Forget about the debate the government parties and the geriatric media want us to have, “Are you a Republican or a Democrat?” The debate we need to have concerns what we were meant to be, not who they tell us we should be. Instead we should discuss issues of substance such as, “Are we a Republic or a Democracy?” for this will lead us to the truth. In today’s polarized political atmosphere conservatives shout “Republic!” while progressives scream, “Democracy!” In truth, neither term fully describes the boldest experiment to provide individual freedom and release human potential in the history of mankind. There is a third term needed if we are to grasp the qualities which makes us who we are.
The United States was birthed in the fire of revolution against the denial of personal freedom and the expropriation of resources by an authoritarian government. The first attempt to balance the rights of the people, the prerogatives of their local states and the need for a centralized structure to face other nations on the world stage, the Articles of Confederation proved inadequate. Then the Framers crafted a constitution establishing a democratic federal republic. All three terms democratic, federal, and republic are needed to express the unique nature of the American Experiment. Not one of them conveys the strength of the three and therefore cannot stand alone. Together they outline the form of government and the manner in which it shall be chosen, yet even these loaded terms leave unstated the inner essence of the last best hope of humanity. For it is the separation of powers, private property rights and the checks and balances built into the system that has safe guarded liberty and unleashed the potential of the American people.
The fact that instead of a reasoned debate about who we are, where we came from, and how we got here we stand on opposite sides of barricades shouting slogans at each other highlights the need for all of us to educate ourselves in the history of the principles and values upon which our country was founded. The current public educational process is a government mandated system which forces teaching to a test that’s forgotten as soon as it’s passed. The teaching of American History has been presented as a boring jumble of names and dates for a few semesters in 12 years since before any of us were born. It’s time for anyone who wants to understand what’s going on in our rapidly evolving political landscape to dig in and educate ourselves. We cannot allow those who want to subvert the home of the brave and the land of the free either to the right or the left to sway us with slogans and catch phrases. We have to know enough to know when we’re being conned by ideologues with a hidden agenda.
Ideologues reduce all things to the dimensions of their own thoughts. They oversimplify and overload words with meaning effectively blocking the channels of communication. They turn complex political, social and economic principles into cat-calls, catch-phrases and campaign slogans designed to move masses to emotional responses not individuals to reasoned reactions. It was the ideologue Karl Marx who reduced history to a conflict between capital and labor, charged all problems to the inequalities of capitalism, projected a continually deteriorating situation and then pointed to communism as the only answer.
We must resist the temptation to reduce our American experiment to an ideology. We cannot allow this bait-and-switch tactic to lead us to the mirage of a collectivist utopia. We need to understand this would deny and distort the constitutionally limited government we inherited. Ideologies start with a conception of mankind as made-up of interchangeable parts projects universally comprehensive answers and ends with enforced uniformity in society. In contrast America has facilitated diversity, individualism and a variety of life paths.
So, “Are we a Republic or a Democracy?” First of all, we need to understand these are not equivalent or interchangeable terms. Today both republic and democracy have become loaded with ideological baggage as in the Democratic Peoples Republic, or Social Democracy. To be specific: republic describes a form of government wherein representatives stand in place of others to deliberate, decide and lead. Democracy means from the people. But there is the third term that must be reckoned with if we’re to understand America: federal. Federal means a form of government in which a union of states recognizes a central authority while retaining certain residual powers of government. Putting this all together, the United States of America was designed to be a federation of states with a republican form of government chosen through a democratic process.
Those who declare we’re a democracy want majority rule while striving to build a majority of people dependent on the government tax, tax, tax, spend, spend, spend, elect, elect, elect. Those who say we’re a republic have problems with the direction taken by the representatives whose very existence proclaims this to be a republic. This is where the third word fully impacts the other two. The federal nature of the American experiment declares to all that this is an elected representative government of limited power and separated authority. We are not a centrally-planned unitary government based on mob-rule. If we will learn who we are perhaps then we will see clearly who we will be.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College and History for the American Public University System. http://drrobertowens.com © 2010 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net
Monday, April 12, 2010
Monday, April 5, 2010
Since Some Don’t Worry About the Constitution We Should
One of the greatest challenges in teaching History is to convey the uniqueness in its conception of something that through the passage of time has become an accepted part of everyday life. When something has been around longer than we have it’s hard to realize that it wasn’t always there. It takes a conscious effort to understand that yesterday wasn’t today only earlier and tomorrow won’t be today only later. The permanence of the now is an illusion which helps us walk as if the shifting sands of our lives are really the solid shore of the sea of time.
When Americans organize anything of importance they immediately write a construction. In most cases American organizations include a president, vice-president, and a legislative type board. From the classroom to the boardroom from Main Street to Wall Street this is just the way we do things. The idea that there needs to be a written constitution is assumed. And looking at our history this only makes sense. For hundreds of years and for generation after generation we have lived lives of peace, prosperity and power under the shade of the most remarkable secular document to have ever come from the hand of man, the Constitution of the United States.
The birth of our Constitution shines as an almost miraculous event in the story of mankind. From the beginning of time might had always made right. One strong arm after another elbowed their way to center stage. Once there eventually their descendants grown fat on the plunder of the helpless became in turn plunder for the next strong arm. Those who managed through the passage of time to become fixtures in their culture reigned as monarchs saying God gave them a divine right to continue plundering those under their sway conveniently forgetting it was the strong arm of their less noble ancestors that slaughtered their way to the top. They may have arrived in chariots, but they were chariots of steel not fire.
A few centuries before the founding of the English colonies in America the people of England began to put limits on their king. They used violence and economics to wrest the guarantees of some basic individual rights, the recognition that the king was not absolute, and that there were some checks upon his power. The Magna Charta, the Petition of Rights, and the Bill of Rights were snatched from the king’s chain-mailed fist. Through the passage of time they became the accepted rights of all Englishmen. And when our ancestors founded Virginia, the first among English colonies the charter granted by the king stated that those who came to the New World were granted all liberties, franchises and immunities as if they were abiding and born within England. The colonists believed this and acted accordingly. With loyalty to the King and Parliament they set about organizing the land. Local assemblies, republican in nature were democratically elected. And it was only when George III and his ministers seemed to have forgotten that the colonists had rights that Americans took up arms to secure those rights.
