Southern-Fried Ridiculousness

If a business does something I don’t approve of, I simply stop shopping there.  For instance, Citgo is owned by Hugo Chavez, communist dictator of Venezuela, and because I consider Hugo to be a gigantic douche, I don’t get gas as Ctigo.  Ever.  If my friends ask me, I’ll tell them why I avoid Citgo.  They may agree and stop shopping there, they may not.  It’s all good because we’re all individuals capable of making adult decisions and I don’t pick my friends and colleagues based on politics – and those friends I have who do disagree with me tend to be adult enough to realize this.

So, this leads to the question: why the war on Chick-Fil-A?

First, let’s get this clear: Chick-Fil-A the company was founded by a Christian man whose values have driven his business model.  The employees are typically extremely friendly to customers, the restaurants are very considerate towards families in both design and menu offerings, and they’re closed on Sunday (a point which has annoyed me often when I’ve had a mis-timed craving).  The founder of Chick-Fil-A, S. Truett Cathy, continues to promote his personal values.  So what’s the problem?

I’m shocked! Shocked, I tell you!

Well, shockingly to some, this man – who’s fostered over 200 kids, attends church every Sunday, and continues to teach Sunday School classes in his 90′s, doesn’t like gay marriage.  His business doesn’t discriminate against gays, they don’t refuse to serve gay people, they don’t put pictures of the Chick-Fil-A cows holding signs that say “God Hats Homoos” on their marquees.  It’s simply that Truett doesn’t think gay behavior is right and doesn’t support gay marriage.  Now, what would an adult do about this shocking revelation?

• Option 1: Realize that we’re talking about a 91 year old Christian man and get on with life, applauding his works you agree with, and occasionally stopping by Chick-Fil-A for their delicious sandwiches.
• Option 2: Disagree with Mr. Cathy and send the company a letter expressing your discontent with his position, but accepting the fact that Chick-Fil-A probably isn’t going to be putting out an Anti-Gay Kids Meal any time soon.
• Option 3: Perform a personal boycott of Mr. Cathy’s businesses.  Be content in your personal sacrifice, but sad that you’re missing out on their delicious chicken.
• Option 4: Perform same boycott, but mention to friends that they may want to join you.   Send a letter to the company stating your reasons for boycotting.
• Option 5: Demonize a 91-year-old man whose values you never agreed with and use the force of government to exert the force of your will, not only upon the business whose founder has beliefs you don’t agree with, but on the potential employees of said business.  Plus, hold gay kiss-in events at Chick-Fil-A so that the people who eat their lunch there will feel totally weird about it and not eat there, forcing Chick-Fil-A to serve people who held their kiss-ins, except that they already totally do serve gay people at Chick-Fil-A, which means you’re just doing it for show.  Besides, people who don’t agree with your political views don’t deserve the same freedom of conscience protected by the First Amendment that good progressives do.

Normal people would choose 1-4.  Sadly, a ton of retards are choosing 5, getting the likes of Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and Chicago Mayor and Obama associate Rahm Emanuel to try to push Chick-Fil-A out of their respective cities, a fascistic move that’s even set off the free expression alarm at the incredibly liberal Boston Globe, Chicago Sun-Times, and NPR.

The ultimate in irony is that while Rahm Emanuel was pushing against Chick-Fil-A for Cathy’s support of traditional marriage, he was also welcoming Louis Farrakhan to Chicago, who not only opposes gay marriage, but also openly and proudly hates Jewish people like…  Rahm Emanuel.

The pro-family groups have organized today, August 1, as a Chick-Fil-A appreciation day, and have encouraged people to go by and grab a sammich.  Personally, I disagree with this.  I think that a better approach is simply to eat mor chikin.  Don’t limit it to a single day – go support the businesses who support your values on a regular basis.  Show them your support by becoming a regular customer.  Go buy a sammich today…  and then another tomorrow…  and then another a few days from now.  Sure, you’ll get fat, but it’ll be delicious and you’ll be giving your support to a business whose values are the same values found in Scripture.

That’s my take.

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The Problem With Separation of Church and State

School in the…   wait for it…  liberal Democrat-leaning state of New York…  censored an art student’s contribution to a mural.  They had tons of religious imagery on the wall, but the minute a student who believed that Jesus was the Way, the Truth, and the Life decided to paint a cross and a few song lyrics, the school felt that she’d crossed the line.

Scary!

Painting a mosque?  Fine.  A demonic creature?  A-OK.   The Taj Mahal?  10-4.  A Native American totem pole?  Yee-hah.  A cross?  BLACKLIST THE TWIT!!!

