Arab Gas

After a long night of petroleum based darkness the falling prices of gas are staring to let we, the people, breath again. It's sad to say but I'm glad to see the prices nearer to $3.20 again rather than $4.20. If we think back I'm sure we can all remember earlier this year when gas prices started their solemn march of doom up into ridiculous prices . That seems to be when all the food prices started to climb and then, consequently, everything else went up in price. After that, people stopped spending so much money and that, I believe, is when the whole happy-go-lucky housing market came crashing down, putting us in our current financial situation.

Now there is a little light of hope. Gas prices are going down which, if it acts the same way as when they went up, will eventually allow prices to come back down a little. This could ease all our budgets in time for Christmas.
Here is an article telling us what the Oil nations want to foist on us. In it they say rising gas prices are not responsible for the current market situation. This may be only partly true. Their solution for gas prices going down is not to let them and allow demand to go back up but to cut production and increase prices. When are we going to use our own fuel?

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Oil prices continued their steep losses despite an announcement by the OPEC cartel that the producers will cut production by 1.5 million barrels a day next month.Friday, crude oil closed at its lowest level since May 31, 2007, settling at $64.14 a barrel, down 5.4 % or $3.69.

The oil producing nations called an emergency meeting in Vienna, Austria, on Friday and voted to slash production in an effort to stop oil prices from plummeting further. There was some speculation that the meeting could last several hours, with cartel members such as Iran pushing for cuts as high as 2 million barrels per day, however, it took less than two hours for producers to agree to cut 1.5 million barrels per day in November.

"Oil prices have witnessed a dramatic collapse -- unprecedented in speed and magnitude," said a statement released by the cartel.

Following the announcement of the production cuts, OPEC President Khelil was asked if a decrease in oil production would negatively impact the global economy. Khelil spoke adamantly against the assumption.

“Oil is not responsible for the market turmoil, it is the mismanagement of economies,” he said.

Khelil went on to assert that the price of oil by itself does not have an impact on the global economy. He said it actually supports economic growth and the high prices in July were motivated by speculation; they had nothing to do with supply and demand. Khelil said he suspects speculation is what is driving the U.S. dollar higher now.

The recent plunge in oil prices on fear of a global economic slowdown appeared to trump any efforts to decrease production. The commodity continued to trade lower, dropping as low as $62.65 Friday morning.

“Looking at the crude oil—it was following the Dow tick for tick,” said FOX Business contributor Phil Flynn of Alaron Trading. “Oil is totally focused on the health of the stock market right now. If the stock market does well, oil could rebound and it could rebound in a big way, regardless of what OPEC does…if the stock market looks ugly, oil, at least for the short-term, is going to look pretty bad.”

John Kloza, chief oil analyst for the Oil Price Information Service doesn’t think any action by OPEC will impact the market much.

“I don’t think that OPEC could have done much to stem the slide in 2008,” Kloza said. “This is tied to worries about a global recession and those will persist through new year, no matter what.”

Kloza thinks crude prices could fall near the mid-$50 per barrel range if the price drops below $62 per barrel early next week.

“It’s kind of like the Dow breaking 10,000—if the price of crude doesn’t stabilize as it approaches $62, you’re going to get a much larger drop,” Kloza said.

Coming into the day, crude was off its July high of $145.29 by 53%, after gaining $1.09 per barrel on Thursday, closing at $67.84.

OPEC will meet again in December, and could push for more production cuts if oil prices do not stabilize by then. The next meeting will be held in Algeria.

Natural gas fell 5.3% on Thursday to $6.419, and continued that fall on Friday, with prices falling an additional 18 cents to $6.239, the lowest settlement since September 21, 2007. RBOB Gasoline fell 6.3% or 9.99 cents on Friday to settle at $1.4779 per gallon, the lowest level since January 2007. Heating oil prices dropped 4.1 % or 8.32 cents to $1.9465 a gallon; August 2007, was the last month when the fuel closed below $2.00 per gallon.

http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/
energy/oil-plummets--despite-opec-production-cut/

Obama Citizenship Debate

I have recently become aware of an on going debate over whether B. H. Obama is actually a citizen. The debate is over whether or not he was actually born in the State of Hawaii. From what I have seen/read it is said that Obama has not actually produced an original birth certificate but some records copy of some sort.

