Homeless in Tampa

Yep.

Could not stay in Kentucky any longer.  No jobs there, unless you want to be a lying shill for Obamacare through the agency of General Dynamics in a call center.  I could only take three weeks of that.

I've made one truly great friend here on the streets and we have grown closer than brothers.  We watch out for each other and share what we can.  On that basis, we are going to get jobs and get a place to share expenses.  We will climb out of this mess, Hashem willing.

Met a lovely woman who calls herself a "Pastor,"  although I will never get this idea that women can use a very specifically male title.  Makes no sense to me, but that is the topsy-turvey world we live in.

I won't be able to post to this blog on as regular a basis as I would like.  And quite frankly, unless enough people show an interest in knowing about the homeless struggle and what it's like out here, by emailing me or leaving comments via the link below, I won't worry too much about it.  So, if you have questions about what it's like out here, I will try to check back as often as I can and answer questions.

Tampa is incredibly different and the surrounding suburbs have grown incredibly.  I love being back where it is warm even in December.

Shalom.

Had Enough Yet?

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/law-lets-irs-seize-accounts-on-suspicion-no-crime-required/ar-BBbbfW3

Dear Monica

Please shut the hell up.

Please sit down.

I don't know who paid you to come forward and spew all this crap, but those of us who are truly aware of what's going on don't want to hear your silly crap.

Mouse Pigs & Spider Goats

No, I'm not kidding.

Go to the link below.

http://unexplainedmysteriesoftheworld.com/archives/canada-on-the-verge-of-approving-enviropigs-millions-of-canadians-will-soon-be-eating-mousepig-hybrids

Brilliant!

There was a time in this world when it was the U.S. that would have come up with this idea.

Imagine how much hassle could be saved and how many TSA gropers could be replaced with dogs trained to sniff out dangerous chemicals or explosives at airports.



But you see, it's not about protecting the public.

It's about training us to live in a police state without rebelling.

Why We Are Dying

I brought up the some of the problems that this country is facing.  It was in the presence of some younger women, most notably the 18 year olds.  The problems with unemployment, medical insurance, ebola, etc.  And I was unsurprisingly appalled at the ignorance.  They are way too busy being amused to death by mind numbing things.

Then I ran across this on you tube:




If I were just slightly more stupid than these two asshats, I might be insulted.

But what makes me mad is that they are so obvious in how this was all scripted.  This was not an interview.  Or some type of variety show of the Johnny Carson era or even of Jay Leno.  They obviously talked about this ahead of time to play off each other, or it was completely scripted and rehearsed.
This was pure, unadulterated crap that was written to appeal to the lowest of intelligence TV watchers.

People who would laugh at stuff like that wouldn't  understand real humor if they watched the Three Stooges.

When Jeff Foxworthy talks about rednecks or hillbillies, he knows what he's talking about.  But when a hermaphroditic freak from England talks about people with a funny accent, talking about real conspiracies thinks I should laugh, . . .

well that's just too stupid to laugh at.  It's like watching a juggler who can't keep one ball in the air. There's nothing entertaining and you just feel sorry for the guy for being too stupid to know that he wouldn't make it in front of Paula Abdul on Methadone, let alone Simon Cowell.

But who are the audience members who seem to be laughing at this?  Homeless people who accepted seats and tickets to an all you can eat buffet, as long as they laugh on cue?

Hypocrisy Anyone?

CAUGHT RED HANDEDSeattle’s Reds Have Minimum Wage Blues

Seattle’s Freedom Socialist Party, which describes itself as “a revolutionary, socialist feminist organization, dedicated to the replacement of capitalist rule by a genuine workers’ democracy” posted a want ad yesterday for a new employee at $13 per hour. The problem? They’ve recently supported $15 minimum wage efforts in Seattle and elsewhere, and their 2012 political platform called for a $20 per hour minimum wage. As the Washington Free Beacon reports:

The advertised job’s Indeed.com description says that the wage is negotiable depending on experience, but the group has said that living wage must start at at least $15–not $13 or $14 an hour.

“Seattle livable? Not hardly! The Seattle fight has moved from the streets to City Hall. In May, new Mayor Ed Murray, Democrat, announced his proposal for $15/hour — for some workers, after several years. Healthcare, tips, and other ‘compensation’ would be calculated into their ‘income.’ In short, Mayor Murray’s plan caters to big business,” the group wrote in June.

 From American Interest:  http://www.the-american-interest.com/blog/2014/10/19/seattles-reds-have-minimum-wage-blues/

Oh

Conservatism

Conservatism starts from a sentiment that all mature people can readily share: the sentiment that good things are easily destroyed, but not easily created. This is especially true of the good things that come to us as collective assets: peace, freedom, law, civility, public spirit, the security of property and family life, in all of which we depend on the cooperation of others while having no means singlehandedly to obtain it. In respect of such things, the work of destruction is quick, easy and exhilarating; the work of creation is slow, laborious and dull. That is one of the lessons of the twentieth century. It is also one reason why conservatives suffer such a disadvantage when it comes to public opinion. Their position is true but boring, that of their opponents exciting but false.

Roger Scruton

Naked Pictures of Yourself?

Now, before you read any of the text that I am going to post from this article, don't get the wrong idea.

I don't agree with anyone posting pornographic pictures of themselves on any kind of public forum.  What you do in the privacy of your own home or what is intended to be private communication with another party is your business.

Of course, you have to take into account the integrity or honesty of who you are dealing with.

We live in an age now where,    once you push the SEND button, you can be completely and royally screwed.  Some people at this point need to find the meaning of "Caveat Emptor."

Understand the risks and act accordingly.


Most of the girls on Instagram fell into the same category as Jasmine. They had sent a picture to their boyfriend, or to someone they wanted to be their boyfriend, and then he had sent it on to others. For the most part, they were embarrassed but not devastated, Lowe said. They felt betrayed, but few seemed all that surprised that their photos had been passed around. What seemed to mortify them most was having to talk about what they’d done with a “police officer outside their age group.” In some he sensed low self-esteem—for example, the girl who’d sent her naked picture to a boy, unsolicited: “It just showed up! I guess she was hot after him?” A handful of senior girls became indignant during the course of the interview. “This is my life and my body and I can do whatever I want with it,” or, “I don’t see any problem with it. I’m proud of my body,” Lowe remembers them saying. A few, as far as he could tell, had taken pictures especially for the Instagram accounts and had actively tried to get them posted. In the first couple of weeks of the investigation, Lowe’s characterization of the girls on Instagram morphed from “victims” to “I guess I’ll call them victims” to “they just fell into this category where they victimized themselves.”



