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http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/memorialday.asp
Here is the story.
I have been a member of this site for a couple months now, and I am still confused as to what the plan or vision for this site is. If the whole idea of the Tea Party is to take our country back, then we need to figure out who we are going to support for the primaries that occurring right now and the election this fall. With this in mind I cannot find any information on this site about any candidates, let alone those that the members of this site or other Tea Party members favor. If I don't know who is even running, it makes it rather difficult to stay in the game (so to speak). I occassionaly get an email telling me that yet another Tea Party backed candidate won the primary, but it would be nice to know who these individuals are beforethe election actually occurs.
So what is the plan, who are we looking at, and what do we like/not like about the other guy/gal?
The USA Today
USA Today – “Paychecks from private business shrank to their smallest share of personal income in U.S. history during the first quarter of this year (42%), a USA TODAY analysis of government data finds.”
“At the same time, government-provided benefits — from Social Security, unemployment insurance, food stamps and other programs — rose to a record high during the first three months of 2010(58%).”
“Those records reflect a long-term trend accelerated by the recession and the federal stimulus program to counteract the downturn. The result is a major shift in the source of personal income from private wages to government programs.”
“The trend is not sustainable, says University of Michigan economist Donald Grimes. Reason: The federal government depends on private wages to generate income taxes to pay for its ever-more-expensive programs. Government-generated income is taxed at lower rates or not at all, he says.”
USA Today is looking at the tip of the iceberg. We need to look at what lies beneath the surface to know the cure.
Like USA Today says, my Social Security income and disabled World War II veteran benefits are not taxable. It means considerable in what I can afford. My gratitude to the taxpayers. I owe you. The least I can do is to give you the benefit of 84 years of experience.
I volunteered to fight for America’s freedom in World War II, not expecting anything. I did expect, however, for government to mind its own business. In my view, government was never intended to directly grant aid to individuals. There is nothing in my Constitution on grants in aid. After World War II, the America people were on their way to the American dream. I was engaged in a prosperous private enterprise. Had government minded its own business, I would have in all likelihood retired a millionaire.
First, it was Roosevelt’s New Deal law during the Great Depression, which Roosevelt caused to linger by favoring unions and grants in aid to individuals. World War II ended the Great Depression. America was put to work building a war machine. This Great savior of the Great Depression, who saved the meek and the poor from starvation by taking from the rich and giving to the poor, how noble of the man, then it was Lyndon Johnson’ Great Society law, followed by Nixon, with his price controls, which put me out of business, thanks to the New Deal, the Great Society, and price controls, the IRS lawlessly put me on the street. The courts looked the other way. I took the story of endless IRS mistakes against me, with the courts’ tacit approval, to the press. The United States was publically exposed for the fraud it is. I sent the evidence to my congressional representatives. Not one peep from anyone in Washington. What more do you want for proof that your congressional representatives are self-serving frauds talking out of both sides of their mouths. I have the documentation.
Justice Brandeis, a Roosevelt appointee: “Property is only a means. It has been a frequent error of our Court that they have made the means an end.” He said this and not one peep. The worst thing government could do is to give the meek and poor a handout. What they need is a leg up. What they get is a pittance for voting for the biggest fraud of all times, the United States of America. What irony! America’s government is no better in principle than the Nazi government me and my buddies defeated in World War II.
The obvious reasons for the crises:
What is needed, the Obama people say, is “comprehensive” immigration reform—law that is all inclusive. You betcha! This is what we need to keep the frauds in Washington in control of our lives. Over 50 percent of all union workers are employed by the government, compared with only 17 percent in 1980. Government workers make about $10 more per hour than the average private sector employee. And not only that, they receive lucrative pensions when they retire. Inclusive of whom, Obama? Get outa here!
Not one peep of protest in Washington. Those frauds are not about to protect us or defend our southern border. All we hear is possible remedies for the fraud they have imposed on us, never the cause or the cure. Obama says he is a Roosevelt Democrat. What does this mean? Roosevelt, in 1933: “While it isn’t written in the Constitution, nevertheless, it is the inherent duty of the Federal Government to keep its citizens from starvation.” Roosevelt in 1937: “The balance of power between the three great branches of the Federal Government has been tipped out of balance by the courts in direct contradiction of the high purposes of the framers of the Constitution. We have reached the point where we must take action to save the Constitution from the Court.” Save the Constitution, my eye. What did I tell you! Roosevelt gave my Constitution his middle finger, and so does Obama.
Barrack Hussein Obama’s government reminds us of Hussein’s, Hitler’s, Stalin’s, and Mao’s governments—and don’t leave out America’s ACLU. You got it folks. Pull out all the stops. We’re gonna change our way of livin. Yea, to what? They all should be ridden out of Washington on a rail.
Ever since Roosevelt, from Washington it has been trashing the Founding Fathers; discouraging America’s spiritual life; encouraging dependence on government. For shame! All you people who vote for the progressives have a “right” to a decent standard of living—by redistribution of the wealth of the nation. Yea, right on! Just let Big Daddy Obama do all he needs to do to end the crises, leaving us all either taxpayer slaves or spineless jellyfish dependent on government.
Obama wants to give America “cap and trade,” by his own admission, significantly raising the price of electricity. He’s already given America ObamaCare, a shell game aimed at raising the cost of health care, so everyone has the “right” to heath care. Yea! And he’s bailed out those too big to fail, and all on borrowed money, creating an unsustainable debt. Yea! And he remains looking for more ways to send us to the cleaners, of course, in the interest of spreading our great wealth with them that have so little (sob). And who wants you when you’re old and grey? We can save a bundle by taking health care away from the old folks, after having made us government dependents. Right on Obama. You and Hitler are bed fellows.
Yes indeed! There’s nothing like crises to implement change. But hold on there, you’ve left your brains behind the door. Besides being a bigger liar than Bill Clinton (I didn’t think it possible) Obama is not above using bribery to sell out the American people. Galloping on a fast horse in full retreat, Obama goes about the world apologizing for America. And there’s Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, too, and her numbskull idea of a “global village.” You betcha! Everyone in the world has a “right” to a decent existence. If an American family has an annual income of $30,000, by world standards, this family is wealthy. If Obama, the Clintons, and their good friend, George Soros, have their ways, the American people can expect a drastic cut in living standards. But all of this drastic change is for what good purpose, folks?
A thousand years ago, while the West was hopelessly under the control of self-serving authorities (just like those we have now) in the church and palaces of Europe, in the “Dark Ages,” the people living in hopeless poverty, China was prospering under a free enterprise system. What comes around goes around.
In The “Higher Law” Background of American Constitutional Law, The Roman judge Cicero said, “Not all things are necessarily just which are established by civil laws and institutions and nations. Justice identifies with obedience to the written laws—written, forbidding certain things and commanding others. If it were possible to constitute right simply by the commands of the people, by the decrees of princes, by the adjudications of magistrates, then all that would be necessary in order to make robbery, adultery, or the falsification of wills right and just would be a vote of the multitude.” How about that! Cicero spoke these words more than 2,000 years ago. Roosevelt changed America’s fundamental law during a time of crises to give himself great power. The sole purpose of the slippery, slimy frauds in Washington, D.C. is to rob us of our energy and use it against us for their own aggrandizements. Their ploy is as old as the hills.
What a laugh! Cicero was dispossessed and run out Rome by the powers that be, reminding us that Jesus was crucified, thanks to a Roman governor, who ceremoniously washed his hands. It reminds us of America’s courts saying we must interpret the Constitution in light of today’s needs--as determined by the courts, of course, while implying there is no such thing as intrinsic principles that never change. Justice Black, in fact, said the law is what we say it is. How nice!
You betcha! “You picked a fine time to lead us, Barrack.” With his right hand on the Bible, Obama swore to protect and defend the Constitution. Notice that when he signs his name on a law he uses his left hand. Obviously, his left hand was behind his back with his fingers crossed when he took the oath of office.