IF it was proved that he was not actually born in the U.S. the question of his citizenship would then fall to the legal circumstances of the citizenship of his mother. Also, it would take a symantic look at the clause in article 2, section 1 of the U.S. Constitution:

No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

Would the whole Democratic party and Obama himself really risk their whole campaign on a fraud that could be easily checked out by congress? All of this, however is moot seeing as the certificate is authentic. Please check the following links if you wont take my word for it.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/birthcertificate.asp
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2008/jun/27/obamas-birth-certificate-part-ii/
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/born_in_the_usa.html

This does not mean that I like him.

Immigration

An article on immigration appeared in a local newspaper a few days ago. This article was an interview with a couple who had illegally come into the US from Mexico. The Headline of the article pointed to the horrible dangers faced by those illegally coming to the U.S. The rest of the article told their hard story of the dangers they faced making their way here.

I am completely against illegal immigration. Now, before you roll your eyes or scroll away from this post let me clarify. I am fine with the idea of granting seasonal visas for field workers. I love that our country is still viewed by many in the world as a place of dreams. I think immigration to this country is great seeing as how that is the way my family came to be here many years ago.
I do not, however, feel that anyone has the right to just come here because their situation is bad, even if there is no border fence.

Back to the article: I despise these types of publications. I do feel very sorry for these people. I really don't like that they have to go through the ordeal of crossing the border and that their life was so bad they felt they needed to. I don't however enjoy people telling me their sad stories in the effort to get me to feel bad about these illegal aliens. I'm glad it's hard to come into our country illegally. It should be. If the situation is hard at home, fight to make it better. It's not all fun and games here either.

Now, it is hard to come into this country legally. It takes much money, time and effort. Perhaps we, as a country, should make it easier. If we do, or if we don't: coming to this country illegally is still illegal. Hard times, big dreams, and kids don't change that it's wrong.

Do I still feel bad about the hard things these people have to go through? YES

Thoughts of the Day 3

I would like to draw special attention to the quote comparing the current U.S. situation to Rome. Think about it.
From Wolfshield:
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“Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.” --Ronald Reagan

"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other... We should be unfaithful to ourselves if we should ever lose sight of the danger to our liberties if anything partial or extraneous should infect the purity of our free, fair, virtuous, and independent elections.” --John Adams

"Liberals have tried to convince me that Obama is brilliant. I find that odd because he has said that there are 57 states, that JFK got the Russians to remove their missiles from Cuba by sitting down and chatting with Khrushchev, and that Iran doesn’t really constitute an actual threat because they don’t spend as much money on weaponry as we do. Funny, but ‘brilliant’ isn’t the first word that comes to mind. But what do liberals know? They were also convinced that Jimmy Carter was intelligent.” —Burt Prelutsky

“I would appeal to... all Americans to acknowledge that the preservation of our liberties ultimately depends on the enormous dedication and self-sacrifice of our military men and women. I am very concerned about whether our professional class, buffed all shiny and bright by the elite universities, will ever have the will or stamina to defend this nation in a major crisis. As I’ve predicted for years, we’re heading down a path similar to that of the Roman empire—with a sophisticated, self-absorbed upper class enjoying a comfortable lifestyle whose security is maintained by a career military (increasingly foreign or mercenary as Rome declined). Soldiers must do or die by the good judgment or shallow caprice of a nation’s leaders, who are the ones who bear all moral responsibility in this matter.” —Camille Paglia

“Does it matter if Barack Obama is for sex education in kindergarten? It matters more than most things that are called ‘the real issues.’... Because one of the biggest and realest of all issues is the outlook and character of the President of the United States... What does being in favor of sex education in kindergarten tell us about the outlook and character of this largely unknown man who has suddenly appeared on the national scene to claim the highest office in the land? It gives us an insight into the huge gulf between Senator Obama’s election-year image and what he has actually been for and against over the preceding decades. It also shows the huge gulf between his values and those of most other Americans. Many Americans would consider sex education for kindergartners to be absurd but there is more to it than that. What is called ‘sex education,’ whether for kindergartners or older children, is not education about biology but indoctrination in values that go against the traditional values that children learn in their families and in their communities. Obviously, the earlier this indoctrination begins, the better its chances of overriding traditional values... Sex education for kindergartners is just one of many issues on which Barack Obama has lined up consistently on the side of arrogant elitists of the Far Left.” --Thomas Sowell

etc. . .

