2011: The beginning of the end of the great American health care system

WSJ:

New taxes on drug makers, lower prescription-drug costs for seniors and restrictions on tax-free medical spending accounts are among a slate of health-law provisions that kick in Saturday.

The changes show how the law will begin to reshape American health care, even as opponents try to overturn the measure in Congress and the courts.

Although House Republicans are threatening to starve the law of funding and stage a symbolic repeal vote, those actions aren't likely to block any significant pieces of the law aimed at consumers for 2011. That's because the changes generally involve new rules and don't require spending.

"The debate over defunding and repeal is going to be much more of a political story in 2011 than something that actually means something for consumers immediately," said Larry Levitt, vice president at the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation.

Over the longer term, however, Republicans could succeed in thwarting funding for staff and grants needed to put the law in place. The biggest changes, including new health-insurance exchanges and subsidies for lower earners, are set to happen in 2014.

Big Health-Care Changes Arrive in New Year

New Year Humor

What did a caterpillar do on New Year's Day? – It turns over a new leaf.



What’s once in a minute, twice in a moment, and never in a thousand years? - The letter M!



Did you hear about the three million dollar Redneck Lottery? - The winner gets three dollars a year for a million years.



What do vampires sing on New Year's Eve? - Auld Fang Syne!



Why did the man refuse to eat snails? - He only ate fast food.



Why do dragons sleep during the day? - So they can fight knights.



Why was the queen's room flooded? - Because she reigned for many years!



And,



What does the dentist of the year get? - A little plaque.

Thanks to Prof. Jacobson at Legal Insurrection

For promising to help fulfill my New Year resolution in 2011 :-)

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!

FBI Investigation Imminent?

How much more proof does anyone really need?

By the way, I am a 15 year veteran of print graphic design and have a Bachelor’s in Fine Art with a Concentration in Graphic Design and graduated magna cum laude and at the top of my class. I have 15 years of professional experience in dealing with print vendors, paper vendors, paper ordering and 15 years pre-press experience–including ordering embossed materials–and I have designed and ordered custom business letterhead too many times to mention. Six of those years I held the title of Creative Director. You can be certain my opinion is a professional opinion. Thank you again.

CBS: MEDICARE BUSTED BY 2017!

Starting New Year's Day 10,000 Will Reach Eligibility for Program Every Day for 19 Years, Risking Its Bankruptcy by 2017

Medicare Bound to Bust as First Boomers Hit 65

Wickard v. Filburn key to overturning Obamacare

From OBAMACARE CLASS ACTION

Despite all the doom and gloom in the news, 2010 marked a real beginning in America’s fight to take back its Constitution. Pelosi and Reid intended to expand Congressional power through Obamacare. But instead, Obamacare woke America up. For the first time in decades, average Americans are talking about the Constitution. Average Americans know what the “Commerce Clause” is and are actively advocating for a return to Constitutional limits on Congress. For the first time since the 40’s, the Supreme Court’s Wickard v. Filburn case is being discussed by people other than law school students. This is all very good news!

The Wickard v. Filburn case was one of the most important and tragic moments in American history. It changed the role of the Federal government in American life as dramatically as did the so-called Civil War. Yet until this year, most Americans had never even heard of Wickard v. Filburn. Since our Obamacare Class Action’s primary goal is to overturn Wickard, let me take this opportunity to review the facts of Wickard:

Roscoe Filburn was an Ohio farmer growing wheat to feed his chickens, livestock, and family during the great depression. In order to drive up wheat prices the U.S. government had imposed limits on farmers’ wheat production. Roscoe was growing more than the overlords in DC permitted. So, the Department of Agriculture ordered Roscoe to destroy his crops and pay a fine, even though he was producing the excess wheat for his own use and had no intention of selling it.

Rather than pay the fine and destroy food during a food shortage, Roscoe sued the Federal government arguing that the “Agriculture Adjustment Act of 1938” was beyond the Constitutional authority of Congress. Filburn argued that because the excess wheat was produced for his private consumption on his own farm, it never entered commerce at all, much less interstate commerce, and therefore was not subject to Federal regulation under the Commerce Clause.

The Federal District Court ruled in favor of Filburn. The government then appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, which called District Court's holding against the Department of Agriculture a "manifest error." The court went on to uphold the Act under the Interstate Commerce Clause. The Supreme Court decided that, because Filburn's wheat growing activities reduced the amount of wheat he would buy for chicken feed on the open market, and because wheat was traded nationally, Filburn's production of more wheat than he was allotted was affecting interstate commerce, and could be regulated by the federal government.

Now, it must be understood that for the first 150 years after the ratification of the Constitution all three branches of government understood that Congressional authority under the Commerce Clause was very limited. It was well established that this clause was intended to allow Congress to prevent individual states from imposing unfair barriers to commerce between the states, such as tariffs and home-state favorable regulations.

As an example of how central this principal of limited Federal government was to our Republic, we need only consider President James Madison’s 1817 veto of a bill that would have provided Federal funds for construction of roads, canals, and navigable waterways. President Madison wrote a letter to Congress explaining that his reason for vetoing the bill was that Congress had no authority under the enumerated powers of the Constitution to spend public funds on such projects. Madison explained that for the Constitution to survive the Federal government must remain limited to the specific tasks that the States had granted it authority to perform. Think about that for a minute folks. In 1817 a President who had been personally involved in the ratification of the Constitution reminded Congress that the Federal government didn’t have the power to spend public funds on roads. How far we’ve fallen…

It should also be noted that when the Wickard v. Filburn case reached the Supreme Court the Department of Agriculture had asserted a defense that would have caused the case to be thrown out, but then the Department mysteriously waived its defense. You see, the fix was in. For several years before Wickard v. Filburn, the FDR packed Supreme Court had been deciding cases that dramatically increased Congressional authority. I suspect that the Department of Agriculture somehow knew that Wickard v. Filburn would go their way in the Supreme Court. The FDR administration certainly wanted a case that would sweep away any remaining remnants of the old Republic’s Constitutional limitations and empower Congress to do whatever it wanted. With a World War raging, and the outcome of that war uncertain, 1942 was the perfect time to centralize power in DC. Unfortunately this fundamental shift in power went unnoticed. The government of our Founding Fathers was swept away and our history classes never reported it in our government funded schools.

For six decades Congress regulated anything that moved and taxed anything that didn’t. For six decades the Supreme Court upheld Congress’ authority to regulate anything. Many lawsuits were brought challenging Congressional mandates, but all fell to the new logic of Wickard v. Filburn. Finally in 1995 a small ray of hope emerged. United States v. Lopez (1995) was the first decision to invalidate a federal statute on the grounds that it exceeded the power of Congress under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. Unfortunately, the Lopez decision was very limited, and has not been expanded upon significantly.

But now, with Obamacare taking Federal authority to an all-time high, with Americans waking up to this problem, we once again have an opportunity to regain our Constitutional Republic by overturning Wickard v. Filburn. We do not want a decision that simply eliminates the individual mandate of Obamacare. We need the Supreme Court to recognize that Wickard v. Filburn left zero limitations on Federal authority. We need the Supreme Court to recognize that Obamacare is a milestone in Congressional abuse and that that abuse arose BECAUSE of Wickard v. Filburn.

This is what Liberty Legal Foundation is fighting to accomplish. This is what you support by being part of the Obamacare Class Action and when you donate to Liberty Legal Foundation. Please tell everyone you know the story of Roscoe Filburn. Tell them about President James Madison’s letter to Congress in 1817. Show them how we lost our Constitution in 1942, and how we can restore it through the OCA lawsuit.

2011 will be a great year, with your help, as we continue to defend the Constitution.

