Rational Nation USA

As we approach July 4th let us not forget our national heritage. Our guiding principals over the past two hundred and thirty four years of indiviual liberty, limited government, self reliance, competitive capitalism, and a belief that as Americans we can accomplish anything we put our minds to. In these days of seemingly constant drift toward a progressive collectivist society, all freedom loving Americans who hold up the individual over the tyranny of the progressive collective state must remain vigilant and steadfast in their opposition to the forces of those intent on turning the United States of America into a collectivist state. Les Carpenter III   Editor in Chief Rational Nation  USA Via:  Memorandum

  By: Les Carpenter III  Rational Nation USA Chairman TAO over at Corrupting Conservatives , the premier progressive collectivist blog of the year,  has been having some fun with recent posts at Rational Nation USA. It is apparent, at least to the rational thinkers amongst us, he has the usual personality disorder most all extreme progressive collectivist suffer from. The medical term (if there is one) escapes me for the moment so I shall substitute my own... Severe Delusional Collective Nanny State Worship.  Perhaps the above description some may find harsh. It is nevertheless an accurate one. For those who may not have braved a visit to his den of  collectivist thought a visit is well worthwhile. If for no other reason than to gain a glimpse into the mind of a most dangerous foe, the progressive collectivist. The ghosts of those who followed the philosophy and principals of the progressive collectivists such as V.I. Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Chairman Mao, and Pot Pol I am sure

by the Left Coast Rebel .....if this is true: MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough said House Minority Leader John Boehner "is not a hard worker" and cuts out of the Capitol early for bar-hopping evenings in Washington. On his “Morning Joe” show Wednesday morning, the former Florida Republican congressman described Boehner as a disengaged pol whose work ethic doesn’t hold a candle to that of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.). In the past I have gotten the feeling that Boehner is either a 'rummy' or a smoker - his appearance kind of gives that up. In the least we need leadership in the conservative resurgence that is energetic, invigorated and ready to fight. Especially if the Grand Old Party takes back both houses of Congress. If that is to mean anything to the nation then in the least leadership needs to be far better than the 'cocktails at five' crowd. Furthermore, while I'm 'going there,' John Boehner has been in office too long and was far too

by the Left Coast Rebel The New York Times has an interesting story up regarding the 11 people (so called ''illegals") supposedly living unremarkable, suburban American lives yet spying (for years) for the S.V.R. (the successor to the KGB): The alleged agents were directed to gather information on nuclear weapons, American policy toward Iran, C.I.A. leadership, Congressional politics and many other topics, prosecutors say. The Russian spies made contact with a former high-ranking American national security official and a nuclear weapons researcher, among others. But the charges did not include espionage, and it was unclear what secrets the suspected spy ring — which included five couples — actually managed to collect. The details sound like they are straight out of an Iam Fleming story: Criminal complaints filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan on Monday read like an old-fashioned cold war thriller: Spies swapping identical orange bags as they brushed past one anoth

Rational Nation USA Turns One Today!! Thanks to each and every one who has supported this site with your visits and comments. Rational Nation USA appreciates the continued support of its readership and welcomes any suggestions you might have to improve the site. Rational Nation sends out a special thanks to the Left Coast Rebel  for its support of Rational Nation USA and for the opportunity Tim gave for Rational Nation USA to post at his awesome site. I am equally grateful  for his outstanding posts at Rational Nation USA . A further note of thanks goes out to The Humble Libertarian whose talents and patience resulted in the recent site redesign this year. Wes, you did a great job and I am thankful for your continued help and support. Your recent post at RN USA was great!! Thanks you. And finally a word of thanks goes out to The Oracular Opinion and Pamela Hart for her occasional posts at RN USA . Pam took some time off recently but is now back at the keyboard I see. Welco

by the Left Coast Rebel Why was Al Franken so bored at Elena Kagan's testimony today? Perhaps it's because Al Franken knows what is bouncing around in Elena Kagan's skull and considers the 'hearings' even less than a moot point. Does liberalism cause narcolepsy?: Or does narcolepsy cause liberalism? Narcolepsy of the brain, if I were to surmise from Elena Kagan's empty, flowery, worthless speechifying today. Exit question - Does, " I've learned that we make progress by listening to each other across every apparent political or ideological divide ..." Substitute, ' I do solemnly swear to faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States under the Constitution and laws of the Unites States, so help me God ?' If so, then perhaps the ' redistribution of wealth to it's rightful owners ' really has replaced ' the pursuit of happiness .&#

by the Left Coast Rebel I have limited access to internet today but this caught my eye via Memeorandum , Breitbart : I couldn't help but notice that a reporter on scene mentioned that VP Biden promised $25 million in stimulus funds to GE.... Also, right before the Jim Campbell of GE fainted, From Biden's mouth: "The country that does not innovate stagnates...." Truly ironic words to make a high level Obama-company official faint? You tell me.

