Bye Bye Barney Frank

Thank God Barney Frank is not running for congress again!  It seems like people in MA love this guy, but he is a bum and has done a lot to damage personal liberties in MA.  Lets hope that someone with a little common sense (be it democrat, republican, libertarian, etc.) runs for this office

When did having a personal opinion become a crime

This Florida teacher is currently facing possible termination from a PUBLIC high school for comments he made regarding his belief that gay marriage is an abomination....When did it become it a crime to have an opinion?

This teacher is a teacher-of-the-year winner and have a 100% clean record. His opinion has not been uttered in the classroom, he made a comment on HIS Facebook page. Just because someone doesn't agree with this teachers opinion (myself) doesn't mean that his First Amendment rights can be violated.

It seems like people are forgetting that the First Amendment covers all speech, regardless of what people think of the statements. It amazes me that this is even a possibility, the school system has no right to fire him. This is a publicly funded institution and for them to take a stand against freedom of thought is absolutely appalling.

Whats next? I believe in owning a gun so I get fired? I don't like polygamist so I get fired? I believe in God I get fired? People need to see how dangerous this way of thinking is. This is not a question of whether or not his opinion is correct, its an issue of the government being able to DECIDE what is right. Unreal

Damn you Patriot Act

I found this map while on the Cato Institute website. The Cato Institute is " a public policy research organization — a think tank — dedicated to the principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets and peace. Its scholars and analysts conduct independent, nonpartisan research on a wide range of policy issues." In other words a libertarian think tank.

Check out this map right after 2001 and look at the spike in questionable and constitutionally appalling police activity. We have laws for a reason, but the USA PATRIOT ACT makes it seem like the ends justify the means. They don't!

This map really blew my mind!

Breaking news!!

Breaking news! Congressional leaders have agreed to a four year extension of the USA PATRIOT ACT

NO GOOD AT ALL! This piece of legislation has ZERO regard for private liberties in the United States!

Please call/write your senators and tell them to repeal this legislation!!!

Wet houses...an interesting option

Last month I read a story about a wet-house

and I have been tossing the idea around in my head for a couple of weeks now and I think its an interesting option...

A wet-house is sort of the other side of the coin from a dry-house. A wet house is a community house that allows alcoholics to drink. At first the thought goes against everything we have been raised to think, but lets break it down.

A wet-house provides a place for alcoholics, many of them homeless. to go and stay. The person is given a stipend of 89$ per month to do with what they will, including buying alcohol. The issue that some people have is this is partly financed by the taxpayers, with the rest being financed by Catholic Charities. It seems very odd that someone would be able to spend taxpayer money on alcohol, but lets think think it through for a second.

The amount of money paid to the residents of St Anthony's residence in St. Paul Minnesota is 89 dollars per month. There are approximately 60 people taking advantage of this service.

$89*60 people=$5,340 per month

$5,340*12 months=$64,080 per year

Yes 64,00 dollars a year is a lot to you and me. However in the United States a hospital cannot refuse care to any patient, regardless of their health care situation (which is the way it should be) How much money do you think is spend every year in illness and injury due to homelessness? lets take a look (the below information was found at CNN.com and belongs to them)

"A University of Washington research team studied a group of 95 chronically homeless alcoholics and found that in one year, they cost taxpayers more that $8 million in hospitalizations, detox centers and incarcerations.

When the same group spent one year in Seattle's Housing first program-- residences where they are allowed to drink--the same group cost $4 million in taxpayer money." (This study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association)

This is a simple math equation here guys. If it is cheaper to have houses where they can drink, then thats the way to go. They cannot get better until they decide to, which is the truth no matter where they live. Why wouldn't we at least give them a place to live??

Why don't we just elect a bunch of monkeys....at least we can pay them in Bananas

Government Shutdown....

This is a topic that I have been struggling with for the past couple weeks. I knew I wanted to say something about it, but I wasn't sure exactly how I felt.

Let me outline what will happen if the government shuts down (at least so far as I can figure)

-All non essential workers will be furloughed and sent home until the government restarts.

