The Fourth Estate Is Now The Fifth Column

Who came up with the phrase, and what’s with the columns? Emilio Mola Vidal, a Nationalist general during the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), originally coined the term. As four of his army columns moved on Madrid, the general referred to his militant supporters within the capital as his “fifth column,” intent on undermining the loyalist government from within.

So the fifth column is a group of secret sympathizers or supporters of an enemy that engage in espionage or sabotage within defense lines or national borders. Recent conflicts have had their fifth columns: Iraqi insurgents in the Gulf War, Cuban rebels in the Bay of Pigs. Those columns didn’t fare quite as well.

— From Ask Yahoo.

The days of the “mainstream media” as reliable sources of news are now past, decisively. What we have in place these days is the new, “State-Run Media,” otherwise known as the “Ministry of Truth.” Every word you will hear, read, or see spoken in this new version of the Fourth Estate is prepackaged and cleared with the Propaganda Ministry (read: Leftist editors).

Every day, the more the poseur/usurper MEDDLES in the business of businesses (something he and his flying monkeys know absolutely NOTHING about — even I know more); every day, the depredations of this administration on the freedoms and rights of Americans come to light, and we see more evidence that not only are those talking bobbleheads on the news channels spouting the pro-administration party line, but sincerely believing every word they hear themselves utter. To them, it’s not just the “reading” of the news and a passing on of a block of information. To them, it’s a celebratory jig; a victory dance, as they see their adored idol not just ignore, but shred the laws of the Constitution. To them, their Utopia is within sight, and they are so thrilled they can’t contain their glee.

The Press, once known as the “Fourth Estate,” (after the royalty, the aristocracy, and the merchant class), had become the de facto definitive Fifth Column, in place and awaiting orders from Caesar.

Volcano Update

Just thought you’d like to see this beautiful picture of Mt. Redoubt taken today from the AVO webcam on a nearby peak. The lahars would be visible, but new snow has covered all the ugly black streaks, leaving pristine white “chutes” on the flanks of the mountain. Wasilla got three inches of snow last night, which cleaned the air and settled the ash, so we are all back to normal once more. Thank you all for your interest.

Ashed In

There’s a creepy silence outside today. No traffic. No trains. No planes. Just a superfine dust beginning to put a dingy shadow on the snow that remains, and a stink of sulfurous brimstone.

Even though we can’t SEE the ash, we can feel it in our eyes, and hear it grit when we rub two surfaces together. Unfortunately, the ash is much finer than most dust masks can prevent. What does one do in a situation like that? Car engines can be damaged by the microscopic ash, windshields and paint finishes can be scored if they are wiped. The invisible dust can be quite damaging to people, too, especially those with chronic lung problems.

Mt. Redoubt has been erupting for about a week, with varying amounts of ash being sent into the air. Most of it has moved to the north, but the occasional high-altitude air movement has brought it over ALL the inhabited parts of the North Gulf Coast. Talkeetna, Cantwell, Skwentna, Soldotna, Kenai, Girdwood, Eagle River, Wasilla, Palmer, Valdez, and even as far south as Cordova. This is a very good-sized chunk of the state’s population.

The volcano doesn’t show any serious signs of subsiding yet, so we may have anywhere from days to months of intermittent “ash-in” around the state as it continues to send its microscopic messages to all and sundry.

If you don’t hear from the sourdough for a few extra days, it’s probably because it’s a bad idea to fire up Fang the computer. Life in Alaska…What can I say?

Abandoned

Christ, The Just Judge

And, if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

— 2 Chron 7:14

Is it my imagination, or has America, as a nation, been abandoned by God? (Not that we don’t deserve it, of course, what with slaughtering a third of our posterity every year for the last 36 years, sleeping with the enemy, and various and sundry other “old as sin” behaviors that simply triple-dog-DARE God to do something about it. Here’s how we have gone about this:

Pride As a nation, America has never been prideful. Thank God for that blessing, at least. Although we have been proud of what America can bring to the world, and proud of her heroes, we have never succumbed to national hubris.

But we have had leaders and prominent citizens whose utter, arrogant pride has forced many of us into numerous situations of poverty, helplessness, and frustration. Prideful, hubristic leaders seldom care in the slightest for the people who have the misfortune to be under their “leadership.” We, as the “serfs” who are “owned” by these prideful people can do nothing right, let alone do anything to better our situation. Lucifer, created by God as His most beautiful angel, began believing his own press, became prideful and decided he was too wonderful to serve, so he rebelled. God, being just, as well as merciful, gave Lucifer his wish. Lucifer not only did not have to serve any longer, but he took one third of God’s angels with him to the netherworld, there to lust after the souls and holiness of all of God’s people forever afterward. Be careful what you wish for.