The Underlying Reasons:
Now for the reasons for the crises, that which lies beneath the surface, which are not the subject of discussion in economics classrooms, not on the news, in the White House or in Congress. Now for the underlying reasons for the public’s failing interest in the doctrines and dogmas of religion, which are not discussed by theologians. Our mighty ship of state is sinking. We’re losing faith in an Almighty God in Heaven. Take note that Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, who spoke of God-given rights, was himself a deist. He believed in the existence of Providence on the basis of reason, without reference to the supernatural God in Heaven conventional religions give us. Gee! Here’s a God we can never find without the help of the authorities, each of whom knows whose God is the real God, and uses this to brainwash us. They are only doing what comes naturally, folks.
At long last, there is an awakening of what God is, along with a deep mistrust of the establishment. The reasons are not being discussed in the classroom, on the news, in government, in churches, synagogues, or in mosques, but for sure, the reasons are being discussed. There is a groundswell building, I can tell you. Deep down you know it as well as I know it.
I get my reasons from the Internet, from books on astrology, numerology, books on history, on philosophy, from the cutting edge of science, and yes, even in the Bible. Personal experience plays a big role in my reasoning. I don’t receive comments pro or con on my far out reasons, I presume, because from birth our education is designed to keep us on the “straight and narrow,” unaware that we have the capability of being in touch with a dimension of infinite possibility.
Without a thought, we simply accept our present state of technology. A hundred years ago, people would have laughed at you for envisioning what was to come. We’re here with increasing purpose. We are not making the connections. For that very reason, this is a very dangerous time.
Children have great imaginations. My parents let me know that I asked too many questions. I had to look within for answers, and usually found the wrong answers. I learned the right answers in the school of hard knocks. But my rebirth didn’t come until midlife, when everything I’d worked for went up in smoke. I took the road less traveled. My journey began with my Constitution. When I studied it, I felt that voices from the past were speaking to me. I felt a bigger than life calling, a spiritual calling. I discovered my God-self. Since then, God has served me well. I could not ask for more.
People feel a spiritual calling from many different sources, and not a few from their own egos. We’ve got the Bible thumpers, those who kill in God’s name, those locked up in insane asylums, and Obama—how do we distinguish real from false callings?
Compare Jesus with Obama. Jesus was a man of influence, a vagabond when he could have been a king. Most of us would not have the job of President of the United States on a bet. Compare Obama’s influence with Jesus’ influence. Whereas Jesus is judged the most influential man who ever lived, Obama’s influence is in a free fall.
The History of our Spiritual Life:
The Age of Pisces began around the time of Jesus of Nazareth’s birth. The Star of Bethlehem led the three wise men to the place of his birth. In Astrologer’s Handbook, under “Pisces,” I read, “Pisces is a sensitive sign and those born under it are extremely responsive to the thoughts and feeling of others. They unconsciously absorb the ideas and mental outlook of those around them. They desperately want to do the right thing, but as a rule they do not have strong willpower. Therefore, they are easily influenced by external factors.” By the way, the sign of Pisces is two attached fish swimming in opposite directions, accounting for the great division in the United States. The good news is that the Age of Pisces is fading into the past.
External factors can be material things; can be an almighty God in Heaven; can be an almighty government in Washington, D.C. , but cannot be an internal God-self. In The Physics of Consciousness, under “A God for Tomorrow,” I read, “Einstein, who did not believe in any personal God, nevertheless had an odd faith in the orderliness of nature, a faith that induced him to seek the truths he found for us in a inner sense of an almost mystical conception of the material world. . .it follows that the God we find must be a personal God. . . Now we see that the independent existence of matter and absoluteness of space were false dogma. . . But it has only been with the advent of quantum theory that we have discovered proof that we exist as something more than pieces of matter. . . Consciousness, the substance of this new-found reality that defines the observer, has fundamental existence. It is the quantum mind that is the basic reality.”
A clue on our future:
We are entering the Age of Aquarius. The United States, by the way, was born under the sign of Aquarius. My astrological chart tells me that I was born Virgo with Aquarius Rising. In The Rising Sign, under “Aquarius Rising,” I read, “He becomes the water-bearer by walking to the beat of a different drummer. He may be the person to bring back information that has been lost to civilization for centuries. . .The person with Aquarius on the rise can be very avant-garde. He is a forerunner in setting style . . .He is a chance-taker. . . He knows where the fruit grows and where the spotlight can hit.”
In Astrologer’s Handbook, I read, “Aquarians have eccentric temperaments and are determined and stubborn. . .There is no affectation or snobbery in the Aquarian personality but a dislike of spurious imitation and hypocrisy in any form. Aquarians operate as equals among equals. However, they are not dependent on their environments for their security, because they derive this from being in the company of others.”
Aquarians, I learn, know where the spotlight can hit. On the other hand, being born with Virgo, my sun sign, my inner nature, and Aquarius, my rising sign, the part I show the world, as I age, I learn, I become more the part I show the world, from Astrologer’s Handbook, under “Virgo,” I learn that Virgos are forever seeking knowledge, “they learn that the mind of man is a good servant but a bad master, especially when the mind usurps the sovereignty of the spirit.” Virgos like to bring order out of confusion. But they are “much too practical and intelligent to allow anyone to make martyrs of them. When the demands made on them become excessive and unreasonable, they say no, with conviction.” Although Aquarians know where the spotlight can hit, Virgos do not want the spotlight on them.
“In Cosmos and Psyche (taken from the back cover), distinguished philosopher and cultural historian Richard Tarnas demonstrates the existence of an astonishingly consistent correspondence between planetary alignments and the archetypal patterns of human history and biography. Based on thirty years of meticulous research, this brilliant book points to a radical change in our understanding of the cosmos, shining new light on the drama of history and on our own critical age. It opens up a new cosmic horizon that reunites science and religion, intellect and soul: modern reason and ancient wisdom.”
Tarnas reveals that the planets Saturn and Pluto, in their alignments, have a great deal to do with what is taking place on our planet. He writes that in the month and year that Obama was elected president, November, 2008, Saturn and Pluto went into unfavorable alignment and will remain so during most, if not all of his term of office.
During said unfavorable cyclic alignment, writes Tarnas: “An atmosphere of gravity and tension tended to accompany these three-to-four year periods, as did widespread epochal closure: the ‘end of an era,’ ‘the end of innocence,’ the destruction of an earlier mode of life that in retrospect may seem to have been marked by widespread indulgence, decadence, naiveté, denial, and inflation.”
The good news:
In my astrological chart, my Saturn is trine Pluto. A trine is the most favorable of alignments. In Astrologer’s Handbook, under “Saturn Trine Pluto,” I read, “This trine gives the natives the ability to understand the laws by which subtle forces are organized. . .They are able to work slowly and make fundamental changes in their own lives and others’ lives.”
For whatever it is worth to you, I have an audio tape from astrologer James Redfield, the author of The Celestine Prophecy, in which he states:
We are going to take a look at two key aspects of your astrological data, your Sun sign and your Moon sign. “We are going to talk about them archetypically. The emotional issue is pointed out by your Moon sign—how this feels as you go through life—talk about your Sun sign—again archetypically—how you naturally uplift people, to give you some good information as you try to find out what your spiritual mission is.
We have a new image of what it means to be a human being, how to think of ourselves as growing, evaluating, understanding, that we can connect with our God‑self energy. You grow in a Virgo way. Virgo is that part of us that is oriented toward conscientious work. At first unconsciously—and everyone has a different way of reacting—the object is to bring into consciousness the reactions and determine whether or not the reaction is mature or immature—when we can step back and look at our higher self, when need becomes strength.
The Vigo ego integration with higher self, and the higher self perspective is going to be defined along the lines of the Virgo archetype, which is, of course, our need for organization: to be effective, to be conscientious about making things better.
We all start at immature levels of ego functions. We have a sense of security based on how much we feel in charge of our lives. We want to keep the idea that things are going fine. We have goals we want to achieve. We need to manipulate things to keep everything just right. We need to keep this allusion for security purposes. If new information comes in, we can act defensively. We don't want information that rocks the boat.
What happens is that this allusion, based on security control, has to shift to our inner connection, our God‑self force that gives us a sense of well being no matter what's going on out there. We have to make that opening on the inside.”
As you get in touch with your inner energy and start to get in touch with your higher self, you will be guided into how to find that true work expression. It will be shown to you intuitively. This becomes the way you uplift everyone who comes into your life. When you evolve into your higher self you energize those who cross your path. This becomes your greatest talent.
