News We Really Need to Consider

Tips on pumping our expensive gasoline.....Save money

2011-03-06T16:15:00.000-05:00

TIPS ON PUMPING GAS

I don't know what you guys are paying for gasoline.... My line of work is in petroleum for about 31 years now, so here are some tricks to get more of your money's worth for every gallon:

Here at the Kinder Morgan Pipeline where I work in San Jose , CA we deliver about 4 million gallons in a 24-hour period thru the pipeline.. One day is diesel the next day is jet fuel, and gasoline, regular and premium grades. We have 34-storage tanks here with a total capacity of 16,800,000 gallons.

Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening....your gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products plays an important role.

A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.

When you're filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode If you look you will see that the trigger has three (3) stages: low, middle, and high. You should be pumping on low mode, thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some of the liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you're getting less worth for your money.

One of the most important tips is to fill up when your gas tank is HALF FULL. The reason for this is the more gas you have in your tank the less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the gas and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation. Unlike service stations, here where I work, every truck that we load is temperature compensated so that every gallon is actually the exact amount.

Another reminder, if there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT fill up; most likely the gasoline is being stirred up as the gas is being delivered, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom.

Gunslinger

2011-03-05T10:13:00.006-05:00

Have you yet realized just how polarized we have become as a nation, as communities, and worse still as individuals? In my more than half century of experience interacting with others I have generally enjoyed spirited discussion on a variety of topics, even political and religious discussions. Until recently, regardless of how intense these debates have become, in the end, we could just agree to disagree and move on. Not so today. Disagreements invariably result in personal attacks, especially online.

Suddenly to disagree with anyone on political issues is tantamount to insulting their heritage. Not only that, but every issue is either right or left. In the past I recall that most liberals and conservatives varied greatly on the issues, depending on the particular circumstances, life experience, even the mood of the day. That is no more. Any liberal takes the left stance on virtually every issue; political, social, even historical, while every conservative draws a line with ever stricter boundaries.

Have people changed? Has the friend you've known all your life suddenly become completely intolerant to others points of view? Has your family suddenly been divided at holiday gatherings, not by the adult and children tables, but the left and right tables? Have you, yourself, become increasingly vitriolic in your responses to others' opinions?

If the latter is true, is this only with respect to responses to emails or posts on social media, or are you just as vocal and belligerent face to face? My guess is that you are much less likely to be verbose in person than in print, and even less likely to be insulting in person with someone you know, versus in print with someone you don't! Is Facebook, Twitter, and other forms of internet communications polarizing our relationships?

The answer is yes, in spades. Just yesterday I read a post by an acquaintance who I believe to be intelligent, informed, and concerned that began "This man is deeply evil and stupid. Why must we balance the budgets on the backs of the poor when the rich not only caused most of our deficits but benefit from continued tax breaks....." This particular post referenced the Governor of Wisconsin, but unfortunately this is the norm for discussion on the news of the day. When discussing more specific beliefs and belief systems, people are even more disdainful and not only for public figures. The same or worse has been said about me for commenting or espousing conservative thought, and I have to admit I find myself, if not publicly, at least privately believing most progressives to be ignorant, if not literally traitorous.

Where is this taking us as a civilization? Many economists, particularly right leaning economists believe America is nearing the end of our status at the top of the food chain in world status. Most think the dollar will lose its' reserve status in the next few years, which would immediately reduce our standard of living by about 25%. I can't say whether or not these economists are right or wrong, but I can see our so called American exceptionalism fading, along with our intolerance to others points of view. We are exceptional precisely because we are so varied in our heritage, in our beliefs, in our vastly different abilities, all the while co-mingling without the class system of Europe, the hordes of Asian peasants, or the squalor of the third world. Our melting pot and our political experiment has until now worked to provide the absolute best standard of living the world has ever known.

How much longer will be able to say this? How much longer will we remain a free people? Do we still believe, as a society, in the free market system that produced our standard of living? I think not. Far too many of us, and far too many in leadership positions believe our strengths to be our weaknesses. Close to half of the Supreme Court Justices believe the Constitution to be outdated and not applicable to modern times. Apparently most people scoff at the beliefs and opinions of those who hold a different opinion from their own! I believe this is the key. The loss of respect for others opinions is the first step in the lack of respect for others heritage, others' value to society, and the inherent inalienable rights recognized by our founders. Once we lose sight of who we are, how we came to be, and what made us exceptional, we will cease to be exceptional. That may have already occurred.

Technology is wonderful but brings with it the responsibility to manage ourselves as individuals if we are to continue to be a manageable society. If our ability to communicate instantaneously simply reveals our lack of tolerance for those unlike ourselves, then we are doomed to destroy our greatest asset...each other! It is easy to sit in our living rooms and blame the politicians for our troubles, but it is the people who determine the course of our nation. Our experiment has given us the unique ability to govern ourselves for more than two centuries and has worked beyond all expectations up until now.

Great Britain lead the world from a relatively tiny Island nation for just as long as we have by the will of its' people's determination and spirit. Rome ruled the world by virtue of its intellect. It is not our vast natural resources that have made us the leaders of the world. Russia is bigger with just as many resources and didn't last as a leader in the world but a few decades. South America was discovered first and very well could have become what we are today, except for those few exceptional men who believed that all men are created equal, have inalienable rights, and the ability to govern themselves with these beliefs as the cornerstone. We are about to throw that all away one relationship at a time. In the words of the venerable Stephen King's gunslinger, "we have forgotten the face of our father."

Shotgun pre-teen vs. Illegal alien Home Invaders...

2010-12-29T01:14:00.004-05:00

BUTTE, MONTANA

Two illegal aliens, Ralphel Resindez, 23, and Enrico Garza, 26,
probably believed they would easily overpower home-alone 11-year-old
Patricia Harrington after her father had left their two-story home.
It seems the two crooks never learned two things: they were in
Montana and Patricia had been a clay-shooting champion since she was
nine. Patricia was in her upstairs room when the two men broke
through the front door of the house She quickly ran to her father's
room and grabbed his 12-gauge Mossberg 500 shotgun.

Resindez was the first to get up to the second floor only to be the
first to catch a near point blank blast of buckshot from the
11-year-old's knee-crouch aim. He suffered fatal wounds to his abdomen and genitals.

When Garza ran to the foot of the stairs, he took a blast to the left
shoulder and staggered out into the street where he bled to death
before medical help could arrive.

It was found out later that Resindez was armed with a stolen
45-caliber handgun he took from another home invasion robbery. That
victim, 50-year-old David 0'Burien, was not so lucky. He died from
stab wounds to the chest.

Ever wonder why good stuff never makes NBC, CBS, PBS, MSNBC, CNN, or
ABC news........?

An 11 year old girl, properly trained, defended her home, and
herself......against two murderous, illegal immigrants.......and she
wins, She is still alive. Now THAT is Gun Control!

Thought for the day.... Calling an illegal alien an 'undocumented
immigrant' is like calling a drug dealer an 'unlicensed pharmacist'
I like this kind of e-mail! American citizens defending themselves and
their homes.

"One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things."
- Henry Miller

2010-12-24T10:38:00.004-05:00

How did Jefferson know?

John F. Kennedy held a dinner in the white House for a group of the
brightest minds in the nation at that time. He made this statement:
"This is perhaps the assembly of the most intelligence ever to
gather at one time in the White House with the exception of
when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."

Especially read the last quote from 1802.

When we get piled
Upon one another in large cities, as in Europe,
We shall become as corrupt as Europe .
Thomas Jefferson

The democracy will cease to exist
When you take away from those
Who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
Thomas Jefferson

It is incumbent on every
Generation to pay its own debts as it goes.
A principle which if acted on would save
One-half the wars of the world.
Thomas Jefferson

I predict future happiness for
Americans if they can prevent the government
From wasting the labors of the people under the
Pretense of taking care of them.
Thomas Jefferson

My reading of history convinces me
That most bad government results from too much
Government.
Thomas Jefferson

No free man shall ever be debarred
The use of arms.
Thomas Jefferson

The strongest reason for the
People to retain the right to keep and bear arms
Is, as a last resort, to protect themselves
Against tyranny in government.
Thomas Jefferson

The tree of liberty must be
Refreshed from time to time with the blood of
Patriots and tyrants.
Thomas Jefferson

To compel a man to subsidize with
His taxes the propagation of ideas which he
Disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.
Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson said in 1802:
"I believe that
Banking institutions are more dangerous to
Our liberties than standing armies.
If the American people ever allow
Private banks to control the issue of their
Currency, first by inflation, then by
Deflation, the banks and corporations that will
Grow up around the banks will deprive the people
Of all property - until their children
Wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers
Conquered."

Larry, The Cable Guy

2010-08-31T18:14:00.000-04:00

Everyone concentrates on the problems we're having in Our Country lately: Illegal immigration, hurricane recovery, alligators attacking people in Florida . . . . Not me -- I concentrate on solutions for the problems -- it's a win-win situation. * Dig a moat the length of the Mexican border. * Send the dirt to New Orleans to raise the level of the levees. * Put the Florida alligators in the moat along the Mexican border.

Any other problems you would like for me to solve today? Think about this: 1. Cows 2. The Constitution 3. The Ten Commandments

COWS
Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that during the mad cow epidemic our government could track a single cow, born in Canada almost three years ago, right to the stall where she slept in the state of Washington? And, they tracked her calves to their stalls. But they are unable to locate 11 million illegal aliens wandering around our country. Maybe we should give each of them a cow.

THE CONSTITUTION
They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq ...why don't we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys, it has worked for over 200 years, and we're not using it anymore.

THE 10 COMMANDMENTS
The real reason that we can't have the Ten Commandments posted in a courthouse is this -- you cannot post 'Thou Shalt Not Steal' 'Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery' and 'Thou Shall Not Lie' in a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians, it creates a hostile work environment.

Also, think about this ... if you don't want to forward this for fear of offending someone -- YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM!

GET ER DONE!

Pick Your Reason

2010-08-15T17:47:00.001-04:00

When your friends can't explain why they voted for Progressive Democrats, give them this list.

They can then pick a reason.

10. I voted Democrat because I believe oil companies' profits of 4% on a gallon of gas are obscene but the government taxing the same gallon of gas at 15% isn't.

9. I voted Democrat because I believe the government will do a better job of spending the money I earn than I would.

8. I voted Democrat because Freedom of speech is fine as long as nobody is offended by it.

7. I voted Democrat because I'm way too irresponsible to own a gun, and I know that my local police are all I need to protect me from murderers and thieves.

6. I voted Democrat because I believe that people who can't tell us if it will rain on Friday can tell us that the polar ice caps will melt away in ten years if I don't start driving a Prius.

5. I voted Democrat because I'm not concerned about the slaughter of millions of babies through abortion so long as we keep all death row inmates alive.

4. I voted Democrat because I think illegal aliens have a right to free health care, education, and Social Security benefits.

3. I voted Democrat because I believe that business should not be allowed to make profits for themselves. They need to break even and give the rest away to the government for redistribution as the democrats see fit.

2. I voted Democrat because I believe liberal judges need to rewrite the Constitution every few days to suit some fringe kooks who would never get their agendas past the voters.

1. I voted Democrat because my head is so firmly planted up my ass that it is unlikely that I'll ever have another point of view.

I'll keep my Freedom, my God and my Guns... You keep the Change...

Get out and vote November 2nd, 2010!

POLITICIANS AND DIAPERS SHOULD BE CHANGED OFTEN AND FOR THE SAME REASON..

RECENT VIRGINIA CHURCH SERVICE-STIMULUS SERMON

2010-08-14T15:58:00.004-04:00

Genesis 47:13-27

I would love to give the Pastor of this predominantly black church in
Virginia a hug and a high five. This guy is obviously a leader.

Perhaps we should each decide who our real leader is.....It is amazing
To see that very little has changed in 4,000 years.

Good morning, brothers and sisters; it's always a delight to see the
Pews crowded on Sunday morning, and so eager to get into God's Word.
Turn with me in your Bibles, if you will to the 47th chapter of
Genesis, we'll begin our reading at verse 13, and go through verse 27.

Brother Ray, would you stand and read that great passage for us?
....(reading)...

Thank you for that fine reading, Brother Ray... So we see that economic
Hard times fell upon Egypt , and the people turned to the government of
Pharaoh to deal with this for them. And Pharaoh nationalized the grain
Harvest, and placed the grain in great storehouses that he had built.
So the people brought their money to Pharaoh, like a great tax
Increase, and gave it all to him willingly in return for grain. And
This went on until their money ran out, and they were hungry again.

So when they went to Pharaoh after that, they brought their livestock
-their cattle, their horses, their sheep, and their donkey - to barter
For grain, and verse 17 says that only took them through the end of
That year..

But the famine wasn't over, was it? So the next year, the people came
Before Pharaoh and admitted they had nothing left, except their land
and their own lives. "There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but
Our bodies and our land. Why should we die before your eyes, both we
And our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we with our land will
Be servants to Pharaoh.." So they surrendered their homes, their land,
And their real estate to Pharaoh's government, and then sold themselves
Into slavery to him, in return for grain.

What can we learn from this, brothers and sisters?

That turning to the government instead of to God to be our provider in
Hard times only leads to slavery? Yes.. That the only reason government
Wants to be our provider is to also become our master?

Yes.

But look how that passage ends, brothers and sisters! Thus Israel
Settled in the land of Egypt , in the land of Goshen . And they gained
Possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly." God
Provided for His people, just as He always has! They didn't end up
Giving all their possessions to government, no, it says they gained
Possessions! But I also tell you a great truth today, and an ominous
One.

We see the same thing happening today - the government today wants to
"share the wealth "once again, to take it from us and redistribute it
Back to us. It wants to take control of healthcare, just as it has
Taken control of education, and ration it back to us, and when
Government rations it, then government decides who gets it, and how
Much, and what kind. And if we go along with it, and do it willingly,
Then we will wind up no differently than the people of Egypt did four
Thousand years ago - as slaves to the government, and as slaves to our
Leaders.

What Mr. Obama's government is doing now is no different from what
Pharaoh's government did then, and it will end the same. And a lot of
People like to call Mr.Obama a "Messiah," don't they? Is he a Messiah?
A savior? Didn't the Egyptians say, after Pharaoh made them his slaves,
"You have saved our lives; may it please my lord, we will be servants
To Pharaoh"?

Well, I tell you this - I know the Messiah; the Messiah is a friend of
Mine; and Mr. Obama is no Messiah! No, brothers and sisters, if Mr.
Obama is a character from the Bible, then he is Pharaoh. Bow with me in
Prayer, if you will...

Lord, You alone are worthy to be served, and we rely on You, and You
Alone. We confess that the government is not our deliverer, and never
Rightly will be. We read in the eighth chapter of 1 Samuel, when Samuel
Warned the people of what a ruler would do, where it says "And in that
Day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for
yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day."

And Lord, we acknowledge that day has come. We cry out to you because
of the ruler that we have chosen for ourselves as a nation. Lord, we
pray for this nation. We pray for revival, and we pray for deliverance
from those who would be our masters. Give us hearts to seek You and
hands to serve You, and protect Your people from the atrocities of
Pharaoh's government. In Jesus name we pray,

In God We Need To Trust...Obama, not so much! AMEN!

Jamming by Charlie Daniels

2010-07-12T09:56:00.000-04:00

After being in the music business for 52 years it's just
about all I know; anything at all about--and in keeping with
my admittedly narrow knowledge--I would like to draw an
analogy concerning the Obama administration, viewing things
from my vantage point.

Ok, let's say you pick out the finest symphony conductor in
the world, add the greatest singer and seven or so of the
finest classical musicians on the planet.

You get them together backstage and say, "Alright, there are
twenty thousand fans out front, standing room only,
expectations are off the charts, they are looking for the
best show they've ever seen.

Now the curtain goes up in five minutes, the sound has been
checked out, the lights set and everything is perfect, the
stage is set for the greatest show the world has ever seen.

Now get there and knock 'em out guys! They're all with you;
you're all superstars in their eyes. Go show 'em how it's
done.

Oh, there's only been one change Tonight you have to do your
show playing songs you've never played and you'll have to
improvise. There's no sheet music. You'll just have to jam."

Can you imagine the panic backstage?

You see, some of the very finest musicians on earth can't
jam a lick. I remember a few years ago when I had a couple
of young fiddle players come on stage with me and play "The
South's Gonna Do It Again."

They had learned the parts I'd played on the record,
arrangement, lead lines and all and played it perfectly note
for note.

Everything was going swimmingly until I decided to leave the
arrangement and jam for a while. When I turned to one of
them and told them to take a solo the kid was as lost as a
baby sheep in a hale storm.

They had no more idea about improvising than they did about
how to build a spaceship.

"The South's Gonna Do It Again" is a simple twelve bar blues
song that any musician from any garage band would be able to
take a solo on, but even though these kids were extremely
talented and played what they knew perfectly, when it came
to jammin, they were totally lost. They had just never
learned to do it.

To me the presidency is kind of like jammin'. You have to
roll with the flow, improvise, adapt to the moment, pick up
on what's going on and deal with it.

Our president has never had to jam, he's always had the
sheet music in front of him and he's never had to play a
note somebody else had not written for him.

One of the biggest mistakes President Obama made when he
came in office was to surround himself with a bunch of
players who had never jammed either. None of them have ever
had any practical experience in the real world.

In essence, they are a bunch of paper tigers, they do an
incredible job of spending other people's money and sneaking
legislation through the back door, but out in the real
world, where there are no scripts, down where the rubber
meets the road there is probably not a person in the bunch
who could change a flat tire, much less deal with the
complex problems America faces.

The only thing Obama has done with any problem that has
arisen is to throw money at it, and in truth, that's sadly
all he knows how to do.
When it comes to dealing with things that money alone won't
fix like busted oil pipes at the bottom of the ocean or
solving the problems on our southern borders he's lost and
all those around him are lost.

The Obama cabinet is the most inept bunch imaginable. When
people have only viewed the world from the top of an ivory
tower they don't react very well when it's time to get their
hands dirty.

Obama's people can't even accept real world concepts of the
dangerous situations we're dealing with. Eric Holder wanting
to try terrorists in civilian courts, in New York City of
all places is nothing less than nave arrogance.

Janet Napolitano's gross inexperience in dealing with
security matters is going to end up costing this country
dearly.

Putting an unqualified person who has never even been a
judge on the bench of the highest court in the land, for
nothing more than her political leanings is insanity.

Everywhere you look you see eggheads with nothing more than
a college degree to qualify them for the sensitive jobs they
hold.

I'm just wondering how long it will take for a majority of
the people in this country to realize that the wheel that
steers the direction of this nation is in the hands of
people who have no idea how to get from point a to point b
without a roadmap and that roadmap just doesn't exist. Every
trip is different.

I see disaster looming on the not too distant horizon,
financial disaster, increasing danger from terrorist attack,
unabated violence in the streets and an arrogant and
unmanageable illegal alien population.

It's coming folks and Obama and the band are still in the
dressing room looking for the sheet music.

They just can't jam.

What do you think?

Pray for our troops, and for our country

God Bless America

Charlie Daniels

What IF 20 Million Illegal Aliens Went Home

2010-07-09T07:30:00.001-04:00

By the way, if you or your family members came to America legally, Welcome - - - we're glad you're here and that it was done by the Rule of Law. Thank you for respecting our borders.

What if 20 Million Illegal Aliens Vacated America ? ( note: ILLEGAL - here without papers)
I, Tina Griego, journalist for the Denver Rocky Mountain News wrote a column titled, 'Mexican Visitor's Lament' -- 10/25/07.

I interviewed Mexican journalist Evangelina Hernandez while visiting Denver last week. Hernandez said, 'They (illegal aliens) pay rent, buy groceries, buy clothes...What Happens to your country's economy if 20 million people go away?' Hummm, I thought, what would happen, so I did my due diligence, buried my nose as a reporter into the FACTS I found below.
[Did you notice Evangelina said "your" country?]

It's a good question - it deserves an honest answer. Over 80% of Americans demand secured borders and illegal migration stopped. But what would happen if all 20 million or more vacated America ?

The answers I found may surprise you!

In California, if 3.5 million illegal aliens moved back to Mexico, it would leave an extra $10.2 billion to spend on overloaded school systems, bankrupt hospitals and overrun prisons. It would leave highways cleaner, safer and less congested. Everyone could understand one another as English became the dominant language again.

In Colorado, 500,000 illegal immigrants, plus their 300,000 kids and grand-kids - would move back 'home', mostly to Mexico. That would save Coloradans an estimated $2 billion (other experts say $7 billion) annually in taxes that pay for schooling, medical, social-services and incarceration costs.

It means 12,000 gang members would vanish out of Denver alone.

Colorado would save more than $20 million in prison costs, and the terror that those 7,300 alien criminals set upon local citizens. Denver Officer Don Young and hundreds of Colorado victims would not have suffered death, accidents, rapes and other crimes by illegals.

Denver Public Schools would not suffer a 67 percent drop-out/flunk-out rate because of thousands of illegal alien students speaking 41 different languages. At least 200,000 vehicles would vanish from our gridlocked cities in Colorado. Denver's 9% unemployment rate would vanish as our working poor would gain jobs at a living wage.

In Florida, 1.5 million illegals would return the Sunshine State to America, the rule of law, and English.

In Chicago, Illinois, 2.1 million illegals would free up hospitals, schools, prisons and highways for a safer, cleaner and more crime-free experience.

If 20 million illegal aliens returned 'home' --

If 20 million illegal aliens returned 'home', the U.S. Economy would return to the rule of law. Employers would hire legal American citizens at a living wage. Everyone would pay their fair share of taxes because they wouldn't be working off the books. That would result in an additional $401 Billion in IRS income taxes collected annually, and an equal amount for local, state and city coffers.

No more push '1' for Spanish or '2' for English. No more confusion in American schools that now must contend with over 100 languages that degrade the educational system for American kids. Our over-crowded schools would lose more than two million illegal alien kids at a cost of billions in ESL and free breakfasts and lunches.

We would lose 500,000 illegal criminal alien inmates at a cost of more than $1.6 billion annually. That includes 15,000 MS-13 gang members who distribute $130 billion in drugs annually would vacate our country.

In cities like L.A., 20,000 members of the '18th Street Gang' would vanish from our nation. No more Mexican forgery gangs for ID theft from Americans! No more foreign rapists and child molesters!

Losing more than 20 million people would clear up our crowded highways and gridlock. Cleaner air and less drinking and driving American deaths by illegal aliens!

America's economy is drained. Taxpayers are harmed. Employers get rich. Over $80 billion annually wouldn't return to the aliens' home countries by cash transfers. Illegal migrants earned half that money untaxed, which further drains America's economy - while we currently suffer an $8.7 trillion debt.

At least 400,000 anchor babies would not be born in our country, costing us $109 billion per year per cycle. At least 86 hospitals in California, Georgia, Texas and Florida would still be operating instead of being bankrupt, out of existence, because illegals pay nothing via the EMTOLA Act.

Americans wouldn't suffer thousands of TB and hepatitis cases rampant in our country - brought in by illegals unscreened at our borders.

With 20 million less people it would also put the 'progressives' on the horns of a dilemma; illegal aliens and their families cause 11 percent of our greenhouse gases.

Over one million of Mexico's poorest citizens now live inside and along our border from Brownsville, Texas to San Diego, California in what the New York Times called, 'colonias' or new neighborhoods. Trouble is, those living areas resemble Bombay and Calcutta where there is a grinding poverty, filth, diseases, drugs, crimes, lack of sanitation and worse. They live without sewage, clean water, paved streets, electricity, or any kind of sanitation.

The New York Times reported them to be America's new 'Third World ' inside our own country. Within 20 years, at their current growth rate, they expect 20 million residents of those colonias.

(I've seen them personally in Texas and Arizona; it's sickening beyond anything you can imagine.)

By enforcing our laws, we could repatriate them back to Mexico. We should invite 20 million aliens to go home, fix their own countries and/or make a better life in Mexico. We already invite a million people into our country legally more than all other countries combined annually. We cannot and must not allow anarchy at our borders, more anarchy within our borders and growing lawlessness at every level in our nation. It's time to stand up for our country, our culture, our civilization and our way of life. It is time to vote out the politicians who think otherwise!

Now, here are some interesting Statistics!

Here are 14 reasons illegal aliens should vacate America, and I hope they are forwarded over and over again until they are read so many times that the reader gets sick of reading them:

1) $14 billion to $22 billion dollars are spent each year on welfare to illegal aliens. ( that's Billion with a 'B' ) - http://tinyurl.com/zob77

2) $2.2 billion dollars are spent each year on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens. - http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html

3) $7.5 billion dollars are spent each year on Medicaid for illegal aliens. http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html

4) $12 billion dollars are spent each year on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they still cannot speak any English! http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

5) $27 billion dollars are spent each year for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies. - http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

6) $3 Million Dollars 'PER DAY' is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens. That's $1.2 Billion a year. - http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

7) If we go with 20 million illegals compared to there being 300 million Americans, they make up less than 7% of the people within our borders. But, 28% percent of all federal prison inmates are illegal aliens. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

8) $190 billion dollars are spent each year on illegal aliens for welfare & social services by the American taxpayers. - http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01.html

9) $200 billion dollars per year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens. - http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

10) The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that's two and a half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the US. - http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/12/ldt.01.html

11) During 2005, there were 8 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that crossed our southern border with as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from other terrorist countries. Over 10,000 of those were middle-eastern terrorists. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroine, crack, Guns, and marijuana crossed into the U.S. from the southern border. - http://tinyurl.com/t9sht

12) The National Policy Institute, estimates that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion, or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period. - http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute..org/publications.php?b=deportation

13) In 2006, illegal aliens sent home $65 BILLION in remittances back to their countries of origin, to their families & friends. http://www.rense.com/general75/niht.htm

14) Another dark side of illegal immigration: Nearly one million sex crimes are committed by illegal immigrants in the United States! - http://www.drdsk.com/articleshtml

Total cost: A whopping $538.3 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR!!!

If this doesn't bother you, then just delete the message, don't register and don't vote. Otherwise, forward this to everyone you know!

Israeli Expert Psychologist Says Obama Is Pathological Narcissist (And Offers Proof) email from friend | Dr. Sam Vaknin

2010-07-05T13:10:00.000-04:00

Posted on Wednesday, June 30, 2010 12:50:51 PM by MindBender26

Dr. Sam Vaknin is an Israeli psychologist. He has written extensively about narcissisma. Dr. Vaknin has a spot-on professional view of our new president.

Dr. Vaknin States "I must confess I was impressed by Obama from the first time I saw him. At first I was excited to see a black candidate. He looked youthful, spoke well, appeared to be confident -- a wholesome presidential package. I was soon put off, however, not just because of his shallowness but also because there was an air of haughtiness in his demeanor that was unsettling. His posture and his body language were louder than his empty words. Obama's speeches are unlike any political speech we have heard in American history. Never a politician in this land had such quasi "religious" impact on so many people.

The fact that Obama is a total incognito with Zero accomplishment, makes this inexplicable infatuation alarming. Obama is not an ordinary man. He is not a genius. In fact he is quite ignorant on most important subjects."

Dr. Sam Vaknin, the author of the Malignant Self Love believes "Barack Obama appears to be a narcissist." Vaknin is a world authority on narcissism. He understands narcissism and describes the inner mind of a narcissist like no other person. When he talks about narcissism everyone listens. Vaknin says that Obama's language, posture and demeanor, and the testimonies of his closest, dearest friends suggest that the man is either a narcissist or he may have narcissistic personality disorder (NPD).

Narcissists project a grandiose but false image of themselves. Jim Jones, the charismatic leader of People's Temple, the man who led over 900 of his followers to cheerfully commit mass suicide and even murder their own children was also a narcissist. David Koresh, Charles Manson, Joseph Koni, Shoko Asahara, Stalin, Saddam, Mao, Kim Jong Ill and Adolph Hitler are a few examples of narcissists of our time. All these men had a tremendous influence over their fanciers. They created a personality cult around themselves and with their blazing speeches elevated their admirers, filled their hearts with enthusiasm and instilled in their minds a new zest for life. They gave them hope! They promised them the moon, but alas, invariably they brought them to their doom.

When you are a victim of a cult of personality, you don't know it until it is too late. One determining factor in the development of NPD is childhood abuse. "Obama's early life was decidedly chaotic and replete with traumatic and mentally bruising dislocations,"says Vaknin. "Mixed-race marriages were even less common then. His parents went through a divorce when he was an infant two years old. Obama saw his father only once again, before he died in a car accident. Then his mother re-married and Obama had to relocate to Indonesia, a foreign land with a radically foreign culture, to be raised by a step-father. At the age of ten, he was whisked off to live with his maternal (white) grandparents. He saw his mother only intermittently in the following few years and then she vanished from his life in 1979. "She died of cancer in 1995."

One must never underestimate the manipulative genius of pathological narcissists. They project such an imposing personality that it overwhelms those around them. Charmed by the charisma of the narcissist, people become like clay in his hands. They cheerfully do his bidding and delight to be at his service. The narcissist shapes the world around himself and reduces others in his own inverted image. He creates a cult of personality. His admirers become his co-dependents. Narcissists have no interest in things that do not help them to reach their personal objective. They are focused on one thing alone and that is power. All other issues are meaningless to them and they do not want to waste their precious time on trivialities. Anything that does not help them is beneath them and does not deserve their attention.

If an issue raised in the Senate does not help Obama in one way or another, he has no interest in it. The "present" vote is a safe vote. No one can criticize him if things go wrong. Those issues are unworthy by their very nature because they are not about him.

Obama's election as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review led to a contract and advance to write a book about race relations. The University of Chicago Law School provided him a lot longer than expected and at the end it evolved into, guess what? His own autobiography! Instead of writing a scholarly paper focusing on race relations, for which he had been paid, Obama could not resist writing about his most sublime self. He entitled the book Dreams from My Father.

Not surprisingly, Adolph Hitler also wrote his own autobiography when he was still a nobody. So did Stalin. For a narcissist no subject is as important as his own self. Why would he waste his precious time and genius writing about insignificant things when he can write about such an august being as himself?

Narcissists are often callous and even ruthless. As the norm, they lack conscience. This is evident from Obama's lack of interest in his own brother who lives on only one dollar per month. A man who lives in luxury, who takes a private jet to vacation in Hawaii, and who raised nearly half a billion dollars for his campaign (something unprecedented in history) has no interest in the plight of his own brother. Why? Because, his brother cannot be used for his ascent to power. A narcissist cares for no one but himself.

This election was like no other in the history of America. The issues were insignificant compared to what is at stake. What can be more dangerous than having a man bereft of conscience, a serial liar, and one who cannot distinguish his fantasies from reality as the leader of the free world?

I hate to sound alarmist, but one is a fool if one is not alarmed. Many politicians are narcissists. They pose no threat to others. They are simply self serving and selfish. Obama evidences symptoms of pathological narcissism, which is different from the run-of-the-mill narcissism of a Richard Nixon or a Bill Clinton for example. To him reality and fantasy are intertwined.

This is a mental health issue, not just a character flaw. Pathological narcissists are dangerous because they look normal and even intelligent. It is this disguise that makes them treacherous. Today the Democrats have placed all their hopes in Obama. But this man could put an end to their party. The great majority of blacks voted for Obama. Only a fool does not know that their support for him is racially driven. This is racism, pure and simple.

The downside of this is that if Obama turns out to be the disaster I predict, he will cause widespread resentment among the whites. The blacks are unlikely to give up their support of their man. Cultic mentality is pernicious and unrelenting. They will dig their heads deeper in the sand and blame Obama's detractors of racism. This will cause a backlash among the whites. The white supremacists will take advantage of the discontent and they will receive widespread support. I predict that in less than four years, racial tensions will increase to levels never seen since the turbulent 1960's.

Obama will set the clock back decades. America is the bastion of freedom. The peace of the world depends on the strength of America, and its weakness translates into the triumph of terrorism and victory of rogue nations. It is no wonder that Ahmadinejad, Hugo Chavez, the Castrists, the Hezbollah, the Hamas, the lawyers of the Guantanamoterrorists and virtually all sworn enemies of America are so thrilled by the prospect of their man in the White House.

America is on the verge of destruction. There is no insanity greater than electing a pathological narcissist as president.

We Cannot Take the Bait

2010-03-25T15:34:00.003-04:00

The left wing political machine, after having won its bid to implement liberty pummeling legislation under the guise of health care reform is now undertaking public denigration of the patriots who have been standing up for our rights. I was there in Washington D. C. this past weekend, as Obama signed an executive order at the last minute to bastardize the legislative process in order to win the day. All weekend there were thousands of protesters around the Capitol and crowding around the streets every time a Congressman was spotted on the move from one place to another.

Not only were there hundreds if not thousands present at every street crossing to and from the Congressional offices to the Capitol, there were hordes of reporters with cameras and video cameras filming virtually every move any Congressman made. They were easy to spot. Almost to a man they had on black suits, the women pant suits and stood out among the 70+ degree sunny day attire being worn by everyone else there. Had there been any racial slurs, spittle, or demeaning language used a reporter would most certainly have a record to splash all over the NY Times and MSNBC.

Since there is no such documentation available, the left just makes it up and now goes about the next step of marginalizing the efforts of the current American patriots standing up to a government who refuses to listen to its citizens. Does it matter that every poll shows that a majority of the people did not want this 2700 page bill the president has forced upon us?. Does it matter that in three straight elections, the people of Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts said without a doubt, they did not want the government to take over health care in this country?

The majority of people do want health care reform, but we understand it is not necessary for the government to control every facet of our lives in order to provide less than 10% of our population with health care. We understand it is not necessary to create more than 100 new government agencies to cover those 10% of people who still need health care. 80% of us already have the best health care in the world, and we can afford to cover those who cannot pay. We should not be expected to pay for those who simply refuse to pay their premiums. We should not be forced to pay for illegal immigrants, and before you point out that Obama has said illegal immigrants will not be covered, just wait a few months, after he shoves immigration reform down our throats and then talk to me about whether Congressman Wilson was incorrect when he pointed out that Obama was lying.

The democratic majority took a vote they very well knew would be damaging to their political careers. Obama, Pelosi, and their Chicago based political muscle had determined in advance how they would attack the Tea Party movement once the vote was taken. They wasted no time in claiming they were spat upon, in spite of no evidence to back up the claim! They wasted no time in playing the race card! They wasted no time, and used every left wing news agency to plant the seeds of doubt in the American people by suggesting that democratic members of Congress were in fear of their safety as a result of their yes vote on the health care bill!

This is in spite of the fact that not one instance of violence has ever occurred during a Tea Party event. Not one bit of property has ever been vandalized during a Tea Party event. Not one arrest has ever been made during a Tea Party event. Not one shred of evidence exists anywhere that anything other than civil, non violent and respectful protest has ever been exhibited at any Tea Party event anywhere in the United States! Will some people believe these lies being perpetrated by the politicos and the press? Yes, they will. Not everyone reads multiple sources for their news. Not everyone gets news from the internet. Many people watch only their local news or the daily 30 minutes of national news regurgitated by the networks. These networks have abrogated their responsibility as journalists. They report only the news favorable to their own ideology, and they report it with their own political slant.

Included in this group of ideological news agencies is the NY Times, once the greatest newspaper on the Earth. The Times now has the respect only of the far left. No one with an understanding of the world, as it is today, places any value whatever in the musings of any political reporting or editorials appearing in the Times. With a liberal slant to virtually every story appearing in the paper, and with so many people not bothering to find out what has happened to the men and women who used to make up the last check and balance to the government, our civilization stands at the precipice of being overrun by left wing politicians.

We must stand fast. We must remain non violent. We must remain civil, even to those in our midst who would try and provoke us into being less than civil. Say to those who would have you lose your temper only that you represent them and their rights, just as you represent your own. We have the momentum right now to defeat most every Congressman who voted in favor of the government take over. We need to grow our support, without losing a single supporter we have now. Do not be sucked into any bad behavior. The left will send professional activists to our events between now and November. They will be in Atlanta on May 15th. They will be in Washington in September. They will be at every major event, and likely most minor events throughout the country all during 2010. Their goal will be to start something that will make us look bad. We cannot tale the bait!

