A restaurateur on the Hugh Hewitt show said that mandating health insurance for food service employees would drive many restaurants out of business and drive up the cost of eating at those restaurants that were able to survive. Another food service manager said that, in the event Obamacare passes, he was considering laying off his wait staff and having customers order at computer terminals at each table.

08-03-09 Liberal Columnist Paul Krugman appeared in a video clip shown on Bill O’Reilly’s Fox TV Show. Krugman, sitting on a discussion panel, asked “How many Canadians in the audience?” Several hands went up. “How many of you Canadians believe that you have a terrible health care system?” About the same number of hands went up. Krugman responded with a strained grin, “Well, now! I shouldn’t have done that, should I?”

In the United States Political Arena, the Democrats have effectively shut the Republicans out of the health care debate. One result of this one-party approach is that there appears to be no effective tort reform in either bill. Insurance companies, until they are driven out of business by the “public option,” will still not be able to offer coverage across state lines. There appear to be no effective provisions to increase the number of doctors and other medical staff to handle the increased patient load. One survey of doctors reported that as many as 45% of them would consider retiring, if Obamacare were passed.

Stories from the occupied territories:

A young Canadian man was on a two-year waiting list for an operation. Unfortunately, the doctors only gave him 18 months to live. He came to the US for his operation. He survived.

A Young Canadian woman needed a hospital that could handle multiple births. There were no openings in Canada. She had her babies in the US.

A Canadian woman reported that her dog has better health care than she does. Her dog can get same day treatment in an unregulated veterinary clinic, while she must wait for three weeks to get an appointment with a government-regulated physician.

A doctor called Hugh Hewitt from Texas on 08-02-09 and reported that he overheard the payoff on a gruesome bet between residents (apprentice doctors), while he was working in England. One of their patients had been on a waiting list for two years for an operation to correct a life-threatening aneurysm in the wall of his aorta. One of the budding doctors had wagered that the man would die, before he got the operation. The other one bet that the man would get the operation and survive. Unfortunately for the patient, the death-betting resident physician won the wager.

The same caller reported that, following rounds one day, the doctor and the residents were enjoying tea. A nurse came in and told the doctor that a patient was having severe chest pains. The doctor looked up and said, “Tell the patient that we are at tea, and that when we are finished, we will come and have a look at him.”

A survey of British Subjects revealed that many of them were dissatisfied with their health care, but that they didn’t complain, because they felt that no one in government would listen to their pleas.

A story out of Great Britain reported that only 40% of cancer patients in that country are able to see an oncologist (cancer specialist).

The main reasons to oppose Obamacare-probable results:

• The destruction of Medicare Advantage to “save tax dollars” will mean that millions of seniors will be driven to buy more expensive Medicare supplemental coverage from the anti-gun American Association of Retired Persons, otherwise known as AARP. (AARP is now on board as a supporter of Obamacare.)

• Obamacare will be terribly expensive in terms of tax dollars and probably require raising taxes on all Americans.
• It will drive up the costs of all goods and services.

• It will destroy an American Health Insurance Industry unable to compete with a government-subsidized “public option.”

• It will result in health care rationing, especially for the elderly, who will not be ” good investments” as candidates for heart surgery, knee and hip replacements, or expensive medication. Not only will overweight people, elderly people and others who are not considered “worthy” not be able to get government health care, they will not be able to get government approval for certain procedures or drugs anywhere in the country.
• Gun Owners of America has published information indicating that government health care may result in de facto registration of gun owners. The intrusive health care bureaucracy may view gun owners as a “high risk” group, comparable to smokers or obese persons. Will criminal penalties for failure to buy insurance create more “prohibited persons” who are forever banned from legal gun ownership?
• Obamacare will vastly increase the national debt and may very well wreck the economy.

If Obamacare passes, Congress will keep its own “special” heath insurance. Many government bureaucrats will have special plans. “Common” citizens will be locked into a health plan that has had marginal results at best in most of the rest of the world.

The end result of Obamacare will likely be a system where the rich, including wealthy Democrats, go to other countries for treatment for serious conditions, knee and hip replacements, and expensive medication. Substantial numbers of US doctors will leave to practice in these countries, where they will be able to make much more money than they can under a socialized system in the US. Elderly Americans will die on waiting lists, or along with overweight citizens, be unable to get treatment anywhere. Illegal aliens and people on welfare will continue to receive care at low or no cost, unless of course, they are elderly or obese.

