This morning "The Blaze" reported the story of 20 year army vet and Stockton, California hospital staffer, Boots Hawks. Hawks was placed on administrative leave for questioning why he was asked to stop signing his office emails with the phrase "God bless America". I'll include a link to the story at the bottom of this post.

     Most people will react to this story, as they have with so many others of it's type, by shaking their fist in the air and cursing the out of control "political correctness" culture. Then they'll go about their lives largely oblivious to the fact that another little piece of their liberty has eroded away. Political correctness goes far deeper than the offensiveness that the left claims that they're trying to end, or the silly inconvenience that it seems to most people. It's a method by the totalitarian minded elitists to control our thoughts. Speech is just an expression of thought. And if you can control someone's speech you have, at the very least, made inroads to controlling their thought process. And if you control someone's thoughts, what about them do you not control?

     This is far from a new realization, but it's one that must be explored more thoroughly. The P.C. movement is picking up more and more steam, and there is less and less outcry over their transgressions. Children are being suspended from school over charges of assault because they pointed their finger at each other and said "bang". Recently a high school student was suspended for going to class in an NRA t-shirt. There are demands from an elitist minority to change the name of the Washington Redskins. Never mind that 90% of American Indians either don't care or are proud to have an NFL team named the Redskins. We have elitist dumbass Bob Costas interrupting a recent Sunday night football game to tell the Indians that they're too stupid to understand that they should be offended.

     More recently we've had Obama give a speech telling the five million or so Americans who lost their health care coverage because of Obamacare that their plans were crap and they're just too stupid to realize it. Remember the 29 times he said "If you like your plan you can keep your plan, Period."? But any of you not named "Period" are out of luck. Never mind the insult of our elected "representative" telling us, the sovereigns, what we can or can not keep. Or the man who spent 100 million dollars of our money on one vacation telling us what we must or must not purchase.

     And if all of this wasn't enough, they have the gall to try and ban the phrase "God bless America"? Surely it's because we're just too stupid to understand that it's government that blesses us. It's government that watches over us and sees to our needs. That's why untold millions of Americans died during the recent government shutdown. Because we're too stupid to watch out for ourselves and each other. That's why, during the shutdown, the streets were lined with people holding frozen food containers pleading for some government agency to show up and read the directions to them. Because we're too stupid to feed ourselves. That's why we have the elitist halfwits and activists telling us when we should feel insulted or offended. Because we're too stupid to think for ourselves. Oh, how did we ever survive before the all knowing elitists arrived to guide us? To ban our soft drinks? To regulate our trans fats? To make our decisions for us? To slowly smother us?

     But I'll spare you the "this time they've gone too far" line. That's been used so much as to have lost all meaning. Yes, I thought of paraphrasing Ronald Reagan, "it's time to draw a line in the sand and tell our enemies that this line they must not cross". But much like Obama's Syrian "red line" it's been crossed already.

     As a child I first read about the fall of the Roman Republic and marveled at the idea that one man could subvert the political system of the most powerful nation on earth. As I grew a little older I started to wonder what it was like to live through that. To watch everything you believe in turned upside down. To see ones liberties dissolve at the touch of a despot. Now I know. The long road that began with the first outcry of "That's offensive" is nearing it's end.

     God bless America. Say it while you still can. And God save us from elitist idiots who think that they're God.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/11/15/20-year-army-vet-gets-shocking-notice-from-employer-just-before-veterans-day-all-because-of-a-well-known-patriotic-phrase/

     Late last week thehill.com reported on the mass of pending regulations. This site already linked to it, but I'll include the link below for convenience. But for now, a quick question. Am I the only one who's sick of this crap?

     In the title of this post I refer to this regulatory process as legislation, and that is more or less what it has become. These regulations carry the same weight as laws. We can be fined or imprisoned for defying these regulations and yet we have no input on the regulations themselves or on the appointment of the people who write them. People who do not represent us can use the regulatory process to impose their will upon us with impunity. Yet any word of protest is followed by an admonishment such as "Don't you understand that this is for your own good." It seems to me that everything that our government does that's "for our own good" is no damn good.

     More and more these elected officials and appointed bureaucrats are violating our personal sovereignty. They have long since forgotten that We the People rule this country. Hamilton once expressed his fears about an "embryonic Caesar" and we have reelected him. And our Dictator-in-chief keeps appointing these regulators to impose his "fundamental transformation" regardless of what We the People think about it.