Thoughts of the Day 2

From Wolfshield:
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“[A] wise and frugal government... shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.” —Thomas Jefferson

"The enormous risk that Sen. McCain warned of in 2005 has now become a financial crisis of staggering proportions. That crisis can trace its roots to Bill Clinton’s signature on legislation making it easier for minority constituents with bad credit to obtain mortgages. In 1995, he had his Treasury Secretary, Robert Rubin, rewrite the lending rules for the Community Reinvestment Act, opening the flood gates of mortgage lending to unqualified borrowers."This legislation, in effect, applied affirmative action to the lending industry, which is to say that the current crisis is NOT a 'free market failure' but the result of socially engineered financial policy by the central government. The financial markets welcomed their new customers with open arms, fueling a real estate boom across the board." --Mark Alexander - executive editor and publisher of The Patriot Post

Homosexual "Rights" Infringing on Others

The basic idea of the Constitution is that you have the right to almost anything as long as it does not infringe on the right of others. It also does not place government power over private organizations. More and more rights are being infringed on, changed and taken away in the name of "equality." Here is an article that tells about the kinds of things going on.

To be clear, I believe that homosexuality is wrong. For all those of you who just scoffed and yelled and cursed my name: I am not a homosexual-hating, death-monger. I believe that homosexuality is a sin just like viewing pronography, doing drugs, or stealing. Some people are VERY vulnerable to these things; even to the point where they feel they cannot control it. I can understand this but it does not make it good or right. It does not mean an alcoholic is just programmed that way and therefore should just give in and expect other to make exceptions for him. I feel sorry for those who have to deal with homosexuality. I still believe that it is wrong and a sin.

Here is the article
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When Gay Rights and Religious Liberties Clash

by Barbara Bradley Hagerty

NPR.org, June 13, 2008 ·

In recent years, some states have passed laws giving residents the right to same-sex unions in various forms. Gay couples may marry in Massachusetts and California. There are civil unions and domestic partnerships in Vermont, New Jersey, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Oregon. Other states give more limited rights.

Armed with those legal protections, same-sex couples are beginning to challenge policies of religious organizations that exclude them, claiming that a religious group's view that homosexual marriage is a sin cannot be used to violate their right to equal treatment. Now parochial schools, "parachurch" organizations such as Catholic Charities and businesses that refuse to serve gay couples are being sued — and so far, the religious groups are losing. Here are a few cases:

Adoption services: Catholic Charities in Massachusetts refused to place children with same-sex couples as required by Massachusetts law. After a legislative struggle — during which the Senate president said he could not support a bill "condoning discrimination" — Catholic Charities pulled out of the adoption business in 2006.

Housing: In New York City, Yeshiva University's Albert Einstein College of Medicine, a school under Orthodox Jewish auspices, banned same-sex couples from its married dormitory. New York does not recognize same-sex marriage, but in 2001, the state's highest court ruled Yeshiva violated New York City's ban on sexual orientation discrimination. Yeshiva now allows all couples in the dorm.

Parochial schools: California Lutheran High School, a Protestant school in Wildomar, holds that homosexuality is a sin. After the school suspended two girls who were allegedly in a lesbian relationship, the girls' parents sued, saying the school was violating the state's civil rights act protecting gay men and lesbians from discrimination. The case is before a state judge.

Medical services: A Christian gynecologist at North Coast Women's Care Medical Group in Vista, Calif., refused to give his patient in vitro fertilization treatment because she is in a lesbian relationship, and he claimed that doing so would violate his religious beliefs. (The doctor referred the patient to his partner, who agreed to do the treatment.) The woman sued under the state's civil rights act. The California Supreme Court heard oral arguments in May 2008, and legal experts believe that the woman's right to medical treatment will trump the doctor's religious beliefs. One justice suggested that the doctors take up a different line of business.

Psychological services: A mental health counselor at North Mississippi Health Services refused therapy for a woman who wanted help in improving her lesbian relationship. The counselor said doing so would violate her religious beliefs. The counselor was fired. In March 2001, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit sided with the employer, ruling that the employee's religious beliefs could not be accommodated without causing undue hardship to the company.

Civil servants: A clerk in Vermont refused to perform a civil union ceremony after the state legalized them. In 2001, in a decision that side-stepped the religious liberties issue, the Vermont Supreme Court ruled that he did not need to perform the ceremony because there were other civil servants who would. However, the court did indicate that religious beliefs do not allow employees to discriminate against same-sex couples.

