Mr. Chairman, I have read the Constitution and it does not grant you authority to ask the question or hold this hearing on my alleged steroid use. Therefore, I will exercise my rights as an American citizen under the Tenth Amendment, and my natural rights as a human being, and refuse to answer it.

The Constitution you have sworn your allegiance to gives the Congress few and specific powers. Prohibiting individual drug use is not one of them. This is clearly left to the states and to “the people,” as the Tenth Amendment says.

Continue reading Plead the Tenth.

We can dream, can’t we?

Frederic Bastiat put it well — “Liberty is an acknowledgement of faith in God and his works.” Flip this around and we see that no society can or will have economic liberty unless there is a robust faith in God pervasive throughout that society. If there is no faith in God, we want to get in there and manage what everybody else is doing, and liberty dies. When we have faith, we let go. When we don’t believe, we clutch, preferably through our elected representatives.

And what’s truly sickening about it all is that it is the Christians who are so quick to kill liberty and clutch to their elected representatives. As Wilson shows, however, this is simply motivated by fear, and shows a supreme lack of faith.

You cannot have genuinely free markets without free men, and you cannot have free men without the gospel. If you do not have the gospel, then man will get in there somehow in order to try to save himself and others. He will try to save himself by using taxes, redistribution, lobbying influence, stimulus packages, environmental regulations, land reform, cozy deals with the government, and so on, ad infinitum.

In other words, he will try to save himself through violence and theft, which is nothing but base animal instinct.

We try to imagine life without our precious [government], and then we panic — and our panic chases us back into what we call prudence. We don’t know what liberty is, and so it scares us. We don’t know what liberty is because we don’t know what the gospel is, and we don’t know what the gospel is intended to do. Peter can’t walk on the water so long as he is holding on to the side of the boat.

It’s time to test the waters and let go of the boat.

Thank you to all of my readers. I hope you have been encouraged/informed, as I certainly have been from the experience so far. Please let me know your thoughts below on how best to improve this blog and increase readership. What do you read this blog for, and how can I deliver more of that?

August:

The launch. This blog started off posting almost every day.

The post that put me “on the map”, or at least began the process, was my collection of thoughts on Ron Paul, and why he had me confused. My thoughts have evolved somewhat since then, and I hope to revisit them later.

I also began my Government in Scripture series. I admit to being somewhat out of material at the moment (I guess I need to read my Bible more…), but it went strong for a while.

If you have any scripture that relates to government that you would like to see commented on, please let me know. You can either do a guest post here, or just let me write something about it.

September:

The first full month. I began the Government Tyranny roundups, which are simply depressing to do, but necessary, I think.

This is the month I blew up with 2 popular posts.

One was a response to the Evangelical Outpost’s uneducated remarks on Ron Paul. And thanks to a mention on LewRockwell.com by Casey Khan, it met with mild success.

The dark waters of satire were also ventured into. I put up my tips on how to read the bible correctly, kind of just for fun, and it turned out to be my most popular post up to that point, generating 28 comments. I will definitely be doing more satire, as it is a great way of framing truth.

My piece on Christians using the violence of the state to accomplish their goals, thus calling their morality into question, encapsulates, I believe, what this blog is all about, and the mindset I want to combat. It stirred up some controversy, mainly because I used the venerable Dr. James Dobson as the example I picked on.

October:

This was the month that Sailorcurt and I went back and forth on foreign policy.

The only other thing of note this month was this blogs nomination as the 2007 Blogging Rookie of the Year. New Liberty Creation got lost in the midst of a large number of quality startups.

November:

November saw my single most popular post about The Golden Compass. It generated 40 comments, from several different sides of the polygonal argument, and is still getting traffic, even after the movie came and puttered away irrelevantly.

With my piece on Plato, I also began what I hope becomes a long series of posts that challenge the fundamental assumptions of modern Christianity. Should Christians look more like pagans holding to Plato’s idea of the soul, or should they look more Biblical?

December:

The slowest month so far, and least number of posts. I confess to losing some of my motivation, because I wasn’t seeing any progress, and readership plateaued no matter what I did. I got tantalizingly close to breaking 50 RSS readers one day in November, but then it plummeted to the mid-thirties and has never gotten higher since.