What gives anybody the right to know who I talk to or what I say?

Given that I'm not a minor, but here's the rub.

If you are a parent of a minor, what the hell are you doing giving them a cell phone?

You Are Not A Liberal

This video by Bill Whittle needs to go viral.

Watch, Listen, pay attention!

And share this with as many people as you can.

Somebody has to say it.  I do not know what kind of world other people want to live in, or how much slavery they want to tolerate, but give me my freedom, real freedom, or just go ahead and kill me.

Shut the FUGH UP!

"There are no stupid questions."

By the time I was 13, and I'm just guessing because it was so long ago, I understood that there really are stupid questions.

Examples:

"Why do wet sidewalks cause rain?"
"Why am I hungry when I ate three days ago?"
"Who do I talk to about making the day longer?"

Of course I understand the spirit behind the statement, but the truth is that there can be stupid questions.

Instead of elaborating on that one point, I'm going to assume that people who read my blog understand what I'm getting at.

Here is what got me so riled up.

I used to not have a really well planned answer to the stupid way that some people would respond to how we are quickly becoming a police state.

Then someone comes along and does a brilliant job of explaining it.

Here it is:

Nearly every week, I hear someone shrug off privacy issues with a claim that they're not worried because they have "nothing to hide" from the government.

Let's put a cork in it, once and for all.

Journalist Glenn Greenwald, love him or hate him, offered attendees at his October TED talk a bulletproof argument (as far as I can tell) against the "nothing to hide" argument.

He said:

"Over the last 16 months, as I've debated this issue around the world, every single time somebody has said to me, 'I don't really worry about invasions of privacy because I don't have anything to hide,' I always say the same thing to them.

I get out a pen. I write down my email address. I say, 'Here's my email address. What I want you to do when you get home is email me the passwords to all of your email accounts, not just the nice, respectable work one in your name, but all of them, because I want to be able to just troll through what it is you're doing online, read what I want to read and publish whatever I find interesting. After all, if you're not a bad person, if you're doing nothing wrong, you should have nothing to hide.'

Not a single person has taken me up on that offer. I check that email account religiously all the time. It's a very desolate place."

Throwing out that poor attempt of an excuse that you have "nothing to hide" just doesn't work. It never has, and it never will. It's lazy, naive, and borderline idiotic. Everyone has something to hide. 

Even if it's just your password. 

Do you remember that time you had that sexy webcam session with your then-partner? So does the NSA. How about that drunken email you sent to your work colleague, which you apologized for and was swept under the rug, and was forgotten about the next day? The NSA remembers. What about that phone call you made last year, which you don't remember the full details of, but you told that person something about work you really shouldn't have? It's fine because the NSA does.

Read this

Meet the shadowy tech brokers that deliver your data to the NSA

• Read more

Everyone has something they are embarrassed, ashamed, or frightened of. Everyone has secrets.

Now, I want you to think of this.

Let's pretend that that the government is now controlled by people who hate you and everything you stand for.  Everything you believe in.

Let's take some extremes.  And you better sit up and pay attention because history is littered with examples of governments coming into power who killed people by the millions who didn't want to go along with their policies.

Please google Hitler, Mao, Lenin, Stalin.

Now, you think it can't happen in the good old USA?  Shut the FUGH up!

If you are a homosexual, do you want the Fred Phelps types to have control of the government? Of course not.

But now I'm going to say something that you better just back up and think about.

What if I want to open up a restaurant, and I hang a sign, hell, multiple signs, and my signs say that I reserve the right to refuse service to you for any reason.

You walk into my business and you have nasty tattoos and you stink. You are loud and you use very foul and vulgar language. Maybe you are spouting bigoted propaganda against black people, or maybe you are making lewd gestures toward women who are present in my business. You are offensive to most of my client base and if I let you stay there, a lot of my customers will get up and leave and I will suffer a loss of business.  I should be able to say, "Sorry, but you are going to have to leave and no, I'm not serving you."

I should have the right to do business as I see fit, and I should have the right to do business with who I want to.  Most McDonald's restaurants still have signs on the door that say, "No shoes, No shirt, No service."  Most people are very glad for that standard. Why should McDonald's be allowed to discriminate against me if I'm homeless and don't have a shirt or shoes?

Now it is time to expand your mind.

What if I don't want to serve you or do business with you because you are a big, and very vocal supporter of the minimum wage law, or you are trying to make the minimum wage $14.00 an hour?
What if I, who thinks that abortion is murder, don't want to serve you because you are very proud to give money to the local abortion clinic? What if I say I will not cater your party because I know that you are a veal producer and I don't think that's a proper way to treat animals?

In a truly free society, somebody is going to be offended. But the really cool thing about being in a really free society is that I don't have to pay somebody to offend me. I just want to be left alone to live my life and conduct business with who I want to conduct business with.  If I make bad choices about who to do business with, the market will quickly teach me the error of my ways.  A white racist who hates homosexuals can open up a dry cleaning business in downtown Atlanta, but as soon as word gets around what he believes, not only may he be headed to bankruptcy court, but he might even find his business being vandalized on a regular basis.

The same guy might open up the very same business in a rural town in Michigan or Alabama and do just fine.

In a free society, I should have the right to patronize that guy's business, or never do business with that guy.

It's a two way street.  Nobody should be able to tell me who I can or cannot do business with.  Period. Let me be a little more specific.  Just as I should be completely free of any government interference in who I want to hang out with, or where I go to church or a synagogue or a mosque, I should be free to NOT go to those places.  If I want to boycott Walmart or Citgo or McDonald's for any reason or no reason at all, I should be left alone to do that.  If I want to only hang out with people who like classical music, that's my business.  Oh, but let's talk about real freedom.

If I go to the trouble of saving up my money or getting enough like minded investors to open up a restaurant, and I, or we, as the case may be decide that we will cater to smokers.  This would never happen with me personally, because I don't smoke and don't want to be around it, but we are talking about freedom here.  I should have the freedom to open my business, and I can post signs (or not) that explain that this is a smoking friendly business.  Then you, as a possible consumer can decide if you want to patronize this business.  Nobody puts a gun to your head and makes you come in and be subject to noxious second hand smoke.

Now if I set up this business in a place where 90% of the population doesn't smoke, I'm pretty likely to fail, unless, of course, I have a very wealthy clientele that just loves paying me to be able to eat and smoke to their heart's desire.  An actual free market will decide whether the business thrives or fails.  That's how it should be.

In a truly free society, I can stick a sign up that says, "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone, for any reason, at any time."

