Freaky Friday

The extraordinary embarrassment of riches that poured in upon me in the morning's email demands the title above.

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1. Yes, you read that correctly.

The Department of Agriculture wants submachine guns:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General, located in Washington, DC, pursuant to the authority of FAR Part 13, has a requirement for the commercial acquisition of submachine guns, .40 Cal. S&W, ambidextrous safety, semi-automatic or 2 shot burst trigger group, Tritium night sights for front and rear, rails for attachment of flashlight (front under fore grip) and scope (top rear), stock-collapsible or folding, magazine - 30 rd. capacity, sling, light weight, and oversized trigger guard for gloved operation. NO SOLICITATION DOCUMENT EXISTS. All responsible and/or interested sources may submit their company name, point of contact, and telephone. If received timely, shall be considered by the agency for contact to determine weapon suitability.

Gee, I wonder why "NO SOLICITATION DOCUMENT EXISTS" -- ? I mean, it's such an ordinary, innocuous thing for a USDA bureaucrat to carry!

Are you beginning to get an inkling of where Obama's civilian security force that's "just as strong, just as well armed" as our traditional military will come from, Gentle Reader?

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2. Willful resistance to an inevitable conclusion.

There's ignorant, there's stupid, and then there's "it can't be true because I won't let it be."

Please read this extremely painful article all the way to the end, and then reflect on this:

I am a liberal. I believe that those of us who are able to produce abundance have a moral duty to provide basic food, shelter, and medical care for those who cannot care for themselves. I believe we have this duty even to those who can care for themselves but don’t. This world view requires compassion and a willingness to act on it.

My experience has taught me that we live in a nation in which a jury is more likely to convict a black defendant who has committed a crime against a white. Even the dullest of blacks know this. There would be a lot more black-on-white crime if this were not the case.

However, my experience has also taught me that blacks are different by almost any measure to all other people. They cannot reason as well. They cannot communicate as well. They cannot control their impulses as well. They are a threat to all who cross their paths, black and non-black alike.

The author is undoubtedly a man of good will, yet he continues to believe that "those of us who are able to produce abundance have a moral duty to provide" for layabouts whose inclinations to lawlessness and violence put the rest of society at hazard. What imaginable amount of evidence would jolt him out of his willingness to support those who hate him and see him as just one more target of opportunity?

"One who willfully denies evidence that contradicts his preferences" is my working definition of a liberal.

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3. "Antisocial habits."

They seem to be rather commonplace:

We have a new contender for most-telling-ever Obamacare quote this morning: “We have to break people away from the choice habit that everyone has.” That’s Marcus Merz, head of Minnesota health insurer PreferredOne, in a New York Times report on the increasing prevalence of narrow network health plans.

Merz is basically stating openly what the Obama administration won’t, which is that Obamacare is intentionally designed to narrow consumer choice and plan design within the health insurance market. The Obama administration doesn't want to say this because it is bad politics generally, and also because President Obama specifically and repeatedly promised that, under the law, people would be able to keep their choice of health plans and doctors, not that they would be broken of their preference for medical choice. But the law’s authors and administrators have a pretty good idea of what kind of health insurance they want you to have, and that’s the kind of insurance that you’re going to get.

"We’re all trying to break away from this fixation on open access and broad networks," Merz continues. "We"—by which I mean the insurance industry—tried this before, in the 1990s, when narrow-network plans referred to as Health Maintenance Organizations were all the rage. It didn’t go so well, and eventually insurers cut it out.

But this time it will be different, insurers tell The New York Times. Why? Because…look, it will just be different. Trust us.

This is what you get from institutions that collaborate with the mandarins in D.C., in the hopes of enhanced profits. This is what you get from Government-Uber-Alles ideologues who dislike the notion that some Americans can afford goods and services that others can't, and that some Americans freely choose not to buy such goods and services despite the obvious "need." And this is what you get from power-lusting thugs in neatly pressed suits who collect princely salaries and enjoy lavish perquisites for "representing" us in Moscow on the Potomac.

Yes, all formally organized government is evil. It's worse than the alternative, no matter what the alternative might prove to be. Don't close your eyes to the reality. Deal with it.

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4. Those lovable Muslims.

Given what invariably happens in Islamic states:

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — A pregnant Sudanese woman who married a Christian man was sentenced to death Thursday after she refused to recant her Christian faith, her lawyer said.

Meriam Ibrahim, whose father was Muslim but mother was an Orthodox Christian from Ethiopia, was convicted of "apostasy" on Sunday and given four days to repent and escape death, said lawyer Al-Shareef Ali al-Shareef Mohammed....

Sudan's penal code criminalizes the conversion of Muslims into other religions, which is punishable by death.