After the Revolution, when it came time to create a government the Framers turned to a written constitution. In the birth of nations this was something new. England does not have a written constitution. Ours was the first; a unique attempt to limit government in order to preserve liberty. Most constitutions in the world today model themselves after ours. And if their authors did not consciously model their written document after ours the very concept of a written constitution is of American origin.
This earth-shaking event has become mundane. This ground-breaking experience now seems so common it’s glossed over with the boring presentation of a high school history class, memorize some names and few dates, regurgitate it for a test and forget it. For the first time a people had founded a government of the people, by the people and for the people. And to ensure the tranquility and safety of the people they limited that government through the separation of power into three branches and the maintenance of a unique federal system of sovereign states united as one. This is the source and the summit of American greatness: the Constitution which established and maintained a limited government providing for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Using the ideals and moral standards of the present to interpret the past is known as Presentism. Using presentism as a lens, many citizens today believe the Constitution is a living document meant to be reinterpreted with each passing generation. Others echo the former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales point of view, “The Constitution is what the Supreme Court says it is.” Instead of changing the document through the established amendment process they believe they can change the document through court decisions, precedent and legislation.
Twenty-first century America has been called post-Christian, post-capitalist, and post-racial. I would suggest that if we continue on the path we’ve chosen the future may refer to twenty-first century America as post-constitutional. For if the leaders of the present can impose unconstitutional laws then we’ve ceased to have a government of laws and have instead a government of men. One Congressman summed up the arrogance of our leaders perfectly. When asked where in the Constitution he finds the authority to impose the burden of purchasing health care on the American people he answered, “I don’t worry about the Constitution.” Since he doesn’t we should.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College and History for the American Public University System. http://drrobertowens.com © 2010 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net
When Americans organize anything of importance they immediately write a construction. In most cases American organizations include a president, vice-president, and a legislative type board. From the classroom to the boardroom from Main Street to Wall Street this is just the way we do things. The idea that there needs to be a written constitution is assumed. And looking at our history this only makes sense. For hundreds of years and for generation after generation we have lived lives of peace, prosperity and power under the shade of the most remarkable secular document to have ever come from the hand of man, the Constitution of the United States.
The birth of our Constitution shines as an almost miraculous event in the story of mankind. From the beginning of time might had always made right. One strong arm after another elbowed their way to center stage. Once there eventually their descendants grown fat on the plunder of the helpless became in turn plunder for the next strong arm. Those who managed through the passage of time to become fixtures in their culture reigned as monarchs saying God gave them a divine right to continue plundering those under their sway conveniently forgetting it was the strong arm of their less noble ancestors that slaughtered their way to the top. They may have arrived in chariots, but they were chariots of steel not fire.
A few centuries before the founding of the English colonies in America the people of England began to put limits on their king. They used violence and economics to wrest the guarantees of some basic individual rights, the recognition that the king was not absolute, and that there were some checks upon his power. The Magna Charta, the Petition of Rights, and the Bill of Rights were snatched from the king’s chain-mailed fist. Through the passage of time they became the accepted rights of all Englishmen. And when our ancestors founded Virginia, the first among English colonies the charter granted by the king stated that those who came to the New World were granted all liberties, franchises and immunities as if they were abiding and born within England. The colonists believed this and acted accordingly. With loyalty to the King and Parliament they set about organizing the land. Local assemblies, republican in nature were democratically elected. And it was only when George III and his ministers seemed to have forgotten that the colonists had rights that Americans took up arms to secure those rights.
After the Revolution, when it came time to create a government the Framers turned to a written constitution. In the birth of nations this was something new. England does not have a written constitution. Ours was the first; a unique attempt to limit government in order to preserve liberty. Most constitutions in the world today model themselves after ours. And if their authors did not consciously model their written document after ours the very concept of a written constitution is of American origin.
This earth-shaking event has become mundane. This ground-breaking experience now seems so common it’s glossed over with the boring presentation of a high school history class, memorize some names and few dates, regurgitate it for a test and forget it. For the first time a people had founded a government of the people, by the people and for the people. And to ensure the tranquility and safety of the people they limited that government through the separation of power into three branches and the maintenance of a unique federal system of sovereign states united as one. This is the source and the summit of American greatness: the Constitution which established and maintained a limited government providing for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Using the ideals and moral standards of the present to interpret the past is known as Presentism. Using presentism as a lens, many citizens today believe the Constitution is a living document meant to be reinterpreted with each passing generation. Others echo the former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales point of view, “The Constitution is what the Supreme Court says it is.” Instead of changing the document through the established amendment process they believe they can change the document through court decisions, precedent and legislation.
Twenty-first century America has been called post-Christian, post-capitalist, and post-racial. I would suggest that if we continue on the path we’ve chosen the future may refer to twenty-first century America as post-constitutional. For if the leaders of the present can impose unconstitutional laws then we’ve ceased to have a government of laws and have instead a government of men. One Congressman summed up the arrogance of our leaders perfectly. When asked where in the Constitution he finds the authority to impose the burden of purchasing health care on the American people he answered, “I don’t worry about the Constitution.” Since he doesn’t we should.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College and History for the American Public University System. http://drrobertowens.com © 2010 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net
Monday, March 29, 2010
We Can Learn What We Don't Know
If the price of freedom is eternal vigilance we deserve what we have since we took our eyes off the ball to watch the game. As economically our once strong Republic veers from Universal Empire to quasi-colony of China, as the Alinsky trained radicals from the 1960s and their second-generation clone army guide America to Amerika, from freedom to serfdom so many of the sheeple are still asleep. The alarm bells are ringing, but the cracks in the fabric of our nation have muted the sound as the crack has silenced the Liberty Bell.
There’s nothing more interesting than speaking to people across our land following the big Democrat win in the Congressional version of March Madness. The opinions, emotions, fears and gloating are a wonder to behold. In these days of change, hope still burns eternal in the hearts of Patriots grimly facing the prospect of America becoming a European-style social democracy so that some of us can finally be proud of our country. Fear for the fate of their children and grandchildren is in the hearts, eyes, and voices of the newly awakened as they imagine the shabby future we face in a de-industrialized debtor nation. They see the constantly expanding debt and they know eventually someone will have to pay the tab. And they know it won’t be the professional politicians and community organizers who flushed trillions down the rat-hole. Instead it’ll be the previously comatose populace and their unsuspecting children. Gloating like a fat cat left alone with a Christmas turkey, Progressives are crowing because they can finally pull their red flags out of the closet to match their Che Guevara tee-shirts as they take a victory lap around the White House.
