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War of Words
by Paul Benedict (libertarian)
About The Author
I'm a resident of California initially alarmed into activism by the outrages of the California Supreme court and the failure of anyone in the media to seriously address the issues. The obvious failure of the mass media to address other key issues has become evident as time went on. Ordinarily, I'm a mild mannered teacher in a small desert community with a particular interest in ancient history. Usually, the only trivia I pursue is connected to the Los Angeles Dodgers and Pittsburgh Steelers. Perhaps someday I'll again get to ignore the trivia that should be everyone else's job. About The Column
California's Supreme Court says that it sought to expand "marriage" to be more inclusive. Instead, it has contracted the term marriage into a dehumanizing and degrading form. Dehumanization is an inevitable consequence of violating the constitutional liberties and inalienable rights of free people. Despite the overwhelming majority of the citizens of these United States recognition that homosexuals cannot get married, there was not a single headline with a mainstream view.It's plain the mass media is the enemy of the ideals of liberty and the values embodied by our unalienable rights. A war takes two. Hence, this column.
Money Talks
Published: February 1, 2012
Monetary "policy" is unnecessary when the medium of exchange has significant intrinsic value.
Newt Gingrich: Too Corrupt for the Presidency
Published: January 27, 2012
Newt Gingrich's passion for ideas has corrupted his soul. He will bend any rule, broker any deal, and defy any kingpin to move his agenda.
A Declaration of Independence from the Tyranny of the U.S. Federal Judiciary
Published: January 7, 2012
Challenging judicial supremacy seems radical because Jefferson was right: mankind is more disposed to suffer evils... than to abolish the forms to which they are accustomed. Jefferson's logic overcame this human failing once before.
Thomas Jefferson on Intelligent Design and the Blessings of Liberty
Published: November 21, 2011
Jefferson's defense of Intelligent Design should be taught as the forerunner of an American model of government and science.
Why Rick Santorum is Right on DADT
Published: October 30, 2011
Beyond using the inarticulate phrase 'social policy' as part of some vague argument about the military's mission, Santorum scores points on DADT.
Warren Buffett is a Poor, Blind, Sad, Old Man or Worse
Published: September 21, 2011
In allowing himself to be the point man for "the Buffet Rule" Warren Buffet is either blinded by prejudice and guilt, or even worse, like all of his class, he is a sell out.
Closing California's State Parks: Communism Fails Again
Published: September 7, 2011
The abject poverty of communist ideals has been demonstrated once again by California's failed state park system. But don't expect anyone to change, for this is deaf, dumb idolatry.
A Scientific Consensus: Darwinism is Dead
Published: July 2, 2011
Although they can rally against Creationism in one voice and riot against colleagues who advocate Intelligent Design with an outrage worthy of religionists, the weird little secret is that science knows Darwinism is dead.
Darwinism Deselected: Darwin's Black Box
Published: June 11, 2011
In the continuing evolution of modern scientific thought, Darwinism has been deselected, or so Michael Behe believes. As his seminal work Darwin's Black Box explains, advances in microbiology have rendered Darwinism untenable.
I Heard America Singing
Published: April 14, 2011
In honor of some of Glenn Beck's best lessons: Why Walt Whitman could hear us sing.
Marijuana Leads to Murder
Published: January 17, 2011
In retrospect, the tragic result of Jared Loughner's retreat into marijuana dependency ought to be what shocks and outrages us; instead, we focus on assuring ourselves that we really believe in only relativistic political discourse.
Ten Goals for the 112th Congress
Published: January 4, 2011
It's easy to be gloomy about America's future, but it can be inspirational to turn it around by looking at ways to rejuvenate this great nation.
Relativism, Rome, Homosexuality, and the Fall of the West
Published: December 29, 2010
In the West, as in ancient Rome, the systematic exclusion of responsibility from the fabric of society led to a fanatic belief in relativism. As a criminal caught in a lie, as an alcoholic’s insistence that he has no problem, so we are becoming what Rome became.
Red States Beware: You've Left an Enemy in the Rear
Published: November 8, 2010
Red State Conservatives didn't win it all. The pockets of resistance in Alaska and California will be lessons or bellwethers.
