Guayaquil. Ecuador, Part 2

Guayaquil is the largest city in Ecuador. Yep, took me by surprise, too. In fact, they have nearly a million more people than Quito. Located on the Guayas River just a few miles upriver from the Pacific, it is Ecuador's main port city. Our original intention was to take a bus from Quito down to Guayaquil, but there were safety concerns, what with muggings and rapes and all. So we all hopped on an AeroGal flight and headed on down to the coast.


After checking in at the Howard Johnson's, we had ourselves a nice meal outside along with our first taste of the Pisco Sour, an Ecuadorian mixed drink. Muy bueno, I must say. We didn't have time for much after that so , we just went down to this hill in the Las Peñas district, the artsy part of town. The hill has 444 numbered steps up to this old fort, complete with a lighthouse and a church. Great views of the city at night. We wrapped up the night with a few beers at this bar built into an old ship, or at least a replica of a ship.



On the 9th, we went down to the Malecon 2000, Guayaquil's recently renovated riverwalk. Millions were spent on this thing, as it's by far the most modern part of the city that we saw. It's probably the safest part of the city, and remarkably, it doesn't smell!! We went to a huge marketplace and bought our share of bags, Alpaca scarves, tee shirts, and Panama Hats. Love negotiating! "$20? No... how about $15?" This walk ended at La Rotunda, a statue of Ecuador's famous leader Simon Bolivar and some other dude.

For our last full day in the Guayaquil area, we chose to hire a driver to take us to the coast. We stopped first at the small beach "resort", Playas. Looking more like an abandoned former beach resort, our driver took us out of Playas and down a dirt road to a smaller fishing village. A more pathetic and sad scene I could not imagine. Garbage everywhere, half-haired pigs running around freely, and a rotting horse carcass on the road into this craphole, no one wanted to even get out of the van. We saw one guy in the doorless doorway of a house with no windows looking at his Blackberry. What the...? Stray dogs were everywhere. The smells of hot garbage, diesel, and death were enough to ruin your appetite, and the sights were enough to make you beg God for forgiveness for every time you complained about your job. I love being an American.

"Get us out of here" was the concensus, so we headed west to the larger resort town of Salinas. Now Salinas was more like it. Nice beach, boats in the harbor, and even a few bikini-clad latinas. We walked down the beach for a bit, and then our driver, through much effort, got us into the local military base to watch a sky diving exhibition. Unfortunately, the clouds were too low, and we didn't get to see any action, but we did meet a few Americans and downed a few much needed pieces of pizza.

Back in Guayaquil, we had another round of Pisco Sours after I scrubbed myself down in the shower with steel wool.

The next day, the entire crew was in town, and we were ready to pack up and head to the Galapagos.

Ecuador

Well, I'm back. And "Trip of a Lifetime" describes my trip perfectly. I have so much to tell, I'm going to break it up into parts, so enjoy. Hopefully, I can do the trip justice.

I was quite a bit nervous/anxious/excited when I arrived in Quito on the 5th. After all the waiting, the training, and the expenses, I wanted this trip to go off without a hitch. It took 21 hours to get to Quito from Anchorage. Fortunately, Scott and Karen were at the Folklore Hotel when I pulled up. Friendly faces. We giggled like schoolchildren for a bit, then headed down to Red Hot Chili Peppers for dinner. Hailed as the best fajita spot in all of Ecuador, it was on our list of places to eat. Not at all disappointing, I must say. Great food, great drinks, and they even pulled up Kalifornication on the stereo while we were there. They probably play the Chili Peppers at least once an hour there, but we thought it was funny anyways. $50 for three people to stuff themselves and down a pitcher of Pina Colada isn't a bad deal, regardless of how their fajitas were rated.

The "Founders Day" celebrations were ongoing throughout the first weekend we were there. Quito's birthday was that Saturday, so big crowds pretty much everywhere, bands on flatbeds or in buses driving around just playing music, and fireworks on Saturday night.