They will keep their jobs, but will not be paid

-Non essential versus essential will be determined by the individual agencies following some "guidelines" from the feds

-Essential jobs will continue

Essential jobs include Air traffic controllers, airport security, military and defense, mail

-Non essential jobs will include but not be limited to

Trash men in DC (how is sanitation not essential?), administrative jobs, national parks, passport processing, tax return processing etc.

All of these things I can look at and say ok. Not that I agree with them, but in principle i could see those as essential vs non essential (except trash collection) There were two points that I would like to point out that I cannot fathom or accept as the right way to to things

-Congress will continue to get paid

-other essential jobs, including military families, will not get paid

Those two points are unimaginable to me. The people whose job it is to set a budget didn't do their job and got us into this mess in the first place. Those people will continue to get paid, but those who are doing their job correctly will not get paid? I live paycheck to paycheck, as do many Americans, but those would be the people losing their pay?

Well fuck you congress. Fuck you house of Representatives, fuck you White House. The fact that you cannot pull your heads out of your parties asses and put together a budget is pathetic. This is part of your job, your fucking job! Do your job! Anyone who says bring on the shutdown your are a fucking tool. Thats peoples livelihoods! Thats your Armed service going into harms way and not even getting the shitty pay they did before! Thats your neighbors, your friends and your family so grow up you child

Democrats grow a set of balls. The country is trillions of dollars in debt, you will not get everything you want. Spending needs to be cut, which means programs will be cut. To have so much of my paycheck taken away is ridiculous. I make the money if I want to help people I will.

Republicans there is something called separation of church and state, I would appreciate it if you fucking listened to it. Ideological problems should not be holding up anything. Planned Parenthood is a fabulous organization that helps treat thousands of men and woman across the country who cannot afford the current health care system. Pregnancies are legal, get over it. You want to change that? Your allowed to try, but your concern now is putting forth a budget, not regulating a womans body.

Tea Partiers you are the worst group of asshats I have ever seen. Don't try and call yourselves Patriots, Minutemen, especially don't say you are small government. Compromise doesn't equate to weakness. You can have your ideals fine, but this is the United States of America, not the Tea Party express. You represent your constituents, but they are only a portion of the US. It;s your responsibility to put forth a workable budget, not one that caters to your every want. You aren't libertarians so don't call yourself one. You aren't pro Constitution so don't call yourself that. You are bunch of whiny bitches who want to take their ball and go home because someone wants to play different rules at kick ball.

Really South Dakota...really?!

Are you serious?

The above article is about a bill about to go through the South Dakota house that would make it legal for a family member to kill a doctor who performs an abortion. And they are going to include that in the mercy killing law??

I am not arguing the merits of pro life vs. pro choice in this post (that one can be later). This is a matter of a state trying to make something illegal that they do not have a constitutional right to make legal.

I have two major problems with this legislation (and a host of other problems)

First off Abortion is legal. Under federal mandate, and upheld time and again by the US Supreme Court, abortion is legal. I don't give a damn what your opinion on abortion is, at this moment abortion is legal. It's not a new law, its a law that has been in effect for a while now. As a state South Dakota doesn't have the legal right to make abortion a crime. I mean South Dakota isn't a country, its a state that must follow federal law.

Second off you are going to include this in a mercy killing law? You are going to lump murdering innocent doctors that are doing a legal procedure on adult woman in with someone that kills a gunman in a crowd to protect the public? It's not like abortion doctors ride into town and give all the woman abortions. This is a LEGAL procedure that a woman must seek out and elects to do.

Who the hell do you think you are South Dakota? Let me remind you who you are, you are one of the states in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA! I am all for states rights, but this is not a matter of states rights. You are trying to put people in danger by authorizing state run killings of abortion doctors. I'm sorry I thought this was America, not some crazy system where the state thinks they have the rights to kill us citizens that pose no threat to public health or safety. ]

This isn't even addressing all of the other issues that were mentioned in the article, the reading of a pro-life script before anyone is eligible for an abortion, or the fact that planned parenthood has to fly in doctors to one clinic in all of South Dakota. This is just the law point of view.

Washington needs to get off its ass now and slap South Dakota in the head. You don't have the right South Dakota. Your state has twice voted down banning abortion and you are just trying to find a way to discourage abortion. One you are going against the people the voted for you and two you are authorizing hits on law abiding citizens. Instead of worrying about all this foreign shit and Egypt and other countries issues this is what Washington needs to look at. The rights of the US citizen and South Dakota 's police state move to put out hits on US Citizens.

