Category Archives: lifestyle

The NSA Review Panel Is An Even Bigger Joke Than We Previously Thought

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The NSA Review Panel Is An Even Bigger Joke Than We Previously Thought | TechCrunch.

Surprise, surprise, surprise… NOT! Did anyone really think they would do the right thing? Anybody seriously think they would stop their illegal, unconstitutional activities? Anybody actually think they would give up their chance to spy on everything and everybody in the entire world???

Just because they got caught? REALLY???

Anybody who really thought they might, just might do the right thing just because they got caught with their pants down has no inkling of how ‘our’ government really works these days.

We had just better face it, until and unless WE put a stop to this crap, they are just going to find another way to get what they want. What they want is total control over you, me, EVERYTHING and EVERYBODY in the USA (and the world if they can find a way)!

They’re well on their way to accomplishing this sick goal of theirs. They got the PATRIOT Act passed which violated every amendment of the constitution but the one about quartering troops in your home. Then they keep trying to scare the crap out of everyone so they can keep it up. Constant threats we need them to violate our freedoms to protect us from, yeah riiiiiighhhht.

Obamacare is their latest scam and a pretty good jump in their capabilities. After all, if you control someones health, their physical body, then you do pretty much control them. Is somebody going to argue against that?

I’d like to hear those arguments if anyone has one. I know there must be some supporters of this stuff out there. Unbelievable! 🙁 But polls show the majority of Americans support this stuff (illegal spying), http://techcrunch.com/2013/11/05/poll-public-supports-nsa-spying-on-their-email-neighbors-and-foreign-leaders/.

WTF has happened to America? We USED to be the most free country that ever existed and now we have flushed our freedom in the toilet. For WHAT?????

WTF are you so AFRAID of??? WHY do you let them manipulate you like this? You let them take away our hard earned freedom because of FEAR??? Or is it because of apathy? Or you’re too busy to bother? WHY are you allowing this to happen?

I would REALLY like to know. I just don’t get it.

Are You on a Government Watch List?

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  • I’m sure I’m on at least one. 😉

Chocolate Glazed Chocolate Tart Recipe

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Chocolate Glazed Chocolate Tart Recipe | Epicurious.com.

Here’s another yummy looking recipe! To add to its rating on my scale, it’s easy to make. To top it off, it’s CHOCOLATE!

Yummy!! 🙂

Maritime Monday for September 30th, 2013: Movies About Sailors Part 5; Sailor’s Luck

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Maritime Monday for September 30th, 2013: Movies About Sailors Part 5; Sailor’s Luck | gCaptain

Yeah, I know I’m late. 😉 I’ve been so busy, I’m falling WAY behind in my emails, etc. I had hoped to be able to catch up a little bit this weekend but STILL just SO busy. I’ve only got a couple of days before I have to go back offshore and not sure what kind of access I’ll have to the internet, so trying to post a few now to keep my loyal followers happy. 😉

Here’s another from Monkey Fists’ great series on Maritime Movies. Movies About Sailors Part 5: Sailor’s Luck looks like another great batch of movies to while away a lazy afternoon.

I haven’t seen ANY of these movies which seems like something I’ll need to fix one of these days. Some of them look pretty good. I would like to watch the Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea starring Kris Kristofferson and the Sand Pebbles starring Steve McQueen (he got an Academy Award nomination for this role).

Some of the other movies look pretty good too, like Sinbad the Sailor with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Anthony Quinn and Maureen O’Hara. Should Sailors Marry? starring Clyde Cook looks interesting. Of course Sex and the Single Sailor would be high on the list. 😉

I hope Monkey Fist continues to come out with these great posts of maritime related movies. I’m saving them so if I ever do get some time to just relax one of these days, I’ll be able to just look back at my old posts and find the perfect one for my mood. Adventure, romance, comedy, drama, its all there. I hope some of you will get a chance to watch soon. I think it’ll be a while for me. Enjoy! 🙂

Free Markets: Just What the Doctor Ordered

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Free Markets: Just What the Doctor Ordered | Laissez-Faire Bookstore.

This is an excellent article by former Congressman Ron Paul on the problems with our health care system. He brings up a good point and one I have mentioned myself in previous posts about the confusion of language. How the arguments we use to discuss these important issues are skewed from the very beginning because the meanings of the words we use have been twisted.

Socialism, Corporatism, Facism, Capitalism, Democracy, Republic, Liberal… all of these terms have been used and confused. Purposely? I can’t swear to it, but I would say: YES! All of these terms have been used in discussions about American politics and all of them are in one way or another accurate but it’s getting very hard to have a discussion and use any of these words and have your intention understood.

When I talk to others about Obamacare and call it socialized medicine, I am meaning simply that it is NOT in any way a free market system which is what we SHOULD have here. What we DO have here is not in any way a free market system either. Not by a long shot! We have not had anything remotely resembling a free market in health care for a LONG time!

So when the supporters of socialized health care put down the free market as the cause of the problems we have, it is just incredibly frustrating, since it is actually the socialization of our medical system which is the root cause of our problems and NOT the free markets! Ron Paul does a fairly good job explaining all this in this article.

I would just LOVE to see a real, honest discussion about how to fix our health care system (along with all our other problems). A discussion with clearly defined terms, with facts and rational arguments ONLY allowed to be brought up, instead of anecdotes and emotions over-riding all logical conclusions.

It looks like that is never going to happen. Obamacare has already been forced upon us and the emotions (hope, greed, envy, etc) have won out over reason. 🙁

Pirates Hauling $400 Million Since ’05 Pocket Little of Booty, Report Shows

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Pirates Hauling $400 Million Since ’05 Pocket Little of Booty, Report Shows | gCaptain

I’m amazed they needed to do a study to learn this! Pirates work for bosses too, just like pirate leader Muse told Tom Hanks in the movie Captain Phillips. 🙁

According to the study, the pirates only get about 0.01 percent of what they manage to collect. The rest goes to the ‘financiers’. Wow!

