Archive for January, 2010

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Are You an Ant or a Grasshopper?!

January 31, 2010

Are You an Ant or a Grasshopper?!

I remember, as a  child, seeing the bright pictures and reading  simple  words about the Ant and the Grasshopper.  The following is this child’s lesson on conservative ethics and morality, in a revised and updated form. I suppose that some could be very offended by its content. However, I did not post this little fable to insult anyone. Sex, age, religion, race or creed, or current employment status,  etc., have nothing to do with this posting…though some may wish to make it so.

 Those who cannot work because of legitimate hardship or disability deserve our help.  Those who will not work because it is inconvenient, effortful, or because they can make enough money to meet their most basic needs off of our welfare system are the appropriate target of this “sharply barbed” child’s story about the morality and  ethics of independence. 

Some will ridicule this little story because of it’s “far-fetched” cataclysmic ending. But,  any society with a growing confluence  of  governmentally conferred material rewards for citizens who are sociocultural drainers, not sociocultural sustainers, must eventually suffer decline.

That, dear friends, is just the way it is.

I thank Joe Grunert for sending this revised story of the Ant and the Grasshopper to me. I am unable to edit the word spacing of this Cyberspace message, so I present it as it is.

VTM, 1/31/10

______________________________________

 THE ANT AND
THE GRASSHOPPER

This one is a little
different…. Two Different Versions………………..  Two Different
Morals

OLD
VERSION

 
The ant works
hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and
laying up supplies for the winter.

 
The grasshopper thinks
the ant is
a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away..

 
Come winter, the ant

is
warm and well fed.
The grasshopper has
no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
 
 

MORAL
OF THE STORY:
Be
responsible for yourself!

 

 

 

MODERN
VERSION
 The grasshopper thinks
the ant

is
a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls
a press conference and demands to know why the ant should
be allowed to be warm and well fed while he is cold and starving.

 

CBS, NBC , PBS, CNN, and ABC show
up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next
to a video of the ant

 in
his comfortable home with a table filled with food.  


America is
stunned by the sharp contrast.

How can this be, that in a
country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is
allowed to suffer so?

 
Kermit the Frog appears
on Oprah with
the grasshopper and
everybody cries when they sing, ‘It’s Not Easy BeingGreen

.’

Acorn stages
a demonstration in front of the ant’s house
where the news stations film the group singing, ‘We
shall overcome.’ Rev.
Jeremiah Wright  then
has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper’s

 sake.

President
Obama condemns
the ant and
blames President
Bush, President Reagan, Christopher Columbus, and the Pope for
the grasshopper’s plight.

 

Nancy
Pelosi & Harry Reid exclaim
in an interview with Larry
King that
the ant has
gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and
both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant

 to
make him pay his fair share.
Finally, the EEOC drafts
the Economic
Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act

 retroactive
to the beginning of the summer.
The ant is
fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green
bugs and,
having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is
confiscated by the Government Green Czar and
given to the grasshopper

.
The story ends as we see the grasshopper and
his free-loading friends finishing up the last bits of the ant’s food
while the government house he is in, which, as you recall, just happens
to be the ant’s old
house, crumbles around them because the grasshopper

doesn’t
maintain it.
The ant

has
disappeared in the snow, never to be seen again.
The grasshopper is
found dead in a drug related incident, and the house, now abandoned, is
taken over by a gang ofspiders

who
terrorize the ramshackle, once prosperous and once peaceful,
neighborhood.
The entire Nation collapses
bringing the rest of the free world with it.
 

 

MORAL
OF THE STORY:  Be
careful how you vote in 2010.

 

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How the passing of CIFTA will lead to the repeal of our 2nd amendment rights

January 29, 2010

The following is a comment by Frank Fujita, Ph.D.. 
January 27, 2010 at 12:58 PM

Okay, the treaty, CIFTA — is being supported by the Obama Administration. The text of the treaty is here — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIFTA — I didn’t know that our Senator Lugar was an opponent of 2nd amendment rights — and I don’t see anything in the text of the treaty that appears to restrict legal gun ownership.

On the NRA website, http://www.nraila.org/news/read/newsreleases.aspx?id=12369 no reasons are given to describe how the treaty will reduce our rights, except to say that it will be used by 2nd amendment opponents. Well, the US post office will be used by 2nd amendment opponents, but we aren’t talking about closing the post office.

Please describe how the passing of CIFTA will lead to the repeal of our 2nd amendment rights, and how you will work to remove Dick Lugar from office for supporting this treaty.