If the US socializes health care, where will seriously ill British and Canadians go for treatment? (The rich ones will probably join the rich Americans in clinics in South America and the Caribbean.) The rest will suffer on their own waiting lists like the silly American “common citizens” who voted for “Hope and Change.”

Go to DickMorris.com for more information

Def Mech

“Mistakes were made,” as the North Vietnamese general said after the war, when referring to the communist massacre of almost 3,000 civilians in Hue, South Vietnam during the 1968 Tet Offensive.  The Republicans in the 23^rd District nominated a RINO who was, of all things, in favor of the card check option that would kill the secret ballot in company elections on unionization.  The GOP candidate in question had other left-wing positions that rankled many conservatives.

That said, the split in the Republican vote between the Conservative Party candidate and the turncoat RINO, who dropped out of the race and threw her support behind the Democrat, gave the left-wing party of big government and restricted individual freedom the win in the congressional election.  The lesson could not be clearer. If you want the party that you oppose to gain election victories, you vote for a third party candidate.  It happened with Ross Perot.  Clinton won.  It happened with Ralph Nadar. Bush won.  It happened with Ron Paul.  Obama won.

Vote for ELECTABLE pro-Second Amendment candidates from major parties that most closely adhere to your views.  If possible, vote GOP.  The party in power controls the political process.  Voting third party throws your vote away.  As if we needed another reminder!

Def Mech

Dennis Prager is one of my favorite Conservative thinkers.  He is a talk radio host.  (Oh!  My goodness!)  This vocation makes him a target of the Progressive Left that is driving this country into what I believe to be a web of Marxist Socialism.  Dennis Prager is also a Rabbi, which gives the lie to the Leftist canard that all Conservatives and Second Amendment supporters are anti-Semites.  In fact, a considerable number of important Conservative thinkers are Jews.  David Horowitz, Alan Gottlieb, Dick Morris, Mark Levin, Aaron Zelman, and Michael Savage come to mind.

For the record, I am not Jewish.  I was raised a Methodist, but stopped attending the church over its support of the World Council of Churches and the Religious Left’s fascination with gun control.

David Horowitz was a Red Diaper Baby, a founder of the 1960’s New Left, and a pioneer of the anti-Vietnam War Movement.  He initially split with the American Communists over their failure to break ties with a Black Panther group in California.  The Panthers murdered a friend that Horowitz had placed with the group as a bookkeeper.  Horowitz knows the machinations of the Left as well as anyone.  While he does not typically deal with Second Amendment issues, his books, Left Illusions and The Shadow Party should be required reading in every high school in America.  (They won’t be read as long as young people are required to sing songs in schools praising Barack Obama.)

Alan Gottlieb is a guiding light in the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and the Second Amendment Foundation.  These groups put on a national gun rights conference every year that should be attended, if at all possible, by everyone interested in the fundamental, natural right to armed self-defense against crime, tyranny, and genocide enjoyed by American Citizens and recognized by the Second Amendment.  Gottlieb has written numerous books, including Politically Correct Guns, and The Gunrights Fact Book.

Dick Morris was the brains of the Clinton White House, before philosophical differences and personality rifts deprived Bill and Hillary of his considerable talents.  He knows more about the Clintons than anyone else who is alive and willing to talk.  His latest book is entitled, Catastrophe.

Mark Levin is another radio talk show host.  Ooh!  Scary, if you are a Liberal.  He has written several books, including Liberty and Tyranny, a Conservative Manifesto, and Men in Black: How the Supreme Court is destroying America.

Aaron Zelman founded Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership.  (JPFO)  Their cartoon comic book series, Grandpa Jack, should be required reading in every grade school in this country.  (This will not happen as long as the teachers’ unions control the classrooms.)  The JPFO Website is rightly famous for its “Genocide List” which chronicles the relationship between gun control and genocide throughout world history.

Michael Savage is the stage name of another radio talk show host.  Oooh!  He has written a book entitled Liberalism is Mental Disorder, which pretty much sums up his take on the situation.