One of the comments makes an excellent point and its too bad that no one will actually follow up on this idea…

“So! — the real crooks behind this reign of terror at sea are (as elsewhere) the financiers and the companies, who are profiting from the work of their ‘foot-soldiers’.”

Civil forfeiture: The grabbing hand of the law

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Civil forfeiture: The grabbing hand of the law | The Economist.

I’m always amazed at how many people still don’t understand the way our government has changed. Our government that was formed ONLY to PROTECT our rights has somehow morphed into something intent on destroying them instead. Asset forfeiture or civil forfeiture as they call it in this article is just one particularly horrible example.

I started paying more attention to this issue years ago when I heard about a case where a man had his airplane stolen (confiscated) by the government. He spent years and thousands of dollars trying to get it back. It’s hard to fight the government when they’ve already stolen every asset you might have to pay for a lawyer to fight them with. 🙁

Since then, I’ve heard of SO many cases around the country. It’s really sad. The laws are written so that they are technically filing charges against the PROPERTY. Property is not a person. Property has no rights. Property can not defend itself. Property is guilty until proven innocent (which is VERY hard to do)!

We now have over 200 federal forfeiture statutes!! Any one of which could be used to steal everything you own. You are not likely to win any part of it back (unless you have big bucks hidden away someplace). Even then, good luck!

This article from the Economist concentrates on the Dehkos, who are fighting right now to keep their grocery store. Grocery store! Apparently the grocery store has been ‘money laundering’ for the last couple of years! Pretty obviously the grocery store is NOT guilty of anything, much less ‘money laundering’ (which is not a crime anyway since there is no victim).

This charge against the ‘grocery store’ leaves the Dehkos (who actually own/operate the store) in deep trouble. The government has already confiscated all the money they had in the bank. How hard do you think it is to run a business when all your money has just been stolen?

Thanks to the Institute for Justice (www.ij.org), the Dehkos might just have a fighting chance. They’ve stepped in to help fight government overreach and will try to help these people recover their money and their lives.

The article mentions a case involving a motel. This case was just recently settled. The Caswells spent almost 4 years fighting the attempted government theft of the property that had been in their family for generations. Thanks to the help of the Institute for Justice they were finally able to prevail. Here’s a link for more on that case http://www.ij.org/massachusetts-civil-forfeiture-release-3-15-2013. Its a pretty good example of the kinds of things going on around the country.

Sorry to say, most people in this country don’t have the help of the Institute for Justice. I wish more did. I’ve been a supporter of the IJ for years, I REALLY appreciate everything they do. Most people don’t have the resources to fight the government. So most people will lose.

It’s a legal fiction to charge the property. It is ONLY done to make it easier for the government to win its case. Cases that most probably could NOT be won if they had to play by the rules.

Take a look at some of the information posted by the Forfeiture Endangers American Rights Foundation (F.E.A.R.- www.fear.org). They’ve been at the forefront of this issue for years. They’re trying to make some very needed changes but seems they’re not making much headway. Here’s a link to a ‘position paper’ from F.E.A.R. on asset forfeiture http://www.fear.org/fposit.html.

I keep hoping that if more people only knew about all these violations of our rights. Of all the ways the government is stealing our freedoms. Of all the ways they are making our society poorer and meaner. Then people would stand up for themselves and put a stop to it. Say ‘ENOUGH IS ENOUGH’. I keep hoping…

 

Franken Berry, the Beloved Halloween Cereal, Was Once Medically Found to Cause Pink Poop

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Franken Berry, the Beloved Halloween Cereal, Was Once Medically Found to Cause Pink Poop | Food & Think| Smithsonian.

Another interesting Halloween story from Smithsonian. I dimly remember something about this growing up. I thought it was kind-of cool. I mean really? Pink poop? Sounds pretty cool to most kids I think. Parents panic, but what the heck. Maybe that was part of the fun of the whole experience?

PS- they even managed to find videos of the original commercials 😉

The Haunted and the Haunting: Best Places to Visit on Halloween

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The Haunted and the Haunting: Best Places to Visit on Halloween | Off the Road| Smithsonian.

Here’s a good article in honor of it being Halloween tonight. 😉

Smithsonian tells about the best places around the world to get your Halloween chills and thrills. Enjoy reading about the Blair Witch Forest, the mummies of Guanajuato, the Capuchin Catacombs, the hotel from The Shining and more.

It would be cool to do some scary stuff on Halloween. I won’t be home til late and will probably miss all the trick or treaters. 🙁

The World’s Fastest Failure

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The World’s Fastest Failure | Laissez-Faire Bookstore.

Great article by Jeffrey Tucker about Obamacare and why it is such a huge failure (at least a failure if you don’t think Obama was trying to ruin the country on purpose- there are plenty who DO think that and they have some good reasons).

It’s true that this program has degenerated faster than the rest of them. Maybe it’s just because its SO big? Maybe it’s just because people are waking up? Maybe it’s because some people actually understand economics and that Obamacare can NEVER work and they’ve been able to make some progress informing others? Maybe it’s just because government has already taken over so much of the economy already? Maybe it’s just that people are sick and tired of government encroaching on our freedom?

Mr Tucker compares the government to a start-up company which has to compete in the market. He shows why government can NEVER be successful in the markets. It’s just their nature and can’t be avoided. He doesn’t think Obamacare will ever be repealed. Instead it will just collapse eventually under its own weight. I hope not, I hope it will be repealed before it collapses and also takes down the rest of the country (and us) with it. 🙁

Its worth reading and thinking about it.

 

 

How the Shipping Industry is the Secret Force Driving the World Economy

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How the Shipping Industry is the Secret Force Driving the World Economy | Ideas & Innovations | Smithsonian Magazine.

