Carter's Second Term

Barack Obama's 2012 New Year's Resolution(s) GOP Fundraiser

2011-12-31T11:00:00.000-08:00

Image Credit: Edmund Jenks via ObamaResolutions.com (2011)

Barack Obama's 2012 New Year's Resolution(s) GOP Fundraiser

This morning, the Republican Party announced a fundraiser that had it's tongue planted in it's political cheek!

Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus appeared on Fox News Channel soon after live video of the New Year's fireworks display from the bridge that spans across Sydney Harbor in Australia that signaled in 2012. Reince directed everyone to go to their computers and send a New Year's Resolution card from a GOP website ... but there was a catch, the resolution that one would be sending would be a proposed resolution that Barack Obama made with himself.

Image Credit: Edmund Jenks via ObamaResolutions.com (2011)

This excerpted and edited from GOP.com -

RNC Releases New Year’s Resolution Cards
27 December 2011 - Posted by: Johanna Persing

The Republican National Committee (RNC) launched www.ObamaResolutions.com with New Year’s Resolution cards featuring President Obama and his liberal buddies:

“As Americans celebrate the holidays with their friends and families, they will have a chance to reflect on 2011 — most notably the failed leadership and reckless economic policies under President Obama and his Democrat friends,” said RNC Chairman Reince Priebus.

“So, we’ve launched www.ObamaResolutions.com with New Year’s Resolution cards that you can send to your friends and family reminding them of ways that Democrats could improve in 2012.

Image Credit: Edmund Jenks via ObamaResolutions.com (2011)

“We thought the president could work on a few things like his campaign slogan(s), the infamous ‘shovel ready projects’ and fulfilling the promises he made to the American people. For Senate Majority Leader Reid, we were hoping he could lead the Democrat Senate to pass a budget for the first time in nearly 1000 days. And, we hope President Obama’s own ‘Wall Street guy’ Jon Corzine can find the $1.2 billion dollars of clients’ money he gambled away.

“As we enter 2012, Republicans stand ready to tackle the enormous challenges this country faces. Americans can only hope President Obama and the Democrats will be ready to do the same.”
[Reference Here]

The Priebus premise, Barack sitting there pondering on what he could do better as President, is pretty good ... but the way the folks at the RNC put this together, frankly, could have been a little stronger and possibly a bit more humorous.

EXAMPLE:

"I resolve to play only twenty-four rounds of Golf (2 per month) in 2012 as opposed to my 30 rounds per year average (90 rounds to date ... last one, yesterday in Hawaii) since taking office."

Surfing the GOP.com website, one comes up with great fodder for proposed resolutions that not only have the sting of truth, but can play to the humor of ineptness this 44th Presidency has reined down on the American people.

For another example, a posting titled "The Big Fail - Obama By The Numbers" contained information that if developed in this way would make a great resolution for a Barack Obama card:

"I resolve to only ask that the debt ceiling be raised another 1.2 Trillion dollars for fiscal year 2012"

Image Credit: Edmund Jenks via ObamaResolutions.com (2011)

After reading most of what is contained in the "By The Numbers" posting (example excerpted below) ... THAT would be a laugh.

$15.1 Trillion:Current National Debt ($15,073,380,701,589.57). (U.S. Treasury Department, Accessed 12/6/11)

$9.1 Trillion:Amount Obama’s FY2012 Budget Would Add To The Debt Through FY2021. (OMB, 9/1/11)

$5.2 Trillion:Total Interest Payments On The National Debt Due To Obama’s Proposed Budget, FY2012-2021. (OMB, 9/1/11)

$4.4 Trillion:Added To The National Debt Since Obama Took Office. (U.S. Treasury Department, Accessed 12/6/11)

$2.6 Trillion:True Cost Of ObamaCare Once Fully Implemented. (Office Of The Speaker Of The U.S. House Of Representatives, Report, 1/6/11)

$1.75 Trillion:Annual Cost Of Federal Regulations. (Small Business Administration, September 2010)

Sadly, John Boehner, the Republican leader in the House of Representatives, would give in to this 2012 New Year's Resolution for an increased debt ceiling from the President and Barack Obama would be the only one laughing here in the last year (hopefully) of Carter's Second Term.

Image Credit: Edmund Jenks via ObamaResolutions.com (2011)

Happy New Year!

<Article fist seen as Barack Obama's 2012 New Year's Resolution(s) GOP Fundraiser at Technorati>

An American President's Christmas Message From America To All

2011-12-24T14:42:00.000-08:00

An American President's Christmas Message From America To All

It may amaze one to ponder that only 30 years ago (December 23, 1981), a President of the United States felt it was his leadership duty to speak directly about the reason for the season and assure all, whether they believed in Christianity or not, that our country and its citizens were protected here as one, under "Faith and Freedom" ... regardless of belief or circumstance.

May God bless the memory of Ronald Reagan. A message as poignant and timeless in 1981 as it is here in 2011.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

It's Official: Obama Abandons Caucasian Working-Class Voters For 2012

2011-12-20T12:15:00.000-08:00

President Barack Obama reaches to greet members of the audience after delivering remarks on the American Jobs Act at Manchester Central High School, Manchester, N.H., Nov. 22, 2011. Image Credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

It's Official: Obama Abandons Caucasian Working-Class Voters For 2012

In an article published in the UK Daily Mail, Democrat Political Party strategists reveal to the New York Times just why this coming election of 2012 will be the most divisive in modern American history. The Obama Administration will not seek to gain votes from all Americans as was the tradition of elections past.

The majority of working-class voters, by population demographics, are Caucasian, and polling shows that they have very little hope in their future prospects with a second term of a Barack Obama presidency (unless they belong to a labor Union, where folks do not have any control over dues funded political donations).

This election will become the most divisive because it will be the liberal (MSM) media's charter to publish articles that are designed to dishearten (demonize) the white working-class voters so they will feel they are in the minority and become less inclined to show up and vote in November 2012. With a $Billion dollar campaign war chest and control of of our tax base through Federal Government bureaucracies, Barack Obama will have plenty to shower upon those groups he feels that will get him re-elected to a second term.

Abandoned: President Barack Obama has been focusing on Hispanic voters and educated whites instead of working-class white Americans. Image Credit: UK Daily Mail

This excerpted and edited from the UK Daily Mail -

Obama campaign abandons white working-class voters in favor of minorities and the educated
By Daily Mail Reporter - Last updated at 5:04 PM on 28th November 2011

President Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign will be the first in modern political history to abandon white working-class voters, strategists claim.

