Bio

Born in Philadelphia in 1943, married Linda in 1968, 2 kids.  We're Evangelical Christians, not at all churchy.  Spent most of my career in communications facilities design.  We now live on Social Security, and I receive a Medicaid paycheck for caring for Linda.  Lived in a handful of countries, traveled to many more, and for 10 years I was VP of an international NGO serving the disabled poor.  Set up an office in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1998, and yes, the Taliban are repulsive, but that's the price of the entry ticket.

Linda is disabled from polio in 1948, and lives in a power wheelchair, now a quadriplegic.  Hasn't kept her from traveling to Afghanistan and a dozen other countries.  For more about Linda, she has a website.

We're passionate about politics.  Love our organic garden.  Greatly enjoy writing, and find Ricochet to be our real fun family.


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raycon and lindacon's Profile

raycon and lindacon
Name:
raycon and lindacon
Hometown:
Colorado Springs
Joined:
Oct 29, 2010

Recent Comments

raycon and lindacon

In a country with a make-it-up-as-you-go morality, we trust no one that we do not have a first hand relationship with.  We extend some degree of trust to businessmen since there is a marketplace passing judgement on their efforts.

We, however, trust no one in government.  Judges, legislators and bureaucrats are all members of the power seeking class, and can be trusted not at all.

raycon and lindacon

Butters: I love everything about Palin, her libertarian bent, her stand against cronyism and the ruling class, her championing of life.

But she doesn't make the arguments well enough in interviews. Others can get away with this, but with the MSM dead set against her, she can't, she has to be great.

She should have taken a lesson from Lady Thatcher and focused on her speech and delivery. Conservative women are held to a different standard and Thatcher new it, she had to go above and beyond to be taken seriously.  · 3 minutes ago

So, are you saying that although Palin is a serious libertarian /  conservative who has the cojones to confront the establishment statists of both parties, she comes up short because she lacks Lady Thatcher's articulation talents and she is therefore inferior to the play-it-safe GOP drones?

The perfect is the enemy of the good, and we have far too few good conservative politicians to take a pass on anyone of Palin's abilities.

raycon and lindacon

FJG;  "If she wants to play politics again she needs to go back to her roots and do some things worth doing, to show what needs to be done and that she is the one that can do them."

We assume that the poll is referring to the 2014 senatorial election.  Palin should run and capture the seat.  Then, in 2016, she can run with approximately the same political stature as Obama, but with actual leadership experience.

Palin/Cruz.  Or Cruz/Palin.  Either way, the GOP will finally matter.

raycon and lindacon

We're in.  Just ordered the Kindle edition.  We read books together, so you can call this a two'fer.

raycon and lindacon
Mike Visser: The obvious solution is to kick all straight men out of the military. · in 1 minute

Historically, there has always been a degree of homosexuality in the military.  Occasionally there is homosexual aggression against male military members.  We don't hear about it in the media because it is taken care of in back alley confrontations.  Problem solved.  It isn't uncommon to hear stories about such confrontations.

Our personal view of homosexual activity isn't relevant to this post.  It is about sexual assault targets determining not to be victims.

raycon and lindacon

If we're not mistaken, we are talking about the military.  Isn't that where men and now women are trained to do violence, even to kill, to overcome an enemy threat?  Napoleon said that an army marches on it's stomach.  Had he known more about human physiology, he would have said that an army fights on it's testosterone.

Human physiology is a very real and immutable part of reality.  Once the testosterone starts to flow, whether in training or actual combat, instinct gains prominence.  Don't believe it?  Try getting between a bull moose and a cow in-season.  

Humans are different... to a point, but instincts are overcome by self-discipline, not rule books and punishment.

Women are being trained to assume positions among men trained to be aggressive, not simply assertive.  Women are being run through physical training and taught to use violence against aggressors.  Where is that training being employed?  Can they not handle a male counterpart when he is over the line?

This isn't an issue about women as victims.  It is about women failing to defend themselves even though that is their training and what is expected from them.

Re: Umbrella

raycon and lindacon

We can only add our agreement.  And it is doubtful that almost any civilian could manage the poise and grace which the marines bring to an otherwise menial task. 

raycon and lindacon

As Rush fans, we find the parsing of his pronouncements to be a temptation, and caught the very inference he made, as noted by Richard Fulmer.

But, we walk with great care in being critical of him.  Rush is virtually the only powerful voice that consistently presents the message of conservatism to a mass audience, and we do not want to diminish his influence, lest we unknowingly become a tool of his critics.  If Rush starts to wander off the reservation, a happening we do not anticipate, then we will join the critics.

But that will not be because he articulates a point in-artfully.

