Forwarded to me by a friend. Obama doesn't just party with rock stars, play basketball and golf, he visits the gulf (four times so far) to photo-op but the oil keeps killing the environment. Biden has only been there twice. Biden, when he is not campaigning for other Democrats, needs two more trips to catch up. Costs? About $300,000 per trip. No one know exactly because some of the security costs are not available. Read all the way to the bottom.
Merle
Obama has been in office roughly a year and a half. That’s long enough to get a handle on what motivates our president. He’s pretty binary. When he’s not partying with rock stars, he’s either apathetic or angry. Here, in no particular order, is a little list of Obama’s responses to both world situations and domestic policy initiatives that have occurred so far during his administration:
Health care bill: Apathetic. (Yeah, it passed and, yeah, he made the talk show circuits, but he was a follower, not a leader on this one. The momentum came from the Democratic Congress.)
The Green Revolution in Iran: Apathetic. (Obama had the opportunity to topple the Iranian government using the power of the Iranian people. Instead, after a prolonged silence, he damned the Iranian people with faint, frightened praise.)
The Gulf Oil Spill: Apathetic. (Notwithstanding his promise to find “some ass to kick” — a phrase that, with repetition, takes on weirdly homoerotic connotations, or is that just me? — Obama has done little. Alternatively, what little he’s done, has been obstructive or unconstitutional, without actually affecting that endless oil flow.)
The Iranian Nuclear Bomb: Apathetic. (Although that’s not quite true: when he’s not being frighteningly quiescent, he’s been working to water down sanctions against them. That goes beyond apathetic and veers into self-destructive, with America, the Middle East and Europe as the “self.”)
The cratering economy: Apathetic. (Obama is making noises about spending yet more of tax payer money to prop up his already disastrous plans, but he’s been remarkably passive about the whole thing, helped, perhaps, by a frightened Congress that is now pretending there is no budget at all.)
The Fort Hood Massacre: Apathetic. (“What Fort Hood massacre? But while we’re here, I’d like to give a shout out….”)
The two front war (Iraq and Afghanistan) that America is engaging in against Islamic jihad: Apathetic. (Hello! Is anyone home at the White House? As you may recall, despite meeting multiple times with Andy Stern, of the SEIU, Obama didn’t have time to meet General McChrystal, who was running the Afghanistan side of the war.)
Continued Islamic jihad directed at the American home front: Apathetic. (He’s handed this one to Holder and Napolitano, and they’re just doing a wonderful job, aren’t they? They’ve now got the entire Pentagon going through all documents with white-out to delete any reference to Islam. Obama remains apathetically above this fray.)
State efforts to stem the terrible criminal and economic consequences of uncontrolled federal borders: Anger (at the states drowning in crime by and welfare claims from illegal aliens).
Israel’s efforts to stem the terrible genocidal consequences of Hamas on her borders: Anger (at Israel, which is in the fight of her life against entities whose sole goal is her total destruction).
The military’s deep concern at the fact that the Obama White House is mishandling our two front war in Iraq and Afghanistan: Anger. And this is the one that sparked my post. Huge, earth-shaking things have been going on around the world, and Obama has acted in a bizarrely passive (or, sometimes, passive-aggressive) way. But General McChrystal does a rather foolish interview in Rolling Stone, and suddenly Obama is all action (emphasis mine):
President Barack Obama was “angry” after reading Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s remarks about colleagues in a Rolling Stone article, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday.
McChrystal — the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan — has been recalled to Washington to explain his actions to the president. He is expected to meet with Obama in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Gibbs said. Gibbs refused to speculate about McChrystal’s fate, but told reporters “all options are on the table.”
Any citizen should be shocked by this: Obama will see McChrystal, not regarding how to win a war as to which Obama is commander-in-chief, but to give McChrystal a dressing down because the latter hurt Obama’s witty-bitty fweeings. We don’t have a man in the White House. We have a giant ego, unattached to morals, intelligence, strategic skills or anything else useful.
My Mom told that that her retirement community which, judging by lapel pins back in November 2008, went 80-90% for Obama, is having buyer’s remorse. They say that they had such high hopes for him, and he’s been such a disappointment. I tell her that we in the conservative community were a large, howling pack of Cassandras, desperately trying to get the truth out there — and we were roundly, and soundly, ignored.
She also told me that the residents were so willing to give him a chance, “hoping he’d grow on the job.” None of them seemed to have figured out that you’re already supposed to be grown when you hit the White House. It’s not a practice job; it’s the real deal. It’s unnerving to see a building full of people who demonstrate that age does not necessarily beget wisdom.
[Welcome Lucianne readers! So glad you stopped by.]
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Thursday, July 01, 2010
Stephanie Aaron is Back in the Area
But better than never notice, right...?
Folks, just wanted to let you know that in a matter of hours, the Larry Harms Trio will be grooving high at Basta O'Neill's Restaurant on Cummings Lane in Washington. The hours are 6 - 9pm, which means I'd better get in the car and drive!! Also this weekend, I will be appearing along with Derel Monteith, Tim Green, and Tom Marko at Swinger's in Bloomington from 8 - 11pm...that is Saturday, by the way - no Friday gig this weekend. Hope that you will come inside and cool off with us.
Happy Independence Day weekend! Come on out and listen to the ultimate American music, JAZZ.
Best,
~Stephanie
www.stephanieaaron.com
Folks, just wanted to let you know that in a matter of hours, the Larry Harms Trio will be grooving high at Basta O'Neill's Restaurant on Cummings Lane in Washington. The hours are 6 - 9pm, which means I'd better get in the car and drive!! Also this weekend, I will be appearing along with Derel Monteith, Tim Green, and Tom Marko at Swinger's in Bloomington from 8 - 11pm...that is Saturday, by the way - no Friday gig this weekend. Hope that you will come inside and cool off with us.
Happy Independence Day weekend! Come on out and listen to the ultimate American music, JAZZ.
Best,
~Stephanie
www.stephanieaaron.com
Why do You Think Obama, Daley and Their Ilk Want to Take Our Guns?
Three Felonies A Day:
How The Feds Target The Innocent by Harvey A. Silverglate
July 1, 2010 by Bob Livingston
This is a timely book about the breakdown of the rule of law in the United States.
Individual freedom and the rule of law is gone in America. Oh, they haven't come for you yet? You haven't broken the law? Well, Harvey Silverglate proves in Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent that the Feds (U.S. prosecuting attorneys) target the innocent. He says the, "federal prosecutors are abusing their power by using the criminal law to prosecute law abiding citizens." They are seizing illegal power by twisting marginal and highly questionable interpretations of criminal law.
Silverglate believes that we are in danger of becoming a society in which prosecutors alone become judges, juries and executioners because the threat of high sentences make it too costly for even innocent people to resist the prosecutorial pressure.
Federal judgeships are drawn largely from U.S. prosecuting attorneys simply because they enforce the system upon citizens. They ensure that all cases are decided for the government agenda.
The pattern is to intimidate all criminally charged defendants today to plead guilty to "reduced" charges rather than risk a trial with the threat of draconian sentences in the implied event of a conviction. No trial? This means that the Federal prosecuting attorney is the judge and the jury.
Unless we have missed the point here, all Americans are now subject to entrapment. Innocence or guilt has nothing to do with a judiciary gone wild.
You can commit a Federal crime in America and not even know it. People are targeted and a crime is found to fit.
Silverglate writes, "it is only a slight exaggeration to say that the average busy professional in this country wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes home, takes care of personal and family obligations and then goes to sleep, unaware that he or she likely committed several Federal crimes that day." Why?
The answer lies in the huge volume of Federal criminal laws which are broad and impossibly vague. They have become dangerously disconnected from English common law tradition.
There is a crime for all of us. Currently there are 4,450 listed criminal offenses. These listed Federal offenses have exploded well beyond the statute books and into the morass of the Code of Federal Regulations, giving Federal prosecutors thousands of additional vague, complex and technical prohibitions removed from congressional authority or any authority but the Federal prosecutors themselves.
Will citizens ever understand the danger posed to civil liberties when our normal daily activities expose us to potential prosecution at the whim of a government official?
Silverglate writes, "No field of work, all corporate officers, all social classes are not safe from this illegal and unconstitutional executive and judicial overreach and social control.
"When every citizen is vulnerable to prosecution and prison, then there is no effective counterweight to reign in government overreaching in every sphere. The hallowed notion of a government of laws becomes a cruel and cynical joke."
What we write about here is the exact Soviet system and evil empire that Americans have been taught to hate.
All we have to do now is remove the mask of "democracy" to view our modern American Soviet system.
It is also the exact same old English Star Chamber system that early Americans fought to escape in the Revolutionary War with England. The English Star Chamber was abolished in 1641. It was Royal oppression with corporal punishment using torture, mutilation and life imprisonment. It met in secret whereas today the Federal judiciary uses esoteric language to subvert the intent of the law. It is more "benevolent" but just as wicked.
