Who are the poor?

Over on SurvivalBlog, Monday’s quote of the day was:

"Americans who are in the bottom 10th of income distribution live better today than kings lived in 1800. They have better health care, cheaper entertainment, cheaper books, longer life expectancy, air conditioning, central heating, and much more. This has come as a result of the private property system, the future-orientation of a broad mass of savers, and the willingness of entrepreneurs to invest their time and money to meet the wants of consumers in the future." - Dr. Gary North

A couple of years ago or so, I posted this:

“Overall, the typical American defined as 'poor' by the government has a car (31% of ‘poor’ households own two cars), air conditioning, a refrigerator, a stove, a clothes washer and dryer, and a microwave. He has two color televisions, cable or satellite TV reception, a VCR, or DVD player, and a stereo. He is able to obtain medical care. His home is in good repair and is not overcrowded. By his own report, his family is not hungry, and he had sufficient funds in the past year to meet his family’s essential needs... A third of ‘poor’ households have both cell and land-line telephones... If work in each family were raised to 2,000 hours per year—the equivalent of one adult working 40 hours per week... nearly 75 percent of poor children would be lifted out of official poverty... If poor mothers married the fathers of their children, nearly three quarters of the nation’s impoverished youth would immediately be lifted out of poverty... A quarter of legal immigrants and fifty to sixty percent of illegals are high-school dropouts. By contrast, only nine percent of non-immigrant Americans lack a high school degree. As long as the present steady flow of poverty-prone persons... continues, efforts to reduce the total number of poor in the U.S. will be far more difficult. A sound anti-poverty strategy must not only seek to increase work and marriage among native born Americans, it must also end illegal immigration, and dramatically increase the skill level of... legal immigrants.” —Robert Rector

About 25 years ago, a social worker in my rural Appalachian county’s health department told me this true story. A woman participating in one of the health department programs mentioned she needed a bed for a couple of her children, but they just didn’t have the money to buy one.

My friend A., a social worker there, decided to take it upon himself to meet this family’s need. So, over the next couple of weeks, he talked to merchants, churches, and individuals getting a headboard here, a footboard there, some rails another place, and finally, a new mattress and box springs.

A. called the woman and told her he had a bed for her kids. They arranged for her to pick it up at the health department. On the appointed day and time, there she was. She had borrowed a pickup truck and was ready to take delivery. After they loaded the bed into the truck, the woman turned to A. and said, “You don’t know how much we appreciate this. Our two youngest are sleeping in the box the color television came in.”

Having been very “poor” as the government measures it, I must say that, at least in America, poor is more an attitude, and sometimes culture, rather that a measure of income or assets.

Half-Truth from President Obama

In his Inaugural Address, President Obama said,

'These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land -- a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.'

This is true - if you're on the Left. The Right still sees America as a land of opportunity. In fact, so do immigrants, legal and illegal. No one moves to a new country expecting to do worse.

I'll be the first to admit that things aren't going so well for everyone. However, as did President Reagan, I'd point out that much of it is the government's fault, and looking to government to fix our problems is putting the coyote in charge of the chicken coop. .

Well, the proof is in the pudding. We have a Leftist in the White House, and a substantial Leftist majority in the Congress. Whatever happens can't be blamed on the Right, now. Leftist polices can sink or swim without much interference from the Right, indeed, with the new rules in Congress (in the spirit of bi-partisanship, of course), the Right has hardly any input into legislation other that voting.

We'll see how all this works out for you.

The Day the Earth Stood Still - Eh.

No, I'm not talking about the President Obama's inauguration. I'm talking about the movie.

A few weeks ago, a co-worker and I went to see the remake with Keanu Reeves. It was on the IMAX screen, and had a few interesting effects. However, changing the theme to a tale of pending environmental apocalypse and revenge against the human race obviated the need for Klaatu to come to Earth to begin with. Why land, if all you're going to do is destroy mankind anyway?

The "advanced galactic civilization" just blows off over six billion sophonts because we weren't nice to the polar bears, snail darters, and several types of bacteria in our digestive tracts. It's difficult to believe that those with such an obvious technological superiority couldn't take us under their wing, teach us what we needed to know to clean up the Earth, and then all live happily ever after. Of course, to the "rat is a pig is a dog is a boy crowd" I'm sure it was just peachy the way it was.

