Thursday, July 29, 2010

Porretto: Bastions & Batteries - Part III

Here's the latest from Francis Porretto in his ongoing series.

Consider this -- the mainstream media cannot be trusted to supply facts upon which sound action plans can be based.

If you can't trust the media to gather facts, how will you make your plans?

That's right. You'll gather information on your own.

More on that topic soon.

11 comments:

  1. I've been trying to raise the alarm about this draft bill introduced by Rangel. Everyone calls me crazy, "borrowing trouble", or worried about nothing. I disagree.

    No one thought, two years ago, cap-and-trade would fly. It came close. Nationalization of our healthcare? Not a chance 5 years back.

    Now many tell me this draft bill is dead. Maybe for now, but I guarantee it will be law in under 10 years. This would institute the draft NOT ONLY IN TIMES OF WAR, but basically whenever the POTUS says so. Not just .mil service, but civilian .gov service as well.

    The dead elephant party will line up in droves to sign this. Remember, the GOP always brings us so-called national "security" at the cost of our freedom.

    No kidding you can't trust the media. Hell, you can't trust anything anymore. Or anyone.

    Trust me. ;-)

    Justin
    III

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ages 18-42. Two years of compulsory service. Male AND female. Only exceptions are mental or physical handicap, only postponements are if you're still in high school or college. Those who object to military service MUST do alternative service.
    Rangel has gone 'round the bend, submitting this bill at the exact time he's being investigated for ethics violations.
    But then, what unconstitutional law has he ever DISliked?
    Maybe they're trying to hurry things to the apparently inevitable conclusion.
    They can't have my children OR my grandchildren.
    I'm still getting emails about Obama canceling the National Day of Prayer but putting on a BIG Day of Muslim Prayer. We're still 75% Christians. People are not going to sacrifice their children to One Nation Under Allah.
    I agree that many Republicans will sign on. It's "patriotic." It'll "keep unemployed youth busy and out of trouble."
    Again, they want to take away the PARENTS' job.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh, yes. The media? The executive editor of the local paper said "Our FIRST job is to make money. If we don't we won't be around to tell people the news."
    Not working out very well, since they're not telling the people who are loyal to the newspapers the news thay want to know; instead they follow the tabloind route, pandering to the youth market, the urban liberal trends, and those people DON'T READ THE PAPER or watch TV news. They're on blogs and Twitter.
    His successor, when asked his philosophy of jopurnalism, replied "I'm a MARINE. And this is MY newsroom." And people started being shown the door in the interest of profits and his ego. I can't help but think that authoritarians crack the whip in most media outlets. The moderate, conservative and libertarian are marginalized if not demoted. They are surrounded and outnumbered.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Rangel

    Fortunately, he has no co-sponsors, yet.

    ReplyDelete
  5. A free press is equally free to print the facts or ignore them.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hello, C.A. This is Fran Porretto, whom you've graced -- several times now -- with links.

    I'm writing for two reasons: First, to express my gratitude for the traffic you've sent my way, though that's ultimately a frivolous reason. Second, and far more important, I want to emphasize that I mean what I've written. I think we're approaching a true cusp: the sort of decision point in the affairs of a nation when sitting on the sidelines is the worst thing one could do.

    John Hospers once said, "Yes, the forces of freedom are on the march. But the forces of tyranny are on the march as well. It's a race against time." Fortunately, we who love liberty have a secret weapon: the American people, most especially those, including your readership, who take the matter seriously and personally.

    In a way, the election of Barack Hussein Obama to the presidency was a Godsend. Had John McCain ascended to the Oval Office instead, a far larger fraction of the populace would be shrugging and saying, "Well, at least he isn't Obama," and / or "He's just the best we can do right now." Obama's reign makes matters serious. He makes people who would otherwise have accepted a continued gradualistic attack on our freedom sit up and say, "Wait just a moment. This was never in the plan." From that perspective, he's the best foil a freedom lover could have at this time.

    Nothing personalizes a political convulsion except for the direct and immediate perception of direct and immediate damage therefrom. Obamunism has that effect. Many millions of Americans are now able to see how they'll be wounded, their prosperity and security diminished, by the dark designs of our ruling class; the Codevilla essay, which sparked the "Bastions and Batteries" pieces, merely pulls all the influences together into an easily digestible whole.

    Men of vision, ability, and sound character must mobilize. Indeed, we are mobilizing. Perhaps the November elections will halt our accelerating slide into socialism, but should they be stolen from us, we'll proceed to new tactics and new directions of motion.

    If we're left with no choice but to lock and load, I no longer doubt that we will.

    At any rate, thank you for your repeated links and kind words, and keep up the fine and important work.

