That everywhere else in the world, poor people are thin

Yet in America, poor people are generally the fattest?

Just wonderin….

go HERE for a really snarky post by Anarchangel.

Worth the click, but swallow first…….SRSLY

Damn.

That was cold…..Good, but cold.

Gone to the Indy 1500 gun show.

Stop by the 3 Part Supply & Accessories table and say hi, if you happen to attend.

I’m the guy with long hair.

not the other one.

Lets just hope that Ms MaryJo Kopechne has a chance at him before his judgement.

I’m just sayin’.

Just figured I’d mention it, since the MSM hasn’t done so, even once in their hours and hours of effuse praise for him.

“I fear that we have awakened a sleeping giant, and filled him with terrible resolve.”
Naval Marshall General Isoroku Yamamoto, at Pearl Harbor., 1941

Legend has it that he stated this after the attack on Pearl Harbor. It may be that this is merely legend. No one knows for sure….

But truer words cannot be spoken about the “debate” between the left and the right regarding health care in particular, and the philosophy behind it. The oppositon has awoken, looked around, and found that they are many.

For the most part, conservatives have been absent, or at least quiet, in their opposition of the entitlement mentality that has pervaded the left. Not protesting (at least not in ways that made headlines) about the liberal socialist agenda that has been foisted on the American people, at the expense of their wallets. Social programs (some might say “social experimentation” writ large) using taxpayers dollars. Government programs and incentives that, quite frankly, have failed year after year, pet programs funded as rewards for interest groups, and incredibly expensive boondoggles that have befitted few except campaign donors of the left.

But the “Health Care” (socialized medicine) debate has enraged the “sleeping dragon” of conservatives and libertarians. Never before have so many conservatives, libertarians, and even slightly left leaning people gathered together and voiced their opposition to an issue. Never before has the opposition to not only socialized medicine, but other government spending been opposed so vehemently.

Those opponents of “Big Government” have been told for many years, by “Big Media”, and other parts of the MSM, that they were alone in their thinking. By themselves, they were quieter than they might have been. Not silent, perhaps, but not organized, and not loud in their protest. They seldom banded together, seldom held protests, were, at best, quiet in their opposition to the direction that the left and the socialists have steered this country, leaving large protest gathering to those who benefited from the government largess that they opposed. Most had neither the time nor the energy to organize and to attend protests, having to take time for jobs, and family, and their social needs. Most could not be bothered to take the time, unlike those on the other side, who had no commitments, were easily “astroturfed” and really had nothing to lose by protesting, and generally nothing better to do anyway.

No more. Those opposing “Health Care Reform” have not only found their voice, they have discovered that not only do they have many others who are in agreement with them in their opposition to big government, to big spending, and to handouts and social programs, but they have also discovered that the politicians fear them in large groups, and that this fear gives the protesters a voice. They now know that their protests are heard, and are, if not heeded, are taken into account. Politicians like their jobs, and despite the dismissal and spin by the MSM, they now realize, due to the Internet and other communication channels, that their constituents are unhappy with the status quo, and want “change”, want their representatives to actually represent their constituents. Not Barack Obama’s style of “change”, but change that decreases government, and lowers, rather than raises taxes, and a change that will bring about a return to the very principles upon which this great nation was founded.

Mr. Obama promised “change”, and that is indeed what people voted for. But I doubt that the “change” that he is instigating will be what he envisioned. His supporters on the left will not like the “change” that may come about. The “sleeping dragon” has been awakened by the far left’s overreaching, and will not go quietly into the night, as they had done before. “Change” is in the wind. The dragon has awakened.

The revolution from which this country began was, at any given time, supported by less than 3% of the population. Yet those 3% wrought great changes on the world, forging a great nation that 230 + years later is, while not perfect, still the most productive and most powerful nation on the planet. And the opposition to the left’s plans encompass far more than 3% of the citizens of this nation. “Change” shall indeed happen.

Let us make that “change” for the better. Let us not lose our voice. Let us forge a “change” to return to the principles of this nations founders, and a return to the government that allowed this nation to grow and become what it is. Let us remove those who would change this nation to follow the social (and socialistic) pattern of Europe, which is dying, despite the help and defense that we provide.

I have been polishing a post regarding the constitutionality of the “health care legislation” when, taking a break, I find that LawDog has done a better job that I had.

So go and read his. It’s better than I would have done.

IOW, “yeah, what he said”

Via Insty comes this.

All I have to say is that they obviously think that people can be easily confused by acts such as this….Which makes them contemptuous of their constituents intelligence. And, they apparently can’t even hire a smart enough “lefttard” to not get caught.

Sadly, this sort of violence and destruction is the mark of the left, rather than the right.

We generally don’t destroy property, but face you directly. Cowardly leftist tactics like destroying property generally get rightists pissed off, but make few changes in our thinking.

I doubt if they fooled as many people as they think though. People aren’t as stupid as the left DNC gives them credit for….Except, of course, those who vote the way the DNC wants them to.

So a few weeks ago was county fair time. This means, among other things, that it is also 4-H beef time for my household. (my brother puts people together to buy the cows he selects (and he does a damned good job of selecting beef cows) so that no one needs to buy a whole cow). We decided to buy a 1/4 of a 4-H cow. We like 4-H beef, as it is , if not organically raised, damned close to it, and it helps a kid earn money for college or whatever.

