04.30.06

101st Fighting Keyboardists!

Posted in Unusual, Miscellany, Silly Stuff at 2:58 pm by LeftBrainFemale

Just for fun, I’m joining the 101st Fighting Keyboardists and adding them to my blogroll! Cool logo, and fun to rub elbows with some of the big Dawgs! Check out Ed Morrissey, Frank J, and Freedom Dogs.

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Immigrants or Migrants?

Posted in Essays, Life, Liberty, Property, History at 1:26 pm by LeftBrainFemale

I’ve been thinking about this for a while - and it occurs to me that a great many of the illegal immigrants (so-called) in this country are not immigrants, but migrants.

I remember as I was a youngster, my parents and grandparents referred occasionally to the “migrant” workers who worked in the Orange groves near my grandparents home. I understood them to mean some of the poor families who worked in the Orange groves in season and travelled to other areas of the state or country as there was need - picking fruit, ferns, vegetable crops, etc. These were folks who were known for what they did - it wasn’t meant as any kind of slur, it’s just who they were.

It has become apparent in the last few years that using the term “migrant” is apparently no longer PC - but I think it’s time we call a spade a spade and begin using the proper terminology.

The word “migrant” means someone who changes residency - usually to better their financial or living situation - but not particularly for any permanency. This means they go where pickins’ are best.

An immigrant is one who makes a permanent change of residency.

Now, it follows, that one who makes a permanent change of residency is probably someone who is working toward helping himself and his family in his new home - and to help positively impact the surroundings of his new home (whether we’re talking a neighborhood or a country). Thus I would contend that legal immigrants - that is those who have come through legal channels, are going to add value to the community and not be takers. In fact, in my experience with most of the legal immigrants I’ve met (either in person or through their writings) is that they are stronger patriots than most of my compatriots. They appreciate the opportunities which this country affords and they would not even *think* about accepting welfare. If they’re sending money “back home” to family, it’s generally with an eye toward helping those family members who are too old to immigrate or to help them to come to this country legally.

On the other hand, a migrant who has come into this country just because it is a land of opportunity, but who has no love for the country may and probably does accept welfare, medicaid, as well as sending money back to family and encouraging them to enter the country in the same manner in which they did. Can you imagine an illegal immigrant assisting anyone to come into the country legally? Not bloody likely.

There is a completely different mindset today than there was 100 years ago. I know I was and am blessed to have lived in this country all my life. I’m probably about a 12 generation native as most of my ancestors came over long before Ellis Island was established. But even 100 years ago the mindset was not about holding on fiercely to the old culture at the expense of the new.

The point really came home to my sister (and vicariously me) a few weeks ago. St. Patricks day fell on a “casual Friday” this year, so my sister wore her Irish Tee shirt to work in her primarily Hispanic office. She was stunned when several of her co-workers remarked to her “hey, we didn’t know you were Irish”. Her response I thought classic. “That’s because I’m an American” she said. Therein lies the crux of the matter, and the reason that we’re likely headed for another kind of civil war in this country - because while some of us haven’t forgotten our heritage, we consider ourselves first and foremost AMERICAN.

Those from other countries (whether legally or no) who think that they’re going to engender love and acceptance from those of us who’ve been here all our lives by requiring that we change to suit their needs (by learning their language or having their culture shoved down our throats) have got another think coming. This is not how you show love to your fellow countrymen.

But I digress - back to my original point. The word migrant is often used when talking about birds - migratory birds generally travel South in the winter (to more hospitable climes) and back North in the spring. Kind of “fair-weather” birds. D’ya see the parallel? And do you see that as long as we make this country always more hospitable than their own, they’ll never leave? Do you understand that those of us who love this country and are legal residents are supporting these illegals - not the other way ’round as the media would have you believe? I’d venture to say that these “migrant birds” are not only migrant - they’re predatory birds. Predators are opportunists - and these predators are picking us dry.

Cross posted at The Liberty Papers.

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04.18.06

Carnival of Liberty XLI

Posted in Essays at 6:11 am by LeftBrainFemale

Alrighty! Let’s flip the switch and get the rides going - it’s time for the Carnival of Liberty to begin! Presented for your delight and edification in no particular order:

First we come to Dave at TuCents who’s cooked up a top-ten list in The 10 Most Harmful Government Programs.

