Richard Disney

Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons has been bludgeoned with multiple accusations by his opponents in politics and in the press even at the national level. After just participating in a conference call with Governor Gibbons, I am convinced of his commitment to uphold his pledge not to raise taxes on the people of Nevada. It is the no tax commitment that put Jim Gibbons in office and it is refreshing to see a politician stick to his guns on such a key issue. Governor Gibbons signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge sponsored by Americans for Tax Reform (ATR). I asked Gibbons if putting his commitment not to allow the raising of taxes in writing has helped stem the tide of ravenous legislative tax raisers and other big critics of his stand. The Governor’s reply was that signing the Tax Pledge does not mean much unless the person signing it holds a commitment to the principals The Pledge represents. Governor Gibbons mentioned that many politicians run to sign the Tax Pledge during election campaigns but then claim not to understand what they were signing as they propose or vote for legislation to raise taxes. Governor Gibbons assured me and the others on the conference call that to him the Tax Payer Protection Pledge is not just a piece of paper but actually reflects his core principals. Governor Gibbons said, “There is no need to raise taxes when state revenues have increased by about 15%.” Bravo Governor Gibbons!

I have thought for some time that since Governor Gibbons is taking so much flak from “Tax and Spend Republicans” and the media that he must be doing something right. If the main stream media loves a politician, the tax payers better watch out!

The Nevada Legislature has about a week left of the regular session remaining and it looks like Governor Gibbons has won a stunning victory. It was announced yesterday that the legislature has put together a compromise budget that does not raise taxes. Now if only the compromise will hold until the Legislature goes home. Will Rogers was quoted as saying, “The only time a man’s life, liberty and property are safe is when Congress is NOT in session.” There is no better illustration of those words than the events of this legislative session. The pervasive “nanny state” tone of most of the proposed bills this session does not bode well for Nevada being able to keep its reputation as the “last free state.”

Despite an increase in collected state revenues of about 15%, the clamor to raise taxes again against the wishes of the voters has been deafening at times. The biggest and many times, the only, resistance to increased taxes this session has been the threat of a gubernatorial veto. When the Legislature goes home in the next week or so, we can all breath easier, at least until the next session starts in January 2009!

In his very relevant and thought provoking article “A Pack, Not a Herd“, Glen Harlan Reynolds gives examples of a trend in the United States of individuals and regular citizens accomplishing things that law enforcement and government agencies have been unable to do.

Reflecting on the actions by common citizens on 9/11 in New York City when the emergency and law enforcement agencies were shut down in large part shows that motivated Americans can take positive action in times of crisis. There has been a trend in the U.S. through the 20th century of government agencies putting more and more power in the hands of police and bureaucrats while impeding more and more individual liberties as though the citizenry couldn’t be trusted to act responsibly. We have seen the development of an arrogance of power held by the very agencies which were created to serve the people. This development is not surprising, but it remains disappointing in a country which was founded on the rights of the individual over the State. Historically, governments have never voluntarily lessened their grip on power.

With the threat of terrorism and other horrific acts growing in the United States, an armed and alert populace of citizens is the only guarantee of order and safety. A few of my European friends wonder how a civilized society could allow private citizens to purchase and carry firearms. I ask them how a civilized society of citizens and not subjects, could possibly prohibit the private ownership of firearms. I use the most longstanding armed society in the middle of Europe as an example of how armed citizens keep the peace even in the most violent times of war. Europeans become befuddled when it is pointed out to them that Switzerland has virtually every household armed with fully automatic weapons. Many times one can see an assault rifle mounted on the underside of car trunk lids if one looks closely. One friend of mine in Switzerland who is a career school teacher has a fully automatic assault rifle and because of the large size of his house, is also mandated by the government to have a fully stocked shelter in his basement and an additional crew served machine gun. Even the Nazis didn’t invade Switzerland! Despite the ubiquitous ownership of firearms, Switzerland has one of the lowest crime rates in the world.

I urge law enforcement and government agencies to take a lesson from America’s history of self reliance. The only way to deter and combat random acts of terror and crime is to have a vigilant and able citizenry. For too long has the trend in the United States been for the government to gradually treat citizens more and more like subjects of the realm. Historically, free men carry arms, while serfs and slaves do not. As Reynolds mentions in his article, “…if you deputize a nation, doesn’t that make the official deputies just a little bit less special? The problem with this mindset is that it’s all about bureaucratic turf, and not about getting the job done.”