___________________________

My answer is as follows:

I cannot personally describe how CIFTA will lead to a repeal of our Second Amendment.  I am just a psychologist, not an attorney of national or international law.  So I turn to those, who I trust and who know much more about his threat than I do.

The following is taken from The First Step In Trampling Our Rights ( pps. 8 & 55, Published by the NRA in America’s 1st Freedom, Feb. 2110).

“Details of the Obama/Clinton-endorsed treaty—-which has not yet  been finalized—will surely include international monitoring and control of every aspect of firearm commerce and ownership in the United States” (p. 8).

“Literally all of the international gun confiscation groups couch their renewed U. N. treaty efforts in terms of what they call ‘human rights.’ But in the newspeak lexicon of the U.N, ‘Human rights’ doesn’t mean the right to self-defence as we know it.”

“But armed self-defense by private citizens—of any nation– is specifically not a ‘human right’ under the U.N. charter” (p. 55).

Barbara Frey, the director of the Human Rights Program in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota contributed the following to the U. N. 2007 Human Rights Council:

“Self-defence is sometimes designated as a ‘right’. There is inadequate legal support for such an interpretation….No international human right of self-defence is expressly set forth in the primary sources of international law: treaties, customary law or general principles….International law does not support an international legal obligation requiring  States to permit access to a gun for self-defence” (p. 55).

“The right of self-defence in international law is not directed toward the preservation of lives of individuals…it is concerned with the preservation of the State (p. 55).

___________________________

There is more to the NRA article that should raise great concern among those who not only support our 2nd amendment, but understand that “progressive/liberal forces have always moved to undermine this unique American right.

In my view, it would be the height of naivete’ to surrender any part of our sovereignty on this issue, or any others, to the U.N..

I am aware that there are counter-arguments to my opposition to CIFTA. This matter is very complex,  many variables are unspecified and I do not intend to resolve this issue on my blog.

I have observed in many years of living, and as a psychotherapist, that once trust is lost, it is very hard to earn back. With all due respect, I do not trust either the Republicans or the  Democrats at this time— but I trust the liberal progressives least of all.

I recommend a review of the following to review even more specific reasons to not abrogate our sovereignty to the U.N. and the rest of the world. Please Google this issue for a more complete analysis of the imponderables that require our trust.

http://www.newswithviews.com/baldwin/baldwin507.htm

With regard to Dick Lugar, my wife and I will simply not vote for him if he does not embrace the 2nd. Amendment and the sanctity of our national sovereignty.

V. Thomas Mawhinney, Ph.D., 1/29/10

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Politics……How-Bout Some Moral Leadership?!

January 29, 2010

Politics……..How-Bout Some Moral Leadership?!

The following is from Founders Quote Daily by the Patriot Post.Com

“[A] good moral character is the first essential in a man, and that the habits contracted at your age are generally indelible, and your conduct here may stamp your character through life. It is therefore highly important that you should endeavor not only to be learned but virtuous.” –George Washington, letter to Steptoe Washington, 1790

VTM, 1/29/10

 

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Psychological Vetting for Public Office Candidates!

January 28, 2010

Psychological Vetting for Public Office Candidates!

The following quote is from Founder’s Quote Daily sent by the Patriotpost.com

“In selecting men for office, let principle be your guide. Regard not the particular sect or denomination of the candidate – look to his character….” –Noah Webster, Letters to a Young Gentleman Commencing His Education, 1789

         ________________________________________

As a practicing psychologist, it is often  my duty (and an honor) to evaluate police and fire candidates as to their psychological fitness for duty. Character is very important, but so is the psychological make-up of these men and women in many dimensions. 

Is the work of our politicians any less critical to our well-being than that of a police officer, fire fighter or other first responders to emergency situations? 

I’ll bet that you can name your own “rogue’s list” of politicians and they will include both Democrats and Republicans: Public representatives who have lied, cheated, stolen, and publically humiliated their families and the rest of  us with their uncontrolled sexual exploits, extramarital pregnancies, and  betrayals of their spouses, children and other loved ones. Each example is a deep wound to the viability of our body politic and a hopeful future.

What fool would assume that these misfits would not often  betray the best interests of their constituents for their own pleasures and power-gains?

I believe that part of the “vetting process”  of candidates for public office must be  psychological testing and a clinical interview. Much like the obligatory physical exam administered by physicians,  psychological evaluations should  be conducted by specially trained Ph.D.  psychologists to rule out certain personality disorders and other psychological problems likely to create a hazard to  public safety and security.