The art of magic is all about getting us to watch the left hand while the right hand produces the quarter from behind our ear. It was telling when in the midst of his first real interview with real questions since O’Reilly President Obama kept pushing his hand in Bret Baier’s face and telling him don’t be concerned with the process, don’t ask about the process. Smoke and mirrors have become the hallmark of the Obama administration. Look at the Democrat re-election slush-fund Stimulus bill. Have a nation-wide debate about spending hundreds of billions while the Fed pumps out trillions without any fanfare whatsoever. The media enhanced dialog heats up and flares over imposing nationalized medicine without realizing we’ve shape-shifted from E Pluribus Unum Latin for "Out of Many, One," to Ex Uno, Plures “Out of One, Many” as America splinters into shouting crowds and oblivious leaders.
Progressives always want to be judged by their intentions never by the outcomes of their actions. Foisting a war on poverty on a country which has fostered more upward mobility than every other nation in the world combined and forty years and trillions of dollars later we have more poverty than when we started, but they meant well. They’ve opened our borders until we’re awash in illegal immigrants then they act as if natural and naturalized citizens are racists for not wanting to pick up the tab and give away the vote too. The Progressives have successfully changed the melting-pot into a smelting pot as America fractures into ethno-tribal factions poised to tear each other apart, but they meant well. They’ve embraced free trade and giving most favored nation status to countries with populations willing to work at a fraction of the American scale. Causing industry to flood out as cheap goods flood in, changing us from the Arsenal of Democracy into a source of raw materials and credit card wielding consumers, our economy is shattered, but they meant well. Bowing to kings and emperors, embracing dictators and shunning allies mired in endless wars with phantom tribesmen our prestige and power fades, but they meant well.
Mistakes of this magnitude do not happen innocently. It’s time to rip the mask from these defilers of constitutionally limited government and expose them for the charlatans and hucksters they are. For as long as the Progressives and their corrosive influence have sought to bring the blight of socialism to our shores they’ve hidden behind their supposedly pure motives. They only want to help the poor. They only want to make a level playing field. They only want to heal the sick, soothe the dying and give everyone everything leaving the check on the table for the producers to pay. It’s time for anyone who’s interested in knowing what this is all about to educate themselves. Generations of Progressives have burrowed their way into our education system changing it into an indoctrination system. The stale, boring and flat history force fed to us as helpless cogs in the public school systems left out all the good stuff. Read Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg, New Deal or Raw Deal by Burton W. Folsom Jr., Arguing with Idiots by Glenn Beck and any of the eye-opening books by Pat Buchanan. Now look at the bibliographies in those books and read the books they’ve cited.
Find out who these Progressives really are. Learn what their goals have always been and the smoke and mirrors will lose their power to blind and the way will become clear. We cannot let the emotions of the battle cloud the thoughts of our minds. There’s a way home, but first we must understand how we got here before we can know how to return there. Keep the faith. Keep the peace. We shall overcome.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College and History for the American Public University System. http://drrobertowens.com © 2010 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net
There’s nothing more interesting than speaking to people across our land following the big Democrat win in the Congressional version of March Madness. The opinions, emotions, fears and gloating are a wonder to behold. In these days of change, hope still burns eternal in the hearts of Patriots grimly facing the prospect of America becoming a European-style social democracy so that some of us can finally be proud of our country. Fear for the fate of their children and grandchildren is in the hearts, eyes, and voices of the newly awakened as they imagine the shabby future we face in a de-industrialized debtor nation. They see the constantly expanding debt and they know eventually someone will have to pay the tab. And they know it won’t be the professional politicians and community organizers who flushed trillions down the rat-hole. Instead it’ll be the previously comatose populace and their unsuspecting children. Gloating like a fat cat left alone with a Christmas turkey, Progressives are crowing because they can finally pull their red flags out of the closet to match their Che Guevara tee-shirts as they take a victory lap around the White House.
The art of magic is all about getting us to watch the left hand while the right hand produces the quarter from behind our ear. It was telling when in the midst of his first real interview with real questions since O’Reilly President Obama kept pushing his hand in Bret Baier’s face and telling him don’t be concerned with the process, don’t ask about the process. Smoke and mirrors have become the hallmark of the Obama administration. Look at the Democrat re-election slush-fund Stimulus bill. Have a nation-wide debate about spending hundreds of billions while the Fed pumps out trillions without any fanfare whatsoever. The media enhanced dialog heats up and flares over imposing nationalized medicine without realizing we’ve shape-shifted from E Pluribus Unum Latin for "Out of Many, One," to Ex Uno, Plures “Out of One, Many” as America splinters into shouting crowds and oblivious leaders.
Progressives always want to be judged by their intentions never by the outcomes of their actions. Foisting a war on poverty on a country which has fostered more upward mobility than every other nation in the world combined and forty years and trillions of dollars later we have more poverty than when we started, but they meant well. They’ve opened our borders until we’re awash in illegal immigrants then they act as if natural and naturalized citizens are racists for not wanting to pick up the tab and give away the vote too. The Progressives have successfully changed the melting-pot into a smelting pot as America fractures into ethno-tribal factions poised to tear each other apart, but they meant well. They’ve embraced free trade and giving most favored nation status to countries with populations willing to work at a fraction of the American scale. Causing industry to flood out as cheap goods flood in, changing us from the Arsenal of Democracy into a source of raw materials and credit card wielding consumers, our economy is shattered, but they meant well. Bowing to kings and emperors, embracing dictators and shunning allies mired in endless wars with phantom tribesmen our prestige and power fades, but they meant well.
Mistakes of this magnitude do not happen innocently. It’s time to rip the mask from these defilers of constitutionally limited government and expose them for the charlatans and hucksters they are. For as long as the Progressives and their corrosive influence have sought to bring the blight of socialism to our shores they’ve hidden behind their supposedly pure motives. They only want to help the poor. They only want to make a level playing field. They only want to heal the sick, soothe the dying and give everyone everything leaving the check on the table for the producers to pay. It’s time for anyone who’s interested in knowing what this is all about to educate themselves. Generations of Progressives have burrowed their way into our education system changing it into an indoctrination system. The stale, boring and flat history force fed to us as helpless cogs in the public school systems left out all the good stuff. Read Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg, New Deal or Raw Deal by Burton W. Folsom Jr., Arguing with Idiots by Glenn Beck and any of the eye-opening books by Pat Buchanan. Now look at the bibliographies in those books and read the books they’ve cited.