Let's say you are a divorced, middle aged, white, English speaking man.  According to the demographic data, you damned sure can't claim that I'm a racist, or that I'm discriminating against you because of some protected class status (Oh crap, that's another area that I could write a whole post on), but you tell me that you are a proud, progressive Democrat.  I should be able to just tell you flat out, to get the hell out of my establishment (because it is MY establishment, I am paying the bills, I own it, it's MINE to do with what I want.) So, because you choose to identify yourself as a proud progressive democrat, I can say, "Get out, and stay out.  We don't want your kind here."

If you are not a fan of the movie "Serenity," based on the show "Firefly," let me share what I think is the best scene of the movie.

Captain Malcolm Reynolds and the whole crew of Serenity have landed on a remote planet where the "government" has conducted an experiment of giving the population a drug that has two very bad results.  The government was trying to produce Utopia.  The drug produces one of two reactions based on the person's DNA.  In person "A", the drug produces total lethargy.  The subject just lays down and waits to die.  There is nothing to live for.  No purpose in life. In person "B" the subject becomes a cannabalistic animal that eats or destroys everything in it's path. DNA is something so complex that not even the most gifted doctors or physicists can possibly understand. God is kinda protective of His patent rights.  Sorry if that seems like too little information.  Watch the movie.  After the crew discovers this completely failed concept of the government and realizes the extreme evil of this whole idea,

Captain Mel makes the statement.

this is my statement.

No more runnin',  I intend to misbehave.

In other words, FUGH you, I will not go quietly into the night

If you want to live as a slave to government.  Go ahead.  But I'm tired of this crap. I will not just sit by and let this crap happen.

I've got more to say on this.  It's going to be a multipart long post.  If people get a lot out of this, I think that's wonderful, but I'm really doing this as a mental exercise to polish and refine my thoughts and how to argue the point.

Plain Language

When you start believing that some other person is more qualified to interpret the Constitution of the United States than you are, that is the day that you start becoming a slave.

I know who I am talking to.

Let's all be serious adults here.

The founding fathers wanted to make very sure that the language that they used could not come back to bite them on the ass.

They had no intention that 9 people in black robes would be allowed to twist words in such a way as to strip them of freedom.

They had no intention that people would be elected to congress so that they could strip them of freedom.

People don't risk their lives so that other people can enslave them.

Exhile for Gwyneth

I can't go so far as to say that there is no such thing as a conservative who might say something so outrageous and stupid as wishing that their favorite person or politician, be it Palin or McCain, or Limbaugh, or Bush, or Reagan or who ever you can think of, had been granted dictatorial powers to do whatever they wanted.

Wait a minute.

Yes.  Yes I can.

I can say that no real conservative would ever wish such a stupid thing.  Maybe you know a phony conservative.  They are everywhere.  They exist as people who still believe that George W. Bush was a good president.  They exist as people who think that we can just brush under the rug the idea that Rand Paul tried to silence a reporter who told the truth

But I digress.

I can't make Gwyneth Paltrow do anything.  But if I could have my way, I would send her to China.  The government of China has all the power they need to do anything and everything necessary to provide for the care and feeding of the people of China.

Of course, that may be too expensive.

Tell you what; let's send Gwyneth to Cuba.

Raul Castro has all the power.  He can see to it that all the people who live in Cuba can live in a worker's paradise.

Without comment

I can't think of anything to say about this video.  It seems to cover it all quite well.

Can I?

This youtube video link should make you ask the question:  "Can I really live without that?"

I'm Still Laughing

I stopped over at The Porch, like I do every day, and found this one post that really kicked over my giggle box.

Of course, what made the whole thing even funnier is that I am sure that no leftist troll would ever understand why this is so funny.

I started chuckling at "spaghetti."  Then I laughed out loud at "genetic."

Here is Tam's post:

Once upon a time...

...in a gun shop long ago and far away, there was a bunch of that Indian surplus .303 for sale. Tamara and A Gunsmith Who Shall Remain Nameless were standing behind the counter when a man came in and began looking over the merchandise.

The man saw the Indian ammunition and shook his head and said "You know, this stuff ain't even got gunpowder in it. It's all full of this stuff that looks like spaghetti. I took some apart with a genetic bullet puller." And then he left.

"He needed a genetic bullet puller," said Gunsmith Name Redacted To Protect The Innocent.

"Too late," said Tamara, "There was a kid in the car."

The End.

But Tamara's final observation nearly made me fall out of my chair.  "Too late,"  Holy $ith, Batman!  I'll laugh every time I think of that for the rest of the week. I suppose because it got me trying to imagine what an actual genetic bullet puller would look like, and even worse how it would operate.

You'd have to be somebody who has done at least a little reloading.  Some people might be able to figure it out after clicking on the pink-lettered html links.  At least, I hope so.

Thank you, Tamara.  That's why I am a faithful fan.

Prophetic Warning

Prophecy is not the same thing as fortune telling.

I dare say that most people don't realize that.  They tend to conflate the two things more than not.

Fortune telling is like telling someone things in advance that the seer just really has no earthly way to know in advance.

But in most cases you can be prophetic just by paying attention to the details, using history and logic as a guide.

I suggest you go read the whole post that tells more about these two photos:

                                          An excerpt from the site:
In 1860, he was living in Norborne. He wrote to Lincoln and received an appointment as Republican Precinct Committee Man. He placed Lincoln’s name on the 1860 ballot. All of Natty’s neighbors were Southern sympathizers. He had been talking about electing Lincoln for president in town. One morning at about 2 or 3 a.m. a neighbor rode up and told Natty not to light any lights. The neighbor wanted to warn him that his neighbors were planning to murder him and if he wanted to live he should be on his way.

On another side of the above pictured headstone, he wanted to leave behind an enduring message:

Hat tip to Morgan at House of Eratosthenes.

No Panic Here

A lot of experience has taught me that when it comes to the so-called "news," the stuff that seems to get people in some kind of uproar, be it outrage, morbid curiosity, or panic, is usually a distraction.

Take the Ebola thing.

I've read comments at various sites regarding the people in Dallas who have had relatively close contact with the victims, how the vomit was handled, etc.  A lot of the comments reflect fear and panic.  While a healthy respect for danger is a good thing, panic never accomplishes anything, and sometimes it just gets you dead more quickly.  Experienced pilots know this.  Survivalists know this.

The equatorial and tropical regions of Africa are not known for education or intelligence.  This has nothing to do with bigotry, it's just fact.  Just as you are not likely to find to many people with I.Q.s over 65 in most trailer parks in the U.S., even if you only surveyed people with lily white skin.

