Yet Another Year Commiserating on This Fateful Day in Dallas

Okay, something horrible happened on this day fifty years ago. Yes, I can remember exactly where I was the moment I found out JFK had been shot: it was around 1976 or 1977, at the dinner table, and my family was talking conspiracy theories.

Beyond the horror of a man being murdered in front of so many people—especially, his wife—it's time to let this one go.

All three of you who know me and/or have been following my inconsistent writings on this blog know that I'm rather fond of frequently putting the tinfoil hat on; however, I gotta say that the more I look things over, the more I think what's-his-face acted alone (can I remind everyone he was a communist and not a conservative?).  I'm more of a mind that it was a lone idiot and all of the investigative inconsistencies were more the result of incompetence and/or the pressure of publicity than any malfeasance. At this point*, the closest I will come to saying there was any sort of conspiracy is that maybe someone put Ruby up to shooting Oswald just to keep him from flapping communist propaganda during his trial and dangerously inflaming our tensions with the Soviet Union.

Like the Arthurian legends, Camelot's over** and it's time to focus on the here and now.

For all of you commiserating on this day, Anne Althouse offers 10 rules for writing about the 50th anniversary of the day John F. Kennedy was shot (hat tip to the Instapundit). 

*I have yet to read Ion Mihai Pacepa's post, The New Proof of the KGB's Hand in JFK's Assassination, over at PJ Media.

**And, I've just gotta reiterate that Reagan is definitely NOT going to resurrect and lead desperate conservatives out of the wilderness. So, pull your head out of that recto-cranial inversion and get to work!

Hero, Traitor, Whistleblower, or Felon? It Doesn't Really Matter in the Bigger Picture

I started this post a while back and let it simmer at the back burner... I've always been a reasonably law and order kind've guy who realizes we're a big country with porous borders and the world's dynamics have been dramatically changing since World War II.

Not all that long ago, I would've quickly called Edward Snowden an absolute traitor (I still can't wait to find out that Bradley Manning will rot in a deep, dark hole somewhere):

In a note accompanying the first set of documents he provided, he wrote: “I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions,” but “I will be satisfied if the federation of secret law, unequal pardon and irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are revealed even for an instant.”

Nowadays—especially, in light of everything else that's been recently coming to light—I'm not so sure.

Or, so I was thinking (for a bit) until more information about brave [snark] Mr. Snowden began to come to light. Professor Jacobson & Company, over at Legal Insurrection, have done a great job of compiling thoughts and information on him.

I sure as hell don't see him as any hero. Whistleblower? No. Traitor? No. Felon? Maybe. Putz? Definitely.

Add to that an unfortunately useful tool whose drama may all too well draw attention away from what really and truly matters.And, that is the scope of potential surveillance our government has placed upon us under the guise of "protecting" us.

As demonstrated by the implications of the recently-revealed IRS Scandals, it's the "potential" that should have us all worried as once a potential is realized to a bureaucracy, it becomes a given that it will be abused at one point or another. Add to that the scope of how this surveillance can intrude and disrupt every aspect of our lives and we have really placed that proverbial bridge across the Rubicon and it will only become a matter of time before it is crossed. The questions truly become:

When?
How far?
And how destructively?

It doesn't matter that it may have started under Dubya's administration. It was started and—most importantly—it is now being perpetuated by a current administration that has shown no true regard for the laws of this republic.

Ex-pat's Pats: Seriously? WTF! (Updated)

Caught this off of Drudge while drinking coffee this morning:

Kraft: Putin stole Bowl ring

Update:

Putin offers ring to make peace with Patriots football owner

Updated: Totally Tinfoil Hat-Inducing (On Top of Everything Else)

Journalist Whose Article Gave Obama Cause to Kick Out McChrystal Dies

'Nuff said.

Interesting, what he reported in his final article:

Glenn Greenwald’s exposure of the NSA’s massive domestic spy program has revealed the entire caste of current Democratic leaders as a gang of civil liberty opportunists, whose true passion, it seems, was in trolling George W. Bush for eight years on matters of national security.

“Everyone should just calm down,” Senator Harry Reid said yesterday, inhaling slowly.

That’s right: don’t panic.