We have come full circle and sadly not one American in a million even suspects it. Here is the great danger, as Silverglate states:
"Today the Justice Department encourages Federal prosecutors to do exactly what the Garber Court condemned. In particular, Federal prosecutors' novel use of long standing, but utterly formless 'anti-fraud' laws, which cover increasingly vast areas of American life, threaten honest (and apparently law abiding) business executives and other professionals, as well as other ordinary citizens. In 2003, Michael Chertoff, then second in command of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, even went so far as to boldly declare that federal prosecutors should exploit anti-fraud provisions to indict business executives because 'criminal prosecution is a spur for institutional reform.'"
The thrust of the Federal government and its untouchable Justice Department is to expand the reach of the law. My friends, this is characteristic of all governments. But the U.S. today is our concern. Even commonly used statutes of conspiracy, bribery, extortion, etc. are all designed forms of entrapment by a rogue system.
"Even the most intelligent and informed citizen (including lawyers and judges) cannot predict with any reasonable assurance whether a wide range of seemingly ordinary activities might be regarded by federal prosecutors as felonies."
Any sober and alert person should read this book. The shock of his revelations should evoke max alert with all deliberate preparations to defend our lives, our families and our assets. To view the contents as anything other than modern tyranny under the color of law is naiveté in the extreme.
In my 45 years of writing I have never come close to recommending a book with such high and timely revelations for every American citizen. Get this book immediately.
How The Feds Target The Innocent by Harvey A. Silverglate
July 1, 2010 by Bob Livingston
This is a timely book about the breakdown of the rule of law in the United States.
Individual freedom and the rule of law is gone in America. Oh, they haven't come for you yet? You haven't broken the law? Well, Harvey Silverglate proves in Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent that the Feds (U.S. prosecuting attorneys) target the innocent. He says the, "federal prosecutors are abusing their power by using the criminal law to prosecute law abiding citizens." They are seizing illegal power by twisting marginal and highly questionable interpretations of criminal law.
Silverglate believes that we are in danger of becoming a society in which prosecutors alone become judges, juries and executioners because the threat of high sentences make it too costly for even innocent people to resist the prosecutorial pressure.
Federal judgeships are drawn largely from U.S. prosecuting attorneys simply because they enforce the system upon citizens. They ensure that all cases are decided for the government agenda.
The pattern is to intimidate all criminally charged defendants today to plead guilty to "reduced" charges rather than risk a trial with the threat of draconian sentences in the implied event of a conviction. No trial? This means that the Federal prosecuting attorney is the judge and the jury.
Unless we have missed the point here, all Americans are now subject to entrapment. Innocence or guilt has nothing to do with a judiciary gone wild.
You can commit a Federal crime in America and not even know it. People are targeted and a crime is found to fit.
Silverglate writes, "it is only a slight exaggeration to say that the average busy professional in this country wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes home, takes care of personal and family obligations and then goes to sleep, unaware that he or she likely committed several Federal crimes that day." Why?
The answer lies in the huge volume of Federal criminal laws which are broad and impossibly vague. They have become dangerously disconnected from English common law tradition.
There is a crime for all of us. Currently there are 4,450 listed criminal offenses. These listed Federal offenses have exploded well beyond the statute books and into the morass of the Code of Federal Regulations, giving Federal prosecutors thousands of additional vague, complex and technical prohibitions removed from congressional authority or any authority but the Federal prosecutors themselves.
Will citizens ever understand the danger posed to civil liberties when our normal daily activities expose us to potential prosecution at the whim of a government official?
Silverglate writes, "No field of work, all corporate officers, all social classes are not safe from this illegal and unconstitutional executive and judicial overreach and social control.
"When every citizen is vulnerable to prosecution and prison, then there is no effective counterweight to reign in government overreaching in every sphere. The hallowed notion of a government of laws becomes a cruel and cynical joke."
What we write about here is the exact Soviet system and evil empire that Americans have been taught to hate.
All we have to do now is remove the mask of "democracy" to view our modern American Soviet system.
It is also the exact same old English Star Chamber system that early Americans fought to escape in the Revolutionary War with England. The English Star Chamber was abolished in 1641. It was Royal oppression with corporal punishment using torture, mutilation and life imprisonment. It met in secret whereas today the Federal judiciary uses esoteric language to subvert the intent of the law. It is more "benevolent" but just as wicked.
We have come full circle and sadly not one American in a million even suspects it. Here is the great danger, as Silverglate states:
"Today the Justice Department encourages Federal prosecutors to do exactly what the Garber Court condemned. In particular, Federal prosecutors' novel use of long standing, but utterly formless 'anti-fraud' laws, which cover increasingly vast areas of American life, threaten honest (and apparently law abiding) business executives and other professionals, as well as other ordinary citizens. In 2003, Michael Chertoff, then second in command of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, even went so far as to boldly declare that federal prosecutors should exploit anti-fraud provisions to indict business executives because 'criminal prosecution is a spur for institutional reform.'"
The thrust of the Federal government and its untouchable Justice Department is to expand the reach of the law. My friends, this is characteristic of all governments. But the U.S. today is our concern. Even commonly used statutes of conspiracy, bribery, extortion, etc. are all designed forms of entrapment by a rogue system.
"Even the most intelligent and informed citizen (including lawyers and judges) cannot predict with any reasonable assurance whether a wide range of seemingly ordinary activities might be regarded by federal prosecutors as felonies."
Any sober and alert person should read this book. The shock of his revelations should evoke max alert with all deliberate preparations to defend our lives, our families and our assets. To view the contents as anything other than modern tyranny under the color of law is naiveté in the extreme.
In my 45 years of writing I have never come close to recommending a book with such high and timely revelations for every American citizen. Get this book immediately.
Drug Legalization - National Debate Needed Now
Merle, hope you're doing well. Your blog is the fire, keep educating your readers and maybe more will wake up. I'll try to be brief, concerning our citys drug related violence. It reminds my grandmother of the prohibition era, thugs provided the product in demand for profit. Organized crime continues to fund and supply drugs to street dealers, the gangs. Theirs and Americans addiction is not subsiding, as usage increases yearly. Incarceration is not the answer, as most released eventually return. Apparently, the known profits outweigh the risk of serving prison time. And while imprisoned, young offenders become "owned" by the mob, mentored by lifelong criminals, then released to continue their trade. There are many who believe our war on drugs has failed miserably, considering the multitude of resources expended. I don't think more milllions of $$ will have much effect and neither does L.E.A.P., Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. Its members consist of prior Judges, police, attorneys, narc agents, and FBI. Investigate this foundation, educational and worth the time. Flexyourrights.org produces a dvd, 10 Rules for Dealing with Police that everyone needs to see and heed, especially youth. If you would want a copy of "10 Rules" I'd be glad to get one to you. And please look at LEAP, its founder is relation, Jack Cole.
Best Regards,
Steve
Best Regards,
Steve
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Local 649 of the International Union of Operating Engineers
The JS reported that this union had ended their 2 day strike of various building projects underway but terms of the contract will not be disclosed until each organization's membership has voted.
The total package hourly wage before the strike is $49.69 per hour. This organization was offered a 3.4% wage increase for each year of a two year contract. This union turned this offer down because this union claimed that other unions received higher increases. I have seen nothing in the JS or from a call to Paul Gordon as to the increase this union received.
Do people understand why businesses are leaving this area and the State of Illinois who recently had their bond rating reduced again?
How do we think people who were fired or laid off permanently in the private sector feel about continued raises in the public sector while the country heads for a double dip in the economy? Don't believe me, just wait or observe what is happening in this state, city, county, the country and the world.
Some say i don't have solutions. Yes I do and I've voiced them many times in my 1200 blogs. My theme? The public sector cannot spend more for non-priority enhancements than they can pay for without raising taxes and fees.
I said there would be more shoes dropping in Peoria this year or over the next 12 months. They are falling but the JS decided to no longer put business bankruptcies in their rag.
The Peoria cheerleaders had better raise their podiums and increase the volume on their loudspeakers. I've written a couple of blogs on "Wake up, Peoria". I am increasingly becoming aware that it may be too late.
It's been suggested that look around a enjoy what Peoria offers. I do and I'd like to keep them affordable and maintained.
And still open.
The total package hourly wage before the strike is $49.69 per hour. This organization was offered a 3.4% wage increase for each year of a two year contract. This union turned this offer down because this union claimed that other unions received higher increases. I have seen nothing in the JS or from a call to Paul Gordon as to the increase this union received.
Do people understand why businesses are leaving this area and the State of Illinois who recently had their bond rating reduced again?
How do we think people who were fired or laid off permanently in the private sector feel about continued raises in the public sector while the country heads for a double dip in the economy? Don't believe me, just wait or observe what is happening in this state, city, county, the country and the world.
Some say i don't have solutions. Yes I do and I've voiced them many times in my 1200 blogs. My theme? The public sector cannot spend more for non-priority enhancements than they can pay for without raising taxes and fees.
I said there would be more shoes dropping in Peoria this year or over the next 12 months. They are falling but the JS decided to no longer put business bankruptcies in their rag.
The Peoria cheerleaders had better raise their podiums and increase the volume on their loudspeakers. I've written a couple of blogs on "Wake up, Peoria". I am increasingly becoming aware that it may be too late.
It's been suggested that look around a enjoy what Peoria offers. I do and I'd like to keep them affordable and maintained.
