What Happens If the Lights Go Out in Chicago

Paul Gleiser, in his You Tell Me Texas Blog this morning, warns that Chicago's newly down-graded junk bond rating may be a sign that the Windy City is going the way of Detroit. If Chicago goes bankrupt, we may see a mass exodus of workers, fleeing soaring property taxes. Businesses will flee when operating costs become prohibitive and if businesses go, jobs go away too. Unfortunately, as in the past, an economic collapse in the North often triggers a flood of job-seekers coming to places where they believe the economy is goods and lots of jobs abound........in other words, Texas!

Houston used to be a relatively conservative town until about 1978/79 when an estimated 250,000 people from Detroit moved to Houston over a space of just a couple of years. In that time the population of Detroit declined by a quarter million. At the same time the population of Houston increased by a quarter million. Refugees from Detroit came to Houston looking for work in the oil industry, figuring, I suppose, that they had skills that were transferable and that there must be an oil workers union here.

If you remember, all these people were fleeing due to massive layoffs in the auto industry, the first symptom of Detroit's looming bankruptcy. It was during the Carter years. Gas prices soared. Gas lines and rationing became common and to survive, people sold their big Detroit iron and bought little foreign cars that got good gas mileage. I happened to be living in North Houston at the time. Somebody from Detroit in the radio industry even fled the city. They bought a radio station in Houston and advertised it with..."If you're from Detroit, you've found your station in Houston!" They played lots of Motown.

Detroiters descended on Houston like a plague of job-seeking locusts - whole families piled in cars with everything they could carry, like Okies during the Dust Bowl, rolling the dice that there really were good jobs in Houston.

We had one carload show up on the driveway of our little two-bedroom duplex on Canino Road looking lost and bedraggled. They'd spotted my wife and pulled in to ask if she knew a really cheap hotel. The man had a job interview on Monday and then they were going home to Detroit. They were running out of money fast.

So my wife, faithful Christian that she is, came in the house, told me about the carload of gypsies out front, and then suggested that, since we were going to visit my Grandmother for the weekend anyway (the car was loaded and we were just about to leave), we should let them stay in our house till the poor man could go to his interview.

I always trust my wife in matters of kindness and Christian charity, so I agreed. The poor mother broke down in tears when my wife handed her the key to the house. As we drove to North Texas, I was picturing Yankee carpetbaggers looting our home while we were gone, throwing a party, and generally messing the place up. When we returned, however, the house was neat as a pin and the mother of the family had left a note that was sweet and filled with gratitude.

I don't know if they ever moved to Houston, but it was a symptom of the pre-Reagan era that this kind of wing and a prayer, "They can go to hell, I'm going to Texas," thing happened at all. When progressive socialists rape the economy in the name of grabbing power for themselves, it's always the poor people that they claim to love so much who wind up in desperate circumstances. The man wanted a job. He fled to where he thought he could get one.

One would hope such folk would learn their lesson. Sadly, they seldom do. Look at Houston now after a quarter million Detroit refugees hit the city in the late 70s - electing representatives like Sheila Jackson Lee and pouring out lunacy like water from city hall.

About fifteen years ago, I got into the fight for transit dollars for East Texas. The Houston and Austin area rural transit lobbyists were sucking in millions of dollars a year, while East Texas, the second largest rural transit district recieved less than 4% of Travis County's appropriation and less than 2% of Houston's. The Democrats in those two counties were siphoning from the federal transit budget which was supposed to be apportioned by population. Instead of having the second largest appropriation we had the next to the smallest. We really had to fight to get the legislation through that cleaned up that - fortunately we'd just elected a Republican House and Senate and Governor.

I joke that Houston and Austin is where we store our Democrats in Texas, because if you bunch 'em all up it's easier to keep an eye on them. It's not such a joke anymore and it's going to get worse if Chicago falls. 