Hey there! Wes Messamore here. In this video, I narrate my most recent article at CA IVN - Jack Hunter style . Opponents of cannabis legalization worry that it will have a detrimental effect on society. That feeling is understandable, but citing a Cato study, I take a look at Portugal where all drugs were decriminalized in 2001. Ten years later not only has Portugal avoided a nightmare of spiraling drug addiction, all signs indicate that drug use in Portugal has declined. Enjoy! And please Digg it up . Don't have a Digg account? Get one !

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen views the national debt (and the projected 512 billion in interest in 2012) as the greatest threat to our national security. Of course he is absolutely correct. This nation can not sustain continued deficit spending ad infinitum. Video: P entagon leaders, the military services and defense contractors must work together to cut bureaucratic bloat and unnecessary programs, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Thursday. Adm. Mike Mullen also renewed his warning that the nation’s debt is the biggest threat to U.S. national security. “I was shown the figures the other day by the comptroller of the Pentagon that said that the interest on our debt is $571 billion in 2012,” Mullen said at a breakfast hosted by The Hill. “That is, noticeably, about the size of the defense budget. It is not sustainable.” The Admiral is concerned with the countries ability to continue to fund the military at levels that allow us to be the

By: Les Carpenter III Rational Nation USA The chart above is based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.. Hmm...  While the private sector has lost almost 8 million jobs since the start of the current recession in January 2008, the public sector (Government) has created 590 thousand. Since the passage of the so called stimulus bill in February 2009 the public sector added 400 thousand jobs. The private sector on the other hand has lost 2.65 million jobs since the pork barrel bill was passed.  If memory serves... Didn't the EIC (Economist In Chief) claim the package would create 3.5 million jobs? Perhaps the EIC was using fuzzy feel good numbers to arrive at his grandiose claim. Or perhaps he meant 3.5 million jobs created over the next decade. Whatever the logic it doesn't seem to be working for him. In addition the EIC is growing the nation's budget deficits even faster than GWB did. One has to wonder when, or if the guy will ever "get it." Government

Above - U.S. District Court Judge Martin Feldman by the Left Coast Rebel This morning, KOOK brought your attention to the leftist/Obama attempt to take adavantage of the gulf oil spill. I'm pointing you to perhaps the first FDR era-esque pushback from massive Federal power grabs from the Leviathan. His name is Judge Martin L.C. Feldman and he's not backing down from his ruling to lift the moratorium on drilling: The Interior Department had petitioned Judge Martin L.C. Feldman late Wednesday to grant a stay of his decision, which lifted a ban on new drilling projects and on work on the 33 rigs already in place in the gulf. But Feldman said he was denying the delay for the same reasons he gave for his decision Tuesday: that the moratorium was doing "irreparable harm" to the businesses in the gulf that depend on drilling activity and that the government had not given sufficient basis for the moratorium. The Republic lives as does perhaps limits on an all-powerful,

Posted By: Les Carpenter III Rational Nation USA Mr.Walker, President and CEO  Peter G.Peterson Foundation  makes many points covering a broad scope of issues. Not everyone will agree in total, however American politicians as well as all citizens need to hear the message and begin taking credible action to reverse our current course. Which as we all know id self defeating and destructive. l Nick Gillespie's  interview of David Walker took place was part of Reason Weekend, an annual conference held by Reason Foundation . This years conference took place April 15 - 18 in New Orleans. t and sustainable path., president and CEO of th discuss the deteriorating financial condition of the federal government and what needs to be done to put the country on a more prudent and sustainable path.

By: Les Carpenter III Rational Nation USA Community activist Elena Herrada during a panel discussion in Detroit, MI... The event was at the US Social Forum June 23, 2010. As pointed out by Verum Serum Herrada is primarily a local activist in Detroit. She has however been  quoted  often  in national publications. Her claim to fame is her community activism with respect to immigrant rights. Last June the NY Times Opinionator  featured an article written by Herrada on immigration. The US Social Forum is a a gathering radical progressive collectivists of significant consequence. The organization is made up of community activists and organizers as well as union leaders. To demonstrate their radical agenda here is the Forum's slogan..."Another World Is Possible, Another U.S. is Necessary."0 Herrada's comment are chilling and demonstrates great disdain for a group of law enforcement officials with the responsibility to protect our borders and and stop the f

by the Left Coast Rebel Just imagine how ludicrous this story is and what is says about the welfare state that surrounds, and robs from us that work hard to make a living: More from the Los Angeles Times : California welfare recipients are able to use state-issued debit cards to withdraw cash on gaming floors in more than half of the casinos in the state, a Los Angeles Times review of records found. The cards, provided by the Department of Social Services to help recipients feed and clothe their families, work in automated teller machines at 32 of 58 tribal casinos and 47 of 90 state-licensed poker rooms, the review found. State officials said Wednesday they were working to determine how much money had been withdrawn from casino ATMs by people using the welfare debit cards. This story is nothing more than a teachable moment on just how greedy eager progressive-collectivists are to plunder the treasury of a once proud, Golden State. Did you know that almost 3 out of ten people in Los An

