Snakes for a Reason?

In Connecticut, a teenage girl is mature enough to obtain an abortion without parental consent.  Apparently, she's mature enough to end any life but her own...

Connecticut forces 17 year old with Stage 3/4 Hodgkin's Lymphoma to undergo chemotherapy against her own will, and that of her mother who supports her daughter's choice.  

“Following a hearing at which Cassandra’s doctors testified, the trial court ordered that she be removed from her home and that she remain in DCF’s care and custody,” read court documents.  “The court also authorized DCF to make all necessary medical decisions on Cassandra’s behalf.” 

After Cassandra had a portion of her lymph node surgically removed at the hospital, mother and daughter left "to seek a second opinion." Fortin said they were going to consult with doctors in another state — but the local doctors, who are mandated reporters, called the DCF and raised an issue of parental medical neglect. The DCF went to Superior Court and won temporary custody and permission to proceed with the treatment. Courant

What do you think?  You may not agree with her decision, but do you think she has the right to make it?

Do you think the state is inconsistent with its application of medical maturity?

Piety, Wit & Tears

It's early dawn, my love, open your eyes and arise
Gently imbibing and playing the lyre;
For those who are here will not tarry long,
And those who are gone will not return.
--From Omar Khayyam's Rubiyyat,
translation by Karim Emami

The entire globe is in the grip of an epochal shift in demographics, culture and society. It is a natural evolution that began at the dawn of human history, ebbing, flowing, and sometimes surging.

Advances in technology and communications mean there are few isolated pockets left in the world, and this in itself has brought quantum leap change to societies, and will continue to do so for good and for ill.

The post-WWII global political order is moribund.  We live in a multi-polar world, and the US has lost the ability, the credibility and moral authority to control and contain unfolding events. International rules and norms set up at the dawn of the UN no longer apply, and nations are rightly acting in their own interests, larger international community be damned. Sophisticated weapons and other technologies are easily available to even the poorest groups and nations, so its a more level playing field, again, for good and for ill.

Demography is Destiny 

Go here to see birthrates by country, and you will see that Japan, Korea, Canada, Australia, all European countries and the US are in demographic death spirals. Any country below 2.1 is shrinking, not growing.  Western countries maintain growth via immigration; Japan does not.  One can extrapolate out to extinction, but circumstances can change: Wars, famines, diseases, people deciding to have children because of government incentives or cultural shifts.

If trends do continue, US and European natives will die out and Africans and Central Asians will burgeon. What this spells for the world is anyone's guess, but from my own biased perch, it spells global conflict and misery unless the people in these fecund but benighted lands can achieve unprecedented economic and educational advances, or build upon those of the western nations they emigrate to.

Regardless, Europe and America as we've known them in the 20th Century are dying, and they won't come back. Immigration is changing us, and deportations will not happen, so we go forward with what we have. What we will morph into is anyone's guess.

Who knows? The waves of immigrants could take the continents to even greater heights.

People in Britain will tell you that the muslim troublemakers are a small percentage, and that the preponderance of good ones who assimilate will overcome the bad ones. We'll see.

Same here. Hispanics are good, hard-working people. Have you read how they revitalized a dying Ottumwa, Iowa?

So, no doubt we are in a state of societal and anthropological flux, but it doesn't have to end badly, even if by our lights the signs seem to point to a bad end. Anyway, a vapid culture so self-loathing, myopic and me-centered that it has lost the will to propagate itself deserves its death.

We can't change it back.  Time moves only forward.  We should focus on preparing our progeny to survive and thrive in the brave new world.

2015 Predictions

William M. Briggs, Statistician to the Stars, makes predictions each year and solicits predictions from readers in the comments thread of his most excellent blog.

We'd like to do the same thing here at Western Hero.  We'll start with our predictions for 2015, then ask you to register your own in the comments section.  We will close comments on 6 Jan.

Silverfiddle's Predictions:

Denver Broncos are defeated in the playoffs, Peyton Manning retires.

Jeb Bush announces he is running for president, the GOP establishment gets behind him, and some rightwing loonies spin off a shaky, farcical third party with someone like a Bachmann or Palin at the helm.

Jim Webb launches his run for the Democratic party presidential nomination.

Hillary Clinton bows out.

A Supreme Court vacancy will occur, and due to political intransigence on both sides, will remain vacant.

Race relations continue to deteriorate, with more violence and more provocative incidents than 2014.

Immigration wave on our southern border larger than last year.  Obama asks for more money.

GOP will reestablish a normalized budget process, President Obama will sign their spending bill, and conservatives will be furious because it increases spending even though Ryan, Boehner, et al claim it contains deficit reduction measures.