     I for one am fed up with regulations. If the government wants to pass laws let them do so in the proper manner. Although we still get shafted when they do that. I suggest that every conservative, every TEA party activist, every constitutionalist, and everyone else who is disillusioned with this administration adopt the rallying cry of "NO LEGISLATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION" before we are all regulated into oblivion.

http://thehill.com/blogs/regwatch/pending-regs/315359-seven-obama-regulations-to-watch#ixzz2b0JXrOaw

Why won't Nancy Pelosi go away? You would think that someone who's done that much damage to this country would hide her Botox riddled face in shame. But no, she's back trying to defend the monstrosity that she helped force on the American people in the form of the Patient Persecution and Unaffordable Care Act, commonly known as Obama-don't-care. CNS news reports that Pelosi was questioned about the rising cost of health insurance in a recent press conference (link provided below). Her answer, "Well, some of the people don't have health insurance, and they certainly will have their premiums go up. But for anyone that that is a challenge there are subsidies in the exchanges...but if you don't have health insurance and you don't qualify for a subsidy, and you're mandated to have health insurance, yes, you will have an increase." Amazing, so you're saying that buying something carries a higher price than not buying it? So insightful, this woman should really be teaching economics.

     But that's only the beginning. She goes on, "It's also what you get for the money. In other words people will be getting no lifetime or annual limits on their coverage, no discrimination because of a preexisting medical condition. It has a whole array of quality that is in the legislation." Yes, it's all about the quality. And somehow that quality won't diminish because of the shortage of doctors that's already being reported? Due to such a shortage California recently lowered the standards needed to give medical care. You can now get a prostate exam from an eye doctor, or open heart surgery from a dentist. What could possibly go wrong?

     Pelosi continued, "I don't remember saying that everybody in the country would have a lower premium," well I don't remember you saying anything that was even remotely true. She goes on, "because everybody in the country doesn't have health insurance. So how could it be lower? But the fact is, the value of what you get for the cost that you pay is a reduction in cost to you." So by paying more I'll somehow be paying less? Those pearls around her neck must represent her little pearls of wisdom. Although she conveniently ignores that people who do have insurance are seeing their premiums rise by as much as 400%. But by her crazy new math that's a reduction in cost, too.

     Pelosi went on, "But for everybody it's going to be, again, a liberation, a freedom." Ah, the glorious new age. Now we have the freedom to have the government decide what medical care we receive. The freedom to have the government decide if we should be treated at all. Soon we'll have the freedom to have the government decide when and what we eat, when we use the bathroom, when and for how long we sleep. Oh, and don't forget, the freedom to have the IRS delve more deeply into our personal lives. Isn't that wonderful? How did we manage to live before the government gave us all this freedom?

     I think I'm going to buy Nancy a dictionary for Christmas. This woman obviously has no idea what the word freedom means. Governments, by there very nature CAN NOT provide freedom, they can only restrict it. They can only trample over it. The recent parade of scandals and government abuses proves that. Freedom is only nurtured when government is restrained within it's constitutional limits.

     Furthermore, if Obamacare is such a liberation why did congress exempt themselves and their families from it? If it's truly so liberating, why isn't Pelosi the first in line to sign up at the government exchange? And why did the Senate, earlier this year, vote down a bill that would force on congress and the president the same health insurance that they forced on us? I guess some people just refuse to be liberated.

     Pelosi added that, "under Obamacare young people could pursue careers as writers or photographers." They can't write or photograph something without government mandated health insurance? Again, how did we manage to live before government gave us all this freedom? She went on, "But you just see, I mean, be optimistic about it. It's a very, very exciting enterprise."

     WOW, the same idiots that run the DMV, the same incompetents that run the post office, and the same crooks that run the IRS are going to provide my health care. How exciting. I think I'm going to be sick.

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/pelosi-you-re-mandated-have-health-insurance-yes-you-will-have-increase

The reports are coming more frequently now. Karl Rove is taking aim at the TEA party. Conservatives in congress are being attacked on all fronts, most disturbingly by other Republicans. Establishment Republicans move repeatedly to the left. And the media, well the media has been going after us like rabid wolves since the dawn of time. The battle lines have been drawn. The first shots have been fired. We are at war with our own party.

     I know, we're not allowed to say that anymore. There's nothing new about using militaristic terms to describe political struggles. Although we are discouraged from doing so, even as the left continues the practice. Sara Palin is blamed for the shooting of Gabby Gifford just because Palin's staff drew crosshairs on a map. We are endlessly attacked and derided for using any word or phrase that could be seen as aggressive, no matter how commonplace. When you think about it, it's really a brilliant ploy, even if it is weaselly and two faced. How are we supposed to fight a war effectively when we aren't allowed to acknowledge that we're fighting a war? We see how well that worked in Korea. We soften our language to placate the leftist whiners and soon our thoughts follow suit. We let them pull our teeth and then wonder why our party becomes filled with moderates with no bark and no bite.