In terms of talk show style, Prager is a gentle listener who believably says that “He prefers clarity to agreement.”  Levin and Savage do not suffer fools lightly. 

Horowitz is a tireless campaigner for intellectual liberty on college campuses.  His Websites, Frontpage Magazine, and DiscovertheNetworks.com, track the interlocking web of billionaire-funded organizations that fuel the Democrat Political Machine.  Gottlieb works with the National Rifle Association in filing lawsuits against repressive anti-gun regulations.  Zelman’s JPFO often criticizes the NRA for compromises regarding gun rights issues.  Savage frequently proclaims a pox on both the GOP and the Democrat Party and has threatened to start a third party movement.  Morris is a regular on Fox News.  (Oh!  No!  Not Fox News!)  He also has his own website and an online newsletter.

The above individuals are Conservative Jews.  I believe their contributions to the cause of American freedom are invaluable.  The Liberal stereotype of Conservatives as angry, skinhead, mean-spirited. knuckle-dragging, racist bigots clearly does not hold water.  This  divide between Liberal dogma and reality must be a troubling intellectual thorn in the side for honest thinkers on the Left.  Actually, I’m a bit puzzled myself.  Given the painful memory of the Nazi Holocaust’s campaign of death against unarmed Jews and the current administration’s apparent inability to deal with Iran’s nuclear threat to Israel, it is somewhat surprising to me that more American Jews do not embrace the Second Amendment, other conservative values, and the Republican Party.  (JPFO has a section on the Website that deals with this issue.)

Def Mech

Hypothetical “discussion” between a student and a teacher in a public school:

“No, Johnny, you can’t tell people about going hunting or target shooting.”

“Why not?”

“Because those things involve, well, you know, things that go boom or things that are sharp.”

“You mean like firecrackers and sharp-pointed scissors?”

“No! You know what I mean. Things that stupid rednecks use to make themselves feel big and powerful.”

“Oh. You mean sports cars!”

“No! I don’t mean sports cars. Don’t you cop an attitude with me, young man!” In a whisper, “I mean guns and knives; things that nice people don’t talk about, or don’t even think about, unless they are used by police or government agents in the movies or on TV. Now, don’t ever bring this up again, or you’ll be in detention until you’re twenty-five.”

(See my post, “Zero Tolerance=Zero Intelligence,” 02-12-09, tagged “Culture of informers” and “Zero Tolerance.”)

Another prime example of the cleverness of the Left in shaping young minds was the original lesson plan for the President’s speech this week to schoolchildren. (See Mike Rosen’s article, “Big Brother in Schools, Obama’s speech was early indoctrination,” The Denver Post, 09-10-09, Page 11B. You can’t miss the Lefty cartoon right above the article and under the headline.) (See my posts under the Category “Media Bias.”)

The lesson plan I am talking about is the one that was formulated before the country found out what Obama’s minions had in mind. Suffering from the angry reaction to political indoctrination in the original outline, the Administration’s education gurus removed the offending items.

What was so insidious about the original lesson plan? There were two subtle psychological ploys at work. The plan called for the students to write a paper describing how Obama’s speech had “inspired” them. The psychological kicker here is the implied assumption that the individual student had been “inspired” by Obama’s speech. What do you suppose would have happened had a student written that he or she had not been “inspired” by the President’s speech? I suspect there would have been a serious “discussion” between Teacher and student.

The expectation of the Educational Establishment, of powerful adults in charge of discipline, grading, promotion, and even continued attendance in school, would have obviously been that students would have been “inspired.” Kids aren’t stupid. They know what is expected of them and they have some idea of what is going to happen, if they don’t meet expectations.

The vast majority of students, even those who didn’t agree with, or who didn’t know anything about the President’s policies or agendas, would have felt pressured to write something positive about Obama’s “inspirational” speech. Teachers would have no doubt prompted the younger students with “suggestions” about how the speech “might” have inspired them, if the students couldn’t come up with an “appropriate” response.

The second ploy is a subliminal psychological technique bordering on hypnosis. “Write yourself a letter telling yourself how you can “help the President.” This bit of mental manipulation reminds me of a slick insurance salesman I encountered a few years ago, shortly after I completed a comprehensive course in unconscious communication techniques.

