Apr 12, 2015

Walter Scott Killed With Ironic Soundtrack, But That's "What's It Like"



From the dash cam just prior to the murder of Walter Scott, Everlast's "What It's Like" can be heard coming from Scott's car. The song, which in each verse has a parable of the downtrodden, could have an updated version that includes Walter Scott's own end. It could gone something like this:

Walter was toolin' around town in his whip
and having a warrant for his ass
All until the dead beat dad made a run,
then a uniformed thug drew his gun,
Law enforcement supposed to be getting child support,
how the hell is this supposed support Walter's son
Clearly I'm not even a proficient song lyricist, but you can get the idea how Walter Scott being in an impossible situation and suffering from poor life choices received wholly disproportionate punishment for those poor choices. Walter Scott should have been arrested, very likely have his car impounded and sold at auction to cover for the child support payments missed; but should absolutely still be alive to 'bitch and moan' about his situation and not six feet under.

Apr 3, 2015

Government Governing the Least Is Best; Except In Indiana

In the past couple of weeks the Indiana's Religious Freedom Reformation Act (RFRA) has shown a division not just between inclusionary liberals and exclusionary conservatives, but also among conservatives that hold to the principle of limited government and those who will toss the principle aside for the convenience of escaping civil liabilities of prejudicial business practices. The defenders of the Indiana RFRA, will point to the federal statute, or Connecticut statute (only being compared due to that state's governor barring of state travel to Indiana) that is similar in name but not spirit and differs in letter where it counts from the Indiana's RFRA variant. If the differences were innocuous as the defenders claim, then why wouldn't they protest against a redundant legislation? If the differences are innocuous then what is the purpose of the law, and why won't the limited government conservatives come out and chastise the Big Government conservatives? Is it not so, that the government that governs the least governs the best, or that only the least number of laws that are absolutely necessary should be passed and enforced? Where are the tri-corner hats claiming that the what happens between a customer and a business should stay between a customer and a business and no more bail outs for businesses reckless liabilities even if they were discriminatory business practices? Sec 9 of the Indiana RFRA clearly stated that an individual that was "substantially burdened or likely to be substantially burdened" could invoke their RFRA rights as a defense in any lawsuit or binding arbitration. The amended statute included clear anti-discrimination language, which in essence voids section 9 for being used as a defense in civil lawsuits making the whole legislative effort by Governor Mike Pence futile, so I ask again where are the small government conservatives pointing out the superfluous nature of the Indiana RFRA? Even if the liability shield for discriminatory businesses remained shouldn't the small government conservatives still have joined the big government liberals in protesting this law as unnecessary?

The reason why there isn't an open schism among conservatives regarding this social issue or a bevy other conservative social issues is that the conservative establishment knows that social issues are for the hoi polloi that are being hoodwinked by the big business to distract them so that they don't find common interest with the fellow wage slaves and demand a diffusion of power away from corporate boardrooms and back into family's living rooms. As Lyndon Johnson so aptly said fifty years ago "If you can convince the lowest white man that he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket." In this case, if you can convince a believer to be judgmental and prejudicial towards others he won't notice that his pockets are being picked clean by a supposedly fellow believer.