I hope to start the New Year off strong, however. Again I ask, what can I do to improve?

Thanks again for reading.

On this day in 1914, in the first year of the great civilizational disaster called WWI, German and British soldiers on the Western front stopped shooting. Not only that, they celebrated together, as brothers, the birth of the Prince of Peace. Their panicked leaders eventually forced them back to killing, but some day, the soldiers may not listen to the generals and the presidents, but to a Child born this day in Bethlehem. Then the angels’ song of “peace on earth” can begin to come true.

You can read more about the Christmas Truce here.

This is what I write for, and this is what I hope and pray for.

Christianity has everything to do with politics. When a group of men began proclaiming that a crucified, failed messiah was now Lord and Savior of the World, it was a direct challenge to principalities and powers at the time, especially Caesar. A true prince of peace, in contrast to the so-called Pax Romana that was drenched in the blood of common men and women.

So too is the gospel a direct challenge to the world’s rulers, including the evil men who perpetuated World War 1, sending men off to die for no purpose but to solidify their own power, thereby kicking off one of the bloodiest centuries this world has ever known. So much for the age of “enlightenment.”

I only hope that one day, we will stop listening to the politicians, as the soldiers did on the night of the Christmas Truce.

We will stop believing them when they insist we must kill this or that person.

We will stop believing them when they promise national glory.

We will stop believing them, and realize we have more in common with other people and nations than we were led to believe, like the soldiers discovered that time between the trenches.

Believing them only leads to death, for ourselves or others. History has shown no other outcome.

There is only one who deserves our trust, belief, and allegiance.

_____________________________________________________

Tired of too much Christ in your Christmas? Wish people would realize that Jesus wasn’t born on December 25th (If we could only tell the whole world how ignorant they are!)? Think “Christian” religious holidays are sacrilegious and you would rather keep it all strictly pagan and/or secular?

Or perhaps you are not a Christian and spend your time contemplating the GREAT BLACK MORASS that is your unholy heart? Christmas just doesn’t work for you… and the void that is your godless soul prevents you from even thinking about Christ. What is a baby-killing, pot-smoking, feminist, pinko-lib to do? …Or a Super-Christian for that matter?

Fear not, O ye upright uber-Christians and yon emo-atheist, for a solution exists that is mutually beneficial to all of you! A holiday for baby-killers and wear-a-tie-on-wednesday-nighters alike!

“And how now brown cow?” I hear you beckon, “How doth such a holiday join the most HOLY and the most EVIL alike?

My answer?

“Elementary, thou doubting Thomas! For while one often yearns to approach the 7th circle of Hell and the other condemns all others but himself to its fiery torment, they both believe Christmas to be completely and utterly useless! Thus a new “holiday” is to be invented to join these two contrite hearts together in (un)holy matrimony! Give them all a reason for the season!

I thus give thee, oh wondering band of demonic anti-Christs and ye all wise Christians, “Cthulhumas!” The holiday for the rest of you!

Take that dichotomies! Hah, ha…

Hey, what better way to celebrate the birth of Jesus The Holidays then by chanting unpronounceable prayers to unspeakable, indescribable, soul-eating deities from another dimension?

Or, if your holiness prevents such blasphemies, simply have Mr. Cthulhu around the house as a useless, totally secular reminder for this secular day that so happens to fall on December 25th… for no apparent reason save it be secular!

It’s just like decorating a tree for no other purpose than to simply have a freaking tree in the house! In a way, that’s the true meaning of Christmas… completely devoid of the birth Christ of course, heh, heh.

Still not convinced? Consider, thou dense, amoral agnostic, your dislike of Christmas and all it’s Christ-birth-celebrating goodness. Now consider your love for fish nets, dark makeup and razor blades. How well Cthulhu meets your needs! Show those pesky celebrators-of-Christ-birthers what December 25th really means: the celebration of an ALIEN GOD! It’s like Scientology but believable!