Go fuck yourself South Dakota.

Saying no is a part of being a parent! / Its not tobaccos fault you smoke

So I was reading through my usual morning news this morning and found this article. This woman is suing McDonalds because of their marketing ploy towards children. Putting aside the fact that's an idiotic lawsuit lets talk about this specific quote.

"We have to say no to our kids so many times and McDonald's makes that so much harder to do. I object to the fact that McDonald's is getting into my kids' heads without my permission and actually changing what my kids want to eat."

Are you serious right now? What you are saying flat out is that you don't want to/can't say no to your kids about McDonalds? What kind of shitty parent are you? This is one of the things that has really gone wrong in the world. Your a parent lady, its your job to say no when it needs to be said. It's not McDonald's problem that you don't want to say no to your friggin kid!

Ok that being said lets go to the other great news story (sarcasm) of the day. In Massachusetts the superior court just awarded $71,000,000 tot he family of a life long smoker because tobacco marketed towards her as a child. Dude what are you two? The woman was 54 years old when she died and still smoked up to that day. Take some responsibility for yourself dude. How is it a company's fault for her continuing to smoke? If this was any drug other than smoking this would not happen, people die of liver issues from alcohol every year and people don't sue Budweiser.

This is a really big issue for my generation. I can only hope that we have more sense than our parents and take some personal responsibility for things. It's not always other peoples fault, in fact i bet most of the time its your own personal fault. Ugh!

I am sorry Arnold....but fuck California

Alright I am getting really fucken sick of San Francisco. Stop trying to protect people from themselves. You have no right to do it! San Fransisco has so far tried to ban toys from Happy Meals and now some people in the city want to ban the right of a parent to get a circumcision

Now this post is not to debate the pros and cons of circumcision. Nor is it to debate McDonald's corporate responsibility (although dude it has to do with parents buying McDonald's not them offering toys). This is about the rights of a people. Your a fucken town San Fransisco! Stay out of private citizens lives! If people want to have a toy with their happy meal you have zero right to deny them that! Stop trying to protect people from themselves and start trying to balance the budget and make sure children are getting the proper education. Stop wasting peoples time!

A better blog post is to follow, this just got me going

what do you want...a cookie?

Dear facebook/twitter/foursquare/friends-

I feel we must talk. First off I am very happy that we live in a land where you can vote and politicians are not chosen for us by the goverment. Let's get that straight right off. However I am getting a bit sick of being told by people to vote. Whether I (or anyone else) votes is not the concern of the public. Voting is a right, not a requirement. In fact I would be so bold as to say if you don't have an opinion, or if you like none of those running, not voting is a perfectly acceptable thing to do.

I am not sure where this push to have everyone in the country vote came from. I know that my mom and grandmother would always say you need to vote! Here is my question to all, why do I need to vote? Thats part of what makes America amazing, the fact that you do not need to vote to have a part/opinion/bitch about the government.

Now I am also not saying that I don't like to vote. I really and truly love to vote if I am informed on the issues being voted on. Nor am I saying whether or not I voted last night, I don't feel its really anyones business. All I am saying is that it seems to me we should encourage discussion and interest in political issues and activities instead of just saying go vote.

So please stop letting me know you voted on Facebook, I really don't care. And please don't give me shit if I DECIDE not to vote, its my right.

Love

Chris

Ps. I love debate so feel free to leave a comment if you feel that voting is something that everyone should be doing in all elections. I am not saying mine way is the right way, just that it's what I like best.

What is a libertarian part duex

So I was looking at the Libertarian website this morning and decided to post their platform...I think these ideals just make sense.

Libertarian platform

Your running for the Senate and you don't know the first amendment?

Really?

Christine O'Donnell please stop running for the Senate right now. If you cannot be bothered to even pretend to know the Constitution please just stop running for congress. The first amendment is the following:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

You don't see why/how that is a separation of church and state??

I had to add a whole new label for this....fucking stupid

God damn you freedom of information act Part II

Dude there was another Freedom of Information act request to the Maine department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife! That means once more my email (which shouldn't be public domain) is being released to a 3rd party. Why does Kittery Trading Post need my email that bad??

