Quote of the day: My stepfather Lolo said, "Men take advantage of weakness in other men. They're just like countries in that way. The strong man takes the weak man's land. He makes the weak man work in his fields. If the weak man's woman is pretty, the strong man will take her. Which would you rather be? Better to be strong. If you can't be strong, be clever and make peace with someone who's strong. But always better to be strong yourself. Always." Source: Dreams from My Father, by Barack Obama, p. 37 Aug 1, 1996

Comments From Foreign Leaders About Our Country

NYT columnist Tom Friedman says this: I ran into an Indian businessman friend last week and he said something to me that really struck a chord: “This is the first time I’ve ever visited the United States when I feel like you’re acting like an immature democracy.”

Vladimir Putin (!!) just advised us not to take the Marxist road to ruin, like Russia did.

"I hope we don't regret our trust in the United States," Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said at the Brussels Forum conference to an audience of senior world politicians and experts. He was talking about Obama waffling about the missile shield the US promised to install in Eastern Europe, to defend against Iranian, and if necessary against Russian missiles. The Poles have a history of being betrayed by the West in World War

And the current President of the European Union, Czech Prime Minister Mirek Toplanek, declared that our current Budget proposal's plan to spend our way out of recession is "a way to hell", "will undermine the stability of the global financial market."

A SHOCKING NEWS FLASH!

The House has already passed their "Give" Act, and the Senate is considering it.

To learn more about it's contents, go to: http://michellemalkin.com/2009/03/25/to-give-and-to-serve-the-6-billion-national-service-boondoggle/

Following are remarks by several sources, who see it as the first step in Obama's plan for a Civilian National Security Force, as well as Hillary Clinton's Public Service Academy, with tuition paid for by our government for people to "learn" how to work for the government [promised by her during her Presidential Campaign]. The fact that it will cost us over six billion dollars thru 2014 should be enough to stop it's passage. Why Orrin Hatch does not see the possible future uses of this mandate escapes me.

From Melanie Phillips of the UK Spectator:

There was also his deeply troubling suggestion during his [Obama's] presidential campaign – which received virtually no attention – of creating a civilian national security force that would be as powerful, strong and well-funded as the half-trillion dollar Army, Marines, Navy and Air Force, although he subsequently refused to elaborate upon this distinctly chilling suggestion (and indeed, according to this report these remarks actually vanished from the published transcript of Obama’s speech). By the way, I add, Obama is CUTTING funding for our true military in this budget!

A few days ago, however, the House of Representatives passed the Orwellian-sounding ‘Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act’ which provides for the introduction of mandatory national service (unspecified) for all young people.

As Rick Moran noted on American Thinker:

The bill fulfills an Obama campaign promise to create a ‘civilian national security force.’ This legislation will not mandate or force our young people into national service - not yet anyway. But there is little doubt that we are being set up for just such an eventuality. ... Clearly, the goal of this program is to involve every single young person in America in a mandatory service program. The ‘Commission’ is a smokescreen. Of course they are going to recommend that there be mandatory service and they will lay out procedures on how to do it.

And WorldNetDaily reported:

The legislation also refers to ‘uniforms’ that would be worn by the ‘volunteers’ and the ‘need’ for a ‘public service academy, a 4-year institution’ to ‘focus on training’ future ‘public sector leaders. This, by the way, was suggested by Hillary Clinton during her campaign for the Presidency. The training, apparently, would occur at ‘campuses.’... The new bill specifically references the possibilities ‘if all individuals in the United States were expected to perform national service or were required to perform a certain amount of national service.’ Such new requirements perhaps, the legislation notes, ‘would strengthen the social fabric of the Nation and overcome civic challenges by bringing together people from diverse economic, ethnic, and educational backgrounds.’ HR1388

And now just look at what some of the Organising for America cadres were saying on the streets of Birmingham, Alabama:

‘We're looking for supporters,’ said DeHaven of Hoover, one of the event's organizers. ‘We're not looking for a fight. That will come later, when we have an army.’

Two months in – and it’s all there, folks, for those with eyes to see.

And from the San Francisco Examiner Editorial:

To begin with, the legislation [just passed by our House of Representatives] threatens the voluntary nature of Americorps by calling for consideration of “a workable, fair and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people.” It anticipates the possibility of requiring “all individuals in the United States” to perform such service, including elementary school students.

The bill also summons up unsettling memories of World War II-era paramilitary groups by saying the new program should “combine the best practices of civilian service with the best aspects of military service,” while establishing “campuses” that serve as “operational headquarters,” complete with “superintendents” and “uniforms” for all participants. It allows for the elimination of all age restrictions in order to involve Americans at all stages of life. And, it calls for the creation of “a permanent cadre” in a “National Community Civilian Corps.”

But that’s not all. The bill also calls for “youth engagement zones” in which “service learning” is “a mandatory part of the curriculum in all of the secondary schools served by the local educational agency.”

This updated form of voluntary community service is also to be “integrated into the science, technology, engineering and mathematics curricula” at all levels of schooling. Sounds like a government curriculum for government-approved “service learning,” which is nothing less than indoctrination.

The Top 11 Democrat and Obama Proposals Which I Hope Will Fail

Remembering that President Obama announced that "only government can fix this mess", as well as remembering that Rahm Emanuel states that we must "Never let a serious crisis go to waste", I offer the following list.