The salesman ran about eleven subliminal sales techniques on me that night in my apartment. These strategies were designed to influence me outside the awareness of my conscious mind. The verbal pattern that I still remember from his presentation is essentially a post hypnotic suggestion.

“Mark, when you need insurance, I want you to say to yourself, “Call John.” (The names have been changed to protect the guilty.) “John” had some rapport with me. I considered him to be an authority. There would have been a pretty good chance that when I needed insurance, I would say to myself, “Call John;” especially if I didn’t know the game he was playing. (No. I didn’t buy insurance, but then, I understood the game.)

If I am a child in a school run by adults who have a great deal of power over me, there is a high probability that I am going to internalize their message, presented as part of an “official” lesson plan, “How can I help the President?” Help the President do what? Get reelected? Meet his partisan political goals? Socialize medicine? Support gun control?

Enter our old friends “Cognitive Consonance” and “Cognitive Dissonance.” These are psychological terms. They have to do with the way a person organizes his or her mental world. They basically mean that ideas that agree with my view of reality are easy for me to accept and that ideas that don’t correspond to my worldview make me nervous. I will tend to embrace compatible ideas and reject or dismiss contrary information. (See my posts under the Category, “Psychology.”)

There is also what I call an “investment component” in the “Consonance” and “Dissonance” paradigm. The more of my time and effort that I put into the support of an idea, the harder it is for me to change my mind about it.

A personal example: I have put over a thousand hours in passing out Second Amendment literature at gun shows and other functions. If I were to change my mind and embrace the concept that the American People should be disarmed for their own good, I would be faced with a situation in which I had “wasted” a significant portion of my life on the “wrong” side of the issue. That would be a gut-wrenching psychological experience that would have a profound effect on my psychological landscape.

David Horowitz, author of Left Illusions and The Shadow Party, co-authored with Richard Poe, went through such a transformation following the murder of his friend Betty Van Patter by a Black Panther group in California.  (Horowitz was an important leader in the New Left and an outspoken and effective critic of the U.S. war effort in Vietnam.)  Horowitz went to other members of the American Left and Anti-war Movements to urge a cessation of support for the Panthers. He was told, in effect, by his “friends” that the injustices of the evil Capitalist System sometimes forced “oppressed people” to commits acts like murder. It took Horowitz years to explore his belief system and reorient his thinking to his current position that the Socialist and “Progressive” Movements are nihilistic and morally bankrupt. (See pages 85-90 in Left Illusions, Spence Publishing Company, Dallas, Texas, 2003, for his initial reaction to the killing of his friend.)

Forcing vulnerable school children to write how the President “inspires” them and forcing them to write letters to themselves as to how they can “help” the President create experiences that become building blocks of cognitive consonance. “I wrote the paper that ‘said’ that I was inspired. How can I now not be inspired by Obama?” “I wrote myself a letter about how I can ‘help’ the President. How can I not do everything I can to help him?”

It would take a measure of psychological sophistication that I believe is far beyond the grasp of most school children to say to themselves something like the following. “OK. I don’t agree with, or I don’t know about what the President is up to, but the teacher said I’ve got to do the writing assignments. I’ll do them, but I’ll make up my own mind regarding what I think about the President’s plans.”

You’ll notice that I slipped in a psychological jab in the phrase “…what the President is up to,…” By using that language, instead of saying something like “what the President wants,…” I am implying that there is a covert motive behind Obama’s actions. The ability to use unconscious communication cuts both ways, but I’m not afraid of an honest debate in the marketplace of ideas. Beware of people who don’t show you the man behind the curtain of Mainstream Media adulation and obfuscation. (There I go again!)

By the way, the same dynamic is operational in the Pledge of Allegiance, The National Anthem, God Bless America, America the Beautiful, and the oath of office taken by every American government official and military person. It was in the loyalty oaths to America rejected by Left-wing teachers in the 1950’s during the so-called “Red Scare.” The more that you say you will do something, the more likely you are to do it. Failure to follow through conjures up personal internal images of untruthfulness, weakness, and indecision.

I don’t want to see myself as a liar, a weakling, or indecisive. I am likely to continue to think and act in consonance with my previous oral and written statements and behaviors.

