Dharma Hawk

Return of The Hawk

2011-10-22T12:54:00.000-04:00

Greetings all. The Hawk (a.k.a. yours truly) has once again returned from yet another long period of meditation in the brutal backwoods. It's been a long, hard road back through many trials and tribulations, but I have emerged and am sharpening my wits to once again do battle with the madness that has befallen our beloved replubic.

Stay tuned boys and girls, it's gonna get interesting...

Bush, Bin Laden, and Obama (and a little perspective on recent events...)

2011-05-16T17:18:00.002-04:00

Just recently, President Obama had a genuinely good moment in presidency and ordered the killing of Osama Bin Laden, giving America a much-needed and undeniable WIN in my book.

Since more often than not, I tend to give President Obama a hard time here on this blog, let me just say for once: Good for you President Obama.

And once upon a time, on a blog now gone away, I used to give Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, quite a hard time as well (probably even worse). While I still don't think "W" was the greatest president the U.S. has ever had, I certainly don't think he was anywhere near as vile as some on the Left would make him out to be.

And since I like to keep perspective on these things, I felt honor-bound to post this:

President Bush, consider this a public apology for some of the nasty things I've said privately.

Rise of the "Racers"

2011-05-09T11:16:00.002-04:00

We've got "birthers" we've got "deathers" (thanks to the death of Osama Bin Laden, may he burn in hell) and now we've got "racers".

Tony Katz recently coined the term "racer" to describe people who defend President Obama by prescribing race to every form of criticism for every subject.

Katz elaborates on the topic of "racers" along with Stephen Kruiser and Alfonzo Rachel on PJTV.

There are a lot of people out there obsessed with our President being black. And I'm seeing that the majority seem to be on the Left.

Andrew Klavan writes:

Questions about Barack Obama’s birthplace have been long resolved and were resolved yet again when funny-haired blowhard Donald Trump bullied the White House into releasing the president’s long form birth certificate. Many on the left then railed against so-called birthers as being racist, of all things. The “racers’” convoluted logic is that demanding Obama’s birth certificate is suggesting that he’s somehow “other” because he’s black.

Like almost all modern charges of racism, this is trash. The silly preoccupation with the president’s birth is not a reaction to his skin color, it’s a reaction to the left wing media’s reaction to his skin color – which was to give candidate Obama a complete pass on issues that would have derailed any other presidential hopeful and most especially any Republican. Twenty years in the pews of hate-monger Jeremiah Wright? Never mind. Old interviews suggesting Obama is an anti-constitutional socialist? Nothing to see here. Cowardly votes of “present,” lies about his associations with Bill Ayres, black holes in his biography? Rather than investigate, the MSM ran interference for the candidate, turning their ire instead on citizens who asked the sorts of questions they should have been asking all along.

You can read Klavan's full artice here.

The greatest thumb-in-the-eye to this whole "racer" premise is that two Tea-Party favorites for President, Herman Cain and Allen West, just so happen to be black (as some might say).

In a recent article, American Thinker, a conservative publication, looks forward to The Next Black President.

And finally there's this...

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-08T18:29:00.000-04:00

"Motherhood Is Political." - Dana Loesch

Tolerating Intolerance

2011-04-26T22:40:00.000-04:00

A two for Tuesday special!

Bill Whittle and Andrew Klavan:

"A liberal is a man too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel."
- Robert Frost

Going There (The Origins of Obama)

2011-04-26T15:39:00.000-04:00

There has been and still is plenty of talk about President Obama and his affinity for Marxism. You can't even hint at this subject with some people without them getting offended or laughing at you as if you had just suggested that mankind was created by aliens.

I must confess that I was a bit skeptical myself of all this talk of our President being a krypto-communist, but after just a little bit of research, I was not laughing much at all.

And now comes the Mighty Bill Whittle to take on the one thing you can't even go near with anyone on the Left: Barack Obama's past. Without even referencing any conspiracy-themed books or websites, Whittle lays out a picture that is interesting to say the very least.