Adoption services: A same-sex couple in California applied to Adoption Profiles, an Internet service in Arizona that matches adoptive parents with newborns. The couple's application was denied based on the religious beliefs of the company's owners. The couple sued in federal district court in San Francisco. The two sides settled after the adoption company said it will no longer do business in California.

Wedding services: A same sex couple in Albuquerque asked a photographer, Elaine Huguenin, to shoot their commitment ceremony. The photographer declined, saying her Christian beliefs prevented her from sanctioning same-sex unions. The couple sued, and the New Mexico Human Rights Commission found the photographer guilty of discrimination. It ordered her to pay the lesbian couple's legal fees ($6,600). The photographer is appealing.

Wedding facilities: Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association of New Jersey, a Methodist organization, refused to rent its boardwalk pavilion to a lesbian couple for their civil union ceremony. The couple filed a complaint with the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights. The division ruled that the boardwalk property was open for public use, therefore the Methodist group could not discriminate against gay couples using it. In the interim, the state's Department of Environmental Protection revoked a portion of the association's tax benefits. The case is ongoing.

Youth groups: The city of Berkeley, Calif., requested that the Sea Scouts (affiliated with the Boy Scouts) formally agree to not discriminate against gay men in exchange for free use of berths in the city's marina. The Sea Scouts sued, claiming this violated their beliefs and First Amendment right to the freedom to associate with other like-minded people. In 2006, the California Supreme Court ruled against the youth group. In San Diego, the Boy Scouts lost access to the city-owned aquatic center for the same reason. While these cases do not directly involve same-sex unions, they presage future conflicts about whether religiously oriented or parachurch organizations may prohibit, for example, gay couples from teaching at summer camp. In June 2008, the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals asked the California Supreme Court to review the Boy Scouts' leases. Meanwhile, the mayor's office in Philadelphia revoked the Boy Scouts' $1-a-year lease for a city building.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91486191

Stock Market Basics: Lesson 1

In an attempt to help the people and help myself better understand our country's financial system here is the first of many (hopefully) posts on the stock market. I will try to post information from time to time that will help us, the people, understand what's going on in the financial world so that we may be empowered as citizens and patriots.
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Meltdown 101: The Dow Jones industrial average

Joe Bel Bruno - The Associated Press

NEW YORK -- Amid weeks of stock market turmoil, many worried investors have been tracking the daily trajectory of the Dow Jones industrial average like never before. But few understand how the index of 30 of the biggest U.S. companies is calculated -- or what the closely watched measure of stock market performance really means. Here are some questions and answers about the world's most famous stock index. Q: What is the Dow Jones industrial average? A: The Dow, the oldest continuing U.S. market index, is a way of measuring the combined stock values of 30 big U.S. companies. It started out with 12 components, including now-defunct companies like U.S. Leather Co. and Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Co. The only original component still around is General Electric Co. These days, the index has expanded to reflect the U.S. economy's move away from big industrial companies. Staples of the modern Dow include big financial companies like Citigroup Inc., technology bellwether IBM Corp. and drug manufacturer Pfizer Inc. Q: How is it calculated? A: Charles Dow, who launched the index in 1896, originally just took the price of one share of each company's stock, added the numbers up and divided by the number of companies. The average when the index launched was 40.94 -- a quaint little number compared to Monday's close of 9,387.61, or the Dow's record high of 14,165.43 on Oct. 9, 2007. Today, Dow Jones & Co. has come up with a mathematical formula to adjust for things like stock splits -- when a company doubles the number of stocks its shareholders have, splitting the price of each in half -- or new companies being added or removed. The idea is to keep the index consistent over time, and to make sure today's value can be compared in a meaningful way to what it was a year ago or 10 years ago. This can be done various ways mathematically, but at Dow Jones it is handled by changing the "divisor" -- a number that is divided into the total of the stock prices. That divisor currently stands at 0.122820114. Q: How does the index account for the fact that some components are bigger than others? A: The index is what's called a "price-weighted average," meaning expensive stocks have more influence over the number than lower-priced ones do. This is the case because the index is based purely on the dollar value of stocks; if a high-priced share goes up 20 percent, that's a greater dollar increase than a cheaper share's 20 percent jump. For example, a sharp drop in the price of General Motors last week didn't have a huge effect on the Dow because the automaker's stock was already so low. The stock fell $2.15, or 31 percent, on Thursday but only lowered the Dow by 17.1 points. GM's drag wasn't all that noticeable on day when the Dow plunged 679 points. Q: Is the Dow considered a good measure of how the nation's companies are generally faring in the stock market? A: Yes and no. Some on Wall Street downplay the importance of the average because it isn't as broad a measure as counterparts like the Standard & Poor's 500 index, which reflects the performance of 500 companies' stocks. Still, the Dow is the granddaddy of U.S. market indexes, and it offers a relatively easy-to-understand snapshot of how the market is faring. Analysts generally believe it is a useful tool when combined with other market indicators, including the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite, an index of shares on the tech-heavy Nasdaq stock market. Q: What are the 30 members of the index? A: The companies are: 3M, Alcoa, American Express, AT&T, Bank of America, Boeing, Caterpillar, Chevron, Citigroup, Coca-Cola, DuPont, ExxonMobil, General Electric, General Motors, Hewlett-Packard, Home Depot, Intel, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, JPMorgan Chase, Kraft Foods, McDonald's, Merck, Microsoft, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, United Technologies, Verizon Communications, Wal-Mart and Walt Disney. http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/284235/18/