    All my best,
    Francis W. Porretto
    Curmudgeon Emeritus to the World Wide Web
    and Writer of Carefully Constructed Entertaining Drivel.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hello, C.A. This is Fran Porretto, whom you've graced -- several times now -- with links.

    I'm writing for two reasons: First, to express my gratitude for the traffic you've sent my way, though that's ultimately a frivolous reason. Second, and far more important, I want to emphasize that I mean what I've written. I think we're approaching a true cusp: the sort of decision point in the affairs of a nation when sitting on the sidelines is the worst thing one could do.

    John Hospers once said, "Yes, the forces of freedom are on the march. But the forces of tyranny are on the march as well. It's a race against time." Fortunately, we who love liberty have a secret weapon: the American people, most especially those, including your readership, who take the matter seriously and personally.

    In a way, the election of Barack Hussein Obama to the presidency was a Godsend. Had John McCain ascended to the Oval Office instead, a far larger fraction of the populace would be shrugging and saying, "Well, at least he isn't Obama," and / or "He's just the best we can do right now." Obama's reign makes matters serious. He makes people who would otherwise have accepted a continued gradualistic attack on our freedom sit up and say, "Wait just a moment. This was never in the plan." From that perspective, he's the best foil a freedom lover could have at this time.

    Nothing personalizes a political convulsion except for the direct and immediate perception of direct and immediate damage therefrom. Obamunism has that effect. Many millions of Americans are now able to see how they'll be wounded, their prosperity and security diminished, by the dark designs of our ruling class; the Codevilla essay, which sparked the "Bastions and Batteries" pieces, merely pulls all the influences together into an easily digestible whole.

    Men of vision, ability, and sound character must mobilize. Indeed, we are mobilizing. Perhaps the November elections will halt our accelerating slide into socialism, but should they be stolen from us, we'll proceed to new tactics and new directions of motion.

    If we're left with no choice but to lock and load, I no longer doubt that we will.

    At any rate, thank you for your repeated links and kind words, and keep up the fine and important work.

    All my best,
    Francis W. Porretto
    Curmudgeon Emeritus to the World Wide Web
    and Writer of Carefully Constructed Entertaining Drivel.

    ReplyDelete
  8. For whatever it's worth, below is my latest post on Mr. Poretto's site in that particular thread. I won't speculate on why he found it unacceptable, as I don't understand his reasoning (particularly given which post prompted his warning earlier, a warning which is even less understandable to me).

    While he has some interesting things to say, his reaction to even mild criticism is not a positive sign.
    ---

    Your evidence doesn't in any way support your claim.

    1 - I am not convinced Obama actually wants to back out of the war, as opposed to just saying he wants to for political gain. That said, even if he did, that would not be an argument in favor of implementing a draft. Drafts are for wartime. If the war ends, there is no need, and not even the Democrats will try to argue otherwise. Congress will therefore not pass it.

    2 - True and entirely irrelevant to the question. Actually it makes it less likely - they'll want to avoid spreading the scandal reminders around. If the leadership actually wants a draft, they'll re-introduce it in a manner that makes it easier to swallow, probably as an amendment to some other seemingly more important item, not as a separate bill that can be easily voted down or killed in conference with absolutely no negative consequences for those killing it.

    3 - They float trial balloons about all sorts of stuff. From trial balloons to settled law is a long long way and by no means certain. That is my point, which you seem to be either missing or deliberately ignoring. This country is still some ways from being a dictatorship with a rubber-stamp legislature, and that is what would be necessary for Rangel's bill to be a serious threat, given the other circumstances.

    And -

    "Now, as it happens, I give one warning."

    ... What the hell?

    Warnings are for people who are behaving in a socially unacceptable manner. I don't know how or why you haven't noticed this, but what I have been doing here is explaining why I think you made a minor error in the OP. That is anything but socially unacceptable. In fact it is a pretty widely accepted common element of mature discussion between disagreeing adults. Have you not encountered such a thing before?

    The only one wasting space here is you: your conclusions do not follow from your evidence. I am not to blame for that. I can't fix it either, only you can do that.

    ReplyDelete
  9. For whatever it's worth, below is my latest post on Mr. Poretto's site in that particular thread. I won't speculate on why he found it unacceptable, as I don't understand his reasoning (particularly given which post prompted his warning earlier, a warning which is even less understandable to me).

    While he has some interesting things to say, his reaction to even mild criticism is not a positive sign.

    ReplyDelete
  10. My reaction, Rollory, was to your repeating yourself at my expense, without even bothering to ask whether there might be a significance to what I wrote that wasn't in line with your objections. You appear not to have grasped that. But perhaps you're simply one who absolutely must have the last word, so I'll let you have it here.

    Enough said.

    ReplyDelete