Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Red Flag Warning: Stop the START Treaty and End Lame Duck Sessions
Greetings! The Watchman is back for a brief season to alert the world of the big last minute push to ratify the START Treaty. I can't say that I have read it or would even come close to understanding its provisions. But I do recognize a jam job when I see one, and this is being rolled out in the waning moments of the repudiated congress. I believe what has transpired in the congress since the election boarders on an series of illegal actions with out true representation of the citizen's will. The defeated majority has pushed through a series of pet projects, despite being totally rejected by the vote of the people. It is as if our vote didn't even count. Suppose this congress (or any lame-duck congress) decided to declare war on Lichtenstein! They almost spent 1.2 TRILLION more of our tax dollars! Now it appears the Senate is going to ratify the START Treaty sometime in the middle of the night just as many of us have our attention diverted to Christmas events. Something is wrong here folks and WE THE PEOPLE must again rouse ourselves to make our voices heard. SO, let me encourage you to take a few minutes from writing Christmas cards to jot off an e-mail or call the congress to sound off. Tell the Senators to STOP the START Treaty and reconsider it during the new Congress. Then send letters to the new congress to request they take up a Constitutional amendment barring the convening of a lame duck congressional session after an election unless there is a direct and immediate threat to national security, called by the President and approved by 2/3 of the Supreme Court. This would prevent the will of the people from being thwarted in such a blatant and arrogant manner.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
RFD-NEWS
Some news hot off the wire:
Record Number of Americans Receiving Food Stamp Benefits
Published August 05, 2010 FoxNews.com
New Jobless Benefits Claims Rise to Highest Weekly Level Since April
Published August 05, 2010 Associated Press
Obama 'Confident' U.S. Will Avoid 'Double-Dip' Recession
Published August 05, 2010 Associated Press
Democrats Keep Their Distance From Obama
6 August 2010 Sean Hannity Show Fox News
Churchill Ordered UFO Coverup, Documents Suggest
Published August 05, 2010 FoxNews.com
Cementing of Well Completed
BP Finishes Injection Early; Cap on Oil-Spill Payouts Set to Be Raised in U.K.
AUGUST 6, 2010 Wall Street Journal
Record Number of Americans Receiving Food Stamp Benefits
Published August 05, 2010 FoxNews.com
New Jobless Benefits Claims Rise to Highest Weekly Level Since April
Published August 05, 2010 Associated Press
Obama 'Confident' U.S. Will Avoid 'Double-Dip' Recession
Published August 05, 2010 Associated Press
Democrats Keep Their Distance From Obama
6 August 2010 Sean Hannity Show Fox News
Churchill Ordered UFO Coverup, Documents Suggest
Published August 05, 2010 FoxNews.com
Cementing of Well Completed
BP Finishes Injection Early; Cap on Oil-Spill Payouts Set to Be Raised in U.K.
AUGUST 6, 2010 Wall Street Journal
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Red Flag Warning: The State of Race Relations In America
It seems to the Watchman, that our Dear Leader, President Obama, and his followers in the administration as well as the NAACP, have done more to set back the state of race relations in America than when Robert Byrd was a card carrying KKK member. Two observations on this point. One, President Obama has to find something to distract the masses from rioting over continued lingering effects of the Great Recession, the gulf oil debacle, the slow retreat from fighting terrorism, and the wave of new taxes coming down the pike as Obambacare takes hold. Anything to shift focus from multiple millions of citizens who are unemployed and have lost all hope of finding work. Anything to point the light way from Obama's Katrina. Anything to hide from the fact his chosen military leader, General McCrystal, finally voiced his frustration at a do nothing president on GWOT. Anything to shore up the facade of a cure for healthcare that will bankrupt our nation. Obama and his useful idiots will stoop to anything to maintain the aura of invincibly of the President.
The second observation, and more importantly, Obama is a racist. Not in the usual meaning of the word, but he has a racist aptitude to be used for his own ideological, dogmatic purposes. Obama's true identification is not as a black man, but as a Marxist. This is foremost his most important personal and deeply held belief. So he uses race as a means to an end, every bit as much as he used the association with Rev. Wright and the espousal of bigoted black supremacy to wed himself to the good graces of the Chicago black community of movers and shakers.
As a Marxist, the President uses every means possible to move his ultra left agenda forward. Today he uses race as a means to do so. Next week he may play the 'global climate change' game. The week following, the 'Middle east peace' game. This is what Marxist's do. Look at history. Lenin used every possible avenue to ultimately get what he wanted, total control. Lenin was for the workers before he crushed them. He was for freedom of the press before he crushed the opposition. He was for land to every peasant before he crushed them too.
Using race as tool has so many positive outcomes for the President. By playing the race card game he effectively shifts the spotlight from his Marxist policy agenda. While everyone is running around blathering about what some low-level Department of Agriculture official said or didn't say, he and his fellow travelers are manipulating the nation's economic control system to point ever closer to a Marxist/Socialist vision of utopia, where those who have will give even more to those who are in power of the State.
The unfortunate out come as posited in the first paragraph is race relations have most likely been set back by 75 to 100 years. Many, like myself, who had begun to see the wisdom of Dr. King's call to universal equality where men no longer judge one another by the color of a person's skin, but rather their character are now re-examining those positive attitudes. I as a conservative and quiet tea-party supporter, have been labeled a racist, bigot, and hater of color with not one shred of hard evidence by the left of center crowd. By my opposition to President Obama's policies, his clear Marxist ideology, coupled with his chameleon like character, I am branded a racist. Where once I saw no color, today the color black is all I see. And if I have been so affected, what of the millions of my fellow citizens? This friends, is an instability our nation can ill afford to remain a festering open wound.
So then what are we to do? Some ideas:
* Reject the false image at every instance! Point to how conservative policies have benefited all Americans of every race, creed, nationality, and culture.
* Stand firm in our liberty! Exercise our First Amendment Rights to free speech and free press. Speak truth in righteousness. VOTE for those who represent and demonstrate conservative principles.
* Remain true to Dr. King's vision, his dream. Don't let the race mongers take away his ideal from us.
Our left of center fellow citizens seem to have taken Victor Hugo's sentiment to heart when they view America, "They confuse heaven's radiant stars with a duck's footprint left in the mud." What we must do as American Conservatives is keep pointing to 'heaven's radiant stars' or as Ronald Reagan so eloquently spoke of America, "that shining city on the hill".
The second observation, and more importantly, Obama is a racist. Not in the usual meaning of the word, but he has a racist aptitude to be used for his own ideological, dogmatic purposes. Obama's true identification is not as a black man, but as a Marxist. This is foremost his most important personal and deeply held belief. So he uses race as a means to an end, every bit as much as he used the association with Rev. Wright and the espousal of bigoted black supremacy to wed himself to the good graces of the Chicago black community of movers and shakers.
As a Marxist, the President uses every means possible to move his ultra left agenda forward. Today he uses race as a means to do so. Next week he may play the 'global climate change' game. The week following, the 'Middle east peace' game. This is what Marxist's do. Look at history. Lenin used every possible avenue to ultimately get what he wanted, total control. Lenin was for the workers before he crushed them. He was for freedom of the press before he crushed the opposition. He was for land to every peasant before he crushed them too.
Using race as tool has so many positive outcomes for the President. By playing the race card game he effectively shifts the spotlight from his Marxist policy agenda. While everyone is running around blathering about what some low-level Department of Agriculture official said or didn't say, he and his fellow travelers are manipulating the nation's economic control system to point ever closer to a Marxist/Socialist vision of utopia, where those who have will give even more to those who are in power of the State.
The unfortunate out come as posited in the first paragraph is race relations have most likely been set back by 75 to 100 years. Many, like myself, who had begun to see the wisdom of Dr. King's call to universal equality where men no longer judge one another by the color of a person's skin, but rather their character are now re-examining those positive attitudes. I as a conservative and quiet tea-party supporter, have been labeled a racist, bigot, and hater of color with not one shred of hard evidence by the left of center crowd. By my opposition to President Obama's policies, his clear Marxist ideology, coupled with his chameleon like character, I am branded a racist. Where once I saw no color, today the color black is all I see. And if I have been so affected, what of the millions of my fellow citizens? This friends, is an instability our nation can ill afford to remain a festering open wound.
So then what are we to do? Some ideas:
* Reject the false image at every instance! Point to how conservative policies have benefited all Americans of every race, creed, nationality, and culture.