Ride On

2011-04-22T09:39:00.001-04:00

I've been wondering for a while now, what would be the perfect answer to the awful jackasses known as the Westboro Baptist Church.

It appears that someone has found it: The Patriot Guard Riders

Pulling The Trigger on Trig

2011-04-22T08:45:00.000-04:00

So I may not be the biggest fan of Sarah Palin on the net, but the absolute hatred of this woman by the Left is thing of wonder to me. The way the Left attacks this woman you would think she slaughtered an entire preschool full of little children with a rusty hammer.

The Left hates Palin so much that some people, who call themselves "Liberals" (who according to themselves are the most enlightened, benevolent, people to ever walk Gaia's green Earth), have now taken to attacking her youngest son Trig, who suffers from Down Syndrome.

There has been and will be much said about this issue, but having seen this video from Steven Crowder, I think this just about sums it up:

Attacking Kleptocracy From The Left and The Right

2011-04-21T13:02:00.001-04:00

Must watch clip of the day:

Former New York governor/current talk show host Elliot Spitzer and conservative firebrand/visionary media mogul Andrew Breitbart reveal that people on both sides of the politcal spectrum can agree that most Americans are not cool with the unscrupulous dealings on Wall Street in the last few years.

Watch the clip here.

Word of the day: Kleptocracy

Who's Afraid Of A Black Republican?

2011-04-21T12:33:00.001-04:00

As it turns out, a lot of people.

OK, there's no way to quantify how many is "a lot" but there are more than a few people out there have some really mean things to say about anyone black who has the audacity to not vote Democrat.

I'm not a Republican and I have more than few issues with the party, but when last I checked this was still a free country and people can vote for who they want. But if you're African-American you run the risk of being scorned and ridiculed for voting Republican (at least if you own up to it).

Get to know enough black people and you will quickly see that they do not all think alike (I hope I'm not telling you something you did not already know). So why should all black people vote the same when they clearly do not think the same. In fact, to imply that all black people do or should think the same is more than a bit racist , yet some people who call themselves "liberals" look at and talk about Black Republicans like they are some kind of two-headed animal.

So now there is a documentary coming out dealing with this issue called "Fear of Black Republican" from filmmaker Kevin Williams:

You can read Williams' Big Hollywood article about the film here.

And if that interests you there is also this:

You Ain't Just Whistlin' Dixie...

2011-04-13T10:52:00.007-04:00

So yesterday was the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War. And while your's truly is a proud Southerner, I'm not the kinda guy who waves a Conferderate Flag. (That's a whole other discussion.) And I've lived in "The South" for my entire life.

With that in mind, being the political junkie I am, I can't help but wonder if certain people won't use this as a way to try to bash their political adversaries in these conflicted times. Over at the Daily Caller, somebody else is thinking the same way.

Matt Philbin writes: "For the anchors and contributors at the 'lean forward' network, it’s always 1861, and conservatives are always slavery sympathizers and secessionists."

While the word "secession" has been thrown around a little bit in the past couple of years, you'd be hard pressed to find even the most backwards redneck who looks back and thinks that slavery was a good idea. In fact, most of the folks I know would probably tell you that the biggest mistake that the Founding Fathers made was allowing slavery in the country in the first place.

The irony of it all is, after once fighting a war to break away from the Union, Southerners tend to be the proudest, most patriotic Americans out there (generally speaking). So you know things have got to be looking pretty damned bleak if people are bringing up the idea of secession with any kind of seriousness. And a while a political divorce may fix things in the short term, in the long term I believe the whole world would suffer if America as we know it ceased to exist.

And just for fun, I thought I'd post this old clip, again...

Your Friends and Enemies

2011-04-06T11:51:00.006-04:00

"When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends." - Old Japanese Proverb

Right now, there are many people of on both sides of the political spectrum trying to wrap their heads around and justify the thinking that lead President Obama to get the United States involved with the mess in Libya.

Stanley Kurtz takes a crack at this by looking one of Obama's advisors on National Security: Samantha Powers.