The travel caught up to me on Saturday, so dragging myself out of bed was somewhat of a chore. We didn't do too much that day. Scott needed eyeglasses, so we went on a hunt. We didn't get very far out the door when the Andean sky opened up and let loose a downpour that I can only describe as Biblical. Now, I'm not from the south, and have never even been there, so rain like this is an unfamiliar sight to me. I don't know if anything in the US could match this, but what I do know is that for about an hour, the streets of Quito were turned into rivers and Scott, Karen, and I were stuck hanging out under sidestreet awnings just to stay somewhat dry. Great stuff! When the rain lightened up a bit, we walked down to the SuperMaxi (grocery store) with no luck on the eyeglasses. We grabbed a cab that took us to the Mall El Jardin, a modern mall with all the amenities of a North American mall except English. Again, no luck, so we went back to the Folklore without new glasses for Scott, but still having had a fun day. Marty and Erin arrived later that night, and we watched the fireworks display while a little schnauzer yapped from the top of a house across the street. This isn't exactly a great picture of him, but you get the idea.

The next day, Scott was laid up all day from still unknown reasons. I think it was the beans he had at KFC on Saturday, but it could've been the water at the Folklore I used to rinse out his wine glass. In any case, he was out for the day tour, so Marty, Erin, Karen, and I went about the town with our guide Umberto, who spoke very little English. There's a hill called El Panecillo in the middle of Quito with a 45 meter tall statue of a woman at its peak. We all thought this was the Virgin Mary, but a bronze placard on the statue says "this is the woman from Revelations 12."

From El Panecillo, we went to Mitad Del Mundo, or the Center of the Earth, the Equator. There's a monument marking the equator surrounded by tourist shops and such, but as it turns out, when GPS was invented, they realized they were just a few yards off, so this monument is actually NOT on the equator. We went over to the actual Equator, where Marty went through an interactive tour that shows a few wierd phenomenon only found on the Equator. The rest of us didn't think it'd be all that interesting, so we skipped. Much to my regret. But I went back later, so I'll explain all that cool science stuff later on.

We finished the day up with a trip to an Inca ruins site, then to the Pululahua crater.

Driving around Quito was a pretty sobering experience in some ways. The stink of diesel fumes combined with the garbage we saw pretty much everywhere was enough for a bit of nausia every now and then, and the street vendors at every stoplight were a not-so-subtle reminder of how poor most people in Ecuador are relative to those of us in the West. On our way to Pululahua, we drove past a cafe that had rotisserie guinea pig out front. Guinea Pig. There were more than enough moments to remind me of how blessed my life really is.

Tomorrow I'll tell you about our time in Guayaquil.

Quito

I´ve arrived in Quito! The trip was long (21 hours total) and I sat next to a guy to Seattle who seemed to want to cuddle, but other than that it went off without a hitch. The stop in LAX was actually kind of nice. I had a chance to stretch my legs out for a few hours, get some reading done, and have a few brews. In order to get over to New Mexico for Christmas on my way home, I basically just purchased three round trip tickets with LAX as my centerpoint. It was the cheapest way to go and the only downside is long layovers there and I´ll have to pick my bags up and check them back in three times. Not a problem.

I´ve been looking forward to this trip for nearly a year and it´s finally here. This time next week, we´ll be in Galapagos. We´ll be touring Quito and Guayaquil until then, hoping and praying that no one gets mugged! Not to be too negative, but apparently it happens alot down here. Don´t worry - we´ll take all the right precautions! We´re staying at a B&B here in Quito, and it´s not exactly... ummm... well, Scott called it ¨Spartan Living¨and I think that sums it up. It´s clean and cheap, though, so I´m not complaining. And they offer tours, too, so I´m planning on taking advantage of that.

more to follow...