In Numerology and The Divine Triangle, I’m given the number “7” as my “Life Lesson Number.” You are here to use and develop your mind. . . You should learn to spend time by yourself, in the woods or by the seashore, where ou can get in touch with your inner self and your deepest thoughts because your destiny is to use your mind. Coincidentally, I live in the tall timber far removed from the glitz. I spend a great deal of my time searching my mind for answers.
Five weeks in, Still No Federal Response
to Prevent or Lessen Oil-Spill Damage to Gulf Shoreline
It must be nice to have a free pass from the liberal-leaning media on everything up to and including shafting a Billy goat on prime-time television . . . but this time, Obama’s carte blanche may not be enough to save his presidency. Obama who earned the epithet “Dithering Barack” for his snail-like, half-hearted responses to requests for an Afghanistan troop surge . . . is up to slow-no-good again, this time on the domestic front in the face of a massive oil spill and a series of crippling tornadoes and ultra-destructive flooding in Tennessee and the Cumberland River Valley.
Item: unable to criticize the ghost of George W. Bush on the oil spill; tornadoes; and Tennessee flooding . . . Barack Obama who had been pouting and sucking his thumb for five weeks now . . . has today finally mobilized the Obama family dog to handle these matters. Relieved environmentalists have declared today’s response a “vast improvement over what we’ve seen these last 36 days.”
Item: 36 days into the tragic Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Barack Obama has shown himself to be a dithering incompetent. He still has NOT called the situation a national emergency and he still has NOT mobilized any federal response to prevent or ameliorate the ecological and economic damage to the Gulf states' coastlines. He has also pointedly NOT shared the truth about federal inspectors and federal agencies giving British Petroleum pass after pass on safety issues.
These same inspectors and agencies had actually been on the verge of awarding BP a top safety award three weeks ago. These same inspectors and agencies deliberately overlooked requiring that ten (10, count ‘em, oops you can’t) mandated fire booms be onsite at the BP disaster site nor at the even deeper, even more prolific Atlantis well (the deepest oil production platform in the world) much further offshore in the Gulf that is still operating unsafely and where it appears BP and the federal Minerals and Management Service again did shoddy work^^. Returning to the present crisis, to be precise, BP had zero, zilch, nada, NONE of the required ten fire booms onsite when the Deepwater Horizon explosion occurred.
The epitome of “maximum statesmanship” from the Obama administration is found in their constant use of the “blame game” and the “race card” in virtually every situation which arises. Perhaps now the mainstream media will stop treating the Obama adminstration as “God walking among us?" The totally unenlightened responses from Salazar, Napolitano and Obama are only 2/3 as shocking as the vile negligence of MMS. Only the U.S. Coast Guard and Louisiana Governor Jindal have shown the requisite calm, competence and clear-headed call for action . . . which of course, Salazar and Obama have ignored.
Item: A series of deadly tornadoes has struck Oklahoma and nearby states in the last two weeks. Obama has NOT mentioned them, nor prepared any federal responses.
Item: If a tree falls in a forest and kills thirty-one people and wipes out all power-sewer-fuel and transportation, destroys viturally all the homes and livelihoods of everybody in an area the size of Pennsylvania . . . but neither the president nor the national mainstream media mention it . . . did it actually happen? Many are wondering why perhaps the largest non-hurricane flood disaster in American history and the worst destruction to hit Tennessee since the Civil War has been essentially ignored by the national media.Nashville is just one small part of the wide-spread flooding that hit the east-central United States. The May 2010 Tennessee floods resulting from torrential rainfal on May 1st and 2nd this year have been labeled "1000-year floods" for Middle and West Tennessee, South Central and Western Kentucky and Northern Mississippi. Two-day rain totals in some areas were greater than 19 inches.
The Cumberland River crested at 51.86 feet in Nashville, so high that the flood control measures instituted by the U.S. Army Corps of engineers to counter future tragedies akin to a 1937 flood which devastated the area that year . . . were virtually worthless. All-time record crests were observed on the Cumberland River Floods from these rains affected the area for several days afterwards, resulting in a number of deaths and widespread property damage. All-time record crests in the affected areas resulted in at least five dozen reporting stations. Perhaps one day the President will comment on this and even, GASP! Respond?
Ya’all live long, strong and ornery,
Rajjpuut
^^ It isn’t often that Rajjpuut finds the Huffington Post worth quoting:
but this link reveals a deplorable situation. If the Atlantis platform were to suffer a similar fate, the damage from the Deepwater Horizon (already the worst oil spill in America’s history) would be like popping a zit compared to a pressurized and uncontrolled fire hose.
This is so sad:
Obama will not speak at Arlington National Cemetary this year. with more soldiers killed under his 15 months in command than in the entire previous 8 yrs, --" The commander in chief is going to speak at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery's annual Memorial Day ceremony", in, guess where, Illinois!
Then he is hosting a party, to honor our soldiers? OH NO, never that! He is having a party to honor Paul McCartney, you know, that great American Patriot who has risked life and limb to preserve our freedom?
How many more times will he slap this country our military and our traditions in the face and get away with it in the lamestream media? We need to let the media know we will be boycotting his speech this year and all networks airing it. That we will find and watch only whatever ceremony we can find that is held at Arlington cemetary or our local programs. Everyone who has a national cemetary in their state should attend whatever ceremony will be held there but we all need to ignore Obama. Get this out to all your friends, facebook, twitter and all the other groups and sites you belong to and post on.
"Did you hear about Obamas plans for Memorial Day?" on As A Mom...: http://ning.it/cfj6NP As A Mom...A Sisterhood of Mommy Patriots
Grizzlymama comments: Mr. President, honor all American Troops who rest in peace with "Honor and Glory"
Please read the entire article:
URGENT! Federal legislation would override North Carolina, and other states bans on union organizing. It would bankrupt state and local gov. and municipalities. Harry Reid introduced S. 3194 under a rule that allows it to bypass committee review and proceed to the floor in as little as 48 hours. And guess which union ...is involved? SEIU!
http://www.carolinajournal.com/exclusives/display_exclusive.html?id=6428
Collective Bargaining Bill for Public Safety Workers Could Cost Taxpayers
Federal legislation would override North Carolina ban on union organizing
May 18, 2010
RALEIGH — Nearly 32,000 North Carolina state and local public safety employees could begin negotiating contracts with unions if recently introduced federal legislation becomes law. S. 3194, The Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act of 2009, sponsored and introduced April 12 by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., would override North Carolina law forcing the state, municipalities, and counties to recognize and bargain collectively with unions representing police, firefighters, emergency medical responders, and others.
Union officials refused to speak to Carolina Journal about the pending legislation. Neither the SEIU, which is affiliated with the State Employees Association of North Carolina (SEANC), the North Carolina Fraternal Order of Police, nor the International Association of Firefighters responded to repeated requests for comment.
Organized labor’s silence stands in contrast to vocal concerns expressed by local officials and associations over costs to taxpayers, burdens to administrators, the ability of law enforcement to nimbly respond, and constitutionality of the legislation.
The bill could become law quickly and without substantive debate. Reid introduced S. 3194 under a rule that allows it to bypass committee review and proceed to the floor in as little as 48 hours.
No action had occurred as of press time.
S. 3194 would override North Carolina General Statute 95-98, which for 51 years has prohibited public sector collective bargaining. S. 3194 would let public safety employees choose to be represented by a union and have their hours, wages, and terms and conditions of employment determined by collective bargaining. Supervisors and managers would be exempt.
The North Carolina League of Municipalities estimates 28,000 municipal and county law enforcement workers and paid firefighters would fall under the bill. The State Office of Personnel puts the number of public safety positions in state government at nearly 3,800, including members of Highway Patrol, employees of the State Bureau of Investigation, and others.
“From my experience, it would be costly to local governments,” said Wayne Bowers, city manager of Greenville and former city manager of Gainesville, Fla., where collective bargaining is law. “We had one full-time labor relations person, we had a staff assistant to that labor relations director, we had one city attorney who spent just about full time on labor relations issues, and we occasionally had to hire outside attorneys.” Cost to Gainesville: roughly $250,000.