The Laffer Curve and the Flat Tax Paradox
Published: October 12, 2010
Every time a big-government politician decries Bush's tax cuts for the rich, he is really asking for a flat tax -- he just doesn't know it.
Soak the Rich: Even Rates for All Taxpayers
Published: September 26, 2010
Proponents of a flat tax decry the complexities of the IRS and the tax code as a combination of corruption and social engineering. Sometimes supporters of a flat tax even dare to suggest that it is a bad idea to have half the population living tax free off the other half. However, no proponents note the real reason to institute the flat tax: the flat tax soaks the rich.
Tax Language for the Totalitarian State
Published: September 19, 2010
Democrats seek to rename the Bush tax cuts after Obama. That, of course, means that they plan to raise taxes very significantly. This might only be the most recent and transparent of the liberal obfuscations in the tax debate. "Tax Language for the Totalitarian State" contains a complete list.
The Defamation of Marriage and the Rise of American Totalitarianism
Published: August 8, 2010
The defamation of marriage in our federal court system is a national disgrace. The more jaded among us, the biker gangs and the Chinese and Russian communists, are laughing hysterically. Who can blame them? But all Americans should pay attention. It's more than a charade; it's a darkening.
Tea Party Anger on the Border
Published: July 30, 2010
Righteous indignation is a satisfactory beginning to a political movement that seeks to control its own government, but it is only a beginning. Despite all the ad hominem attacks on the Tea Party that are based on false allegations of racism, on the issue of illegal immigration small government activists ought to be careful to direct their anger constructively.
Did Big Ben Get Smeared Again?
Published: April 21, 2010
The case files released this week in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette are far less damning for Ben Roethlisberger than the outrage expressed by Commissioner Goodell suggest. However, the soon to be released pictures of Roethlisberger in the Capital City Bar may mar his reputation irreparably. They won't show criminal behavior, only the pathetically human failings that we cannot accept in our multi-million dollar icons.
Wrinkles on the GOP's Health Care Solutions for the Brain and Brow
Published: March 27, 2010
This expansion of Representative Boehner's remarks to the House of Representative are designed to illuminate the health care tyranny we were already subject to and inspire pathfinders and lovers of liberty to seek real reform.
Three Reasons Gays Should Not Serve "Openly" in the Military
Published: February 7, 2010
Codifying gays serving openly in the military violates the privacy rights of military servicemen, endangers espirit d'corps, and enshrines weakness as acceptable in the military.
Government Reform 101 B: Barney Frank is Right on the Filibuster
Published: January 20, 2010
Do you think that the U.S. Constitution triumphed last night in Massachusetts? Do you really? Well, if you do you must acknowledge that Barney Frank is right about ending the Senate filibuster.
Federal Reserve Policy Transfers Municipal Pension Wealth to Banks Too Big to Fail
Published: January 6, 2010
The Federal Reserve Bank's near zero interest rates are impoverishing publically held pensions.
Government Reform 101: End the Senate
Published: December 25, 2009
In 1975 a rules change allowed senate filibusters to take place from back rooms, cloak rooms and from the local bar. This change continues to inflate the "price" of legislation faster than the Fed can mint money. The final price tag is liberty.
Palin and the Culture of Liberty
Published: August 18, 2009
Most of America, via the health care debate, has now been treated to a taste of the derision that Governor Palin has experienced on a daily basis. The malicious slander sent their way is a badge of honor. Consider, for example, both Governor Palin and President Reagan.
The University of California Fights for its Life
Published: July 17, 2009
Like California and like the United States, the University of California must return to its historic roots.
Rumors of California Prop. 187's Death Highly Exaggerated
Published: July 9, 2009
In 1994 California Proposition 187 made providing state services to illegal immigrants illegal. The rumor is that the ACLU "killed" 187 in United States District Court. But the proposition lives. Requiring applicants for state benefits to report their immigrant status is now federal law.
Thoughts on Independence: Conservative and Libertarian
Published: July 3, 2009
There is a philosophical high ground abandoned by Libertarians and Progressives that Conservatives call their own. This is a quick helicopter tour of the beauties of this highland in honor of our founding fathers on this July 4th. If, after considering the purchase price of these truths, every body of political thought chooses to plant its flag here, so much the better. There is room enough for all.