Giving it a rest (for now)

One week from this very minute, I will be sipping lazily from some kind of South American brew (with my flip flops on) in Quito, Ecuador. More thrilled I could not be, my friends. I've never been south of Costa Rica, so this will be an entirely new experience for me. 3 days in Quito, 3 days in Guayaquil, 7 days in the Galapagos, and 2 more in Quito on my way back. That's the plan and I'm stickin' to it.

I just bought my first DSLR camera (a Nikon D60) so I'll take lots of pictures!

As if on cue...

Check out my November 1st post "Marxism Part II", then read this.

This is what we're in for in an Obama presidency. Don't be surprised if not only home schooling goes away, but private schools as well.

Edit: 11/27/08
A German family is seeking asylum in the US for being persecuted for homeschooling their children. This centralization of education under the state is straight out of the Communist Manifesto and should not be ignored. Unfortunately, I can not help but think that the US will head down this very same path.

How Obama got elected

I thought for sure that I wouldn't be doing any political entries between the election and inauguration, but I couldn't resist this one.

John Ziegler performed a poll on election day to try and gauge how much people were truly informed of the facts behind the candidates. The results? Astounding to anyone who didn't get Howard Stern's interviews, but reinforcing to those of us who did.

How could anyone with any sense defend this? Any Obama followers out there want to take a stab at it, feel free to leave a comment.

There's an estimated 4 million people planning on going to the inauguration in January. How many of those actually know what it is that we've done here? We've put a Marxist in the White House, and the sightless and uninformed are absolutely thrilled.

Movie recommendation

Open Range

Kevin Costner
Robert Duvall
Annette Bening


greatest gunfight I've ever seen in movies
great writing
even a love story for the ladies

Monday

OK, so I'm coming home in two days. It's my last R&R in Anchorage before I head down to Ecuador. The excitement's been building for months now, so now I'm just hoping it won't be a let down. I had this thought last night of there being so much activity under water that I won't ever want to come back to the surface. My tanks will be bone dry of air after each and every dive! Either that or I grow gills and just swim away.

Your 401(k)??

Well, it may turn out that I was wrong after all.

I said earlier that Barack Obama would tax your 401(k). As it turns out, it's looking more and more like he's going to take it away altogether and turn it into a federally run guaranteed retirement accout (GRA). Turns out we Americans are too stupid to run our own lives, including our own savings.

More freedoms removed...

Bias

Chris Matthews, MSNBC - what a guy. His job is to make this presidency a success? It certainly warms my heart that this jackass is finally honest enough to admit how bias he is.

A "journalist's" job is to JOURNAL. Report what you see (all of it), and let the people decide!!

Journalism is dead.

Edit: Nov. 8th

In addition to Chris Matthews kissing Obama's rear end endlessly, we now have the Washington Post admitting it was bias during the campaigns. Well, no shit, Sherlock. Way to Cowboy up.

Journalism is still dead.

Lesson for Republicans

Mr. Jeff Shapiro, a former John Kerry intern, wrote a brilliant article in the Wall Street Journal today. Absolutely brilliant. George Bush has been slapped around, and for what? Trying to reach across the aisle in his leadership. Let this be a lesson to all Republicans, as we use the next few years to regroup. Stick to conservative policies. Stop reaching across the aisle. Democrats never do, so why should we? Let the them fail all by themselves (and they will) now that they have full control. I've said it before and I'll keep saying until the day God takes me out. Marxism doesn't work. It never has.

Masks no longer required

Didn't take long, did it?

Speaking on the Fairness Doctrine, Senate Rules Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said, “I believe very strongly that the airwaves are public and people use these airwaves for profit. But there is a responsibility to see that both sides and not just one side of the big public questions of debate of the day are aired and are aired with some modicum of fairness.”

"The airwaves are public"


What on earth does that sound like?

The sixth tenet of The Communist Manifesto:

"Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the state."

Why I voted for John McCain

I voted absentee today, and I voted for John McCain.