ISIS state collapses back into marauding terrorist bands as Kurds and a marginally-improved Iraqi army regain lost territory.  Iraqi sectarian in-fighting continues, US reestablishes a small, semi-permanent presence.

Obama negotiates with the Taliban, even as they gobble up the Pashtun belt and Kabul totters.  Police and Army defections increase along with rumors of an imminent government collapse.

Bashar Assad strengthens his grip on Syria, rebels in retreat.

China causes some kind of provocation/crisis ala Russia/Ukraine.  US and world dithers.

* I hope no one panics at my predictions.  I am notoriously horrible at political prognostication.

Finntann's Predictions:

Gasoline drops below $1.50

Ruble continues its downward spiral and despite continued popularity there is a coup or assassination attempt on Putin. Putin survives, blames the West, and amid soaring popularity makes a move somewhere in the Baltics , most likely in the Ida-Viru region of Estonia (70% Russian) or the Daugavpils region of Latvia (53.6% Russian).

The government of Syria falls after Bashar al-Assad flees to Belarus for medical care after a nearly successful suicide bombing, he never returns. The West diddles as ISIS consolidates territorial gains in western Iraq and Syria.

Raul Castro dies suddenly, Miguel Diaz-Canel takes over and makes moves a la China to implement limited capitalism.  Sheldon Adelson announces a planned Sands Casino Resort on the Malecón.

Street protests dubbed the Latin American Spring in major Venezuelan cities leads to a crackdown by the Maduro government. A military coup in late summer or early fall will install Diosdado Cabello as head of government.

After a series of police shootings public backlash will dampen down protests.

Personal Computers running on Intel's new Skylake chip architecture will be available in time for Christmas.

* If you're going to make predictions... go large.

Hugh Farnham's Predictions

* - Editor's note:  Hugh relayed his predictions to Silverfiddle via a clandestine radio link emanating from Hugh's secure redoubt somewhere in the mountains of Idaho.  Despite Silverfiddle hauling his own radio pack up the west side of Pike's Peak through knee-deep snow to make the linkup, the connection was poor and intermittent in order to keep the federales from DFing Hugh's hideout.  As a result, his list is short.

There will be an increase of 10th Amendment-based state nullification efforts of federal laws

The Obama Administration will take actions to continue the nationalization of local, county and state police.

The FBI will quietly admit they were wrong about North Korea being the source of the Sony hack

There will be cyberattacks against the US, and our government will blame them on Russia

viburnum's Predictions

Silverfiddle, Finn, and Hugh have monopolized the potentially plausible leaving me nowhere to go but out on the proverbial limb, but as Finn says about making predictions; "go large".

The American people finally comprehend the significance of being 18 trillion dollars in debt and take to the streets to demand a fiscally responsible government enforced by a balanced budget amendment. Frustrated by the indifference of the Beltway crowd they hang a politician, bureaucrat, or lobbyist from every available lamppost in the District of Columbia. The survivors are grateful for the dearth of suitable trees.

Warren Buffet, after a severe attack of conscience over paying less in taxes than his secretary, donates his entire fortune of 73 billions to pay down the national debt. It covers 0.4%.

Medea Benjamin converts to Islam, moves to Baghdad, and organizes a group:  "Not In Allah's Name", to protest the depraved atrocities committed in the name of the religion of peace. The organization is short lived. So is she.

One person, one vote returns to Cook County Illinois, disenfranchising innumerable cadavers. Democrats/Progressives protest the injustice.

The Democratic Party finally decides to come out of the closet and renames itself the Democrat/Socialist Party. As is usually the case, this is news to no one.

The Philadelphia 76ers go undefeated for the rest of the season and win the NBA Championship ( Don't bet the farm on that one. )

The Chicago Cubs win the World Series. (ROFLMAO)

**********************************************

Those are our predictions. Please list your own in the comments section. If by God's grace we are here this time next year, we will review and score everyone's forecasts.

As a bonus for reading through our prognostications, here is how the exceedingly witty Brit James Delinpole sees 2015 shaping up:  2015:  Your Handy Month by Month Guide.  It is chock full of his caustic sarcasm and hilarious skewing of pompous progressives, so strap yourself in.

We wish you all a blessed 2015.

Saturday Sessions: Bing Crosby

Legends of the fall...

Dibyendu Ash

When lawmakers have nothing better to do with their time or your money... New York Law bans Tiger Selfies

This is a serious issue. People who take selfies with wild animals are fooling with their lives, said Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, a Manhattan Democrat.