Find out who these Progressives really are. Learn what their goals have always been and the smoke and mirrors will lose their power to blind and the way will become clear. We cannot let the emotions of the battle cloud the thoughts of our minds. There’s a way home, but first we must understand how we got here before we can know how to return there. Keep the faith. Keep the peace. We shall overcome.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College and History for the American Public University System. http://drrobertowens.com © 2010 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net
Monday, March 22, 2010
The Arrogance of Power
Americans have dealt with the arrogance of power before. From 1756 through 1763 a world war ravaged the globe from India to Europe and from the farthest reaches of the Pacific Ocean to the deepest woods of Ohio. England and France fought to see who would become the greatest colonial power.
For seven years, battles raged throughout the Colonies as the French and their Indian allies pushed the Americans back across the Allegheny Mountains and sought to over-run the fertile area from the mountains to the coast which held the majority of English settlements. After many massacres and defeats the American Militias, with a core of British officers and supplies, were able to not only repulse the enemy but follow them home to Canada. Known as the French and Indian War in America and as the Seven Years War in Europe when the final treaties were signed in 1763, with the lone exception of Florida, England became the master of North America east of the Mississippi.
After the war the politicians in England had to deal with massive debt. They also had a restive public tired of shouldering the burdens of war. The politicians knew raising taxes at home might lead to political problems so they turned to the colonies as a source of plunder where the victims didn’t get a vote. They justified their actions saying England had paid to defend the colonists and now the maturing colonies should pay their own way. The colonists however, felt that with the French gone there was no one to defend them from. They also knew the taxes were bailing out the politicians without angering their voters thus birthing the classic rebel yell, “No taxation without representation!” When the taxes were ignored the British sent troops to enforce their will.
This explosive situation soon met the sparks which set it ablaze. As pamphleteers and patriots railed against the suppression of liberty ham-fisted British officers stumbled into debacles such as the Boston Massacre. The blood of Americans mingled with their economic self-interest and independent nature as the Boston Tea Party, Concord and Lexington led to war. The Declaration of Independence, eight years of war combined with French allies and the American Republic stood independent before the nations of the world. In a time of kings and landed aristocracy this was a bold experiment in freedom and opportunity birthed in a violent reaction to the arrogance of power.
In 1812, a mere two decades after the birth of our nation the arrogance of power evoked another strong reaction from America. The Napoleonic Wars once again pitted England against a newly resurgent France ripping Europe apart. As the wars dragged on England was in desperate need of trained seaman to maintain the navy, which would eventually strangle France. Using the excuse of their blockade they stopped neutral merchantmen on the high seas. Using brute force they kidnapped sailors they said were deserters forcing them to serve in the British navy for the duration of the wars. Many of these men were native born Americans who would never come home again.
When we could bare the insult to our independence and the interference with our commerce no more, we declared war on the super power of the day. Like David against Goliath America with almost no Navy fought against the largest Navy the world had ever seen. With a rag-tag gaggle of militias led by a sprinkling of trained officers we stood toe-to-toe with the best trained and equipped army in the world. They sunk our ships. They invaded our land. They burned our capital. Yet in the end we handed them the worst defeat their arms had suffered in a thousand years at the Battle of New Orleans. Andrew Jackson leading militias from as far away as Kentucky joined a hastily gathered force of irregulars and beat the best England had to offer. Again America stood up to the arrogance of power.
When Mexico, which was considered the greatest military power in the New World, disputed the Texas border we challenged the arrogance of their dictator Santa Anna and won the Southwest. When the German Empire declared unrestricted submarine warfare against our merchant fleet and tried to incite Mexico to stab a knife in our back America stood against the arrogance of power. When the Japanese Empire struck like a thief in the night and Hitler sought to build a thousand year Reich we stood against the arrogance of power. When the Communist slave masters of the Soviet Union sought to subjugate the world we stood against the arrogance of power.
In America today our own government as caricatured by the Democrat Party of Barak Obama, Nancy Peolosi and Harry Reid has decided they know best. Even though the vast majority of Americans said loudly, “We don’t want what you’re selling!” they’re forcing a socialized, collectivist agenda down our throats. With the only bi-partisan feature of their cradle-to-grave nanny state being the opposition of both Republicans and Democrats they’ve succeeded in gaining a legislative victory. But Americans know how to stand against the arrogance of power. Now is the time for all lovers of liberty to rally around the Constitution and the limited form of government it guarantees. Without violence, within the traditions of our great Republic, we must stand together or we’ll all hang separately. Read the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Look to American History. Educate yourself in what this country was founded to be. Look into the eyes of these totalitarian wannabees and say all together now, “NO!” to the arrogance of power. Keep the peace. Keep the faith. We shall overcome.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College and History for the American Public University System. http://drrobertowens.com © 2010 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net
For seven years, battles raged throughout the Colonies as the French and their Indian allies pushed the Americans back across the Allegheny Mountains and sought to over-run the fertile area from the mountains to the coast which held the majority of English settlements. After many massacres and defeats the American Militias, with a core of British officers and supplies, were able to not only repulse the enemy but follow them home to Canada. Known as the French and Indian War in America and as the Seven Years War in Europe when the final treaties were signed in 1763, with the lone exception of Florida, England became the master of North America east of the Mississippi.
After the war the politicians in England had to deal with massive debt. They also had a restive public tired of shouldering the burdens of war. The politicians knew raising taxes at home might lead to political problems so they turned to the colonies as a source of plunder where the victims didn’t get a vote. They justified their actions saying England had paid to defend the colonists and now the maturing colonies should pay their own way. The colonists however, felt that with the French gone there was no one to defend them from. They also knew the taxes were bailing out the politicians without angering their voters thus birthing the classic rebel yell, “No taxation without representation!” When the taxes were ignored the British sent troops to enforce their will.
This explosive situation soon met the sparks which set it ablaze. As pamphleteers and patriots railed against the suppression of liberty ham-fisted British officers stumbled into debacles such as the Boston Massacre. The blood of Americans mingled with their economic self-interest and independent nature as the Boston Tea Party, Concord and Lexington led to war. The Declaration of Independence, eight years of war combined with French allies and the American Republic stood independent before the nations of the world. In a time of kings and landed aristocracy this was a bold experiment in freedom and opportunity birthed in a violent reaction to the arrogance of power.