Look, I’m all for not pushing religion on people.  I am a dedicated, strong, stubborn Christian, but I know that there are people who neither share my faith nor want to share my faith.  And while I do believe I am called to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to let you know the Good News that He can save you from your sins and the penalty to come if you only repent and believe in Him…  but I’m also well aware that the best way to communicate the Gospel is to build a personal relationship with people and to meet them where they are so that you can point them to the Cross.  An ineffective method would be sticking students in a classroom and indoctrinating them via a state-approved religious curriculum.

Having said that, there seems to be a mistake made by the anti-religious crowd and bureaucrats, that our precious little angels – and by extension, our precious little public – must be freed from any expression of religious (read: Christian) belief in the public circle.  They crow about the separation of church and state and point out that the Supreme Court has ruled that prayer isn’t allowed in any classroom, ever!  Ha ha ha!

Silly people.  Silly, evil people.

Let’s take a quick look at the First Amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

There’s a lot of meat in there, but it’s meat that’s easily identified and served up. Let’s stick with just the stuff that sticks with this case.

1.  Congress shall make no law.  This is pretty simple: the first amendment is a restriction on the actions of Congress, not the people.  Much like the 2nd Amendment protects the right to bear arms, the First Amendment protects the rights of the people.

2.  An establishment of religion.  Again, pretty simple: Congress is not allowed to declare an official religion of the United States.  This was because many of the American colonies were founded by Christian people for religious purposes, and those Christian groups sometimes didn’t get along, sometimes even with themselves.  By avoiding the establishment of a national religion, those debates were rendered moot at the Federal level, even though every single colony still acknowledged Almighty God in their charters.  Today, this has been extended to other religions.

3.  Or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.  The Federal Government cannot keep you from practicing your religion.  If you want to practice Voodoo, that’s your business (so long as you’re not breaking any laws in doing so).

4.  Or abridging the freedom of speech.  Again, while there are reasonable limits placed on this right (you can’t yell fire in a theater, you can’t threaten someone’s life, etc.), it’s typically accepted that the government is not allowed to tell you what you can and cannot say.  Simple?  Sure.

So where did we get lost?  In my ever-loving opinion, it started in the 1980′s, when the Supreme Court ruled in Abington Township v. Schempp , where they introduced the “secular vs. religious” test.  Later, in Allegheny County v. Greater Pittsburgh ACLU, the court went full retard, ruling that having the words “Gloria in Exelcis Deo” was illegal because that was totally religious, but it was OK to have a Menorah, because that’s totally secular.  By entertaining a micromanagement approach towards the free exercise of religion, the Court empowered those who want to push a secularist religion like atheism.

This leads to incidents like this, where the same people who thought it was evil, wrong, super-evil censorship to ban the sale of 2 Live Crew albums in Florida think it’s perfectly OK to paint over a student’s artistic expression of admiration for her God because, Lord knows someone might see her picture and get magically forced by the school board to join the Baptists.  They’re so busy enforcing point #2 of the amendment that they miss #3 and #4.  They’re taking a very liberal view of the constitution, where one can change the plain meaning of the constitution as it suits the situation (hence why I join Alonzo Rachel in rejecting “progressive” as a label for people who are more accurately described as “liberal”).  This liberal view means that the freedom of those who should be protected by the constitution is subject to the whims of a government bureaucrat.

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The Irrational War on Tea

Sometimes, you just can’t help laughing at the state of affairs in the world.  Laughter helps the world go ’round.  It also distracts my brain from its deep-seeded desire to eat its way out of the back of my skull for having been exposed to the ongoing theater of the absurd that is the war on the Tea Parties.

Now, it seems that our beloved Teleprompter has joined in with the self-appointed clowns of the left in referring to those who disagree with Obama, Communism, and the general flushing of our Constitution, principles, and nation down the toilet…   by vulgar sexual slang.  Honestly, if it were just him as a private citizen, we could almost laugh it off.  Especially the whole hypocrisy part, where he calls for civility while at the same time calling people names like any good 6-year-old bully would do.  But A) he’s the President; and B) it’s a pattern of behavior by members of the left.

From unapologetic vulgar sexual slang to bizarre theories of assistance based on political voting patterns to false accusations of racist comments to conspiracy theories that would normally get one committed to an asylum, the left’s war on the right – and common sense – continues, unstopped by any of those pesky “facts” or “opposition in the media”.

And they wonder why the latest polls show a butt-whoopin’ coming this November.