Even if I don’t change any minds, even if not one person reads this, it was a worthy little project putting this all together. Many know what they believe, but how many of us know why we believe it? In order for me to know why I believe what I believe, it’s every bit as important to know what I don’t believe. Too many of us simply follow the path we’ve been told to follow. By our spouses. By our parents. By our professors. By our pastors. Ones education is ones own responsibility and every source of information should be tested. Professors have their own slant, as do pastors, parents, and spouses. Listen to them, but listen with a grain of salt. Listen to me, if you choose, but listen with the same grain of salt. Then make up your own mind. And for goodness sakes, get out and vote!

I’ve heard what Barack Obama has to say – and I don’t like it. In fact, he scares me. So in reality, I didn't really vote for John McCain. I voted against Barack Obama.

“Change we need”, he says. Change to what? In order to change something you have to keep two things in mind: what you’re changing from and what you’re changing to. We already know that Obama and his followers hate George Bush. Big surprise. So we know what they’d change from. That’s pretty straight forward. But what are they changing to? What will Barack Obama implement as President?

For starters, Barack Obama received a “liberal rating” of 95.5% from the Americans for Democratic Action. This country doesn't need another Jimmy Carter. The MOST conservative Senator received a conservative rating of 93.5%. Obama is more extreme than anyone in the Senate.

John McCain will appoint judges who will interpret the law, not make it. Barack Obama will do the opposite. I cannot overemphasize the importance of this! The Supreme Court is almost perfectly balanced right now. Four conservative, four liberals, and one moderate (Kennedy). John Paul Stevens is basically on deaths door, and Ginsberg and Kennedy are in their 70's. If all three of these end their terms one way or another, that would amount to three Obama judges, extreme liberals all, who would shift the balance of the court to the far left. Barack Obama thinks the Constitution itself is "deeply flawed". Does he want to have it amended? He stated, concerning the Constitution, “it is not a static but rather a living document and must be read in the context of an ever-changing world.” Basically, he thinks the Constitution can be adjusted to the times. Might as well just throw it out if you believe that crap.

EDIT 11/19: OK, maybe that came off a bit harsh. It is not to say that Amendments to the Constitution are unwarranted. Certainly there's been the need, but one could argue that the Bill of Rights is simply part of the original document, leaving only 17 amendments in the last 220 years. Two of those 17 were prohibition related - count those out. Now we're down to 15 meaningful amendments. The 27th was initiated along with the first 10, but wasn't ratified until 1992 (200 years later if you can believe that). This leaves us with 14 meaningful amendments in 220 years, so it's not as if amending the Constitution is taken lightly. As well it shouldn't be.

John McCain supports the 1st Amendment. Barack Obama favors the freedom of the press only when it suits him.

John McCain served in the US Armed Forces, including graduating from the US Naval Academy, a proven training ground for leaders. Barack Obama has led… what? When?

Barack Obama favors giving Social Security benefits to illegal immigrants. John McCain does not.

Barack Obama favors the reinstitution of the Fairness Doctrine, another blatant stab at the First Amendment. "Freedom of speech" includes conservative radio. Liberals are being beaten horribly on the radio airwaves, and it scares them. Reinstituting the Fairness Doctrine would simply be the Liberals way of showing us how insecure they really are. If you think you're right, Liberals, Rush Limbaugh shouldn't scare you at all. In fact, you would welcome his voice!

Barack Obama not only refused to support the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act when he was in the Illinois state senate, he worked to undermine the efforts to pass the bill. This bill prevents the killing of babies born alive from a botched abortion. Say what you will about “life” before the baby exits the womb, but when that child breaths fresh air – NO ONE can deny that it is a life, and ending that life is murder.

Barack Obama is relying on the ignorant and uninformed to get to the White House.