For decades, Democrats have been losing more and more blue collar whites. Their alienation helped lead to the massive Republican wave in 2010, when the GOP wooed 30 percent more of them than the Democrats could.

Democratic strategists say President Obama is focusing his attention, instead, on poor black and Hispanic voters and educated white professionals.

All pretense of trying to win a majority of the white working class has been effectively jettisoned in favor of cementing a center-left coalition made up, on the one hand, of voters who have gotten ahead on the basis of educational attainment... and a second, substantial constituency of lower-income voters who are disproportionately African-American and Hispanic,' longtime political reporter Thomas B. Edsall wrote in an opinion piece in the New York Times.

'The 2012 approach treats white voters without college degrees as an unattainable cohort,' he writes later.
----
Ruy Teixeira, a strategist at the liberal Center for American Progress, wrote in 1995 that if President Clinton couldn't win white blue collar workers, his re-election bid would be doomed.

Fast forward 15 years and Tiexeria has made an about-face: 'The Republican Party has become the party of the white working class,' he told the New York Times recently.

However, he warns that losing whites without college degrees altogether would be disastrous. There simply are not enough college-educated whites, Hispanics and blacks who will make a Democratic majority.
----
Instead, as two Democratic strategists lay out, the president's 2012 re-election campaign will likely rely on winning over new 'young people, Hispanics, unmarried women and affluent suburbanites.'

This means President Obama is leaving aside industrial states like Ohio and Indiana, both of which he won in 2008. Instead, he is courting states like North Carolina, Virginia, New Hampshire and Colorado. All of those states have large populations of well-educated, white collar white professionals.

States like Ohio and Indiana, which President Obama claimed in 2008, are likely out of the question in 2012, strategists say, because they have fewer minorities and more blue collar white workers.
[Reference Here]

So basically, the re-elect Barack Obama 2012 campaign will repaint the political electoral map of the United States not as Red States (GOP) and Blue States (DNC) but as Black States and White States here during Carter's Second Term!

<Article first appears as It's Official: Obama Abandons Caucasian Working-Class Voters For 2012 at Technorati>

The Fast & Furious Presidency Here During Carter's Second Term

2011-10-08T20:22:00.000-07:00

Banner graphics of the Fast & Furious display as they appear at Universal Studios, Hollywood. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2011)

The Fast & Furious Presidency Here During Carter's Second Term

Fast & Furious is kind of a "Branding" of the Barack Obama regime.

Fast & Furious doesn't exclusively relate to a crazy, progressive-political scheme carried out by a misguided but, ideologically pure 44th Presidency to erode the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The idea, by the Obama Administration to use with Congress and the American people, was to prove that easy access to weapons by Mexican citizens across the Northern border in the United States was the reason for so many deaths of Mexican citizens by Mexican drug cartels. Problem was that Eric Holder's Department of Justice (DOJ) was having trouble finding easy statistics to buttress their contention, so the DOJ (through its enforcement arm - Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives - ATF) decided to supply/feed about 2,000 plus assault rifles and high-powered weapons directly to known contacts associated with the Mexican drug cartels so they had serial numbers by which they could trace weapons that "walked" across the border and prove their assertion.

The operation code named Fast & Furious was to develop information on loose weapons sales so that the Obama Administration could make the case to restrict the sale of weapons and reduce the strength of the guarantees put forth by the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution ... the Right for citizens to bear (own) arms. Sadly, a Federal agent was gunned down and killed with a known Fast & Furious assault weapon. Ten Arizona Sheriffs (elected as Democrats and Republicans) held a news conference this week stating that they feel Attorney General Eric Holder should step down or be fired because they, the Sheriffs, no longer have confidence in the DOJ with Holder as its leader.

Given the recent release of White House communication email memos out of Washington DC, combine with the history of the way this Executive Branch likes to operate ... Fast & Furious could actually be a name given to the way a failed Presidency operates.

Take the recent disclosures about the way Solyndra, a solar panel manufacturing plant and a visible cog in the Obama Administration's "Green Economy" agenda, received over a half a billion dollars of Federal Government venture capital style taxpayer money in the face of many red flags that would point against such a large, irresponsible, and risky move - Fast & Furious!

Fast & Furious banner graphics as they appear at Universal Studios, Hollywood. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2011)

This excerpted and edited from Politico -

2010 email on Solyndra: 'Bad days are coming'
By DARREN SAMUELSOHN | 10/4/11 7:08 PM EDT

Top White House advisers and OMB career staffers worried about the political risks from President Barack Obama's Solyndra 2010 visit and also discussed deeper management programs inside the Energy Department's loan guarantee program, according to more than a dozen internal email threads released Tuesday by House Democrats.

"There is an inherent risk in highlighting a single company before they have a track record," Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to Obama, wrote to Ronald Klain, Vice President Joe Biden's chief of staff, on May 24, 2010.

"Or even after they have one :-)" Klain replied in a colorful exchange that came just two days before the president's oft-quoted speech at the solar company's Bay Area headquarters.

In another newly released email, an unnamed Office of Management and Budget official responds to a colleague's concern that Obama's visit to Solyndra "could prove embarrassing to the administration in the not too distant future" because of the California company’s problematic finances.

"A cautionary note," the OMB staffer replied on May 25, 2010. "This is a classic problem with startups, but we have to be careful what POTUS says."

The Klain-Jarrett email exchange and the comments from the OMB official underscore how top Obama aides were well aware of the risks they were taking in sending the president to California to speak at Solyndra.

Obama's remarks have been haunting the White House for months, growing only larger after the company went bankrupt last month and FBI agents opened an investigation into Solyndra alongside the Energy Department's inspector general.
----
The emails released Tuesday also include a series of exchanges among career OMB officials raising red flags over how DOE was handling Solyndra’s application, as well as the overall loan guarantee program.

"What's terrifying is that after looking at some of the ones that came next, this one started to look better," an unnamed OMB staffer wrote to a colleague on April 2, 2010. "Bad days are coming."

"That's one heckuva day," the OMB colleague replies.

The OMB officials also homed in on PriceWaterhouseCoopers’s independent audit of Solyndra, which contradicted assurances they’d been hearing about the company from DOE officials.

