I believe all should read the 40th Special Edition of the July-August Smithsonian. What a shocking revelation of what unintended consequences can do to our environment and our publicly shared oceans.
Don't overlook reading "The Last Page" on the last page. Also, Forty things you need to know about the next 40 years including comments by one of my favorite fiction writers, Carl Hiaasen, page 105.
Saturday, July 03, 2010
"The American Thinker" on Illegal Immigration
The suing of Arizona but not Missouri by the United States Government is underway. All to divert our attention to our sorry economic crises and this administrations failure to properly regulate deep drilling in the gulf and their sorry response once the "sometime to be expected, happened". And of course, to divert on our attention to close our borders like all, including 3rd world countries have already done. Europe waited to long. The sad results of our failure and Europe's failures are forthcoming daily.
Merle
June 21, 2010
Why sue Arizona and not Missouri?
Timothy Birdnow
In a visit with Ecuadorian officials Secretary of State Hillary Clinton let slip that the Obama Administration intends to sue the state of Arizona over recently passed immigration laws. While Hillary's speaking out of turn may have forced the Administration's hand, a Justice Department spokesman confirmed that the DOJ was building a case against Arizona and would likely bring suit in the near future.
There is one puzzling aspect to this, though; if they thought this violated the Constitution, why didn't the Administration protest when Missouri did what Arizona is now doing?
Over the last five years Missouri has systematically put in place the provisions recently enacted by Arizona. If Arizona's laws are so draconian and, as Michael Posner told the Chinese, are a detestable violation of human rights, why didn't the DOJ begin crafting a legal challenge to the Show-Me State?
Missouri laws are quite similar to those of Arizona, and they preceeded the Grand Canyon State's law.
First came HJR 7 in the Year of Our Lord 2007 and approved by Missouri voters with 86.3% of the vote:
"Be it resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring therein:
That at the next general election to be held in the state of Missouri, on Tuesday next following the first Monday in November, 2008, or at a special election to be called by the governor for that purpose, there is hereby submitted to the qualified voters of this state, for adoption or rejection, the following amendment to article I of the Constitution of the state of Missouri:
Section A. Article I, Constitution of Missouri, is amended by adding thereto one new section, to be known as section 34, to read as follows:
Section 34. That English shall be the language of all official proceedings in this state."
This was followed by the comprehensive HB 1549 bill which became law August 28 2008
Some of the highlights of the bill include:
- "43.032. 2. No municipality shall enact or adopt any sanctuary policy."
-208.009. 1. No alien unlawfully present in the United States shall receive any state or local public benefit, except for state or local public benefits that may be offered under 8 U.S.C. 1621(b). Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the rendering of emergency medical care, prenatal care, services offering alternatives to abortion, emergency assistance, or legal assistance to any person.
- 3. In addition to providing proof of other eligibility requirements, at the time of application for any state or local public benefit, an applicant who is eighteen years of age or older shall provide affirmative proof that the applicant is a citizen or a permanent resident of the United States or is lawfully present in the United States
- " 3. All public employers shall enroll and actively participate in a federal work authorization program."
- "302.063. The department of revenue shall not issue any driver's license to an illegal alien nor to any person who cannot prove his or her lawful presence pursuant to the provisions of this chapter and the regulations promulgated thereunder. A driver's license issued to an illegal alien in another state shall not be honored by the state of Missouri and the department of revenue for any purpose."
- "2. There shall be a presumption that releasing the person under any conditions as provided by section 544.455 shall not reasonably assure the appearance of the person as required if the circuit judge or associate circuit judge reasonably believes that the person is an alien unlawfully present in the United States. If such presumption exists, the person shall be committed to the jail, as provided in subsection 1 of this section, until such person provides verification of his or her lawful presence in the United States to rebut such presumption."
- "577.722. 1. It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly transport, move, or attempt to transport in the state of Missouri any illegal alien who is not lawfully present in the United States"
- Plus this amendment:
" 28.824. All law enforcement officers shall inquire into the citizenship andimmigration status of any person under arrest for a violation of any state law or municipal ordinance, regardless of the person's national origin, ethnicity, or race. In all such cases where a person indicates
that he or she is not a citizen or national of the United States, the law enforcement agent shall verify with the federal government whether the alien is lawfully or unlawfully present in the United States, under 8 U.S.C. 1373(c). If the alien is verified to be unlawfully present in the United States, the law enforcement officer shall cooperate with any request by federal immigration authorities to detain the alien or transfer the alien to the custody of the federal government."
There are also penalties applied to businesses that knowingly hire illegal aliens.
State Representative Will Kraus gives a good overview of the Missouri law in the Lee's Summit Journal.
Missouri also bans in-state tuition aid for illegal aliens at state junior colleges.
So, why should the Arizona law be unpalatable when Missouri's was never worth challenging? The Department of Homeland Security estimated Arizona's illegal population at 560,000 in 2008, while the Pew Hispanic Center estimates between 400 and 450 thousand back in 2005. Pew's 2005 estimates for Missouri were between 35 and 65, so Arizona's illegal population is larger than Missouri's by about a factor of ten. 560,000 potentially new Democratic Party Voters and union members!