In Liberty,
Van Irion
President, Lead Counsel, Co-Founder
Liberty Legal Foundation

Tea Partiers, start your engines. The great battle for the soul and future of America is about to begin.

ObamaCare knockout: America awaits GOP's punch

We are abandoning the rule of law for the rule by bureaucrats

Forbes: Unelected officials have been given the power to fundamentally remake industries based on their political and value judgments...

Here, folks, we see the usual pattern of liberal, big-government demagogues. They proclaim that they — as the protectors of the people — will ensure the public gets many more benefits for much lower costs. When it becomes evident they can’t deliver on their promises, the demagogues turn to price controls, along with more threats and regulations, as the only way to “stem the greed.” As a result, companies that had been participating in the market begin to drop out, reducing competition and choice. The whole market becomes even more dysfunctional, and the government feels justified in stepping in for a full-scale takeover.

How the Democrats plan on taking over the government on January 5th, 2011

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has been scheming behind closed doors to use his slim majority to vote on January 5 for the most drastic rules changes since 1975...

Reid's Rules Scheme To Rewrite Defeat

Bookerista Baby

2011: "Active waiting" in the New Year

Hawaii guv suddenly 'mum' on Obama birth 'certificate'

After blizzard of attacks on 'birthers,' Abercrombie now avoids interviews...

Obamacare preview: Swedish man forced to have his penis amputated after waiting more than a year to learn he had cancer.

Man's penis amputated following misdiagnosis

There've been scores of warnings about the horror stories of socialized healthcare -- see some of them in the health care article archives at the bottom of this blog -- and the only chance we have left is for the repeal and defunding of the coming Obamacare disaster.

They died; Obama lied

In late 2007, as Obama began his ascent to be the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, in a span of 1½ months, all three men “conveniently” died...

DONALD YOUNG - LARRY BLAND - NATE SPENCER

"So when I hear people saying that this kind of narrow, one-party passage of major social legislation [Obamacare] is par for the course, I look it up for myself..."

FINAL CONGRESSIONAL VOTES ON MAJOR SOCIAL LEGISLATION

Israeli discovery changes the whole picture of evolution!

From Pamela Geller: Ancient human (400,000-year-old) remains found in Israel...

Armenia first to become Christian: 2 million old men, women and children were marched into the desert, thrown off cliffs or burnt alive

American Minute for December 28th:

Armenia was one of the first nations to become Christian around 301 AD, with its capitol of Ani called the "city of a 1,001 churches."

Muslim Turks began invading in the 11th century, making Christians second-class citizens called "dhimmi," and forcing boys to convert and serve in the Muslim army as "Janissaries," or in their pederasty. When the Turkish Ottoman Empire declined in the 1800's, Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania began winning their independence, but Armenia was trapped by Sultan Abdul Hamid, who killed 100,000.

During World War I, "Young Turks" implemented a genocidal plan to rid Turkey of Armenians. They first recruited unsuspecting Armenian young men into the military, then made them "non-combatant" workers, then marched them into the woods and deserts where they were ambushed and massacred. With Armenian cities and villages now defenseless, nearly 2 million old men, women and children were marched into the desert, thrown off cliffs or burnt alive. Armenian cities of Kharpert, Van and Ani were leveled. Russia came to their aid till the Bolshevik revolution began.

Armenia's pleas at the Paris Peace Conference led Democrat President Wilson in a failed effort to make Armenia a U.S. protectorate. Woodrow Wilson, who was born DECEMBER 28, 1856, had addressed Congress, May 24, 1920:

The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations has established the truth of the reported massacres and other atrocities from which the Armenian people have suffered...deplorable conditions of insecurity, starvation, and misery now prevalent in Armenia...Sympathy for Armenia among our people has sprung from untainted consciences, pure Christian faith and an earnest desire to see Christian people everywhere succored in their time of suffering.

ENDNOTES:

Wilson, (Thomas) Woodrow. May 24, 1920, special message to Congress asking permission to assume the mandate for Armenia under the League of Nations. A Compilation of the Messages & Papers of the Presidents 20 vols. (NY: Bureau of National Literature, Inc., prepared under a Joint Committee on Printing, of the House & Senate, pursuant to an Act of the 52nd Congress of the U.S., 1893, 1923), Vol. XVIII, pp. 8853-8855.

[Brought to you by AmericanMinute.com'

CDR Charles Kerchner Speaks out about the Court-Martial of Lt. Col. Terry Lakin

“HIS OWN DEFENSE ATTORNEY BROKE HIM”

...this is not over. The eligibility issue with Obama is not going away. It is getting stronger. More and more people are aware of this issue every month. The truth will come out some day. The usurper-in-chief Obama and his Marxist/Socialist cronies out to destroy our constitution and country will be exposed some day. LTC Lakin will be vindicated and Obama will be totally exposed in history for the phony and fraud he is. And hopefully at that point Obama will be the one put in prison along with many, many of the people guilty of helping him perpetrate the fraud in the first place and of misprision of a felony in allowing this to go on this long.

Read the whole thing

Obama sneaks "death panels" in through the back door while no one's looking

WASHINGTON — When a proposal to encourage end-of-life planning touched off a political storm over “death panels,” Democrats dropped it from legislation to overhaul the health care system. But the Obama administration will achieve the same goal by regulation, starting Jan. 1.

Democratic Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon)--author of the original "death panel" legislation--instructs his cohorts to conceal the information:

We would ask that you not broadcast this accomplishment out to any of your lists, even if they are ‘supporters’ — e-mails can too easily be forwarded.

TRANSPARENCY is the big lie in the Obama administration!

Read the whole thing

UPDATE (FYI):
Bush vetoed the end of life provision that went into law in 2008!

NYC Russians Flock to GOP – Say Democrats Are “Too Socialist”

GatewayPundit: Many New York City Russians are reportedly flocking to the Republican Party, claiming that the national Democrats’ “socialistic” policies remind them too much of Mother Russia’s top-down oligarchy they fled from in the past.

World's Youngest Yoga Teacher

World's youngest yoga teacher, six, hailed as a miracle at Indian ashram

The best I ever felt was the eight years I did Iyengar Yoga with my teacher Anna Delury from the late 1980's through the 1990's. At one point Jerry Seinfeld, Michael Richards, and Annette Bening were in Anna's class.

Former Hawaii Senior Elections Clerk: "There is no long form birth record" for Obama!

CITIZEN WELLS



And more: Apparently, we are about to see the lengths to which Neil Abercrombie will go, in order to cover ‘Barrack’s’ butt...

Government Waste: 20 Of The Craziest Things That The U.S. Government Is Spending Money On

You are not going to believe some of the things that the U.S. government is spending money on...

Shining eyes: "I will never say anything that couldn't stand as the last thing I ever say."

Benjamin Zander on music and passion: 20 minutes to shining eyes!

Benjamin Zander: Conductor, Teacher, Speaker

Map Showing Where $130 Billion in Earmarks Went, by State, District, and Politician

INTERACTIVE MAP

Who will be next?

ARMY RANGER GOES TO PRISON FOR 25 YEARS FOR SHOOTING AL QAEDA OPERATIVE

MILITARY PROSECUTORS WITHHOLD EVIDENCE

DEFEND MICHAEL!

A border collie named Chaser has learned over 1,000 words -- more than any other animal

Psychologists Alliston Reid and John Pilley of Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C., wanted to test if there was a limit to the amount of words a border collie could learn, so they taught Chaser the names of hundreds of toys, one by one, slowly and patiently, for three years.

Read more

What I got for Christmas

Freedom...and peace

Mysterious lights in the sky and even a flying saucer are among the reported UFO sightings detailed in classified documents released by New Zealand’s military this week.

The files also cover the country’s best-known UFO mystery in 1978...

...one of the 5 issues that dramatically changes the world as we know it.