By: Les Carpenter III Rational Nation USA The concept of progressive collectivism is one which makes perfect sense. Of course unless one happens to be a progressive collectivist. In which case charges of Reich winger, or some other such nonsensical term will be tossed out by the left in it's attempt to dismiss the terms validity. Lets start by looking at the specific definition of each word (or concept) followed by the natural linage. Definitions taken from Websters New Collegiate Dictionary. Progressive - a: one that is progressive b: one believing in moderate political change and esp. social improvement by government action Collectivism - a: a political or economic theory advocating collective control esp. over production and distribution or a system marked by such control A progressive is someone who believes it is the proper function of the federal government (through political activism) is to advance social and economic theory that results in social legislation bei

by the Left Coast Rebel First , watch the video: Ah, yes. Kids, state-run education (that has such an incredible track record in the last 50 years)...kumbaya & warm fuzzies. Rory for Nevada sounds great - doesn't he? Look, he even has grey hair and looks rather mature...wait.... I think I recognize that face (and mostly those ears).... Oh no.... As they say, the statist-collectivist, sell your grandchildren to slavery apple doesn't fall from the tree. So sorry, 'Rory,' you aren't going to be able to take the 'Reid' out of your name . And 'it's for the chillrens ' ain't gonna cut it.

by the Left Coast Rebel I was just reading Michelle Malkin this morning and she thinks that it is possible: This administration has accomplished its major policy agenda items through force, fiat, and fraud. Immigration will be no different. More to the point, as I’ve reported many times and in-depth in my blog posts, colum ns, and books, open-borders activists and open-borders politicians have accomplished illegal alien amnesty-by-special order with almost no grass-roots resistance for years. She points readers to a 2004 video from Chicago in which Obama advocates trading border security for amnesty: What can we do? Make your voice heard . Millions of us have to. Via Memeorandum . UPDATED: This was carried at LCR as a separate post: This is treasonous: November 2 can't come fast enough. Your tax dollars at work: U.S. SECRETARY OF LABOR HILDA SOLIS : “You work hard, and you have the right to be paid fairly. I’m U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis and it is a serious problem in t

By: Les Carpenter III Rational Nation USA With so much going on today like the BP Deep Water Horizon disaster, General Chrystal's loose lip fiasco,  our growing national debt, Iran's nuclear threat, the possibility of more restrictions on free speech should The Disclosure Act  succeed, and so much  more I feel sorta guilty for taking about the progressive collectivists fixation on race. Or more specifically their demonstrated tendency for race baiting and referring to conservatives and Tea Party Supporters as racist, or motivated by alleged racial bias. To be blunt I get tired, and yes sick to my stomach reading some of the race baiting crap the left writes and spews from their mouths. Based on nothing other than their own tendency towards racism. Rather than me, an independent conservative/libertarian discussing this issue further I turn your attention to one who certainly would know, and understand the issue with more depth and clarity than perhaps I or any white man c

by the Left Coast Rebel This morning CNBC ran a program on worldwide economic 'austerity' which essenentially comes down to developed nations raising taxes and America spending itself into generational bankruptcy. Cato's Tad DeHaven was on hand to combat the Keynsian 'spend yourself into prosperity' typical media go-to-guy. I noted the hostility that the CNBC talking-bobblehead along with the guest treated Cato's Tad Dehaven. If anything other than predictable, it gave me an excuse then to plug Cato's new site Downsizing the Federal Government which lists Federal bureaucracy by egregious bureaucracy and ways that they can be cut, scaled back, etc. Just my kind of organization. Here's a video:

by the Left Coast Rebel The beltway is all a'twitter over a Rolling Stone (of all places) interview with Obama top general, the guy appointed by Obama to run the war in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal. Of course it's a breach of 'protocol' and all of that. Here's an excerpt from the first page (of six) from the Rolling Stone article : The general first encountered Obama a week after he took office, when the president met with a dozen senior military officials in a room at the Pentagon known as the Tank. According to sources familiar with the meeting, McChrystal thought Obama looked "uncomfortable and intimidated" by the roomful of military brass. Their first one-on-one meeting took place in the Oval Office four months later, after McChrystal got the Afghanistan job, and it didn't go much better. "It was a 10-minute photo op," says an adviser to McChrystal. "Obama clearly didn't know anything about him, who he was. Here's