So after much consideration, I give it two stars in the Neflix rating system. (1=hated it, 2=didn't like it, 3=liked it, 4= liked it very much, 5=loved it) I won't watch it again. I can't recommend it.

I'm ready for Hollywood to give apocalyptic environmentalism a break, unless they want to do something like Crichton's Next or State of Fear.

Never fails...

A little snowfall last night brought out the usual idiots. Which idiots, you ask? Why, the ones who believe they and their 4WD vehicles have been exempted from the laws of physics, such as Newton's Laws of Motion, seen below.

First law

There exists a set of inertial reference frames relative to which all particles with no net force acting on them will move without change in their velocity. This law is often simplified as "A body continues to maintain its state of rest or of uniform motion unless acted upon by an external unbalanced force." Newton's first law is often known as the law of inertia.

Second law

Observed from an inertial reference frame, the net force on a particle is proportional to the time rate of change of its linear momentum: F = d(mv)/dt.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} Momentum mv is the product of mass and velocity. Force and momentum are vector quantities and the resultant force is found from all the forces present by vector addition. This law is often stated as, "F = ma: the net force on an object is equal to the mass of the object multiplied by its acceleration."

Third law

Whenever a particle A exerts a force on another particle B, B simultaneously exerts a force on A with the same magnitude in the opposite direction. The strong form of the law further postulates that these two forces act along the same line. This law is often simplified into the sentence, "To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." 

(from Wikipedia)

On the way in to work this morning, I didn't see a single car wrecked on the side of the road. I did, however, see four 4WD trucks and SUVs with noses in rock walls, guard rails, or safety cables.

GBW

A new discovery: SurvivalBlog.com

Tam mentioned SurvivalBlog in this post a while back, and I finally took a look. Wow! Can't believe I have missed this. I like it. A lot.

Hence, I have not only added it to a list, I've put up a SurvivalBlog banner under Day by Day.

Something for nothing? Maybe.

Over at Joe's Crabby Shack, Joe mentions the Blackhawk Serpa holster in his "Metro-tactical update" In the comments, Sailorcurt tells about the hookectomy he performed on the paddle option.

Joe also mentions the products of Bullet Blocker, the folks that brought us the bulletproof backpack. If you follow the link, you can sign up for their newsletter which will enter you in their January 14th drawing for a Threat Level IIIa Executive Backpack or bulletproof zippered folio.

Hey, someone has to win it...

"deliberately dishonest, or economically illiterate"

"The most dangerous myth is the demagoguery that business can be made to pay a larger share, thus relieving the individual. Politicians preaching this are either deliberately dishonest, or economically illiterate, and either one should scare us. Business doesn't pay taxes, and who better than business to make this message known? Only people pay taxes, and people pay as consumers every tax that is assessed against a business. Begin with the food and fiber raised in the farm, to the ore drilled in a mine, to the oil and gas from out of the ground, whatever it may be -- through the processing, through the manufacturing, on out to the retailer's license. If the tax cannot be included in the price of the product, no one along that line can stay in business." --Ronald Reagan

Which pretty much means that almost every Federal Democrat is either a liar, or too ignorant to have an informed opinion on the subject of taxes. Of course, that shouldn't surprise us. Many of the same people have been doing it to the First and Second Amendments for some time now.

Kentucky Guns Shows thru 12/2009

2008

• Dec 13-14 Louisville, Kentucky Fair & Expo Center 2100 tbls  National Gun Day
• Dec 20-21 Somerset, (Kenny Woods Gun Show LLC) The Center Map (2292 S. Hwy 27) RK Shows
• Dec 20-21 New Albany Indiana, National Guard Armory Tri-StateGun Show
• Dec 26-28 Louisville, Kentucky Fair & Expo Center West Hall A&B RK Shows