"DOE ... has one loan to monitor and they seem completely oblivious to this issue — and to make it worse it was the key thing I said they needed to watch," one OMB staffer wrote.

"Possible to close and default on one before closing on a second??? Could be a new record," added another OMB staffer.

Heeding calls from Congress, Energy Secretary Steven Chu took aim at government red tape on loan guarantees when he arrived in early 2009, clashing often with DOE’s general counsel, OMB and the Treasury Department.
----
"They got them before we did," Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) told POLITICO on Tuesday. "Obviously I think the administration wanted to spin what they felt was an embarrassing situation. Unfortunately for them, it highlighted the problem more than they thought they could spin it."
[Reference Here].

Fast & Furious!

One only has to look at the way this 44th Presidency has chosen to make executive decisions and spread the executive power around, not only to the official group of traditional advisers, the Presidents Cabinet, but throughout its bureaucracy of about 33 Czar appointments and bureaucratic figureheads.

The legislative agenda over these last two years and eight months have given the U.S. citizens a bunch of new debt and regulations that would make even the most detailed policy wonk's head spin.

In the first couple of months alone the Obama Administration was able to pass the 865 billion dollar Stimulus spending bill and quickly thereafter the 410 billion dollar Omnibus Federal Government 2009 funding bill without floor debate or much committee oversight - Fast & Furious!

A year later, President Barack Obama signed into law the CBO rated 1.2 trillion dollar ObamaCare bill, again, without floor debate or much committee oversight. Nancy Pelosi stated that Congress would have to pass the bill and have it signed into law so that everyone could find out what is in it. In May 2010, soon after the bill was signed into law had the CBO revise its projection - The Congressional Budget Office released an analysis of discretionary spending in the law, and found that those costs will “probably exceed” $115 billion over 10 years. At a stroke, this finding erased almost all of ObamaCare’s $143 billion in budget savings based off rushed, incomplete CBO projections given just before the decisive House vote in March 2010 (additional problems with ObamaCare). - Fast & Furious!

Just this past month, the CATO Institute discovered another unaccounted for cost of ObamaCare that could account for another 500 billion dollars of cost over the next ten years. The official budget forecasts ignored the cost of insuring many employees’ spouses and children, according to a new analysis. The result could cost the U.S. Treasury 50 billion dollars a year during the first ten years of the new health care law’s implementation - Fast & Furious!

Obama's rash of new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations could knock down the energy supply by 10%. Currently, the EPA is leading the Obama administration’s Cap and Trade assault on coal with a number of new regulations. Two of the most important are the “transport rule” and the “toxics rule” (Utility MACT). Combined, these regulations will systematically reduce access to affordable and reliable energy - Fast & Furious!

General Motors drives to meet the Federal Government's 2016 35.5 mpg average CAFE standards with the new Chevy Sonic. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2011)

The Obama Administration takes over two of three major automobile manufacturing operations based in the United States. General Motors and Chrysler are taken over by the Federal Government and pushes share holders aside (and devalues their investment) to assign a part of the ownership of these corporations to Labor Unions. Further, the Obama Administration issues new, aggressive CAFE standards (the largest mandatory fuel economy increase in history) and has GM push up the VOLT electric-powered car release date with a sales projection of 10,000 units in the first year (2011) ... actual sales (with a $3,700 discount and no corporate federal taxes because they are still owned by the U.S. Govt.) for the transpired 9 months of 12? ... only 3,895 units as of the end of September 2011. In the month of September alone, the company sold just 723 Volts and a major percentage of the 2011 total sales are being used by dealerships to market the lower cost, 42 mpg Chevy Cruze as per Mark Reuss, GM President North America - Fast & Furious!

We could go on and on with the many failures in Obamanomics, employment, and the values wrapped up in receiving the Nobel Peace Prize early in his Presidency and never end the examples upon which Fast & Furious becomes the best branding of the operating style and effectiveness of this 44th Presidency of the United States.

We are not experiencing Carter's Second Term as many dubbed the Obama Presidency going into the first year back in 2009, we are experiencing the "Fast & Furious Presidency" ... the one-term Executive Branch of Barack Hussein Obama!

[Article first published as The Fast & Furious Presidency Here During Carter's Second Term on Technorati]

99% Is About The Democrat Party's Attempt To Create A 3rd Party For Chaos

2011-10-06T12:07:00.000-07:00

A computer program hacker organization, Anonymous 99, introduces their plan to ‘engage in a relentless campaign of non-violent, peaceful, civil disobedience’ to fight back against crime by banks and government agencies when they announced an upcoming ‘Operation Empire State Rebellion’. A99 [ctrl-click image for intro video] also voiced support of the Day Of Rage/Occupy Wall Street protests along with Wall Street Billionaire George Soros, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaregosa, and the 44th President of the United States - Barack Obama. Image Credit: TrendRiding.com

99% Is About The Democrat Party's Attempt To Create A 3rd Party For Chaos

The Occupy Movement is a put-up job of the Democrat Political Party and their supporters in the Labor Union and government employee's empire used by the "ruling class". Do not be fooled by this video, recently released by the group known originally to be computer hackers that have organized under the name, or banner, Anonymous 99. They describe that this name evolves from their statistic that 1% of the people on Earth control all of the wealth - this leaves 99% of the people on Earth under the control of this 1% and this needs to change. Their message is basically appealing until one strips away the onion that is the true agenda of Anonymous 99.

The word came out yesterday that George Soros, the man who just broke into the Forbes Top 10 richest people list by making only 7.8 Billion dollars this last year, is funding the Occupy Movement which is also promoted by Anonymous 99. He, Soros ... a capitalist, really doesn't want these people to be able to collapse the system as Anonymous 99 proclaims in this video, but ... he wants the power to be able to control more people and their actions (just as in the 2008 presidential elections). The one who pays - plays!

The whole of the "Occupy Movement/Occupy Wall Street/Occupy LA Protest" is nothing more than an attempt by union organizations (SEIU and Stephen Lerner | WGA | AFL-CIO | & etc.) to have people (useful idiots/students who owe money) turn against having our system of personal freedom, rule-of-law, and Bill-Of- Rights backed by the Constitution of the United States actually work. Our current leadership of the 44th Presidency, Leaders in Congress, and Union Leadership in our country are the people who currently do not enforce having our system of personal freedom, rule-of-law, and Bill-Of- Rights backed by the Constitution of the United States actually work and, in many cases, are operating in a lawless and irresponsible manner (re. Fast & Furious | Solyndra | General Electric | >>). If one were to Google Stephen Lerner, one might be surprised that this activity was originally scheduled for May but the protests in Wisconsin got in the way of the larger objective.