From Byron King, The Daily Reckoning

2010-03-12T19:29:00.005-05:00

This intent of the email below is to sell the reader a subscription to an investment letter, one of thousands sent out daily by any number of analysts, economists, and advisers. This one appears to have some historically significant information pertinent to the probability that Iran is about to become a nuclear power. I am in no way encouraging anyone to buy into the investment strategy of The Daily Reckoning. I do not know how successful they are, but occasionally I do learn something from their research data. Today's email is enlightening if you aren't already a learned scholar of Islam.

Dear Daily Reckoning Reader,

Could oil and gas prices soar to record new levels by 2011?

You'd better believe they could.

In the report below you'll see proof on how a devastating 1,354-year- old destructive force has been unleashed in the Middle East - and how it could be about to freeze world access to OPEC oil in a way even the Iraq wars never did!

You'll even learn the steps you need to take to shield your wealth if this happens.

I urge you...if you read anything this weekend, make it the report below.

Byron King
Resource Expert for The Daily Reckoning

1,354 Years in the Making:
The "NEW" War
That Could Rocket Oil
Past $220 Before 2011
by Byron King, Editor

What could be eight times bigger than the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan — and lethal enough to at least DOUBLE the price of gas and oil next year?

Brace yourself for the "new" and bloody war nobody saw coming... by bunkering down against soaring energy costs, thanks to a "safe haven" financial plan that could pay you gains up to 668%...

Nobody in the Pentagon will talk openly about it. Nobody in the White House knows what to do.

But make no mistake...

What I'm about to show you could be the deadliest surprise threat to your money and livelihood of the coming year.

I say "new" because as you'll see there's not much new about it at all — the pressure's been building behind this for the last 1,354 years!

Yet for the first time in history, that pressure has found its release. I’m imagining a volcano of blood.

When it blows, you could see your savings get SLAMMED... the dollar thrown into a TAILSPIN... and, here's what will stun the still-recovering world economy, gas and oil prices doubling or even tripling by sometime early in the coming year.

How on earth is that possible?

It's the last thing most people expect, from market pros to bumbling D.C. bureaucrats... but if nothing changes in what I'm about to show you... this is a page in future history books that's already writing itself.

I'll show you the evidence myself.

If I'm right, as many as eight key Islamic countries are hurtling headlong toward a bloody "new" war — with each other — that's been FOURTEEN CENTURIES in the making.

This could begin as early as the next 12 to 18 months. And with no less than 66% of the world's key energy reserves smack dab in the crosshairs.

Sound impossible?

Even if I'm only half right, and we get an oil-state stalemate unlike anything the world has ever seen — you could see oil soar past the old high of $147.30 per barrel, well on its way to as much as $220... with gasoline bucking against a ceiling of $8 per gallon.

I'll show you how this unfolds below.

You'll see the maps, I'll name the names. And I'll reveal to you the stunning web of "secret revenge" that lies behind it all... waiting over 1,354 years for this moment!

Soaring Oil Costs, Even a Dead Economy?

Remember the "Nixon Shock" and market collapse of '73? Stocks fell 43%... but that didn't stop oil and gas prices from quadrupling thanks to an Oil Embargo.

And how about 1979 and gas lines? Even with Jimmy Carter's "malaise" and stagflation, oil prices almost tripled... thanks to the hostage crisis in Tehran.

It was oil that German subs targeted in both World Wars... and oil Japan gunned for in Pearl Harbor... even Afghanistan is part battle over a $3.2 billion oil pipeline.

After the S&L banking crisis of the late '80s, oil still soared in Gulf War One... and soared again on 9/11, despite the aftermath of the dot-com bomb. It took off again in 2003, as bombs dropped on Baghdad.

With politics as a driver, oil doesn't need a red-hot economy to take off... even the last peak of $147 came six months after the Dow first started shedding points and two years after property markets turned south!

Of course, events like these echo around the world.

And nobody gets the chance to just "sit on the sidelines."

But there's good news too.

Because, you see, just like every major shift of history... deep within every crisis... you'll also find an opportunity to protect yourself. And this event is no exception.

For instance, the last time we saw politics push up the price of petroleum, my readers found strategic gains in a "self-defense" move that shot up by 668%.

In fact, we've used all kinds of moments in flux to make protective and even impressive gains. Take a look at this small sample, drawn straight from our posted track record...

Our Strategic Gains in Turbulent Times

137% gains on KeyWest Energy 174% gains on PetroChina
151% gains on Wheaton River Minerals 270% gains on the July silver calls
162% gains on Intrepid Minerals 104% gains on the ICON Energy Fund
332% gains on Glamis/Francisco Gold 108% gains on Norsk Hydro
668% gains on Metallica Resources 118% gains on Anglo American PLC
105% gains on Gentry Resources 160% gains on Western Oil Sands
151% gains on Tocqueville Gold 182% gains on Talisman Energy
228% gains on Niko Resources 142% gains on BG Group
263% gains on Coeur d'Alene Mines 177% gains on Coeur d'Alene Mines again
116% gains on Cameco

And we continue to post new gains, even now. Some of today's open positions have already shot up 37%... 45%... 46%... 53%... 61%... 64%... 70%... 75%... 128%... 146%... 155%... 160%... 200%... 403%... and 466%... with more to come!

(I can't name those stocks for you right now. That wouldn't be fair to my readers. But I'll tell you how to find out about all of them, right after you finish reading this letter.)

My point is, today's moment is even larger than anything we've seen before. But so are the opportunities I see right now for you to protect yourself. I'd hate for you to miss any of them, while you still have the opportunity to make your move.

Over the next four minutes, I'll show you how.

But before I do, let's step back so I can explain how this "war" begins.

Long before $147 oil... before the war over 9/11 or the war in Afghanistan... before either war in Iraq, the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, or even the oil crisis of 1973.

All the way back to a lamb dinner, served up one evening in the year 629 AD...

The Murder That's About
to Change the World

Nobody could have known that the dinner they were about to eat would one day change history. Some say it was goat. Others say it was lamb.

Either way, it was poisoned.

And the guest of honor was Mohammed, the controversial founder of Islam.

It was just one bite, that's all it took. He tasted the poison and immediately spit it out. But it was too late. He would soon die, sparking a bitter and deadly divide.

See, when Mohammed died nobody could agree on who should take over...

And they've been killing each other as a result ever since.

On the one side, you've got the Sunni Muslims. They're the ones that run Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and many of the other countries in the Middle East.

On the other, you've got the Shia Muslims. It's the Shia that run Iran. And now run Iraq, as well as Lebanon and Syria.

Think Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland... Serbs vs. Croats in Bosnia... or even the religious Thirty Years War that ripped apart Europe in the 16th century.

Only this Sunni-Shia split has built up pressure now for the last 1,354 years.

But it's only now that this pressure has found its ultimate release — with Iran driving a new Shia uprising smack dab in the middle of the most dangerous place on Earth — the oil-soaked Middle East.

Isn't the Middle East already a mess? Yes, it is.

What's different is that too many in the West... right up to the White House and the Pentagon... don't "get" just how deep this Islam divide could go or how far it could run.

Take a look at this map...

The Deadly Sunni-Shia Divide — 2010-2011

If it's black in this map, it's Shia ground. It's also mostly oil heartland
and some of the most strategic territory in the entire Middle East!

One terrorist with a grudge can do a lot of damage.

Iran, all by itself, could even be a deadly force.

But can you imagine what millions of Shiites with a 1,354-year old ax to grind could do?

The 162-Million-Man March

Nobody knows exactly how many Shia there are right now in the Middle East. That's because in all but four Middle Eastern countries, Sunni leaders don't bother to count.

Sunni schools teach that Shiites aren't real Muslims. Shias don't get a seat in government. They can't become judges or even testify in high courts. In Sunni-run Saudi Arabia, Shias and Sunni can't even marry.

For centuries, the Shia have been the underclass.

But now, for the first time in history, they see this as their chance to turn the tide. And how big a tide is it? Hands down, saber-rattling Iran has the most — 70 million Shia.

But then you've got the "liberated" Shia of Iraq — 22 million. Plus as many as 2 million Shia in Iran-backed Lebanon. And up to 4 million Shia in Iran's top ally, Syria.

Then you've got another 700,000 Shia in Kuwait... up to 500,000 Shia in Bahrain... up to 400,000 Shia in the United Arab Emirates... 300,000 Shia in Oman... and around 100,000 Shia in Qatar, according to the Pew Research Center in Washington.

On top of that, as many as 10 million Shia in Yemen... another 7 million Shia in Azerbaijan... and 11 million Shia in Turkey... not to mention the combined 30 million Shia in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Not all Shia want a revolution.

But out of between the 147 million to 162 million Shia spread from Pakistan to Lebanon and Azerbaijan to Yemen, enough do that this is the river of "Secret Revenge" and common blood running through the entire Middle East.

The Sunnis are worried.

Especially in Sunni-run Saudi Arabia.

And especially now.

Here's why...

"New" Oil War Flashpoint #1:
The Real Reason Iran
Wants the Bomb

Don't forget, Iran used to be Persia.

At one point Persia was the biggest and most powerful empire in history!

Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Egypt — even Israel — the Persians controlled them all. Along with all of Afghanistan and Pakistan and most of the oil-rich coast of the Caspian.

For 300 years, Persian armies held off the Roman Empire. Their scholars walked with Aristotle and Plato. And influenced Greek art.

It was the Persians who invented chess. And the windmill.

Not to mention bricks, algebra, trigonometry, and wine.

The bottom line is... no Empire forgets its past glory.

The Iranians resent losing theirs.

But now they see a chance to get it back.

The nuclear bomb? Tehran's crackpot leaders don't just want it to scare Israel. They want it so they can throw a dark shadow over their Sunni Arab neighbors, too!

Take a look at this...

Iran's First Move...

With total control of the Hormuz "oil chokepoint" in the Persian Gulf
and new power in "liberated" Iraq, the Iranians have a brand new foothold
for kicking off the long-awaited "Shia Revolution."

You'll notice two things.

First, you'll see how Iran's Shia influence has spilled across the border into southern Iraq. Southern Iraq is where you'll find six of Iraq's eight "Supergiant" oil fields. It's also where you'll find a key border with Shia Islam's mortal enemy — Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia is Sunni.

For eight years back in the 1980s, Saudi Arabia helped Iraq wage a bloody war against Iran. Along with other Sunni governments, the Saudis even gave Saddam over $47 billion to launch missiles and nerve gas attacks over the Iranian border.

Iran hasn't forgotten. Or forgiven.

(Imagine if Canada or Mexico had given money to Japan to help them bomb Pearl Harbor. Iran has waited to make the Saudis pay — and now they have their chance.)

"Iran is clearly seen as a very serious threat by those on the other side of the Gulf front."

— Gen. David Petraeus,
Jan. 31, 2010

The second thing you'll see in the map above is that Iran has almost total control over the Strait of Hormuz.

Hormuz is the tight waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean. Over 17 million barrels of oil have to pass through Hormuz every day.

That's 40% of all the oil shipped in the world.

And 90% of all the daily oil shipments from the entire Middle East.

With Hormuz alone, Iran could cripple the world overnight.

Today, Iran backs Shia militants in Iraq. They give them money and guns. They've even helped Shia politicians take over the Iraqi government. Why?

Because gaining control in Iraq takes the Iranians one step closer in their twisted plot for secret revenge. For another one of those steps, just look further south... to Yemen.

"New" Oil War Flashpoint #2:
Yemen's Ugly Secret

The Pentagon has just tripled its budget on Yemen.

Top U.S. General Patraeus just had a not-so-secret meeting with Yemen's president.

And our own State Department calls Yemen a “threat... to global stability.”

What gives?

Even ABC News just called Yemen the next "top target" in the terror war and a "near-perfect haven for terrorists." Obama just sent Yemen our troops, ships, and weapons.

Here's what's happening...

The Shia Revolution's Next New Front...

Yemen's on/off Shia revolution gives and "Gate of Tears" oil chokepoint
could soon give Iran a strategic "backdoor" attack point into Saudi Arabia...

Yemen might be a failed country... with a collapsing government, a shrinking oil supply, an exploding population and not much of anything else but lawlessness and chaos.

But what Yemen does have is position.

It sits just on the tip of the Arab peninsula... south of another key Saudi border and on the coast of another key oil strait called Bab-el-Mandeb.

That name means the "Gate of Tears."

How Islam's Next "New"
World Oil War Will Begin

"Nature," goes the old saying, "abhors a vacuum."

For instance, when a failed assassin's bullet burst a blood vessel in Vladimir Lenin's brain in 1922... madman Josef Stalin quickly stepped in to fill the void. Likewise when the Weimar Republic collapsed in 1933... and Hitler stepped into power.

Today there's a new void about to be filled — in the ravaged Middle East — and the lethal force that's stepping up to fill it could plunge the entire region into a "new" Islamic war.

If that happens, nearly 66% of the world's oil supply will get caught in the crosshairs.

Soaring energy prices can hit almost every aspect of life... and pummel any economy... but there are ways you can protect yourself, financially. Read on to find out how...

And like Hormuz, most oil states on the Red Sea can't get a drop of oil out without shipping it through the Bab-el-Mandeb. Over 3.3 million barrels go through every day.

Blocking this chokepoint alone could slap a $30 "political premium" on the price of every barrel of oil... but there's an even bigger threat taking shape.

For the last six years, Yemen has fought a vicious and bloody war with Shia rebels. These rebels are poor. There's no way, says a Yemen general, these rebels "could fund and fight this war with pomegranates and grapes... no doubt there is Iranian support."

Could it be true? Absolutely.

Iran loves to buy loyalty.

Take the $1 billion Tehran now "donates" every year to Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon. Or the billions they gave Syria's Shia president to build cement factories, car factories, power plants, and storage silos.

In return, Iran gets Hezbollah's Arabic-speaking terrorists to run militant Shia training camps in Iraq. And gets Syria to distribute Iran's money and weapons to others in the Shia network.

The secret money Iran sends to Shia rebels in Yemen could soon have a payoff too — by opening up another route for "backdoor" Shia access into Saudi Arabia.

Yemen's rebels have already hit towns across the Saudi border. And the Saudis have hit back, losing dozens of troops in the process. We’re just in the first innings of this one.

How bad is it?

So far, 50 Saudi schools along the border have had to close. Another 240 border towns have already been evacuated. And Saudi jets have already dropped bombs in Yemen.

What exactly has the Saudis running scared?

Final Oil War Flashpoint #3:
Iran's Final Prize — Saudi Oil

Don't think for a minute that I think Iran's plot for "secret revenge" could succeed.

But the threat alone could be enough to kick oil much higher.

And sooner than you might think.

For instance...

Our CIA, Britain's M16, and other top spy agencies say Iran could have a working nuclear bomb as soon as April 2011...
The Times of London uncovered a confidential document that says Iran already has a "neutron initiator" ready to test. That's the part you need to trigger a warhead.
And Der Spiegel, the German magazine, says Iran may even have the tech and material to build a simple nuclear bomb before the end of THIS year.
But the Bomb is just a beginning.

Even if the go ahead to build a nuke never comes from Iran's top cleric, the more immediate danger is a wildfire of Shia-Sunni unrest... starting in Iran's new hotbeds of Shia support... and spreading across the rest of the Sunni-run oil states... with the richest oil fields in the world's richest oil nation as the final battleground.

Take a look at this last map...

The Final Battleground — Saudi Arabia!

Suddenly, Iran has its mortal enemy, Saudi Arabia, surrounded —
millions of Shia even live on top of the Saudis OWN biggest oilfields.

As you can see, Saudi Arabia looks like a sitting duck.

Iran has a Shia network that reaches from Afghanistan to Lebanon once again... more connections building along the Persian Gulf... Yemeni Shias to the south... and Shia connections along the oil rich Caspian Sea.

You could see this spread to the nearly two million Shia that live and work on Saudi Arabia's oil fields very soon. Even though that's exactly what the Saudis — and our own Pentagon — hope will never happen.

As you read this, big and small Gulf states are piling up weapons, stocking anti-missile batteries, and sandbagging their oil terminals, ports, and water desalinization plants...

Abu Dhabi alone has already bought $17 billion worth of U.S. anti-missile hardware. And the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia just splurged on weapons, to the tune of $25 billion.

As you read this, our own F-16 fighter jets, Patriot missile systems, giant cruisers and up to 20,000 more U.S. troops are quietly digging in for an epic fight... that could spread past Iraq and Yemen... and even into Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain.

All to get ready for what could be the fight of a lifetime...

Say Hello to the "Jihad Generation"

It's not just our experts saying it.

Leaders in all three of America's biggest Middle East allied countries — Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia — claim the epic Sunni-Shia showdown is in the cards.

It could start from any one of the flashpoints I just named.

But no matter how it starts, Saudi Arabia is where it's most likely to end up. Why?

Not only is Saudi Arabia home to Mecca, Islam's holiest place... but it's also home to the corrupt and U.S.-allied Royal House of Saud, considered an insult to all Islam.

Think about it.

In a country where they'll cut off your hand for stealing and whip you for holding a glass of whiskey... Saudi princes gorge on cocaine and prostitutes, gambling, palaces, and more.

All while the vast Saudi underclass starves on just $6,000 per year and 30% unemployment. And as many as two million of that underclass is Shia. With a 1,354-year-old ax to grind and billions of dollars in oil revenues as the prize.

It's a near-perfect formula for a FULL-ON war.

And the fuse is already lit.

Iran is ready to assert its place in the world. Think Japan or Germany in the 1930s. The threat is there, it's large, and it's not going away anytime soon.

How the world responds, we can't know.

But I can tell you how oil could respond... by exploding to new record highs. Possibly as high as $220 per barrel by spring of the coming year... with gas not topping out until it hits as much as $8 per gallon.

That's very bad news for millions around the world.

And yet...

When Historical Shifts Happen,
Getting Rich Can Be Your Best Protection

Have no illusions — any military response, on any front — could only accelerate the spike in oil prices. So the first thing you're going to want to do is simply get out of the way.

But you're also going to make defensive moves with your money.

"Rock Kicking Former Navy Pilot Discovers Resource Riches"

Byron King, Rock-kicking Resource Expert

It was a lunchtime talk that changed Byron's life.

He was a geology student, studying at Harvard. And he and a few friends got to sit in and listen to M. Hubbert King — M.I.T. geoscientist and petroleum expert — give a bold and shocking presentation about the looming threat of "peak oil."

Worldwide, said Hubbert, oil production would peak. And a new era of permanent petroleum scarcity would begin. Today, it's a widely accepted reality. Back then, says Byron, "you could have heard a pin drop."

But scarcity also leads to opportunity. And days after Byron the "rock kicking" geology student graduated from Harvard — with honors — he drove straight to Texas where he took up a top-level oil exploration job with a Fortune Top 20 oil firm.

He helped them find deposits. He helped them design drilling rigs. Byron even helped them squeeze extra oil out of already tapped fields.

But this was also back when a lot of his colleagues served America in Korea and Vietnam. And Byron felt that call too. So a few years in, he said goodbye to his oil industry friends and joined the U.S. Navy — where he logged 1,200 flight hours and 128 death-defying carrier landings as a tactical jet pilot!

After active officer duty in the Navy, Byron felt another call — to join his father in the family law practice back in Pennsylvania, where he returned and practiced law for the next seventeen years.

Today, the one thing that's never left Byron is his passion for research into resources. Not just oil and natural gas, but everything from gold and silver to uranium, platinum, copper, and more. Byron has spent years studying and researching the nuts and bolts of the resource industries and today he's one of the world's top resource experts.

Maybe you've seen or heard Byron during his frequent radio and TV interviews. Maybe you've seen one of his many colorful speeches at international investing conferences.

But far and away, the best way for you to find out which money-making resource opportunities Byron has on his radar right now is to check out a risk-free trial subscription to his top-ranked monthly newsletter, Outstanding Investments.

Read on to find out how...

And the best way to defend yourself and your wealth in this kind of crisis couldn't be more obvious — you need to hitch a ride on the prices that will go UP as this unfolds.

In a moment like this, that can be easier than you might think.

Over and over again, throughout history, things that are key to survival are also among the first things to go up in a time of chaos like I foresee ahead.

Not just with oil. But other raw resources that nations, advancing armies, and even innocent bystanders simply can't do without. These are the assets you can see, use, and touch.

Think about it.

What critical resource need helped drive Germany into BOTH world wars... drove Japan to bomb Pearl Harbor... and helped fuel the Allies that crushed them? Oil.

After the Yom Kippur War... during the Iranian hostage crisis... during countless clashes in Palestine and Israel... during both Gulf Wars... we saw oil prices take off.

Couldn't it happen again?

Of course it could.

Like I said, the rising threat alone... so close to nearly 66% of the world's shrinking oil and gas reserves... could be enough to set this price explosion into motion.

When that happens, you could still get very rich...

Take the 174% gain my readers and I recently posted on PetroChina... or our 160% gain on Western Oil Sands... another 182% on Talisman Energy... 104% on the ICON Energy Fund... and 476% so far on Suncor Energy...

And of course, energy's not the only "defensive" power play...

My readers and I also posted 118% gains on the diversified mining company, Anglo American Ltd... plus another 151% gain that we discovered with Tocqueville Gold... our 263% gain with Couer d'Alene, plus another 177% gain on the same stock, a second time around... and another 270% gain that we saw on silver call options...

The bottom line?

Markets, up or down, hate uncertainty.

And that's what you could see driving this shocking new opportunity. That's why I'm URGING you to send for my new FREE 2010-2011 Crude Awakening Countdown Library.

Inside, I've included five FREE reports — all detailing which special money moves to act on NOW if you want to protect yourself and your money during the crisis ahead.

These reports name 14 plays you could be missing.

I'm offering to share all 14 moves with you FREE — even as I also share these same moves with my paid-up subscribers. And yes, I'll even cover shipping and handling.

The reports are yours, no questions asked.

Let me give you a glimpse of what you'll find inside...

Defensive Energy Power Play #1:
The Single Best Energy Stock
to Own Over the Next 20 Years
(Hint: it’s 6,859 miles from the Mid-East…)

One easy way to "get out of the way" and still gain as oil goes up... is simply to go outside of the Middle East to find the best oil providers.

In 1973, the smart money ran from OPEC oil... and into oil opportunities in Canada, Mexico, and the UK. Today you've got even more smart energy "safe havens."

Today that strategy can work even better.

But that's only part of the reason I believe this first major "defensive energy" stock could be the single best oil company opportunity for you to own over the next 20 years.

How so?

Let me take you to a place that's thousands of miles from the Middle East... and well beyond the reach of any crackpot dictator or terrorist.

Yes, it's also an oil field.

Nobody even knew much about it until 2006, the first year they cracked through the field's overlying layer of salt — more than a mile of it — and into dense carbonate rock — and about eight billion barrels of oil.

That's more than the entire proven reserves of Norway.

But then they kept looking and found — in a deposit almost 500 miles long and 100 miles wide — what could be as much as 100 billion barrels of oil.

Easily, that's the biggest single oil-bearing zone anywhere in the world.

Bigger than almost all the oil fields in Iraq, combined. Bigger than all the reserves in Russia. Or Iran, for that matter. Bigger than the Saudi's legendary Ghawar.

Yet, until just recently, nobody even knew it was there...

This is the #1 Performing Stock Letter of The Last Five Years

-Mark Hulbert

Outstanding Investments was ranked by respected and impartial industry watchdog Mark Hulbert as the #1 performing advisory letter over a five-year period in 2005 and again in 2006 and 2007. That's quite an honor. Here's a glimpse at how we did it...

In 2002, our readers locked in 84% gains on Corner Bay... 96% gains on EOG Resources... 75% gains on American Water Works... 136% gains on R.J. Reynolds... and 137% gains on Key West Energy... plus another 151% gain on Wheaton River Minerals... 162% gains on Intrepid Minerals... a solid 332% gain on Glamis/Francisco Gold... and 668% gains on Metallica Resources.

In 2003, our readers socked away another 88% gains on Northgate Exploration... plus 105% gains on Gentry Resources... 151% gains on Tocqueville Gold... 228% gains on Niko Resources... and 236% gains on Coeur d'Alene Mines... just to name a few.

For 2004, Outstanding Investment readers closed out PetroChina with a solid 174% gain... plus another 55% on Atacama Minerals... 116% gains on Cameco... 24% gains on the Canadian Oil Sands Trust... 32% gains on Southwest Water... and 270% gains on the July 2005 silver calls... plus a slew of other small and fast winners.

In 2005, we took in another 60%, 44% and 45% gains on Harmony Gold, Schlumberger and Petro Kazakhstan Inc... and posted 51% gains on CONSOL Energy just a few weeks later. We hit with a fat 70% gain on both SUEZ SA and Petro-Canada... and 73% gains on Wheaton River Minerals and Anadarko Petroleum Corp.... plus 85% on Precision Drilling... 86% on Kerr-McGee... 88% on the INVESCO Energy Fund... 104% gains on the ICON Energy Fund... 108% gains on Norsk Hydro... 118% gains on Anglo American PLC... 160% gains on Western Oil Sands.... and an impressive 179% gain on Talisman Energy.

In 2006 and 2007, we closed out 147% gains on BG Group… 83% on Placer Dome… 78% on OMI Corp.… 87% on Walter Industries… and 177% on Coeur d’Alene Mines.

In 2008 and 2009, we saw 33% on Foundation Coal Holdings... 40% on Alleghany Technologies... 43% on Consol Energy... 96% on Goldcorp... 166% on Newmont Mining...

And now in 2010, we're posting open positions that are already up 37%... 45%... 46%... 53%... 61%... 64%... 70%... 75%... 128%... 146%... 155%... 160%... 200%... 403%... and 466%!

I'd like to send you a set of nine FREE gifts so you can see what I'm recommending you do right now. Plus, up to a full trial year — at no charge — of this top-ranked, award-winning advisory letter. Read on for more details...

The Greatest Energy
Discovery in 100 Years

See, here's the thing...

This massive new find I'm telling you about — they call it the Tupi Field — isn't really what you picture when you think of a "field" of oil at all.

You can't drive past it. You can't see it. In fact, no human can actually get close to it... and live. You see, the Tupi Field is hidden some two miles below the blackest, roughest seas just about anywhere on the planet... as far as 240 miles off the coast of Brazil.

It is, in fact, so far below the surface of the ocean that the water pressure alone would crush a steel-fortified Navy sub like you could crush a soda can.

And that's just the ocean floor. You need to go even deeper — 19,000 feet through multi-million year-old anthracite and salt deposits — to get to the beds of ancient limestone that hold the oil.

Crews go out on massive ships to set up the rigs. They use satellite images to find the deposits and then automated underwater robots to lock the drilling equipment into place.

Just tapping the deposit can take as many as three months to set up... at a cost of as much as $600,000 per day. Even to hire a helicopter to fly to the offshore drilling sites can take as long as two-hours over open water and up to $50,000 for the fuel and pilot... for each flight.

"A tip of my hat to you... yesterday, I followed your recommendation and bought 1,000 shares of The Andersons Inc., now up more than 8% in less than 24 hours... congratulations."

— Bruce B.

You can see why this massive oil deposit took so long to discover.

It wasn't long ago that we had the technology.

Then again, it wasn't long ago that anybody but the energy industry pros understood just how desperate we are to find and tap more and more remote oil discoveries like this one.

They call this kind of oil opportunity "deepwater crude."

This company I'm telling you about dominates this new field. They also have their geologists and engineers looking for even more breakthrough offshore energy discoveries just like this one.

Of course this isn't the only deepwater crude fortune-maker in town.

I've got three more I'd love to show you.

In fact, you'll find the full story in just one of the five special reports I'd like to send you, called Deepwater Crude Bonanza: Four Ways to Get Rich on the New Oil Frontier.

It's included with your free 2010-2011 Crude Awakening Countdown Library.

Inside, not only do I name the single best energy stock of the next 20 years... but I also give you all my research on three other must-own "deepwater crude" plays, including...

The cutting-edge American deepwater technology company that has oil majors worldwide lined up to use their specialized rigs. Only a handful of companies worldwide can do what they do. And with up to 300 new deepwater rigs to come online by 2012, this company is lining up contracts by the score — this could be an easy 50% gainer over the 12 to 18 months ahead.
A trusted family-owned company that you already know, but what you might not know is that they're sitting on top of a second huge "deepwater" deposit almost as big as the one I just mentioned. They're also one of the few companies with the tech-savvy to drill the now-famous Bakken Oil Formation here in the U.S. This one has matched rising oil prices dollar for dollar before... and could triple from where it sits today.
And finally, what my readers and I now call the "most important oil equipment company in the world." Why? Because right now they're the single largest deepwater equipment supplier not only to the top offshore company I mentioned, but also to the other majors now crowding in — including Exxon Mobil, Shell, Chevron, BP, and more. What they make, nobody else can quite do. You'll see why in your free copy of my newest "deepwater" report.
Remember, I don't come at these opportunities like a broker trying to make commissions. This area is my trained specialty. I've spent years as a working oil exploration geologist. I study these opportunities with an understanding of the science and discoveries they're talking about.

And even when you factor that in, I'm convinced this new era in deepwater crude technology is a game changer. Not just the future of Big Oil, but also the single best way for you to get rich during the radical shift in energy politics headed down the pipe.

Once you let me rush you a free copy of Deepwater Crude Bonanza: Four Ways to Get Rich on the New Oil Frontier — one of the five special FREE reports in your 2010-2011 Crude Awakening Countdown Library — you'll quickly see why.

And then there's more...

Defensive Energy Power Play #2:
Two More Ways to Get Rich...
As Shanghai Goes Dark!

Obviously, it's not just the U.S. with an eye on oil anymore.

Even through the worldwide financial bust, China's kept on growing at a record clip... with oil and other energy needs to match.

Some of what they've done is make deals for more power, including multi-billion dollar deals with our enemies in Iran.

"China is preparing to build three times as many nuclear power plants in the coming decade as the rest of the world combined..."

— The New York Times

But even then, booming China could go bust if they don't fix their growing energy problems. Take China's situation with coal —– at one point during the winter of this year they were down to a 10-day supply.

The problem for China is that the country uses coal to crank out 80% of its electricity. For over 1 billion customers, that's a lot of coal. They can't get it out of the ground fast enough. Or safely.

So they're ramping up to go nuclear instead.

As you read this, China has 11 nuclear reactors producing electricity.

They're already building 17 more.

But they want to rocket that number to 124 full capacity reactors over the next several years. By the year 2030, that could pump up their demand for uranium 10 times over.

The last full year on record, China used 769 tons of uranium.

Beijing's new plan would call for 20,000 tons per year.

Yeah, but what about wind, solar, or geothermal?

Not one is nearly as ready for prime time as nuclear.

Think about it. Right now around the world, you've got 436 nuclear reactors up and running. Plus another 50 being built. And another 137 reactors in the blueprint stage. Along with 295 more new reactors on the table for approval.

The U.S. just announced plans to start building more — on top of the 104 reactors we've already got going. In fact, the U.S. already gets about 20% of its power from reactors. And we're on track to make more.

"Nuclear energy... has the power to light a city in a lump the size of a soda can."

— Wired

Even Belgium, Sweden, South Korea, Switzerland, Japan, Spain, the U.S., the U.K., and France all get between 23% and 75% of their power from nuke plants. And those numbers are going up too.

According to a study by researchers at MIT, power demand could triple over the coming decades — and a huge portion of that new demand will be met with nuclear power!

That makes the next big question easy...

Who Has Uranium?

First, guess who doesn't. Uranium deposits are hard to come by in the Middle East. Instead, you've got Australia, the U.S., Canada, France, Argentina, Brazil, and India dominating the market. Along with South Africa, Nigeria, Algeria, and Gabon.

I'm sure you remember, uranium stocks more than doubled from 2003 to 2007, during the first half of the second Gulf War. Uranium also shot up from $10 to $130 a pound.

Along with everything else, it crashed in 2008.

Now it's at a bottom price... new uranium production has flat-out stalled... yet all the surging power demands are still there. Especially from China.

Take a look at this chart...

It's not hard to do the math.

China has $1 trillion parked in U.S. dollar reserves. Most of the time, those dollars are a wasting asset. Meanwhile, cheap uranium can meet China's exploding energy needs many times over... compared to increasingly expensive oil.

In their shoes, what would you do?

Shanghai alone has already sucked up most of the energy output of the massive Three Gorges Dam. China's other enormous cities are hungry for cheap power, too. So is their massive industrial machine. And India, with plans to up their nuclear power output eight times over during the next decade, isn't far behind.

That could easily make 2010 the "year for uranium."

And that's why I'd love to share two easy ways for you to gain from the coming reawakening in uranium and nuclear-driven stocks.

One gives you a simple way to move on every uranium sector that could jump higher over the year ahead, from miners and storage, to nuclear equipment, plants, enrichment, and transportation.

It's a single play, tracking the whole uranium boom. Including moves that get you outside of the dollar. Yet you can act on this without sending a nickel outside the U.S.

I'm already sharing this same research with my paid-up Outstanding Investments subscribers. But I'd like to send it to you right now, as part of special invitation, FREE.

You'll find both this special move and a second one in another brand new report I call China's Next Big Crisis: Two Ways to Get Rich... As Shanghai Goes Dark!

It's included as one of five FREE reports you'll get when you give me permission to send you my new 2010-2011 Crude Awakening Countdown Library.

You'll find everything you need inside, from more on how and why uranium could hit over $60 this year... to why some call for $250 uranium in the near future... plus everything about the only two uranium moves you'll need to make to see huge gains on this, over the months and years ahead.

In just a moment I'll show you how to send for this special report, along with the rest of your FREE library. But first let me ask you an important question...

What's the Single Biggest Secret
Behind History's Greatest Fortunes?

Oscar Wilde once said, "Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot."

"Over the past 12 months, Outstanding Investments is up 49.98% by Hulbert Financial Digest count, compared to a 28.3% gain for the dividend-reinvested Wilshire 5000 Total Stock Market Index.... over the past five years, the letter has achieved an 18.3% annualized gain... over the past 10 years, the letter has achieved a 14.88% annualized gain, compared to a negative 0.27% annualized for the total return Wilshire."

— Peter Brimelow, Marketwatch

I don't need to tell you, between plundering banks and blundering bureaucrats, a lot of regular Americans have watched their 401k and retirement "riches" stolen right out from under them, these past couple of years.

But when push comes to shove... in times of historic growth and epic crisis... what's the one thing that's endured? For as long as anybody's kept track, it's "stuff"... real, tangible, usable, tradable, blatantly valuable wealth.

In short, the raw resources you need to thrive and survive.

It's really that simple. It's no accident that's where the smart money flocks in good times and bad. It's also no accident that this is the story of one great fortune after another.

Think about it...

John D. Rockefeller built a staggering fortune — worth $212 billion in today's dollars and nearly four times bigger than Bill Gates stash of $57 billion — with Standard Oil.
Just before the crash of 1929, Rockefeller and other mega-rich investors like J.P. Morgan, Joseph F. Kennedy, and Bernard Baruch ALL shifted out of stocks and into gold — getting even richer in the process.
Andrew Carnegie — who also crushes Gates with a fortune worth nearly $112 billion in today's dollars — got that rich making steel.
Frederick Weyerhauser, worth more than $72.2 billion in today's money, made all of that after starting out with timber, land, and saw mills.
Andrew Mellon and his brother Richard each made about $36 billion, in today's terms, by branching out from banking and into oil, steel, aluminum, and coal.
Real assets are more than just the building blocks of great family fortunes, they're also the backbone of history. Not just with oil and the Middle East, but the timber riches that made Europe... the aqueducts that fed Roman fields... and Aztec gold and silver...

Forests that became armadas... coal and iron that made behind England an industrial power... steel that made America... the list goes on. And this has never been more true than right now.

Nearly 42,000 people read my research letter Outstanding Investments and they're already mastering those same cycles, watching resource riches pile up — even now.

How are we doing, year over year?
See for yourself...