The difference between the oath of office and a pledge to the President, is that the oath of office is a vow to “…protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic.” The pledge to the President, is, well, a pledge to Obama. I do not believe that forcing such a commitment to the support of one individual is an appropriate exercise of power for the educational system of a democratic republic.

The sin committed by those who would have school children, in effect, pledge allegiance to one man, is not that they were successful, but that they tried to succeed.

Def Mech

The story in The Denver Post, “08 Race worker held in damage to Democratic HQ,” by Jessica Fender, appeared on Page 1B of the 08-26-09 paper. Litwin’s piece, “Bemused by the pane and the story,” showed up on Page 2A of the same edition.

In describing the alleged perpetrator as a possible agent provocateur, Boyles shined a light on an extremely dangerous tactic that is always available to those who would socialize medicine and disarm the American People in the name of “progress.” If you believe in the utopian dream of the perfectly managed society, then the ends justify the means.  This may mean attacking your own side and trying to blame it on someone else.   As David Horowitz wrote on Page 438 of his excellent book, Left Illusions, “If you believe in a future that will redeem mankind, what lie will you not tell, and what crime will you not commit, to make the future happen?”

The purpose of this crime may have been to cast false blame on the so-called “Nazis,” “haters,” and other conservative “wing nuts” who dare to oppose the statist policies of the Obama Administration. The blame game ploy is as old as history. Nero used the fire that destroyed much of Rome to justify persecution of early Christians. Hitler used the Reichstag Fire to boost support for his takeover the German Government. (Who started the fires? We will probably never know.)

I’m not saying that the alleged perpetrator and his unidentified accomplice were paid by anyone to commit an act of political vandalism. Mr. Schwenkler had worked in the past for an organization with Left-wing ties, according to the news stories. If he did shatter the windows of the Democrat Headquarters, he may well have acted out of personal conviction and not as a paid operative.

It is also possible that the actual perpetrator of this crime is so far Left that breaking out the windows was a protest.  Perhaps the socialized medicine scheme pushed by the Obama Administration does not go far enough. Litwin mused over this conundrum in his article.

It now appears that anarchist web sites are raising bail money for Schwenkler, who is reportedly an individual with ties to far-Left anarchist organizations. It may be that this incident is an internecine quarrel between Leftists.

In any case, defenders of the right of American Citizens to armed self-defense against crime, tyranny and genocide must be ever vigilant against agent provocateurs who seek to demonize firearms and the people who own them. We must closely examine every single high profile mass murder and spree killing for evidence of possible external influences. See my post of 03-12-09, “Look for more shootings after church killing and more calls for gun control,” tagged “Conspiracy Theory.”

We must also be aware of Left-wing media bias that magnifies alleged wrongdoing associated with conservatives and minimizes  crimes committed by the “progressive” Left. See my Category, “Media Bias.” As Edmond Burke wrote, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Burke also said, “The people never give up their liberty but under some delusion.”

Avoid delusions! Let us actively support the civil rights of all Americans and be acutely suspicious of anyone who approaches the jewel of liberty that is our Bill of Rights.  We must educate citizens to avoid knee jerk reactions.  Every attack on the Left is not from the Right.  Sometimes, the Left attacks the Left.

Def Mech

Note to Chicago City Government Officials: criminals don’t obey laws.  Gun makers are not flooding your city with firearms for the criminal market.  More reasonable gun laws elsewhere are not the reason that you have a problem. 

If Britain had the criminal elements and gang bangers that you have, Britain would have a worse situation with violence than they do now, after they passed their handgun ban and began collecting sharp-pointed kitchen knives.  If gun control worked, both Chicago and Britain would be much safer than they are.

If Japan had Chicago’s gangsters, the Japanese would have a higher crime rate.  Please read David Kopel’s book, The Samurai, the Mountie and the Cowboy, Should America Adopt the Gun Controls of Other Democracies?  Prometheus Books, Buffalo, New York, 1992, pages 431 and 432.  Consider Mr. Kopel’s conclusion that social controls and not gun control are the reasons for lower crime rates in these two island nations on opposite sides of the globe.

Baseball bats!  That’s it!  Baseball bats!  A baseball bat murderer in Boulder Colorado was just sent to prison on DNA evidence.  Maybe if you ban baseball bats, that will solve the Chicago violence problem.

