The Andre Controversa Show: Special Guest Kristan Hawkins

Kristan Hawkins, executive director of Students for Life. She will be with us during the 8:00PM hour to discuss various pro-life funding bills that are currently sailing through the House.

At 7-00 p.m. Colorado State Senator Bill Cadman will be calling in to talk about his bill to ban public employee unions.

At 7-30 There will be a debate between Joe Hargrave and Monica Miller about whether it's ok to lie to stop abortion. He does not agree with Lila Rose's methods of exposing Planned Parenthood; he considers it entrapment. Of course, Ronald Reagan, Elvis, or Flush Limbaugh might stop by. Host Andre Traversa, Co-host Jim Lagnese

Call in at 949-203-4821

Stream from here.

Happy 100th Birthday Ronnie

Today is Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday. What can I say? Re Ipsa Loquitur. I can remember, almost 30 years ago, Doris Daniels, my american history professor at Nassau Community College, say that Reagan would end up being a great president, and she meant it in a historical context. A lot of the kids laughed. I didn't.

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Meetings, Fairytales, Cheerleading and a Total Waste of Time

Have you ever gone to a meeting at work where it was an exercise in self-congratulatory mutual masturbation? Have you ever been to a family gathering where it's an incestuous version of speed dating where people talk about themselves in an effort to convince themselves they have a life? Or have you been in any kind of encounter where only positive thoughts are allowed? No negative waves, because it's more comfortable with our heads in the sand or is it up our asses?

All of this is really group narcissism. It's a tribe trying to reinforce not only why it should exist but why it's better than any other tribe. Think of it as an exercise in group-think conditioning.

You might belong to a family as above where when people gather, the exercise is to talk about oneself and how successful he or she is. Lots of families are like this. Generally though, there's an elephant in the room. May be uncle Ernie is a molester, may be half or more of the family are afflicted with alcoholism, or may be dad likes to smack people around. Doesn't matter. There's a narrative to paste over the dog shit like the vinyl façade of that cheap woodgrain plastic film on a 1972 Chevrolet Kingswood Estate Wagon. The fairytale in this particular case is that we're all successful, therefore we're all alright.

This doesn't end at home though. With the same pooper scooper, we bring the same piece of dog shit from home into work or other organizations like church, synagogue or some other social endeavors like sports (lets not forget political parties too. Let's not leave them out of this fun.). So goes the perpetuation of the fairytale. Lots of fairytales. No one wants to be on the losing team. Come on in for the big win. Got your pom-poms?

This time the elephant isn't in the living room, but in all sorts of places. While uncle Ernie's penchant for little people isn't the problem, other things things can be like nepotism, cronyism, harassment, perfidy, parsimony, back stabbing, and all sorts of cultural penury. Some people like to call this politics. What's the narrative? What's the fairytale? What's the self-talk that no matter what the bullshit, the outside world is faced with a smile of confidence that we are all ok? It takes really strong leadership to keep the dog shit float moving. What most successful leaders have is a good case of narcissism. Even Jesus was a narcissist. Wouldn't you call someone a narcissist if they said they were the son of god? What do Jesus, Obama, Steve Jobs and Reagan have in common (and a bunch of others, go to the link below.)? All have the same basic Myers Briggs personality type, ENFJ. Basically, the charismatic bullshit artist. I am getting away from my narrative here a bit, but you need someone really good with a shovel to keep the dog shit merry go round turning. They turn that white and purple polka dot elephant into a loving little Chihuahua. They may make it disappear altogether.

Of course all of their hard work will go down the tubes if it weren't for the cheerleaders. Another term for them are groupies. Gotta love Steve Deace for that one. The cheerleaders make the fairytales, the narratives possible. Without their hard work and supplicance, none of it would be possible. Remember, every tribe has a leader, and every leader has their henchmen. Just the way it is.

Groupies of course are much more dangerous than any narcissistic leader. These are the same assholes that make everything that is bad happen. Behind every despot is a peon looking for affirmation, approbation and validation. Beware of these creeps, they will ruin your day if not your life.

So where's the poop? There's plenty of poop to go around, as anyone who has lived long enough on this planet can attest, and it's usually handed out in disproportionate servings. Your serving size is inversely proportional to your status. Not only that, but the job of those above you, particularly those in leadership (remember the narcissists), is to ensure that. In fact, repeatability and reliability of business processes are paramount in any successful business and this extends to other enterprises as well, even back to our fictitious family. Reinforcement of the narrative, the fairytale is how the family will ensure if not reflect success. If not that, then at least be in a comfortable state of denial.