Barack Obama said he didn’t know Bill Ayers. And yet… Notice not only the date, but that his wife was there as well. I’m just sayin’…

John McCain favors drilling for oil here in the US to help relieve our dependency on foreign sources. Barack Obama does not. Concerning ANWR: As an Alaskan who works in the oil industry, I have seen first hand the improvements in the minimization of land used for drilling operations. There is currently the largest horizontal drilling operation in the world taking place right up here where I work. The Liberty project will drill for oil from a land based drill rig to a reservoir that is 8 miles offshore. 8 miles of horizontal drilling means that from one drill site, companies can theoretically reach an area of over 200 square miles. (Area of a circle is PI*radius squared, for those of you mathematically disabled). This is light years ahead of where we were in the 70’s when Prudhoe Bay construction first took place. I was raised in Valdez, Alaska and worked out in Prince William Sound during the summer of 1990. I have seen the devastation of the Exxon Valdez oil spill first hand. I believe they should have been held accountable for their ineptitude of the oil spill and was disappointed with the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on the matter, but do you punish them for their profits when they aren’t the ones who set the global price for crude oil? Would you force Bill Gates to pay a windfall profits tax if you were tired of paying $400 for Microsoft Office? Neither would I, and you shouldn’t force the oil companies to do the same. Barack Obama would. Speaking of energy, I really like this T. Boone Pickens fella. Natural gas and wind energy, along with drilling for our own oil will ensure our independence from foreign sources. Alaska, from what I’ve heard, has huge potential for geothermal energy as well. We should be exploring EVERY viable option!!

John McCain’s father was an Admiral in the US Navy. His grandfather – yeah, he was an Admiral, too. They were the first father-son combination in US history to both reach that rank. That’s what I call an inheritance.

Barack Obama will institute socialized healthcare. I would encourage anyone who thinks the Canadian healthcare system is a model for the US to follow to read these articles: city-journal.org, wordpress.com. I know a few Canadians, and they all say that when it comes to the simple stuff - flu shots, broken bones, etc. the Canadian health care system works well. But when it comes to complicated medical issues, anyone who can comes to America. Why? Because although there are flaws in it, our healthcare system is the best in the world.

And what does Obama think of white people? Check this out. I highly suggest people educate themselves on Black Liberation Theology. It isn't good.


Obamanomics

In 1980, the top 1% of wage earners in this country paid 19% of the tax burden. In 2000, that number was up to 37%. Today, that number is 39%. Anyone who claims that George Bush has lowered taxes on the wealthy is either ignorant or a liar.

Housing crisis? Some think that once again, George Bush is to blame. It’s all too easy to blame him these days, isn’t it? Not this time. I address this in a blog earlier this week.

Barack Obama used to say that people earning under $250k a year wouldn’t see a tax increase. Well, in his infomercial he’s lowered that to $200k. His running mate has said that the number is actually $150k. Gov. Bill Richardson put it down to $120k. The proof is in the pudding, however. Barack Obama twice voted for tax increases on people who make just $42k a year.

Obama has now called those who don’t want higher taxes “selfish”. Income redistribution, or “spreading the wealth around”, as Obama puts it, is straight from the mind of Karl Marx. I’ve read The Communist Manifesto and I would encourage others to do the same. This is really the crux of why I’m voting for McCain. Simply put, Barack Obama is a Marxist.

Of course, if you’re not a Christian, what the Bible says probably doesn’t matter. But I am a Christian, so it matters to me. Christ said, “You will always have the poor among you…” (John 12:8a). He didn’t say “you’ll have them for a while and then you’ll solve poverty”. He used the word “always”. When you look through the scriptures and see how we are to treat the poor (James 2 in particular) is there any reference to Rome, the government of the day, taking your money and then giving it to the poor? The point of giving to the poor is the act of giving out of free will. When a gift is given out of free will, it provides not just for those who receive the gift, but for those who give as well. When you are forced to give, how much satisfaction comes with it? How much compassion would one put into a “gift” for the poor when it’s the taxman that’s taking it?

Barack Obama will restore the inheritance tax and dividend taxes. And he’ll tax retirement accounts. That’s right – your 401(k) will no longer be a pre-tax deferment under Barack Obama.

