“Sweet Baby James” Should Stick To Singing, And Related News
Let me just say from the outset that I grew up listening to James Taylor. He was a fixture at UNC-Chapel Hill in his early days since his father was a professor there. We North Carolinians always considered him one of our own. His songs are classics, standing the test of time, and I love them still.
But he should shut his piehole and just sing, rather than opening his mouth on political issues about which his reasoning is tremendously flawed. What he is suggesting is bordering on treason, though I doubt many people would hold him to account for that. Specifically, Taylor said this yesterday after he sang for Obama in an interview with the Daily Caller:
[...] “I think the nation is very divided on gun control,” Taylor told TheDC, “but I think the majority of us feel strongly — even the majority of gun owners feel strongly — that we need to make some sacrifice[s] to our freedoms, if that’s the way to put it. We need to make some sacrifices to what we might want to have, in order to safeguard our children.”[...] (Click here to read the rest).
I’m sorry, what was that? Sacrificing some of our FREEDOMS will help to safeguard our CHILDREN? Please, please expound on your logic, and justification, for such an assertion. I would love, LOVE, to hear how Americans becoming LESS FREE will help future generations of Americans.
Wow. Are you kidding me with this??? Never mind that even FBI statistics have made clear that as gun ownership has risen, the rates of murders and violent crimes have gone down. Statistics have also demonstrated that the stricter the gun control law, the worse the gun violence is. Don’t take my word for it, go take a stroll in areas of Chicago or California or DC and find out for yourselves.
I say this as someone who is not a gun owner. As I have stated before, guns scare the bejeezus out of me. BUT – I cannot abide using fallacious logic to make an emotional, irrational argument, especially one that would restrict our Constitutional rights. I have issues with that, especially when the logic is so flawed. Again, as Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously said, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.“
Precisely. But that is what too many people do in the throes of an emotional argument – disregard facts and treat their opinion as if it is a worthy substitute for actual data. Uh, yeah, NO.
While Mr. Taylor is suggesting we abdicate some of our freedoms, I would sure LOVE for him to tell this mother why she should have to give up some of her freedoms “to safeguard” her children:
This woman did everything she could to AVOID a confrontation with this intruder, fleeing from room to room, and finally into the attic. He was hellbent on doing harm to her, as is indicated by his pursuit, and breaking down locked doors. But she did what she had to do to protect her children. (And not for nothing, but considering the intruder’s rap sheet, just why the hell was he not in prison?? Just 6 months for Battery? What the hell?)
And along the lines of those who wish to dismantle the United States, just GUESS who the Association of Teacher Educators picked as their keynote Speaker for their convention in Atlanta next month? Did you guess Obama buddy and Domestic Terrorist Bill Ayers? I’m sorry, I meant to say, “UNREPENTANT” Domestic Terrorist, since that is what he is. Don’t believe me? Well, check out this little NY Times interview given on – Wait For It – 9/11. Yes, 9/11/01, when the terrorists struck our nation:
”I don’t regret setting bombs,” Bill Ayers said. ”I feel we didn’t do enough.” Mr. Ayers, who spent the 1970′s as a fugitive in the Weather Underground, was sitting in the kitchen of his big turn-of-the-19th-century stone house in the Hyde Park district of Chicago. The long curly locks in his Wanted poster are shorn, though he wears earrings. He still has tattooed on his neck the rainbow-and-lightning Weathermen logo that appeared on letters taking responsibility for bombings. And he still has the ebullient, ingratiating manner, the apparently intense interest in other people, that made him a charismatic figure in the radical student movement. [...] (Click here to read the rest.)
The only difference between Bill Ayers and Timothy McVeigh is that anti-Capitalist Ayers had a rich daddy, which enabled him to get off. And his response to his acquittal? “Guilty as sin, free as a bird.”
But that wasn’t the only incendiary thing Ayers said. He also advocated this:
“Kill all the rich people. … Bring the revolution home. Kill your parents.”
Again, Ayers grew up in a wealthy home. But please don’t dismiss this as just the rhetoric of a young domestic terrorist. Oh, no. Ayers said this just this past March:
Never mind that he has done pretty well for himself. And never mind that he wouldn’t have a salary without capitalism. Whatever. More of that pesky logic that is so easily dismissed…
It just begs the question: why would the Association of Teacher Educators have this man, this unrepentant domestic terrorist and anti-Capitalist, as their Keynote Speaker? If you can answer that for me, I’d sure appreciate it, because I do not get it.
Just like I don’t get fellow citizens who so easily suggest giving up our Constitutional rights based on nothing more than emotionalism.
But that’s just me. How about you?