Do The Math

2011-04-04T18:56:00.004-04:00

So what to you get when you add the mental might of Bill Whittle with the razor sharp intellect of Iowahawk?

A jet engine of truth strapped to a hot rod of satire.

Compare and Contrast

2011-04-04T15:32:00.005-04:00

From Undiepundit

While I'm not the biggest fan of George W. Bush, I remember not too long ago when Bush was villianized for going to war in Iraq. And now some of the same people that were so rabidly against him are now having to defend Barack Obama for attacking Libya. So, in the name fairness, I give you this...

And to further drive home the point about blind political faith (which I don't recommend in any party or any person)...

There are already other videos with these characters with counter arguments and the like. But if you really want to be smart, go do some research, educate yourself, and make up your own mind.

Anne Frank's New Neighbors

2011-03-30T17:10:00.006-04:00

There are times when you can almost see the universe balance itself out. Not quite instant karma, but close enough.

According to a new article in The Guardian, the controversial Park 51 (formerly known as the Cordoba House, also known as The Ground Zero Mosque) may be getting a new neighbor: a museum devoted to Anne Frank.

God bless America.

Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder

2011-03-29T18:32:00.003-04:00

For the few lonely souls that actually read this thing, or have stumbled across it in by random chance, you've probably noticed the posts haven't really been prolific as of late.

Every so often "the Hawk" must retreat deep in the mountains to meditate on the issues and when I feel I have reached a certain level of enlightenment (or minimized my ignorance) I shall come down from the mountain and blog once again.

Uncomfortable Comments of a Racial Nature

2010-07-20T10:57:00.006-04:00

A few days ago Tea Party member Mark Williams made a piss-poor attempt at satire that got him expelled by the National Tea Party Federation on the heels of the NAACP's charges of racism within the Tea Party.

William's friend, Lloyd Marcus (a black conservative), came to his defense:

"It is truly unfortunate that some on our side are so easily put on the defensive. NAACP, president, Ben Jealous slandered millions of decent Tea Party patriots by saying we tolerate racists signs. We do not. Not one liberal mainstream media outlet demand that Jealous produce the “Lynch Barack Obama” and “Lynch Eric Holder” signs he claimed to have seen. Thus, the liberal media are saying these violent racist signs exist and the tea partiers are guilty simply because Jealous says so.

Furthering their efforts to discredit the tea party movement by portraying them as racist, the liberal media attacked our Mark Williams for a satirical comment on his blog. Mark is a personal friend who is not a racist; far from it. On his blog, Mark was making a point about the blatant hypocrisy and backwardness of the NAACP."

(To read Marcus' full statement, click here).

One of the problems with the "Tea Party" is that it is not an actual political party in the true sense (not yet). There is very little structure at a national level and no real hierarchy to speak of. So it appears that if racism is to be dealt with within the Tea Parties, it will all have to be done at a local and/or ground level on the spot. So in the spirit of clarity and reconciliation I offer this video to help people deal with uncomfortable comments of a racial nature...

Coffee, Cream, and Tea

2010-07-19T05:35:00.013-04:00

So there's been a big argument going on about Racism in America these days. Just recently, NAACP just formally denounced the Tea Party Movement as racist.

First of all let's look at the term "racism":

From Merriam-Webster Online:

racism
1 : a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
2 : racial prejudice or discrimination

Even though I have never been to a Tea Party, I have been keeping a close eye on the movement, and I have yet to hear any formal statements declaring that they are a "whites-only" group and that "people of color" are not allowed. One recent survey concluded that black people make up about 13 percent of the atendees of the Tea Party movement, which coincidentally is about the same percentage black people that make up the general population of America. In fact, not only do black people allowed to attend the Tea Parties, they even speak at them too!

Alfonzo Rachel just recently wrote an article for the website Big Government where he states:

"Remember the good old days of black rage, when it was common place to know better than to mess with the brothas? Many a white folk radiated a pheromone of fear around the melanistic men and women who could snap and issue a retroactive cathartic beat down at any moment if they thought whitey was trying to get mighty again.