It's always what you can't see that gets you...

A Christmas message from Al Gore

Why Christians are losing America

Spectacular exposé of who and what is destroying nation's core biblical values

U.S. Naval Institute: Obama was outmaneuvered by Russians on START

Vice Admiral Gerald E. Miller (Ret.)
U.S. Naval Institute - December 23, 2010

President Barack Obama was outmaneuvered by the Russians and should have abandoned the New START negotiations instead of seeking a political victory, says former nuclear plans monitor Vice Admiral Jerry Miller, USN (Ret).

“The Obama administration is continuing a dated policy in which we cannot even unilaterally reduce our own inventory of weapons and delivery systems without being on parity with the Russians,” Miller told the U.S. Naval Institute in Annapolis, Md. “We could give up plenty of deployed delivery systems and not adversely affect our national security one bit, but New START prohibits such action - so we are now stuck with some outmoded and useless elements in our nuke force...”

Miller, who helped prepare the National Strategic Target List and Single Integrated Operational Plan for waging nuclear war and later participated in arms control meetings with the Soviet government, expressed concern that START could leave the United States vulnerable to other emerging threats.

Read more

Remember abandoned and abused children this holiday season!

The My Stuff Bags Foundation provides comfort and a message of hope to abused and neglected children entering crisis and foster care through its unique program, My Stuff Bags.

Sadly, more than 300,000 children across America must be rescued each year from dangerous home environments. That’s over 34 children per hour! Traumatized by the events leading to their rescue, these children often arrive without any of their own belongings: no favorite stuffed animal, no special “blankie.” They are afraid and need something to hold onto!

My Stuff Bags

Joseph Farah challenges Bill O'Reilly...still no answer!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A challenge to Bill O’Reilly
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: July 30, 2009
1:00 am Eastern

www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=105366

© 2010

I have a challenge to my old buddy Bill O’Reilly – put up or shut up!

You told your viewers this week that challenges to Barack Obama’s constitutional eligibility are “bogus.”

You claimed you and your news organization examined Obama’s birth certificate last year and found it to be in order.

Can I ask a question, Bill? Why don’t you simply reveal to your viewers exactly what you saw and what you found?

Fox News Channel’s slogan is, “We report, you decide.” Why don’t you try actually reporting the story, rather than deciding for us?

Send Obama a birthday surprise! FedEx your personalized letter to the president demanding that he prove his eligibility by producing his birth certificate. Only 4 days left!

Here’s the story, Bill, whether you recognize it or not: Tens of millions of Americans have serious doubts about Obama’s right to be in office. They are concerned that the system broke down and did not require proof of his constitutional qualifications. They don’t want double talk like they’ve been getting from politicians and the media elite. They don’t want more platitudinous assertions. They don’t expect to have their well-informed suspicions be ridiculed by the likes of you, Shepherd Smith, Chris Matthews, the New York Times, the Associated Press and the rest of the media monopoly singing in harmony.

The American people have figured out what you apparently are unable or unwilling to discern: Obama’s hiding something. One of the somethings he is undoubtedly hiding is his birth certificate.

I will go also out on a limb, Bill, and proclaim that you were, shall we say, disingenuous when you claimed to have inspected Obama’s birth certificate. If you got your hands on it, why didn’t you show it to your viewers? If your goal is, as you state, to put an end to a bogus story, the obvious way would have been to share with your audience what you saw.

I don’t think you saw anything, Bill.

I think maybe you saw the same thing all of us have seen, “ad nauseam,” to quote Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. I think you saw the certification of live birth – a totally meaningless document with regard to proving presidential eligibility.

Why is it meaningless with regard to proving constitutional eligibility as a “natural born citizen”? Simple. There were numerous easy ways to obtain one without being born in Hawaii!

What about the other heavyweight evidence cited as conclusive by people convinced that “birthers” are just a bunch of fruit loops? Those would be the two newspaper birth announcements appearing contemporaneously in two Hawaii dailies. Surely that settles the matter? No, it doesn’t. In fact, the newspaper ads were less meaningful than the certification of live birth because they were automatically generated by the issuance of that document.

So far, after listening very carefully to the case for Obama’s Hawaiian birth, that is the totality of evidence I have heard. Do you have anything else, Bill? What did your crack research team find? The people have a right to know.

Knowing what I have just told you, how is it possible you can be 100 percent convinced Obama was born in Hawaii? And, even if you are, what’s wrong with Obama springing for $10 and getting a copy of the original long-form birth certificate for the rest of us?

I’ll go further, Bill.

I think you liked taking a cheap shot at your worthy and honorable competitor at CNN, Lou Dobbs. Dobbs has showed great courage and independence in taking on a story against the public wishes of his network brass and bucking the tide of his entire industry.

You ought to admire that, Bill.

You ought to emulate it.

Furthermore, I think you chose the easy road on this story because you are sucking up to Obama in hopes of another one of those ratings-generating exclusive interviews in which the American people learn nothing. That’s not good journalism, Bill. Journalism is comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable. Journalism is serving as a watchdog on government and other powerful institutions.

Where’s the fairness, Bill? Where’s the balance your network promises?

Where are the articulate voices who have a question for which there is no answer forthcoming: “Where’s the birth certificate?”

You have chosen to join the state-run media pack and mock the genuinely civic-minded concerns of the people. For that there is no excuse. Bloviating, to use one of your favorite words, is no substitute for honest reporting.

You can’t see that Obama is hiding something – hiding lots of things? His birth certificate, his school records, his college records, his law school writings, his selective service records, his travel records, his adoption records, his finances.

Come on, Bill?

Is it worth it?

Where is the integrity? What do you know that I don’t know? My news organization has devoted far more time, effort, resources, manpower and sweat in investigating this story than your very wealthy media conglomerate. What do you think you know that I don’t know? Why are you aiding in one of the biggest propaganda cover-ups in American history?

The American people had high hopes for the Fox News Channel and shows like yours. But they have failed us in telling this most important story.

Our country is being transformed rapidly by an administration that is of highly questionable legality.

This is no joking matter.

PRISONER #89996

From a friend:

Please send this to all hands: A life destroyed by an illegal Immigrant. I cannot help but wonder if Obama will think of his political prisoner over the Holidays. In fact, I hope it haunts him and spoils any joy he may have had. And as well, all our cowards in Government who stand mute, and follow, a man who will not even identify himself. Disgusting!

Semper Fidelis
Bob Rohrer
www.BobRohrer.com

This is the info given to me about how to contact Terry. They said he arrived Saturday and was being processed this morning. We can't put a rank on his name. No LTC Lakin, just his first and last name, and registration (prisoner) number only. We can send him letters, greeting cards and post office money orders but nothing else. He can request a 510 form if he needs anything, but whatever is shipped to him must come from a company, not an individual, and it has to be a requested item. No food can be shipped either. We can't even send him a book or magazine.

Terrance Lakin #89996
830 Sabalu Road
Fort Leavenworth, KS 66027

Muezzin Call to Prayer Broadcast Over Loudspeakers in Brooklyn…

WeaselZippers: VIDEO

Definition: MUZZEIN

UPDATE [from a friend]:

Parts of Brooklyn near the lovely Brooklyn Heights Promenade, are more Muslim than any Muslim country I’ve ever visited. It’s really scary to walk around there.

In fact, pre- 9/11 Al Qaeda literally had an office on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn.

Not only that, but the Muslims living in that part of Brooklyn at one time had a perfect view of the Twin Towers in lower Manhattan, which is kind of chilling.

Of course, all the surrounding areas to the Muslim neighborhood are filled with Left wing yuppies who preach multi-culti tolerance and love.