The Tea Party Movement is the best vehicle upon which Americans who wish to ensure that personal freedom, the rule-of-law, the Bill-Of-Rights, and the Constitution of the United States are put back in place as the governing priciples to maintain our society.

Americans, Do not be duped into joining a 3rd Political Party. The Democrats are going to lose and would love nothing more than to have a third party dilute the progress made by the citizens of this country working, within the order that exists, to bring about the gains realized in the 2010 elections. The elections in the last election cycle helped to curb the power of even the leadership in the Republican Political Party who identify themselves with the "ruling class".

The next election cycle, if pursued correctly by citizens of all stripes, can have the effect of the people gaining back the reins of power from "ruling class" Republicans, Democrats, and the structure that had been grown to perpetuate their re-election through taxpayer money used in financial industry bailouts, green energy venture capital operations of the Executive Branch, Government takeovers of companies in major manufacturing sectors and assigning a percentage of ownership to private sector labor unions, all public sector union contracts (and the dues money to fuel campaigns), and community organizing operations subsidized, again, with taxpayer money.

Get involved in activities that allow for a studied vetting of candidates that have them working to stand for the American system of personal freedom, rule-of-law, and Bill-Of- Rights backed by the Constitution of the United States.

About the only thing we know for sure, through observation about a connection between the "Occupy Wall Street" movement and Anonymous 99, is that 99% of the people protesting with shouts of "We Are The 99%" are non-anonymous white people (because we can see them) who seem to support progressive/socialist/anarchist/Obamaist policies and owe a ton of money in student loans to the banks and financial institutions they are protesting.

All the while the MSM tries to sell Americans (the readers) that this is going "mainstream" and accepted by the average citizen here during Carter's Second Term.

[Article originally published as 99% Is About The Democrat Party's Attempt To Create A 3rd Party For Chaos at Technorati]

Obama Job Speech Viewership Off By Over 25% - Down 11 Million

2011-09-10T20:10:00.000-07:00

President Barack Obama outlines the details of the American Jobs Act during an address to a Joint Session of Congress in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., Sept. 8, 2011. Image Credit: Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson

Obama Job Speech Viewership Off By Over 25% - Down 11 Million

President Barack Obama calls for a speech in front of a joint session of Congress (both the House of Representatives and members of the Senate in attendance - 535 members) in order to stem the tide of failure of his 44th Presidency. The only problem is that every one in the room (and apparently outside the room as well) knew that this President had nothing else new to add.

After asking for, and getting an increase in Government spending (read that as taxpayer funded borrowing) of about 2.5 Trillion dollars that included ObamaCare, Stimulus, Omnibus, with the corporate takeovers of General Motors and Chrysler ... then fighting for, and getting an increase in the Debt Ceiling by another 2.5 Trillion Dollars earlier this summer ... this President had the gall to ask Congress to grant him another 1/2 Trillion Dollars of "Jobs" spending (read this as "son of stimulus"). He not only asked for this spending, he insisted on it saying "Pass This Bill" 17 (seventeen) times throughout his speech.

Fewer citizens than ever are buying what this most progressive and most divisive Chief Executive our country has ever elected has to say. Most citizens know why and it is simple ... this President got voted into office on fiscal prudence, no earmarks, transparency in the processes of law and bill creation (72 hour internet posting of all proposed bills before any vote), and unity ... with not one promise pursued once this man took office on January 20, 2009.

President Barack Obama watches a monitor in House Speaker John Boehner’s Ceremonial Office at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., before addressing a Joint Session of Congress on jobs and the economy, Sept. 8, 2011. Image Credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

Gotta' love the way the mainstream outlet of USA Today spins the reduced numbers of the viewing audience with this following excerpted and edited article -

Obama's jobs speech draws 31.4M viewers
By David Jackson, USA TODAY

The Nielsen ratings people are reporting that 31.4 million television viewers watched President Obama's jobs speech on Thursday evening.

That is more than 10 million less viewers than for Obama's State of the Union addresses, and other major speeches.

Other Obama speeches have been delivered in prime time; the jobs speech was at 7 p.m., after negotiations with Congress and concerns about bumping into the opening game of the National Football League season.
----
Obama's State of the Union address in January drew 42.8 million viewers, according to Nielsen.

By contrast, Obama's March address on military action in Libya had on 25.6 million TV viewers.

Obama's most watched speech: His May 1 announcement about the death of Osama bin Laden, seen by 56.5 million television viewers.
[Reference Here]

The most watched televised speech that President Barack Obama delivered was the announcement that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was tracked down and killed. An effort he appropriately claimed that he green-lighted, but played up the fanfare (and released way to many mission details) as if he should have the major share of the credit.

This nation had been looking for "UBL" for nearly 15 years (Clinton, Bush, and Obama presidencies) with the last 10 having the intent on ending his life. This Chief Executive was the man that happened to be the one on the watch and we are thankful he did not stand in the way of a mission accomplished.

Obama's foray as Commander-In-Chief in directing our troops into harm's way, on the other hand, had its vote by the citizens with his lowest viewership ratings.

Why can not USA Today (as well as other mainstream media outlets) be more honest in the way it reports the viewership numbers here during Carter's Second Term?

We'd love to see a headline like this:

Obama's jobs speech suffers a viewership downgrade on the heels of a U.S. Credit Rating downgrade

O-U-C-H! - This has not been a very successful third summer of the 44th Presidency of the United States.

[Article first published as Obama Job Speech Viewership Off By Over 25% - Down 11 Million on Technorati]

U.S. Government Closes Inquiry Into Altering Of Climate-Change Data

2011-08-23T20:50:00.000-07:00

Cass Sunstein - In case you’re not familiar with Mr. Sunstein, he is a former Harvard law professor who is married to White House foreign policy adviser, Samantha Power. For his part, Cass prefers to pontificate on abstract legal issues such as whether poor people should have to pay for safe food and water. It would seem he operates in a world far removed from grain augurs and de-tasseling corn. Caption and Image Credit: Project On Government Oversight (POGO)

U.S. Government Closes Inquiry Into Altering Of Climate-Change Data

One of the main governmental powers that grant monies to scientific organizations so that they can study the effects of humans on the forces of the Earth and its processes, the United States, has decided to close its investigation of Michael Mann. Michael Mann, a Pennsylvania researcher who’s been a target of climate-change skeptics, was cleared of wrongdoing by U.S. investigators in the flap surrounding e-mails hacked from a U.K. university.