I thought this was pretty good, despite the reservations I have from only seeing this article. It’s an interview with author Rose George about her latest book: Ninety Percent of Everything. She somehow arranged to spend some time sailing around on the container ship Maersk Kendal. I’m going to have to find a copy of this book to read. 🙂

a container ship underway

a container ship underway

She makes a lot of good points. That people who aren’t personally involved with shipping are totally unaware of the industry. That those of us living in ‘first world’ countries don’t know any seafarers personally any more. That the ports have been moved so far away from the cities that most people don’t have any awareness of them anymore. That people on the beach have absolutely no idea what it’s like to be a seafarer.

I do think she got a lot of that correct. She sees how isolating it is out here now. She mentions the lack of communication and that the ships don’t provide internet or phone access to their crews (because of the expense). I do agree that it is an expense. I do not agree that it is an ‘extra’ expense. I don’t think it’s very much to pay a couple of thousand dollars a month when that would be something like 1% of expenses on most ships (if that). Isn’t it worth that for such a HUGE increase in crew morale?

a tank ship underway

a tank ship underway

I don’t really know if she’s right in her assessment of how much or how little sailors have a ‘sense of romanticism’. She mentions that she thinks the captain has more of it then he lets on, that he still secretly loves the sea.

She seems to think that most sailors are only out here for the money. I might agree that most sailors from the poorer parts of the world go to sea for the money. They probably went to sea because it paid better than anything they could find at home.

I would agree that the great majority of seafarers are not in a great position at sea. Some of the conditions sailors work under are just horrible. A lot of shipowners do flag foreign just so they can cut expenses.

They all say that the cost of the crew is their largest expense so they cut it any way they can. They cut the crew size, they lengthen the hitch (2 YEARS or more), they skimp on groceries, they skimp on medical care, they refuse to pay for visas so the crew can’t leave the ship in port, etc.

That’s not even to start on the issue of crew abandonment. Rose George seems to think the Maritime Labor Convention (MLC) will help. I’ve seen in the news there have already been 3 ships detained, but I have serious doubts it will actually help the crews.

In spite of conditions like that, I believe most seafarers do still enjoy sailing (at least sometimes). 😉

romanticism of life at sea

romanticism of life at sea

I know I still do. Most of the time. 😉

Where Did the Fear of Poisoned Halloween Candy Come From?

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Where Did the Fear of Poisoned Halloween Candy Come From?Smithsonian

I always figured this whole thing of the poisoned candy was some sort of old wives tale. I read this article thinking ‘here’s one more example of how we’ve been scared to death over nothing.’ I was right.

I do remember some scare stories about poisoned Tylenol and bad apples. I seem to remember a pretty big media frenzy over both of those things. I do have to admit that I can’t remember anything specific about poisoned candy or razor blades in apples.

Did all this fear really come about from Dear Abby? WOW! How have we come to let the media manipulate us all like this? I feel sorry for the kids now a days that can’t even enjoy a good time on this holiday without somebody bringing this stuff up. Let them enjoy their treats in peace please.

Reading to the end of the article really makes me wonder about people, WTF are they thinking??? (trying not to give away the story- read it- it’ll get you going!)

Texas Beach Cleanup: Update

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Following up on my earlier (http://captjillsjourneys.wordpress.com/2013/09/28/texas-adopt-a-beach) post about the Texas Beach Cleanup last month, I was able to find the results of our efforts online this morning.

Stahlman Park, Fall Beach Cleanup 2013

Stahlman Park, Fall Beach Cleanup 2013

At Surfside Beach, (which was where I went-along with a few friends), they had 1200 (!!) volunteers who cleaned up 13.35 tons of trash over 14 miles of beach! WOW! What a great turnout for a day that wasn’t expected to be nice weather wise. It was fairly windy and it actually did rain a bit after noon. And remember, Surfside Beach only has about 450 full time residents.

Houston Zoomers came down to help out

Houston Zoomers came down to help out

The great bunch of SaveOurBeachAssociation (www.sobatx.org) volunteers manned the home front at Stahlman Park and provided plenty of (FREE!!) hot dogs, chips and cold drinks to the hordes of cleanup crews. They served over 1800 volunteers around Brazoria County that day!! Here’s a big Thank You to S.O.B.A.!! 🙂

SOBA volunteers serving up the cleanup crews at the 2013 fall cleanup

SOBA volunteers serving up the cleanup crews at the 2013 fall cleanup

Quintana Beach had another 174 volunteers who cleaned up 2 miles of beach and found 2.32 tons of ‘marine debris’. Yeah!!

I was not prepared to see bus after bus unloading at Stahlman Park and along the beach. People came from all over the area: representatives from Houston, Galveston and even further away. It was great to see so many people out and about, helping out. School kids in uniforms, church groups, civics clubs, sports teams…Young and old, all colors, all types, from prim and proper to young punks to grizzly old fishermen.

Bus unloads helpers at Surfside Beach

Bus unloads helpers at Surfside Beach

I didn’t really understand until I got there and started wandering the beach how the data would be gathered. It was a little harder than expected to keep track of every piece of garbage we found, from cigarette butts, bottle caps, plastic and glass bottles (none with messages inside), plastic bags, soda cans, plastic cutlery and tiny pieces of unrecognizable plastic to dead fish, old tires, fishing line, floats, escaped balloons, etc. The organizers gave us tally cards along with our collection bags. Great job everyone!

Assigned search areas for Surfside Beach 2013

Assigned search areas for Surfside Beach 2013

You can see the results for all of Texas here…http://www.glo.texas.gov/adopt-a-beach/pdfs/results/2013-fall-results.pdf.