     Yet these RINOs are always happy to attack conservatives. Recently John McCain went after Rand Paul and Ted Cruz for having the nerve to do the jobs that they were elected for, and Karl Rove casts blame for election losses on the TEA party that should rightfully fall on him and his ilk. Not only were many of these unelectable Republicans that he cites as examples of TEA party interference moderate establishment types, most of them were funded by Rove.

     These are the same people what will nod enthusiastically when the left tells us that conservatism is a relic followed by only a small margin of the population. They'd have us forget how Barry Goldwater sparked the conservative movement by standing by his conservative ideals. And that Ronald Reagan energized the country and won two landslide Presidential elections, not by reaching across the aisle, but by refusing to compromise his conservative principles. They'd have us ignore how conservatives in D.C. have received support unprecedented in this generation by proudly advancing the conservative banner. Moving to the center hasn't helped us with Mitt Romney or John McCain. And it hasn't helped us with the 99% of Rove's candidates who lost their elections. Or with the others who refuse to fight the left once elected. No, the problem isn't that the Republican party has moved too far to the right, it's that the party is only now starting to move back to the right.

     And we're not immune from delusions either. I don't know how often I've been told that we need another Ronald Reagan to swoop in and fix things again. It's time to burst that bubble. As good as the rising conservative stars are, there isn't another Reagan. There never will be another Reagan. We're on our own. But before you slip back into the post election depression that we've all been trying to climb out of, remember that we're not wandering blind in the wilderness as some would suggest. Our message isn't falling of deaf ears, it's just been watered down by the moderates. Fiscal and social conservatism, commitment to shrinking government and growing the economy, encouraging personal responsibility and liberty, defending and following the constitution, are policies that have been proven right by history. These are the issues that will bring us victory in this civil war. These issues are our best chance of winning in the 2014 elections, as well as the big one in 2016.

     The establishment RINOs care only for their own power base. They're more impressed by the institution than the constitution. At stake in this war is the very soul of the Republican party. Just as in the overall war at stake is the very soul of America. Victory is our only option.

Is anyone surprised that the Senate couldn't get any straight answers from Holder on the possibility of drone strikes on Americans within the U.S.? And why hasn't the outcry over this been louder, with the exception of the fine efforts of Sen. Paul and his handful of allies, in light of this administrations deliberately hazy definition of a drone strike's justification. And yet Holder couldn't decide if he believed the President had the right to order such a strike on U.S. soil? Now this morning something strange happened to Eric Holder. Something that no one has ever seen before. He woke up with a desire to do his job. By now I'm sure that you've heard about his letter to Sen. Paul, about 24 hours too late. "Does the President have the authority to use a weaponized drone to kill an American not engaged in combat on American soil?" "The answer to that question is no." Holder finally admitted.

     The President does not have that authority. But then, he didn't have the authority to force Americans to buy health insurance either. He didn't have the authority to order military strikes against Lybia a few years ago. Although he had the obligation to do so last September 11th, but chose to do nothing. He didn't have the authority to appoint three recess nominations when the Senate wasn't in recess. And the list goes on and on. But now we're expected to believe that no such drone strikes will be ordered on American soil just because the President doesn't have the authority to order them?

     And this administration has done nothing but muddy the definition of terrorist. A few months ago Joe Biden likened conservatives to terrorists. Is that going to be the standard? A person's political or social belief? Or some other form of affiliation? Recently Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, has sent a letter to the Justice Department marking members of Patriot groups as "non-Islamic domestic terrorists". In spite of the fact that there has been no acts of terrorism linked to members of any such group.

     Gone are the good old days when we were just labeled as "racist" for demanding fiscal sanity, a smaller federal government, and adherence to the constitution.  Now the new label is to be "terrorist". And this label might be followed with another nasty little surprise. Authority or no authority.

     So what is considered a terrorist under this administration, and how is that definition likely to be expanded in the near future? If you're opposed to gay marriage, are you a terrorist? If you want a balanced budget, are you a terrorist? If you don't drive a hybrid, are you a terrorist? If you forget to floss, are you a terrorist? Or is that label handed down on the whim of our "glorious and all knowing" dictator, Comrade Obama?

     If you remember to look up at the sky while you're going about your day give a nice wave to the drones up there. After all, they're still just the "friendly" unweaponized surveillance variety. For now. And God bless America. We're going to need all the help we can get.