* Stand firm in our liberty! Exercise our First Amendment Rights to free speech and free press. Speak truth in righteousness. VOTE for those who represent and demonstrate conservative principles.
* Remain true to Dr. King's vision, his dream. Don't let the race mongers take away his ideal from us.
Our left of center fellow citizens seem to have taken Victor Hugo's sentiment to heart when they view America, "They confuse heaven's radiant stars with a duck's footprint left in the mud." What we must do as American Conservatives is keep pointing to 'heaven's radiant stars' or as Ronald Reagan so eloquently spoke of America, "that shining city on the hill".
Sunday, July 18, 2010
The Watchman's Back
Hey, I have been heavily engaged in pursuit of income via attempting to educate fellow citizens. I made a big mistake in agreeing to teach 4 courses at once which nearly caused me to go insane. I'll never do something so stupid again! So in the coming weeks I will get back into reporting news and commenting on the issues of our time. Will be good to get back into the action! So as they use to say on the radio, stay tuned to the same station, same time!
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Red Flag Warning: The Role of Government - Intrusion into Everyday Life
Our founding fathers way back there at the end of the 1700s could not have possibly ever envisioned what their government has turned into. It seems as if at every turn today's patriots are shackled to more and more taxes that our founders would find appalling. My God, those guys went to war over a stupid stamp tax required to be paid for every legal document created, and required by the crown itself! Today citizens are taxed by government at every level and for nearly everything the government can think of to tax. What it can't tax, the government then creates fees. At most levels of government, fees have become the de-facto tax, and requires only a bureaucrat to create the fee. Like sheep we meekly bleep and write checks to the tax collector.
My mother passed away recently, which is part of the reason for this rant. I discovered I needed a government death certificate to tell me she was dead. I couldn't get the doctor and maybe two other witnesses to certify her death on a common piece of white copy paper, print it out on my laser printer and have it notarized? No. I had to pay $17 for the first certificate and $10 for each copy there after. Big deal you might say. But it is a big deal when the information of her death is provided by the doctor and myself with her birth certificate. The government knows squat about my Mother. They are certifying her death on my and the doctor's word! The government wanted to know too other information such as where she was born, by whom, and who her father was. Again, information I provided. I suppose they could cross check this information, but somehow I seriously doubt they have the staff or the ability to do so. So again, why did I have to write out a $207 check to the government, who knows only what we've reported. They made a dang good profit too: about $205.50 by my figuring.
And what business is it of the governments? Ah...by requiring a government death certificate they can enter the information into the IRS database and come looking for me to pay all the multiple double taxes on the assets of her estate. The tax man cometh again! Before the modern so called "progressive" income tax system, families could leave something of their hard work behind for their kids. Today, despite paying tax once on the dollar bill laying in my mother's IRA, she via her estate will pay the tax man again. Then when what is left comes to my family, we will pay once again an income tax on that same dollar that was previously taxed as 'income' to us! When it is all said and done, the government will get most of the estate and very little will go to simulate the economy.
So our government, at all levels, is sucking the people dry every bit as much as the ancient king of England. It intrudes ever more oppressively and insidiously into the daily life of us lowly peasants. Fear of crossing the government has risen to near panic state in many citizens and that, my friends, is no way to live in liberty.
My mother passed away recently, which is part of the reason for this rant. I discovered I needed a government death certificate to tell me she was dead. I couldn't get the doctor and maybe two other witnesses to certify her death on a common piece of white copy paper, print it out on my laser printer and have it notarized? No. I had to pay $17 for the first certificate and $10 for each copy there after. Big deal you might say. But it is a big deal when the information of her death is provided by the doctor and myself with her birth certificate. The government knows squat about my Mother. They are certifying her death on my and the doctor's word! The government wanted to know too other information such as where she was born, by whom, and who her father was. Again, information I provided. I suppose they could cross check this information, but somehow I seriously doubt they have the staff or the ability to do so. So again, why did I have to write out a $207 check to the government, who knows only what we've reported. They made a dang good profit too: about $205.50 by my figuring.
And what business is it of the governments? Ah...by requiring a government death certificate they can enter the information into the IRS database and come looking for me to pay all the multiple double taxes on the assets of her estate. The tax man cometh again! Before the modern so called "progressive" income tax system, families could leave something of their hard work behind for their kids. Today, despite paying tax once on the dollar bill laying in my mother's IRA, she via her estate will pay the tax man again. Then when what is left comes to my family, we will pay once again an income tax on that same dollar that was previously taxed as 'income' to us! When it is all said and done, the government will get most of the estate and very little will go to simulate the economy.
So our government, at all levels, is sucking the people dry every bit as much as the ancient king of England. It intrudes ever more oppressively and insidiously into the daily life of us lowly peasants. Fear of crossing the government has risen to near panic state in many citizens and that, my friends, is no way to live in liberty.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Red Flag Warning: Getting Something for Nothing
The Watchman has live most of his life under the old saying you can't get something for nothing. Similarly the 1960s trumpeting of 'there is no such thing as a free lunch' also seems to have been a slogan frequently impacting life of the Watchman. But Atlas I was wrong. Terribly wrong. I was sold a bill of goods and like so many, many others believed it was imperative for one to work hard to get ahead, to make something of my self, and, well, to use that work to get 'something'. I now wonder how much happier I would have been had I understood these two supposed fundamental principles were wrong? Indeed you can get something for nothing and there is a free lunch. Let me explain.
Foxnews.com ran an article explaining just how nearly 50% of Americans got something for nothing. Elizabeth Factor and Mallory Factor authored an article entitled, "Guess Who Didn't Pay Taxes on Tax Day?" They reported almost 50% of Americans did not actually, in the end, pay any tax at all to the U.S. Federal Government.
To be fair to President Obama's oft quoted response to Joe the Plumber about redistributing the wealth, this tax system has been well in place for decades providing something for nothing to millions. What is so different today is the percentage of non-paying taxpayers is increasing to a point that endangers the fundamental freedoms of our nation. When nearly 50% of those who benefit from the blessings of our nation without appreciating the cost, then it is most easy to see they will continue to vote for their own self interests, i.e. elect representatives who will keep the free lunches coming.
So what do the freeloaders, an apt description as they place a load on the system that supports them and they get to reap the benefits for free, get? Besides cash pay-outs as described in the referenced article, they receive: national security, clean air and water, national parks and forests playgrounds, superhighways, air traffic control, coast guard, police and fire protection as subsidized by the federal government, Pell grants for education, civil rights, weather service, disaster aid, flood protections, public health services, banking and savings protections (FDIC), transportation safety, homeland security, food and drug protection, agricultural product protections, and the list can go on and on. All these somethings for nothing.
The problem as pointed out in the article will come as any good economist knows is when the "price" pressure exceeds the customer's ability to pay that goods and services will either have to be discounted, (get cheaper or poorer quality) or the goods and services are no longer available for sale. As the present effort to redistribute wealth increases, those who do pay the price for the goods and services of government, are going to look else where to invest and earn income that is not taxable. Some may even opt for the idea of doing a 1960's "dropping out" of the work sector altogether, legitimately asking why should they be the ones to foot the bill? The consequences of this attitude is to ultimately stagnate the American dream for all. What will happen when tax revenue isn't sufficient to pay out for the free lunches?
The Watchman believes we will painfully soon find out. Already our nation is in debt so deep our grandchildren will be still paying interest on it when they are old. When revenue doesn't keep up with the need of government, our government prints more dollars. In turn, eventually, our society will pay a terrible price in rising inflation. And who is hurt worst by inflation? The very people who are getting the free lunch today. The lower income earners, minorities, and those on fixed incomes such as retirees. Make no mistake, there will come a time of consequence for our liberal excesses of today.
So if you are one of the 50% who paid zero tax this year, yet benefited from those who did, consider sending Uncle Obama, $1.00 for each person in your family. Pay for at least one lunch this year. Make it a Happy Meal to go.
Foxnews.com ran an article explaining just how nearly 50% of Americans got something for nothing. Elizabeth Factor and Mallory Factor authored an article entitled, "Guess Who Didn't Pay Taxes on Tax Day?" They reported almost 50% of Americans did not actually, in the end, pay any tax at all to the U.S. Federal Government.