And still open.
POUS - Obama - This is the Man to Lead Us?
Subject: Dr. Charles Krauthammer
"It's better to be paralyzed from the neck down, than to be paralyzed from the neck up!"
Dr. Charles Krauthammer
Forwarded to me by a friend. I have great respect for Dr. Krauthammer. Please study the background of anyone you vote for in November. If the candidate has any positive connections with Obama, VOTE THEM OUT OF OFFICE.
Merle
Dr. Krauthammer is on Fox News. He is an M.D. and a lawyer and is paralyzed from the neck down. Not only is he a M.D., he is a world renowned psychiatrist. A friend went to hear Charles Krauthammer. He listened with 25 others in a closed room. What he says here, is NOT 2nd-hand but 1st. The ramifications are staggering for us, our children and their children.
Last Monday was a profound evening, Dr. Charles Krauthammer spoke to the Center for the American Experiment. He is a brilliant intellectual, seasoned & articulate. He is forthright and careful in his analysis, and never resorts to emotions or personal insults. He is NOT a fear monger nor an extremist in his comments and views. He is a fiscal conservative, and has received a Pulitzer Prize for writing. He is a frequent contributor to Fox News and writes weekly for the Washington Post.
The entire room was held spellbound during his talk. I have summarized his comments, as we are living in uncharted waters economically and internationally.
If you feel like forwarding this to those who are open minded and have not drunk the Kool-Aid, feel free.
Summary of his comments:
1. Mr. Obama is a very intellectual, charming individual. He is not to be underestimated. He is a cool customer who doesn't show his emotions. It's very hard to know what's behind the mask. The taking down of the Clinton dynasty was an amazing accomplishment. The Clintons still do not understand what hit them. Obama was in the perfect place at the perfect time.
2 Obama has political skills comparable to Reagan and Clinton. He has a way of making you think he's on your side, agreeing with your position, while doing the opposite. Pay no attention to what he SAYS; rather, watch what he DOES!
3. Obama has a ruthless quest for power. He did not come to Washington to make something out of himself, but rather to change everything, including dismantling capitalism. He can't be straightforward on his ambitions, as the public would not go along. He has a heavy hand, and wants to level the playing field with income redistribution and punishment to the achievers of society. He would like to model the USA to Great Britain or Canada ..
4. His three main goals are to control ENERGY, PUBLIC EDUCATION, and NATIONAL HEALTH CARE by the Federal government. He doesn't care about the auto or financial services industries, but got them as an early bonus. The cap and trade will add costs to everything and stifle growth Paying for FREE college education is his goal. Most scary is his healthcare program, because if you make it FREE and add 46,000,000 people to a Medicare-type single-payer system, the costs will go through the roof. The only way to control costs is with massive RATIONING of services, like in Canada . God forbid!
5. He has surrounded himself with mostly far-left academic types. No one around him has ever even run a candy store. But they are going to try and run the auto, financial, banking and other industries. This obviously can't work in the long run. Obama is not a socialist; rather he's a far-left secular progressive bent on nothing short of revolution. He ran as a moderate, but will govern from the hard left. Again, watch what he does, not what he says.
6. Obama doesn't really see himself as President of the United States , but more as a ruler over the world. He sees himself above it all, trying to orchestrate & coordinate various countries and their agendas. He sees moral equivalency in all cultures. His apology tour in Germany and England was a prime example of how he sees America , as an imperialist nation that has been arrogant, rather than a great noble nation that has at times made errors. This is the first President ever who has chastised our allies and appeased our enemies!
7. He is now handing out goodies. He hopes that the bill (and pain) will not come due until after he is reelected in 2012. He would like to blame all problems on Bush from the past, and hopefully his successor in the future. He has a huge ego, and Dr. Krauthammer believes he is a narcissist
8. Republicans are in the wilderness for a while, but will emerge strong. Republicans are pining for another Reagan, but there will never be another like him. Krauthammer believes Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty & Bobby Jindahl (except for his terrible speech in February) are the future of the party. Newt Gingrich is brilliant, but has baggage. Sarah Palin is sincere and intelligent, but needs to really be seriously boning up on facts and info if she is to be a serious candidate in the future. We need to return to the party of lower taxes, smaller government, personal responsibility, strong national defense, and state's rights.
9. The current level of spending is irresponsible and outrageous. We are spending trillions that we don't have. This could lead to hyperinflation, depression or worse. No country has ever spent themselves into prosperity. The media is giving Obama, Reid and Pelosi a pass because they love their agenda. But eventually the bill will come due and people will realize the huge bailouts didn't work, nor will the stimulus package. These were trillion-dollar payoffs to Obama's allies, unions and the Congress to placate the left, so he can get support for #4 above.
10. The election was over in mid-September when Lehman brothers failed, fear and panic swept in, we had an unpopular President, and the war was grinding on indefinitely without a clear outcome. The people are in pain, and the mantra of change caused people to act emotionally. Any Dem would have won this election; it was surprising it was as close as it was.
11. In 2012, if the unemployment rate is over 10%, Republicans will be swept back into power. If it's under 8%, the Dems continue to roll. If it's between 8-10%, it will be a dogfight. It will all be about the economy. I hope this gets you really thinking about what’s happening in Washington and Congress. There is a left-wing revolution going on, according to Krauthammer, and he encourages us to keep the faith and join the loyal resistance. The work will be hard, but we're right on most issues and can reclaim our country, before it's far too late.
Do yourself a long term favor, send this to all who will listen to an intelligent assessment of the big picture. All our futures and children's futures depend on our good understanding of what is really going on in DC, and our action pursuant to that understanding!! It really IS up to each of us to take individual action!! Start with educating your friends and neighbors!!!
"It's better to be paralyzed from the neck down, than to be paralyzed from the neck up!"
Dr. Charles Krauthammer
Forwarded to me by a friend. I have great respect for Dr. Krauthammer. Please study the background of anyone you vote for in November. If the candidate has any positive connections with Obama, VOTE THEM OUT OF OFFICE.
Merle
Dr. Krauthammer is on Fox News. He is an M.D. and a lawyer and is paralyzed from the neck down. Not only is he a M.D., he is a world renowned psychiatrist. A friend went to hear Charles Krauthammer. He listened with 25 others in a closed room. What he says here, is NOT 2nd-hand but 1st. The ramifications are staggering for us, our children and their children.
Last Monday was a profound evening, Dr. Charles Krauthammer spoke to the Center for the American Experiment. He is a brilliant intellectual, seasoned & articulate. He is forthright and careful in his analysis, and never resorts to emotions or personal insults. He is NOT a fear monger nor an extremist in his comments and views. He is a fiscal conservative, and has received a Pulitzer Prize for writing. He is a frequent contributor to Fox News and writes weekly for the Washington Post.
The entire room was held spellbound during his talk. I have summarized his comments, as we are living in uncharted waters economically and internationally.
If you feel like forwarding this to those who are open minded and have not drunk the Kool-Aid, feel free.
Summary of his comments:
1. Mr. Obama is a very intellectual, charming individual. He is not to be underestimated. He is a cool customer who doesn't show his emotions. It's very hard to know what's behind the mask. The taking down of the Clinton dynasty was an amazing accomplishment. The Clintons still do not understand what hit them. Obama was in the perfect place at the perfect time.
2 Obama has political skills comparable to Reagan and Clinton. He has a way of making you think he's on your side, agreeing with your position, while doing the opposite. Pay no attention to what he SAYS; rather, watch what he DOES!
3. Obama has a ruthless quest for power. He did not come to Washington to make something out of himself, but rather to change everything, including dismantling capitalism. He can't be straightforward on his ambitions, as the public would not go along. He has a heavy hand, and wants to level the playing field with income redistribution and punishment to the achievers of society. He would like to model the USA to Great Britain or Canada ..
4. His three main goals are to control ENERGY, PUBLIC EDUCATION, and NATIONAL HEALTH CARE by the Federal government. He doesn't care about the auto or financial services industries, but got them as an early bonus. The cap and trade will add costs to everything and stifle growth Paying for FREE college education is his goal. Most scary is his healthcare program, because if you make it FREE and add 46,000,000 people to a Medicare-type single-payer system, the costs will go through the roof. The only way to control costs is with massive RATIONING of services, like in Canada . God forbid!
5. He has surrounded himself with mostly far-left academic types. No one around him has ever even run a candy store. But they are going to try and run the auto, financial, banking and other industries. This obviously can't work in the long run. Obama is not a socialist; rather he's a far-left secular progressive bent on nothing short of revolution. He ran as a moderate, but will govern from the hard left. Again, watch what he does, not what he says.
6. Obama doesn't really see himself as President of the United States , but more as a ruler over the world. He sees himself above it all, trying to orchestrate & coordinate various countries and their agendas. He sees moral equivalency in all cultures. His apology tour in Germany and England was a prime example of how he sees America , as an imperialist nation that has been arrogant, rather than a great noble nation that has at times made errors. This is the first President ever who has chastised our allies and appeased our enemies!
