Saturday, June 2, 2018
Friday, June 1, 2018
Wednesday, May 30, 2018
Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Jeremiah 1:5
I saw this over at It Ain't Holy Water and thought it was a very "telling" video. How a government allows the unborn to be treated speaks volumes about how it also views and treats it's citizenry.
Tuesday, May 29, 2018
We lost another of "the greatest generation" Friday
Updated: I posted a photo of one of Odis' grandpa's who was also a veteran. Below is the picture of George Hamrick who was a Sgt. in the 55th Ga. Inf. Reg't. Co. H (George's GG-grandson whose name is also George Hamrick went to school with me). I thought it was pretty cool that there was a photo of Odis holding this picture of his grandpappy displayed at his funeral. I wonder if George's daddy fought in the Mexican-American war, or the Creek Indian Wars and if his granddaddy was in the War of 1812 or the Revoloution, and so on and so forth. I do know one of Odis's boys was a Vietnam veteran. It is kind of like that old song where "the highway rolls on forever".
I went to Odis Bishop's funeral today. I suppose it was only fitting he died on Memorial Day Weekend. He was 92. He lived a good life, still was driving, and was in pretty good health up until a few weeks ago. He worked with my daddy back in the early 70's. He was a member of the 106th "Golden Lions" Division. He told me his regiment was almost killed off to the man in the "Battle of the Bulge". I've since researched his unit. Their casualties were very high. Those who were not dead, in a hospital or captured ended up guarding a a bunch of SS soldiers in the beautiful resort town of Bad Ems, Germany towards the end and just after the war. Odis was in this bunch. He once showed me his photographs and mementos he had "liberated". Odis was a very knowledgeable man and he never met a stranger. R.I.P. Odis.
Homeowner 1 / Bad Guy 0
There is an old saying about bringing a cane to a gunfight or is that a knife? Anyhow, the homeowner was armed and "took care of business". Notice from the transcript the homeowner used the past tense when she said "we had an intruder".
A caller to the Morgan County E-911 Center earlier this month told a dispatcher that an intruder at the home was shot when he tried to kill residents there, according to a 911 transcript. “We had an intruder,” the female caller told the dispatcher. "And he tried to … he tried to kill us and we shot him. He’s still in the house.
“… He’s … he’s laying here. He’s been shot.”
The transcripts of two 911 calls were obtained by The Decatur Daily through a public records request.
The dispatcher continued to question the caller, asking if the residents shot the intruder. “We did. He was hurting us. He was trying to kill us. He come in our bedroom beating us.”
The man was identified as Tchaasu Ankhkara Taylor, 24, of Madison, according to Decatur police. Taylor was pronounced dead at the scene by Morgan County Coroner Jeff Chunn, police said.
Decatur police believe Taylor acted alone and said the case was to be presented to a Morgan County grand jury.
According to Decatur police, the Morgan County E-911 Center received a call at about 2:15 a.m. on May 13 of a burglary in progress at 83 Creek Meadow Drive in the Trinity police jurisdiction.
Read the rest of the story HERE.
UPDATE: I cannot imagine what this young man was doing out of jail. He had been booked in Madison County on charges of domestic violence and kidnapping earlier this month. I wonder if Madison County AL has some sort of "free pass" like we saw in Cook County Illinois recently The home he invaded was approximately 30 miles from his hometown. The small rural community where this took place is quiet and hardly has any crime. Fortunately, the homeowners were prepared.
There is an old saying about bringing a cane to a gunfight or is that a knife? Anyhow, the homeowner was armed and "took care of business". Notice from the transcript the homeowner used the past tense when she said "we had an intruder".
A caller to the Morgan County E-911 Center earlier this month told a dispatcher that an intruder at the home was shot when he tried to kill residents there, according to a 911 transcript. “We had an intruder,” the female caller told the dispatcher. "And he tried to … he tried to kill us and we shot him. He’s still in the house.
“… He’s … he’s laying here. He’s been shot.”
The transcripts of two 911 calls were obtained by The Decatur Daily through a public records request.
The dispatcher continued to question the caller, asking if the residents shot the intruder. “We did. He was hurting us. He was trying to kill us. He come in our bedroom beating us.”
