MORE LAWS - NO DIFFERENCE - MISSOURI PROP B POINTLESS

Yesterday, Prop B, the "Puppy Mill" bill passed here in Missouri. It was sponsored by the Humane Society of the United States, an animal rights activist group.

I was and remain against the passage of this bill because of the involvement of this organization. That and there is no reason to add more laws to the books in my state. We already have adequate laws to protect dogs and breeders in Missouri. What we don't have is adequate funding for enforcement of the law. Prop B makes no mention of funding nor does it set up any sort of funding mechanism. All it does it create more rules that will burden the law abiding kennel owner while having no affect on the illegal kennels.

In this regard Prop B is no different than most laws. Gun laws don't alter criminal activity, they just control the law abiding while in the process stripping those same law abiding people of their natural law and Constitutionally protected rights.

Prop B alters property right laws in that it limits how much property one can own and it controls the use of that property through regulation. Animals are not human and thus have no rights. Sorry, that's just the way it is. They are either wild or they belong to someone.

I haven't had time to dig into the results but my guess is that the narrow victory was achieved in the urban and suburban areas. Exactly the places where the puppy mills aren't.

Here in the rural areas, where the puppy mills are, we know just how difficult a law like this will be to enforce. Not only because there aren't that many police but also because we tend to stay out of each others business. We don't have cameras on every corner and cops cruising up and down the street.

Let's face it; the laws that are already on the books aren't being enforced. I know this because Missouri is still the number one state for illegal breeding. So how do the people that voted for these new laws expect them to be enforced? Or to make any difference?

I hope they don't want our cops to stop going after the meth makers and dealers to start looking for bad breeders. Because, given a choice, and with the limited funding we have, that's where the focus should be, on the drug problem. Sorry if some dogs get mistreated but meth is destroying our communities. Skinny dogs, not so much.

I don't mean to sound callous but truth is truth. If all the urban areas want to create some sort of special fund, that they pay into and we are exempt from to ramp up the police out here, go ahead. Nobody's going to complain. But if you think we're going to pay more to chase down dog breeders when most of us are having a hard time paying for electric, you've got another think coming.

I live on a dirt road that connects to a road that was just paved so I guess you could say that we're kinda' upscale. If I see a county sheriff on my road more than once a year I'd be shocked. So what do you think the chance of seeing any police on a dirt road that damn near requires four wheel drive to traverse is? We've got plenty of those out here. And if somebody raises dogs back on that road, what do you think the chances are that anyone around them cares what goes on back there? It's the owners property and unless he gets into my world what he does is none of my business. So how do all these new laws affect him?

This is another instance of emotion trumping reason. The bill was an easy sell because all they had to do was show pictures of mistreated dogs. It's a whole lot harder to make the case, especially in the cities, that out here we've got bigger fish to fry. And we've got a different way of thinking.

We'll put our rights and our safety ahead of dogs any day of the week.

IS OBAMA A KEYNESIAN?

For all my Progressive friends that are oh so sure of the mental deficiencies of those of us that belong to the TEA Party. These people at the Stewart Rally are really, really...special. Yeah, that's it, like small bus special.

REPORT FROM THE FIELD

Out where I live the population is a bit...sparse. Normally I vote late in the day and it's not unusual to be ballot number 80. I voted at ten o'clock this morning and my ballot number was 287!

I just drove by the polling place a few minutes ago after running into town to get some supplies and there were at least 20 cars and trucks in the parking lot, similar to what was there when I went to vote earlier.

The poll workers said that there has been a steady stream since six this morning and that (obviously) the turn out is high.

My guess is that this bodes well for the Republicans, particularly since Franklin County is a Republican area. If I were to extrapolate my experience to the nation as a whole I'm guessing it sucks to be a Democrat today.

So, all my fellow conservative Tea Party members, looks like the party's on for tonight.

And tomorrow, the real work begins. Somehow, someway we need to make sure that the people that win today do what we want them to do. I'm not expecting miracles, but I want to see progress towards smaller government and a restoration of individual rights. Piece by piece and bit by bit. I want the tidal wave of government power to be turned back.

