Pragmatic Cynicism

The other side of the looking glass.

2011-07-22T21:09:00.000-05:00

One must realize that the norms of society influence our perception of what is and should be. But when held to the light of an infinite narrative historically and into the future, what is and should be takes on it's true relation to the current societal norms. This is why an exhaustive study of history is so important, because it is our only scientific means of gauging the activities of conventional society and what we might expect tomorrow to bring. Cause and effect is mostly speculative when dealing with human nature, but only in the collective history of mankind do we hope to understand our species, and in understanding are able to effectively navigate socially.
It doesn't take much research into human nature and it's history to realize that insanity is the norm, and rational behavior the exception. This is the core of why I am cynical and a non-conformist in every aspect. Societal norms are typically inane traditions that don't require any conscious thought, while people regurgitate and proliferate disinformation for the most trivial rewards.
Question your perception of reality and maybe you'll be insane like me, or is it sane like me? It's all merely which side of the looking glass you're on.

10 things you can do to boycott the One world government.

2011-04-03T22:14:00.001-05:00

OK, not necessarily in this order: 1. Run for local political office...take over town hall 2. Eliminate property taxes. 3. Put in well water. 4. Get off the grid using an applicable combination of wind, water, solar, methane, natural gas, alcohol, and diesel power. 4. Either grow your own food or barter with friends and neighbors. 5. Only bank with your local Credit Union, liquidate all retirement and reinvest in personal, family and local infrastructure. 6. Stop tithing to insurance companies, they want you to die only after they take everything you have. 7. Disable the idiot box. 8. Homeschool your children. 9. Question perceived reality. 10. Stay informed and inform others.

Things that defy the laws of free market.

2011-04-03T22:06:00.001-05:00

Shovels=$12 Shovel handles=$11: Indicating a higher demand for shovel handles than complete shovels, because a tempered-steel shovel-head for a dollar is close to scrap value. Maybe there is a large surplus of complete shovels warehoused somewhere, at least ten years worth because that's how long this price differential has been in play.

New desktop computer w/2gb system memory=$150 2gb desktop system memory=$100: Evidently, there's more system memory upgrades being installed than cheap desktops sold...not.

Chinese Kettle Factory

Quote for All Times

2011-04-03T22:04:00.000-05:00

"At any given moment there is an orthodoxy, a body of ideas of which it is assumed that all right-thinking people will accept without question. It is not exactly forbidden to say this, that or the other, but it is not done to say it. Anyone who challenges the prevailing orthodoxy finds himself silenced with surprising effectiveness. A genuinely unfashionable opinion is almost never given a fair hearing, either in the popular press or in the high-brow periodicals."

George Orwell, 1945

A Stranger In Our House

2011-04-03T22:01:00.003-05:00

(by unknown Author)

A few months before I was born, my Dad met a stranger who was new to our small Tennessee town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around to welcome me into the world a few months later.

As I grew up, I never questioned his place in my family. In my young mind, he had a special niche. My parents were complementary instructors: Mom taught me the word of God, and Dad taught me to obey it. But the stranger? He was our storyteller. He would keep us spellbound for hours on end with adventures, mysteries and comedies. If I wanted to know anything about politics, history or science, he always knew the answers about the past, understood the present and even seemed able to predict the future! He took my family to the first major league ball game. He made me laugh, and he made me cry.

The stranger never stopped talking, but Dad didn't seem to mind.
Sometimes Mom would get up quietly while the rest of us were shushing each other to listen to what he had to say, and she would go to her room and read her books. (I wonder now if she ever prayed for the stranger to leave.)

Dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions, but the stranger never felt obligated to honor them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our home ... not from us, our friends or any visitors. Our long-time visitor, however, got away with four-letter words that burned my ears and made my dad squirm and my mother blush.

My Dad was a teetotaler who didn't permit alcohol in the home, not even for cooking. But the stranger encouraged us to try it on a regular basis. He made cigarettes look cool, cigars manly and pipes distinguished. He talked freely (much too freely!) about sex. His comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing. I now know that my early concepts about relationships were influenced strongly by the stranger. Time after time, he opposed the values of my parents, yet he was seldom rebuked ... and NEVER asked to leave.

More than fifty years have passed since the stranger moved in with our family. He has blended right in and is not nearly as fascinating as he was at first. Still, if you were to walk into my parents' den today you would still find him sitting over in his corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures. His name? We just call him TV.

A new definition for Gun Control

2011-04-03T22:00:00.001-05:00

Gun Control: The theory that a woman found dead in an alley, raped and strangled with her own pantyhose, is somehow morally superior to a woman explaining to police how her attacker got that fatal bullet wound.

A 'Truther's' Philosophy

2010-10-03T22:19:00.000-05:00

"There is only one fear: to be deceived."

"It is better to be thought paranoid than naive."

"In the pursuit of truth, there is no vice."

Real Insurance

2010-09-23T23:29:00.002-05:00

Historically, socialist governments have always been machines of mass murder. In a social democracy, the actuary's books will determine who lives or dies; it's the lowest common denominator of collectivism.

Bill Gates says as much:

We can either admit we've been suckered into a ponzi scheme; call it Social Security, call it insurance or call it the Federal Reserve fiat money system that's the model for all , or wait and see what it will turn into (as if we didn't know): the state managing every last resource and taxing you for breathing like every other socialist system that's ever been and is.

Opening Salvo

2010-09-19T13:08:00.000-05:00

To set the tone, I will begin with what others have said.

I have not verified all these quotes, but they can stand on their own.

"If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed,
if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed."
-Mark Twain

"Suppose you were an idiot.
And suppose you were a member of Congress ....
But then I repeat myself."
-Mark Twain

"I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. "
-Winston Churchill

"A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. "
-George Bernard Shaw

"A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money. "
-G Gordon Liddy

"Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. "
-James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)

"Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries. "
-Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University

"Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys."
-P.J . O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian

"Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else. "
-Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)

"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. "
-Ronald Reagan (1986)

"I don't make jokes. I just watch the government
and report the facts. "
-Will Rogers

"If you think health care is expensive now,
wait until you see what it costs when it's free! "
-P.J. O'Rourke

"In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other. "
-Voltaire (1764)

"Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you! "
-Pericles (430 B.C.)

"No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session."
-Mark Twain (1866)

"Talk is cheap...except when Congress does it."
-Unknown

"The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other. "
-Ronald Reagan

"The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery. "
-Winston Churchill

"The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin. "
-Mark Twain

"The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. "
-Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)

"There is no distinctly Native American criminal class...save Congress. "
-Mark Twain

"What this country needs are more unemployed politicians."
-Edward Langley, Artist (1928 - 1995)

"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have. "
-Thomas Jefferson

"If the North American Free Trade Agreement ( NAFTA ) is enacted by Congress ; There will be a huge sucking sound of American jobs being sucked from our country! "
-Ross Perot