But there is more, much more; Arizona is not just a repository but a portal, the figurative Gibraltar of the U.S. According to the AZ Capitol Times:
"Overall, illegal immigration through those two states, New Mexico and Arizona has declined from nearly 1.2 million in 2005 to 541,000 last year, according to the Border Patrol. In Arizona, illegal crossings fell from 578,000 in 2005 to nearly 250,000 last year - before the recent rise."
So, last year a quarter of a million people came in through Arizona. Where did they go? Everywhere, and that is why the Obama Administration is desperate to prevent Arizona's law from working.
One leg of Obama's plan to Democratic political hegemony, to a new New Deal, rests on opening the nation wide. What happened in Missouri is small potatoes, because the important thing is to get these people here, not to protect their rights. Unhappy illegals can leave Missouri for Illinois and prosper. PEW's estimate for Illinois in 2005 was anywhere between 375-425 thousand illegals - ten times the number in Missouri - and that before the new laws were enacted. The worry is not about civil rights, but about keeping the flood of invading peoples coming.
Fredo Arias-King, former foreign relations aid to Vicente Fox, explained back in 2006
"While Democratic legislators we spoke with welcomed the Latino vote, they seemed more interested in those immigrants and their offspring as a tool to increase the role of the government in society and the economy. Several of them tended to see Latin American immigrants and even Latino constituents as both more dependent on and accepting of active government programs and the political class guaranteeing those programs, a point they emphasized more than the voting per se. Moreover, they saw Latinos as more loyal and "dependable" in supporting a patron-client system and in building reliable patronage networks to circumvent the exigencies of political life as devised by the Founding Fathers and expected daily by the average American."
After his first 100 days, President Barack Obama told a hand-picked crowd in Missouri:
"we're working to remake America."
And that, my friends, is Gospel Truth!
(Hat tip: Dana Mathewson)
Posted at 09:32 AM | Email | Permalink | 30 Comments | Share
Recent Articles
NASA = No Americans in Space Anymore?
Is Elena Kagan Morally Blind?
Repeal the 20th Century?
Thanks to Otis McDonald and the Supremes
Shooting Hoops with Kagan
Why Cloward-Piven Will Eat Itself
If You Want to Immigrate Here
Civil Rights of My Fathers
Why Kagan Is Unqualified -- and Dangerous
Hearst's Modified Limited Hangout
Blog Posts
A Dem losing faith in Obama's Iran policy?
White House Salaries Made Public
Unemployment rate down to 9.5% but few private sector jobs created
Graph of the Day for July 2, 2010
More unintended consequences from Obamacare
Obama one of the best presidents evah!
California welfare ATM cards work at strip clubs too!
Pelosi: Unemployment benefits create jobs?
The decreasing relevancy of Obama's presidency
Aren't We Supposed to Laugh at Clowns?
Monthly Archives
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
More...
Merle
June 21, 2010
Why sue Arizona and not Missouri?
Timothy Birdnow
In a visit with Ecuadorian officials Secretary of State Hillary Clinton let slip that the Obama Administration intends to sue the state of Arizona over recently passed immigration laws. While Hillary's speaking out of turn may have forced the Administration's hand, a Justice Department spokesman confirmed that the DOJ was building a case against Arizona and would likely bring suit in the near future.
There is one puzzling aspect to this, though; if they thought this violated the Constitution, why didn't the Administration protest when Missouri did what Arizona is now doing?
Over the last five years Missouri has systematically put in place the provisions recently enacted by Arizona. If Arizona's laws are so draconian and, as Michael Posner told the Chinese, are a detestable violation of human rights, why didn't the DOJ begin crafting a legal challenge to the Show-Me State?
Missouri laws are quite similar to those of Arizona, and they preceeded the Grand Canyon State's law.
First came HJR 7 in the Year of Our Lord 2007 and approved by Missouri voters with 86.3% of the vote:
"Be it resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring therein:
That at the next general election to be held in the state of Missouri, on Tuesday next following the first Monday in November, 2008, or at a special election to be called by the governor for that purpose, there is hereby submitted to the qualified voters of this state, for adoption or rejection, the following amendment to article I of the Constitution of the state of Missouri:
Section A. Article I, Constitution of Missouri, is amended by adding thereto one new section, to be known as section 34, to read as follows:
Section 34. That English shall be the language of all official proceedings in this state."
This was followed by the comprehensive HB 1549 bill which became law August 28 2008
Some of the highlights of the bill include:
- "43.032. 2. No municipality shall enact or adopt any sanctuary policy."
-208.009. 1. No alien unlawfully present in the United States shall receive any state or local public benefit, except for state or local public benefits that may be offered under 8 U.S.C. 1621(b). Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the rendering of emergency medical care, prenatal care, services offering alternatives to abortion, emergency assistance, or legal assistance to any person.
- 3. In addition to providing proof of other eligibility requirements, at the time of application for any state or local public benefit, an applicant who is eighteen years of age or older shall provide affirmative proof that the applicant is a citizen or a permanent resident of the United States or is lawfully present in the United States
- " 3. All public employers shall enroll and actively participate in a federal work authorization program."
