For Whom The Bell Tolls

At about the time our original 13 states adopted their new constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinboro, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic, some 2,000 years prior:

“A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse over loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.”

The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:

1) From bondage to spiritual faith
2) From spiritual faith to great courage
3) From courage to liberty
4) From liberty to abundance
5) From abundance to complacency
6) From complacency to apathy
7) From apathy to dependence
8) From dependence back into bondage.

INTERESTING STATISTICS

Professor Joseph Olson of Hemline University School of Law,
St. Paul, Minnesota, points out facts of 2008 Presidential election:

Number of States won by: Democrats: 19; Republicans: 29
Square miles of land won by: Democrats: 580,000; Republicans: 2,427,000
Population of counties won by: Democrats: 127,000,000; Republicans: 143,000,000
Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by: Democrats: 13.2; Republicans: 2.1

Professor Olson adds:

"In aggregate, the map of the territory Republican won by Republicans was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of the country. Democrat territory mostly encompassed blacks living in government-owned tenements and living off various forms of
government welfare.

Professor Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the "complacency and apathy" phase (Step 6) of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy, with some forty percent of the nation's population already having reached the "governmental dependency" phase (Step 7).

If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to 20,000,000 criminal invaders called illegal aliens and they vote, then we can say goodbye to the USA in fewer than five years.

And, Olson adds, the last gasp of any country has been when marriage and the family have taken a back seat to other sexual interests — as witness Rome - one of the greatest and most-wide spread governments.

Another sign of the end, he says, is the lack of true spiritual interest where the God of the Bible and His ways are replaced by man's thinking and his own ways.

Wake up, Americans. The bell is tolling loud and clear and it tolls for thee.

Ice Cream And The Elections

I have recently discovered that I often do not have to blog myself, but rather simply pass along those ideas and stories which I believe make my points for me. The following is such a story:

ICE CREAM AND THE ELECTIONS
(From a teacher in the Nashville area.)

The most eye-opening civics lesson I ever had was while teaching third grade this year.

The presidential election was heating up and some of the children showed an interest. I decided we would have an election for a class president. We would choose our nominees. They would make a campaign speech and the class would vote. To simplify the process, candidates were nominated by other class members. We discussed what kinds of characteristics these students should have. We got many nominations and from those, Jamie and Olivia were picked to run for the top spot.

The class had done a great job in their selections. Both candidates were good kids. I thought Jamie might have an advantage because he got lots of parental support. I had never seen Olivia's mother.

The day arrived when they were to make their speeches Jamie went first. He had specific ideas about how to make our class a better place. He ended by promising to do his very best. Everyone applauded. He sat down and Olivia came to the podium. Her speech was concise. She said, "If you will vote for me, I will give you ice cream." She sat down.

The class went wild. "Yes! Yes! We want ice cream." She surely could say more. She did not have to. A discussion followed.

How did she plan to pay for the ice cream? She wasn't sure. Would her parents buy it or would the class pay for it? She didn't know. The class really didn't care. All they were thinking about was ice cream.

Jamie was forgotten. Olivia won by a landslide.

Every time Barack Obama opened his mouth he offered ice cream and 52% of the people reacted like nine-year-olds. They want ice cream. The other 48% of us know we're going to have to feed the cow and clean up the mess.

Explaining the Economic Stimulus Plan

Shortly after class, an economics student approaches his economics professor and says, "I don't understand this stimulus bill. Can you explain it to me?"

The professor replied, "I don't have any time to explain it at my office, but if you come over to my house on Saturday and help me with my weekend project, I'll be glad to explain it to you." The student agreed.

At the agreed-upon time, the student showed up at the professor's house. The professor stated that the weekend project involved his backyard pool. They both went out back to the pool, and the professor handed the student a bucket. Demonstrating with his own bucket, the professor said, "First, go over to the deep end, and fill your bucket with as much water as you can." The student did as he was instructed.