7. He is now handing out goodies. He hopes that the bill (and pain) will not come due until after he is reelected in 2012. He would like to blame all problems on Bush from the past, and hopefully his successor in the future. He has a huge ego, and Dr. Krauthammer believes he is a narcissist
8. Republicans are in the wilderness for a while, but will emerge strong. Republicans are pining for another Reagan, but there will never be another like him. Krauthammer believes Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty & Bobby Jindahl (except for his terrible speech in February) are the future of the party. Newt Gingrich is brilliant, but has baggage. Sarah Palin is sincere and intelligent, but needs to really be seriously boning up on facts and info if she is to be a serious candidate in the future. We need to return to the party of lower taxes, smaller government, personal responsibility, strong national defense, and state's rights.
9. The current level of spending is irresponsible and outrageous. We are spending trillions that we don't have. This could lead to hyperinflation, depression or worse. No country has ever spent themselves into prosperity. The media is giving Obama, Reid and Pelosi a pass because they love their agenda. But eventually the bill will come due and people will realize the huge bailouts didn't work, nor will the stimulus package. These were trillion-dollar payoffs to Obama's allies, unions and the Congress to placate the left, so he can get support for #4 above.
10. The election was over in mid-September when Lehman brothers failed, fear and panic swept in, we had an unpopular President, and the war was grinding on indefinitely without a clear outcome. The people are in pain, and the mantra of change caused people to act emotionally. Any Dem would have won this election; it was surprising it was as close as it was.
11. In 2012, if the unemployment rate is over 10%, Republicans will be swept back into power. If it's under 8%, the Dems continue to roll. If it's between 8-10%, it will be a dogfight. It will all be about the economy. I hope this gets you really thinking about what’s happening in Washington and Congress. There is a left-wing revolution going on, according to Krauthammer, and he encourages us to keep the faith and join the loyal resistance. The work will be hard, but we're right on most issues and can reclaim our country, before it's far too late.
Do yourself a long term favor, send this to all who will listen to an intelligent assessment of the big picture. All our futures and children's futures depend on our good understanding of what is really going on in DC, and our action pursuant to that understanding!! It really IS up to each of us to take individual action!! Start with educating your friends and neighbors!!!
A Teacher's Message to All of Us
***************************
A message for all of us because everyone is a teacher. It's the quality of teaching and the quality of a teacher's leadership that have the greatest impact on the kids, the system, and the community.
I still believe in incentives or some type of merit pay similar to the private work sector.
Merle
From Teacher Magazine, Monday, June 21, 2010. See http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2010/06/16/tln_tillery_magic.html?tkn=OMYFhe43EmEuvLGr%2BmqG0Mk0MZxKbZmNwr%2FI&cmp=clp-edweek
***************************
Teaching Secrets: Hang on to the Magic
By Gail Tillery
It was a Monday last spring in the middle of testing season. At the lunch time "venting" session, people were whining and complaining about the testing schedule, which was indeed an indescribable disaster. I totally understood why people were so angry and frustrated, and I didn't blame them for getting their frustrations out among friends. However, as we were leaving, one of the young teachers in the room said something that really resonated with me: "Twenty-six years and four days."
It took us a moment to get what she was saying. What did that random time period have to do with anything? Then it hit me: She was pointing out how long it would be until she could retire. The other teachers and I kind of giggled nervously. But it got me thinking. What kind of a profession are we in where people count down the days and years to retirement? How could such an amazing young teacher become so disheartened in her fourth year of teaching?
When I thought more about these questions, I understood the reason for her despair. She would absolutely tell you that her unhappiness has nothing to do with the kids, and everything to do with the forces outside of her control. They're the same things that drive every teacher crazy. Politicians. Testing. Merit pay. Budget cuts and teacher furloughs. Parents who don't care. Parents who care too much and hover. People in charge of our work who are clueless and don't know what they're doing. All the extraneous forces that combine to suck the life out of even the most positive teachers in the profession.
As I thought about this wonderful young woman who is like the daughter I never had. As I thought about future novice teachers who will face the same issues, I asked myself, "How can I be part of the solution? How can I help young teachers see that, despite the current insanity around our work, this job is still the most magical one there is? I offer the following to the novice teachers out there who are about to embark on their careers.
Lesson one: Acceptance. One of the best prayers ever is the Serenity Prayer, which teaches us to accept the things we cannot change. The way education is set up in this country, teachers do not control their own work. Until legislators get out of the middle of it all, we will continue to struggle with top-down decisions that aren't good for kids. We can rant and whine and cry about it all we want, but we still have to get on with the business of teaching the kids who come to us every day. (Although I firmly believe that if enough legislators had to be in a building for even one day, standardized tests would end tomorrow.) Thus, we must take a deep breath, remind ourselves to control the things we can control, and go from there.
Lesson two: Holiness. No, I don't really mean this in the religious sense. What I mean is, what we do with kids is holy and sacred because it changes lives. We provide lifelines to kids who have no one. We turn kids on to knowledge. We listen to their dramas, let them cry themselves out, help them work through their problems....I could go on and on about what millions of teachers do for millions of kids every day. The excellent teachers in the world are not in the classroom to deliver knowledge and skills alone; they are also there to provide life lessons to children whose futures will be brighter because a teacher cared for them.
I was watching M*A*S*H the other day (my favorite show, ever, forever) and thinking of all the lives that were saved by units like these in the last few wars. I was also thinking, "What must it feel like to know you saved a life?" And then I realized I've done the same thing many times in my classroom. Not literally, of course, but just as importantly. When I help a kid learn a new skill, when I help him or her try one more time instead of giving up and quitting school or making life-altering negative decisions, I am saving lives, too.
Lesson three: Don't take it personally. This lesson is especially important for high school teachers. When we pour our time, energy, and hearts into planning lessons for students, and then they grouse and complain and aren't engaged, we get our feelings hurt. Let go of that. The students' lack of interest and snarky attitudes are not about you as a person. The flip side of this, of course, is to spend the time and energy to create the most engaging lessons possible, but we have to understand that we can't reach every kid every day.
Lesson four: Understand that there are people out there who are content to be mediocre. When I first came to a public school after 12 years of teaching in a private school, I jumped in with both feet and got involved in as many leadership positions as I could. While many of my new colleagues were supportive, others were a little judgmental and critical. I went to a trusted administrator about it, and she told me, "If you step out in front, there will always be people who try to shoot you down." Step out anyway.
Lesson five: Stay away from the Dark Side. You will learn quickly who the positive people are. Gravitate to them in your department and in your building. Stay away from the people who hate their job and are counting down the days until school ends. They will pull you down with them if you let them.
Lesson six (a corollary to lesson five): Don't let the turkeys get you down. College in the 80's was all about how many buttons you could display on your clothing or your bag. One button I still have in my classroom is a picture of an elephant who is lying on his stomach with his legs spread everywhere. He is covered in turkeys. Enough said.
Lesson seven: Be in balance. Remember that your job is not your life. Your life is your life. When you leave the building, leave everything in it: the kids you can't reach, the kids who are hurting, the Eeyorish colleagues, the insane demands, all the negative stuff. Do not burden your spirit with it. After all, it will all still be there when you come back. Work out, be quiet, worship, sleep, read, laugh. You'll be suicidal by Thanksgiving if you don't.
Lesson eight: Own your power. I have written in other places about how to take charge of your classroom. This version of owning your power is about realizing that every day of your life, you have the power to make a child's life better or worse. You will interact with hundreds, if not thousands, of children through your career, and you will not remember them all. But they will remember you and how you made them feel-whether it was good or bad. Choose your words carefully, take deep breaths, and understand the impact you can have on a child.
Teaching is an art and a science. It is hard every day and challenging every day. But every day something akin to miracles happen in teachers' rooms. Use these lessons to make your room miraculous.
------------------------
Gail Tillery teaches at North Forsyth High School in Cumming GA, where she was teacher of the year for 2009-10. Among her many roles are British literature lead teacher, literary coordinator, and mentoring coordinator. She earned National Board Certification in 2002. Tillery is also the author of a Teaching Secrets article for new high school teachers, Take Charge of Your Classroom.
******************************************
--
Jerry P. Becker
Dept. of Curriculum & Instruction
Southern Illinois University
625 Wham Drive
Mail Code 4610
Carbondale, IL 62901-4610
Phone: (618) 453-4241 [O]
(618) 457-8903 [H]
Fax: (618) 453-4244
E-mail: jbecker@siu.edu
A message for all of us because everyone is a teacher. It's the quality of teaching and the quality of a teacher's leadership that have the greatest impact on the kids, the system, and the community.
I still believe in incentives or some type of merit pay similar to the private work sector.
Merle
From Teacher Magazine, Monday, June 21, 2010. See http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2010/06/16/tln_tillery_magic.html?tkn=OMYFhe43EmEuvLGr%2BmqG0Mk0MZxKbZmNwr%2FI&cmp=clp-edweek
***************************
Teaching Secrets: Hang on to the Magic
By Gail Tillery
It was a Monday last spring in the middle of testing season. At the lunch time "venting" session, people were whining and complaining about the testing schedule, which was indeed an indescribable disaster. I totally understood why people were so angry and frustrated, and I didn't blame them for getting their frustrations out among friends. However, as we were leaving, one of the young teachers in the room said something that really resonated with me: "Twenty-six years and four days."