This excerpted and edited from Bloomberg -

Climate-Change Scientist Cleared in Closing of U.S. Data-Altering Inquiry
By Jim Efstathiou Jr. - Aug 22, 2011 4:44 PM PT

Finding no “evidence of research misconduct,” the Arlington, Virginia-based National Science Foundation closed its inquiry into Mann, according to an Aug. 15 report from the inspector general for the U.S. agency. Pennsylvania State University, where Mann is a professor of meteorology, exonerated him in February of suppressing or falsifying data, deleting e- mails and misusing privileged information.
----
The report confirms findings from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s inspector general and a separate panel of seven scientists based at universities in the U.K., U.S. and Switzerland. The University of East Anglia announced the committee. Ron Oxburgh, the former head of Shell Transport & Trading Plc and a member of the U.K. House of Lords, was chairman.
----
“It was a pretty definitive finding” that the charges “swirling around for over a year” were baseless, Mann said in an interview. “I was very pleased.”
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The inquiries focused on the University of East Anglia’s climate-research unit, which stored the poached e-mails on its computer server. The university’s work contributed to some of the key findings of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which has issued reports that blame rising temperatures on human activity.

E-mails to and from Mann were in the pilfered cache. One message by another scientist discussing Mann’s work spoke of a “trick” used in presenting data to smooth out year-to-year anomalies in climate-change information.

NOAA’s report, released in February, was requested by U.S. Senator James Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican who called the theory of man-made climate change a hoax. The report found no evidence of “manipulation of data.”
----
“To say that the scientists have been vindicated is oversimplifying the situation,” Matt Dempsey, a spokesman for Inhofe, said in an interview yesterday. “What was revealed as part of the Climategate scandal was deeply troubling and certainly a setback for climate science.”
[Reference Here]

What appears to be even more troubling is that the control freaks on the progressive-left embedded in our bureaucracy, headed by Cass Sunstein in the Obama Administration, who want to regulate human behavior by regulating the gas we breath out (CO2) and ... DUST (yes, dust, seriously, which will have ramifications on your yard, the activity of farmers, National Parks, and The Burning Man) through the EPA, are a part of the same U.S.Government doing the investigation.

Call, we who do not trust an omni-powerful and progressive government, skeptical ... fine, but who is the U.S. Government anyway? We have a system that has devolved from serving the citizens to a ruling class enterprise that has a vested interest in creating winners and losers based upon the political control of its citizens.

This is the same U.S. Government that gave us our current economy through the creation of junk mortgages by setting up the Government backed mortgage banks of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Free mortgages to anyone with very little qualification or intention to pay, then turn a blind eye to opportunists who packaged groups of mortgages and sold them to foreign governments as land backed securities.

This is the same U.S. Government that has decided to add an additional 40+% to our overall national debt through spending agendas in only two and a half years in the name of keeping our employment rate below 8% and has NO ANSWER for the fact that it remains well over 9% for over a year.

This is the same U.S. Government that has seen fit to not operate with a published budget for well over 820 days and wonders why, that even though we had a congressional vote to increase the debt ceiling, it had a downgrade of its Triple A bond rating to Double A Plus.

Human based climate change is a mechanism by which those who pay for the evidence of it ... can control everyone on the planet. This is a case of the drug supplier investigating itself for a corruption in the activity and process, and finding nothing to get hung-up about.

Case Closed ... here in this totalitarian issue of a Carter's Second Term government!

[Article first published as U.S. Government Closes Inquiry Into Altering Of Climate-Change Data on Technorati]

Unemployment In Barack Obama's Economy - The Masters Of Disaster

2011-07-08T08:21:00.000-07:00

President Obama addresses the need to reduce the nation’s deficit while creating jobs across the country and wishes Americans a happy Fourth of July. Image Credit: whitehouse.gov

Unemployment In Barack Obama's Economy - The Masters Of Disaster

Today, the government's reporting of the June 2011 unemployment numbers came out. As always, the mainstream media, who blatantly support our current political leadership, reports these numbers out as ... unexpected, well below economists' expectations, a continuing "soft patch", and a disappointing downturn.

The fact of the matter is that this jobs report of only 18,000 new jobs created in an economy where just to keep up with population increases needs to add 150,000 per month and to start to recover back to the levels of unemployment set to before this economic downturn (and get it back within five years) of 350,000 jobs in the private sector per month. Of course the government constantly under reports these numbers so it could be less than the 18,000. The growth of 54,000 jobs previously reported for May 2011 was revised down today to just 25,000. Using this habit of softening the ugly blow of FAILURE through under-reporting, the numbers released today may be revised even more downward to about 8,500 or so.

In the first ever Twitter Town Hall at the White House, President Obama answers your questions (of 140 characters or less) on jobs and the economy and asks for your feedback on reducing the deficit. Image Credit: whitehouse.gov

This excerpted and edited from The Los Angeles Times -

Dismal jobs report shows unemployment rising to 9.2%
July 8, 2011 | 6:19 am

The U.S. employment picture went from bad to ugly last month as employers added almost no new net jobs and the unemployment rate edged up for the third straight month, to 9.2%.

The report Friday from the Labor Department is sure to be a huge disappointment and will raise fresh questions about the sustainability of the recovery, now technically starting its third year.

Analysts had raised their job-growth forecasts for June to 100,000 or more in recent days, hopeful of a rebound after surprisingly few job gains in May, which many attributed to temporary factors such as Japan's earthquake and the spike in oil prices.
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The unemployment rate, meanwhile, ticked up to 9.2 from 9.1% in the previous month and this year’s low of 8.8% in March. Many thousands of people in June dropped out of the labor force, some presumably because of the discouraging outlook.

Friday’s jobs report was remarkable in that there was nothing positive in it.
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Even for those with jobs in June, there was bad news. The average weekly work hours declined by 0.1 to 34.3. And the average hourly earnings for all private-sector employees dropped by one cent to $22.99.

