Indoctrination...

Hero worship. Cult of personality.

Scary stuff, to be sure. Names such as Hilter, Stalin, and Hussein come to mind.

We may need to add Obama.

Now, those who know me will say that I'm very balanced when it comes to Obama, and I don't believe 90 percent of the crap that is out there on both sides. Nor do I necessarily blame him for this....but it has to stop.

Watch this video...

Could you imagine if this had happened when Bush was in the White House? But it's apparently ok when we brainwash the kids to love our wonderful current leader... (shudder)

So to my liberal friends...you want me to idolize Obama? Sure thing. All he has to do is...well, SOMETHING. He's got the most liberal Congress in memory, goodwill around the globe, and he still can't get anything accomplished.

I'm not blaming Obama for this. What people do outside the White House isn't his fault, or his call. I AM, however, blaming stupidity, and possibly worse than that, naivety. He's not the messiah, folks. Whether or not you're religious, he's really not the savior of the human race. He's a man. A smart one. A misguided one, if you ask me, but smart nonetheless. But he's just a man.

Singing kumbaya isn't going to fix this country. Putting leaders in office who can get things done will fix this country.

Now on Twitter...

After sitting through the MGSF hearing today, it's time for Twitter. The main purpose will be for liveblogging, but there may be occasional tidbits as well.

Follow me at:

@truconserv

Finally, we hear the word of the day.

And the word is:

CORRUPTION

Funny how hesitant folks are to use that word. Disappointing.

Ding ding, we have a winner...

We just heard the MSGF referred to as a "paramilitary organization",
and not in a sarcastic or negative sense.

I don't know about anyone else, but I don't want paramilitary police
organizations performing civilian law enforcement in MY community!

And that, loyal readers, is the crux of all this. When you place the
police above oversight and tell them it's ok to act like a private
army, that's exactly what you're going to get. When it happens, don't
you DARE wave your hands in the air while screaming, "I don't
understand how this could have happened!"

Break out the popcorn...

The Metro Gang Strike Force hearing is today at the capitol. There's a
lot of goings-on in the virtual world on this...live blogs, video, etc.

Keep an eye on twincitiescarry.com, the focal point for activism on
this issue.

Why popcorn? Because this is going to be the legislature questioning
how this could have gone so wrong. Answer? Because it was a bad idea
from the beginning.

One nation, pussified...

I start my day with a dose of the news online. I can't stand CNN or MSNBC, but at least I can see what the other side thinks is important.

From the current front page at cnn.com:

Sources: CIA used drill, gun to coerce prisoner

Let me get this straight...

People are freaking out because we THREATENED to hurt the guy who planned the USS Cole attack?

Are we that far pussified as a nation that we fear using force against those who would have us wiped from the map?

WAKE UP!

You can't reason with terrorists. You can't negotiate with them. They don't care about peace talks, they don't care about rights, they don't care about sanctions, and they won't stop until either they or we are dead. This isn't a difficult equation to solve. They believe they are carrying out the work of their god. The solution is to arrange an in-person meeting.

Terrorists understand only one thing, and that is the application of raw, brutal force. We're freaking out because they THREATENED to hurt this guy? If his discomfort saves the lives of our citizens and soldiers, then bring the pain. Fuck him, and fuck his sick, twisted version of what is a peaceful religion. He can go to hell, and I have no problem with us sending him there.

So where have I been?

Ok, so I disappeared for awhile. Sorry. :-(

But I've been busy!

For an update of just one of the things I've been a part of, please read:

The Smoking Gun (Pt. 2)

If you back track to the original post, you'll see where I got to play errand boy (and I'm VERY happy to play that role, FYI!) The writing is entirely Joel Rosenberg, and the background owes far more to Andrew Rothman, David Gross, Joe Olson, and others than it does to my trip to the Ramsey County Courthouse. Truth be told, it's an honor just to be able to hang with that crowd.

There will be more from this. Wait and see.

Keep an eye on the group running under the 4409 moniker on youtube as well. I think the best is yet to come.

And with that, yes, you're going to see a bent toward 2A issues in this blog quite often. Why? Because the 2A helps keep the rest in place.

And I'm a NRA member.

And I'm an instructor.

And I'm an activist. A baby one, but one nonetheless.

Limbaugh v. Powell

This is going to be short and sweet. 

Rush Limbaugh is telling Colin Powell to change parties?

Rush, take your fat, obnoxious, pompous, do-nothing-good ass and STFU. Now. 

Once you've served your country in ANY aspect other than running your mouth, then you can talk.

There are those of us who think that you are the prime example of why the GOP is in trouble. I'm one of them.

Somebody else said it best...

I had an entire post prepared on this topic. I'm not saying I won't publish it in the future, but David Frum said it far better in Newsweek.

Why Rush is Wrong

I don't agree with everything here (I don't believe Rush is actually a fan of Reagan, I think he just likes the reaction he gets by invoking Reagan's name), but one thing is certain: if we let Rush speak for the GOP, we're finished.

Republican revolution, round two...maybe.

