Vox Popoli

Apparently NGSCB aka Trusted Computing has not been canceled. In a recent interview with WinEvil.com, Bill Gates confirmed, “Yeah, it [the NGSCB] just wasn’t evil enough for us. We’ve got a history of setting the evilbar pretty high, and our current efforts were “extremely irritating” at best… We’re looking for true unadulterated mindbending evil, and we know our customers won’t settle for anything less. Give us a chance — you won’t be disappointed.” Gates then proceeded to use a Windows XP CDRom as a prism to magnify his own inner evil until it was focused enough to melt a cute puppy, drawing appreciative applause from the crowd of evildoers. The crowd then had a huge WindowsXP InstallFest and cut off their own testicles in preparation for the comet Zurg’s arrival to take them away.

Seriously, it’s not canceled. So much the worse for us. Move to Linux. Ride the penguin. Now.

At the 321gold site, there is an interesting article in their archives entitled “Billions for the Bankers, Debts for the People. The Real Story of the Money-Control Over America” by Pastor Sheldon Emry. He writes in 1960 “Current fractional reserve requirements allow them to use that $1 billion in bonds to ‘create’ as much as $15 billion in new ‘credit.’ ” How quaint! Today, circa 2004, which is, if I am using my calculator correctly and am looking at the correct calendar, and there is that Miss May again with a twinkle in her eye, a scant 44 years ago. But turning to Barron’s and gong to the data on the banking system, we note with wry amusement that Required Reserves are only $42 billion, and that Total Reserves is not that much better, coming in at $44.3 billion.

So how much money has been loaned against that $44.3 billion? Somewhere north of $4,600 billion. So $44.3 billion has been multiplied by 109 times! Hahahaha! If there was ever anybody who doubted that the Federal Reserve and the banking system are killing us, this ought to shut them up! Hahahaha! That means that in the last 44 years; the fractional reserve requirement has expanded from the textbook example of 10:1, to 15:1, and now to 109:1! One lousy dollar of reserves has created $109 in new lending! Hahahaha! This is insane!

Yeah, this should work out well.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the 2004 Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention encourages all officers and members of the Southern Baptist Convention and the churches associated with it to remove their children from the government schools and see to it that they receive a thoroughly Christian education, for the glory of God, the good of Christ’s church, and the strength of their own commitment to Jesus

I am so pleased to see that my church is making news, not for departures from Scripture and enthusiastic embrace of open sin, but for taking a powerful stand against the secular indoctrination and intellectual lobotomization of its children. I enthusiastically support this resolution, and very few things would please me more than to see every child who belong to a family attending a Southern Baptist church leave the government school system. This sends a powerful message to the would-be social architects of our society that the Christian church is not, in fact, dead, and that it will relentlessly oppose the pagan masters of empire, just as it did in the days of old Rome.

For indeed, “it is foolish for Christians to give their children to be trained in schools run by the enemies of God”. This resolution may not pass on the first attempt, or even on the one-hundredth. Even if it does, the extent of its impact will not be known for some time. But it is good for freedom-lovers of all beliefs to know that a powerful organization is in the process of setting its face against one of the chief pillars of totalitarianism In this, at least, there are signs that the tide may be beginning to turn.

MS writes: It amazes me that you think you are going to fool a conservative into thinking that you are the principled opponent of the Republican Party. Some how you and FARA are the Martin Luther’s of the conservative movement? You are so wise and knowing and the rest of us are just sheep humming along on the Republican Paddy wagon that has captured our minds and fooled us into thinking we are different then the DNC Nazi’s? You are the type of person that will bring the new world order into the realm of being. You will eventually ignore God and then you will deny him.

The twisted idea that we will ever again be at peace with the muslim world, that we should worry what any one thinks, or in your case that GW just is not Conservative enough is what will eventually ring in the thousand years of real tribulation. This tribulation will be the submission of decent honest Americans to the Liberal agenda, a godless state and then the eventual defeat and submission to the Islamic nation. You already flinched and have started the long spiral and gloomy road joined by the left in the 1920’s. Thank you for nothing.If I have offended thee O’ Great savior of conservatism, than come and curse this 18 year military veteran. I have earned the right to tell ya to go f— yourself.

What’s truly amazing is how this little screed demonstrates the ability of the human mind to rationalize its beliefs. If I understand this correctly, MS insists that A) George Bush is a true conservative, B) Failure to support him is tantamount to denying God, C) Failure to support him indicates one’s move to the left and submission to the liberal agenda. The idea that George Bush is a conservative because he is kind of willing to sort of engage in a little use of force that is NOT NOT NOT war on Islam is an interesting one, seeing that WWI, WWII, the Korean War and Vietnam were all inaugurated by good conservative Republicans such as Woodrow Wilson, FDR, Harry Truman and LBJ.