In 1812, a mere two decades after the birth of our nation the arrogance of power evoked another strong reaction from America. The Napoleonic Wars once again pitted England against a newly resurgent France ripping Europe apart. As the wars dragged on England was in desperate need of trained seaman to maintain the navy, which would eventually strangle France. Using the excuse of their blockade they stopped neutral merchantmen on the high seas. Using brute force they kidnapped sailors they said were deserters forcing them to serve in the British navy for the duration of the wars. Many of these men were native born Americans who would never come home again.
When we could bare the insult to our independence and the interference with our commerce no more, we declared war on the super power of the day. Like David against Goliath America with almost no Navy fought against the largest Navy the world had ever seen. With a rag-tag gaggle of militias led by a sprinkling of trained officers we stood toe-to-toe with the best trained and equipped army in the world. They sunk our ships. They invaded our land. They burned our capital. Yet in the end we handed them the worst defeat their arms had suffered in a thousand years at the Battle of New Orleans. Andrew Jackson leading militias from as far away as Kentucky joined a hastily gathered force of irregulars and beat the best England had to offer. Again America stood up to the arrogance of power.
When Mexico, which was considered the greatest military power in the New World, disputed the Texas border we challenged the arrogance of their dictator Santa Anna and won the Southwest. When the German Empire declared unrestricted submarine warfare against our merchant fleet and tried to incite Mexico to stab a knife in our back America stood against the arrogance of power. When the Japanese Empire struck like a thief in the night and Hitler sought to build a thousand year Reich we stood against the arrogance of power. When the Communist slave masters of the Soviet Union sought to subjugate the world we stood against the arrogance of power.
In America today our own government as caricatured by the Democrat Party of Barak Obama, Nancy Peolosi and Harry Reid has decided they know best. Even though the vast majority of Americans said loudly, “We don’t want what you’re selling!” they’re forcing a socialized, collectivist agenda down our throats. With the only bi-partisan feature of their cradle-to-grave nanny state being the opposition of both Republicans and Democrats they’ve succeeded in gaining a legislative victory. But Americans know how to stand against the arrogance of power. Now is the time for all lovers of liberty to rally around the Constitution and the limited form of government it guarantees. Without violence, within the traditions of our great Republic, we must stand together or we’ll all hang separately. Read the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Look to American History. Educate yourself in what this country was founded to be. Look into the eyes of these totalitarian wannabees and say all together now, “NO!” to the arrogance of power. Keep the peace. Keep the faith. We shall overcome.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College and History for the American Public University System. http://drrobertowens.com © 2010 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net
Monday, March 15, 2010
Return of the Swamp Creature
When the San Francisco über liberal Nancy Pelosi became the Speaker of the House she said she was going to drain the swamp of political corruption they claimed were created by 12 years of Republican control of Congress. Instead of draining anything Speaker Pelosi and her ham-fisted cohorts have brought slime time to prime time as they wallow in what they came to drain.
Representative Charles Rangel who’s been in charge of writing tax policies for the Democratic Congress couldn’t seem to pay his own taxes or even report millions of dollars of income. This of course is everyone else’s fault. He has been forced to resign as chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee. Then there’s the curious case of the Democrat Representative from New York who eagerly resigned rather than face an ethics investigation and then imploded on national television. Now the question turns to what did the Speaker know and when did she know it. Allegations have surfaced that her office was informed last year about Congressman Massa’s tickle parties and Greco-Roman wrestling matches with male staffers but did not inform the ethics committee.
And the rot goes all the way to the top. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), the top Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee charges the Obama administration may have broken the law by offering Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) a job if he wouldn’t challenge Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) in a primary. Rep. Sestak admits the administration offered him a high-ranking government job if he’d stay out of the race. Rep. Sestak made the accusation twice on national television. Democrats seem determined to prove Lord Acton’s famous quote, "All power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely."
Where will this cavalcade of corruption lead? Detroit is a picture of America’s future. After decades of control by Progressive Democrats what was once one of the greatest manufacturing cities in the world has degenerated to the point where banks are paying people to take abandoned houses and the best idea they have is to downsize the city by converting empty lots into farmland. With a 75% dropout rate in their schools and yes, Virginia, blatant corruption and low morals in high places, a collapsing economy and massive social dislocation Detroit is a vision for the shabby world Progressivism creates.
When Detroiters lined up to collect what they called Obama Money they couldn’t tell interviewers where the money they were waiting to receive came from all they knew was it was free, and someone was handing it out. This is where Nancy and her ethically challenged followers are leading America, a world where some people are bilked so others can receive freebees that never raise them out of poverty but instead encase them in it.
Is this shabby future inevitable? Is there any chance of avoiding the toxic embrace of this corrupt Swamp Creature? One more free election, one without the heavily Democrat illegal immigrant and convicted felon population voting and without His Honor Mayor Daley and Acorn counting the votes and we’ll see America hand the Pelosi-Reid super majority their hat and show them the door. That will be the greatest victory for America since Saratoga and Yorktown. But what about the dreaded ever-living spawn of the Swamp Thing?
The damage that can be done before we show this crowd of Progressives to the back benches may hang on like a summer cold. Health Care Reform with thousands of pages of governmentese double-speak has the potential to become the pile of paper that devoured a nation. No entitlement once established has ever been repealed, and since we aren’t allowed to know what’s in it until it passes who knows what anti-freedom anti-liberty provisions it will foist on us. Cap-N-Tax cobbled together with various bits of legislation, executive orders and bureaucratic regulation may lurch off the table and start pushing us towards seven dollar a gallon gas and the dislocations this would bring all in the name of discredited Al and his band of unethical cheating scientists. Millions of acres of potentially rich energy producing land may be seized and forever locked in the Fed’s clinging claw while NASA is slated to become the eye-in-the-sky for the man-made Global Warming fanatics. There’s the international apology tours and We Are the World/Workers of the World Unite silliness that are daily depreciating the American brand. And the hockey stick curve that represents our national debt will weigh down generations of Americans.
