Western Rifle Shooters Association

Do not give in to Evil, but proceed ever more boldly against it

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Revolution

Read this article from The American Thinker, by an author who "holds the U.S. National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, which is the Intelligence Community's highest honor."

Sample graf:

***
...Put all this together, and what we have in our country today isn't a democracy and it isn't a free-market economy. Reader, what we have now is a revolution.

This revolution won't be stopped, and our country won't be rescued, by the Republicans in Washington. This isn't because they lack the votes. It's because most of them are careerist hacks who've been playing footsie with the Democrats for too long; with very few exceptions they lack the intellectual firepower to articulate the present danger, and the political courage to stand up to this Administration and really fight. But for the absence of frock coats and pince-nez glasses, these Republicans in Washington remind me of those bumbling Weimar Republic politicians in Berlin who never grasped where Hitler and the Nazis were going until it was too late to stop them, or of those hapless Mensheviks in Moscow's Duma who let themselves be tossed into history's dustbin by Lenin and his Bolsheviks...
***


Take the time to read the whole thing, including the comments.

Now put on your cold-eyed analytical glasses and ask yourself if the prescription set forth by the author has a rational chance of success in a country filled with scores of millions of socialists and their (short-term) beneficiaries.

I do agree with his final paragraph:

***
...The alternative to launching this kind of peaceful and political counter-attack is horrific. Right now sales of guns and ammunition are rising sharply. This reflects an intuitive grasp by grass-roots Americans of what history teaches may lie ahead. It was only after the Nazis had secured their grip on power in Germany, and only after the Bolsheviks had seized control of Russia, that they set out to disarm and destroy the vast numbers of ordinary citizens who - to the astonishment and fury of the revolutionaries -- just wouldn't go along.

That's when the real shooting started, and when blood began flowing in the streets.
***


Stories like this one today should give everyone even more grounds for concern, as Billy Beck discusses.

Prepare to stand.

A lot of theories and brave words are about to be put to the test.

Audentes fortuna iuvat.

Friday, August 28, 2009

"Stand With Us" In Tagalog

Courtesy of a reader at Mike's place, we have this note and translation.

Keep 'em coming!

Hello--

I had my wife translate the text to Tagalog, the language of the Philippines. It is not exactly word for word due to language differences, but the meaning comes through clearly.

The Filipinos know what it is like to live under oppressive government and martial law. Those involved in the People Power revolution in 1986 shouted MAKI-ISA in protest, which means "stand as one"...very similar to your "Stand with us!" closing comment. I think they will remember and will be inspired by this.

Tagalog wasn't on your list of languages to be translated, but I'm trying to do all I can to help in every way possible.

Thanks for all you do to fight for the preservation of our country! It's quite possible things are going to get worse if we aren't successful using diplomatic means now, but that much is entirely up to them.

Note: I'm including a line by line translation of your text below, followed by the tagalog version by itself for easy cut-and-paste.



To All Free Men and Women Who Escaped Collectivist Tyranny: Stand Together With Us

Sa lahat ng mamayanang tumakas sa diktadurang pamamalakad: Maki-isa sa amin.

Each of you risked all to escape from savage oppression in your countries of birth and come to America, the land of the free. You bear the scars, within and without, of your old tyrannical masters' evils. You have already paid much to learn the involuntary lessons of collectivist tyranny.

Bawat isa sa inyo ay nagsakripisyo upang makatakas sa lupig o kahirapan at makarating sa Amerika, ang bansa ng mga malalaya. Kayo ang mga nasugatan sa mapang-aping pamamaraan ng inyong dating pamunuan. Lubos na ang ibinigay ninyong kabayaran upang matutunan ang hirap na dulot ng diktadurang pamamaraan.

Now, ideological allies of the same collectivists who robbed, tortured, raped, and murdered your countrymen have captured the legislative majority in the American Congress. Worse yet, another ideological ally of your tormentors occupies the White House.

Ngayon, ang mga kaanib ng kaparehong mapang-aping liderato ay siyang mga nasa may kapangyarihan sa Congress at sa White House.

Together, though they wrap their arguments in sweet words and false kindness, these socialists plan to destroy every single aspect of the America you love, and in its place, establish another totalitarian hell on earth -- where every single human act must be authorized, regulated, and monitored by government.

Gamit ang matatamis na salita at huwad na kabaitan, balakin nila na sirain ang bawat aspeto ng America na inyong natutunang mahalin, at palitan ito ng isang bansa kung saan ang bawat isang kilos ng mamayanan ay may pagbabantay at pahintulot gobyerno.

You brave men and women, who know far better than native-born Americans what evils these governments perpetrate every day against their citizens, will be the witnesses who will teach others what must be done to save our country.

Kayong mga matatapang, na mas higit ang karanasan o kaalaman sa kasamaan at kahirapan na dulot ng mapang-aping pamahalaan sa kanilang mamayanan, ang siyang mga magiging saksi na magmumulat sa iba upang sagipin ang ating bansang America.

You, the refugees from tyranny, know that America is the last, best hope for mankind.

Kayo, ang mga tumakas sa kaapihan at kahirapan, ang nakakaalam na ang America ang huling pag-asa ng lahat.

Yet many of our people do not see the threat. They lack your wisdom, born of cruelty and oppression. We need your help. You can show them why and how they must stand together.

Nakalulungkot sabihin ngunit marami pa rin ang nabubulagan at kulang sa kaalaman sa epekto ng diktadurang mamamaraan. Sa tulong ninyo, matututunan nila ang magka-isa.

Join us in Washington, DC on September 11-13 to tell the totalitarians that you will not allow them to destroy America too. Be there as a living witness to the evils of collectivism.

Maki-isa sa amin sa Washington, DC sa Setyembre 11-13 at ipaalam sa kanila na hindi natin pahihintulutan na sirain din nila ang America. Makilahok at maging mga saksi ng inyong mga karanasan.


Join us in renewing our oaths to protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic.

Maki-isa sa amin at sariwain ang ating pangako ng pagtatanggol sa Constitution laban sa mga nagbabanta.

If the American constitutional republic falls, there is no place else left where ANY of us can flee and still be truly free.

Kapag ang Constitution ng America ay bumagsak, wala na tayong iba pang bansang matatakbuhan kung saan tayo ay mananatili pa ring tunay na malaya.

Liberty stands, or falls for generations, right here, right now.

Dito at ngayon nakataya ang kalayaan, hindi lamang natin kungdi pati na rin ng ninaharap na henerasyon.

STAND WITH US!

MAKI-ISA!


**************************************

Sa lahat ng mamayanang tumakas sa diktadurang pamamalakad: Maki-isa sa amin.

Bawat isa sa inyo ay nagsakripisyo upang makatakas sa lupig o kahirapan at makarating sa Amerika, ang bansa ng mga malalaya. Kayo ang mga nasugatan sa mapang-aping pamamaraan ng inyong dating pamunuan. Lubos na ang ibinigay ninyong kabayaran upang matutunan ang hirap na dulot ng diktadurang pamamaraan.

Ngayon, ang mga kaanib ng kaparehong mapang-aping liderato ay siyang mga nasa may kapangyarihan sa Congress at sa White House.

Gamit ang matatamis na salita at huwad na kabaitan, balakin nila na sirain ang bawat aspeto ng America na inyong natutunang mahalin, at palitan ito ng isang bansa kung saan ang bawat isang kilos ng mamayanan ay may pagbabantay at pahintulot gobyerno.

Kayong mga matatapang, na mas higit ang karanasan o kaalaman sa kasamaan at kahirapan na dulot ng mapang-aping pamahalaan sa kanilang mamayanan, ang siyang mga magiging saksi na magmumulat sa iba upang sagipin ang ating bansang America.

Kayo, ang mga tumakas sa kaapihan at kahirapan, ang nakakaalam na ang America ang huling pag-asa ng lahat.

Nakalulungkot sabihin ngunit marami pa rin ang nabubulagan at kulang sa kaalaman sa epekto ng diktadurang mamamaraan. Sa tulong ninyo, matututunan nila ang magka-isa.

Maki-isa sa amin sa Washington, DC sa Setyembre 11-13 at ipaalam sa kanila na hindi natin pahihintulutan na sirain din nila ang America. Makilahok at maging mga saksi ng inyong mga karanasan.

Maki-isa sa amin at sariwain ang ating pangako ng pagtatanggol sa Constitution laban sa mga nagbabanta.

Kapag ang Constitution ng America ay bumagsak, wala na tayong iba pang bansang matatakbuhan kung saan tayo ay mananatili pa ring tunay na malaya.