- "302.063. The department of revenue shall not issue any driver's license to an illegal alien nor to any person who cannot prove his or her lawful presence pursuant to the provisions of this chapter and the regulations promulgated thereunder. A driver's license issued to an illegal alien in another state shall not be honored by the state of Missouri and the department of revenue for any purpose."
- "2. There shall be a presumption that releasing the person under any conditions as provided by section 544.455 shall not reasonably assure the appearance of the person as required if the circuit judge or associate circuit judge reasonably believes that the person is an alien unlawfully present in the United States. If such presumption exists, the person shall be committed to the jail, as provided in subsection 1 of this section, until such person provides verification of his or her lawful presence in the United States to rebut such presumption."
- "577.722. 1. It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly transport, move, or attempt to transport in the state of Missouri any illegal alien who is not lawfully present in the United States"
- Plus this amendment:
" 28.824. All law enforcement officers shall inquire into the citizenship andimmigration status of any person under arrest for a violation of any state law or municipal ordinance, regardless of the person's national origin, ethnicity, or race. In all such cases where a person indicates
that he or she is not a citizen or national of the United States, the law enforcement agent shall verify with the federal government whether the alien is lawfully or unlawfully present in the United States, under 8 U.S.C. 1373(c). If the alien is verified to be unlawfully present in the United States, the law enforcement officer shall cooperate with any request by federal immigration authorities to detain the alien or transfer the alien to the custody of the federal government."
There are also penalties applied to businesses that knowingly hire illegal aliens.
State Representative Will Kraus gives a good overview of the Missouri law in the Lee's Summit Journal.
Missouri also bans in-state tuition aid for illegal aliens at state junior colleges.
So, why should the Arizona law be unpalatable when Missouri's was never worth challenging? The Department of Homeland Security estimated Arizona's illegal population at 560,000 in 2008, while the Pew Hispanic Center estimates between 400 and 450 thousand back in 2005. Pew's 2005 estimates for Missouri were between 35 and 65, so Arizona's illegal population is larger than Missouri's by about a factor of ten. 560,000 potentially new Democratic Party Voters and union members!
But there is more, much more; Arizona is not just a repository but a portal, the figurative Gibraltar of the U.S. According to the AZ Capitol Times:
"Overall, illegal immigration through those two states, New Mexico and Arizona has declined from nearly 1.2 million in 2005 to 541,000 last year, according to the Border Patrol. In Arizona, illegal crossings fell from 578,000 in 2005 to nearly 250,000 last year - before the recent rise."
So, last year a quarter of a million people came in through Arizona. Where did they go? Everywhere, and that is why the Obama Administration is desperate to prevent Arizona's law from working.
One leg of Obama's plan to Democratic political hegemony, to a new New Deal, rests on opening the nation wide. What happened in Missouri is small potatoes, because the important thing is to get these people here, not to protect their rights. Unhappy illegals can leave Missouri for Illinois and prosper. PEW's estimate for Illinois in 2005 was anywhere between 375-425 thousand illegals - ten times the number in Missouri - and that before the new laws were enacted. The worry is not about civil rights, but about keeping the flood of invading peoples coming.
Fredo Arias-King, former foreign relations aid to Vicente Fox, explained back in 2006
"While Democratic legislators we spoke with welcomed the Latino vote, they seemed more interested in those immigrants and their offspring as a tool to increase the role of the government in society and the economy. Several of them tended to see Latin American immigrants and even Latino constituents as both more dependent on and accepting of active government programs and the political class guaranteeing those programs, a point they emphasized more than the voting per se. Moreover, they saw Latinos as more loyal and "dependable" in supporting a patron-client system and in building reliable patronage networks to circumvent the exigencies of political life as devised by the Founding Fathers and expected daily by the average American."
After his first 100 days, President Barack Obama told a hand-picked crowd in Missouri:
"we're working to remake America."
And that, my friends, is Gospel Truth!
(Hat tip: Dana Mathewson)
Posted at 09:32 AM | Email | Permalink | 30 Comments | Share
Recent Articles
NASA = No Americans in Space Anymore?
Is Elena Kagan Morally Blind?
Repeal the 20th Century?
Thanks to Otis McDonald and the Supremes
Shooting Hoops with Kagan
Why Cloward-Piven Will Eat Itself
If You Want to Immigrate Here
Civil Rights of My Fathers
Why Kagan Is Unqualified -- and Dangerous
Hearst's Modified Limited Hangout
Blog Posts
A Dem losing faith in Obama's Iran policy?
White House Salaries Made Public
Unemployment rate down to 9.5% but few private sector jobs created
Graph of the Day for July 2, 2010
More unintended consequences from Obamacare
Obama one of the best presidents evah!
California welfare ATM cards work at strip clubs too!
Pelosi: Unemployment benefits create jobs?
The decreasing relevancy of Obama's presidency
Aren't We Supposed to Laugh at Clowns?
Monthly Archives
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
More...