The very topic of Democratic two-facedness on civil liberties is one of the most important issues that Greenwald has covered. Many of those Dems — including the sitting President Barack Obama, Senator Carl Levin, and Sec. State John Kerry — have now become the stewards and enhancers of programs that appear to dwarf any of the spying scandals that broke during the Bush years, the very same scandals they used as wedge issues to win elections in the Congressional elections 2006 and the presidential primary of 2007-2008. 

How dare he.

I still think Breitbart was assassinated...

There is a Reason the 2nd Amendment Immediately Follows the 1st

How much has DOJ overreached? Other news organizations might have to defend Fox News (Update – Search Warrant added)

RTWT.

Amendment IV, Where Art Thou?

The Obama administration is drawing up plans to give all U.S. spy agencies full access to a massive database that contains financial data on American citizens and others who bank in the country, according to a Treasury Department document seen by Reuters.
...

Financial institutions that operate in the United States are required by law to file reports of "suspicious customer activity," such as large money transfers or unusually structured bank accounts, to Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

The Federal Bureau of Investigation already has full access to the database. However, intelligence agencies, such as the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, currently have to make case-by-case requests for information to FinCEN.

The Treasury plan would give spy agencies the ability to analyze more raw financial data than they have ever had before, helping them look for patterns that could reveal attack plots or criminal schemes.

The planning document, dated March 4, shows that the proposal is still in its early stages of development, and it is not known when implementation might begin.

Hat tip to Bryan Preston.

Apparently, some legal experts are saying that this is legal, in part, to a combination of Bank Secrecy Act and the USA PATRIOT Act. I'm not buying it:

Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

This Scares the Ever-Lovin' Tinfoil Right Outta Me!

Via Ed Driscoll, over at PJ Media, we learn of a Disturbing Pattern where Obama rids America's military of yet another top general. From the Investors.com story:

Barack Obama cashiered yet another battle-seasoned American general Tuesday, even as the war in Afghanistan continues along with numerous other serious global threats to United States security.

This is the fourth senior officer Obama has forced from the country's service.

All four were tied somehow to the Afghanistan mess that Obama has long argued was the most important war. Each departure was staged as a resignation. They were usually tied to some personal indiscretions to save face for Obama, who would know of indiscretions as a product of the corrupt Chicago Democrat machine.

Okay, maybe I am crossing over into breaking Godwin's Law, but don'tcha know that they almost ALWAYS start with the purging or denunciation of the top generals?

Drudgetaposition from 01/09/2013

Screen Capture courtesy of Instapundit

If they're genuinely thinking of trying to control/take our guns by executive decree then it's rather appropriate, don'tcha think?

For the moment, I wonder if they're just trying to rattle everyone to get them into line. Then again, I don't put anything past this administration.

CSI: Oh, I Just Love This!

Not!

Well, just turned on the vidiot box to find that CSI: New York is taking on the ability to print fully-functioning .38 Spcl revolvers using 3-D printers and open-source software. It was just simply amazing how easy and quick it was to create a nice carry piece in a few moments.

The takeaway that I initially got was that "Guns are already dangerous enough, imagine what will happen with an unlicensed printer..."

Update: okay, not as smooth as I first thought as their test gun shattered on the 2nd round and looks to be giving that crucial evidence to link the killer to the crime.

This show isn't as bad as others but it does put the idea out to the very malleable masses who will fall in line on yet another control measure because it's on TV.

Hanging At The End Of The Republic

"We must hang together, gentlemen...else, we shall most assuredly hang separately."

  --  Benjamin Franklin

Keep that in mind in the years ahead...

Ya Know, Now That You Mention It...

The Instapundit has a theory as to why Obama may have become the BEST GUN SALESMAN IN HISTORY:

Perhaps this is all a head-fake, designed to get as many Americans armed as possible as part of the secret preparations for alien attack. Sadly, that would make more sense than what they’re actually doing . . . .

Tinfoil Hat Edition: Hillary's Health

Here's where I firmly deplete my supply of Reynolds Wrap to make a new bonnet. With all of the sudden "health issues" that still-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is experiencing and, their convenient timing with regards to her pending Benghazi testimony, would anyone be surprised if she tragically dies from complications before January 10th rolls around?