Dito at ngayon nakataya ang kalayaan, hindi lamang natin kungdi pati na rin ng hinaharap na henerasyon.

MAKI-ISA!


Mike Vanderboegh
Pinson, Alabama
Writing on behalf of The Three Percent
SipseyStreetIrregulars.blogspot.com
georgemason1776@aol.com

Do It Now

Courtesy of The People's Cube, which has been added to our "Links" list.

Tempus Fugit

From Smitty at The Other McCain:

***
...I wonder to what degree the current crisis presidency and Congress realize that, if the US Constitution is to be defeated, the deed must be done now. Like a tiring magician, I think that the radical left realizes its ability to control the audience attention is fading. The serial failures of the Obama administration and the 111th Congress to manage public attention, drawing it away from the pesky details of sucking the remaining independence out of the States, is telling.

Stage magic requires a pliant audience.

What about between now and the next election?

* This Saturday the Tea Party Express gets under way. Pray for peace as that trek unfolds.
* We have gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey in November.
* There is the wild card of the Massachusetts Senate seat. Do we get some vulgar display of legislation, or does the 2004 law stand, and they vote the seat?
* ???
* The 2010 election season starts up.

It's going to be exhausting. And, yet, your alternative is knowing that you stood by while all that was good about the country is replaced by a cheap imitation.

Such is untenable.

Victor Davis Hanson bears quoting, in closing:

History tells all of us that nobody gets a pass. Your [country's] perpetual existence is not guaranteed. If you do not believe in yourself, and believe that you're better than the alternative, and have the educational skills to come to that empirical judgment, then there is no reason for you to continue, and often you won't.
***


Read the whole thing.

Three for "Bank Failure Friday"

Three pieces of reality viewed over the past twelve hours:

1) Per Rawles' Quote of the Day, the "Dress Rehearsal for the Last Contango". Key snippets:

***
...It is no secret that the bonds, notes, bills, and other obligations of the U.S. government, or any other government, for that matter, are irredeemable. That is, they are redeemable in nothing but more of the same. For example, the bonds of the U.S. Treasury are redeemable in Federal Reserve credit, which is itself irredeemable and is "backed by" the self-same bonds of the U.S. Treasury. Why is it, then, that these Treasury obligations are in demand where one might think that redeemability is a sine-qua-non of issuing them? What makes people participate in this shell game? How can such a crude check-kiting scheme mesmerize the entire population?

Come to think of it, the sight of this Ponzi scheme would shudder the Founding Fathers of our great Republic.

This is not an easy question to answer. But going through all the alternative explanations one by one, we come to the conclusion that the debt of the U.S. government is still redeemable in a sense, however limited or restrictive it may be. The debt of the U.S. government has a liquid market in which it can be exchanged for Federal Reserve credit. In turn, Federal Reserve credit can still be exchanged in liquid markets for physical gold, the ultimate extinguisher of debt, albeit at a variable price.

But if you break that final link, when gold is no longer for sale at any price quoted in U.S. dollars, then the rug will have been pulled from underneath this house of cards, and the international monetary system will collapse like the twin towers of the World Trade Center. And this is the situation that we are confronted with...

***

...None of the policy-makers sees the uniqueness of the coming and predictable crisis, or the need to confront it with a comprehensive plan. There is an overwhelming unwillingness to admit that the international monetary system as now constituted has been built on quicksand. It is a mere makeshift that took its origin in the last gold crisis of 1971. Cracks have been papered over as they appeared after every subsequent crisis. Every opportunity to sit down and work out a permanent solution was passed up. This seems to have worked well enough in the past. Policy makers see no reason why it would not work in the future.

Yet the Last Contango in Washington will be different from all previous crises. It will be elemental, devastating, and apocalyptic. It will destroy virtually all paper wealth and render virtually all physical capital idle. It will involve hordes of unemployed people roaming the streets, caring for no law and order, pillaging homes and institutions. It will destroy our freedoms. It may destroy our civilization unless we take protective action...
***


2) Per CNBC via Drudge, 1,000 Banks to Fail In Next Two Years.

3) From Yahoo's Tech Ticker, retail sector expert Howard Davidowitz says, among other pungent observations, that:

"...we are in the tank forever. As a country we are out of control, we're in a death spiral...we're non-functional...."

I can't embed the darned thing, so watch it yourself by clicking on the link above and then looking for the video player.

Bonus question: As the Administration loses what little control remains and the economy continues to spiral towards catastrophe, Tax-Cheat Timmy and his boss, the Mighty Kenyan, will:
a) admit that the best thing that the Fed Gov could do would be to cut spending and taxes while the productive sector of the economy purges its excesses and then recovers;

b) blame prior Administrations for the economic debacle;

c) raise taxes and increase enforcement efforts, thereby igniting more citizens' revolts;

d) launch a mainstream media campaign highlighting the threat of domestic terror groups;

e) create false-flag diversions that can be blamed on domestic terrorists and other miscreants;

f) answers (b) - (e) but not (a).

You have five minutes for this portion of the examination.

Good luck.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

"Stand With Us" En Espanol

From Coqui Manco:

This is my Spanish translation. Spanish is my first language, I' Puertorican:

A Todos Los Hombres y Mujeres Que Han Escapado de la Tiranía Colectivista: Resiste Junto a Nosotros

Cada uno de ustedes arriesgo todo para escapar la salvaje opresión en su país de nacimiento para venir a los Estados Unidos, Tierra de la Libertad. Ustedes llevan las cicatrices, visibles e invisibles, de la maldad de sus tiránicos amos. Ustedes ya han pagado mucho aprendiendo las lecciones involuntarias de la tiranía colectivista.

Ahora mismo, los aliados de los mismos colectivistas quienes asaltaron, torturaron, violaron y asesinaron a sus compatriotas han capturado la mayoría en el Congreso Estadounidense.

Peor todavía, otro aliado ideológico de tus atormentadores ocupa la Casa Blanca.

Juntos, aunque arropan sus ideas en palabras dulces y en falsa compasión, estos socialistas planean en destruir cada uno de los aspectos de los Estados Unidos que tu amas, y en su lugar, establecer otro infierno totalitario en la Tierra -- donde cada acto de todo ser humano debe ser autorizado, regulado y monitoreado por el gobierno.

Ustedes valientes hombres y mujeres, que conocen la maldad que estos gobiernos perpetran contra sus ciudadanos mejor que el Americano promedio, serán los testigos que enseñen a los demás lo que debemos hacer para salvar nuestro país.

Ustedes, los refugiados de la tiranía, saben que los Estados Unidos es la última y mejor esperanza de la humanidad.

Todavía muchos de los tuyos no reconocen la amenaza. A ellos les falta tu sabiduría, que nació de la crueldad y opresión. Necesitamos tu ayuda. Tu puedes mostrarles por que y como debemos resistir juntos.

Únete a nosotros en Washington, DC del 11-13 de Septiembre para dejarle saber a estos totalitarios que no vamos a permitir que destruyan a los Estados Unidos también. Tú presencia será un testimonio viviente de la maldad del colectivismo.
Únete a nosotros renovando nuestro juramento de proteger la Constitución en contra de todos sus enemigos, extranjeros y nacionales.

Si nuestra republica constitucional Americana cayera, no quedara un lugar al que NINGUNO de nosotros pueda escapar y todavía ser realmente libre.

La libertad se mantiene, o cae por generaciones, aquí y ahora.

¡RESISTE JUNTO A NOSOTROS!

Mike Vanderboegh
Pinson, Alabama
Escrito en nombre de "El Tres Porciento"


Gracias, senor!

Rotten, Stinking Rubbish

From Thoughts of A Conservative Christian:

This letter, which details Senator Edward Kennedy’s offer to help the Soviet Union defeat Reagan’s efforts to build up the nuclear deterrent in Europe, was unearthed by a Times of London reporter in the 1990s after the KGB files were opened.

It got little or no attention, however, until the publication of Paul Kengor’s book “The Crusader – Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism”.

But even then the actual text of the letter (which is in the book’s appendix at pp. 317-320) has gotten short shrift:

Appendix
TEXT OF KGB LETTER ON SENATOR TED KENNEDY
_________________________________________

Special Importance
Committee on State Security of the USSR
14.05. 1983 No. 1029 Ch/OV
Moscow

On 9-10 May of this year, Senator Edward Kennedy’s close friend and trusted confidant J. Tunney was in Moscow. The senator charged Tunney to convey the following message, through confidential contacts, to the General Secretary of the Center Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Y. Andropov.