The Price of "Stability"

This article comes from The Daily Herald. It tells us just where all the money is going. If the government gave the money to us, we could stimulate companies buy buying products and paying off our loans - thus stimulating the economy. Instead, they are giving money to companies, and buying up shaky, defunct loans - and we the people get to foot the bill.
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http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/284039/18/
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Taxpayer bailout tab could run into trillions

Tom Raum - The Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- That $700 billion financial bailout passed by Congress and signed by President Bush is a big package. But wait, there's more. The total amount of federal money spent or being put on the line to rebuild the nation's financial system is considerably more once various other steps potentially involving taxpayer money are taken into account, easily running into the trillions. Here are some of the major steps -- and associated price tags -- of actions the government has taken this year to deal with the spreading crisis in credit and housing markets: • March 11: The Federal Reserve announces a rescue package to provide up to $200 billion in loans to banks and investment houses and let them put up risky mortgage-backed securities as collateral. • March 16: The Fed provides a $29 billion loan to JPMorgan Chase & Co. as part of its purchase of investment bank Bear Stearns. • May 2: The Fed increases the size of its loans to banks and lets them put up less-secure collateral. • July 11: Federal regulators seize Pasadena, Calif-based IndyMac, costing the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. billions to compensate deposit-holders. • July 30: President Bush signs a housing bill including $300 billion in new loan authority for the government to back cheaper mortgages for troubled homeowners. • Sept. 7: The Treasury takes over mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, putting them into a conservatorship and pledging up to $200 billion to back their assets. • Sept. 16: The Fed injects $85 billion into the failing American International Group, one of the world's largest insurance companies. • Sept. 16: The Fed pumps another $70 billion into the nation's financial system to help ease credit stresses. • Sept. 19: The Treasury temporarily guarantees money market funds against losses up to $50 billion. • Sept. 29: The Fed makes an extra $330 billion available to other central banks, boosting to $620 billion the amount available to the central bank through currency "swap" arrangements, where dollars are traded for their currencies. It also triples to $225 billion the amount available for short-term loans to U.S. financial institutions. • Oct. 3: President Bush signs the $700 billion economic bailout package. • Oct. 6: The Fed increases a short-term loan program, saying it is boosting short-term lending to banks to $150 billion and that by year's end, $900 billion in potential overall credit will be outstanding. It also says it will begin paying interest on reserves that banks keep with the Fed in hopes of coaxing banks into keeping more money on deposit at the central bank. • Oct. 7: The Fed says it will start buying unsecured short-term debt, so-called "commercial paper," from companies. • Oct. 8: The Fed cuts the federal funds rate a half percentage point, to 1.5 percent. It follows a one-quarter point cut on April 30 and a three-quarter point reduction on March 18. • Oct. 8: The Fed agrees to lend AIG another $37.8 billion.