Friday, July 02, 2010
Porker of the Month
Most politicians, Democrat or Republican seldom see a taxpayer dollar they don't want to spend. The Democrats alone did not get us in the shape we are in. Republican Shelby is typical although not as bad as the now deceased Byrd from West Virginia and retired John Murhta, Frank, Pelosi, Dodd, Rangel........... all still in office but hopfully not much longer.
Merle
ShelbyPorker of the Month: Senator Richard Shelby Porker of the Month: Sen. Richard Shelby
Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has named Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) Porker of the Month for blocking the Obama administration's attempts to eliminate funding for Constellation, a NASA program that is chronically behind schedule and over budget. Initiated under former President George W. Bush, Constellation aims to put man back on the moon by 2020. However, the Government Accountability Office, the Congressional Budget Office, and the Review of Human Spaceflight Plans Committee led by former aerospace executive Norm Augustine have criticized NASA's management of the program. Sen. Shelby, whose state is home to Radiance Technologies, a NASA contractor and major Shelby campaign contributor, co-sponsored an amendment to the fiscal year 2010 emergency war supplemental bill that would shield Constellation from proposed budget cuts. "Americans are being forced to tighten their belts and the economy is limping along, but that doesn't deter the porkers in Congress, like Sen. Shelby, who are still spending and rewarding government contractors orbiting the program. Sen. Shelby's actions just perpetuate the notion that politicians in Washington are living on a completely different planet," asserted CAGW President Tom Schatz. For launching pigs into space and contributing to the black hole of deficit spending, CAGW names Sen. Shelby June Porker of the Month. Read more about the Porker of the Month.
Merle
ShelbyPorker of the Month: Senator Richard Shelby Porker of the Month: Sen. Richard Shelby
Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has named Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) Porker of the Month for blocking the Obama administration's attempts to eliminate funding for Constellation, a NASA program that is chronically behind schedule and over budget. Initiated under former President George W. Bush, Constellation aims to put man back on the moon by 2020. However, the Government Accountability Office, the Congressional Budget Office, and the Review of Human Spaceflight Plans Committee led by former aerospace executive Norm Augustine have criticized NASA's management of the program. Sen. Shelby, whose state is home to Radiance Technologies, a NASA contractor and major Shelby campaign contributor, co-sponsored an amendment to the fiscal year 2010 emergency war supplemental bill that would shield Constellation from proposed budget cuts. "Americans are being forced to tighten their belts and the economy is limping along, but that doesn't deter the porkers in Congress, like Sen. Shelby, who are still spending and rewarding government contractors orbiting the program. Sen. Shelby's actions just perpetuate the notion that politicians in Washington are living on a completely different planet," asserted CAGW President Tom Schatz. For launching pigs into space and contributing to the black hole of deficit spending, CAGW names Sen. Shelby June Porker of the Month. Read more about the Porker of the Month.
Thursday, July 01, 2010
Quinn's Budget Scalpel
I do agree with Governor Quinn that some entitlement money should be cut. Years ago when I was more involved with social agencies in Peoria I counted over 70 tax-payer funded social agencies that dealt with teens and teen problems. At that time, I felt that some of these agencies should be combined and the community given information as to how much money was being spent per kid SERVED. And I don't mean how many kids were listed on inflated rosters as was the case on one of the boards on which I served.
With all these social agencies, it is and has been highly evident that far too many kids are falling through the "cracks" and into the Juvenile Court System and worse.
I do not know the budget of the Boys and Girls Club nor how much their administrator and staff is being paid but I do know that most of the people who send money to this organization are not aware that the former B & G headquarters was closed May 1, 2007, yet its location appeared on fund-raising advertising brochures as late as October 2008. The old headquarters is currently being used by the contractors building the Harrison school. It is my belief that the City of Peoria contributed $25,000, this request asked for by Councilmen Gulley and Turner, for a new roof for this building yet as of a month ago, no new roof. (Turner is the Councilman who never set foot in the basement of Lincoln Library yet put his name on a flier that said the "library basement was damp and dark" which could have been corrected by dropping the lights out of the ceiling and putting in a humidifier. He also admitted to me that he hadn't visited this library and twice cancelled appointments to go with me and see what he supported to the tune of millions of dollars on what will be a largely empty shell similar to the Southside Library where hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent including putting in an $80,000 elevator; the building and all now closed).
It reminds me of the time I was elected Treasurer of the Southside Development Association presided over by former Councilman James Polk. I asked how much money was in the treasury? The answer; no money. I was told to go see then City Manager Peter Korn and ask for money from the City. Mr. Korn informed me that the City had just given this organization $25,000. I went back to the group and asked where the money was. No one knew. At the next meeting I was voted out as treasurer.
Another tax-payer funded operation called Community Builders should bear more scrutiny. It started out with great hype, see positive articles starting in 2005 in the JS about Community Schools and the faith based Community Builders role. None of these programs have succeeded in spite of $150,000 seed money administrated by Joyce Banks. Target schools were to be Manual High, only activity is a not too well attended computer center with 20 computers and administrated by paid workers from Workforce Development, Trewyn, where the few kids who come and go at will, mainly eat, cut up and play basketball. No adults ever show up for after school activities with their kids according to the janitors and my own personal visits. Garfield, I know of no after school activities attended by kids and parents. Perhaps they do.