In 2002, our overall average portfolio gain hit +81
In 2003, our overall average portfolio gain hit +107%
In 2004, our overall average portfolio gain hit +62%
In 2005, our overall average portfolio gain hit +52%
In 2006, our overall average portfolio gain hit +21%
In 2007, our overall average portfolio gain hit +79%
In 2008, our overall average portfolio gain hit +25%
In 2009, our overall average portfolio gain hit +32%

And we're already off to an extremely impressive start for 2010.

In other words, our readers have seen overall average gains of 61% per year, going back over the closed portfolios of the last seven years — with plenty more to come!

Independent industry watchdog, Mark Hulbert, has even ranked us as the #1 Performing Investment Letter of the Last FIVE YEARS... not once but three times, in 2005... 2006... and 2007.

I'm proud of that record.

I'm even more proud of what some of my readers say...

What Others Say

Outstanding Investments reader Jeff Burke wrote in,

"It's difficult to be unhappy when all of the recommendations I hold from Outstanding Investments are up a minimum of 36%!"

Then there's reader Charles Bowman,

"I made a 140% gain with Tocqueville Gold - great pick! And 64% on Northgate, another winner!"

And paid-up reader Garry Coyne wrote,

"On Monday, I sold my last coffee contract for a net profit of 560%... [today] I took another net gain of 652% on two of the soybean contracts you recommended... and a profit of 205% on two soybean oil contracts... I'm absolutely wrapped, as I have never traded commodities until now."

My publisher has a whole pile of reader letters.

Here's a sample from just a few more...

"My stock portfolio has increased 52% in eight months as a result of the insight of Outstanding Investments. I plan to be a subscriber for years to come..." — paid-up subscriber Fred Hanson.

"I made back the cost of the subscription on my first buy, within about a week... Your newsletter is a great deal!" — paid-up subscriber Adam Dillard.

"Thanks for all the good analysis. Subscribing to Outstanding Investments is one of the best investment decisions I've ever made." — paid-up subscriber Wade George.

I'd love the chance for you to see what everybody's talking about, too. That's why I'd like to invite you to try my research letter Outstanding Investments for yourself.

And you can start FREE, by letting me rush you the entire 2010-2011 Crude Awakening Countdown Library we talked about. That's yours to keep, at no charge.

Once you've had a chance to look that over, I've got an even better invitation for you. One I think you'll like very much. You'll find the details at the end of this letter.

But first, let me give you another small sample of what you'll discover...

Defensive Energy Power Play #3:
The Gold Secret Nobody's Telling

What's the single best money move you could have made, from 1999 until now?

You must already know... it's gold.

With the yellow metal alone, you could have quadrupled your wealth.

While S&P stocks fell 9.7%... gold shot up 323%.

If that sounds like a fluke, go back over the last 25 years.

You'll find the single best year for stocks was just 31%... while gold's best year topped 100.2%... and precious metal coins did even better, up 198.8%!

But you've got to wonder now...

Has Gold Had Its Run?

From 1979 to 1982, during the Iranian hostage crisis and the worst inflation the U.S. has seen yet, the yellow metal surged 2,329%.

At 323%, we haven't even covered a fraction of that ground.

But all over the news, you can hear mainstreamers call for an "end" to gold's bull run. It's the same message they read back in 2009, during gold's seven corrections that year.

Yet gold prices shot up again each time — and finished the year hundreds of dollars higher than its low. Anyone who listened missed out on all those gains.

Will we see even more corrections? No doubt.

But the bottom line is that just like with oil, instability can drive gold higher.

My Outstanding Investments readers have already seen gains on 12 out of the 14 mining stocks we're tracking right now. And half of those have posted triple-digit gains, as high as 131.4%, 133%, 165%, 167%, 202%, and 557%.

For years, I've helped my Outstanding Investments readers stay ahead of gold and silver markets, too. And right now... I'm still urging them to pay attention.

I hope you're paying attention too.

Because I'm convinced that today's gold story is far from done.

That's why I'd like to include a third FREE report with your 2010-2011 Crude Awakening Countdown Library. I call this third report, Bullion and Beyond: Ultimate Wealth Protection Against the Coming Dollar Collapse.

Inside, here's just some of what you'll find...

Three Ways You Could Still
See Triple Your Money on Gold

What if you could take any remaining move in gold... even a small one... and as much as triple those gains? Because I firmly believe you could, in ways that could soon take even "gold bugs" by surprise.

"I almost bailed out when gold and oil took a dip... but followed your suggestion to stay in... Now I'm up 28% with only your recommendations in my portfolio. I also followed your recommendation on CDE, and it's up 8% already. Keep up the good work."

— Bill B.

How?

You can read all about it in another FREE report I'll send you, called Bullion and Beyond: Ultimate Wealth Protection Against the Coming Dollar Collapse.

Take a look...

First, Discover How to Own Gold at Just $174 Per Ounce — The first move I'll show you is easily one of the cheapest ways to get a piece of booming gold ownership, from a company that trades for $174 of market capitalization per ounce of gold. Translation: This senior miner is on track to become the lowest cost gold producer in the world. Big institutions have already soaked up more than half these shares (64%), and some of the best geologists, corporate mining talent and mine managers, are flocking to work with this company.

Then I'll Show You How to Lock in Up To $600 in Gains on Every Ounce — As you read this, the next gold company I reveal for you in this special report is still getting gold out of the ground at less than $400 an ounce. With gold still hovering around the $1,000 threshold... that's like locking in a $600 gain on every ounce. And that just means a fatter gain for shareholders. What's more, this is a miner with a huge cash pile. They're putting that cash to good use too, snapping up other top-performing miners and soaking up their gold and silver reserves.

And Finally, You'll Discover Years of Gains to Come, Thanks to New Breakthroughs in "Deep Gold" — Just as how high-tech breakthroughs now make "deepwater oil" discoveries possible, new tech breakthroughs have also opened up the future of "deep gold." These are the rich veins of yellow metal locked in rock as deep as 16,000 feet down. This top gold producer — with 20 different mining operations in 10 different countries — has perfected the technique. And now they're bringing up the rock nobody else can get... to add to their pile of 229 million ounces of gold resources, another 36 million ounces of silver, and 42 million pounds of uranium. I've been down in their mines myself — and I'm sold, this is one of the best long-haul gold plays you'll ever come across.

Like I said, you'll find all three of these companies covered in deep detail, in your free copy of Bullion and Beyond: Ultimate Wealth Protection Against the Coming Dollar Collapse. You'll find more inside, too.

Including...

How to lock in as much gold as you like for pennies on the dollar.

How to pile up your gold and silver gains tax-free.

How to buy coins and bullion without getting ripped off.

The absolute two best gold stocks for you to own right now.

Nine ways to own gold preferred by America's "super rich."

How to store your metals safely and without management fees.

The shocking story nobody's telling you about "peak gold."

How to get Lloyd's of London to insure your gold at no cost.

Why one gold exchange-traded fund (ETF) beats the others.

The "bank account" where you can park physical silver and gold.

"Name Your Price" gold — decide how much you want to pay.

How to safely collect gains and income on "outside-the-dollar" gold.

How to pick junior mining shares with much less risk.

The single easiest way to own either silver or gold.

Home-run gains on gold at a tiny fraction of spot gold prices.

How to buy all the gold you want without paying huge brokerage fees.
I hope you'll let me rush you a FREE copy, at my expense... along with a total of NINE free gifts altogether, all yours immediately if you simply accept my invitation below.

Here's what you'll get, once you do...

A Fortress of Protection
During the Epic Crisis Ahead

Say yes to a simple trial subscription to Outstanding Investments, and the first thing I'll do is rush you my entire 2010-2011 Crude Awakening Countdown Library — FREE.

Inside you'll get...

FREE REPORT #1:
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"After America , There is No Place Left to Go"

2010-02-24T18:02:00.007-05:00

The author of this article lives in South Dakota and appears to be very active in attempting to maintain our freedom. I encourage everybody to read this article and pass it along. I see so many parallels in this country. Are we going to sit by and watch it happen?

Spread the word; contact your congressional reps; vote them out if they don’t do what they should. If you don’t want to be bothered, then you’re part of the problem! Google Kitty Werthmann and you will see articles and videos.

This Truly is the Greatest Country in the World.
Don't Let Freedom Slip Away
By: Kitty Werthmann

"What I am about to tell you is something you've probably never heard or will ever read in history books. I believe that I am an eyewitness to history. I cannot tell you that Hitler took Austria by tanks and guns; it would distort history. We elected him by a landslide - 98% of the vote.. I've never read that in any American publications. Everyone thinks that Hitler just rolled in with his tanks and took Austria by force.

In 1938, Austria was in deep Depression. Nearly one third of our workforce was unemployed.. We had 25% inflation and 25% bank loan interest rates. Farmers and business people were declaring bankruptcy daily. Young people were going from house to house begging for food.. Not that they didn't want to work; there simply weren't any jobs. My mother was a Christian woman and believed in helping people in need.. Every day we cooked a big kettle of soup and baked bread to feed those poor, hungry people - about 30 daily.

The Communist Party and the National Socialist Party were fighting each other. Blocks and blocks of cities like Vienna , Linz , and Graz were destroyed. The people became desperate and petitioned the government to let them decide what kind of government they wanted. We looked to our neighbor on the north, Germany, where Hitler had been in power since 1933. We had been told that they didn't have unemployment or crime, and they had a high standard of living. Nothing was ever said about persecution of any group -- Jewish or otherwise. We were led to believe that everyone was happy. We wanted the same way of life in Austria . We were promised that a vote for Hitler would mean the end of unemployment and help for the family. Hitler also said that businesses would be assisted, and farmers would get their farms back. Ninety-eight percent of the population voted to annex Austria to Germany and have Hitler for our ruler. We were overjoyed, and for three days we danced in the streets and had candlelight parades. The new government opened up big field kitchens and everyone was fed. After the election, German officials were appointed, and like a miracle, we suddenly had law and order. Three or four weeks later, everyone was employed. The government made sure that a lot of work was created through the Public Work Service. Hitler decided we should have equal rights for women. Before this, it was a custom that married Austrian women did not work outside the home. An able-bodied husband would be looked down on if he couldn't support his family. Many women in the teaching profession were elated that they could retain the jobs they previously had been required to give up for marriage.

Hitler Targets Education - Eliminates Religious Instruction for Children:

Our education was nationalized.. I attended a very good public school.. The population was predominantly Catholic, so we had religion in our =schools. The day we elected Hitler (March 13, 1938), I walked into my schoolroom to find the crucifix replaced by Hitler's picture hanging next to a Nazi flag. Our teacher, a very devout woman, stood up and told the class we wouldn't pray or have religion anymore. Instead, we sang "Deutschland, Deutschland, Uber Alles," and had physical education.

Sunday became National Youth Day with compulsory attendance. Parents were not pleased about the sudden change in curriculum. They were told that if they did not send us, they would receive a stiff letter of warning the first time. The second time they would be fined the equivalent of $300, and the third time they would be subject to jail.

The first two hours consisted of political indoctrination.The rest of the day we had sports. As time went along, we loved it. Oh, we had so much fun and got our sports equipment free. We would go home and gleefully tell our parents about the wonderful time we had. My mother was very unhappy. When the next term started, she took me out of public school and put me in a convent. I told her she couldn't do that and she told me that someday when I grew up, I would be grateful. There was a very good curriculum, but hardly any fun - no sports, and no political indoctrination. I hated it at first but felt I could tolerate it. Every once in a while, on holidays, I went home. I would go back to my old friends and ask what was going on and what they were doing. Their loose lifestyle was very alarming to me. They lived without religion. By that time unwed mothers were glorified for having a baby for Hitler. It seemed strange to me that our society changed so suddenly. As time went along, I realized what a great deed my mother did so that I wasn't exposed to that kind of humanistic philosophy.

Equal Rights Hits Home:

In 1939, the war started and a food bank was established. All food was rationed and could only be purchased using food stamps. At the same time, a full-employment law was passed which meant if you didn't work, you didn't get a ration card, and if you didn't have a card, you starved to death. Women who stayed home to raise their families didn't have any marketable skills and often had to take jobs more suited for men.

Soon after this, the draft was implemented. It was compulsory for young people, male and female, to give one year to the labor corps. During the day, the girls worked on the farms, and at night they returned to their barracks for military training just like the boys. They were trained to be anti-aircraft gunners and participated in the signal corps. After the labor corps, they were not discharged but were used in the front lines. When I go back to Austria to visit my family and friends, most of these women are emotional cripples because they just were not equipped to handle the horrors of combat.

Three months before I turned 18, I was severely injured in an air raid attack. I nearly had a leg amputated, so I was spared having to go into the labor corps and into military service. Hitler Restructured the Family Through Daycare: When the mothers had to go out into the work force, the government immediately established child care centers. You could take your children ages 4 weeks to school age and leave them there around-the-clock, 7 days a week, under the total care of the government. The state raised a whole generation of children.. There were no motherly women to take care of the children, just people highly trained in child psychology. By this time, no one talked about equal rights. We knew we had been had.

Health Care and Small Business Suffer Under Government Controls:

Before Hitler,we had very good medical care.Many American doctors trained at
the University of Vienna. After Hitler,health care was socialized,free for everyone. Doctors were salaried by the government.The problem was, since it was free,the people were going to the doctors for everything. When the good doctor arrived at his office at 8 a.m., 40 people were already waiting and, at the same time, the hospitals were full. If you needed elective surgery, you had to wait a year or two for your turn. There was no money for research as it was poured into socialized medicine. Research at the medical schools literally stopped, so the best doctors left Austria and immigrated to other countries.

As for healthcare, our tax rates went up to 80% of our income. Newlyweds immediately received a $1,000 loan from the government to establish a household. We had big programs for families. All day care and education were free. High schools were taken over by the government and college tuition was subsidized. Everyone was entitled to free handouts, such as food stamps, clothing, and housing. We had another agency designed to monitor business. My brother-in-law owned a restaurant that had square tables. Government officials told him he had to replace them with round tables because people might bump themselves on the corners. Then they said he had to have additional bathroom facilities. It was just a small dairy business with a snack bar. He couldn't meet all the demands. Soon, he went out of business. If the government owned the large businesses and not many small ones existed, it could be in control.

We had consumer protection. We were told how to shop and what to buy. Free enterprise was essentially abolished. We had a planning agency specially designed for farmers. The agents would go to the farms, count the live-stock, then tell the farmers what to produce, and how to produce it.

"Mercy Killing" Redefined:

In 1944, I was a student teacher in a small village in the Alps . The villagers were surrounded by mountain passes which, in the winter, were closed off with
snow, causing people to be isolated. So people intermarried and offspring were sometimes retarded. When I arrived, I was told there were 15 mentally retarded adults, but they were all useful and did good manual work. I knew one, named Vincent, very well. He was a janitor of the school. One day I looked out the window and saw Vincent and others getting into a van. I asked my superior where they were going. She said to an institution where the State Health Department would teach them a trade, and to read and write. The families were required to sign papers with a little clause that they could not visit for 6 months. They were told visits would interfere with the program and might cause homesickness. As time passed, letters started to dribble back saying these people died a natural, merciful death. The villagers were not fooled. We suspected what was happening. Those people left in excellent physical health and all died within 6 months. We called this euthanasia.

The Final Steps - Gun Laws:

Next came gun registration.. People were getting injured by guns. Hitler said that the real way to catch criminals (we still had a few) was by matching serial numbers on guns. Most citizens were law abiding and dutifully marched to the police station to register their firearms. Not long after-wards, the police said that it was best for everyone to turn in their guns. The authorities already knew who had them, so it was futile not to comply voluntarily. No more freedom of speech. Anyone who said something against the government was taken away. We knew many people who were arrested, not only Jews, but also priests and ministers who spoke up.

Totalitarianism didn't come quickly, it took 5 years from 1938 until 1943, to realize full dictatorship in Austria . Had it happened overnight, my countrymen would have fought to the last breath. Instead, we had creeping gradualism. Now, our only weapons were broom handles. The whole idea sounds almost unbelievable that the state, little by little eroded our freedom. After World War II, Russian troops occupied Austria . Women were raped, preteen to elderly.

The press never wrote about this either. When the Soviets left in 1955, they took everything that they could, dismantling whole factories in the process. They sawed down whole orchards of fruit, and what they couldn't destroy, they burned. We called it The Burned Earth. Most of the population barricaded themselves in their houses. Women hid in their cellars for 6 weeks as the troops mobilized. Those who couldn't, paid the price. There is a monument in Vienna today, dedicated to those women who were massacred by the Russians. This is an eye witness account." "It's true.Those of us who sailed past the Statue of Liberty came to a country of unbelievable freedom and opportunity.America Truly is the Greatest Country in the World.Don't Let Freedom Slip Away,"After America, There is No Place to Go."

Freedom is seldom ever lost all at one time. It is a gradual thing. Little things turn into bigger things, until pretty soon the people are no longer free. The story above is the sort of Progress that Progressives ultimately produce if they are successful, regardless of their motivation. It is always "for the good of the people", and because the elitists truly believe we are too stupid to know what is good for us! We have about 30% of our Congress, and the administration who are dedicated sincere believers of the Progressive movement. We must not let them win....ANYTHING! Our grand parents and great grand parents beat them back in the beginning of the last century. They are back, and much stronger now than they were then, and they have a charismatic leader. In spite of all that, we are still the greatest nation the Earth has ever produced. We will not let it die!

This Says it All

2010-02-23T18:35:00.002-05:00

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had once failed an entire class. That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.

The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan". All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A. After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.

As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little. The second test average was a D! No one was happy. When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.

The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else. All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.

Could not be any simpler than that. (Please pass this on)

Remember, there is a mid-term election in 2010!

"Home of the Free, because of the Brave!"
"In God We Trust"
www.blowoutcongress.com
Compliments of Betty Carver

GOOOH.COM

2010-02-13T15:26:00.001-05:00

I have recently been introduced to the above named group that has developed a process by which candidates for each congressional district are selected by citizens in each district, through a number of face to face, ten person committees. Members in each district are divided into committees made up of multiple groups of ten, and each committee sends two candidates on to the next level of groups of ten, until such time as one member from each congressional district is selected. This affords all citizens the opportunity to participate in the candidate selection process.

This is a nationwide organization, has over 100,000 members already, and needs 500,000 before the process, by its' own design, can be successful. Tim Cox is the founder of the organization and is funding the entire process himself, until such time as the 500,000 number is reached, assuming that does occur. I personally believe the group will reach its membership goals, and has a very good chance of being successful in those districts across the country where the necessary support is organized.

The ultimate goal is to replace professional politicians with citizen representation, as our founders intended. For now, including all of 2010, this movement is confined only to representation of the 435 U. S. House of Representative seats. If successful, this movement has plans to move into state, local, as well as other Federal election processes.

I strongly suggest that everyone visit the web site GOOOH.com, pronounced GO, and standing for "Get out of our House" There is a series of questions online to review, answer, and give consideration, as the meetings consist of the groups of ten answering these questions, openly discussing the details, then entering into one on one interviews of each member of the group of ten with every other member.

The ultimate result is a vote from each group submitting two representatives of the group to the next level. I have participated twice, in the mock selection process, have learned much, and I am greatly encouraged by the sheer determination of the people I have met, most of whom want limited, representative government, accountable to the constituency, dedicated to responsible fiscal policy, and the freedoms we were endowed by our creator and guaranteed by our constitution!

Today, with four inches of snow and ice on the roads, we had about 30 patriots show up before 9 AM to a drafty hanger at the Gwinnett County airport, for .a mock selection process and pancake breakfast. Had the weather been normal for Georgia this time of year, we would have had 100 or more.

Please check out GOOOH.COM, and make plans to attend the next meet-up in your district. If no meet-up is currently scheduled in your congressional district, go to the meeting nearest you, find out what it is all about. We are living in some very scary times, but we also have an opportunity to change the course of history. I know my personal optimism has gone up exponentially since the MA Senatorial election, and that was made possible by grass roots Americans in organizations like Resistnet.com, the Tea Party movement, and countless other groups of Constitutionally dedicated citizens banding together to take back our country.

Tim Cox has designed a process that can be used to enable us to succeed in 2010 and beyond, not only with respect to our national political scene, but locally as well. We need good men and women ready to roll up their sleeves and get about the task of saving America from the progressives in our midst, in both parties, at all levels of government.

Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum

2010-02-11T14:30:00.011-05:00

Atlas Shrugged received largely negative reviews from critics immediately after its 1957 publication, as did all of Ayn Rand's works, but has achieved enduring popularity and consistent sales for more than 50 years. Despite its' early negative reviews, the novel reached as high as 4th on the NY Times bestseller list in its' first year of publication. The reading public has always understood the logic and value of Rand's work, even though the left leaning press has always been critical. The Economist magazine and The New York Times reports that Atlas Shrugged sales have sharply increased since the fall of 2008. "The Economist reported that the fifty-two-year-old novel ranked #33 among Amazon.com's top-selling books on January 13, 2009 and that its thirty day sales average showed the novel selling three times faster than during the same period of the previous year. With an attached sales chart, The Economist reported that sales "spikes" of the book seemed to coincide with the release of economic data."(1)

This is news all by itself. While the American people remain what is considered by most a center right populace, we reach out in increasing numbers for the most famous of all published far right wing capitalists, a Russian immigrant, who saw first hand how the collective, progressive left ends up in its purest form. We are living the beginning of Atlas Shrugged in real life, right now, in the United States. Rand saw the dangers of the progressive left, even in 1950s America. We can only dream of the mythical John Galt, or even the more human Hank Reardon, but we will be seeing soon, those who will withdraw from leadership positions in business and finance, if for no other reason than to protect their wealth, their dignity, and the freedom of their own intellect and productivity.

I don't believe it will stop with the leaders and the wealthy. The middle class in our country has achieved a far loftier and comfortable position than ever before in the history of mankind. 401k and IRA statutes, along with more than 20 years of prosperity beginning with Ronald Reagan has produced many working class millionaires, who have saved religiously, invested conservatively, and even with the dramatic losses incurred during the last two bubble failures, remain a force to be reckoned with. These members of the middle class will not give up their status without a fight. The numbers are in favor of the center right, the middle class, and those who stand to lose the most. The very wealthy can protect themselves regardless of the policies of the government. Those whose fortunes depend on the viability of the American economy, and especially the dollar are now in a position to force the government into political positions favored by the majority, in spite of the recent proclivity of Congress to ignore the demands of the public.

That is not to say the day can be won without considerable sacrifice. The young people in our current society have been blessed to have never been expected to do without. The children and especially the grandchildren of the baby boomers possess an attitude of entitlement like no other generation in history. They may very well espouse liberal leanings today, but once times get tough in the United States, liberal values will gain them no place in lines at grocery stores, where food is scarce. Credit cards will be worthless, paper money, only valuable in huge sums, and bartering will become the rule for those who remain respectful. Others, not as inclined toward respect will resort to theft, intimidation, and violence. Those who prepare now will stand the best chance of survival, even the means to thrive. For those who do not prepare, and are not aware of the dangers an economic failure will produce, only good fortune or a strong family connection will permit economic survival.

The liberal press and the political elite scoffed at the Tea Party movement last February. They began to marginalize and demean those who were standing up and demanding to be heard after the April 15th Tax Day Tea Parties. Around the country the numbers were in the hundreds of thousands or more, despite the mainstream media's claims of far lesser numbers. On the weekend of 9/12/2009, I was in Washington D. C. and saw for myself what I later learned to be over one million protesters. The press at the time reluctantly reported the protesters to be in the tens of thousands. This show of strength started some to worry, and Nancy Pelosi no longer called us the astro-turf movement. The elections in VA and NJ in November were more worrisome for the left, even though they took heart that the Tea Party made a fatal error in the NY 23rd district race. Political adolescence led to a split of the conservative vote, and gave the democrats a seat they had not held in decades. This was a mistake that will not be repeated. I recently learned that the Tea Party Patriots number 15 million strong!

The Massachusetts Senate race changed the political landscape in this country forever. One single election at the state level has never changed the entire course of an administration, particularly one that only a year earlier appeared ready and able to fundamentally change America into a Social Democracy, modeled after the Europeans. President Obama had a super majority in the Senate, a huge majority in the House, an apparently strong mandate from the people, and yet, he failed on all but his first piece of major legislation! His first year in office goes now into the history books as a dismal failure. He, and his Chicago cronies, while brilliant on the campaign trail, have proved themselves totally inept when it comes to governing.

What a break that has turned out to be for the republic. This has saved our country from certain political disaster, but we still face economic failure, possible hyper inflation, what appears to be an insurmountable debt, unfunded liabilities that will handcuff future generations, and a President who hasn't given up the notion of fundamental change. We have a long, hard road ahead of us. Ayn Rand's vision, the fundamental strength of the constitution, and the people we still are, as a result of what our founders left us more than 233 years ago, can still prevail.

Atlas Shrugged has been seen as highly influential in conservative and libertarian circles, while sharply rebuked by the liberal establishment in academia and among progressives at every level. This is not news in times such as these when the left and right in America are far more polarized than at any other time in our history. Such stalwarts as Alan Greenspan and William F. Buckley Jr. were part of Rand's inner group in 1950s New York conservative circles, when conservatism was even more rare in NY than it is today, be that possible. Buckley wound up as one of Rand's many enemies after allowing a harsh critical review of Atlas Shrugged as editor of the National Review. He tried unsuccessfully to get back in her good graces for years, and decades after Rand's death, Buckley still considered her one of the most brilliant minds of the 20th century.

The novel is widely considered the second most influential book to American readers, after the Bible. I can say, now that my mother has passed, Ayn Rand's works, including Atlas Shrugged, have affected my life to the positive more than any other literary or philosophical consideration. My mother first introduced me to Atlas Shrugged in the summer before my senior year in high school. Then, as in other trying times in my personal life, I turned to Atlas to get my life back on track, and it has worked, for the most part.

Seeing increased sales in the novel gives me heart now especially, after the inspiring victory of Scott Brown in the Massachusetts Senatorial election. I am not hesitant to admit I have been very very afraid for the continuation of our republic, and likewise with my own ability to successfully survive in a society where the government is intent on redistributing the wealth of its citizens. There are highly influential groups of mostly bankers, politicians, members of the mainstream press, and the uber-wealthy who are uncomfortable with the middle class in America being in a position of power and strength, for really the first time in the history of mankind. I am speaking primarily of The Bilderberg Group, first organized in 1954, as well as The Trilateral Commission, established by David Rockefeller in 1972, after the Bilderberg Group refused to admit members from Japan.

This is the sort of talk condemned by the media as conspiracy theories, but the mainstream media, particularly its' most elite members have a seat at the table, including such media barons as Andrew Knight of England, Nicolas Beytout of France, and George Stephanopoulos, who has apparently taken the spot formerly occupied by the late William F. Buckley Jr. These two groups wield significant control of the U. S. Fed, the World Bank, have vast holdings in the equity and commodity markets, and determine many of the social, political and financial decisions that affect our everyday lives. It is no coincidence that the whole of Western Europe and North America has entered into identical financial disaster at or about the same time. Their ultimate goals are one world governance and one world currency, and they were well on their way to success until recently. The current public outcry and apparent resurgence of American constitutionalists may well be just a bump in the road, as it is still possible that we are just one more major crisis short of that fundamental change Barack Obama has promised.

With debt in the free world at such astounding numbers, there appears only two ways for the United States to work its' way out of a major default, at least according to the government spokespersons and the media. Hyper-inflation is one way government could reduce the debt. The government could continue spending at the currently unsustainable rate, until it has the Fed jack up the interest rates, at which point it would be impossible to service the debt of the country, or the debt of the average citizen. The only winner in this scenario is the government, who can repay the foreign debt with devalued currency, as the printing presses remain running night and day. In that event, your measly nest egg becomes virtually worthless, if you have dollar denominated investments, which the vast majority of Americans do.

In fact, the rules of the majority of 401ks in this country allow no investment outside our borders, other than minor amounts inside typical mutual funds. If you have adhered to the principle that comfortable retirement requires 80% of your pre-retirement income, and you need to create that 80% by collecting a modest 4% return on your principle, by the way a very conservative approach through 2007, you are no longer able to achieve your desired result without taking significantly more risk than one should during retirement. While that may seem like a minor issue today, we could get news as soon as next week that would turn our entire economy upside down.

The second false choice is paralyzing increases in taxes, particularly on the so called wealthy, who consist of many small business owners, the creators of the jobs we need to get back on the road to recovery. The third choice that the majority in Congress scoffs at daily is a major reduction in spending, and dramatic cuts in taxes. There is no choice without pain. We must cut back on entitlement spending, defense spending, government workers, and every other section of the $3.8 Trillion budget. When business has more going out than coming in, they cut across the board, but logically. They don’t cut 100% of their marketing budget, while paying out the same in salaries and dividends. Deep, painful cuts must be made where possible, while small painful cuts have to be made everywhere else. Nothing is sacred when you face economic ruin, and make no mistake we are facing a severe economic failure, in spite of the bailouts of the banks, and the stimulus pork barrel spending bill.

The dollar has been the dominant world reserve currency since the end of WWII. The dollar is still the strongest of all world currencies, even though we abandoned the gold standard in the early 1970s when our inflation rate was so high, France in particular, demanded gold in exchange for every dollar they held. Richard Nixon adeptly avoided that bullet, by decoupling the dollar from the gold standard. As our debt now approaches 90% of our GDP, other countries, especially Islamic countries are calling for a new world currency, or a basket of currencies that does not include king dollar. Five of the six Islamic states constituting the Gulf Cooperation Council including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are calling for a new world currency as early as 2010. The sixth, Oman, pulled out of the agreement last year. Such an act would immediately and irreparably devalue our monetary system and bring about economic chaos in our nation. The Europeans have already withdrawn their sovereign currencies in favor of the Euro. The next step is to bring us down to the rest of the world.

It probably won't happen in 2010, but it will happen ultimately. Our leaders in Washington keep spending us into oblivion in the face of this knowledge. It is we, the people of the United States that will suffer greatly when our currency is devalued by high interest rates, the creation of a new international reserve monetary system, or likely as not, both! It is therefore, we, the people, who must take control of our country, get rid of our politically elite class that has become tantamount to the royals of the European Continent our founding fathers managed to escape.

Ayn Rand saw in our country; the remarkably independent, industrious, and entrepreneurial spirit, created by the genius of the constitutional rights left us by the founders, and the unique ability to celebrate the brilliance of the mind and the fruits of our labor. We have achieved in a little over 200 years, the kind of life that even the Kings, Lords, and Barons who lived for thousands of years before us never even dreamed about. We have invented, perfected, and harnessed the power of physics, mathematics, and even the very building blocks of life to create for ourselves every imaginable comfort, pleasure, and necessity of life, even while doubling the average life expectancy.

Now the progressives, under the same old guise, "for the good of the whole", want to control every aspect of our lives. They would tell us what to eat, how to raise our children, punish us with taxes for using any of creations that have made life a celebration. They even want to tax the air we breathe out, under the assumption that Co2, one of the requirements for life on the planet, is harmful to us and our Earth. We now find ourselves poised to come under the heavy hand of Wesley Mouche, and while we may have no Galt's Gulch to retire to for a time, we have the knowledge, the power, and the insight Rand left us. We know very well how this will play out, if we do nothing. We have started already with a movement that is gaining momentum every day. Pick up a pen; put your elected representatives on notice. Use your PC to find those in your city, district, and state who are ready and able to lead. Prepare for the absolute worse. Collect items with intrinsic value. Pull your family close around you. Get rid of all debt at any cost, while preserving a safe place to carry out your life during hard times. We have a constitution, a country, and way of life, as well as our children's futures to protect. We have everything we need to do it, including Atlas Shrugged, from which we can see the present, and light our way into the future.

Random Acts Of Kindness

2010-02-04T16:45:00.002-05:00

This is another story I just had to pass along. I hope if you find yourself reading this, you will feel the need to share it with someone else.

As she stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of school, she told the children an untruth. Like most teachers, she looked at her students and said that she loved them all the same. However, that was impossible, because there in the front row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard.

Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he did not play well with the other children, that his clothes were messy and that he constantly needed a bath. In addition, Teddy could be unpleasant. It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X's and then putting a big 'F' at the top of his papers.

At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review each child's past records and she put Teddy's off until last. However, when she reviewed his file, she was in for a surprise.

Teddy's first grade teacher wrote, 'Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners... He is a joy to be around....

His second grade teacher wrote, 'Teddy is an excellent student, well liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle.'

His third grade teacher wrote, 'His mother's death has been hard on him. He tries to do his best, but his father doesn't show much interest, and his home life will soon affect him if some steps aren't taken.'

Teddy's fourth grade teacher wrote, 'Teddy is withdrawn and doesn't show much interest in school. He doesn't have many friends and he sometimes sleeps in class.'

By now, Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and she was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when her students brought her Christmas presents, wrapped in beautiful ribbons and bright paper, except for Teddy's. His present was clumsily wrapped in the heavy, brown paper that he got from a grocery bag. Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the other presents. Some of the children started to laugh when she found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing, and a bottle that was one-quarter full of perfume. But she stifled the children's laughter when she exclaimed how pretty the bracelet was, putting it on, and dabbing some of the perfume on her wrist. Teddy Stoddard stayed after school that day just long enough to say, 'Mrs. Thompson, today you smelled just like my Mom used to.'

After the children left, she cried for at least an hour. On that very day, she quit teaching reading, writing and arithmetic. Instead, she began to teach children. Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. As she worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded. By the end of the year, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class and, despite her lie that she would love all the children the same, Teddy became one of her 'teacher's pets..'

A year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling her that she was the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.

Six years went by before she got another note from Teddy. He then wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in life.

Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that while things had been tough at times, he'd stayed in school, had stuck with it, and would soon graduate from college with the highest of honors. He assured Mrs. Thompson that she was still the best and favorite teacher he had ever had in his whole life.

Then four more years passed and yet another letter came. This time he explained that after he got his bachelor's degree, he decided to go a little further. The letter explained that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had. But now his name was a little longer.... The letter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, MD.

The story does not end there. You see, there was yet another letter that spring. Teddy said he had met this girl and was going to be married. He explained that his father had died a couple of years ago and he was wondering if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit at the wedding in the place that was usually reserved for the mother of the groom. Of course, Mrs. Thompson did. And guess what? She wore that bracelet, the one with several rhinestones missing. Moreover, she made sure she was wearing the perfume that Teddy remembered his mother wearing on their last Christmas together.

They hugged each other, and Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson's ear, 'Thank you Mrs. Thompson for believing in me. Thank you so much for making me feel important and showing me that I could make a difference.'

Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back. She said, 'Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn't know how to teach until I met you.'

(For you that don't know, Teddy Stoddard is the Dr. at Iowa Methodist in Des Moines that has the Stoddard Cancer Wing.)

Warm someone's heart today. .. . pass this along. I love this story so very much, I cry every time I read it. Just try to make a difference in someone's life today? tomorrow? just 'do it'.

Random acts of kindness, I think they call it!!!

THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER

2010-01-28T13:45:00.004-05:00

This one is a little different......

Two Different Versions.... ..............Two Different Morals

OLD VERSION

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE STORY:

Be responsible for yourself!

New Version

The ant works hard in the withering heat and the rain all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while he is cold and starving.

CBS, NBC , PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so? Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody
cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green. ACORN stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, “We shall overcome.” Then Rev. Jeremiah Wright has the group kneel down and pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.

President Obama condemns the ant and blames President Bush, President Reagan, Christopher Columbus, and the Pope for the grasshopper's plight. Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share. Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer.

The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government Green Czar and given to the grasshopper.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper and his free-loading friends finishing up the last bits of the ant’s food while the government house he is in, which, as you recall, just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around them because the grasshopper doesn't maintain it. The ant has disappeared in the snow, never to be seen again. The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident, and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the ramshackle, once prosperous and once peaceful, neighborhood.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote in 2010.

Retribution

2010-01-11T14:12:00.003-05:00

I received this in an email today. Rather than forward to everyone in my distribution list, I decided to post the email as a blog so that it might reach even more Americans. We must take decisive action to remove our elected representatives. If you haven't already checked it out, go to GOOOH.com, w wonderful idea designed to removed all 435 U.S. Representatives from Congress in the midterm 2010 elections.

