Herman Cain: more of the same

I've been keeping this to myself until now, but given all the hoopla about Cain, I think it's important for some uncomfortable reality to be injected into the discussion. There's a good reason I refuse to jump on the bandwagon for Herman Cain. A lot of drones have already done so, without giving any consideration to the evidence that he's a Company Man. Even though Cain talks a good game, some of his stated positions are far removed from what conservatives and libertarians claim to support, and his past actions and statements are diametrically opposed to the Tea Party folks' demands. My prediction? They'll still vote for him because he's a decent orator. Sound familiar?

Here are some uncomfortable facts that must be faced when supporting Cain:

Following in Rome's Footsteps

I've mentioned before the similarities between our political situation and that of the Roman Republic just prior to its conversion to an Empire under Julius and Octavian. I ran across a very interesting piece today on the economic similarities; it's a fascinating read and underscores Solomon's assertion that "there is no new thing under the sun." We're following the same patterns as those who have gone before us, and the result will inevitably be the same, assuming we continue down this road.

What Destroyed Rome was its Unfunded Government Employee Pensions

H/T Patriot Trading Group

Regarding my manliness and virility

I mentioned in my last post that I have six children. Please mentally add one to that number. Thank you. That is all.

The foundational priniciple of self-reliance

A lot of talk floats around the blogosphere about preparation for the looming economic and (God forbid) political collapse. Most of that talk focuses on trading your worthless paper dollars for something of value, particularly gold and/or silver. A lot of it is geared toward resistance to tyranny in various forms. A lot of people are talking about going "off-grid." My wife and I started working ten years ago on the path to self-reliance.

I should be clear in my definition of self-reliance: nobody can be completely self-reliant, unless they're willing to live an extremely bare-bones existence. As much as I hate to sound like the Abominable Pantsuit, it does "take a village" to live any kind of life higher in quality than that of a caveman's existence. Some specialization is a good thing: I'm good at making wine, and my neighbor is a gifted mechanic... that's just begging for future barter.

With that realization in mind, we still sought to minimize our reliance on other people as much as possible; furthermore, we are determined to limit our reliance on the System in favor of relying on trusted friends and neighbors. This requires the long-term development of a trusted network of like-minded people, folks you are reasonably certain will be there for you when it hits the fan. This is not something you can come up with overnight; trust must be earned. This, however, is another topic, perhaps for another time.

The subject of this post is self-reliance. I don't have a lot of deep thoughts on the subject, but I've spent ten years working on it, and I want to share what we believe is the foundational principle of self-reliance: you cannot be self-reliant if you are a slave. This has many practical corollaries, and here are a few:

And you thought it was just hyperbole

I've written on these pages before about the American dictatorship, twice: here and here.

Now our traitorous Senate is attempting to give even more power to the office of Caesar the President with S. 679. These are signs of the times, folks. I doubt this particular one will pass, but people need to understand that this threat is very real, and it just a question of statistics: sooner or later, legislation like this will pass, when the circumstances are right for it.

Ripe for the Moon god's harvest (redux)

<rant>

<swear word/>

A friend posted this photo on Buttface Facebook today:



And one of her friends had this to say:

There are extremists in every group.

To which I responded:

I can't count the number of times I've seen Christian and Jewish and Hindu extremists marching in the streets threatening to behead people. At least once a month, I hear about yet another Mormon extremist who "honor killed" his daughter or wife or sister. Those violent Bhuddist extremists frequently stone women for the crime of being raped. And don't get me started on those extremist Taoists who take seriously the command in the Tao Te Ching to slaughter of those who don't follow the Tao.

Fix Bayonets

This, in all likelihood, is just more braggadocio on the part of some spineless adherents of the religion of the pedophile "prophet" Mohammed, but I figured I would pass it along in any case, just so you're aware of what's been threatened by the Thousand Sleeping Martyrs upon the killing of Osama bin Laden.

Bare Naked Islam reposted a letter from the Thousand Sleeping Martyrs. It's worth reading, if only to Know Thine Enemy. I guess when June 8 comes, we'll either know what they're bleating about or they'll be shown as the lying scum they probably are.

I guess whatever worthless dollars you haven't put into gold could be "invested" in brass and lead instead of silver.

Oh, and Thousand Sleeping Martyrs, here's my personal response:

My Deepest Apologies

I've been remiss in my precious metals musings of late. Last week, when the silver/gold ratio was bouncing between 31-33, I should have said to swap a portion of your silver for gold. Alas, it's now too late, as the ratio is back up in the mid-40s.

I have not yet missed the opportunity, however, to encourage you all to take every piece of worthless paper you can spare and buy gold or silver all the way down until it bottoms out. This is not a bursting bubble, folks. This is a short-term correction. How short, I can't predict, but I can say with as much certainty as possible that these prices cannot persist as long as the Fed continues to dilute the value of their Monopoly money.