Now consider, you upright and never-miss-a-class-even-if-dying-from-cancer-person; consider how heathens and weak brethren have taken the perfectly no-need-to-celebrate-day-that-is-not-really-Christ’s-birth and turned it into some sort of… of… celebration of CHRIST’S BIRTH!

Now consider your awesome knowledge that, in fact, Jesus’ birth probably didn’t even happen in the Winter and that the HOLY BIBLE doesn’t say to celebrate “Christmas.”

Now consider how you have trees, Christmas lights, gift cards and presents… but without meaning because you don’t want to be completely devoid of Holiday goodness like the JWs.

Consider how these completely secular-items-that-are-not-idols have NO MEANING! What better way then to give them meaning than Cthulhumas! Simply hang plush Cthulhu anywhere in the house as a simple reminder that the destroyer of civilizations simply does not exist!

Yes! Show those pagans who’s boss with your mockery of their GODLESS rites! Thus in ONE SWIFT STROKE you have turned pseudo-idols into ANTI-IDOLS! Oh, you are a positive cornucopia of BRILLIANCE!

Celebrating the savior? How about celebrating the destroyer of worlds?

Mistletoe and Holly? How about hellspawn and tentacles?

Jesus-trees and mangers? How about useless ornaments, christmas-carols-in-July-but-not-Decemberness, and RABID anti-Cthulhuism?

See?! The solution is obvious! Yes, Merry Cthulhumas to all, and to all a tentacally night!

And so ends the first year of the “most ethical” Democratic Congress, not racing through the finish line in triumph, but turning tail and running the opposite direction, utterly giving up on everything they promised to do if elected.

And people wonder why I am so pessimistic when it comes politics and politicians. And people wonder why I have absolutely no confidence and trust in our government.

And people think I’m overreacting when I call our government one of the most evil institutions to ever exist on this planet.

Because make no mistake, the passage of this bill is downright evil.

The Democrats, so desperate to spend other people’s money, took the mandate America gave them when they were swept into office, and proceeded to use it as toilet paper. The war will now continue until Bush is forced out of office, and most likely will continue under whatever other criminal we put in place to “lead” us (with the exception of Ron Paul).

And the Republicans…well, they’ve been lying through their teeth since the year 2000. Evil.

Can I have my money back please?

This is one of the biggest primary season stories to come out in decades, and it’s importance will probably only be matched by the news of the eventual winner. It’s a true turning point in how politics will be done in the future, and represents the power a disorganized, yet committed, grass-roots effort has when the message is worthy of commitment.

And as has been typical of the old avenues of the Mainstream Media, they meet this momentous occasion with…mostly silence and pretend ignorance.

What have the so-called “distinguished” outlets placed ahead of this historical campaign?

The New York Times: On the very front page we have the news that Leno and Conan’s shows will resume. I’m all for Leno and Conan getting back on the air. While this is certainly good news and worth reporting, is it front-page material?

But let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and wait to pass judgment until we go to their designated political section (because obviously no other page is influenced by political opinion whatsoever…).

A cursory search of their politics page finds nothing about Ron Paul. So they aren’t even reporting it! What stories do they have that they are calling “Breaking News”? A few tidbits about Clinton, and then the OTHER Clinton, and then a story about Huckabee and his amazing rush to the top of the polls.

Bravo, New York Times, bravo. Like CBS, you are trying really hard to shred the last bit of your integrity.

Chicago Sun-Times: Again, nothing on the front page about Ron Paul.

We go to politics, and its a similar story. Nothing about Dr. Paul at all, but a nice, dull piece about McCain and the story about how a corporate audience asked about his views on immigration. And how McCain kind of gets annoyed about it. Boo-hoo.

Boston Globe: Right in the back yard of the original Tea Party! And we have a mention on the front page! Although this might have been helped by the fact that it was a “local interest” story.

Los Angeles Times: We have a small mention on the front page, but right next to it in red letters is BLOG, as if to say, “This isn’t really news-worthy, so we’ll just put it on one of our blogs”. And we all know how much respect the MSM has for blogs, right? Right? But I won’t nitpick that much. At least they mentioned it. Even though the death of Dan Fogelberg(a sad loss of a true talent) garnered it’s own “true” story.