In response to Mr. Taylor: “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” ~ Benjamin Franklin
YES, Kenosha – perfect, PERFECT rejoinder. Mr. Franklin was spot on…
This is the problem when actors and singers start spouting off on non acting and non singing topics. Its usually surprisingly horrible.
For what its worth my mother in law admires Mr. Ayres (and Ms. Dorn), and says I would have to have lived through “Viet Nam and Kent State” to “understand” (FWIW she lived through neither, beyond what was printed in the NYT). Then she sort of giggles and flaps her arms like a baby bird trying to take flight. Its one of her least endearing moves.
Oh, good grief. It was a tumultuous time in the United States, but to attack the Capitol Building, the Pentagon, and other gov’t buildings was an act against the nation. I believe they call that TREASON. And for someone like Ayers, who grew up wealthy, with every benefit, to act as if he was so oppressed is just nuts. As was his call for young people to commit patricide. And someone like him is to be ELEVATED?? Please.
Oh, and here’s a fun little story. All abt the impact Ayers is having on our Federal curriculum: http://www.aim.org/special-report/terrorist-professor-bill-ayers-and-obamas-federal-school-curriculum/
•A leveling of all schools to one, low national standard, and a redistribution of education funds among school districts
•An effective federal tracking of all students
•The loss of the option of avoiding the national curriculum and tests through private school and home school
Nice. They call these 1960s retread people “liberals” why? Because that program sounds like something designed by Mussolini. Here little Johnny, bend over while we insert this lojack, it will only hurt for a second and its necessary for the “general welfare”. Dont worry, we will remove it when you are dead, which should be when you reach about 72 lest you become a burden on “society”.
Yep. That’s where we are headed – everyone is average, everyone is treated the same regardless of ability, everyone becomes a sheep. With a chip, apparently (or lojack – whichever way you want to go!).
Frightening, isn’t it??
I can’t believe the people like Ayers who did this type of terrorist activity are not in prison let alone still in prison.
I know, right? Not only is he NOT in prison, but EDUCATORS are embracing him, and have for years now. Remember back in 2008 when over a THOUSAND professors across the nation signed a document in SUPPORT of him? And these are the people educating our children.
That’s how we ended up with someone like Obama as POTUS.
I did live through the Viet Nam and Kent State years. They were terrible. But never once did I think that my opinion, I was very anti-war, gave me the right to blow things up or harm other people. That would, in my mind, have made me as bad or worse than what I was against.
Dorn and Ayers were and are excrement and those who admire them aren’t much better. Sorry to insult your mother-in-law but that’s how I feel.
EXACTLY, Kenosha. To use VIOLENCE to protest VIOLENCE. is absurd. And considering that was also the time of the Civil Rights movement and NON-Violence, it really flies in the face of any rationale why these two are treated as cult leaders.
Then again, so is Che Guevarra…
And while we are on the subject of schools, check this out:
I thought this was the case. The media reported that the FIRST day, but then they played fast and loose with the facts, claiming the assault rifle was used. It was not. AND, the law in CT WORKED – Lanza was denied a gun.
I am disgusted that the media, and politicians, have used this tragedy, fueled by misinformation, for political gain.
I really hate the dishonesty. “I love the second amendment, but”. No, you dont love the second amendment. So stop lying and start a movement to repeal it. Just be honest.
Also, if a state bans guns (one will try, you watch) is that not a violation of the infamous “equal protection” clause of the constitution? It seems everything else is.
You said it, hc. There is just rampant dishonesty abt this. But I guess they figure if they operate on the sheer emotionality of it, they won’t HAVE to do it the right way.
Sadly, it seems to be working.
Notice all of the reporters demeanor? They look utterly depressed that this updated evidence fails to support their narrative of President Obama’s call for assault weapon gun control. Seriously, I am getting paranoid about the true goals of liberals in this country. And that is not hyperbole.
No surprise when Media and politicians use a tragedy to push their agenda. They have no hearts, souls or integrity. And aren’t very smart about the topic they spout.
Great article by my hero Thomas Sowell on the topic:
Do Gun Control Laws Control Guns
By Thomas Sowell
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2013/01/22/do_gun_control_laws_control_guns_116757.html
And a question for them:
You said it, Kenosha. And yes, it is ridiculous when they continue to push the same meme that is DEMONSTRABLY false! WTH??
But yeah – no soul, no integrity – that’s where we are now on too many levels…
So, James Taylor thinks the majority of people, including the majority of gun owners, is willing to give up some freedoms in the name of safety? I don’t know what majority he’s talking about….must be the majority of voices in his head. James Taylor does NOT speak for me, for gun owners, or for the people who use guns for sport, competition, or to save the lives of their children. What an ass.