Viruses and bacteria are very different biologically, but there are certain things that microscopic biological entities share, at least in the category of those that threaten human life.  They tend to be susceptible to at least three things:  Ultra-Violet light (Sunshine), Ozone (a very reactive triplet oxygen molecule), and extreme ranges of Ph (alkaline or acid).

I've spent more than a couple of decades being an amateur practitioner of holistic and natural medicine.  Not quackery or old wives tales, but the stuff of double-blind studies, real science, and understanding how and why biological systems work at the microscopic level.

So, before I began to wonder if I should run around screaming like Chicken Little, I thought it might be a good idea to scrounge around for some solid facts and study the situation.  First, I wanted to know how fast or slow this "epidemic" was moving along.  So I looked at a few timelines.  Here is just one timeline you can look at.  Combined with what we can know about the lifestyles of the people involved, the timeline tells me Ebola just plain doesn't move that fast because it just isn't all that robust. 

The fact that it has an incubation period of between 2 and 21 days tells me that an individual's immune system is a huge determining factor on the infection and possible mortality rate.  That and about a dozen other facts by this doctor are enough for me to know that this Ebola "outbreak" is nothing for me to get all gunched up over.  Read the whole article carefully.

I am a hundred thousand times more afraid of having an immunization shot forced on me, than I would be at finding out there are 50 cases of Ebola in the state where I live. 

Take a look at this table of causes of death  to help you put this Ebola scare into perspective.


Then if you want some really interesting information on Ebola, take the time to search through related articles at Jon Rappaport's site.

Facts, Feelings, Thoughts, Opinions

While visiting Joe Huffman's blog, I lifted this excerpt because I felt it deserved more comment.

"While I think there is a fair amount of lying going on they don’t think of it as lying. They just don’t understand facts are independent of their feelings. If they feel something then, in their view of reality, it is true. I’ve had people flat out tell me this. I would point out that what someone was saying was in direct contradiction to verifiable facts. And I would get a response of something to the effect, “Well, it’s true to them and that is what matters.” -- Joe Huffman
There is also a very telling anecdote about liberal “research” in this same article:

In 2006 I was at a cocktail party in Arlington, VA, talking to a liberal journalist about his soon-to-be-released book on Iraq when John Lott joined us. John listened for a moment and then said to the author, 

“I’m curious. You say you just finished a book on the Iraq war. I always find it so hard to finish a book. I get so deep into the research I have a hard time stopping to write. I’m guessing you had a hard time leaving Iraq. There is so much to investigate and understand.”  

The author said, “I didn’t go to Iraq.”  

John paused with this quizzical look on his face before asking, “Oh, how did you do your research?”  

The author said, “I didn’t have to do much. I mean, I already know what I think.”

Feelings versus facts. It’s a type of mental disorder.—Joe]

The article quoted above can be found at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/frankminiter/2014/09/25/how-bloombergs-million-dollar-desire-for-gun-control-is-backfiring/

What is so revealing in that last statement by the unnamed liberal author is how he thinks about research.  To him, research isn't about gathering facts and using logic to come to a realistic and logical conclusion on a matter.  To him, research is only necessary to confirm what he already thinks, or more specifically, his opinion.  And because he feels he is a member of the anointed visionary class, he owes it to the unwashed masses (which really means anyone who doesn't already think the way he does), to share his enlightened opinion.

Too much about living in 21st century America allows for this kind of lack of rational thought.  Many decades ago when there were no "social safety nets," failure to think logically and act accordingly could get you killed or end up suffering very bad consequences.

Now the modern world is populated by too many people  (dare I say about half of the population) who have raised the right to an opinion to some kind of sacrosanct status.

Oh, but wait!  That's not entirely true when I really think about it.  On closer examination, only opinions that are politically fashionable to the left that are respected, or damn near worshipped.  I use the phrase politically fashionable because there isn't a damn thing correct about "political correctness."  Political Correctness, in all it's verbal forms, is Orwellian newspeak for the highly intolerant soft tyranny of the statists.

Very soon, the unsustainable economic situation in this country is going to collapse, and when it does, modern liberal thinkers will be forced, dragged kicking and screaming, to the reality that all of their wishful but totally incorrect feelings, thoughts, and opinions on how to create a utopian society is all just crap.

That degree in political science, women's studies, international relations, art history, public administration, urban and regional planning, environmental studies or applied sociology, is going to be about as useful to you as a degree in typewriter repair.  It is not going to help you know how to grow or preserve food, to hunt and field dress an animal, take care of domestic animals, make fire without a lighter or matches, find or purify water, or build a shelter.

The last thing to note about the liberal author's final statement above is the subtle arrogance. An arrogance that even he doesn't seem to recognize.  "I mean, I already know what I think,” pretty much tells you that he doesn't think that any more thought needs to be given to the subject.  For a leftist who has made up his mind, facts are inconvenient and sometimes downright confusing.  I guess you could also attribute his statement to over-confidence.

 

 

The low-or-no-information voter never wants to be bothered with questions of epistemology.  The next time a leftist is defending a socialist idea or attacking a tried-and-true conservative one, just ask the question: "What if you're totally wrong?"

 

Remember the pseudo-genius evil character from Princess Bride?  You'll probably hear the answer: "Inconceivable!"



What Time Is It?

[note: There is more I need to add to this post, and I hopefully will this weekend.]

Everything happens for a reason.

I don't care if you believe that or not.  You can move on to the next blog or whatever.  I've got decades of experience that has cemented that concept in my soul.

I had a good friend that I knew from High School.  Where he is now I have no idea.  He visited me once in the 90's when he was a high ranking member on the team of the United States Air Force Thunderbirds.  That's all I will disclose.

He asked me lots of questions about God and the Bible.  He was searching something fierce.  He'd ask questions that I'd heard and answered before and he actually had many books in his library by well known Christian apologists.  But it didn't matter. 

He would ask me a question.  Having experienced the question and having done the research before, I would proceed to deal with the question behind the question.  I would work to the heart of what was bothering him.

He didn't like that.

He once told me that I was like the character in a story where a man asks what time it is and instead of just saying what time it is, I explain how to make a clock.

For years I have let that bother me.  Now that I am older and I see where our society and world are going due to ignorance and stupidity, I will never feel a shred of shame again.  I'm not the one who is trying to be ignorant. 

If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day.  If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.

The more I questioned my friend about what he believed or "knew" the more I began to understand that he had been conditioned to just accept the pronouncements of "experts."  Don't question.  Just rely on credentials that "everyone" accepts.