Kroger Recalls Pet Foods Due to Possible Health Risk

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CINCINNATI, Ohio, - December 18, 2010

The Kroger Co. said today it is recalling select packages of pet food sold in some of its retail stores because the products may contain aflatoxin, which poses a health risk to pets.

SIGN UP TO RECEIVE FDA ALERTS

The Baby Store

With an international network of surrogate mothers and egg and sperm donors, a new industry is emerging to produce children on the cheap and outside the reach of restrictive laws...

WSJ: Assembling the Global Baby

Democrats give one more big favor to George Soros

While Congressional Democrats dawdle away on deciding our tax rates and refuse to pass a budget, they still find time to pass on favors to special interest groups and people. The latest big favor comes to the sugar daddy that has funded so many of their campaigns and was an early supporter of Barack Obama: George Soros...

Read more

The Food Safety Bill: A Point-By-Point Guide

BREAKING: WAR IS IMMINENT!

North Korea Declares War Imminent, South Koreans Told to Move to Bunkers

The poisonous fruit of Obama's capitulation to Russia and China resulted in further deterioration of America leadership.

Real clear

C.S. Lewis: More than 40 years after his death, the former medieval literature professor has become the Elvis Presley of Christian publishing...

...there is such a thing as Jewish secularism, and one key element in it is the abandonment of halakhah (traditional Jewish law) and rabbinic authority. This is a point of radical division between Maimonides, who saw himself as renovating and ultimately strengthening Jewish law, and Spinoza, who deliberately aimed to dissolve it.

Sorry, Atheism Can't Replace Religion!

On the road again...

From a recently-retired Philosophy Prof friend of mine:
THE TRAVELOGUE OF TRAVELOGUES

There is nothing quite as exciting as a long driving trip. Hitting the highway, leaving behind the cares or the life of one place, and driving off into the landscape. This may also be a little stressful, with some fears of breakdowns, bad restaurants or motels, finding gas stations, bad weather, etc. I drove to British Columbia and back with my parents in 1959, and to Yellowstone and back with them a few years earlier. The British Columbia trip I remember rather well, the Yellowstone one dimly. The following maps are the longest trips I've been on as an adult, usually involving moves, principally back and forth to Texas from Los Angeles. By then I had travelled quite a bit by others means, living in New Mexico (back and forth by plane, train, and bus) and Lebanon, seeing a good part of Middle East, with a long trek back to London from Beirut. I've detailed this elsewhere

The original long drive here was moving to Texas in 1975. This was actually all the way from Hawai'i with my first wife, Gaye. . .

I hope I have accomplished or proven whatever it is I wanted to accomplish or prove with these cross country drives. It occurred to me that my parents never drove to the East Coast and never went to a tithe of the places that I have now been. It is a great experience to visit places I have long known, like Austin, or see new things, especially those sights I have long anticipated, from Bryant's Barbeque, to Scotty's Castle, to Devil's Tower, etc. The greatest appeal, however, almost an addiction, is just the sensation of getting away, cutting loose, and flying along the highway. The Interstates are great for that, as State after State passes by. It isn't quite as fast as flying, but it wins hands down for the comfort, thrill, and beauty. And this last trip, I did avoid those 20 hour days.

The Adventures of Kelley L. Ross

Obama Risks War With Nuclear-Armed North Korea While Pursuing Phony Peace with Nuclearizing Iran

Early Warning from China Confidential

BP Agent Brian Terry is dead because DHS refuses to allow agents to protect themselves against deadly drug cartel killers operating deep inside Arizona Territory!

Must read. Huge coverup underway by the Obama Administration. Tancredo blows the lid off the story and how the agents were armed with bean bag ammunition against AK-47's:

Here's the part Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Border Patrol management are trying to hide: Border Patrol Agent Terry and the BORTAC team were under standing orders to always use ("non-lethal") bean-bag rounds first before using live ammunition. When the smugglers heard the first rounds, they returned fire with real bullets, and Agent Terry was killed in that exchange. Real bullets outperform bean bags every time.

Bean bags vs. AK-47s

UPDATE: Agent’s slaying becomes ‘wake-up call’ to many

The Congressional Power over Immigration: A Detective Story

Did the Founders’ Constitution give Congress the power to restrict immigration? Or was this a subject reserved to the states?

Public-sector unions' house of cards is about to come tumbling down

You’ve been hearing for quite a while now that public-sector unions are a threat to the economic survival of the United States. With an estimated unfunded liability of up to $3 trillion (and perhaps much more), public-sector pensions are a noose around the neck of America’s taxpayers and it is threatening to strangle the nation.

More specifically, you’ve been hearing that the expensive wage and benefits packages that union-bought Democrats have given to their union benefactors could collapse our economy. The question is, can we stop it before it it too late, or at a minimum, contain the damage?

Well, little by little, signs are showing that, in some cases, the public-sector house of cards is already starting to fall...

…And, So It Begins: The Public-Sector Ponzi Scheme is Collapsing

Obama quietly erasing borders: Dem administration advancing 'North American Union' agenda

Acting quietly, below the radar of U.S. public opinion and without congressional approval, the Obama administration is implementing a key policy objective of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, or SPP, to erase the border with Mexico and Canada.

The administration is acting under a State Department-declared policy initiative described in a March 23 fact sheet titled "United States-Mexico Partnership: A New Border Vision."

Obama quietly erasing borders: Dem administration advancing 'North American Union' agenda

North American Union: Why the U.S. coverup? Memory hole? Obama administration replaces content of official website

The financial collapse that so many of us have been anticipating is seemingly closer then ever...

The following are 25 signs that the financial collapse is rapidly getting closer: Over the past several weeks, there have been a host of ominous signs for the U.S. economy.

HAT TIP: CA News and Views

A Tutorial on Wealth Creation(Tea Party Pay Attention!)

Dick McDonald

According to a recent Rasmussen Poll 63% of the people believe the American Society is fair and decent. Let’s check and see how you feel about that after you read the following.

Super rich people hardly pay any income taxes on their billions.

Bernie Sanders, the socialist Senator from Vermont, last week was railing against the passage of the Bush Tax Cut legislation by informing us that the super rich, according to a recent study of 400 billionaires pay on average only 16% in income and payroll taxes.

That is bunk. I say they pay at a maximum a small fraction of 1%. Generally their wealth is derived from stock ownership and their enormous wealth comes from the appreciation of that stock(s) over the years. As the appreciation in the value of stock is not taxed their wealth is accumulated FREE OF TAX. It is the ultimate tax shelter.

Warren Buffet’s wealth increased $10 billion in 2006 and he claimed in front of Congress that he paid 17% in taxes on his income that year. He testified that he should pay more in taxes because his staff paid on average 32%. He said that was unfair and that rich people should pay more in taxes.

What a whooper that was. He didn’t pay $1.7 billion in taxes he paid less than $10 million (or 10% of 1% - .oo1) in taxes because stock appreciation (his business) is not taxed. Now through some deceptive method of computation he probably said he paid 15.3% in payroll taxes on his $100,000 salary from Berkshire Hathaway and 1.7% in total in capital gains taxes to arrive at his fictitious 17%.

Of course Warren Buffet knew as did all billionaires the Bush tax cuts were of little consequence to them. They don’t pay tax on appreciation of their stock. And even in the case of dividends, they don’t have to pay them if the rate returned to Bush levels. Bernie Sanders and all the uninformed citizens and their propagandists in politics and media swallowed this tax cut propaganda.

Those who really get hurt are the millionaires who don’t use the tax-free stock ownership route and pay these absolutely confiscatory taxes on income. They are the primary job creators – small businessmen on the way up who use Subchapter S corporations and pay taxes personally to avoid corporate double taxation. Double taxation, of course, is just another fallacy. The super rich avoid all taxation on “income and wealth.” Double taxation for the super rich is a myth for public consumption.