Regarding Senator Kennedy’s request to the General Secretary of the Communist Party Comrade Y.V. Andropov

Comrade Y.V. Andropov



Senator Kennedy, like other rational people, is very troubled by the current state of Soviet-American relations. Events are developing such that this relationship coupled with the general state of global affairs will make the situation even more dangerous. The main reason for this is Reagan’s belligerence, and his firm commitment to deploy new American middle range nuclear weapons within Western Europe.

According to Kennedy, the current threat is due to the President’s refusal to engage any modification on his politics. He feels that his domestic standing has been strengthened because of the well publicized improvement of the economy: inflation has been greatly reduced, production levels are increasing as is overall business activity. For these reasons, interest rates will continue to decline. The White House has portrayed this in the media as the “success of Reaganomics.”

Naturally, not everything in the province of economics has gone according to Reagan’s plan. A few well known economists and members of financial circles, particularly from the north-eastern states, foresee certain hidden tendencies that many bring about a new economic crisis in the USA. This could bring about the fall of the presidential campaign of 1984, which would benefit the Democratic party. Nevertheless, there are no secure assurances this will indeed develop.

The only real threats to Reagan are problems of war and peace and Soviet-American relations. These issues, according to the senator, will without a doubt become the most important of the election campaign. The movement advocating a freeze on nuclear arsenals of both countries continues to gain strength in the United States. The movement is also willing to accept preparations, particularly from Kennedy, for its continued growth. In political and influential circles of the country, including within Congress, the resistence to growing military expenditures is gaining strength.

However, according to Kennedy, the opposition to Reagan is still very weak. Reagan’s adversaries are divided and the presentations they make are not fully effective. Meanwhile, Reagan has the capabilities to effectively counter any propaganda. In order to neutralize criticism that the talks between the USA and the USSR are non-constructive, Reagan will grandiose, but subjectively propagandistic. At the same time, Soviet officials who speak about disarmament will be quoted out of context, silenced or groundlessly and whimsically discounted. Although arguments and statements by officials of the USSR do appear in the press, it is important to note the majority of Americans do not read serious newspapers or periodicals.

Kennedy believes that, given the current state of affairs, and in the interest of peace, it would be prudent and timely to undertake the following steps to counter the militaristic politics of Reagan and his campaign to psychologically burden the American people. In this regard, he offers the following proposals to the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Y.V. Andropov:

1. Kennedy asks Y.V. Andropov to consider inviting the senator to Moscow for a personal meeting in July of this year. The main purpose of the meeting, according to the senator, would be to arm Soviet officials with explanations regarding problems of nuclear disarmament so they may be better prepared and more convincing during appearances in the USA. He would also like to inform you that he has planned a trip through Western Europe, where he anticipates meeting England’s Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and French President Mitterand in which he will exchange similar ideas regarding the same issues.

If his proposals would be accepted in principle, Kennedy would send his representative to Moscow to resolve questions regarding organizing such a visit.

Kennedy thinks the benefits of a meeting with Y.V.Andropov will be enhanced if he could also invite one of the well known Republican senators, for example, Mark Hatfield. Such a meeting will have a strong impact on American and political circles in the USA (In March of 1982, Hatfield and Kennedy proposed a project to freeze the nuclear arsenals of the USA and USSR and pblished a book on the theme as well.)

2. Kennedy believes that in order to influence Americans it would be important to organize in August-September of this year, televised interviews with Y.V. Andropov in the USA. A direct appeal by the General Secretary to the American people will, without a doubt, attact a great deal of attention and interest in the country. The senator is convinced this would receive the maximum resonance in so far as television is the most effective method of mass media and information.

If the proposal is recognized as worthy, then Kennedy and his friends will bring about suitable steps to have representatives of the largest television companies in the USA contact Y.V. Andropov for an invitation to Moscow for the interview. Specifically, the president of the board of directors of ABC, Elton Raul and television columnists Walter Cronkite or Barbara Walters could visit Moscow. The senator underlined the importance that this initiative should be seen as coming from the American side.

Furthermore, with the same purpose in mind, a series of televised interviews in the USA with lower level Soviet officials, particularly from the military would be organized. They would also have an opportunity to appeal directly to the American people about the peaceful intentions of the USSR, with their own arguments about maintaining a true balance of power between the USSR and the USA in military term. This issue is quickly being distorted by Reagan’s administration.

Kennedy asked to convey that this appeal to the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is his effort to contribute a strong proposal that would root out the threat of nuclear war, and to improve Soviet-American relations, so that they define the safety of the world. Kennedy is very impressed with the activities of Y.V. Andropov and other Soviet leaders, who expressed their commitment to heal international affairs, and improve mutal understandings between peoples.

The senator underscored that he eagerly awaits a reply to his appeal, the answer to which may be delivered through Tunney.

Having conveyed Kennedy’s appeal to the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Tunney also explained that Senator Kennedy has in the last few years actively made appearances to reduce the threat of war. Because he formally refused to partake in the election campaign of 1984, his speeches would be taken without prejudice as they are not tied to any campaign promises. Tunney remarked that the senator wants to run for president in 1988. At that time, he will be 56 and his personal problems, which could hinder his standing, will be resolved (Kennedy has just completed a divorce and plans to remarry in the near future). Taken together, Kennedy does not discount that during the 1984 campaign, the Democratic Party may officially turn to him to lead the fight against the Republicans and elect their candidate president. This would explain why he is convinced that none of the candidates today have a real chance at defeating Reagan.

We await instructions.

President of the committee
V. Chebrikov


I pray that there is such a thing as eternal damnation in hell for the senior Senator from Massachusetts.

Billy Beck, as expected, also does a wonderful job capturing the essence of the man in his essay from earlier today, "Mary Jo, Thou Art Avenged".

Good riddance to rotten, stinking rubbish.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Urgent Request for Translation(s)


Here's the plan:

1) Translate Mike's appeal from yesterday into as many of the following languages as possible:

- Vietnamese
- Korean
- Russian
- Mandarin Chinese
- Polish
- Czech
- Hungarian-
- French
- Spanish
- German
- others?

2) The translated texts will be made available on this site and as many others as possible.

3) Leaflets can be made from the translated texts and placed in the respective communities of interest locally.

4) Individual freedom fighters can utilize their own contacts within those communities to publicize and increase attendance at the September DC meetings and subsequent pro-freedom events.

Note: Translators should feel free to make idiomatic and other changes needed to have the American English language concepts translate effectively into the subject languages.

Please post your translations below; I will make separate blog entries for each.

Questions/comments, please post below as well.

Time is short, so thanks in advance!

The text:

To All Free Men and Women Who Escaped Collectivist Tyranny: Stand Together With Us

Each of you risked all to escape from savage oppression in your countries of birth and come to America, the land of the free. You bear the scars, within and without, of your old tyrannical masters' evils. You have already paid much to learn the involuntary lessons of collectivist tyranny.

Now, ideological allies of the same collectivists who robbed, tortured, raped, and murdered your countrymen have captured the legislative majority in the American Congress.

Worse yet, another ideological ally of your tormentors occupies the White House.

Together, though they wrap their arguments in sweet words and false kindness, these socialists plan to destroy every single aspect of the America you love, and in its place, establish another totalitarian hell on earth -- where every single human act must be authorized, regulated, and monitored by government.

You brave men and women, who know far better than native-born Americans what evils these governments perpetrate every day against their citizens, will be the witnesses who will teach others what must be done to save our country.

You, the refugees from tyranny, know that America is the last, best hope for mankind.

Yet many of our people do not see the threat. They lack your wisdom, born of cruelty and oppression. We need your help. You can show them why and how they must stand together.

Join us in Washington, DC on September 11-13 to tell the totalitarians that you will not allow them to destroy America too. Be there as a living witness to the evils of collectivism.

Join us in renewing our oaths to protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic.

If the American constitutional republic falls, there is no place else left where ANY of us can flee and still be truly free.

Liberty stands, or falls for generations, right here, right now.

STAND WITH US!

Mike Vanderboegh
Pinson, Alabama
Writing on behalf of The Three Percent
SipseyStreetIrregulars.blogspot.com
georgemason1776@aol.com

To All Free Men and Women Who Escaped Collectivist Tyranny: Stand With Us!



To All Free Men and Women Who Escaped Collectivist Tyranny: Stand Together With Us

Each of you risked all to escape from savage oppression in your countries of birth and come to America, the land of the free. You bear the scars, within and without, of your old tyrannical masters' evils. You have already paid much to learn the involuntary lessons of collectivist tyranny.

Hungary, 1956.

Now, ideological allies of the same collectivists who robbed, tortured, raped, and murdered your countrymen have captured the legislative majority in the American Congress.