The damage the Obama-Pelosi-Reid triumvirate causes before we drain their swamp will hang like a mill stone around the neck of our nation. It will take more than a stake of holly or a silver bullet to bring these Progressive policies down. It will take a populace educated in the founding documents of our Republic. A people determined to re-establish the last best hope of mankind. A people dedicated to resuscitating a nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. It will take citizens resolved that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College and History for the American Public University System. http://drrobertowens.com © 2010 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net
Representative Charles Rangel who’s been in charge of writing tax policies for the Democratic Congress couldn’t seem to pay his own taxes or even report millions of dollars of income. This of course is everyone else’s fault. He has been forced to resign as chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee. Then there’s the curious case of the Democrat Representative from New York who eagerly resigned rather than face an ethics investigation and then imploded on national television. Now the question turns to what did the Speaker know and when did she know it. Allegations have surfaced that her office was informed last year about Congressman Massa’s tickle parties and Greco-Roman wrestling matches with male staffers but did not inform the ethics committee.
And the rot goes all the way to the top. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), the top Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee charges the Obama administration may have broken the law by offering Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) a job if he wouldn’t challenge Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) in a primary. Rep. Sestak admits the administration offered him a high-ranking government job if he’d stay out of the race. Rep. Sestak made the accusation twice on national television. Democrats seem determined to prove Lord Acton’s famous quote, "All power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely."
Where will this cavalcade of corruption lead? Detroit is a picture of America’s future. After decades of control by Progressive Democrats what was once one of the greatest manufacturing cities in the world has degenerated to the point where banks are paying people to take abandoned houses and the best idea they have is to downsize the city by converting empty lots into farmland. With a 75% dropout rate in their schools and yes, Virginia, blatant corruption and low morals in high places, a collapsing economy and massive social dislocation Detroit is a vision for the shabby world Progressivism creates.
When Detroiters lined up to collect what they called Obama Money they couldn’t tell interviewers where the money they were waiting to receive came from all they knew was it was free, and someone was handing it out. This is where Nancy and her ethically challenged followers are leading America, a world where some people are bilked so others can receive freebees that never raise them out of poverty but instead encase them in it.
Is this shabby future inevitable? Is there any chance of avoiding the toxic embrace of this corrupt Swamp Creature? One more free election, one without the heavily Democrat illegal immigrant and convicted felon population voting and without His Honor Mayor Daley and Acorn counting the votes and we’ll see America hand the Pelosi-Reid super majority their hat and show them the door. That will be the greatest victory for America since Saratoga and Yorktown. But what about the dreaded ever-living spawn of the Swamp Thing?
The damage that can be done before we show this crowd of Progressives to the back benches may hang on like a summer cold. Health Care Reform with thousands of pages of governmentese double-speak has the potential to become the pile of paper that devoured a nation. No entitlement once established has ever been repealed, and since we aren’t allowed to know what’s in it until it passes who knows what anti-freedom anti-liberty provisions it will foist on us. Cap-N-Tax cobbled together with various bits of legislation, executive orders and bureaucratic regulation may lurch off the table and start pushing us towards seven dollar a gallon gas and the dislocations this would bring all in the name of discredited Al and his band of unethical cheating scientists. Millions of acres of potentially rich energy producing land may be seized and forever locked in the Fed’s clinging claw while NASA is slated to become the eye-in-the-sky for the man-made Global Warming fanatics. There’s the international apology tours and We Are the World/Workers of the World Unite silliness that are daily depreciating the American brand. And the hockey stick curve that represents our national debt will weigh down generations of Americans.
The damage the Obama-Pelosi-Reid triumvirate causes before we drain their swamp will hang like a mill stone around the neck of our nation. It will take more than a stake of holly or a silver bullet to bring these Progressive policies down. It will take a populace educated in the founding documents of our Republic. A people determined to re-establish the last best hope of mankind. A people dedicated to resuscitating a nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. It will take citizens resolved that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College and History for the American Public University System. http://drrobertowens.com © 2010 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net
Monday, March 1, 2010
Why This When We Want That?
Now that the Health Care Summit is over could we have a Jobs Summit or an Economy Summit? And what a Health Summit it was. When Mitch McConnell the leader of the Senate Republicans pointed out a two for one disparity between the time given to the Democrats and the Republicans Mr. Obama explained, “I don’t count my time because I’m the President.” Senator McCain criticized the current democrat bills for backroom pay-offs and unsavory deals. President Obama quipped this was no time for campaigning since “The elections over.” Representative Cantor, the Republican Whip complained of the excessive length of the health care bills. The President told him displaying the massive bills was merely using them as a prop. Such dismissive mockery doesn’t build agreement.
With the health care process finally out of the backrooms and on TV what did we see? Were we treated to hours of soaring oratory hype proclaims the best in a generation or were we bored to tears? After a few minutes of the President’s lengthy introduction it was painfully obvious that off his teleprompter the Moderator-in-Chief has a hard time framing a complete sentence or expressing a thought. There were more ums and ahs then in a freshman speech class.
Our Professor-in-Chief lectures us daily proving he and his teleprompter may be the greatest orator since Reagan but he’s a poor communicator. How can anyone give hundreds of speeches over a year and then say the reason no one supports his program is because he hasn’t made it clear enough for us to understand. Either he’s saying he can’t communicate or he’s saying we’re too dumb. Maybe instead of thousand page bills he could give us an outline or a PowerPoint? Perhaps it’s time the professor hears what the people are singing, “Hey Teacher, leave those kids alone!”
The vast majority of people want to keep the insurance coverage they have. Sure it would be great to provide insurance for those who don’t have any but if that’s the goal for much less than any of the trillion dollar projections for the nationalization of our health care system we could buy Cadillac plans for every person who needs it. So what’s the point? Why wreck what 84.6% of the people have to insure the other 15.4%? Buy them the insurance. Leave the rest of us alone!
The State of the Union Speech told us our esteemed leader was pivoting away from the health care paradox to focus on reviving our flagging economy. Instead we see the President compulsively fixed on taking-over America’s health care system. The question is why? Once the Feds take over health care besides directly controlling up to 18% of the economy it will also give the vast new army of wellness bureaucrats who will follow the power to interfere in the most intimate and personal aspects of our lives. What we eat, how we exercise, how we drive, what light bulbs we use and where we can smoke all will become health care issues as America slithers towards totalitarianism, which is the total control of a population by their government.