Mint Hill Police Chief Tim Ledford, president of the North Carolina Association of Chiefs of Police, believes collective bargaining would bring tax increases and layoffs. NCACP opposes the bill. Ledford, once a union official in a different industry, says he understands rank-and-file officers see collective bargaining as a path to higher compensation. However, his experience showed him union contracts hurt good workers by protecting slackers: “With unions, everybody gets the same across the board.”
Compensation costs will rise with a unionized public sector work force, according to Chris Edwards, director of tax policy studies for the Cato Institute. In the Cato report Public-Sector Unions (PDF), Edwards writes that after adjusting for state-to-state differences in the labor market, “public-sector unions increase average pay levels by roughly 10 percent.”
Rebecca Troutman of the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners says local law enforcement officers receive a competitive salary, a 5 percent 401(k) contribution by their employers every year, a robust pension plan, and a separation allowance.
S. 3194 is an expensive, unfunded mandate, according to Ellis Hankins of the League of Municipalities. “It’s going to result in the same services being delivered at a much higher cost,” Hankins said. Like the county commissioners’ group, the league views collective bargaining and S. 3194 as a major threat that would create an adversarial relationship between employee and employer and lead to collective bargaining with other public employees.
Hankins points to Vallejo, Calif., as the poster child for what can happen when officials have no flexibility to cut budgets. In 2008, Vallejo declared bankruptcy after unions refused to renegotiate contracts. Three-quarters of Vallejo’s general fund budget went to public safety worker compensation. A bankruptcy appellate panel from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed the city was insolvent and ordered changes to the agreements.
Lack of operational flexibility is Ledford’s concern. “You’ve got to be able to make decisions on the fly and on the spot — make immediate decisions. With a union you can’t do that. You’ve got to get buy-in from the union rep before you can make decisions about anything that affects the employee,” he said.
Fraternal Order of Police President Chuck Canterbury addressed “the boogeyman of collective bargaining having an adverse affect on public safety” before Congress last month. He said public safety officers who responded after the 9/11 attacks and Pentagon police who responded to a shooting this year were covered by collective bargaining agreements. “None of those called to action in these most extreme of circumstances paused to contemplate whether any of their actions would impact current or future negotiations,” Canterbury said.
The North Carolina Association of Fire Chiefs hasn’t taken a position on the bill, but President Frank Burns thinks North Carolina’s small towns could become all-volunteer forces if S. 3194 passes. Burns, fire chief of Kings Mountain, questions whether small towns could afford collective bargaining rules on hours worked, pay rates, benefits, and duty requirements. He doesn’t think an all-volunteer force would impact service adversely. Burns says volunteers comprise 80 percent of North Carolina’s 50,000-strong firefighting force, while 20 percent are paid.
Among North Carolina's Washington delegation, Republican Sen. Richard Burr opposes S. 3194. On May 7, he told NewsRadio680 WPTF he doesn’t see the bill coming up during the regular session of Congress but Burr did say, “I’m alarmed at what might happen in a lame-duck session of Congress post the November election, between then and January when the new Senate is seated.”
Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan’s office didn’t respond to CJ’s request to learn her position. In September 2008, then-candidate Hagan told Greensboro News & Record reporter Mark Binker, in a voice-mail message posted on the paper’s website: “Once I’m elected to the U.S. Senate, I want you to know that I will never support a bill at the federal level that mandates states allow collective bargaining of state government employees. I truly believe that’s a state rights issue. That’s my strong belief and that’s how I’ll vote.”
Hankins believes S. 3194 violates every principle of federalism and might be unconstitutional. “There really are good legal arguments that the legislation is beyond constitutional powers of the Congress. If they can do this, they can do about everything,” Hankins said.
Donna Martinez is a contributor to Carolina Journal
By Grizzlymama....Contact you Senators. Let them know we are aware of what's being done in the Senate. We oppose such legislation and the process they intend on using. We're watching them.... November is coming and we will be voting....It's the American way!
WE DO NOT NEED WORLD GOVERNANCE IN THE U.S.A. ! JUST SMALLER AND BETTER UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT IN WASHINGTON, D.C. !
ARF
Obama's ICE Head Considers Refusing to Deport Arizona Illegals
Arizona is hoping mightily that the boycott against their state catches on quickly, yes, you read that right. The thinking in Phoenix is that once the law actually takes effect, illegal aliens will join the boycott against their state and go elsewhere taking their drugs and violence with them and the state will profit mightily budgetwise, not to mention safetywise. That’s one reason that 57% of Americans now say they wish their state had an immigration law such as Arizona created and that 83% of Americans “say” they want the federal government holding up its end on enforcing the nation’s borders. Recently, a top Obama immigration official implied that ICE (the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency) might choose “not to deport any Arizona-arrested illegals,” doesn’t that just warm the cockles of your heart with love for our president and his administration?
John Morton, ICE head, recently said his agency will NOT process all illegal immigrants referred to them by Arizona police officers. He also said, "I don't think the Arizona law or laws like it are the solution." Sounds like someone's kissing Barack's butt cheeks, eh?
"Putting caps on which criminals we'll take… I think that's a clear conflict," says Mark Spencer with the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association. "You have a bad criminal and a good criminal, you have a bad child molester and a good child molester, you have a bad illegal alien, a good illegal alien, good drug dealer, bad drug dealer… that's absurd." If ICE won't process a suspected illegal immigrant, the sheriff says they can be booked on a misdemeanor crime established by SB 1070 and suggests he might have to establish “tent-cities” for the overflow until deportation can occur. Wow, talk about your strong incentives for illegals to boycott Arizona . . . 112 degreees in the shade can get mighty unattractive, Rajjpuut says.
The official Obama number is 13-14 million illegal aliens now living in the United States. The real number is closer to 20-25 million according to estimates by conservative sources. Barack Obama is seeking via yet another “reform”^^ to make all those illegals over the age of 14 (an estimated 83% of them) into citizens. If, as suspected 80% of those 83% would cast votes for Democrats, he will have presumably locked in his party as the controlling entity in this country for the next 100 years since the single highest birth rate among the populace is within the Hispanic community. But the problem isn’t all away off in the possible future . . . Felipe Calderone and Barack Obama are conveniently overlooking the fact that thanks to the Federal Reserve Bans and the financial industry, Illegal Mexicans (that is just those illegals from Mexico, not including all those from Guatemala, Honduras and the rest of Central America) transfer roughly $22 Billion into the Mexican economy while also using up $284 Billion in American welfare programs and other “freebies.”
The so-called “remittance program” called Directo a Mexico overseen by the federal reserve banks is the culprit here. This program is so lax that Mexican drug lords use them to safely transfer money back to their homeland rather than risk carrying large amounts of cash southward. This mooching is only part of the problem. Mexican criminals importing their drugs and violence also add another $85 Billion in drain on our economy’s law enforcement. Obama and his Democrats applauded Calderone as he criticized the sovereign state of Arizona . . .
Rajjpuut says, deport tha A-hole Calderone along with those 20 million other leeches and the Federal Reserve and Obama and all others who are abetting all the illegality on our borders. Would you be surprised to know that federal reserve bankers inform illegal aliens that their savings are safe no matter what . . . if they get thrown in jail, if they get deported, if they lose their account number, no matter . . . the money gets to Mexico. And the drug cartels? There couldn’t be a more friendly money-laundering agency than your local federal reserve bank.
Ya’ll live long, strong and ornery,
Rajjpuut
^^ You didn’t realize that “reform” meant “obnoxious, expensive and unwanted CHANGE,” now did you? Yeah, Rajjpuut neither. Bet you always thought “reform” meant “improvement.”
Rasmussen Polls Highlight Big Opposition
to Obama Agenda on Several Fronts
If socialism and big government are the desired ends, Americans are not buying it according to the Rasmussen Reports polling service.
Item: The public appreciation of this president has plummeted recently. His latest approval sank to its lowest level (-20) today, Tuesday May 25, 2010, when the highly accurate Rasmussen Daily Presidential Tracking Poll shows President Obama’s favorability rating stands at -20 with only 24% of voters highly approving of the job he’s doing and 44% highly disapproving. Overall 42% at least somewhat approve of the President’s work while 56% disapprove. The negative fourteen (-14) point overall differential and the 42% overall approval numbers are both record lows for Obama on Rasmussen's daily tracking.