The man was identified as Tchaasu Ankhkara Taylor, 24, of Madison, according to Decatur police. Taylor was pronounced dead at the scene by Morgan County Coroner Jeff Chunn, police said.
Decatur police believe Taylor acted alone and said the case was to be presented to a Morgan County grand jury.
According to Decatur police, the Morgan County E-911 Center received a call at about 2:15 a.m. on May 13 of a burglary in progress at 83 Creek Meadow Drive in the Trinity police jurisdiction.
Read the rest of the story HERE.
UPDATE: I cannot imagine what this young man was doing out of jail. He had been booked in Madison County on charges of domestic violence and kidnapping earlier this month. I wonder if Madison County AL has some sort of "free pass" like we saw in Cook County Illinois recently The home he invaded was approximately 30 miles from his hometown. The small rural community where this took place is quiet and hardly has any crime. Fortunately, the homeowners were prepared.
SHOCKER!
Opponents of free market capitalism are largely ignorant of what it is
Several recent polls, plus the popularity of Sen. Bernie Sanders, demonstrate that young people prefer socialism to free market capitalism. That, I believe, is a result of their ignorance and indoctrination during their school years, from kindergarten through college. For the most part, neither they nor many of their teachers and professors know what free market capitalism is.
Free market capitalism, wherein there is peaceful voluntary exchange, is morally superior to any other economic system. Why? Let’s start with my initial premise. All of us own ourselves. I am my private property, and you are yours. Murder, rape, theft and the initiation of violence are immoral because they violate self-ownership. Similarly, the forcible use of one person to serve the purposes of another person, for any reason, is immoral because it violates self-ownership.
Tragically, two-thirds to three-quarters of the federal budget can be described as Congress taking the rightful earnings of one American to give to another American — using one American to serve another. Such acts include farm subsidies, business bailouts, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, welfare and many other programs.
Free market capitalism is disfavored by many Americans — and threatened — not because of its failure but, ironically, because of its success. Free market capitalism in America has been so successful in eliminating the traditional problems of mankind — such as disease, pestilence, hunger and gross poverty — that all other human problems appear both unbearable and inexcusable. The desire by many Americans to eliminate these so-called unbearable and inexcusable problems has led to the call for socialism. That call includes equality of income, sex and race balance, affordable housing and medical care, orderly markets, and many other socialistic ideas.
Let’s compare capitalism with socialism by answering the following questions: In which areas of our lives do we find the greatest satisfaction, and in which do we find the greatest dissatisfaction? It turns out that we seldom find people upset with and in conflict with computer and clothing stores, supermarkets, and hardware stores. We do see people highly dissatisfied with and often in conflict with boards of education, motor vehicles departments, police and city sanitation services.
What are the differences? For one, the motivation for the provision of services of computer and clothing stores, supermarkets, and hardware stores is profit. Also, if you’re dissatisfied with their services, you can instantaneously fire them by taking your business elsewhere. It’s a different matter with public education, motor vehicles departments, police and city sanitation services. They are not motivated by profit at all. Plus, if you’re dissatisfied with their service, it is costly and in many cases even impossible to fire them.
A much larger and totally ignored question has to do with the brutality of socialism. In the 20th century, the one-party socialist states of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Germany under the National Socialist German Workers’ Party and the People’s Republic of China were responsible for the murder of 118 million citizens, mostly their own. The tallies were: USSR 62 million, Nazi Germany 21 million and PRC 35 million. No such record of brutality can be found in countries that tend toward free market capitalism.
Here’s an experiment for you. List countries according to whether they are closer to the free market capitalist or to the socialist/communist end of the economic spectrum. Then rank the countries according to per capita gross domestic product. Finally, rank the countries according to Freedom House’s “Freedom in the World” report. You will find that people who live in countries closer to the free market capitalist end of the economic spectrum not only have far greater wealth than people who live in countries toward the socialistic/communist end but also enjoy far greater human rights protections.
As Dr. Thomas Sowell says, “socialism sounds great. It has always sounded great. And it will probably always continue to sound great. It is only when you go beyond rhetoric, and start looking at hard facts, that socialism turns out to be a big disappointment, if not a disaster.”
Walter E. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason University.
