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Political
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By: Steve Smith
Sliding toward Socialism
I have been watching the Presidential campaign lately with almost total apathy. When your choices for President are bad and worse how can you get excited about our prospects as a country. Are these guys really the best we muster in this once great country? We have Obama the “redistribution of wealth” socialist and McCain the “redistribution of less wealth” socialist lite candidate. Recently Joe the plumber has been thrust on the scene because of a simple question put to Obama about taxes and how his policies would affect the small business Joe wanted to own. In effect Obama said he didn’t want to penalize Joe’s success but wanted to make sure those behind him could share the wealth. Basically Obama wants to take some of the money from Joe’s hard work and give it to those that don’t work as hard but should share in the wealth from Joe’s efforts. This is pure socialism…”from those according to ability, to those according to need” If you take a risk and start a business and that business succeeds what Constitutional right does the government have to take part of your success and give it to someone that didn’t take a risk and work to make something successful? If someone succeeds they should be held up as a model so others can see success and how they might get there, not take part of their success and give it others. If you can’t take advantage of the opportunities this country offers, our government shouldn’t look at others to give you part of their success. If you can’t find success then you should be looking in a mirror and asking “why” not looking to government asking for a handout.
There is a quote attributed Alexander Tyler although it is not certain that he actually said it, but the quote states:
A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy collapses over loose fiscal policy, followed by a dictatorship.
Obama is promising more “largesse” from the public treasury, free health care, free college and many other freebees. These are not free and someone will pay, either the taxpayers at least those that actually pay taxes or business owners. So if this country elects Obama I hope it is prepared to continue the slide toward Socialism and continuing governments “loose fiscal policies”. In the mean time I will continue to “cling to my guns and religion” and hope we are not heading for a dictatorship
Fall of the American empire
No need to watch the History Channel anymore. Just look outside and you can watch in real time the disintegration of this once great country right before your eyes. Watch as the Iraqi Surrender Group headed by James Baker make recommendations on how to capitulate to the radical Islamists and negotiate with Iran and Syria. Watch as we cut and run with our tail between our legs because we got our nose bloodied and no longer have the stomach as a country to stand up for our own existence. Because our 30 second sound byte mentality thinks if you can’t win a war in 90 minutes then we better quit. Forget the fact that radical Islam will never quit and wants to destroy the West and rule with world with their brand of slavery. A world where women have no rights, gays are killed and you either convert to Islam or die. Watch as liberals, pacifists, oldstream media and the hate America crowd do everything they can to undermine our military and support the terrorists. Watch as we put our brave men and women on trial for “college hazing” type activities against war prisoners, but lets not show terrorists sawing the heads off of innocent people or show video of 911 because it might be too graphic.
Watch as we continue the assault on God, Christmas and morals because of a perceived “separation of church and state” even though there is nothing like that in the Constitution. That idea comes from the Federalist Papers, but most Americans never read the Constitution and probably don’t even know what the Federalist Papers are. Yet while this assault is happening we bend over for political correctness to accept every alternate life style, totally open borders, spoiled celebrity brats without underwear, out of wedlock children and any other sickness people think is acceptable all in the name of “diversity” and because it feels good.
Watch as the country continues its slide into third world status while our politicians “fiddle”. More concerned with power and personal gain than to actually believe in and fight to maintain the foundations this country was built on. Watch as the once conservative Republicans are now like the liberal Democrats and liberal Democrats are now the new Socialists Democrats. All of this and more is happening right there in front of us yet many are like the proverbial “frog in the boiling water” content to sit there and slowly boil to death because it happens slowly just as this country seems to be dying slowly. Fortunately there are still men and women that will fight for this country. There are still people that believe in what made this country great and will fight this slide into darkness. I for one will not go silently into that dark night without a fight.
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Ethanol’s unintended consequences
The environmentalists are touting the use of ethanol as one way to save the planet from the evils of gasoline. Ethanol which is basically grain alcohol or “corn squeezins” as some know it, is being used as addition to gasolene or in place of gas. And for the most part it works. There are changes you need to make to engine burning ethanol because ethanol destroys the normal gaskets and hoses that are not affected by gasolene. Many race cars burn alcohol instead of gasolene for their race fuel.
But using ethanol to replace gasolene nation wide, while a good pipe dream is impossible with our current material used to create it. That material is corn….while we grow substancial amounts of corn most of it is used for our food and food for many of our food animals. Animals like cattle, dairy cows, chickens and turkeys. Also much of our corn is an export to other countries.
But now with our governments support we are diverting much of our corn production away from food to be used in the production of ethanol…..What happens to a commodity that experiences a shortage? Why yes boys and girls it gets more expensive…..
So now that so much corn is being used to make ethanol less is available for food, specifically food for farm animals.