And if you want to help out with the next one, you can find more information on that here: http://www.glo.texas.gov/adopt-a-beach/cleanups/overview.html

Worldwide, the place to go is: http://www.oceanconservancy.org/our-work/international-coastal-cleanup/sign-up-to-clean-up.html

I had a lot of fun at this event. It was a wonderful way to get out of the house, play on the beach, enjoy the natural world, learn something new, have a good time with friends old and new. I hope I’ll be able to make the next one. I didn’t know it until I looked it up for this post, but there are at least 3 more cleanups in Texas coming up before the main one in Spring (April 26, 2014).

Just curious, but did anybody make it to one of these events where you live?

Surfside Beach 2013 Fall Cleanup

Surfside Beach 2013 Fall Cleanup

Gary Johnson at Stop Watching Me Rally

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Gary Johnson speaks at the Stop Watching Me Rally last Saturday. I wish I could have been there. Gary Johnson should have had the chance to speak during the last Presidential campaign, but like Ron Paul, he was shut out by the mainstream media and their bosses in the Democrat and Republican parties(y). Too bad. He has  lot of GOOD ideas. Listen for yourself…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=1iljZltuc_w

Filthy-Minded Teenager

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Filthy-Minded Teenager | OnEarth Magazine.

This sure sounds like a great idea. It looks feasible. It’s great to hear about kids coming up with such new and interesting ideas. We sure can use all the help we can get on coming up with practical solutions to all the problems we have (mostly self inflicted).

A comment below the article ( http://ecowatch.com/2013/04/09/fallacy-cleaning-gyres-of-plastic-with-ocean-cleanup-array/), leads to another really great article about the issue of plastic polluting the oceans.

So this might not really be a solution after all. Maybe at least its a starting point. So far, I haven’t heard (but Stiv Wilson has) of anybody else coming up with anything to try to get rid of all that crap floating around out there in the middle of the ocean and washing up on our beaches. 🙁

Read both articles for a good idea of what’s really happening out there.

14 Halloween Cocktail Recipes

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14 Halloween Cocktail Recipes : Decorating : Home & Garden Television.

It looks like I’m going to miss all the Halloween parties this year (again). Here are some scary looking Halloween treats for the grown ups to enjoy while the kids are out hunting for candy. 😉

Instead of the usual Zombies in celebration of Halloween, I’d like to try some of that Pumpkin Spice Halloween Punch or maybe try a Liquefied Ghost or a Vampire, after a few of those I might be ready for some Bloody Brain Shooters (braaaaiiiinnnss)!

Save me some!! 🙂

OSV Crew in Africa Performs Toto’s “Africa”

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WATCH: OSV Crew in Africa Performs Toto’s “Africa” in Viral Video | gCaptain

Great job by the crew of the Bourbon Peridot!

Working in Africa is one of the most dangerous places in the world for working seafarers. At least these guys still have a sense of humor. 🙂

It’s nice to see there are some places in the world where we can still enjoy doing our jobs. It’s encouraging to think that there is still some hope to find a shipboard job where its not all about the ISM, IMO, SMS, USCG, BSEE, and all the other alphabet soup that organizes our every move.

In the USA, the lawyers and accountants have taken all the fun out of the job. We would NEVER be allowed to do something like this here anymore. I see ‘no horseplay’ posted on almost every vessel now and the companies here do take that very seriously.

Someone would be hounding these guys about their JSA, and where the heck is their PPE? Gloves, safety glasses (with side shields), steel toes, long sleeved fire-resistant clothing, ear plugs, hardhats, etc. No one is allowed out the door here without all that on! 🙁

And OMG!!! He had a KNIFE! Not an alternative cutting device! He would be fired immediately! Sailors without knives are like birds without feathers. A necessary part of our garb has been stripped away from us. A safety item has been declared ‘too risky’ for us to use!! What total BS!!

No wonder most sailors who have been anywhere other than the USA are so desperate to get away from this place again and will work pretty much ANYWHERE else. Personally, I am willing to take quite a pay cut in order to enjoy my job again. Too bad that’s what they’ve done to this place. 🙁

Hey, anybody over there need a good DPO??? I’m available any time. 😉

The Phony ‘Fight’ And The Real Story

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The Phony ‘Fight’ And The Real Story : Personal Liberty™.

Another good article from Bob Livingston and Personal Liberty. This one is discussing the events of the last few weeks, the fight over the budget and Obamacare. The scare tactic to ‘shutdown’ the government, as if that is a bad thing we would never want. As usual, the politicians caved in for bigger government, more money and more power for them. 🙁

I agree completely with Bob on the idea that there is really only ONE party in this country. We might as well just call it the ‘statist’ party since every piece of it (every so called ‘independent’ party), whatever it’s called, is for BIG government.

As the latest vote in congress just proved once more, BOTH the Democrats AND Republicans are for BIG government and completely against the limited government this country is supposed to have according to our Constitution and all the rest of our founding documents!

ALL of those politicians are breaking their oaths of office to uphold the Constitution. EVERY ONE OF THEM, FROM BOTH PARTIES! The Libertarians are the ONLY political party (unless there is an anarchist party I’m not aware of) who is NOT statist and is for the limited government our Constitution calls for.

The latest ‘shutdown’ was just one more farce. The latest show put on for us by ‘our’ leaders to trick us into giving up even more of our power to them. 🙁 I just keep wondering just WHAT is it going to take to get the American people to wake up? To put a stop to this?

I managed to piss off a good friend of mine tonight. He’s a die hard Obama fan and just couldn’t take any more of my ‘ranting’ about how Obama (and all of our previous ‘leaders’ for the last few decades) has been ruining this country.

Well, sorry to him and anybody else who can’t/won’t see the truth. I’m no Tom Paine, but I think the more people put it out there (shout out for freedom/liberty), the more people will come to their senses.

 

I’m thankful to all the other people in this country and around the world who are fighting for Liberty. In any way. Thanks to the Libertarian Party, to all the small L libertarians, to the Free State Project, to the Advocates for Self Government, to the International Society for Individual Liberty, to the Young Americans for Liberty, for Ron Paul and all his supporters, for the ACLU, for the Gun Owners of America, for the Institute for Justice, for ALL the people fighting AGAINST statism and FOR liberty!