The professor then continued, "Follow me over to the shallow end, and then dump all the water from your bucket into it." The student was naturally confused, but did as he was told. The professor then explained they were going to do this many more times, and began walking back to the deep end of the pool.

The confused student asked, "Excuse me, but why are we doing this?" The professor matter-of-factly stated that he was trying to make the shallow end much deeper. The student didn't think the economics professor was serious, but figured that he would find out the real story soon enough.

However, after the 6th trip between the shallow end and the deep end, the student began to become worried that his economics professor had gone mad. The student finally replied, "All we're doing is wasting valuable time and effort on unproductive pursuits. Even worse, when this process is all over, everything will be at the same level it was before, so all you'll really have accomplished is the destruction of what could have been truly productive action!"

The professor put down his bucket and replied with a smile, "Congratulations. You now understand the stimulus bill."

ANY QUESTIONS, CLASS?

A Recap of the First 30 Days

This email was recently sent to me from a dear friend. I offer it to you without comment:

Let's Recap--

1, The American people elect a president with a total of 42 days experience as a U.S. Senator, from the most politically corrupt state in America, whose governor is ousted from office. The President's first official act is to close Gitmo and make sure terrorists civil rights are not violated.

2, The U.S. Congress rushes to confirm a black Attorney General, Eric Holder, whose law firm we later find out represents seventeen Gitmo Terrorists.

3, The CIA Boss, Leon Panetta, with absolutely no intelligence experience, has a daughter, Linda, whom we find out is a true radical anti-American activist who is a supporter of all the Anti-American regimes in the western hemisphere.

4. We get the most corrupt female in America as Secretary of State, bought and paid for.

5. We get a Tax Cheat for Treasury Secretary who files his own taxes.

6. We get a Commerce Secretary nominee who withdrew due to corruption charges.

7. We get a tax cheat nominee for Chief Performance Officer who withdrew under charges.

8. We get a Labor Secretary nominee who withdrew under charges of unethical conduct.

9. We get a nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services who withdrew under charges
of cheating on his taxes.

10. We get a Congress that votes in the one of the largest spending bills in the history of this
country without anyone really knowing what is in the bill, because there was no time to read
it completely before the vote took place.

And that's just the first thirty days. . . but who's counting.

America is being run by the modern-day Three Stooges ~ Barrack Obama, NancyPelosi and Harry Reid ~ and they are still trying to define stimulus. Stimulus is where the government gives a smidgen of your tax dollars back to you making you feel so good about yourself [stimulated] that you want to run right out to Wal-Mart and buy a new Chinese-made HDTV and go home and watch Telemundo!

One last thought in closing:

The U.S. government announced today that it is changing its national symbol to a CONDOM, because that more accurately reflects the government's current political stance. A condom allows for inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation, protects a bunch of pricks and gives you a sense of security while you're actually being screwed.

Damn, it just doesn't get more accurate than that!

What A Great Joke!! Or Was It??

I was watching The Tonight Show several nights ago when they had a segment called Celebrity Jeopardy. During this segment, there were three contestant characters; Abraham Lincoln, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. A Jeopardy answer was given,"DEATH AND TAXES". Lincoln rang in first and said these were the only two things that were certain in life. Jay Leno said that was wrong, whereupon Barack Obama buzzed in. His answer was, "What are the only two things that will keep you out of my cabinet." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC92sLPkRqM&NR=1 CORRECT!! It was humorous. The caricatures of the characters were funny. But, was the joke really a joke or a caricature of the truth.

I know, I know, you think I am just being down on our new president. Perhaps that is true, but not without some real justification. Many people who voted for Barack Obama to be our president did so because he promised real changes in our government. He promised open, honest government and transparency in the way things would be done. He promised change from the same old Washington politics and an end to the rule of the same old DC insiders. Has he kept those promises so far?? Let's examine just a few items.