Fuck you Freedom of Information requests!

Since when is the Pentagon authorized to disagree with the Court?

Alright so usually I am very pro things that the military, as a whole, does. But where the hell does the Defense Department get off telling soldiers to remain quiet until pending appeals go through? This is America and the United States Court system has ruled that Don't Ask Don't Tell is unconstitutional. Fuck you DOD. You don't have the right to punish anyone who is following the law. Thats not how the United States of America operates. The law is ridiculous and unconstitutional in the first place, but you making a move to disagree with the court and not assure that the courts decision can be followed is unacceptable. Fuck you and the horse you rode in on D.O.D

Ps. A gay person can protect and serve just as well as a straight person. This is America home of the free, not America home of the free unless you are gay in which case you need to pretend you are straight or you may hurt your fellow soldiersfeelings. Your fellow soldiers don't like it then they should take a dishonorable discharge. They sign up to protect and serve the people and constitution of the United States, including people they dont agree with. If they don't want to carry out that charge then get the fuck out of the military you stupid cowards.

All the MMA kids will cringe at seeing this but it's the truth in this case.
" Mine is not to question why, mine is but to do or die" Do your jobs, I'm sorry your big macho-ness is offended by a gay person, just do your damn job

Banning of novelty lighters will not reduce the novelty of fire

Ok so today I read that Massachusetts has banned novelty lighters.

A novelty lighter is a lighter that is made to look like something else, a truck, a Christmas tree, a smurf, etc. I understand why this rule was made, they look like toys and kids like to play with toys. Kid plays with lighters, lighter set kids on fire, kid is injured or worse. However this legislation will not do anything to change the amount of fires caused by children playing with lighters and matches. This is just another perfect example of the state stepping in when its an issue with the parents/adults in these situations. Why is your kid able to get a hold of a lighter, whether it look like a smurf or a lighter? That is the issue here, adults responsibility. It's not the manufactures fault that irresponsible people leave lighters around for children to play with. As long as the exists then fires like this will happen.

Unfortunately there is no real way to solve this issue. Instead of recognizing that fact the state of Massachusetts besides it needs to tell law abiding intelligent citizens that they cannot own these types of things because so people act irresponsible with them. Are you serious? This is one of the huge problems with this state. The people who are getting punished by this law are not the ones who are causing the problems. The ones causing the problems will just continue to do so with lighters and matches, are we going to ban them next? How about shovels? For that matter what about steak knives, fork, spoons, toothbrushes, electricity, pools, dogs, cats, bears, cars, trucks, streets, buckets that can fill with water, glass, shoe laces, hand sanitizer, cleaning products (just to name a few.) These are things that you can die from due to negligence. Its not the lighters fault, the guns fault, Ben Franklin's fault, or Henry Fords fault, its the people who are negligent and leave these potentially dangerous things around for children to play with. Grow a set and take responsibility for child proofing your house from all of the above.

Want to go for a drive? Careful they are watching!

A recent news story caught my attention as an amazing affront to the US Constitution and freedom in general.

In 9 western states now law enforcement can place a gps tracking system on your car without a warrant or any type of court order. Say what? This is America, we have the clever thing called freedom. If I want to drive around in the desert where drugs are being grown (example from the news story) that is allowed! Driving past them, looking at the drugs, is not a crime. So why does the US Government have the right to track my car? Its not their business where I go. Nor is it there right to know.

Now I know the popular thing to say to things like this "Well if you haven't done anything wrong than you don't have to worry" That's not the way it works. I am a free citizen to go and do what I choose,so long as I am within the law. However if I just happen to have a friend who is a drug dealer or something that means that a GPS tracker could implicate me in drugs or something? No its up to the state to prove I am guilty, not up to me to prove I am innocent.

This, to me, seems like one of the worst decisions in legal history. Whats next? Tracking devices on phones, shoes, in our heads? Yes its a big jump from GPS in the car to GPS in our heads, but its not out of the realm of possibility. Are we going to have to carry around a little national ID card with a GPS chip in it "for our own protection"?

You know what give me my right to bear arms, my right to go where I want, and I will take care of myself. I don't need your help government, thanks for asking.