What we need to do is figure out some nice nonunion manufacturing businesses we can start up quickly to put all those Yankee refugees to work at.  Because you can bet the flood of Chicago refugees is about to begin. Guys want to work. You can hardly blame them. We should make them join the Republican Party, though. Kind of like signing a loyalty oath - instead of leaving them to gin up some new kind of union that merely reflects the old bad habits they got up to back home; the kind of habit that brought down two of America's wealthiest cities so far and may yet bring down others.

Just one man's opinion,

Tom King
© 2015

Gun Rights Advocates Didn't Do It!

Craig Stephen Hicks who, in February this year, murdered 3 Muslim students, describes himself as a supporter of “Atheists for Equality”. In a statement, Mr. Hicks blasted “radical Christians and radical Muslims" and blamed them for for causing all the strife in the world.

Now we find our that the man's a left wing liberal! Who saw that coming?

Well, probably every conservative out there who clings to his guns and religion saw it coming. There's a reason for that even if you manage to overlook the tendency of leftists to violence given the Marxist slaughter of hundreds of millions of people over the past century. As a little exercise, let's look at five of the worst mass shootings in recent history:

1.  Ft Hood: Registered Democrat/Muslim.
2.  Columbine: The boys were too young to vote, however, both families were registered Democrats and progressive liberals.
3.  Virginia Tech: This guy wrote hate mail to President Bush and to his staff.
4.  Colorado Theater: This guy was a real true-believer, a registered Democrat, staff worker on the Obama campaign, Occupy Wall Street participant and progressive liberal. 
5.  Connecticut School Shooter: Registered Democrat; hated Christians.

Odd. Not a single right-wing Christian conservative gun nut in the lot. Admit it, now. You all groaned when you heard the news that some guy had shot some Muslim kids and the first thing you thought was, "Oh, no, it's a radical conservative gun nut! Now they're going to start in on us again!" It probably took a while for you to find out that this guy wasn't a Tea Party conservative. The media kind of went low key on that bit of information. Now they're calling for the government to take guns away from Americans again. I have a better idea.

I think that we should only take guns away from liberals! It's becoming increasingly evident that they can't control their impulse to mass murder.  Hey, it's a gun control idea I could get behind.

(c) 2015 by Tom King

George Bush's Barney salute - The Rest of the Story

A recent picture of the President (Mr. Obama) giving a half-hearted and dismissive salute to the Marine guard at his helicopter, incited much comment in the conservative blogosphere.  Shortly afterward, this photo started going around of a similarly sloppy George W. Bush salute and some nasty message about Bush being arrogant and wouldn't even put his dog down to salute.

Turns out Bush was caught off-guard by a marine salute as he was picking up Barney after he'd been out to relieve himself. Bush actually did set Barney down a few seconds later, returned and gave a proper crisp salute to the soldiers in question.

President Obama did NOT.

Thus endeth the lesson!

And by the way, I think the picture is all kinds of cute....

Why Neither Libertarianism Nor Socialism Will Work

Cool words! So when do we get our jackboots?

Power attracts the corruptible. Socialist systems represent a tool by which leaders of socialist movements may secure power and insure their place at the top of society. Ah, but the progressives will tell you how wonderfully socialism works if you just have the "right" people at the top and they take real umbrage when I point out that the death toll of Marxism in just the 20th century was in the hundreds of millions. Of course, I'm not talking about the mythical "European-style" socialism that depends almost entirely on a massive trade imbalance with the US for its survival.

It's the principle of collectivism behind Marxist movements that is problematic. Collectivism doesn't work unless everybody is on board. A socialist state must force everyone to be socialists or the system won't work. Eventually, a socialist society must take 80 to 90% of the income of its citizens in order to redistribute it according to the whims of the commissars who run the state.

Christianity is always being accused of forcing people to be Christians. Save for the political Christianity of the medieval Roman Church and fanatical groups like the Puritans and some cult groups, Christians by and large force no one to participate. You can't say Christians force you to do anything until you see people being herded into churches on Sunday by stormtroopers. That's forcing people to serve God. We don't do that. Admittedly we're not quiet about thinking everyone should serve God, but we're quite capabable of serving God all on our own without anyone else's participation. Now your mother may have made you go to Sunday School, but your Mom is not the church and she also made you brush your teeth. You were a kid then and had no rights. Get over it.