You never know, bats might the answer.  If we could only get them out of some of the Chicago belfreys…

Def Mech

Sometimes, when someone asks me why otherwise intelligent people hate and fear guns, I find myself talking about psychological defense mechanisms, such as  displacement, denial, and reaction formation, among others.  While these processes, in my opinion, play a definite role, I believe it is dangerous to overlook the active propaganda campaigns promulgated by TV and movie producers, directors, and others in the media to promote a fear of weapons.  This fear is known in some circles as hoplophobia.  (See my post, “Displacement as a defense mechanism in the irrational fear of guns, (08-17-08) tagged, “hoplophobia.”)

We must remember the role that the North Vietnamese Dich Van propaganda program, along with left-wing professors and college students, media pundits, and TV and movie producers played in destroying America’s will to resist the Communist aggression in Southeast Asia that resulted in the deaths of over two million people. (Read the book, Unheralded Victory, the defeat of the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army, 1961-1973, by Mark W. Woodruff, Presidio Press/Random House, NY,NY, 2005, pages 231-235.

MASH, Platoon, The Deer Hunter, and Apocalypse Now are examples of the Vietnam Era propaganda war and the revisionist historical view of that battle for the hearts and minds of the American People that the Communists ultimately won.  The fight for the hearts and minds of the American People continues with regard to liberty in this country.

It’s not as though we haven’t seen anti-gun messages embedded in TV and movies.  Spielberg took the guns out of ET and didn’t mention in Schindler’s List that Schindler armed “his” Jewish workers near the end of the war to give them a last ditch chance to defend themselves from the Final Solution.  Heinlein’s Starship Troopers was morphed from a story about human self-defense against alien aggression to an anti-war parable about human aggression directed toward an apparently otherwise peaceful race of beings that just happened to be naturally well-equipped for mayhem.

Picket Fences, Alf, MASH, All in the Family, and Carole Burnett’s Little Murders to a greater or lesser degree decried the “evil” of guns on TV.  Even Chuck Norris’ Walker, Texas Ranger often made a keen distinction between “anointed” law enforcement officers versus bumbling, common citizen “vigilantes.”

In the movie, Clear and Present Danger, Harrison Ford’s character, Jack Ryan, refuses to pick up a weapon to defend himself on at least three occasions, choosing a piece of firewood over a submachine gun in the climactic fight scene with the antagonist.  In the book, Jack Ryan operates a mini-gun from a helicopter, spraying hundreds of rounds of death and destruction at the minions of the drug cartel that had captured US special operations soldiers.

In the movie, Signs, we have aliens who can’t get out of locked pantries defeated worldwide by baseball bats and clubs.  Given the number of shotguns and hunting rifles in farmhouses, how long do you think that these aliens would terrorize the Midwest depicted in the movie?  “Hi! I’m an alien. I want to kill you. No I don’t have any weapons.  Yeah, I have to get really close to hurt you.  What’s that tube in your hands?”  Bang!  Bang!  Bang!  Bang!  Bang!  End of Alien. End of story.

And, who can forget Leslie Neilson’s Agent WD 40, who explicitly delivers a vitriolic diatribe against handguns during the climactic fight scene of the movie, Spy Hard?  Not that the lines had much to do with the plot, but you know, those handguns “kill” people.  (See my post, “Has your gun caused ‘personal injuries or property damage?’  (11-19-08) tagged, “Irrational fear of guns.”

I believe that it is useful to remember that everything in a movie or TV show is under the control of the director and producer.  If they don’t want it in the finished product, it isn’t there.  If something is in the show or movie, the people who produced and directed made it so.

Keep in mind that it is legal (and moral in the minds of the media folk) to bring out productions that promote civilian disarmament.  Look at the plethora of TV shows and movies that portray properly “blessed” police officials using guns to take out bad guys?”  How often do you see a movie that promotes the idea that ordinary citizens have a right to use armed force to defend themselves and their families without being horribly scarred by the soul searing knowledge that they had to kill or wound another human being in order to do so?

How often have you seen a portrayal of a family in a movie or on TV that goes to a range and spends an enjoyable afternoon punching holes in paper?  Not often, I’ll wager.  More often, we see a bias against guns and the people who own them.