Super rich people do not pay estate taxes

One of the stumbling blocks in the tax bill that passed was the rate of estate tax. Liberals were fiercely resisted lowering that rate to 35% for estates over $5 million. They wanted it to remain at 55% on “taxable estates” over $1 million. On the other hand conservatives grumbled that such wealth had already been taxed and to tax it again was unfair double taxation.

Well as any tax man will tell you billionaires don’t pay estate taxes. They take a deduction from the “taxable estate” for all amounts given to charity. As those charities are usually created by the billionaires themselves they can control their money from the grave.

All this publicity by Bill Gates and Warren Buffet getting billionaires to give half their estate to charity is so much baloney for public consumption. These guys are not going to pay any estate tax; they will give it all to charity.

Really intelligent super rich people’s kids don’t pay taxes on wealth

There are a number of devices available to the super rich to avoid having their kids pay estate taxes on the accumulated wealth. Here again the trick is to transfer the ownership of the assets – usually stock – to the kids early on in life and let the non-taxable appreciation accrue for the benefit of the kids. Those assets are then passed on to the kid free of tax at death of the super rich man or woman.

J. Paul Getty, the “first” billionaire, transferred 2/3rds of all he ever owned to his grandkids in trust in his 30’s. At death the remainder of his estate went to his Museum. He personally as well as his corporations paid no income taxes during his lifetime because of percentage depletion and the deductibility of intangible drilling costs; his corporations’ share of payroll taxes were paid for by passing those costs on to the consumer and he paid no death taxes nor did his kids or grandkids. As I said, the super wealthy pay no taxes.

The wealthy make the free market grow and the country prosper. Poor people are in line to do that too.

Now you may believe as many working men and liberals do that it is very unfair that the super rich pay little or no taxes. You may believe that the rich store that wealth in a way that it never comes back to benefit the economy. You would be wrong. Wealth is always at work benefitting the economy. If it is invested in stocks – it is working. If it is in the bank the bank has to lend it therefore – it is working.

The Pitch to the Tea Party

This little tutorial on wealth creation was written to expose the poor, the middle class and even the rich to the wonders of tax-free appreciation in stock. As you know we are in a world of hurt economically. If we could get all those citizens to follow the lead of the super rich and invest in the stock market two things will happen – (1) the less than super rich will get wealthy and (2) the economy will take off and millions of jobs will be created.

In this crucial time in our history, America needs new ideas on how to reform our government. I contend that to do that we need to avoid the austerity the politicians are planning to impose to make the government more solvent and promote a new blueprint that solves poverty, income discrepancy, freedom and free market problems at the same time. It is time we focus on prosperity. Are you listening Tea Partiers?

There is a blueprint of new ideas that you might consider. Going down the path the Debt Commission and all politicians are promoting will lead to riots in the streets. Those interested in a logical redo along the lines our Founders designed see here. More importantly it outlines where the poor get the capital to invest in stocks as well as where to get the funds to pay for our existing entitlement obligations.

Dick McDonald is a former Arthur Anderson C.P.A. who did the taxes of the richest man in the world at that time, J. Paul Getty

Ode to Parker

Ahhh...now I know why they named my favorite character--on the tv show Leverage--Parker!

It's because she does so much of THIS...which I just now heard about via GatewayPundit

BREAKING: FACTCHECK.ORG PROVIDED FALSE INFORMATION ABOUT OBAMA'S HAWAIIAN BIRTH CERTIFICATE

Not only did Factcheck.org’s false claim convince the media that Obama’s alleged COLB is legal and legitimate, their claims and photos convinced Congress, too.

WE HAVE AN ILLEGITIMATE PRESIDENT!!!

Liberals Love Death Panels

When a bill with death panels in it was in front of the American people, liberals claimed to be against death panels. But isn't it funny that since Obamacare became law, stories about liberals who support death panels keep dribbling out?

An Alaskan fisherman tells the God's-honest-truth about Sarah Palin

By Dewie Whetsell, Alaskan Fisherman.

(As posted in comments on Greta's article referencing the MOVEON ad about Sarah Palin.)

The last 45 of my 66 years I've spent in a commercial fishing town in Alaska. I understand Alaska politics but never understood national politics well until this last year. Here's the breaking point: Neither side of the Palin controversy gets it. It's not about persona, style, rhetoric, it's about doing things. Even Palin supporters never mention the things that I'm about to mention here.

1. Democrats forget when Palin was the Darling of the Democrats, because as soon as Palin took the Governor's office away from a fellow Republican and tough SOB, Frank Murkowski, she tore into the Republican's "Corrupt Bastards Club" (CBC) and sent them packing. Many of them are now residing in State housing and wearing orange jump suits The Democrats reacted by skipping around the yard, throwing confetti and singing, "la la la la" (well, you know how they are). Name another governor in this country that has ever done anything similar.

2. Now with the CBC gone, there were fewer Alaskan politicians to protect the huge, giant oil companies here. So she constructed and enacted a new system of splitting the oil profits called "ACES." Exxon (the biggest corporation in the world) protested and Sarah told them, "don't let the door hit you in the stern on your way out." They stayed, and Alaska residents went from being merely wealthy to being filthy rich. Of course, the other huge international oil companies meekly fell in line. Again, give me the name of any other governor in the country that has done anything similar.

3. The other thing she did when she walked into the governor's office is she got the list of State requests for federal funding for projects, known as "pork." She went through the list, took 85% of them and placed them in the "when-hell-freezes-over" stack. She let locals know that if we need something built, we'll pay for it ourselves. Maybe she figured she could use the money she got from selling the previous governor's jet because it was extravagant. Maybe she could use the money she saved by dismissing the governor's cook (remarking that she could cook for her own family), giving back the State vehicle issued to her, maintaining that she already had a car, and dismissing her State provided security force (never mentioning - I imagine - that she's packing heat herself). I'm still waiting to hear the names of those other governors.

4. Now, even with her much-ridiculed "gosh and golly" mannerism, she also managed to put together a totally new approach to getting a natural gas pipeline built which will be the biggest private construction project in the history of North America. No one else could do it although they tried. If that doesn't impress you, then you're trying too hard to be unimpressed while watching her do things like this while baking up a batch of brownies with her other hand.

5. For 30 years, Exxon held a lease to do exploratory drilling at a place called Point Thompson. They made excuses the entire time why they couldn't start drilling. In truth they were holding it like an investment. No governor for 30 years could make them get started. Then, she told them she was revoking their lease and kicking them out. They protested and threatened court action. She shrugged and reminded them that she knew the way to the court house. Alaska won again.

6. President Obama wants the nation to be on 25% renewable resources for electricity by 2025. Sarah went to the legislature and submitted her plan for Alaska to be at 50% renewable by 2025. We are already at 25%. I can give you more specifics about things done, as opposed to style and persona. Everybody wants to be cool, sound cool, look cool. But that's just a cover-up. I'm still waiting to hear from liberals the names of other governors who can match what mine has done in two and a half years. I won't be holding my breath.

By the way, she was content to return to Alaska after the national election and go to work, but the haters wouldn't let her. Now these adolescent screechers are obviously not scuba divers. And no one ever told them what happens when you continually jab and pester a barracuda. Without warning, it will spin around and tear your face off. Shoulda known better.

You have just read the truth about Sarah Palin that sends the media, along with the Democrat party, into a wild uncontrolled frenzy to discredit her. I guess they are only interested in skirt chasers, dishonesty, immoral people, liars, womanizers, murderers, and bitter ex-presidents' wives.

So "You go, Girl." I only wish the men in Washington had your guts, determination, honesty, and morals.

I rest my case. Only FOOLS listen to the biased media.

She's got my vote!