"It's just an across-the-board retreat," said Heidi Shierholz, a labor economist at the Economic Policy Institute. So bad was the report, she found it hard to describe it and its portent for the future. "This is two months of really scary reports."
[Reference Here]

Of course, Obama adviser David Plouffe said that two days before the June jobs report was released that economists anticipate 100,000 or 125,000 jobs to be added that month. After hearing the 18,000 number, Plouffe claimed (as quoted by Bloomberg), "The average American does not view the economy through the prism of GDP or unemployment rates or even month jobs numbers."

"People won't vote based on the unemployment rate, they're going to vote based on: 'How do I feel about my own situation? Do I believe the president makes decisions based on me and my family'," Plouffe continued.

Austan Goolsbee, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said in a recent interview on Bloomberg TV, “We want to be for any policies that are going to help incentivize and stand up the private sector to drive the recovery.”

I have a suggestion to Masters Goolsbee, Obama, and Plouffe, why don't we get the weight of the Government to "Stand Down" so that the private sector can "Stand Up" and begin to create the recovery from the overbearing socialist agenda this 44th Presidency has implemented since taking office Jan. 20, 2009.

Barack Obama, David Plouffe, and Austin Goolsbee are just the beginning in the naming of the economic masters of disaster in this era of United States economic failure here in Carter's Second Term.

(Article first published as Unemployment In Barack Obama's Economy - The Masters Of Disaster on Technorati)

In Iowa, Barack Obama Ups His Game

2011-06-29T08:25:00.000-07:00

President Barack Obama talks with patrons during a stop for lunch at Ross’ Restaurant in Bettendorf, June 28, 2011. Image Credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

In Iowa, Barack Obama Ups His Game

This week saw the President of the United States travel to Iowa for a fund raiser over the same time period the loyal opposition of the Republican party were campaigning to become the choice of the American people to unseat him.

Barack Obama scheduled this manufacturing plant speech for his run to get re-elected over the same time he is wanting to up the nations debt ceiling so that he, and the Democrat party can saddle the American citizenry with more Government spending and debt.

In the speech he came to Iowa to deliver, he made this statement, "You [Alcoa Davenport Works] had to up your game. And that’s what we’ve got to do as a country as a whole."

Before Barack Obama admonished the people of the United States for not playing hard enough and taking their life situations seriously enough, he showed his commitment to his wife's agenda for all Americans to eat healthier by dropping by for lunch at Ross’ Restaurant in Bettendorf.

My Plate replaces the food pyramid as the symbol of Government guidance on eating. Image Credit: choosemyplate.gov

This excerpted and edited from the Des Moines Register -

Obama makes good on promise to stop at Iowa diner
Des Moines Register - 1:47 PM, Jun 28, 2011
By Ed Tibbetts, Quad-City Times

The president then made good on a 2008 campaign promise today, making a quick stop at Ross’ Restaurant in Bettendorf. The diner is off Interstate-74 on the way to Alcoa, which is in nearby Riverdale.

Three years ago, Obama talked with an owner, Cynthia Freidhof, at a town hall meeting, in August, 2008, and pledged to come here.
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“You are so awesome,” Cynthia told the president as they hugged.

The president explained what had happened at the town hall, and that he’d been told about the Magic Mountain.
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The president ordered four Magic Mountains and two Volcanoes. A Magic Mountain has grilled loose meat hamburger on texas toast, covered with french frieds and cheese sauce. Topped with onions, which is called a “snowcap on the mountain.” It becomes a volcanoe by adding chili on the top.

“I think he’s a man of his word, always, and he’s doing the very best job that he can and I just can’t believe he’s here, but it’s real,” Freidhof said.

The president challenged the press with him to eat a Magic Mountain, saying he’d buy it if they ate it. (I’m not sure if anyone took him up on it). The president said the orders he placed were for people on the plane [as if!] .
[Reference Here]

So the President upped his game on eating poorly (or just feeding his staff poorly) in Iowa against the lecturing of his wife's, Michelle, My Plate Campaign upon which the USDA invested over $2,000,000 on the website alone. One has to ask themselves, why did we throw away the food pyramid in favor of a multi-million dollar USDA eat healthy campaign just to have it officially ignored by the people who choose to shove this agenda down our throats? ... all the while being admonished and told to "UP OUR GAME".

Two words:

Up Yours!

Oh! ... and stop (EPA up 125% alone since Obama took office in 2009), STOP spending our money.

(Article first published as In Iowa, Barack Obama Ups His Game on Technorati)

The Barack Obama Economy - Greece-ing Our Skids

2011-06-16T06:04:00.000-07:00

President Barack Obama delivers remarks during the Official Arrival Ceremony for Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany on the South Lawn of the White House, June 7, 2011. Image Credit: Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy

The Barack Obama Economy - Greece-ing Our Skids

Yesterday, the United States stock market dropped about 1.5% on fears of extreme unrest in Greece on the news that the citizens there, who have lived in an entitlement/socialist society for decades, have nearly bankrupted the country and can no longer receive the supports to their lifestyles they were accustomed to.

Greece is struggling with a nearly half a trillion dollar debt load, and is working to avoid having to restructure, or worse, default on its debt. However, the Greek public has protested deep spending cuts and austerity measures to save their economy, and plans to privatize government-held entities have fallen far short of the necessary capital requirements.

Last week, President Barack Obama met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and one of the issues they discused was this ongoing problem of the Greecian economy. Greece has already received $161 billion in European bailout assistance, largely orchestrated by Merkel. Now, European finance ministers and international lenders are working on a second round, on the order of an additional $1l7 billion to $146 billion.

After his meeting with Merkel, Obama said the U.S. would participate in the bailout on condition that Germany takes the lead. In a sense, as the largest contributor to the International Monetary Fund, the United States is already participating.

This excerpted and edited from CNBC's moneycontrol.com -

US is in even worse shape financially than Greece: Gross
moneycontrol.com - Published on Tue, Jun 14, 2011

When adding in all of the money owed to cover future liabilities in entitlement programs the US is actually in worse financial shape than Greece and other debt-laden European countries, Pimco`s Bill Gross told CNBC Monday.

Much of the public focus is on the nation`s public debt, which is USD 14.3 trillion. But that doesn`t include money guaranteed for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, which comes to close to USD 50 trillion, according to government figures.