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The Tampax Tax

“SEC. 4191. MEDICAL DEVICES. (a) IN GENERAL.—There is hereby imposed on the sale of any taxable medical device by the manufacturer, producer, or importer a tax equal to 2.3 percent of the price for which so sold. (b) TAXABLE MEDICAL DEVICE.—For purposes of this section— (1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘taxable medical device’ means any device (as defined in section 201(h) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act) intended for humans. (2) EXEMPTIONS.—Such term shall not include— (A) eyeglasses, (B) contact lenses, (C) hearing aids, and (D) any other medical device determined by the Secretary to be of a type which is generally purchased by the general public at retail for individual use.’’

That’s right, ladies!  Lucky you!  You get to pay 2.3% more for your lady stuff. But fear not!  In our wonderful politically-correct world, fellas will have to pay more for their fella stuff…    I guess that means “condoms”, but I dunno.

Hey – you know what else will cost you an extra 2.3%?  Everything!

Band-aids? 2.3%.
Canes? 2.3%.
Compression stockings for diabetics? 2.3%.
Pill sorters? 2.3%.
ACE Bandages?  2.3%
Breast pumps for pumping milk for babies? 2.3%
Dentures, both partial and full 2.3%
Fetal cell-screening kit 2.3%
Female condoms, single use 2.3% (cuz girls can buy condoms, too!)
Treponemal syphilis test 2.3%
HIV saliva test kit 2.3%
Stair-climbing wheelchair 2.3%
Inflatable penis prosthetics 2.3% (do people actually buy these?)
Hip, knee, ankle, breast prosthetics 2.3%
IUDs 2.3%
Dialysis catheters 2.3%
Sickle-cell anemia tests 2.3%
Mammograms 2.3%

How’s that for a “tax on the rich”?  I sure am glad they covered pre-existing conditions for kids to make up for this stupidity…

Wait a minute…   seriously?  They forgot it?  Well, surely there aren’t other taxes  buried in there…

Wait a minute…  there are?  Well…   I guess I’d oppose it, but apparently, people who oppose government healthcare are terrorists.

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Summing Up Liberalism

Van Helsing at Moonbattery has commented on yet another call by a liberal to commit violence against conservatives….   and at the end of his post, he sums up liberalism perfectly:

Liberalism is the ideology of the thug. Don’t create wealth; seize it. Don’t come to voluntary, mutually beneficial agreements; decide what you want others to do and force them to do it. Violent words and violent actions are to be expected from progressives, which is why they don’t want the rest of us armed.

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Go Jim Go!

DeMint.  DeMan.

First – DeMint challenged the Constitutionality of Reid’s supermajority clause in the Government Run Health Insurance Monstrosity.

Now, he and John Ensign are challenging the Constitutionality of the Health Insurance Mandate.

Ensign, DeMint to Force Vote on Health Care Bill Unconstitutionality

December 22, 2009 – WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) and John Ensign (R-Nevada), raised a Constitutional Point of Order on the Senate floor against the Democrat health care takeover bill on behalf of the Steering Committee, a caucus of conservative senators. The Senate will vote tomorrow on the bill’s constitutionality. “I am incredibly concerned that the Democrats’ proposed individual mandate provision takes away too much freedom and choice from Americans across the country,” said Senator Ensign. “As an American, I felt the obligation to stand up for the individual freedom of every citizen to make their own decision on this issue. I don’t believe Congress has the legal authority to force this mandate on its citizens.” “Forcing every American to purchase a product is absolutely inconsistent with our Constitution and the freedoms our Founding Fathers hoped to protect,” said Senator DeMint. “This is not at all like car insurance, you can choose not to drive but Americans will have no choice whether to buy government-approved insurance. This is nothing more than a bailout and takeover of insurance companies. We’re forcing Americans to buy insurance under penalty of law and then Washington bureaucrats will then dictate what these companies can sell to Americans. This is not liberty, it is tyranny of good intentions by elites in Washington who think they can plan our lives better than we can.” Americans who fail to buy health insurance, according to the Democrats’ bill, would be subject to financial penalties. The senators believe the bill is unconstitutional because the insurance mandate is not authorized by any of the limited enumerated powers granted to the federal government. The individual mandate also likely violates the “takings” clause of the 5th Amendment. The Democrats’ healthcare reform bill requires Americans to buy health insurance “whether or not they ever visit a doctor, get a prescription or have an operation.” If an American chooses not to buy health insurance coverage, they will face rapidly increasing taxes that will rise to $750 or 2% of their taxable income, whichever is greater. The Congressional Budget Office once stated “A mandate requiring all individuals to purchase health insurance would be an unprecedented form of federal action. The government has never required people to buy any good or service as a condition of lawful residence in the United States.” A legal study by scholars at the nonpartisan Heritage Foundation concluded: “An individual mandate to enter into a contract with or buy a particular product from a private party, with tax penalties to enforce it, is unprecedented– not just in scope but in kind–and unconstitutional as a matter of first principles and under any reasonable reading of judicial precedents.”