“Human Events Online has their list of The 10 Most Harmful Government Programs with a bit of history and explanation. I think their list is a bit off, so here’s mine.”

Now that you’ve had a bite to eat, why don’t we take a ride down the giant slide? Let’s go join The Radical Libertarian with Why should we have to justify anarchy? TRL presents a convincing argument -

As long as the validity of belief in government is not demonstrated, anarchy must be considered the default. It is the statists who need to justify themselves. Statists must be made to account for all the evils that governments are promoting at this very moment. It will simply not do, for example, for statists to fret about the possibility of intestine warfare in anarchy when it is government which made large-scale war possible in the first place.

Let’s go pick up some little yellow ducks from the duckpond now and visit with Homeland Stupidity who joins in with Government drives milk prices up again. Yes, the little guy does get lost in the pond with all the bigger duckies:

On Tuesday, President George W. Bush quietly signed into law S. 2120, the so-called Milk Regulatory Equity Act of 2005, a carefully crafted piece of legislation which was aimed squarely at preventing Hettinga’s dairy farm from offering milk at lower prices than Dean Foods and other large milk distributors such as the Dairy Farmers of America.

Now turn around and we’re headed for the hall of mirrors. Ogre’s submission is a *simple* list of Today’s Taxes. Taxes are pretty much smoke and mirrors as shown in this list, and as Ogre comments:

Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago and our nation was the most prosperous in the world, had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.

Anyone for a ride on the Scrambler? Let’s go see Michael over at Stingray: a blog for salty Christians for A different take on the Dallas illegal immigrant protest. Michael points out that much of the Hispanic culture does not try to assimilate into the US because it does not value education - particularly for women. It’s a good and thought-provoking read.

There are third-generation descendants of Mexican immigrants who are still not fluent in English — or don’t know English at all — because their families never made it a priority. They’ve brought the bondage of Mexico with them and kept it here.

Say, I think it’s about time for some Cotton Candy! Let’s trot on over to The Richmond Democrat with his post Classic RD: Major Parties Plan Historic Exchange of Intellectual Property. At first glance, I thought his post written very tongue-in-cheek - but upon further examination, I’m not so sure!

“We’re planning massive media buys in all major markets,” said a highly placed Republican strategist on condition of anonymity (it was Karl Rove), “we want to make certain that our message comes through loud and clear without any ambiguities.” According to Democratic commentator J.C. Wilmore: “The two parties have undergone a classic shift in focus, the kind of shift that occurs every forty to fifty years: it’s a normal part of the political process and, in a wider sense, Karl Rove is a soul-less, amoral bastard.”

Moving right along, we’ll go throw some darts and see if we can hit a balloon or two. Stephen Littau links with a Fearless Philosophy Flashback: We Can Make April 15th Just Another Day

The most important part of this legislation will require repealing the 16th Amendment, which would make federal income tax unconstitutional. Also, after viewing the Fair Tax congressional scorecard, most of our representatives in congress have not made a commitment one way or another. This means that most of them are unaware of this legislation, have an incomplete understanding of the bill, are waiting to hear from their special interest groups, or hopefully, waiting to hear from their constituents. Whether your representative is for, against, or undecided on The Fair Tax, we all need to let them know what we want.

Let’s visit a sideshow and see the man with two faces - this time written about by Peter Porcupine in his submission Eminenza?

There is nothing intrinsically wrong with this stance. He is a Prince of the Roman Church, and as such should demand that Catholic members follow its teachings. Yet - he has never publicly rebuked such prominent pro-choice Catholic legislators as John Rogers, Frank Hynes, Doug Peterson or John Kerry - no, the public humiliations are only for the females.

Next, doing an impression of the classic carnival barker we join Michael over at Police State USA with his post on Presidents Lie; People Die.

The American Left, always proud of its flair for poetry (Hey, hey, LBJ! How many kids did you kill today?) has coined the slogan “Bush lied; people died.” They seem to think that Americans should be especially outraged because Republican President Bush lied America into war. But Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the United States, points out that George W. Bush is only the latest in a long line of Presidents who lied us into war.