So don't let your guard down. In fact, it's time to double or triple our efforts. Hold their feet to the fire. And make sure that they understand; we put you in power and we can take you out.

THE CONSPIRACY OF THE CELLS OF FIRE

Coming soon to a city near you.

SALT WATER FUEL - AND WHY WE'LL NEVER SEE IT ON THE MARKET

This is fantastic if it works as well as it seems to and if it can be made to function outside the lab.

The problem is, this isn't the early twentieth century where the Fords and Edisons could invent new products or new processes and take them to market without interference. Before this technology can ever see the light of day it will have to go through countless regulatory reviews, all of which are designed and controlled by the very people that would be harmed by the competition this would provide. The fuel companies, the car makers, the people that manufacture parts for oil fueled machines and on and on. Not to mention EPA and the trumped up environmental outrage that will be manipulated by big business to its own ends.

So another seemingly good idea will just fade away and our dependence on oil will continue.

I just love the "free market", don't you?

VOTE NO ON MISSOURI AMENDMENT 3 AND PROP A

24th State has an article today about Missouri Constitutional Amendment 3 and Proposition A, portions of which I've reprinted below:

"As I have said before, I'm a good conservative who does not like taxes. However, these two ballot measures are not simple votes against taxes. Instead, both are top down (or at least middle-down) prohibitions that limit the choices cities, towns, and other municipalities can make to fund their priorities and prevent voters from making revenue decisions in the future.

...Both of these initiatives bring two conservative principles into conflict: lower taxes versus power pushed to lower levels of government.

Proponents seem to base these blanket prohibitions merely on the principle that We Don't Like Taxes, a principle that could yield similar initiatives to ban other revenue types like parking meters, home occupancy inspection fees, and sales taxes on food. As principles go, it's not a firm foundation for these measures, and the principle of allowing local governments to make their own revenue decisions and to thereby somewhat compete and test ideas independently should trump it.

Proponents like to say that the measures give the voters the chance to decide. No, each gives voters one single vote one time to make a decision that will render city, state, and municipal governments impotent into perpetuity to use these types of taxes. They do not give future voters the chance to decide based on community needs 20 years fom now.

Tomorrow, I'm voting no on both measures."

I was going to write about this today but why reinvent the wheel. The basic problem with these sorts of issues, from my limited government point of view, is that they shift the power from the people and the local communities to the state. This is rarely a good thing.

I believe that power corrupts in exact relationship to the amount possessed. This is why I believe that political power needs to be diluted and the best way to do that is to keep it spread out among the people and their local communities. Why should the state have the power to decide for my town or my county whether or not we want to tax, or how. Why does the state have a say in how our schools are run or what we want to do about crime. Why should the state have any say in local issues at all?

The only legitimate function of government is to protect our natural law rights from abuse. If the local community is not abusing the rights of its citizens then the state, much less the federal government, has no legitimate reason to meddle in our affairs.

Look, I don't like taxes but they're a necessary evil. I don't work in the City of St. Louis because I don't want to pay 1% for the privilege. That's a decision I'm free to make based on a taxing issue that the city is free to decide. This is freedom in action.

Let the communities decide their own fates. Keep the state out!

NO REASON FOR SECURITY GUARDS AT UNEMPLOYMENT OFFICE

"Armed security guards will be on hand at 36 unemployment offices around Indiana in what state officials said is a step to improve safety and make branch security more consistent.

No specific incidents prompted the action, Department of Workforce Development spokesman Marc Lotter told 6News' Norman Cox.

Lotter said the agency is merely being cautious with the approach of an early-December deadline when thousands of Indiana residents could see their unemployment benefits end after exhausting the maximum 99 weeks provided through multiple federal extension periods."
The Indy Channel

"Youths who pillaged stores, torched cars and fought street battles with police have transformed the genteel French city of Lyon into a flashpoint of violence over an unpopular pension reform.

One of France's wealthiest cities and more commonly associated with fine-dining than riots, Lyon has seen the worst violence of this week's street protests as clashes injured two dozen people and scores more were arrested.

