walls of the city

It seemed appropriate to put these up together. First, Roberta X:

Americans were a free people. We used to watch in varying degrees of horror movie scenes where a hapless European was importuned by police or security guards on the street or in a train station. “Papers,

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Joe knocks another one out of the park, this time in response to noted anti-rights bigot, UBU52:

I would like to remind anyone that believes such a thing that 100+ million people died in the last century because of attempts to create just that type of

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Joe has talked about this a few times, so the concept is not a terribly new one to me, but this new playing field and application is still a little disturbing:

Government agents can sneak onto your property in the middle

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Being the inveterate geek I am, it is unusual to find me outside on a non-overcast day without a pair of sunglasses wrapped around my head – currently, a set of black-on-black Oakley Canteens that I procured when I was eligible for Oakley’s military/government purchasing program (something…

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As I said in comments, this video should be made mandatory viewing for all American Government classes across the board:

Simply put, there is no way for a government like ours – one that produces nothing and “makes” money by either taking it from its people…

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Unfortunately, today’s is not particularly amusing, but it is necessary:

Take it from someone who has seen socialism–true socialism–first-hand, in all its gray and drab, hopeless, soul-sapping misery: In the history of socialism, no country that has ever tried it has ended up with the desired goal

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Almost every day, in almost every way, Our Glorious President proves his ignorance of the American government:

Since the enactment of health reform legislation in March, several state Attorneys General have filed lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. Having failed in the legislative arena,

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It seems to me that a great number of Americans, and not just those currently employed on Capitol Hill, need to be reminded how this country works…

(Courtesy of Captain of a Crew of One.)

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On September 12, 2008, then-Senator Barack Hussein Obama said the following words:

I can make a firm pledge – under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax. Not your payroll tax. Not

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This took a hell of a lot of typing, but I think it was worth it.

This weekend, over at his inimitable Day By Day webcomic, Chris Muir penned the Declaration (2.0). One of his main characters, Sam, commented, “It’s eerie how close this is…

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Last week, I wrote about an ongoing invasion along the southern border of Arizona, and our government’s apparent willingness to simply surrender that section of the country to the unlawful and violent invaders, rather than fulfill its sworn duty and repell attackers from our land. Today,

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It is probably just as well that I probably never will have a job interacting directly with our annointed overlords duly-elected representatives, simply because, while I cannot guarantee exactly what my reaction would be to totalitarian bulldren like this, I probably would not keep that job for terribly…

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I know you are are coming due for re-election to your seat as the Representative for North Carolina’s 2nd Congressional District, Bob, and I want to ensure that the following video is all-too-easy for your constituents to find, should they be so inclined:

That small detail dispensed with,…

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A lot of people on the anti-rights side of the fence would try to make you believe that people like this particular individual are in the minority, and not representative of their movement as a whole:

Why do we allow a minority of crazy, right wing people

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Speaking of our government causing the problems we taxpayers now need to tend to, about a month ago, I wrote about an email USAA sent out regarding the impending “Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010″, and its included “Volcker Rule”.

basically, this would be a Very…

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Taxes are a governmentally-endorsed and -mandated punishment.

This is a relatively simple concept, but one a lot of people seem to have difficulties with. If a government wants more of something, they subsidize it. If they want less of something, they tax it. And much though hundreds, if not…

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And speaking of The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, movie manuscripts, and all the rest, it woulid seem as though the entire book is now available online. Given the quality and re-readability of the story, I would strongly recommend that you eventually pick up…

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Call me a ditto-head if you like (simply because I understand that calling someone something does not make them the something in question), but this is the God-blessed truth:

I don’t think it’s any of the federal government’s business who a bank lends money to. If they

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Hypocrisy, thy name is President Barack Hussein Obama.

From January of this year:

“I’m still clinging to my BlackBerry,” Mr. Obama said Wednesday. “They’re going to pry it out of my hands.”

From one day ago:

“With iPods and iPads and Xboxes and

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Well, form letter or not, the correspondence I sent to my US Senators concerning an upcoming nightmare of a financial-control bill prompted a response from at least one of them:

Dear Mr. [Name],

Thank you for contacting my office regarding the impacts certain provisions in S. 3217,

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For those folks interested in taking a look at the chart Chris Muir mentioned in his Sunday comic, it is right here, in all of its interactive, change-lacking, open-government glory (hover over each box to get full explanations of the events in question).

In regards…

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November is coming. Our chance to let our politicians know what we think of their job performance is coming. Will you remember what they have done to us and our country?