Christmas in May

A couple years ago, I picked up an M1 Garand in fair condition for a decent price. I actually bought it from an Athabascan fellow at a gun show. He said, "She looks kinda beat up, but she's a shooter." He wasn't wrong; . I took it to the range and ran three clips of crappy Russian ammo through it. Learned my lesson the hard way: don't use crappy Russian ammo in this workhorse. I ended up with a case separation on shot number 24.

My brother-in-law's dad (whose sole purpose in life seems to be to collect two or more of every single World War II battle rifle) took a look at it and got me the name of a gunsmith who could take care of it for me. Then he took the stock back home with him and refinished it. He loves WWII guns that much.

If True, Then I Stand Corrected

Several reports are surfacing to the effect that Obama blinked. If that's true, and Panetta disregarded Obama's order to stand down, then perhaps the R-drones may have a leg to stand on, refusing to give the pResident credit for OBL's demise. Ultimately, it probably doesn't matter.



BHO certainly looks ticked off; maybe his golf game was interrupted.

 H/T WRSA

Arctic Patriot Nails It

Catching up on blog reading today while waiting for some long queries to finish running. Found this post by Arctic Patriot that puts into words about as close as possible to how I felt when I heard OBL was dead. My earlier post was a rant about the stupid but utterly predictable reactions by Republicrats and Demicans to the news. My own personal reaction was in lock-step with what AP feels. Go read it here: A Bit of DILLIGAF

Teasers:

Now that he's dead, do we get OUR CONSTITUTION BACK?

Now that he's dead, will our GOVERNMENT STOP MOLESTING OUR CHILDREN, GROPING OUR WIVES, HUMILIATING OUR PEOPLE, and trampling on the Bill of Rights?

bin Laden was a far lesser threat to the American way of life and liberty than is our own government.

Exactly.

Update: AP has another post that nails it again: Domestic Enemies.

Bin Laden was true to his cause to the end.  He died facing his enemy.  Our oathbreaking, anti-liberty extremist terrorists in DC are traitors.

Preach it brother!

And By The Way...

From Fallen State

Hypocrites Left And Right

It never ceases to amaze me how hypocritical most of the mindless drones in this country are. When a Democrat is president, he can do no right, according to the Republicans. When a Republican is president, he can do no right, according to the Democrats. What's worse is that most R-drones and D-drones are completely blind to this reality.

Hey, bed-wetting Democrats, don't you remember how much crap you gave Bush for the whole "Mission Accomplished" thing? So why are you now insisting that Obama be given lauds for the killing of OBL? Oh, and by the way, what ever happened to your anti-war protests? Your president is involved in even more illegal wars than your favorite punching bag, Bushitler. Oh yeah, and why aren't you blaming Obama and his buddies in Big Oil for high gas prices--higher than they ever were under Bush?

Hey, empty-headed Republicans, you don't get a free pass either. If Bush got so many kudos for "successfully prosecuting the War on Terror" without ever setting foot on the battlefield, how come you won't give Obama the same credit for OBL being killed on his watch? And why are you bitching about Libya when you were 100% behind Iraq and Afghanistan? And where were your economic complaints when Bush shoved TARP down our throats?

You're all a bunch of hypocritical buffoons, and that is why I refuse to associate myself with either of your stupid political parties. It's hard enough voting for one of your idiots; don't expect me to give my time and treasure to support your party.

Paschal Reflections

No posts lately because it's the insane time of year.

Holy Week and Pascha (what's sometimes called Orthodox Easter) are a whirlwind of activity, with 23-26 (depending on how you count) church services, each 1-3 hours long, crammed into ten days.

Since I'm the protopsaltis in our parish, I take the week off from gainful employment and work instead for the benefit of my church family and my own soul. This year, Lent, Holy Week, and Pascha were a study in stark contrast.

We've been without a permanent priest for several years, but our bishop has always provided extra services during Great Lent. Until this year. We started Lent with no priest and we struggled through Lent with no priest. We had exactly one Liturgy during all of Lent. My family and I intended to go to services during the week at the local Russian church ("local" meaning it's only a half hour drive away), but we got terribly sick for three weeks... half of Lent. This, by far, was the hardest Lent I've ever been through. At first, we had a light at the end of the tunnel, because a priest from California that we know and love was planning to come up and be with us for Holy Week and Pascha. Then, half-way through Lent, his mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer and was given six weeks to live. Even still, he told the bishop that he would still come to Alaska to serve us, but the bishop told him to take care of his mother. As much as I completely agreed with the bishop's decision, I have not felt so stunned and dismayed except twice in my life: one was the first time a close friend was killed in a car accident, and the other was when a family member revealed they were fighting a terminal disease.