Seriously?

This Is Intolerable.

 Senate Approves Warrantless Phone Tapping for Next Five Years

By a vote of 73 to 23, the US Senate just voted for the warrantless surveillance of American citizens until 2017.

In 2007, the Senate voted to grant blanket immunity to companies like AT&T, which conspired with the NSA to monitor American digital conversations without government oversight after 9/11. Today's vote continues that immunity, and provides further carte blanche for the American intelligence-gathering apparatus. Phone calls, texts, and emails are all fair game—and a judge doesn't have to give the OK, so long as it's in the name of counterterrorism.

Twenty-Twelve!

Well, it's December 21, 2012. Hopefully the end of the Mayan Calendar finds you doing as well as possible. Anyone care to report in on their end-of-the-world experiences, via the Comments?

Dammit, My Blood Pressure's Pegged Again!

Interesting thoughts from Bryan Preston at PJ Media:

It has become a bit rich to hear Barack Obama opine on precious life while declaring that we must do “something” in the wake of Friday’s horrible murders at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The president who has defended infanticide and described unintended pregnancy as being “punished with a baby” presides over an administration that ran guns to Mexico’s hyper violent drug cartels. Another Fast and Furious gun has turned up at the site of another drug cartel carnage scene, according to CBS News. And before anyone blames US gun manufacturers, they should take a look at what kind of gun was at that murder scene.

Yeah, according to the article he links:

CBS News learned the Romanian AK-47-type WASR-10 rifle found near her body was purchased by Uriel Patino at an Arizona gun shop in 2010. Patino is a suspect who allegedly purchased 700 guns while under the ATF’s watch.

Zombrainoia

Okay, maybe it's not such a good idea to be reading Max Brooks's World War Z just before taking the dog out for her late-evening walk on a dark & snowy night...

Took the Weewolfe out for and decided to go through one of our more traditional routes, which involves walking down a short, dark, dirt road in order to connect to the next neighborhood over from ours. A quick little bit of back-story on this road is that it is closely surrounded by thick trees, which overhang the road, giving it somewhat of a dark sense even in the day time. Tulip and I have affectionately dubbed this stretch of our dog-walking routes as The Tunnel [cue images of Gollum discussing the passage through Cirith Ungol, precious].

Anywho... to get back on track: just as we were entering The Tunnel, the Weewolfe decided to go bat-shit crazy, barking and staring off into the line of trees that sweep downhill from us towards the Douglas Highway. Not a big deal, as she tends to bark at deer, which we regularly encounter along this stretch this time of year. If she'd have tucked tail and turned around without so much as a whimper, I'd've known there was a late-season bear out and about and turned around with her.

A couple of coercive treats later, we were back on track and easily passed over to the next neighborhood to where we were coming into the glow from the houses. Suddenly, she decides she's going to plop down on her but and stare very intently back the way we've come. Great, one of the other dogs in the neighborhood must be loose and the Weewolfe's going to feel aggressive tonight. I start fumbling in my pocket for treats and looking back down The Tunnel for whatever's buggering her.

The "whatever" slowly starts to take form and I can see something dark and low against the snow detaching from the dark. It's definitely not a dog and is too big to be a cat. A late season bear afterall? That's just great as I'm loaded to the teeth with smelly, yummy doggy treats and bears out this late without hibernating are notoriously aggressive for any last bits of food they can scrounge.

I start trying to move the Weewolfe but she won't budge. If anything, every time I try to shift to wave a treat under her nose and draw her more off to the side, she shuffles towards the "whatever" and re-plops her but.

Okaaaaaaaaay... The "whatever" has now grown taller and taken more form of a person. Not normally a big deal in the dark and snow; however, this person is walking with a rather shambling gate, leaning stiffly to one side, and I probably don't have to elaborate the first thing to go through my mind and raise my over-imaginative hackles. I'm thinking back to her going bat-shit back at the other side of The Tunnel and how, in the book, dogs would go crazy when zombies were near.

And, all the while, the Weewolfe sits there intently waiting for us to be the next serving of Zombie Chow until the figure finally draws close enough to be recognized as a young lady, wearing sneakers in the snow, and sliding on the snowy road while carrying a heavy backpack.