Or will you continue to allow them to drive us into the ground? The choice is…

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I have been a member of USAA ever since I first received my commission, and Better Half and I have been remarkably satisfied with them over the years. Apart from some difficulties with our recent home mortgage (which could be indicative of the employee we had to deal…

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Try as I might (and I confess to not trying all that hard), I just cannot bring myself to feel bad about this all-too-amusing situation:

In a new report, the Congressional Research Service says the law may have significant unintended consequences for the “personal health insurance coverage”

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I am not one to (often) proclaim, “I told you so,” but people like me have been saying things like this for about as long as the misnamed “Health Care Reform” bill has been considered, and it would appear that the vast majority of our politicians, and a…

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Remember, ladies and gentlemen: these are the people who will be deciding what kind of health care you should be receiving:

For those curious (hopefully, his constituents, but something tells me to doubt it), the man speaking with such authority concerning the island of Guam being…

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It is not exactly like Mondays need any more reasons to be depressing, but in case you have not been keeping up with the situation in America these days, here is a list of various ways you lost freedoms last week… and make no mistake about the situation…

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In a somewhat interesting and unprecedented turn of events for my weblog, it would appear as though my post regarding the lying cowards perpetrating and encouraging this pointless “Window War” was actually a little ahead of the curve.

If there is anything that can be said about…

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My post from a few days ago concerning the lying, cowardly natures of those perpetrating and/or encouraging the “Window War” not-really-rocking our country at the moment seems to have made it onto a webpage called “OPERATORchan”, described as “an imageboard totally focused around weapons and…

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Today, the shared honor goes to Oscar in comments at SayUncle‘s:

I am an immigrant to these shores, so maybe I’m just an ignorant peasant who learned nothing from the tribulations of his native land. There, too, the socialists created a system of universal health care and,

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I was a quasi-/semi-objectivist before I had even heard of Ayn Rand (I thank my parents for that), so this next statement probably will not be that much of a surprise: just as there is no difference between “property rights” and “personal rights” (in that the former is a…

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Given the events of yesterday… Wantwantwantwant:

Not that it would do a damned bit of good, but some people need to be reminded of the founding documents of this great country, much though they try to ignore, deface, or otherwise destroy them at every available opportunity.

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At the end of the Constitution Convention in 1787, Benjamin Franklin was leaving Independence Hall in Philadelphia when a woman asked him, “Well, Doctor, what have we got – a Republic or a Monarchy?” Doctor Franklin’s words will be forever remembered as:

A Republic, if you can keep it.

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Apparently, this billboard was posted on Highway 6 and Highway 50 in Downtown Grand Junction, Colorado, and was photographed by an AR15.com member:

The lower-right caption reads “Paid for by a small business owner”, and its existance has been corroborated elsewhere.

*snicker*

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So we actually ended up receiving two census forms – one at our apartment and one at our house. Unsurprisingly, both letters were wrapped in the same envelope proclaiming, “YOUR RESPONSE IS REQUIRED BY LAW.”

I do not think they want me to respond to both of them –…

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Part of the reason taxes spool me right the hell up every year is that every time I look at my finalized W-2, I get to see 6.2% of my income stolen away from me, never to be seen again, in the form of a payment into the black box…

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So I started doing our taxes this past week, and it turns out that the federal government claims we owe them some money. A lot of money. A lot of money in addition to the monthly wage-garnishments we have already had to suffer from our friendly IRS.

Which leads…

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If this actually happens, every last member of Congress might as well pack up their bags and head home immediately afterwards, because they just rendered themselves null-and-void in the eyes of the Constitution:

The twisted scheme by which Democratic leaders plan to bend the rules to ram

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Now this is interesting:

The inaugural British Tea Party will take place on Saturday in my home town of Brighton, and I’ll be speaking. Do try to come: here are the details.

Labour has raised more than a trillion pounds in additional taxation

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At least some politicians have the nerve to be honest about revenue cameras:

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick (D) on Thursday outlined his plan to reduce the state’s $600 million deficit and help struggling municipalities by, among several other revenue raising measures, installing red light cameras. The governor’s proposed

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After digging long enough through Atlas Shrugged, I have finally met the mysterious Ragnar Danneskjöld:

“I do not approve of it, Mr. Rearden. But I’ve chosen a special mission of my own. I’m after a man whom I want to destroy. He died many centuries ago, but unitl the

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It has been a while since I cracked the covers apart, but today’s hold-my-nose-and-read session with Atlas Shrugged yielded this quote:

“Oh,” said Lawson; he remembered that he had seen Mouch lunching with Balph Eubank two weeks ago. Then he shook his head and frowned. “Still, I’m worried. The

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