2009

• Jan 3-4 Lexington, Heritage Hall of Lexington Center Map RK Shows (Kenny Woods Gun Show, LLC) 563-927-8176 email:kehrli8@n-vonnect.net
• Jan 17-18 Somerset, (Kenny Woods Gun Show LLC) The Center Map (2292 S. Hwy 27) RK Shows 563-927-8176 email:kehrli8@n-vonnect.net
• Feb 14-15 Lexington, Heritage Hall of Lexington Center Map RK Shows (Kenny Woods Gun Show, LLC) 563-927-8176 email:kehrli8@n-vonnect.net
• Mar 7-8 Ashland, El Hasa Temple Map RK Shows (Kenny Woods Gun Show, LLC) 563-927-8176 email:kehrli8@n-vonnect.net
• Mar 7-8 Louisville, Kentucky Fair & Expo Center 2100 tbls  National Gun Day 513-523-3574
• Mar 21-22 Somerset, (Kenny Woods Gun Show LLC) The Center Map (2292 S. Hwy 27) RK Shows 563-927-8176 email:kehrli8@n-vonnect.net
• Jun 6-7 Louisville, Kentucky Fair & Expo Center 2100 tbls  National Gun Day 513-523-3574
• Jun 20-21 Lexington, Heritage Hall of Lexington Center Map RK Shows (Kenny Woods Gun Show, LLC) 563-927-8176 email:kehrli8@n-vonnect.net
• Jul 18-19 Louisville, Map Kentucky Fair & Expo Center West Hall A&B RK Shows 563-927-8176 email:kehrli8@n-vonnect.net
• Sep 26-27 Louisville, Kentucky Fair & Expo Center 2100 tbls  National Gun Day 513-523-3574
• Dec 12-13 Louisville, Kentucky Fair & Expo Center 2100 tbls  National Gun Day 513-523-3574

Prescience...

"No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffusd and virtue is preservd. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauchd in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders."

                                   --Samuel Adams

Hence,

"In 1993, a Department of Education survey found that among college graduates 50 percent of whites and more than 80 percent of blacks couldn't state in writing the argument made in a newspaper column; 56 percent could not calculate the right tip; 57 percent could not figure out how much change they should get back after putting down $3.00 to pay for a 60-cent bowl of soup and a $1.95 sandwich, and over 90 percent could not use a calculator to find the cost of carpeting a room. But not to worry. A 1999 survey taken by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni of seniors at the nation's top 55 liberal-arts colleges and universities found that 98 percent could identify rap artist Snoop Dogg and Beavis and Butt-Head, but only 34 percent knew George Washington was the general at the battle of Yorktown. With limited thinking abilities and knowledge of our heritage, we Americans set ourselves up as easy prey for charlatans, hustlers and quacks." --George Mason University economics professor Walter E. Williams

Thanks to the Friday Digest of The Patriot Post.

I few weeks back I was having a conversation with two young ladies, 14 and 19 years old, and one of them made a comment about all the laws President Obama was going to make. Not one to let a teaching moment go by, I spent the next 30 minutes or so explaining how our government worked.

The older of two graduated from high school this past Spring, the other just began her first year in high school this Fall. The older was, I believe, thought to be a fair student, and the younger was pretty much a straight A student at her middle school (She currently attends a private school where she is finding how ill-served she was at her former school). Neither of them had a clue, not one, about how our government functions.

Not much of a future if Mr. Adams is correct, and he is.

In the back rooms of Congress...

"Holy underwear! Sheriff murdered! Innocent women and children blown to bits! We have to protect our phoney baloney jobs here, gentlemen! We must do something about this immediately! Immediately! Immediately! Harrumph! Harrumph! Harrumph!" 

'Cause Heaven knows, you got to do something!!

Which way, GOP?

A new Emancipation Proclamation might be a good start.

"Evil acts can be given an aura of moral legitimacy by noble-sounding socialistic expressions such as spreading the wealth, income redistribution or caring for the less fortunate. Let's think about socialism. Imagine there's an elderly widow down the street from you. She has neither the strength to mow her lawn nor enough money to hire someone to do it. Here's my question to you that I'm almost afraid for the answer: Would you support a government mandate that forces one of your neighbors to mow the lady's lawn each week? If he failed to follow the government orders, would you approve of some kind of punishment ranging from house arrest and fines to imprisonment? I'm hoping that the average American would condemn such a government mandate because it would be a form of slavery, the forcible use of one person to serve the purposes of another. Would there be the same condemnation if instead of the government forcing your neighbor to physically mow the widow's lawn, the government forced him to give the lady $40 of his weekly earnings? That way the widow could hire someone to mow her lawn. I'd say that there is little difference between the mandates. While the mandate's mechanism differs, it is nonetheless the forcible use of one person to serve the purposes of another. Probably most Americans would have a clearer conscience if all the neighbors were forced to put money in a government pot and a government agency would send the widow a weekly sum of $40 to hire someone to mow her lawn. This mechanism makes the particular victim invisible but it still boils down to one person being forcibly used to serve the purposes of another. Putting the money into a government pot makes palatable acts that would otherwise be deemed morally offensive. This is why socialism is evil. It employs evil means, coercion or taking the property of one person, to accomplish good ends, helping one's fellow man." --George Mason University economics professor Walter E. Williams

Buy a horse!

