Part-Time Pundit

Why You Don’t Piss Me Off…

I come home today and find my front lawn cut up and a new unmarked utility box sitting in my lawn. Is it cable? Is it power? I just don’t know because it isn’t marked.

So I checked the eminent domain laws and made sure. They have to give notification, period. And for good reason, you don’t want people driving on your grass dropping strange boxes in your lawn. (John at StoptheACLU thinks it’s Big Brother watching me… maybe it’s just the ACLU).

Extra fun part, it’s not on an easement either. So looks like I’m filing an eminent domain lawsuit to dog them for a few grand in legal fees and kick them around a bit.

I just gotta figure out who this box belongs to first.

August 15th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | Consumer Rants, Law / Legal Issues, Misc | 2 comments

Morality and Liberty

In order for a society to be and remain free the citizens must be sufficiently moral and community-minded. That statement will offend most libertarians but the fact remains liberty presumes a moral people. An immoral people will eventually squander their liberty as a strong government will need to restrain them. A Hobbes-ist state of nature is not conducive to a functioning society.

There are human concerns and needs. There are also human duties that need to be performed. The more that people don’t meet the two above items, the more government will be happy to step in and make a half-hearted half-baked attempt that will more than likely make things worse than better and waste a good deal of money to boot. Traffic laws are a good example of this principle in action. If people paid sufficient attention while they were driving there would be (1) a lot fewer accidents, (2) a lot less laws on things like (don’t talk on your cell, do your makeup, beat your kids, while driving). Traffic tickets have become less of maintaining safety and more of a government profit center. It would not exist if people took due concern while driving. FEMA wouldn’t need to be in the business of paying for funerals (and the associated fraud therein) if neighbors and communities would step up on their own.

The Left, if nothing else, does a good job at reminding us there is people with legitimate needs that are going unmet. It is society’s job to make sure others have a minimum standard of living. The Left’s ultimate downfall is the fact they believe the solution to the problem is more government. Human history proves that this solution will always and everywhere fail. What sets America apart is that when we were founded as a country, the state was not the provider of human needs.

Throughout human history various governmental forms have come and gone where the people had to rely on governments to get basic needs met. Those stories are case studies in failure with a very rare occurrence of an official having real compassion on his charges. People can rail against the disparity between the rich and the poor in capitalistic societies, however, history has shown that disparity has always existed regardless of the governmental form. The difference in America is that owning your own home is not out of reach for most people, and even though the government can take your home and give it to someone else with more money (thank you Kelo), they still have to pay you for it.

While the Left points out these problems and tries to solve them with solutions that will never work, to often on the Right people don’t think of them at all. If those on the Right wish to maintain limited government and ample liberty, they need to step up and help in their own communities and provide for some of these needs. There are legitimate functions of government that should remain with government (national defense, law enforcement, interstate commerce) but for those things that the people can do, they have a duty to do. As long as their exists problems that people are too selfish, lazy, or careless to do anything about, there will always be ready and willing bureaucrats who are willing to increase their power and cash flow who will step in and waste money. It’s up to those wanting to defend liberty to prevent them.

BNN Link

August 15th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | Politics, Religion | 2 comments

Big News over at StopTheACLU

StopTheAclu has big news. First, it is gaining greater visibility as the public reacts more and more to the ACLU jurisprudence that is being imposed on us against our will.

Second, WND has an article on it as well, and a new campaign with the Alliance Defense Fund to get the word out to Churches on the negative impact the ACLU is having on religious freedom.

Canada is a good example of what to come. If you are Catholic and speak the Church’s teaching on the matter of gay marriage you can be sued. Here, in Illinois the law does not allow discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in hiring, even when those behaviors directly contradict the teaching of the Church. There is no religious exemption and the Legislature was quite clear that there wasn’t going to be one. These are nothing but naked attempts to allow freedom of religion ONLY when it is compatible with a certain agenda, and if it is not the religion needs to change.

Get involved today.

August 15th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | Law / Legal Issues, StoptheACLU | 2 comments

Something that the Left AND the Right can Agree On (and be outraged by)

Scientists make test-tube meat.

PETA and the anti-science anti-GMO crowd won’t stand for this. Us meat-eaters want our cow. A steak should be gotten legitimately or not at all.

August 15th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | Around the US, Humor, Misc | 2 comments

Carnival of the Capitalists is Up

The Carnival of the Capitalists is up… see my post on the economic risks of giving home loans to illegal immigrants.

August 15th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | Carnivals | one comment

Cindy Sheehan and the Iraq War

I don’t want to get dragged into this quagmireof Cindy Sheehan, I haven’t blogged about it and I’m not going to. I agree with Chrenkoff (HT: Michelle Malkin) that this is a game that should not be played. If that faction of the Left wants to grab any club they can find to beat Bush with I have confidence that the American people will recognize it for what it is. All I know is that it’s undermining the troops (HT: Cao’s Blog) and Iraqis aren’t too fond of it either. There are some games that shouldn’t be played, some things that shouldn’t be exploited, and some things left alone.

This has brought out the worst on both sides and really needs to stop.

UPDATE:

Wizbang and others are starting to agree.

August 15th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | Military / War, Terrorism, The MSM | 4 comments