Reforming CalWorks SSI and Food Assistance Helps Everyone
Published: July 1, 2009
Governor Schwarzenegger’s May balanced budget proposal included almost 650 million in savings from Welfare Reform. These reforms were enacted for the rest of the United States back in the 1990’s, the last time the federal government had even a look at a balanced budget. The reforms are good for everyone. They will work for the individuals involved. They’ll work for the State of California, and they’ll help the nation.
A Budget Compromise that Could Drill California
Published: June 25, 2009
California Republicans should trade a new oil tax for a new offshore oil lease. They are broiling over the proposed oil severance tax, and coastal dwelling Democrats are reeling over a single new oil lease that allows not even one new oil rig to touch California's shining seas. Be Americans: make a deal!
Prize Fight! The Terminator vs. the U.C. Research Budget: a 170 Million Dollar Purse
Published: June 17, 2009
California funding for U.C. research projects is 675 million dollars a year. Even as the state budget has collapsed, the spending of real U.C. research dollars has increased. Much of this "research" shows little evidence of fiscal or moral profit for the citizens of California. War with this behemoth could save CAL Grant aide for California's students. This is a prize fight worthy of the governor's most Herculean efforts.
One Billion Stimulus Dollars to Save California’s Universities
Published: June 12, 2009
Tax cutting Republicans will not trumpet this, and tax-them-ever-more Democrats won't admit this, but over a billion dollars of President Obama's stimulus money is finding a happy home in California's universities. The scandal is not Governor Schwarzenegger's draconian cuts; it's that California's universities' unfettered growth grows unchecked for yet another season.
California's Rejection of "Mark of the Beast" I.D. Could Save Fifty Million per Year
Published: June 10, 2009
California has chosen not to go forward with the biometric facial recognition software required by the federal REAL ID Act of 2005. That will save the DMV 4.5 million dollars in this fiscal year and an estimated 25 million dollars every year thereafter. Though the DC DMV is moving forward on biometrics, it offered a savings plan to offset REAL ID costs. California could apply these savings reforms and double the 25 million per year savings.
Ted Olson and David Boies in Lucrative Gay Marriage Legal Deal
Published: June 3, 2009
Headlines blare that Olson and Boies are joined in a great ideological quest for freedom and equality. Wait! These are some of the best known Supreme Court advocates in the country. They aren’t working for free. This is a practical union, and, like most arranged marriages, it must cement a union of great financial propriety.
Is American Sovereignty on the Open Market?
Published: May 30, 2009
Who spiked the oil in '08? Americans are far too sanguine about our international vulnerability on oil. The left's concerns about all forms of energy play, conveniently, into the hands of the American enemy that can bid the highest.
California's Excessive Liberty Still Shines As Marriage Endures
Published: May 26, 2009
Marriage continues in California as gay rights court submits to California constitutional law. Thousands of gay activists pledge to follow California law by seeking to amend its constitution constitutionally. It's morning in America!
Midwestern Tea Parties, the Militarization of the Conservative Movement, and the Courts
Published: April 22, 2009
Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano is an alarmist. If there ever is a rise in militias that prove a danger to other Americans, history shows that the most likely cause is the failure of America's courts. As the scope of these failures escalate, the greater the deep divisions in American life will be.
How to Cut California's Education Budget and Class Size at the Same Time
Published: April 18, 2009
In addition to the "10% across the board" cuts favored by California's legislature, the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, part of the massive K-12 40 billion dollar education budget, is a place for draconian cuts. This part of the budget can be reformed so that it all but pays for itself.
Liberty Counsel's Pro Marriage Brief Unpersuasive
Published: April 8, 2009
Liberty Counsel's Pro Marriage arguments failed to persuade Iowa's Supreme Court because of Americana's endless indulgence in the exaltation of equality above liberty. No social good can be greater than "equality," so Liberty Counsel's propositions about the public good of traditional marriage could not succeed. Why waste the ink?
Bernanke and Geithner's Plan is NOT the Banking Act of 1933
Published: March 27, 2009
Both Timothy Geithner and Ben Bernanke have requested a new authority to step into private sector corporations based on the FDIC's authority to put banks into receivership. A comparison of this request to the facts about the FDIC makes such a model seem, at best, improbable.