And what is available is getting much more expensive to buy meaning it is more expensive to raise those farm animals. Animals that produce food we eat or are produced for food. Of course we could all vegan and not eat meat…but sorry I don’t like tofu burgers.
What this means then is that food that is made from corn fed on corn is going to cost more. In 2007 the price of eggs has gone up 29 percent. Mainly because the cost of corn has surged because more of the U.S. crop has been diverted to ethanol production.
But prices of beef and milk have also risen dramatically. This years Thanksgiving turkey will most likely set you back a bit more also. But we should expect other products to increase in price also. Things like cheese, bread and cereals will have to go up to as corn is used more for ethanol.
So in the near future expect to see food prices continue to rise as more and more corn is used to feed our cars instead of ourselves….another fine example of our government and environmentalist “knee jerk” reaction to a bigger enery problem and not understanding the “unintended consequences” of their actions.
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Average Americans…..adapted from Meet John Doe the movie.
I'm want to talk about us, the average American. If anybody should ask you what the average American is like, you couldn't tell him because we are a million and one things. We are Mr. Big and Mr. Small, We are simple and we’re wise. We are inherently honest, but we’ve got a streak of larceny in our heart. We seldom walk up to a vending machine without shoving our finger into the slot to see if somebody left a quarter there.
We are the people the ads are written for. We are the folks everybody sells things to. We are Joe Sixpack, the world's greatest stooge and the world's greatest strength.
Yes, we're a great family, the average American. We're the meek who are supposed to inherit the earth. You'll find us everywhere. We raise the crops, we dig the mines, work the factories, keep the books, fly the planes and drive the busses!
We've existed since time began. We built the pyramids, we saw Christ crucified, pulled the oars for Roman emperors, sailed the boats for Columbus, retreated from Moscow with Napoleon and froze with Washington at Valley Forge! We have fought and died in all the wars.
We've been in there dodging left hooks since before history began to walk! In our struggle for freedom we've hit the canvas many a time, but we always bounced back!
There is a lot of talk about the average American going soft—that we can't take it that we cut and run when our nose is bloodied. That's a lot of crap! . . . The average American can beat the world at anything, from war to chess, if we all pull in the same direction!
I know a lot of you are saying "What can I do? I'm just a little punk. I don't count." Well, you're dead wrong! The little punks have always counted because in the long run the character of America is the sum total of the character of its little punks.
But we've all got to get in there and pitch! We can't win the game unless we have team work. And that's where every average American comes in! It's up to us to get together with our teammates!
Our teammates are the folks next door to you. Your neighbor! He's a terribly important guy. You're going to need him and he's going need you . . . so look him up! If he's sick, call on him! If he's hungry, feed him! If he's out of a job, help find him one! To most of you, your neighbor is a stranger, a guy with a barking dog, and a high fence around him. Fences created by politicians to separate us.
Now, we can't be a stranger to any guy that's on our own team. So tear down the fences that separate us, tear down the fence and we will tear down a lot of hates and prejudices! Tear down all the fences in the country and we will really have teamwork!
I know a lot of us are saying: "You are asking for a miracle to happen. You’re expecting people to change all of a sudden." Well, you're wrong. It's no miracle. It's no miracle because we see it happen once every year. And so do you. At Christmas time! There's something American about the spirit of Christmas, to see what it does to people, all kinds of people . . .
Why can't that spirit, that same warm Christmas spirit last the whole year round? If it ever did, if each and every average American would make that spirit last three hundred and sixty-five days out of the year, we'd develop such a strength, we'd create such a tidal wave of good will, that no human force could stand against it, not even the politicians that keep building the fences that separate us.
Yes, the meek can only inherit the earth when the average Americans start loving their neighbors and their country again. You'd better start right now. Don't wait till the game is called on account of darkness because the country will already be lost! Wake up average Americans! You're the only hope for America!
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The day the U.S. stood still
I am a big sci-fi fan. I love old black and white movies because movies then had a plot and didn’t rely on special effects. So I recently watched one of my favorites, it was The Day the Earth Stood Still. In the movie, Klatu the man from outer space caused the whole planet to shut down electrically for 30 minutes. This caused everything that had any reliance on electricity to stop and thus disrupting all societies worldwide.
After the movie I saw a news report that oil had gone to 102 dollars a barrel. With that we could soon expect 4 dollars a gallon for gas. I thought we are rapidly approaching a time when this country could stand still because of high gas prices. Now for you liberals and environmentalists I want to say prices are not high because of Bush. They are not high because we are in Iraq or Afghanistan or any other region. They are high because OPEC can charge whatever they want and we will pay it. They won’t increase production because they make billions on us. Why increase production and give up the golden goose..us!. The high gas prices take huge amounts of money out of our economy, money that could be spent on products and services that keep other Americans working. But the high prices take a toll in other ways also. They drive up the cost of shipping products, which forces the manufacturers to raise prices to offset shipping costs. Products we manufacture cost more like plastics, rubber and anything that has or uses oil in its production. So your tires will cost more. Those toys for you kids also.