From this description, you’d think that I was the one kowtowing to the UN, sacrificing national sovereignty to outside authorities, creating new entitlements, expanding central government and signing into law unconstitutional restrictions on political speech. I’m not offended, of course, for this is nothing more than the angry reaction of an innocent exposed to an uncomfortable truth. And even if I was so inclined, there’s no need to curse someone who is about to go through the very unpleasant experience of having his eyes opened to the world around him.

Shocking excerpts from a report on the abuse completed on March 3 by Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba and acquired by Reuters on Tuesday: “Between October and December 2003, at the Abu Ghraib Confinement Facility (BCCF), numerous incidents of sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses were inflicted on several detainees…. This systemic and illegal abuse of detainees was intentionally perpetrated by several members of the military police guard force (372nd Military Police Company, 320th Military Police Battalion, 800th MP Brigade), in Tier (section) 1-A of the Abu Ghraib Prison (BCCF).”

+ Breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees

+ Beating detainees with a broom handle and a chair

+ Sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broom stick

+ Arranging naked male detainees in a pile and then jumping on them

+ Forcing detainees to remove their clothing and keeping them naked for several days at a time

+ Forcing groups of male detainees to masturbate themselves while being photographed and videotaped

So, the semiotic aspect of the war is over. Now, this sort of abuse doesn’t particularly upset me – it’s not like they’re being thrown into plastic shredders, after all – but it certainly explodes the notion that we’re over there for the sake of the dear Iraqi people out of the goodness of our hearts. War is about power, it always is. Lowlives always inhabit the rear echelons of every army. The problem that Americans face is that we think that we are so inherently pure by virtue of our system of government that we can go ahead and do exactly the same thing that every military power in human history has done, but that it will be accepted because we are different. Once, we arguably were. But America is not what it once was.

I’m not at all concerned about the “Arab anger” over which the press periodically hyperventilates. They already hate us, BFD. But the increasingly dubious American public is not going to buy the hearts-and-minds argument much longer, not as this report spreads around the world. It’s just as well. The Hussein regime is dead. Our soldiers did their job. Bring them home and let the rats devour each other. Obviously, it will cost far fewer lives to go back and do it again than to leave our troops there as sitting ducks.

When you lose more troops in the occupation than in the conquest, the solution is obvious. 3D war is like shampoo. Drop in, destroy, depart. Repeat as needed.

The part that makes me laugh is when the rationalizers say that just a few bad apples were involved. Reeeeally… and here I thought that it was just a few bad apples on the other side that were causing all the trouble in the first place.

JOINT RESOLUTION Declaring that a state of war exists between the Imperial Government of Japan and the Government and the people of the United States and making provisions to prosecute the same.

Whereas the Imperial Government of Japan has committed unprovoked acts of war against the Government and the people of the United States of America: Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the state of war between the United States and the Imperial Government of Japan which has thus been thrust upon the United States is hereby formally declared; and the President is hereby authorized and directed to employ the entire naval and military forces of the United States and the resources of the Government to carry on war against the Imperial Government of Japan; and, to bring the conflict to a successful termination, all of the resources of the country are hereby pledged by the Congress of the United States.

Approved, December 8, 1941

That’s it. No nine pages, so section (z)1q, just a straightforward declaration of war against an enemy that has committed acts of war. So, what could Congress be hiding in the current documentation? Hmmmm….”defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq.” So, there is no state of war, nor has Iraq done anything except pose a “continuing threat”. What’s troublesome about this is that there are a number of extant “continuing threats” to the national security of the United States which have been officially declared by the Congress, something like 13, among them the fact that martial law was declared in Myanmar. By the reasoning presented here, the administration could launch an invasion of Burma tomorrow.

Did you happen to note anything about a termination, by the way? Although I must say, I’m not keen on the bit about “all the resources of the country” being pledged by the Congress either. But then, we already knew that war is the health of the state.

Ted Rall, (also syndicated by UPS), has covered himself with slime in impugning the reputation and memory of Pat Tillman. Even if all the points that Rall conjectures were true, this does not mean that the acting man should not be judged for the reasons he, and he alone, assigned to them. Ted Rall may not believe that Pat Tillman was defending his country against terrorism, but Pat Tillman did, and so he died a hero.

I myself question the wisdom of the WWII tactic of island hopping – once naval superiority was established, why not bypass the garrisons and starve them out? But this in no way lessens the incredible bravery of the US Marines, my grandfather among them, who stormed the beaches of Tarawa, Saipan and Iwo Jima.