But no socialist state can exist, where anyone is permitted to opt out because they don't like socialism. It doesn't work. It's like unions. They require everyone in the place to be a union member in order for the union to have the power it needs. Collective bargaining doesn't work without everyone in the collective. Serving the state is not an either/or proposition in collectivist states. 

How intrusive the state is, varies according to how long the socialist system has been in place and whether the state has run out of wealth to redistribute yet. It's possible that the vaunted "European-style" socialism isn't overly intrusive yet, but still. Even European-style socialist states wouldn't let you get away with not paying your taxes, even if you think 90% is a bit high. Even in our ostensibly capitalist country, the government requires a certain level of forced participation. That's been so since the invention of the IRS at the beginning of the 20th century. We can't drop out of the collective anymore either. It's not the best situation, but it leaves us with a helluva lot more freedom than your average socialist state does.

Only in the Christian Church and certain Eastern religions can you choose not to show up on Sunday or (Saturday in my case) or not put your tithe in the offering plate and not have to fear being arrested. You can even quit altogether and nothing bad will happen to you other than your mother and her friends might start praying for you on a regular basis. If you're Muslim and drop out, you can be killed for it.

Christians get a lot of crap from progressives that we don't deserve. The Christian church is the world's number one supporter of freedom of choice. You don't get to be one of us unless you choose to be. That doesn't mean some jackass with a dog collar won't try to play power games, but then, for all his efforts to mind control you, all you have to do is get up and walk out of the church. That's what a whole lot of people did just with David Koresh's little group when things got dicey. Even that megalomaniac wasn't able to hold back anyone that really wanted to leave except for the children.

And by the way, I belonged to the church that kicked David Koresh's fuzzy butt to the curb when he tried that "I am Jesus, obey me!" malarkey in our church. My son's the head elder and my daughter runs the youth program there. We don't tolerate people who try to insert themselves between us and God. We see them as evil and Satanic...pretty much what we think about anyone who would try to control anyone else through physical force to do that which is agains his or her conscience.

And progressives can say we don't have to believe in socialism, right up until this country goes socialist. Then, whether you believe in it or not, you have to act as though you do because like I said, the socialist state is not something you can opt out of without fleeing the country and then, where in hell would you go? We're probably going to be the last even remotely free country to fall.

That's why we on the conservative side of the bench get so riled up about this stuff.

 I'm not a libertarian. I think they have just the same kinds of problems because man is corrupt. The one non-socialist state that has risen to power is the United States and possibly Canada and Australia, although they are in the process of drifting down the socialist trail along with Great Britain. The great problem with both libertarianism and socialism is that both depend upon man being innately good. Sadly, he is innately bad. It takes an incredible lot of exercising your free will to change that.

 I'm just saying that a republican form of capitalist-based democracy has proven to be the most successful at corralling man's corruption. It's not always been a perfect solution, but I don't believe anything done by human beings can reach a perfect state where everyone is happy and good. The only way to fix the problem to my way of thinking is for the world to wind down to the point where we blow ourselves to bits, turn the surface of the Earth to a puddle of molten glass and Jesus comes to remove the people who have opted to become good people. He can always let the Earth rest a bit and bring us all back later to rebuild. 

Free will is a dangerous thing. That's why God made the sacrifice that we demanded to give us a way to reach that perfect world we all dream of. The devil's whole original lie was that we wouldn't die and we'd be like gods. Collectivism tries very hard to make that lie come true. Because man has chosen to make himself the center of his or her universe, (we call it sin), the whole thing is going to work itself all the way out to a very sticky end. God warned us that sin would inevitably lead to death. For the first time in history, man has the power of universal death at his fingertips; the power  to destroy himself completely. Looks like God knew something about sin after all.

We do live in interesting times. I personally believe that Jesus is gassing up the bus to come get us before it all hits the fan! Hope He gets here soon. Things are getting ugly out there.

(c) 2015 by Tom King

Don't You Just Love a Good Conspiracy Theory?