Item: 68% of Americans are against boycotts of Arizona over their new Immigration law. While Obama and the federal government are permitted 17 specific powers, 55% of voters would like a law like Arizona’s in their own state because they don’t believe the federal government is protecting our borders.
Item: when it comes to terrorism, 52% of voters say we are NOT safer today than we were on September 10, 2001 just before the 9/11 attacks.
As the rest of the poll data shows, it seems that in the voters’ eyes Mr. Obama is NOT doing what the federal government is supposed to do and doing everything else instead. It also appears that Americans do NOT want to be ruled from the left . . . or the right or the center, but want to rule themselves:
Item: 72% do not believe Congress knows what it’s doing when it comes to the economy. Along those lines, 41% expressed agreement with the statement that "a group of people randomly selected from the phone book would do a better job than Congress."
Item: It appears Nancy Pelosi was wrong when she said, “We’ll just have to pass it so people can see what’s in it (and you’ll love it)” in reference to the Obamacare health measures. 63% of American voters now favor repealing the bill. As a move toward socialism, roughly 390 separate government agencies are created by Obamacare – just one law. In contrast only 40 separate federal agencies were created by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in just over twelve years in office. Obama has been in office fifteen months.
Item: 65% of all Americans and a surprising 51% of Democrats now espouse “mainstream”^^ views up from 62% in March and 55% in September. Only 4% now support the “political class” (those numbers are staying steady at the lowest such reading in Rasmussen polling history). When “leaners” are included 81% align with the mainstream and 12% trend toward the political class.
Item: 67% of mainstream America consider Obamacare “bad for America” while 77% of the political class believe Obamacare is “good for America.”
Item: 76% of Americans say they trust the voters more than they do the politicians and 71% see the federal government as a”special interest group” looking out mainly for its own welfare. 70% believe that the government and big business generally work together for their own benefit against the interests of the people.
Ya’all live long, strong and ornery,
Rajjpuut
^^The three questions used to calculate the Political Class Index are:
-- Generally speaking, when it comes to important national issues, whose judgment do you trust more - the American people or America’s political leaders?
-- Some people believe that the federal government has become a special interest group that looks out primarily for its own interests. Has the federal government become a special interest group?
-- Do government and big business often work together in ways that hurt consumers and investors?
To create the "Mainstream-Political Class scale, each response earns a plus 1 for the mainstream answer, a minus 1 for the political class answer, and a 0 for not sure.
Those who score 2 or higher are considered part of the Mainstream. Those who score -2 or lower are considered to be aligned with the Political Class. Those who score +1 or -1 are considered leaners in one direction or the other.
In practical terms, if someone is classified with the Mainstream, they agree with the mainstream view on at least two of the three questions and don’t agree with the Political Class on any.
Rajjpuut Prediction Comes True:
Toyota Recalls Again Hit Lexus
For those of you looking to best understand the world of business and management across all human endeavor in and outside of business, government, education, etc., Rajjpuut highly recommends the book “The Rational Manager” (or its update “The New Rational Manager) by Kepner-Tregoe, Inc. A month ago when he predicted that Toyota’s new campaign to win people’s trust back would fail and that its random acceleration and steering problems were NOT actually fixed, Rajjpuut based his thinking on Kepner-Tregoe management principles and techniques. Lo’ and behold, now we find that Toyota problems have continued after all.
Today, Monday, May 24, 2010, Toyota executives announced the recall of 3,800 Lexus LS Sedans in order to fix a problem with the electronic (i.e. computerized) steering system. This recall comes on the heels of a 4,500 car recall in Japan last week for the same steering problems. According to Toyota sources, the Lexus steering wheel can become “off-centered” after “a specific driving maneuver” but not during “usual driving.” The Lexus steering wheel, controlled by a computer will purportedly be a quick and free fix. Again, just as in the computerized braking system failure, Toyota is NOT revealing exactly what’s gone wrong and exactly how it’ll be fixed. Based upon Rajjpuut’s understanding of K-T management systems, he won’t be buying any Toyota’s in the near future.
The Kepner-Tregoe system provides an overview of the management process as “situation analysis.” Once the situation is analyzed as either a problem to be solved; a decision that needs to be made; or an ongoing program or direction that needs to be safe-guarded from failure (PA, DA, PPA in K-T lingo), the manager uses specific K-T processes to answer the demands created by the situation. What struck Rajjpuut about the Lexus situation is
A. Another system controlled by computers is now malfunctioning for Toyota
B. Toyota never has precisely defined the original problem with its braking system and never said precisely how that problem was being repaired.
C. Toyota repeatedly has claimed the brake system snafu is a “mechanical problem” but has repeatedly shown itself unable to precisely explain what that problem is
D. Congressional hearings with Toyota were most unhelpful, apparently the congressmen have no idea of how best to efficiently question a manufacturing firm about problems with manufacturing processes or results.
E. Toyota has obstinately refused to allow for the possibility that something related to the computer or spurious signals “could NOT” be causing the problems.
So Rajjpuut’s newest prediction: the current braking and steering problems will continue to haunt Toyota. Do NOT expect Toyota’s to re-emerge as a trusted and safe and desirable part of the new car picture until: they can name and can demonstrate before an impartial reviewer the precise problem with their electronic braking; and electronic steering . . . which means Toyota can create the problem on demand and demonstrate the cause; and they then produce a “fix” that refutes the problem situation which also can be demonstrated. Until such a time arrives, all Toyota advertising and promising has to be considered nothing more than wishful thinking. Stay safe!
Ya’all live long, strong and ornery,
Rajjpuut
The Mayan Calendar calculated that the world would end on December 21, 2012. Their prediction was predicated on an astronomical alignment of the sun, at the winter solstice of 2012, with the center of our Milky Way galaxy. It happens only once every 26,000 years, and the same for the Age of Aquarius. Astrologers and the Mayans were aware of “what comes around goes around.”
The Mayans predicted a time of great sadness, that over-population, the lack of natural resources, and greed would bring down their civilization, bringing, therefore, a new beginning. What it would be remains a mystery. However, what was said gives us a clue. They said that “for half there would be food, for others misfortune. A time of the end of the word of god, a time for uniting for a cause.”
In the Bible’s story of the beginning, “God said, Let us make man in our image” (Gen. 1:26). In John 1:1, “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” In Greek, “word,” logos, logos is defined (in Greek philosophy) as the rational principle that governs and develops the universe; in Christian theology, the divine word or reason incarnate in Jesus Christ. To the Mayans, their sun god, word and reason connect, reason fundamental to the law. In Middle Age England, they called it the common law.
In Law Professor Edward S. Corwin’s The “Higher Law” Background of American Constitutional Law, we read, “The conception of the higher law pervades the Middle Ages; it also becomes sharpened to that of a code distinctively for rulers. (Pay attention, Obama.) In the pages of the Policraticus of Englishman, John of Salisbury, the first systematic writer on politics in the Middle Age, one learns that ‘there are certain precepts of the law which have perpetual necessity, having the force of law among all nations and which absolutely cannot be broken.’” “You picked a fine time to lead us, Barrack.” You’ve got it in the reverse, Obama. We’re transforming into the beings we are intended to be. Read on and learn what I learned.
After I read The “Higher Law” Background of American Constitutional Law, I was motivated to act on my constitutional rights. I saw my action as a bigger than life calling. Miraculously, my life was transformed, instead of toward dependence on the state, toward independence and reliance on my inner God-self. All of my dreams came true.
Getting back to the Bible, in the introduction of the Scofield Reference Bible, America’s most popular Bible, we read, “The Dispensations are distinguished, exhibiting the majestic, progressive order of the divine dealings of God with humanity, the increasing purpose which runs through and links together the ages, from the beginning of the life of man to the end in eternity. Augustine said: ‘Distinguish the ages and the Scriptures harmonize.’”
In his introduction, Scofield points out that “the saying that ‘anything may be proved by the Bible’ is both true and false—true if isolated passages are used; utterly false if the whole divine revelation is in view.”