So, to get to the point, in a roundabout way, I had to clean out the freezer to make room for the 200 lbs or so of “new” beef. After cleaning the freezer (which hadn’t been done for about 3 years) I found that I had about 35 lbs of assorted beef, deer, elk, (and a 10 lb smoked ham from Who Knows Where) that was recovered from the depths of the chest freezer.

Placing the “new” beef into the freezer was going to be tough, as it also contains about 15 lbs of salmon patties, assorted “organic” seafood and other fish, about 20 lbs of assorted sausage, and other sundry things that I keep long term.

I know, I know…… get to the point of this post!

We decided to donate the “extra” leftover beef and other meats to someone who could use it. Times are hard here, in this area, if not as hard as they are in other locales, but still tough for many people. We have personally been lucky in that we haven’t been hit as hard as others, we have decent sources of income that so far haven’t dried up for us. The issue that we had was that the beef was not commercially packed, and therefore no local food pantry was willing to take it. I called a neighbor who is active in a local church and asked him if he know a family who could use about 30 lbs of assorted beef and other meat. He said he know a family that could use it, as there were parents, kids, and grandkids that were living in the same house to save money, and they could use the food. I told him to have the guy call me.

7 minutes later, a guy named Mike called, having been referred to me by my neighbor. He asked me if I still had the beef, and I said yes. He lives about a mile and a half from me. He asked if I was home , and I said that I was, but would be going out in a while…Or he could pick it up tomorrow….He arrived in less than 5 minutes.

Thanking me for the beef and other meat, he assured me that it would be put to good use. While not wanting to appear desperate to get it, he didn’t waste any time getting to my house, nor loading it into his truck. I hope he can use it to feed his family. We had extra. We really have more than we need. We were glad to share it.

The thing that came to mind, after he had loaded the meat into his truck, shaken my hand, thanked me several times, was that I chose to give the food away. No one forced me, nor decided that someone else needed my possessions more than I. No one forced me to give a portion of my possessions to someone else. It was my choice, not the government’s. It was our decision to give it away to someone who needed it. We could have kept the food, but chose not to, rather to give it to others in need. Nothing noble about it, just the way we both were raised.

Here’s the thing….If you come by and tell me that so and so (perhaps a friend of yours?) needs an operation, and you are collecting donations for him/her, I’ll likely throw a ten or a 20 in the hat. But again, that is my choice. I might not donate either. My choice. Depends….But the government takes my cash, and decides who to give it to. They decide who gets my money. They decide how much of my money they take, and decide what happens with my money without any input from me.. Make no mistake,… it is MINE. The government takes it. Technically, I am paying my taxes voluntarily, but the fact is that it is by the threat of force, or imprisonment, or confiscation of my property if I do not choose to “volunteer” to pay my share….which is also determined by the government. Nowhere in my copy of the constitution does it mention giving collected taxes to others, for any reason.

What I did with my extra food was charity, helping out my fellow man. What the government does is theft, not charity. They take, and give it away to others. State, local and, of course, federal officials decide who gets my hard earned money. I get no input, no real say, as to who those recipients are. This is theft. If I knock you down and take your wallet, it is theft, even if I give that money to a church later. A significant portion of the tax money that is taken is not used “for the common good” like police, and roads, and fire protection, and military defense of this nation, but is given to others, in the form of housing, food (or food stamps), or cash payments, all given to others without my permission or my input. Theft, plain and simple, no different that if I take your wallet and give it to another person.

This is what the new health care initiatives will be to an even greater degree. THEFT. “They” will take YOUR money, your hard earned wages and add additional money from your employer, and give that value to another person, or persons. It will not be your choice how the money is spent, nor will it be your choice how the remainder that is taken in “your” name is spent. You will not have choices as to how your “health care funds” are spent, even on yourself. You will take what care “they” decide to give you….. “Sorry, we are aware that your money helps 2 other people ……we spent your money on others, and there is none left for your angioplasty…..Yes, you have put in enough to pay for it several times over in the past 5 years, but we spent it all on those who don’t pay into the system. Some of it went to care for the illegal gardener that your neighbor uses…some went to the guy and his wife who while they both CAN work, choose not to because they get nearly as much from the government by not working……. Some went to pay for that unwed mother’s child who needed 6 months of hospitalization because she drank during her pregnancy.. and some went to pay for the other girl’s 3rd abortion….But I am sorry that there isn’t enough for you…..Hope you live long enough to get to the top of the waiting list….shouldn’t take more than 6 months…

Thanks for taking care of all those other people too, BTW, we appreciate it, even if they don’t…You see, without people like you, we wouldn’t have jobs in the new government health care system, and we’d be on welfare too…”

********

You see, it is about choice….I chose to give away my food…You may choose to give to a charity. You may choose to tithe to a church. You may choose to give that homeless person money at the stoplight….Or, You may choose not to do any of those things.

I chose to help someone in my community. Thousands and thousands of people do so every day. Corporations too. But keep squeezing people and businesses, and soon there will be even less charity than there is right now, (which is down about 20% from even 20 years ago). But this is a choice, not a tax. People with extra choose to give to those who have a need. But the giving is voluntary.

Until now.

of not shooting (I foolishly let life get in the way) and my bullseye scores dropped from 540 to 450.

I got to make recoil therapy a priority, if not for my sanity, then for my proficiency.