The government also is on the hook for other debts such as the programs related to the bailout of the financial system following the crisis of 2008 and 2009, government figures show.

Taken together, Gross puts the total at "nearly USD 100 trillion," that while perhaps a bit on the high side, places the country in a highly unenviable fiscal position that he said won`t find a solution overnight.
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Should the debt problem in Greece explode into a full-blown crisis-an International Monetary Fund bailout has prevented a full-scale meltdown so far-Gross predicted that German debt, not that of the US, would be the safe-haven of choice for global investors.
[Reference Here]

Question: Why are we bailing out Greece when we should be bailing out ... ourselves?

This is not the time to approve an increase the debt ceiling as the President insists on having the Congress and the Senate agree with him to do. Our country is already way too much in debt on un-funded liabilities alone.

It's time to hit the spending brakes, right now during Carter's Second Term, and stop this skid into Government entitlement oblivion.

Mitt Romney And The Era Of Jimmy Carter

2011-06-03T11:19:00.000-07:00

Stagflation, the worst of both worlds (anemic economic growth and high inflation) brings back less than fond memories of the 1970's, along with the misery index, which is calculated adding the inflation rate to the unemployment rate. Until the 1960's, Keynesian economists had thought that those two economic events couldn't happen at the same time. Image Credit: Copyright Free via myfreedompost.com

Mitt Romney And The Era Of Jimmy Carter

Welcome home to the era of Jimmy Carter as experienced here in Los Angeles and the rest of the nation. Half of our population never lived through the era and presidency of Jimmy Carter - where inflation and recession existed side-by-side which, in economic theory anyway, is not supposed to happen on the "Bell Curve". Where long lines of 30 or more cars formed around the street corners of gas stations and the ODD, EVEN gas rationing plan in Los Angeles was implemented because our supplies at the pump were allowed to become constrained.

Today, the unemployment numbers were just released and we are looking at a second summer where a double dip recession is a real possibility. A 9.1% unemployment rate was just announced for this last month (May 2011) and we know that this number will be adjusted upward as virtually all numbers released during this 44th Presidency have been manipulated to the media. Meanwhile, fuel prices fluctuate, policies get implemented without warning, and this Executive Branch leads with a high level uncertainty that promotes a sense of instability further antagonizing the fragility of our economic environment.

The Obama Administration, Democrat, and Republican ruling class leadership continue tell anyone that is in earshot that our best days are behind us and ask that we sacrifice any income to devote toward additional taxation. All the while, trillion dollar spending appropriations are passed, and 100 billions of dollars takeovers of large segments of our corporate manufacturing marketplace are made, kicking investors to the back of the line on the recognition of their ownership stake (possibly against American business law statutes) and turning these enterprises over to a shared control with employee unions ... who give dues money back to these politicians to finance their re-election campaigns.

This week in New Hampshire, Mitt Romney announced his candidacy to become the 45th President of the United States and unseat this current regime. We, at Carter's Second Term, would become excited but one has to ask ... where has Mitt been over these last two and a half years, to lead the push back, when we all have had to endure leadership without debate, transparency, capitalism, and an attitude of service to the freedom-loving people who are the nation (not the ruling class that think the Government exists to serve them).

Mitt Romney announces he is running for president, Thursday, June 2, 2011, during a campaign event at Bittersweet Farm in Stratham, N.H.. Image Credit: FNC

This excerpted and edited from 4president.org -

Mitt Romney 2012 Presidential Campaign Announcement Speech
June 2, 2011, Stratham, New Hampshire, Remarks As Prepared For Delivery #mitt2012

Thank you for coming. And I want to thank Doug and Stella Scamman for hosting us on their beautiful farm.

You know, everyone here today can tell a different story. We have different backgrounds and we wake up in the morning and go to different jobs … or, look for different jobs. We go to different churches or maybe don't go to church so much. I bet some of you have families who go back 200 years or more in New Hampshire. And there must be some who just snuck in across the border, from Massachusetts. I hear the taxes are better over here.

But here we are on a beautiful June day coming together to begin a process that we often, quite naturally, take for granted. But it is really one of the great achievements in the history of the world. For all of our country’s wealth and influence, those are not the source of our greatness. The true strength of America is self-rule, and a government that answers to a free and independent people.

We live in the most powerful nation that ever existed. And it all goes back to a few men and women who had the courage to stand - and even die - for their belief in liberty and equality. Because of their vision, the United States of America is not ruled by a monarchy or controlled by an aristocracy. Though sometimes folks in Washington might act otherwise, we don't have a House of Lords with inherited power. And as the Red Sox like to remind the New York Yankees, there are no dynasties in America.

Who rules this great nation?

You do. Every four years you decide who will give that State of the Union address, who will set the course of the country, who will be Commander in Chief.
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A few years ago, Americans did something that was, actually, very much the sort of thing Americans like to do: We gave someone new a chance to lead; someone we hadn't known for very long, who didn't have much of a record but promised to lead us to a better place.

At the time, we didn't know what sort of a President he would make. It was a moment of crisis for our economy, and when Barack Obama came to office, we wished him well and hoped for the best.

Now, in the third year of his four-year term, we have more than promises and slogans to go by.

Barack Obama has failed America.

When he took office, the economy was in recession. He made it worse. And he made it last longer.

Three years later, over 16 million Americans are out of work or have just quit looking. Millions more are underemployed.

Three years later, unemployment is still above 8%, a figure he said his stimulus would keep from happening.

Three years later, foreclosures are still at record levels.

Three years later the prices of homes continue to fall.

Three years later, our national debt has grown nearly as large as our entire economy.

Families are buried under higher prices for food and higher prices for gasoline.

It breaks my heart to see what’s happening in this country.

These failing hopes make up President Obama’s own misery index. It’s never been higher. And what’s his answer? He says this: “I’m just getting started.”
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President Obama sees a different America and has taken us in a different direction.

A few months into office, he travelled around the globe to apologize for America.

At a time of historic change and great opportunity in the Arab world, he is hesitant and uncertain. He hesitated to speak out for the dissidents in Iran, but his Administration boasts that he is “leading from behind” in Libya.

He speaks with firmness and clarity, however, when it comes to Israel. He seems firmly and clearly determined to undermine our longtime friend and ally. He’s treating Israel the same way so many European countries have: with suspicion, distrust and an assumption that Israel is at fault.
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With the economy in crisis, his answer is to borrow money we can't afford and throw it at Washington bureaucrats and politicians. Just like Europe.