Worse yet, another ideological ally of your tormenters occupies the White House.

Cuban refugee children arrive in Miami, Operation Pedro Pan, 1962.

Together, though they wrap their arguments in sweet words and false kindness, these socialists plan to destroy every single aspect of the America you love, and in its place, establish another totalitarian hell on earth -- where every single human act must be authorized, regulated, and monitored by government.

Czechoslovakia, 1968

You brave men and women, who know far better than native-born Americans what evils these governments perpetrate every day against their citizens, will be the witnesses who will teach others what must be done to save our country.

You, the refugees from tyranny, know that America is the last, best hope for mankind.

South China Sea off the Vietnamese coast, 1976.

Yet many of our people do not see the threat. They lack your wisdom, born of cruelty and oppression. We need your help. You can show them why and how they must stand together.

Hmong refugees, undated photo.

Join us in Washington, DC on September 11-13 to tell the totalitarians that you will not allow them to destroy America too. Be there as a living witness to the evils of collectivism.

China, 1989.

Join us in renewing our oaths to protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic.

If the American constitutional republic falls, there is no place else left where ANY of us can flee and still be truly free.

Liberty stands, or falls for generations, right here, right now.

STAND WITH US!

Mike Vanderboegh
Pinson, Alabama
Writing on behalf of The Three Percent.
SipseyStreetIrregulars.blogspot.com


I have reprinted Mike's entry in full; it cannot be improved.

We are reaching out to Oath Keepers to see if one or more of their reps can join us in DC, where we plan -- either as part of the larger 912 protest or as an independent event -- to swear as many good men and women of like mind as possible to the Constitutional Oath on the National Mall.

Updates will be on the Sipsey Street and WRSA blogs. Stay tuned for further developments.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

The Magnetic Storms of Civil War

The title is from Malone Vandam's latest entry, who notes that

***
...Relieved of any responsibility to defend George Bush against the Left’s relentless attack and no doubt grateful, in many respects, not to have the burden of defending John McCain, the common sense small-”r” republicans understand that they are in a range war for the survival of the private individual American against a collectivist push unlike anything they’ve seen in their lifetimes, at least in this country.

I hesitate to say this, and perhaps I shouldn’t, but if the mainstream media is having conniptions about a few people showing up bearing arms at some of these town hall rallies, what are they going to think when ten thousand people show up bearing arms?
***


Segue to this post from earlier today by Karl Denninger; key grafs are below:

***
...[Last year], when the game of musical chairs ended and all this debt that could not possibly be paid off started to default these very same banksters went to Congress through Paulson and Bernanke, the chiefs of the bankster scam parade, and in my opinion literally committed economic terrorism:

Hand over $2 trillion dollars hiding all but $700 billion, or we detonate the entirety of the economy and everyone literally starves.

How does this differ from an old-fashioned Al-Quaida terrorist who calls in a nuclear bomb threat? "Hand over $2 trillion dollars or New York City will be vaporized."

Hmmmmm... sounds kinda like the same thing to me!

Now let's juxtapose this with the fact that every Congressperson took an oath to defend The Constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic.

So riddle me this, my fellow Americans:

How is it that Bernanke, Paulson, Geithner, and both Presidents Bush and Obama are still free men instead of being housed at GITMO? How is it that on that fateful night in September of 2008 when Bernanke and Paulson "briefed" Congress and demanded $700 billion in ransom and a blank check to back-door an unlimited amount in "guarantees" and "pass-throughs" to their banking buddies the Sergeant At Arms was not immediately called to place these goons under arrest pending indictment and prosecution?

The next question is equally obvious and leads one down some pretty disturbing paths:

If there is NOT ONE man or woman Congress who will discharge THEIR oath of office, is there anyone left in this country who took an identical oath that will?

***

...The banksters not only ripped everyone off and got bailed out after doing it by threatening to blow up the economic world BUT THEY ARE STILL RIPPING EVERYONE OFF TODAY and using a small piece of the grift to continue to buy Congress at the same time!

Not a damn thing has changed, except that we are lurching closer and closer to the cliff of national insolvency and both economic and political failure as a nation. The inability to fund the operating expenses of our government is quite possible. Social Security and Medicare have gone into deficit years earlier than expected and these programs have no money - they have only "IOUs" and to turn them back into money Treasury will have to sell more bonds.

But who will buy them? The Chinese? Why? Bernanke is lying about monetizing the debt - in fact he lied under oath - but the currency markets are not fooled.

The dollar is in the toilet and threatening to break all support levels. If it does, it may collapse to as low as 40, which will in turn rocket oil north to $300 or more and gasoline to $10!

If that happens, it is too late to stop it and too late to reverse course. What we now know as a middle class will be reduced to sheer destitution - literal destitution.

What are the odds that, under this scenario, some of the billions of rounds of ammunition that have been purchased and stockpiled by Americans who have gotten rather "uneasy" over where our nation is going find their way into unlawful use?


Rather high, I wager.

After all, the banksters may have bought Congress and the White House but they don't own the guns, and a desperate, hungry man is a dangerous man, especially when he was formerly a middle-class American with a good job who had his future, and that of his wife and children, ruined as a direct consequence of the lawless, conniving acts of a handful of "elites" who ripped him off twice - first with his "OptionARM" that gnawed his arm off and then again by going to Washington, extorting more than $12 trillion in bailouts, handouts and guarantees with which they paid themselves bonuses instead of clearing their balance sheets...
***


Read both links in full. Then factor in Mike's observations on how a failing, incompetent leader will often take steps which make things even worse.

Then get back to storm preparations.

Tempus fugit.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Know Your Creditors

Until I read Jung Chang's Mao: The Unknown Story, I simply had no idea what an unbelievably murderous regime has run China since 1949.

On his invaluable Freedom,Democracy, Peace; Power, Democide, and War website, Professor R.J. Rummel of the University of Hawaii places the total number of murders by the People's Republic of China ("PRC") between 1949 and 1987 at no less than 76 million souls.

76 million human beings -- all killed by their own government, either directly, or indirectly via starvation, disease, and other consequences of PRC policy.

And those numbers don't include murders by the PRC government since 1987. Remember this guy?

I'm sure he is living peacefully in retirement somewhere in rural China.

Six feet under, that is.

In the pantheon of the world's fiends, the Communist Chinese have no parallel.

Hitler?

A freaking rookie.

Stalin?

A talented amateur.

Mao and his successors?

The no-fooling shiznit of human history -- thus far, at least.

If you have any doubts as to their sincerity, ask the men who faced Joe Chinaman across the MLR in Korea.

So what, you ask?

Remember this chart?

You know -- the one that shows the PRC (euphemized by the US Treasury as "Mainland China") holding $779 billion in US Treasury debt as of June, 2009.

Seems Mao's successors are the shiznit when it comes to being Uncle Sam's creditor as well.

Think SecTreas "Tax-Cheat Timmy" Geithner wouldn't do literally anything to keep the PRC buying those .gov promissory notes?

Think Timmy's boss, The Mighty Kenyan, has any more choice in the matter?

Who do you think is paying for the US military anyhow?

It ain't the US taxpayer -- that's for sure. That's what it means to be running annual deficits in excess of $1.2 trillion with two months remaining in the fiscal period.

You have to borrow money from other people -- other people whose interests (forgive the pun) may not align with those of your country and its citizens.

But hey -- what could go wrong by being $772 billion in hock to history's greatest mass murderers?

And a note to those sophisticates and nuance-mongers who would claim that all things Mao have been purged by the enlightened capitalists who run today's China:

I give you this photograph from last year's Olympic Games, as the Olympic torch entered Beijing.

Read Chang's outstanding work, and think about what it really means for America to be financially dependent on the ChiComs.

"Interesting times", indeed.

Sic transit gloria mundi.

The Obama National Anthem -- Versions I & II


Watch the video above from Glenn Beck for the lyrics (not that it's that bad at all).

Then watch this one from Comrade Saul Alinksy, Jr. at The People's Cube, which has far better background iconography:



To the inevitable victory:

Nazdarovye
!

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Bankrupt Banks

Jim Sinclair's Mineset posted this article from Forbes with an exceptionally-clear explanation of why this year's change in rules by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) helps insolvent banks to stay open.

Sinclair's comments:

Banks lie about their assets.

FASB (due to the selling out of ethics in April 09) now permits banks and financial entities to fabricate the values of their assets.

Usually this is buried in the sale of the banks in bits and pieces.

Here it is held up for you to see.


Opening grafs from the Forbes article:

***
It took the liquidation of Colonial Bank to reveal an ugly truth: the loans on its books were worth a third less than what the failed regional lender had declared them to be just weeks before.