New York Times

Illicit tiger touchers would face fines up to $500 — even if it’s only a cub.  Rosenthal's justification fails to mention that there were only two big-cat incidents at traveling shows in the state in the past 10 years.

New York Post

Yeah, maybe you ought to have the NYPD choke a couple of people to death over it you inane fool.  Just another example of legislators exercising power (because they can) rather than governing (at which they are inept).

Happy New Year ?

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!

But consider this... prior to 1752 the English celebrated the New Year on 25 March.  March 24, 1751 was followed by March 25, 1752...with the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, things changed...

January 1st 1753 came only nine months later, and there never was a January or February in 1752. Not only that, but September 1, 1752 was followed not by the second but by September 14, 1752.

What Day is it Anyway?

 

I Pledge Allegiance?

ABC News reports:  

"Americans are a little less likely to ask what they can do for their country these days."

This is the logical result of decades of cultural vandalism carried out by rabid professors and societal firebugs who have trashed our history and engendered disdain toward our founding principles. I don't know what's kept them from dynamiting the faces off of Mount Rushmore.

I imagine there is also a "screw you" component to this by millions of people who believe the government has been screwing them.  The article also points out the generational aspect: Younger people feel less loyalty the greater good.

Bow Down to Moloch?

The Federal Government cheapens citizenship by allowing millions of people to barge their way in and live just like they were citizens, so what's so special about citizenship?



Zinn-powered progressives have been shouting for decades that there is nothing special about the United States, and it's just an accident of birth that we were born here. President Obama told us that, sure, he thinks America is special, just like people in Togo or Uzbekistan think their country is special. So why should we feel any sense of duty toward an accidental government of an accidental state powered by murder, slavery, Yankee imperialism, white supremacy and illegal wars?  What makes the US any better than Burundi or Argentina?

The progressive police state known as the Federal Government, along with their Wall Street Bankster masters, crony corporation co-conspirators, and Silicon Valley robber barons is selling the nation and our birthright out from under our feet.

Why would anyone feel a sense of duty to a nation without borders? Anyone who shows up gets handed a free pass, also known as a notice to appear in two years or whatever... But even worse, the rich and well-connected come and go with impunity and they bring their cheap labor with them and pay politicians for exemptions to our laws. None of these people hold any allegiance whatsoever to the United States, but our government picks the pockets of citizens to cater to them as they treat our nation like a cheap whore.

We have no unifying language, with government spewing forth a fountain of Babel: ballots, drivers tests, public school instruction... And forget the outmoded concept of shared culture: Leftwing firebugs incinerated that decades ago.

So, what is this Federal Progressive State of America, and what do we owe it?

Here are comments from others in the thread:

Maybe it's because Americans are sick of being tracked, traced, digitally followed, harassed by the IRS and militarized police and lied to by our leaders. Illegal immigration and lawlessness in our government has caused people to turn their backs.

Long story short: When sovereignty is no longer intact, there is no such thing as a patriot, as a patriot wouldn't have allowed the dissolution of sovereignty. This country is no longer cognizant of its sovereignty, and is giving what little is left away wholesale. So I see not one thing to be patriotic about.

What the H*ll do you think it would be when we have a Government that thrives on corruption, lies, fraud, invalid data, broken promises , racism, pork-barrel spending, unfounded wars, broken borders, partisan media, etc., and a National Debt that is un-payable. If the people we elect to represent us do not do so, then all we can care about is how to survive in the morass. [...] This is NOT the United States I grew up in.

That's just a small sampling of the opinions of your fellow Americans.  What do you think?

Burning Ferries, Missing Planes

Some Things Never Change

 

In like a Lion out like a Lamb

Ending with a Whimper not a Bang

Well, as of yesterday the War in Afghanistan became officially over. There will be no parades, no victory arches built although I presume, eventually, there will be a monument.  Not even everyone is coming home, plans are to leave some 10,800 troops there to prop up the failing, perhaps soon to be falling Afghan government.

So what do you think? Have we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory? Is our national resolve the equal to our national attention span (Hey how's that Ebola crisis going?)?  We are a people that are more and more demanding of instant gratification (shock and awe) and less and less in it for the long haul (Gettysburg and Chickamauga), we are the ADD generation... we want it and we want it now and if we don't get it we grow bored and move onto the next big thing (ooh...Shiny!!!). 

America's god goes "HO HO HO!!!"

Christmas is over...  

For the secular world.   America walks around playing with their new handheld gadgets, and Santa is back at the North Pole with his feet up by the fire, smoking a pipe and enjoying a tumbler of Maker's Mark.



For Christians, the feast has just begun

We're now into the 12 Days of Christmas, ending with Epiphany on January 6th.   