I did my best to not just tell my friend why he should believe the things I had come to believe.  I tried to tell my friend all the facts and how I came to believe what I believed.  I wanted my friend to come to his own conclusions based on the truth.

I approached my friend as if I was the defense attorney, dealing with all of his claims. 

What say you?

Imagine This . . .

Imagine that you get hired to do a job. Any job. Might be as low as being a garbage collector, oops, excuse me, a sanitation worker. I understand that expectations in such a job may not be very high by the worker. It's a dirty job, but somebody has to do it and it doesn't pay very much. Do I really need to tell you all the things that suck about being someone who collects garbage? Sucky job. Bet you want to work your way up into a better job. But at the same time you are glad as can be that there are people who need a job and need to start out by being garbage collectors until they work their way up the system. I want you to think about how many jobs you have ever had where you could miss four out of ten days of work over a one year period and still expect to get paid for your so-called job. Anybody? Yeah. I didn't think so. Now, that's just talking about any old body who misses work. Imagine yourself a "rich" person who owns a McDonald's franchise and you employ 30 or 40 people. You work on a budget that allows for about a 6% profit. How many people can you afford to hire who just show up to clock in and then spend 60% of their time doing nothing but personal stuff. Golfing, laundry, emailing friends, whatever. You wouldn't tolerate it for several reasons. First, you can't afford to. One employee goofing off half the time would eat up most of your slim profit margin. If you tolerate it with one employee, pretty soon other employees will be doing it as well, and then you would be going bankrupt. It wouldn't be fair to the employees who do their jobs and they would get frustrated and quit to work someplace else. Now imagine that it wasn't just an employee, but the manager you hired to run the place. How do you think that would work out? What if your manager never showed up for half of the planning meetings that were scheduled as a necessary part of running the business? So, we have this story: http://www.infowars.com/report-obama-has-missed-over-half-his-second-term-daily-intel-briefings/

A new Government Accountability Institute (GAI)report reveals that President Barack Obama has attended only 42.1% of his daily intelligence briefings (known officially as the Presidential Daily Brief, or PDB) in the 2,079 days of his presidency through September 29, 2014. The GAI report also included a breakdown of Obama’s PDB attendance record between terms; he attended 42.4% of his PDBs in his first term and 41.3% in his second. The GAI’s alarming findings come on the heels of Obama’s 60 Minutes comments on Sunday, wherein the president laid the blame for the Islamic State’s (ISIS) rapid rise squarely at the feet of his Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. “I think our head of the intelligence community, Jim Clapper, has acknowledged that I think they underestimated what had been taking place in Syria,” said Obama.

Who is really running the show? Who is making decisions about the stuff in those intelligence briefings? Just thought I'd ask.

Tiny Houses are Awesome

I agree with almost everything this guy is saying, except for the millions and billions of years, evolutionary crap. In my truck driving days, I passed this guys place about 8 or more times and always wished I could have stopped to check the place out. He's right on the Interstate 10 frontage road near Luling, Texas. I would seriously consider moving there. He is building a community.

Invisible Art, Invisible Brains

If this turns out to be a hoax, I apologize.

What are these people looking at?

A 27-year-old New York artist has invented something called "invisible art" and she is making millions selling it to people who absolutely must have it. 

A documentary team from the Canadian Broadcasting radio network traveled to Lana Newstrom's empty studio to learn more about her art that isn't there. 
"Just because you can't see anything, doesn't mean I didn't put hours of work into creating a particular piece," Newstrom told the CBC.  "Art is about imagination and that is what my work demands of the people interacting with it. You have to imagine a painting or sculpture is in front of you." 
The most amusing aspect of the story is the image of snobby art collectors walking through an empty studio studiously staring at blank walls with track lighting properly illuminating the nothingness on display. Some of the art afficianados actually stop and soak in the lack of art that is not hanging on the blank wall and tilt their heads in a deeply thoughtful way as if to project their profound understanding of the message sent by the brilliant young artist and her stunning ability to not create anything.  
Newstrom's agent, who is undoubtedly raking in a nice commission by his client's ability to not do anything, says, "When she describes what you can't see, you begin to realize why one of her invisible works can fetch upwards of a million dollars."
This story was not, we repeat, not published in The Onion. 

I wish I had the funds to hire a polling firm to be there every hour the gallery is open, and be able to demand that every person who walks through the door submit to the questionnaire that I get to design.  There will be a string of non-threatening, innocuous questions.  Then there will be these questions:

(#) Would you support tax-payer funding for this art through the NEA?

(#) Of all the pieces you have viewed here today, which one had the most impact on you, and why? Please be very specific.

(#) What policital party or philosophy of government would you describe yourself as being most aligned with?  Again, be very specific.

Reconcile?

In this incredibly fast paced world, it is hard to catch the subtle things.  Things that ought to make you sit up, raise an eyebrow and say, "What was that?"

I was reading this recent post, today, by Grouchy Old Cripple in Atlanta.

Grouchy's point seems to be mostly about the Fergeson, MO debacle.  And I get that.  But what should make all of us sit up and go, "WTF?"  is the last sentence.

“In a summer marked by instability in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, I know the world also took notice of the small American city of Ferguson, Missouri – where a young man was killed, and a community was divided. So yes, we have our own racial and ethnic tensions. And like every country, we continually wrestle with how to reconcile the vast changes wrought by globalization and greater diversity with the traditions that we hold dear.”

Oh, hell no.  Not just no, but HELL no.  The last thing we need to be doing is reconciling our traditions with globalization.  That's one of the biggest reasons we are in the mess we are in.  Our economy and freedom is swirling in the toilet bowl because we are allowing the creeping globalization to take over in this country.

Reconciling with greater diversity?  How is that working out after decades?  How about working toward consensus built around the founding principles of our Constitution and individual freedom, instead of trying to see how different we can all be in language, culture and values.

“Can you cite one speck of hard evidence of the benefits of "diversity" that we have heard gushed about for years? Evidence of its harm can be seen — written in blood — from Iraq to India, from Serbia to Sudan, from Fiji to the Philippines. It is scary how easily so many people can be brainwashed by sheer repetition of a word.”
― Thomas Sowell

So much more I could say about that, but I'm keeping it short today.  I'm celebrating the Sabbath, Yom Teruah, and Rosh Chodesh.

Shalom

None Dare Call It Jihad

     
BY: Washington Free Beacon Staff
September 26, 2014 12:30 pm
Mark Vaughn was able to stop Alton Nolen’s violent rampage through an Oklahoma food distribution warehouse by shooting him with a rifle.
Vaughn came upon Nolen while he was brutally attacking his coworkers. He then shot Nolen and ended his attack, according to KFOR.