Lust Lust is one of those conditions of the mind that starts out as a choice but becomes a profound addiction. And it’s not just lust for sexual stimulation or gratification, but can often be tied to the above-mentioned pride. Pride lusting for power. A horribly dangerous combination.

Envy Envy is covetousness, or wanting what belongs to others. If there ever was a people who had been taught to desire what wasn’t theirs, it’s been America’s youth, in the last generation, especially those in low-income areas. They are taught to think they are entitled to whatever belongs to others, so they spend a lot of their lives talking about what they will do with those things once they are acquired, usually by criminal means.

Technology brings unprecedented pleasure and entertainment, relentless affirmations of abberant behavior, and a virtually non-existent consequence for such envy. America’s youth want what they want when they want it, and think they are entitled to it. Envy coupled with the prideful lust for instant gratification. The State-run media has catered to this desire with their advertisements aimed directly at the poorly-prepared, barely-developed minds of American youth, who have absolutely no defenses against such blandishments.

Sloth One thing about the age of technology is the increase in leisure time. Unfortunately, Americans have developed the European outlook on leisure: They are entitled to it, and demand more and more of it. Let somebody else do the work. And it isn’t just the workplace that suffers. When situations arise that need their involvement, today’s selfish citizens are so busy enjoying their leisure that they “don’t have time” to get involved and stop the depredations of the crooks and bad guys. All those ads on tv for the exercise equipment and weight loss are there because the companies can’t sell their products to people who are too lazy to use any of them.

Anger Misplased anger becomes rage. Rage fills the heart and pushes out every normal, kindly emotion. It rots the mind and shrivels tenderness. Watch the next large demonstration, and see the rage on the people’s faces. Clever manipulators learned long ago how to channel confusion and anger into a rage against everything “other,” a perfect way to make lazy, envious people enraged against anyone who doesn’t share their mindset or political alignment.

Gluttony We want what we want when we want it. We want it all the time. We want more and more of it. Well, we’ve gotten it. It used to be the first places to feel the pinch when times got lean were the restaurants and eating places. No longer. Nobody eats at home any more. And, “all you can eat” buffets are the establishments of choice. Well-fed doesn’t mean well-nourished, though, and we are obese, ill, and over-medicated because we can’t stop putting junk into our mouths.

Revenge See those mobs out there, demonstrating, taking buses to the neighborhoods of the AIG employees? They were stirred up by ACORN, which is sworn to destroy capitalism by any means necessary. Their lust for revenge was stimulated and encouraged by people with an axe to grind who don’t mind using stupid dupes to accomplish what they want done. Blaming capitalists is easy if you don’t care about anything at all. It’s easy if you never took the time to understand where a job and income actually came from. It’s simple if you think all the money in the country belongs to you and you are going to find a way to take it all back.

I could list antidotes for all of these things, but we already know what they are. You know, or you wouldn’t be reading here. Telling like-minded people things they already know is fruitless and annoying. I guess my only suggestion would be to do whatever you feel called to do to get the word out that we need to do the one thing we probably have gone too far to do: Confess and repent, and submit our lives to Him once more.

No wonder God has abandoned America. We abandoned HIM a long time ago.

Mark Levin’s Book Signing

Take a gander at the people in Tysons Corner (somewhere) who want to get books signed by The Great One.

The Baaa-Studs

Brushfires

It does not take a majority to prevail… but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.

— Samuel Adams

I see that FedEx is threatening to cancel a HUGE order for more planes from Boeing if the Card Checkoff bill is passed. They do NOT want unions to mess up the way they do business. Good on them. If more businesses woud refuse to allow themselves to be pushed around and bullied by union thugs and government True Believers, we wouldn’t be watching the Wrecking Crew unravel two hundred and thirty years of American freedom and enterprise. Taking back the dialogue by not letting the left set the rules of the game will go a long way in encouraging everyday Americans to stand up for themselves.

And, Mark Levin’s new book, “Liberty and Tyranny” already at #1 on the Times bestseller list (it was released at #1 YESTERDAY), his publisher is going to have to do a lot of good, capitalist money-making. The firm is going to have to hire extra shifts to print the copies to meet the demands of people who order it from all the online and earthbound book dealers. Isn’t that what good, old-fashioned Yankee enterprise is all about, after all? I predict that it will be SO effective that the divine o and his flying monkeys will try to squelch it, force limitations on the publisher, or demand some other punishment/consequence for buying the book or having a copy in one’s possession.