On Wednesday, police in the southeastern city tear-gassed about 300 youths in groups around the central Bellecour square after calling in 800 extra officers to put down what one local official called "urban guerrilla warfare."
Reuters

How long will it be before we see these same sorts of riots here? The government is preparing at the unemployment office for a reason, regardless of their statement. When the money gets cut off the unions will assert themselves and begin the same sorts of protests they've inflamed in Europe.

Buckle up.

SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE

"There’s never been a time when so many people have been so old. Throughout the developed world, there are now more elderly than children. The details vary but go roughly like this: The number of people who are 60 and older is set to triple in the next 40 years. By 2050, there will be more people aged 65 and older than children under 14 for the first time in history. By 2150, one in three people will be over 65. In developed countries, aging is coming sooner than that. By 2050, half of the people in Spain will be 55 or older. In England, there are already more baby boomers than teenagers. In Japan, the world’s oldest country, more than 21 percent of the population is over 65. The world is getting older and the process, given current trends, cannot be reversed. There may never again be a world that is mostly young."
Smart Set

"Fifty years after the pill, another birth control revolution may be on the horizon: free contraception for women in the U.S., thanks to the new health care law.

That could start a shift toward more reliable — and expensive — forms of birth control that are gaining acceptance in other developed countries.

But first, look for a fight over social mores.

A panel of experts advising the government meets in November to begin considering what kind of preventive care for women should be covered at no cost to the patient, as required under President Barack Obama’s overhaul.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., author of the women’s health amendment, says the clear intent was to include family planning.

But is birth control preventive medicine?

Conflicting answers frame what could be the next clash over moral values and a health law that passed only after a difficult compromise restricting the use of public money for abortions.

For many medical and public health experts, there’s no debate.

“There is clear and incontrovertible evidence that family planning saves lives and improves health,” said obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. David Grimes, an international family planning expert who teaches medicine at the University of North Carolina. “Contraception rivals immunization in dollars saved for every dollar invested. Spacing out children allows for optimal pregnancies and optimal child rearing. Contraception is a prototype of preventive medicine.”

But U.S. Catholic bishops say pregnancy is a healthy condition, not an illness. In comments filed with the Department of Health and Human Services, the bishops say they oppose any requirement to cover contraceptives or sterilization as preventive care."
The Blaze

"China is asking where all the girls have gone.

And the sobering answer is that this vast nation, now the world's fastest-growing economy, is confronting a self-perpetuated demographic disaster that some experts describe as "gendercide" -- the phenomenom caused by millions of families resorting to abortion and infanticide to make sure their one child was a boy.

The age-old bias for boys, combined with China's draconian one-child policy imposed since 1980, has produced what Gu Baochang, a leading Chinese expert on family planning, described as "the largest, the highest, and the longest" gender imbalance in the world."
MSNBC

All of this reminds me of the titan of industry that believes sending jobs overseas is good for the economy here at home. I'm always forced to ask how, if no one has a decent job, the business leader expects us to be able to buy his product?

Tinkering in an area that is meant for God alone has created a problem of untold consequence. As the population ages, who will pay for all these wonderful social programs? And since old people don't make kids, how are we ever going to replenish ourselves if the young use contraceptives?

And is it surprising that an administration that has John Holdren as science "czar", a man that has approved of compulsory contraception as a means to control the population, would back birth control as an essential part of health care coverage.

Holdren is an environmental extremist, who along with Paul Ehrlich, developed a formula to describe just how destructive people are. These are the ideological underpinnings of the push to further the use of contraceptives inside the administration.

And then we have Planned Parenthood backing this proposal, a group founded by eugenicist Margaret Sanger with the goal of destroying the black race and all other unacceptables. Strange that a black President would find himself allied with such an organization.

All of this makes me wonder what the real purpose and desire of those that push contraception and massive social programs are? Are they just so deluded by their own visions of a Socialist Utopia that they can't see the flaws in the system they've designed? Or, do they intend to collapse the system we have and start with the wreckage and raise their new world order from the ashes?

And then, all this makes me wonder how long it's been since anyone has watched "Soylent Green" because I'm thinking that the people that are in power have watched it one time too many and they've taken it to heart. It almost seems as though they're trying to create the same world.

Be careful what you eat!