Take a look at this and just remember elections in Nov. 2010.

U.S. House & Senate have voted themselves $4,700 and $5,300 raises.
1. They voted to not give you a S.S. Cost of living raise in 2010 and 2011.
2. Your Medicaid premiums will go up $285.60 for the 2-years and
You will not get the 3% COLA: $660/yr. Your total 2-yr loss and cost is
-$1,600 or -$3,200 for husband and wife.
3. Over 2-yrs they each get $10,000
4. Do you feel SCREWED?
5. Will they have your cost of drugs - doctor fees - local taxes - food, etc., increase? NO WAY . They have a raise and better benefits. Why care about you? You never did anything about it in the past. You obviously are too stupid or don't care.
6. Do you really think that Nancy, Harry, Chris, Charlie, Barnie, et al, care about you? SEND THE MESSAGE-- You're FIRED.
IN 2010 YOU WILL HAVE A CHANCE TO GET RID OF THE SITTING CONGRESS:
Up to 1/3 OF THE SENATE, AND 100% OF THE HOUSE.

MAKE SURE YOU'RE STILL MAD IN NOVEMBER 2010 AND REMIND THEIR REPLACEMENTS NOT TO SCREW UP.
It is ok to forward this to your sphere of influence if you are finally tired of the abuse.
Maybe it's time for the........
Amendment 28

"Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators or Representatives,
and Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States ."

Let's get this passed around, folks - these people in Washington have brought this upon themselves!!! It's time for retribution. Let's take back America ..

If you don't forward this to all your friends you're just part of the problem of national apathy.

Declaration Of Independence

paragraph two, third sentence says

That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it..................................

The Time IS Now!

2009-12-28T17:53:00.005-05:00

How many times did Al Qaeda attempt terrorist attacks on American soil between 12 September 2001, and 20 January 2009? The question is of course rhetorical today, as the Jihadists take credit for the failed attempt in Detroit on Christmas Day. But did it really fail? We lost no lives due to blind luck of a failed detonator, and the heroism of a Dutch National, but are we not terrorized anyway? How much will we spend in capital as well as our time undergoing new airport and in flight rules created by incompetent government bureaucrats? It is sadly but truly believable, as Al Qaeda striking the heartland of America on Christmas, would have been a huge feather in the cap of radical Muslims around the world. We would have again suffered the indignity of Muslims dancing in the streets, celebrating the deaths of innocent Americans, even as Iranians are being shot dead in the streets of Tehran for protesting the evil empire of the Islamic Republic of Iran, that our President appears so dedicated to repeating every time he has the opportunity.

I was no particular fan of George W. Bush, but I would give a month of Sundays to have him back in the White House right now. He was a RINO for sure with respect to domestic spending policy, but the man kept the blood thirsty radicals from killing Americans in America after the attacks on 9/11. Al Qaeda becomes more and more emboldened every day Barack Obama is in office. Whether that fact is due to his apology tour, and weak kneed responses to the Iranians and North Koreans, or the total lack of leadership on the part of the administration is a matter for debate, but the fact that we now regularly experience terrorist activities in our own country is indisputable. To date we haven’t had another cataclysmic terrorist attack, but the likelihood of just such an incident is becoming exponentially greater each time the President downplays an event by refusing to name the terrorists, as terrorist Muslims, or their acts, as acts of radical Islamic terrorism.

Janet Napolitano's reluctance to call a terrorist a terrorist is also in part to blame for Al Qaeda's bold actions. Our own government apparently fears political criticism much more than it fears the loss of life of its' own citizens. Domestic policy aside, the time for Americans to step up to the plate and demand, at the very least, competent leadership, has long since passed.

Foxnews has taken the only lead in ferreting out the communists, Maoists, and socialists in this administration. Saul Alinsky and Mao are looked to for guidance in running the government by multiple members of the president’s staff, by their own admission, while the outline for socialist victory, written in prison by the husband of a United States Congresswoman, is followed to the letter by the Senior Staff of the White House, even while we are obviously in grave danger in our own cities, towns, and homes!

Government take over of the banks, insurance companies, auto manufacturers, as well as the energy and medical industries are foremost on the mind of our president and his Czars, cronies, and Chicago style henchmen. George Bush spent every waking hour of his administration after 9/11 trying to keep us safe, and paid little attention to the ever growing domestic issues that ultimately led to the catastrophic economic crisis in the fall of 2008.

Is there no middle ground in this country anymore? More than half of all Americans now see China as having overtaken us as the leaders of the world. Have you been to China lately? It is a country of primarily indigent farmers outside the large polluted cities, and a growing percentage of young male factory and construction workers who must be kept busy by their government, with very little education, struggling to overcome the agrarian poverty to which they have been relegated for centuries. Yet the Chinese government holds trillions of our dollars as collateral for the loans they have made us, to finance the two wars we wage, and for the out of control domestic policy of the Democratic Socialist Majority running our government.

Is there no man or woman in our Congress willing to step back, see the world as it is, and take the high road politically, to lead the country out of the abyss of failure? We are a failing nation! Our educational system is failing, even while the teachers unions are given more political clout than the teamsters ever thought possible. Our housing market is failing, even while the President writes a blank check to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Our monetary system is failing, even while the Fed prints trillions of dollars to monetize the debt our grandchildren will be saddled with. Our manufacturing industries are failing, even while our industrialists are paying the Chinese to manufacture sub-standard products for our consumption, at the price of jobs for our citizens. Our government is failing as our Congress refuses to believe the millions of Americans rallying around the Constitution are really the people they were elected to serve.

We are at the crossroads of freedom or serfdom. What we do in the year 2010 will determine our future for generations. Will Americans stand up and take our government back? Will we demand that our states nullify the actions of a federal government trying to bully its way into the board rooms, living rooms and doctor’s offices of our citizens? Will we toss out those in the 111th Congress who have refused to work together to solve problems, and instead have created an air of partisanship unlike any we have ever seen in our history? Will Americans toss aside the divide we face left to right? Will every American due diligence, register to vote, and vote his conscience? Or will we continue to vote in disgraceful percentages and leave our country belly-bared for the vultures of the Socialist regime now destroying the greatest nation the Earth has ever known?

We have two grave dangers facing us today. First, we have the Jihadists waging war on us, just for not being Muslim. We must take this seriously. We may have to take extremely drastic action to win this war. They smell blood in the water since BHO took office, and it is showing up increasingly in the 24 hour news cycle. Our only course may very well be to kill many more of them than they can possibly kill of us!

We also face the acutely real dangers from within. Our own Declaration of Independence says in part;

"That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

We are at that point in our history again today, just as we were in 1776!

Is it not true our government today has failed in its’ charter? Our President has taken up his own beliefs in direct opposition to our founding documents, and is indeed by the force of the state seeking to control every aspect of our society. We are being misrepresented on the world stage by our Executive Branch. We are being routinely ignored by the Legislature, who writes 2000 page bills that not one can comprehend. Our courts have struck down our very founding principle of claiming our unalienable rights granted by the creator and have removed God from every aspect of our lives! How could we not be compelled to act under such circumstance?

I choose to believe we will rise up, just as we did more than 233 years ago, when faced with tyranny. We beat all odds when a few great men rallied the citizens of Boston, and then convinced the rest of the colonies to stand up for freedom and toss out the oppressive government that did not recognize the rights all men have granted to them by the creator. Our nation was founded under God, in spite of what Barack Obama tells the world. We are a nation founded on the principles of Christianity, and so we remain today by at least an 80% margin. We have ten months and a few days to band together. We already have the leadership. We have millions already banded together in the Tea Parties, and other constitutionally founded organizations, in spite of the LameStream media's attempt to marginalize the movement by under reporting the numbers at every turn. We need now to act, together, as Americans do when the rallying cry is heard! It is time to show the government who is in charge.

We can do so without violence. We have the vehicle in our Constitution and The Declaration of Independence, we have our voices around which we can rally, and we have our vote, which is more powerful than any cannon, musket ball, or foreign Navy our fore fathers had at their disposal!

Anatomy of a Failed Presidency! Received From a Retired School Teacher

2009-12-10T08:40:00.000-05:00

Anatomy of a Failed Presidency!

The following is an interesting article and I wonder how long Dr. Hunt can remain at NIH once the powers that be get wind of this article.

Dr. Hunt is a social and cultural anthropologist. He has had nearly 30 years experience in planning, conducting, and managing research in the field of youth studies, and drug and alcohol research. Currently Dr. Hunt is a Senior Research Scientist at the Institute for Scientific Analysis and the Principal Investigator on three National Institutes on Health projects. He is also a writer for American Thinker.

Another Failed Presidency

An article from American Thinker by Geoffrey P. Hunt

Barack Obama is on track to have the most spectacularly failed presidency since Woodrow Wilson. In the modern era, we've seen several failed presidencies--led by Jimmy Carter and LBJ. Failed presidents have one strong common trait-- they are repudiated, in the vernacular, spat out.

Of course, LBJ wisely took the exit ramp early, avoiding a shove into oncoming traffic by his own party. Richard Nixon indeed resigned in disgrace, yet his reputation as a statesman has been partially restored by his triumphant overture to China.

But, Barack Obama is failing. Failing big. Failing fast. And failing everywhere: foreign policy, domestic initiatives, and most importantly, in forging connections with the American people. The incomparable Dorothy Rabinowitz in the Wall Street Journal put her finger on it: He is failing because he has no understanding of the American people, and may indeed loathe them. Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard says he is failing because he has lost control of his message, and is overexposed. Clarice Feldman of American Thinker produced a dispositive commentary showing that Obama is failing because fundamentally he is neither smart nor articulate; his intellectual dishonesty is conspicuous by its audacity and lack of shame.
But, there is something more seriously wrong: How could a new president riding in on a wave of precedented promise and goodwill have forfeited his tenure and become a lame duck in six months? His poll ratings are in free fall. In generic balloting, the Republicans have now seized a five point advantage. This truly is unbelievable. What's going on?
No narrative. Obama doesn't have a narrative. No, not a narrative about himself. He has a self-narrative, much of it fabricated, cleverly disguised or written by someone else. But this self-narrative is isolated and doesn't connect with us. He doesn't have an American narrative that draws upon the rest of us. All successful presidents have a narrative about the American character that intersects with their own where they display a command of history and reveal an authenticity at the core of their personality that resonates in a positive endearing way with the majority of Americans. We admire those presidents whose narratives not only touch our own, but who seem stronger, wiser, and smarter than we are. Presidents we admire are aspirational peers, even those whose politics don't align exactly with our own: Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Harry Truman, Ike, and Reagan.
But not this president. It's not so much that he's a phony, knows nothing about economics, and is historically illiterate and woefully small minded for the size of the task--all contributory of course. It's that he's not one of us. And whatever he is, his profile is fuzzy and devoid of content, like a cardboard cutout made from delaminated corrugated paper.
Moreover, he doesn't command our respect and is unable to appeal to our own common sense. His notions of right and wrong are repugnant and how things work just don't add up. They are not existential. His descriptions of the world we live in don't make sense and don't correspond with our experience.
In the meantime, while we've been struggling to take a measurement of this man, he's dissed just about every one of us--financiers, energy producers, banks, insurance executives, police officers, doctors, nurses, hospital administrators, post office workers, and anybody else who has a non-green job. Expect Obama to lament at his last press conference in 2012:
"For those of you I offended, I apologize. For those of you who were not offended, you just didn't give me enough time; if only I'd had a second term, I could have offended you too."
Mercifully, the Founders at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 devised a useful remedy for such a desperate state--staggered terms for both houses of the legislature and the executive. An equally abominable Congress can get voted out next year. With a new Congress, there's always hope of legislative gridlock until we vote for president again two short years after that.
Yes, small presidents do fail, Barack Obama among them. The coyotes howl but the wagon train keeps rolling along.
Margaret Thatcher: "The trouble with Socialism is, sooner or later you run out of other people's money."
"When you subsidize poverty and failure, you get more of both." - James Dale Davidson, National Taxpayers Union
"The more corrupt the state, the more it legislates." - Tacitus

"A Liberal is a person who will give away everything he doesn't own." - Unknown

Health Care

2009-12-03T07:14:00.002-05:00

I have this same Health Care bill argument all the time, and it can be so frustrating. Most Americans believe in the capitalist system, and that our free market society was what made us great. Not all, but most. Those who don't, have a right to their opinions, but what is the sense in being American if you aren't a capitalist? Health care got screwed up when we entered a third party into the mix, and began insuring normal activity, and not just catastrophic events. Health Care in America is not a capitalistic oriented system. It used to be, when we paid our doctors directly, medical care was being provided as a service for a fee, just like taking your car to a mechanic. Would you buy insurance for changing the oil in your car? Of course not, but that is precisely what we have done in the medical industry. Even those who had great insurance in the 70s, paid the doctor directly, filed his/her own insurance, using the form provided by your employer or insurance company, and received some portion of the charges back according to the terms of the insurance policy or your employer. But by and large it was insurance against catastrophic events, like an operation, an injury, or a lethal disease. In dealing with your doctor, there was a fee that we negotiated with the doctor, the insurance company, and sometimes both. It is just natural human behavior to closely monitor the cash coming out of our pockets, not so when a third party picks up the tab, and we are required to pay only a paltry sum for the expertise of a highly skilled physician.

For those who did not have insurance in the pre-1980s era of medical care, before the expansion of government Medicare and Medicaid went about setting prices for every imaginable ailment, by a strict diagnostic code, that the government alone determined. In those times patients studied the bill closely before leaving the doctors office, and if there was a discrepancy, we would stay and ask to speak to the doctor about the charges. There were no $400 office visits in those days for 5 minutes of the doctors time.

If we couldn’t pay on the day of the service, the doctor either did or did not, according to his business model, carry our balance forward. Doctors did not have insurance experts and office managers in those days. They didn't have to. They were then, and some still are, small business owners. But more and more often doctors are going to work for a third party corporation, a hospital, or as a contractor to a number of corporations .It is now so complicated, because the federal government set prices, dictated mounds of required paperwork, and complicated the practice of medicine to such an extent that one busy doctor today can generate 3, or sometimes 4 office workers. Mal-practice insurance can be $30,000 a year or more for a single doctor depending on the type of practice. Our society is so litigious, that very few doctors will enter into the care of pregnant mothers and their children, particularly in rural areas. Why is the Congress not looking to overhaul that aspect of health care? Could it be that most legislators are also lawyers? I don't know, but I am certainly suspicious.

Government has ruined the small business owner doctor for the most part, but so far they haven’t ruined our health care system. It is far too expensive, and far too many people are unable to pay for health care insurance coverage, but individuals are hampered, while groups with a lobby(corporations, unions, special interests, and particularly government workers) are favored under our current laws. This is what we need to change. We do not need to place the industry under government control. That has never worked for anything except the military, and even that has not worked too well since WWII, when the civilian leaders began to micro manage the work of generals. Decision by special interest lobby or political interest does not work!

We are now insured for everything, including the common cold, and even though we all know the doctor can’t fix a cold, since we only have to pay the co-pay to see a doctor, huge numbers of people with insurance go to the doctor at every little sniffle, sore toe, or cut finger, thus abusing the system, and running up huge administrative costs for everyone. It's a never ending cycle. The more government is involved, the worse it gets. The worse it gets the more government intervention. There is no good way to go back to the 70s now, and if Congress passes the current legislation, we will never be able to get back to the imperfect place we are today. We will become worse off every single year, until the four monstrosity entitlement programs in this country perpetuate our demise. It could come a lot sooner than you might think.

This legislation will also increase the number of people abusing the system by some percentage of the 30 million who are expected to receive government provided health care insurance, at a time when we are already seeing a shortage of General Practitioners, and Internists. This will over burden an already over worked medical profession and result in long waits for appointments, diagnostic procedures, and critical care for the majority of Americans.

This is not to say doctors and hospitals particularly do not bear part of the blame. They do. Rather than push back against the heavy hand of government, when Medicare pays 80% of the cost of any given service, and Medicaid pays 70% of that same cost per service, the doctors and hospitals charge privately insured patients 130% of the cost of providing any given service or procedure. In addition, office visits are billed in the $200 to $400 range, even though insurance companies pay on average only 50 to $100. Those without insurance are expected to pay the full amount, while everyone with insurance pays a small fraction of that cost, including what the insurance company covers. It is difficult to blame the medical profession. Doctors and hospitals cannot remain in the business of caring, healing, and researching with no profit. Profit, and the entrepreneurial spirit is precisely what has made the United States the leader of the world. The list of 20th century achievement in this country surpasses all of the years of the human race combined in every aspect of our lives including medicine, communications, travel, comfort, convenience. There is almost nothing we have failed to improve exponentially. And we have been motivated by profit and the will to succeed for our own sake. That isn't corrupt. It is who we are, and who we should remain, if we are to survive as the world leader.

When my grandfather was a boy, in the 1890s, you could die from a cut on the leg. Everyone who had a heart attack would most assuredly die, or live a life bedridden as a result of any type of heart attack. Now we have vaccines for smallpox, one of humanity’s most deadly diseases. Polio, that rendered one of our most powerful Presidents a cripple, and maimed or killed children indiscriminately has been virtually eliminated. The mumps, measles, and other child hood diseases have been for the most part conquered. Emergency room physicians have a remarkable record in saving the lives of the critically injured and ill persons who make it to the hospital in time. The list of medical achievement is phenomenal in all but a few diseases the medical industry is still working to conquer. If we go down this road to national health care, and that is what is on the table, regardless of how the politicians in Washington dress it up, we will render the medical profession in this country forever mediocre.

My class in high school had 10 or so kids who were exceptional students. All of those students have done well, but the best among them became doctors. The majority of doctors in our country today are doctors precisely because they are the best and brightest we have to offer. I am not implying that profit is the primary motive for a career in medicine, but it is the best way, in this country, to guarantee you wind up making a good living. For the prospect of being a productive member of society, financially secure, well thought of in their community, and ensuring the well being of their family, the best among us, more often than not, take up the practice of medicine. When we take this step down the road to socialized medicine, we are forever assuring that we will leave our children and grandchildren with mediocre, unionized doctors. The best and brightest will not go into medicine when the government dictates where they practice, what they practice, what they charge, and what they earn. If you believe I am wrong in making this statement, you either know nothing of the human spirit, or you are so wrapped up in your own world, you can’t see the light of day anywhere else.

If the people we elected to Congress went there for the purpose of doing what is right, we might be able to depend on government, but that is a pipe dream. We have career politicians after 233 years. You must have a vast treasure of contributions, or be extremely wealthy already to successfully run for national office. If the Congress members are not wealthy when they are elected for the first time, they most certainly will be in very short order. Congress appears more and more like the ruling class our ancestors left Europe to escape nearly 400 years ago. Does anyone see the irony here? Have we come full circle? Twenty years ago this year, the biggest social experiment in history, failed miserably and crumbled from the inside out, while we had one of our most prosperous decades. This is still a current event, and only recently available in text books. The progressives are writing the text books, and they are lying about why socialism or communism failed. Our own text books lie to our children. A few have grown children that were lied to, and some of us chose to set the record straight with our own childern, but far too many were not aware of what was being taught, and we are quickly becoming two generations deep in progressively educated voters.

Words do have meaning, particularly the words Socialism, Marxism, Leninism, and Communism. Each one of those words has a different meaning to most. I assert the only difference, really, is how corrupt and even violent the central government is willing to be while redistributing the wealth from those who have, and giving it to first the government, and then whatever happens to be left over, equally among everyone else, so that all citizens are equally hungry. It has been proven over and over that the socialist dream is just that, and in the end they always run out of other people’s money. Men will not do their best when they aren’t rewarded. It is a guarantee of mediocrity at best, and thuggery at every layer.

I simply cannot fathom any American not seeing the fallacy of government health care. There is nothing worth having that is free. Welfare begats more welfare. We learned that lesson in the 1990s when Bill Clinton reduced the rolls of welfare dramatically. The next democratic president has forgotten that lesson? Or perhaps, his intent is to enslave the people to the government! Our founders went to great lengths to prevent a powerful central government from developing, realizing how dangerous it would be to freedom and the republic. Thomas Jefferson warned us what would happen.

The demwits of the current majority in Congress are going to pass some sort of health care legislation in the neighborhood of $1 Trillion, as they calculate it. It could be 10 times, 20 times, even even 100 times worse based on previous Congressional estimates for entitlement programs. Medicare has $17 Trillion in unfunded liabilities right now. They tell us they are going to use savings from the corruption in that entitlement program to fund another medical entitlement, and we believe it??? My God, this is ludicrous. If we could reduce Medicare by $500 billion over the next ten years, are we not first obligated to pay down the unfunded liabilities of Medicare? Neither our President, nor our Congress ever mentions that. Why not? Do we ask? If so, do you receive an answer? Why not? Each American owes $345,000 on the unfunded liabilities of our government, if equally divided right now. We cannot sustain another entitlement program. The rest of the world is about to replace the dollar with a basket of currencies that does not include our dollar. Our wealth will disappear like an apparition. It will put us on a one way road we will not be able to reverse…..ever, at least not without an overhaul to our entire society. It will be the end of the republic as we learned of it as children.

This is the one thing that can destroy us, Here is a link to the real time debt clock. http://www.usdebtclock.org/ Look in the bottom right corner. We are bankrupt already. The Fed monetized $1 Trillion in debt on 8/18/2009. That is doubling the amount of dollars in circulation just as info. And yet, they have continued pumping more than $2B a day into the banks in additional currency. There is a method the Fed can use to pull all of that money out of circulation. They will have to raise the interests rates, which correspondingly drives inflation. After the Jimmy Carter years, the interest rates peaked at 21%, in order to resolve the printing of money we did not have. The longer we wait, the more dollars printed, the higher the rates will have to go. Do you understand hyper-inflation?

What do our leaders expect will happen when the rest of the world stops using our Fiat currency. It is already happening. There is a reason gold is $1200 an oz. today. There is a reason Obama just went to China, and a reason the Communists capitalists chided him about our exploding liabilities. This is not about health care insurance. This is about saving our republic! Every American owes it to himself, his children, and the country to stop this out of control Congress. The republicans started this. The democrats are putting the pedal to the medal after we threw out the republicans for their over spending. What is left for us to do. Every American of voting age must take part, not only with respect to going to the polling booth on election day, but to ask the questions, research the actions of our government, compare your results to the mistakes of history, and ultimately replace any elected official who is guilty of over spending, and keeping us in the prison of debt. Save our Republic Now?

Letter to President Obama from a Teacher in Missouri

2009-11-26T10:44:00.006-05:00

I am posting this lady's letter here because it will appear on Facebook and other blog sites. It is just to good not to pass on, and my email distribution list doesn't do her justice.

S

April 17, 2009

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington , DC 20500

Mr. Obama:

I have had it with you and your administration, sir. Your conduct on your recent trip overseas has convinced me that you are not an adequate representative of the United States of America collectively or of me personally.

You are so obsessed with appeasing the Europeans and the Muslim world that you have abdicated the responsibilities
of the President of the United States of America . You are responsible to the citizens of the United States .. You are not responsible to the peoples of any other country on earth.

I personally resent that you go around the world apologizing for the United States telling Europeans that we are arrogant and do not care about their status in the world. Sir, what do you think the First World War and the Second World War were all about if not the consideration of the peoples of Europe ? Are you brain dead? What do you think the Marshall Plan was all about? Do you not understand or know the history of the 20th century?

Where do you get off telling a Muslim country that the United States does not consider itself a Christian country? Have
you not read the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution of the United States ? This country was founded on Judeo-Christian ethics and the principles governing this country, at least until you came along, come directly from this heritage. Do you not understand this?

Your bowing to the king of Saudi Arabia is an affront to all Americans. Our President does not bow down to anyone, let alone the king of Saudi Arabia . You didn't show Great Britain , our best and one of our oldest allies, the respect they deserve yet you bow down to the king of Saudi Arabia .. How dare you, sir! How dare you!

You can't find the time to visit the graves of our greatest generation because you dont want to offend the Germans , but make time to visit a mosque in Turkey ... You offended our dead and every veteran when you give the Germans more respect than the people who saved the German people from themselves. Whats the matter with you? I am convinced
that you and the members of your administration have the historical and intellectual depth of a mud puddle and should be ashamed of yourselves, all of you..

You are so self-righteously offended by the big bankers and the American automobile manufacturers yet do nothing about the real thieves in this situation, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Frank, Franklin Raines, Jamie Gorelic, the Fannie Mae bonuses, and the Freddie Mac bonuses. What do you intend to do about them ? Anything? I seriously doubt it.

What about the U.S. House members passing out $9.1 million in bonuses to their staff members on top of the $2.5 million in automatic pay raises that lawmakers gave themselves? I understand the average House aide got a 17% bonus. I took a 5% cut in my pay to save jobs with my employer. You havent said anything about that. Who authorized that? I surely didnt!

Executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be receiving $210 million in bonuses over an eighteen-month period, that's $45 million more than the AIG bonuses. In fact, Fannie and Freddie executives have already been awarded $51 million not a bad take. Who authorized that and why haven't you expressed your outrage at this group who are largely responsible for the economic mess we have right now?

I resent that you take me and my fellow citizens as brain-dead and not caring about what you idiots do. We are watching what you are doing and we are getting increasingly fed up with all of you.

I also want you to know that I personally find just about everything you do and say to be offensive to every one of my
sensibilities. I promise you that I will work tirelessly to see that you do not get a chance to spend two terms destroying my beautiful country.

Sincerely, Every real American

P.S. I rarely ask that emails be 'passed around'.............PLEASE SEND THIS TO YOUR EMAIL LIST ......it's past time for all Americans to wake up!

Ms Kathleen Lyday, Fourth Grade Teacher
Grandview Elementary School
11470 Hwy . C Hillsboro , MO 63050
(636) 944-3291 Phone (636) 944-3870 Fax

Prepare For The Worse, but Act Now

2009-11-25T08:19:00.004-05:00

Every week in the past ten months has resulted in one crisis after another. I could recite hundreds of stories to illustrate the condition of our nation. Instead consider that just in the past week we have heard news from some news agencies, but rarely from the mainstream media that a United States Senator has publicly bragged about selling her vote in the health care debate for not the reported 100 but 300 million dollars. She admits to being a political whore, but only a very high priced one. I hope her constituents in Louisiana kick her to the curb in the next election. Anything else would be public suicide.

We have seen three Navy Seals brought up on assault charges while capturing one of the most wanted terrorists in Iraq. The prisoner received a fat lip during his arrest, this after having hung his victims from a bridge. Just a few years ago, one of the most senior Democrats in the House of Representatives publicly declared three Marines cold blooded murderers for their actions in Iraq. When they were later acquitted of all charges, Congressman Murtha made no apology to the soldiers, or to the nation. This is likely the most corrupt politician in this nation's history, and yet the voters in his district of PA keep reelecting him every two years. Not one lesson was learned from this travesty. These three Seals will be acquitted as well, and yet the PC progressive police will continue their public flogging of anyone who does what is right, while championing those who are the antithesis of all that was once considered great about our country.....Honor, Duty, Commitment, Entrepreneurial spirit, hard work, success, wealth, courage, and personal responsibility, just to name a few!

We have seen evidence that some of the most public of the scientists who decry human Co2 emissions have been manipulating the data to support their conclusions, while conspiring to marginalize those scientists who dare point out inconsistencies in their conclusions. The mainstream media has not run the story, or any of thousands of emails proving the collusion of the global warming geeks. This is not a new pattern. The mainstream media has ignored every major story Fox runs, at least until the very conclusion, when a communist resigns from the White House as example.

In fact the global warming farce is much worse than just that. We are allowing the progressives to convince the governments of the world to punitively tax businesses and citizens for the very thing that gives life to the plants on our Earth, and as a result, our oxygen. I mean, I am no climatologist, not even a scientist, but I solve problems for a living, and this one is a no brainer. If the substance we exhale was poisoning our Earth, mammals would have rendered this planet dead thousands of years ago. It is just common sense. Some of the same progressives pushing the global warming theory today were preaching a second ice age just 30 some odd years ago, and using the same arguments in reverse.

Our Commander in Chief has taken three months to consider his hand picked general's request for additional troops to win a war in Afghanistan. He can decide overnight to pass a $787 billion Stimulus bill, which was actually the liberal Congress on a spending spree to celebrate their majority status, while our country is drowning itself in debt, citizens are losing their jobs, their homes, and 401ks have been decimated. He hasn't announced his decision yet, but he has leaked all of the details out to run a war tax up the flagpole to gauge the resistance in public opinion polls before he actually tells the public anything directly.

Our president has continued his world wide apology tour in Asia, while bowing from the waist ninety degrees in deference to other world leaders. We have elected a man who detests everything we stand for. What in the name of God possessed us to elect this man to the most powerful position in the world? If Congress sends him a Cap and Trade bill or a health care bill to sign, either of which will fundamentally change the economy of our country, he will sign in hours.

The short answer is the press. It has been called a slobbering love affair between Obama and the mainstream media, and I agree with the assessment. The same media is ignoring the news that would shine the light of day on what is happening in our country. That is, all but Fox, a few conservative internet sites, and one or two newspapers that can still be considered journalists. In all fairness, the NY Times did run part of the Global Warming story, but refused to print any of the correspondence because it was not meant for public disclosure. This is the same news agency that has printed CIA methods, in the middle of a War, among so many stories that could well be considered treason.

The founding fathers feared this very situation more than any other short of monarchy. They therefore set up checks and balances within the three branches of government, but just in case, they gave the press the freedom to challenge the government at every corner, believing this would be enough to deter ruling conditions, such as we are experiencing now. As history evolved, the press all came into lockstep with the progressives, and now the democratic party. They are now in total control. Even the moderate democrats cannot fend off the pressure of this administration along with Congressional leadership. They fear other politicians more than they fear the people of this county. Thomas Jefferson warned us, and gave guidance. It is time to listen to Mr. Jefferson. Our politicians have become the ruling class and we the serfs.

They will destroy our country. They will take our freedoms away, our liberty will be stripped from us every one. They will do so a little at a time, starting with the rich, but it will not end there. Just consider how much has happened in the 10 months of the 111th Congress and the present administration. Think about where we are today, and where we are headed. The debt is unsustainable. If all the profits from every Fortune 500 Company, using last years numbers, were confiscated every year and paid on the national debt, we would pay off the principal in 100 years, but not the interest. By inserting interest on the debt into the same equation we would never pay off the debt and unfunded liabilities, even if we balanced every year's budget going forward. Bush did much to set us on this path by forsaking the principals of fiscal conservatism, but it is exploding now by comparison to even Mr. Bush. If you believe nothing else, know this, we are on the precipice of collapse.

Prepare for the worse. There are many things you can do to brace for the storm, but none are fool proof. Get out of debt, no matter what you have to do. Stop buying anything you do not absolutely have to have. Sell anything you do not own outright. Pull your extended families together into one household where practical. Prepare to protect yourself, you will be confronted by criminals, when people get hungry. Convert your assets into tangible items. Gold, silver, and anything you can barter with when the monetary system collapses, because make no mistake, we are headlong into a total collapse. Obama is taking us there as quickly as possible. He knows he will never be elected again, but if there exists a national emergency, he might just pull off a coup and remain in power until the crisis passes.

We have one chance and one chance only. Vote every democrat in Congress out of office in 2010. It is our last chance before a total failure in America. I believe we will come out the other end of this stronger, but either way, many sacrifices, and a lot of very bad times lay ahead if we do not take our government back now.

November 21, 2009 The Last Day Americans Were Really Free

2009-11-21T15:22:00.003-05:00

Today will be known in history as the last sunrise over American soil, where citizens were free to pursue their lives as each individual sees fit. Our elected representatives thumbed their noses at us today with total disregard for the constitution, and for those of us who have been pointing this out since January 20, 2009.

Once this bill is passed, you can be jailed for not purchasing a product that some bureaucrat in Washington deems essential, for you to continue to walk the streets of this country, or reside in your own home. Have you stopped to consider this? Have you thought at all about what it means when the Congress ignores the will of the people and saddles an already bankrupt nation with another entitlement program that will add to the already more than $100 trillion in unfunded liabilities. If the USA were a bank, the FDIC would have closed the government down 25 years ago, perhaps before that. If the U.S. were a business, we would have filed bankruptcy in 1913.

America, as we grew up believing it to be a free and just society, is no more. IT is our fault. It is our fault because as a general rule, the majority of us have not taken our citizenship responsibilities seriously. We now have a totally irresponsible Congress, a President who detests the very idea of the free market economy, and is determined to see it fail in ignominy. And due to the failures with regard to those two arms of our government, we have a court system that is making laws on their own, rather than act as the constitution laid out plainly. Our 17 page constitution is now replaced with 2000+ page legislative farces that no one in the government reads, and even if they do, it is virtually impossible to understand what was read.

Our dollar will soon decline sharply as prices increase on an exponential scale, rendering the United States as the latest third world country. The public will get involved at that point, but it will be to riot, steal, murder, and take from those who have anything of value left in their possession. Dollar bills with be worth the same as a piece of tissue paper. Real estate will be worthless because no one will be able to pay the tax the governments have levied on us to keep pace with the increased social programs.

The end result after a few years of living in daily fear of your life, and the hunger of not being able to buy any food because none is available, even if you do have something of value in your possession will be the new world order our President and his minions are scheming to achieve. I wonder just how that will work out for us? How many will wish for the revival of those greedy corporations that made it possible to have the wealthiest nation and the highest standard of living the planet had ever seen?

You make think this fear mongering. You may think me a fool, but you will find out the hard way. I weep for my nation. I mourn for all we have lost, but I blame my fellow citizens, even more than I blame the greedy self serving left wing PC do-gooder idiots in Washington. We should know better. We should have taken control of our government years ago. Thomas Jefferson warned us this would happen, and even told us how to prevent it. Instead we all became too engrossed in our petty day to day issues, that we didn't take the time or have enough interest to take part in what our government has been doing to us over the last few decades. Just as the Soviet Union failed 20 years ago, America will begin tumbling down around us starting today, with this cloture vote in the Senate. If you do not understand what I am saying about the cloture vote, then you are the problem.

Letter From an American

2009-09-01T07:35:00.000-04:00

"I'm a home grown American citizen, 53, registered Democrat all my life. Before the last presidential election I registered as a Republican because I no longer felt the Democratic Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. Now I no longer feel the Republican Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. The fact is I no longer feel any political party or representative in Washington represents my views or works to pursue the issues important to me. There must be someone. Please tell me who you are. Please stand up and tell me that you are there and that you're willing to fight for our Constitution as it was written. Please stand up now. You might ask yourself what my views and issues are that I would horribly feel so disenfranchised by both major political parties. What kind of nut job am I? Will you please tell me?
Well, these are briefly my views and issues for which I seek representation:

One, illegal immigration.. I want you to stop coddling illegal immigrants and secure our borders. Close the underground tunnels. Stop the violence and the trafficking in drugs and people. No amnesty, not again. Been there, done that, no resolution. P.S., I'm not a racist. This isn't to be confused with legal immigration.

Two, the STIMULUS bill, I want it repealed and I want no further funding supplied to it. We told you no, but you did it anyway. I want the remaining unfunded 95% repealed. Freeze, repeal.

Three: Czars, I want the circumvention of our checks and balances stopped immediately. Fire the czars. No more czars. Government officials answer to the process, not to the president. Stop trampling on our Constitution and honor it.

Four, cap and trade. The debate on global warming is not over. There is more to say.

Five, universal healthcare. I will not be rushed into another expensive decision. Don't you dare try to pass this in the middle of the night and then go on break. Slow down!

Six, growing government control. I want states rights and sovereignty fully restored. I want less government in my life, not more. Shrink it down. Mind your own business. You have enough to take care of with your real obligations. Why don't you start there.

Seven, ACORN. I do not want ACORN and its affiliates in charge of our 2010 census. I want them investigated. I also do not want mandatory escrow fees contributed to them every time on every real estate deal that closes. Stop the funding to ACORN and its affiliates pending impartial audits and investigations. I do not trust them with taking the census over with our taxpayer money. I don't trust them with our taxpayer money. Face up to the allegations against them and get it resolved before taxpayers get any more involved with them. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, hello. Stop protecting your political buddies. You work for us, the people. Investigate.

