SnakeRiverLib

When I was growing up, my grandmother, who was, if not a dyed in the wool socialist, at least a progressive to the nth degree. (minus the racism so commonly associated with progressives) Needless to say as I grew, and espoused a more conservative viewpoint, we had some differences of opinion.  She always said that "I don't agree with what you are saying, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".  I have never forgotten that.  It seems that along with so many of our rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights, freedom of speech is going away. When I started writing, I will admit that many of my writings were harsh, without regard to people's feelings.  I had some feedback that was, I think valid of previous writing, but not lately.  I realized that if I am truly a Christian, that I probably should not repay in kind for the unkind things that have been said about people of my faith, of my political leaning, race, gender, etc.  I would say that terms that are t

I am shocked.  Okay, I am not shocked.  It is status quo for this administration, which has done nothing but attack believers, and given people every reason to believe that not only is the President not a Christian, but he gives every appearance of, if not being a Muslim, at least being extremely sympathetic to them.  I am not saying he is a Muslim!  Get it?  Put your straw man back in the closet.  So, the President wants to import some Syrians, after having imported thousands of Muslim immigrants over the last several years. (So you can put your "racist" epithet away, W did as well, shame on him)  Never mind that the estimated cost to settle them (not including the long term entitlements that they will no doubt receive) is about $54,000 per person.  Any chance we could make a deal with Jordan or the Saudis, or Turkey at a much reduced price to provide shelter and care for them?  Fiscally, it just doesn't make any sense.  Culturally, doesn't it make more sense to se

I have been throwing this one around all day, but some clarifying happened when what will no doubt be proved to be Muslim Terrorists decided to blow stuff up, including themselves.  This could happen here as well make no mistake. France and most other nations in Europe have large, non-assimilated populations of Muslims.  They live in close knit communities, have their own laws, and there are rumors that some of these areas are called No-Go zones by the natives.  They are impoverished, and so turn inward, and become breeding grounds for hate.  And when I say breeding grounds, I literally mean that. (native European reproductive rate 1.4 or so per couple, Muslims in Europe reproductive rate 8 per couple).  I would suspect that most of this population did not come to Europe to take over, but rather to live. With a new wave of immigrants from the Middle East, (many of whom may be ISIS terrorists, or at least sympathizers) things have reached a boiling over point, and now we see the resul

Having watched a good part of the debate, and read the reviews, I have a few thoughts on the matter. Fox News is firmly establishment.  All who are fighting the establishment need to understand this.  Remember, for those that don't know, Establishment Republicans DON'T want small government!  They are perfectly fine with BIG GOVERNMENT, so long as they are either in control of it, or allowed to eat the crumbs off the floor when they are not. In fact, I think think that we need to change who we define as Republican In Name Only. (RINO).  I think that conservatives need to take that title, and point out what being a Big R republican means, and how, while they use the party to advance their causes, conservatives, and libertarians really do stand for smaller government. The biggest dilemma for small government conservatives, is that unless they can take control of the government, that can't devolve power to back to the people.  Many Republicans have talked about eliminati

I mentioned previously that the Pew Research poll regarding religion has just been released. It should be a surprise to no one that among people identified as Democrats that the largest group was "no religion".  Of course, the problem is that Pew didn't recognize that modern day liberalism is a theology in and of itself.  Don't believe me?  Let me offer some evidence. First, background.  When President Obama was inaugurated, in his first year, he went on a tour where he essentially apologized for the US being a superpower, and immediately bent over for Russia, by pulling missile defenses from Eastern Europe, leaving our allies exposed.  We gave them a Reset button.  But he did not understand the problem in the Middle East.  The problem is that they didn't hate us because of Bush, or our support for Israel, they hate us for our culture. Our freedom, They feel it is a depraved culture with no morals, Islam is not just a religion, it is a political system.  In our

Gay issues are toxic for conservatives in the ballot box.  Immigration is toxic for conservatives in the ballot box.  The Tea Party is dead. Just as a reminder, months ago, I pointed out how wrong the political class was in Israel, where the Likud won a majority keeping Bibi on as PM, and how the Tories, (the conservatives in England) won an outright majority, not having to make a coalition with any of the other factions to govern in England.  In both cases the conservatives were expected to lose. (as a side, President Obama sent his minions over to Israel to try to take Netanyahu, they didn't.) Last Tuesday, contrary to the political wisdom, a Tea Party Republican won the governorship in KY, for the first time in forever.  Matt Bevin  was behind in the polls, right up until he won. In Houston, a city which voted for President Obama in 2008 and 2012, a so called equal rights ordinance for the LGBT community not only lost by an astonishing 69-31%, but was done under even thoug