Basically, the poop is everywhere you look. We are human and therefore are capable of great scatological enterprises. It almost goes without saying. The biggest mistake is to bring attention to the narrative, the fairytales, the consequences of the tribe. God forbid you not only find the poop, but point it out. The tribe does not suffer well those who fall outside the ring of believers. This is because not only must the stink of the poop not be found, it must be worshipped as well. That's right, worship the poop. Those that create the poop must be continually comfortable in their scatological enterprise. If you do point out the poop, you will be burned at the stake.

So where does this leave us in this particular narrative? Beware of poop, narcissists, groupies, and tribes? Unfortunately, we will always have to beware of these. It's human nature to want to be right, to want to be on the winning team, to want to enforce will. That's not going away anytime soon. What does this mean? One, there's a place where the poop is tolerable for each of us. There's a pile of poop meant just for you. Really. And it won't be so bad. Two, choose your fights well. Getting burned at the stake over something that one,  isn't going to change and two, something that if it did, at what price, isn't worth it. Family, friends and country, in that order. That's what you fall on your sword for. Your family really is the only tribe that matters. Ultimately, work, your favorite sports team and not even a political party matter in the sense of application of tribal bullshit. Does the GOP go to work with me everyday and fix that pile of poop? Do any of the Yankees half to leave work early to pick up my kid from band practice? Will anyone outside of my own family really give a rats ass when I take the dirt nap? No and not really to any of it.

Most shit in life is a total waste of time and fairytales, meetings and cheerleaders are no exception. They serve to enforce the will of the tribe, sometimes through delusion, sometimes through perfidy, sometimes by accident. Most of the time by shear repetition. The object is to see through the dog shit and see it for what it is. It's dog shit. Let the world go its wanton way and do what you can when you should. Don't confuse your loyalties outside your family with family. And to the diversity and why don't we all hold hands and get along crowd, the smallest minority in the universe is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities. Also, real change doesn't start with the tribe or the village, it always starts with one person who thinks differently. That's what Steve says, anyway.



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What Would Anyone Do?

Taking the family out for dinner is always an excursion into frustration at times. Because of predictability, we tend to patronize the same places and even then, the factor of undecidedness rears its ugly head.

The other night, we went to Applebees with the family plus one exchange student from Germany we had been hosting for a few weeks. As the ritual goes, the college student cum ersatz waiter/waitress introduces him/herself and asks what we want to drink to start off. You've been to this drill, so it's nothing new. I order my normal iced tea and procede to peruse the menu.

In my minds eye I notice the throng in various stages of prandial wrangling and say to myself, what should I order? In a fit of autodidactic expulsion, I go off on myself: What would Jesus do? What would Ronnie do? What would Ghandi do? What the fuck will I do?

At this point our garçon du jour returns with drinks and asks around the table what each of us will be ordering. Well, Ronnie, Jesus and Ghandi are dead. They can't help here and two of them wouldn't have a clue as to what to order on the menu or  be inclined to. In this moment of indecision, for something as simple as eating, I came to a conclusion: All of us have to decide for ourselves.

Humans have a rather feckless and lazy habit of relying on others experiences to help them make decisions on how to run their lives, what to do day to day or to help get past a current problem. Some even seem to delve into scriptural steganography in order to find some hidden meaning to life or even what color they should paint their house. Relying on proven experience is a shortcut than can save a lot of pain and trouble. Why pay for the same real estate twice? Right?  On the other hand, it tends to circumvent our own internal rational processes and experiences for a subset of someone else's. It's a template for complacency and manipulation if taken to an extreme. Who cares what Ronnie, Jesus or Ghandi would do. They aren't here, they can't help, and to be honest, they aren't you or I, living in the experience that we are. At some point, we have to make the decision ourselves and that is where the rubber hits the road.

At this point the waiter works his way around the table and it's my turn to put in my order. What will it be? Since having lap band surgery a year ago, I am a little limited to what I can eat and should eat. I avoid the crap with fries, pop, and fried foods. At this point though, I am tired of the sam old, same old. I mean, should I try something different? Shouldn't I strive for change? Should I take the chance and possibly barf, giving the exchange student something to write home about (The lap bad has its own consequences in what you can eat)? Variety is the spice of life, right? At that point,  I circle back to my original thesis, which is to say, What would Ronnie do? What would Jesus do? What would Ghandi do? What will I do? What would anyone do? What is the rational thing to do? What do I feel like doing? It was a fit of analysis paralysis. For me that is deadly. Being a Myers-Briggs ISTP, making quick decisions based on sensory data is a forte. Getting hung up isn't. Usually this happens when there is either too much data or processes. Or I just can't make up my mind. May be I would have been better off asking, What would Clint Eastwood, Charles Bronson, Mel Gibson (God Forbid), George S Patton or Ulysses S Grant would do. At least they are fellow ISTPs and their experiences a closer to mine than Jesus, Ronnie or Ghandi, who had the same types of personality (ENFJ which by the way, is the most conflictual personality with ISTPs). The clock is ticking, WWJD?