Sgt. Jeremy Lewis says the alleged suspect, 30-year-old Alton Nolen had just been fired when he drove to the front of the business, hit a vehicle and walked inside.
He walked into the front office area where he met 54-year-old Colleen Hufford and began attacking her with a knife.

Police have said that Nolen, who reportedly converted to Islam recently and had tried to convert others, beheaded his first victim.

Lewis confirms that Hufford was stabbed several times and that Nolen “severed her head.”

He then started stabbing a second woman. As the second stabbing was ongoing Vaughn arrived at the scene and shot Nolen.

Officials say at that point, Mark Vaughn, an Oklahoma County reserve deputy and a former CEO of the business, shot him as he was actively stabbing Johnson.
“He’s a hero in this situation,” Sgt. Lewis said, referring to Vaughn. “It could have gotten a lot worse.”

WTVR reports that Mark Vaughn is both an employee of the company Nolen attacked and a police officer. He was off duty at the time of the attack.

The person who shot and injured Nolen was the company’s chief operating officer, Mark Vaughn, who also is a Oklahoma County reserve sheriff’s deputy.

The woman Nolen was stabbing when Vaughn shot him is reportedly alive and in stable condition. She is expected to survive, according to NewsOK.

The second victim in the attack was Traci Johnson, 43. Her injuries are not thought to be life-threating.

That's the story as presented by the "news"paper.  Following are my observations and predictions.

This will simply be categorized as "workplace violence," no different than if it had been perpetrated by a disgruntled redneck white guy.  It will not be associated with Islamic Jihad.  [WOW, that was fast,  check out this report.]

Note that they make it seem like Vaughn moonlighted every night as a LEO.  The reality is that he probably spent as much time being a reserve LEO as a volunteer fireman in a rural town. This tidbit is in the story so people don't get the idea that it would have been just fine had Vaughn merely been a former executive at the company.  We're not told why he was there in the first place.

 The weapon was identified as a rifle, so unless he kept it in his office, he would have had to go out to his vehicle to get it.  In most businesses I've ever been to, employees are not even allowed to have weapons in their vehicles on company property.

The article does not tell us how long it took for regular police to respond to the 911 call.  But Sgt. Lewis admitted that it could have gotten a lot worse had it not been for Vaughn shooting the perp. 

Too bad Vaughn did not shoot the perp dead.  Now the State People of Oklahoma is going to have to pay enormous medical bills and then feed and house Nolen for a very long time.  During that time, he will be diligently trying to recruit others in jail to the religion of Islam.

UPDATE:    "Nolen, according to state corrections records, was convicted in January 2011 of multiple felony drug offenses, assault and battery on a police officer and escape from detention. He was released from prison in March 2013."   (from FOXNews)

UPDATE:   So, how is this NOT Jihad?  http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2014/09/breaking-muslims-shouting-praise-allah-surround-ok-police-following-press-conference-on-beheading/

That Will Teach Him

Bitter abortion advocate demonstrates to Rush Limbaugh that no good deed goes unpunished

By Rosslyn Smith

Merritt Tierce, budding novelist, former executive director of a not for profit and, of course, like all under appreciated artistes, a former moonlighting waitress, thought the $2000 in tips from Rush Limbaugh on a couple of meals at a high end Dallas restaurant "felt like 'blood money." So she gave it to her charity: the Texas Equal Access  (TEA) Fund, a group that finances abortion for poor women. 
Irony seems to be completely lost on this woman.   I wonder if the concept was covered in the coursework when she got her MFA from the University of Iowa?  Of course, her first novel, which she is now promoting, is all about working in a restaurant.
Let me hazard as guess as to the tone of this work.  Since she looks like she is mad at the world, I bet her novel tells in great detail how the main character is mad at life in general and then beats the reader over the head with "the truth" about the high-end restaurant business.  She will then wonder why so few people bought her novel.   (Or came to her play, or listened to his music or bought the painting or sculpture, etc. etc etc.) 

The world of art is full of poseurs who routinely mistake progressive dogma for profound insight and garden variety experiences as penetrating metaphor.  Those few with genuine talent actually seldom tell the audience much of anything.  Instead, a real artist makes an audience feel the emotion as if it were their own.

Merritt Tierce, budding novelist, former executive director of a not for profit and, of course, like all under appreciated artistes, a former moonlighting waitress, thought the $2000 in tips from Rush Limbaugh on a couple of meals at a high end Dallas restaurant "felt like 'blood money." So she gave it to her charity: the Texas Equal Access  (TEA) Fund, a group that finances abortion for poor women. 
Irony seems to be completely lost on this woman.   I wonder if the concept was covered in the coursework when she got her MFA from the University of Iowa?
Of course, her first novel, which she is now promoting, is all about working in a restaurant.
Let me hazard as guess as to the tone of this work.  Since she looks like she is mad at the world, I bet her novel tells in great detail how the main character is mad at life in general and then beats the reader over the head with "the truth" about the high-end restaurant business.  She will then wonder why so few people bought her novel.   (Or came to her play, or listened to his music or bought the painting or sculpture, etc. etc etc.) 
The world of art is full of poseurs who routinely mistake progressive dogma for profound insight and garden variety experiences as penetrating metaphor.  Those few with genuine talent actually seldom tell the audience much of anything.  Instead, a real artist makes an audience feel the emotion as if it were their own.

So, let's think about this for a minute.  "Blood-money?"

From Wikipedia I found this:

Blood money may refer to:

• Blood money (restitution), money paid to the next of kin of a murder victim as a fine
• Thirty pieces of silver, in The New Testament, the price for which Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus
• Weregild, in English history, reparational payment usually demanded of a person guilty of homicide or other wrongful death
• The money earned for contract killing

Which of these is Rush Limbaugh guilty of?  BTW - I'm not a big fan of Rush.  He would put me in the camp of people he makes fun of as KOOKS (Keepers Of Odd Knowledge Society). But yes, I've listened to him an awful lot in the past.  I do agree with him on some things, but he's not the focus of this post, she is.

And even if Rush were guilty of something worthy of referring to the tip as blood money, in what universe does it make sense to help insure the brutal murder of an innocent child in the womb as a way to atone for whatever sins, either perceived or real, may have been committed by him?

I'm sure it would have been unthinkable to give the money to a homeless shelter or a community food bank or something that actually gives aid and comfort to someone who is suffering.

Naaaahh!  Can't do that.