Scott Brown/Sarah Palin/Current Events

I am not a huge Scott Brown supporter (neither am I against him on everything though) I am not even a fan of Massachusetts, I think this state sucks. But Sarah Palin shut the fuck up. Don't talk about Massachusetts, your from Alaska, talk about that. Don't tell me what the people of Massachusetts want, obviously the majority wanted Scott Brown. Thats how democracy works. You failed to win vice president then decided that the end of your run in Alaska wasn't worth it so just shut the fuck up.

That being said I wanted to do a shout out of topics in the news recently that I have read about which fascinate me.

First up Jimmy Carter in North Korea to free a US citizen from the DPRK. Now I have always been of the mindset that, if a country holds a US citizen hostage then we take action, but not if we break another countries law. This guy broke the law of North Korea, guy deserves to be in a N. Korea jail. Do I think his sentence was fair, no I don't, but that DPRK law. So why are we sending in people to negotiate for his release, a guy breaks our laws in our country and I hope we don't let him out.

The UN peace keeping forces and how much they suck. So how do 400 people get raped when a UN peace keeping force is down the road? They use the excuse well we didn't know. What do you mean you didn't know? You were warned of a large force in that area, you know that these types of forces have a history of rape. Put 1 and 1 together people. I am not a huge fan of the UN (love the idea, meh with the reality) but if you are there to do a job then do the job right.

Mothers/Fathers killing their babies. So when did it become a mental health issue to be annoyed with your baby. Like the fact that you don't want to have a baby, or that you are annoyed with it doesn't give you the right to kill it. There is the person in Europe (I think Britain but im not sure.) who killed 8 of her babies because she didnt want to have them or ask for contraception. I'm sorry to any mental health person who thinks this is a mental health issue, but these people are shit. I think they should be taken out back and shot like the dogs they are. You don't kill a baby, that's just off limits. Even many murders think child killers are scum.

Thats all for now. On a more personal note the wedding is in less than a month. It has been a very up and down ride to get to this point (with planning and all that fun stuff) but we are almost there. So hope to see you all at the wedding on the 25th!

Hi America remember me....the citizen?

Ok so I found this article on CNN earlier today

Why are we doing joint military drills with S.Korea. What happens between North and South Korea isn't our problem. So now we are saying to the N. Koreans that we are activly preparing for war. Dude we need to worry about us...the United States. Forget Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran etc. We need to pull in and protect our own borders. We have people illegally entering the country and a lack of man power to preven this, but we have two wars going and are doing drills in the faces of another country that hates us? Dude come on. We need to worry about us. If people believe in the UN and all this stuff then they should be handling the S/N korea issue...not the United States alone.

But lets go a step further back from this. How much does a war cost? How much money are we spending in Iraq and Afghanistan right now that could be used to help American jobs or to help American infrastructure? And you are going to waste more money to send out troops to another place to fight in another war that the people involved dont want us in? Well fuck them, let them fix their problems and we can worry about our problems.

What is a libertarian?

What is a Libertarian? more to follow....

This is a great definition of the way I view Libertarians
"Are Libertarians liberal or conservative?--Libertarians are neither. Unlike liberals or conservatives, Libertarians advocate a high degree of both personal and economic liberty. For example, Libertarians advocate freedom in economic matters, so we're in favor of lowering taxes, slashing bureaucratic regulation of business, and charitable -- rather than government -- welfare. But Libertarians are also socially tolerant. We won't demand laws or restrictions on other people who we may not agree because of personal actions or lifestyles."

illegal is illegal no mater your merits

I just read this news story about a Harvard student who was illegally in the country, but will nto be deported until his case is heard. How can that be allowed? You are here illegally, he knew he was here illegally because he was using a Mexican passport to board planes. You being someone who goes to school in Harvard doesn't give you the right to violate the laws of the United States of America. This is not a stand saying I think immigration is wrong, but if you break the law coming in then how can you be trusted not to break it again. You have already broken the law of the US pal, you are here illegally...key word illegal. Call it undocumented if you want, but if I have to follow the US laws then you do too.

This isn't about open borders either (although I personally think open borders is ridiculous) this is about violating law. The law is one the books and he violated that. He should have to pay the price just the same as any one else.