"The Tax Policy Center projects that 47 percent of all U.S. households will pay no federal income tax for 2009. And, the bottom 40 percent of income earners actually receive a cash payment from the government at tax time. This cash payment is styled as a “refund” but it is actually a net cash transfer from the government--not a refund of taxes actually withheld on income. And for many Americans, this cash transfer from Uncle Sam actually exceeds all federal, state and local taxes that they pay in any form during the year including sales taxes and social security taxes." (http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/04/16/elizabeth-factor-mallory-factor-federal-income-tax-tax-day-americans-democrats)
To be fair to President Obama's oft quoted response to Joe the Plumber about redistributing the wealth, this tax system has been well in place for decades providing something for nothing to millions. What is so different today is the percentage of non-paying taxpayers is increasing to a point that endangers the fundamental freedoms of our nation. When nearly 50% of those who benefit from the blessings of our nation without appreciating the cost, then it is most easy to see they will continue to vote for their own self interests, i.e. elect representatives who will keep the free lunches coming.
So what do the freeloaders, an apt description as they place a load on the system that supports them and they get to reap the benefits for free, get? Besides cash pay-outs as described in the referenced article, they receive: national security, clean air and water, national parks and forests playgrounds, superhighways, air traffic control, coast guard, police and fire protection as subsidized by the federal government, Pell grants for education, civil rights, weather service, disaster aid, flood protections, public health services, banking and savings protections (FDIC), transportation safety, homeland security, food and drug protection, agricultural product protections, and the list can go on and on. All these somethings for nothing.
The problem as pointed out in the article will come as any good economist knows is when the "price" pressure exceeds the customer's ability to pay that goods and services will either have to be discounted, (get cheaper or poorer quality) or the goods and services are no longer available for sale. As the present effort to redistribute wealth increases, those who do pay the price for the goods and services of government, are going to look else where to invest and earn income that is not taxable. Some may even opt for the idea of doing a 1960's "dropping out" of the work sector altogether, legitimately asking why should they be the ones to foot the bill? The consequences of this attitude is to ultimately stagnate the American dream for all. What will happen when tax revenue isn't sufficient to pay out for the free lunches?
The Watchman believes we will painfully soon find out. Already our nation is in debt so deep our grandchildren will be still paying interest on it when they are old. When revenue doesn't keep up with the need of government, our government prints more dollars. In turn, eventually, our society will pay a terrible price in rising inflation. And who is hurt worst by inflation? The very people who are getting the free lunch today. The lower income earners, minorities, and those on fixed incomes such as retirees. Make no mistake, there will come a time of consequence for our liberal excesses of today.
So if you are one of the 50% who paid zero tax this year, yet benefited from those who did, consider sending Uncle Obama, $1.00 for each person in your family. Pay for at least one lunch this year. Make it a Happy Meal to go.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Red Flag Warning: It is time for Easy Flat Tax
Greetings...The Watchman has finished preparing two tax returns. One for my family and one for my mother. Let me say right off, government does require funds to operate the necessary functions of national defense, public safety, and operation of its various administrative aspects. So this isn't a anti-tax rant. However the methodology by which taxes are computed and then collected is indeed worthy of a good rant, one that I wish our leaders would hear.
I'm just your average citizen. One income source with a few nearly worthless IRA investments, and own a home. Nothing fancy in my fiscal life comparable to say, some rich dude like Warren Buffet or Al Gore. So why does it take over 8 hours just to do one tax submission? Every year when I am done with the agony of answering inane and complex tax questions I take the final numbers and run a little test using simple math and a 3" by 5" index card. Here is what I do:
Usually my test is very close to the final numbers that spew out from Turbo Tax software that I paid $75 for and spent 8 hours of life working through out of fear I would hose up the filing and have the IRS sending bloodhounds looking for me. Look at how simple the effort turned out. Hard to cheat when the criteria is this straight forward and requires nothing more than a 4 function calculator.
When you look at the tax rules it is obvious the code is set up to encourage or discourage some set of predetermined social aspect. Home mortgage interest deduction is there because the lumber industry, home builders, bankers, and real estate brokers want to 'encourage' home purchases. On the other hand, all the rules about savings and investment really is a way to discourage 'excessive' unearned (meaning you didn't sweat over a blast furnace to get paid) income. Then there are a whole bunch of credits so those who don't make enough money to pay taxes, actually get a tax refund! Gosh how wonderful! From those who have to those who have not.
So the watchman says its time to enact the Easy Flat Tax if we must have an income confiscation system. At least we won't be wasting precious life minutes to pay up. Write to your new congressman on November 3rd to tell them their employers demands the Easy Flat Tax. Let me know what you think. How would you like to have your taxes done in 10 minutes tops?
I'm just your average citizen. One income source with a few nearly worthless IRA investments, and own a home. Nothing fancy in my fiscal life comparable to say, some rich dude like Warren Buffet or Al Gore. So why does it take over 8 hours just to do one tax submission? Every year when I am done with the agony of answering inane and complex tax questions I take the final numbers and run a little test using simple math and a 3" by 5" index card. Here is what I do:
Line 1 - Gross Income from all sources: $65,000
Line 2 - Tax Rate: x 0.1 (10%)
Line 3 - $6,500.00 (Product of multiplying Line 1 by Line 2)
Line 4 - Federal Withholding: $ 7,652.54
Line 5 - Additional Tax Due(+) or Refund (-): Line 3 - Line 4 = -$1,152.54
Line 6 - Congratulations you are done! Go to: www.IRS.income.confiscation.day.gov to submit.
Usually my test is very close to the final numbers that spew out from Turbo Tax software that I paid $75 for and spent 8 hours of life working through out of fear I would hose up the filing and have the IRS sending bloodhounds looking for me. Look at how simple the effort turned out. Hard to cheat when the criteria is this straight forward and requires nothing more than a 4 function calculator.
When you look at the tax rules it is obvious the code is set up to encourage or discourage some set of predetermined social aspect. Home mortgage interest deduction is there because the lumber industry, home builders, bankers, and real estate brokers want to 'encourage' home purchases. On the other hand, all the rules about savings and investment really is a way to discourage 'excessive' unearned (meaning you didn't sweat over a blast furnace to get paid) income. Then there are a whole bunch of credits so those who don't make enough money to pay taxes, actually get a tax refund! Gosh how wonderful! From those who have to those who have not.
So the watchman says its time to enact the Easy Flat Tax if we must have an income confiscation system. At least we won't be wasting precious life minutes to pay up. Write to your new congressman on November 3rd to tell them their employers demands the Easy Flat Tax. Let me know what you think. How would you like to have your taxes done in 10 minutes tops?
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Red Flag Warning: Are We a Free People?
The Watchman serves on the City of Fountain Planing Commission. Tonight we heard a request from a resident who's area recently was annexed into the city involuntarily. It had been in the county and the zoning allowed the existence of "fowl" or chickens on the property. The new city zoning allowed cows but not chickens. So the good citizen was asking for a conditional use to have 24 chickens that was previously allowed by the county. Our commission wisely granted the variance in the conditional use, but what struck me was how this citizen's freedom had been limited by government in the first place. My God, here was a person asking permission to have 24 chickens on his nearly 5 acres of land from his government overseers!
Are we a free people? A hundred years ago a family could move out west, buy a hunk of dirt and basically go about raising a family, planting crops or setting up a shop with out so much as a single "Mother-May-I" from any one in government authority. And for the most part there weren't the avalanche of taxes, permit fees, and licence requirements to do what you thought was best to do with your life. Today you couldn't even be allowed to live in a three room house as it wouldn't meet code. You couldn't operate your corner grocery store without special permits, zoning, and business licences as well as acting as a tax collector for government. Soon every business will be required to provide health insurance for their employees. What's next, car insurance? Life insurance? Business owners (big and small) are some of the most oppressed peoples in America owing to the heavy hand of government.
Are we a free people? How many decisions do we each make daily that isn't some how influenced by a fear of either violating a regulation or being subject to lawsuits. And how many approvals are needed to do something you want to do. If you live in a HOA you have to get the feared architect review committee to approve your house color. If you want to build on to your house you have to get approval not only from the HOA, but the city or county zoning board, a construction permit, and submit information to the assessor to pay the increase property taxes.