Why would anyone object?  We should insist upon psychological vetting for all candidates for public office.

V. Thomas Mawhinney, Ph.D., 1/28/10

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Obama Administration Restricting Second Amendment Rights?

January 27, 2010

Obama Administration  Restricting Second Amendment Rights?

In a response to Vic’s previous post, “Why Are Citizens so Blind”, Frank submitted the following comment:

“I am unaware that Obama has restricted our Second Amendment rights  in any way—can you provide a link to a news story about that?”

Yes, I can provide a link.  In fact, I can provide dozens of them. The Democrats have been trying to weaken gun rights in the U.S. for a very long time. The Obama administration is too slick and deceptive to try a” frontal assault” on our Second Amendment rights at this time. That would simply accelerate  their alrady crumbling political hegemony. Therefore, the Obama Administration has teamed-up with other leading socialists around the world to diminish American Citizen’s gun rights via a United Nations  International Treaty.

The following URL will provide you with many video documentations of this “end around”, or  “back door” maneuver.

You can google other sources with great ease. All of this floodlights the Obama Administration’s abiding enmity to, and  stealth attack upon, America’s Constitutional Second Amendment. 

 Please view at least the first two, and the fifth,  of the following videos.  Note,  I do not endorse the third video.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?sourceid=navclient&rlz=1T4ADSA_enUS357US357&q=obama+and+international+gun+control+coming+to+u.s.&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=kllgS7u9IY2INo-quOgL&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CBYQqwQwAw#

Also, just to set the record straight, I am in favor of  gun control for all legal owners in America.

My definition of gun control is—Hitting what you shoot at.

V. Thomas Mawhinney, Ph.D.,  1/27/10

 

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“Why Are Citizens So Blind?”

January 26, 2010

“Why Are Citizens So Blind?”
Vic Palenske sent the following comment. I believe Vic’s thoughts  merited a general posting—so here it is.
VTM, 1/16/10
 
                     ______________________________
 
Your blog today was great.  I saw the same show ( I watch Beck every day since I am home then).  It was magnificent.  Of course, I see the production values of the filming, as much as the message and it was over and above for an afternoon ‘news’ show.  Why don’t liberals see what we/Beck sees?  Is the mass death justified in their eyes, or don’t they believe it, do they justify the passion of the socialist message while dismissing the genocide as just politics, or is the whole thing seen as a gross exaggeration?  No nuances here – if Hitler, Mao, Stalin/Lenin actually did it, then they did— its black and white.
 
My conservative values are really quite basic, as are yours.  Why are Mao, Che, and the Russians protected from students in school?  I differ with only one of your conclusions – that a similar situation could never happen in the US.  I differ in that with Obama chipping away our freedoms and our way of life sometimes it feels like the dictator nature of his predecessors ARE possible here.  A massive breakdown in our economy coupled with banning of firearms for citizens and enactment of an Acorn type organization with guns and instructions to control the population would go a long way toward a totalitarian existence.  Why are citizens so blind?   

Vic Palenske

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Beck’s “Revolutionary Holocaust: Live Free or Die”

January 24, 2010

Beck’s “Revolutionary Holocaust: Live Free or Die”

Thanks, Frank,  for the URL of a review of Beck’s program. I watched Beck’s program intently and I think that the following review is, in the main, a fair one…with repectful support for Beck’s work near the end of the review.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/31882.html

There was not much history in this documentary that I was unaware of.  The murder of millions by totalitarian socialist/communist regimes, was certainly no surprise to anyone in their 60’s, or those who have read the history of such events. However, I was not fully aware of the full extent to which Mao and Stalin had used the starvation of their own populations in an attempt to implement their Marxist-Leninist social redesigns. It was reported that Stalin was personally responsible for the starvation of 7-10 million people in only one year. In the Ukraine, the citizens were left to starve as the grain they produced was confiscated and sold to provide funds to further Stalin’s personal political and cultural goals. It was reported that 10 million tons of grain were needed to avoid starvation and that the Ukrainians had produced over 12 millions tons of grain, which was confiscated.

It was estimated that 65 million chinese citizens were killed under Maoist Communism. Mao was identified as the greatest mass murderer in history, by a factor of 3 to 1.

It was estimated that 100 million citizens died under the rule of communism in the 20th Century. This, it was presented, accounts for more than the estimated death rate due to Small Pox and the Bubonic Plague.