The Atlantic Review team leads us to the 20-ton-whale sideshow with a post from their archives: The US-Saudi relationship: Oil supply at the expense of US security and moral values

Oil, however, fuels the United States and Europe’s foes as well. In August The Atlantic Review wrote that SUV drivers undermine US foreign policy by strengthenening anti-American and anti-democratic forces in oil rich countries. Europe and the US seem to be addicted to oil and unable to pursue their national interests and moral principles in regard to oil-rich countries.

Time for another ride - lets go check out the Tilt-A-Whirl with Jack Cluth at The People’s Republic of Seabrook where we read his take on the topsy-turvy world of the BATF inThank God for the brave jack-booted thugs at ATF who keep us safe from the threat of ninjas

Yes, if you want to know why the US hasn’t been hit with another terrorist attack since 9.11, you need look no farther than the brave, dedicated souls at ATF for whom every day is a rerun of “Reno 911”.

Okay, So I’m Not Really a Cowboy invites us to the funhouse to read his submission On Human Rights.

What can be seen from the revisionist definition is that, rather than being qualities of a passive nature, rights are dependent upon the active participation of government and other men. Leftists cling to the belief that–as in their stance on positive and negative liberty–actively granted privilege and passively extant rights go hand in hand, seeing no inherent contradiction. However, this contention should immediately strike one as contradictory; the granting of ‘modern’ rights requiring the coercion of others through artificial limitations on behavior, control and redistribution of the individual’s material wealth, and otherwise delineating and circumscribing how one may act beyond such actions that would infringe upon another’s sphere of autonomy.

Let’s go test our strengths now with the big hammer and see if we can ring the bell! Combs Spouts Off leads the way with Fiscal Optimism.

The explanation for this potentially fortuitous development is simple: Once again, tax cuts are working exactly as supply-siders predicted. Contrary to the critics, we don’t have to figure out how to “pay for” the Bush tax cuts because they’re more than paying for themselves. GDP and tax receipts are both growing significantly faster than spending, and thus the deficit is shrinking rapidly.

Carola Von Hoffmannstahl-Solomonoff of deep qt invites us to a stage show with EDA’s Follies: Part Three in a tale of eminent domain in Hoboken.

Though it may seem odd that in 1998, any part of Hoboken could still be counted among New Jersey’s “most distressed urban neighborhoods”, it’s even stranger that in 2006, the Northwest Redevelopment Area is considered appropriate fodder for eminent domain. But it’s important to remember not all people share the same idea of “public use”.

On to the House of Horrors we go with Liberty Corner who posits Let the Punishment Fit the Crime. In fisking a favorite economist-blogger who “fancies himself an expert in the ‘game’ of sentencing” LC says:

I find it hard to believe that Boudreaux believes this. If he does, it’s because he’s been locked in the ivory tower for too long. For one thing, not all criminals are capable of or interested in committing all crimes; a pickpocket, for example, isn’t necessarily a repressed murderer. For another thing, criminal law, which varies from State to State, is roughly calibrated “to let the punishment fit the crime.” The kind of precision posited by Boudreaux simply doesn’t exist.

Taking a ride on the Merry-go-round we’re back at Homeland Stupidity again with two additional submissions titled ISPs to be required to spy on customers and Advanced online privacy protection.

Congress has been considering requiring Internet service providers to record the activities of their subscribers, store the data and make it available to government officials upon request.

Dragging out the “child porn” red herring again, the Bush administration and Republican members of Congress are pushing for requirements for ISPs to store data on subscribers, all the way up to recording everything each subscriber does online.

Just imagine the recordkeeping and storage necessary for all that fol-de-rol! Anyone recall the witch-hunts of daycare centers in the late 70’s early 80’s?

Now lets go see a magic lantern show linked by Mensa Barbie in Hitler and the Palestine Plan.

“On Feb. 1, 2006, the Israel Police were ordered to demolish nine Jewish homes in Amona, near Ofrah, 12 miles north of Jerusalem. In the video documentary” . . . “police were filmed using excessive force against hundreds of youthful protestors, over 200 of whom were injured and taken to hospitals for treatment.”