Zogby Interactive: Sarah Palin Person of the Year for 2010; Pres. George W. Bush Person of the Decade

The main reason why higher education costs have skyrocketed over the past 50 years is because the government subsidizes much of it!

Welcome to the Leonard Smalls School of Economics...

Newly released report by the US National Archives details the close collaborative relationship between Nazi leaders and the grand mufti of Jerusalem...

Amazing photographs: Nazis promised grand mufti of J'lem Haj Amin al-Husseini leadership of Palestine after slaughter of its Jews, according to US report...

The true story of our newest American Hero: Lt. Col. Terry Lakin, M.D.

Crucible of a Hero

When Lt. Col. Terry Lakin, M.D. walks out of the chamber where he has faced a court-martial this week, he will emerge -- regardless of the verdict -- a towering American hero.

Nothing like the stupendous display which he has mounted -- of principled, sustained self-sacrifice and fearless defiance -- has been seen in decades on the American political stage. Together with the peril of actual battlefield engagement, it ranks alongside the greatest courageous stances even of the American Revolution itself. Patrick Henry, Nathan Hale -- those kinds of stances.

This case is of shatteringly great significance, and if you don't know about it, well, you can thank the cowards, commies, and crooks at your favorite mainstream media Bureau of Disinformation, National Desk. Lt. Col. Lakin has been abandoned by the establishment press, dastards and lackeys almost to a one. In a just post-Obama world, there is hope that one day, there will come the destruction of a thousand shameful careers in what was once journalism -- via abdication by the press of its vital role as Fourth Estate; desertion of its watch as the protector of American liberty; and its own unforced, alacritous auto-castration.

For historical background and the underpinnings, foundations, and history of this case, see Lt. Col. Lakin himself and Thomas Lifson, both in April 2010; see also www.safeguardourconstitution.com.

Briefly summarized, the issue is this...

Read more

"f---ing brilliant"

...says Dennis Prager: On CNN recently, Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin ("The Social Network," "West Wing") called Sarah Palin an "idiot"...

Dennis decimates Aaron Sorkin (the former West Wing writer/creator).

Me, I tried to decimate Maureen Dowd (by sending a letter to the New York Times after her recent article) but they just wouldn't let me!

December 7, 2010: Pass the Caribou Stew

[my letter to the editor]

How can someone so mature sound so immature?

Don’t leftists ever eat halibut?

Perhaps you prefer the standard fare produced in factory farms where animals are crowded into lines and smell and hear their approaching fates in concrete killing rooms where they’ve long been away from their natural habitats.

There’ve been millions of “average housewives” who sons and husbands and brothers fed their families and hunters who knew that if you “hunt yourself and fish yourself” your relationship to and understanding of the source of your biological sustenance is far deeper than those who grow up thinking water originates in metal faucets and food is born in plastic containers.

Do the animals have a much greater chance of getting away at the grocery store where you shop, Maureen?

Your final shot about Santa’s Reindeer was meant to wound the wife, mother, and career woman you probably once wished you could be.

[End letter]

MERRY WINTER!

The 12 Days of Christmas Winter - The Heidi Harris Show on News Talk 720 KDWN/Las Vegas, NV

Is THIS the REAL reason why Obama was so bummed the World Cup went to Qatar?

The buzz from HillBuzz: No gay sex allowed at 2022 World Cup. In unrelated news, Obama has decided not to attend 2022 World Cup...

Whose life is it anyway?

Another day, another Mormon...

Who Was Reed Smoot?

It's a reasonable question to wonder how vastly higher tariffs were passed following the 1929 crash. Who could have possibly thought it was a good idea?

The tariff was the brainchild of Reed Smoot, the senior senator from Utah. In addition to his political career, Reed Smoot was one of the 12 Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ Latter-Day Saints. His father, Abraham Owen Smoot, was a Mormon pioneer, a protégé of Brigham Young, and the second mayor of Salt Lake City. Abraham Smoot had six wives... and 27 children.

In part because of his unusual background and in part because of his leadership role in the church, Reed Smoot faced considerable national resistance to being seated in the senate. Elected in 1902, he wasn't seated until 1907. He won re-election in 1908 and rose in the Republican Party, becoming the senate finance chairman in 1923. However, immediately following the passage of the disastrous tariff that bore his name, he lost re-election in 1932.

PS: Glenn Beck was raised a Catholic...

The beginning of the end of Obamacare

GatewayPundit: Top Republicans Rep. Eric Cantor and Senator Jim DeMint on the court’s decision today that declared Obamacare unconstitutional...

PowerLine: Support for repeal of Obamacare has risen to 60 percent...

WSJ: Judge Hudson, of the Eastern District of Virginia, said the individual mandate "would invite unbridled exercise of federal police powers."

Obama: the worst of both worlds now

McClatchy-Marist poll: Poll: Obama's losing support; Romney would beat him now...

More Than 1000 International Scientists Dissent Over Man-Made Global Warming Claims - Challenge UN IPCC & Gore

NEW REPORT: Climate Depot Exclusive: 321-page 'Consensus Buster' Report set to further chill UN Climate Summit in Cancun

5 Main Components to Health Care Reform

...many of the best ideas for reforming healthcare were already formulated in the Bush administration, but they were never sold well or were introduced too late to work.

Uncle Sam is choking to death!

Washington Post:

Philip K. Howard, a lawyer, is the chair of the legal reform nonprofit Common Good and the author, most recently, of "Life Without Lawyers."

America is choking on laws of our own making.

Once a law is in place in the United States, it's almost impossible to dislodge. Our political class assumes that, after a law is forged in the crucible of democracy, it should be honored as if it's one of the Ten Commandments - except it's more like one of 10 million.

We even have a hard time modifying laws that were explicitly designed to be temporary. Just look at the current battle over the Bush-era tax cuts.

Having that debate at all is unusual. Once enacted, most laws are ignored for generations, allowed to take on a life of their own without meaningful review. Decade after decade, they pile up like sediment in a harbor, bogging the country down - in dense regulation, unaffordable health care, and higher taxes and public debt.

A healthy democracy must make fresh choices. This requires not mindless deregulation but continual adjustment of laws. Congress could take on this responsibility if it followed a simple proposal: Every law should automatically expire after 10 or 15 years. Such a universal sunset provision would force Congress and the president to justify the status quo and give political reformers an opening to reexamine trade-offs and public priorities.

Unless forced to make tough choices, Congress will keep kicking the can down the road...

One nation, under too many laws

G-men gone wild

Why do we let this creepy company called Google spy on our emails?

How to protect yourself in the coming economic crisis

Go to the bathroom, get some water, and pay attention: This will get you off your butt and help you plan for the end of America...

Obama's silence convicts

Saul, Saul, why doest thou persecute me? [Acts 9:4]

Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney predicts the incoming Republican-controlled House of Representatives will launch an investigation if Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin is convicted in next week's court martial.
3-star general: Physician 'is not going to get a fair trial'

=== > WHO IS LTC TERRY LAKIN? < ===

OBAMA AGAIN SILENT AS ANOTHER INNOCENT CHRISTIAN IS SENTENCED TO DEATH BY FASCISTIC FUNDAMENTALISTS...OBAMA ALSO SILENT AS PAKISTAN PROMOTES GLOBALIZATION OF ANTI-BLASPHEMY LAW
China Confidential: IRAN SET TO EXECUTE PASTOR FOR CONVERTING FROM ISLAM TO CHRISTIANITY; OBAMA SILENT

Is this why porn stars stay so young and healthy looking?

I can only imagine the intense research that Tristan Coopersmith put into this article. Kudos!