1) A bevy of new taxes, as part of Obama's desire to "redistribute income", including the following and more: a) taxation of retirement accounts; b) taxation of health care benefits; c) taxing our use of natural resources (heat and air-conditioning); d) extra taxation on homes larger than 2400 sq. ft.; e) tax on miles driven; f) ending the cap on which we pay Social Security Tax, now at $102,500; g) raising capital gains tax rates; h) imputed income on home value tax (find the difference between the amount you pay for your mortgage, subtract that from the price you could get if you were to rent your home out, and be taxed on the difference - just in case you've been "lucky" enough to pay off your mortgage); i) eliminating the deductions for charitable giving and mortgage interest for high income earners; and j) punishing married couples for not being single (high tax on singles begins at $200,000; for marrieds at $250,000).
2) The Energy plan, with it's Cap and Trade proposals which will raise the cost of energy for everyone, sending even more of our money overseas and negating Obama's tax reduction for 95% of Americans. All of this would occur despite only a tiny change in our temperatures, by the way. This is being planned even though there is some good evidence that the global warming [which ended about 10 yrs. ago] is probably NOT man-made. Perhaps this is why there have been both Ice Ages and Global Warming thruout the millennium on Planet Earth.
3) The Universal [Socialistic] Health Care Plan, which in Tom Daschle's opinion must ration health care, especially for Seniors, and send doctors who provide private care to prison. THE USE OF A TACTIC CALLED RECONCILIATION TO SNEAK THE ENERGY AND HEALTH CARE BILLS INTO THE BUDGET NOW BEING PROPOSED is being discussed, and it would permit their additions with only a majority, not the veto-proof majority of 60 currently in place.
4) Card Check, whereby Union bosses could browbeat employees and then take their votes in person, not by a private ballot as we have when we vote for our President.
5) The Fairness Doctrine, the unfair proposal to squash conservative talk radio - because it is very effective in giving us the news the media deign not to provide, and because the liberal shows always fail to gain an audience.
6) Government mandated Community Service - along with huge government spending to support it
7) Going along with the America-hating UN by: joining the International Criminal Court (bypassing our American courts); agreeing to the Law of the Sea Treaty (whereby the UN TELLS us what we can do with our own seabed); formation of a World Government under the New World Order; having U.S. soldiers under the command of the UN; and participating in the Global Poverty Act, whereby another .7% of our Gross Domestic Product will be given to the UN for use world-wide, in spite of the fact that our country is the most charitable in the history of the world.
8) Our House of Representative's newly passed law to tax the AIG bonuses at 90%, even after THEY were the ones who passed the law allowing the bonuses. This is anti-Constitutional, if it's Bill of Attainder means anything at all [our government cannot pick out a small group to punish more than they already punish all Americans]. It fits right in to their agenda of Class Warfare and is endangering those executives and fomenting the hatred of Capitalism. It has been noted that it was ACORN, Obama's former "employer" who organized the recent bus tours of the "greedy" executives' homes. This is the same ACORN which is slated to receive millions of dollars of the Stimulus Package.
9) Obama's plan for Income Redistribution, whereby those who work the hardest, educate themselves, take the risks, employ others, and act with responsibility will be giving ever more of their money to those who don't take advantage of their free education or work 40-80 hrs. per week to get ahead. In it's effort to do this, Barney Frank is now calling for LIMITING ANYONE'S INCOME to $500,000!
10) Closing Gitmo, prosecuting terrorists in our courts of law, and setting these prisoners free into our American communities. We no longer have terrorists in the government's vernacular, by the way. Nor do we use the term Enemy Combatants; they are "detainees". Obama has caved in to the International Court's reasons for keeping these people at Gitmo til he closes it.
11) The recent proposal to give to tax-cheat Timothy Geithner the SOLE authority to SIEZE any company in the US which is deemed by him to be in trouble and too big to fail - even if it is NOT taking government money!
AND TWO PROPOSALS WHICH WE HAVE DEFEATED:
1)Though our President thought it was a good idea, our Veterans will NOT be forced to pay for their own private health insurance!
2) It seems that Obama's plan to give to Rahm Emanuel the oversight of our Census has been quelled. It will remain the duty of the Commerce Dept.

"When good people relinquish the power of the free market, the power that rests in the hands of the individual, and look to a charismatic figure for help, disaster is right around the corner. It is nothing new that is happening in the world today, my friends. It is the same thing that has been happening since the dawn of time; it takes a crisis to enthrone a monster and I fear that something wicked this way comes." This was written by J.C. Smith of American Thinker, and I wish they were my words. Do you see this current administration as attempting, and often succeeding, in turning Americans against Capitalism and "greedy" executives? Could this all be a part of its' Big Government agenda? They are deflecting focus from the Congress's blame in all this, from forcing banks to make loans to those who couldn't pay for them, to preventing poorly run companies from going into bankruptcy. Worst of all, they are keeping our focus off the fact that Congress once again passed a bill without even reading what was in it! We should be far angrier at Congress than we are at Corporations.

Because of public exposure and the great outcry concerning his hypocrisy, Senator Christopher Dodd has not only admitted that is was HIS addition to the Stimulus Bill which allowed the payment of bonuses to AIG executives (though he is saying the President MADE him do it), he has declared that he will be returning the parts of his over $130,000 presidential campaign donations from AIG executives which in his eyes are "tainted", whatever that means....

Our President has decided that his great plan to make our heroic military vets pay for their own PRIVATE health insurance was not so great after all. Again, our great hue and cry has exposed his agenda as well as his incompetence at his job.

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, and third in line to be President of the United States, recently said, while addressing illegal aliens in California, and while condemning raids by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, said, "You are special people. You're here on a Saturday night to take responsibility for our country's future. That makes you very, very patriotic." What? Does that make those who believe in following the laws that CONGRESS has passed are un-patriotic??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeYscnFpEyA&feature=channel_page
"Thomas Paine" is begging us to take action! This is great (except for the national forced service to our country....) Be inspired! Join the national tea party!

http://www.gratefulamericancoin.org/ On this site, you can purchase some beautiful coins for $6-7 each to hand to military personnel you may see in the airports or around town. It beautifully expresses gratitude for their service. All proceeds benefit the Special Operations Warrior Foundation or VetDogs. If you don't do this, consider buying their coffee or a meal, or at least approaching them to thank them for their service and to shake their hands. I guarantee you will be surprised and pleased by their responses! And you will feel better about yourselves.