Official Statistics

I will admit, that I will use statistics just as much as the next guy.  I don't have a problem using statistics.  There is no evil in the statistics themselves, as data is amoral.

But there is an old saying in America: "Figures never lie, but liars can figure."

Data doesn't manipulate itself, but it does get manipulated.  People who want gun-control are notorious for doing this.  Politicians come up with stunning ways to spin facts and figures. Two of the easiest ways to do this are to either include way too much information, or leave out a lot of information.  This little essay has to do with the latter.

Take a look at this graph:

See that dip down to zero at 1919 to 1925 area?  That's because of the passage of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution and the subsequent Volstead Act.  Since this graph depicts the number of permits,* I have no problem with this graph.  It makes perfect sense.  The graph would be idiotic if it didn't show the number of licenses for producing alcoholic beverage dropping to zero during the time of prohibition.

But let's look at another graph:

Take your time and ponder it slowly. 

This second graph made the claxons go off in my head.  The question is, can you see the problem with this graph?  Anyone?  Anyone?   Bueller? 

Well, you would have to know the rest of the story.  There were a few characters who became famous during the prohibition era, and most notably two.  One of them was far more honest than the other one and spent 11 years in Federal prison for it.  The other guy was lucky enough to be born the son of a prominent politician in whose footsteps he would follow and use his prestige and connections to sock away millions of dollars under the cover of legitimate business.  Read the passage below to figure out who.

"By 1925, New York was filled with speakeasy clubs that sold liquor illegally. Some historians say there were 30,000 to 100,000 speakeasy clubs operating in the city, several of which were well known as watering holes for government officials. Prohibition was an attempt to control and reduce the amount of liquor sold in the states, but like most laws, all it did was drive up the price of the regulated item and stimulate the growth of a well-organized underground black market.
One of the most famous names associated with bootlegging liquor at the time was Joseph P. Kennedy – the successful investor, businessman and political leader. Kennedy traveled to England with President Roosevelt's son, James, and made a deal to be the exclusive distributor of scotch, gin and bourbon from Scotland and England. Kennedy had the connections, the warehouses and the money to make the deal, which became a cash cow for him and the family.
One of the reasons the Kennedy bootlegging stories seem accurate is Joseph's association with Samuel Bronfman, the founder of Distillers Corporation based in Montreal. Bronfman specialized in cheap whiskey and took advantage of Prohibition in the United States by bootlegging his whiskey to cities like Boston, New York and Chicago.
Kennedy and Bronfman became business partners of sorts when Bronfman bought Joseph E. Seagram & Sons in 1928, but some kind of relationship developed a few years earlier when Danny Walsh and his crime syndicate bought liquor from the Bronfman-run group. Kennedy had contacts with many Irishmen in Boston at the time and Danny was on that list. Some historians say Kennedy didn't have to be a bootlegger; just about every other Irishman in Boston was."

Why didn't I use the Wikipedia entry or a dozen others?  Because the conquerors are the ones who write history, not the slaves.  Too much of the Kennedy dynasty is still alive and kicking.  But I digress.  That's not the main point of this post. The main point is in the first paragraph of the passage.

If I presented a graph showing marijuana consumption in the U.S. based on sales in retail outlets across all fifty States, I think you would fall out of your chair laughing.  Why?  Because everybody with an I.Q. above room temperature knows that tens or hundreds of billions of dollars worth of cannabis goes up in smoke every year in America.  Are you starting to see the problem with graph number two?

The United States has the peculiar distinction of having a major, multi-billion dollar, nearly exclusively spectator sport that owes its existence to one thing: Prohibition.  That sport is NASCAR.
Please don't cite Wikipedia for me.  I'm from the Southeastern U.S.  I know too many people who are proud as hell to regale you with stories of their fathers outrunning the Feds in cars made fast out of necessity.  We still have names of roads in the deep south that reflect the prohibition era and running moonshine.

The point I'm making, if you haven't already guessed it, is how incredibly silly is that second graph. Does anyone really believe that Al Capone, and probably hundreds of others, made millions of dollars while alcohol consumption dropped to nearly zero?  When you see statistics or figures presented, learn to think.  Ask questions.  Ponder what data might be missing.  Cogitate over who's presenting the data and why.  Anybody who accepts that second chart above without any qualms or questions makes me think of this:

 

But then that's what the global elite have been working so hard for anyway.

 

Now, how long are you going to believe that this whole "War-on-drugs" is a good idea?

 

After the coming meltdown or TEOTWAWKI, if there are enough free people still alive to start a new society and we can write a new Constitution, the following would be two of the articles that I would fight for:

 

 

Article [#] 

Since history has proven that inanimate objects are inherently amoral and can do nothing outside of the hands of man, and since it is self -evident that a person's body is his sole and inviolable property to care for as he sees fit, no branch or any other entity of government shall ever have the power to make any object or thing, whether inanimate or tangible, or even intangible to be banned or restricted or regulated.  This article shall be exempt from repeal or modification by amendment so long as this entire Constitution is in effect.

 

Article [#]

It being obvious to people of reasonable intelligence that there can be no such thing as a crime where there is no victim, no branch or entity of government shall ever have the power to enact any legislation, statute, act, or code which makes any activity illegal or unlawful which does not harm or infringe upon the rights, person, or property of another individual.

 

What say you?

*permits and licensing are an evil and abhorrant thing in a free society.  I hope to do a post in the future that explains why there is no need for any kind of licensing in a free society and just how it actually harms society through the auspices of government.

My People

According to the agriculturally corrected Biblical calendar of the Creator,* Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year begins at the same time as the weekly Shabbat, or Sabbath.  Originally, Adonai Himself called this the Feast of Trumpets, or Yom Teruah (Day of Trumpets).

By the way, if any of my readers have questions about this stuff, I'd be glad to try to answer them.

What follows is an example that shows the glaring difference between my people and the people who want to wipe them off the face of the earth. 



The Jihadi Muslims have stated plainly that they love death more than the Jews love life.  No argument here.

*No, I don't follow the rabbinic calendar as do 98% of the rest of the devoutly religious Jewish world.  I'm in an odd niche, believing that Yeshua is the Messiah and following a purer adherence to the Torah. This day, which starts at sundown Friday, is also the beginning of the New Moon, also known as Rosh Chodesh (lit. Head of the Month)

Misdirection

Even true conservatives can fall for misdirection sometimes.  Take the case of debating whether or not PresBO is incompetent or not.  From the perspective of the true believers in FoxNews, I'm sure that Barry seems like an utter failure.

But from the perspective of his handlers and the real powers that put him where he is, he is a smashing success.

