Liberty ~ Increasingly AWOL from US... WTF!

As this amazing country celebrates its birth -- an epic achievement made possible ~230 years ago by righteous, civic-minded, and wise men who despised and indeed fought the grotesque evil, "political correctness", and geopolitical stupidity of their day -- let's think earnestly about the subsequent violations of the US Constitution and seemingly neverending erosion of and painful decimation of hard-won liberties, including...

• Gerrymandering and Illegitimate Non-Representation 
• Illegitimate Warfare, Invasions, and Offensive Actions
• Unwarranted Searches and Seizures in both Physical and Digital Realms
• Unfunded Mandates, Conscription, and Similar Unconstitutional Equivalents to Slavery
• Taxation without Proper Representation or Proportionality including Rapacious Income and Wealth Taxation
• Criminalization of Victimless Vices including Drug Use, Prostitution, Gambling, etc 
• Unequal Treatment of Voting Age Citizens via Drinking, Smoking, Driving, and other Illegitimate Age-based Discriminatory Laws 
• Myriad Unconstitutional Impositions upon peoples Freedoms of Religion, Speech, Commerce, Migration, and Choice 
• An enormous Governmental Bloatocracy, endless Illegitimate Entitlements, and increasingly Outrageous Debt
• Absence of Reason, Facts, Evidence, Logic, and Thought in far too much of what the Government does

The list goes on and on and it's painful to recite all the evil incarnate that left and right wingnuts in office have perpetrated. It's urgent to return ASAP to the moral middle, the sensible center, the authentic pro-freedom libertarian core of America.

Kill Decisions ~ Suarez @ TED on Autonomy...

Saving Timbuktu's Treasures ~ Heritage Writings

in the WSJournal writes of The Librarian Who Saved Timbuktu’s Cultural Treasures From al Qaeda...

"Mr. Haidara knew that many of the works in the city’s repositories were ancient examples of the reasoned discourse and intellectual inquiry that the jihadists, with their intolerance and rigid views of Islam, wanted to destroy. The manuscripts, he thought, would inevitably become a target. [...] Mr. Haidara recruited his nephew, and they reached out to archivists, secretaries, Timbuktu tour guides and a half-dozen of Mr. Haidara’s relatives. The result was a heist worthy of “Ocean’s Eleven.” They bought metal and wooden trunks at a rate of between 50 and 80 a day, made more containers out of oil barrels and located safe houses around the city and beyond. They organized a small army of packers who worked silently in the dark and arranged for the trunks to be carried by donkey to their hiding places. [...] By the time French troops invaded the north in January 2013, the radicals had managed to destroy only 4,000 of Timbuktu’s nearly 400,000 ancient manuscripts. “If we hadn’t acted,” Mr. Haidara told me later, “I’m almost 100% certain that many, many others would have been burned.”

Religio-Political Plot ~ Moralism vs Statism...

Jack Jenkins at ThinkProgress shares The Politics Of Every Major U.S. Religion, In One Chart...

"A new chart, compiled by Tobin Grant of the Religion New Service and using data from Pew Research’s 2008 Religious Landscape Survey, takes a stab at answering this question by visually illustrating the general political beliefs of religious people on two policy questions."

Hitchens on Islam ~ "God Is Not Great" ~ Ch 9...

Christopher Hitchens on Islam -- reading Chapter 9 of his God is Not Great ~ How Religion Poisons Everything...

"Hitchens asserts that there is no evidence for any of the "miraculous" claims about Muhammad, and that the Koran's origin was not supernatural. Hitchens contends that the religion was fabricated by Muhammad or his followers and that it was borrowed from other religious texts, and the hadith was taken from common maxims and sayings which developed throughout Arabia and Persia at the time. Hitchens also identifies similarities between Islam and Christianity, as well as identifying plagiarisms of the Jewish faith."

Hitchens further clarifies about Islam... And more generally, how ridiculous religion is... Protecting Danish cartoonists -- pointing out that we must judge religions by their extremes (and extremists)... Finally, Hitchens debates Islamite...

No Great Religions ~ All Stupid and Dangerous...

Friendly Atheist spots Bill Maher on Kimmel telling truth to power:

"There are No Great Religions. They are all stupid and dangerous. And we should insult them."

Later, Maher hosts Rushdie, et al, on Real Time and the scathing continues...

Je Suis Charlie ~ Keep Fighting Intolerant Evil...

Gunmen of unknown origin or affiliation shouting "Allāhu Akbar" -- meaning "God is great" in Arabic -- slaughtered a dozen people at and near offices of satire magazine publisher Charlie Hebdo in Paris.

