Rational Nation USA

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth William H. Pauley III , a federal judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York has ruled " ... that protections under the Fourth Amendment do not apply to records held by third parties, like phone companies. " This of course means that all phone records essentially become the property of the federal government and can be used for any reason whatsoever Big Brother deems appropriate. It certainly seems America is rapidly approaching the government described in George Orwell's epic novel 1984. Big brother will not be content until it can listen to and see everything its citizens are doing. Nominated by President William Jefferson Clinton in 1998 to the federal bench Judge Pauley's decision is somewhat befuddling. Especially in light of Judge Richard J. Leon of Federal District Court for the District of Columbia ruling that " ... the program most likely violated the F...

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth I am so pleased this afternoon. Following a very enjoyable luncheon with none other than my ever engaging and intuitive as well as highly intelligent better half I came home to find Karl Rove's report on his 2013 predictions. A real treat if 1)you're a republican or 2) you happen to be in the mood for a chuckle. Something the "White Chalk Board Man" never fails to provide. Mr. Rove, the dude that has successfully built and or maintained the current GOP box the faithful find themselves locked into gave a brief but informative who-ah for himself on 2013 and as well as his 2014 predictions. A veritable treat if ya have some time to waste. Read Karl Rove's "My Fearless Political Predictions For 2014" below the fold.

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth It seems Pope Francis has the GOP is a twist. I can understand this because the Pontiff, being the head Theologian steeped in education and the pursuit of Mysticism really hasn't a clue when it comes to economics, business, or how to run anything other than the Church. Supposedly a purely altruistic and spiritual pursuit. On the other hand we have the ex Randian (for political reasons he later denounced Objectivism) Representative Paul Ryan talking about capitalism and how the Pope, who hails from Argentina, doesn't understand capitalism because all Argentinians have known is crony capitalism. Fair enough. Let us take a look at the definition of crony capitalism and see how it all plays out shall we? Crony Capitalism - An economy that is nominally free-market, but allows for preferential regulation and other favorable government intervention based on personal relationships. In such a system, the false appeara...

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation U S A Liberty -vs- Tyranny Government is neither benign or benevolent. In fact, as the following article correctly points out, the government, in conjunction with the corporations it continues to subsidize and offer corporate welfare to is in fact complicit in helping to create the inequality we see today. Don Baker's article Inequality: Government Is a Perp, Not a Bystander is as interesting as it is informative. President Obama, Congress, and American business should seek his council and consider his words as they determine national policy. Oh yeah, I forgot we don't have a cohesive national economic policy that benefits America at large . Excerpt from CEPR - In his speech on inequality earlier this month President Obama proclaimed that the government could not be a bystander in the effort to reduce inequality, which he described as the defining moral issue of our time. This left millions convinced that Obama would do nothing t...

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation U S A Liberty -vs- Tyranny Washington (CNN) - The Affordable Care Act, which is the signature domestic achievement for President Barack Obama, was passed along party lines in 2010, when Democrats controlled both houses of Congress. Since that passage, Republicans have fought to either repeal, defund, or severely restrict the law. A push by congressional conservatives to defund the law was the catalyst for October's 16-day long partial federal government shutdown, the first in nearly two decades. As Americans began to better understand the flaws in the ACA and struggle through perhaps the most customer unfriendly sign up experience in human history, as well as more and more people now realizing the Affordable Care Act is really the Unaffordable Care Act for many, support for ObamaCare continues its descent. CNN, a slightly left leaning cable news network has just released a nationwide CNN/ORC International poll indicating ObamaCare is decid...

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation U S A Liberty -vs- Tyranny Below is a statement made by Ian Baynes , Congressman from the 11th district of Illinois. I guess to the muddled minds of some floating on the fringes the comparison makes perfect sense. Yep, for some the best thing to do when in a hole is to keep digging, I guess. BUCK DYNASTY STAR IS ROSA PARK OF OUR GENERATION Friday, December 20th, 2013 @ 4:23PM Today, Ian Bayne called Phil Robertson, star of the A&E series “Duck Dynasty,” the ‘Rosa Parks’ of our generation. “In December 1955, Rosa Parks took a stand against an unjust societal persecution of black people, and in December 2013, Robertson took a stand against persecution of Christians,” said Bayne. Parks, famous for refusing to give up her seat on a bus for a white person, as was the rule of her day, provided inspiration for a movement of equality of black people and white people in America. “What Parks did was courageous,” said Bayne. “What Mr. Rober...

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -vs- Tyranny ,Momma Moose Palin and Homespun Idiocy It is astounding to many that this country, given all it's really important issues and problems (the national dept, deficits, the (Un)Affordable Care Act, crony capitalism, off-shoring of business activity, the shrinking middle class, etc.), still finds time to fixate on Duck Dynasty's outspoken bigot Phil Robertson and Momma Moose Sarah Palin's support of Robertson's bigotry. However one may view it there is no question it diverts attention from real issues of importance. Driven by the the now dying old guard relics that yearn for a return to the era they grew up in Mamma Moose Sarah Palin is trying to equate the suspension of a bigot by a private business entity as suppression of free speech. Apparently what she hopes is all of us are as ignorant of the 1'st amendment as she is. Free speech as enshrined in our Constitution was meant to insure the right o...

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Lib e rty -vs- Tyr a nny Politico - Conservative legal activist Larry Klayman got into an argument on CNN with host Don Lemon and legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin when he was brought on to discuss his victory this week in a lawsuit challenging NSA surveillance, resulting in Lemon cutting him off the screen and Klayman comparing Lemon to disgraced former MSNBC host Martin Bashir. Wow, what a smack-down! One that was certainly appropriate and well deserved. One of the great problems with the media, both right leaning and left leaning, is their tendency to control discussion and debate to favor their own biases. I must admit I did enjoy this smack-down of the left leaning Lemon on CNN. Read the entire article HERE . Via: Memeorandum