PRSST and Why Free Enterprise "Failed" the Loan Markets
Published: March 23, 2009
The reasons that the free enterprise system failed the loan markets are the same reasons we must transform the discussion of Social Security privatization with the PRSST.
Dave Ramsey, Cato Institute's 6.2% Plan, and Transforming Social Security
Published: March 5, 2009
CATO Institute's 6.2% plan for privatizing Social Security provides the most savings of all those examined by Social Security's actuaries. Comparing the CATO plan to one which applies Social Security taxes to primary residences illustrates the superior power of this second strategy to rescue America from its debts.
How Bernanke Should Have Answered Dodd
Published: February 25, 2009
When Chris Dodd assailed the ever erudite Bernanke on privatizing Social Security, the banker had no notes on hand so he apologized for the idea instead. America needs to answer Dodd before the government raises Social Security taxes and lowers benefits again. Applying Social Security payroll taxes to primary residences is the way to go.
Ending Social Security by Applying Payroll Taxes to Primary Residences
Published: February 21, 2009
Because Social Security is a Bernard Madoff style Ponzi scheme, if we can end Social Security today and allow participants to invest the payroll tax in their primary residences this generation pay off the promises to the baby boomers and retire with even greater wealth than those whose bills it will have paid. Do the math yourself.
How to End Social Security in Our Lifetime -- Jack Kemp Style
Published: February 15, 2009
When the Berlin Wall fell and the engines of free enterprise became the models of prosperity, Jack Kemp urged America to look in its own back yard. After ignoring Jack Kemp, America tried other ideas. We've come full circle. Thanks to ACORN the renewal of our inner cities have been dealt the worst setback in a generation.
Ending Social Security with the Youth Vote
Published: February 13, 2009
There are three direct challenges to serious Social Security transformation: the twenty-two trillion dollars we now owe to those at or near retirement age, interpreting for the American public the twenty-two trillion in terms of inflation over twenty years, and an atmosphere of distrust for large financial institutions of investment that is at least equal to, or greater than that faced in FDR's age. These challenges must be met with a bold tranforming proposition that gives young voters a path to financial freedom only a decade away.
Financial Stimulus, Bank Bail Outs, and Ending Social Security
Published: February 4, 2009
The median American family, after forty years, will receive benefits from Social Security that are only a few thousand dollars more than the federal poverty level. If, instead, we ended Social Security today, not only would the ultimate retirement benefits, on interest alone, be almost double those of the Social Security, but we would bail out the banks and stimulate the economy.
Social Security and Bernie Madoff Style Pain
Published: January 27, 2009
If Americans decided tomorrow that they wanted to be rid of Social Security forever, it would cost them about twenty trillion dollars over the course of a generation. It would cost about a trillion dollars a year, every year for over twenty years... and that's in a good economy.
Social Security, Ponzi Schemes, and the Bush Bullet We Didn't Dodge
Published: January 21, 2009
This is the first of several articles proposing a different solution to the problems of social security in America. Many believe that we dodged a bullet when the congress refused to take up social security reform during President Bush's second term. As bad as investing in Wall Street has been since 2004, the outlook for social security is at least as bad.
The Immaculate with Belief, Hope, and Love
Published: December 23, 2008
Happy Holidays to all who have who have bothered to read and comment on my column this year! Though we may often continue to disagree or agree, I fully wish the joy of the Holidays that is in my heart for you wherever you may be.
Pastor Rick Warren's National Heresy
Published: December 20, 2008
The venom of gay activist groups towards President-elect Obama over his choice of Reverend Rick Warren to lead his inaugural prayer reveals the extreme hatred and intolerance on the far left. These gay activist groups are so self-absorbed that they neither acknowledge the magnanimity of President Elect Obama nor the universal right of every man and woman to pray publically on behalf of all despite their sins of against mere political orthodoxy.
Proposition 8 and Revisions of California's Constitution
Published: November 24, 2008
While some argue that the people of California are not worthy of the initiative process the state constitution liberally grants its citizens, the very heart of California's law disagrees. The ballot initiative process is not a twentieth century libertarian whim cooked up by 1960's radicals. Instead, it was adopted to directly address the challenges and pressures of a representative government in the modern era.