Edited on May 18, 2013 at 6:57pm
raycon and lindacon

Funding is a function of a budget.  The US congress has not passed a budget in four years.  Their solution is continuing resolutions, which merely approve the previous years spending limit, but do not require that the original department budgets remain in place.  The result is that each year the same amount of spending is authorized.

But, the other element in this charade is the debt limit.  The new Secretary of the Treasury, Jack Lew today demanded that the congress approve another increase in that limit.  To the administration, this is a non-negotiable demand, to use his characterization.  Of course this is superfluous, because the Republicans operate in utter terror the moment the rebellious Tea Party members show signs of disapproval.

Bottom line;  there is no mechanism currently functioning within the legislative branch of government to block Obamacare. 

The only way it can be blocked is by courageous action, and if you are expecting that, you haven't been paying attention.

raycon and lindacon

The money supply is expanding apace, but borrowing at record levels offsets the effect of the printing press.  As long as we borrow as fast as we print money, the inflationary explosion will not erupt.

But, when the debt bubble collapses, not only will the economy suffer a massive contraction, but the hyper inflation will be upon us as a second blessing.  When the collapse comes, it will be a mighty crash.

raycon and lindacon

The obscene photo of a dead American diplomat being abused by his Islamist murderers is the symbolic statement that best describes the man who declined to take the 3:00 AM crisis phone call, even though it first came during normal working hours.  The photo of a crowd of Americans protesting the government headed by said same president, and being persecuted by that government, adds a dimension of reality to this surreal administration.

raycon and lindacon

Western Chauvinist: Iwas going to critique the Pope's message. Iwas going to bemoan how this will embolden the social justice elements in the Church. But, frankly the ignorance (socialism isnot a doctrine of the Church, people!) and anti-Catholic sentiment is leaving me feeling pretty alienated from people I may disagree with on theology, but otherwise agree with on the subject of capitalism. 

I'm out. · 1 hour ago

We are in danger of conflating the comments of the Pope with the doctrine of the Church.  You are correct in your defense of the Pope, but less so in your understanding of the reaction.  We are all too aware of the leftward tilt of the Conference of Bishops, and the efforts of liberationist theology to support progressivism.  That America has proven capitalism to be the most perfect system to express freedom and to help the poor seems to have been lost on the church.  And now, as America perverts the principles of Locke and Adam Smith, the collapse finds enthusiastic support in the economic ignorance of the Pope himself.

This isn't about doctrine, it is about practice.

raycon and lindacon

It is curious that, at a time when we decry the loss of our Constitutional republic to the forces of godless progressivism, we still display our ignorance of the Western Judeo-Christian world view that impelled the Founders towards the ideas that gave us the greatest gift any people ever received; a government based upon the laws of nature and of nature's God.

Western Judeo-Christianity was the sole basis upon which the Founders established both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.  Sadly, they failed to foresee a time when our understanding of their intent was so diluted that we would be unable to distinguish between the presence of a Bible, and the feigned offense of those who hate not only the Bible, but the very foundation of America.

raycon and lindacon

"A simple National VAT".

By definition, there is no "simple VAT tax".

The European VAT is a tax on every stage of production of a commodity.  Tax digging the ore, Tax smelting it into metal, Tax transporting it to the rolling mill, Tax the rolling of the metal into sheets, Tax transporting it to a manufacturer, Tax the manufacturing process, Tax shipping it to a store, Tax the purchase.  It is a bookkeeping nightmare designed to grow the bureaucracy.

A simple Retail Sales Tax captures the taxes without the leviathan bureaucracy.  Remember, when a politician proposes a VAT tax, he is looking for a way to really screw you. 

raycon and lindacon

Joseph Paquette

raycon and lindacon: To prompt your memory, the IRS was created as a Constitutional agency by the 16th Amendment.  It can only be repealed by another Constitutional amendment.  If you expect that to occur, you really haven't been paying attention.

"The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several states, and without regard to any census or enumeration."  --  16th Amendment.

There is room in here for courageous action by Congress, but we refer you back to our third sentence. · 4 minutes ago

Congress SHALL have the power....Not Congress MUST collect taxes on income.  We don't HAVE to have an income tax based on the 16th admendment, it just made it constitutional.  It will not take another admendment to stop the income tax.  But revoking the 16th would end it for good.  · in 2 minutes

You are correct.  Nevertheless, we refer you back to the third sentence;

"If you expect that to occur, you really haven't been paying attention."

raycon and lindacon

It is unfortunate, but not unusual, that a man of limited experience in a corrupt third world country would universalize his experience, rather than seek a broader context for his pronouncements.

A bit of education, ala; Fr. Sirico, would go a long way towards clarity of communications.  The Pope rightfully condemns the corrupt world of statist capitalism and then looks to the even more corrupt principles of socialism for his solution.

As Dennis Prager says, prefer clarity over agreement.

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