Day Parade

Why are the boulevards in Paris lined with trees on both sides of the
street?

hmmmmmm…

Jim Doyle Vetoes

Here’s another gem from Jim Doyle, Governor of Wisconsin:

Gov. Jim Doyle has pledged to veto a proposal to increase the co-payments seniors in the state?s prescription drug program pay for their medicine.

Doyle said residents needed the veto to help ease the burden of paying for their prescription drugs.

The Republican-controlled Legislature had included a provision in the state budget bill approved last month that would increase the co-payments in the SeniorCare program from $15 to $20 for brand-name drugs - a proposal the Democratic governor called unfair.

According to Jim, seniors, statistically the wealthiest segment of society, are not able to fork up and extra $5 for name brand drugs, but the rest of us are.  This adds another $10,000,000 to the budget.

Let’s add up the vetoes:

Pres. Drugs   $10,000,000
Land Purchase Program $245,000,000
Sell Land   $40,000,000
Farmers Subsidy $23,000,000
4-year-old Kindergarten $46,000,000

Total Spending Added to the Budget:

$364,000,000

Total Promised Spending Cuts:

$100,000,000

Budget Shortfall:

$264,000,000

This is even taking Jim at his word that he will realize $100,000,000 in cuts, but he hasn?t specified what he will actually cut.

Jim Doyle is an absolute disgrace.  If you live in Wisconsin and like to keep the money you earn, here?s Jim?s contact information:

Office of the Governor
115 East State Capitol ? Madison, WI 53702
608-266-1212
608-267-8983 (Fax)

Tits and Ass

It appears that people are lining up around the block to get their posteriors probed after Katie Couric showed us her ass on the Today Show.

In a survey of 400 gastroenterologists in 22 states, the number of colonoscopies rose from an average of 15 per month before Couric’s test to 18.1 per month after, researchers at the University of Michigan Health System and the University of Iowa found.

Sheesh - as my lovely wife said - just think how many people would flock to get mammograms if Pam Anderson had one on TV. 

(Sorry, Grandma, but the kids don’t read this )

Hmmmm…

Not to be picky, but what does a monitor port have to do with the spam story?  Wouldn’t an Ethernet or modem port be more appropriate? 

(Source: BBC main page)

Doyle

Jim Doyle, Governor of Wisconsin, announces another veto.

As I’ve been writing about all along, Jim Doyle, a true tax-and-spend liberal, is in the throes of passion as he continues to veto spending cuts out of the budget.  Here’s today’s:

Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle said Monday he will veto $245 million worth of bonding cuts to the state’s land-buying program.

And, the governor also plans to junk a provision in the 2003-‘05 budget that requires the state Department of Natural Resources to sell off $40 million of state owned land over the next two years.

Did you add up the numbers?  That’s right, $285,000,000 right back in the budget! 

This is a state program where the state buys land so that no one will develop it.  The state just sits on it so that it will remain “pristine.”  Here’s how much land the state already owns:

The program has been responsible for the purchase of more than 250,000 acres of land in 71 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties, and conservationists say it is key to maintaining recreational easements to streams, lakes and other sensitive land.

How is it that other states manage to have public access to lakes and such without buying it? 

So, again, Jim Doyle seeks to raise our taxes.  He has added hundreds of millions of dollars to the budget and hasn’t offered anything to balance it.  We have 2 options, as usual, raise taxes or cut spending elsewhere.  It’s obvious that Jimmy won’t cut spending.

Hold on to your wallets, boys, it’s gonna be a rough ride.

Revolution

It is the nature of revolutions that the people who lead and fight them are generally not suitable to lead the country after it is founded.  The reason is that it takes a certain kind of leader to lead a revolution.  It takes a certain kind of spirit to be willing to cast off the bonds of one government and wrestle another government from the jaws of anarchy.  The powerful spirit of a revolutionary is not suited to the tedium of running the day-to-day business of a country.

This problem is further aggravated by the fact that by the time most revolutions are reaching completion, the country involved is fairly depleted of resources.  The soldiers of today are the same as they?ve been for thousands of year.  After a long fight, they want their loot.  They want a piece of the pie.  This is usually even truer among soldiers in a revolution because the soldiers are often not paid, or paid very little, on the promise of reward after the revolution is over. 

The result of this characteristic of revolutions is that most revolutions will devour themselves.   The only ways a revolution will succeed is when the revolutionaries willingly surrender power to someone more suited to governing or the revolutionary leaders turn and crush their former soldiers.  Sometimes, a revolutionary leader will hold the reins of power until they die, but then the country will fall back into revolution.  This is more of a revolution in temporary stasis than a successful revolution.  I define a successful revolution as one in which the previous government is removed and the country embarks on a reasonable amount of time of peace and prosperity under their new government.