I simply ordered what I always do. The Santa Fe Chicken Salad. It always works for me...Next time though, I will try something different. I promise.

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Ronnie The Libertarian

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Are We That Freaking Surprised?

Are that Freaking surprised? As the Fabian socialist constituencies (read that eco-terrorists and other far left leaning misanthropes) that propelled Obama to the white house are giving him a pass on the oil spill, the general public is growing ever frustrated with his incompetent and ersatz performance as president.

Here is a guy that never has had profit/loss responsibilities of running a business, and has not had any executive experience at all. The average manager of McDonalds has more executive experience than he had before being elected president of the United States. It's been on the job training since January 20th, 2009.

On top of this, his career has largely been a vehicle to create a mythical narrative for his ascendancy to where he is now. He's never taken any chances, and it's always been about him. Now that he's in a position where he can't pass the buck, where he can't blame anyone else, where he can't control the press or all the political operatives involved, we find out not only is the king naked, but he has a small pee pee and doesn't know what to do with it. he does ask a lot of advice from very respected people though.

We are almost 2 months into this oil well spewing millions of gallons of light crude into the gulf, and now we have the coast guard giving an ultimatum to BP: You better stop that leak. It's incredulous. For all the abuse George Bush took for Katrina and being labelled an idiot, he never earned it. Truth be told, Governor Landrieu told Bush she had to think about it for 24 hrs as to whether to accept his help or not, but he was down there in days, not months. And yet, we have the state run media playing along as best it can with rear facing excretory orifices like Matt Lauer asking when is he going to kick ass. Matt Lauer couldn't find his membrum virile with a map, GPS, Katie Couric pointing at it and Willard Scott giving directions. Obama is worse. I don't think anyone could make up a story as ludicrous as the scenario that has unravelled in the last 2 months, let alone the last two years.

So, in an ode to Stymie, that charming con man-boy from the little rascals, I hear by award Obama with the Stymie Mountebank Straw Man Magician Award for Total Incompetence for 2010. He conned most of us into electing him, and he'll try to con us into forgetting how bad he really is. The problem for him is, he can't run or hide from the truth now, and even with a if not obeisant press, a sympathetic one. The problem is, who is the Reagan of 2012? To be honest, that person hasn't shown up yet. What do you think? Are you surprised by his incompetence? If you think I am indulging in some schadenfreude, you are right. It's just that I love saying I told you so.

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Tea Party Members Break Reagan’s 11th Commandment to Ensure Constitutional Candidates

In what normally would be a quiet primary season in red Congressional districts across the country, a few Republican candidates find themselves under a microscope when they expected to coast to an easy primary win. While some claim it’s a violation of Ronald Reagan’s 11th commandment, tea party conservatives sin, throwing out the 11th commandment, to ensure the most Constitutional solid candidate gets the party nomination.

This is apparent in Missouri’s Seventh Congressional District. A few weeks ago, it looked like republican candidate Billy Long would coast through the primaries. Long had a significant lead in fund raising as well as having the most recognized name in the race. However, a chance meeting last fall led to one tea party member waging a campaign against the leading Republican candidate in the race.

Clay Bowler, the blogger at Bungalow Bill’s Conservative Wisdom watched candidate Long approach closer to his place in line prior to Claire McCaskill’s town hall meeting in Springfield, Missouri. A small-business man went up to Long and asked him why he couldn’t get a small business loan after the banks got the TARP money to free up the credit markets. He wanted to know what Long was going to do to make sure he was going to get a loan for his small business.

Long began to pander to the man, explaining what he would do. When he was done, Bowler asked him what in the Constitution gave him the authority to tell this man that he would help him. Long answered there was nothing. Bowler fired back, so why are you telling this man this. Candidate Long walked off.

After the meeting, Bowler began to realize that candidate Long had a long record in the local media of contradicting the platform put on his page, so he decided to challenge Long using the power of the Internet. He started the Billy Long is Wrong Web site. The site looks at the candidate under an intensified scope and examines the concerns he has of the candidate. Since the site was introduced, momentum has shifted to the more conservative Constitutionalist candidates.

This is the reality of the tea party movement, which is tired of more of the same from candidates that claim they are conservative republicans. Many tea party activists are asking what they can do to raise awareness for candidates that care about the Constitution and the limits of government, and more are turning to the Web to combat moderate candidates who don’t want to live within the limits of the Constitution. You can’t claim you are against the bailouts and then tell constituents that you will help them get their fair share. You can’t claim you are against the stimulus and then look to see how many millions and billions you can bring to your district.

Left Coast Rebel is another tea party blog that is working to promote Constitutional conservatives while weeding out RINO candidates. LCR is examining districts around the United States putting up red flags for Republican candidates that are running with a big ‘R’ platform.