It took us a moment to get what she was saying. What did that random time period have to do with anything? Then it hit me: She was pointing out how long it would be until she could retire. The other teachers and I kind of giggled nervously. But it got me thinking. What kind of a profession are we in where people count down the days and years to retirement? How could such an amazing young teacher become so disheartened in her fourth year of teaching?
When I thought more about these questions, I understood the reason for her despair. She would absolutely tell you that her unhappiness has nothing to do with the kids, and everything to do with the forces outside of her control. They're the same things that drive every teacher crazy. Politicians. Testing. Merit pay. Budget cuts and teacher furloughs. Parents who don't care. Parents who care too much and hover. People in charge of our work who are clueless and don't know what they're doing. All the extraneous forces that combine to suck the life out of even the most positive teachers in the profession.
As I thought about this wonderful young woman who is like the daughter I never had. As I thought about future novice teachers who will face the same issues, I asked myself, "How can I be part of the solution? How can I help young teachers see that, despite the current insanity around our work, this job is still the most magical one there is? I offer the following to the novice teachers out there who are about to embark on their careers.
Lesson one: Acceptance. One of the best prayers ever is the Serenity Prayer, which teaches us to accept the things we cannot change. The way education is set up in this country, teachers do not control their own work. Until legislators get out of the middle of it all, we will continue to struggle with top-down decisions that aren't good for kids. We can rant and whine and cry about it all we want, but we still have to get on with the business of teaching the kids who come to us every day. (Although I firmly believe that if enough legislators had to be in a building for even one day, standardized tests would end tomorrow.) Thus, we must take a deep breath, remind ourselves to control the things we can control, and go from there.
Lesson two: Holiness. No, I don't really mean this in the religious sense. What I mean is, what we do with kids is holy and sacred because it changes lives. We provide lifelines to kids who have no one. We turn kids on to knowledge. We listen to their dramas, let them cry themselves out, help them work through their problems....I could go on and on about what millions of teachers do for millions of kids every day. The excellent teachers in the world are not in the classroom to deliver knowledge and skills alone; they are also there to provide life lessons to children whose futures will be brighter because a teacher cared for them.
I was watching M*A*S*H the other day (my favorite show, ever, forever) and thinking of all the lives that were saved by units like these in the last few wars. I was also thinking, "What must it feel like to know you saved a life?" And then I realized I've done the same thing many times in my classroom. Not literally, of course, but just as importantly. When I help a kid learn a new skill, when I help him or her try one more time instead of giving up and quitting school or making life-altering negative decisions, I am saving lives, too.
Lesson three: Don't take it personally. This lesson is especially important for high school teachers. When we pour our time, energy, and hearts into planning lessons for students, and then they grouse and complain and aren't engaged, we get our feelings hurt. Let go of that. The students' lack of interest and snarky attitudes are not about you as a person. The flip side of this, of course, is to spend the time and energy to create the most engaging lessons possible, but we have to understand that we can't reach every kid every day.
Lesson four: Understand that there are people out there who are content to be mediocre. When I first came to a public school after 12 years of teaching in a private school, I jumped in with both feet and got involved in as many leadership positions as I could. While many of my new colleagues were supportive, others were a little judgmental and critical. I went to a trusted administrator about it, and she told me, "If you step out in front, there will always be people who try to shoot you down." Step out anyway.
Lesson five: Stay away from the Dark Side. You will learn quickly who the positive people are. Gravitate to them in your department and in your building. Stay away from the people who hate their job and are counting down the days until school ends. They will pull you down with them if you let them.
Lesson six (a corollary to lesson five): Don't let the turkeys get you down. College in the 80's was all about how many buttons you could display on your clothing or your bag. One button I still have in my classroom is a picture of an elephant who is lying on his stomach with his legs spread everywhere. He is covered in turkeys. Enough said.
Lesson seven: Be in balance. Remember that your job is not your life. Your life is your life. When you leave the building, leave everything in it: the kids you can't reach, the kids who are hurting, the Eeyorish colleagues, the insane demands, all the negative stuff. Do not burden your spirit with it. After all, it will all still be there when you come back. Work out, be quiet, worship, sleep, read, laugh. You'll be suicidal by Thanksgiving if you don't.
Lesson eight: Own your power. I have written in other places about how to take charge of your classroom. This version of owning your power is about realizing that every day of your life, you have the power to make a child's life better or worse. You will interact with hundreds, if not thousands, of children through your career, and you will not remember them all. But they will remember you and how you made them feel-whether it was good or bad. Choose your words carefully, take deep breaths, and understand the impact you can have on a child.
Teaching is an art and a science. It is hard every day and challenging every day. But every day something akin to miracles happen in teachers' rooms. Use these lessons to make your room miraculous.
------------------------
Gail Tillery teaches at North Forsyth High School in Cumming GA, where she was teacher of the year for 2009-10. Among her many roles are British literature lead teacher, literary coordinator, and mentoring coordinator. She earned National Board Certification in 2002. Tillery is also the author of a Teaching Secrets article for new high school teachers, Take Charge of Your Classroom.
******************************************
--
Jerry P. Becker
Dept. of Curriculum & Instruction
Southern Illinois University
625 Wham Drive
Mail Code 4610
Carbondale, IL 62901-4610
Phone: (618) 453-4241 [O]
(618) 457-8903 [H]
Fax: (618) 453-4244
E-mail: jbecker@siu.edu
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Luciano Roundtable Starring Maloof, Vonachen and Shadid
"Maloof doesn't regret passing on Par-A-Dice". Wow, neither does East Peoria where the almost landbound boat is raking in big bucks for EP while Peoria gets the left-overs. Maloof and his Christian friends opposed video gambling that the Peoria County Board had the common sense to approve. Hey, Jim if you want to stop gambling have the 85% of the population that gamble on something eliminated. Start with the lottery, the biggest ripoff by government ever before Obama, then the Casinos, then the racetracks, Vegas, Atlantic City and Jimmy Lock Shop. Opps, the local boys don't gamble there anymore replaced by all the local boys and the school kids playing hold-em at their parents homes.
Vonachen says the $37 million hotel project is a gamble but he thinks we gotta do something Downtown. "It's just something we gotta do". Pete did do something for downtown quite a few years ago. He moved the ballpark from Meinen to the mid-south end. Pete doesn't mention the unpaid ballpark he and Rocky, Caterpillar, a stock broker and a couple of developers brought downtown. As a stockholder since 1994 and an an opponent of building such an expensive edifice in THAT area, I have yet to see one dime of profit and by the looks of attendance figures, I doubt I'll see one next year. Just as a reminder, the Vonachen's didn't put more money in than the rest of us stockholders but some of the Vonachen family made out quite well in salaries, benefits and expenses.
If you recall, the ballpark was to start a renansience of new building in that are but the renascience has appeared to have moved closer to Bradley and away from the river.
Shadid says the city and the county could save money by combining city and county election commissions. Really? Perhaps George forgot that the City Council voted unanimously to oppose consolidation while the County Board voted 16-2 to combine. I worked hard to pass this referendum but I had the proof of the savings but the City Council continued on their path of mistakes, still making them today, and George did not endorse this money saving consolidation.
Maloof espoused again on "uni-gov" which Shadid scoffed at the notion of too much, too fast. My own opinion, if asked, would be, we will have and Indianapolis style uni-gov when pigs fly. We have combined about as much as we can combine including the City/County Landfill, still in litigation with the methane miners, largely because of failure of the City Council back a decade or so to agree to settle this case out of court. Chicago attorneys keep racking in $445 an hour. ( I asked to removed from this committee after 5-6 years of my floundering to get this case settled so we can stop burning off the valuable methane that we had been selling for a tidy profit to the taxpayers)
Combine the County with the City when the City is already deeply in debt and committed to back a lot more debt? I'll admit few people, other than myself on the County Board are trying to prevent the same thing happening to the County.
Shadid says the city should not be making cuts in public safety. Any citizen, you would think, would say that but they don't and didn't. The City Council voted to cut public safety costs while supporting $50 plus millions for new libraries and a new $150 million downtown museum (Cat plans to kick in about $50 million) but most all other costs will be borrowed money on which taxpayers will pay interest for 20 years. (Approx. $12 million of the $14 million raised in CASH for the museum has been spent yet not a spade of dirt has been turned. Yes, Cat stockholders paid for the mostly fenced in demolished site you now see.
Shadid says about combining safety forces, "People will not care what the color of uniform is, as long as they're treated properly and get good services." What about the different unions combining? Ho, ho, ho. The only thing growing is Peoria now is the medical community and big egos. In case you haven't noticed, Peoria has returned to a union dominated city, the same unions that drove the distillers and other producers of a 'product' out of Peoria years ago turning this city into a service and entertainment center with the exception of the domination by "big yellow" and big medical centers.