First, the honesty issue. Two of the nominees for Barack Obama's cabinet had "tax problems." Translation: they cheated on their taxes and got caught. Oh, sure, after getting caught they fessed up to their "mistakes" and paid at least some of the money owed, with little or no penalties and/or interest. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was confirmed for his post but Senator Tom Daschle withdrew as the nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services. Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico was originally named to be Secretary of Commerce but had to withdraw because he is now the subject of a grand jury investigation looking into possible "pay to play" activites as the governor. OLD ADAGE: "WHERE THERE IS SMOKE, THERE IS FIRE."

Second, we look at the issue of transparency. I realize that we are in a current financial crisis in this country. However, even in the name of EMERGENCY, I find the way that the Economic Stimulus Plan was ramrodded down America's throat to be anything but OPEN and TRANSPARENT. The final legislation was put together and voted on so quickly that there was virtually no time for the American voters to really examine the contents of the legislation and voice their feelings to their elected representatives, many of whom also did not have time to read the legislation that they voted for or against. FOR OPEN AND TRANSPARENT GOVERNMENT SPENDING, I AM AFRAID OUR ESTEEMED PRESIDENT MISSED THAT MARK, TOO!

Third, let's talk about the end of the Washington insiders. Tom Daschle, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden...Are you kidding me?!?! Those three people alone have more insider years in Washington DC than a Kentucky hound dog has fleas. Where is the change? It still looks like the same DC insiders are calling the shots that always call the shots.

And so, we arrive at the end of my rant. There is an old lawyer joke that goes, "How many lawyer jokes are there in the world?" ANSWER: "Three...the rest are all true stories!"

I sincerely hope that the term of Barack Obama's presidency is not going to be the caricature of truth that I mentioned in the beginning of this entry. But so far, it does seem like the same old same old that we all got sick of and hoped to change with the last election.

DID ANYTHING REALLY CHANGE? I AM STILL WAITING TO SEE!

The Die Are Cast

Well, the congress did it! They went ahead and passed what is certainly one of the largest, if not THE largest, spending bill in the history of our country. The $787 billion economic stimulus plan was passed in the House of Representatives by a vote of 246-183, without receiving a single Republican vote. In the Senate, however, three Republican senators (Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe from Maine and Senator Arlen Specter from Pennsylvania) decided to vote with the Democratic majority of the Senate, thus giving the Senate the 60 votes needed to pass this emergency legislation.

I, and many others, have grave misgivings about the actions of the Congress this past week. My first complaint is that nobody seems to know what, exactly, is contained within the 1100 or so pages that make up this legislation. The final approved version of the bill was not completed by the joint House-Senate committee until Tuesday and was rushed into both houses of Congress for voting before most members of Congress really had a chance to even read the bill, let alone evaluate its possible problems. This was, by the way, in direct contrast to the way that President Obama promised the American people that business would be conducted during HIS presidency. "Complete transparency" was the term I believe he promised to use. The way this bill was brought about and voted on was hardly what any fair minded person could call "completely transparent."

My second problem has to do with the likely outcome of this action. Bear in mind that "our representatives in Congress" have elected to gamble what will surely wind up being over $1 trillion of OUR money on a plan which Vice-President Biden says has a 30% chance of failure. Think about that for a moment! Despite the fact that almost two-thirds of citizens who were polled said they were not in favor of this plan, our elected representatives, the very people who our supposed to represent our will and our interests, chose to vote for this plan anyway. They have take $1,000,000,000,000 and gambled with approximately a 1-in-3 chance that it will fail to do what needs to be done for this country and its citizens. THIS IS BEYOND IRRESPONSIBLE GOVERNING, IT IS ABSOLUTE IDIOCY!!

The third and possibly most disturbing problem is how much "pork" has been passed through with this spending bill. The Democrats have rammed through many pet projects that have nothing to do with stimulating our economy and improving the economic lot of most of the tax paying citizens of this nation. Any citizen who chooses to do so can read through the 1100+ pages to see all the individual "pork spending" in this bill. Some items, such as $58 billion for childrens' health care, may be worthy projects when our economic health is better, but it is a large expense that will do nothing to stimulate our economy. Other projects, like re-decorating government offices and changing our government fleet to a "greener" fleet are simply items that SHOULD HAVE BEEN POSTPONED during this current crisis. Tax breaks for small business and for individual taxpayers would do far more to stimulate our economy than increased government spending on pet projects.