Are we a free people? Can you place a sign in your front yard saying the local HOA board is a bunch of nutters? Can you protect yourself or your personal property if necessary with deadly force? In times gone by, the only permit you needed to carry personal protection was the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution. Now you have to pay huge fees to receive a permit to do what you constitutionally have the God given right to do! If you need a permit, are you truly "free"?
Are we a free people? In the next few years will you be able to go get shoulder replacement surgery if you are older than 57 and even pay for it yourself? Will you be free to do so if the regional Obamacare health care review committee rules you can not have that surgery? Or will you be discriminated against because of your age and ability to pay and be told to stand at the end of the line?
Are we a free people? When there are so many rules, regulations, and legal requirements that corral us , lemming like, to be treated as just another member of the unwashed collective. Are we a free people when we let those who are suppose to represent us in the halls of congress, ignore our protests and our outrage at a government mandated program that we can not afford.
My friends the answer, sadly, is no. No we are not a free people. And while the view of our current system doesn't look anything like the horrific dictatorships of past ages, the tyranny being foisted off on us today takes many different forms and is just as crushing. The human spirit contains a freedom shaped vacuum to paraphrase Pascal. In every age and culture, eventually the yearning desire for freedom bursts forth into a new age of release where humanity can expand its horizons and live in liberty. The question we have to ask our selves today and certainly on November 2nd, do we wish to follow the lead lemming right over the cliff of collective Marxism or do we desire again to taste the sweetness of freedom and liberty.
Are we a free people? A hundred years ago a family could move out west, buy a hunk of dirt and basically go about raising a family, planting crops or setting up a shop with out so much as a single "Mother-May-I" from any one in government authority. And for the most part there weren't the avalanche of taxes, permit fees, and licence requirements to do what you thought was best to do with your life. Today you couldn't even be allowed to live in a three room house as it wouldn't meet code. You couldn't operate your corner grocery store without special permits, zoning, and business licences as well as acting as a tax collector for government. Soon every business will be required to provide health insurance for their employees. What's next, car insurance? Life insurance? Business owners (big and small) are some of the most oppressed peoples in America owing to the heavy hand of government.
Are we a free people? How many decisions do we each make daily that isn't some how influenced by a fear of either violating a regulation or being subject to lawsuits. And how many approvals are needed to do something you want to do. If you live in a HOA you have to get the feared architect review committee to approve your house color. If you want to build on to your house you have to get approval not only from the HOA, but the city or county zoning board, a construction permit, and submit information to the assessor to pay the increase property taxes.
Are we a free people? Can you place a sign in your front yard saying the local HOA board is a bunch of nutters? Can you protect yourself or your personal property if necessary with deadly force? In times gone by, the only permit you needed to carry personal protection was the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution. Now you have to pay huge fees to receive a permit to do what you constitutionally have the God given right to do! If you need a permit, are you truly "free"?
Are we a free people? In the next few years will you be able to go get shoulder replacement surgery if you are older than 57 and even pay for it yourself? Will you be free to do so if the regional Obamacare health care review committee rules you can not have that surgery? Or will you be discriminated against because of your age and ability to pay and be told to stand at the end of the line?
Are we a free people? When there are so many rules, regulations, and legal requirements that corral us , lemming like, to be treated as just another member of the unwashed collective. Are we a free people when we let those who are suppose to represent us in the halls of congress, ignore our protests and our outrage at a government mandated program that we can not afford.
My friends the answer, sadly, is no. No we are not a free people. And while the view of our current system doesn't look anything like the horrific dictatorships of past ages, the tyranny being foisted off on us today takes many different forms and is just as crushing. The human spirit contains a freedom shaped vacuum to paraphrase Pascal. In every age and culture, eventually the yearning desire for freedom bursts forth into a new age of release where humanity can expand its horizons and live in liberty. The question we have to ask our selves today and certainly on November 2nd, do we wish to follow the lead lemming right over the cliff of collective Marxism or do we desire again to taste the sweetness of freedom and liberty.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
RED FLAG WARNING: I'm back....Recipe for Disaster Cake
All my classes have concluded and now I'm back to bring more dire warnings of doom and pending disaster. Yes I missed out on giving stinging missives on the final show down in the halls of congress over the health care legislation. It is now the law of the land and soon we'll all be feeling lighter in our hip pockets when the 16,000 new IRS agents come knocking at our doors with one hand out for more taxes and the other holding the government 'gun' to our heads.
Our President tells us we will really like this new program once we get to know it. Nancy Pelosi told us they would have to pass the bill to know what was in the bill. And our dear bumbling, foul mouthed Vice President whispered a very honoring phrase in to the President's ear during the signing ceremony saying, "This is a big F..... deal!" Class act all around.
However, I turn now to the task of warning my friends to be preparing for the tough times ahead. Yes they are just around the bend. In the course of human events no nation has ever escaped the ravages of over spending and under production. Currently the US debt is on a scale never before seen in world history. The long term debt is now in the 12 to 14 trillion level with our nation unable even to pay the interest on the debt. It is truly gruesome to consider that we the "given" generation has indeed given our children and grandchildren a crushing national debt load that threatens our national security.
We are also under producing. We not only have given our selves a huge entitlement to go along with social security and medicare, but we're also nationally buying more stuff than we produce to sell to other countries. We don't produce steel any more, we sell services. And how many cell phone service plans can one nation sell its self. It is kind of like having an Amyway dealer on your block. They get one or two others to sell product and then before you know it everyone is selling the products to one another until the block is totally saturated and no one sells or buys.
The worst aspect of the health care law is the now confessed real reason for doing it by our democratic leaders. Senator Max Baucus, (D) Montana, recently was caught on tape telling a group of listeners the health care law was necessary to reshuffle wealth from one class to another lower class. To make having wealth more fairly distributed. This is classic Marxism, "from each according to their ability, to each according to their need".
Alan Reynolds in the March 30, 2010 Wall Street Journal observed the idea of taking more from the rich to pay for ObamaCare won't work. "Add it up and the government is counting on squeezing an extra $1.2 trillion over 10 years from a tiny sliver of taxpayers who already pay more than half of all individual taxes." He goes on to say, "It won't work. It never works." Reynolds then goes on to demonstrate how the raising and lowering of tax rates over the years has shown that when rates go up, revenues go down and just the opposite when rates decrease. He also discusses that rich folks aren't stupid. They find other ways to keep the tax man's hands off their income, again resulting in lost revenue. So who in the end gets taken to the cleaners? It is obvious, the middle class. They make up the difference in revenue shortfalls.
Lastly, I see a situation where wages will be going lower. An example will suffice: I run a company where I employ 30 people who perform a home cleaning service. I pay my employees $12.50 per hour on average. but I don't offer health care benefits. But ObamaCare now requires that I do offer it and pay part of the premium. So now my company is faced with either laying off workers to enable me to have enough cash flow to pay the added expense or I will have to ask the workers to take a cut in pay. New workers too will start out even lower to help make up the loss in company revenue. Over time the tax bite will increase when it is realized not enough tax money is coming in to pay for the programs so wages will stay depressed. If I let people go, then my business may fold for lack of workers to meet the demand. So again, who is the big looser? The middle class takes another one for Obama.
So there you have it. A recipe for disaster cake. And the icing? High Inflation....coming soon to a nation that prints money by the train load.
Our President tells us we will really like this new program once we get to know it. Nancy Pelosi told us they would have to pass the bill to know what was in the bill. And our dear bumbling, foul mouthed Vice President whispered a very honoring phrase in to the President's ear during the signing ceremony saying, "This is a big F..... deal!" Class act all around.
However, I turn now to the task of warning my friends to be preparing for the tough times ahead. Yes they are just around the bend. In the course of human events no nation has ever escaped the ravages of over spending and under production. Currently the US debt is on a scale never before seen in world history. The long term debt is now in the 12 to 14 trillion level with our nation unable even to pay the interest on the debt. It is truly gruesome to consider that we the "given" generation has indeed given our children and grandchildren a crushing national debt load that threatens our national security.
We are also under producing. We not only have given our selves a huge entitlement to go along with social security and medicare, but we're also nationally buying more stuff than we produce to sell to other countries. We don't produce steel any more, we sell services. And how many cell phone service plans can one nation sell its self. It is kind of like having an Amyway dealer on your block. They get one or two others to sell product and then before you know it everyone is selling the products to one another until the block is totally saturated and no one sells or buys.