Christopher Dodd has put on the table the taxation of the Retention Bonuses paid to AIG - at a rate of 90%! But he realizes that would be taxing ourselves, so he'll have to rethink it. He is also angry that some of the funds have been sent to prop up foreign banks, but they probably only honor the insurance policies which they wrote. Chuck Schumer wrote a letter to the gov't appointed CEO of AIG that his bonus-receiving employees will either voluntarily return their bonuses or "we plan to virtually tax all of it" - perhaps at 91-100%. What they are NOT telling you is that although they are all feigning outrage and shock, they KNEW this was part of the bailout package they signed into law - or they should have known! It was Dodd's own exemption, placed into the law, that contracts already entered into must be honored. Dodd, by the way, took around $130,000 in donations to his Presidential campaign from AIG, and is also a Senator who received special treatment for his mortgage loan from Countrywide. These bonuses may be the only way that AIG can keep competent executives on board to help turn the company around. And contrary to some in Congress like Barney Frank who want to LIMIT executive pay in ANY American company to $500,000, I don't think limiting capitalism is the answer. Again I would ask if this will pertain as well to movie stars and athletes..... The current Clinton era rules limiting income in various ways led to the practice of paying executives with bonuses and stock options instead of higher income... If our government can break the contracts in order to get these bonus monies back - not one contract in America is safe. Ask yourself whose contract will be next. As to all of this, Obama said yesterday that all Americans ask "is that everyone, from Main Street to Wall Street to Washington, play by the same rules. That is an ethic that we have to demand." Doesn't that make you laugh? He excepts his own appointees, as we know. Perhaps he should just require fair discussion and actual reading of all bills prior to bills being passed into law.

Next, Obama will not take off the table the possibility of having the health care of our Veterans be paid for by their PRIVATE insurance. The Law of Unintended Consequences would forecast the following: employers not hiring vets at the same rate as before, fewer people entering the military, private insurance companies greatly increasing their premiums because they are having to cover severely wounded vets who were promised care thru the Veterans Administration, and even more people put on the roles of the uninsured and unemployed. Oh - maybe THIS is the ultimate goal - having more people begging for Universal Health Insurance!

As if this is not enough, this Congress is contemplating the taxation of American workers' health insurance benefits which are given to them by their employers!

From Glenn Beck: " Barack Obama's climate czar (who is a socialist) blurted out in an interview that she wanted to eventually have a system that can 'hold back' power to certain houses at certain times of the day. The government deciding who gets heat or AC on extreme temperature days - yeah, that sounds like it will end well." I assume that Obama will be allowed to keep the Whitehouse at his favored 78-80 degrees - because he came from Hawaii....and he's not bound by his own treat-everyone-the-same rules.

Cook County, Illinois (Chicago) residents will soon have to provide thumbprints in order to sell a home! How can they get away with that??!! Keep an eye out in your own states for more takeovers of our rights - and report it by commenting on my blog!

Last: Congress is entertaining the use of a procedure called "reconciliation" to put the energy bill and the healthcare bill into the budget without having to entertain debate with those pesky conservatives, and with only a simple majority of votes (not the supermajority) - with no filibuster allowed!

No MoreEnemy Combatants

The fact that tax-cheat Timothy Geithner, in charge of the IRS and Treasury, is vowing to go after those American citizens who are cheating on their taxes is so hypocritical as to be laughable.....


Charles Freeman, Obama's pick for heading the National Intelligence Council, has withdrawn from consideration due to revelations that he soft-pedaled the Chinese government's Tienenman Square put-down of it's demonstrating citizens, as well as voicing anti-Israeli sentiments. President Obama's vetting team has taken another hit...... Or, has Obama been choosing those who agree with agenda in the first place?

Join me in learning what the Mainstream Media is not letting you know! Please comment and join as a Follower!

 
When Barack Obama met with TV anchors at a White House lunch
several weeks ago, he assured them he likes being president.
"And it turns out I'm very good at it," he added. Well, not
exactly.  Like a bully on a schoolyard, Obama, while
describing the oversight his government would exercise with
the beneficiaries of  his government largess, said that Joe
Biden would be in charge of that,and "Nobody messes with Joe".
Are you heartened by the thought that he will "sic" someone
on us, as he once said he should let one of his supporters ,
Truman Burgess, debate Sean Hannity, claiming that his
Burgess would tear him up"?  Obama declined the invitation
from Hannity to appear on his show OR to debate him. But he
talks big.....

In further proof that Obama is not "very good at it", after claiming that he was "too tired" to properly host the Prime Minister of one of our greatest allies, Gordon Brown of Great Britian, I am left to assume that he means he is very good at all the glorious new perks of being president: flying on Air Force One; being cheered as a rock star during his appearances all over the country, while chastising us for using too much energy; having the time to shoot hoops, watch movies with friends and lift weights, among other pleasures. Oh - and let's not forget: he got to pass the largest, most socialist stimulus package our country has ever seen, with breathtaking speed, in order to get it done before ANYONE, including Obama, had time to see what all was in the bill. It has been reported that "A well-connected Washington figure, who is close to members of Mr Obama's inner circle, expressed concern that Mr Obama had failed so far to "even fake an interest in foreign policy", and that Obama "has been forced to make decisions more quickly than he is comfortable". Might this be why the North Koreans, the Russians and the Chinese are finding ways to challenge his President's resolve?