Eight, redistribution of wealth. No, no, no. I work for my money. It is mine. I have always worked for people with more money than I have because they gave me jobs. That is the only redistribution of wealth that I will support. I never got a job from a poor person. Why do you want me to hate my employers? Why -- what do you have against shareholders making a profit?

Nine, charitable contributions.. Although I never got a job from a poor person, I have helped many in need. Charity belongs in our local communities, where we know our needs best and can use our local talent and our local resources. Butt out, please. We want to do it ourselves.

Ten, corporate bailouts. Knock it off. Sink or swim like the rest of us. If there are hard times ahead, we'll be better off just getting into it and letting the strong survive. Quick and painful. Have you ever ripped off a Band-Aid? We will pull together. Great things happen in America under great hardship. Give us the chance to innovate. We cannot disappoint you more than you have disappointed us.

Eleven, transparency and accountability. How about it? No, really, how about it? Let's have it. Let's say we give the buzzwords a rest and have some straight honest talk. Please try -- please stop manipulating and trying to appease me with clever wording. I am not the idiot you obviously take me for. Stop sneaking around and meeting in back rooms making deals with your friends. It will only be a prelude to your criminal investigation. Stop hiding things from me..

Twelve, unprecedented quick spending. Stop it now.
Take a breath. Listen to the people. Let's just slow down and get some input from some nonpoliticians on the subject. Stop making everything an emergency. Stop speed reading our bills into law. I am not an activist. I am not a community organizer. Nor am I a terrorist, a militant or a violent person. I am a parent and a grandparent. I work. I'm busy. I'm busy. I am busy, and I am tired. I thought we elected competent people to take care of the business of government so that we could work, raise our families, pay our bills, have a little recreation, complain about taxes, endure our hardships, pursue our personal goals, cut our lawn, wash our cars on the weekends and be responsible contributing members of society and teach our children to be the same all while living in the home of the free and land of the brave.

I entrusted you with upholding the Constitution. I believed in the checks and balances to keep from getting far off course. What happened? You are very far off course. Do you really think I find humor in the hiring of a speed reader to unintelligently ramble all through a bill that you signed into law without knowing what it contained? I do not. It is a mockery of the responsibility I have entrusted to you. It is a slap in the face. I am not laughing at your arrogance. Why is it that I feel as if you would not trust me to make a single decision about my own life and how I would live it but you should expect that I should trust you with the debt that you have laid on all of us and our children. We did not want the TARP bill.. We said no. We would repeal it if we could. I am sure that we still cannot. There is such urgency and recklessness in all of the recent spending.

From my perspective, it seems that all of you have gone insane. I also know that I am far from alone in these feelings. Do you honestly feel that your current pursuits have merit to patriotic Americans? We want it to stop. We want to put the brakes on everything that is being rushed by us and forced upon us. We want our voice back. You have forced us to put our lives on hold to straighten out the mess that you are making. We will have to give up our vacations, our time spent with our children, any relaxation time we may have had and money we cannot afford to spend on you to bring our concerns to Washington . Our president often knows all the right buzzword is unsustainable. Well, no kidding.. How many tens of thousands of dollars did the focus group cost to come up with that word? We don't want your overpriced words Stop treating us like we're morons.

We want all of you to stop focusing on your reelection and do the job we want done, not the job you want done or the job your party wants done. You work for us and at this rate I guarantee you not for long because we are coming. We will be heard and we will be represented. You think we're so busy with our lives that we will never come for you? We are the formerly silent majority, all of us who quietly work , pay taxes, obey the law, vote, save money, keep our noses to the grindstone and we are now looking up at you. You have awakened us, the patriotic freedom spirit so strong and so powerful that it had been sleeping too long.. You have pushed us too far. Our numbers are great. They may surprise you. For every one of us who will be there, there will be hundreds more that could not come. Unlike you, we have their trust. We will represent them honestly, rest assured. They will be at the polls on voting day to usher you out of office. We have cancelled vacations. We will use our last few dollars saved. We will find the representation among us and a grassroots campaign will flourish. We didn't ask for this fight. But the gloves are coming off. We do not come in violence, but we are angry. You will represent us or you will be replaced with someone who will. There are candidates among us when he will rise like a Phoenix from the ashes that you have made of our constitution.

Democrat, Republican, independent, libertarian. Understand this. We don't care. Political parties are meaningless to us Patriotic Americans are willing to do right by us and our Constitution and that is all that matters to us now. We are going to fire all of you who abuse power and seek more. It is not your power. It is ours and we want it back. We entrusted you with it and you abused it. You are dishonorable. You are dishonest. As Americans we are ashamed of you. You have brought shame to us. If you are not representing the wants and needs of your constituency loudly and consistently, in spite of the objections of your party, you will be fired. Did you hear? We no longer care about your political parties. You need to be loyal to us, not to them. Because we will get you fired and they will not save you. If you do or can represent me, my issues, my views, please stand up. Make your identity known. You need to make some noise about it. Speak up. I need to know who you are. If you do not speak up, you will be herded out with the rest of the sheep and we will replace the whole damn congress if need be one by one. We are coming. Are we coming for you? Who do you represent? What do you represent? Listen. Because we are coming. We the people are coming."

CZARS: Who are they and how much POWER do they have?

2009-08-27T08:14:00.002-04:00

1. Afghanistan Czar - Richard Holbrooke

Title: Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan
Salary: unknown
Reports to: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Appointed: January 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues: State

• Will work with CENTCOM head Gen. David Petraeus to integrate U.S. civilian and military efforts in the region.
• 45 years of experience have made him a fixture of the Democrats' foreign policy establishment.
• Was U.S. ambassador to U.N., 1999-2001
• Brokered the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords in Bosnia
• Also served as Assistant secretary of state, East Asia and the Pacific (1976 to 1980); worked in foreign service (1962 to 1976)
• From 1972 through 1976, was the editor of Foreign Policy magazine.

2. AIDS Czar * - Jeffrey Crowley

Title: Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy
Salary: $102,000
Reports to: President Obama (as part of the Executive Office of the President’s Domestic Policy Council)
Appointed: February 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues: Health and Human Services

• Coordinates HIV/AIDS policy domestically and internationally.
• Senior Research Scholar at Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute and a Senior Scholar at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown University Law Center.
• Was Deputy Executive Director for Programs at the National Association of People with AIDS
• Has Master of Public Health from the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health

3. Auto Recovery Czar - Ed Montgomery

Title: Director of Recovery for Auto Communities and Workers
Salary: unknown
Reports to: Larry Summers, the president's top economic adviser, and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis
Appointed: March 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues: Labor

• Will work to leverage government resources to support the workers, communities and regions that rely on the American auto industry.
• Was Deputy Secretary and Chief Economist at the Labor Department (1997 to 1998)
• Is Dean of the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the University of Maryland (2003 to present)
• Has PhD in economics from Harvard
• In 2008, made $1,200 in political donations, all of which went to Obama’s presidential campaign.
• Wife is the granddaughter of a General Motors worker from Portland, Mich.
• Drives a 2000 Lincoln

4. Border Czar * - Alan Bersin

Title: Assistant Secretary for International Affairs and Special Representative for Border Affairs
Salary: unknown
Reports to: Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano
Appointed: April 2009
Agencies that might have handled similar issues: Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

• Will coordinate all of the department's border security and law-enforcement efforts.
• Essentially had the same job under President Clinton; served as Attorney General Janet Reno's special representative on border issues, a job that he held while retaining the position of U.S. attorney for San Diego.
• This time, boss will be Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who will expect him to handle illegal immigration and drug violence issues along the Mexican-American border
• Previous experience: Chairman of the San Diego Regional Airport Authority (2006 to 2009); Secretary of Education for California (2005 to 2006); Superintendent of San Diego Public Schools (1998 to 2005); U.S. Attorney for San Diego (1993 to 1998)
• Graduate of Harvard and Yale Law School
• Talking about border security shortly before he was named Clinton border czar in 1995, said he wanted to focus on suspected smugglers of both drugs and people and was not interested in prosecuting “economic migrants.”
• Often tied to the 1994 border policy called “Operation Gatekeeper.” The policy shifted the U.S. focus from the arresting of immigrants who actually crossed the border to an increased border presence designed to stop border crossing in the first place. When Bersin left the position in 1998, border arrests were on pace for an 18-year low of just more than 200,000. Latino groups complained that Operation Gatekeeper was immoral, saying the program monitored the border near San Diego but simply forced illegal immigrants to other, more dangerous areas.
• Has given more than $50,000 to political campaigns since 1999, almost all of it to Democrats.

5. California Water Czar - David J. Hayes

Title: Deputy Interior Secretary
Salary: unknown
Reports to: Interior Secretary Ken Salazar
Appointed: June 2009
Confirmed by Senate (as Deputy Interior Security): May 20, 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues: Interior

• Charged with coordinating federal agencies to ease California's water shortage
• Graduate of Stanford Law School; clerked for U.S. District Court for the D.C., has been a partner at two big D.C. law firms
• Was deputy interior secretary under Bruce Babbitt during Clinton administration
• From 1993 to 1995, was chairman of the board at the Environmental Law Institute, a non-profit research center.
• As a lobbyist, represented the Southern California Metropolitan Water District in 2001
• In August 2008, wrote a policy report while working at the Progressive Policy Institute accusing the Bush administration of leaving a “damaging legacy” in their natural resource management policies
• Donated $2,300 to Clinton during 2008 campaign; after she withdrew, donated $2,300 to Obama

6. Car Czar - Ron Bloom

NOTE: on July 13, 2009, Bloom took over as head of the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry, replacing Steven Rattner

Title: Counselor to the Secretary of the Treasury
Salary: unknown
Reports to: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and National Economic Council head Larry Summers
Appointed: July 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues: Treasury

• A leader of the White House task force overseeing auto company bailouts; worked on restructuring of General Motors and Chrysler LLC.
• Was special assistant to president of the United Steelworkers union from 1996-Feb 2009
• Has negotiated restructuring deals for more than 50 companies, getting major concessions from unions and companies.
• Was raised in New York in a pro-union family, which included a schoolteacher mother and unionized relatives.
• After working for the Service Employees International Union, got an MBA from Harvard University because he thought unions lacked business smarts, he said in a 1996 interview in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
• From 1985 to 1990, he worked as an investment banker with Lazard Freres & Co., which specializes in mergers, acquisitions and corporate restructuring, before co-founding the investment-banking firm Keilin and Bloom.

7. Central Region Czar - Dennis Ross

Title: Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for the Central Region (encompasses the Middle East, the Gulf, Afghanistan, Pakistan and South Asia)
Salary: unknown
Reports to: National Security Adviser Gen. James L. Jones
Appointed: June 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues: State

• Spent 12 years in the George H.W. Bush and Clinton administrations trying to create a permanent agreement between the governments of Israel and the Palestinian territories
• In 1981, was named to President Ronald Reagan’s national security staff as the director of Near East and South Asian Affairs.
• Was director of the State Department’s Policy Planning office during President George H. W. Bush’s term.
• 1993: appointed to the position of Middle East coordinator, making him the top negotiator for peace between Israel and Palestinian territories
• After he left government in 2000, headed up Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a hawkish think tank with a pro-Israeli bent

8. Climate Czar - Todd Stern

Title: Special Envoy for Climate Change
Salary: unknown
Reports to: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Appointed: January 2009
Agency or department that might have handled similar issues: Environmental Protection Agency; State

• Responsible for developing international approaches to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases.
• Served in the Clinton White House from 1993 to 1999; Was Head of the Initiative on Global Climate Change (1997 to 1999) and Adviser to the Secretary of the Treasury (1999 to 2001)
• As a top aide to President Clinton, helped negotiate the Kyoto and Buenos Aires climate pacts, both of which fell apart partially because of a lack of U.S. support during Bush administration.
• After Bush was elected to office, went to the Wilmer Hale law firm, where he is a partner in the regulatory and government affairs division.
• Was most recently a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, where he focused on climate change and environmental issues.
• Has written extensively on climate change, and has called on the American government and the international community to take a series of steps to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases.
• Supports a national cap-and-trade system that would limit carbon emissions and reduce U.S. dependency on foreign oil
• Has law degree from Harvard

9. Domestic Violence Czar - Lynn Rosenthal

Title: White House adviser on Violence Against Women
Salary: unknown
Reports to: President Obama and Vice President Biden
Appointed: June 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues: Health and Human Services

• Will advise the President and Vice President on domestic violence and sexual assault issues.
• 2000-2006: served as the Executive Director of the National Network to End Domestic Violence
• Was an advocate for the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act in 2000 and 2005 and has assisted states and local communities with implementation of this federal legislation
• Was director of the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence

10. Drug Czar * - Gil Kerlikowske

Title: Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy
Salary: unknown
Reports to: President Obama
Appointed: March 2009
Confirmed by Senate: May 7, 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues: Justice

• Directs drug-control policy in the U.S.; is expected to shift drug policy to intervention, treatment and a reduction of problem drug use.
• Was police chief for the city of Seattle from 2000-2009
• Was Deputy Director of the Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (1998 to 2000); Police Chief for the city of Buffalo (1994 to 1998); Police chief of Fort Pierce, Fla. (N/A to 1994)
• A strong gun-control advocate, urged both the Washington legislature and the U.S. Congress to pass an assault-weapons ban and has worked to close the loophole that doesn't require background checks at gun shows
• 2003: admitted that busting people for personal marijuana possession was not a top priority of the Seattle police department.
• As Seattle police chief, assigned an officer full-time to the drug court, which commuted sentences of drug users who complete medical treatment in lieu of going to jail.

11. Economic Czar * - Paul Volcker

Title: Chairman of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board
Salary: Volcker reportedly isn't paid for his advice.
Reports to: President Obama
Appointed: January 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues: Treasury

• Charged with offering independent, nonpartisan information, analysis, and advice to the President as he formulates and implements his plans for economic recovery.
• Some reports say he's been marginalized by Larry Summers.
• Former Federal Reserve chairman (1979-1987)
• Was Undersecretary for Monetary Affairs, Department of the Treasury (1969 to 1974); Deputy Undersecretary for Monetary Affairs, Department of the Treasury (1963 to 1965)
• Gave Obama campaign $2,300 in 2008.

12. Energy and Environment Czar - Carol Browner

Title: Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change
Salary: $172,200
Reports to: President Obama
Appointed: January 2009
Agency that might have handled similar issues: EPA

• Coordinates energy and climate policy, emphasizing regulation and conservation.
• Was Environmental Protection Agency administrator in the Clinton administration (1993-2000)
• Was Florida Secretary of the Environment (1991 to 1993)
• Founded and continues to serve as a principal of The Albright Group LLC, a global strategy firm led by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Also a principal of Albright Capital Management, an investment advisory firm that concentrates on emerging markets.
• Worked on the Socialist International's Commission for a Sustainable World Society, which argues that the global community must work collectively to address environmental policies
• Described Bush administration as the "worst environmental administration ever"
• While orchestrating private discussions between the White House and auto industry officials on vehicle fuel efficiency standards, kept the talks as quiet as possible. Mary Nichols, the head of the California Air Resources Board, said, "We put nothing in writing, ever."
• 2003: A federal judge held the Environmental Protection Agency in contempt for destroying computer files during the Clinton administration that had been sought by a conservative legal foundation. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth also ordered the EPA to pay the Landmark Legal Foundation's legal fees and costs because the agency disobeyed his order to preserve the electronic records of Browner, the former EPA chief.

13. Faith-Based Czar * - Joshua DuBois

Title: Director of the Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships
Salary: $98,000
Reports to: President Obama
Appointed: February 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues: Health and Human Services

• Acts as a liaison between faith and secular community groups and the White House, often partnering with them to tackle social issues. Helps these groups apply for federal grants available to them.
• Is 26 years old
• Has master’s in public affairs from Princeton University; served as associate pastor
• Worked for Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) as an intern and then as a fellow for Rep. Charles B. Rangel (DN. Y.).
• Hired as a legislative correspondent in Obama’s Senate office in May 2005
• In 2008, at the age of 25, was appointed director of religious affairs for the Obama campaign.

14. Government Performance Czar - Jeffrey Zients

Title: Chief Performance Officer
Salary: unknown
Reports to: Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orzag
Appointed: April 2009
Confirmed by the Senate (as deputy director for management for the OMB): June 19, 2009
Agency that might have handled similar issues: OMB

• Charged with cutting costs and finding best practices throughout government.
• Has never worked in government before
• Was a chief executive and former management consultant
• Was founder of Portfolio Logic (2004 to present); Partner of the Washington Baseball Club (2004 to 2006); CEO of the Advisory Board (1998 to 2004)
• Has donated just over $90,000 to political campaigns since 1999, almost all of which went to Democratic candidates

15. Great Lakes Czar - Cameron Davis

Title: Special advisor to the U.S. EPA overseeing its Great Lakes restoration plan
Salary: unknown
Reports to: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson
Appointed: June 2009
Agency that might have handled similar issues: Environmental Protection Agency

• Oversees the administration's initiative to restore the Great Lakes' environment.
• President of the Chicago-based environmentalist group Alliance for the Great Lakes
• Was a litigating attorney and served as an adjunct clinical assistant professor of law at the University of Michigan Law School.
• Served with the United Nations Environment Program in Nairobi, Kenya, where he worked on the Montreal Protocol to protect the Earth’s ozone layer, and U.S. EPA’s Office of Regional Counsel in Chicago.

16. Green Jobs Czar - Van Jones

Title: Special Adviser for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality
Salary: unknown
Reports to: Head of Council on Environmental Quality Nancy Sutley
Appointed: March 2009
Agency or department that might have handled similar issues: Environmental Protection Agency; Labor

• Will focus on environmentally-friendly employment within the administration and boost support for the idea nationwide
• Rose from near obscurity in the Oakland, Calif., grassroots organizing scene to the leader of a national movement to spur the green economy.
• Founded Green For All, an organization focused on creating green jobs in impoverished areas
• Also co-founder of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and Color of Change, which includes Bay Area PoliceWatch, a group devoted to "protect[ing] the community from police misconduct"
• Published New York Times best-seller The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems, in October 2008
• Started career as a prison-reform advocate in Oakland, Calif., lobbying for reform of the juvenile justice system and youth-violence prevention programs
• Has law degree from Yale
• 2007: worked on the Green Jobs Act with then-Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif.), who co-sponsored the bill in the House
• 1993: was arrested at the Los Angeles riots that followed the acquittal of cops in the Rodney King beating. "I was arrested simply for being a police observer," says Jones, who had just graduated from Yale Law School and was working with the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights in San Francisco.
• 1999: was arrested in the 1999 Seattle protests against the World Trade Organization
• Excerpt from a Nov. 2005 interview in the East Bay Express:
Jones had planned to move to Washington, DC, and had already landed a job and an apartment there. But in jail, he said, "I met all these young radical people of color -- I mean really radical, communists and anarchists. And it was, like, 'This is what I need to be a part of.'" Although he already had a plane ticket, he decided to stay in San Francisco. "I spent the next ten years of my life working with a lot of those people I met in jail, trying to be a revolutionary." In the months that followed, he let go of any lingering thoughts that he might fit in with the status quo. "I was a rowdy nationalist on April 28th, and then the verdicts came down on April 29th," he said. "By August, I was a communist." In 1994, the young activists formed a socialist collective, Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement, or STORM, which held study groups on the theories of Marx and Lenin and dreamed of a multiracial socialist utopia. They protested police brutality and got arrested for crashing through police barricades. In 1996, Jones decided to launch his own operation, which he named the Ella Baker Center after an unsung hero of the civil-rights movement.

17. Guantanamo Closure Czar - Daniel Fried

Title: Special envoy to oversee the closure of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay
Salary: unknown
Reports to: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
Appointed: March 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues: Justice; State

• Works to get help of foreign governments in moving toward closure of Guantanamo Bay, in fulfillment of Obama's promise to close the prison within a year of taking office.
• Was Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasian Affairs, State Department (2005 to 2009); Director for European and Eurasian Affairs, State Department (2001 to 2005); U.S. Ambassador to Poland (1997 to 2001)

18. Health Czar * - Nancy-Ann DeParle

Title: Counselor to the President and Director of the White House Office of Health Reform
Salary: $158,500
Reports to: President Obama
Appointed: March 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues: Health and Human Services (HHS)

• Coordinates the development of the Administration's healthcare policy agenda.
• Experience: Managing Director, CCMP Capital (since 2001); Adjunct professor (focusing on healthcare policy), Wharton School of Business (since 2001); Commissioner, Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (since 2001); Fellow, Harvard Institue of Politics (2000 to 2001); Director, Healthcare Financing Administration (1997 to 2000)
• Has law degree from Harvard
• Served as the OMB’s representative on health-care reform during Bill Clinton’s first term
• As head of the HHS Health Care Financing Administration under Clinton, ran the largest health insurance provider in America, overseeing $600 billion in payments annually to 74 million recipients of Medicare and Medicaid
• 2001: left government to take a year-long fellowship at Harvard’s Institute of Politics, where she was part of Harvard’s Health Care Policy Forum and led a weekly study group on reforming Medicare.
• During Bush administration, sat on the boards of many health companies, from medical treatment producers to hospital systems
• In September 2008, donated $2,300 each to Clinton and Barack Obama.

19. Information Czar - Vivek Kundra

Title: Federal Chief Information Officer
Salary: unknown
Reports to: Director of the Office of Management and Budget Peter Orszag
Appointed: March 2009
Agencies that might have handled similar issues: other federal agency CIOs

• Basically in charge of overseeing other federal agency CIOs and for setting technology policy across the government.
• Head of a federal technology budget that amounts to $71 billion annually
• Operation is housed in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and will likely have authority to question how money in departmental technology budgets is used
• Formerly head of the District of Columbia's technology operations
• Shortly after he joined the OMB, federal authorities raided his old District government office. They arrested two technology office managers and a subcontractor, charging them with a bribery scheme that allegedly defrauded the city out of at least $500,000. Kundra was not a suspect in the case, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
• Has a masters from Maryland in information technology.
• Experience: Washington, D.C. Chief Technology Officer (2007 to 2009); State of Virginia's Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Trade (2006 to 2007); CEO of computer security firm Creostar

20. Intelligence Czar * - Dennis Blair

Title: Director of National Intelligence
Salary: $197,700
Reports to: President Obama
Appointed: January 2009
Confirmed by Senate: January 28, 2009
Agency that might have handled similar issues: CIA

• Nation’s top intelligence official.
• Retired four-star admiral.
• Graduate of the United States Naval Academy, 1968; sixth-generation naval officer
• Lacks professional roots in the world of intelligence
• Held a number of prestigious Washington posts, including the Pentagon’s top liaison to the CIA and director of the Joint Staff.
• Ran the non-profit Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), which focuses primarily on issues related to national security, and does a lot of work for the Defense Department. Left IDA under a cloud of controversy in mid-2006.

21. Mideast Peace Czar - George Mitchell

Title: Special Envoy for Middle East Peace
Salary: unknown
Reports to: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
Appointed: January 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues: State

• Works to maintain the shaky peace between Israel and Hamas after recent hostilities
• Senate majority leader from 1989 to 1994
• Was special envoy to Northern Ireland during the Clinton administration and lead investigator into steroid use in Major League Baseball.
• 2000: led a fact-finding committee to study violence in the Middle East; 2001's Mitchell Report formed the basis for the road map for Middle East peace

22. Pay Czar - Kenneth R. Feinberg

Title: Special Master on executive pay
Salary: reportedly receiving no compensation for his work.
Reports to: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner
Appointed: June 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues: Treasury

• Named to examine compensation practices at companies that have been bailed out more than once by the federal government
• Oversaw the payouts to the families of the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks
• Was the chief administrator to the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund, which commemorates the students who died in the April 2007 shooting rampage at Virginia Tech
• Founder and managing partner of Feinberg Rozen LLP (1992 to present), law firm specializing in mediation
• Was Chief of staff for Sen. Edward Kennedy (1978 to 1980)
• While working with the Feinberg Group, donated over $150,000, nearly all of which has gone to Democratic candidates and political action committees. In 2007, donated $2,300 to 2008 presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani (R).

23. Regulatory Czar - Cass R. Sunstein *

Title: Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
Salary: unknown
Reports to: Office of Management and Budget head Peter Orszag
Appointed: January 2009
Nomination was sent to Senate on April 20, 2009 - no action yet taken
Agency that might have handled similar issues: OMB

• Will be responsible for reviewing draft regulations and assessing their costs and benefits
• Is a Harvard Law School professor; prior to that, was a professor at the Univ. of Chicago Law School (1981-2008)
• Academic specialties: constitutional law, administrative law, and regulatory policy
• Obama: "Cass is not only a valued advisor, he is a dear friend"
• Known for advancing a field called "law and behavioral economics" that seeks to shape law and policy around the way research shows people actually behave; though embraced by conservatives, critics say it fails to account for the sometimes less-than-rational aspects of human behavior.
• In his 2002 book, Republic.com, discussed the drawbacks of limitless choices on the Internet that allow people to seek out only like-minded people and opinions that merely fortify their own views; he talked about the idea of the government requiring sites to link to opposing views. He later came to realize it was a "bad idea."
• In his 2004 book, Animal Rights, suggested that animals ought to be able to bring suit, with private citizens acting as their representatives, to ensure that animals are not treated in a way that violates current law.
• In a 2007 speech at Harvard he called for banning hunting in the U.S.
• The American Conservative Union started a website, Stop Sunstein, in an effort to keep him out of the White House.

24. Science Czar - John Holdren

Title: Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Co-Chair of the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology
Salary: unknown
Reports to: President Obama
Appointed: December 2008
Confirmed by Senate: March 19, 2009
Agency or department that might have handled similar issues: Energy

• Top adviser to Obama on science and technology, issues that are increasingly relevant to other issues such as homeland security, energy and environmentalism
• Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy and Director, Program in Science, Technology, and Public Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government (1996-2009); Harvard University Professor of Environmental Science and Public Policy (1996-2009); University of California, Berkeley Professor of Energy and Resources Emeritus (1996 to present)
• Studied aerospace engineering and plasma physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — where he earned his BS and MS — and Stanford University, where he received his doctorate in 1970
• Is an outspoken advocate of the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and believes the United States should sign the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty.
• In a 2008 New York Times op-ed, Holdren called climate change skeptics “dangerous” members of a “denier fringe.”
• In 1971, co-authored a paper in Global Ecology suggesting "some form of ecocatastrophe, if not thermonuclear war, seems almost certain to overtake us before the end of the century."
• Some conservative media outlets have called attention to a book Holdren co-authored in 1977 titled Ecoscience: Population, Resources, and Environment. The book reportedly includes this statement: "population-control laws, even including laws requiring compulsory abortion, could be sustained under the existing Constitution." Holdren's office says he "does not now and never has been an advocate of compulsory abortions or other repressive measures to limit fertility."

25. Stimulus Accountability Czar - Earl Devaney

Title: Chair of the Recovery Act Transparency and Accountability Board
Salary: unknown
Reports to: Vice President Biden
Appointed: February 2009
Agency that might have handled similar issues: OMB

• Leads oversight board that monitors money spent by the stimulus package
• Experience: Inspector General at the Interior Department (1999 to present); Director of criminal enforcement at the Environmental Protection Agency (1991 to 1999); Special Agent at the Secret Service (1970 to 1991)
• During his tenure at Interior, uncovered the shady dealings of disgraced ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, an investigation that eventually led to Abramoff's imprisonment and the resignation of Interior's no. 2, J. Steven Griles, for lying under oath about his own role in the scandal.
• On July 8, 2009, the U.S. General Services Administration issued a press release announcing an $18 million contract for a new recovery.gov web site, which quoted Devaney as saying, “We are pleased that another major milestone has been achieved."

26. Sudan Czar - J. Scott Gration

Title: Special Envoy to Sudan
Salary: unknown
Reports to: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Appointed: March 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues: State

• Will coordinate U.S. role in the aftermath of the genocide in Darfur
• Experience: Supreme Allied Command, NATO (2004 to 2005); Air Force assistant deputy undersecretary for international affairs (2003 to 2004)
• Commanded all air operations during the Iraq war in 2003
• 2006: left Air Force position to join Obama’s staff after traveling to Africa with the then-Senator from Illinois, even though he was a Republican
• Has won a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart, a Defense Superior Service Medal and 16 other awards
• Is a fluent Swahili speaker who grew up in the Congo
• Has called on the Obama administration to incentivize participation by the Sudanese government in peace talks by lifting sanctions, a position that is controversial. Also worked to position himself as the principal negotiator between the Sudanese government and its adversaries in Darfur, and is planning an international conference for September 2009
• Has M.A. in security studies from Georgetown

27. TARP Czar - Herb Allison

Title: Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Stability
Salary: unknown
Reports to: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner
Appointed: June 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues: Treasury

• Leads the government's $700 billion financial rescue program in the office of financial stability
• Veteran Wall Street banker and interim head of the mortgage-finance company Fannie Mae
• Worked at Merrill Lynch for 28 years, reaching position of president and COO
• Was CEO of Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association College Retirement Equities Fund (2002 to 2008); CEO of the Alliance for Lifelong Learning (2000 to 2002)
• Has undergraduate degree from Yale and MBA from Stanford
• 2000: was John McCain’s 2000 presidential campaign finance chairman
• In 2008, donated $2,300 to Obama's presidential campaign

28. Technology Czar - Aneesh Chopra

Title: Chief Technology Officer
Salary: unknown
Reports to: President Obama
Appointed: April 2009
Confirmed by Senate: May 21, 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues: Commerce

• Will lead in the effort to eliminate wasteful government programs
• Will probably work to increase broadband access nationwide and computerize medical records
• Was Virginia’s secretary of technology (2005-2009)
• Has degree in public health from Johns Hopkins, Master's from Harvard in public policy
• Worked at Morgan Stanley as investment banker; also worked at Advisory Board, a health-care research and consultancy firm
• Has donated more than $24,000 since 1997 to various campaigns. With the exception of a $1,000 donation to Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) in 2004, all of Chopra’s contributions have gone to Democrats. From 2007 to 2008, Chopra donated $2,750 to Obama’s presidential campaign.

29. Terrorism Czar - John Brennan

Title: Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism
Salary: $172,200
Reports to: National Security Adviser James L. Jones
Appointed: January 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues: Homeland Security

• Under Obama's plan the homeland security adviser’s office would be eliminated, and the National Security Council would take over those duties. Brennan would be responsible for guarding against natural disasters and terrorism.
• Has called for increased integration between the Departments of Commerce, State and Defense
• Graduated from Fordham University in 1977 after a year of intensive Arabic and Middle Eastern studies in Cairo. Earned his J.D. from the University of Texas at Austin before joining the CIA as an intelligence director in 1980.
• Is a CIA veteran and fluent Arabic speaker
• Was CIA deputy executive director (2001 to 2003) and National Counter-Terrorism Center, Chair (2004 to 2005)
• Worked at Analysis Corp, (2005 to 2008);
• Staunch supporter of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Program; defended the use of extraordinary rendition, saying it is “an absolutely vital tool.”

30. Urban Affairs Czar - Adolfo Carrion Jr.

Title: White House Director of Urban Affairs
Salary: $158,500
Reports to: President Obama
Appointed: February 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues: Housing and Urban Development

• Job entails coordinating transportation and housing initiatives, as well as serving as a conduit for federal aid to economically hard-hit cities.
• Has undergraduate degree in world religions from Kings College; became an associate pastor at a Bronx church; earned his master’s degree in urban planning from Hunter College
• Was Bronx Borough President (2001-2009); President of the National Association of Latino Elected Officials (since 2007); City Council member (1998 to 2000)
• Many reporters say he has higher ambitions and will probably run for New York City mayor in the next ten years.
• Was an active campaigner for Obama, travelling across the country to speak on his behalf. He focused particularly on states with large Hispanic populations.
• The NY Daily News reported numerous developers made tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations to Carrión around the same time he was considering approving their projects in the Bronx.

31. Weapons Czar - Ashton Carter

Title: Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics
Salary: unknown
Reports to: Defense Secretary Robert Gates
Appointed: April 2009
Confirmed by Senate: April 23, 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues: Defense

• Will coordinate the Pentagon's acquisitions, technology and logistics for weapons.
• Will oversee a weapons-buying system that Obama has placed at the top of his list of federal programs he wants to fix and will be asked to quickly weigh in on difficult decisions concerning at least 10 major defense programs, while also instantly dissecting the procurement system’s ailments so he can advise the administration on its Pentagon acquisition reform agenda
• Is a physicist and Harvard academic whose only previous Pentagon stint was in a mid-level policy post from 1993 until 1996 under the Clinton administration
• Graduated from Yale summa cum laude; studied at Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar and earned a doctorate in theoretical physics.
• Chair of Harvard’s International Relations, Science & Security Area International Security Program within the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy (1993 to 1996); Director of the Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University’s Kennedy School (early 1990s)
• Has donated primarily to Democratic politicians since 2000. He donated $6,900 to then-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) in 2007 and 2008. He gave the same amount to then Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) during that same span.

32. WMD Policy Czar - Gary Samore

Title: White House Coordinator for Weapons of Mass Destruction, Security and Arms Control
Salary: unknown
Reports to: National Security Advisor Gen. James L. Jones
Appointed: January 2009
Department or agency that might have handled similar issues: NSC; Defense; State

• Will coordinate issues related to weapons of mass destruction across the government. His portfolio includes proliferation, nuclear and conventional arms control, threat reduction, and terrorism involving weapons of mass destruction.
• Position sits within the National Security Council.
• Is a veteran arms control negotiator.
• B.A. in sociology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and his PhD in government from Harvard University in 1984.
• After brief stints with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the RAND Corporation, joined the State Department during the Reagan administration in 1987. Held several positions there, including director of the Office of Regional Non-proliferation Affairs; special assistant to the Ambassador-at-Large for Non-proliferation and Nuclear Energy Policy; and deputy to Ambassador-at-Large for Korean Affairs Robert Gallucci. Helped to negotiate the 1994 U.S.-North Korea Framework Treaty
• Joined the Clinton administration’s National Security Council in 1995 as an adviser on nonproliferation. Coordinated U.S. policy on nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
• Was Director, Council on Foreign Relations (2006 to 2009); Vice President for Global Security and Sustainability, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (2005); Researcher, International Institute of Strategic Studies (2001 to 2005)

Obama Town Hall in Bozeman, Montana Explained

2009-08-24T11:23:00.002-04:00

This came to me from a reliable source, and fits nicely with the press conference where Gibbs denies the White House preselects Town Hall guests at Obama gatherings.

This came from a friend in southwest Virginia , who got it from a friend in Montana.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Just a little bit of actual truthful information. We need to pray for our nation . Janice)

Eye witness report filed by a Bozeman , MT resident.

By now you have probably heard that President Obama visited Bozman Montana last
Friday. However, there are many things that the major news did not cover.

I feel that since Bill and I live here and we were at the airport on Friday
I should share some first hand observations with you. Whatever you decide to do with the
information is up to you.

On Wednesday, August 5th it was announced locally that the President would
be visiting. There are many Tea Party groups in this area that do not support
OBAMACARE and His socialist policies. These groups began e-mailing, talking and deciding on what they were going to do. The White House did not release ANY details other than the date of the visit.

On about Tuesday Bill learned from a friend working at the airport that they would be holding the "Town Hall" at the airport. Our airport is actually located outside of Belgrade (tiny town) in a very remote and isolated location. There is nothing around there. For a place to assemble the White House chose to use the most remote hanger on the airfield. It is so far off in a corner that access is difficult. The hanger is isolated and away from the public.

FYI: We have many areas in Belgrade and Bozeman which could have held a
large number of folks. All with sufficient parking. (gymnasiums/auditoriums). All
of which have chairs and tables. Instead the White House chose this empty remote location, and needed to ship in chars, tables and etc all at TAXPAYER EXPENSE.