I’m thankful to WordPress, Facebook, Twitter and any other platform I have to spread the word. To get MY voice heard, out there to compete against the mainstream media who keeps on NOT doing their jobs. Dianne Feinstein can go to hell! Here’s to me and the rest of the (‘non-journalist’) bloggers out there!

Keep up the good work!! 🙂

 

Obama vs Nixon…

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Hard to believe he still hasn’t been charged with anything, he’s done a hell of a lot more to hurt this country then Nixon ever even thought of. He swore an oath to uphold the Constitution (or he SHOULD have) and he has done nothing since he’s been in office but work to destroy it. 🙁

He should have been MORE than impeached over this illegal spying. Don’t even try to tell me he didn’t know about it. He knew. Therefore he was complicit. As the leader of the Executive Branch, he was ultimately responsible. Since he was a ‘constitutional law professor’, he KNEW every bit of every one of those programs was unconstitutional (and so illegal) and it was HIS duty to destroy ALL of them! Period!!

Instead, he chose to destroy the constitution. He should be drug out of the White House on his ass, tarred and feathered and then thrown in a (regular) prison for the rest of his life! And yes, Bush should have had the same treatment for Iraq and the PATRIOT ACT. (But Obama has done NOTHING to get rid of that horrible ‘law’, and our people are STILL in Iraq and Obama could have brought ALL of them home years ago!)

I can’t think of ANY other reason he’s still in office and has evaded the trouble that even Clinton had except that Obama is ‘black’. Yeah, I know, I’m going to be accused of racism. Well, accuse away…

I know I’m not a racist and that anyone who brings that up is only doing it because they have nothing else to say. They have NO rational argument to make, so they start calling names. All those high hopes for our first black president from so many people. Obama has sure given the shaft to the next few dozen blacks who might want to run. It’ll take a LONG time to get rid of his ‘legacy’. I only hope this country can survive the rest of his term. 🙁

I am SO sad to see what has become of my once great country. ALL of our presidents for the last few decades (at least) have been working overtime to destroy that history but Obama is the one in there now and he needs to GO before he’s allowed to do any more damage!

The Founders Understood The Dangers Of Welfare And Redistribution Schemes

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The Founders Understood The Dangers Of Welfare And Redistribution Schemes : Personal Liberty™.

Along with my last post, here is one more example of how the meanings of the words have been corrupted and now we are basing our political system on misunderstandings.

I have had discussions with a lot of people who say that the ‘welfare clause’ in the Constitution authorizes the federal government to do what they do. That they can continue to spend any amount of money on any program they choose to invent as long as it is intended to ‘help’ somebody.

I disagree. I disagree vehemently!! This article has some direct quotes from Benjamin Franklin and James Madison proving that my interpretation of the word welfare in the Constitution is the correct one and anyone who uses that term to justify ANY of the welfare (for rich or poor) today is just plain WRONG!

Alienable Rights = Glorified Privileges

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Alienable Rights = Glorified Privileges.

Very good article by Kelly Diamond! I have been noticing for a LONG time that most people don’t have any kind of idea of what ‘rights’ are. This article does a good job of explaining what they are.

People now a days seem totally confused. They don’t seem to understand that there is a BIG difference between natural rights (which belong to everyone regardless of whether any person or even government recognizes that fact) and those ‘rights’ we enjoy because of the society we live in.

Because of this confusion, we are losing more and more of our natural rights. Our government, which was expressly created for the sole purpose of PROTECTING those rights is instead intent on chipping them away to nothing.

Diamond makes some good points about the ‘freedom of the press’ guaranteed to us by our Constitution and how Dianne Feinstein (and others) are working right now to restrict that freedom even more. As a blogger (and hopefully one day able to do more), I am NOT happy with the arrogance of ‘our leaders’ latest attempts to decide who can and can not be considered a journalist re: freedom of the press.

ALL of us should be considered able to publicize whatever we feel is news. That is what the internet has done for ALL of us! Who the hell does Feinstein think she is, to decide what can and can’t be published? Who can/can’t be considered a ‘real’ journalist? What information is OK or NOT OK to be publicized?

The reason the founders included ‘freedom of the press’ in the Bill of Rights was to ensure that we could always get information that the government might prefer to keep secret! The mainstream media has not been doing their job at all for the last few years (at least). Thank goodness for the internet and ordinary people posting to the internet!

 

5 Sky Events This Week: Cosmic Bull’s-Eye and Eskimo Nebula

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5 Sky Events This Week: Cosmic Bull’s-Eye and Eskimo Nebula – News Watch.

Be sure to check out the sky tonight for the Orionid meteor shower. Last night it was raining my entire watch (2400-1200), so I couldn’t even see the moon. 🙁

Dianne Feinstein And The NSA Versus James Madison

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Dianne Feinstein And The NSA Versus James Madison : Personal Liberty™.

This woman has NO idea of what the Constitution says or means. She is just an ignorant, power hungry THUG that happens to wear dresses. She is one sick evil bitch and I’ll call her that to her face.

I can NOT understand why the people of California ever elected her, much less allowed her to continue her RAPE of the Californian people and their state for all these years. Anybody from California out there with some sort of explanation?

Is it just that you Californians all are screwed by the system just like the rest of us are in the national elections? Where the media refuses to do its job and inform us of ALL the candidates and instead only allows us to know about its favorites?

The ones representing the 2 favored (really only ONE) parties who have been vetted by the owners of those media outlets? The ones who pass the tests of being…

1. members of the same elite club,

2. willing to follow orders from the leaders of those same elite clubs,

3. NOT willing to do what’s best for the country and follow their oath to protect our rights and uphold the Constitution!