Wall Street Journal: Again, nothing on the front page of this hallowed institution. But we do have another mention about how Huckabee is getting the support of evangelicals. Wow. A man who panders to the Christian Right with shallow platitudes and lip-service to God, getting the support of the Christian Right. Amazing story!

That’s all I have time for right now, but do you know of any other examples of abysmal integrity and horrendous reporting? Or maybe a newspaper you found that actually reports the news? List it down below! Let’s call out the ones who fail, and cheer the one’s who deserve it.

Instead, he highlights how people who commit these sins are looking for something, and have a certain rational behind what they do.

But they will not find what they are looking for apart from God. God is the source of all good and so, in essence, is the reversal and cure of these sins. A solid rock that makes these sins irrelevant.

Book 2, Chapter 6, 13

Human sloth pretends to long for rest, but what sure rest is there save in the Lord?

Luxury would fain be called plenty and abundance; but thou art the fullness and unfailing abundance of unfading joy.

Prodigality presents a show of liberality; but thou art the most lavish giver of all good things.

Covetousness desires to possess much; but thou art already the possessor of all things.

Envy contends that its aim is for excellence; but what is so excellent as thou?

Anger seeks revenge; but who avenges more justly than thou?

Fear recoils at the unfamiliar and the sudden changes which threaten things beloved, and is wary for its own security; but what can happen that is unfamiliar or sudden to thee? Or who can deprive thee of what thou lovest?

Grief languishes for things lost in which desire had taken delight, because it will to have nothing taken from it, just as nothing can be taken from thee.

My favorite is his denouncement of fear, that most dangerous of emotions.

For who indeed can deprive God of what he loves? And if there is no one who can, what is our basis for having fear?

CBS News anchor Katie Couric asked the 10 leading presidential candidates 10 questions designed to go beyond politics and show what really makes them tick.

Of course, the definition for the term “leading” is forever changing to suit the whims of the elitists who like to assume that they still control the information flow.

So who does CBS, in their infinite wisdom, deem the leading candidates are?

For one, they don’t think the candidate who has raised more money than any of the other Republican candidates is considered “leading”.

They also don’t think the candidate whose supporters have put a historic blimp up in the sky is considered “leading”.

The candidate who wins all of the post Republican debate polls is obviously not a leading candidate either.

They also don’t think that a candidate who is ahead of one of their chosen “leaders” in New Hampshire, a critical early primary state.

Ron Paul has raised more money.

Ron Paul has the most enthusiastic and outspoken support base.

Ron Paul has won every post-debate poll.

Ron Paul leads Fred Thompson, one of CBS’s “leading” candidates, in New Hampshire. 8% to 3%.

So what exactly is CBS using to gauge who is a “leading” candidate? Will they give reason for their decisions?

My guess: Perhaps CBS just doesn’t like do to research and due diligence. This has certainly been the case in the past. It bit them in the rear then, and it will come back for seconds in the present.

The only other option available is that they are simply dishonest, and treat their viewers’ trust like a rich man does a penny (or pretty soon, a dollar). Not really needed. They’re just fine without it.

These things just make me angry and depressed. Eventually, you come to a point where you just have to sit on the bench for a few just so you gain regain your breath and energy.

Here’s the latest and worst that have been brought to my attention.

• Cop Thinks His Gun is a Taser, Resulting in Accidental Death - And no charges were filed!
• Cops Protect Themselves From a Naked, Deaf Man - I’m just glad they’re okay. Will they need counseling for undergoing such a traumatic, dangerous confrontation? The fact that the guy was completely innocent is, of course, irrelevant.
• Teenage Boy Killed When Tasered While He was On the Ground - Again, the officers involved had to do something to protect themselves from this menace!
• Evidence Of Innocence Rejected at Guantanamo - Land of the free, and home of the presumed guilty!
• Cops Protecting Themselves from a Handcuffed Woman - Since they were already in the Police Station, the use of this taser was obviously a last resort.
  
• Another Tasering of a Pregnant Women
  

I wouldn’t be surprised if we were required, sometime in the near future, to remain drugged up so that our protectors and public servants, and the ones listed above, can more easily push us around without the need of a taser.