As to East Peoria? While this Roundtable didn't say it, EP let's Peoria build circuses with Peoria taxpayer dollars and then they drive across the river and gladly pay the price of admission. Vonachen says EP does a better job of working with developers needs. "They cut deals". Pete should know about cutting deals as Peoria poured anywhere from $5-8 million into Vonachen's f-----y ball park. Deals? When Pete and Rocky were on the Peoria Park District Board, the Laura Bradley trust that denied liquor sales at the formerly owned Meinen Field was broken. Now the PPD has ex hanged this field back to Bradley for exactly what? Even some board members aren't sure what they got in exchange. But that is another story I've blogged on before.
Anyway, Luciano adds a little of the old vaudeville for Peoria was once famous.
Vonachen says the $37 million hotel project is a gamble but he thinks we gotta do something Downtown. "It's just something we gotta do". Pete did do something for downtown quite a few years ago. He moved the ballpark from Meinen to the mid-south end. Pete doesn't mention the unpaid ballpark he and Rocky, Caterpillar, a stock broker and a couple of developers brought downtown. As a stockholder since 1994 and an an opponent of building such an expensive edifice in THAT area, I have yet to see one dime of profit and by the looks of attendance figures, I doubt I'll see one next year. Just as a reminder, the Vonachen's didn't put more money in than the rest of us stockholders but some of the Vonachen family made out quite well in salaries, benefits and expenses.
If you recall, the ballpark was to start a renansience of new building in that are but the renascience has appeared to have moved closer to Bradley and away from the river.
Shadid says the city and the county could save money by combining city and county election commissions. Really? Perhaps George forgot that the City Council voted unanimously to oppose consolidation while the County Board voted 16-2 to combine. I worked hard to pass this referendum but I had the proof of the savings but the City Council continued on their path of mistakes, still making them today, and George did not endorse this money saving consolidation.
Maloof espoused again on "uni-gov" which Shadid scoffed at the notion of too much, too fast. My own opinion, if asked, would be, we will have and Indianapolis style uni-gov when pigs fly. We have combined about as much as we can combine including the City/County Landfill, still in litigation with the methane miners, largely because of failure of the City Council back a decade or so to agree to settle this case out of court. Chicago attorneys keep racking in $445 an hour. ( I asked to removed from this committee after 5-6 years of my floundering to get this case settled so we can stop burning off the valuable methane that we had been selling for a tidy profit to the taxpayers)
Combine the County with the City when the City is already deeply in debt and committed to back a lot more debt? I'll admit few people, other than myself on the County Board are trying to prevent the same thing happening to the County.
Shadid says the city should not be making cuts in public safety. Any citizen, you would think, would say that but they don't and didn't. The City Council voted to cut public safety costs while supporting $50 plus millions for new libraries and a new $150 million downtown museum (Cat plans to kick in about $50 million) but most all other costs will be borrowed money on which taxpayers will pay interest for 20 years. (Approx. $12 million of the $14 million raised in CASH for the museum has been spent yet not a spade of dirt has been turned. Yes, Cat stockholders paid for the mostly fenced in demolished site you now see.
Shadid says about combining safety forces, "People will not care what the color of uniform is, as long as they're treated properly and get good services." What about the different unions combining? Ho, ho, ho. The only thing growing is Peoria now is the medical community and big egos. In case you haven't noticed, Peoria has returned to a union dominated city, the same unions that drove the distillers and other producers of a 'product' out of Peoria years ago turning this city into a service and entertainment center with the exception of the domination by "big yellow" and big medical centers.
As to East Peoria? While this Roundtable didn't say it, EP let's Peoria build circuses with Peoria taxpayer dollars and then they drive across the river and gladly pay the price of admission. Vonachen says EP does a better job of working with developers needs. "They cut deals". Pete should know about cutting deals as Peoria poured anywhere from $5-8 million into Vonachen's f-----y ball park. Deals? When Pete and Rocky were on the Peoria Park District Board, the Laura Bradley trust that denied liquor sales at the formerly owned Meinen Field was broken. Now the PPD has ex hanged this field back to Bradley for exactly what? Even some board members aren't sure what they got in exchange. But that is another story I've blogged on before.
Anyway, Luciano adds a little of the old vaudeville for Peoria was once famous.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Will a Compassionate America Eventually Lead to our Downfall?
Forwarded to me by a friend. Yes, I would help build a scaffold but a firing squad would be cheaper. However, a lot of so-called Americans would disagree. Start with Obama, Holder, Pelosi, Feinstein, and a lot of compassionate Republicans. Most Tea Party people would NOT disagree.
Oh, I forgot, we are a country of laws who pride itself for keeping a person on death row for up to 20 years. We are not cruel like those who would kill us if given an opportunity. Or another opportunity as the terrorists released from our Cuban baby-sitting site who are back killing or plotting to kill us.
While we build more entertainment circuses and let Hollywood, MTV and our over liberal media portray us as druggies and "live for the moment" people.
Merle
How can any American disagree ...why do we need a trial....can I help build the scaffold.......??
Faisal Shahzad
The failed Times Square bomber, Faisal Shahzad, testified in court about his motivations and plans to kill Americans. He was open, even proud, of his actions. It's a free lesson for anyone willing to listen.
Faisal Shahzad was born in Pakistan, but had sought and received American citizenship. He was married, had two children, had a job as a financial analyst. To be come a citizen in this country, among other things, he took the following oath:
I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.
What was his oath worth? Three months after taking it, he went to Pakistan to train with the Taliban. He took money, built the device, and tried to detonate it in Times Square. Why did he do these things? We don't have to wonder. He spelled it out.
One has to understand where I'm coming from. I consider myself a Muslim soldier...I am part of the answer to the U.S. terrorizing the Muslim nations and the Muslim people. And, on behalf of that, I'm avenging the attack. Living in the United States, Americans only care about their own people, but they don't care about the people elsewhere in the world when they die.
What I find interesting about that quote is I agree with him. I, too, consider him a Muslim soldier. I see his motivations as reasonable to him. He is right about me only caring about my own people. That's the way the world works. If it meant killing him and everyone who thinks like him to protect the United States, I would be in favor of it.
If he wanted to be a soldier in a foreign army, he should have done so. Since I am truly an American citizen, and freely take the oath he fraudulently took, I consider him a traitor. Since he came dressed as a civilian, not in the uniform of a soldier, when he made his attack, I consider him a spy and a saboteur. If we, as a nation, could grasp the true nature of the threat, this trial would not be taking place. He would have been taken as a military prisoner, interrogated, and then hung.
They know they are at war, do we?
The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can, and keep moving on.
--Ulysses S. Grant
Oh, I forgot, we are a country of laws who pride itself for keeping a person on death row for up to 20 years. We are not cruel like those who would kill us if given an opportunity. Or another opportunity as the terrorists released from our Cuban baby-sitting site who are back killing or plotting to kill us.
While we build more entertainment circuses and let Hollywood, MTV and our over liberal media portray us as druggies and "live for the moment" people.
Merle
How can any American disagree ...why do we need a trial....can I help build the scaffold.......??
Faisal Shahzad
The failed Times Square bomber, Faisal Shahzad, testified in court about his motivations and plans to kill Americans. He was open, even proud, of his actions. It's a free lesson for anyone willing to listen.
Faisal Shahzad was born in Pakistan, but had sought and received American citizenship. He was married, had two children, had a job as a financial analyst. To be come a citizen in this country, among other things, he took the following oath:
I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.
What was his oath worth? Three months after taking it, he went to Pakistan to train with the Taliban. He took money, built the device, and tried to detonate it in Times Square. Why did he do these things? We don't have to wonder. He spelled it out.
One has to understand where I'm coming from. I consider myself a Muslim soldier...I am part of the answer to the U.S. terrorizing the Muslim nations and the Muslim people. And, on behalf of that, I'm avenging the attack. Living in the United States, Americans only care about their own people, but they don't care about the people elsewhere in the world when they die.
What I find interesting about that quote is I agree with him. I, too, consider him a Muslim soldier. I see his motivations as reasonable to him. He is right about me only caring about my own people. That's the way the world works. If it meant killing him and everyone who thinks like him to protect the United States, I would be in favor of it.
If he wanted to be a soldier in a foreign army, he should have done so. Since I am truly an American citizen, and freely take the oath he fraudulently took, I consider him a traitor. Since he came dressed as a civilian, not in the uniform of a soldier, when he made his attack, I consider him a spy and a saboteur. If we, as a nation, could grasp the true nature of the threat, this trial would not be taking place. He would have been taken as a military prisoner, interrogated, and then hung.
They know they are at war, do we?
The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can, and keep moving on.
--Ulysses S. Grant
Aaron Schock - A Voice of Reason in Congress
From: Congressman Aaron Schock
Sent: Thursday, June 24, 2010 12:38 PM
To: sgtmac1@comcast.net
Subject: Reply from Congressman Aaron Schock
June 24, 2010
Mr. David H. McWilliams
910 Kevin Court
South Pekin, IL 61564-0471
Dear Mr. McWilliams,
Thank you for contacting me regarding financial regulatory reform legislation moving through the U.S. House and Senate. I greatly appreciated hearing your views, and I welcome the opportunity to respond.