Once in a while I watch one of those "documentaries" that tell you how the Rosicrucians, the Illuminati, the shadow government, the Freemasons or the New World Order really run everything. These films confidently proclaim that these evil conspiracies would kill anyone who told the "truth" about them.

So they did a movie about the secret shadow government and told the truth about these secret societies.

And the filmmakers aren't dead!

Huh?

Don't get me wrong. There is a conspiracy to control the world and yes lots of powerful people are participating in that conspiracy. But as one of the filmmakers prefaced his movie, "It's not who you think."

Here's a hint.  Name starts with "L". And he doesn't wear red long johns and carry a pitchfork.  Jesus told us long ago who we fight against. It's principalities and powers led by the devil our adversary who walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.  So before you get all wrapped up in paranoia about secret societies and plots by evil corporations to murder us all for profit, realize that all this is a smoke screen for what's really going on. We are being given the Joshua challenge here in the last days of Earth. Choose this day whom you will serve.

The choice is easy - God first or yourself first. Good or evil, for make no mistake, if you put yourself above  everyone else, if you embrace the idea that it's survival of the fittest and determine in your heart to be one of the "fittest", then, you have chosen an evil path and you will make of yourself little more than a tool of anyone stronger who comes along and promises you some trinket you think you must have in exchange for your obedience.

As for me and my house, well you know what our choice is.


So should we  be afraid of conspiracies and shadow governments. Jesus said, the truth shall set you free. He boiled that truth down to two principles (Love God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself) and ten commandments which is all the law you really need to run a world.

If you have that truth in your heart, you don't have to be afraid of anything.  Certainly not secret societies and evil capitalist or socialist cabals. Those guys are motivated by greed. They're not terribly well organized, will stab each other in the back at the drop of a hat and only work toward similar goals because of shared greed.

They should be laughed at, not feared. Scorned not glorified. What a bunch of tools!

(c) 2015 by Tom King

See America First - If You Want to Live, That Is

Just looked at one of those top 15 most dangerous countries you shouldn't travel to lists. Sobering. Mexico is on there along with Guatemala, Venezuela and Brazil!  You kind of expect to find Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Myanmar and Syria on the list, but Russia, Egypt and India too?  So much for the Taj Mahal, the Pyramids and those onion domes in Moscow.

Ah well, I expect if I want to see the Amazon, The Euphrates River or Angel Falls, I'll just dig out an old copy of the National Geographic and lean back in my battered recliner to peruse the sights. It appears the "rest of the world" that the president wants to apologize to for how terrible our contry behaves is not a place I very much care whether we have their approval or not. I certainly am not interested in going there.

If I want to see the pyramids, there's always Google Earth I suppose. Kinda sad really. Anymore, that's probably as close as a civilized person would dare to get to the former cradle of civilization.

Tom

© 2015

The Garland Terrorist Attack - Jihadis Caught in a Trap?

I'm somewhat ambivalent about the folk that  hosted the Mohammed cartoon even in Garland that drew an ISIS-inspired terror attack to the North Texas town. The organizers have the right, of course, to do any sort of event they like so long as they are peaceful about it and people have the right to say whatever they want about it so long as they too are peaceful.  But the people who organized this had to know they were painting a target on themselves by deliberately offending the Muslim community in this fashion. Were they putting lives at risk, had the terrorist attack against the even spilled over into the nearby community or gotten officers killed or injured? It's a difficult question that every community will have to answer for themselves.

That said, setting these sorts of entrapment events to draw out jihadis isn't necessarily such a bad idea if our only concern were eliminating jihadis. Even ISIS was thrilled to claim credit for the attack, which gives you an idea how hard up for headlines they are, given the anti-climactic results.

• Jihadi jumps out of car, draws his weapon and shouts, "Allahu............Ack!" and drops to the ground.
• Second jihadi jumps out of the car and reaches for his weapon................"Ack!" and drops to the ground.
• A hail of bullets strike the fallen jihadis from all sides.  
• "Terrorism" managed!