I would contend that Barack Obama’s policies aren’t “change” at all, but retooled tenets of past socialistic efforts that didn’t work. I could probably write tons more on this, but I’ll stop here.

I think I’ve made my point.

Quote of the month

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses due to loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been 200 years.”

Lord Alexander Tytler (1747-1813)
Scottish Born (British) Lawyer and Writer

Marxism, Part II

Earlier, I listed the first five tenets of Marxism. I'd like to now add the last five:

6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State
8. Equal liability of all labor
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equable distribution of the population over the country.
10. Free education for all children in public schools.

I want to briefly talk about number six and number ten.

When the "means of communication" is in the hands of the state, "Big Brother is watching" become more than just a punchline.

Well, number 10 seems harmless enough, doesn't it? When you read The Communist Manifesto, it becomes a little scarier. Here's how it reads:

"Do you charge us with wanting to stop the exploitation of children by their parents? To this crime we plead guilty. But, you say, we destroy the most hallowed of relations, when we replace home education by social."

Marx fully admits his disdain for parental rights. He believes the state can educate children better than parents and replaces "home education" with "social". Leon Trotsky said in 1932, "The majority of proletarian parents reconcile themselves to the loss of part of their parental authority the more readily as the state takes over the greater part of their parental cares."

If Obama is elected, you can count on home schooling to go by the wayside. You can count on private schools being regulated by the government and told what to teach and how to teach it.

More freedoms removed...

movie recommendation

Bullitt

Steve McQueen

The King of Cool

Doom and Gloom

In a typical Democrat manner, Barry Obama has predicted the next president will inherit a “significant recession”. Oh! Whatever shall we do? Well folks, in order for you to survive, you must – MUST – vote for Barack Obama, the savior of the world!! The Messiah. (Cue dramatic music) THE CHOSEN ONE!!

Well. Let’s get back to reality. Two years ago, the economy was fine. We, and I say “we” loosely, voted in a Democratically controlled Congress. Today, my 401(k) is in the shitter.

Let me share a few insights about the economy. If you were worth millions, and a perfect stranger came up to you and said, “I’ve got $1000 to my name, my credit rating is 400, and I want to own a home. Will you lend me the money?”, would the color of that person’s skin have any bearing on how fast you tell that fool to take a hike?

Me, neither.

The New York Times reported in 1999 that the Clinton Administration was pressing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into giving loans to people who couldn’t afford them.

And don't forget. Franklin Raines is one of Barack Obama's financial advisors.

And then there’s the one and only Barney Frank. Congressman Frank had himself a boyfriend, one Herb Moses. Herb Moses was the assistant director for product initiatives for Fannie Mae from 1991 to 1998, while his boy toy Barney was on the House Banking Committee, who has jurisdiction over Fannie. Conflict of interest, anyone? Republicans, and even President Clinton, tried to get more regulations on Fannie in the 1990’s and they were blocked by none other than Barney F-ing Frank. And he now has the balls to try and tell us that this mess is the Republican’s fault? Hats off to the Boston Globe for getting it right!!

Summing this all up quite brilliantly is Orson Scott Card… a Democrat.

Four days left, folks. Four days. If you haven't been praying yet, start now.

Life up North

What's it like up there?

The typical question whenever I tell someone I work on the North Slope. The answer really depends on what your job is and how you deal with being isolated from your friends or family. There's hundreds of people who work up here who are basically just laborers. They have no office, probably share a bedroom, and work hitches that can see them up here for 4 or 6 weeks at a time. No private space whatsoever and they work a vast majority of their time outside.

You couldn't pay me enough to live like that.

For me personally, it's not even remotely close to that horrible. It's not Club Med, mind you, but it's a workable situation. I have my own bedroom. I share a sizable office. I'm up here two weeks at a time, but I don't have to go outside very often. -45 degree weather in the winter and mosquitoes in the summer? No, thanks. The facility I live in houses about 40 people, so it's a small community here. It's not often an engineer will get a chance to rub elbows with operators, maintenance crews, and other field based employees. It brings a perspective on the work I do I've never had before, and because of that, the experience has been invaluable.