Adding more about Gordon Brown's visit: since Barack Obama is the first African American president, the prime minister gave him an ornamental desk-pen holder hewn from the timbers of one of the Royal Navy's anti-slaving ships of the 19th century, HMS Gannet. He also gave him a framed commission for HMS Resolute, the lost British ship which helped stamp out the slave trade, retrieved from the Arctic and returned by America to London, and whose timbers were used for a thank-you gift Queen Victoria sent to Rutherford Hayes: the handsome desk that now sits in the Oval Office. Last but not least, Brown gave to him a first edition of Sir Martin Gilbert's seven-volumn biography of Winston Churchill.

In return, America's head of state gave the prime minister 25 DVDs of "classic American movies." As one columnist wrote, "Evidently, the White House gift shop was all out of "MY GOVERNMENT DELEGATION WENT TO WASHINGTON AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS LOUSY T-SHIRT" T-shirts."

Just a note to Obama, since history is not one of his long suits: The London Telegraph writes, “It was during Churchill's second premiership that Britain suppressed Kenya's Mau Mau rebellion. Among Kenyans allegedly tortured by the colonial regime included one Hussein Onyango Obama, the President's grandfather.”

So, maybe Obama owes more than a DVD set to PM Gordon Brown after all, even if, as his sidekicks exclaimed, Obama is tired. And, contrary to what Hilary Clinton espoused, the United States' democracy has NOT been in existence far longer than Europe's.

When British personnel complained about the treatment of Brown, an Obama advisor is said to have said, "There's nothing special about Britain. You're just the same as the other 190 countries in the world. You shouldn't expect special treatment" (such as the typical dual dais press conference or a State Dinner). Perhaps Obama was afraid to be without a teleprompter. Is this what Barack Obama meant when he said that HE will be the one to treat other countries with respect, and they will love him? It seems that he is shockingly unprepared for being the LEADER of the free world! We can be grateful for the graciousness of President George W. Bush.

One columnist writes this about the great communicator, Barack Obama: "Apparently, Obama is looking to install a computer screen into the White House podiums so that, according to one Obama advisor, “It would make it easier for the comms guys to pass along information without being obvious about it.” [Emphasis added.] Obama’s aides would put together answers to a large number of possible questions, so as soon as a reporter asks a particular question the computer screen could flash talking points to remind Obama how he’s supposed to respond to that question." The Politico noted this week that " No other president has used one (a teleprompter) so consistently and at so many events, large and small, and that it has become an embarrassing “crutch.” And here I thought we were to believe that this is one brilliant man, not an empty suit who has never led anyone or anything in his life except a presidential campaign.

And this from the far-left SALON's Camille Paglia:

"Yes, free the president from his flacks, fixers and goons -- his posse of smirky smart alecks and provincial rubes, who were shrewd enough to beat the slow, pompous Clintons in the mano-a-mano primaries but who seem like dazed lost lambs in the brave new world of federal legislation and global statesmanship. Heads should be rolling at the White House for the embarrassing series of flubs that have overshadowed President Obama's first seven weeks in office. Do those shifty, beady-eyed guys needing a shave remind you of anyone? Yes, it's bare-knuckles Chicago pugilism, transplanted to Washington." I say that Obama's choice of confidants and "flacks" is a reflection of his agenda, his naivete, and his total lack of executive experience.

Next up, The Sunday Telegraph understands that "one of Mr Obama's most prominent African American backers, whose endorsement he spent two years cultivating, has told friends that he detects a weakness in Mr Obama's character." Oh, you didn't read this in your local paper? We need to stay informed!

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A Dialog about Ethanol

I wrote to my local newspaper about ethanol:
In the interest of all who want to believe that ethanol is the answer to reducing global warming and it is therefore worth the trillions of dollars we and our children are about to spend (and it is worth laying yet one more disproportionate burden on our low income citizens) we should be aware of some current revelations regarding ethanol as it is now produced.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Planning reports that "the cure may be worse than the disease" in that producing biofuels leaves a huge ecological footprint exceeding that of fossil fuels".
Perhaps that is said in recognition of the fact that according to a Cornell University professor the production of one gallon of ethanol requires 1700 gallons of water. It takes 450 pounds of corn to fill one SUV with ethanol, and it takes more than one gallon of fossil fuel to make one gallon of ethanol. It requires farm subsidies (9.5 billion in 2005 alone!) to cover the high expenses of production and distribution, which we all pay for in taxes of some sort. It requires being transported by truck, using yet more fuel.
Nobel Laureate Paul Crutzen points out that the nitrous oxide released in it's production increases global warming. Ethanol is 20-30% less efficient than gasoline, translating to higher costs per mile driven. Ethanol can damage boat and car engines which have not specifically been built for its use.
Even the New York Times has editorialized that we should not "allow politics rather than sound science and economics to drive our energy plan" which, as is, will create unnecessary subsidies and invade our natural landscapes.
Ethanol will increase the cost of electricity by 50% by 2012.
While food prices have increased worldwide because of the ever increasing middle class, it has also been increased by the taking over of soybean and wheat fields by the planting of corn for making ethanol. For the first time in our nation, we are now importers of wheat! Corn prices have risen by 50% just in the last year, for instance. Also rising are prices for soybeans, wheat, and the products of animals that are fed those crops, such as beef and dairy products. We now have a food vs. fuel battle which affects prices of cereals, tacos, corn syrup, corn oil, and even beer.
We must keep in mind that even if we convert all of our corn crops for the making of ethanol, we could only replace 12% of our gasoline usage, leaving us with far less food crops in the process.
I end by repeating that it takes more than one gallon of fossil fuels to produce one gallon of ethanol! That fact alone should persuade us to turn away from mandates for this form of ethanol as the answer to anything - except for creating tax breaks, subsidies and mandates for companies that produce the ethanol and those that sell the cap and trade products and carbon offsets. At the same time it will cost all of us in subsidies for farmers, increased taxes and higher prices for gas for all of us, and higher costs for a smaller supply of food.