It ain’t that way anymore…

Now white folks are afraid of how much black people are going to complain.

The NAACP has been the flagship of making the black community look like the biggest community of sissies in America, as they continually promote us as victims. For decades they’ve boo hoo’d about the white man, yet remain loyal to what has always been an oppressive party; the Democrat party."

Now I don't know if I would go so far as to say Democratic Party has always been oppressive, but the point I would make is that there are black people who do not blindly follow the Democratic Party because it once passed the Civil Rights Act (which was a good thing). And there are people who still remember that it was a Republican president who freed the slaves during the American Civil War.

Now anyone who has followed politics at all in America within the last 20 years knows some of the nasty things that are said about black people who dare not to vote Democrat. They are frequently called "Uncle Tom" or traitors, or accused of having Stockholm Syndrome, or several other things that I dont' even want to write on this blog because they're too mean to dignify.

Maybe I'm wrong, but isn't it a bit racist to prescribe an political philosophy to a certain group of people just because they are of a certain race? If any white person dares to mention that all black people think alike, they would be called out as being racist (and rightfully so). However when black people and white "liberals" in the media slander and libel black Conservatives/Republicans, they are just being good citizens or vigilant soldiers in the fight against racism.

Does any of this sound remotely absurd yet?

I believe that real racism is a serious problem and should be taken seriously, but when people go around slinging false or casual accusations of racism like people throwing candy from a parade float, it just makes it harder to deal with real racism. And that my friends, is a serious problem.

If there are any people out there waving racist signs, they need to be called out and dealt with. However, people on the Left now using false or casual accusations racism as a blunt instrument to bludgeon poltical opponents into silent submission is the worst kind of politics and I fear it may have some really terrible repercussions down the line.

On Americanism

2010-06-30T12:14:00.006-04:00

Dennis Prager has been one of my favorite talk show hosts for a while now. He wisely prefers "clarity over agreement", meaning if we can't agree, let's at least be clear over what disagree on.

One of my biggest gripes about The Right (and/or Conservatives) is that they all too often can not properly articulate what it is they are all about. And because of this, The Left can distort what they say all too easily and skewer any argument in their own favor. This is why I believe clarity is desperately needed in political arguments these days. If one side can't explain themselves, and the other is all too willing to exploit that, then forget about getting any kind of meaningful discussion on things.

So now we have Dennis Prager clearing things up a bit on the subject of Americanism....

The Earth Wants Plastic

2010-06-25T19:55:00.005-04:00

With gallons upon gallons of oil bellowing up from the ocean floor, it's easy to get depressed about the state of the environment. But for all of you are there stressing about global warming and mankind's impact on the planet, I offer to you these words of wisdom from the late, great George Carlin...

Stuck in the mud...Oh wait, that's oil

2010-06-22T15:07:00.006-04:00

I don't even know where to start....

So the news these days is even more depressing than ever 'cause of this oil spill business. BP, is the most qualified to deal with situation and they can't get a handle on it. All Obama can do is talk about kicking someone's ass

Oh yeah, Obama is also playing a lot of golf to try and take his mind off the fact that this disaster is all pushing him ever closer to being just another One-Term president.

The Left is whining 'cause we haven't gotten of oil like other countries. And even thought I am not on the political Left and would LOVE to find a way to "get off oil" it just ain't gonna happen any time soon.

David Frum explains it best: Getting Off Oil Easily Is A Fantasy

My New Favorite Song

2010-06-03T12:08:00.001-04:00

Against Me! – “I Was A Teenage Anarchist”

(lyrics)

I was a teenage anarchist
Looking for a revolution
I had the style, I had the ambition
Read all the authors
I knew the right slogans
There was no war but the class war
I was ready to set the world on fire
I was a teenage anarchist
Looking for a revolution

Do you remember when you were young
And you wanted to set the world on fire
Do you remember when you were young
And you wanted to set the world on fire

I was a teenage anarchist
But the politics were too convenient
In the depths of their humanity
All I saw was bloodless ideology
With freedom as their doctrine
Guess who was the new authority
I was a teenage anarchist
But the politics were too convenient