During the week, TONS of cargo was coming in to the tiny airport.
Airport employees could not believe just how much, it just kept coming in.
The shipping must have cost hundreds of thousand of dollars of TAXPAYER dollars.

Late Tuesday/early Wednesday on the 12th, it was announced that tickets for the event would be distributed to the public on Thursday 9 AM from two locations in town. The President would be arriving around 12:30 noon on Friday.

Thursday morning about 600 tickets were handed out. However, we knew that 1500 had been printed at a local printing shop per White House request. It turns out that 900 tickets were reserved for the Obama Mercenaries that would be arriving latter

This same morning someone called into the radio and alerted us to the fact that THOUSANDS OF TAX DOLLARS worth of lobster were being shipped in for the Obama event. Montana , which has some of the best beef in the nation could have used the money, but they got Massachusetts lobsters instead, denying us some badly needed "STIMULUS DOLLARS". You think Obama would be considerate enough to help out the local economy, but it was not to be.

One can only imagine what the traveling White House is spending our TAX PAYER $$$ on.

On Friday, Bill and I got out to the airport about 10:45am. The groups that
wanted to protest Obama's spending and healthcare had received a permit. It limited us to a roped off area far away from the main event. We figured, and figured correctly, that we would be far away from the remote hanger so we did not spoil the President's image that every American supports him.

Soon, large motor coaches arrived , carrying SEIU (Service Employees International Union) members. They drove up onto the our area (illegal)and unloaded right there. When the two crowds mixed it created quite a commotion. 2 of the SEIU people were trying to make trouble and start a fight with our people.. Police did get involved and arrested one man, but they said they did not have the man power to handle the large crowd of SEIU Mercenaries.

The SEIU crowd, about 900, was large, organized and young. About 99% were under the age of 30. Few of them were locals! They had bullhorns and PROFESSIONALLY made signs. Some wore preprinted T-shirts. The Planned Parenthood folks were with them.....professing abortion rights with their T-shirts and preprinted signs. (BTW, these folks did have a permit to protest, but it was for another area).

Police herded those against healthcare/spending and wisely separated us from the SEIU crowd to avoid confrontation. The Tea Party folk were orderly and respectful. Even though SEIU kept coming over and walking through our lines, trying to be very intimidating and aggressive. All this was being controlled by the bull horn equipped yellow shirted SEIU leaders who were managing the crowd..

The Tea Parties had Montana folks from ALL OVER the state with their homemade signs.
Even their DOGS were decked out with homemade signs. We had cowboys, nurses, doctors you name it. We were even joined by a Texan who had been driving through. He found out about the occasion, went to the store, made a sign, and came to support our protest.

If you are wondering about the press.....Well, all of the major networks
were over by that remote hangar I mentioned. They were conveniently parked
on the other side of the buildings FAR away. None of our crowd were even
visible to them. I have my doubts that they knew anything about us,
as they were strategically located to avoid the seeing us.

We did have some local news media around us from this state and Idaho .
Speaking of the local media...they were invited. However, all questions had
to be turned into the White House in advance of the event. Wouldn't want
anyone to have to think off the top of their head!

It was very obvious that it was meant to be totally controlled White House event. Everything was orchestrated down to the last detail to make it appear
that Montana is just crazy for Obama and his policies. If anything was artificial it was the Obama crowd. We learned that the White House had called our local HRDC (Human Resource and Development Committee) and asked for the names of OBAMA Supporters. These were invited. Smoke and mirrors...EVERYTHING was staged!!!!!!!!!!!
Everything was artificial, everything was fake.....

I am very dismayed about what I observed about our current White House. The
amount of control and manipulation was unbelievable. I felt I was not living
in the United States of America , more like North Korea . I was physically
nauseous. Bill and I have been around when Presidents or Heads of State
visit. It has NEVER been like this. I am truly very frightened for our
country.

America needs your prayers and your voices. If you care about our country
please get involved. Know the issues. Let Congress hear your voices again
and again!! If OBAMA is willing to put forth so much effort to BULLY a small
town in Montana , one can only imagine what is going on in Washington DC !!!

WARNING: What you are seeing in the main stream media is a bold faced lie! It is artificial. It is fake. It is nothing more that a very expensive commercial made with our own money! And... it is time to stop this madness!!!!

Response from Jhnny Isakson Re Health Care Reform

2009-08-20T16:06:00.001-04:00

Dear Mr. Shirk:

Thank you for contacting me regarding health care reform. I appreciate the comments you have shared with me and the opportunity to respond.

As a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee as well as a former small business owner, I am aware of the problems our nation faces regarding health care, and am sensitive to the struggles the average, hard-working American faces when trying to gain access to adequate and affordable health care. I agree we must look for solutions to find ways to provide affordable health care to individuals who lack access to health insurance through an employer.

On July 15, I voted against a health care reform bill that was crafted exclusively by Senate Democrats. Republicans were shut out of the drafting of the bill, and numerous attempts to improve the bill in Committee were blocked by Committee Democrats. The bill passed out of Committee by a vote of 13 to 10. As written, this bill will do nothing to alleviate the financial burden of health care costs or raise the standard of care. This flawed health care reform bill will cost U.S. taxpayers over $1 trillion dollars and will place a massive financial burden on Georgia and other states to pay for a proposed 50 percent expansion of Medicaid eligibility.

I believe that the government-run "public option" plan included in this bill will end up decreasing choice and quality for consumers. It also will place the federal government in unfair competition with private health insurers and managed care providers, as it will be impossible for private entities to compete fairly with the government that regulates them, taxes them, and is exempt from having to pay taxes itself. I also oppose a mandate in the bill that will require employers with more than 25 workers to provide insurance or pay a penalty. I believe that provision would force many small businesses to eliminate jobs.

With a likely cost of more than $1 trillion, I am disappointed that the Committee rejected several amendments designed to reduce frivolous medical lawsuits. These lawsuits dive up health care costs by forcing physicians to purchase expensive malpractice policies and practice defensive medicine by ordering wasteful tests and procedures.

This bill will also expand the number of individuals eligible for Medicaid by allowing individuals earning up to 150 percent of the federal poverty level to be eligible for full Medicaid benefits. Currently, Medicaid is available to only those who earn up to 100 percent of the poverty level, meaning that the new plan represents a 50 percent increase in Medicaid. When Medicaid was first created in 1968, Georgia's total Medicaid spending was nearly $7.7 million, or 1 percent of all state spending. In 2008, Georgia's total Medicaid spending was over $2.4 billion, or 12 percent of all state spending. This new proposal would cost Georgia and other states billions of additional dollars to meet the 50 percent increase for their required share of Medicaid costs.

There are many good proposals from the Republican side of the aisle on how to address health care reform in creative ways. Many of these proposals focus on health care coverage through a private market provider-an idea that I support-rather than single-payer government insurance. Access to insurance through a private entity will increase choice for the consumer and quality for the patient. Numerous Republican amendments designed to reign in out-of-control spending and achieve true, effective reform were rejected.

I am a co-sponsor of S.1099, the Patient's Choice Act of 2009, which seeks to strengthen the relationship between patient and doctors by using choice and competition, rather than health care rationing and restriction, to contain costs and ensure affordable health care for all Americans. For more information on the Patient Choice Act please visit my website at http://isakson.senate.gov/healthcare.html.

Thank you again for contacting me and for your advocacy on behalf of health care reform. Please visit my webpage at http://isakson.senate.gov/ for more information on the issues important to you and to sign up for my e-newsletter.

Sincerely,
Johnny Isakson
United States Senator

Response from Saxby Chambliss Re Health Care Reform

2009-08-20T15:46:00.001-04:00

Dear Mr. Shirk:

Thank you for contacting me regarding your concerns about health care reform. It is good to hear from you.

As Congress and the Administration begin the debate on health care reform, all parties must commit to a full and thorough debate. With health care representing 17% of our nation's economy, both the House and Senate must devote the appropriate time and focus on this matter.

In the Senate, the two Committees of jurisdiction continue to review possible legislation and committee amendments. I agree that it is important for Congress to address the issues; however, I will urge my colleagues to take our time and debate all of the issues and proposals so that the American people can follow and understand the development and discussion of the legislation.

After committee action, the full Senate is expected to begin debate regarding comprehensive health care reform. While we have yet to see the final language of a bill, there have been many ideas about the direction of heath care in our country that are currently being discussed.

I do not believe that a health care overhaul bill should include a government run option to provide health coverage. Such an alternative would be able to charge much lower rates and would reimburse providers at a much lower level than private insurance plans and limit competition rather than fostering it. Overtime, this could well eliminate private insurance companies and drive all individuals to the government run option that would essentially become a single payer system. A health care system that is run by federal bureaucrats would allow the federal government to determine the coverage it feels is appropriate for you, choose the doctors that you see, and dictate the care that you receive.

Along with a government option, I am also opposed to a mandate on small business to cover the costs of their employees under a "pay or play" system. During these difficult economic times, I do not believe we should be penalizing businesses who already cannot afford health care for their employees.

Questions such as the expansion of a government run program, competition among providers and payers, and cost containment, among others, must be measured against maintaining the highest quality of care for our citizens. For example, the number of uninsured Americans continues to rise along with the premiums and out-of-pocket expenses incurred by insured consumers. We in Congress need to address this problem by searching for effective ways to expand access to adequate, affordable medical care for all Americans in a fiscally responsible manner.

It is my view that the majority in Congress and the Administration are moving too quickly with radical proposals that may or may not achieve the worthy objectives mentioned previously. A rush to legislative passage may limit access, lower quality, while increasing taxes and the nation's debt. Members of Congress have not been allowed the appropriate time to review aspects of a bill that is estimated to cost over $1.7 trillion and by some estimates could go even higher.

I do agree that our country is in need of health care reform. I am an original cosponsor of S. 1099, the "Patients' Choice Act," which was introduced on May 20, 2009, and was referred to the Committee on Finance. The legislation would make health care coverage accessible and affordable for all Americans through private insurance coverage, while also promoting prevention and wellness which can improve lives and lower long-term medical costs. S. 1099 would put individuals back in charge of their own health care by giving them a tax rebate, worth $2,300 for individuals and $5,700 for families, to be used for the purchase of health insurance. It would also allow patients to comparison shop for their health care the same way that they do for all other products and services and allow them to maintain their coverage if they move or change jobs. Individuals who are most vulnerable of being turned down due to preexisting conditions could not be denied coverage due to age or health.

During the health care reform debate, I will monitor the initiatives with the view that health care reform should focus on keeping health decisions between doctors and patients, empowering and entrusting individuals with their health care savings and decisions, and promoting competition in all areas of health care. Americans are right to demand access to affordable health care. We will move closer to this goal as we see more promotion of the same innovation and competition in health care that we see in every other American industry.

I appreciate your comments on this important matter. I will keep your views in mind as my colleagues and I weigh the various legislative proposals before the Senate. As we move forward in the Senate, the state of the economy and the support of legislation that will enable the health care sector to improve are and will remain uppermost in my mind.

Response from John Linder Re Health Care Reform

2009-08-20T15:20:00.002-04:00

Dear Mr. Shirk:

Thank you for contacting me to express your views about President Barack Obama's health care reform proposals, and in particular, H.R. 3200. I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue.

As you may know, H.R. 3200 is a $1.3 trillion bill written entirely by House Democrats in consultation with the Obama Administration that will turn our health care system over to government bureaucrats. Instead of developing an initiative that would bolster the doctor-patient relationship, provide incentives for private insurance companies to make health insurance more affordable, maintain proper care for Medicare beneficiaries, and allow individuals to choose for themselves the type of care that is best for them, House Democrats -- led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and President Barack Obama -- have committed themselves to a government-run health care monopoly administered by appointed bureaucrats, number crunchers, and paper pushers who will serve the bottom line before addressing the real world needs of American taxpayers.

That is why I was proud to vote against this bill on July 16, 2009, when it was considered by the House Ways and Means Committee, and why I will continue to oppose it in the future.

Make no mistake; H.R. 3200 will bankrupt the United States. Even the head of the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) agreed that H.R. 3200 is financially unsustainable and would increase yearly deficits and our national debt for the foreseeable future. No matter for whom you voted last November, skyrocketing debt, higher taxes, and a multigenerational financial burden is certainly not the type of change that any American believes in.

For all the President's talk about bringing fiscal responsibility to Washington, D.C., H.R. 3200 is nothing more than old-fashioned taxing and spending. When you and I go shopping, we carefully compare prices and ensure that we buy exactly what we can afford, even if it's not precisely what we were hoping to get. For the President, however, nothing less than his dream health care plan will do, regardless of how much it costs the American taxpayer or how much crushing debt our grandchildren will have to deal with fifty or sixty years from now. In order to pay for his dream plan, the President has advocated raising over $800 billion in taxes on small businesses, high income earners, and even those making under $10,000 a year. Nobody is safe from this tax increase.

It would seem that raising $800 billion in taxes should be more than sufficient to fund any program, but once again, when shopping with the President, price tags are meaningless. As such, President Obama has called for massive Medicare and Medicaid cuts totaling roughly $500 billion; cuts coming mostly from Medicare Advantage, skilled nursing facilities, hospice care, home health programs, and hospitals. Apparently it's not just the "filthy rich" and the successful small businesses that need to pay their "fair share;" the sick, aged, poor, and dying will pay as well.

Of course, once we all pay, we should expect to get the best care imaginable, right? Wrong. Government-run health care systems in other countries have long waiting lists for access to doctors and life-saving medical procedures. Waiting lists are so ubiquitous in Canada that the country's Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that access to a waiting list did not equal access to quality health care.

Health care programs in Europe are governed by unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats who tell doctors what treatments can and can't be prescribed based solely on a simple cost-benefit analysis of how much a person's life is worth. In order to control costs in Great Britain, the country's bureaucrats have placed a price on life: 30,000 pounds, or roughly $48,000, per year. If a revolutionary cancer drug costs more than that to save a person's life, it's simply not worth the money to the British government. While I accept that cost containment is necessary, this type of life and death decision should never be made by a nameless, faceless government worker. It should be made by doctors, patients, and family members who have the best interests of patients in mind.

Finally, I am concerned about the lightning quick timeline that the President and Speaker Pelosi have committed themselves to. H.R. 3200 is over 1,000 pages, costs an estimated $1.3 trillion, has yet to be fully examined by the CBO or any Member of Congress, and will have untold implications for decades to come. Legislation that completely transforms our nation should have more debate and consideration then a mere four weeks. The House Ways and Means Committee, on which I serve, had a paltry one day to consider the final version of this bill. Our democracy demands that we spend more than one day, and the American people should be outraged at this total disregard for essential civil discourse. Our Founding Fathers would be appalled by this miscarriage of democracy.

That being said, I am more than willing to work with my colleagues in the House of Representatives, President Obama, and Speaker Pelosi to slow this process down and allow the American people to fully understand what H.R. 3200 will mean for their lives. I can only hope that the President and the Speaker will answer the call of the American people and carefully consider H.R. 3200 without bowing to special interests and artificial timelines.

Thank you again for contacting me. If I may be of any further assistance to you, please do not hesitate to call on me.

Sincerely,

John Linder
Member of Congress

Health Care Resolved; Two Sides

2009-08-18T03:02:00.003-04:00

I recently read a piece at http://savannahnow.com/node/765648, a very well written Op-Ed, outlining with clarity of purpose, and the statistics to support the position, that America needs health care reform in 2009. I agree with the goal of this editor, as do I agree with President Obama. We do need a massive change in the way Americans receive health care in our country. What I do not buy, and the argument the left has successfully suppressed all year, is that there is more than one way to solve this problem. The leftists in Congress, along with the mainstream media, and most importantly, the president of the United States have successfully controlled the debate to include only their way or no way.

This is America. We have some major fundamental problems with the way health care has evolved over the last 40 years, and the only answer being put forward collectively by our political leadership is to offer socialized medicine modeled after England, Canada, or Switzerland. Never mind the fact that we aren’t any one of those countries. Never mind the fact that we have proven over the history of our nation that we have the entrepreneurial spirit to govern ourselves, by and for ourselves. There is a way, no, there are many ways we can solve this very real issue without rendering unto Caesar, that which is ours. And make no mistake; putting the federal government in charge of the health care system will enable the government to control, ultimately, every facet of our lives.

About this time, those of you reading this who are in favor of health care reform, in the sense the debate has thus far been defined, have made up your mind that I am about to spew the same argument we’ve been hearing from the republican party, and you likely won’t even finish reading my thoughts. If so, then so be it, but if you can spare a few minutes, then hear me out. There is a distinctly American way to solve this problem.

Before a solution can be devised we must first understand what has brought us to where we are. The American health care system, mostly employer provided, for those who have sufficient insurance at any rate, began in a different time. The time included the fact that the majority of Americans worked for large companies who provided pensions, health care, and the promise of a life long job, if one were so inclined, or as members of a labor union. This worked better than countries that had nationalized systems until major change occurred in the landscape of America. First and foremost, the government instituted Medicare, then Medicaid. On the face of those two well intentioned programs there should not have been any major issues, but on the one hand, when you leave the government to their own devices, they can screw up anything.

The government determined that to provide insurance to our elderly and infirm, they would have to implement a massive paperwork trail, as well as determine exactly what doctors and hospitals should receive as remittance for the services they provided that were paid by the government. Without going into thousands of pages of rules thrust onto the medical industry, the results were fairly predictable. Medicaid has evolved over time to pay the medical industry about 80% of the costs of providing the care, and Medicare pays about 90% of the costs to the industry, while both add substantially to the cost of doing business for doctors and hospitals. The required paperwork is not only onerous, but absent of logic in most instances, thereby requiring highly skilled office workers to get even the 80 or 90% of actual costs paid by the government, minus the cost of the highly skilled office workers of course.

Being the business people they were, and unable to fight back against a government rife with bureaucrats who could sit on claims for months on end without payment, the hospitals first, then the doctors devised methods that have allowed them to collect an average 135% of the costs of supplying health care to those of us who still have medical insurance, either provided by our employer, or paid for as a private plan. At the same time, our Congress has made it literally impossible to obtain private insurance that is affordable by being loyal only to those lobbyists who pay huge sums of money into their reelection coffers. No one has ever united a lobby for just regular folks, and our Congress is polluted with elected officials who have made laws that allow them to take bribes of cash in exchange for passing laws favorable to the groups paying the bribes. This is true across every part of our government, but has proved to be the place that most damages the daily lives of Americans. Henceforth, we have finally come to this point in our country where we are finally having the great debate, and we are debating the wrong issue.

We should be debating the system that allowed the health care industry, as well as every other major form of expenditures in this country to be managed by laws passed by those who make Al Capone seem tame by comparison. Why is that you can’t purchase a health care policy from a company outside the state where you reside? You can buy most things you want or need in any state, whether or not you live there. The only things where that isn’t possible, are those items regulated by the federal government, such as health care, in this instance. There are others, like guns, but that is a subject for another day.

Businesses get huge tax incentives for providing health care for their employers. Those incentives are based on the premiums they pay per employee. Why then, can’t individuals gain a tax advantage for paying those same premiums? The question is of course rhetorical, but I will answer it anyway. There is no lobby giving individual Congressman money to pay for the favor of giving the tax incentive. Everything Congress does to benefit any group of people must be paid for, written up, and explained in detail, by experts from the organizations wanting the favors.

That is how our government has evolved. The Congressmen, nor their staffs, are even capable of implementing the laws that the various lobbies require and pay to have passed. The Congressmen don’t even read the legislation. We didn’t find that out until this year, but it has been that way for a long time. You can see the surprise and frustration on the faces of those legislators who have been called out for not reading the bills. It is inconceivable to them that we would even expect it. They have operated for so long, in the manner the government has evolved, that the members currently in Congress were not there when it was any other way. That is just the way they were taught, even the ones who came before them didn’t likely know the difference. There are a few, still serving , who have been present for the entire sordid affair, such as Robert Byrd, Ted Kennedy, as well as others not so well known, but for the most part, the legislators we have today truly think they are doing what is expected of them. To bear that out, we rarely know any better either, and have accepted this manner of governance as a matter of fact, for decades.

Everyone of our current Congressman, with a few exceptions as always, have purchased their position, not only through one election, but as a result of a career of doing political business in such a way as to be expert at listening to special interests, and voting on the laws and regulations paid for and created by the special interest groups that have good financial reasoning for controlling the laws that get passed. We therefore are governed by 535 mob bosses, except that not one of them understands their business the way mob bosses understood crime. We have to start fixing health care by fixing our elective representative government. We have to vote out the incumbents. We have to implement term limits, and we have to start over with respect to both the House and the Senate. In the meantime, we can start forcing our current legislators to do something productive, and pass laws that will benefit the people, not the special interest groups, and starting with health care has now become the most righteous place to begin.

There are many ideas out there on ways to solve the health care issues that make insurance unaffordable, that many times bankrupt hard working Americans who either can’t afford coverage, or roll the dice, don’t purchase even catastrophic coverage, and thus suffer failed lives when a major illness or injury strikes. We can fix that without becoming Socialists. The government has not been putting forth any ideas for change until now that the left has taken control of both branches of policy government. The left has always been willing to create a social democracy and become the ultimate nanny state. They just haven’t had the political clout to get it done before now. Since they now do have the power, the GOP is offering up some rather good ideas, that should have been done decades ago, except that no one was paying them to implement the ideas, and no lobby had sufficient interest in solving problems for individual American citizens.

Now that the conservatives, or fake conservatives have seen themselves soundly defeated in two straight elections, and now that big pharma, the insurance companies, the AMA, and the BAR are helping the democrats write the legislation that will end their gravy train, and as they are scrambling to minimize their losses, we are getting some decent ideas of ways to solve the inconsistencies with the basic premise of our health care policy in the United States. They certainly aren’t going far enough though, and are doing their best to minimize the effect on the Congress' own gravy train, notwithstanding that of the special interest groups. Below is a list of ideas I have either taken from conservatives, consumer interest groups, and some I have thought of on my own. It is by no means an inclusive list of ideas, as there are probably many other ideas as good or better than these. They do, however, provide methods, for solving the majority of our health care issues, and not turn over control of our health care system to the government.

Government run health care would result in most of the dangers considered by the left to be scare monger tactics. The fact is, if we turn over control of health care to a government system, immediately place an extra 47 million people into the system, while adding no doctors, and cutting expenditures, the only way it can possibly work at all is to ration health care. That isn’t hate speech. It certainly isn’t a lie, hysteria, disinformation, or racist. It is simple logic. Any plan that works, with respect to any subject, with respect to anything in life, requires the numbers to add up. In the case of government run health care promising to cover an additional 47 million people, while being deficit neutral, and not rationing care, just simply defies logic. It cannot be done. We can either spend trillions more dollars, or we can ration care, if we are to make a government system work at all.

There are alternatives though. It doesn’t have to be the government’s way or the highway. We can’t follow those on either side who refuse to listen, or who demonize those who aren’t in agreement with their position. If we are to have a debate, and if we are to solve the problems we face, we must first listen, and think for ourselves. Our government has failed us. We now must step up, take charge, and do the things that should have been done many years ago. Think about these ten things, how to get them accomplished, and then add some of your own. We can make the Congress do our bidding, but only if we are united, remain calm, and insist that the government take action based on the good of the people, and not the good of the government. Our actions do not have to grow government to solve these issues. We can:

1. Enable cross state health care insurance competition
2. Enable equal tax treatment for private pay health care insurance VS employer provided insurance.
3. Enable Tort reform for medical malpractice litigation.
4. Change patent guidelines for pharmaceutical companies to lower drug costs.
5. Incentivize medical students for taking up family practice and/or Internal Medicine.
6. Enforce immigration laws currently on the books
7. Increase minimum income requirement for Medicaid
8. Require insurance providers to accept high risk individuals through pool, similar to auto insurance
9. Regulate insurance industry at federal level, rather than individual state
10. Incentivize preventive health measures with declining premiums

With respect to number 1 above; competition is the cornerstone of prosperity in this country. The government has stifled competition, to individual states, only because it is in the interest of the insurance companies, and to the detriment of the people. The arguments I have heard as to how this would just result in higher costs for people in the states who currently have affordable insurance are ludicrous. IF XYZ insurance is making money now with lower rates in a state with minimal customers, they will make significantly more money as they add more customers. It will also force ABC insurance to lower their rates to compete and keep their customers, rather than allow XYZ to poach their customers. This is American as it gets.

Number 2 is a no brainer. We currently allow businesses a tax incentive for every cent they spend on employer health care coverage, and yet those people who are self employed, musicians, artists, and others who have the nerve to strike out on their own must pay higher premiums, with no tax break for the same or usually inferior coverage as do those who choose to work for someone else who has the nerve to strike out on their own. What is the logic in that? There is no logic. Businesses were given these tax incentives in order to insure Americans at a time when the vast majority of citizens worked for large companies, or were in trade unions. That just isn’t the case anymore, and there is no lobby for individualists in this country. The Congress should have been taking up that job from the jump, but they didn’t, they haven’t, and they don’t really have any intention of doing it unless forced to take action, and even then we will have to hire people to train them to write the legislation, as there is no lobby with the expertise to write and present it to them.

3. I’m not sure just how much Tort reform will reduce the overall cost of medical care, but it would be huge. Currently doctors and hospitals pay exorbitant premiums to those same insurance companies who cover health care, and the lawyers make a ton of money in both nuisance, as well as, well founded cases of malpractice. The not knowing how much a jury will award a defendant drives these costs through the roof. The answer is to set maximums for different levels of injury, specific time frames of recovery, and perhaps even more important, punish those who bring nuisance cases to court by forcing them to pay the defendants attorney fee, the court costs, and a substantial fine. The lawyers in Congress will never do this unless they are left no other choice. We have to take that choice away and force them to do it.

4. Research costs for new drugs are substantial. The pharmaceutical companies must be allowed to recover those costs, or they will stop the research. We must keep that in mind while awarding patents, but we must also weigh that with the cost of medical care. The rest of the world is reverse engineering America’s discoveries, and selling the generics for a pittance in order to take care of their citizens. We must tie the actual costs of individual drug research to the amount big pharma is allowed to recover. This is a difficult problem, but President Obama was able to buy off the pharmaceutical companies by limiting their hit in his health care bill to $80 billion. That shows that they have room to negotiate. We have to make the same, or a better deal for the citizens without government control of the entire system. After all, this is America, and we don’t need to socialize an industry to make it work. Our country was founded on a set of values and a proposition for equality and freedom, with minimal government interference. It is the best government ever devised. Why throw it away now?

5. We don’t have enough doctors to take on 47 million more people, particularly with respect to general practitioners. We do have an abundance of specialists. We need to offer incentives for those already in specialties, as well as students to go into general practice or Internal Medicine. Ignoring these facts will result in long lines. That isn’t spreading hysteria. It is simply recognizing the issues before us. Since we don’t currently have a really good preventive health care system in the United States, and do have a lot of specialists making a lot of money, and since as a result there is very little incentive for doctors to take up general practice, we have a severe shortage of just regular doctors. The ones we do have cannot take on 47 million more people without hugely significant issues. The government pay health care plan is not addressing these facts.

6. This is an emotional issue, and many liberals will not agree. However, of the 47 million people without health insurance in this country, there is an estimated 10 to 15 million of them in the country illegally. I cannot vouch for these numbers, but I can see, and every time I go to Walmart I can see that there are a significant number of people living all around me who cannot speak English. Some percentage of those people are in the country illegally. While I recognize we are a country founded on immigration, we do still have a responsibility to enforce our laws. We also have a responsibility to those who immigrate legally, and should not allow those who break the laws to obtain advantage over those who obey the same laws. Both the democrats and republicans have refused to enforce our immigration laws, and to protect our borders from penetration by illegal immigrants. This is a failure on the part of Congress we have allowed to go on for decades. It is time we insist something be done, and one of the many reasons to vote out every single incumbent in the House and the Senate. 47 million can be reduced to 37 or even 32 million, depending on whose numbers you believe. Even if only 5 million are here illegally, it will still help defray the costs of providing health care to those who show up in Emergency rooms around the country on a daily basis. If you have gone to an Emergency room in a major city in this country in the last 10 or 15 years you have seen for yourself who is there, and what it is costing us.

7. There are currently a lot of Americans who do not have health care offered by their employer, who cannot afford to purchase a private policy for their family, but still make more per year than the maximum allowed to qualify for Medicaid. A lot of people in this group are construction workers, who tend to earn much more on an annual basis than they can count on in monthly payments for insurance premiums. We have to revisit these numbers on a regular basis to ensure these hard working people don’t ruin their lives with an illness or accident, when they are already at the low end of the economic scale of those not considered impoverished, while those with no job get free medical care. This is the result of Congress not thinking through the legislation and regulations they pass along to their constituents and it is the constituents who are hurt by this particular brand of incompetence because they don’t have a lobby to protect their interests. Are you starting to see a pattern here, especially with respect to lobbyists?

8. Everyone is required in most states to carry car insurance in order to register their car, and in some states to get a license. This is basic civics 101, and why don’t we use the same system to insure people for health care? Again, the insurance lobby for automobiles wants to insure every single car on the road, and the people who are insured demand they be protected financially, from people who may run them over. With respect to health care insurance, those companies have no desire to collect premiums from people with pre-existing conditions, even minor ones, like pregnancy, as pointed out in the aforementioned Op-ed. In most cases I am not for government intervention, but with respect to health insurance, the providers have proven themselves to be unworthy of regulating themselves. They will require that the government force them to take the good with the bad, even in times when they will likely lose money. For these individuals, they will pay higher premiums, but it will be a regulated amount, and the government will not permit any individual to be priced out of insurance, or refused coverage due to any condition, either previously existing or contracted after having written the policy. This will necessarily increase everyone’s premium to some extent, precisely as it does with car insurance.

9. Primarily because of numbers 1 and 8 above, we cannot burden insurance company’s regulation in every single state. We must therefore assume insurance regulation at the federal level. We already regulate the financial industry at the federal level, and taking on insurance, while burdensome, especially in the beginning, is an evil we cannot get around.

10. Some of the arguments, from the president especially, but from the left in general do have a ring of truth to them, even though the government pay plan would not necessarily result in a healthier population. However, we could incentivize healthy behavior with a decrease in premiums, regulated by the government in 9 above, for those people who take their personal health seriously. Instead of punishing bad behavior, as in the fat tax, and other things the government has recommended, and even implemented in New York and other states, we can lower health care premiums for those who do not smoke, for those with cholesterol and triglyceride numbers in the pink, or even for those who have taken all the preventive precautions and office visits, while avoiding having to see a doctor for illness and injury. This would have the effect of lowering premiums for the young, for the middle aged, who took care of themselves while young, and even for those who don’t engage in high risk behavior resulting in broken bones, cuts, and other accidental health care visits.

The 10 ideas I put forth here are just that, ideas that do not require a complete government takeover, although they do represent quite a bit of government action, most of which they would avoid at all costs, other than the failure to be reelected. There are only two ways to get Congress to act. One is the pay them for voting the way your particular interest group wants. The second is with direct and demonstrable proof that failure to act will result in likely defeat in the next election. This only works with House members, and any Senators who are in their last two years of their 6 year term. Anything beyond two years, and legislators have learned that the people forget. We can’t afford to forget ever again. Barack Obama has appeared in a time and place that has given him the opportunity to put in place a Socialized Democracy in this country, replacing the republic so many have fought and died to protect. We cannot allow him to succeed. He has chosen the health care issue, because it is our single biggest failure as a nation. It is a black eye on our culture to have allowed our health care system to erode to such a low point of our society. We need to fix health care, but we don’t have to become socialists to do it. We can fix the health care system and rid ourselves of a Congress out of control and out of touch, all in one fell swoop. We only have to speak with one voice, with one purpose, and stop this left/right fight amongst ourselves. This is America, and in spite of the health care embarrassment, we are still the greatest nation on the Earth! We can keep it that way.

Monetizing the Debt

2009-08-13T08:27:00.002-04:00

I learned something yesterday that as far as I know has not been reported in the main stream media. This is information paramount to every American, regardless of how you make your living, regardless of your economic standing, and certainly regardless of your political affiliation. This is fairly boring stuff. In fact, as my wife and I were listening to the information, I saw her eyes glaze over, and knew that the information was not registering in her conscious thoughts.

Last week, in the midst of everything else that is going on with respect to the health care bill, the town halls, talk of death panels, and while the stock market was moving out of the eight handle and well into the 9000 point range, the fed, in conjunction with the treasury monetized more of our debt. The monetization of debt is a term most people don’t think much about. In fact, the average person probably has no idea what that even means.

It is actually simple. Last week, the treasury sold 7 year, considered long term bills, to investors around the world. There was a pretty good turnout for these instruments, and we sold over a trillion bucks worth. However, 10 days later, the fed bought back 47% of these long term notes on the secondary market. It is here that most people zone out. What that means, although I certainly can’t prove it, is that the government had to have made prior arrangements with the primary purchasers of the treasuries to buy back these bills in 10 days, thereby creating the illusion of an active market demand for American paper, and keeping the rates in a sustainable range. Had no one bought the treasuries in large numbers, we would have been forced to raise the rate of return, and made it impossible to continue to finance the huge government takeover of the American economy.

Having said that, the fed’s purchase on the secondary market may well keep the rates lower for the time being, but the piper will eventually be paid. Pulling these sort of tricks on the world financial markets will catch up to us, and ultimately interest rates will skyrocket as a result. While the government would never publicly say that inflation, and especially hyper inflation would be positive for our economy, it is actually the only chance our government has to ever be able to pay down the deficit without raising the tax rate significantly.

Let me explain. If you get 5% interest on $100, you get $5.00. If you get 5% interest on $1000, you get $50. When inflation skyrockets, everyone will be paying more for goods and services, but will also get paid more, thus increasing the tax revenue the government collects in direct correlation to the inflation rate, and ultimately reduce the federal debt relative to the economy at a future point. In summary, they spend now at the current cost of money, and repay the same interest rate later, when dollars are collected based on everyone having more dollars that are worth less, except with respect to paying off the old, lower interest rates. This is one of the dilemmas governments are faced with. While hyper inflation is bad for the citizens, it does allow the government to run up huge debt in a period of deflation, then falsely create inflation later in order to be able to repay all the funds the government deficit spent. I know, I know, I am getting into the weeds here, and you are zoning out, It is just too much to think about, but it is apparently our government’s plan for surviving this tsunami of economic hell we are experiencing in America right now. Understand this, Enron did nothing approaching this level of manipulation. In fact, everything they did was basically legal, or there would have been no reason for passing Sarbanes-Oxley, which literally handcuffed private business

Certain individuals, for the most part those who are the most well off, will benefit to a an extent from this plan, while the majority of the middle class will suffer more and more as usual. If you have zero debt, and a lot of cash available, you will be able to collect more interest on your money, and as a result of higher interest rates, will be able to earn more on virtually all investments. However, if you are like the majority of the middle class, and like most small businesses, you need credit to survive. You have a mortgage, car payments, credit card bills in addition to all the other monthly expenses. Everything will go up significantly, especially items you have to purchase for every day living. Interest rates will skyrocket, and while those with locked in fixed 30 year mortgages will not be affected, the real estate market will be devastated by increased mortgage rates, raw material prices, wage increases, all at a time when the housing market is flush with empty homes due to the foreclosures, and generally defunct housing bubble we are just trying to come out of.

The fed printed about a trillion dollars out right 3 or 4 months ago. It seems like, if I remember correctly it was around March 18th, right before the stock market started its meteoric rise back toward the 10,000 point mark that appears to be the goal of this administration. Last week the fed did basically the same thing, but in a back door way, so as not to alarm the financial markets into an immediate inflationary cycle. Even this administration and the fed don’t feel immune to world wide economists’ opinions. The fed printed the funds required to purchase these 7 year bills. This along with the trillion printed in March, coupled with the $787 billion being spent as a result of the stimulus bill, and including the 3.8 trillion dollar 2009 budget, as well as the omnibus spending left over from the Bush administration is putting huge amounts of cash into the economy without the benefit of the production necessary to keep people working every day. This is a recipe for absolute disaster, on a level not unlike that of Zimbabwe. Incidentally, Geithner asked the Congress to increase the $12 trillion debt ceiling last week. I wonder if these two actions were related?” Duh, well, yes, of course they are. $12 trillion just isn’t enough anymore, although Geithner didn’t suggest a new ceiling, just asked that it be raised, and I assume it will be raised to some number representing infinity, if that concept exists.