A local resident took me to task with this letter:
First, it does not take one gallon of gasoline to make one gallon of ethanol. According to Dr. Bruce Dale, professor of chemical engineering at MSU, it does take 1.1 MJ (mega joule; a joule is a measure of the amount of work done) of petroleum to make 1MJ of gasoline. It only takes .04MJ of petroleum to make 1MJ of ethanol. According to Dr. Dale it means that if your car goes 30mpg of petroleum used to make your gasoline, on ethanol you are effectively able to go more than 800 miles per each gallon of petroleum used to make the ethanol. Whatever standard is used to judge ethanol by , it is only fair that the same standard is used to judge all options.
And in further response to Karen Peters' letter of April 29:
1) It takes 23 pounds of corn, not 450 pounds, and between 2 to 26 gallons of water, not 1400 gallons, to manufacture one gallon of ethanol. Most corn is not grown with irrigation.
2) Ethanol and gasoline must be delivered by truck anywhere in Michigan north of Bay City. There are no gasoline pipelines around here.
3) Ethanol does contain fewer BTU's than gasoline, but BTU's are a measure of heat, not work. The heat your engine creates is not what drives you down the road. It is a waste product of the work to move your car. Engines optimized to burn ethanol get comparable mpg.
4) Ethanol is cheaper than gasoline, especially if you don't ignore the fact that gasoline is heavily subsidized by taxpayers. Estimates for that subsidization range from $5 to $15 per gallon, and that's without factoring in the costs of the war in Iraq.
5) In an appropriately designed system ethanol production will enhance food production not compete with it. Take 100 pounds of raw corn and feed it to one beef steer: Compare the weight gain of that steer to one that has been fed the residue from 100 pounds of corn that was first used to make ethanol. The steer fed the leftover mash from the ethanol production will have gained 14% to 17% more weight than the steer fed raw corn and be healthier. We do not have a food shortage today. In the United States our agricultural animal population is consuming six times as many calories and 10 times as much protein as our human population. Meat consumption worldwide is growing, especially in developing countries. That, and higher energy prices are helping to drive up the cost of grains. Yes, I eat meat!
6) Karen Peters' point #6 is utter nonsense.
I have been involved in and followed ecological, forestry and agricultural issues most of my life and I find the level of distortion and misinformation on this topic to be staggering. None of our energy options will be a "silver bullet" . We need to stop looking for a silver bullet and instead look for the "silver buckshot."
We don't need to burn down the rainforests to accomplish this. The grass clippings from our lawns (the most heavily irrigated crop in this country) could technically supply more than 11 billion gallons of ethanol per year.
Will it cost more than $3 a gallon? Yes, but how much would you value a 98% reduction in nitrous oxide, hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide pollution? How much would you value making your car's carbon footprint neutral? How much would you value not having to send our sons and daughters to fight wars over resources?

In my response to Steve I wrote: I will mention that my previous comments regarded ethanol AS IT IS PRODUCED TODAY.
In researching MSU Professor Dr. Bruce Dale, I found the following quotes: "Biofuels CAN provide large environmental benefits when compared to gasoline" (meaning that it is not economically feasible at this time?); also “Producing ethanol from corn grain releases LARGE amounts of NITROUS OXIDE" (300 times more potent than carbon dioxide) "into the environment - unless we deal squarely with this issue" - (meaning not currently being done?); (this fact alone makes Steve’s 98% reduction in toxins unlikely); and “Without proper management” (when would that be?) “harvesting corn stalks can reduce the amount of organic matter in the soil, reducing it’s fertility over time.”
We agree that it takes about 23 pounds of corn to make 1 gallon of ethanol as my stated 450 pounds was for an SUV tank. Regarding the amount of water required, Professor David Pimentel of Cornell University, as well as the University of California-Berkeley, says the only way "experts" can claim only 2-16 gallons of water per gallon is if they disregard the energy and water used in producing the crop, including fertilizers, pesticides, running and repairing farm machinery, irrigating and transporting the crop, and fermenting and distilling the ethanol from the water mix.
Professor Patzek of U Cal-Berkeley calls ethanol "the worst solution, having the highest energy cost with the least benefit" - mega joules aside, of course. The World Bank and the UN call ethanol "a crime against humanity."
Steve states that ethanol is cheaper than gasoline "if we don't ignore the fact that gasoline is heavily subsidized by taxpayers". He must realize that ethanol is also heavily subsidized, $9.5 billion to farmers in 2005 alone - PLUS $1 billion to producers! Nor does he explain when he believes an "appropriately designated system" will make ethanol a food enhancement. I hope it comes to pass - but not if it further pollutes our world. We do not commonly feed our cattle the byproducts from ethanol production at this time, nor do I know of anyone who delivers grass clippings to producers. With 25% of our corn being used for ethanol production, combined with other world forces, poor people around the world suffer from a 150% increase in the price of corn in the last three years. Dr. Bruce states that "affluent people will pay more for beef "(and the poor can’t afford it at all) "and the poor will not be affected because they do not eat the corn that we use to make ethanol, they just don't!" EXACTLY! But they DO eat products dependent on corn for their production - thus the food riots....
Stanford University has stated that a switch to high-ethanol blends will increase ozone, as well as the number of respiratory related illnesses and deaths. It also would increase levels of PAIN (aldehydes and peroxyacyl nitrates) which is highly toxic to plants and is a powerful eye irritant.
Regarding my personal desire to reduce my car's carbon footprint, I recognize that while water vapor comprises 95% of greenhouse gases, 4.7% comes from ocean biologic activity, volcanoes, decaying plants, wetlands and animal activities, and our human contribution amounts to less than one third of ONE percent. Natural wetlands alone produce more greenhouse gases annually than all human sources combined.
As we all continue to subsidize the creation of new energy options, we need at least to be honest about their disadvantages as well as their advantages. Calling the work of other scientists "utter nonsense" will not further the search for solutions...