Democrats: Constitution?  What Constitution?

Now, I don’t have a whole lot of respect for John Ensign, but DeMint has been a model of Conservative Civility and has helped to remind us all of what Mike and I said yesterday: this battle is not over.

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It’s Coming…

We all knew it would.  Even though Barry the Fibber is the biggest liar to sit in the Oval Office Chair since Bill “What does is mean again?” Clinton, we knew that when he said that he was going to push through his agenda of a government takeover of the health insurance industry, he meant it.

And he still does.

The latest: after buying off every single last Democrat Senator (including supposed “Blue Dog” and “Conservative / Moderate Democrats” like Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson), Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are licking their chops on how to finish up this Multi-Trillion Dollar Boondoggle that’ll have you paying for abortions for illegal immigrants with your federal tax dollars (paging Joe Wilson).

Their plan to pay for this?  Take your money and kill old people.  $400 Billion in new taxes and $500 Billion in cuts to Medicare.

If Republicans proposed anything that cut Medicare by a tenth of that, the Democrats would be out for blood and their lapping suckups in the media would be yipping their little heads off…    but let a Democrat bill cut Medicare by $500 Billion and all of the sudden the media’s silence is such that you could hear a fly fart from across the state.

Oh – and they’re taking your money.  Anyone with half a brain knows that when you raise taxes on the rich, they don’t just pay it out of their pockets, complete with a side helping of the goodness of their hearts.  The rich own businesses, employ people, and build products.  A tax on the rich is an indirect tax on EVERYONE.  That’s why I support the FairTax (and you should, too) – but that’s beside the point.

And what are the Republicans on the hill doing about it?  Not much.  Not that there’s much they can do.  They can complain, which some are doing fairly effectively.  They can force a reading of the bill (which would be hilarious and would take days to complete and would only delay the inevitable).  And that’s about it.

So here’s where it comes to the people who are truly in charge: us.  I’ve got a simple 3-step plan that can help us ultimately come out winners in this situation.

1.  Run solid conservatives for office.  The lily-livered Blue Dogs and one or two Republicans who hemmed and hawed on this?  Vote them out.

2.  Win.

3.  Repeal the bill.  If Obama vetoes, override his veto.

Yeah, I know it’s a fantasy, but it’s a good fantasy…   It’s one I discussed before when I warned you that these so-called “moderates” were not our allies and could not be relied upon.  We need to remember that our politicians’ job isn’t to make buddies up on the hill – it’s to represent OUR interests.  And OUR interest, as poll after poll has said, is that this bill dies.  NOW.

Are you listening, Harry Reid?  Are you listening moderates?  Do you hear us?

Because if you don’t hear us now, you’ll hear us loud and clear in November when we kick your useless hides out of the Capitol.

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Harry Reid is Still an Idiot

If you’re from Nevada…  seriously?  Why did you vote for this complete incompetent for Senator?  I know grubworms that have more personality, intelligence, and logic than this complete and total waste of a Senator.

The latest…   we’ve been told repeatedly over the past 2 years how critical it is to our national interest for the Statists and Communists to shove through their beloved Government Takeover of Private Healthcare.  Now, one could question their sincerity, given that they controlled Congress for 2 years while Bush was in office, and yet didn’t think that it was critical back when our economy wasn’t taking a ride in the flush cycle of an American Standard 1.6 Gallon Toilet….   and one could further question their sincerity, as it took them until this past summer to even begin to address the issue in Congress, even though they had their glorious 60-seat supermajority and their Moonbat Messiah as President.

And now…  if we don’t pass it, then the GOP will keep us all in slavery, old people will be forced to simply curl up and die, and the world will likely come to a crashing halt when meteors discover that the USA still doesn’t have government-run health care.

But it’s not critical enough for Harry Reid.

That’s right…  the man who forced the Senate to vote on a motion to begin debate – on a Saturday, who has said it’s his mission in life to get this stupid, overpriced, communist piece of trash monstrosity passed by the end of the year…  wants to take time out of the debate to fly down to New Orleans so that he can speak at a fundraiser for a fellow Democrat Senator.