It's an ominous sign about weaknesses that may be lurking in other banks' loan portfolios. Regulations give banks wide latitude about whether to recognize potential loan losses on their balance sheets, so they remain largely out of view.

This is exactly why many investors were up in arms when the Financial Accounting Standards Board, which sets U.S. accounting rules, seemingly buckled under pressure from Congress earlier this year. Its board backtracked from rules that forced banks to be more transparent about the true value of assets...
***


So what?

If you have money in the bank, it'll likely be a LOT safer in the National Bank of Your Mattress, or its competition, the Security Bank of Your Gunsafe.

Or have you forgotten that the FDIC is dead broke?

Why A Default on US Treasuries Is Likely

Courtesy of Samizdata comes this festering bucket of happy-happy joy-joy. It opens:

***
Almost everyone is aware that federal government spending in the United States is scheduled to skyrocket, primarily because of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Recent "stimulus" packages have accelerated the process. Only the naively optimistic actually believe that politicians will fully resolve this looming fiscal crisis with some judicious combination of tax hikes and program cuts. Many predict that, instead, the government will inflate its way out of this future bind, using Federal Reserve monetary expansion to fill the shortfall between outlays and receipts. But I believe, in contrast, that it is far more likely that the United States will be driven to an outright default on Treasury securities, openly reneging on the interest due on its formal debt and probably repudiating part of the principal...
***


and closes:

***
...Even conceding that federal taxes might rise rapidly enough to a level noticeably higher than during World War II overlooks an important consideration: All the social democracies are facing similar fiscal dilemmas at almost the same time (emphasis added). Pay-as-you go social insurance is just not sustainable over the long run, despite the higher tax rates in other welfare States. Even though the United States initiated social insurance later than most of these other welfare States, it has caught up with them because of the Medicare subsidy. In other words, the social-democratic welfare State will come to end, just as the socialist State came to an end. Socialism was doomed by the calculation problem identified by Ludwig Mises and Friedrich Hayek. Mises also argued that the mixed economy was unstable and that the dynamics of intervention would inevitably drive it towards socialism or laissez faire. But in this case, he was mistaken; a century of experience has taught us that the client-oriented, power-broker State is the gravity well toward which public choice drives both command and market economies. What will ultimately kill the welfare State is that its centerpiece, government-provided social insurance, is simultaneously above reproach and beyond salvation. Fully-funded systems could have survived, but politicians had little incentive to enact them, and much less incentive to impose the huge costs of converting from pay-as-you-go.

Whether this inevitable collapse of social democracies will ultimately be a good or bad thing depends on what replaces them.
***


To quote the noted economist Neil Diamond:



Look out
Here comes tomorrow.
That's when
I'll have to choose.
How I
Wish I could borrow
Someone else's shoes.

Meditations On The Art of Defense

From Stormbringer via Theo -- sample:

***
In business, as in war, the purpose of defensive operations is to buy time, hold terrain, facilitate other operations, preoccupy your adversary, and erode his resources. Your situation & circumstances will always differ; the principles always remain the same. Defending forces await the attacker's blow and defeat the attack by successfully deflecting it. Waiting for the attack is not a passive activity - leaders/managers should seek to strengthen their forces through training and provide no advantage to an adversary before hostile actions begin...
***


Read the rest.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Vanderboegh: The Mainstream Media Meets A Wolverine

Mike's latest, based on the CBS News article he highlights here -- go read it all.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, too.

No Consumer Recovery

From John Robb's Global Guerrillas:

***
Here's a contrarian view on why economic recovery isn't in the cards. Unlike the last Century's experience, the American "consumer" is broken (this isn't reflected in the vast bulk of economic modeling/projections). How broken? The best exploration of this that I've found is from Elizabeth Warren (here's a video of her presentation on the topic before the crisis, worth watching in its entirety). The top line is that the American consumer, prior to the financial crisis, was already fragile due to:

  • Stagnant incomes. Median per capita income has stagnated for 30 years and is now headed lower. The only increase in household income came from adding the income of a spouse (that typically gets less than the male income earner). The value generated by mighty productivity increases over the last thirty years was routed to the financial markets (aka casinos) and not shared with American workers.
  • Increased fixed expenses. The costs and amount spent on variable consumption have fallen (clothing, food, autos, etc.) over the last thirty years -- which puts the lie to the "over consumption" charge. Instead, the median cost of housing, health, and the costs of work (childcare, two cars, etc. brought on due to a need for sending two people to work) have skyrocketed with very little improvement in the quantity or value of the goods/services received.
  • The entry ticket to the middle class has skyrocketed. This is due to the costs of education. Instead of publicly subsidized education (k-12 used to be sufficient for entry), we now have 6 years (pre-school and college) that are directly charged to the American family. Those costs have ballooned into budget breakers...
***
Read the rest for Robb's conclusions regarding the source of 70% of America's GDP.

"Fugly" doesn't begin to cover how the next five years will play out.

Got gardens?

Repost: Maybe If We Gave Away Merit Badges

People would be thinking and training seriously re the following (thanks to Vermontagnard):

- Knots.
- Drags.
- Changing magazines with left arm out of commission.
- Shooting off left shoulder, right arm out of commission.
- Shoot a goat and learn to keep it alive. Have an 18Delta run you and your boys in this. Best med school for trauma.
- Sidearm draw with no sites, shooting 3 IDPA targets at 5 meters in 2 seconds
- Learn how to kill with a knife.
- Learn how to kill with a garrote.
- Learn how to kill with a can of carb cleaner.
- Disable a car with homemade EMP.
- Shoot from inside a car with your hunting rifle without breaking concealment.
- Shoot across your buddy.
- Shoot between your two best friends, 50 meters, iron sites, 2 meter gap. Have your friends stand facing you, and shoot the target right between them. Just do it. Rotate personnel. Trust is the key, competence a must. If your bro is in a sea of bad guys, out of ammo and going at it hand to hand, and you're 100 yards from the game, you'd better be able to make those shots.
- Shoot a 3 man stack, laying one on top of the other, around a corner, engaging 3 targets each in under 3 seconds.
- Throw plenty of dead cartridges or dummies into every mag during training. Make jam clearing second nature.
- Practice most of your shots off kneeling -80% of them. In a fight, you can move from this and drop to this faster than any other supported.
- Practice concealed carry
- Shoot inside an abandoned building. Turn that into an op all by itself with lookouts, comms, and a complete ORBAT briefed on it.

- Lay in a pipe/culvert UNDER a road and learn to ID vehicles by sound and vibration (let every man do this with an ear piece so a tracker can call in the vehicle for instant spot analysis).
- Shoot long range in crazy defilade/enfilade.
- Shoot an AQT 100% prone in tall grass, learn to time shots between grass waves in the breeze.
- Learn to swim quietly.
- Do basic PT, and try and ruck march as often as possible, mix up bike and swimming to stay fit. You need to survive your first contact with enough gas in the tank to make it to your next bash on the two-way range.
- Best all around exercise? My vote is firewood cutting, splitting, hauling, stacking. Aerobic and anaerobic, productive too.
- Learn to coordinate shots, with one controller tagging the shoot, so nobody can ID a direction for 6-10 simultaneous rounds impacting into the bad guys' cranial cavities - and each shot masks the sister shot.

It's like an old US Customs Service poster used to say:

Every day you are not training, someone else is.

The Rule of Law

Four examples of how Comrade Lawyer Soetero and his court view the world:

1) David Hardy explains why the flag@whitehouse.gov heath-care informant line never should have been established under existing Federal law;

2) Glenn Reynolds links this WSJ piece on Eric Holder's DoJ decision not to investigate the Black Panthers' vote suppression efforts in the 2008 elections:

***
...The episode—which Bartle Bull, a former civil rights lawyer and publisher of the left-wing Village Voice, calls “the most blatant form of voter intimidation I’ve ever seen”—began on Election Day 2008. Mr. Bull and others witnessed two Black Panthers in paramilitary garb at a polling place near downtown Philadelphia. (Some of this behavior is on YouTube.)

One of them, they say, brandished a nightstick at the entrance and pointed it at voters and both made racial threats. Mr. Bull says he heard one yell “You are about to be ruled by the black man, cracker!” . . .
***


3) Also from Reynolds is this article on the new Federal initiative against recalled items being sold at garage sales -- a keen allocation of limited Federal investigative resources, notwithstanding the hundreds of billions of dollars in fraudulent activity over the past five years in the finance and banking industries;

4) Finally, working the ground covered earlier in the week by David Codrea, there's this coverage of the link between "heath care" and gun control/confiscation.