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Rules For Radicals

Following is a letter I wrote to my local newspaper:
I write today to comment on the column of Georgie Anne Geyer, in which she lovingly discusses the "community organizer" Saul Alinsky's "provocative work."
This "work" is straight out of Alinsky's 1971 book "Rules For Radicals", and includes the following:
1) use the THREAT of power to gain one's objective
2) increase by ANY means the feelings of insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty in one's ENEMY, for the ends JUSTIFIES the means
3) use ridicule as a potent weapon for which there is no defense, thereby forcing concessions
4) keep the pressure on to keep your opposition off balance, using their own rules against them
5) push a negative hard enough to inspire violence from your enemy
6) pick the target, freeze it, personalize it and polarize it
7) isolate the target from sympathy while personalizing criticism
Any unbiased observer can see that, as is Geyer's hope, President Obama seems to have learned the Alinsky rules well while working for and teaching "the rules" at the Developing Communities Project, as well as at ACORN. Alinsky further said that his plan was to "stigmatize the middle class as materialistic, decadent, degenerate, war-mongering and corrupt". Add this: "This is the job for today’s radical - to fan the embers of hopelessness into a flame to fight. Tactics must begin with the experience of the middle class, accepting their aversion to rudeness, vulgarity and conflict. Start them easy, don’t scare them off..." Sound familiar?

From Obama's maligning of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity in an attempt to "isolate" them, to the way in which during his campaign he denigrated America's former President, it's economy, and it's "fairness", he displayed Alinsky tactics. He has talked about giving up childish things, the "greed" of Capitalism, and the need to "redistribute income" in an effort to incite feelings of hopelessness until we bought into his HOPE for CHANGE. He is wrong when he proclaims that we Americans are all equal . The truth is that we Americans have equal opportunity. It is what we do with that opportunity which will determine the realities of our lives. The adoring media failed to inform us of what his CHANGE was likely to be.

And now the President declares that we need to hastily pass a Stimulus Bill, that we have no time to lose! As Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said, "You never want to let a serious crisis go to waste. It is an opportunity to do things you could not do before". Wake up, America! I for one am not celebrating President Obama's ties to Alinsky's teachings.... Georgie Anne Geyer's column can be found at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ucgg/20090202/cm_ucgg/chicagosoriginalcommunityorganizer

Here is email I received from the newspaper's Editor:

Karen,
I've put your column in the process as a letter to the editor, but once again you claim things that don't exist. Georgie did not say in her column that the president learned and taught the rules at two projects in Chicago. To lay out Alinsky's rule, ascribe them to Obama and then say "So there" is disingenious. And you make it appear that Alinsky is saying and promoting these things now, when in fact he died in the early 1970s, long before Obama was on the streets of Chicago.

Obama's malinging of Rush? Oh please, the man said he hoped Obama fails, and don't give me the rhetoric of Dittoheads that he really didn't mean the man, just his ideas. The transcripts clearly show otherwise.

ReplyReply All

My rebuttal follows:

You do have your own way of seeing things. First of all, I never said that Georgie said Obama studied Alinsky. What I said was that Obama DID learn Alinsky's ways AND teach them while working for the Developing Communities Project and ACORN - all info available on Google for those who look. Geyer even wrote that it seems "impossible that Obama would NOT have absorbed some of Alinsky's presence".

I also never ascribed Alinsky's Rules to anyone but Alinsky. I think it only wise to inform readers on just what those rules, which Geyer alluded to, entail. I DID however, say that it seems obvious that Obama is a follower, due to his tactics, which are uncannily the same as Alinsky's. I never said Alinsky is doing these things NOW, just that these were HIS rules in HIS book, used by many in the community organizing crowd. I wrote these rules to balance Geyer's kind definition of Alinsky's "provocative work". Provocative indeed. The full truth should be available to readers as to what provocative means in this case. My words should encourage Geyer that our new President really MUST have absorbed the rules of her favorite community organizer, thus allowing Alinsky to have his "great laugh rolling around across heaven". Personally I still DO believe that Alinsky was an intractable radical. I will let my readers decide for themselves.

If you bother to listen to Rush, you would KNOW that he wishes Obama success, but will fight him when what he is doing is deemed wrong for this country. I believe we Americans still have that right. Thus, this socialist-style, voter-getting, democrat-loyalty-producing, welfare-giving anti-stimulus Stimulus Bill is something he hopes Obama will FAIL to pass. You might have noticed how very many Americans feel the same way now that they are finding out what is in the bill. It is a dangerous precedent when the President of the United States picks on a private citizen, freezing, personalizing and polarizing him, just as a Saul Alinsky teaches. If the shoe fits, wear it. What ever happened to FREE SPEECH in America? Is it only for liberals? It is YOU, sir, who needs to read the transcripts, and for more than one sentence or sound bite. This conservative, as well as Rush, does hope and pray that Obama is the answer so many seek, for that would be good for America. I just expect him to prove that he is - through his deeds, not his soaring rhetoric. And I have not decided it is in my best interests to HATE him as the Democrats hated President Bush, never giving him a chance. As Alinsky taught - we conservatives don't like rudeness and vulgarity....

I believe I have answered your every intimation that I don't write the truth. And I do thank you for allowing this in your paper. An educated citizenry makes a better America.


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Important stories surround the Stimulus Bill. Days before signing the bill, President Obama invited the public to be informed about where the $787 billion in the bill goes. "Ultimately, this is your money, and you deserve to know where it's going and how it's spent," Mr. Obama said in his weekly radio address. Meanwhile: "Democratic staffers released the final version of the stimulus bill at about 11 p.m. last night (before the vote) after delaying the release for hours to put it into a format which people cannot “search” on their home computers". I guess we just didn't deserve to know it's contents prior to it's passage, breaking the pledge of Nancy Pelosi and Obama to allow the public (much more the Congress!) to have 48hrs. to study it prior to voting on it. Obama has skirted this promise with one simple move: it is yet another EMERGENCY bill.