President Obama is enjoying legendary popularity these days. Even Republican stalwarts are cautious in their criticism, attacking the policy and not the man (as it should be, by the way). Regardless of job approval, he has an Achilles' heel. His weakness is the same body which gives him his greatest political strength: a Democratic congress.

Our founding fathers may not have envisioned a two-party system, and I guarantee that one-party rule would have terrified them. Our system just wasn't designed to function without debate and opposing viewpoints.

The Republican revolution of 1994 is a prime example. Many people have forgotten just how unpopular President Clinton was in the early years of his presidency. Large tax increases and a disastrous healthcare proposal defined his agenda and served to doom the Democratic Party in those mid-term races. Such policies never would have made it as far as they did if they would have faced an opposition congress. The policies would have been non-starters, Clinton wouldn't have spent his opening years getting (rightfully) blamed by the GOP, and his approval ratings would have been far higher. If his party hadn't lost so badly in 1994, I believe he would have been a one-term executive.

Some might make the argument that having an opposition congress for these last few years didn't help the GOP. I have to disagree by saying that nothing could have help this past year's GOP ticket. I'll go a step further and say that we lost the race the instant that Palin was announced as McCain's running mate.

If the GOP doesn't find a way to reach outside the base that Palin represents, there is almost no chance for recovery any time soon. Pandering to the small percentage of the base that Palin represents is not a strategy...at least not a successful one. The GOP needs to look beyond the small but loud minority and broaden its appeal, leading to a Republican revolution of 2010. More on that to come.

Stop the presses!

Seriously, stop the presses. Tell TV reporters to shut up, and
threaten to snap the pencils of newsies until they start talking about
something other than the economy.

You want to see the cause of the continued "downturn"? Ask an editor
what sells better, bad news or good news. It's a self-supporting
cycle, and I for one am sick of it.

Started by idiotic lending, continued by idiotic rabble-rousers.
Welcome to the economy, 2009-style.

Blogged from my iPhone

Disaster on the horizon...

Friends,

Well, it's certainly been awhile! I haven't been silent for lack of topics...and while I would like to claim that delay is due to my day job, I'd be lying. My lack of commentary has far more to do with my blood pressure than with the office.

It's frustrating to watch the MN GOP eat itself from within. I'm tentatively hopeful about the party on the national level (although after his sad performance in response to President Obama's speech, I'm not sure Bobby Jindal is all he's cracked up to be), but I'm beyond annoyed with the decisions being made in St. Paul.

Our party leaders can say whatever they like, but many of us know why the GOP stood no chance in this past election. Conventional wisdom used to say that the Democrats couldn't win elections because they focused on policies instead of politics. The problem is that as the world has become more connected, content is the new gold...and the Democrats were far better poised to push their content over the new mediums.

Voters now have instant access to more information than at any time in human history. It's difficult to twist words and encourage falsehoods for either side when the original source material is available to anyone with an internet connection. In the GOP's case, it wasn't about spin so much as it was about content; the Democrats had more content ready, and now they had a way to distribute it.

I believe in conservative principles, and I believe many other Americans do as well. The issue becomes one of distribution. Unfortunately, the MN GOP (specifically, the Senate Caucus) is about to make a serious tactical error. They aren't focused on the distribution of content; they are focused on the political games that got them into their current mess (e.g. 21 members). 

By this point in time, it should be obvious that Norm Coleman's senatorial campaign is in serious trouble. I've met Al Franken, and while I have to admit that he is an intelligent man (regardless of what more visceral bloggers who have never talked to him, much less discussed any issues with him may say), it is still amazing that he could beat a party drum-beater such as Coleman. I'm not sure that the Franken campaign really had to do anything other than sit back and let the Coleman campaign self-destruct. I've never seen a campaign so vicious and bloodthirsty...the problem is, the attacks were all coming from the Coleman camp. Franken used his time to discuss issues, while Coleman used his to draw attention back to Franken...whereupon Franken proceeded to talk about more issues. Oops.

You may ask how the MN Senate GOP Caucus plays into this? Good question. Earlier this year, the caucus fired its longtime chief of staff. Rumor had it that they wanted someone with more of a political mindset. "Great!" many of us said. We thought we would finally see someone who would push conservative ideals and would take the fight to the DFL issue-by-issue. Wow, were we ever wrong.

There are many excellent political websites that cover Minnesota politics. Not more than a few days had passed before the rumors started appearing. Although the public job listing stated an application closing date of 2/23/09, the caucus was already talking to a "top candidate"...Norm Coleman's campaign manager.

Now, perhaps I'm crazy or utterly naive, but does it seem strange to anyone else that coming out of an election where the GOP had just been soundly thrashed, the top candidate for this job is one of the key examples of why we lost???

I think the party leadership may have finally gone round the bend. The quick and dirty (albeit tongue-in-cheek) definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result each time. Masochistic is perhaps a better way of saying it. Either way, this is idiotic beyond belief.

Let me say the following to our party's elders:

STOP CAMPAIGNING AND START GOVERNING!