Here are 16 health and beauty benefits we reap from having sex:

1. Keeps our skin young and healthy.
2. Boosts immunity.
3. Gives us great hair.
4. Produces healthy sperm.
5. Reduces stress.
6. Strenghtens nails.
7. Improves heart health.
8. Zaps zits.
9. Keeps us hydrated.
10. Acts as a natural pain killer.
12. Lowers our risk of cancer.
12. Lowers our risk of cancer.
13. Fights cavities.
14. Helps us sleep.
15. Strengthens our bond.
16. Makes you feel sexy!

But read the whole thing to get details--could be bad for business and the stock market though...think of all the companies that could go out of business: Sally Hansen eat your heart out.

16 Unexpected Health And Beauty Benefits Of Sex

HAT TIP: InstaPundit

Two African-American Democrats on Thursday announced that they were joining the Republican Party

GatewayPundit: SEVEN Democratic politicians have now jumped ship and switched parties!

New poll indicates 40% of physicians will retire or find other work under ObamaCare

It won’t just be early retirements and practice closings that create problems, either. The same disincentives driving those decisions will also keep new doctors from providing more supply to the market...

PS: Take a look at the health care article archive at the bottom of this blog...all of this heartache was predicted over and over again.

If you still had any question as to whether or not the United States is now the world’s preeminent banana republic, the final verdict was just delivered and the decision was unanimous.

This was a hostile world takeover orchestrated through economic attacks by a very small group of unelected global bankers. They paralyzed the system, then were given the power to recreate it according to their own desires. No free market, no democracy of any kind. All done in secrecy. In the process, they gave themselves all-time record-breaking bonuses and impoverished tens of millions of people - they have put into motion a system that will inevitably collapse again and utterly destroy the very existence of what is left of an economic middle class.

That is not hyperbole. That is what happened.

The Wall Street Pentagon Papers: Biggest Scam In World History Exposed - Are The Federal Reserve’s Crimes Too Big To Comprehend?

Are you better off or worse off than you were two years ago?

This really caught my eye because I was at my local discount health food store visiting my acupuncturist (for a very bad cold that just won't go away) and overheard two women talking about how THIS YEAR was worse than last year no matter what the politicians keep trying to tell us!

More than 50 percent of Americans say they are worse off now than they were two years ago when President Barack Obama took office, and two-thirds believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, a Bloomberg National Poll shows.

The survey, conducted Dec. 4-7, finds that 51 percent of respondents think their situation has deteriorated, compared with 35 percent who say they’re doing better. The balance isn’t sure. Americans have grown more downbeat about the country’s future in just the last couple of months, the poll shows. The pessimism cuts across political parties and age groups, and is common to both sexes.

The negative sentiment may cast a pall over the holiday shopping season, according to the poll. A plurality of those surveyed -- 46 percent -- expects to spend less this year than last; only 12 percent anticipate spending more. Holiday sales rose by just under a half percent last year after falling by almost 4 percent in 2008.

“It’s definitely different this year than it’s been,” says poll respondent Larry Deyo, a 38-year-old father of two in Marlton, New Jersey. “I can’t really do too much with spending.” He says he lost his job at a kitchen and bath design center when the company closed, and he’s now working at a Home Depot Inc. store with a “significant decrease” in pay.

It was President Ronald Reagan who popularized the question, “Are you better off or worse off than you were four years ago” in his 1980 campaign against Jimmy Carter.

Most Americans Say They're Worse Off Since Obama Took Office, Poll Shows

Thank you

Most of my readers are in the United States, but I am also grateful for everyone outside the U.S. who takes the time to stop by here:

Belarus
Brazil
Canada
Denmark
Germany
Israel
Kuwait
Luxembourg
Malaysia
Netherlands
Russia
South Korea
United Kingdom

PS: Please let me know if I left anyone out of this list!

FOR HOW LONG HAS THE PLAN FOR ONE-WORLD GOVERNMENT BEEN DESTROYING THE U.S.?

The dream of powerful men is to exercise dominion over the masses and that dream requires vast sums of money to pacify the masses, as well as funding wars to subjugate more people, take more land and confiscate more resources. And thus alliances between government and those that held the money and those that made the money, became common place. Whenever you combine power-hungry men with those that have the money and those that make the money, powerful, centralized government, corruption, elitism, arrogance and criminality become equal partners.

Which brings us to today...

Will American Sovereignty Withstand the Onslaught of Global Government Forces?

24 hours

We now know that the under-reported Electronic Run On the Banks 11 Sep 2008 could have ended the U.S. economy and, 24-hours later, the world economy as we've known it: kaput.

Conveniently, it was the reason that got Obama elected since, at that time, John McCain was polling higher in the presidential race. And, conveniently again, that same incident was used as a reason for super-speeding in subsequent legislation that was supposed to "save" our country.

Now we see that things are not going the way that everyone thought they would after savior-Obama slipped into the presidency.

Russian Dictator Joseph Stalin forced "collectivism" on the country, and widespread famine and hardship were some of the results. Is that what Obama is doing?

Can Obama & Co Really be Stopped?

Waiver-Mania: no longer enforcing the rule of law but the rule of whim

If the US passes a law that then requires the government to issue over two hundred waivers in the first few months to avoid disastrous consequences for enforcement, doesn’t that indicate a problem in the law itself? That question should be foremost on voters’ minds as the number of waivers to ObamaCare issued by the Obama administration soars to 222:

ObamaCare waivers now up to 222

Which side are you on?

Over at FireDogLake we are reminded how liberals think by news about the so-called "death tax":

The $5 million, 35% estate tax is a crime. That’s LOWER than the lowest rate under the Bush estate tax, outside of 2010, when the estate tax disappeared. So Republicans get that restored at the lowest rate in history. Even in this weekend’s aborted tax bill in the Senate, Max Baucus included what has become the default Democratic policy, a return to 2009 rates, with a $3.5 million dollar exemption and a 45% rate. (Personally, I favor just returning to Clinton levels.)

There’s no way on the planet to describe that policy as stimulative. You’re just giving more money to the heirs of the ultra-rich.

Firstly, when can we be be done with "stimulus" - "stimulation" - "stimulative" and any other thing meant to describe another failed policy inflicted on us by the Obama administration?

Secondly, whose money is it anyway?

Liberals constantly argue that the death tax is necessary to prevent the concentration of wealth in a limited number of families. The truth is the exact opposite, however. The death tax is actually a stern government mandate on legacies that erodes the freedom of society. Like the law of entail, it hardens economic distinctions by making it more difficult for families to make their legacies mobile and flexible, leaving that privilege only for those wealthy enough to hire the expensive estate lawyers and accountants necessary to protect their funds. In the meantime, it severely restricts the ability of regular families without the resources to pay for expensive estate planning, especially those with small businesses, to pass along the business accomplishments of their lifetime to be built upon by the next generation. The death tax is even worse than entail because the government confiscates the hard-earned returns of families. At least under entail the government didn’t benefit directly. What better discouragement to the entrepreneurial spirit of the middle and working classes than to ensure that the fruits of their hard work and ingenuity can’t be passed on to the next generation?

Death Tax and Democracy

12/7/1941: Pearl Harbor

DECEMBER 7, 1941- a date which will live in infamy- the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan." Thus spoke President Franklin D. Roosevelt following the attack on Pearl Harbor by over 350 Japanese aircraft.

Five American battleships and three destroyers were sunk, 400 planes were destroyed and over 4000 were killed or wounded. President Roosevelt concluded: "No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might, will win through to absolute victory...We will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us."

FDR continued: "Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger. With confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounding determination of our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God."

(As a note, of the over 500 words inscribed on the new World War II Memorial in Washington, DC, the designers chose not to include FDR's phrase "So help us God," nor any other mention of God.)