Feel safer now, kiddies?

Do you have any better idea now why Beck scoffs at the very notion of a "rule of law"?

Friday, August 21, 2009

Quote of the Day


'Peace' is that brief, glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading.

- Anonymous

Beck: A List of Books

From Billy Beck:

This will be a long post.

A mad impulse having overtaken me, despite Bob Hunt's periodic desperate harangues to get on with this for at least six months, I now set out to list some important books around here.

"Around here" means: the half or so of my library which is immediately within reach and not still languishing in boxes not unpacked from Atlanta. Like: the whole of Frederick Copleston's nine-volume history of philosophy, for instance. You won't see that in this list (or, perhaps, "these lists", which seems more likely as I sit here typing this at nearly midnight -- no time to start something like this, really) for the simple reason that it's not present for me to gather publication details. I know I could do that on the Web, but that would really go against the grain of what I have in mind. This is about real books that I've actually read and noted in my own hand. These are my books. I currently have my hand on them, which is not true of the entire collection, some of which resides in storage.

You will not see here trivialities like "Gravity's Rainbow", "Slaughterhouse Five", or "Catch-22". (I've read two of those three examples, with immediate regret for the time wasted on every page.) If that sort of thing interests you, there are any number of other blogs and Websites that will interest you more than what I'm about to put up. I therefore invite you to haul your narrow ass out of here, because I'm serious. I don't have time for rubbish.

I will begin at one end of my top shelf, and work through every book at hand, with no serious scheme of organization, principally because the physical objects in this space are not that organized. There are piles of them laying around here and there, as they circulate, which happens constantly. Last night, for example, I was reading Rose's "After Yalta", and had to get out of bed to retrieve volumes by Klehr and Haynes (the Yale University "Annals of Communism" series), Schlesinger, and John T. Flynn ("The Roosevelt Myth" -- 1948) for cross-indexing. This happens all the time, and the upshot is that my library is a very dynamic thing. It never rests.

Note that "every book at hand" does not mean that I will list them all here. What it means is that I will actively consider every one of them for this list. "Important" is a qualification that I will not quite make up on-the-fly. All these books are "important", else I would not have bought or read them. What it means here is that, in a single pass, these books stand out in my mind as eminently survivable of a purge. Something like: if I had to abandon this house and run out the door, I would linger over these titles and try to figure a way to take them along.

Here we go:

The Black Book of Communism, 1999, Stephane Courtois, et. al. -- Comprehensive catalogue of the consequences of a manifestly evil philosophy. Unprecendented in its global scope. All the rats in one bag.

Trotsky -- The Eternal Revolutionary, 1996, Dmitri Volkogonov -- People admire this man, to this day, for no other reason than that he opposed Stalin. This is like admiring Bugsy Segal because he was killed by the mob. Study his life and realize that one of the worst criminal mentalities of the 20th century was killed in Mexico by one of the worst criminal mentalities of the 20th century.

Hitler And Stalin -- Parallel Lives, 1991, Alan Bullock -- It's astonishing to me that it took until the last decade of the 20th century for someone to write this book, because the comparisons are so obvious. It was worth the wait, because Bullock thoroughly exhausts the comparisons. Indispensible.

The Soviet Tragedy -- A History of Socialism In Russia, 1917-1991, 1994, Martin Malia -- Although not extremely outstanding on any decent shelf of Sovietology, this is yet a very good recap of the history, worth inclusion in this list.

Let History Judge -- The Origins And Consequences of Stalinism, 1989, Roy Medvedev -- A crucial work of what I call the "loose-hair coif of history" school of Soviet apologetics condemning Stalin as an aberration.

The Great Terror -- A Reassessment, 1990, Robert Conquest -- The landmark study of the most virulent madness that the world ever saw.

Reflections On A Ravaged Century, 2000, Robert Conquest -- Worthwhile thoughts on why the 20th century went the way it went.

Russia Under The Bolshevik Regime, 1994, Richard Pipes -- The most finely detailed history of the Bolshevik Revolution and early USSR (1917-1924) that I own.

The Gulag Archipelago -- An Experiment in Literary Investigation, 1918-1956 (three volumes), 1973, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn -- An enormous look at hell rendered with the original 20th century aptitude for the work of the thing. Even after many years of familiarity with the worst Nazi crimes, this was shocking to me. It matches its 1900-odd page heft with psychic impact. Huge, in every dimension.

The Secret World of American Communism, 1995, Klehr, Haynes, and Firsov -- A history of the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA) documented from Soviet archives, illustrating its subversion and espionage. The state of the data, today.

The Soviet World of American Communism, 1998, Klehr, Haynes, and Anderson -- Essentially an extension of the preceding volume, detailing the CPUSA's intimate subordination to Moscow. Again: documented from Soviet archives. These two books present immutable facts against which there can be absolutely no rational argument.

Stalin's Letters To Molotov, 1995, Lih, Naumov, and Khlevniuk -- The mind of a monster, in his own hand.

Witness, 1952, Whittaker Chambers -- The statement of a principal in what is arguably the single most important direct antagonism in 20th century American politics: one man against another, each archtypical of world crisis at that moment.

Economic Theory of the Leisure Class, 1914, Nikolai Bukharin -- The golden-boy of Bolshevik economics attempts to sneer-off the Austrian School, twenty-three years before Stalin thanks him with a bullet in the back of the head.

Shattered Peace -- The Origins Of The Cold War And The National Security State, 1978, Daniel Yergin -- This is a period-piece, eminent for its generational take on the subject at hand. Finely documented, it works as cross-reference, even though its thesis (very roughly: "There are two sides to every story, so don't be judgmental unless you're ready to blame America, too.") is generally disposable.

Waging Peace And War -- Dean Rusk In The Truman, Kennedy, And Johnson Years, 1988, Thomas J. Schoenbaum -- An important Secretary of State's time in the crucible.

Russia At War, 1941--1945, 1964, Alexander Werth -- Enormous, panoramic view of the biggest fight in human history.

Barbarossa: The Russian-German Conflict, 1941-1945, 1965, Alan Clark -- Splendid rendering of all the special military aspects of the biggest fight in human history.

The Second World War (six volumes), 1948-1953, Winston S. Churchill -- If you only ever read one thing about World War II, make this that one thing. If you can resist the conclusion that Churchill saved the world (do struggle, dear reader), you will nonetheless have a better grasp of the worst woe that the whole world ever shared, altogether, than you could manage from any other single work on the subject.

The Twelve Year Reich -- A Social History of Nazi Germany, 1933-1945, 1971, Richard Grunberger -- This book comprehends Nazi culture in uncommon ways. Here's your feel for all the little things that people in those straits lived in those years, in one book.

Hitler's Justice -- The Courts of The Third Reich, 1991, Ingo Muller -- Nazi legal theory and practice: the complicity of a miserable profession in a wretched business.

Gestapo: Instrument of Tyranny, 1956, Edward Crankshaw -- An important examination of the mechanics of one species of totalitarianism.

Downfall: The End Of The Imperial Japanese Empire, 1999, Richard B. Frank -- The push & shove across an ocean that culminated on August 6, 1945 (Hiroshima). What the Last Days looked like in the highest councils -- on both sides -- just before the whole world turned on an atom.

Radical Son -- A Generational Odyssey, 1997, David Horowitz -- An important confessional. If you don't believe me, then track down your own copy of...

Free World Colossus: A Critique of American Foreign Policy in the Cold War, 1971, David Horowitz -- This is a marvelous example of 1960's "New Left" delusion at the height of its intellectual ambition. Where Horowitz used to live, and that's what makes "Radical Son" so important.

Letters To A Young Contrarian, 2001, Christopher Hitchens -- Instruction for the Angry Young Man, exquisitely rendered by a master of the life.

Achieving Our Country: Leftist Thought In Twentieth Century America, 1997, Richard Rorty -- Know your enemy. That is all.

Vietnam: A History, 1983, Stanley Karnow -- "The First Complete Account of Vietnam At War". Consider that sentence very carefully, ladies and gentlemen. It's true. It's also important to understand that this book is about Vietnam at war, which is not the same thing as America at war in Vietnam. Read the whole book very carefullly.

Contract With America, 1994, Gingrich, Armey, and the House Republicans -- The Declaration of Foolishness, by stupid cowards who promptly got their asses kicked all over hell and half of Georgia by a nation that simply does not value freedom. Read it and weep. Personally, I laughed all day long.

In Defense Of Elitism, 1994, William A. Henry III -- 212 pages of fact and truth, shortly after the publication of which the author promptly died of a heart attack. His own mother said that it was probably all for the best, because Henry would not have to face the abuse he would take over this thing from all the caring and loving shitbags on the scene.