Do you remember when you were young
And you wanted to set the world on fire
Do you remember when you were young
And you wanted to set the world on fire
When you were young
And you wanted to set the world on fire

I was a teenage anarchist
But then the scene got too rigid
It was mob mentality
They set their rifle sights on me
Narrow visions of autonomy
You want me to surrender my identity
I was a teenage anarchist
The revolution was lie

Do you remember when you were young
And you wanted to set the world on fire
Do you remember when you were young
And you wanted to set the world on fire
When you were young
And you wanted to set the world the fire
When you were young
And you wanted to set the world the fire

I was a teenage anarchist
I was a teenage anarchist
I was a teenage anarchist
I was a teenage anarchist

From Freedom to Serfdom in Five Minutes

2010-05-11T14:53:00.004-04:00

For those of you wondering why some of us are not just clamoring for more and more government in these harsh economic times....

And for those of you who've always wanted to read "The Road to Serfdom" but could never find the time....

The Trouble with Liberals, Part 1

2010-05-10T11:00:00.010-04:00

From time to time on this blog, you will hear me talk a good bit smack on "liberals". And this is coming from a guy who once would have proudly called himself a "liberal".

In fact, my major gripe is more with the philosophy of Modern Liberalism than with most people who call themselves liberals. Most of these people are flawed human beings, like myself, and for the most part, decent Americans who want their country to thrive.

That beings said, I believe a lot of liberals have come to buy into a system of beliefs that just don't jive with reality. Getting to the roots of this problem will take much time and many more blog entries. In a previous post, I mentioned that a lot of people come to their political philosophy out of spite. Maybe, because they grew up around a bunch ignorant rednecks who were very conservative for some not-so-pure-and-virtuous reasons. Unfortunately, there are those conservatives and/or libertarians who aren't always a credit to their cause (and I'll deal with them in a another blog on another day).

Many liberals believe that conservatives want to take us back to kinder, gentler, time in America when there was a place for everyone and everyone was in their place (i.e.: women and minorities had no rights and white men ruled the land with an iron fist). This just isn't true.

While there are some nasty folks on the right side of the political aisle, most people on the right are decent folk who understand that the mistakes of America's past were in fact mistakes and are not to be repeated. They will happily and proudly support the rights of anyone equally just so long as they are not using those rights to hurt others.

One of the things that struck me as I went through my political conversion is how many conservatives and/or libertarians, like me, were once devout liberals. In fact, many of the conservatives I know today were at some point liberal, and then crossed the political aisle.

And since some of these people are smarter and more articulate than myself, I'll let them get the last word:

David Mamet - "Why I Am No Longer A Brain Dead Liberal"

John Stossell - "What Am I"

Dennis Prager - "Why I Am Not A Liberal"

Au Contraire...

2010-04-29T12:02:00.010-04:00

There comes a time in any sane person's life where they find themselves in a bad situation and they must stop and ask themselves: "At what point did this all start going so horribly wrong?"

While I'm not a big fan of whining, there is seems to be no shortage of things to whine about in this day and age. And since I'm the kinda guy who likes to know why things are the way they are, I ask: "Why do things suck so much these days?"

Craig Ferguson seems to have figured it out:

So as Ferguson points out, it's all about the youth these days. We have a culture that often seems geared to keep us in a perpetual adolescense. A nation of teenagers, or at least, teenagers-at-heart.

A lot of teenagers rebel by developing a contrarian streak, basically challenging anything and everything they've ever been told by anyone older than them. For some people like myself, who grew up in a small Southern town, this means rejecting the knee-jerk conservatism and becoming fire-breathing liberals (Liberal in the Modern sense, not in the Classical sense, which will be another blog for another day).

Like most rebellous kids, a lot of liberals, eventually come to their senses and realize all that stuff their conservative elders told them growing up wasn't complete BS and then they wise up and start dealing with the world as it is, and stop crusading for some utopia that will never exist. And like yours truly, they see the light and become conservatives and/or libertarians.