Oil prices are also high because we will not develop our own sources. They are high because we have gutless politicians that will not tell the radical environmentalists to go take a flying leap. We have activist judges that go along with the environmentalist in blocking anything that even resembles drilling, mining or anything that resembles oil or resource development. We won’t build a single new refinery, to refine that 102 dollar oil.
They are high because we have an electorate that is more interested in what Britney did than what our legislators are doing or not doing. Developing fuel efficient cars is great, but we are not going to replace 300 million cars overnight. And this doesn’t even account for the many thousands of large transport trucks.
So when we are paying 5, 6, 7 dollars a gallon, don’t blame it on Bush. By then we will have another president anyway. Don’t blame it on Clinton, Obama or McCain either, although they are part of the problem and will be no part of the solution. No the blame goes right where it belongs. Who is that you say….just look in the mirror. We are the problem, we let it happen.
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Canary in the coal mine…
Many years ago miners would take a canary into the coal mines as an early warning of the existence of poisonous gases. You see if the canary died the miners knew it was a bad sign of things to come. Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a canary to warn us of the ominous signs our country is in trouble? While if we had a canary warning system for the country I don’t believe it would be dead yet, but it definitely would be very sick. You see I believe our country is very sick and getting worse day by day. Of course if you don’t believe our language, borders and our culture are important than you may disagree with what you are about to read.
First our school system has all but failed. It is no longer a place to learn the 3 R’s but is now an experiment on social engineering. In Seattle, a group of white parents are suing the local school board because their children were denied admission to a predominantly white school. The reason: The school was trying to achieve "racial integration." But the school district was implementing the policy because it had been sued a few years ago by another group of white parents - those who wanted quotas to be used because they felt it would be beneficial. A look at the school district's admission policies by The Wall Street Journal revealed that the school has been jumping over and back over the integration rule in reaction to threats by affluent white parents. This is not an isolated issue. This kind of thing is happening all over the country, special agendas eroding our once great educational system. Meanwhile, despite the fact that spending on all elementary and secondary education nationwide was more than $500 billion during the 2003-2004 school year - one of the highest expenditures for education in the world (according to the National Center for Education Statistics) - American students are not performing at the same level as many of their peers in other countries. In the last TIMMS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) survey completed in 2003, U.S. eighth graders ranked 15th out of 45 countries in mathematics. They did a little better in science, ranking 9th. Closer to the home front, graduation rates indicate another problem area. According to data from the National Center for Education Statistics, our high school graduation rate in 2005 was 68.3 percent. That boils down to a little less than one-third of U.S. students leaving high school without a diploma. Shouldn’t we be number 1 in education just based on the amount of money spent?
Our borders no longer have any meaning. Our President and Congress refuse to secure our borders and continue to allow millions to come here illegally. At the same time we put our border patrol agents in prison for shooting a drug smuggler. Plus the U.S. government gives the drug smuggler immunity to testify against the agents and now the smuggler is suing the U.S. for 5 million dollars. Forget about the reasons for coming here illegally, the fact that it is allowed to happen will insure our country’s. Sure many are working at jobs “Americans” won’t do. Mainly because we invented our own version of socialism called welfare. We continue to expand socialism by expanding the welfare style programs and getting more and more people dependent on the government for their existence. So why work at entry level jobs when you can collect welfare and get paid to do nothing. Although there is another reason for not enforcing our borders, it prepares us for the coming North American union where there will be no borders between Canada, U.S. and Mexico. Don’t believe your government would do that, checkout www.spp.gov . This is the website for Security and Prosperity Partnership Of North America, also known as the North American Union.
Our culture is going out the window also. We print government documents in every conceivable language to supposedly allow access by everyone. But what this actually does is continue to keep ethnic groups separated because there is no need to learn English. No need to assimilate to our culture we print documents in your language. Our own government perpetuates the breakdown of our country and culture by not making English our national language. Don’t think this is happening? When was the last time you called a customer service line and it didn’t say “press 1” for English. There should not even be an option for any other language.
Now even the traditions in our government institutions are being eliminated. A recently elected congressman wants to be sworn in on the Quran instead of the Bible. Why? Is the God of our country’s Founders not good enough for you? Or could your duty to Allah come before your new duty to this country? Only time will tell. But don’t be surprised when you see Islamic law being introduced to our system.
These are only but a tiny few examples of why this country is in trouble. The question is, can we still save our country and restore the ideals and values that still make this the best country on the planet? Unfortunately a large percentage of Americans can tell you all the names of the current American Idols but can’t name their U.S. Senator. So it is difficult to say whether we have the ability to turn things around. The bright side is the canary isn’t dead yet. The dark side is not many Americans are paying enough attention to even know it is sick.
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