LCR has been vocal in expressing support for little ‘r’ republicans that want to enforce the limits of the federal government. Normally, he wouldn’t get involved in other districts, but he has determined too much is on the line this election not to be more active in the election.
So conservatives and Republicans are breaking Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment. It’s not too hard to imagine that if Reagan was here today, he would probably be speaking up against what has taken place in the Republican party these days.

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Happy Birthday Ronnie

Happy Birthday Ronnie, wherever you are. You were the best we've had for the last 100 years and it's a shame we've slipped so far so quickly since you left us. Godsspeed.

The picture above is from the Berlin Wall...Mr Gorbachev tear down this f@#$ing wall!

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What Worries Me Part 2

As a continuation of a previous article, What Worries Me, I want to describe the flipside to Obama succeeding in a Fabian socialist agenda, which is Obama losing in 2012 as opposed to winning and succeeding in his agenda. What if the right drives over a cliff and we election another candidate that relies on the cult of personality? Below a definition of cult of personality from Wikipedia:

A cult of personality arises when a country's leader uses mass media to create an idealized and heroic public image, often through unquestioning flattery and praise. Cults of personality are often found in dictatorships and Stalinist governments.

A cult of personality is similar to general hero worship, except that it is created specifically for political leaders. However, the term may be applied by analogy to refer to adulation of religious or non-political leaders.

I would say that this definition fits nicely with Obama, at least initially. Obama tries to be a modern day FDR, except even more Fabian in nature. This is evidenced not only but the absolute incredulous and irrational adulation of his supporters but the control he has so far been successful with over the mainstream media. He has done so not with fear, but of agreement in principle. This had helped create an image of Obama that got him elected. What he and his magical handlers did count on and what FDR did not have to deal with, is the nature of media today. It’s available to more people today and much, much more quickly. The opposition media in the country has served as a balance to what I like to call the “government run media”. In reality they are the government-controlled media through manipulation through likeness in alleged beliefs. The end result of this is that Obama, as of this date, has an approval rating of 44%, which is a record in terms of the speed of decline for a new president.

So, what worries me? What worries me is that the opposition in this case might use the same tools, the same methods to promote and elect a leader in response to Obama. The difference would be that instead of an alliance between the mainstream media and the democrat candidate, the alliance would be between the opposition candidate and a grassroots mob if you will that circumvents the mainstream media’s efforts. In this case, you could say I am talking about Sarah Palin, although it could be someone else that pops up between now and 2011, when candidates get serious about running.

Why worry about Palin you ask? I will tell you this much: I like Palin, but not for clearly rational reasons. I am intellectually honest enough to say so, whereas some of my colleagues on the right are not so honest, and winning is more important than results afterwards, that we have to live with. Sound familiar? Palin is attractive, communicates well, and connects with people in a way we haven’t seen since Clinton or Reagan. Obama is more of a media creation, and connects with TotUS better than people. Anyway, if I take a step back and analyze what I know about Palin, the picture is not as rosy as her supporters would seem.

Palin is a former governor of Alaska. Sounds good, but not even one full term. Before that she was a mayor of Wasilla Alaska. Before that…? Compared to Obama, she has much more experience as an executive (Obama has none), but she doesn’t have a lot of experience when you compare her to Reagan, Clinton or even W. I am not sure we need another candidate that sweet-talks the camera and appeals on an emotional level. I think this is dangerous and we have seen the results of such choices. I think considering our current problems we need someone that can hit the ground running, not someone that will need on the job training. We have that now. My treatise here isn’t to bash Palin, nor is it about finding the perfect candidate, just the observation that one, we can do better, and two, we need to be careful about who we pick, because it really counts this time, and we have one shot to get it right. I think if she does her homework and does the right things, in 10 years she could be a viable candidate.

So what to do? I would like to see the Tea Party and 912er people get a little more politically involved and spread the liberty theme around, making it mainstream. The GOP has to be made to understand that it is not going to be business as usual: Placate an internal constituency before the election and forget about them afterwards. Republicans are famous for this. If this happens in 2010, the GOP should go the way of the Whigs. The only two things that have been on their side in the last year are an incompetent president and a democrat congress that has been bent on turning our country into a socialist nation. What the GOP should not glean from this is some sort of mandate that allows them to take power like a fat kid gloms fresh baked cookies from his grandma’s kitchen table. Obama made a similar mistake in thinking he got elected because of a socialist mandate. Wrong. In this scenario, Palin would do well as she would say “bugger off, I am doing it my way”. It seems that the GOP is like an ADD kid that needs to be reminded of his responsibilities on a regular basis. After a while, you have to ask, do we really need this?

So, I do worry how this will play out. I am heartened at times, particularly today upon hearing that two large banks, Wells Fargo and Citi, are going to pay off the government loans and get the government out of their business. Bravo and long live capitalism. I am a patient sort, willing to wait and see, are you? What do you think?

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