Christ's followers built Christianity upon the ruins of ancient belief systems, literally constructing churches upon the foundations of temples in some cases.  Christians appropriated ancient pagan symbols such as rings for weddings, trees and garlands for Christmas, and they planted their feast days like Christmas over ancient pagan observances like Winter Solstice.

Doubters accuse Christians of appropriating old legends as well:  Gods visiting earth, dying and rising, virgins, miracles...  But, who's to say how God works, and what is stamped upon our deep Jungian psyches?  Common threads and forms run through history and through humanity.

Now, in these post-modern times, secularism builds upon the ruins of Christianity, or in Europe, preserves its churches as museums and sarcophagi, waiting for the Muslims to convert them to houses of worship once again.

Here in the US, Christianity survives, indeed is quite robust despite a growing percentage of people calling themselves atheist or agnostic.  Whether you believe in the "War on Christmas" or not, no one can argue that people are working to banish religious displays from public life, and no one can argue that many Americans just don't give a hoot one way or another.

The Neo-Trinity:  In the Name of Santa, Shopping, and Alcoholic Spirits

So, secularism is building upon the trappings of Christianity and appropriating its symbols and stories, especially Christmas.  Jersey McJones stated he had no problem with giving and receiving wishes of "Merry Christmas" even though he is an atheist, and I replied, why should he?  What does our secular Christmas have to do with God or religion?

Christmas, shorn of Christ and bedecked with trees and all the secular fun has passed into popular culture.  Anyone who gets bent out of shape when someone shouts "Merry Christmas!" is a fool.  Trees and lights are not religious symbols, and Christmas as it is now popularly celebrated in public spaces has nothing to do with Christ or any religion.

There is No God but Santa Claus, and Corporate America reaps his Profits

Santa Claus of our secular Christmas has become a proxy for The One True God, and that's a very American thing.  The founders crafted a powerful yet benign image of God, Divine Providence, a non-denominational deity that people of any religion could pray to and imagine him blessing our nation.

The US Constitution became our Holy Scrolls, and town halls and government courthouses stand in town squares, unlike in the Old World, where churches sit at the exalted focus of social life.

So it makes sense that Santa Claus has become the God figure, and 'Christmas spirit' and 'believing in Santa Claus' are a proxy for the True Faith our neo-pagan society has left behind.  Indeed, the very popular name 'Santa' points to something holy.

Movies where Christmas is in danger of being 'cancelled' because Santa is too tired, or people don't believe in him anymore, or a loved one is not coming home points to a Jungian need for the avatar, anxiety he may not show up, and a deep-seated fear of losing faith or an unease that even though we have forgotten him, that maybe The Father has forgotten us.

Shopping, gift exchanges and secular festivities replace holy sacraments and ritualistic worship, secular songs supplant hymns, being extra-nice replaces forsaking sin, lights and displays of reindeer and jolly elves take the place of religious iconography and statuary, and so it goes...

To many Christians, all of this is cause for lament, but it is all also very American.  We are not a theocracy.  So while some use lights, parties, music and secular displays to engender goodwill toward their fellow man (a secular form of iconography and ritual), I don't crab about it.  If it is aimed at Peace on Earth and Goodwill to Man, then like the three kings, it seeks that which transcends our secular world:  God, King and Sacrifice. 

Merry Christmas

Look, It's not all about you.

Cafepress

A man was waiting to board United flight 1140 to Dallas at La Guardia airport when a cheerful gate attendant wished him a Merry Christmas.  The passenger took offense:

“You shouldn’t say that because not everyone celebrates Christmas.” The agent replied, “Well, what should I say then?”“Don’t say, ‘Merry Christmas!’ ” the man shouted.

Yes, you guessed it, upon boarding the plane the man was greeted by a flight attendant with... "Merry Christmas".

“Don’t say, ‘Merry Christmas!’ ” the man raged before lecturing the attendants and the pilot about their faux pas. The crew tried to calm the unidentified man, but he refused to back down and continued hectoring them. He was escorted off the plane as other fliers burst into cheers and applause.

NYPost 

Author Tom Wolfe dubbed the Baby Boomer's "The Me" generation back in the 70's.  Boy was he wrong, of course he didn't have people today to compare them to.  

"Merry Christmas" is simply someone wishing you well, it doesn't require you to believe in God, it doesn't require you to believe in Christmas... it's nothing more than a sentiment, someone wishing you good cheer, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, or good night.

These sentiments do no harm, the better among us really mean them, some among us could care less whether you're merry or not, they are simply people being polite and it is nothing more than etiquette.  

