Freedom vs. Self-restraint; Can vs. Should

There is a line from one of the Celtic Thunder songs that goes like this:

Come by the hills to the land where fancy is free…

Where “fancy is free.”  That is an idiom for “fancy free” where “fancy” means whatever your imagination conjures for you to do.  You are free to do whatever your little cottin’ pickin’ heart desires.  In the context of this song, the motive is pure and good.  Just as the thoughts surrounding the word “gay” were pure and good until a few decades ago.

Freedom is nice.  It is good knowing we are free to do whatever we want.

The producers of the movie “The Interview” were free to do whatever they want.  So they created a movie full of vile, vulgar, and generally tasteless words and behavior, ostensibly to cater to a particular demographic that believes that type of dialogue is cool.  The film made money.  Everyone except the North Koreans were happy.

Is “freedom” being abused?  Absolutely.

The leftist protestors in New York are “fancy free”.  Al Sharpton and Bill deBlasio, too.  They are free to say what they want – even if what they say is based on lies and distortions.  And they do, despite the consequences of their actions.  The end justifies the means.  Their “means” are lies and distortions.  Their end?  Who knows?   Their “freedom” to spout distortions that happen to also be incendiary is more important to them then the truth.  They prefer the consequences of their distortions than the consequences of the truth.

This concern about being “incendiary” or “offensive” is a two edged sword.  Desire for restraint depends on whose ox is being gored.  If I chose to use my freedom to speak out against Islamic ideology because that ideology promotes violence against infidels, and that speech upsets some Muslims, I would not want someone telling me to shut up – just because someone is offended and might go into a psychotic rage.  The truth is more important than offense of the truth.

Speech used to promote lies, distortions, slander (untruthful claims), should not be given the same claim to “freedom” as promoting truth.  Al Sharpton and Bill deBlasio were distorting the truth in their “free speech” to promote their political agenda.  They failed to acknowledge the facts of the cases they used to incite violence.  They abused their rights to “free speech.”

In the case of profane movies and vulgar TV shows and other media, they, too, abuse their right to freedom and free speech.

Islam would not have as much of an attraction in the West – with their perverse version of “morality” - if we in the West treated our freedoms with greater respect.

In fact, we have become so “fancy free” in our culture that we have become immune to knowing what is of value and what is not.  We can no longer distinguish between what we “can” say and what we “should” say.  We use “freedom” as an excuse to turn off our sense of morality and just about any other sense that we have remaining.  “Can” trumps “should.”  Self-restraint?  What’s that?

Lone wolves? Really? Officials unleash a “denial of sanity” attack.

You techies out there have heard of “denial of service” attacks where a computer system is overloaded with incoming trash that clogs up your processing system or network.  Well, we are experiencing a denial of sanity attack where so much bull shit is coming in from our leaders that our sense of sanity is being challenged.

The cop killer in New York?  The Boston Marathon terrorists?  The Hassan Fort Hood Massacre?  Dozens more, reported and unreported?  These are “loan wolves?” 

Lone wolves:  Really?  Saying these are “lone wolves” is a denial of sanity attack by those we have graced with authority and “leadership.”  You get enough lone wolves doing the same sort of things and you have a distributed pack of wolves.  And many among this pack of wolves, not coincidentally, share a common belief system, a common ideology, some call it a common “faith”:  Islam.  Islam, the ancient, barbaric belief system that motivates 95% of all terrorist acts in the world today.

Loan wolves:  All with a common motivation and common purpose.  Islam provides an excuse, a justification, to release their pent up anger and psychotic rage on whatever pisses them off at the moment.

Unfortunately, our “denial of sanity” leaders – Obama, deBlasio, Sharpton, Holder, and dozens of others – add to the motivation of these “loan wolves” with their blame of everyone except the lone wolves and the ideologies that motivate most of them.  They elevate and coddle these scum in the same way a punk in school is rewarded for his behavior by punishing the entire class.  Example:  Instead of profiling Muslims coming to and fro in our airports, we are all subject to invasive, costly, often humiliating searches.  (Note to self:  Always consider Islam more “fascist political ideology” than mere “religion.”)

These deniers of reality claim we have a “race” problem.  Yup, we do now.  They renewed it.   From 1950 through 2004, the “race problem” was fantastically improved to the point where race was not on our list of national problems at all.  Drastic change resulted with the arrival of Obama as president.