Several recent polls, plus the popularity of Sen. Bernie Sanders, demonstrate that young people prefer socialism to free market capitalism. That, I believe, is a result of their ignorance and indoctrination during their school years, from kindergarten through college. For the most part, neither they nor many of their teachers and professors know what free market capitalism is.
Free market capitalism, wherein there is peaceful voluntary exchange, is morally superior to any other economic system. Why? Let’s start with my initial premise. All of us own ourselves. I am my private property, and you are yours. Murder, rape, theft and the initiation of violence are immoral because they violate self-ownership. Similarly, the forcible use of one person to serve the purposes of another person, for any reason, is immoral because it violates self-ownership.
Tragically, two-thirds to three-quarters of the federal budget can be described as Congress taking the rightful earnings of one American to give to another American — using one American to serve another. Such acts include farm subsidies, business bailouts, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, welfare and many other programs.
Free market capitalism is disfavored by many Americans — and threatened — not because of its failure but, ironically, because of its success. Free market capitalism in America has been so successful in eliminating the traditional problems of mankind — such as disease, pestilence, hunger and gross poverty — that all other human problems appear both unbearable and inexcusable. The desire by many Americans to eliminate these so-called unbearable and inexcusable problems has led to the call for socialism. That call includes equality of income, sex and race balance, affordable housing and medical care, orderly markets, and many other socialistic ideas.
Let’s compare capitalism with socialism by answering the following questions: In which areas of our lives do we find the greatest satisfaction, and in which do we find the greatest dissatisfaction? It turns out that we seldom find people upset with and in conflict with computer and clothing stores, supermarkets, and hardware stores. We do see people highly dissatisfied with and often in conflict with boards of education, motor vehicles departments, police and city sanitation services.
What are the differences? For one, the motivation for the provision of services of computer and clothing stores, supermarkets, and hardware stores is profit. Also, if you’re dissatisfied with their services, you can instantaneously fire them by taking your business elsewhere. It’s a different matter with public education, motor vehicles departments, police and city sanitation services. They are not motivated by profit at all. Plus, if you’re dissatisfied with their service, it is costly and in many cases even impossible to fire them.
A much larger and totally ignored question has to do with the brutality of socialism. In the 20th century, the one-party socialist states of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Germany under the National Socialist German Workers’ Party and the People’s Republic of China were responsible for the murder of 118 million citizens, mostly their own. The tallies were: USSR 62 million, Nazi Germany 21 million and PRC 35 million. No such record of brutality can be found in countries that tend toward free market capitalism.
Here’s an experiment for you. List countries according to whether they are closer to the free market capitalist or to the socialist/communist end of the economic spectrum. Then rank the countries according to per capita gross domestic product. Finally, rank the countries according to Freedom House’s “Freedom in the World” report. You will find that people who live in countries closer to the free market capitalist end of the economic spectrum not only have far greater wealth than people who live in countries toward the socialistic/communist end but also enjoy far greater human rights protections.
As Dr. Thomas Sowell says, “socialism sounds great. It has always sounded great. And it will probably always continue to sound great. It is only when you go beyond rhetoric, and start looking at hard facts, that socialism turns out to be a big disappointment, if not a disaster.”
Walter E. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason University.
Monday, May 28, 2018
Sunday, May 27, 2018
On The North Shore Of Massachusetts, A Popular Landmark Is Closing.....
I'm sure that some of my readers, that are familiar with the Porthole in Lynn, made the late night dash at last call to head to the lynnway for another last call. The Porthole stayed open after all the other bars closed.
LYNN, MA (WHDH) - The Porthole Restaurant in Lynn is set to close after 51 years of business on the city’s waterfront.
The restaurant’s owner sold the 50,460-square-foot lot Thursday for $1.4 million to developer Patrick McGrath, the Daily Item reports.
McGrath plans to knock down the popular pub and build 55 luxury condominiums, according to the newspaper. The project could begin as early as 2019.
Restaurant owner Robert Gaudet told the paper that he has “not been able to sleep for weeks because of the pressure of knowing it will change the lives of my 60 employees.”
The Porthole first opened in 1967 when it was purchased for just $32,000.
An exact closing date for the restaurant was not clear, but it will only be open for lunch through June.