It’s hard to believe there was NO one on the ballot who wasn’t a better choice. Was there NOBODY else running against her? NO ONE ELSE was ever on the ballot against her? Not once in all those years??? Cause ANYBODY would be better than her, I mean REALLY!

Addiction?

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I’ve been enjoying a blog conversation on The Culture Monk blog. It started with his post ‘Oreos & Cocaine…REALLY???'( http://culturemonk.com/2013/10/20/oreos-cocaine-really/). There’s been an interesting bunch of comments on his post and I’ve joined in.

I think its a neat coincidence that I got that article in my email that I posted on here yesterday about scientists who think they might have found a cure for addiction of all types (http://captjillsjourneys.wordpress.com/2013/10/20/is-this-chemical-a-cure-for-marijuana-addiction/). I got it in time to add to that blog conversation. 

Now this morning, I saw another post on the mindhacks blog about how the original study that started the conversation was probably not really the big deal the media made it out to be (http://mindhacks.com/2013/10/17/scraping-the-bottom-of-the-biscuit-barrel/#comment-79421). Surprise, surprise. 😉

They had a link in their post to a post on Reason.com that really makes a lot of sense to me (http://reason.com/blog/2013/10/16/researchers-show-that-cocaine-and-heroin). I’ve subscribed to their magazine for years and I’ve always liked the way they approach things. This is just one more example of some ‘reasonable’ thinking on the issue of addiction.

I think it’s great how we can use all these resources to have a worldwide conversation about all kinds of things. News and research at our fingertips. Isn’t it great! 😉

 

Obamacare: A Parasite Intent on Killing Its Host

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Obamacare: A Parasite Intent on Killing Its Host | Laissez-Faire Bookstore.

This is a VERY good article by former Texas Congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul. I have to admit, I LOVE Ron Paul! 🙂 He has been my congressman for years and he is the ONLY politician I’ve ever met who REALLY tries his best to do the job he was elected to do.

That job is to PROTECT AND DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION! NOT to pander to the public (like most politicians think). Regardless of how many people do or don’t want to do one thing or another, he ALWAYS did the RIGHT thing and fought to uphold the constitution and our rights.

We would be in SUCH a better place as a country if he had been elected instead of Obama. Too bad the media refuses to allow any other candidates to be heard. 🙁

I’m sure if more people actually listened to what he has to say, they would LOVE it! Just look at the reaction he gets when he visits any college campus around the country. These kids are open to new ideas, they’re not completely brainwashed yet. He gets a HUGE positive reaction from young people.

Ron Paul is absolutely correct in everything he says in this article. I know a lot of people refuse to open their eyes to the truth, but you can NOT evade human nature or the laws of economics for very long.

Obamacare IS a disaster waiting to happen. It just makes me sick that we have SO many people in this country now who, for whatever reason, still support this legislation which is completely in violation of ANY sort of respect for individual rights. Those same individual rights this country was founded to PROTECT (not to give, since we had them already-but to protect!).

In fact, the ONLY proper function of OUR government is just that, to protect our rights, PERIOD! With Obamacare, we have turned that idea inside-out and upside-down. Everything about it is a violation of our rights.

Our right to decide our own medical treatments is violated in every way! We can’t choose the price we’ll pay for those treatments. We can’t choose who we want to provide those treatments. Our privacy is totally eliminated!!

How can that mean anything other than that somebody ELSE OWNS YOUR BODY AND SO YOUR LIFE! How anyone could even imagine that it could possibly do anything but corrupt completely the principles this country was founded to uphold, bankrupt and destroy this country is just beyond belief!

I just don’t get it. Do these people who support it have some kind of switch in their brains that shuts off any logical thinking whenever the subject of Obama or his latest SCAM comes up? Or maybe they just never could think logically about anything to begin with. Or maybe its just greed that’s blinding them, the thought of all that ‘free’ stuff is just too much for them to cope with and they overload their brain cells?

They keep talking about how ‘all the other democracies have socialized medicine’ and that is somehow supposed to justify destroying ours. I don’t understand why they don’t just go to one of those other wonderful countries if they love socialism so much.

THIS country is a CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC! It is NOT a democracy and it is NOT a socialist country! If you want one of those, you have about 180 of them to choose from. Leave THIS one alone to continue to be free and an example to the rest of the world. It is only your socialism that has been dragging it down for decades now!

Let us return to the FREE country this used to be and we’ll be able to recover and prosper again. Keep pushing the cronyism, corporatism, populist and socialistic fantasies and we will just keep on whittling away at our freedom and everything that once made this country the greatest in the history of the world will go away with it. 🙁

Look to England for America’s Future

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Look to England for America’s Future | Laissez-Faire Bookstore.

Good post on some history from across the pond. I would certainly think it would follow that we would wind up the same way if we follow the same path. It looks to me like that’s what IS happening here. WHY can’t we ever learn from history, instead of repeating the same mistakes? 🙁

‘Captain Phillips’ Torn From the Headlines, But Tells an Old Story

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‘Captain Phillips’ Torn From the Headlines, But Tells an Old Story | gCaptain

I did go see this movie the other day. I thought it was pretty good. Maybe its because I’m a sailor but I REALLY don’t appreciate the way the article tries to make excuses for the pirates. Yeah, they’re poor, so are a lot of other people around the world. That does NOT in any way excuse the violence, kidnappings, beatings, theft, etc of the pirates!

I thought the crew of the Alabama deserved more credit for their actions. It seems Captain Phillips got all the recognition. The crew actually managed to capture the pirate leader and traded him off for their captain. Good job!!

Remember, in the Merchant Marine, we are not allowed to defend ourselves with anything but fire hoses against these thugs with machine guns and RPGs! They still managed to take down a couple of the pirates! Good! I salute them!

I am REALLY sick and tired of hearing about how we can’t be trusted to defend ourselves, we somehow don’t deserve any kind of REAL protection when our companies send us to work in these dangerous waters!