The Crisis Of The Old Order, 1957, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. -- A horribly maudlin thing: the kitty brings a ratty present to FDR's grave. If you think today's expiring hippies are nostalgic for utter nonsense, wait'll you get a load of this gummy paean to the second Great American Moral Adventure of the 20th century.

Tenured Radicals -- How Politics Has Corrupted Our Higher Education, 1990, Roger Kimball -- A twit named Rudy Dutschke is often credited with announcing a "long march through the institutions" in 1968. This happens under the pens of ignoramuses who don't know Antonio Gramsci. Whole herds are marching, now, and Kimball's book illustrates how they're taught to step.

The Closing Of The American Mind, 1987, Allan Bloom -- A fairly feeble flail at an extremely important subject. Not stellar, but a keeper.

Socialism And War -- Essays, Documents, Reviews, 1997, F.A. Hayek (edited by Bruce Caldwell) -- A terrifically dense collection of articles illustrating Hayek's evolution from economist to philosopher through contemplation of events and issues of the 1930's and 1940's.

From Dawn To Decadence -- 1500 To The Present, 2000, Jaques Barzun -- If you want to get from Martin Luther to Martin Luther King, you have to go through Jean Jaques Rousseau and John Dewey.

The Basic Writings of Sigmund Freud, 1938, translated and edited by Dr. A. A. Brill -- the drawings of the architect of the powder-room of philosophy.

The Rhetoric Of Reaction, 1991, Albert O. Hirschman -- the only book I've ever seen exclusively devoted to the the history of the logic of political stimulus and response, and where it all lays, today.

Critique of Pure Reason, 1781, Immanuel Kant (translation by F. Max Muller) -- Where the Enlightenment went off the rails for real.

The Papers Of Martin Luther King, Jr. -- Volume I, 1992, edited by Clayborne Carson -- The intellectual birth of a genuinely tragic American character.

Essays On Philosophical Subjects, 1980, edited by W.P.D. Wightman -- Adam Smith, the neglected philosopher.

The Fatal Conceit -- The Errors Of Socialism, 1988, F.A. Hayek -- This is the book that Hayek should not have written.

The Big Spenders, 1966, Lucius Beebe -- You might not know this, but America was once a place where gloriously rich people knew how to play with their money in a big, big way. Try to imagine Texans shooting holes in medieval tapestries with six-guns at their dinner parties, replete with solid gold baskets at table to catch the hot cartridges so as not to burn the antique carpets. And that ain't the half of it. This is a wonderful history of a culture savagely beaten to death by envy.

Carnage And Culture -- Landmark Battles In The Rise Of Western Power, 2001, Victor Davis Hanson -- A finely integrated history of combat according to a specific set of traditions culturally unique. Damned good argument.

Morgan: American Financier, 1999, Jean Strouse -- A fine biography of one of the most viciously and wrongly maligned Americans of all time: J. Pierpont Morgan.

The Prize: The Epic Quest For Oil, Money, And Power, 1991, Daniel Yergin -- Indispensible history of the oil industry.

Darkness At Noon, 1941, Arthur Koestler -- One of the very few novels you're going to see here. It's about a man whose beliefs led him to the bitter end, in Stalin's murder cellars. I took the name of my blog from this book.

Animal Farm, 1946, George Orwell -- A fable, of timeless pertinence.

A World Lit Only By Fire -- The Medieval Mind And The Renaissance, 1992, William Manchester -- There is a reason for Manchester's success: he's a splendid writer. Here, he takes up a subject fairly remote to the life of, say, a person who's crashed Harley-Davidsons, flies airplanes, and plays loud electric guitars, and I thank him for it.

Eichmann In Jerusalem: A Report On The Banality Of Evil, 1963, Hannah Arendt -- The most singularly probing examination of the actual character of Nazi monsters -- and their victims -- this book was an act of great courage. The questions in your mind will occur of necessity by implication.

Common Sense, 1776, Thomas Paine -- You can still read the original spark of The American Revolution, and you bloody well should.

The Fundamentals Of Liberty, 1988, Robert LeFevre -- A theoretical and historical exposition by a disgracefully neglected modern American libertarian.

God Is My Co-Pilot, 1943, Col. Robert L. Scott -- This is the first adult book I ever read, in the fourth grade. One man's fight to get into the fight, culminating in his command of the 23rd Fighter Group (successors of The Flying Tigers), in China.

The Count Of Monte Cristo, 1844, Alexander Dumas -- One of the finest adventure stories of all time, this book makes possible a belief in the existence of "indomitable human spirit".

The New Individualist Review, 1981, various -- This is a complete collection of The New Individualist Review, published at the University of Chicago, from April 1961 through Winter 1968. A deeply rich look at individualist academics living and writing the 60's. Very, very good.

Ayn Rand -- The Russian Radical, 1995, Chris Matthew Sciabarra -- This book is invaluable. This is the first full-blast examination of That Woman's philosophy to issue from academia, the province where she was never before tolerated. Sciabarra gets it all right, in a book so completely documented that I use it as a master index to her own works. Only ignoramuses ignore Rand, now. (Their huge numbers are meaningless in the face of this fact.) If you cannot bring yourself to read her in the original, you should stop being an ignoramus and read Sciabarra. He'll do you right.

Introduction To Objectivist Epistemology, 1979, Ayn Rand -- This book represents the premier advance in all of 20th century philosophy. In an era when thought was abused as pretense in practice, Rand was working out elements stretching back 2500 years in error passed down the ages. I was going to write that "Using the word 'thought' without grasping what this book is all about is a manifest irresponsibility", until I thought about it, and then I wrote it, deliberately.

The Virtue of Selfishness, 1964, Ayn Rand -- An ethical outrage, which the culture richly deserved.

Atlas Shrugged, 1957, Ayn Rand -- "The most subversive political implication of 'Atlas Shrugged', is that individual freedom is possible only to those who are strong enough, psychologically and morally, to withdraw their sanction from any system that coercively thrives off their productive energies." (Sciabarra -- "The Russian Radical", pp. 301-302) Say no more.

The Good Society -- The Humane Agenda, 1996, John Kenneth Galbraith -- It's not pretty to watch an old Nouveau Deal hack doddering down the road to ethical gibberish, but his reputation calls for it.

Economics In One Lesson, 1946, Henry Hazlitt -- This book has never been surpassed for its efficacy at putting economic principles before the average person for easy understanding of actual facts. H.L. Mencken noted Hazlitt as "one of the few economists in all of history who could really write," and it's true. He also knows his subject inside-out.

The Seduction Of Hillary Rodham, 1996, David Brock -- Hillary Rodham Clinton is the single most dangerously misunderstood character in American politics today. Do you understand? It's like living in a box with a monster, without seeing it. For instance: how many people do you know who understand her Christian background? Do you understand it? Do not read another single word about Those Horrible People until you read this, first.

Acid Dreams -- The Complete Social History Of LSD: The CIA, The Sixties, And Beyond, 1985, Martin A. Lee and Bruce Shlain -- Everything you know about acid is wrong, and I've got proof.

This Bread Is Mine, 1960, Robert LeFevre -- A sentimental favorite: this book was autographed and given to my father by LeFevre, and that was the dawn of libertarian culture in my family. 1969.

Leviathan, 1651, Thomas Hobbes -- Here's a hint: you know that word, "neocon", that's making the rounds lately? It's a pathetic joke, 350 years late.

The Origins Of Totalitarianism, 1951, Hannah Arendt -- "The philosophical origins of the totalitarian mind." A landmark study.

The Birth Of The Clinic -- An Archaeology of Medical Perception, 1963, Michele Foucault -- Every thinking person should have at least one ghastly French lunatic on their shelves. I have several, but this one is the most delightfully plumed of those in the 20th century.

The Wealth Of Nations, 1776, Adam Smith -- This is the beginning of "the dismal science" (economics).

The Worldly Philosophers, (sixth edition) 1986, Robert L. Heilbroner -- This charts the course of where the dismal science has ended up.

The Theory of Money And Credit, (English edition) 1953, Ludwig von Mises -- Murray Rothbard called this book "The culmination and fulfillment of the Austrian School of economics". I don't quite agree, but it is that important. Very technical. Put your thinking caps on.

Human Action, 1949, Ludwig von Mises -- This is the "culmination and fulfillment of the Austrian School of economics". It is the philosophical counterweight to Marx's "Das Kapital". And, for almost all of you out there, I'm the first person who ever told you that. You bloody well didn't hear it in high school or college, you poor mistreated bastards.