At the outset of the debate, I believe it is imperative that our government implement carefully designed strict regulation to ensure that "too big to fail" never ever again causes our government to have to bail out large financial institutions because of reckless actions that defy sound banking practices. We cannot have a situation of private gain with public risk. That is the opposite of what I call a free market or capitalism. Credit default swaps, unregulated derivatives and securitized bundles of profoundly unsound mortgages need federal rules and vigilant oversight.
With that said, we cannot throw the baby out with the bathwater by going overboard with new regulations--particularly with regard to sound banks, that did nothing to cause the crisis of the last few years. If we do so, we could unwisely damage economic recovery by adopting radical measures that would definitely lead to cutting off credit for businesses large and small.
As a member of the minority party in the House of Representatives, I am frustrated that despite wanting to rein in abuses and reform the system to prevent more bailouts, the Democratic leadership in Congress has gone way overboard with the magnitude of new regulation and am convinced that adoption of their overreach will cause a significant drying up of credit, astronomical new costs for small and medium sized financial institutions that will be passed on to consumers, and quite possibly a double-dip recession.
As you probably know, on December 11, 2009, H.R. 4173, the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a close margin of 223-202. Due to the significant exposure of taxpayer dollars, and burdens placed on small businesses, I opposed this legislation. I found it unacceptable to include in this legislation the diversion of $4 billion of TARP funds for more government spending. I oppose the actions of the Democrats in Congress turning TARP into a permanent bailout agency. I voted for a motion to recommit to end TARP and direct any unused funds to pay down the national debt. Unfortunately, the motion was defeated 190-232.
Under H.R. 4173, every bank will be forced to offer federally approved "standard financial products and services." Essentially, this means that all banks, big and small, must offer uniform products; any deviations from these federal mandates would open up banks, in particular community banks, to frivolous lawsuits. As you can imagine, these uniform products could put smaller banks at a serious disadvantage when it comes to competing with much larger financial institutions.
Additionally, the creation of a new multibillion dollar federal agency controlled by one politically appointed Czar, who can then make the ultimate decision on what services and products all financial institutions can offer, was not something that I could support. While the goal of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) is to lead to improvements in the marketplace for the American people, in reality, it does nothing more than create a billion dollar agency, add to our national debt, tax businesses, restrict lending, and result in small businesses shedding millions of jobs. At a time when the economy is still struggling to recover, the last thing Congress ought to consider is an additional layer of regulation that will discourage new job creation. In fact, according to a University of Chicago study, the CFPA would increase consumer interest rates by more than 1.6%, and consumer borrowing would be reduced by at least 2.1%. Additionally, net new job creation would fall 4.3%.
As an alternative, I offered a bi-partisan amendment on the House Floor to change CFPA to a powerful council of regulators called the Consumer Financial Protection Council (CFPC) charged with establishing tough, new consumer regulations for all financial firms.
A powerful "Council of Regulators" would standardize consumer regulations and ensure that all state and federal regulators give consumer protection the same priority as is given to maintaining the safety and stability of the institutions themselves. Consumers would be better protected if we had fewer agencies with broader responsibilities, and a strict mandate for reform. By empowering and demanding that the existing state and federal financial regulators take on the critical task of protecting consumers from abuse and fraud, this amendment would have improved the proposed bill by better protecting consumers. It would also have reduced the regulatory burden on small community banks and other financial businesses that are now struggling to lend to businesses and consumers in central Illinois. Consumers don't need a massive new agency to pick and choose the products and services available to them. Unfortunately, the amendment failed by a vote of 208-223 with 33 Democrats joining all Republicans to support this initiative.
The Senate passed their version of H.R. 4173, on May 20, 2010 by a vote of 59-39. The bill now goes to Conference committee with the similar legislation the House of Representatives passed last December. The Conference committee will negotiate the differences between the bills to produce one bill that the House and Senate will then vote on and presumably send to the President.
The recent economic downturn and collapse of the subprime mortgage lending system has led to a call for an expansion of federal regulations on the financial sector. In making bailout policies permanent through this legislation, more government sponsored entities like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be created to implement these bailouts by designating firms as "too big to fail," and as a result, increase this hazard.
The legislation in both the Senate and House bills further institutionalize the notion of "too big to fail", by setting up special regulatory regimes for the largest firms. By authorizing the Federal Reserve to regulate all non-bank financial institutions that are "systemically important" or might cause instability in the U.S. financial system if they failed, means that the companies designated for Federal Reserve regulation are thus too big to fail. Since these firms would be "too big to fail," they will be seen in the market as ultimately backed by the government and thus safer firms to lend to than small firms. This will permanently distort the financial market, favoring large companies over small ones.
Also, the House bill includes a $150 billion "bailout fund" that places the federal government solidly in a position to determine which firms fail or succeed. Additionally, it would make permanent the policies used to bailout AIG, Citigroup, GM, Fannie Mae and others. This fee will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher interest rates and increased fees. These are increases for consumers at a time when they can least afford it.
President Obama has taken it upon himself to wield a great deal of power in the private sector, and I firmly believe the less government intervention in the markets and less irresponsible use of taxpayer dollars the better. Being a strong free-market supporter, I am very concerned with what is included in this legislation, such as the creation of the CFPA - an entity that would have sweeping authority to regulate financial products, money markets, hedge funds, and insurance funds, and issue guidelines on executive compensation at financial firms. Additionally, this bill would institute new government powers to take over failed companies and permanently distort the marketplace.
Congress should consider an overhaul of our financial regulatory system, but not at the risk of creating more hazards, crippling the free market, and hurting small businesses.
Please know that I oppose any effort to create duplicative and unnecessary bureaucracy that will do more to stall economic growth than it will to protect consumers.
Again, thank you for contacting me. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future regarding this, or any other issue. Also, to stay informed on what is happening in Washington, please sign up for my electronic newsletter, The Schock Report, at www.schock.house.gov.
Sincerely,
Aaron Schock
Member of Congress
Please do not reply to this email address. Instead, please send all e-mail messages (including replies) through the web link: Email Aaron. I cannot guarantee the integrity of the text of this letter if it was not sent to you directly from my Congressional Email Account. If you have questions about the validity of this message, please email me through my website at www.schock.house.gov or call my Washington, DC office at: 202-225-6201.
Sent: Thursday, June 24, 2010 12:38 PM
To: sgtmac1@comcast.net
Subject: Reply from Congressman Aaron Schock
June 24, 2010
Mr. David H. McWilliams
910 Kevin Court
South Pekin, IL 61564-0471
Dear Mr. McWilliams,
Thank you for contacting me regarding financial regulatory reform legislation moving through the U.S. House and Senate. I greatly appreciated hearing your views, and I welcome the opportunity to respond.
At the outset of the debate, I believe it is imperative that our government implement carefully designed strict regulation to ensure that "too big to fail" never ever again causes our government to have to bail out large financial institutions because of reckless actions that defy sound banking practices. We cannot have a situation of private gain with public risk. That is the opposite of what I call a free market or capitalism. Credit default swaps, unregulated derivatives and securitized bundles of profoundly unsound mortgages need federal rules and vigilant oversight.
With that said, we cannot throw the baby out with the bathwater by going overboard with new regulations--particularly with regard to sound banks, that did nothing to cause the crisis of the last few years. If we do so, we could unwisely damage economic recovery by adopting radical measures that would definitely lead to cutting off credit for businesses large and small.
As a member of the minority party in the House of Representatives, I am frustrated that despite wanting to rein in abuses and reform the system to prevent more bailouts, the Democratic leadership in Congress has gone way overboard with the magnitude of new regulation and am convinced that adoption of their overreach will cause a significant drying up of credit, astronomical new costs for small and medium sized financial institutions that will be passed on to consumers, and quite possibly a double-dip recession.
As you probably know, on December 11, 2009, H.R. 4173, the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a close margin of 223-202. Due to the significant exposure of taxpayer dollars, and burdens placed on small businesses, I opposed this legislation. I found it unacceptable to include in this legislation the diversion of $4 billion of TARP funds for more government spending. I oppose the actions of the Democrats in Congress turning TARP into a permanent bailout agency. I voted for a motion to recommit to end TARP and direct any unused funds to pay down the national debt. Unfortunately, the motion was defeated 190-232.
Under H.R. 4173, every bank will be forced to offer federally approved "standard financial products and services." Essentially, this means that all banks, big and small, must offer uniform products; any deviations from these federal mandates would open up banks, in particular community banks, to frivolous lawsuits. As you can imagine, these uniform products could put smaller banks at a serious disadvantage when it comes to competing with much larger financial institutions.
Additionally, the creation of a new multibillion dollar federal agency controlled by one politically appointed Czar, who can then make the ultimate decision on what services and products all financial institutions can offer, was not something that I could support. While the goal of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) is to lead to improvements in the marketplace for the American people, in reality, it does nothing more than create a billion dollar agency, add to our national debt, tax businesses, restrict lending, and result in small businesses shedding millions of jobs. At a time when the economy is still struggling to recover, the last thing Congress ought to consider is an additional layer of regulation that will discourage new job creation. In fact, according to a University of Chicago study, the CFPA would increase consumer interest rates by more than 1.6%, and consumer borrowing would be reduced by at least 2.1%. Additionally, net new job creation would fall 4.3%.