The opening quotation by Rudyard Kipling seems somehow appropriate as we discuss the new series on the Sy Fy Channel, which supposedly changed its name to appeal to females, instead of its usual male “geek” audience. (See The Denver Post article, “New ‘Warehouse 13’ has promising twists in store,” by Joanne Ostrow in the 07-07-09 issue on page 4D.

Let’s discuss Kipling!  Of course, “There is nothing new under the Sun,” not even this Biblical adage.  There is no sin in paying homage to previous successful movies and TV series.  But, come on!

In my opinion, Warehouse 13 pretty shamelessly knocks off The Librarian, Raiders of the Lost Arc, National Treasure, Men in Black, and The X Files.  The idea of a national repository, a national “attic,” of valuable/magical objects smacks of The Librarian, Men in Black, and National Treasure.  Warehouse 13 is the Library.  As pointed out in the Post article, the agents are Mulder and Scully reprised.  The balcony scene, when the agents first see the warehouse is a ringer for the National Treasure balcony scene in the Treasure Room.  The warehouse is the Treasure Room or the government warehouse in Raiders…  The character of the “curator” of the warehouse, Artie, owes a lot to Zed in Men in Black and probably more to Newhart’s character in The Librarian.

The special effects, when the bad vibes, psychic energy, or whatever, are sucked into the containment vessel hark back to the scene in Raiders, when the Nazis open the Ark.  Come to think of it, the “neutralizer” in the containment vessel could be slime borrowed from Ghostbusters or possibly Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Anti-gun propaganda in Warehouse 13 doesn’t take long to rear its head.  In about the first scene of the first show of the series, a little girl sees a gun in the waistband of the female agent protagonist.  Not understanding that the agent is chosen, anointed, special, and otherwise authorized by the proper authorities to be armed, the little girl glares angrily at the adult, because why?  Well, you know, because, guns are bad!  Anyone carrying a gun must be a bad person. We must hate and fear them and the guns they carry.

In the climax of the series opener, the male agent (Think Mulder.) takes his gun into a party dominated by the antagonist, a woman pretty much channeling Lucretia Borgia.  The agent is disarmed by one of her brainwashed minions and threatened with his own gun.  The magically deranged young man pulls the trigger of the semi-auto pistol. “Click!”

The agent (Think Mulder.) pulls the magazine of the empty pistol out of his pocket and says, “No one dies here tonight,” or words to that effect.

Sarcasm Alert!

For those of you recently educated in public schools dominated by teachers’ unions, the conscious explication of the message here is that even chosen, anointed, special, people authorized by the government to carry guns may have those guns taken away by bad people.  You see, bad people are so much faster, more dexterous, and more competent than the rest of us.  There is no use trying to defend yourself, because they will just take your gun.  (They probably wouldn’t try to hurt you, in the first place, if you didn’t threaten them with a gun.)

Sarcasm All Clear! (For now.)

Martial arts are OK, however, especially when practiced by women.  The female agent (Think Scully.) has some nifty moves, including a leg sweep take down that is almost literally to die for.  She also throws a mean punch.

Martial Arts Students, don’t get cocky! Most authoritarian regimes eventually get around to banning the civilian practice of effective unarmed methods of self-defense, once they have disarmed their populations.  The Japanese occupation of Korea comes to mind.

(Disclaimer!  The following statement is an example of hyperbole, sarcasm, exaggeration, and over-the-top humor.  Do not under any circumstances actually try to do this.  I assume no responsibility, if you get stopped by the police, arrested, maced, tasered, or shot.  It’s a joke.  Get it!  A joke!  Ha! Ha!  I just put it in here to make a point.  Excuse me. I have to call my lawyer.)

 If you don’t think that TV and movie propaganda is effective, try open carry in a major city in most states.  (No! Don’t! Don’t even think about it.  You will be fingered by an “alert” civilian, stopped by the police, and probably arrested.)  (We won’t even discuss taking a picture of a gun to a public school or university.  Zero Tolerance, you know!)

Having said all that.  I may actually tune into Warehouse 13 from time to time, even though that probably puts me in the male “geek” demographic apparently now despised by the Sy Fy Channel.  The danger inherent in propaganda embedded in “entertainment” is that the actors, directors, and producers are generally pretty good at creating a “willing suspension of disbelief” and getting the public involved with the characters and the plot lines.