Just as Obama complains about the United States when he is speaking in enemy nations, he also complains about the 90% of us who are law abiding citizens and defends or embraces the terrorists, the psychotics, and the scum.  You don’t think it isn’t motivational to these “loan wolves” when the highest leaders of the land excuse their behavior and condemn the rest of us for who knows what? 

Couple this with any predisposition these lone wolf elements have toward ideologies like Islam, Crypts, Nation of Islam, Black Panthers, Communist Party, CAIR, etc. and you generate a whole new cadre of “loan wolves.”  And this is exactly what our leaders are doing.

Pam Geller provides compelling insight in this based on the ongoing New York City fiasco motivated by deBlasio, Sharpton, and Obama HERE.  And Diana West comments on “See No Islam” HERE.

 

Recent encouraging events…

What could possibly go wrong?

It is the season of the year to turn our thoughts from the discouraging events that have occurred throughout the year and focus on some of the positive and encouraging happenings that have recently taken place.

Here is a listing of some of them, along with an open-minded, realistic assessment of how truly “encouraging” these event might really be.

The election: 

Republicans won the Senate.  Whew.  Allelujah!  Finally we can reverse Obamacare, secure our borders, reunite with our allies, pay off the national debt, become energy independent and admit Islam is an evil subversive political ideology.

The reality:   Look at what the Republican House is doing now:  promoting amnesty legislation.  Look at what Romney just said:  “We have to swallow hard” to pass amnesty legislation.  Even when the newly minted republican majority convenes, they cannot overcome either a presidential veto or a senate filibuster.  The choices will be either government gridlock or compromise which is most likely to favor more illegal immigrants, more government spending, more debt, and no oil pipeline and no energy independence. 

Here are a few current Drudge Report headlines on immigration:

SESSIONS: Republicans On Verge Of Breaking Campaign Promises...
LEFT MOCKS: 'War' on Obama's immigration order lasted about 5 minutes...
'Symbolic' Vote on Amnesty...
Gutiérrez presses 'millions' to get documents ready...
Mayors plan summit to implement...
Guatemala paper reports Obama decree has increased illegal immigration to USA...

The result:  Expect more talk but don’t expect very much change.

The Ferguson Grand Jury decision:

No charges were brought against officer Wilson of the Ferguson PD.  Yippee.  Justice is served.

The Reality:  The President invites thugs, rioters and mob members to the White House to discuss the implication of Ferguson.  The media and our federal government continue to distrust and disparage our legal system, rule of law, results of the Ferguson Grand Jury and police departments nationwide.  The punks, racists, and hoodlums are being coddled and celebrated.

The result:  Expect a further breakdown of civility in our cities.

Gas prices:

Gas prices are down to around $2.60 from a high close to $4.00 in the past year.  That is a result of an oversupply due in most part to our burgeoning shale oil industry.  Yippee.  We’re turning the corner on energy independence.

The reality:  Prices are lower because of reduced demand and increased supply.  Demand is lower because of less consumption due to recessions in a number of nations.  Supply remains high because Saudi Arabia does not want to lose market share.  So they are purposely pumping at a steady rate to create an oversupply that lowers prices to a point that will destroy the profitability of our shale industry.  They will do everything in their power to discourage the US from becoming energy independent. 

The result:  Unless the profitability of the US shale oil industry is maintained by subsidizing the difference between the market price and cost of production plus a reasonable profit, that industry will wither and die.

Stock prices:

Stock prices are at record highs.  Things are looking good.

The reality:  Stock prices are at record highs because interest rates are at record lows.  This is a temporary condition that is impossible to perpetuate for two reasons:  The price to earnings ratios do not support the current stock prices and the US dollar cannot long survive record low interest rates.  In fact, the pattern of the market of the past several months is mimicking the pattern leading up to the collapse of 2008.

The result:  Look for a significant collapse of the stock market within the next year.

Unemployment rate:

The unemployment rate is down to below 6% from a high of near 10%.  Wow!  This is great!

The reality:  The Labor Force Participation rate is at its lowest level since 1978.  Most new jobs are part time and lower paying.

The result:  “Despite monthly job growth that has surged well over 200,000 this year [mostly part time/low wage jobs], average annual wage gains remain stuck at 2% — barely enough to keep pace with inflation. Employers' failure to provide bigger raises has crimped consumer spending, which makes up 70% of the economy.”

Source:  USA Today

And finally, Google searches for “economic collapse” increased 152% during this past week.

There you have it.  I have successfully turned what appears to be a variety of silk purses into a number of sows ears.  Sorry about that.  But that is reality.