This is absolutely unacceptable.

We must keep fighting for modern, civilized human rights -- freedoms such as life, liberty, and speech, including the right to mock and laugh at stupid religious ideas and spoof any so-called "prophet".  In solidarity, R.I.P. Charb, Cabu, and other victims... P.S. See fellow cartoonist's drawn tributes, eg David Pope...
P.P.S. Yes, it's now clear that our entire planet Earth is full of free-thinking and rational people who reject violent virulent swine... P.P.P.S. The perpetrators of this vicious and unforgivable crime are said to be: Said Kouachi, born in 1980, Cherif Kouachi, born in 1982. If you know or see them, beware of the allegations and report them to authorities. (Addendum: They're now dead.)
P.P.P.P.S. And all this I say knowing that Charlie Hebdo has represented uncompelling aspects of the political spectrum, from my point of view. But I absolutely respect their right to spew their spleen. As Evelyn Beatrice Hall wrote: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
P.P.P.P.P.S. This includes all of these "blasphemous" cartoons.

Mission Continues ~ Avenge 9/11, Cauterize Evil

Evil religious swine slaughtered thousands on 9/11 including my classmate David Berray. Alas, in the interim years, we have yet to fully extirpate irrationally-faithful and incorrigibly-violent ideological-cancer carriers from civilized humanity. Whether it's the messianic wingnuts occupying the land of Canaan, or the desertine usurpers of the Hejaz, or the pestilential-pretender neo-caliphate in today's fertile crescent, or other mad maniacs ruling west asia and beyond, humanity is still infested with verminous cretins believing in fundamentally bad ideas and executing mystical mandates for supposed higher powers. We must do our best to avenge the assassinated and sterilize the faithful stupidity that continues to plague civilized peoples.

When Time Stood Still ~ Surviving Hiroshima

The BBC's Vibeke Venema shares a special report When time stood still: A Hiroshima survivor's story of immediate pain and bitterness, but ultimately recovery and transcendence.

Evolution of Religion ~ Tree of Viral Irrationality...

Check out compelling infographic by Simon Davies -- Evolutionary Tree of Religion -- showing irrational ideas mutating like a bad virus...

Remember Pearl ~ Surprise, Failure, & Lessons

Imperial Japan's infamous attack on US forces in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii 72 years ago today killed thousands and expanded WWII greatly. But it was such a surprise and so devastating largely because of unconcerned, inattentive, and incompetent intelligence, military, and government authorities, much like 9/11 sixty years later. Let that be the ultimate lesson:  visionary leadership, eternal vigilance, and creative ability are all three together paramount for civilization to survive the forces of malice and perfidy and indeed thrive towards human greatness, overcoming the evil irrationalities of colonial imperialism, religious fanaticism, and political collectivism.

Subversive Currents ~ China Fears Seven Perils...

Chris Buckley in the NYTimes reveals that China's unelected and dictatorial Communist Party leadership fear that...

"...power could escape their grip [...] unless the party eradicates seven subversive currents coursing through Chinese society."

These seven perils include...

• “Western constitutional democracy,” 
• Promoting “universal values” of human rights,
• Western-inspired notions of media independence and civic participation,
• Ardently pro-market “neo-liberalism,” 
•  “Nihilist” criticisms of the party’s traumatic past. 

Surely, however, any truly strong and legitimate authority fears no criticism, embraces shared values, and benefits from active citizen participation? Or do the so-called "leaders" of China fear the light of freedom and the true voice of the people?

Secret Science? ~ WSJ OpEd on EPA Perfidy...

US Rep Lamar Smith, Chair of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology reveals in an WSJ OpEd The EPA's Game of Secret Science the unsavory and appalling fact that the bloatocracy refuses to reveal its research...

"As the Environmental Protection Agency moves forward with some of the most costly regulations in history, there needs to be greater transparency about the claimed benefits from these actions. Unfortunately, President Obama and the EPA have been unwilling to reveal to the American people the data they use to justify their multibillion-dollar regulatory agenda. [...] the agency is moving forward with strict new limits on ozone that by its own estimates will cost taxpayers $90 billion per year, which would make the regulation the most costly in history. [...] the EPA has obstructed the committee's request at every step. To date, the committee has sent six letters to the EPA and other top administration officials seeking the data's release. [...] Simple transparency is not the only reason this information should be released. The costs of these rules will be borne by American families. They deserve to know what they are paying for. [...] The federal government has no business justifying regulations with secret information. This principle has been supported by two of the president's own science and technology advisers [...] The EPA should reveal the research it uses and let the American people decide whether the agency's costly regulations are justified."