Big Box Mart

Jibjab is a website that has made political cartoons (animated flash) for a number of years now. Just recently I found one that made me laugh and scared at the same time. Big Box Mart tells the story of the American people and their beloved super discount stores. I'm sure "Big Box Mart" is meant to embody companies such as Walmart, Target, Kmart and others. I have seen the effects of these stores on towns. My grandmother lives in a small town in Idaho and since the Walmart moved in (which nearly doubled the square footage of commercial space in the town I'm sure) many of the "mom & pop" local businesses have closed and now all the towns money, instead of trickling back into the town, is being shipped off to China. Watch the animation. I hope you get it.

http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/jibjab/v/jibjabboxmart.htm
It can also be viewed at jibjab.com

The Why

So here is an attempt to explain why I have made this blog and what it's for.

I have always been aware of the maddening state of the political landscape of the U.S. (and by political landscape I mean politics, government , social climate and programs, national finance, etc.) Recently, I have been made increasingly aware of how bad it really is. The current U.S. financial crisis is just the visible bone sticking out of the shattered leg of the U.S.

For many years now the Constitution of the United States has been changed, ignored, and trampled by federal government expansion and by high court judgements. It used to be that the U.S. supreme court and state supreme courts merely applied the Constitution to unique situations or helped the lower courts. Now, if you want a law, you just have to have a court case and keep re-appealing to higher and higher courts. If you can get a supreme court to rule on it - TADA! a law!
Over the years the federal government has gone from a political entity designed to help hold the states together and stand for them as a whole to this monstrous corporation that verges on a communistic regime. We the people have whined and complained (some of us whined, some sat back and ignored it) to the federal government about everything and want them to take care of us like a nanny. Recently we have gone as far as to blame the federal government for not stopping hurricanes and for our poor financial industry practices.

So, I'm going to stop ranting here and hope that you have some idea why I am up in arms about the state of our country. If you are scoffing and writing me off, please take some time and look into what's happening around you and decide for yourself. That is one of the reasons for this blog: to encourage others to be aware of what is happening to this country politically, morally, financially, and spiritually. Another reason is to help inform about issues that are critical. We need to be informed before we act and we do need to act.

We the people . . . There is no "they".

Thoughts of the Day

From Wolfshield:
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Some thoughts for the day:

“I favor the policy of economy, not because I wish to save money, but because I wish to save people. The men and women of this country who toil are the ones who bear the cost of the Government. Every dollar that we carelessly waste means that their life will be so much the more meager. Every dollar that we prudently save means that their life will be so much the more abundant. Economy is idealism in its most practical form.” —Calvin Coolidge, on something the Republicans have not done very well lately

“If the government gets into business on any large scale, we soon find that the beneficiaries attempt to play a large part in the control. While in theory it is to serve the public, in practice it will be very largely serving private interests.” —Calvin Coolidge

“A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against its government.” —Edward Abbey

“At 35%, the United States has a higher corporate tax rate than France (34.4%), the United Kingdom (28%), Japan (30%), Germany (15.83%) and even that Scandinavian welfare state deluxe, Sweden (28%). And Barack Obama intends to keep it that way—competitiveness be damned!” —Don Feder

“The patriotism feared by liberals isn’t the standard American-flag-pinned-on-your-lapel-patriotism (hardly anyone other than Barack Obama is against that). The kind they are afraid of is that which was stirred in us by the attacks on Pearl Harbor and again on 9/11—the kind that motivated Americans of all races and political persuasions to pull together in the duty of our common citizenship and the common cause of enduring American ideals. Liberals are threatened by such patriotism because they worry that their position—their belief that they, rather than we as free people, are the better rulers of our lives—will be usurped by a rebirth of Thomas Jefferson’s understanding of self-reliance and independence. They also worry that an increase in such patriotism will continually motivate men from all walks of life... to join our military and fight for the preservation of this great nation. It’s hard to convince men who are risking their lives in service to this nation that this nation isn’t as good as it once was or that we need to turn the reins of our government over to Democrats so they can rescue us from ourselves by ‘the audacity of hope’.” —A.W.R. Hawkins

Obama's Past

Obama scares me just like Kerry. This email was sent to me and even if it's only half true it makes you wonder. Even though i will try not to post here-say and slander on this blog I thought I'd include this as even if it is half true, this email leads to pertinent thoughts.
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This is very interesting and really makes me wonder and to say the least be very concerned about the money trail.? Art.

About six months ago, I started thinking 'where did the money come from for Obama'?? I have four daughters, who went to College, and we were middle class, and money was tight.? We (including my girls) worked hard and there were lots of student loans. I started looking into Obama's life.?