According to quantum physicist Evan Harris Walker, in The Physics of Consciousness, in Chapter 18, “A God for Tomorrow,” Walker, quoting T.H. Huxley, “Extinguish theologian’s lie about the cradle of every science as the strangled snakes beside [the cradle of] Hercules.” Following his quote, Walker says, “materialism has served us well. It has enlightened us. It has brought us closer to many truths. But science’s investment in materialism has itself turned into a creed, with its own high priests ready to torment the unorthodox.” (Walker is seen by his colleagues as an unorthodox scientist.)
Says Walker, religion is dying a slow death. Say I, bring in social justice, the politics of doing for the good of all, and the religious jumping on the idea like a Mockingbird on a June bug, they are singing, Darling, I am growing old. Says Walker, in agreement, that the earth might be “freed of the self-righteous,” those “who raise the specter of eternal condemnation, those who instill guilt in children and the frail of mind, and those who have inflicted pain, inflamed hatred, and fostered wars in the name of this or that religion,” say I, “Amen to this truth.”
Says Walker, in speaking of a god for tomorrow: “it has only been with the advent of quantum theory that we have discovered proof that we exist as something more than pieces of matter. . . Consciousness exists. And for the first time we have used the instruments of scientific investigation to fit its existence into the overall tapestry of reality. For the first time, we understand what consciousness is.”
Says distinguished philosopher and cultural historian Richard Tarnas in Cosmos and Psyche, speaking of “radical social thought and political movements, technological and scientific revolutions, erotic emancipation, and the unleashing of the forces of nature, of violence and destruction, and of self-destruction,” he says we are now in “a cycle of crises and contraction,” a three to four year cycle, with a “widespread sense of epochal closure: the ‘end of an era.’” With Saturn in unfavorable alignment with Pluto, says Tarnas, it means “decadence, naiveté, denial, and inflation.” Just by coincidence, this unfavorable alignment happens in the month Obama was elected and ends with the end of Obama’s term of office.
Coincidentally, I was born, on September 17, 1925, at 4:51 P.M. C.S.T., in Houston, Texas. You astrologers can look me up and you will find that I’m Virgo with Aquarius rising—and that Saturn, the learning planet was trine Pluto, the generational planet, when I was born. A trine is the most favorable of Saturn-Pluto alignments. Is it Obama’s thinking you want to follow or this Aquarian with Saturn trine Pluto? Astrologer’s Handbook, under “Saturn Trine Pluto,” “This trine gives the natives the ability to understand the laws by which subtle forces are organized. . .They are able to work slowly and make fundamental and irrevocable changes in their own and others’ lives. Often there s a sense of destiny or a peculiar karmic mission which they must fulfill.” My mission was assigned to me by voices from the past. When I learned my Constitution, I had a bigger than life calling.
I’m Aquarius rising, an Aquarian messenger. Astrologer’s Handbook, under “Aquarius:” Individuals born under this sign of brotherhood and fraternity have as their symbol the water bearer, who spills out to mankind the life-force of spiritual energy.”
Joseph Campbell, one of the leading authorities on myths, in speaking about his work, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, said: “heroes in mythology are written about because that’s worth writing about. Someone who can create something more than the normal range of human experience, someone who has given his life to something bigger than life,” taking note that “the world is full of people that have stopped listening to themselves or have listened only to their neighbors to learn what they ought to do, how they ought to behave, and what the values are that they should be living for,” coincidentally, in Astrologer’s Handbook, we read under “Pisces,” “Pisces is a sensitive sign and those born under it are extremely responsive to the thoughts and feeling of other. They unconsciously absorb the ideas and mental outlook of those around them. They desperately want to do the right thing, but as a rule they do not have strong willpower.” Under “Aquarius,” we read, “Aquarians have eccentric temperaments and are determined and stubborn. They sometimes feel that those who are listening to them are unreceptive and incapable of comprehending their ideas, and they tend to become annoyed when people fail to understand them.”. . Aquarians operate as equals among equals. However, they are not dependent on their environments for their security, because they derive this from being in the company of others. Do you want to follow my thinking or Obama’s thinking?
With the end nearing fast, and the Sword of Damocles hanging over us, Astrologer’s Handbook: The natives of Saturn trine Pluto, and Aquarians, with tremendous willpower, relentless in working toward a goal, who will lead the way? According to quantum physicist Walker, we have found God’s hiding place. “Some have failed to see any place—any space—where God could reside, and other have failed to see where any consciousness could hide within the atoms of matter. . .Consciousness, the substance of this newfound reality that defines the observer, has fundamental existence. It is the quantum mind that is the basic reality.” The quantum mind knows a dimension of infinite possibility, says the cutting edge of science. So, believe it or not, the end is the beginning of an age when anything is possible.
Those who have faith in their fathers, but still hunger for some god we can all know, are beating a dead horse. Referring back to Scofield’s introduction, don’t take isolated passages out of the Bible as God’s word. View the Bible in its overall context. Remember Scofield’s advice. You are here with the “progressive order of the divine dealings of God with humanity, the increasing purpose which runs through and links together the ages, from the beginning of the life of man to the end in eternity. Augustine said: ‘Distinguish the ages and the Scriptures harmonize.’”
Rasmussen Polls Highlight Big Opposition
to Obama Socialist Agenda
to Obama Socialist Agenda
If socialism and big government are the desired ends, Americans are not buying it according to the highly accurate Rasmussen Reports polling service.
Item: 68% of Americans are against boycotts of Arizona over their new Immigration law. While Obama and the federal government are permitted 17 specific powers, 55% of voters would like a law like Arizona’s in their own state because they don’t believe the federal government is protecting our borders.
Item: when it comes to terrorism, 52% of voters say we are NOT safer today than we were on September 10, 2001 just before the 9/11 attacks.
As the rest of the poll data shows, it seems that in the voters’ eyes Mr. Obama is NOT doing what the federal government is supposed to do and doing everything else instead. It also appears that Americans do NOT want to be ruled from the left . . . or the right or the center, but want to rule themselves:
Item: 72% do not believe Congress knows what it’s doing when it comes to the economy. Along those lines, 41% expressed the opinion that a group of people randomly selected from the phone book would do a better job than Congress.
Item: Rasmussen’s Daily Presidential Tracking Poll shows President Obama’s favorability rating stands at -18 with only 25% of voters highly approving of the job he’s doing and 43% highly disapproving. Overall 44% at least somewhat approve of the President’s work while 55% disapprove.
Item: It appears Nancy Pelosi was wrong when she said, “We’ll just have to pass it so people can see what’s in it (and you’ll love it)” in reference to the Obamacare health measures. 63% of American voters now favor repealing the bill. As a move toward socialism, roughly 390 separate government agencies are created by Obamacare – just one law. In contrast only 40 separate federal agencies were created by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in just over twelve years in office. Obama has been in office fifteen months.
Item: 65% of all Americans and a surprising 51% of Democrats now espouse “mainstream”^^ views up from 62% in March and 55% in September. Only 4% now support the “political class” (those numbers are staying steady at the lowest such reading in Rasmussen polling history). When “leaners” are included 81% align with the mainstream and 12% trend toward the political class.
Item: 67% of mainstream America consider Obamacare “bad for America” while 77% of the political class believe Obamacare is “good for America.”
Item: 76% of Americans say they trust the voters more than they do the politicians and 71% see the federal government as a”special interest group” looking out mainly for its own welfare. 70% believe that the government and big business generally work together for their own benefit against the interests of the people.
Ya’all live long, strong and ornery,
Rajjpuut
^^The three questions used to calculate the Political Class Index are:
-- Generally speaking, when it comes to important national issues, whose judgment do you trust more - the American people or America’s political leaders?
-- Some people believe that the federal government has become a special interest group that looks out primarily for its own interests. Has the federal government become a special interest group?
-- Do government and big business often work together in ways that hurt consumers and investors?
To create a scale, each response earns a plus 1 for the populist answer, a minus 1 for the political class answer, and a 0 for not sure.
Those who score 2 or higher are considered a populist or part of the Mainstream. Those who score -2 or lower are considered to be aligned with the Political Class. Those who score +1 or -1 are considered leaners in one direction or the other.
In practical terms, if someone is classified with the Mainstream, they agree with the mainstream view on at least two of the three questions and don’t agree with the Political Class on any.
Massachusetts is showing a new level of obnoxious . . .