I know that the new Harrison School is hyped to be a community center. Why did they need to wait on a new school when they couldn't even keep the B & G Headquarters open and never gave the now closed Southside Library, a chance? As to Harrison, we will see a couple years after it has opened.
Back in January 2000, a person named Beverly Prevette of Peoria had a LTE printed by the JS, "Teen-agers have needs Peoria's leaders aren't addressing". Boy were you correct, Beverly. But don't worry, the new unpaid for zoo and the yet to be built museum will take care of that problem. Oh, you need to PAY to get in these places? I see.
Yes, I know we have some programs that appear to engage a number of kids out of the 20,000 or more in Peoria, but we lead the state, or are in the top 3, in teen age venereal diseases, single mothers, drug dealing and teen crime and unwed pregnant girls.
And dropouts. And welfare recipients. And we are going to look after the old with a $56 million new reduced room nursing home that will house up to 150 or so Medicaid residents to complement our new museum, a new hotel while existing ones appear to be closing, the fairly new ballpark, not too well attended according to the media, the new underutilized zoo (the new $5 million parking lot never got built and after a year and one giraffe death, it doesn't appear one is needed), underutilized expanded and new $27 million libraries (think of the new edifice rising along side Rt. 6 and less than 5 miles from the new expanded underutilized Dunlap Library)all built or being built with borrowed money, plus other amenities..........like trails??
All of these financed because we DON'T have the money including our new schools at Glen Oak and Harrison, both recommended to be closed. Who said that? Go back and read the 3 day Summitt community input meeting report or read my blog dated May 3, 2002 or better yet, get a copy of the Summitt report from #150 administration. Perhaps by now our new Superintendent Lathan has read through the numerous studies made since year 2000.
Negative? No, I just keep all these records in my filing system filled with broken promises and missed projections.
With all these social agencies, it is and has been highly evident that far too many kids are falling through the "cracks" and into the Juvenile Court System and worse.
I do not know the budget of the Boys and Girls Club nor how much their administrator and staff is being paid but I do know that most of the people who send money to this organization are not aware that the former B & G headquarters was closed May 1, 2007, yet its location appeared on fund-raising advertising brochures as late as October 2008. The old headquarters is currently being used by the contractors building the Harrison school. It is my belief that the City of Peoria contributed $25,000, this request asked for by Councilmen Gulley and Turner, for a new roof for this building yet as of a month ago, no new roof. (Turner is the Councilman who never set foot in the basement of Lincoln Library yet put his name on a flier that said the "library basement was damp and dark" which could have been corrected by dropping the lights out of the ceiling and putting in a humidifier. He also admitted to me that he hadn't visited this library and twice cancelled appointments to go with me and see what he supported to the tune of millions of dollars on what will be a largely empty shell similar to the Southside Library where hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent including putting in an $80,000 elevator; the building and all now closed).
It reminds me of the time I was elected Treasurer of the Southside Development Association presided over by former Councilman James Polk. I asked how much money was in the treasury? The answer; no money. I was told to go see then City Manager Peter Korn and ask for money from the City. Mr. Korn informed me that the City had just given this organization $25,000. I went back to the group and asked where the money was. No one knew. At the next meeting I was voted out as treasurer.
Another tax-payer funded operation called Community Builders should bear more scrutiny. It started out with great hype, see positive articles starting in 2005 in the JS about Community Schools and the faith based Community Builders role. None of these programs have succeeded in spite of $150,000 seed money administrated by Joyce Banks. Target schools were to be Manual High, only activity is a not too well attended computer center with 20 computers and administrated by paid workers from Workforce Development, Trewyn, where the few kids who come and go at will, mainly eat, cut up and play basketball. No adults ever show up for after school activities with their kids according to the janitors and my own personal visits. Garfield, I know of no after school activities attended by kids and parents. Perhaps they do.
I know that the new Harrison School is hyped to be a community center. Why did they need to wait on a new school when they couldn't even keep the B & G Headquarters open and never gave the now closed Southside Library, a chance? As to Harrison, we will see a couple years after it has opened.
Back in January 2000, a person named Beverly Prevette of Peoria had a LTE printed by the JS, "Teen-agers have needs Peoria's leaders aren't addressing". Boy were you correct, Beverly. But don't worry, the new unpaid for zoo and the yet to be built museum will take care of that problem. Oh, you need to PAY to get in these places? I see.
Yes, I know we have some programs that appear to engage a number of kids out of the 20,000 or more in Peoria, but we lead the state, or are in the top 3, in teen age venereal diseases, single mothers, drug dealing and teen crime and unwed pregnant girls.
And dropouts. And welfare recipients. And we are going to look after the old with a $56 million new reduced room nursing home that will house up to 150 or so Medicaid residents to complement our new museum, a new hotel while existing ones appear to be closing, the fairly new ballpark, not too well attended according to the media, the new underutilized zoo (the new $5 million parking lot never got built and after a year and one giraffe death, it doesn't appear one is needed), underutilized expanded and new $27 million libraries (think of the new edifice rising along side Rt. 6 and less than 5 miles from the new expanded underutilized Dunlap Library)all built or being built with borrowed money, plus other amenities..........like trails??