More evidence of complete and total corruption permeating government. Fire them all, I say.

Murderous Mao ~ China's Evil Founder-Dictator...

So-called "Modern" China still worships their founder, the absolutely vile and evil mass-murder Mao Zedong. In addition to raping young virgins, this pedophilic verminous swine and his killer Communist Party regime have slaughtered at least 50 Million of his own Chinese people directly and millions more in Korea, Vietnam, Tibet, Taiwan, and other neighboring regions. And on this 60th Anniversary of the "end" of the Korean War, let's not forget that it was the illegitimate and vicious surprise Chinese assault against authorized UN forces which gave us the current "Lil Kim" idiot in-charge of North Korea. But most PRC Chinese citizen don't know this because their history has been whitewashed by the fearful, revisionist, and criminal Communist Party leadership -- Mao's minions -- still currently in control. Today's PRC is a corrupt evil dictatorship that doesn't deserve to be considered as a legitimate state -- indeed, their entire leadership starting from the top should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity. Hearken to the massive evidence...

Kalishnikov's Quapter ~ Flying Robot Deathgun...

Quadrotor chopper fires fully-auto machine gun! Skynet is imminent... (And yes, I know, the video is faked with post-fx bought'n'paid for by the Black Ops game goons, but this shit is doable;-)

Fog of War ~ Morris' 11 Lessons from McNamara

Here's Errol Morris' Fog of War offering Eleven Lessons from the life of US Defense Secretary Robert S McNamara...

1. Empathize with your enemy
2. Rationality will not save us
3. There's something beyond one's self
4. Maximize efficiency
5. Proportionality should be a guideline in war
6. Get the data
7. Belief and seeing are often both wrong
8. Be prepared to re-examine your reasoning 
9. In order to do good, you may have to engage in evil
10. Never say never
11. You can't change human nature

Strip-Search Society ~ 24x7 Surveillance Age...

National, State, Local and Private Security "concerns" are being used to rationalize creating the virtual-equivalent of a strip-search society where individuals are under constant biometric, infometric, and sociometric surveillance, our hard-won Constitutional rights to protection from arbitrary invasion, search, and seizure are forfeit, and we have no privacy and thus no real liberty. This is Orwellian Big Brother bullshit and is despicable. Who will lead the resistance?

Opium Brides ~ Afghan Collateral Social Damage

PBS Frontline documents Opium Brides...

"Afghan opium farmers have long borrowed money from drug gangs to subsidize their crops. Now, as the Afghan government destroys their livelihood in an eradication program, the farmers find themselves in a horrifying situation: repay their debts or give their daughters to drug-traffickers. Najibullah Quraishi reports on the harrowing story of the collateral damage of the counter-narcotics effort."

End of Manhattantown ~ Tragic Urban "Renewal"

Thanks to Strong Towns piece It's so much more than density by Charles Marohn for spotting Reason.tv's piece on the corrupt Democratic machine-enabled Tragedy of Urban Renewal: The destruction and survival of a New York City neighborhood...

"New York City's Manhattantown (1951) was one of the first projects authorized [for destruction and "upgrading"] under urban renewal and it set the model not only for hundreds of urban renewal projects but for the next 60 years of eminent domain abuse at places such as Poletown, New London, and Atlantic Yards. The Manhattantown project destroyed six blocks on New York City's Upper West Side, including an African-American community that dated to the turn of the century. The city sold the land for a token sum to a group of well-connected Democratic pols to build a middle-class housing development. [...] The community destroyed at Manhattantown was a model for the tight-knit, interconnected neighborhoods later celebrated by Jane Jacobs and other critics of top-down redevelopment."

P.S. How ironic that Cape Town's District Six got the same treatment just a couple decades later.

Malala ~ TIME on Pakistani Girl Freedom-Fighter

My own 2012 TIME Person of the Year would have been the übercourageous Malala Yousafzai. Together with HuffPost's Joanne Bamberger, I'm quite disappointed US President Obama was picked as the populist favorite instead of...

"...the Pakistani schoolgirl who was shot and almost killed for defying the Taliban in her outspoken advocacy for girls' education. [...] Not only did she show almost unheard of courage in the face of almost-certain physical violence against her by speaking out about educating girls in Pakistan, she has raised awareness about the issue of violence against girls and women all over the world -- an epidemic that few seem focused on."

I can scarcely think of a more important issue planet-wide than supporting women and girls-rights, most especially to equal and complete education. The many faith-freak religious wingnuts who fight against and prevent this must be expunged from power.