Patriotism: a High-Demand Commitment
Part II: Guaranteeing Our Freedoms
Audacity of Presidential Power-Grabbing
Abhorent to Nation’s Founders
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalism
http://www.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2009/06/01/meaning-of-federalism/
http://www.umt.edu/law/faculty/natelson.htm
In the first installment of this series on constitutional-conservativism
(http://rajjpuutsfolly.blogtownhall.com/2010/05/19/obama,_mainstream_media_label_tea_party_insurgents.thtml) we looked at freedom, per se. Rajjpuut continues with a close look at personal and state freedoms as discussed in the all-important 10th Amendment, sometimes known as the “Federalism Amendment.”
(http://rajjpuutsfolly.blogtownhall.com/2010/05/19/obama,_mainstream_media_label_tea_party_insurgents.thtml) we looked at freedom, per se. Rajjpuut continues with a close look at personal and state freedoms as discussed in the all-important 10th Amendment, sometimes known as the “Federalism Amendment.”
Barack Obama is the national nightmare that some supporters of the Articles of Confederation and other anti-constitutionalists back at the nation’s founding strenuously condemned. Seemingly ignoring all seventeen of the allotted powers (enforcing our borders; standing up to our nation’s traditional enemies; obeying the uniform laws of bankrupties; and keeping treaties with our friends are all powers which Barack Obama has not chosen to exercise according to the folks in Arizona; South Korea; certified creditors of GM in Indiana; and allies in Poland to name just a few instances), Obama has made himself a picnic in abusing the constitution by advancing powers NOT granted by the Constitution. Many thought that Franklin Delano Roosevelt grossly overstepped the bounds of federalism with the 40 new agencies his administrations created. Barack Obama created almost 390 new agencies just in one law: Obamacare.
The powers of the federal government are listed in Article I, Section 8. They are available for anyone to read and simple to understand. More importantly, these powers
A. follow a simple, predictable pattern and
B. Much discussion was also made of which powers the federal government definitely did not have and should not have.
In its obvious general outline of powers for the federal government which amount to the 17 specific powers allowed, the Constitution provides for a government which protects the nation’s borders and defends against foreign invasion by maintaining an efficient army and navy; deals with custom and tariff matters; conducts foreign relations including war and treaties; settles disputes among the states and facilitates trade and intercourse among the American people and states and with the peoples and states within sovereign foreign nations.
Before looking at the powers the founding fathers refused to grant to the federal government, it’s crucial to understand that in a federal system such as ours the efforts over the entire two hundred plus years of the nation’s existence to turn the states into “departments or extensions” within the federal government . . . that is, into mere “administrative units” of the national govermnet is the greatest single threat to our nation’s survival as the founders foresaw and planned for it. Recent “States Rights” discussions (that is, up until the contemporary furor in Arizona over that state’s immigration laws and the 21 State “rebellion” against Obamacare directiives for the states that would literally bankrupt every state both calling for a new appreciation of the 10th Amendment to the Constitution) arguments were as insipid as the notion that people wishing upon stars might somehow influence the cosmos to somehow influence our fates. Lyndon Johnson’s expansion of the “Welfare State” is the prime example of this insidious trend both in Welfare itself and in Medicaid especially . . . the states were turned into administrative arms of the federal government’s policies. Nixon’s policies of “federalistically” turning over large grants of federal monies to the states has undoubted great practical value, but only confuses the issue . . . why is that money in the federal hands in the first place?
Federalism, and specifically the 10th Amendment, is the single greatest system ever devised for the protection of individual and state liberties and for providing counter-balance to over-reaching by the federal entities. Powerful centralized government is the threat to our listed freedoms and to freedom of action. That is, because we don’t have LISTED LIBERTIES for the individual or the states . . . but they are free to do whatever is not listed as criminal . . . we have true liberty. Confusion about the limits of federal government must be cleared up and must be always aligned with the intents of the founding fathers if this blessed state of liberty is to prevail. All powers NOT listed in the Constitution are specifically reserved for the states and individual citizens.
And just how far has the nation strayed from this wise path? Virtually no one today understands the breadth of discussion, consideration and debate that ensued once it was popularly agreed that the Articles of Confederation were too weak. During the argument going on over possible adoption of the Constitution, the Constitution’s advocates also enumerated powers the federal government absolutely would not have. The Bill of Rights was, one answer to critics. The most Republican document in the world still stands us in good stead 223 years after its creation. But the biggest protection, the thing that satisfied virtually all the Constitution’s detractors was the addition to the Bill of Rights of the last of the original Amendments: the 10th Amendment. The federal government would NOT be granted the potential for unlimited power but severely limited in power and abuse potential and all powers NOT specifically enumerated for the federal government would be reserved to the individual states and to individual citizens.
In addition, moreover, the Constitution’s proponents publicly told the people some of the important subjects which fell within the states’ exclusive jurisdiction - and outside the federal government’s control in a variety of speeches, newspaper articles, letters, and pamphlets. Chief among these proponents were, of course Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. Other names of note include:
James Wilson (convention delegate and chief proponent in Pennsylvania), Edmund Pendleton (chancellor of Virginia and chairman of his state’s ratifying convention), James Iredell (North Carolina judge, pro-Constitution floor leader at his state’s ratifying convention and later U.S. Supreme Court Justice), Maryland Congressman Alexander Contee Hanson, Nathaniel Peaslee Sargeant (a Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court), Alexander White (Virginia lawyer, ratifier, and later U.S. Senator), prominent businessman Tench Coxel and John Marshall (ratifier and later U.S. Chief Justice).
Here are some of the powers they solemnly promised would be outside the federal sphere:
- governance of religion
- training the militia and appointing militia officers
- control over local government
- most crimes
- state justice systems
- family affairs
- real property titles and conveyances
- wills and inheritance
- the promotion of useful arts in ways other than granting patents and copyrights
- control of personal property outside of commerce
- governance of the law of torts and contracts, except in suits between citizens of different states
- education
- services for the poor and unfortunate
- licensing of taverns
- roads other than post roads
- ferries and bridges
- regulation of fisheries, farms, and other business enterprises.
The vast majority of these areas have been encroached upon by the federal government already. For example, the national endowment for the arts and other such organization is not a federal matter; involvement in the welfare state is forbidden; as is educational involvement; interstate highways; income taxes; inheritance taxes; family affairs; the national guard as we know it; control of personal property; and a hundred other areas where the federal government has crossed the line drawn by the 10th Amendment.
Right now our National Debt is approaching $14 TRillion; more shockingly our national obligation for Government Spending Boondoggles and Government Interference Boondoggles (GSBs and GIBs such as Social Security, Medicare and the federal side of Medicaid) has reached $109 TRillion . . . all this problem debt was created in areas where the Constitution forbid the federal government to tread. The lifeblood of the nation has been poisoned by this wanton and total ignorance and denial of the 10th Amendment. Most Americans not only don’t understand the provisions of the 10th Amendment, but because of the welfare state and the gross entitlement sentiment many citizens would also feel threatened by the loss of federal government involvement. The problems are exacerbated when its realized that these programs were all created as set asides and that congress never obeyed its own laws and set the money aside for these programs. Here, then lies the root cause of our present fiscal unaccountability and the potential for danger from the Obama administration’s headlong power grab . . . .
Ya’all live long, strong and ornery,
Rajjpuut
http://johnnygosch.com/cos.htm
Please Check Out This Video, It Will Take a Little Less Than a Hour. If You Appreciate It Please Post It Around The Internet.
Thank You
Sincerely
Daniel
It was obvious we desperately needed Scott Brown's 41st vote in the Senate against ObamaCare, but since that failed miserably, Brown's vote in favor of the socialist takeover of the Financial Services industry is a shot to the stomach. This bill gives overwhelming power to the government, and completely ignors a basic ingredient to the economic crisis our country faces today - Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
FINANCIAL REGULATION BILL IS SOCIALISM
So how did it pass? Four Republicans sold out, that´s how! http://bit.ly/aHDZcu
61% NOW Say “Government, STAY OUT!" of Housing Markets
The latest Rasmussen Reports poll says it all . . . ultimately, that infamous creature H.L. Mencken called “Boobus Americanus” gets exactly the sort of government it deserves. Clearly, the great unwashed masses called for and deserved Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and all the progressive Republicans and Democrats now poisoning our system and they got ‘em. When it comes to politics and government, ignorance is NOT bliss and for far too long the Boobus Americanus has willfully remained glued to their sitcoms and IRreality shows and ignorant of economics, politics, the Constitution and political history.