All of these financed because we DON'T have the money including our new schools at Glen Oak and Harrison, both recommended to be closed. Who said that? Go back and read the 3 day Summitt community input meeting report or read my blog dated May 3, 2002 or better yet, get a copy of the Summitt report from #150 administration. Perhaps by now our new Superintendent Lathan has read through the numerous studies made since year 2000.
Negative? No, I just keep all these records in my filing system filled with broken promises and missed projections.
Vagueness and Unintended Consequences of Laws
"Wonderland", by Dan Henninger, Columnist of the WSJ, who wrote today a classic description of the void-for-vagueness in the 2000 plus pages of the ObamaCare health bill. He lists a classic example of this doctrine from a 1926 doctrine of Justice George Sutherland. Sutherland wrote "a statute which forbids or requires the doing of an act in terms so vague that men of common intelligence must necessarily guess at its meaning....violates the first essential of due process of law."
Henninger says, "that any such common-sense rule still exists in law, politics or life is a wonder." "If only on principle, someone from the GOP, (I've given up on 98%of the Democrats in Congress and most everywhere else) should start demanding that all federal legislation pass a "void-for-vagueness" test. In this congressional session, none would survive. If the Supreme Court can demand clarity of behalf of convicted felons, (think Skilling and Scrushy, see my 7/1/05 blog "More Opportunities for Pillage" who the sentencing judge said in this bribery and corruption case, 'damaged public trust in state government'. Sound familiar?) How about demanding clarity on behalf of everyone else, who until their luck runs out, remain innocent?"
The full story can be found on the opinion page of the WSJ under the title of, "A Plague of Vagueness".
Lot's of luck to small business people who should be voting a Republican ticket this November as their "luck is running out" under this administration.
Now just 12 months out of the OC (ObamaCare) bill comes the commonly called Dodd-Frank financial reform bill. This several thousand page bill which Texas Republican Jeb Hensarling says, "There are probably three unintended consequences on every single page of this bill", is another large chunk of meat, no bones, thrown to the Bar Association and especially to the tort attorneys.
Henninger says, "that any such common-sense rule still exists in law, politics or life is a wonder." "If only on principle, someone from the GOP, (I've given up on 98%of the Democrats in Congress and most everywhere else) should start demanding that all federal legislation pass a "void-for-vagueness" test. In this congressional session, none would survive. If the Supreme Court can demand clarity of behalf of convicted felons, (think Skilling and Scrushy, see my 7/1/05 blog "More Opportunities for Pillage" who the sentencing judge said in this bribery and corruption case, 'damaged public trust in state government'. Sound familiar?) How about demanding clarity on behalf of everyone else, who until their luck runs out, remain innocent?"
The full story can be found on the opinion page of the WSJ under the title of, "A Plague of Vagueness".
Lot's of luck to small business people who should be voting a Republican ticket this November as their "luck is running out" under this administration.
Now just 12 months out of the OC (ObamaCare) bill comes the commonly called Dodd-Frank financial reform bill. This several thousand page bill which Texas Republican Jeb Hensarling says, "There are probably three unintended consequences on every single page of this bill", is another large chunk of meat, no bones, thrown to the Bar Association and especially to the tort attorneys.
Thomas Sowell on Tyranny
Dr. Sowell is not the only one in fear we are heading where Obama wanted to take us all along. You better be paying attention. I highly recommend reading this intellect with COMMON SENSE. Merle Widmer
Is U.S. Now On Slippery Slope To Tyranny?
By THOMAS SOWELL
When Adolf Hitler was building up the Nazi movement in the 1920s, leading up to his taking power in the 1930s, he deliberately sought to activate people who did not normally pay much attention to politics.
Such people were a valuable addition to his political base, since they were particularly susceptible to Hitler's rhetoric and had far less basis for questioning his assumptions or his conclusions.
"Useful idiots" was the term supposedly coined by V.I. Lenin to describe similarly unthinking supporters of his dictatorship in the Soviet Union.
Put differently, a democracy needs informed citizens if it is to thrive, or ultimately even survive.
In our times, American democracy is being dismantled, piece by piece, before our very eyes by the current administration in Washington, and few people seem to be concerned about it.
The president's poll numbers are going down because increasing numbers of people disagree with particular policies of his, but the damage being done to the fundamental structure of this nation goes far beyond particular counterproductive policies.
Just where in the Constitution of the United States does it say that a president has the authority to extract vast sums of money from a private enterprise and distribute it as he sees fit to whomever he deems worthy of compensation? Nowhere.
And yet that is precisely what is happening with a $20 billion fund to be provided by BP to compensate people harmed by their oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Many among the public and in the media may think that the issue is simply whether BP's oil spill has damaged many people, who ought to be compensated.
But our government is supposed to be "a government of laws and not of men."
If our laws and our institutions determine that BP ought to pay $20 billion — or $50 billion or $100 billion — then so be it.
But the Constitution says that private property is not to be confiscated by the government without "due process of law."
Technically, it has not been confiscated by Barack Obama, but that is a distinction without a difference.