The bigwigs sit in their penthouse air conditioned offices and debate how much we’re worth to them. Can they ‘afford’ to pay our ransom? The ransom payment is just another cost of doing business to them. It’s our LIVES on the line! We’re just out there trying to earn a living and should NOT have to put up with pirate attacks!

Seamen from all over the world are suffering severely from pirate attacks, even for YEARS AFTER they return home! There are HUNDREDS of them being held at this moment! According to the ICC International Maritime Bureau (http://www.icc-ccs.org/piracy-reporting-centre/piracynewsafigures), there have been 176 REPORTED incidents including 10 hijackings in 2013 alone!

No one is helping them. No one cares. The world depends on shipping. Over 90% of the worlds trade moves by sea, in the USA its over 95%! Yet, we mariners get a bare minimum of help from the worlds navies. 🙁

Where are the convoys like they had during WWII? Where are the marines who might be assigned to a ship to protect it? Where are the security companies and their trained armed guards??? WHY is there such an issue about giving us the protection we should have before we go anywhere near any pirate infested waters???

The ONLY reason the world even knows (or cares) about Captain Phillips and the Maersk Alabama is because it happened to be an American ship! There have been dozens of ships and HUNDREDS of sailors held in captivity by various pirate groups worldwide.

The pirates holding these mariners are NOT like Johnny Depp! They are mean, abusive, dangerous, desperate men! They have nothing to lose and they mean business!

WHY can’t we get some REAL protection? WHY can’t we at least arm our ships? It’s hard to believe but the powers that be expects us to be able to run away! If that doesn’t work (which it won’t most of the time since most ships are not very fast), then we are supposed to fight off the machine gun toting pirates with nothing but FIRE HOSES! If that doesn’t work (which it doesn’t), then we are supposed to run away and hide (again). The movie did a great job of showing just how effective those tactics are! (Totally useless! But they are the industrys’ ‘best management practice’).

I recommend the movie. It’s good entertainment if nothing else. I hope it’ll be more than that for the people who watch it. I hope it will help get people involved in trying to solve the problems of piracy. I hope it will give people ashore some idea of the things that are still going on out there in our world.

Is This Chemical a Cure For Marijuana Addiction?

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Is This Chemical a Cure For Marijuana Addiction? | Surprising Science.

Oh boy! Let the ‘authorities’ get ahold of this stuff and it’ll be all over. We’ll all be doped into shambling zombies with no ounce of joy left to our lives. All for our own good (of course). 🙁

I’m pretty damn sure marijuana is NOT addicting! It just does not fit the definition of addiction. It’s been around forever and there would probably be ZERO negative results if we weren’t on a prohibitionist rampage against it!

Remember, it WAS legal here and anyone who wanted to could and DID use it up until the congress fraudulently banned it starting in the late 1930s. There was NO problem with it until Nixon ramped up the War on (some) Drugs in the 1970s.

Throwing people out of schools, jobs, their homes, etc because a drug test found a few NANOGRAMS of THC is NOT proof of addiction!!! It’s a circular argument, ‘they’re addicted because they have a problem with pot (they lost their jobs, etc)’, NOT!! They do NOT have a problem with pot, they have a problem with the LAW!

I don’t doubt that some people are addicted to some things. Some people are actually even harmed by their addictions. Most people are NOT addicted physically to anything really, but it suits the people in charge to say so. Once again, they take away OUR responsibility and OUR choices.

But lots of people do have emotional/psychological addictions to all kinds of things. Love, sex, adrenaline junkies like skydiving or race car driving, food addicts, drug addicts, alcoholics, smokers, etc.

There are always so many people out there who just can’t stand to see anyone else having fun! WHY? Why the hell can’t I smoke some weed if I feel like it? What the hell is wrong if I choose pot over booze? We already had a hell of a fight over alcohol prohibition and we FINALLY came to our senses and ‘let’ people drink again.

WHY can’t we come to the proper conclusion that we need to do the same thing with all the other drugs that people choose to use? WHY do so many people think THEY know best?

Most of the people who are supposedly addicted are only classed that way because something ‘interfered with their life’. I’ve seen the AA questionnaire on ‘you may be an alcoholic’, yeah, we ALL may be alcoholics if that’s the standard!

I remember thinking about one question, do you ever drink alone? My aunt drank a glass of wine with her dinner every night, she lived alone, according to AA that meant she was an alcoholic!

I have been arrested for DWI. According to the standards, that means I’m an alcoholic. I have a ‘problem with alcohol’, well NO I don’t have a problem with alcohol, I DO have a problem with COPS!

Because of that supposed “problem” with alcohol, I have been held back from many promotions, even my ability to travel has been cut off! I was recently informed by the CBP that because of my conviction, I can not be considered “low-risk”. Now what the HELL does a conviction for DWI have to do with being able to travel through the fast lane at the airport?????

Now, those controlling type people will have one more tool to use against those of us who would LIKE to be able to enjoy our lives without puritanical interference. Scientists have found that ‘kynurenic acid’ can be used to basically negate the effects of dopamine.

Dopamine is associated with the ‘pleasure center’ of the brain. When you are enjoying yourself, your dopamine levels increase. They also increase when you are using alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, etc. They also increase while you enjoy a good meal, when you have sex, when you do ANYTHING pleasurable.

I don’t know about you all, but I think we should all be able to take our pleasures any way we can! As long as you don’t hurt anybody else, you should be able to do ANYTHING you want! That DOES include getting high, on WHATEVER you choose to do the trick!

I can just imagine the horror stories to come if/(when) they start using this stuff on people. We’ll all be doped up like a bunch of zombies to treat our ‘addictions’, this stuff will be used to block any pleasure from our brains. Tone us down just enough so we can keep on being good little workers, but we’ll never be able to go out and have a good time on Friday night again, we just don’t know what’s good for us (and THEY do).