There is something to say for throwing the occasional provacative anti-ISIL or anti-Al-Quaeda event. It would after all, give bored jihadis something to do with all that pent-up anger they're carrying around. I am suggested that such such an outrageously provacative thing as this kind of event might have a purpose, because I have this fear is that unless we throw up these kinds of incendiary and flagrantly obvious targets, the ISIS-inspired jihadis, who are already in the States, are going to eventually become bored and restless. If that happens, they will, as they've done elsewhere in the world, finally resort to conducting random terrorist attacks in less conspicuous places that are offensive to radical Islamists like gay pride parades, Florida Spring Break wet t-shirt contests, Femininst rallies, synagogues, Bhuddist temples, flea markets, buses and Christian church services.

Perhaps such honey traps might serve to draw the inevitable jihadi attacks away from peaceful folk and put jihadis where we can see them clearly.  We might at the very least reduce the number of breathing jihadis in America. You'd think these two ego-maniacs would have twigged to the idea that someone might be waiting for them in Garland, but noooooooo.
And no, I won't call them by their names. I believe their names should be deliberately forgotten. I can think of other more colorful things to call them. Let's not immortalize their names and make martyrs out of two guys who were almost cartoon characters themselves. Ironic, given they were attacking a cartoon convention.

I don't think front-line terrorists are being chosen for their vast brain-power these days. I don't really think it's going to sink in to these guys that they are being lured to their doom every time a bunch of heavily armed rednecks do something deliberately offensive to Islam. Since 9/11, the U.S. has picked off most of the terrorist leaders with any brains anyway, although our current president seems intent on letting them back out on the street lately.  Whatever happens, the question is a difficult one to answer. Big game hunters used to stake out a goat in the jungle to lure in the tigers. Not very sporting, but an effective way to get yourself a nice tiger skin rug.

Whether we want to encourage a repeat of the Garland incident by hosting more blatantly anti-Islamist events like the Mohammed cartoon event or not is part of a larger moral debate that frankly, we each must conduct within ourselves. We really have no say-so as to whether such events should be held or whether someone ought to go jihadi because of them. Alls we can do is choose not to participate in something designed to offend others if we decide it's wrong to do so. It is not our business to make them stop.

In the meantime, what about the Garland beat cop who put a stop to the attack in short order?

You know, once in a while you see a news story about the part if the country where you grew up and you think, YES! I'M FROM THERE! THOSE ARE MY PEOPLE! The guy who single-handledly put "PAID" to these two accounts is 60 years old (my age). He's been on the force for 38 years and practices so often at the gun range and is such an outstanding marksman that he was able to take down not one, but two heavily armed terrorists in body armor before either could get 20 feet from their car. I mean that's how we deal with terrorists in TEXAS!

We Texans have a message for ISIS:

Don't mess with Texas, you terrorists, but if you insist, we'll be happy to send you on to where you can find out for yourself that there ain't no virgins waitin' for you. They ought to allow that Garland officer to paint a couple of ISIS symbols on the door of his squad car. He's just 3 short of being an ace now. 

I'm sorry for being a little sanguine here and I apologize to my friends who are Muslim, but these guys were very bad men as even members of several Islamic groups and everyone but their mothers have admitted. And this doesn't ONLY apply to Islamist jihadis. I don't like any brand of terrorist. I'd have advocated painting a white pointy hood on the car if he'd taken down a KKK terrorist burning churches back in the 60s or a Symbionese Liberation Army bank robber in the 70s. A terrorist is a terrorist.  Some people are just evil and that's that. They self-identify as evil. They murder and terrorize innocent people. It's time we call evil by its name. You can have evil opinions all day long, but as soon as you strap on body armor and pick up an AK-47 or wire up a bomb, then it's time for right thinking men to step in and protect the innocent. If two nations just want to slug it out over oil or real estate or power, then count me out. I'm a pacifist. But start murdering the innocent and I don't believe I can stand by any longer with my hands in my pockets. 

To the Texas cop who took care of business, I say, "Good for you sir! God bless you for saving lives."

Just my opinion,

Tom King © 2015