Rall has always been an idiot sans talent. He has now revealed himself to be a talentless and tasteless idiot, and one lacking in human decency.

From the Star Tribune: Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry swooped into the Twin Cities Monday evening, drew more than 3,500 people to fundraisers at the Minneapolis Convention Center and picked up nearly $1 million for his campaign and the national Democratic Party.

This illustrates another problem for Jean-Francois. It can’t be a good sign when he raises less than half as much as George Delano did in their respective single-day sweeps through one of the most left-liberal states in the country.

Paul Jacobs writes on Townhall: Popular government is failing. Citizens are losing control. We see it in politicians all across the country suing the voters — successfully and unsuccessfully — to overturn term-limit laws. We see it in politicians who promise to bring government under control when seeking office, only to join the big government party once safely ensconced in office with all the advantages of incumbency. We see it in reforms supposed to help stop corruption of public officials or the appearance of corruption which only regulate and silence criticism of those same public officials. In all these cases, what we are witnessing is a constant erosion of democracy’s most important feature: the peaceful removal of office-holders.

This is a matter where both Left and Right should be able to see eye to eye. Incumbent protection is in no one’s interest – not even the incumbents, eventually. People denied the right to effect peaceful change will eventually turn to other, less peaceful measures. Even if unsuccessful, those efforts don’t tend to be pleasant for anyone.

Furthermore, if democracy is the point, then why not work towards universal democracy? The technology is there. If the Constitution is just a relic, then so is the Congress. Let everything become a referendum. If we are not going to limit government, then let’s at least give people precisely the government they want. You want democracy? I’ll give you democracy!

Able writes: Kerry’s opponent is 1.) A proven liar; 2.) Lost much of his conservative base; 3.) Continues to unify the center and the left against himself; 4.) Has us in a war that he wasn’t prepared for, and which he sold to the American people through deception; 5.) Has watched as jobless figures continue to rise (even if you consider the b.s. numbers of March); 6.) Has seriously undermined progress on the environment; 7.) And much much more. Kerry may be a “waffler” (every Senator is, if you look closely enough at his or her voting record) and he may come off as cold, but his opponent has much more going against him, such that even with the things he has going for him, he can’t poll ahead of Kerry.

1. Bush and Kerry are both liars. Bush is a competent one, Kerry is an incompetent one. Being a liar has never prevented a politician from winning an election. Being a bad one does.

2. Much to my disappointment, Bush hasn’t lost most of his conservative base. He should have, but he hasn’t yet.

3. That’s ridiculous. The center loves Bush as much as the left hates him. It is interesting to see that the left continues to hate him even though he is governing to the left of every post-WWII Republican president except Richard Nixon. Bush is the most widely popular Republican president since Reagan, even though the right despises him.

4. Agreed. But Kerry has not exploited this. In fact, his own problems relating to his Vietnam and voting flip-flops make the war-related issues a comparative strength for Bush when they should be a weakness. This would have been Howard Dean’s issue; the Democratic party elders chose the wrong pony if this was going to be THE campaign issue.

5. The job numbers are not even close to a critical point. The managers of the economy have successfully modified the statistical measures sufficiently in order to make things look good. With the stock market near all-time highs, the economic issue is a slight positive for Bush. It’s not just the March jobs stat that is BS, they are ALL BS. If you want to see serious stat-monkeying, look at the CPI then compare it to housing, gas and food prices.

6. No one cares about the environment in an electoral except for a tiny minority, mostly college students who don’t vote anyhow. Total non-issue.

7. Yes, many senators are wafflers. This is one reason why they very seldom get elected president. How do you think that’s a pro-Kerry argument? It doesn’t have anything to do with him personally, but it is a serious weakness nonetheless.

A major stock market crash combined with an interest rate hike in excess of 50 basis points is the only thing that is likely to spur a Kerry win. Given that the Fed is making noises about moving them up “in the future” I’m guessing they won’t do anything until after the election. Kerry’s public persona is so bad that he may be the first candidate to drop in the polls after his party’s convention.

As for IQ, you should keep in mind that highly intelligent people equipped with bad data and lousy analytical models are capable of making tremendously stupid decisions. Since most high-IQ people have been educated in America’s elite universities in the past 30 years, their vastly inadequate analytical models are an actual handicap in understanding how the world works and making logical decisions. IQ is not wisdom, common sense or understanding. You can have the biggest gun in the world, but it’s not going to work as well as a .22 popgun if you load the ammunition backwards.