WOW! 🙁 And I thought Brave New World was only science fiction. 🙁

Young Adults and Obamacare

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Young Adults and Obamacare | Laissez-Faire Bookstore.

Another good article from Laissez-Faire. This one is another attempt to explain Obamacare. A simple explanation of insurance and markets and how Obamacare is not really either.

Personally, I think Obamacare is a purposeful attempt to screw up our health care system SO bad that everyone will soon be clamoring for a ‘single-payer’ system. Government health care in other words.

So, instead of paying attention to what really caused our system to become so totally screwed up, we just keep on proposing more of the same things that started the problem in the first place. We now have the most expensive and frustrating system on the planet. It didn’t used to be that way. We USED to have the best! It changed because of government interference in the market.

THAT is the ONLY reason our health care is so expensive, why people here fear losing everything if they get sick and don’t have insurance. Open your eyes to the true cause of the problem. Maybe then you will be able to see that Obamacare will NOT be any kind of solution. Neither will a complete government takeover!

Yeah, there are some places on the planet where government health care does (seem to) work. Costa Rica comes to mind. I haven’t been there, but from all I hear, it sounds like its a great system. Not so much the ones I hear more about: UK, Canada, even Sweden. They have serious problems with their systems too. So for getting taxed out the a$$, are they REALLY getting what they’ve paid for? Looks like that’s a no.

In case you didn’t know, Costa Rica does not have any army. We spend I don’t know how many BILLIONS on our military. So, that alone should tell you that we can NOT have anything like Costa Ricas health care system. 

Somebody has got to pay the piper at some point. We can NOT just keep on printing more dollars and hope to be able to buy whatever we feel like it. Sooner or later the bills are not going to be able to be put off any more!

If you’re REALLY interested in solving the problems in our health care system, then you had better start paying attention to history and the REAL cause and effects going on. Obamacare is a disaster waiting to happen. I’m sorry the Republicans caved, but I had no doubt that they would. Why did they sign the damn bill in the first place? Cause they’re all STATISTS, just as bad as the Democrats!

We need to get back to the LIMITED government this country was founded on! Government should NOT be interfering in ANY market and most certainly NOT interfering with something as important as health care! They do NOT have that power! In case you don’t know it, our Supreme Court has been wrong MANY times in the past and their decision on Obamacare is just one more instance of their ignorance of the true purpose of OUR government (to PROTECT our rights!).

I only wonder at this point how long it will take them to throw me in jail, since I won’t be signing up for Obamacare and I will be doing my best to keep my bank accounts empty and not getting any tax refunds so they can’t STEAL my money to pay for the ridiculously expensive ‘insurance’! I’ll probably get better health care in prison then I would under Obamacare. 🙁

Too bad I’ll be costing them 50 grand or so instead of them being able to STEAL that amount out of my pay. That’s what comes from FORCING people to do things they don’t want to do, have no good reason to do, and they’re principled enough to stand up for what’s RIGHT!

Actually, I’m hoping it doesn’t come to that. If I can manage to escape to another country, I won’t be forced to submit to this scam! I’m doing all I can to get out, I just wish I could somehow move faster!! 🙁

Our World Through Thomas Paine’s Eyes

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Our World Through Thomas Paine’s Eyes | Laissez-Faire Bookstore.

Excellent article by Jeffrey Tucker! I guess I’ll have to re-read Common Sense again. I liked it the first time I read it. I liked it more the next time. I’m sure my attitude toward it hasn’t changed, since my love of individual liberty is stronger than ever!

I wonder what will it take for us Americans to stand up and take back our liberty again. We did it once back then when Thomas Paine’s essay managed to stir up the people. Do we have anyone now who could do that job? I know people are trying, the internet is a big help- but most people still aren’t interested in paying attention.

We are in a much worse off position then the colonists were then. Back then, they were fighting the most powerful empire in the world. So would we be. But they were a heck of a lot more evenly matched! The King didn’t have any drones, or NSA spy programs to watch your every move, or even nuclear weapons to threaten with…

Our only real advantage now is the fact that our IDEAS are the better ones. How many people can honestly support tyranny over freedom?

How has tyranny ever lifted the standard of living in a nation? Compared to systems with some freedom allowed? How has tyranny encouraged creativity? Compared to freedom?

Even with the limited freedom we started with here (re:slavery, women, etc), we STILL became the most productive country with the best standard of living on the planet.It’s only as we threw that freedom out the window that we started going downhill.

Get the truth out there to people and they will no longer support “our” government. It HAS in fact become a tyranny.

“Tyranny- arbitrary or unrestrained use of power- oppressive or unjustly severe government.”

 

As the founding fathers fought the American Revolution against King George for such trivial things like a tiny tax on a few items like tea, WE have a much larger tax on EVERYTHING. As they fought against no taxation without representation, WE have no representation either (or do you REALLY think your congressman does what YOU ask them to?).

As they fought against their treatment by the Kings soldiers, we put up with daily harassment by the TSA strip searchers, DEA and police theft/destruction of your property and  NSA collecting EVERYTHING you do or say! How much worse is that then the Kings men occasionally looking through your (snail) mail? And yet no one today protests. 🙁

The government right now is in a ‘shut down’ which did not in fact shut down any of the things they use to oppress us (oh my wishful thinking that they would shut all that down!!). Things like the NSA, DEA, DHS, TSA, IRS are all still open for business (and NO, we do NOT need ANY of them!). They have only shut down the things that people actually ENJOY the use of from the government. Things like the National Parks and the WWII Monument.

They are ‘shut down’ in a fight over the budget and Obamacare. Obamacare is only one more HUGE violation of our rights and the budget is already TRILLIONS of dollars over what it should be! I just keep wondering: what in the HELL is it going to take for the main part of the American people to stand up and say ‘enough is enough’?