As an alternative, I offered a bi-partisan amendment on the House Floor to change CFPA to a powerful council of regulators called the Consumer Financial Protection Council (CFPC) charged with establishing tough, new consumer regulations for all financial firms.
A powerful "Council of Regulators" would standardize consumer regulations and ensure that all state and federal regulators give consumer protection the same priority as is given to maintaining the safety and stability of the institutions themselves. Consumers would be better protected if we had fewer agencies with broader responsibilities, and a strict mandate for reform. By empowering and demanding that the existing state and federal financial regulators take on the critical task of protecting consumers from abuse and fraud, this amendment would have improved the proposed bill by better protecting consumers. It would also have reduced the regulatory burden on small community banks and other financial businesses that are now struggling to lend to businesses and consumers in central Illinois. Consumers don't need a massive new agency to pick and choose the products and services available to them. Unfortunately, the amendment failed by a vote of 208-223 with 33 Democrats joining all Republicans to support this initiative.
The Senate passed their version of H.R. 4173, on May 20, 2010 by a vote of 59-39. The bill now goes to Conference committee with the similar legislation the House of Representatives passed last December. The Conference committee will negotiate the differences between the bills to produce one bill that the House and Senate will then vote on and presumably send to the President.
The recent economic downturn and collapse of the subprime mortgage lending system has led to a call for an expansion of federal regulations on the financial sector. In making bailout policies permanent through this legislation, more government sponsored entities like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be created to implement these bailouts by designating firms as "too big to fail," and as a result, increase this hazard.
The legislation in both the Senate and House bills further institutionalize the notion of "too big to fail", by setting up special regulatory regimes for the largest firms. By authorizing the Federal Reserve to regulate all non-bank financial institutions that are "systemically important" or might cause instability in the U.S. financial system if they failed, means that the companies designated for Federal Reserve regulation are thus too big to fail. Since these firms would be "too big to fail," they will be seen in the market as ultimately backed by the government and thus safer firms to lend to than small firms. This will permanently distort the financial market, favoring large companies over small ones.
Also, the House bill includes a $150 billion "bailout fund" that places the federal government solidly in a position to determine which firms fail or succeed. Additionally, it would make permanent the policies used to bailout AIG, Citigroup, GM, Fannie Mae and others. This fee will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher interest rates and increased fees. These are increases for consumers at a time when they can least afford it.
President Obama has taken it upon himself to wield a great deal of power in the private sector, and I firmly believe the less government intervention in the markets and less irresponsible use of taxpayer dollars the better. Being a strong free-market supporter, I am very concerned with what is included in this legislation, such as the creation of the CFPA - an entity that would have sweeping authority to regulate financial products, money markets, hedge funds, and insurance funds, and issue guidelines on executive compensation at financial firms. Additionally, this bill would institute new government powers to take over failed companies and permanently distort the marketplace.
Congress should consider an overhaul of our financial regulatory system, but not at the risk of creating more hazards, crippling the free market, and hurting small businesses.
Please know that I oppose any effort to create duplicative and unnecessary bureaucracy that will do more to stall economic growth than it will to protect consumers.
Again, thank you for contacting me. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future regarding this, or any other issue. Also, to stay informed on what is happening in Washington, please sign up for my electronic newsletter, The Schock Report, at www.schock.house.gov.
Sincerely,
Aaron Schock
Member of Congress
Please do not reply to this email address. Instead, please send all e-mail messages (including replies) through the web link: Email Aaron. I cannot guarantee the integrity of the text of this letter if it was not sent to you directly from my Congressional Email Account. If you have questions about the validity of this message, please email me through my website at www.schock.house.gov or call my Washington, DC office at: 202-225-6201.
Welcome to Our Country
Forwarded to me by a friend. Exactly how I feel.
Merle
My great-grandfather watched as his friends died in the Civil War,
My grandfather watched as his friends died in WW I,
And uncles watched as their friends died in WW II and I watched as my friends died in Korea .
None of them died for the Mexican Flag. Everyone died for the American flag.
Texas high school students raised a Mexican flag on a school flag pole, other students took it down. Guess who was expelled...the students who took it down.
California high school students were sent home on Cinco de Mayo, because they wore T-shirts with the American flag printed on them.
Enough is enough.
This message needs to be viewed by every American; and every American needs to stand up for America .
We've bent over to appease the America-haters long enough.
I'm taking a stand.
I'm standing up because the hundreds of thousands who died fighting in wars for this country, and for the American flag.
If you agree, stand up with me. If you disagree, please let me know. I will gladly remove you from my e-mail list.
And shame on anyone who tries to make this a racist message.
AMERICANS, stop giving away Your RIGHTS!
Let me make this clear - THIS IS MY COUNTRY!
This statement DOES NOT mean I'm against immigration!
YOU ARE WELCOME HERE, IN MY COUNTRY, welcome to come legally:
Merle
My great-grandfather watched as his friends died in the Civil War,
My grandfather watched as his friends died in WW I,
And uncles watched as their friends died in WW II and I watched as my friends died in Korea .
None of them died for the Mexican Flag. Everyone died for the American flag.
Texas high school students raised a Mexican flag on a school flag pole, other students took it down. Guess who was expelled...the students who took it down.
California high school students were sent home on Cinco de Mayo, because they wore T-shirts with the American flag printed on them.
Enough is enough.
This message needs to be viewed by every American; and every American needs to stand up for America .
We've bent over to appease the America-haters long enough.
I'm taking a stand.
I'm standing up because the hundreds of thousands who died fighting in wars for this country, and for the American flag.
If you agree, stand up with me. If you disagree, please let me know. I will gladly remove you from my e-mail list.
And shame on anyone who tries to make this a racist message.
AMERICANS, stop giving away Your RIGHTS!
Let me make this clear - THIS IS MY COUNTRY!
This statement DOES NOT mean I'm against immigration!
YOU ARE WELCOME HERE, IN MY COUNTRY, welcome to come legally:
Democrats Control Congress Since 2007
A good read passed on to me by a friend. Bush did have some hand in it as he could have vetoed some of the spending.
Merle
Subject: Fw: Obama inherited debt from Bush
The next time you hear the South Chicago "community organizer" and his minions whining yhat "Bush did it", here are some facts on what really happened. Be informed, the libbies do not like that.
The Washington Post babbled again today about Obama inheriting a huge deficit from Bush. Amazingly enough... a lot of people swallow this nonsense.
So once more, a short civics lesson.
Budgets do not come from the White House.
They come from Congress, and the party that controlled Congress since January 2007 is the Democratic Party. They controlled the budget process for FY 2008 and FY 2009, as well as FY 2010 and FY 2011. In that first year, they had to contend with George Bush, which caused them to compromise on spending, when Bush somewhat belatedly got tough on spending increases.
For FY 2009 though, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid bypassed George Bush entirely, passing continuing resolutions to keep government running until Barack Obama could take office. At that time, they passed a massive omnibus spending bill to complete the FY 2009 budgets.
And where was Barack Obama during this time? He was a member of that very Congress that passed all of these massive spending bills, and he signed the omnibus bill as President to complete FY 2009.
If the Democrats inherited any deficit, it was the FY 2007 deficit, the last of the Republican budgets. That deficit was the lowest in five years, and the fourth straight decline in deficit spending. After that, Democrats in Congress took control of spending, and that includes Barack Obama, who voted for the budgets. If Obama inherited anything, he inherited it from himself.
In a nutshell, what Obama is saying is I inherited a deficit that I voted for and then I voted to expand that deficit four-fold since January 20th.
There is no way this will be widely publicized,
Unless each of us sends it on!
This is your chance to make a difference., milt
Merle
Subject: Fw: Obama inherited debt from Bush
The next time you hear the South Chicago "community organizer" and his minions whining yhat "Bush did it", here are some facts on what really happened. Be informed, the libbies do not like that.
The Washington Post babbled again today about Obama inheriting a huge deficit from Bush. Amazingly enough... a lot of people swallow this nonsense.
So once more, a short civics lesson.
Budgets do not come from the White House.
They come from Congress, and the party that controlled Congress since January 2007 is the Democratic Party. They controlled the budget process for FY 2008 and FY 2009, as well as FY 2010 and FY 2011. In that first year, they had to contend with George Bush, which caused them to compromise on spending, when Bush somewhat belatedly got tough on spending increases.
For FY 2009 though, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid bypassed George Bush entirely, passing continuing resolutions to keep government running until Barack Obama could take office. At that time, they passed a massive omnibus spending bill to complete the FY 2009 budgets.
And where was Barack Obama during this time? He was a member of that very Congress that passed all of these massive spending bills, and he signed the omnibus bill as President to complete FY 2009.
If the Democrats inherited any deficit, it was the FY 2007 deficit, the last of the Republican budgets. That deficit was the lowest in five years, and the fourth straight decline in deficit spending. After that, Democrats in Congress took control of spending, and that includes Barack Obama, who voted for the budgets. If Obama inherited anything, he inherited it from himself.
In a nutshell, what Obama is saying is I inherited a deficit that I voted for and then I voted to expand that deficit four-fold since January 20th.
There is no way this will be widely publicized,
Unless each of us sends it on!
This is your chance to make a difference., milt
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