Of course, Mr. Bernanke, along with Tiny Tim Geithner, Larry Summers, and all the president’s men know very well what is going to happen later on, and they are counting on the huge monstrous inflationary cycle to help retire the debt we are running up at an alarming rate right now. They are going to accomplish this on the backs of those of us who can’t afford inflation, while giving those with plenty of cash lying around collecting very little return, a huge windfall on both interest rates, as well as propping up the investment market with very handsome returns. The government is well aware of the fact that those without significant sums of money do not understand the economics at play, while those who control all the money know very well how to make hay while it’s available, and in plenty of time to make significant contributions to the 2010 coffers for reelection of those currently in power. And make no mistake, they will blame every bit of this on the previous administration, and the press will let them get away with it. If you haven’t noticed, the mainstream media is in the bag for the president and anything he does at this point, while marginalizing Fox News, the only news agency in the country willing to report the news in the 21st century, as well as any American with the audacity to question the actions of a government out of control and out of touch.

Section 1233 HR 3200

2009-08-12T13:54:00.002-04:00

The events of the past week in town halls across the country have me almost giddy with thoughts of the Obama machine coming apart at the seams. ALMOST! I still can’t quite believe he has blundered this badly. It is like playing chess with a grand master, and winning his queen in the opening. It just makes me wonder what he’s up to. After all, this guy is brilliant, right? An Ivy leaguer, constitutional law professor, seasoned community organizer, and startlingly successful Chicago politician, how then can he screw up this badly?

He has been unable to explain the health care reform plan with anything approaching clarity. He has given Nancy Pelosi, the antithesis of everything American, free rein to implement the furthest left of all possible legislation, and has supported everything she has done, except that I’m not sure he even understands what is in the bills making the rounds in House committees right now. His rhetoric certainly does not match the facts easily found, particularly in Section 1233 of HR 3200. There really is a section dealing with end of life decisions with regard to health care. I read the bill, and it is there. He puts together a town hall of his supporters to make himself look good, while Congressional members are being bombarded all over the country. What’s up with that?

It is true, there are no specific requirements as to what decisions have to be made, and no chart defining age VS disease VS cost. However, the fact that the bill even goes into the end of life requirements for planning is sufficient to convince me the government bureaucracy will indeed play a very large role in helping me make those decisions when the time comes. He who has the money, has the power, and wins. That is the way life works. If the government controls what procedures are paid for based on economics, or economics VS age, VS history, or any combination of facts that can be plugged into spreadsheet logic, then make no mistake, that is exactly what they will do.

That is the way it works in England, Canada, Israel, and all other countries with nationalized health care. There is always a finite number of doctors, hospital beds, and money. There is never a finite number of medical problems, disease, or injuries requiring procedures or pain medication. What then, logically, are we left to believe? Are we to believe Obama when he says, no, we would never make those decisions for you. You can keep you doctor if you like him. You can keep your insurance if you want to. How is it then that one of the House bills says: “Private insurers can't sign new insurees after 1/1/2013”? Does Obama know what is in the bills currently making the rounds?

Do members of Congress know what is in the bills? What is the Senate doing in committee? Why are they keeping it so secretive? I think it is pretty obvious why so many Americans are worried, and why the numbers are going in reverse every single day. I don’t think we can write Obama off yet though. He is certainly capable of turning this thing around. The Cap and Tax bill was in serious trouble of passing the House right up until the day it was passed. He had a luncheon at the White House, and voila, he got all the votes he needed, plus Pelosi had plenty of breathing room to allow certain democrats to vote against the bill, knowing they would be in serious trouble with their constituents if they voted for the largest tax increase in American history. The Senate still hasn’t passed a version yet, and it hasn’t come up for a vote, only because Obama doesn’t have the required number of votes to pass it quite yet.

I fear the same thing may happen with health care. The majority has shown they do not care what the people want. They are going to vote the way Pelosi, and the rest of the majority leadership tell them to vote. I don’t understand how she could have that much power, but it certainly appears that she does. Hopefully, the massive show of force from opponents of health care reform will give them pause, but I am not going to hold my breath. The President of the United States, the Speaker of the House, and many other legislators are demonizing regular American citizens who are voicing their dissent publicly, sometimes loudly, but always plainly, and with more understanding of the issues than any of the lawmakers have demonstrated to this point.

I remain hopeful that the events of the past couple of weeks are turning the tide of the government’s total disregard for the American people, but I am wary that Obama has something else up his sleeve. I am troubled that he has looked so inept of late. This is out of character for him, and I find it hard to believe he didn’t see this coming. Am I over estimating him?

In any event, here is section 1233 of HR 3200. Enjoy!

5 SEC. 1233. ADVANCE CARE PLANNING CONSULTATION.
6 (a) MEDICARE.—
7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 1861 of the Social
8 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x) is amended—
9 (A) in subsection (s)(2)—
10 (i) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of
11 subparagraph (DD);
12 (ii) by adding ‘‘and’’ at the end of
13 subparagraph (EE); and
14 (iii) by adding at the end the fol15
lowing new subparagraph:
16 ‘‘(FF) advance care planning consultation (as
17 defined in subsection (hhh)(1));’’; and
18 (B) by adding at the end the following new
19 subsection:
20 ‘‘Advance Care Planning Consultation
21 ‘‘(hhh)(1) Subject to paragraphs (3) and (4), the
22 term ‘advance care planning consultation’ means a con23
sultation between the individual and a practitioner de24
scribed in paragraph (2) regarding advance care planning,
25 if, subject to paragraph (3), the individual involved has
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HR 3200 IH
1 not had such a consultation within the last 5 years. Such
2 consultation shall include the following:
3 ‘‘(A) An explanation by the practitioner of ad4
vance care planning, including key questions and
5 considerations, important steps, and suggested peo6
ple to talk to.
7 ‘‘(B) An explanation by the practitioner of ad8
vance directives, including living wills and durable
9 powers of attorney, and their uses.
10 ‘‘(C) An explanation by the practitioner of the
11 role and responsibilities of a health care proxy.
12 ‘‘(D) The provision by the practitioner of a list
13 of national and State-specific resources to assist con14
sumers and their families with advance care plan15
ning, including the national toll-free hotline, the ad16
vance care planning clearinghouses, and State legal
17 service organizations (including those funded
18 through the Older Americans Act of 1965).
19 ‘‘(E) An explanation by the practitioner of the
20 continuum of end-of-life services and supports avail21
able, including palliative care and hospice, and bene22
fits for such services and supports that are available
23 under this title.
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HR 3200 IH
1 ‘‘(F)(i) Subject to clause (ii), an explanation of
2 orders regarding life sustaining treatment or similar
3 orders, which shall include—
4 ‘‘(I) the reasons why the development of
5 such an order is beneficial to the individual and
6 the individual’s family and the reasons why
7 such an order should be updated periodically as
8 the health of the individual changes;
9 ‘‘(II) the information needed for an indi10
vidual or legal surrogate to make informed deci11
sions regarding the completion of such an
12 order; and
13 ‘‘(III) the identification of resources that
14 an individual may use to determine the require15
ments of the State in which such individual re16
sides so that the treatment wishes of that indi17
vidual will be carried out if the individual is un18
able to communicate those wishes, including re19
quirements regarding the designation of a sur20
rogate decisionmaker (also known as a health
21 care proxy).
22 ‘‘(ii) The Secretary shall limit the requirement
23 for explanations under clause (i) to consultations
24 furnished in a State—
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HR 3200 IH
1 ‘‘(I) in which all legal barriers have been
2 addressed for enabling orders for life sustaining
3 treatment to constitute a set of medical orders
4 respected across all care settings; and
5 ‘‘(II) that has in effect a program for or6
ders for life sustaining treatment described in
7 clause (iii).
8 ‘‘(iii) A program for orders for life sustaining
9 treatment for a States described in this clause is a
10 program that—
11 ‘‘(I) ensures such orders are standardized
12 and uniquely identifiable throughout the State;
13 ‘‘(II) distributes or makes accessible such
14 orders to physicians and other health profes15
sionals that (acting within the scope of the pro16
fessional’s authority under State law) may sign
17 orders for life sustaining treatment;
18 ‘‘(III) provides training for health care
19 professionals across the continuum of care
20 about the goals and use of orders for life sus21
taining treatment; and
22 ‘‘(IV) is guided by a coalition of stake23
holders includes representatives from emergency
24 medical services, emergency department physi25
cians or nurses, state long-term care associa-
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HR 3200 IH
1 tion, state medical association, state surveyors,
2 agency responsible for senior services, state de3
partment of health, state hospital association,
4 home health association, state bar association,
5 and state hospice association.
6 ‘‘(2) A practitioner described in this paragraph is—
7 ‘‘(A) a physician (as defined in subsection
8 (r)(1)); and
9 ‘‘(B) a nurse practitioner or physician’s assist10
ant who has the authority under State law to sign
11 orders for life sustaining treatments.
12 ‘‘(3)(A) An initial preventive physical examination
13 under subsection (WW), including any related discussion
14 during such examination, shall not be considered an ad15
vance care planning consultation for purposes of applying
16 the 5-year limitation under paragraph (1).
17 ‘‘(B) An advance care planning consultation with re18
spect to an individual may be conducted more frequently
19 than provided under paragraph (1) if there is a significant
20 change in the health condition of the individual, including
21 diagnosis of a chronic, progressive, life-limiting disease, a
22 life-threatening or terminal diagnosis or life-threatening
23 injury, or upon admission to a skilled nursing facility, a
24 long-term care facility (as defined by the Secretary), or
25 a hospice program.
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HR 3200 IH
1 ‘‘(4) A consultation under this subsection may in2
clude the formulation of an order regarding life sustaining
3 treatment or a similar order.
4 ‘‘(5)(A) For purposes of this section, the term ‘order
5 regarding life sustaining treatment’ means, with respect
6 to an individual, an actionable medical order relating to
7 the treatment of that individual that—
8 ‘‘(i) is signed and dated by a physician (as de9
fined in subsection (r)(1)) or another health care
10 professional (as specified by the Secretary and who
11 is acting within the scope of the professional’s au12
thority under State law in signing such an order, in13
cluding a nurse practitioner or physician assistant)
14 and is in a form that permits it to stay with the in15
dividual and be followed by health care professionals
16 and providers across the continuum of care;
17 ‘‘(ii) effectively communicates the individual’s
18 preferences regarding life sustaining treatment, in19
cluding an indication of the treatment and care de20
sired by the individual;
21 ‘‘(iii) is uniquely identifiable and standardized
22 within a given locality, region, or State (as identified
23 by the Secretary); and
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1 ‘‘(iv) may incorporate any advance directive (as
2 defined in section 1866(f)(3)) if executed by the in3
dividual.
4 ‘‘(B) The level of treatment indicated under subpara5
graph (A)(ii) may range from an indication for full treat6
ment to an indication to limit some or all or specified
7 interventions. Such indicated levels of treatment may in8
clude indications respecting, among other items—
9 ‘‘(i) the intensity of medical intervention if the
10 patient is pulse less, apneic, or has serious cardiac
11 or pulmonary problems;
12 ‘‘(ii) the individual’s desire regarding transfer
13 to a hospital or remaining at the current care set14
ting;
15 ‘‘(iii) the use of antibiotics; and
16 ‘‘(iv) the use of artificially administered nutri17
tion and hydration.’’.
18 (2) PAYMENT.—Section 1848(j)(3) of such Act
19 (42 U.S.C. 1395w–4(j)(3)) is amended by inserting
20 ‘‘(2)(FF),’’ after ‘‘(2)(EE),’’.
21 (3) FREQUENCY LIMITATION.—Section 1862(a)
22 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1395y(a)) is amended—
23 (A) in paragraph (1)—
24 (i) in subparagraph (N), by striking
25 ‘‘and’’ at the end;
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1 (ii) in subparagraph (O) by striking
2 the semicolon at the end and inserting ‘‘,
3 and’’; and
4 (iii) by adding at the end the fol5
lowing new subparagraph:
6 ‘‘(P) in the case of advance care planning
7 consultations (as defined in section
8 1861(hhh)(1)), which are performed more fre9
quently than is covered under such section;’’;
10 and
11 (B) in paragraph (7), by striking ‘‘or (K)’’
12 and inserting ‘‘(K), or (P)’’.
13 (4) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made
14 by this subsection shall apply to consultations fur15
nished on or after January 1, 2011.
16 (b) EXPANSION OF PHYSICIAN QUALITY REPORTING
17 INITIATIVE FOR END OF LIFE CARE.—
18 (1) PHYSICIAN’S QUALITY REPORTING INITIA19
TIVE.—Section 1848(k)(2) of the Social Security Act
20 (42 U.S.C. 1395w–4(k)(2)) is amended by adding at
21 the end the following new paragraphs:
22 ‘‘(3) PHYSICIAN’S QUALITY REPORTING INITIA23
TIVE.—
24 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of re25
porting data on quality measures for covered
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1 professional services furnished during 2011 and
2 any subsequent year, to the extent that meas3
ures are available, the Secretary shall include
4 quality measures on end of life care and ad5
vanced care planning that have been adopted or
6 endorsed by a consensus-based organization, if
7 appropriate. Such measures shall measure both
8 the creation of and adherence to orders for life9
sustaining treatment.
10 ‘‘(B) PROPOSED SET OF MEASURES.—The
11 Secretary shall publish in the Federal Register
12 proposed quality measures on end of life care
13 and advanced care planning that the Secretary
14 determines are described in subparagraph (A)
15 and would be appropriate for eligible profes16
sionals to use to submit data to the Secretary.
17 The Secretary shall provide for a period of pub18
lic comment on such set of measures before fi19
nalizing such proposed measures.’’.
20 (c) INCLUSION OF INFORMATION IN MEDICARE &
21 YOU HANDBOOK.—
22 (1) MEDICARE & YOU HANDBOOK.—
23 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year
24 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the
25 Secretary of Health and Human Services shall
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1 update the online version of the Medicare &
2 You Handbook to include the following:
3 (i) An explanation of advance care
4 planning and advance directives, includ5
ing—
6 (I) living wills;
7 (II) durable power of attorney;
8 (III) orders of life-sustaining
9 treatment; and
10 (IV) health care proxies.
11 (ii) A description of Federal and State
12 resources available to assist individuals
13 and their families with advance care plan14
ning and advance directives, including—
15 (I) available State legal service
16 organizations to assist individuals
17 with advance care planning, including
18 those organizations that receive fund19
ing pursuant to the Older Americans
20 Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 93001 et
21 seq.);
22 (II) website links or addresses for
23 State-specific advance directive forms;
24 and
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1 (III) any additional information,
2 as determined by the Secretary.
3 (B) UPDATE OF PAPER AND SUBSEQUENT
4 VERSIONS.—The Secretary shall include the in5
formation described in subparagraph (A) in all
6 paper and electronic versions of the Medicare &
7 You Handbook that are published on or after
8 the date that is 1 year after the date of the en9
actment of this Act.

American Hero

2009-08-03T10:08:00.002-04:00

I received this in one of those emails that ask you to forward it on, and unlike all most all of them, I did forward it to many of the people in my distribution list. It appears as though the originator of the message was Chuck Yeager, but I can't vouch for that. In any event, forwarding the message was not enough for this man. We simply cannot forget these boys who went off to WWII, and returned as heroes, or didn't return at all. They fought and died for the world to remain free of the tyranny of the Nazi's. We can't lose sight of that, especially not now.

Chuck Yeager
Sent: Fri, Jul 10, 2009 1:02 pm
Subject: Memorial Service: you're invited.

We're hearing a lot today about big
splashy memorial services.
I want a nationwide memorial service for Darrell "Shifty" Powers.

Shifty volunteered for the airborne in WWII and served with Easy
Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the 101st
Airborne Infantry. If you've seen Band of Brothers on HBO or the
History Channel, you know Shifty. His character appears in all 10
episodes, and Shifty himself is interviewed in several of them.

I met Shifty in the Philadelphia airport several years ago. I
didn't know who he was at the time. I just saw an elderly
gentleman having trouble reading his ticket. I offered to
help, assured him that he was at the right gate, and
noticed the "Screaming Eagle," the symbol of
the 101st Airborne, on his hat.

Making conversation, I asked him if he'd been in the 101st Airborne
or if his son was serving. He said quietly that he had been in the
101st. I thanked him for his service, then asked him when he served,
and how many jumps he made.

Quietly and humbly, he said "Well, I guess I
signed up in 1941 or so, and was in until sometime in 1945
.. . . " at which point my heart skipped.

At that point, again, very humbly, he said "I made the 5
training jumps at Toccoa, and then jumped into Normandy . .
. . do you know where Normandy is?" At this point my heart
stopped.

I told him "yes, I know exactly where Normandy is,
and I know what D-Day was." At that point he said "I also
made a second jump into Holland , into Arnhem ." I was
standing with a genuine war hero . . . .
and then I realized that it was June, just after the anniversary
of D-Day..

I asked Shifty if he was on his way back from France , and he said
"Yes. And it's real sad because, these days, so few of the guys are
left, and those that are, lots of them can't make the trip." My heart
was in my throat and I didn't know what to say.

I helped Shifty get onto the plane and then realized he was back in
Coach while I was in First Class. I sent the flight attendant back
to get him and said that I wanted to switch seats. When
Shifty came forward, I got up out of the seat and told him
I wanted him to have it, that I'd take his in coach.

He said "No, son, you enjoy that seat. Just knowing that
there are still some who remember what we did and who still
care is enough to make an old man very happy." His eyes
were filling up as he said it. And mine are brimming up now
as I write this.

Shifty died on June 17.

There was no parade.
No big event in Staples Center .
No wall to wall back to back 24x7 news coverage.
No weeping fans on television.
And that's not right.

Let's give Shifty his own Memorial Service, online, in
our own quiet way. Please forward this email to everyone
you know. Especially to the veterans.

Rest in
peace, Shifty.

Chuck Yeager, MajGen.[ret.]

Let's keep this one going, please.

Another Obama Bait and Switch?

2009-08-03T09:21:00.002-04:00

Has anyone wondered why Obama's minions suddenly started talking about the hard choices we are going to have to make when it comes to retiring the debt, and handling the growing deficit? The Sunday talk shows featured one Obama aide after another, including Tiny Tim Geithner, who all said without blinking an eye, and very little subtlety, that tax hikes were coming to everyone!

This after Obama has repeatedly said that no one who makes less than $250,000 would pay one dime of additional taxes. There is but one scenario that would force him to go back on those promises. He suddenly fears that his Obamacare nationalized health care plan is going to fail, once our representatives wipe the egg and tomato off their faces when they return from the summer break. I sure hope he is correct. It would be worth it to pay a little extra in taxes as punishment for preventing the esteemed President from successfully ruining the greatest free republic in the history of man!

I sure hope someone besides Fox News picks up on this story and runs with it. It is disheartening to realize the mainstream media continues to give him a pass. George Herbert Walker Bush was run out of Washington on a rail for going back on his "read my lips" promise. If the media allows this president to raise taxes to pay for the out of control spending of the House, he needs to be politically disemboweled!

I don't believe that much of this drunken sailor spending is directly his fault, but it is the President who has given all the power to Nancy Pelosi to pass any piece of garbage legislation the far left has been able to dream about for the last 20 years. He has made a serious error in judgment, again, when it comes to placating Pelosi to get his overall hero worship change into law. His primary goal is to nationalize health care. He apparently really does believe it is an entitlement the American people need and deserve. He is right that we need health care reform, but government control, and health care modeled after Great Britain and Canada is the worse possible option.

Credit him though with getting the republican crooks off their rumps and suggesting what should have been done decades ago. Allow cross state competition among all insurers, tort reform for medical malpractice, and tax equality for non employer paid health care plans. Those three simple steps, heretofore prevented by the powerful lobbyists of the insurance companies and The American Bar Association are all it should take to make health care insurance no more of an issue than car insurance. We may well have to go one or two steps further, and find a way to change the patent rules for the pharmaceutical companies, and perhaps most important of all, incentivize medical students into going into family practice. There is currently no incentive for even average med students to not become a specialist, forget the really bright ones, they all become specialists.

Obama is showing signs of cracking under the stress of defeat. I don't think he has ever lost at anything in his life. Nationalizing health care was to be the crowning moment of his brilliant career. He is now making mistakes in trying to turn the tables in his favor. Once the smell of blood is in the water, the Washington sharks in the media and political arena will devour the flesh before the end of this year if he continues to send out his spokespersons to talk about the hard choices facing the nation. If he actually believes we will take our eye off the ball because of the threat of paying a few more taxes next year, he should know we fully understand that Obamacare will mean increasingly higher taxes forever, even while forcing us into state sponsored euthanasia of our grand parents, then our parents, and finally for us, those who aren't already in one of the first two groups. He has successfully used the bait and switch tactics many times. The best example was starting the health care talk the week the House passed the Cap and Tax bill. We can't let it happen again.

God Help America, Blessings Aren't Enough Anymore

2009-07-28T19:37:00.000-04:00

I just returned from a 10 day vacation. Not the typical vacation where you go somewhere, stay in a hotel for a week or two then go home. I went on a real road trip. 10 days, 7 states, 2500 miles in a 20 foot long Buick Park Avenue. I didn't watch any TV, didn't get on Facebook, read very little email, and didn't follow the news. I just had a great time visiting friends, playing golf, eating good food, and saw America like it used to be. I was in small towns, farming country, where most everyone drove a truck or an SUV. I had to wonder more than a few times how much success Obama is going to have when he tries to force these people to trade their 4WD trucks that get them around in snowstorms for a Toyota Prius or a Fiat 500 re-badged as a Chrysler whatever. Not much I suspect.

But what choices will there be? The choice will be to finance Obama's new ballooning government largess with the trucks people need to make it through the winter, the cars they need to haul groceries, kids, and car seats from Costco, ball games, and the ballet, as well as the electricity they need to read the newspaper when it's dark outside. While none of our representatives are reading these 1000+ page bills Nancy Pelosi and Obama are shoving down our throats, our very way of life is being taken away so that Obama can call himself the savior of the 21st century. The really frustrating part of that is we don't need saving. We need to be left alone. People want to be left alone, and they are pretending they are being left alone in very large numbers. That isn't happening though. We are being assaulted daily by a government totally out of control.

Before leaving on my vacation I couldn't understand how Americans were letting this happen. While on my travels I figured it out. People are just ignoring what the fools in Washington are doing, and they are getting on with their lives. There is a recession out there. People are worried about their jobs if they haven't been laid off already, and worried about paying the bills if they have. Even those who have plenty of money are hunkered down, going to Wal-Mart instead of the mall. No one is waiting for a seat in the expensive restaurants, but McDonald's is slap full. Every McDonald's for 2500 miles was teeming with activity. The parking lots are full of Mercedes SUVs, Lexus LS430s, BMW 750iLs, along with the Hondas, Chevys, and all of the trucks, so many trucks, most of them 4WD.

All the folks are trusting that the government is trying to do the right thing. After all, Obama talks a very good game. Every day he is on TV he reassures the folks, and so they just ignore the obvious. It doesn't hurt that Obama's minions are very clever, especially when it comes to sleight of hand. While you watch the right rand, the left is doing something entirely different. While Obama is on TV pushing health care last month, the House passed the Cap and Trade bill, the largest tax increase the free world has ever seen, plus it will completely alter our lives forever. But hardly anyone is paying attention. Almost no one even knows what Cap and Trade means. Sad, but true.

During the 10 days I was on the road I didn't pay any attention to it either, but it haunted me at night before I went to sleep. I didn't watch Fox one time. The TV was on at some of the homes I visited, but it was turned to the bike race in France, ESPN, the new show, "In Plain Sight", but no one was watching the news. We talked a little about it, but for the most part everyone I know thinks I am a bit of an alarmist, especially since they heard about the visit the FBI paid me after the second Tea Party, on April 15th in Atlanta.

I am home now, I've spent the day catching up with Obama calling out a policeman for doing his job, then when it’s obvious he didn’t know what he was talking about, he invites the whole bunch to the White House for a beer, thereby avoiding the reality of his racism. The Senate is confirming an activist judge in Sotomayor, but we all knew that was a lock, and mostly the President is campaigning still, this time for his government health care plan, while Pelosi twists the arms of the Blue Dog Democrats. In the end they will pass a bill so watered down with payoffs for the elected elite class it will cost us double what it should cost. It won't work either, so later, when it isn't such an issue, they will change the watered down bill into the Socialistic government run system Obama is determined to have.

It will be down the road in a year or three when people realize everything they have lost. And then they will turn their attention to what the democrats are doing now. By that time, we will no longer be a free republic. We will be a Social Democracy, just like the Europeans from whence we came. We fled that continent to create the greatest nation of all time, and now the baby boomer generation, the largest single generation in the nation's history is allowing the government to rob our freedom and steal our liberty, while we worry about our 401ks, our pensions, and our falling home values. I am no longer angry about it though. I can understand how easy it is to ignore the facts. But I won't stand by and do nothing. I will continue to write letters, to post Facebook links, write in blogs, email all 100 Senators, and I will go to Washington on 9/12/2009. I hope to God someone is there to lead us out of this godforsaken wilderness. We certainly need a modern day Moses, at the very least. The other side has the perfect anti-Christ, even if he isn't one. God help America, blessings aren’t enough anymore.

Marginalizing the U.S. Military Without Firing a Shot

2009-07-13T03:32:00.000-04:00

Many have said that those perpetrating the daily atrocities on America,
as our current nanny state appears intent on doing, could not have planned our ultimate destruction any better. The news of the day hints at the military banning smoking by U.S. soldiers. The cigarettes they smoke while awaiting their next drop onto a battlefield of IEDs, grenade launchers, AK47s, and insane suicide bombers must certainly be some very dangerous smokes.

About 1 in 3 in the active military smoke, and that number goes up significantly among those in combat, compared to 1 in 5 of the general population. The fact they are in constant danger of losing their life or limbs likely plays a very large part in their not worrying too much about the future risks associated with smoking. The genius' that have determined to make it against military regulations to smoke, or use any tobacco products, most certainly have considered how many volunteer soldiers the U.S. will lose as a result. Or not! As a former smoker, I know very well that no power on Earth could have prevented me from smoking or forced, coerced, or threatened me with anything short of actual death, into quitting, without denying me my basic freedom. Quitting smoking requires a personal decision, and a lot of self control. It is not possible to legislate or regulate a person into quitting. Since our soldiers already lay down their lives daily, perhaps even the threat of death would not be a persuasive argument.

One thing is for sure. The military works well as a machine primarily because of teamwork and discipline. Forcing team members to break the rules by denying them the right to smoke, when they are already addicted to nicotine will most certainly cause a breakdown in military discipline for months, at least up to the time when we lose close to about 1/3 of our already undermanned military, as they fight two separate wars. Perhaps they have determined that fact, and gone one step further by understanding we would be required to re-institute the draft to keep fighting these wars, and can therefore control the President's ability to continue making war by regulating soldiers out of the all volunteer military. Are these far left loons that smart? Perhaps, they are certainly making huge leaps of progress in very short order. Another 6 months like the last 6 months, and we may no longer exist as a free nation on the Earth

Could you draw up the hobbling of the military any better without firing a shot? I doubt it, just as I seriously doubt you could draw up a plan to bring down the capitalist society any better than the actions of the President of the United States, along with the 111th Congress. Who is the architect of this assault on our country? Is it Barack Obama? Nancy Pelosi? Is it any one individual? I don't think so. I believe it is the unintended consequences of the far left ideologues, who have seen their opening, and are taking their shot at controlling The United States. They have not considered the consequences yet. In fact, the far left by definition ensures that no consequences need be considered, as the platitudes of their beliefs are all defining and all important. The scary thing is, they are succeeding. They have the funding of George Soros, plus the 250 odd organizations controlled by Acorn, the ACLU, the majority of Congress, the president, the Universities, The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and now even the courts, it seems.

It is not the majority of Americans who want this move to the left. This is the left who have organized, obtained funding, gained control of politicians through their pocket books, and by financing their election campaigns. As a result of George Bush being the arrogant cowboy he was as president, and scoffing at the left, he succeeded at empowering them to heights not even they could have imagined. As we attempt to control behavior through sin taxes, why not enforce that same control over the military, when they have no choice but to obey the orders of their superiors? I will tell you why. The military is all volunteer. Men will lay down their lives for their country. They have for more than 200 years. They will not deny themselves the liberty they risk their lives to keep. They will not deny themselves the right to choose to smoke, or to choose any of the behavior that comes with freedom of choice, particularly when they are not only addicted to the nicotine, but use the very act of smoking to assist in alleviating the fear as they risk their lives every day.

How many people have you heard say they quit smoking until, and you fill in the blank of whatever anxiety you have heard or can imagine. Now compare that anxiety, such as a divorce, losing a job, or getting skinned in the market, to walking into a firefight with zealots who consider dying on the battlefield, or committing suicide in the name of jihad, their ticket to paradise and 70 virgins. Can you think of a better way to decimate the ranks of the military without firing a shot? I can't.

Everyone knows smoking is bad for your health, but 60 million Americans smoke every day anyway. Does the government have the right to prevent you from smoking? Perhaps, if the government chooses to make it an illegal act. Will the government make smoking illegal? Of course not, the tobacco industry donates too much to their election campaigns. The tobacco industry provides the biggest cash crop in a number of states. The tobacco industry provides for the livelihood of too many Americans to make smoking illegal. The government will, however, take away the rights of an individual when it suits them. If you aren't in the military, and if you aren't a smoker why should you care? What right will the government take away tomorrow? At the rate we are going now, it will not be long until everyone loses some of their rights. The government is starting with those liberties that aren't as popular, and do not affect as many people as other rights, that may be cause for alarm by the majority. How long until popular opinion will not matter? Not very long, assuming history is any indicator, and history, as you know, repeats itself over and over again. Have you considered what is happening, really happening, in our country today?

Let the Party Begin, The Third Party

2009-07-11T18:42:00.000-04:00

Sarah Palin may not be an Ivy League intellectual. She may not have the best grasp of the insider Washington issues, abroad or on the domestic scene. She is however, a patriotic American who not only listens to the people, she is one of the people. I saw this link on Facebook (http://www.sarahpac.com/news/news51.aspx)just a few minutes ago. I have been saying for months that we need someone to get behind the Tea Party movement. We need a leader who doesn't care what the mainstream media says. We need someone with major popular draw, who thinks independently, and someone who says and does what’s right.

If Sarah Palin does start a third party, I will get on board with my personal support, my financial support, my heart and soul. We need someone to lead us out of the wilderness, and while I certainly don't liken Sarah Palin to Moses, I will follow her wherever she leads. I know we will end up in a better place than Obama, Pelosi, and Reid are taking us; "to the poor house." I know it will be a better place than George Bush took us, "to the dog house." and I know we will be better off than the republicans leads us from here into a litany of well spoken non action, "empty house."

We will need candidates in every district, and every state, at the local, state, and federal levels. I understand we may not get the most sophisticated candidate from a political perspective. We may even make a few mistakes. What we will wind up with though is a government by the people, for the people and of the people, just as the founding fathers intended. We can rid ourselves of the ruling class arrogant career politicians once and for all. We can send your next door neighbor, your son's math teacher, the barber, whoever; is willing to serve for a single term, and treat government as it should be treated. We can handle this the same way we handle jury duty. Americans take their civic duty seriously. No one will pass legislation they don't read or that they can't understand. We can have laws decipherable by all who can read, and it will not take an attorney or the Supreme court by a 5-4 vote to determine the intent of the laws.

We are in some serious trouble in the United States right now. Sarah Palin is the most popular politician we've had in years, which is precisely why the left and the right has been terrified of her since the day John McCain nominated her for the Vice Presidency. She is one of us. People identify with her, and that is not something the politically elite can afford to have as an adversary. It isn't just the left attacking her. McCain's own staffers have worked her over in the press as bad, or worse than the far left. All of the intellectuals, the politicians, the mainstream media, and everyone who makes a living pulling the wool over the eyes of the country can ill afford someone like Sarah Palin in a position of power in the United States. She actually tells the truth, acts according to her beliefs, and makes decisions she believes are for the good of the people, not for whatever special interest is on top at any given time.

With Sarah leading a third party, both the democrats and the republicans could lose the support of everyone other than the radical left and right respectively. True, the tree huggers will remain democrats, as will the bible thumping, holier than thou far right remain with the republican party. The vast majority of Americans, who are somewhere in between, might actually hear the truth, and be treated with respect, as well as treated as though we actually have a little sense, rather than be told what we need, and what we can't do. Imagine not being punished for our sins via the tax paddle. What will it be like to have to earn our keep? How will we survive without the government to tell us what is safe, or to arrest us if we don't use out seat belts. Imagine allowing General Motors to fail without spending $50 Billion in taxpayer money to bail them out, and might the bond holders get to keep the money their contracts call for?. How will we survive if the government doesn't pay AIG $150 billion in bonus payments at the end of the year. How will the Earth survive if we don't put any additional tax on electricity, gasoline, and allow the coal industry to survive? If the coal miners keep their jobs, will the world go on?

Without Barney Frank and Chris Dodd to force Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to finance condos to those with no down payment and without a job, how will the developers survive? Might they have to sell their condos for less? What would we do if the government actually enforced the immigration laws? Would you be able to get someone to paint your house if there weren't 20 million illegal aliens doing menial labor? Would those on welfare now start doing the construction jobs if we didn't have the slave labor wages of the illegal’s? Somehow I think we would get by with Americans doing the landscaping, painting, carpentry, laying the carpet, pulling the cable as apprentices for licensed electricians. It seems to me I can remember quite a few Americans that used to do that type of work. The politicians have been telling us for years that Americans won't do it. But would they if contractors paid a decent wage? Would there exist a workforce of Americans learning a trade, if the 40% high school dropouts in our high schools could actually get a job somewhere besides McDonalds?

We need to get behind Sarah Palin. We need to fire the democrats and the republicans. There is no right and left any more with regards to the two political parties. We have a sliding scale of far left, left, and center left. The best and staunchest republican politicians, those who haven't actually spent like drunken sailors are in the center left section of that scale. They have only spent like sailors on leave after six months at sea who don't drink. The left spend like sailors who drink, get a little tipsy, then pass out before all their money is gone.

As for the democrats, drunken sailors just don't hold a candle in the spending department. These are as rich sons of royalty, who have never seen the inside of an empty wallet. Money doesn't just grow on trees, as it falls to the ground it multiplies in exponentially larger denominations as it lands in the blank slot of the printer. There is a never ending supply of money, and anything goes. No matter that excess spending got us into trouble, the way to get out is to spend more money and borrow what we can't print fast enough to keep up with the spending. Logic doesn't play into their way of thinking. After all, this is government, and money is never an issue. The only concern is what to spend it on and how fast it must be spent. Paying for it is something for future generations to consider.

While this may sound ludicrous, and it is, this is precisely what the democrats are about to do. They are talking up another stimulus now, after having only spent about 10% of the last one. Makes no sense to most people, but for those who actually read the 1400 page Recovery Act, the stimulative funding is pretty much already spent. What is left is the other $700 billion or so already earmarked for growing the government, and funding those special interests that democrats have been trying to fund for the last 25 years. The Reagan years, and the phenomenal prosperity got in the way of the reckless spending, and it has been building up to frenzy level in the hearts of these democrats, until February of 2009, when it all came rushing out under the guise of stimulating the economy. Of course it didn't work. It wasn't supposed to. They intended to come back to the till for the real stimulus all along. That’s why they rushed through the last one in the middle of the night without reading it. They had to get it out of the way, let it fail, then get back for another stimulus bill, all before the summer break.