With vastly expanded powers of government available at the discretion of politicians and bureaucrats, private individuals and organizations can be forced into accepting the imposition of powers that were never granted to the government by the Constitution.
If you believe that the end justifies the means, then you don't believe in constitutional government.
Is U.S. Now On Slippery Slope To Tyranny?
By THOMAS SOWELL
When Adolf Hitler was building up the Nazi movement in the 1920s, leading up to his taking power in the 1930s, he deliberately sought to activate people who did not normally pay much attention to politics.
Such people were a valuable addition to his political base, since they were particularly susceptible to Hitler's rhetoric and had far less basis for questioning his assumptions or his conclusions.
"Useful idiots" was the term supposedly coined by V.I. Lenin to describe similarly unthinking supporters of his dictatorship in the Soviet Union.
Put differently, a democracy needs informed citizens if it is to thrive, or ultimately even survive.
In our times, American democracy is being dismantled, piece by piece, before our very eyes by the current administration in Washington, and few people seem to be concerned about it.
The president's poll numbers are going down because increasing numbers of people disagree with particular policies of his, but the damage being done to the fundamental structure of this nation goes far beyond particular counterproductive policies.
Just where in the Constitution of the United States does it say that a president has the authority to extract vast sums of money from a private enterprise and distribute it as he sees fit to whomever he deems worthy of compensation? Nowhere.
And yet that is precisely what is happening with a $20 billion fund to be provided by BP to compensate people harmed by their oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Many among the public and in the media may think that the issue is simply whether BP's oil spill has damaged many people, who ought to be compensated.
But our government is supposed to be "a government of laws and not of men."
If our laws and our institutions determine that BP ought to pay $20 billion — or $50 billion or $100 billion — then so be it.
But the Constitution says that private property is not to be confiscated by the government without "due process of law."
Technically, it has not been confiscated by Barack Obama, but that is a distinction without a difference.
With vastly expanded powers of government available at the discretion of politicians and bureaucrats, private individuals and organizations can be forced into accepting the imposition of powers that were never granted to the government by the Constitution.
If you believe that the end justifies the means, then you don't believe in constitutional government.
Dodd, Keep the Poor, Poor the Chavez Way
Stimulus Spending: A Losing Bet
Posted by Van Helsing at 8:05 AM | Comments (1)
Where did all the $zillions of pork barrel "stimulus" loot go? Obviously not into creating jobs; that's accomplished by cutting taxes, not by wasting mountains of money, thereby forcing them to be raised. The cash went down absurd moonbat rat holes and into the pockets of crony capitalists and other assorted friends of our rulers. Here's an example:
With the support of Sen. Chris Dodd, D.-Conn., the federal government has awarded $54 million to Connecticut's politically well-connected Mohegan Indian tribe, which operates one of the highest grossing casinos in the U.S.
The tribe runs the sprawling Mohegan Sun casino, halfway between New York City and Boston, which earned more than $1.3 billion in gross revenues in 2009. Each tribe member receives a cut of the profits, a number a tribal official said was "less than $30,000" per capita per year. The stimulus money is a loan from a U.S. Department of Agriculture rural development program that is meant to help communities of less than 20,000 people that have been "unable to obtain other credit at reasonable rates and terms and are unable to finance the proposed project from their own resources."
Liberal economics in a nutshell: the rich get richer, the poor are paid to stay poor, and everyone else gets their pockets turned inside out.
Posted by Van Helsing at 8:05 AM | Comments (1)
Where did all the $zillions of pork barrel "stimulus" loot go? Obviously not into creating jobs; that's accomplished by cutting taxes, not by wasting mountains of money, thereby forcing them to be raised. The cash went down absurd moonbat rat holes and into the pockets of crony capitalists and other assorted friends of our rulers. Here's an example:
With the support of Sen. Chris Dodd, D.-Conn., the federal government has awarded $54 million to Connecticut's politically well-connected Mohegan Indian tribe, which operates one of the highest grossing casinos in the U.S.
The tribe runs the sprawling Mohegan Sun casino, halfway between New York City and Boston, which earned more than $1.3 billion in gross revenues in 2009. Each tribe member receives a cut of the profits, a number a tribal official said was "less than $30,000" per capita per year. The stimulus money is a loan from a U.S. Department of Agriculture rural development program that is meant to help communities of less than 20,000 people that have been "unable to obtain other credit at reasonable rates and terms and are unable to finance the proposed project from their own resources."
Liberal economics in a nutshell: the rich get richer, the poor are paid to stay poor, and everyone else gets their pockets turned inside out.
Hoyer - Middle Class Tax Cuts Too Costly
WASHINGTON — A top House Democrat said Tuesday that tax increases will eventually be necessary to address the nation's mounting debt, raising a difficult election-year issue as Democrats fight to retain control of Congress.
In the near term, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer raised the possibility that Congress will only temporarily extend middle-class tax cuts set to expire at the end of the year. He pointedly suggested that making them permanent would be too costly.
Tax cuts enacted under former President George W. Bush are scheduled to expire at the end of the year, affecting taxpayers at every income level. President Barack Obama proposes to permanently extend them for individuals making less than $200,000 a year and families making less than $250,000 — at a cost of about $2.5 trillion over the next decade.