Socialism, 1922, Ludwig von Mises -- A stake to drive through the heart of the rampant delusion that should have been buried in the Enlightenment, but keeps rising to walk the earth, undead, right down to the present day.

Frederic Bastiat -- A Man Alone, 1971, George Charles Roche III -- Biography of the single most lucid Frenchman (I know: a miracle), ever.

The Holocaust -- A History Of The Jews Of Europe During The Second World War, 1985, Martin Gilbert -- One-stop-shopping for all the tragedy and horror.

The Anti-Federalist -- Writings By The Opponents Of The Constitution, 1981, edited by Herbert J. Storing -- If you have Hamilton, Adams, and Jay, then you're lopsided if you don't have this, too.

When Thunder Rolled, 2003, Ed Rasimus -- Sub-titled "An F-105 Pilot Over North Vietnam", this book illustrates the trip from idealism to the nitty-gritty, in one man's experience of the air war through one hundred rides Up North. Very well done.

Conflicts Of Law And Morality, 1987, Kent Greenawalt -- Incompetence rising to its natural level in a field riven with incompetence, while addressing a subject of enormous import with professional (academic) impunity. This one goes in the Horror section.

Anarchy, State, And Utopia, 1974, Robert Nozick -- If anything remotely libertarian has had any influence among the Eloi in the past thirty years, this is probably it. Some of them will know the title, anyway. It's worth quite a bit more than that.

A Theory Of Justice, 1971, John Rawls -- Well... that's what it is: "a theory of justice"... which is rather like calling Janet Reno "a woman": it just doesn't work, although you wouldn't know that from the influence this thing has enjoyed, at large.

Language Truth & Logic, (second edition) 1946, A. J. Ayer -- The first comprehensive statement of Logical Positivism, an utter disaster in philosophy.

Looking Backward: 2000-1887, 1887, Edward Bellamy -- Oh, for the days when commies were mainly dreamers with pens, instead of legislators in action. This edition (Houghton Mifflin -- 1926) includes the bonus of an Introduction by Heywood Broun, one of untold numbers of waterheads who lost their minds in all the "romance" of the early 20th century -- right about the time when the practice was starving people by the hundreds of thousands in Russia. Very stylishly comic, this novel.

The Politics, 350 BC, Aristotle -- This is the first systematic analysis of social organization in Western history. That's remarkable enough by itself, but it only gets better on realizing how pertinent it remains after all that time.

The Basic Writings Of Bertrand Russell, 1961, edited by Egner and Denonn, preface by Russell -- Eighty-one essays and excerpts from Russell, which was all it took to convince me that he is one of the most revered twits in modern history.

The Killing Of History -- How Literary Critics And Social Theorists Are Murdering Our Past, 1996, Keith Windschuttle -- A whole monstrous swath of academic fraud laid open, if you have the nerve to look.

In Retrospect -- The Tragedy And Lessons Of Vietnam, 1995, Robert S. McNamara -- The story of a man of enormous potential, who destroyed himself while doing his worst to scar this country forever.

Man Versus The State, 1892, Herbert Spencer -- Yet another seminal libertarian of whom you probably never heard, unless a professor was cursing him to everlasting hell or yawning in your face.

Zemke's Wolf Pack, 1988, Roger A. Freeman -- The story of the fabled 56th Fighter Group, led by Col. Hubert "Hub" Zemke, through combat in Europe, World War II.

Parting The Waters -- America In The King Years, 1954-1963, 1988, Taylor Branch -- A fine history of the best part of the Civil Rights Movement.

Pillar Of Fire -- America In The King Years, 1963-1965, 1998, Taylor Branch -- A fine history of the worst part of the Civil Rights Movement.

Economic Freedom, 1991, F.A. Hayek -- A marvelous anthology, including the single most lucid analysis of the phenomenon of inflation that I ever saw, a not-to-be-missed argument for privately-issued commodity-based currencies, and bits of Hayek's correspondence with John Maynard Keynes, with a lot more, besides. This is Hayek at the peak of his game.

Individuals And Their Rights, 1989, Tibor Machan -- An intensely focused presentation of the case for rights from metaphysics up through politics. Comprehensive, compact, and hard-hitting.

The Gonzo Letters, Volume II -- Fear And Loathing In America, 2000, Hunter S. Thompson -- Thompson's correspondance, outlandish and audacious as you'd expect, but also probably more thoughtful than you might expect. This is Thompson laying the meat of the bat on the ball: the years when he had serious things to say and the voice with which to say them. Beginning in 1968, this collection surpasses Volume I with its maturity of the man's journalism.

Fear And Loathing On The Campaign Trail '72, 1973, Hunter S. Thompson -- If you look around the 'net, you'll see various morons attributing the publication of this book to 1972. They're fucking morons, which means: none of them are bright enough to get past stuff like the outrageous allegation of Thompson's doing LSD with John Chancellor. "Like, wow, man, that's so groovy..." (>boot< "Just shut the fuck up, moron.") This book is the first fully-penetrating look at the state of American politics in the second half of the 20th century, and arguably the first book on politics in all of American history in which the brutality of the prose matched its subject, blow-for-blow.

Present At The Creation -- My Years In The State Department, 1969, Dean Acheson -- A very dubious character presses a cunning intellect through the mid-century crucible and into your hand for a low, low price. Despicable, but illuminating.

The Best And The Brightest, 1972, David Halberstam -- A history of incompetence fulfilling its destiny.

The Vampire Economy -- Doing Business Under Fascism, 1939, Guenter Reiman -- Your average American these days is very likely to agree with the proposition that Nazi Germany represented some sort of "capitalism". That's because your average American these days is a walking, talking rutabaga, with no remotely discernable grasp of the simplest facts more than about thirty days aft of his own ass. Here is a book -- researched on the scene, at the moment -- which could probably not shake loose the ethical deformities taken root in a rutabaga's so-called "mind", but, at least, it would bore them to pieces with the actual data.

The Counsels, Civil And Moral, 1597, Francis Bacon -- Very good Enlightenment remarks on attributes of human character.

The Influence Of Sea Power Upon History, 1892, Alfred Thayer Mahan -- This book was a rage 112 years ago. It swept the whole world with awe at its author's synthesis of ancient political truths with Industrial Age technical outlook. And it was a turning point away from the warning ("foreign entanglements") in George Washington's Farewell Address, toward an American imperialism. Teddy Roosevelt thought it was just boss.

The Rage And The Pride, 2002, Oriana Fallaci -- Hell holds no fury like that of an Italian firebrand shaking the dust of the World Trade Center out of her hair. Look out.

Blood, Class, And Nostalgia -- Anglo-American Ironies, 1990, Christopher Hitchens -- A very curiously neglected book attending a very curiously neglected subject: the cross-imperial relationship between Britain and America, holding hands through history. Exemplary Hitchens.

The Roosevelt Myth, 1948, John T. Flynn -- Sobriety. In the face of generations of drunkeness.

America's Search For Economic Stability -- Monetary And Fiscal Policy Since 1913, 1992, Kenneth Weiher -- A very good, sharply technical, history of facts and consequences.

The Metaphysical Club: A Story Of Ideas In America, 2001, Louis Menand -- The story of four crabbed and crippled people -- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Charles Sanders Pierce, William James, and John Dewey -- who grew up to advance their various scars and scabs through American culture in the form of everlasting disgrace: Pragmatism.

Economics And The Public Welfare: A Financial And Economic History of The United States, 1914-1946., 1949, Benjamin M. Anderson -- Another great compendium of facts and implications.

The Keynesian Episode -- A Reassessment, 1979, Wm. H. Hutt -- A fine economic analysis of the subject, which does not neglect its political implications.

Only Yesterday -- An Informal History Of The 1920's, 1931, Frederick Lewis Allen -- An immensely engaging look at America just beginning to outgrow itself.

The Age Of Reason, 1793, Thomas Paine -- Ninety-five years after publication, the florid dingbat Theodore Roosevelt was referring to Paine as "that filthy little atheist" on account of this book. A person like Roosevelt could have been predicted to choke on it, inept as he was to deal with the questions about religion that Paine raised, and which are still compelling.

What Is To Be Done?, 1902, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin -- A professional revolutionary's incitements.

The Art Of War, c. 350 BC, Sun Tzu (translation by Samuel B. Griffith) -- The oldest formal treatise on war in existence, the essential principles of which have remained pertinent throughout history.

Selected Works (three volumes), 1897-1923, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin -- Again: "Know your enemy."

Das Kapital, 1867, Karl Marx --Still: the predominant rationale for the worst evil in the modern world.