And from Joan Swirsky of the Canada Free Press, who seems much more willing than American columnists to speak the truth of Obama: "And Obama has done all this (stimulus bill) with the predictable double-speak that characterizes malevolent intention, i.e., touting transparency while concealing everything, speaking of integrity while appointing crooks and incompetents riddled with conflicts-of-interest, supporting energy independence while killing off-shore and domestic oil-drilling and nuclear power, and feigning optimism while he speaks of impending “catastrophe” in order to push through a pork-laden, trillion-dollar-plus Stimulus plan that rewards the corrupt voter-fraud organization Acorn with billions and unions with discriminatory union-only labor agreements, paves the way for socialized medicine, and threatens to take away the most cherished rights of We The People".

Meanwhile: "Democratic staffers released the final version of the stimulus bill at about 11 p.m. the night before the vote, after delaying the release for hours to put it into a format which people cannot “search” on their home computers". So much for transparency....

Speaking to Obama's fearmongering, he is showing his ignorance of history or lack of respect for the truth regarding the current economic crisis, as it doesn't come close to that of the 1930s, as reflected in various ways. U.S. unemployment is now at 7.6%. That rate was 10.8% in 1982 and a whopping 25% in 1932. Our GDP last year actually rose, and is expected to fall by 2% in 2009. In 1930 GDP fell by 9% and in 1932 it fell by 13%. Auto sales may be down now by 25% now, but they were down 90% during the depression. Obama's continual talking-down of our economy for the last two years has not been helpful, and I believe it has probably contributed to the current crisis. Saul Alinsky would be proud to witness one of his Rules For Radicals being used so well: Increase by any means the feelings of insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty in one's enemy - for the ends justifies the means.

Tom Daschle, Obama's flawed pick to give us Socialized Medicine, has said, "The next President should act immediately … If that means attaching a health-care plan to the federal budget, so be it. This issue is too important to be stalled by Senate protocol.” Thus we have the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, Obama's vehicle to not so gradually commit us to government dictated and provided health care. I am sorry to report that it was President George W. Bush who put this position into place.

Doctors and hospitals that make "meaningful use" of Electronic Health Records by the deadline get bonus payments from Medicare. Those who do not - get diminishing Medicare payments. "The secretary would seek to improve the use of electronic health records and health care quality by requiring more stringent measures of meaningful use over time." This is the Democrats' vehicle for their eventual goal of Socialized Medicine.

Rahm Emanuel, White House chief of staff, has been exposed to be yet another ethically challenged Obama pick, as he has lived rent- free for years in the home of Rep. Rosa De Lauro (D-Conn.) - and didn't feel he needed to disclose the gift as congressional ethics rules mandate.
OOPS! We must now add Senator Burris, Obama's replacement in the Senate, to the list of Democrats who are ethically challenged. He is being investigated for perjury surrounding his testimony regarding his contacts with the disgraced former Illinois Governor Blago and his minions.

In other news, Obama has named 29 year old Shauna Daly to the newly created "White House Counsel Research Director." She holds no law degree and has zero legal training, but she did work for the Obama campaign and her expertise is "opposition research", or digging up dirt on Republicans.

And Rahm Emanuel has begun to coordinate 527 group attacks on Republicans from the White House. According to www.whorunsgov.com, " Obama's supporters, AFSCME and the labor-backed Americans United for Change, are beginning a major advertising blitz aimed at Republicans who oppose the $1 trillion socialist nightmare".

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman is discussing ways to have the FCC put in place a form of the "Fairness Doctrine" by calling it something new and different. He plans to bypass the difficulty of having the Congress involved by making it a new "regulation" of the FCC! He is also discussing how to impose the doctrine on the Internet. "It's all about diversity in media," says a House Energy staffer. This reminds me of:

Hillary Clinton, who said in 1998, talking about the internet's carrying news about her husband and Monica Lewinsky:

"I don't have any clue about what we're going to do legally, regulatorily, technologically -- I don't have a clue. But I do think we always have to keep competing interests in balance. I'm a big pro-balance person. That's why I love the founders -- checks and balances; accountable power. Anytime an individual or an institution or an invention leaps so far out ahead of that balance and throws a system, whatever it might be -- political, economic, technological --out of balance, you've got a problem, because then it can lead to the oppression of people's rights, it can lead to the manipulation of information, it can lead to all kinds of bad outcomes which we have seen historically. So we're going to have to deal with that.'' First of all, the libs seem to have no problem that the Mainstream Media and newspapers which are ALL very liberal. And - WOW! This is great stuff! It sounds to me as if she is talking about the dangers of the current takeover of America by liberals. How about you?

As written by Michelle Malkin, "ACORN, on Feb. 19, will launch a new tactic in fighting foreclosures: civil disobedience. Participants in the ACORN Home Savers campaign nationwide will simply refuse to move out of foreclosed homes, or in some cases, will move back in. ACORN homesteaders intend to squat in their homes until a comprehensive, federal solution for people facing foreclosure is put in place." "ACORN's foot soldiers, funded with your tax dollars, will scream, pound their fists, chain themselves to buildings, padlock the doors and engage in illegal behavior until they get what they want. ACORN offices, funded with your tax dollars, are training teams of "Home Savers" -- described as "people ready and willing to mobilize on short notice to defend the homesteaders against attempts to evict them." Ready, willing and able to mobilize on short notice because they are either unemployed or employed full time as ACORN shakedown artists. They are ready to target at least 20 cities including Detroit and Flint. Look for the show near you. So THIS is what Obama meant by CHANGE, as well as his promise to his old buddies at ACORN to coordinate with them on a regular basis during his administration! Now I get it!