The examples of revolutions devouring themselves are easy to find.  Bastille Day reminds us of the French revolution, which provides a classic example.  There are dozens of examples in modern Africa, where some countries are in a constant state of revolution as each successive revolution devours itself.  I would even count Cuba (I know Castro considers it a permanent revolution).  Cuba?s revolutionary leader will hold the reins of power until he dies, and then the country continues with its revolution.

Revolutions that succeed by the revolutionary leaders crushing their former soldiers are also relatively easy to find.  Russia?s Bolshevik revolution didn?t succeed until Stalin took the reins of power from Lenin and purged out the revolutionaries.  Hitler didn?t succeed until he purged the SA (even though Hitler came to power through the electoral process, I still classify it as a revolution). 

Revolutions that succeed by a voluntary abdication of power by the revolutionary leaders and their soldiers are a rare find.  This is how our great nation came into being.  After Yorktown, when it became obvious that the American Revolution was winding down and would end in an American success, things were very uncertain.  George Washington was offered the Crown to rule America as King.  The soldiers of the revolution were clamoring for pay that they were promised, but the fledgling government didn?t have any money to pay. 

It was then that George Washington showed his tremendous wisdom and nobility.  He violently rebuffed any notion that he should be King.  He also did what I consider to be the single most important act in the history of our Republic. 

A group of soldiers was rightfully demanding pay and threatened to march on the infant government in Philadelphia to demand it.  Washington bravely, and unexpectedly, crashed their meeting in Newburg, N.Y., where this scene took place:

By late morning of March 15, a rectangular building 40 feet wide by 70 feet long with a small dais at one end, known as the Public Building or New Building, was jammed with officers. Gen. Gates, acting as chairman in Washington’s absence, opened the meeting. Suddenly, a small door off the stage swung open and in strode Gen. Washington. He asked to speak to the assembled officers, and the stunned Gates had no recourse but to comply with the request. As Washington surveyed the sea of faces before him, he no longer saw respect or deference as in times past, but suspicion, irritation, and even unconcealed anger. To such a hostile crowd, Washington was about to present the most crucial speech of his career.

Following his address Washington studied the faces of his audience. He could see that they were still confused, uncertain, not quite appreciating or comprehending what he had tried to impart in his speech. With a sigh, he removed from his pocket a letter and announced it was from a member of Congress, and that he now wished to read it to them. He produced the letter, gazed upon it, manipulated it without speaking. What was wrong, some of the men wondered. Why did he delay? Washington now reached into a pocket and brought out a pair of new reading glasses. Only those nearest to him knew he lately required them, and he had never worn them in public. Then he spoke: “Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have not only grown gray but almost blind in the service of my country.” This simple act and statement by their venerated commander, coupled with remembrances of battles and privations shared together with him, and their sense of shame at their present approach to the threshold of treason, was more effective than the most eloquent oratory. As he read the letter to their unlistening ears, many were in tears from the recollections and emotions which flooded their memories. As Maj. Samuel Shaw, who was present, put it in his journal, ” There was something so natural, so unaffected in this appeal as rendered it superior to the most studied oratory. It forced its way to the heart, and you might see sensibility moisten every eye.”

Finishing, Washington carefully and deliberately folded the letter, took off his glasses, and exited briskly from the hall. Immediately, Knox and others faithful to Washington offered resolutions affirming their appreciation for their commander in chief, and pledging their patriotism and loyalty to the Congress, deploring and regretting those threats and actions which had been uttered and suggested. What support Gates and his group may have enjoyed at the outset of the meeting now completely disintegrated, and the Newburgh conspiracy collapsed.

 

In a single, simple, brave act, George Washington stopped the revolution and allowed our Republic to break out of its shell and take flight. 

There are very few men throughout history who could stand at the brink of total power, and yet turn and walk the other way.  For this, I consider George Washington to be the indispensable man of our nation?s founding and rightfully called ?America?s Father.? 

On this Bastille Day, as the French remember a revolution that died at birth, let us remember our Founding Fathers and the remarkable Republic that they created for us.

This Day In History

Today is Bastille Day in France.  It commemorates the French storming the Bastille, which was the opening move of the French revolution, in 1789.

The Sedition Act was approved in 1798.  This was a blatant violation of the 1st Amendment and caused an appropriate amount of protest. 

And who could forget the Soccer War between Honduras and El Salvador, which began on this day in 1969?

.45

Kim has done some research and discovered why the military switched from the .45 sidearm to the 9mm sidearm.

“I think the problem was that our military became too ‘kick ass’, and some measures had to be taken to make wars more challenging thus to keep our troops? interest. One such measure was a weaker sidearm that can barely kill a Commie at all, forcing one to instead use strangling, or his or her Ka-Bar.

Makes sense to me.