The Democratic leadership knew then, and they know now, when the Congress goes home for summer break, their constituents will beat them over the head with their stupidity until their only real concern, "getting reelected" snaps them to attention. When they return in the fall, they will be very serious about saving the taxpayer's money. They will make you sick with their rhetoric. If we have a third party waiting for them, we can thumb our noses, ignore their dishonesty, and fire the lot, all at one time. We can defeat every last incumbent in 2010. We can and we must. Our very lives and liberty depend on it. Sarah Palin, for all her faults, is just human enough, cares just enough, and has enough widespread support to lead us out of the wilderness that has become 2009 America. Our country is at a crossroads. We have to make the right turn!.

Letter To Senator Mark Udall

2009-07-10T09:16:00.001-04:00

Dear Senator Udall,

Your response pasted below does not go far enough with respect to your responsibility. First and foremost you have a responsibility to read the legislation you vote for or against. You are not doing that with some of these 1200 to 1500 page bills. This is an absolute outrage. You have a constitutional responsibility to uphold the constitution. How can you do that if you cast votes, either way, for legislation you have not read.

While I do agree that our health care system in this country has some issues, it is still the absolute top of the line with respect to the rest of the world. If Congress isn't very careful, especially in avoiding a public pay option, you will destroy that which makes the American system far and away the most advanced. We have the best pharmaceutical industry because it is based on profit seeking entrepreneurs. We have the very best in advanced procedural medicine and research, because the industry is dominated by profit seeking entrepreneurial industry. This is the basis for the greatness of America. Please do not forget that fact.

Should the 111th Congress assault the citizens of this country with a health care option run by and paid for by the government, you will destroy that profit seeking entrepreneurial spirit of industrial excellence, thereby ruining the health care system that has provided the vast majority of medical discovery in the last century.

We are a great country because we have a capitalist system of economic and governmental minimalization that has led us to be the greatest nation the Earth has ever known. The 111th Congress appears to be intent on destroying everything that has made us great. While I cannot pretend to fully understand the reasons behind these atrocities, I do know that if you succeed in ruining our nation we will rise up and remove the government using the vote and the American system of the peaceful transfer of government. Make no mistake, we are going to change this government. The democrats apparently learned nothing in the elections of 006 and 2008. You seem to forget that President Obama ran on a moderate platform, not the far left Socialistic, near Fascist lunatic agenda he is pursuing.

The republicans were defeated explicitly because they abandoned the fiscal responsibility and conservative doctrines that have been a part of the republican agenda for decades. When we voted for change, we believed the democrats had sense enough to understand why the republicans were removed from power. It has been said that the people get the government they deserve, and while I believe that to be true generally speaking, in this case I think it has happened because the democrats had not sense enough to understand the issues.

Now that we have been abandoned by both major parties, it appears we have no choice but create a third party. This may not be possible in one election cycle, but I can promise you this. The democratic party in the country has reached the beginning of the end of its existence.

The crux of the immediate problem is that we can roll back every stupid decision you have made to this point. We can even roll back the cap and tax assault, if that happens to pass the Senate, but once implemented, a socialized health care system will not be possible to remove. We have three major entitlement programs in this country today that are unsustainable; Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Contrary to your statement, the current private health care system in this country is sustainable, and has been for the entire history of the nation. That will not change if you numskulls in Congress don't screw it up. However, once you implement a government pay system, we will be stuck with it forever.

We cannot afford to embark on a recovery of this economic tsunami, caused in large part by the House Finance committee's actions in forcing mortgage lenders to loan money to those unable to pay the money back. This is doubly true if we are saddled with a government option health care system, the trillion dollar bailouts, the trillion dollar stimulus acts, the 3.8 trillion budget, the burden of the largest single tax increase in the history of the free world via the cap and tax, (no tax according to you) plan, federal involvement with education, federal involvement with Government Motors, bankruptcy law, immigration reform that will legalize and pay the medical expenses, education, and welfare for 20 million illegal aliens, and a host of other federal regulations and legislation that will no doubt cripple our economy, our country, and most critical of all; our individual liberty.

The best thing you could do for us as Senators, is to go home and stay there until your term is up, passing only those bills absolutely necessary to keep the government running until we can get some people in Congress that have held real jobs, run their own businesses, have a little common sense, and owe no political favors to lobbyists, other corrupt politicians, campaign donors, and each other.

As a people we have allowed the Congress to grow into a totally inept body, passing legislation they cannot or will not read, don't understand, is contrary to the good of the country, and in violation of your oath to protect and defend the Constitution .

The elections are coming and you are going away,
Steve Shirk

Cap and Trade Protest In Atlanta

2009-06-28T11:12:00.001-04:00

The Georgia Tea Party organization put together an impromptu protest Saturday at noon in front of the Georgia capitol. It was certainly a great idea, and we had a huge audience, in that auto traffic going to the Atlanta Braves baseball game, had to pass right by the corner on which we gathered. Jenny Beth Martin, the GA Tea Party coordinator was there. Everyone there was committed to the issues, committed to making a difference, but we have at least two major problems, although they are, of course related.

The first problem is there were only about 35 people total. Most stayed for several hours in the very hot sun on Saturday afternoon. There wasn't a lot of time to get the word out, but it was on the Tea Party website, Facebook, and notifications were sent by email to Georgia Tea Party members. This on the day after the House of Representatives basically destroyed the American economy for possibly decades to come. The mainstream media, sadly including Fox, has broadcast virtually nothing but rumors, innuendo, and pontifications about the life and death of Michael Jackson for days, ignoring everything happening in Washington, where our very futures are being legislated into oblivion.

While I admit Jackson was a pop icon, the Cap and Tax bill that was shoved through the House on Friday, before the 4th of July weekend, without having been read by a single legislator is infinitely more important to every American, or should be, more accurately stated. The problem is no one cares, no one knows, no one is paying attention? I'm not sure why, but I did spend much of the day studying closely the faces in the cars passing us by. It is true we had some honkers, a few thumbs up, as well as a few fingers over two from the thumb, also in the upright position.

What I believe I learned, anecdotally, of course, is that the majority of people, in Georgia, where we are notoriously conservative, are just too caught up in their lives to care a whit about cap and trade, socialized health care, increased taxes, and the government in general. I have been thinking that, but couldn't really make myself believe it. There was an attractive young girl, very passionate, very conservative, that gave me some insight I had been ignoring in trying to understand this major apathy. I've been trying to understand how thousands of people could be mobilized in 2 hours to get to the front of the hospital where Michael Jackson already lay dead, while we could muster only 30 something Americans to protest a bill that will virtually paralyze our economy, increase our personal energy costs, and result in the loss of countless jobs.

What this young lady said is obvious and yet hard to comprehend. There are so many people who have never lived through hard times, and she is right. We are simply spoiled as a nation in the majority. My parent’s generation, most of whom are now either already dead, or living out the end of their lives and unable to contribute significantly, understood what it is like to be hungry. None of us do. Even those or us who experienced the 70s and early 80s when the economy was in the pits, never actually got hungry for the most part.

I even went though some trying times financially, but I had a safety net. My parents were around to help out, although I never really needed them, I always knew I could count on their help. We are about to embark on some years where there is going to be major hardship. At the rate people are losing jobs now, it isn't going to be that long until the security net has been removed for the vast majority of Americans, and their parents, whose wealth is also evaporating. Very few of us will have the wherewithal to support our own grown children with their own kids, mortgages, new cars, and dwindling assets. Perhaps by design at this point, but that story is for another day. In fact, most of our parents who are still living will be lucky to survive at all, particularly when the government determines they are too old to receive expensive medical procedures. Maybe it is for the best. Perhaps we have come to live beyond our usefulness.

Another person I talked to Saturday at the protest is 57, and has determined she may as well plan on saving just enough retirement funds to live until 70, since the government will not likely permit her to survive any major medical issues that tend to arise starting in your late 60s and early 70s. I have not quite reached that point in my mind yet, but once Congress actually passes the health care reform, I can see that her insight will be true for many of us, especially those of us who have already survived a few medical emergencies at a relatively young age.

I understand a little about building and querying databases. The health care medical records, and the mathematical methodology for making medical decisions using that data, will most certainly exclude many of us from expensive treatments, particularly when we have already had one or more serious medical conditions early in life. The odds are increasingly against you with every succeeding illness. I saw that at the end of both of my parent's lives from the doctors and medicare, even though we were still able to decide for ourselves, we still had a choice, even until the very end. That choice, and many other choices in every aspect of our lives are not long for Americans caught up in this Obama-tsunama.

So many people have been living beyond their means. So much paper wealth exists in our country right now, and it is all evaporating in front of our eyes. 401ks have lost 30 to 40% on average, even with the gains over the past couple of months. Housing prices have dropped 20 to 30%, and when the commercial real estate losses hit the banks, all real estate is going to take another significant nose dive. The credit card industry is also going to collapse in another year to 18 months.

One thing I heard recently from a real estate investor friend of mine that isn't being talked about in the media is this: Banks, right now, are calling “due in full” loans from developers who are still paying their bills on time, and this is happening every single day across the country. They are doing this to shore up their balance sheets, and liquidity reports to survive the government intrusion into the banking industry. This is happening at small local banks, regional’s, as well as the big Wall St. firms. Without getting too far into the finance weeds, this news is huge. The media is not covering it at all, not even Fox Business is talking about it. The information comes from a guy who has made his living in real estate for years, and done well with every project he's started. He now cannot get a loan from a single bank, or capital investment firm. Can you imagine that with a track record of 100% success, not one financial organization will loan a cent for real estate investment? Worse still, the banks are stopping developments half finished, calling in loans that can't be paid in full, leaving the projects undone, then foreclosing and selling the land for 50 cents on the dollar to raise liquid capital? This is clearly disturbing and leaves one to ponder what other actions will be taken once the rest of Obama's plans actually hit the markets.

The basic premise of this cap and trade business is not supported, by as many scientists as do support it. And yet we only hear from the scientists who say carbon fuels are causing global warming, when the facts are, that the temperature of the Earth has actually flattened or even dropped a few hundredths of a degree in the last decade, even while carbon emissions have skyrocketed. The Earth is in fact in a warming trend, and has been for 100 years, although this certainly does not represent the first warming trend the Earth has seen in its history. The last 10 years are significant in that it makes the argument for human energy consumption as the cause, baseless in actual fact.

Even assuming you do buy into the argument that human energy consumption is the cause of global warming, the United States can have very little, if any impact on global carbon emissions with respect to China and India, who both pollute in much the same way as the Unites States did a century ago. And that is to say we did nothing to reduce pollution at all. Neither China, nor India is taking any measures to reduce pollution, and both countries are manufacturing balls to the wall, especially China. In comparison, we have very little manufacturing concerns operating in the United States, and will be left with virtually none if this bill actually become law. Under the same assumption that Al Gore is 100% correct, we could reduce our carbon footprint to a much larger degree by replacing our coal fired power houses with nuclear reactors. France is the world leader in nuclear energy and has virtually zero impact on the world's carbon emissions. This bill is not about the environment. It is not about jobs as Nancy Pelosi would have us believe. Spain loses 2.2 jobs for every green job their cap and trade system provides. This bill is about government control, just as the entire platform being pushed on America is about control of the economy, control of behavior, control of the citizens, and the absence of personal liberty!

What the cap and trade will accomplish is to create a new financial instrument to be traded by Goldman Sachs, General Electric, and other Wall St firms. And it will provide the government with a much needed new source of revenue to carry out their grandiose plans, without calling it a tax increase for 95% of Americans, although that is precisely what it is. This legislation is a total sham, inflicted on the American people under the guise of an environmental protection bill. It is a damn lie! Every point from supporters of this legislation is easily refuted on multiple levels, but the mainstream media is in bed with the liberals, and stand to make a fortune. General Electric, the parent company of NBC has already set up a subsidiary corporation to buy and sell energy credits. As for the rest of the media, it remains to be seen how long Obama's honeymoon will last. I'm not certain the country can survive too many more Friday night, holiday preceding bills. Of course, this hasn't passed the Senate, but Obama and his Congressional stooges have been very successful thus far.

There are many people who will likely make a great deal of money on this. Everyone who does get rich, including the government getting a new revenue stream, will do so from the pockets of the poor and the middle class. Anyone who is already rich, will figure out a way to make more money on the new financial instrument than they will pay in increased energy costs, or even the cost of goods. Similarly, anyone who is already rich, is an employer, not an employee, and can easily move their manufacturing business to Mexico, or contract a Chinese factory to build their product. Even the oil companies will make money on this legislation, and the buying, selling, and trading of energy credits.

Unfortunately, most Americans have no idea what I'm talking about. I said unfortunate, but what I really mean is that it is criminal on the part of American citizens to allow themselves to be duped by the current Congress. The group at Resistnet, along with the Tea Party groups and other conservative organizations are working toward changing the reality, but I fear we are fighting a losing battle. What I saw in the faces of those people passing a small group of Tea Party protesters was apathy. They wouldn’t even look in our direction most of the time, even though we were right in their faces. It was the sort of apathy I am certain could have been seen in the faces of the Germans in the 1930s, the Italians, as they looked the other way when the government began taking control of their industry, then their businesses, and finally as the government started burning books, and squashing dissent before the really bad stuff started. The same can be said for every country in history who has lost their liberty to a government seizing all power during a time of economic stress. That is the way it always happens. I never thought it could happen here, and yet Obama has done more to destroy the Constitution in five months than has been done in the past 230+ years. And so few are standing up! Why?

People aren't going to realize they are in trouble until they have been affected personally in a way they can do nothing to change. When they have lost everything, including their liberty, and have only what the government decides they can have, they will wonder, how did this happen? Why didn't I see? Why didn't someone tell me? The Cap and Trade bill is the second time Congress has passed major legislation this year without reading it, and right before a holiday, on a Friday afternoon, or Saturday. Pretty soon these bills will be made by acclimation, at the will of the executive. The Congress has turned over its' power to the president, his CZARS, and his minions, Pelosi, Reid, Rahm Emanuel. Even the Supreme Court, and I still don’t understand why, has refused to weigh in on the fact that the president of the United States has abrogated contract law in full view of the nation on national TV, in a very aggressive manner. How long until Americans are treated like Iranians? Will we be writing letters to Obama for favors, and getting them occasionally? What will be the issue that eventually results in Americans being cut down in the streets as criminals for demanding our laws be honored? It could be any one of a number of things I suppose, but we are headed in that very direction. We no longer stand for freedom in the world. We do not object to the Iranians killing their citizens. We do nothing when North Korea taunts us. What does America stand for in 2009? How long does this go on before the people recognize the danger? What can we do to shake the rest of America awake before it is too late?

Point of No Return

2009-06-26T07:52:00.001-04:00

It took but a few hours yesterday for literally thousands of people to congregate outside the hospital where pop legend Michael Jackson died. This when possibly the most destructive legislation in the history of America is about to passed by the House of Representatives today, and no one is congregating to protest.

President Obama has usurped the American government, taking it away from the people, defied the constitution, and ignored governmental policy in effect for decades. The President appoints a CZAR, or a special envoy, to every position with any power and decision making capability. The Senate has no method for approving these CZARS, nor do they have legal oversight. At the same time, those cabinet members who have gone through the Senate approval process are present in name and figurehead status only. To wit, Hillary Clinton, the Secretary of State, who has virtually no role in the middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, or anywhere else on earth that makes a difference.

The Cap and Trade, or Cap and Tax legislation is going to be rammed down the throats of the House today by Nancy Pelosi, or Queen Nancy as she is now known to be. Obama has given her his full support in crafting legislation that will result in more than $300 a month in additional expense, (read, tax) for the average American family. The mainstream media is in the tank with these traitorous democrats, who have decided amongst themselves, to finance their huge government plans with a tax on all fuel in the United States.

For those of you who may not fully understand, this includes a tax on all gasoline, diesel fuel, electricity, coal, natural gas, and even more importantly, every product that requires one of these carbon emitting fuels to manufacture any product. To do so, they have determined themselves that the carbon is a leading cause of global warming. This when there is no scientific proof that global warming even exists, in the form purported by Al Gore, when carbon emissions have not been proven to make a significant contribution to global warming, assuming it does exist, and when the united States, assuming the truth of both global warming and carbon emission negative effects, makes less than 5% of the overall contribution to carbon pollution. In fact, humans expel carbon dioxide when expelling our very breath. In any event, we pale in comparison to China and India. Nothing we do will make one whit of difference, while we penalize our citizens, and virtually ensure the loss of what few manufacturing jobs we have left in the United States.

It will be much cheaper for any business to manufacture their products in China or elsewhere and have the products shipped to their respective markets, than to pay the ever increasing tax on carbon emission.
Nancy Pelosi and Obama have been able to get enough support for this legislation by pushing out the real punitive taxes until 2020, and giving certain special interests a pass of paying the tax, particularly big corporation farms That in no way ensures they won’t pull the taxes up next month, next year, or especially in four years, assuming Obama wins a second term, god forbid.

It is deflating to me that thousands of Americans would walk to downtown LA and stand in the heat to wait for word of Michael Jackson, while virtually no one is out front protesting this assault the government is perpetrating on its’ citizens. Americans and the mainstream media have been mesmorized the past two days with Jackson, and the sexual exploits of the governor of South Carolina. This, while our Congress is working on passing 1200 page bills to ruin our lives. It isn’t only the cap and tax bill, Obama has likely won enough support to pass his nationalized health care bill this week as well. Our lives will never be the same again. These two bills will on their own merits turn the United States into a Socialist country. I suppose we already were, since the government owns or controls our financial industry already. The next logical step is of course, medicine and energy. Now that Obama has these two in the bag, the rest is a downhill ride. Even if the media turns on him now, we are past the point of no return.

North Korea

2009-06-25T12:26:00.000-04:00

We have so many domestic issues we are focusing our attention on right now. We can only imagine what President Obama does on a daily basis. He can't get legislation introduced changing the entire American economy, health care, energy policy, education, and run two wars without working very very hard.

How then can he have the time to devote enough energy to deal with North Korea and Kim Jung Il, possibly the worlds most insane leader in history. We have no idea what this tyrant has inflicted on the population of North Korea. We only hear the tirades, as the media sees fit to share with us when he gets abnormally out of control. Check out today's Foxnews link on N Korea here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,529006,00.html

There are so many news stories about what this crazy man has said, the threats he is issuing, and he has gotten away with this for years. He has now decided to wipe the US off the globe once and for all. He is going to send a nuclear bomb to Hawaii on the 4th of July. For the most part, the media treats him like an old crazy person who shoots off a gun out the back of his house a few times a year, but doesn't really ever hurt anyone.

Obama has proved to be frightfully thin skinned, even though he has received virtually no criticism from anyone other than Fox. He makes it a point to bring that up every chance he gets. If Bush had allowed the media to get under his skin like this, the man would have been a lunatic over his eight years of constant berating by the liberal media. He was a cowboy, no question, but Kim Jung Il would never had dared to make these threats with him as president. And what if Ronald Reagan were still here? Do you think his 26 year old son would survive to take over for him? I don't!

Obama is being humiliated by this crazy man. I just don't believe he is going to be able to take it much longer. The criticism he is getting will likely result in his making a very noisy response at some point. Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing him send one of those smart bombs down on the top of that long range missile on its launch pad, but that could result in a nuclear response from this guy. He could do a lot of damage to South Korea, perhaps even Japan. If he lives much longer with Obama as our leader, we are headed for a showdown, that is much is certain. Will Obama keep his head? That is hard to say. Thus far, he has not shown the stones to respond strongly, but I find it hard to believe it's because he lacks nerve. I think he really just believes in his own personal persuasion capabilities more than he believes he needs to act forcefully. I think he is very capable of being ruthless, if he believes it is necessary

At some point, his ego is bound to get in the way. Once that happens, and he does take action against this tyrant, I fear he will go over the top, and thus we will find ourselves in three wars. God knows we can't afford another one. If it happens, will Obama do to Pyongyang, what Bush did to Baghdad? I don' think so. I predict Obama will believe one single strike will cause Kim to back down, but the man is nuts. He will stop at nothing once provoked. He would sacrifice every drop of North Korean blood before being cowered by any other world leader, other than the Chinese mainland.

We have so much to think about at home, we are forgetting about this guy. I wish we had a better feel for how Obama is handling this behind the scenes. If he isn't doing everything possible to force China to take action behind the scenes, we are in for some very hard times on that front eventually.

Cap and Tax. Call your Congressman Today

2009-06-25T08:48:00.001-04:00

President Obama is moving up the push on all fronts this month, primarily I believe because he sees his numbers dropping a little bit, although not nearly enough. If you think about everything he is doing and I will list the major initiatives here that are currently front and center:

Cap and Trade (Tax) Increase
Nationalization of Medical Care
Revamp of Financial Services Regulation
Immigration Reform

These aren’t just platforms. Every single one of these items is currently before Congress in danger of passing legislation in the next couple of weeks. Obama is famous for his bait and switch tactics. He is pushing the health care initiative in the public eye this week, by granting ABC unfettered access to the White house all day on June 24th, sending out letters to just about every American, running ads in newspapers, on TV etc. However, the major overhaul that is up for a vote this week is cap and trade legislation.

While nationalized health care is something we definitely need to fight, the cap and tax plan is far more valuable overall to the president, and will finance the rest of his plans.. The democrats are 20 votes short of passing the bill this morning. While the President has us all worried about health care, he is going to slip this cap and trade legislation through Congress and it will cost every household about $3000 a year in additional tax costs, but more importantly, it will drive the final stake in the heart of American manufacturing.

I have no idea what the president’s long term goals are, but it is apparent he sees us at the very least a Socialist Democracy, if not an outright Fascist government, We have to recognize his tactics first. Then we have to figure out what his primary goal is on any given day and concentrate our efforts on defeating him one issue at a time. He is blanketing us with so many changes so fast and so furiously, that we simply aren’t keeping up. Today is the day we have to call our representatives in the House. If Pelosi strong arms or offers deal to 20 more blue dog democrats, or even republicans, we will see gas go to $8 to 10 a gallon over the next few years, while at the same time driving manufacturing and jobs out of the country.

The only decent jobs Obama wants to leave for Americans is government jobs. He wants to control everything, and the way to do that is through our wallets. It is the way civilizations have been overtaken throughout history. Please, get on the phone, call your United States Representative today.

Born 1776, Died 2008

2009-06-23T19:11:00.000-04:00

Born 1776, Died 2008

It does not hurt to read this several times.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Professor Joseph Olson of Hemline University School of Law, St. Paul , Minnesota , points out some interesting facts concerning thePresidential election:
Number of States won by: Democrats: 19 Republicans: 29
Square miles of land won by: Democrats: 580,000 Republicans: 2,427,000
Population of counties won by: Democrats: 127 million Republicans: 143 million
Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by: Democrats: 13.2 Republicans: 2.1
Professor Olson adds: "In aggregate, the map of the territory Republicans won was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of the country.

Democrat territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off various forms of government welfare..."
Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the "complacency and apathy" phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy, with some forty percent of the nation's population already having reached the "governmental dependency" phase.
If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty million criminal invaders called illegals and they vote, then we can say goodbye to the USA in fewer than five years.

If you are in favor of this, then by all means, delete this message.

If you are not, then pass this along to help everyone realize just how much is at stake, knowing that apathy is the greatest danger to our freedom.

Op-Ed Columnist - This Time, We Won’t Scare - NYTimes.com Source: www.nytimes.com

2009-06-23T08:11:00.000-04:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/11/opinion/11kristof.html

Today was the second time I have seen this Op-Ed from the NY Times linked on Facebook implying that the Canadian single payer health care system is comparable to what we have here in the U.S. I would argue that the fact that the Canadians can successfully treat a known stroke emergency in no way alleviates the fear many Americans have that we would be giving up the best health care system in the world in favor of having the same government that runs Amtrak, and the Post Office involved in our health care decisions.

First I would say that I know very few people outside the United States, and I can count the times I have even left the country on my hands. Even so, I can relate two personal stories that make the counter point to the Times rather explicitly. One, Roger, a friend of mine in Ottawa had ringing in his ear. He was wait listed for nine months for the necessary CT scan of his skull. Six months into the wait for the scan, he lost the ability to hear in his left ear, and was subsequently moved up a few weeks. The CT revealed a tumor, and he was again wait listed for the surgery. He eventually came to the states, on his own dime, and paid a very high cost to learn the tumor is malignant. It was semi-operable, and he is now back in Canada getting radiation, but his prognosis is not positive, and could very well be much better, if he had not had to wait so long for the diagnosis..

And then there was my sister, and her experience before dying in Israel, where they also have socialized medicine. The government would not pay for the chemo that was being used in the U.S. at the time, but they would pay for a generic chemo. She probably would not have lived in either event, but the meds in the U.S. at that time were far superior to what she had available as part of the government health care system in Israel, both with respect to treating the disease, and the medication for dealing with the side effects of the chemo. She did end up getting the U. S. meds by paying for the medication outside the government health care system.

That may or may not be possible in the plan being tossed about by Congress this week. Of course we don't know that, since neither the president, nor the Congress have made any details known, and they are likely to pass legislation without having the details determined. They did so with respect to the stimulus funding, and apparently have no inclination to even read legislation before making it the law in any event.

In Israel there are no private or even semi private rooms, even for those dying of cancer. They are kept in wards with multiple beds, up to double digit numbers in a single room. I certainly do not presume to have all the answers to the health care issues in our country, but just from my personal knowledge of family and friends, I will gladly pay the cost of the care available in this country rather than be subjected to any government health care I am familiar with, although I would probably be comfortable with emergency care of a known issue, such as represented by this NY Times comparison, in most any country in the world, nationalized medicine or not. After all, even government doctors are probably capable, assuming you have access to the one you need. There are apples, and then there are tomatoes. The Times rarely knows the difference.

Congressional Retirement

2009-06-13T14:54:00.001-04:00

I knew that our federal representatives had a generous pension plan, but until receiving this email today, explained below, I didn't realize they took themselves out of the Social Security program. Your next question may be, as is mine, what of the money most of them would have paid in prior to being elected, or after they have left government service? Do they get their social security on top of these pensions? I would have to believe so, but I will soon find out, hopefully before I publish this.

Americans have allowed our elected officials to place themselves above the rest of us. I think perhaps we have done so only because they really haven't gotten in our way, for the most part. Now that Obama is president, with a Congress willing to commit any atrocity on the constitution, and willing to pass any law, raise any tax, or take any action he desires, they are not only in our way, but in our face. Every single day we are hearing of another assault on our rights. Or the government is taking control of another industry, firing a CEO of a private company, threatening to tax a single company's employees at 100%, or confiscating the money of bond holders to give it to the United Auto workers, who are in favor because of the millions they donated to the 2008 democratic party campaigns.

Why then should we be surprised that the Congress sets themselves up for life? The fact that they can deny our constitutional rights enables them to confiscate public funds and allocate themselves hundreds of thousands of dollars or millions of dollars for having had the chance to use our government against us. Obama has been called the narcissist in chief, but I would submit that without the Congress to enable his narcissism, we wouldn't be in this pickle.

We not only have the responsibility to throw these bums out of the capitol, we have the responsibility to elect citizens who will go there and change the laws that have been enacted over the course of the last 50 or so years that have resulted in the federal government being the new royalty. Our founders had the good sense to create a government that would prevent any leader from making himself a king. What they failed to see, was that the government would get so big, so powerful, and so out of touch with the people, that they made themselves into Dukes, and Princes, and even Queen Nancy.

Now the Supreme Court is even afraid to cross Obama. I really don't understand how they could refuse to hear the Chrysler case, when the president's auto task force, and the president himself, abrogated 150 years of contract law with respect to bankruptcies, and moved the UAW, a secondary creditor to the front of the bus in front of the bond holders, who are primary creditors. Contract law is the basis for the concept of bonds relative to stocks, and other financial instruments. No decent financial adviser or broker will ever again be able to put a client into a corporate bond, or any bond really. If they ignore the law with respect to corporate bonds, just wait until California Municipal bonds start failing. When it becomes apparent the state won't be able to cover the bond holders, every owner of municipal bonds will be cashing out. When the funds run dry, what will Obama do? Do you really think the government will force CA to liquidate state parks or other state resources to repay their creditors?

Before the Supreme Court refused to hear the State Of Indiana's argument, I would have said of course, that's the law. But the law means nothing in Obamanomics. I sold all of my bonds, got out of my 401k's bond fund, and I will never touch another bond of any type. If everyone feels the same as me, as they very well should, how will corporations, cities, counties, or states raise money for capital projects? They won't, unless the banks loan them the money. But wait, the government already owns the banks. Or, as Obama probably is counting on, the federal government will finance whatever they want to succeed, and reject anyone who is out of favor, or is trying to do something the government doesn't approve of. There is nothing you can call this but Fascism.

Obama has succeeded in five months what took Mussolini and Hitler an entire decade. What in the name of God will be his endgame? I am terrified of what could be coming. In spite of this, there are still more than 60% of Americans who believe the president is doing a good job, and I suppose he is, depending on your perspective. The media isn't lying to us, they just fail to mention most of the facts.

LET US SHOW OUR LEADERS IN WASHINGTON "PEOPLE POWER" AND THE POWER OF THE INTERNET. LET ME KNOW IF YOU ARE WITH ME ON THIS BY FORWARDING TO EVERYONE IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK.

IT DOESN'T MATTER IF YOU ARE REPUBLICAN OR DEMOCRAT!

PLEASE KEEP THIS GOING!!!!

Propose this in 2009: START A BILL TO PLACE ALL POLITICIANS ON SOCIAL SECURITY
(This is worth reading. It is short and to the point.)

Perhaps we are asking the wrong questions during election years.

Our Senators and Congresswomen do not pay into Social Security and, of course, they do not collect from it.

You see, Social Security benefits were not suitable for persons of their rare elevation in society. They felt they should have a special plan for themselves. So, many years ago they voted in their own benefit plan.

In more recent years, no congressperson has felt the need to change it. After all, it is a great plan.

For all practical purposes their plan works like this:

When they retire, they continue to draw the SAME PAY until they die.
Except it may increase from time to time for cost of living adjustments.

For example, Senator Byrd and Congressman White and their wives may expect to draw $7, 800,000.00 (that's Seven Million, Eight-Hundred Thousand Dollars), with their wives drawing $275, 000.00 during the last years of their lives.

This is calculated on an average life span for each of those two Dignitaries.

Younger Dignitaries who retire at an early age, will receive much more during the rest of their lives.

Their cost for this excellent plan is $0.00. NADA..! ZILCH...

This little perk they voted for themselves is free to them. You and I pick up the tab for this plan. The funds for this fine retirement plan come directly from the General Funds; "OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK "!

From our own Social Security Plan, which you and I pay (or have paid) into, every payday until we retire (which amount is matched by our employer).. We can expect to get an average of $1,000 per month!!! After retirement.

Or, in other words, we would have to collect our average of $1,000 monthly benefits for 68 years and one (1) month to equal Senator Bill Bradley's benefits!

Social Security could be very good if only one small change were made. That change would be to:

Jerk the Golden Fleece Retirement Plan from under the Senators and Congressmen. Put them into the Social Security plan with the rest of us. Then sit back..... And see how fast they fix it.

If enough people receive this, maybe a seed of awareness will be planted and maybe good changes will evolve.

How many people CAN you send this to?

Better yet......

How many people WILL you send this to ?

What Say You?

2009-06-10T13:39:00.001-04:00

Once, We Would Have Called It a Scandal
by Newt Gingrich

There was a time when we would have called it a scandal.

In 1921, oil tycoon Harry Sinclair gave several prize head of cattle and around $269,000 to President Harding's Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall.

In return, Sinclair got the exclusive rights to drill in an oil field in Wyoming. Sinclair's no-bid contract became the Teapot Dome scandal, the most notorious example of political corruption in America prior to Watergate.

Between 2000 and 2008, the United Auto Workers (UAW) union gave $23,675,562 to the Democratic Party and its candidates.

In 2008 alone, the UAW gave $4,161,567 to the Democratic Party, including Barack Obama.

In return, the UAW received 55 percent of Chrysler and 17.5 percent of GM, plus billions of dollars.

But nobody's calling this a scandal. It's time we start.
2000-2008 UAW Giving: $23.7 million to Democrats. $193,540 to Republicans
The almost $24,000,000 the UAW has given to Democrats since 2000 compares with the $193,540 the union has given to Republicans.

Newt had a great deal more to say. you can read the full article by going to the link below.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=32212

I Say

Barack Obama has instituted Fascism in the auto industry by naming a car Czar, who is making decisions outside the purview of any governmental authority in the United States, even the U.S. Supreme Court. He has also named another 15 CZARS overseeing, i.e. controlling, every facet of the American economy. My fellow Americans this is naked Fascism. This is exactly what Adolf Hitler did in 1930s Germany. Hitler took control of the major industries in Germany for the good of the people, and nobody stopped him.

Barack Obama is taking total control of all facets of business in our country under the guise of getting us through this economic tsunami. There is no tsunami at this point. The government is perpetuating these atrocities every single day, and no one is doing anything about it. We should be in Washington walking up and down the street in from of the White House and the capitol building. How can our elected representatives allow the executive branch of government to usurp their power?

The president is allowed under our form of government to have cabinet members who are supposed to be involved in the business of America, but they are required to be approved by a full vote of the Senate, and as such they are required to answer to the Senate. It is one of those balance of power things the founders envisioned us needing to prevent dictatorship by a president drunk with power. This president has done more to trash our constitution, and our way of life in five months that all 43 presidents before him combined! And yet, I still hear Americans, in a majority voicing their satisfaction with the job he is doing!

What in the name of God is wrong with Americans. Our country is falling apart. Our constitution is on fire! It is worth nothing. The Supreme court just yesterday said it was fine by them if the president and his car czar ignore the rule of law, and take the Chrysler bond holders money at the point of a gun! Do you understand what this means? If the president can do this, and the Supreme Court, the House of Representatives, and the Senate sit by and do nothing, what can we do? Only one thing. We have to take control of our government. Short of armed rebellion, which I am not advocating, we have to take to the streets.

There are still elected representatives who want to get reelected. If they see we are going to throw them out starting in November of 2010, they will start to grow a spine. This isn't a democrat republican thing. This is our very country. These are our lives at stake. This is our liberty we are giving up!

If the rule of law can be ignored in the face of the treasurer of the state of Indiana, what can happen to you or me. The government can do anything to us they desire. They could seize your property, your money, your investments, anything they want to take. Nothing is safe. We have to get on board with each other. So many people simply don't know this because the news media is complicit and they are not telling you! Only Foxnews is telling the truth, but by themselves they can't convince the entire country. The liberal mainstream media are in favor of progressive socialism. Obama has gone far beyond that. He has already taken us past Socialism. We are a Fascist country. Right now, today the United States is a Fascist country. If you don't believe me, ask the teachers and policemen from the state of Indiana. Their pensions were seized, and given to the United Auto workers Union. Ask the Chrysler dealers who were robbed of their franchises, and due process of law. Their assets were seized, and given to the dealers who were political favorites of the CAR CZAR! You can't make this stuff up. It is the absolute truth.

It will eventually happen to every single one of us that is not on the right side of the political game. It will come down to who you know, or who you pay to get anything. That's how it worked in Germany. That's how it worked in Russia. That's how it works in Venezuela. That's how it works everywhere people aren't free. We are no longer a nation of free men. We have lost our freedom. We are on our way down the road to starvation. Please wake up. There is a lot more to say. I will say more.

What say you?

Playboy

2009-06-06T21:29:00.000-04:00

I was never a lover of the Playboy articles, but I did look at the pictures. Never again, and though some would say a 55 year old man has no business looking at pictures of half naked women anyway, Playboy has lost the support of literally every married or otherwise spoken for man in the United States.

Imagine trying to explain to your significant other now why you would have Playboy magazine in the bathroom or at the bottom of a sock drawer. Hugh Hefner has finally run out of luck permanently. Playboy is no more.

We really haven't lost anything anyway. I was actually surprised that Playboy was still in business in 2009, given the breadth of available pornography at megabit speeds in most homes today. I suppose it was inevitable that Playboy would go down in flames as its' relevance has all but completely diminished anyway. After all, the NY Times is taking shots at conservatives everyday, as they take the slow train into bankruptcy. Why would Playboy be any different? The opposite of sex appeal is rape, where in the case of the Times, the opposite of news is vile gossip.