Hey, we just passed the guy who guesses ages and weights! Turn around and check out The London Fog’s submission Determining the value of human commodity: May 16th is Census Day

Canadians are increasing warned of the dangers of identity theft, and yet it is mandatory by law, that one adult per household fill out the 2006 census form asking for personal information which includes the sexual preferences of those in the household, their income, their religion, race and ethnicity, childcare choices, education level and occupational habits. One in five households are burdened with a longer questionnaire than others.

Okay, so it’s almost time to go home, but first lets take a moment to think about how much it cost us to get here as The Pubcrawler takes on Government Price Fixing especially regarding Gas pricing!

So we have two choices here. We can let the market continue and it will eventually correct itself. Or we can have government intervene with short term relief and horrific long term consequences. It really is up to us to decide.

And finally, as we pass the ticket window on the way home, my own submission to the Carnival - a So long and thanks for all the fish (thanks to Douglas Adams - whose Hitchhikers Guide did NOT translate well to film) to Eric, esteemed founder of LLP and The Liberty Papers as he transitions away from Blogging in a career move that we all hope will bring him great rewards!

Hope you’ve enjoyed your visit to Carnival of Liberty XLI, don’t forget, next weeks Carnival of Liberty XLII will be hosted by Peter Porcupine of the Cape Code Porcupines - so y’all come back now, y’hear?!

TTLB Link

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04.17.06

Goodbye, Blog-Dad!

Posted in Essays at 6:45 am by LeftBrainFemale

Last week, Eric announced his imminent departure from the Blogosphere. He’ll be missed by so many of us - and me no less than many others.

Shortly after I began blogging last year, I found the Life, Liberty, Property Community through the TTLB. It took almost no time for me to feel that I’d found a home in the Blogosphere - I admired the writings of the members, and particularly that of Eric who was founder of the community. In many ways, I consider him my “Blog-Dad” (though I suspect he is no older than I - if as old!)

Eric taught me about some truths that I’ve only begun to grasp in the past few years and it made me thankful to realize that while *I* may be in a minority, it’s not as small as I once thought - and the LLP Community has been nothing but welcoming. It’s nice to have a home online as well as off!

So, it only seems appropriate as I am hosting Carnival of Liberty XLI this week that I shout out a final online farewell to Eric - wishing him well and saying thank you for the opportunity to be heard through the LLP and the group blog he also founded, The Liberty Papers. Goodbye for now, old friend!

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04.13.06

Power of Prayer Refuted?

Posted in Essays at 6:42 am by LeftBrainFemale

Over the years, there have been a number of “studies” done to try to determine the efficacy of prayer in healing. These studies are just another example of skewed statistics and going about research the wrong way. My athiest or agnostic readers may want to stop here - this is not generally in the realm that I write about - but if you read on, perhaps you’ll get an insight into how at least *my* mind works.

Having people from a number of different religious backgrounds praying for people whom they don’t know cannot be expected to show much - except that God is not the author of confusion, and we have more than enough of that going around. Can you imagine - if prayers were seemingly miraculously answered - but only those prayers prayed by people of Catholic faith - or Hebrew - or Christian - or Muslim? What a huge thing that would be. Just imagine for a moment - one faith gets the big “heads up” for the Lord and Creator of the entire Universe. Whew. Billions of unhappy people hanging around - and one group suddenly gets the “big head” bigtime. But you see, God’s people are from every nation, kindred and tongue. That means there isn’t anyone who has it perfectly right.

No, these studies show just exactly what I’d expect them to show - very little conclusive evidenc in any direction. Here’s a thought . . . why not solicit information (medical records, etc.) from persons who *have* experienced some kind of miraculous healing which they attribute to the power of prayer? Well, those are gonna be pretty hard to document accurately as well. Maybe we need to just stop worrying about it - as the old saying goes “Let go, and Let God”.

