Keeping My Powder Dry

I haven't used this site much. There are other, better blogs with actual traffic getting the job done. But I do want to maintain it, because when the Marxist government in Washington begins shutting down Internet sites under the guise of "fairness" and "equal access", it will fall to these smaller blogs to promote communication for as long as possible. That's why staying under the radar is important at this time.

Survivng The Future

Unemployment is pushing 10%. A 30 year fixed rate mortgage is going to cost 5.5% to finance. Great Leader is taking over the auto industry, the fincial sector, aand he's moving on health care next. The Chinese want the US to start issuing bonds in Yuan, not dollars. Saul Alinsky may have won. You will lose.

Are we as a nation in decline? Europe seems to be swinging back to the Right, but the Democrat party is forcing America farther and farther Left. The debt being created seems not just unsustainable, but truly insurmountable. And it is being placed squarely on the shoulders of our children.

A year ago there was much talk of a North American Union. People were fretting about the Amero replacing the Dollar. Right now I can't imagine Canada wanting any part of that deal. And Mexico? They just want the Southwest back. I doubt they would be willing shareholders in Detroit, Inc.

How do we avoid the coming storm?

Looking At The Wreckage

The skies are so blue in the bright sunlight. It's hard to believe that we're in such a plight.
I remember a few years back how incensed we were that our houshold share of the national debt was a five digit figure. Today, thanks to Great Leager that number tops a half million. And as He said in L.A. last week, "You ain't seen nothin yet".

I shake my head at the intellectual paupers who screamed about the "Bush deficits" and now sit silently as their children are sold into virtual indenture by Hope and Change. The bill may not come due in my lifetime, it certainly will in theirs.

Of course, it's no problem when Mr. Hope and Change drops tens of thousands of our dollars taking the Missus out to dinner and a show. That's what happens in a despotic regime. The despot lines his patron's pockets with the public weal while the nation sinks deeper into insolvency.

So keep smiling, America. Maybe learn some Chinese. You're being robbed blind, but damn that thief looks good doing it.

Talking To People

One of the worst failings of this blog environment is the misuse of communication. While a blog entry is, by definition a monologue, the comment section can and should be a dialogue, with as many participants as is practicable. Nothing kills a conversation faster than someone who talks at people instead of with them.

Sometimes it's inadvertent. Other times it's deliberate. Always it is the result of an ego needing to be fed. In the realm of ideological warfare there is no shortage of ego (yours truly included). So how then do conversationalists manage to avoid the pitfall of ego-driven "gotcha" sessions that satisfy no real purpose and advance no positive dialog?

Obviously, the first step is recognition. We all have principles and beliefs that we wish to promote. Ego in and of itself is not a bad thing, but it can lead to some very negative results. When we see in ourselves absolutes, we essentially put on blinkers. Dialogue is impossible when afflicted by tunnel vision. You are as correct as the next person, at least in your own mind. The task is not to pummel them into agreement, but to persuade them. The lazy can never manage this. It's much easier to resort to ridicule than to exercise logic.

The second step is even harder. Listen. Hear. Understand. It is impossible to apply logic to an argument with your fingers in your ears. Shouting down an opposing viewpoint does not negate it. Arrogance is no substitute for intelligence.

Words Not Bullets

The most prevalent type of warfare man has prosecuted throughout history has been ideological warfare. Which King is predominant, which religion is "true", which political philosophy is most effective (or beneficial). The common theme in all of this drama, suffering and conquest has been belief. Conviction. Even, dare I say it, faith.

What has been waged at Anti-Strib blog for many, many years is ideological warfare. Faith is a strange thing. Conservatives generally embrace it. Liberals usually deny it, but cling to it nonetheless. Ideology is the underpinning of what we see ourselves as being. It is the unspoken essence of what we speak, both in public and to ourselves.

Some of us take ourselves very seriously, and in so doing often fail at the most critical requirement of communication: understanding. Strike that. MOST of us are guilty of this inadequacy.

There are always casualties in war. In the current version of ideological war in America, Anti-Strib has fallen. War often seems futile, and many times it is. But ideology is never futile. It is an essential component of the thinking person. It is the definition of all that is learned, all that is hoped for. And it is worth fighting for

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

I'm still here

And I'm not going anywhere. Anti-Strib.