And…I came of age in the 60s. I may not have BEEN at Kent State, and I may not have BEEN in ‘Nam, but I was part of that time. I cried for those who died at Kent State, and I marched against the war in Viet Nam. And I was scared to death of terrorists like Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn and the SDS and the Weather Underground because they were violent for no reason other than to gain notoriety. That Ayers is a cult figure today and responsible for teaching our young and being paid to spout his hatred as a keynote speaker speaks volumes about the decline of our education system.
We are headed to mediocrity, where everyone is the same, everyone is average, everyone is equal. Except, of course, for the privileged like Dohrn and Ayers and Sweet Baby James. They’re special.
Gina, what an OUTSTANDING comment. You are so right – Taylor doesn’t speak for us, or for those who exercise their 2nd Amendment rights. To suggest that people should willingly give up their rights under the pretense of “protecting the children” is manipulative as hell, and juvenile.
I hear you abt the ’60′s – I remember Kent State, and the Viet Nam war – I had an uncle who was in the Marine Corps in Nam. He would bring his buddies over when he was on leave. It wasn’t something that just happened over there. He lost his best friend right before his eyes, blown to smithereens. That has an effect on a body, you know?
But to have someone like Ayers or Dorhn held up as cult figures, as you said, people who REGRET not doing MORE HARM to this nation, by EDUCATORS, no less, is astonishing.
You said it – and so well. We are headed to mediocrity, and too many in the DNC are all too happy for us to end up there…
So, it is looking like Romney was SPOT ON in several of his comments during the election. You know, ones for which the media hammered him. I am SO sure they are just going to rush to apologize to him now. Ahahahaha. Ahem. Here’s the link: http://www.bizpacreview.com/2013/01/20/is-mitt-romney-the-new-nostradamus-15715
Ick, Bill Maher. I cant believe people would actually follow that maggot on twitter (or anywhere else). Of course the author is right, just because Maher is too stupid to find Mali on a map doesnt mean it doesnt matter. In fact isnt it racist to write off an entire nation, just because its name sounds like a first daughter and its in Africa? I cant really tell anymore.
The comments are pretty toxic in areas too – why I would look I cannot say.
I feel badly for the Americans who say things like “they wont take my guns!” in the comments. Yes, they will. And if you dont give them up they will arrest you and throw you in jail, even if you just use them to defend your home from violent criminals. Thats how it works, ask the English. For the first time in my American life I can see it happening, these low information voters and drones feel unstoppable. Yet there they are crowing in the comments about how “they won”.
I can’t believe it, either. He is such a piece of work. I can’t believe anyone would give Maher a platform, but there ya go.
Uh, yeah – you are so right abt these low information voters. Check out this DISTURBING video of Obama supporters at the Inauguration yesterday: http://www.therightscoop.com/pathetic-obama-supporters-answer-where-will-obama-rank-in-presidential-history/
Wow, huh? What the hell are these people SMOKING?! Sheesh!
I am very, very concerned abt where we are headed as a country…
Obama said it all during his inauguration
“We have always understood that when times change so must we. That fidelity to founding principles requires new responses to new challenges. That preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action.”
And Americans cheered.
I remember watching a video of Nazis entering Paris. A frenchwoman was crying with joy, really just bursting with it. She was not alone, she was one of many apparently happy Parisians that day. The surreal feeling I got from seeing her is very similar to the feeling I get when I view Obama voters cheering the words above.
From the first “We have always understood” (no, we have not) to the final “collective action” it shows that this president and his followers are 180 degrees from any concept of individual liberty and limited government upon which this country was founded.
Its all gone.
And Americans cheer to a piped in Beyonce soundtrack.
HC, that is unnerving, to say the least. It is remarkable that the cheering masses don’t get that this whole “collective action” signals. You are absolutely right that it is a MASSIVE departure from the original intent of the Founders. That, too, is disturbing.
But the similarities to Nazi Germany are scary as hell. And they seem to be building up…
“He stopped the debt, and kept us from going bankrupt”. Brian Williams, Diane Sawyer, Martin Bashir, and Rachel Maddow must be grinning like cheshire cats. Spoon feeding their viewers the JournOlist-approved propaganda has worked like a champ. They’ve convinced them that the founding father 1st President, and the President that freed the slaves is less significant than the first black President. ~Sigh
Nicely said, sybilll – you nailed it! Yes, they surely must be THRILLED at the results of their “reporting.” Laughing all the way to the bank, too, I imagine. Incredible, isn’t it??
I just could not believe it – how ANYONE could put OBAMA above Lincoln, claim he had reduced the debt, or – joke of all jokes – UNITED THE COUNTRY, is beyond me. WOW…
And these are our fellow citizens. How scary is THAT?