My own personal belief - and it is through first hand experience - is that while we who are believers should pray for others, and our country, the world, etc. the area where we’re going to see the most effectiveness is in our prayers for ourselves. Does that sound egotistical? It’s not - it’s what we’re commanded to do - to pray to the Lord, to have a real connection with Him, and to humble ourselves enough to say that we need Him. And, when He has answered our prayers, we need to acknowledge to Him that we understand that all things good have happened because He ordained them.

My faith is generally too personal for me to want to write in a public forum and inspire debate and dissention - but over the last few years, I’ve had too many situations where I believe, absolutely, that the Lord has heard and answered my prayers for situations that I’ve taken to Him - from the home that we live in, to the friends that have remained or departed from our lives. I do not deal well with confusion and doubt (who does?) and found in more times than I can count that if I pray, earnestly asking the Lord for guidance and then turn my worries over to Him - that He makes the path smooth. He takes away influences and desires that would not be beneficial to my family, and endows us with more than we need or deserve. These are not situations that can be quantifiably defined - and I’m sure would easily be explained away by a non-believer - but that’s okay. The sun shines and the rains fall upon us all. I’ll continue to attibute goodness, mercy, and love to the Lord I know. And let others place credit or blame where they will.

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04.11.06

Carnival of Liberty XL

Posted in Essays at 5:45 pm by LeftBrainFemale

Well, the Carnival of Liberty is up at Homeland Stupidity, so meander on over and take a look! And yours truly will be hosting again next week, so y’all get your reading glasses cleaned up, LOL - last time I hosted I wrote a book! Don’t forget to submit your posts through the Conservative Cat’s submission form, through the Blog Carnival submission form, or e-mail it. Posts will be accepted ’til 5PM EDT on Monday, April 18.

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04.06.06

Worthwhile Immigration Reads . . .

Posted in Essays at 7:46 am by LeftBrainFemale

I’m trying to get past my writing slump from the past few weeks, so bear with me! Doing a lot of reading, and I’ve come up with a number of “must read” posts on the immigration issue. Come with me now, and if you haven’t read these, give ‘em a look:

First, How does Mexico treat its illegals?by TownHall columnist Larry Elder puts things into perspective nicely.

Also of TownHall, Kathleen Parker’s column When illegal is right, what is wrong? from last week, and then again from yesterday - English spoken here

Next, fellow LLP blogger Stephen Littau posted The Illegal Immigration Debate Hits Home

Now, follow up on these thoughts with the solution by Nationally Syndicated Talk-meister Neal Boortz posted on his site today in his “Nealz Nuze” section (this link gets changed daily, so I’m posting the pertinent section here:

REPUBLICANS’ NEW IMMIGRATION PLAN

Well, now we have it. The Republican party has introduced their solution to the problem of illegal immigration in the Senate. So what is in this proposal? Three words: amnesty, amnesty and more amnesty. Let’s take a look, shall we?

The new bill, put forth yesterday by Lefty Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Mel Martinez of Florida was advanced by Bill Frist last night. It’s more of the same thing, but here are the details. Three million illegal aliens that have been in the country 2 to 5 years would have to report to the government and apply to stay legally as a temporary worker, with no guarantee of getting a green card.

Oh yeah .. I can just see these illegals flooding the INS offices to apply for a green card that they don’t know they will get that will simply allow them to be doing what they have been doing all along. What a plan! There is no compelling reason whatsoever for these illegals to show up and register.

This is all so easy folks! I’ve set this forth before. Two simple steps.

1. Deny all social welfare services (except life-saving emergency medical care) to anyone in this country illegally.

2. Punish those who hire illegals SEVERLY!

Through those two simple steps you reduce the demand for illegal aliens, and you punish the behavior in illegals that we do not want.

Too simple for politicians, I guess.

If Neal Boortz isn’t on your listening or reading list, he should be - if nothing else, he’ll get you fired up!

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Meta

Left Brain Female . . . in a Right Brain World

04.30.06

101st Fighting Keyboardists!

Immigrants or Migrants?

04.18.06

Carnival of Liberty XLI

04.17.06

Goodbye, Blog-Dad!

04.13.06

Power of Prayer Refuted?

04.11.06

Carnival of Liberty XL

04.06.06

Worthwhile Immigration Reads . . .

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