Even though Warehouse 13 may be a kind of “Frankenstein’s Monster” made up of parts from other movies and series, who doesn’t empathize with Curator Artie, portly, middle-aged and woefully out of shape, when he zip lines down the rows of weird and dangerous treasures stored in the cavernous vault?  Who can’t relate to the female agent (Think Scully.) when she eats comfort food (No sugar!) to relieve stress? Details like these help flesh out characters and make us care about what happens to them as they expose themselves to danger to protect the public (us) in their fictional world.

The sad fact is, in my opinion, that these fictional characters are more real for most of us than our neighbors.  If you run into someone who hates guns and the people who own them, consider the possibility that the person has been brainwashed by, among other things, anti-gun messages carefully embedded in “entertainment.”

You can enjoy the shows.  Just be aware of the propaganda that is sent through the media of TV and movies.  Think about the backers who sponsor these shows and movies.  Do they sponsor them to make money in what’s left of the free market, or do they sponsor them, because hidden messages promote a Hard Left agenda.

“Eternal Vigilance…”

Def Mech

This equivocation by Judge Sotomayor is not surprising, given that she was nominated to the Supreme Court by Barack Obama, who has made numerous appointments of persons hostile to the Second Amendment, e.g., Biden, Emmanuel, Clinton, Sebilius, and Napolitano, to name a few.  (If you are a gun owner who voted for Obama, curse yourself and send a large contribution to a pro-gun organization.  Think of your donation as compensatory damages for a really dumb vote.)

If you have not already done so, please call your US Senators and ask them to oppose Judge Sotomayor’s nomination to the highest court in the land.  She will almost undoubtedly be confirmed over our objections, but we can at least let the Senate know that Americans are watching their actions and will hold them accountable during the next election and beyond.  (See my post, “Obama picks anti-gun Supreme Court nominee,” 05-28-09, tagged, “Sotomayor.”) 

Def Mech

Mr. Koh has reportedly said that a civil society can not exist in the presence of an armed civilian population.  Given the threats posed to the Second Amendment by Obama’s other appointees, proposed laws in the Democrat-controlled House and Senate, and the CIFTA Treaty, we simply don’t need another anti-gunner in high public office.  

Def Mech

Here’s a newsflash!  An Associated Press story in the May 14th Denver Post on Page 2A carries the headline, “N. Europe still tops U.S. unwed births.”  Oh!  But unwed mothers are so cool.  You remember the old slogan, ”A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.”  Fine!  What has happened in many cases in this country is that either the poor slob of a biological father ends up paying for about two decades of child support, or we the taxpayers foot the bill.  I wonder how it works in Europe?  Oh!  Right!  They just take your back teeth in taxes.

British and European Liberals’ desire for control seems to know no bounds.  In England, they are collecting kitchen knives.  (See my posts under the Category: “Foreign Gun Laws.”)  In Germany, following the most recent school shooting, the government wants to ban paintball games.  Sooner or later, everyone in Europe except government officials, rich people, and rock stars will be wearing handcuffs or those new shock bracelets that can incapacitate the wearer by remote command.  

The other problem with “sophisicated Europe” is that in about one or two generations Europe will be Eurostan, a Muslim suburb.  The sophisticated, native Europeans are not having enough babies to maintain their oh-so-cool population levels.  Muslim immigrants don’t seem to have that issue.  Read Mark Steyn here for a brief discussion of the European population problem.

By the way, during the last century, “sophisicated Europe” spawned two world wars and numerous genocides.  Europe seems to be going the way of the Passenger Pigeon.  (That’s extinction for recent graduates of public schools where self-esteem is the most important subject.)  If we continue to emulate the ways of Socialist Europe with regard to gun control, economics, education, immigration policy, health care, and religion or lack thereof, I am afraid we will follow them in their sad journey toward the death of Western Civilization.

Gun control is just part of a larger pattern, but it is a very important part.  What are Liberals planning that is so terrible that they fear armed resistance?  Once Liberals turn the West into a dying, Socialist  prison camp, who will guard the guards?

Def Mech