The worst aspect of the health care law is the now confessed real reason for doing it by our democratic leaders. Senator Max Baucus, (D) Montana, recently was caught on tape telling a group of listeners the health care law was necessary to reshuffle wealth from one class to another lower class. To make having wealth more fairly distributed. This is classic Marxism, "from each according to their ability, to each according to their need".
Alan Reynolds in the March 30, 2010 Wall Street Journal observed the idea of taking more from the rich to pay for ObamaCare won't work. "Add it up and the government is counting on squeezing an extra $1.2 trillion over 10 years from a tiny sliver of taxpayers who already pay more than half of all individual taxes." He goes on to say, "It won't work. It never works." Reynolds then goes on to demonstrate how the raising and lowering of tax rates over the years has shown that when rates go up, revenues go down and just the opposite when rates decrease. He also discusses that rich folks aren't stupid. They find other ways to keep the tax man's hands off their income, again resulting in lost revenue. So who in the end gets taken to the cleaners? It is obvious, the middle class. They make up the difference in revenue shortfalls.
Lastly, I see a situation where wages will be going lower. An example will suffice: I run a company where I employ 30 people who perform a home cleaning service. I pay my employees $12.50 per hour on average. but I don't offer health care benefits. But ObamaCare now requires that I do offer it and pay part of the premium. So now my company is faced with either laying off workers to enable me to have enough cash flow to pay the added expense or I will have to ask the workers to take a cut in pay. New workers too will start out even lower to help make up the loss in company revenue. Over time the tax bite will increase when it is realized not enough tax money is coming in to pay for the programs so wages will stay depressed. If I let people go, then my business may fold for lack of workers to meet the demand. So again, who is the big looser? The middle class takes another one for Obama.
So there you have it. A recipe for disaster cake. And the icing? High Inflation....coming soon to a nation that prints money by the train load.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Red Flag Warning - The Watchman is BUSY!
Greetings...the Watchman has been super busy during March. I'm teaching a course on the "Paridigms of Health" which has taken all my free time. (What a great time to teach a health class, eh?) With 28 students and just 5 classes to present a semester's worth of information I feel like I am going at mach 2. I'm also taking a faculty certification course for teaching on-line. This has been 4 weeks of intense training on how to facilitate on-line discussions, grade papers eletronicly and keep track of student effort to meet university requirements. Hopefully I'll be back up and spouting off about the latest dangers coming our way from the Dear Leader and his Marxist gang. Stay tuned, it is going to be a wild mid-term election!
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Red Flag Warning: Dangerous Games
The Watchman is observing closely the health care maneuvers by Reid, Pelosi, and Obama. Obama has proposed a health summit this next week which sound more of the same with other "summits" and with the same outcomes. All talk and flashy show, but no substance. Then a report comes out that Obama is writing his own health care bill. I thought it was the legislative branch's job to create laws? How can he conduct this open summit to listen to what the GOP has to offer, if he is already writing his own plan? He is playing dangerous games that can come back to haunt all of us.
It isn't that I'm concerned so much for the health care issue. With the next congress being most likely controlled by conservatives, the excesses of the Obama/Reid/Pelosi socialists can be rolled back. No, it is how weak Obama is appearing to the rest of the world. Look at some of the hot spots that could go critical:
These are just a few of the flash points just simmering in the pot. Obama's failures at nearly every turn is placing our nation at risk. His ideological fixation on health care at any cost to the exclusion of all other aspects is a dangerous game. He's playing it with us as the pawns, and that my friends, is a game we didn't bargain for when our nation voted for 'hope and change'.
It isn't that I'm concerned so much for the health care issue. With the next congress being most likely controlled by conservatives, the excesses of the Obama/Reid/Pelosi socialists can be rolled back. No, it is how weak Obama is appearing to the rest of the world. Look at some of the hot spots that could go critical:
+ Iran - Now openly developing nuclear weapons. Does anyone really believe Iran wants refined nuclear materials to make a better power generator? Hardly. And their prime minister just thumbs his nose at Obama's pathetic response to Iran's rising power. Some believe the nation is transforming into a military/religious dictatorship. Think: Japan of the 1930s for a picture of what could be - an Islamo-fascist military power! What will Obama do?
+ Russia - Our former communist enemy is quietly gearing up militarily as well as casting coveting eyes to their former dominated neighbors. They've badgered the US into some kind of new nuclear arms agreement, that of course Obama can claim victory. Again, another smoke and mirror hollow agreement. If Obama is perceived as being weak, might not the Russian bear take advantage and move into one or more of their former slave states? What will Obama do?
+ China - Wow Obama really stood up to the communists didn't he. Brought the Dalai Lama in through the back door of the White House and tried to cover-up the meeting as a photo meet. Suppose China decides to bring Formosa into its sphere? what better time to do it than when a weak, do nothing, president is sitting in the oval office. What will Obama do?
+ Venezuela - This South American world power wanna be is stirring up problems for a number of American friendly nations. Chavez is running guns and bullets around to his revolutionary surrogate rebel factions. At what point will he take advantage of Obama's weak foreign policy and move in on a neighbor? What will Obama do?
These are just a few of the flash points just simmering in the pot. Obama's failures at nearly every turn is placing our nation at risk. His ideological fixation on health care at any cost to the exclusion of all other aspects is a dangerous game. He's playing it with us as the pawns, and that my friends, is a game we didn't bargain for when our nation voted for 'hope and change'.
Friday, February 5, 2010
RFD Warning: Magic Number Redux
The unemployment rate has fallen! Hurrah! President Obama's plan to re-employ American workers who are unemployed is working! Happy days are just ahead and there is dancing in the street. Or are they?
Maybe the unemployment rate is yet another set of magic numbers generated by government bureaucrats who are stuck on their slide rules and fuzzy math. John Lott has exposed how the employment data are generated: The Real Story Behind Our Unemployment Numbers Lott brings clarity to the method of madness on generating the rate headlines seen across American media. And using magic numbers isn't necessarily an evil perpetrated by the Obama administration, as every administration since Washington has trotted out magic numbers to reinforce their administration's programs.
Again surveys or polling is used to create numbers that are easily manipulated. Surely in this modern age of computers and internet communication a more accurate method could be devised than to base the employment magic number on two mixed up systems that few really understand.
The news also reports the stock market dropped partially because of the mixed employment news which makes one wonder if the investors who follow company practices closely understand better than the government what is really happening in our economy.
Magic numbers are all around us, influencing our decisions everyday. It behooves each of us to look beyond the media hyped numbers in the headlines to find out what they really mean and take appropriate action in response.
Maybe the unemployment rate is yet another set of magic numbers generated by government bureaucrats who are stuck on their slide rules and fuzzy math. John Lott has exposed how the employment data are generated: The Real Story Behind Our Unemployment Numbers Lott brings clarity to the method of madness on generating the rate headlines seen across American media. And using magic numbers isn't necessarily an evil perpetrated by the Obama administration, as every administration since Washington has trotted out magic numbers to reinforce their administration's programs.
Again surveys or polling is used to create numbers that are easily manipulated. Surely in this modern age of computers and internet communication a more accurate method could be devised than to base the employment magic number on two mixed up systems that few really understand.
The news also reports the stock market dropped partially because of the mixed employment news which makes one wonder if the investors who follow company practices closely understand better than the government what is really happening in our economy.
Magic numbers are all around us, influencing our decisions everyday. It behooves each of us to look beyond the media hyped numbers in the headlines to find out what they really mean and take appropriate action in response.
Monday, January 25, 2010
RFD-NEWS - A few gems from the news....
Do I hear a tweety bird?
Ten Tweets to Obama
By Jon Kraushar
- FOXNews.com
"Are you listening, Mr. President?
1. Massachusetts = Community Reorganization.
2. Yours is also “the people’s seat.”
3. “This is our moment. This is our time. Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past.”
4. We the People invite you to drink tea.
5. Please listen, don’t dictate
6. Call C-Span!
7. Switch from a limo to a truck.
8. Heckuva job, Brownie.
9. “Yes, We Can” works two ways.
10. We’re taking back our country: one politician at a time."
Communications consultant Jon Kraushar is at www.jonkraushar.net. Would you like to add your own tweets to Obama? Please click on "Leave a Comment." And check out our FoxNews.com twitter feed, too!
>*>*>*>*>*>*>*
Where have we heard this one before?