First, they will try to demonize not just FedEx, but Mark Levin, who is at the same point in Conservative thought as Rush Limbaugh. The new attitude toward this kind of enterprise is to squelch it as quickly as possible, tax it punitively, and turn any profit that might have been made into a freewill donation to the divine O’s treasure chest, of course. The talking bobbleheads at the State-Run Media outlets will be desperately panning it, having guest after guest moaning about its contents and complaining that it is just “more of the same right-wing fringe alarmism,” the usual leftist whinery that occurs when they get jealous of the success of someone on the Right who makes the Right’s case clearly and passionately.

Next, the OFMs (O’s Flying Monkeys) will demonize the publishers of Mark’s book, and try to force them to fork over all their profits from such an incendiary missive. I can just hear them now: “How dare some publishing house actually put this into print in these hard times? We tax you 90%!” Of course. How dare somebody actualy make a profit without o’s permission??

Redistribution of regular people’s income and wealth is the name of o’s war on enterprise, and class warfare is his weapon of choice. If you are wondering why o was laughing in his 60 minutes interview the other night, it’s because he knew that his demogoguery and harangue had succeeded in turning average Americans (with a little help from ACORN) into the torch-and-pitchfork mob he wanted. Of course he laughed — he’s a cold, cynical, Godless socialist. This is what he’s always dreamed of.

They will need to (attempt to) remove the book quickly, before too many Americans can get their hands on it and actually read about what REAL American freedom and liberty are all about. Mustn’t have the masses getting too knowledgeable, can we? They fear that the book is going to undo a lot of what the leftists in education have been trying to accomplish for the last fifty years. (Well, maybe not totally, since there is a whole generation of ignorant people who think government is the answer and that freedom is a fairy tale, who won’t be reading this, or any other book. They will just keep going along, cashing their government checks and avoiding gainful employment, but you get my drift.)

Use FedEx. Get the book and read it. Reread it. Pass it around, or buy extra copies for gifts. Let this be the first spark that ignites the brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.

American Commisariat

Every day, the Democrats come up with one new plan after another to usurp ALL the freedom and autonomy left in this country. They threaten executives, they tax their income punitively as punishment for even GETTING that income (against the Constitution in big, bold letters…), they float plans to sieze control of one part of the economy after another. They leave no stone unturned in their quest to have it all as quickly as possible. And, with the way the houses of Congress are populated these days, they could probably do it all without any kind of bipartisan assistance.

One minute, they act like The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight. The next, they act like Moussolini. They looked at Orwell’s “1984″ and instead of seeing a frighteningly evil prophetic look at how America could become, saw a great plan for future implementation, and decided to get right on that. Time was when Democrats were honorable and patriotic. But those people have long since died off, leaving the party to be distorted and corrupted into something it was never meant to be: an American version of the Commissariat.

I can picture some little four-eyed functionary sitting in a smoky back room with a Sharpie in one hand and a copy of the Constitution in the other. “We’ll just throw out THIS!” (skritch!) “Then, we’ll undermine THIS…” (skritch!) “Oh, Mr. Emanuel will be SO happy when he sees this!”

Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be any real coordinated effort to put a stop to any of it from the Right. Of course, the makeup of both houses in Congress means the Democrats don’t need to have bipartisan support for any of the destruction of the Constitution. They want it so they won’t be the only ones to blame when it all goes into the crapper (which they know will happen, but they just can’t help themselves. They HAVE TO TRY ONE MORE TIME). Unfortunately, these destroyers are not only getting a fair amount of that support from RINO’s, but there doesn’t seem to be much more than a token resistance from Republicans in the houses of congress. Why aren’t they screaming bloody murder about what’s going on? Didn’t they take an oath to “support and defend the Constitution?” The sad truth is that a lot of them are just as guilty as the Democrats.

Of course, I know we are hamstrung by a whole generation of public-school downwardly-dumbed, selfish, hedonistic babies who should not even be out after dark by themselves, let alone voting. With obstacles like a State-Run Media carrying all the water for the poseur-in-chief, and the aforementioned immature and ignorant electorate demanding their share of everything produced by those of us who actually WORK for a living, the Right has quite a fight on its hands.

If we can hang in there until 2010 we might be able to at least slow down the onslaught. And, people are beginning to wonder when their checks are going to start showing up: You know — the STIMULUS money! Nobody has told these people that, like all the other perks, treasures, payments, and bonuses Pelosi, Reid, Frank, and Dodd hand around to each other, that money was NEVER meant for the people. Silly people. Just shut up and vote the way we tell you. And others are becoming disillusioned by the UTTER fecklessness of the divine O. Where was THIS during the campaign?? Even the pundits who admit to voting for him are beginning to wonder how they could have been so easily led down the primrose path. (Why does the movie, “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” keep coming to mind?)