A sensible outlook on Republicanism, limited government, liberty, and the Tea Party movement. At a Cato Institute Capitol Hill briefing, Cato Institute scholar John Samples described the challenge for those who want to limit the size and scope of government. He goes into detail on recent efforts to do just that in his new Cato book, The Struggle to Limit Government . Samples is director of the Cato Institute's Center for Representative Government. Via: The Cato Institute

By: Les Carpenter III Rational Nation USA Many of us on the thoughtful conservative side have been saying for some time that Barrack Hussein Obama is essentially a statist. One who has the capacity and will to set our country even more firmly on the road to a Leviathan and tyrannical government. President Obama, true to his "Hope and Change" vision has set the course to fundamentally chge the way American government functions. He has been attempting to consolidate more power in the federal government and increase its control over the private and business sector. His huge scale federal federal bailout legislation, the take over of GM, the massive health insurance reform legislation, the BP shakedown, the increasing the size of the executive branch and appointment of czars accountable to no one a but a few examples. George W. Bush was guilty of a large scale expansion in the role the fed played in our lives. But BHO will make GWB look like a minnow alongside a shark. T

By: Les Carpenter III Rational Nation USA All political movements start with a cause. That is to say they have a purpose and an agenda which the supporters of the cause believe will make their society a better place to live. History has shown that societies with the most intrusive and leviathan governments are the least effective and restrict the liberties of individuals too the greatest degree. The classical liberals, whose philosophy of governance was anchored in the  Enlightenment  and The Age of Reason , believed in maximum liberty for the individual. They were wary of government, believing it was as much a force for evil as good. Classical Liberalism was about the individual, the rights of the individual, and the belief that the individual was not a vassal of the state, but rather should be the master of the state, limiting it's interference in the lives of the people. I have been accused of not being able to recognize liberty or individualism if it bit me in the ass.

by the Left Coast Rebel We recently summarized the big-government/Obamanation failure that the gulf oil spill represents. Of course, the summary was nothing more than a basic summary and examples flow (no pun intended) in each and every day. As the oil flows Obama's State Department is sitting on aid offered from 23 separate countries. Jim Hoft got his hands on the documents that show this. This is just the first page of 5 from the State Department's site: Page 2 shows that the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) aid has been accepted: Unsurprsingly, the IMO is part of the United Nations . I wonder which corner of the far-left international 'community' the IMO aid represents? Go to Gateway Pundit to read his whole report, via Memeorandum .

by the Left Coast Rebel One of the most disconcerting things about the prolific rise of the Obamanation in American press (from gossip rags to daily front page features of 'mainstream' press and the network news) was the deaf ear and eye to the man's radicalism (not to mention mentors - Frank Marshall Davis , anyone?). Withouth the useful idiots that surround us, from WSJ columnist Peggy Noonan to 'conservative' former representative J.C. Watts , the circle wouldn't have been complete. Jorn Barger at Daily Pundit gives thanks (sort of) to the useful idiots among us: Listen up, you punked, chumped boobs: We looked at Obama not through your rose colored hallucinations, but through the cold, clear spectacles of reality. None of what he’s done since has surprised us one bit. In fact, many of us, myself included, predicted it even before his coronation by people like you. Yes, it’s nice that after a year and a half of horrible examples, the truth about him is fina

Reason TV:... The FCC has just taken initial steps to regulate the Internet service providers the same way it regulates telephone companies. Although Chairman Julius Genachowski has said he would use any regulatory powers with a "light touch," having the FCC control any aspect of the Internet is a really bad idea for at least three reasons. It looks like it's coming folks. The Leviathan statist government will soon be controling our ability to use the internet as a vehicle to protest a  government out of control. Orwellian without a doubt. Thank you progressive collectivists. Cross Posted at Left Coast Rebel . Via:  Memeorandum  Looks 

By: Les Carpenter III Rational Nation USA Today's post has been taking shape for some time. Perhaps for the better part of my adult life. Having went from a believer in the ideology of the left as a young man hoping to improve American society in his teens and early twenties, to a conservative with a strong Republican party allegiance for two decades, to the independent conservative with strong Libertarian leanings as I write this, I have given the broad scope of politics a fair shake. What has become glaringly obvious to me is the modern liberal, or progressive as they love to be called are in reality progressive collectivists. The terminology I attach to their movement, and a movement it is indeed, is as concise and accurate a description as I can find. It simply says modern era liberalism is progressing toward collectivism and complete state control of our economy and lives. Their belief in the right of the Leviathan government to make decisions affecting our lives, thus co