"As the House and Senate debate what to do with the expiring Bush tax cuts in the coming weeks, we need to have a serious discussion about their implications for our fiscal outlook, including whether we can afford to permanently extend them before we have a real plan for long-term deficit reduction," Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, told a forum on deficit reduction.
The tax cuts will be a big political issue in many congressional elections this fall, providing potential fodder for both political parties. Democratic leaders have yet to lay out a schedule for dealing with the tax cuts, but many rank-and-file Democrats want to extend them before the elections, so they can campaign on passing tax cuts for the middle class.
Republicans argue that many of the high earners who would face tax increases under Obama's plan are small business owners struggling to stay afloat in a tough economy.
If the Democratic-controlled Congress doesn't extend the tax cuts before the elections, Republicans are ready to pounce, highlighting the looming tax increase that awaits nearly every U.S. taxpayer in January. Democrats would be left in the awkward position of promising to extend the tax cuts in a lame duck session following the elections, after nearly two years of inaction by the current Congress.
In the short term, deficit spending has been necessary to stimulate the economy, Hoyer said.
"I don't think this is the time to increase taxes," Hoyer told reporters after the forum.
But in the longer term — after the economy has improved — Congress will have to rein in spending and raise taxes to tackle the debt, Hoyer added.
"Raising revenue is part of the deficit solution, too," Hoyer said.
Obama has appointed a bipartisan commission to come up with ideas to reduce the budget deficit and has said that all options must be on the table, including spending cuts and tax increases. The commission is scheduled to release its recommendations Dec. 1.
Republicans, however, have refused to embrace any talk of tax increases.
"It's now official," Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday. "Top Democrats on Capitol Hill are starting to signal their intention to raise taxes on the middle class."
House Republican Leader John Boehner said, "The majority leader is dead wrong about the future of this country, and what we need to do, right now, to make sure the American dream is alive and well for our kids and grandkids."
On the spending side, Hoyer said Congress should consider raising the retirement age for full Social Security and Medicare benefits, and making those benefits progressive so that wealthier recipients get less than the needy.
Topics
Read more at the San Francisco Examiner: http://www.sfexaminer.com/politics/ap/hoyer-permanent-middle-class-tax-cuts-too-costly-96882209.html#ixzz0sRtOp1Pz
In the near term, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer raised the possibility that Congress will only temporarily extend middle-class tax cuts set to expire at the end of the year. He pointedly suggested that making them permanent would be too costly.
Tax cuts enacted under former President George W. Bush are scheduled to expire at the end of the year, affecting taxpayers at every income level. President Barack Obama proposes to permanently extend them for individuals making less than $200,000 a year and families making less than $250,000 — at a cost of about $2.5 trillion over the next decade.
"As the House and Senate debate what to do with the expiring Bush tax cuts in the coming weeks, we need to have a serious discussion about their implications for our fiscal outlook, including whether we can afford to permanently extend them before we have a real plan for long-term deficit reduction," Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, told a forum on deficit reduction.
The tax cuts will be a big political issue in many congressional elections this fall, providing potential fodder for both political parties. Democratic leaders have yet to lay out a schedule for dealing with the tax cuts, but many rank-and-file Democrats want to extend them before the elections, so they can campaign on passing tax cuts for the middle class.
Republicans argue that many of the high earners who would face tax increases under Obama's plan are small business owners struggling to stay afloat in a tough economy.
If the Democratic-controlled Congress doesn't extend the tax cuts before the elections, Republicans are ready to pounce, highlighting the looming tax increase that awaits nearly every U.S. taxpayer in January. Democrats would be left in the awkward position of promising to extend the tax cuts in a lame duck session following the elections, after nearly two years of inaction by the current Congress.
In the short term, deficit spending has been necessary to stimulate the economy, Hoyer said.
"I don't think this is the time to increase taxes," Hoyer told reporters after the forum.
But in the longer term — after the economy has improved — Congress will have to rein in spending and raise taxes to tackle the debt, Hoyer added.
"Raising revenue is part of the deficit solution, too," Hoyer said.
Obama has appointed a bipartisan commission to come up with ideas to reduce the budget deficit and has said that all options must be on the table, including spending cuts and tax increases. The commission is scheduled to release its recommendations Dec. 1.
Republicans, however, have refused to embrace any talk of tax increases.
"It's now official," Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday. "Top Democrats on Capitol Hill are starting to signal their intention to raise taxes on the middle class."
House Republican Leader John Boehner said, "The majority leader is dead wrong about the future of this country, and what we need to do, right now, to make sure the American dream is alive and well for our kids and grandkids."
On the spending side, Hoyer said Congress should consider raising the retirement age for full Social Security and Medicare benefits, and making those benefits progressive so that wealthier recipients get less than the needy.
Topics
Read more at the San Francisco Examiner: http://www.sfexaminer.com/politics/ap/hoyer-permanent-middle-class-tax-cuts-too-costly-96882209.html#ixzz0sRtOp1Pz
Obama - What Gets His Goat
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.]
Share With Others:
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.]
Share With Others:
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
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