During his Inaugural Speech Obama promised to create American jobs which could not be outsourced. Following the world-wide negative and angry response to the "Buy American" provision in the non-stimulus Stimulus Bill, President Obama responded, “I agree [with the EU] that we can’t send a protectionist message. I want to see what kind of language we can work on this issue. I think it would be a mistake…for us to start sending a message that somehow we’re just looking after ourselves and not concerned with world trade.” Then why, I ask, did he voice this plan in his Inaugural or approve this provision in the Stimulus bill? And doesn't it make you proud to think that some of the money you gave to the auto dealers is slated to upgrade and maintain one auto company's business in Brazil - in order to keep the entire company from bankruptcy?

Vladimir Lenin , in his famous book What Is To Be Done? declared that revolutionary consciousness” is required to overthrow the capitalist system, necessitating a “vanguard” of socialist intellectuals like Lenin and Trotsky in order to instill the proper “consciousness” into the mentally challenged masses. Lenin, like President Obama it seems, claimed “I won”, and would only entertain a certain “politically correct” form of bipartisanship. Basically, Obama will listen to his detractors and then demand it will be done his way.

The White House has proposed that the director of the Census, a Commerce Department employee, report to the White House. The White House contends this is no big deal. This gives our new President the power to affect not only how many congressional seats there will be and to whom they will go, but it will determine the outcome of the Electoral College as well as the allocation of federal funds. Since in our Constitution this task is specifically given to the Commerce Department, it seems to be unconstitutional. A Canadian paper's columnist is quoted as writing, "These people are beyond power hungry. Do we dare say......EVIL?" Rahm Emanuel should not be given this power to steal elections!

David Ogden, Obama's pick to be deputy Attorney General, and to be in charge of pornography laws, has been a lawyer for pornographers and abortion advocates, saying that abortion is better than childbirth and no parental notification should be required!

A National Coordinator of Health Information Technology is a position hidden in the Stimulus Bill. It is based on the suggestions presented in Tom Daschel's book Critical: What We Can Do About The American Health-Care Crisis. It specifies, in Tom's words, that doctors should "act less as solo practitioners" and more as part of a team. Part of the cost-cutting guidelines include getting government permission for procedures and making sure that old people forgo care and just learn to live with the effects of old age. Doctors will be bound to follow the rules or face penalties. I have to wonder if these rules will apply to OLD Senators and Representatives. Welcome to the world of healthcare rationing.....

By the way, the 40B dollar stimulus give-away to ACORN and other community organizers has been reinserted into the Stimulus package, basically giving a voter-fraud promoting section of our country the funds with which to steal further votes.

Harry Reid in 2007, along with 40 senators, signed a letter of condemnation of Rush Limbaugh, and now the Democrat Party has an online petition to condemn him. Obama has chosen to ridicule Rush and Sean Hannity, ala Saul Alinsky's Rules For Radicals, attempting to polarize them and weaken their power. Will he next reprise the despised Nixon Enemies List? It looks to me as if they all believe free speech can only be practiced by Democrats. It is a dangerous precedent, having the President of the United States make pronouncements against non-violent free speech in America. It makes me recall that the governments of China and Russia control speech in their countries, even imprisoning those who disagree with the government....

President Bush was vindicated by the Supreme Court just prior to Obama's Inaugural, regarding his "federal wiretaps w/o a judge's approval". It has been declared to be both legal and constitutional. Bush was treating our enemies as the terrorists they are, not as US citizens who have the right to go thru our court system, and he thereby protected classified information as well as US citizens.

Congress will consider legislation to extend some of the curbs on executive pay that now will probably apply only to those banks receiving federal assistance. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank said, "There’s deeply rooted anger on the part of the average American,” the Massachusetts Democrat said at a Washington news conference today. He said the compensation restrictions would apply to all financial institutions and might be extended to include all U.S. companies. High paying, experienced, job-providing executives will either take a job in a foreign company, retire, or start a company overseas. The money that they are now spending, which helps spur the economy, will stop. Perhaps they will have to default on their mortgages and other debts. No mention has been made to limit the salaries of sports stars, lawyers, nor movie or tv stars..... That's just great! And our government will then be making decisions FOR American companies. Perhaps they will place a government agent on the Board of Directors. Good-by, Capitalism.... Perhaps we could prevent our Senators and Representatives from raising THEIR salaries by $4700/yr. in a time of stated CATASTROPHE. No - probably not.....

Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow has declared that she wants Senate hearings on the anything-but-fair FAIRNESS DOCTRINE, an assault on conservative talk radio, saying we need "standards, fairness and responsibility". Isn't it interesting to learn that her husband Tom Athans has been Executive VP of AIR AMERICA, where "progressive" talk is produced for only 16hrs. per week (and then rerun) due to the fact that not enough people want to listen? They do have their opportunity. This is a blatant CONFLICT OF INTEREST for Stabenow. Liberal talking points, by the way, have nothing to do with the truth of what is being presented, and everything to do with the fact that progressives don't totally dominate radio as they clearly dominate print media and television. It clearly upsets the liberals that not enough people care to listen to progressive radio to keep it fully employed, while conservatives are learning far too much of the unprinted and unaired truth from their radios. Liberals have no plans, by the way, to rein in the ultra-liberal presence in newspapers and television. "They can't handle the truth" (presented by talk radio), to quote the famous line in the movie "A Few Good Men".

Considering the breathtaking speed with which President Barack Obama is moving to, in his own words "begin the work of REMAKING America", not simply improve it, we should all fear that before enough Americans wake up to what changes Obama is delivering, we will be living in an unrecognizable country. It has been suggested by one columnist that undermining American's fundamental values seems to be Obama's most important goal, thus "remaking" America in the way he intended....
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