Obama Outlines New Proposals Aimed at Lifting Middle Class
>*>*>*>*>*>*>*
Playing the 'Blame Card' gets old after awhile...
'Blame Bush' Strategy Wears Thin as Obama Enters Second Year
>*>*>*>*>*>*>*
Another promise unkept by Obama.
Obama Administration Steers Lucrative No-Bid Contract for Afghan Work to Dem Donor
>*>*>*>*>*>*>*
Will you be going upside down again or deeper in the hole?
Housing Market: Even More Pain in Store?
Ten Tweets to Obama
By Jon Kraushar
- FOXNews.com
"Are you listening, Mr. President?
1. Massachusetts = Community Reorganization.
2. Yours is also “the people’s seat.”
3. “This is our moment. This is our time. Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past.”
4. We the People invite you to drink tea.
5. Please listen, don’t dictate
6. Call C-Span!
7. Switch from a limo to a truck.
8. Heckuva job, Brownie.
9. “Yes, We Can” works two ways.
10. We’re taking back our country: one politician at a time."
Communications consultant Jon Kraushar is at www.jonkraushar.net. Would you like to add your own tweets to Obama? Please click on "Leave a Comment." And check out our FoxNews.com twitter feed, too!
>*>*>*>*>*>*>*
Where have we heard this one before?
Obama Outlines New Proposals Aimed at Lifting Middle Class
>*>*>*>*>*>*>*
Playing the 'Blame Card' gets old after awhile...
'Blame Bush' Strategy Wears Thin as Obama Enters Second Year
>*>*>*>*>*>*>*
Another promise unkept by Obama.
Obama Administration Steers Lucrative No-Bid Contract for Afghan Work to Dem Donor
>*>*>*>*>*>*>*
Will you be going upside down again or deeper in the hole?
Housing Market: Even More Pain in Store?
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Barack and Scott Aren't Bro's
RFD-WARNING
Last Tuesday was a great day for all Americans. It truly amazing what our fellow citizens can do when they get united behind a candidate who can articulate a clear vision of what they desire to do once seated in Washington. I'm not talking about Barack Obama. He's there already and we certainly see what he's doing, most of which is counter to his promises. No, I'm referring to Scott Brown, the newly elected Senator from Massachusetts. The folks of the first tea party, did another one much to the chagrin of President Obama and the Democrats.
Of all the post-mortem comments made since, the one by Dear Leader himself is the most enlightening as broadcast by ABC News:
In the breath of one sentence BHO managed to say he is a brother to Scott Brown and the anger of Massachusetts citizens is not about his policies, but President Bush's! He's not to blame, he is in the same boat as Mr. Brown. They are in this together. Everyone is unhappy because of the past eight years, inferring Americans are angry at Bush, not him.
The President is simply delusional if he thinks Americans are looking at Bush for the leap in unemployment, 12 trillion more debt since January 20, and a democratic party that is hell bent on jumping off the cliff to embrace socialism at every turn. They know the score, Mr. President, and you've struck out.
The continued excuse used by the President, that it is Bush's fault is most revealing. This is his learned response right out of the pulpit of Reverend Wright's warped Black Victimhood dogma. Obama blames everyone else for the "mess", except to look at his own policies and take individual responsibility for their failure. This line of thinking is positively dangerous, as it leads to decisions that only perpetuate the problems facing America. Citizen's have heard this canard through much of the last year and its worn thin.
So Mr. President, suggest you quit whining about what was eight years past, accept the failures of the last 12 months, and get your act together before something else nasty hits the fan.
Last Tuesday was a great day for all Americans. It truly amazing what our fellow citizens can do when they get united behind a candidate who can articulate a clear vision of what they desire to do once seated in Washington. I'm not talking about Barack Obama. He's there already and we certainly see what he's doing, most of which is counter to his promises. No, I'm referring to Scott Brown, the newly elected Senator from Massachusetts. The folks of the first tea party, did another one much to the chagrin of President Obama and the Democrats.
Of all the post-mortem comments made since, the one by Dear Leader himself is the most enlightening as broadcast by ABC News:
(BHO) "Here's my assessment of not just the vote in Massachusetts, but the mood around the country: the same thing that swept Scott Brown into office swept me into office," the president said in an exclusive interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos. "People are angry and they are frustrated. Not just because of what's happened in the last year or two years, but what's happened over the last eight years."
In the breath of one sentence BHO managed to say he is a brother to Scott Brown and the anger of Massachusetts citizens is not about his policies, but President Bush's! He's not to blame, he is in the same boat as Mr. Brown. They are in this together. Everyone is unhappy because of the past eight years, inferring Americans are angry at Bush, not him.
The President is simply delusional if he thinks Americans are looking at Bush for the leap in unemployment, 12 trillion more debt since January 20, and a democratic party that is hell bent on jumping off the cliff to embrace socialism at every turn. They know the score, Mr. President, and you've struck out.
The continued excuse used by the President, that it is Bush's fault is most revealing. This is his learned response right out of the pulpit of Reverend Wright's warped Black Victimhood dogma. Obama blames everyone else for the "mess", except to look at his own policies and take individual responsibility for their failure. This line of thinking is positively dangerous, as it leads to decisions that only perpetuate the problems facing America. Citizen's have heard this canard through much of the last year and its worn thin.
So Mr. President, suggest you quit whining about what was eight years past, accept the failures of the last 12 months, and get your act together before something else nasty hits the fan.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
RFD-NEWS
Who would have believed it, Danny Glover: Climate and geologic expert.
Danny Glover's Bizarre Explanation for the Haiti Earthquake
Friday, January 15, 2010
By Jim Angle
Some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:
Fault Line
Actor Danny Glover says the earthquake in Haiti is a result of global warming. Glover told GRITtv that it could have happened to any of the Caribbean island nations: "They are all in peril because of global warming."
Then, he lamented the failure of the climate summit in Copenhagen. As a result of that failure, he says, "this is what happened."
**********
One Year Out: The Fall
From Mr. Wonderful to the Grinch in twelve months.
By Charles Krauthammer
"What went wrong? A year ago, he was king of the world."
Yep a king with no clothes surrounded by media sycophants who coo at his every word.
**********
Danny Glover's Bizarre Explanation for the Haiti Earthquake
Friday, January 15, 2010
By Jim Angle
Some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:
Fault Line
Actor Danny Glover says the earthquake in Haiti is a result of global warming. Glover told GRITtv that it could have happened to any of the Caribbean island nations: "They are all in peril because of global warming."
Then, he lamented the failure of the climate summit in Copenhagen. As a result of that failure, he says, "this is what happened."
**********
One Year Out: The Fall
From Mr. Wonderful to the Grinch in twelve months.
By Charles Krauthammer
"What went wrong? A year ago, he was king of the world."
Yep a king with no clothes surrounded by media sycophants who coo at his every word.
**********
Friday, January 8, 2010
RFD-Warning: The Privilege of Citizenship
In the last few weeks we have witnessed the assault on American citizens by Islamofascist across the globe. The Underwear Bomber attempted to ignite a bomb on a plane over Detroit that if successful would have killed several hundred passengers and people on the ground. Yet, when the plane landed the bomber was arrested, mirandized, and began his long winding route through the U.S. justice system. But should he be afforded the same rights and privileges of American citizenship? As a veteran and speaking for other veterans, I think not. He hasn't earned the right to a citizenship.
The Watchman's Red Flag Warning is about the dilution of what it means to be an American Citizen. Once again a study of history shows what happens when a nation begins to hand out citizenship like candy to other individuals. The Roman historian Tactius described how the Roman government doled out citizenships to a broad range of non-roman individuals, affording those individuals all the rights and privileges of any native born citizen. The upshot was a nation that over time culturally no longer embraced the values that originally made Rome great. One day the barbarians of the north came knocking, and Rome no longer had the will to resist. Too many Roman "citizens" did not believe in her.
The Watchman does not wish to sound jingoistic, but if we provide these terrorists all the rights and privileges that a native born or a naturalized citizen receives, what then is the benefit that accrues to us? It devalues our citizenship to be thrown into the mix of unrepentant killers and religious fascists. What deterrence is it to the other underwear bombers coming to America if they know they will be given the same rights as Joe the Plumber, no matter how awful their acts of terror? And if we willingly give de facto-citizenship to this group, then why not recognized other groups with wholesale citizenship? Open the flood gates and let the world in.