Another poignant observation by Reynolds is, “Regardless of whether or not the D.C. snipers count as “terrorists” under your particular definition (they do under mine, but the authorities seem to be shooting for a much narrower standard) there seems little question that in coming weeks, months, and years we’re going to be dealing with a lot of fast-moving, dispersed threats of the sort that bureaucracies don’t handle very well. (Every domestic-terrorism victory so far, from Flight 93 to bringing down the LAX shooter to spotting the D.C. killers was accomplished by non-law-enforcement individuals, after all). Rather than creating new bureaucracies, we need to be looking at ways of promoting fast-moving, dispersed responses, responses that will involve members of the public as a pack, not a herd. Even if doing so reduces the career satisfaction of shepherds.”

Most significant change occurs when a crisis situation demands it for survival. In the coming century, the United States will have to return to its individualistic roots and deputize its citizenry so that government of the people, for the people, by the people will not parish from the earth.

I think this is a very bad move by the bureaucrats within the U.S. Army. We cannot depend on American Main Stream Media (MSM) to accurately report on what is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obviously the Jihadi propaganda machines will continue to spew out falsehoods, so restricting the ability of soldiers on the ground to report via blogs and email what is really going on in the combat zones helps our enemies and hurts those like me who support victory.

I have obtained excellent information from friends of mine who are still in the Army and are deployed “over there”. I am hearing that there is devastating scrutiny on emails even written by senior ranking friends of mine. Some of my former commanders that I served with when they were Lieutenant Colonels are now Generals and they are concerned about the scrutiny. I hope I can still scratch some first hand information from my contacts within the military, but the pencil pushers are making it a lot more difficult.

Click here to read a relavent article by Hugh Hewitt.

Hat Tip: American Thinker

We in the United States can only hope. Reality is just starting to create a barely audible wake up call to European populations and their leadership. Europeans are beginning to realize that they have much more to fear from a nuclear Iran than does the United States. In the Age of Terrorism however, nuclear proliferation can mean a nuke in a shipping container delivered to any ocean port in the world without even being able to tell which country instigated the attack.

I really like the reasoned perspective found at The American Thinker and I read it often. I highly recommend you read their latest article.

Great job, Tyler Mayfield for putting this video together! We need another Reagan.

Hat Tip: American Thinker

The amazing thing about the last few weeks in the mainstream media is the juxtaposition of the Don Imus episode and the mass murder of 32 students at Virginia Tech. Soon after Don Imus was fired for comments deemed offensive that were similar to comments Imus had made for decades, NBC broadcast the disgusting and plainly offensive ramblings of the insane mass murderer before he went on his rampage. When one thinks of the two events above and how the media covered them, one can’t help but think that any so called standards held by main stream media (MSM) are ridiculous.

I have been questioned by members of the media about blogging and how bloggers can be taken seriously as a source of news when there is little or no fact checking or sourcing in the blogosphere. When observing the level of yellow journalism to which the mainstream print, radio and television media have sunk, it seems that the MSM is the pot and the blogosphere is the kettle.

How much fact checking was involved when Dan Rather of CBS News broadcast a manufactured scandal about the President of the United States with fake documents? Main stream news coverage is no longer covered as news but as sensationalism. Journalists no longer record events but attempt to “make a difference.” The MSM loses credibility each time Greta Van Susteren or Nancy Grace is seen on television. Every news source tries to present itself like a version of “Inside Addition” which talks about rumors as facts.

At a young age I was taught, “don’t believe everything you read.” Unfortunately, it seems that now people believe (to take a line from an old U2 song) that fact is fiction and TV reality. With the massive failure of our present education system to teach kids how to think for themselves, generations of people are being led like lemmings toward the cliff of ignorance and apathy. The ability to use logic and reason to differentiate between what is true and untrue has been systematically winnowed out of the public education process in favor of the idea that there is no right and no wrong. Making a decision is now popularly considered simplistic, while indecisive shades of grey in thinking are considered intelligent. This is dangerous ground for any society to occupy.

Two decades ago a friend of mine said something that has proven more prophetic than I realized at the time. My friend said that in the future, things that are considered moral will become immoral and things that are considered normal will become abnormal. I blew the comment off at the time, but now I see repugnant deviant behavior rewarded with fame and fortune. I now see people who speak their mind in a reasonable fashion denigrated as if offending someone by what they say is criminal behavior.

I am now giving more credence to my friend’s old observation each day.