Writer’s Note: We get Rush Limbaugh on the radio here on a one-hour delay. Although this article sounds like it could have been written after hearing the first half of Tuesday’s Limbaugh show, I wrote it specifically before he came on the air simply because when he is on, I LISTEN. I don’t try to multitask when I listen to his show. But we were both on the same wavelength on Tuesday. It’s good to know that my 20 years in the Limbaugh Institute of Advanced Conservative Studies has not been in vain.

The Devil’s Counterfeit

America could have had a Black president several years ago. But voters refused to vote for the candidate, saying he was “nuts.” (Of course, passionate patriotism and Godly righteousness always look “nuts” to people still busy sinning.) So now, instead of a passionate patriot and experienced statesman in the White House, we have a cheesy counterfeit, and we will be paying the price (as will our grandchildren) until we die.

Former UN Ambassador Alan Keyes is arguably the most articulate and well-spoken Conservative in politics today, but because of his passionate love for his country and its Constitution, he is branded a flake, and the country must limp along without his example. If not actually selecting him for President, he should be given serious consideration for the post of Vice President, at least.

We have now learned too late that our hubris is going to be more costly than we could have ever imagined. We passed over good and upright candidates in favor of the least qualified, least patriotic candidate simply because we are embarrassed by the emotion the right candidate evokes. Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is an example of this misguided insistence on convention and conduct, and the fixation on syntax, fecundity, and “experience.”

One of the things we should have learned by now is that skin color and “coolness” are poor substitutes for patriotism, upright life, and the abilitly to really LEAD. Ambassador Keyes’ words are golden, and his credentials impeccable. (And, he hasn’t had to resort to the use of a teleprompter as has the current occupant.)

Those of us who refused to allow Dr. Keyes to move forward in his attempt to achieve the candidacy for the office of President have only ourselves to blame that we now have a cheap, sleazy, poorly-prepared Devil’s Counterfeit where a righteous and passionate patriot should stand.

Although I have never been on Dr. Keyes’ actual “bandwagon,” my only reluctance was the fact that he was the candidate of a third party, and literally had no chance. Until we can correct the problem of party representation, I fear that he will just repeatedly be a “failed” candidate, thanks to the insistence of the East Coast Blueblood RINOs, who reserve unto themselves the “right” to select the GOP candidate.

I would give Dr. Keyes a hundred percent of my support if there was an honest chance that he could win, and wish there was some way to bring about his viable candidacy. In the meantime, we scurry around desperately trying to figure out why we are in this situation just because of the color of a man’s skin, while ignoring the noble efforts of a man whose color has never been a barrier against or a reason for supporting him, and although we approved of the content of his character, we drew the line at his vehement passion for America. But, if it’s Blackness they want…

The Man In The Shmoo Suit

Menace to Hoomanity. The shmoo is a small animal which looks like an animated ham. From its round rump a plumpish neck narrows toward a tiny head; from above a sparse mustache, a pair of trusting eyes peer myopically but ingratiatingly at the world. In the words of the greatest living authority on shmoos: “They lays aigs at th’ slightest excuse! They also gives milk. And as fo’ meat—broiled, they makes th’ finest steaks; fried, they come out th’ yummiest chicken.” The shmoo is so sensitive and so eager to please that when a human merely looks at it with a faint suggestion of hunger, the animal falls flat on its back and dies of happiness, all ready for the frying pan.

In 1948, Li’l Abner discovered the Valley of the Shmoos. These plump little creatures, shaped like huggable bowling pins, lived to die to make Hoomin Beans happy by feeding them whatever they were desiring at the moment. Unfortunately for the Schmoos, though, they had to die to reach their ultimate happiness of providing food for Hoomanity.

Promising us the bacon and eggs of prosperity, the milk and butter of safety, the steak and potatoes of international honor, today’s phony Shmoo has managed to bamboozle enough of us that he can unzip his Shmoo suit and show us his true colors.

Note the date of this article and see that Al Capp was right on the money. Giving us everything we want just because we want it is the surest way to drown the country in the rainbarrel of Socialist control. But the people of Dogpatch have voted, and we are stuck with someone who is so insecure he had to dress in a Shmoo suit to get elected.

If you are old enough to remember the comic strip during this period, you remember that Li’l Abner, in his goodhearted goofiness, proposes to send the Shmoos to Lower Slobbovia to feed the poor souls there who existed in snow up to their armpits. But wiser heads prevailed, and the disastrous gift was not given. The people of Lower Slobbovia had to resort to something like — (gasp!) capitalism! — to provide themselves with income and food. There’s a reason Lower Slobbovia no longer exists. It’s because the people there averted the Shmoo catastrophe and found the pleasure of personal wealth and accomplishment.

Also note the magazine that published the article, if you would like to see just how far American journalism has tumbled.