Around 1979 Obama started college at Occidental in California.? He is very open about his two years at Occidental; he tried all kinds of drugs and was wasting his time but, even though he had a brilliant mind, did not apply himself to his studies. 'Barry' (that was the name he used all his life) during this time had two roommates, Muhammad Hasan Chandoo and Wahid Hamid, both from Pakistan.?

During the summer of 1981, after his second year in college, he made a 'round the world' trip.? Stopping to see his mother in Indonesia, next Hyderabad in India, three weeks in Karachi, Pakistan?where he stayed with his roommate's family, then off to Africa to visit his father's family.? My question - Where did he get the money for this trip??

Neither I, nor any one of my children would have had money for a trip like this when they where in college.? When he came back he started school at Columbia University in New York.? It is at this time he wanted everyone to call him Barack - not Barry.? Do you know what the tuition is at Columbia? It's not cheap! To say the least.? Where did he get money for tuition? Student Loans? Maybe.

After Columbia, he went to Chicago to work as a Community Organizer for $12,000 a year.? Why Chicago?? Why not New York? He was already living in New York. By 'chance' he met Antoin 'Tony' Rezko, born in Aleppo Syria, and a real estate developer in Chicago. Rezko has been convicted of fraud and bribery this year.? Rezko, was named 'Entrepreneur of the Decade' by the Arab-American Business and Professional Association'.?

About two years later, Obama entered Harvard Law School.? Do you have any idea what tuition is for Harvard Law School?? Where did he get the money for Law School?? More student loans?? After Law school, he went back to Chicago. Rezko offered him a job, which he turned down.? But, he did take a job with Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland. Guess what??

They represented 'Rezar' which Rezko's firm.? Rezko was one of Obama's first major financial contributors when he ran for office in Chicago.? In 2003, Rezko threw an early fundraiser for Obama which Chicago Tribune reporter David Mendelland claims was instrumental in providing Obama with 'seed money'?for his U.S. Senate race.

In 2005, Obama purchased a new home in Kenwoood District of Chicago for $1.65 million. With ALL those Student Loans - Where did he get the money for the property?? On the same day Rezko's wife, Rita, purchased the adjoining empty lot for full price. The London Times reported that Nadhmi Auchi, an Iraqi-born Billionaire loaned Rezko $3.5 million three weeks before Obama's new home was purchased.?

Obama met Nadhmi Auchi many times with Rezko. Now, we have Obama running for President.? Valerie Jarrett was Michele Obama's boss.? She is now Obama's chief advisor and he does not make any major decisions without talking to her first.? Where was Jarrett born? Ready for this? Shiraz, Iran!? Do we see a pattern here?? Or am I going crazy?

On May 10, 2008 The Times reported, Robert Malley advisor to Obama was 'sacked' after the press found out he was having regular contacts with 'Hamas', which controls Gaza and is connected with Iran. This past week, buried in the back part of the papers, Iraqi newspapers reported that during Obama's visit to Iraq, he asked their leaders to do nothing about the war until after he is elected, and he will 'Take care of things'.

Oh, and by the way, remember the college roommates that were born in Pakistan?? They are in charge of all those 'small' Internet campaign contribution for Obama.? Where is that money coming from?? The poor and middle class in this country?? Or could it be from the Middle East?

And the final bit of news.? On September 7, 2008, the Washington Times posted a verbal slip that was made on 'This Week' with George Stephanapoulos.? Obama on talking about his religion said, 'My Muslim faith'.? When questioned, 'he made a mistake'.? Some mistake!

All of the above information I got on line.? If you would like to check it - Wikipedia, encyclopedia, Barack Obama; Tony Rezko; Valerie Jarrett: Daily Times - Obama visited Pakistan in 1981; The Washington Times - September 7, 2008; The Times May 10, 2008.

Now the BIG question - If I found out all this information on my own, why haven't all of our 'intelligent' members of the press been reporting this?

A phrase that keeps ringing in my ear - 'Beware of the enemy from within'!!!

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Have I Sold Out?

I never thought I would create a blog. I always considered 99% of them the rantings of uninformed people. I do however, need a place to record my findings and thoughts about the deterioration of our country. This is not paranoia; this is one small warning voice among many. Our country is in dire straits financially and politically but especially morally, socially and spiritually. BE AWARE! KEEP YOUR EARS AND EYES OPEN!