How to Recall a California Supreme Court Justice
Published: November 9, 2008
The Constitution of California gives the right and responsibly for government squarely on its citizens. The simple elegance of its recall process makes plain that the authority and duty to control the states judiciary resides with the people.
Ballot Measures: Joe Voter Shoulders the Heaviest Lifting Again
Published: November 2, 2008
Although the practice of direct democracy began primarily with constitutional amendments, it has become more prevalent as our representatives in government have failed more often. Once again, the common man must do the heavy lifting.
Spreading the Wealth, National Banks, and the Communist Family
Published: October 19, 2008
Obama's plan to "spread the wealth" must destroy wealth and Europe's plan to nationalize banks will wreck the wealth of nations. These are things any good student of Marxism understands plainly.
Free Markets, Crashes, and Other Parables
Published: October 15, 2008
Credit expansion, often as a result of government policies, has been tied to the recent series of economic calamities in the banking industry. This isn't the first time that's happened and it won't be the last. It is, however, a story with a moral.
Why the ACLU Opposes Proposition 8
Published: September 20, 2008
There are some altruists who believe that if religion, "the opiate of the people,” were expunged from planet earth, society would be better. Though the ACLU may believe in the right of same-sex couples to call their unions a marriage, perhaps it also has a more nefarious agenda.
Five More Reasons Log Cabin Republicans Ought to Support Proposition 8
Published: September 18, 2008
Log Cabin Republicans are Republicans who identify themselves as having a gay sexual orientation. One would expect Log Cabin Republicans to be in favor of "gay marriage." Sadly, they are being tricked by liberals into voting big government.
Supreme Deception: the Right to Deceive, Part III
Published: July 26, 2008
The very words "same-sex marriage” seem deceitful. Part I and Part II probes various misleading elements of the California Supreme Court's "re Marriages...” opinion on gay marriage. Part III exposes passages of the opinion that seem to confer a "right to deceive" or to order citizens to engage in deceive.
Supreme Deception: the Evidence, Part II
Published: July 25, 2008
The Supreme Court of California presents a great deal of its evidence in "re Marriages" in a misleading way. The impression the opinion gives is that Chief Justice George is basing his conclusions on long standing California law. This gives his ruling weight it doesn't deserve.
Supreme Deception: "re Marriages" Twists the Meaning of Family, Part I
Published: July 24, 2008
This article examines the California Supreme Court's evolving use of "family" in the jargon of domestic partnerships and marriage. Like the reduction of "husband" and "wife" to "Party A" and "Party B" on its marriage licenses, this changing jargon emphasizes California's dehumanization of marriage and the family.
Marriage is Not A School: Gay Marriage's Flawed Analogy
Published: July 19, 2008
The California Supreme Court's majority opinion for "marriage equity" concludes that, based on an analogy that compares marriage as an institution to educational institutions, separate is unequal. The analogy is incorrect because one must posit, assume, postulate what one concludes, and because marriage is not a school.
Why Log Cabin Republicans Should Support Prop. 8
Published: July 16, 2008
Log Cabin Republicans are gay Republicans that have raised funds for and campaigned for Republicans throughout the nation. However, many are also strong advocates for gay marriage. In California the Supreme Court's wrong-headed overreach has put them in a difficult position.
California Supreme Justice: The word 'marriage' not important to the 'right to marry.'
Published: July 15, 2008
In its one hundred and twenty pages of rambling and, at times, seemingly Byzantine opinion, the California Supreme court has moments of startlingly hilarious logic. Here are two that are especially important because they reveal the dehumanizing attitudes toward marriage that the court maintains throughout.
"Bitter" Americans Stick to Their Guns in Kern California
Published: July 11, 2008
On June 10, 2008, the Kern County board of supervisors, ceased all civil ceremonies solemnizing marriage in that county. On July 8, almost month later, this same board considered issuing its own Prop 22 style marriage ordinance and reconsidered, in this light, reinstating civil marriage ceremonies
Dehumanizing Marriage
Published: July 11, 2008
California's Supreme Court claimed to expand marriage to be more inclusive. Instead, the court contracted the definition of marriage, degrading and dehumanizing it for millions. Dehumanization is the inevitable consequence on trampling on the civil rights of free people.
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