Che’ Guevara, was portrayed as a sadist who enjoyed killing people. It was presented that Che’ embraced censorship of artists and intellectuals and  that he advocated killing people who did not agree with the goals of his revolution.

Beck did exposeand document the ignorant buffoonery of those on the radical left who wear or brandish Mao and Che’ memorabilia as they ” demonstrate for freedom”.  The program did spotlight the fact that significant numbers of our own citizens, miniature “black holes” for truth and reality,  have bestowed celebrity and near Sainthood upon Mao and Che’.

A  main point in this program was that our educational system and our media, along with the tollerance of  the rest of us, are responsible for not educating our youth about the true history and savagery of these Communist/Socialist movements.

There were a number of compelling  first person accounts of the horrors suffered by citizens living under these regimes.

I did not get the impression that Beck was trying to imply (as one reviewer thought) that such horrors would be perpetrated, in America  by Americans, any time soon. Rather, he concluded that too much governmental power in the hands of one, or a very few, is much more likely than Democratic rule  to lead to Revolutionary Holocausts.  Yes, Glenn Beck is very concerned that the federal government is gaining way too much power in our time and if unchecked, will lead to greater losses of our freedoms. I share this concern.

I was impressed with Glenn Beck’s efforts to educate America’s public through his special production. Some reveiwers called it propaganda. I will call it good propaganda!

If you want the “Whole Truth”, with all of its nuances, consider obtaining  a major in history.

For a  sample of the whole program, as well as other insights, go to the following URL.

http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/34922/

V. Thomas Mawhinney, Ph.D., 1/24/10

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“Penny Wise or Pound Foolish”?

January 22, 2010

“Penny Wise or Pound Foolish”?

The following is a comment that  was submitted by Frank Fujita, relative to my “Live Free Or Die” post, yesterday.

Frank comments frequently on my posts and you can read his remarks by clicking on his name  under “recent comments” on the middle right side of my blog page.

Independent of your (or my)  political views, I believe that my fully posting his remarks will provide  food for thought, as will Glenn Beck’s program on Fox tonight at 5:00Pm Eastern ( Revolutionary Holocaust; Live Free Or Die).

________________________________________

Author : Frank Fujita
Comment:

I don’t get cable — but if the show is available on the web, I’ll watch for at least 10 minutes.

In the meantime, the phrase “Live free or Die.” reminds me of a post by Connor Friedersdorf
http://www.thedailybeast.com/author/conor-friedersdorf/

If I may address the skeptics on the right directly, it is penny wise and pound foolish to worry about creeping tyranny via government-run health care or gun control when we’re another terrorist attack away from popular support for an archipelago of secret prisons where anyone can be whisked away and tortured without any evidence against them. Look to Europe if you doubt whether government-run health care or black sites run by secret police are a more immediate threat to the liberty of innocents.

Do you think that I exaggerate?

Know that one of the Gitmo Three was arrested at age 17, held for some years without being charged, and scheduled for release at the time of his death due to the military’s conclusion that no evidence linked him to al Qaeda or the Taliban. We may never know exactly how he and his fellow detainees died: A conclusive, independent autopsy is impossible because their bodies were returned to their families with their throats missing.

Thanks for your perspective, Frank

Tom

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“Live Free Or Die”

January 21, 2010

“Live Free Or Die”

I think that it is important, no matter your political/cultural  views, to listen to your loyal (or, maybe not so loyal) opposition.  So, regardless of your opinion on Glenn Beck, I recommend that you tune into a special program that he is airing tomorrow, Friday,  on Fox News at 5PM Eastern.

Beck’s program is entitled, “Revolutionary Holocost: Live Free Or Die”.  He states that he will expose the history that the entertainment media,  progressive liberals, socialists and communists  have hidden from our young for decades.  He also warns that the viewing will be unsuitable for children.

I have not seen this program, but I do urge you to tune in and form you own opinions.

Which I welcome you to share on this forum.

The following appears to be somewhat of a preview.

http://reason.com/blog/2010/01/21/gillespie-on-glenn-beck-tomorr

V. Thomas Mawhinney, Ph.D., 1/21/10

 

 

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“Too Many Parasites”

January 21, 2010

“Too Many Parasites”

The following is a quote that resonates ominously during our own time in American history.

From www.PatriotsPost.US– The Founders Quote Daily

V. Thomas Mawhinney, 1/21/10

              ______________________________

“I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious.” –Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Ludlow, 1824

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