Gaining citizenship of any nation should be a process that is not easily performed, nor provided without care or consideration for the existing cultural values of the subject nation. That is why immigration is such a sensitive issue for many nations. Each nation wants to grow, but grow with individuals who embrace, loyally, the values common to the native inhabitants. The danger of a open door approach, is development of attitudes as well as behaviors that are counter to a nation's value system.
Western Europe, and particularly France, is in the first waves of a cultural upheaval for allowing unchecked immigration and subsequent acquisition of citizenship by a large contingent of Muslims. This block of citizens are approaching 10% of the population which sociologist indicate when a group begins to have impact on a nation's culture. Thus these new citizens are demanding Sharia Law, which is counter to the Judeo-Christian values Europe is founded on. Also these nations are fearful of taking hard stands against the rise of a nuclear Iran out of fear it will cause civil unrest in their Muslim citizenry. Honoring who is granted citizenship does have unintended consequences when done so without careful consideration.
Having American citizenship should convey some aspect of respect and, yes, awe by others in the world. Never in the history of man-kind has a nation with the kind of power we've developed, and indeed exercised, has been used in such benevolent manner. We've shed American blood all over the globe, yet we haven't acquired lands, slaves, or riches. In fact, the places our nation has conquered we rebuilt and those nations today have thriving economies and cultures of their own. So why should we be so quick to grant rights of citizenship to those who do not deserve it? The point is we shouldn't.
The Watchman would support the "arrest" or "capture" of a terrorist by authorities (civil or military) and subsequent processing by an international military judicial system, such as used at the end of WWII and most recently on Serbian war criminals. Islamofascist terrorist are stateless combatants who threaten all citizens of the world. Likewise, the drug lords of Mexico and Central/South America if they began crossing international borders to commit acts of terror, should also be treated similarly.
The Watchman's Red Flag Warning is about the dilution of what it means to be an American Citizen. Once again a study of history shows what happens when a nation begins to hand out citizenship like candy to other individuals. The Roman historian Tactius described how the Roman government doled out citizenships to a broad range of non-roman individuals, affording those individuals all the rights and privileges of any native born citizen. The upshot was a nation that over time culturally no longer embraced the values that originally made Rome great. One day the barbarians of the north came knocking, and Rome no longer had the will to resist. Too many Roman "citizens" did not believe in her.
The Watchman does not wish to sound jingoistic, but if we provide these terrorists all the rights and privileges that a native born or a naturalized citizen receives, what then is the benefit that accrues to us? It devalues our citizenship to be thrown into the mix of unrepentant killers and religious fascists. What deterrence is it to the other underwear bombers coming to America if they know they will be given the same rights as Joe the Plumber, no matter how awful their acts of terror? And if we willingly give de facto-citizenship to this group, then why not recognized other groups with wholesale citizenship? Open the flood gates and let the world in.
Gaining citizenship of any nation should be a process that is not easily performed, nor provided without care or consideration for the existing cultural values of the subject nation. That is why immigration is such a sensitive issue for many nations. Each nation wants to grow, but grow with individuals who embrace, loyally, the values common to the native inhabitants. The danger of a open door approach, is development of attitudes as well as behaviors that are counter to a nation's value system.
Western Europe, and particularly France, is in the first waves of a cultural upheaval for allowing unchecked immigration and subsequent acquisition of citizenship by a large contingent of Muslims. This block of citizens are approaching 10% of the population which sociologist indicate when a group begins to have impact on a nation's culture. Thus these new citizens are demanding Sharia Law, which is counter to the Judeo-Christian values Europe is founded on. Also these nations are fearful of taking hard stands against the rise of a nuclear Iran out of fear it will cause civil unrest in their Muslim citizenry. Honoring who is granted citizenship does have unintended consequences when done so without careful consideration.
Having American citizenship should convey some aspect of respect and, yes, awe by others in the world. Never in the history of man-kind has a nation with the kind of power we've developed, and indeed exercised, has been used in such benevolent manner. We've shed American blood all over the globe, yet we haven't acquired lands, slaves, or riches. In fact, the places our nation has conquered we rebuilt and those nations today have thriving economies and cultures of their own. So why should we be so quick to grant rights of citizenship to those who do not deserve it? The point is we shouldn't.
The Watchman would support the "arrest" or "capture" of a terrorist by authorities (civil or military) and subsequent processing by an international military judicial system, such as used at the end of WWII and most recently on Serbian war criminals. Islamofascist terrorist are stateless combatants who threaten all citizens of the world. Likewise, the drug lords of Mexico and Central/South America if they began crossing international borders to commit acts of terror, should also be treated similarly.
Monday, January 4, 2010
RFD-News
Another Obama broken promise of change: bi-partisan consensus on health care legislation. Democrats Plan to Cut Out GOP in Final Health Care Negotiations FOXNews January 4, 2010
To spank or not-to-spank your kids. Study: Spanked Children May Grow Up to Be Happier, More Successful NewsCore, January 04, 2010
Be sure to wear clean underwear if traveling back from overseas into the U.S. U.S. Requests Pat-Downs on All Flights From 14 Nations FOXNews January 4, 2010
Loss of free speech in Ireland. Irish Befuddled By New Blasphemy Law NPR - Rob Gifford, January 4, 2010
Not even the Left is happy with the proposed health care laws. Health care activists vow to continue struggle By Ben Sears, People's World, December 23, 2009
To spank or not-to-spank your kids. Study: Spanked Children May Grow Up to Be Happier, More Successful NewsCore, January 04, 2010
Be sure to wear clean underwear if traveling back from overseas into the U.S. U.S. Requests Pat-Downs on All Flights From 14 Nations FOXNews January 4, 2010
Loss of free speech in Ireland. Irish Befuddled By New Blasphemy Law NPR - Rob Gifford, January 4, 2010
Not even the Left is happy with the proposed health care laws. Health care activists vow to continue struggle By Ben Sears, People's World, December 23, 2009
Sunday, January 3, 2010
RFD Warning - The Magic of Numbers
There is a huge debate going on in our nation over the Obama/Pelosi/Reid health care plan (OPRcare). In the debate cost and benefit numbers have been loosely thrown around by both sides. The Watchman calls them magic numbers. They magically can be whatever they want them to be, and change in a twinkling of the eye. Magic! Unfortunately the outcome we are likely to get is a health care law rammed down the throats of Americans without a clue as to the true cost or real benefits!
A CBS news article points out some interesting numbers related to OPRcare: Five Health Care Promises Obama Won't Keep
The President Could Be Close to Achieving Health Care Reform, but Not with All of his Campaign Promises 21 Sept 2009 By Stephanie Condon
Various think-tanks and the CBO has cranked out assessments of OPRcare bills now before congress. None of the proposed laws:
* Reduce the deficit - BHO criteria
* Reduce annual individual costs by $2,500 - BHO criteria
* Cover all citizens - BHO criteria
* Specifically forbid coverage of non-citizens - BHO criteria
* Protect middle class citizens from tax increases - BHO criteria
* Guarantees pre-condition coverage at SAME cost - BHO criteria
* Guarantees portability between jobs and locations - BHO criteria
So the question remains just what are we getting once the back-room deals are finished being cut and some kind of Frankenstein law is actually signed by BHO?
Other interesting numbers: Obama promises audits - sites that monitor BHO's progress on promises made in the 08 campaign.
The Obameter
The Promise Audit
Obama Promise Watch
Obama Watch
Obama Change Index
Tracking Obama's Promises
The first link above, The Obameter, is from the St. Petersburg Times which should have posted a disclaimer of political bias. They endorsed Kerry and Obama and report with a decidedly leftword bent. But their 'truth-O-meter' is the most comprehensive promise tracker out there. (Also kind of pretty too!) Again, their analysis of the data by the site's editors is subjective and biased. They have a category called "compromised" which implies a positive result, yet deeper analysis by others on the so-called compromise often finds significant deviation from the BHO promise criteria. So read this one with a grain of salt. The other linked sites also have their bias. Use all of them as general indicators at best.
The point of this Red Flag Days warning is our congressional leaders have significant mathematical disabilities and choose to use what ever numbers from a mish-mash of sources. In the senate bill, democratic political algebra uses spending cuts in medicare twice to make the numbers come out deficit neutral! In their willful ignorance of common sense and discarding logic, the majority party in congress seems more than ready to simply stir the pot on health care, pour it into a pan, half-bake it, and see what pops out in the end. Magic numbers to delude ourselves. More smoke and mirrors and wishful thinking. Does everyone feel better yet?