Franklin D. Roosevelt's Pearl Harbor Speech (December 8, 1941)

dizzy.library.arizona.edu/images/USS_Arizona/links.shtml

To the Congress of the United States: Yesterday, Dec. 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with the government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific. Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in Oahu, the Japanese ambassador to the United States and his colleagues delivered to the Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. While this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or armed attack. It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time, the Japanese government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. Very many American lives have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu. Yesterday, the Japanese government also launched an attack against Malaya. Last night, Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong. Last night, Japanese forces attacked Guam. Last night, Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands. Last night, the Japanese attacked Wake Island. This morning, the Japanese attacked Midway Island. Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area.

The facts of yesterday speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation. As commander in chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense. Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory. I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.

Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger. With confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounding determination of our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God. I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, Dec. 7, a state of war has existed between the U.S. and the Japanese empire.

Brought to you by AmericanMinute.com

Obama Caught Cooking the Books on Deportations

Let’s all remember this next time someone says that Obama is enforcing immigration law...

On Wednesday (12/8/10), Obama is really going to sign Black Reparations into law and hand out that money to black scammers who will be instrumental in Obama’s re-election...

From HillBuzz

This is a clear and obvious political payout, where the president of the United States is looting the US Treasury and taking taxpayer money to bribe black people he needs to drum up votes for him in two years.

Obama should go to jail for this…and many, many Democrats with him.

Hijacked by Politicians, Trial Lawyers & Community Organizers — Leaving Us With a Billion Dollar Tab

Obama to sign historic settlement to black farmers

PELOSI: PIGFORD IS JUST THE BEGINNING

Black Farmer Mega-Settlement Clears Way for Discrimination Claims by Women, Hispanics

More on this at BIGGOVERNMENT.COM

Comparing previous recoveries from all 10 American recessions since 1948 to the current financial crisis, the stark figures show almost no improvement in employment figures in the past year.

SCARIEST JOBS CHART EVER!

 

THE BLESSING OF SONNY

Rockpointe Courier
November-December, 2010

A year ago October, my husband and I were talking about how much joy our little guy, Skyler, brings us each day, and how fortunate we are to have this beautiful Miniature Aussie as part of our family. We decided that for Skyler’s first birthday, we wanted to get him a companion.

We searched and searched, falling in love with so many, but just hadn’t found the right one until I received a call from a rescue group in San Bernardino. They asked if I would consider taking “a hopeless case”. They had a 2-year-old Miniature Aussie so fearful of everyone they could find no one willing to try to rehabilitate him.

We went to see him, and honestly, at first we said “No”, thinking he was more than we could handle. Too, we were concerned about Skyler being able to bond and socialize with him. He had been abused – there were bite marks everywhere on his body, two of his teeth had been knocked out, he couldn’t jump or run, and there seemed to be a problem with his back. The rescue told us the owners dumped him in the street and a kind woman brought him to the shelter, hoping to get him medical attention. Sadly the shelter put him in with large dogs that used him as a chew toy. He was hungry. They finally diagnosed him with tape worm and he received treatment. He cowered in the corner, piddling or going into a totally submissive state if anyone attempted to approach him. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a dog that terrified.

The shelter classified him as unadoptable, and he was to be euthanized.

Megan from a local rescue saw him the day he was to be put down and pulled him at the very last moment. The rescue group named him “Widgit”. During his three-week stay at the rescue, the emaciated Widgit was neutered and given medication. Then they called me.

On my first visit, he would not come or walk with me. He avoided Skyler. But there was just something about him. I went back and tried again a week later. Wow! He greeted me with a kiss and went for a walk with me. He tolerated Skyler and walked next to him. He showed no sign of aggressiveness, but hid behind me like small children hide behind their mom.

When it was time for “Widgit” and me to have “The Talk”, I asked him if he would like to come home with us. He looked me right in the eyes and then kissed me. I remember thinking at that moment, “Who is adopting Who?”

When we got “Widget” home, it was apparent that other than knowing how to use a dog door, he had no training. And his name just didn’t seem to fit, so we named him Sonny, hoping we could bring some sunshine into this little guy’s life.

The transition was a challenge for all of us but without a doubt has been a joy-filled labor of love. John and I worked as a team, training and helping Sonny acclimate. Skyler, John and I bonded with Sonny in a very short time.

We were amazed at the love and protection that Skyler offered Sonny and how Sonny received it. Now, they are walked and run twice daily and play by chasing each other. Family time is a love fest of kisses and playfulness. Sonny is a very talented singer and enjoys performing. Both Skyler and Sonny are very well behaved and trained to follow commands.

Sonny is still very shy when we attempt to socialize with other dogs, but his progress is incredible. He allows both canines and humans near him and will even share kisses. Once he knows other dogs in a social environment, he is able to relax more. He now holds his head up high, ready to explore and play with Skyler. They are brothers now, who look out for each other and for us. Our hearts are filled with appreciation for the opportunity to help Sonny find a new life with lots of happiness.

Adopting a “rescue” is a wonderful, fulfilling experience. Please consider rescuing a four-legged friend. The rewards are wonderful! There are so many beautiful, loving animals that need homes. For anyone interested in adoption, please feel free to contact us about any potential concerns. We will be happy to answer any question you may have.

Blessings from John and Jan and a Big Woof from Skyler and Sonny

Posted in the Rockpointe Courier (Homewowners Association newsletter) in two parts: November and December, 2010

Illegal alien bites and rapes young girl for more than a year...

On Monday, Limestone County sheriff’s deputies arrested Juan Lopez Rios, 23, who allegedly had sex with an 11-year-old girl for more than a year. He has been charged with rape.

According to court documents, the illegal alien also had a habit of biting the young girl, who has multiple deep bite marks on her chest. The mother called police when she discovered the wounds.

Why has child molestation committed by illegal aliens become an epidemic?

The lion and the man

Remember this phrase: "And the lion shall lie down with the lamb…”?

Well, now there is this amazing video which, needless to say, you should NOT try at home!

Beautiful! Just beautiful...

Biggest enema in the world

In 2006, this was "the biggest enema in the world" but, I daresay, THIS has clearly replaced it!

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is the most common, deadly and costly cardiovascular disease that the public hasn't heard of...

WSJ: When Achy Legs Are a Warning

Obama's Achilles Heel

From Orly Taitz:

CT SS number is Obama’s Achilles hill. We have his signature on docs with this number. I have him cornered and pinned down with this number. (I didn’t even need the second degree Taekwondo belt for that.) This might be the reason, why Obama’s camp is coming up every week with a new BS to try to explain how he got it. None of these explanations hold water and each new one is more ridiculous than the other. I posted the phone number of the SS administration, you can call that number and demand speeding up the response and info.

May, 2010: Why is Obama’s Social Security Number from CT??

November, 2010: More on Obama’s use of a stolen Social Security number from CT and his cronies attempt to obfuscate the truth

December, 2010: Birthergate...The CT Connection

The Obama Administration is the most anti-business administration in the last 70 years—if not ever—in the United States of America.

RedState: What the Obama Administration is about to unleash on American business...

...imagine if you will, the federal government (at the behest of union bosses) terrorizing American businesses with the same ‘death by a thousand cuts’ strategies that unions use during corporate campaigns. However, instead of unions engaging in all of the tactics at the union’s expense, your tax dollars will be helping to fund the union’s corporate campaign...

No wonder businesses don’t want to hire in the United States. With as anti-business as the Obama Administration is, what sane business leader is going to invest in jobs so they can be targeted and shamed by its own government.

Obama sez: If we don't tell you what to think you'll be stupid

From Neville Awards: Net Neutrality -- Killing the Goose That Laid the Golden Egg

From Sultan Knish: Obama's Great Airwave Robbery

My confession

Ben Stein:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees... I don't feel threatened.. I don't feel discriminated against.. That's what they are, Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him?

I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking. In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc.. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about.. And we said okay..

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.