...I've gotten thoroughly disgusted with persons who strain to distinguish between "Islam" and "Islamism." The creed is pure, 200-proof evil and simply cannot be tolerated by a people determined to remain free. Anyone who self-nominates as a Muslim should be distrusted automatically, no matter what he says or does. It's massively unwise to show a Muslim your back.

Qur'an, Sura 9:73: "O Prophet! Struggle against the unbelievers and hypocrites and be harsh with them."
Qur'an, Sura 9:5: "But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem..."
Qur'an, Sura 9:29: "Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Apostle have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, of the people of the Book, until they pay the jizya with willing submission and feel themselves subdued."

"Islam says: Whatever good there is exists thanks to the sword and in the shadow of the sword! People cannot be made obedient except with the sword! The sword is the key to Paradise, which can be opened only for Holy Warriors! These are hundreds of other psalms and Hadiths urging Muslims to value war and to fight. Does all that mean that Islam is a religion that prevents men from waging war? I spit upon those foolish souls who make such a claim." -- Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini

"There is no 'moderate Islam.' There is only Islam." -- Recep Tayyip Erdogan, prime minister of Turkey

"The minarets are our bayonets; the domes are our helmets. Mosques are our barracks, the believers are soldiers. This holy army guards my religion. Almighty Our journey is our destiny, the end is martyrdom." -- Recep Tayyip Erdogan

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5. The War on Dissent.

You may have heard about The Great College Commencement Speaker Pogrom:

On Monday, Smith announced the withdrawal of Christine Lagarde, the French head of the International Monetary Fund. And what might the problem be with Madame Lagarde, considered one of the world's most accomplished women? An online petition signed by some 480 offended Smithies said the IMF is associated with "imperialistic and patriarchal systems that oppress and abuse women worldwide." With unmistakable French irony, Ms. Lagarde withdrew "to preserve the celebratory spirit" of Smith's commencement. On Tuesday, Haverford College's graduating intellectuals forced commencement speaker Robert J. Birgeneau to withdraw. Get this: Mr. Birgeneau is the former chancellor of UC Berkeley, the big bang of political correctness. It gets better.

Berkeley's Mr. Birgeneau is famous as an ardent defender of minority students, the LGBT community and undocumented illegal immigrants. What could possibly be wrong with this guy speaking at Haverford??? Haverfordians were upset that in 2011 the Berkeley police used "force" against Occupy protesters in Sproul Plaza. They said Mr. Birgeneau could speak at Haverford if he agreed to nine conditions, including his support for reparations for the victims of Berkeley's violence.

...but have you heard about this case of academic witch-burning?

Professor Lennart Bengtsson - the leading scientist who three weeks ago signalled his defection to the climate sceptic camp by joining the board of the Global Warming Policy Foundation - has now dramatically been forced to resign from his position.

His views on the weakness of the "consensus" haven't changed. But as he admits in his resignation letter, he has been so badly bullied by his alarmist former colleagues that he is worried his health and career will suffer.

Do not ever allow a liberal to get away with claiming that he's "tolerant." They've redefined the word. From them it doesn't mean what it would mean from you.

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6. Some fundamental wisdom.

No one can put it better than this:

That's the essence of the Obamunist approach to cementing its power and policies in place over us: Deny that what we can see and hear with our own senses simply isn't happening. The Obamunity is fully on board with this approach, all the way down to its lowest foot soldiers.

Politics has always been a realm of half-truths, dissimulation, and distraction. But never before this have we had an entire Administration determined to outdo "Baghdad Bob," in service to its own power and perquisites. Frankly, the gibbet would be too good for them.

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7. And now, a word from Our Sponsor.

How long are you willing to tolerate this, Gentle Reader? Are you willing, or have you already resolved to withdraw your consent? If the former, are you happy with the price? If the latter, what does that withdrawal imply for your future decision making?

Many Americans are "hunkering down," hoping to die in peace before the Eye can take notice of them. Others are attempting to foment a Second American Revolution, and good luck to them against the body-armored, machine-gun-equipped USDA, BLM, IRS, and for all anyone knows the USPS. Those of us in the middle just keep jabbering on, hoping against all the evidence that a peaceful solution is still possible -- and yes, that includes your humble servant, proprietor and Bull Goose Loony of this her blog.

There really isn't much more to say. The aspiring revolutionaries are likely correct that no other solution is possible. Yet:

Revolutions have never lightened the burden of tyranny; they have only shifted it to another shoulder. -- George Bernard Shaw.

Those who have seized power, even for the noblest of motives, soon persuade themselves that there are good reasons for not relinquishing it. This is particularly likely to happen if they believe themselves to represent some immensely important cause. They will feel that their opponents are ignorant and perverse; before long they will come to hate them...The important thing is to keep their power, not to use it as a means to an eventual paradise. And so what were means become ends, and the original ends are forgotten except on Sundays. -- Bertrand Russell

If there's anyone out there with some fresh thoughts about this, I'm desperate to see them.