I don't know too many people who can say they've seen the Arctic Ocean, or an Arctic Fox, or the last sunset for the next two months. I saw a Polar Bear a few weeks ago. It was miles away, mind you, and I had to get the binoculars out, but I saw him!

Bias

When a columnist for ABC News admits it, you know it must be a problem...

Journalism is dead.

Constitution

With just about a week to go before the election, I'm going to hammer on some things I care deeply about.

First and foremost is the Constitution of the United States. One candidate calls it "flawed", which would lead me to believe that he wants to re-write it.

Guess who...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11OhmY1obS4

Rome

In his book Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon (1737-1794) said that the following five attributes marked the Roman Empire at its end:

1) A mounting love of show and luxury
2) A widening gap between the very rich and the very poor
3) An obsession with sex
4) freakishness in the arts, masquerading as originality, and enthusiasm pretending to be creativity
5) an increased desire to live off the state

Much to think about, yes? To fall into oblivion after rising to such heights? How far away from this are we?

More to follow...

Resurrection Bay

I love this picture. This is me just after a dive in Resurrection Bay, Alaska.

Marxism, Part I

“Spread the wealth around”

With those four words, Barack Obama has revealed exactly what his plans are - income redistribution.

From The Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx:

“…the theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property.

We Communists have been reproached with the desire of abolishing the right of personally acquiring property as the fruit of a man's own labor, which property is alleged to be the groundwork of all personal freedom, activity and independence.”

He continues…

“You are horrified at our intending to do away with private property. But in your existing society, private property is already done away with for nine-tenths of the population; its existence for the few is solely due to its non-existence in the hands of those nine-tenths. You reproach us, therefore, with intending to do away with a form of property, the necessary condition for whose existence is the non-existence of any property for the immense majority of society.

In one word, you reproach us with intending to do away with your property. Precisely so; that is just what we intend.

From the moment when labor can no longer be converted into capital, money, or rent, into a social power capable of being monopolized, i.e., from the moment when individual property can no longer be transformed into bourgeois property, into capital, from that moment, you say, individuality vanishes.

You must, therefore, confess that by "individual" you mean no other person than the bourgeois, than the middle-class owner of property. This person must, indeed, be swept out of the way, and made impossible.”

Finally, the first five of his ten tenets of society:

1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
5. Centralization of credit in the banks of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.



What concerns me the most is that this class warfare that has been stoked for so long is going to lead us straight down a path that’s been tried before, with miserable results.

Marxism doesn’t work.

It never has.

Movie recommendation

If you can handle subtitles, a movie called The Lives of Others is a fabulous look at life in a socialist society, East Germany, before the fall of the Berlin wall and when the Stasi police tracked every aspect of everyone's lives.

wine recommendation

2005 Desert Wind Ruah, Wahluke Slope Columbia Valley


you will NOT be disappointed

Underwater sightings

Saw an octopus on Saturday. Just hanging out at the bottom of the ramp in Whittier. No one had any cameras, so we didn't get a picture, but it was cool to see. Chalk it up to another "hadn't seen that before" for me.


Here's an interesting article from the NY Post.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/10202008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/dems_get_set_to_muzzle_the_right_134399.htm

The Dems are planning a full frontal attack on the 1st Amendment. They can't win on the radio waves, so they'll just shut people up in the name of "Fairness". If we applied "Fairness" to the publicly funded PBS, publicly funded university classrooms, and your nightly news, I'd be in favor of it.

Entry #1

Yes... I've done it. I have my own blog.

I certainly have no idea who's going to pay attention to anything I have to say, so this may end up just being a way for me to talk to myself.

Given that we're less than 3 weeks away from the election, you'll probably see alot of political rantings of mine, so buyer beware.

Hope all is well with all of you... I'm going scuba diving tomorrow, so I'm doing juuuuuust fine.