Why, I do believe you’re being a disingenuous piece of crap, Senator Reid.

Let’s be honest…  we’ve been told the “15% of Americans live without health insurance” line at least since Clinton started pushing his version of Universal Healthcare back in the 90′s.  Now, if you take the time to drill into the stats, that 15% actually includes a ton of young people (who elect to go without coverage), people who are in between jobs or who’ve started new jobs and aren’t covered yet, folks who would otherwise be covered by existing programs like Medicaid and SCHIP – or private low-cost plans, or illegal aliens.  That leaves us closer to 10-15 million, or 3-5% of the American population.

While this is a shame, it also shows us how the numbers are so quickly inflated by those whose agenda it is to enslave the American Public to the American Government.

But this is all beside the point.  It’s an emergency, right?  We need Government-Run Health Care TODAY!  YESTERDAY, even!  Right?

Apparently, not as much as Harry needs $1,000 a plate fundraisers to boost his sagging poll numbers.

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Jail and Fairness

Just when you think they can’t get any dumber…

OK – first – there’s a lot of static going around about the new health care boondoggle, and how it’ll send you to jail if you don’t have a qualified plan.  Those on the left are assuring us that there’s no such text in the actual bill itself, and to some degree, they’re right.  There’s nothing in the text of the bill that says “we will send you to jail if you don’t have a qualified plan”.

Not directly anyway.

Now, let’s dig into the details of Queen Nancy’s Boondoggle, because the devil’s in the details, and by “devil”, I mean “jail time for not purchasing a qualified health plan”.

First, let’s flip over to page 118 of the bill.  On this page, we’re told that it’ll be up to the whims of the Secretary of Health and Human Services to decide what a “qualified” health care plan will be, or as the bill puts it:

(b) ADOPTION OF STANDARDS.—
8 (1) INITIAL STANDARDS.—Not later than 18
9 months after the date of the enactment of this Act,
10 the Secretary shall, through the rulemaking process
11 consistent with subsection (a), adopt an initial set of
12 benefit standards.

Now, let’s turn to page 297 and read a section I like to call “TAX ON INDIVIDUALS WITHOUT ACCEPTABLE HEALTH CARE COVERAGE”, mostly because that’s what the actual section is called.  Basically, it applies a 2.5% additional tax penalty if you don’t have a “qualified” plan.  You can’t afford the government-mandated health insurance or a private version of said health insurance that’ll be exactly like the government’s (per section 303, see pages 167-172)?  Tough cookies.  And if you can’t afford your tax?  Well, that’s when the IRS comes after you and THAT’S when those pesky Sections like “7201″ and “7203″ apply.  They’re sections of the US tax code that deal with willful and accidental tax evasion.

In other words: if you don’t pay for what the Secretary of HHS thinks is a “qualified” plan, you get hit with a 2.5% tax – and then if you don’t pay that, the government levies fines that can go as high as $100,000 and send you to jail for 5 years with a felony conviction.

Is there any way to avoid this?  Absolutely!  On Page 299, under subsection c:

‘‘(2) NONRESIDENT ALIENS.—Subsection (a) 8 shall not apply to any individual who is a non resident alien.

That’s right…  the best way for you to not have to buy health care and not end up in prison for 5 years trying to figure out how to pay your $100,000 fine is to simply be an illegal alien.  Option B for us is to be members of a religion that doesn’t believe in Pelosicare.  I personally think my own Christianity applies, since the one of the basic precepts of Christianity is that the United States Government is not God.

Do you think that this is unutterably stupid and ridiculous?  Do you think that the idiots who dreamed this pile of steaming crap up must’ve been high on banana peels?  Do you think Nancy Pelosi is completely off her rocker when she tells a reporter that she thinks that throwing people in jail for 5 years and fining them out the kazoo is “very fair”?  Do you think Harry Reid should be tossed out of the Senate in a pair of leg irons and orange overalls for even allowing this unconstitutional, illegal, socialistic, nanny-state nightmare onto the Senate Floor?

Are you looking forward to November 2010?

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A Great Post… Or Two… (UPDATE) Or Three….

…you ever read one of those posts that’s just perfect?

Not here.  All of our posts here are perfect. 

But elsewhere….   The Anchoress over at FirstThings has a fantastic post on socialism, jackboots, and the reality of faith in Christ, and if you don’t read it, you are seriously missing out.

Meanwhile, my own denomination has a great read on Health Care and the Church’s response.

Finally, Doug Ross explains the Health Care Debate…   in 90 Seconds.

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