I've been wished Happy Hanukkah, Ramadan Mubarak, I've even been wished a Bright Diwali.  None of this demeans or diminishes me in anyway, it is not a threat to my beliefs or world view.  Take it for what it is... warm wishes.

AND GET OVER YOURSELF

Don't Stress

Merry Christmas One and All

It's Christmas Eve!

A SELECTION OF CAROLS

 

America's Race to the Bottom

I've checked my privilege, and it's doing quite nicely.  Thank you for asking.

That's the only legitimate American response to socialist indoctrination.

Now, let's have a serious discussion...


Yes, we still have racists in this country, but we also have laws, a populace full of goodwill, and a society where minorities become doctors, lawyers, politicians, pilots, CEOs, generals, even President.

I didn't grow up around minorities, but I served with all kinds of people during my military career, and it left me quite sanguine about race in America.  We all got along, and I learned that no group of people can be stereotyped.  Race is no better a predictor of brains, skill or success than is shoe size. 

Spend time with ordinary black people--not the leftwing lecturers--and you will learn that racism still exists in subtle ways.  While a black man can get an engineering degree and become a captain in the US Air Force, or design a sophisticated satellite system for a defense contractor, some store employees will still shadow him, and somewhere a hotel clerk will tell him and his caucasian wife that there is no vacancy even though the parking lot is mostly empty. 

Life hands out shit sandwiches, even to the successful, and if I had to guess, I'd say black people probably get more than their fair share.  For that reason, I admire my friends and fellow veterans who handled it with grace.  I don't know if I could.

Moving on to a civilian career, I worked in a very diverse group (every black man was married to a white woman, two white men married to black women, white men married to Hispanic women...) and nobody had any hangups.  Instead we frequently and shamelessly indulged in politically-incorrect humor.

So, I thought race relations were pretty hunky-dory here in the US, and I have to admit that the racial events of the Obama years have shocked me, even though two black coworkers predicted this is where we would be.

When Obama was first elected, two of the black men I work with (one liberal, one slightly conservative) predicted race relations would deteriorate.  Both cited the pathologies of the worse elements of blacks and whites: 

Aggrieved blacks who think America has been cheating them and therefore owes them everything because the Al Sharpton types and guilty white liberal enablers have been drumming that into them since they were children; and prejudiced whites who blame minorities for all our ills and who cannot stand to see a black man in the White House. 

They predicted that a black president would inflame and embolden these two groups, and that their flamboyant reactions would infect the rest of society, and I think they nailed it.

Having our first black president has been a golden opportunity tragically squandered.  Even though I did not vote for him, I prayed that he would be the president who could speak candidly to all sides and maybe vanquish some malevolent ghosts.

Two years left, so there is still time to pray.  Merry Christmas.

2 NY Cops Executed

So what do you think?

Photo: Kevin Case

Does the Mayor have Blood on his Hands?

The Fourth Sunday of Advent

Photo: Joe Lewis

In an Italian tradition during late Advent the shepherds come down from the hills and play before the shrines to Mary and before the Nativity Scenes, they play a traditional Italian bagpipe known as a Zampogna.

 Or for a more modern interpretation

 

Fah who for-aze! Dah who dor-aze!

Here are a couple of old ones that bring back memories of childhood Christmas for many of us.  

CUBA

So, what do you think about Cuba?

Aside from the fact that Obama did it?

50 years of embargo has certainly been ineffective in accomplishing our goals.

North Korean Censorship

Is Alive and Well in the United States

Sony cancels theatrical release of "The Interview" for Christmas.  Seth Rogen and James Franco star in the picture that centers on a hapless television host who is recruited to assassinate North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. This is after the bulk of the country’s 10 largest theater chains — a group that includes AMC, Regal, Cinemark, Carmike and Southern Theatres — announced they would delay showing the picture or would drop it altogether.
Variety 

American intelligence officials have concluded that the North Korean government was “centrally involved” in the recent attacks on Sony Pictures’s computers.  “This is of a different nature than past attacks,” one senior official said. A cyberattack that began by wiping out data on corporate computers — something that had previously been seen in attacks in South Korea and Saudi Arabia, but not the United States — has turned “into a threat to the safety of Americans” if the movie was shown.  NY TIMES

For God's Sake

Have we become a nation of ball-less wonders?  Seriously, remember September 11th, 2001?  I say to Kim Jong Un, remember August 6th, 1945.  You and your nation are a blight upon humanity.  What's with the emblem anyway?  A pictorial representation of things you wish you had? Like food and electricity? Ah, the wonders of Marxism-Leninism in action.

Urbanization Project

And really, am I the only one to see the resemblance?