At this point there is little that any of us can do about this legislation. If it actually does work and turns our economy around, I will be the first to congratulate President Obama on his inspired leadership in a time of crisis. If, however, this turns out to only make a bad situation worse, than I truly hope and pray that, in the 2010 elections, the voters will demonstrate their displeasure at the polls and vote out ALL the morons in Congress, including the three renegade Republican senators, and replace them with men and women, of whatever party, who will do their duty and represent the wishes and the interests of their constituents instead of their respective political parties.

A Pig Is Still A Pig!

You can put all the lipstick you want on a pig and it is still going to be a pig. We heard then- Democratic candidate Barack Obama make that pronoucement last summer. He is right!

Currently, with the first TARP bailout, the U.S. government is has spent almost one trillion dollars ($1,000,000,000,000.00) of taxpayer money, with approximately eighty billion dollars ($80,000,000,000.00) being wasted and/or unaccounted for.

Now, with the proposed "Economc Stimulus Program", which will probably become law very shortly, the U.S. government is passing a number of programs, under the guise of emergency legislation, which are not expected to provide much stimulus to our economy. But some of these measures will exercise much more control of areas of your life where you probably don't want the government in control. For example, with $58,000,000,000 going to government health care for children, we are taking the first major step to a government run healthcare system. Once we have gotten used to providing health care for every child, is it such a big step to institute paid health care for everyone?!?! Not really!!

There is language inserted in this bill which will greatly regulate free speech in the area of religion and will prohibit federal money from renovating any college facilities that are used by any religious groups, such as the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and Christian Fellowship ministries, to name a few.

Pet projects, ranging from sodding the National Mall, to building Frisbee golf courses, to redesigning and refurbishing federal offices (and many other projects like this) have been added into a bill which is supposed to produce new, and lasting, jobs for our ailing economy. But, in fact, most of the added projects are little more than political support payoffs to loyal Democratic party members. One Democratic spokesman did concede that there was some waste in the bill, but reckoned the waste was only about 2% or 3% of the bill. Now let's see here, 2% to 3% of an estimated $850 billion would equal the paltry sum of between 17 and 25.5 billion dollars.

How many mortgages could be brought up-to-date with $25,500,000,000.00??? How many poor and/or homeless people could be helped with just the waste in this bill as estimated by the Democratic Party spokesman. And don't forget, this assumes that the waste factor in this bill is only 2 or 3 percent. If it is higher, that amount rises by 8.5 billion dollars for each single percentage point.

It is probably right that something needs to be done for this crisis, but there is a great deal of disagreement on what and how much needs to be done. We all remember the great market crash of 1929. The U.S.A., and the world, were plunged into a global depression that lasted almost a decade. Presidents Hoover, and then Roosevelt, tried all kinds of government programs and threw millions and billions of dollars with little result for almost a decade. Finally, the mobilization of our industries for WWII brought us out of the Great Depression. However, a lesser known but severe economic slump occurred in 1921 and ended in 1923. Our president at that time, Warren G. Harding, opted to cut taxes immediately and reduce spending and this resulted in the economy righting itself in something uner 2 years. Maybe we should allow history to teach us what to do now.

We keep hearing from our government leaders that we can't wait and do nothing, that we must do something now. O.K., assuming that is right, it would seem to me that doing the wrong thing would be worse than doing nothing. Our representatives in the Congress need to take the time to really examine this bill in detail and remove all the pet projects that should not be rammed down our country's collective throat in the name of an emergency!

To our President, Barack Obama, and to all our U.S. Representatives and Senators, I say this to you:

YOU CAN PUT ALL THE LIPSTICK YOU WANT ON THIS PIG THAT THEY CALL THE ECONOMIC STIMULUS BILL AND IT IS STILL GOING TO BE JUST A LOT OF PORK ON THE HOOF!