Next time, the dog can damn well fend for herself if she wants to wait until the zombie gets up to us.

There's a Fell Wind Beginning to Stir...

This was an ironic earworm that popped-up on my iPod during break...

Perusing the blogs and news about all that's stirring in D.C. and rippling out to the rest of the country makes me think this Rush song is a little too prescient (lyrics courtesy of A-Z Lyrics Universe):

"The Trees"
There is unrest in the forest
There is trouble with the trees
For the maples want more sunlight
And the oaks ignore their pleas

The trouble with the maples
(And they're quite convinced they're right)
They say the oaks are just too lofty
And they grab up all the light
But the oaks can't help their feelings
If they like the way they're made
And they wonder why the maples
Can't be happy in their shade

There is trouble in the forest
And the creatures all have fled
As the maples scream 'Oppression!'
And the oaks just shake their heads

So the maples formed a union
And demanded equal rights
'The oaks are just too greedy
We will make them give us light'
Now there's no more oak oppression
For they passed a noble law
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet, axe and saw

"The Trees" as written by Armando Christian Perez, Ronald Ray Bryant, Drazen Kvocic, David Vurdelja, Angel Lafaele Noa
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

See also, some interesting commentary over at Sing365.com.

Quotes of the [Yester]Day

Been working on other things (like the side business) and haven't had much opportunity to put thoughts into coherent prose. So, here's a little tab clearing of some things that have recently caught my breaktime fancy...

First up, we have MArooned in Massachusetts's own Jay G commenting on an article discussin the trouble 2 Renssalaer County probation officers got in when allowing their children to handle their sidearms:

My dad was a MA state cop. He had me loading and unloading his service revolver from the time I was like four years old (yes, I blame my dad for both my gun nuttery and my love of Smith & Wesson revolvers). He knew that there would come a day when my friends would ask about his gun - it's a given. "Your dad's a cop, right? Let's see his gun!" Dad rightly figured that it was better his children know the dangers inherent therein and handle the gun properly than to hide it and hope that we never found it.
...

 I do have to wonder how many of the "don't teach kids about guns" crowd subscribe to the "free condoms in grammar school because they're going to do it anyways" line of thinking...
 

Next, we take a stroll over to Roseholm Cottage for a little time on the Porch with Tam, who comments on some in Europe looking for ethnic excuses for the E.U.'s woes:

It's been a while since they killed each other in boxcar lots on the other side of the pond, but only a fool believes that it can never happen again.
 

Last up, for the moment, Ace ponders something that I also kind of wonder about in response to President Obama's gracious offer of nothing in return for $1.6 trillion in new taxes and unlimited authority to raise the debt ceiling at his own discretion:

I love that part about presidential control over the debt ceiling, as his Majesty might require.
 
Fuck you. Let it burn.
 

Today, Ace also goes on to muse on these growing calls for Republicans to just "Walk Away":

The Walk Away/Let It Burn option is growing on people. One cautionary note, though: This will provoke a serious constitutional crisis and may undo the Republic. So a soft Let it Burn could turn into a genuine collapse of the Republic.

Obama is a tyrant. If Republicans do not lift the debt ceiling, it is perfectly obvious what he will do, as he's argued for it before: Like Putin, he will begin unilaterally asserting power he doesn't have.
...
 

Just something to keep in mind. Tyrants are always looking for pretexts to rule without any check.

Is it time to consider just dropping the frigging lobster straight into the boiling pot?

This is a more tinfoil hat thought but, in also reading this Friday post from Jay G on two serious occurrences of firearms theft; as well as his final thoughts:

Mark my words - we'll see a shipment of ammunition disappear within the next 60 days...
 

Is it also time to start seriously stocking-up on ammo?

Crazy Thought for the Day...

Hhhmmm...

Super Bowl XLII, 2008: the Patriots lose to the Giants 14-17. Barack Obama wins the election to become 44th President of the United States in November 2008.

Super Bowl XLVI, 2012: the Patriots lose--AGAIN--to the Giants 17-21. President Obama wins reelection in November 2012.

Coincidence? I think not.