Then again, there are people who do not wake up. They adopt the contrarian philosophy as a way of life. One of my major beefs with Modern Liberalism (aside from the fact that most of the people who call themselves liberals really are not truly liberal)is that most of it is based on being contrary to wisdom that has kept the human species going this far. It also runs contrary to all the things that has made American great, in spite of its historically documented mistakes. The beauty of America is that in it's short history it did correct these mistakes on its own, even at a terrible cost to people who were fighting not just for their own personal benefit.

And so we come to this: Evan Sayet explaining "How Modern Liberals Think."

Much of knee-jerk modern liberalism comes from a philosophy of being contrary to what is the prevailing philosophy of the greater majority of the country. Unfortunately, when you live in a country that values freedom and prosperity (for those willing to earn it), you wind up taking that country down a dark path.

While yours truly is all for bucking conventional wisdom, sometimes you come to realize that conventional wisdom sometimes becomes conventional for a reason.

Grounds For Divorce?

2010-04-12T00:08:00.005-04:00

Well one thing that's become painfully obvious since my last incarnation on the blogosphere is that America has become more polarized than ever. Perhaps few things sum it up better than John Wall's Divorce Agreement, which basically is the legal papers Conservatives would file to divorce themselves from their Liberal counterparts. In short he's all but advocating for the dreaded "S" word = Secession.

As a libertarian, I have more than a few gripes with so-called Liberals at the moment (I don't think most of them should even be able to call themselves Liberals, but that's another blog for another day). That being said, I'm not always down with my Conservative brethren either, though they are much more pleasant to hang out with these days.

Now "the Hawk" (a.k.a. yours truly) doesn't like to talk about such unpleasant things, but quite frankly, some of you "liberals" out there have just become a bunch of haters. Just as bad as anybody on the conservative side, a lot of times just plain worse. As the saying goes, "Conservatives think Liberals are wrong. Liberals think Conservatives are EVIL." You can find ways to get along with someone who is just wrong, but how do you deal with someone who you think is evil?

The old cliche is that "Conservatives want to control your morals, while Liberals want to control your check book." Being a libertarian, I ask: "Can't I control both?" Maybe I'm just a control freak, but I like being able to make decisions for myself. I don't like being lectured on how I need to pay more taxes by people who are rich enough too afford to pay lots of taxes and still live like kings and queens. I also don't like people telling me I need to "get saved", when clearly they need some "saving" themselves (again, another blog for another day).

I think this clip sums it pretty well:

And for any of you Left-Wing types who want to bitch about all this talk of secession, just remember in 2004 (after George W. Bush won his Re-Election) when some of you didn't think it was such a bad idea:

I Have The Right To Remain Silent....

2010-04-05T01:30:00.002-04:00

I just don't seem to have the ability.

It's been a while since the Hawk left the blogosphere for the quiet confines of the silent majority. But a lot has gone down since Hope and Change have become the way of the world, or at least America.

Most people thought that the election of our current president would unite the country and move our great democracy (I mean republic) forward toward greater freedom and prosperity.

As it turns out, this ain't been the case. I know my voice is just one of many that are and will continue to shout as the ever-creeping forces of nanny-state authoritarianism slowly piles onto the land of liberty like so many straws being laid on a camel's back. The camel ain't broken yet, but he's feeling it. Big time.

I'm no soldier, and I'm sure as hell not advocating violence towards anyone. But I, for one, don't want to look back on this time as an old man and say that I did absolutely nothing while my country became undone by it's own laziness and stupidity.

Well....there's a lot more to say, and I'll be saying more from here on out. This will be the 3rd incarnation of this blog. I'm not a practicing Buddhist, but I've always been fascinated by the concept of "dharma". By some definitions, "dharma" means truth, at least has the connotation truth as well as being the natural order of things, or the "rightness" of things. I like the idea that there is a greater truth out there that can not be be denied.

At the end of the day, all I seek is the truth. I have to believe that if enough good people are exposed to the truth they will make the correct decision. Let's hope that's the case.