The best witnesses to this fact are the insiders who have become whistleblowers.












Retired former head of the Los Angeles division of the FBI.

See? Perfectly Reasonable!

All we have to do is give in to all their demands.  Why didn't we think of that before?



Just remember that when he talks about letting them have Sha'riah law, they don't mean to have it just stay in their little neighborhood.  A major tenet of Islam is that Allah must rule the entire world and all, I mean all,  -- may I have your attention -- ALL people must convert to Islam or die or be made slaves.  No plurality, no compromise.  No live and let live.

Attorney General Holder Steps Down

 . . .  and not a thing is going to happen worth noting.

Let me be one of the first to go on record, predicting what will happen from here.

All of the lamestream media, controlled by the global elite, will misdirect attention.  To wit:

"Who will Obama pick to be the new Attorney General?"

"How hard will conservative republicans put up a fight over whoever Obama picks?"

"Isn't it about time we had a woman as the AG?"

"Will the new AG be strong enough to stand up to the Koch brothers?"

And a bunch of other inane stuff will be thrown against the wall to see what sticks long enough for a couple of news cycles to pass and then everything gets flushed down the memory hole.

But nothing, nothing will be done about the gun-walking scandal to Mexico.  Nothing will be done about voter intimidation by the Black Panthers.  Nothing will be done about ignoring the enforcement of laws selectively by the DOJ.  DOJ will not assist in investigating the IRS for their harassment of conservatives. 

Holder will quietly assume another position with some Washington law firm or a lobbying firm, and never have to worry that the Democrat operatives with press passes will ever ask him any questions.

But if any questions do come up about why Eric Holder had to leave the administration it will boil down to this:

 

 

 

Free Market Realities

Anyone who's read more than a few posts at this tiny little blog is probably pretty sure I'm a stark raving conservative.  Oh hell, just run down the sidebar.  You don't even have to actually read a post.

So, you might think that I would sympathize with the owner (or former owner?) of a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco, from whence the picture below comes.

Many thanks for this reference to Maggie's Farm.

Well, I have no sympathy whatsoever for James Chu.  He chose to fight the free-market, and thus his customers and he lost.  And that's the way it should be.

When I had my own home repair and remodeling business, I knew never to tell a customer that they were wrong for wanting anything that was a matter of aesthetics or style or taste.  Outside of anything that was absolutely necessary to get the job done correctly, anything in the variable or optional range was purely at the discretion of the customer.

It's been no secret that over about the last fifteen years, people all over the world have been waking up to the fact that MSG (Monosodium Glutamate) is both an excitotoxin and neurotoxin.  You may not be convinced, and James Chu might not be convinced, but there is enough research and evidence available that myself and millions of others know that we don't need the risk.  As for the gluten, we aren't talking about the gluten that naturally occurs in the plain old wheat or other grains that our grandparents thrived on.  Today a lot of the cheap commercial wheat flour, sold in 25 to 50 lb. bags to restaurants and bakeries, is genetically modified (probably Monsanto patented) to contain double or triple the amount of gluten, but not natural gluten. They did that to make bread have that great chewy texture with only about a third of the kneading time and resting time that is required for regular bread production, thus cutting production time and increasing profits.

No, I'm not against profits.  Not at all.  If you can find a way to increase your profits, good on ya, mate.  But the consumer has (or should ALWAYS have) the right to decide if your resulting product is something they want to consume, and they should have all the information to make that decision.  If you want to eat all the foods that are processed and genetically modified and have cellulose fillers from pine trees and laugh at me for not wanting to put that stuff in my body, . . . well,  KNOCK YOURSELF OUT!

 I'd never heard such a thing as a gluten allergy until about ten years ago.  Today, I think about 1 in 10 people I meet has a gluten allergy that became so severe that it drove them to the endocrinologist to find out what was making them so ill.

If James Chu wanted to not only stay in business but even thrive, he should have listened to the customers and provided what they wanted. 

I'm living in a rural area of Kentucky right now.  In this whole city where I am, there is one little health food store.  It's in a great location in the biggest shopping district.  The population here is about 20,000 in the city limits, within a 6 mile radius of the shopping district, about 35,000 people.  This little health food store is barely hanging on.  Why?  Because this is rural Kentucky.  People still smoke in some of the little Mom & Pop establishments.  There's an empty business space on main street that used to be a gym.  There's another one on an adjacent street that used to be a yoga place.
There is not a synagogue within 100 miles of here.

How long would I survive as a businessman if I opened up a Kosher Deli here?  These people have never heard of knishes or falafel or gefilte fish, let alone would they try it.  How stupid would I be to blame the people who live here for not wanting to buy stuff they don't want to eat?  I would be outraged if anyone blamed me for the local Waffle House closing down because I don't want to eat at a place that cooks pork and eggs and potatoes all on the same grill surface.

James Chu is like a guy who is angry because he decided to sell computers that use 3.5" floppies and only have 586 mb of RAM and he's pissed off because nobody is buying. I once lived in an area of Atlanta where a small Mom & Pop Pizza place opened up.  They quickly discovered that the immediate neighborhoods were full of both Jewish and Muslim families.  They made their establishment completely kosher, or halal if you will.  They made sure they had no pork or shellfish products and they advertised it on their menus, takeout and delivery.  The Domino's and Papa John's places within 10 blocks couldn't match the Mom & Pop's place combined.  That's the beauty of competition.

Notice what the wording of the sign reveals:  "We're closed because of you customers."   He revealed that he didn't think of them as his customers.  That's getting off on the wrong foot right from the get-go.  James Chu failed the reality test of natural selection in free market economics.  Phony conservatives, or what some might call "Neocons," might support James Chu, but I'm a real conservative.  I believe in free choice for everyone.  For James Chu and people who might have wanted to be his customers.

That also means that no money taken from taxpayers should ever be used to subsidize any business.  None, whatsoever.  Not dairies. Not soybean farmers. Not peanut farmers.  Not oil companies. Not chemical companies. Nobody. Ever.  There should be no FDA or USDA or any of these agencies who rubber stamp toxic crap so the gullible public can say, "It must be safe, the FDA approved it."
Check out the stories on Youtube just on aspartame, (NutraSweet).

Freedom means taking responsibility for your own life and health.  Do your homework. Otherwise don't bitch when you end up sick, with Alziemers, or multiple sclerosis, or Parkinson's or Fibro-myalgia or a dozen other conditions that were never heard of a 100 years ago.  Sorry, went a little off topic.  I'll stop here.

Shalom and Shanah Tovah