People bought into the vision of “I’m Not Bush” standing between Styrofoam pillars spouting platitudes and avoiding specifics in the midst of an economic meltdown caused by lobbyist advanced cronies and casino capitalism. George II’s answer to his pals sinking the economy with government forced bad loans and toxic derivatives was bail out the perpetrators with tax money from the victims. And what does Hope and Change do? Double down with a pork-filled stimulus boondoggle that’s essentially a slush fund to re-elect Democrats in 2010. Now as an anemic recovery lurches towards a double-dip instead of doing anything anyone believes would actually help he’s banging the health care drum like a political rain man reciting what the weather was like on November 8, 2008.
Is it credible to believe that a team of political operatives who cut their teeth in the swamps of Chicago, who had the finesse to sell an empty suit with smoke and mirrors can’t hear hundreds of millions of Americans shouting, “We don’t want this we want that!” This makes no sense. How do political savants turn into tone-deaf conductors, colorblind painters and tangle-foot dancers overnight? Mistakes of this magnitude do not occur innocently. Almost every political pundit in the nation is endlessly chattering that the Democrats are following the President like lemmings off a midterm cliff and yet the White House organization is focused like a laser on nationalizing health care. Leave it alone! Move on. Allow freedom to fix economy before unsustainable debt sinks the ship of state.
Americans want the economy fixed. This isn’t rocket science. Economic geniuses such as Hayek and Friedman and political leaders such as Coolidge and Reagan charted the course years ago. Fixing the economy is simple: cut taxes, cut the strangulation of regulation and get out of the way. Europe is sinking under the weight of its version of socialism and if we make America the haven of freedom capital and talent will flock to our shores. If we don’t all that capital and talent may well flock to the rising colossus of the East. Forget the health care take over, the photo-ops and endless speeches we don’t want this we want that.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College and History for the American Public University System. http://drrobertowens.com © 2010 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net
With the health care process finally out of the backrooms and on TV what did we see? Were we treated to hours of soaring oratory hype proclaims the best in a generation or were we bored to tears? After a few minutes of the President’s lengthy introduction it was painfully obvious that off his teleprompter the Moderator-in-Chief has a hard time framing a complete sentence or expressing a thought. There were more ums and ahs then in a freshman speech class.
Our Professor-in-Chief lectures us daily proving he and his teleprompter may be the greatest orator since Reagan but he’s a poor communicator. How can anyone give hundreds of speeches over a year and then say the reason no one supports his program is because he hasn’t made it clear enough for us to understand. Either he’s saying he can’t communicate or he’s saying we’re too dumb. Maybe instead of thousand page bills he could give us an outline or a PowerPoint? Perhaps it’s time the professor hears what the people are singing, “Hey Teacher, leave those kids alone!”
The vast majority of people want to keep the insurance coverage they have. Sure it would be great to provide insurance for those who don’t have any but if that’s the goal for much less than any of the trillion dollar projections for the nationalization of our health care system we could buy Cadillac plans for every person who needs it. So what’s the point? Why wreck what 84.6% of the people have to insure the other 15.4%? Buy them the insurance. Leave the rest of us alone!
The State of the Union Speech told us our esteemed leader was pivoting away from the health care paradox to focus on reviving our flagging economy. Instead we see the President compulsively fixed on taking-over America’s health care system. The question is why? Once the Feds take over health care besides directly controlling up to 18% of the economy it will also give the vast new army of wellness bureaucrats who will follow the power to interfere in the most intimate and personal aspects of our lives. What we eat, how we exercise, how we drive, what light bulbs we use and where we can smoke all will become health care issues as America slithers towards totalitarianism, which is the total control of a population by their government.
People bought into the vision of “I’m Not Bush” standing between Styrofoam pillars spouting platitudes and avoiding specifics in the midst of an economic meltdown caused by lobbyist advanced cronies and casino capitalism. George II’s answer to his pals sinking the economy with government forced bad loans and toxic derivatives was bail out the perpetrators with tax money from the victims. And what does Hope and Change do? Double down with a pork-filled stimulus boondoggle that’s essentially a slush fund to re-elect Democrats in 2010. Now as an anemic recovery lurches towards a double-dip instead of doing anything anyone believes would actually help he’s banging the health care drum like a political rain man reciting what the weather was like on November 8, 2008.
Is it credible to believe that a team of political operatives who cut their teeth in the swamps of Chicago, who had the finesse to sell an empty suit with smoke and mirrors can’t hear hundreds of millions of Americans shouting, “We don’t want this we want that!” This makes no sense. How do political savants turn into tone-deaf conductors, colorblind painters and tangle-foot dancers overnight? Mistakes of this magnitude do not occur innocently. Almost every political pundit in the nation is endlessly chattering that the Democrats are following the President like lemmings off a midterm cliff and yet the White House organization is focused like a laser on nationalizing health care. Leave it alone! Move on. Allow freedom to fix economy before unsustainable debt sinks the ship of state.
Americans want the economy fixed. This isn’t rocket science. Economic geniuses such as Hayek and Friedman and political leaders such as Coolidge and Reagan charted the course years ago. Fixing the economy is simple: cut taxes, cut the strangulation of regulation and get out of the way. Europe is sinking under the weight of its version of socialism and if we make America the haven of freedom capital and talent will flock to our shores. If we don’t all that capital and talent may well flock to the rising colossus of the East. Forget the health care take over, the photo-ops and endless speeches we don’t want this we want that.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College and History for the American Public University System. http://drrobertowens.com © 2010 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net
Monday, February 1, 2010
Did He Really Say What He Said
Where to start? After a sSate-of-the-Union speech ranking among the longest in the last 45 years what was said? Stay the course in other words. Blame Bush, the banks, and Congress for any failures while taking credit for any success, scold the Supreme Court and lecture the rest of us. If we aren’t smart enough to understand his brilliant plans he’ll just have to lecture us again. He’s getting so repetitious I’m looking for my Headon so I can apply it directly to where it hurts.
While patting himself on the back and pointing his finger at the rest of us there was soiled rag on the laundry-list that sounded more like a line from a Jay Leno monologue then anything a serious leader would say, seriously.
Even a room full of political hacks couldn’t help laughing when President Obama banged the gong one more time for the Cap-N-Trade boondoggle. When he tossed out a one-liner worthy of Conan O’Brien or Dennis Miller, “For those who have yet to believe the overwhelming scientific evidence that exists on climate change” even those who can call themselves servants of the people with a straight face couldn’t help chuckling. The funny thing is he isn’t trying to be funny.