-----------
© tin cup enterprises 1-3-10
A CBS news article points out some interesting numbers related to OPRcare: Five Health Care Promises Obama Won't Keep
The President Could Be Close to Achieving Health Care Reform, but Not with All of his Campaign Promises 21 Sept 2009 By Stephanie Condon
Various think-tanks and the CBO has cranked out assessments of OPRcare bills now before congress. None of the proposed laws:
* Reduce the deficit - BHO criteria
* Reduce annual individual costs by $2,500 - BHO criteria
* Cover all citizens - BHO criteria
* Specifically forbid coverage of non-citizens - BHO criteria
* Protect middle class citizens from tax increases - BHO criteria
* Guarantees pre-condition coverage at SAME cost - BHO criteria
* Guarantees portability between jobs and locations - BHO criteria
So the question remains just what are we getting once the back-room deals are finished being cut and some kind of Frankenstein law is actually signed by BHO?
Other interesting numbers: Obama promises audits - sites that monitor BHO's progress on promises made in the 08 campaign.
The Obameter
The Promise Audit
Obama Promise Watch
Obama Watch
Obama Change Index
Tracking Obama's Promises
The first link above, The Obameter, is from the St. Petersburg Times which should have posted a disclaimer of political bias. They endorsed Kerry and Obama and report with a decidedly leftword bent. But their 'truth-O-meter' is the most comprehensive promise tracker out there. (Also kind of pretty too!) Again, their analysis of the data by the site's editors is subjective and biased. They have a category called "compromised" which implies a positive result, yet deeper analysis by others on the so-called compromise often finds significant deviation from the BHO promise criteria. So read this one with a grain of salt. The other linked sites also have their bias. Use all of them as general indicators at best.
The point of this Red Flag Days warning is our congressional leaders have significant mathematical disabilities and choose to use what ever numbers from a mish-mash of sources. In the senate bill, democratic political algebra uses spending cuts in medicare twice to make the numbers come out deficit neutral! In their willful ignorance of common sense and discarding logic, the majority party in congress seems more than ready to simply stir the pot on health care, pour it into a pan, half-bake it, and see what pops out in the end. Magic numbers to delude ourselves. More smoke and mirrors and wishful thinking. Does everyone feel better yet?
-----------
© tin cup enterprises 1-3-10
Saturday, January 2, 2010
RFD-NEWS....
Rush Limbaugh Says Nothing Wrong After Health Scare
AP, Friday, January 01, 2010
Police Shoot Man Attacking Muhammad Cartoonist
AP, Saturday, January 02, 2010
Obama Received Holiday Threat Briefing Before Attack Attempt
FOXNews.com
A senior administration official told Newsweek that the briefing held at the White House December 22 was part of regularly-scheduled sessions with counterterrorism officials and revolved around an intelligence report titled "Key Homeland Threats."
Obama Under Pressure to Quickly Reform Intelligence, Security Upon Return
FOXNews.com
Health care reform was supposed to be President Obama's overriding issue heading into the new year, but now he is expected to make terror intelligence a top priority in the wake of an attempted attack.
Nine Big Stories the Mainstream Media Missed in 2009
FOXNews.COM
From radical advisers in the Obama White House to hacked e-mails showing questionable work by climate scientists, 2009 has seen its share of scandals. But if you only followed the mainstream media, you might have missed some of the biggest stories of the year. Here's a list of the top nine stories the mainstream media ignored in the past year.
AP, Friday, January 01, 2010
Police Shoot Man Attacking Muhammad Cartoonist
AP, Saturday, January 02, 2010
Obama Received Holiday Threat Briefing Before Attack Attempt
FOXNews.com
A senior administration official told Newsweek that the briefing held at the White House December 22 was part of regularly-scheduled sessions with counterterrorism officials and revolved around an intelligence report titled "Key Homeland Threats."
Obama Under Pressure to Quickly Reform Intelligence, Security Upon Return
FOXNews.com
Health care reform was supposed to be President Obama's overriding issue heading into the new year, but now he is expected to make terror intelligence a top priority in the wake of an attempted attack.
Nine Big Stories the Mainstream Media Missed in 2009
FOXNews.COM
From radical advisers in the Obama White House to hacked e-mails showing questionable work by climate scientists, 2009 has seen its share of scandals. But if you only followed the mainstream media, you might have missed some of the biggest stories of the year. Here's a list of the top nine stories the mainstream media ignored in the past year.
Friday, January 1, 2010
The Times They Are A-Changin - RFD that is!
The Watchman, after more reflection regarding the issue over a blogger being or not being a journalist, has decided to make a few changes how future postings are made to Red Flag Days (RFD). Future postings will be identified as either "RFD-NEWS" or "RFD-WARNING". RFD-NEWS is just as you might expect a factual reporting of events locally, state-wide, national, or international. RFDs will rely on similar sources as other news agencies, with proper citation to those sources. The style of these postings will be bulleted items with teaser headlines and hot linked to the complete original source.
RFD-WARNING means the content is the Watchman's personal opinion and comment on events in the news. These postings will have a style that is more in line with past postings on RFD. I will attempt to reference known sources that support my assertions and ideas as appropriate. However, as opinion, I am free to make my case as I see the issues. To paraphrase one talk-show host: Anything you read on RFD should be personally fact-checked to validate information presented. To aid my readers, I am posting links to several info checking web sites.
As editor-in-chief of RFD I am responsible for the content I choose to publish and follow generally accepted journalistic ethics. The content of RFD-WARNINGS will also be copyrighted on the day of public posting. The content may be reproduced and used by others as long as full accreditation to RFD is made by the user and any 3rd party source data remain unchanged. Please note I occasionally edit a previously published posting. This editing is only for correction of spelling/grammar or to correct a factual error, and in that case it is noted. My continual prayer: Oh Lord grant me two gifts, the ability to spell words correctly and remember the names of people I meet!
A third change or addition I have been working on is to create a link to other, more extensive writings I have done in the past several years. One of these efforts is entitled, "BRTD: Better Red Than Dead". This work is a series of essays trying to explain why I am a conservative and express views on issues I am most passionate about. The trick is getting the essays final editted, files saved into a .pdf format, loaded on to a web site, and then linking the site to RFD. Remember this is being done in my "spare" time. Patience is the watchword on this project.
Several friends have asked me for recommendations on who to read/listen to for conservative content and information. I'm working on a review of those conservatives I routinely check out and provided links to those sites. Stay tuned to this station!
These are a few changes coming in 2010. If you have any feedback on these or other comments on how to improve Red Flag Days then shoot me a note or a comment.
RFD-WARNING means the content is the Watchman's personal opinion and comment on events in the news. These postings will have a style that is more in line with past postings on RFD. I will attempt to reference known sources that support my assertions and ideas as appropriate. However, as opinion, I am free to make my case as I see the issues. To paraphrase one talk-show host: Anything you read on RFD should be personally fact-checked to validate information presented. To aid my readers, I am posting links to several info checking web sites.
As editor-in-chief of RFD I am responsible for the content I choose to publish and follow generally accepted journalistic ethics. The content of RFD-WARNINGS will also be copyrighted on the day of public posting. The content may be reproduced and used by others as long as full accreditation to RFD is made by the user and any 3rd party source data remain unchanged. Please note I occasionally edit a previously published posting. This editing is only for correction of spelling/grammar or to correct a factual error, and in that case it is noted. My continual prayer: Oh Lord grant me two gifts, the ability to spell words correctly and remember the names of people I meet!
A third change or addition I have been working on is to create a link to other, more extensive writings I have done in the past several years. One of these efforts is entitled, "BRTD: Better Red Than Dead". This work is a series of essays trying to explain why I am a conservative and express views on issues I am most passionate about. The trick is getting the essays final editted, files saved into a .pdf format, loaded on to a web site, and then linking the site to RFD. Remember this is being done in my "spare" time. Patience is the watchword on this project.
Several friends have asked me for recommendations on who to read/listen to for conservative content and information. I'm working on a review of those conservatives I routinely check out and provided links to those sites. Stay tuned to this station!
These are a few changes coming in 2010. If you have any feedback on these or other comments on how to improve Red Flag Days then shoot me a note or a comment.
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