"Democrats are suggesting, however, an even more ambitious reason to nationalize [the auto industry]. Once the government owns Detroit, it can remake it. The euphemism here is 'retool' Detroit to make cars for the coming green economy. Liberals have always wanted the auto companies to produce the kind of cars they insist everyone should drive: small, light, green and cute. Now they will have the power to do it. In World War II, government had the auto companies turning out tanks. Now they would be made to turn out hybrids. The difference is that, in the middle of a world war, tanks have a buyer. Will hybrids? One of the reasons Detroit is in such difficulty is that consumers have been resisting the smaller, less powerful, less safe cars forced on the industry by fuel-efficiency mandates. Now Detroit would be forced to make even more of them. If you think we have economic troubles today, consider the effects of nationalizing an industry of this size, but now run by bureaucrats issuing production quotas to fit five-year plans to meet politically mandated fuel-efficiency standards -- to lift us to the sunny uplands of the coming green utopia." --columnist Charles Krauthammer

I've always wanted a five-year plan, haven't you?

why not dual citizenship?

If there is an Obama victory this evening, and all indications point that way, there will be a flood, yea, perhaps of Biblical proportions, of illegal immigrants across our southern border. They'll all want to get in before Obama issues a blanket amnesty.

Why don't Democrats will take it the next logical step and give at least all Mexicans, if not all South Americans, U.S citizenship. Wouldn't dual citizenship for them save a lot of aggravation and expense? We could all but do away with the Border Patrol, stop construction on the fence, and drastically cut back on the Immigration offices all across the country.

It would be that much more money to spend on the many other new programs, soon to be revealed.

The Ten Cannots vs "We Can!"

The Ten Cannots

1. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.

2. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

3. You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich.

4. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.

5. You cannot build character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence.

6. You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.

7. You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.

8. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.

9. You cannot establish security on borrowed money.

10. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they will not do for themselves.

- William J. H. Boetcker, a minister, and outspoken advocate for liberty (1916)

Reverend Boetcker would be reviled and ridiculed by the Left today for merely listing these ten common sense observations about life. And were he to dare mention their basis in Scripture, the howl would be deafening.

The older I get, the better I understand that men will eternally argue the same questions year after year, decade and decade, even century after century. Solomon may have been speaking from ennui when he declared there was nothing new under the sun, but he pretty much described the human condition in those five words.

On Tuesday, our country may elect a man to the presidency who vehemently disagrees with each of these statements. And once again, the old lessons would be learned the hard way as he and his Leftist companions in the Congress ignore the past and forge ahead to "Change", taking our country in a "new" old direction that has failed over and over again.

Mark Alexander of the Patriot Post shared this story.

'I was speaking with a friend recently, a man who lived most of his life under the Communist regime in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. He has spent several years and continues to incur many legal expenses in his endeavor to become a U.S. citizen, but he has since lost his enthusiasm.

“The prospect of an Obama presidency is like dèja vu for me,” he explained. “The socialist goal back home was that everyone had equal wealth. They met that goal—eventually no one had anything. Any attempt to work harder to achieve a better standard of living for your family was considered contrary to the welfare of the state, and dutifully discouraged. Socialism is a big hole, easy to fall into and hard to climb out of.”

He lamented, “The American dream is not something I want to wake up from—but too many Americans have no idea what they have, and are about to lose it. Socialism seems an appealing ideal, collective ownership, equal society, ‘sharing the wealth,’ et cetera. But it has a downside: It doesn’t work.”

 

America Compared to What?

Nice piece by Victor Davis Hanson. A perspective too many have abandoned.

The current financial crisis has startled America from a hypnotic trance of self-indulgence and irresponsibility. But as we return to American fundamentals, we may discover that our political, social and economic system -- despite all the current election-cycle hysteria -- is still by far the most resilient in the world.

How odd that it took a financial catastrophe to remind us of that.

Sad, but true, Mr. Hamilton.