According to the latest Rasmussen poll, 61% of Americans say it is better for the economy when the government stays out of the housing market. That’s an eight-point jump since September and only 21% believe the economy is helped by the government using taxpayer money to subsidize new home buying as is currently the case through government programs begun last year. Much more importantly, 95% of Americans do NOT realize that the government has been guaranteeing mortgages to Americans who can NOT afford them for thirty-three years now – that is the government has been forcing banks and lending institutions to knowingly make bad loans since the passage of the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (CRA ’77) under Jimmy Carter. The latest programs from Obama are scheduled to end over the next six months during the first fourteen months under Obama, these programs have made the housing market even worse then they were and currently foreclosures are higher than they ever have been.
Look at those statistics: 61% believe it’s best when government stays out of the housing market altogether. 21% think the government helps the housing market and 17% don’t know what effect government interference boondoggles (GIBs) like mortgage guarantees bring. Only abject ignorance can account for these statistics. In September, only 53% doubted GIBs make the housing market stronger. Americans willfully stay ignorant and then they’re shocked, absolutely shocked when things go wrong: that’s the sad history of Boobus Americanus.
A year ago President Obama announced a national mortgage assistance plan and Americans did NOT jump up in arms knowing that four different mortgage guarantee programs by the government, or more correctly by progressives in the government (those who believe we must “progress” beyond the Constitution) were the driving forces of the sub-prime lending crisis that brought us to our knees. Americans continue to show little short- or long-term confidence in the housing market, and belief that the family home is a wise investment has fallen to its lowest point ever in our history. 64% of adults say it is at least somewhat likely that government intervention in the housing market has made it possible for people to buy homes that they can’t afford. That figure includes 32% who say it is very likely (the only intelligent people in the survey?) while the most foolish 28% believe it is not very or not at all likely that the government programs encouraged people to buy “too much house.” What rock have they been living under for the last 33 years?
The New York Times in April said “the Obama administration’s $75 billion program to protect homeowners from foreclosure has been widely pronounced a disappointment, and some economists and real estate experts now contend it has done more harm than good (DO YOU THINK?). … Treasury officials appear to have concluded that growing numbers of delinquent borrowers simply lack enough income to afford their homes and must be eased out.”
The New York Times has been backing progressive causes and progressive politicians since John the Baptist first took swimming lessons and only now do they tell us that government interference in housing is a bad idea? What, pray, NYT do you think about government interference in every other non-government sphere of our lives?
Let’s first look at the sad and deplorable history of this GIB (government interference boondoggle) called ‘mortgage guaranteeing.’ Since World War II the United States’ already high rate of home ownership tends to vary from 61-65% depending upon the economy, the highest in the world. The CRA ’77 under Jimmy Carter, forced banks to make bad loans in the inner cities to potential buyers they would have rejected in a heartbeat for earnings or credit history. In ’92 Freddy Mac and Fanny Mae, the two semi-federal mortgage companies were forced under the CRA program to help guarantee such mortgages, Bush #1 was not crazy about the idea but an election was coming up and he would NOT veto.
Under Clinton, in ’95 and again in ’98 forced loan expansion continued within CRA continued. The ’98 expansion put the whole system on steroids and with the help of ACORN put us into our present debacle. ACORN with lawyers like Barack Obama (he worked for them in ’94- 96 at least) shaking down banks and other lenders forced terribly ill-advised loans to people with no rental home address; no ID; no job; horrific credit ratings; and even to tens of thousands of illegal aliens. Americans have shown no interest in this problem . . . and the mainstream media has only been too glad to keep them in ignorance about this monstrous progressive gutting of our financial stability. Let’s look at reality a bit more closely.
Since the USA had the world’s highest rate of home ownership (typically 64%) then the free market system must NOT have been broken. Congress’s “repair of the free market system was a huge attack on the landlord class. That is, an attack on the self-made man or woman . . . those most exemplifying the American Dream. Most Americans are too busy keeping up with the Joneses these days to truly understand the American Dream.
Most Americans foolishly believe that millionaires got their money from mummy and daddy and live flashy lives with mansions, glitzy cars and a jet-set lifestyle. This may be true for some Americans but it is NOT the way millionaires are made and it’s definitely untrue of most millionaires. The typical self-made millionaire family consists of two married teachers or a teacher married to someone with a profession. They are frugal and keep their debts ultra-low. They might try a bit of investing in the stock market, but most typically they buy a bit of rental property (houses, condos, townhouses and apartment buildings) and become landlords and landladies. These are the people that CRA ’77 and its expansions targeted: the very best in America. Almost surprisingly they wind up with assets of two or three million dollars . . . and what exactly is their crime? They provide low-income workers and transient workers (some of whom are not low income) with affordable housing. For this service they are vilified by the progressives who pass laws to make their financial existence perilous.
Back to Rasmussen’s polling: 67% of Americans believe if someone cannot afford to make increased mortgage payments, it is better for them to sell their home and find a less expensive one, a 10-point increase from December 2007. Just 23% now say it’s better for the government to assist them in making their payments. In December 2007, 54% placed the blame for the mortgage crisis on “individuals who borrowed more than they could afford” -- while this is true, in their ignorance Americans put no blame on ACORN; no blame on progressive politicians who passed four ever-increasing GIBs; no blame on shake-down artist lawyers like Barack Obama; no blame for the mainstream media that conveniently never chose to cover this story; and, most importantly of course, no blame for themselves for NOT staying informed and for NOT voting against progressive policies and politicians while always looking eagerly for the next free lunch (GIB or GSB**) from them. In other words Americans either still remain ignorant of the truth or they are willfully denying our reality and their role in creating it.
And one last bit of statistics from the Rasmussen Reports story: Four percent (4%) say they or someone in their family received government help in the past year to buy a home or meet mortgage payments. Ninety-three percent (93%) say they did not. Six percent (6%) of Democrats and five percent (5%) of voters not affiliated with either major party say they or someone in their family benefited from government housing help in the past year, compared to one percent (1%) of Republicans (you know them, the self-made millionaires). Rajjpuut would add that the single best way to help the poor is to ensure that you never become one of them and end up competing for their resources. The second best way to help the poor is to step out of the free market’s way (by cutting taxes Ronald Reagan created 21 million jobs in his eight years in office). The third best way is to cut government spending.
Here's something else most Americans don't know . . . . Our progressive president Woodrow Wilson left us with a depression as great as the one inherited by the much-ballyhood progressive Democrat FDR who inherited a mess from Progressive Republican president Herbert Hoover . . . but no one ever heard of that depression. Why?
President Warren G. Harding and his Vice-President Calvin Coolidge (after Harding died in office) cut BOTH taxes and spending by roughly 50% and the problem cleared up by mid 1922. within 19 months of them taking office. In contrast, Roosevelt who ran under pledges to act like Harding and Coolidge and cut both taxes and government spending acted instead like Barack Obama and proved himself a liar when he made those pledges, thus extending the Depression to almost a dozen years until the war bailed him out. Not to mention FDR’s stealing American’s gold by forced confiscation at $20.76 an ounce and than inflating the American currency to $35 an ounce . . . an almost 70% overnight inflation. Europe and the rest of the world had a Depression, American suffered a “Great Depression” thanks to Roosevelt’s GIBs and GSBs. Think about this Roosevelt created 40 brand new federal agencies with 40 new laws. BHO with his Obamacare – one law – created almost 390 new agencies. Enjoy your free lunch, Americans!
Ya’all live long, strong and ornery,
Rajjpuut
** Government Spending Boondoggles (GSBs) and Government Interference Boondoggles (GIBs) UNIFORMLY hurt the economy and the taxpayer but they are UNIFORMLY popular because no one has read or understood these simple, brief truths:
and, of course, the man who wrote “Dreams FROM My Father,” Barack Obama did not mention that his birth father’s dream included 100% taxation . . . and the media never investigated and/or told us either:
and you’ll note that politico.com like the NY Times above is a very liberal and even progressive source . . . so perhaps there's hope for America.