Man-made global warming is a confusion at best, a mistake at least, and a scam for sure. The discredited Progressives use it as a cover for the advancement of their collectivist agenda. They know trying to convince people to surrender their freedom just so they can be pampered commissars or tenured Congressmen would fail so they either tug at your heartstrings or fog your thinking. While most of their redistributive class warfare schemes fit into the first category man-made global warming fits into the second. Common knowledge and common sense refutes this flimflam. However, some want a juicy exposé to expose this nightmare to the light of day. Here are some tidbits gleaned from articles appearing daily revealing the threadbare support for this movement made of whole-cloth.
The scientists in the eye of the Climategate email storm broke the law when they refused to reveal the data. However, those who sought to distort the truth will escape prosecution due to the statute of limitations. This scandal has been growing since last November when it was revealed long hidden emails show researchers discussing how to manipulate historical temperature data while at the same time refusing requests under the Freedom of Information Act.
Now there’s Glaciergate. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was forced to apologize for claiming Himalayan glaciers could disappear within 25 years. They are also accused it of exaggerating risks from tropical storms, hurricanes as well as the destruction of the rain forest. This could be summed up as “If their lips are moving they’re lying.”
Why weren’t these hysterical claims discovered by any of the 3,000 scientists contributing to the IPCC report? The use of falsified data was no secret. Rajendra Pachauri, the chairman of the number one climate change watchdog knew that claims about melting Himalayan glaciers were based upon fictitious studies before the Copenhagen summit. The watchdog just forgot to bark and the IPCC’s bogus report served as one of the major justifications for draconian cuts in global emissions mandated by the Copenhagen Treaty. This is the report for which Al Gore (who also claims to have invented the Internet) won the Nobel Peace Prize. However given that he won an Oscar for his docufiction An Inconvenient Truth maybe there should be a recall of multiple models in this case too?
As a final slap shot into the net of reality, the famous (or infamous) “Hockey Stick Curve” which is the basis for so much of the man-made global warming frenzy has been shown to be another fraud. According to McIntyre and McKitrick in Energy and Environment the data upon which this inaccurate study is based contains “collation errors, unjustifiable truncation or extrapolation of source data, obsolete data, geographical location errors, incorrect calculation of principal components and other quality control defects.” The list of proponents of man-made global warming reads like a who’s who of America bashers. Recently Osama Bin Laden announced his support for man-made global warming. At least the kook in the cave is honest enough to use the issue as a direct attack on America.
The speech may be over but the con goes on. Keep your eye on the coin as the shills move the shells around. With the world shivering in the grip of the worst winter in decades man-made global warming becomes climate change. When will all the revelations of lies and fraud on the part of the climate grifters expose this for the power grab it is? Maybe when hell freezes over?
Reflecting on the President’s first State of the Union Speech perhaps the best thing president Obama could say would be to quote the great American philosopher Yogi Berra, “I didn’t really say all the things I said.”
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College and History for the American Public University System. http://drrobertowens.com © 2009 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net
While patting himself on the back and pointing his finger at the rest of us there was soiled rag on the laundry-list that sounded more like a line from a Jay Leno monologue then anything a serious leader would say, seriously.
Even a room full of political hacks couldn’t help laughing when President Obama banged the gong one more time for the Cap-N-Trade boondoggle. When he tossed out a one-liner worthy of Conan O’Brien or Dennis Miller, “For those who have yet to believe the overwhelming scientific evidence that exists on climate change” even those who can call themselves servants of the people with a straight face couldn’t help chuckling. The funny thing is he isn’t trying to be funny.
Man-made global warming is a confusion at best, a mistake at least, and a scam for sure. The discredited Progressives use it as a cover for the advancement of their collectivist agenda. They know trying to convince people to surrender their freedom just so they can be pampered commissars or tenured Congressmen would fail so they either tug at your heartstrings or fog your thinking. While most of their redistributive class warfare schemes fit into the first category man-made global warming fits into the second. Common knowledge and common sense refutes this flimflam. However, some want a juicy exposé to expose this nightmare to the light of day. Here are some tidbits gleaned from articles appearing daily revealing the threadbare support for this movement made of whole-cloth.
The scientists in the eye of the Climategate email storm broke the law when they refused to reveal the data. However, those who sought to distort the truth will escape prosecution due to the statute of limitations. This scandal has been growing since last November when it was revealed long hidden emails show researchers discussing how to manipulate historical temperature data while at the same time refusing requests under the Freedom of Information Act.
Now there’s Glaciergate. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was forced to apologize for claiming Himalayan glaciers could disappear within 25 years. They are also accused it of exaggerating risks from tropical storms, hurricanes as well as the destruction of the rain forest. This could be summed up as “If their lips are moving they’re lying.”
Why weren’t these hysterical claims discovered by any of the 3,000 scientists contributing to the IPCC report? The use of falsified data was no secret. Rajendra Pachauri, the chairman of the number one climate change watchdog knew that claims about melting Himalayan glaciers were based upon fictitious studies before the Copenhagen summit. The watchdog just forgot to bark and the IPCC’s bogus report served as one of the major justifications for draconian cuts in global emissions mandated by the Copenhagen Treaty. This is the report for which Al Gore (who also claims to have invented the Internet) won the Nobel Peace Prize. However given that he won an Oscar for his docufiction An Inconvenient Truth maybe there should be a recall of multiple models in this case too?
As a final slap shot into the net of reality, the famous (or infamous) “Hockey Stick Curve” which is the basis for so much of the man-made global warming frenzy has been shown to be another fraud. According to McIntyre and McKitrick in Energy and Environment the data upon which this inaccurate study is based contains “collation errors, unjustifiable truncation or extrapolation of source data, obsolete data, geographical location errors, incorrect calculation of principal components and other quality control defects.” The list of proponents of man-made global warming reads like a who’s who of America bashers. Recently Osama Bin Laden announced his support for man-made global warming. At least the kook in the cave is honest enough to use the issue as a direct attack on America.
The speech may be over but the con goes on. Keep your eye on the coin as the shills move the shells around. With the world shivering in the grip of the worst winter in decades man-made global warming becomes climate change. When will all the revelations of lies and fraud on the part of the climate grifters expose this for the power grab it is? Maybe when hell freezes over?
Reflecting on the President’s first State of the Union Speech perhaps the best thing president Obama could say would be to quote the great American philosopher Yogi Berra, “I didn’t really say all the things I said.”
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College and History for the American Public University System. http://drrobertowens.com © 2009 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net
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