“It is an unquestionable truth, that the body of the people in every country desire sincerely its prosperity. But it is equally unquestionable that they do not possess the discernment and stability necessary for systematic government. To deny that they are frequently led into the grossest of errors, by misinformation and passion, would be a flattery which their own good sense must despise.” —Alexander Hamilton

I know the spread is closing in the polls, but it looks as though the best chance for a McCain victory is for those who might vote Dem will think Barry has it in the bag, and stay home. Thankfully, a lot of them who show up for rallies and demonstrations seem to have a hard time finding the polls the first Tuesday in November. We'll see.

One Dem's view of the financial meltdown...

Read the whole thing here. I've always enjoyed Mr. Card's books, particularly the Ender series, but this may be my favorite bit of his writing. And by the way, he's a Democrat.

“These are facts. This financial crisis was completely preventable. The party that blocked any attempt to prevent it was... the Democratic Party. The party that tried to prevent it was... the Republican Party. Yet when Nancy Pelosi accused the Bush administration and Republican deregulation of causing the crisis, you in the press did not hold her to account for her lie. Instead, you criticized Republicans who took offense at this lie and refused to vote for the bailout! What? It’s not the liar, but the victims of the lie who are to blame? Now let’s follow the money... right to the presidential candidate who is the number-two recipient of campaign contributions from Fannie Mae. And after Freddie Raines, the CEO of Fannie Mae who made $90 million while running it into the ground, was fired for his incompetence, one presidential candidate’s campaign actually consulted him for advice on housing. If that presidential candidate had been John McCain, you would have called it a major scandal and we would be getting stories in your paper every day about how incompetent and corrupt he was. But instead, that candidate was Barack Obama, and so you have buried this story, and when the McCain campaign dared to call Raines an ‘adviser’ to the Obama campaign—because that campaign had sought his advice—you actually let Obama’s people get away with accusing McCain of lying, merely because Raines wasn’t listed as an official adviser to the Obama campaign. You would never tolerate such weasely nit-picking from a Republican. If you who produce our local daily paper actually had any principles, you would be pounding this story, because the prosperity of all Americans was put at risk by the foolish, short-sighted, politically selfish, and possibly corrupt actions of leading Democrats, including Obama.” —Orson Scott Card, Democrat columnist

Hooda thunk it.

Politics came up in a recent conversation with a co-worker (not the one I mentioned in a previous post). He asked me why Independents were drawn to McCain. As I went through the points I thought pertinent, most of which do not endear McCain to me, he seemed to be paying close attention.

When I concluded, he nodded his head and said, "You know, I had pretty much made up my mind to vote for Obama, but you've sure given me a lot to think about. I've never thought about him in those terms."

Now, I had no thought of "convincing" anyone of anything that day. We were just chatting during an idle moment. But I bet he still votes for Obama. The last thing he mentioned was McCain's age. I reminded him that cut both ways.

There are days I despair these two are the best we could come up with. November 4th will certainly be one of them. If Obama wins, and it's looking like it, the GOP better get its ducks in a row for 2012. We'll have three years to find a good candidate, and right now, I hope most of the current batch doesn't run.

I will not stand by...

“The major issue of this campaign is the direct political, personal and moral responsibility of Democratic Party leadership... for this unprecedented calamity which has befallen us. They tell us they have done the most that humanly could be done. They say that the United States has had its day in the sun; that our nation has passed its zenith. They expect you to tell your children that the American people no longer have the will to cope with their problems; that the future will be one of sacrifice and few opportunities. My fellow citizens, I utterly reject that view. The American people, the most generous on earth, who created the highest standard of living, are not going to accept the notion that we can only make a better world for others by moving backwards ourselves. Those who believe we can have no business leading the nation. I will not stand by and watch this great country destroy itself under mediocre leadership that drifts from one crisis to the next, eroding our national will and purpose. We have come together here because the American people deserve better from those to whom they entrust our nation’s highest offices, and we stand united in our resolve to do something about it.” Ronald Reagan

Don't you wish McCain would make this speech? I don't think President Reagan would mind.

I'm just sayin'...

Actually, he is -

Justice Peter Zarella (Connecticut Supreme Court), in the minority opinion, wrote, “The ancient definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman has its basis in biology, not bigotry.” He added that if that is to be changed, it should be “a decision for the legislature or the people of the state and not this court.”  (from PatriotPost.us)

Of course, we're not really capable of making those kinds of decisions on our own. Or any other decisions for that matter. That's why we need the government to tell us what to think and do. Vote Obama.