Instead of encouraging entrepreneurs and employers, he raises their taxes, piles on record-breaking mounds of regulation and bureaucracy and gives more power to union bosses.

Instead of recognizing the states rightful authority to solve problems, he seizes power from them and rams through a disastrous national health care plan.

This President's first answer to every problem is to take power from you, your local government and your state so that so-called “experts" in Washington can make those choices for you. And with each of these decisions, we lose more of our freedom.
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President Obama’s European answers are not the right solution to America’s challenges.

In the campaign to come, the American ideals of economic freedom and opportunity need a clear and unapologetic defense, and I intend to make it—because I have lived it.
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Government under President Obama has grown to consume almost 40% of our economy. We are only inches away from ceasing to be a free market economy. I will cap federal spending at 20% or less of the GDP and finally, finally balance the budget.
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I will insist that Washington learns to respect the Constitution, including the 10th Amendment. We will return responsibility and authority to the states for dozens of government programs – and that begins with a complete repeal of Obamacare.

From my first day in office my number one job will be to see that America once again is number one in job creation. You know, if you want to create jobs, it helps to have had a job. I will make business taxes competitive with other nations, modernize regulations and bureaucracy and finally promote America’s trade interests. It’s time for a president who cares more about America’s workers than he does about America’s union bosses.
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The spirit of enterprise, innovation, pioneering and can-do propelled our standard of living and economy past every other nation on earth.

I refuse to believe that America is just another place on the map with a flag. We stand for freedom and opportunity and hope.

These last two years have not been the best of times. But while we’ve lost a couple of years, we have not lost our way. The principles that made us a great nation and leader of the world have not lost their meaning. They never will.

We know we can bring this country back.

I'm Mitt Romney. I believe in America.

And I'm running for President of the United States.
[Reference Here]

The speech reads pretty good, and if one were to judge a candidate on a speech ... one would be doing themselves a disservice.

There are three problems with Mitt Romney as a decent protector of what is good about American Freedom.

First off, he is on record supporting Ethanol subsidies to farmers ... THIS is not a smaller Government perspective.

Secondly, he has not, or will not disavow his mistake in promoting Romney Care. Sure, he says that this is an issue for State Governments to decide, but again, tackling from a public sector stance is also not a smaller Government perspective.

The final and third point came today in the town hall meeting in New Hampshire when he made a statement in support of the concept that Earth climate change is a product of Human activity - "I believe the world is getting warmer, and I believe that humans have contributed to that. /// And so I think it’s important for us to reduce our emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases that may well be significant contributors to the climate change and the global warming that you’re seeing," said Mitt Romney at a New Hampshire town hall meeting, according to Reuters.

The history of mathematical fraud is clear and it all came to light around November 2009 when internal emails were exposed "Wikileaks" style and proved that the "Hockeystick" effect - that had been published and re-affirmed in subsequent studise tying human activity to Global Warming - by the University of East Anglia located in England was trumped up in order to get more grants from the United Nations and other invested resources.

So, lets say Romney replaces Obama who is in current control of a radicalized EPA which is in the process of implementing "Cap & Trade" style policies. Will Romney feel inclined to shut it down? The easy answer is NO - Mitt Romney is in favor of Government helping to control/regulate carbon emissions.

One last Carbon understanding - of all greenhouse gases that exist, Carbon Dioxide is one of the least abundant at 40 parts in 10,000 parts. To bring this fact into clear thinking, imagine a basketball stadium has 10,000 seats filled with greenhouse gas particles - how many of these seats of greenhouse gas would be filled with CO2 particles? - Answer, only 40.

Three strikes ... and Mitt Romney is out - and sitting in the bleachers with Newt Gingrich ... here, during Carter's Second Term .

MEME Busting - The Art Of Cultural Truth In Narrative

2011-05-13T10:38:00.000-07:00

The "Arab Spring" of 2010-11 — however bitter or sweet its fruits may grow in the fullness of time — didn't just happen. Bill Whittle makes a powerful case for GWB's foreign policy as a major catalyst in his latest YouTube sensation, "Memebusters! The Osama bin Laden Edition," where he asks "Why are all these Muslims in repressive regimes suddenly rising up for freedom and the right to vote? Why now, all of a sudden? That's why," he answers, pointing to the iconic image of a triumphant Iraqi woman who had just voted for the first time in her life in the wake of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Caption Credit: SISU | Image Credit: Declaration Entertainment

MEME Busting - The Art Of Cultural Truth In Narrative

In the biological world, genes carry hereditary information, whereas, in the human communications world, MEMES carry cultural information.

If one were to rely on only getting their information from the news narratives we receive from large media broadcast and political organizations, we run the risk of living live through the lens of a distorted cultural truth versus a narrative focused on facts.

Take, for example, the MEME of "Mission Accomplished" and how it is being used to translate success and/or failure in our cultural landscape.

This excerpted and edited from Declaration Entertainment -

FIREWALL: Memebusters! The Osama Bin Laden Edition
By Bill Whittle

We used to have an immune system -- called the "press" -- that caught errors. Now the "press" generates most of the falsehoods themselves.

Memes are cultural beliefs that were not taught in school or in religion but that take on a life of their own because large numbers of people have emotional reasons for wanting them to be true …
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My joy about hearing about the death of Osama bin Laden lasted for about 20 seconds until I turned on the TV to see Andrea Mitchell crowing about how this really was "Mission Accomplished," not the premature "Mission Accomplished" that Cowboy George Bush claimed during his speech on that aircraft carrier, which happened, coincidentally, eight years earlier to the day …
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Only George Bush didn't claim "Mission Accomplished." In fact he said just the opposite.

So, where did this meme come from?

Well, the press made it up out of whole cloth. They not only distorted, they actually reversed everything that George Bush said on the deck of that aircraft carrier …

The Middle East before the 9/11 terror attacks. At this time, UBL was building a palace in Afghanistan from which he would be able to rule the Islamic caliphate he was working to establish. Image Credit: Declaration Entertainment

The Middle East after Bush's actions taken in response to the 9/11 terror attacks. Image Credit: Declaration Entertainment
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Now that day on the carrier, President Bush didn't say "Mission Accomplished," but he did say this:

"The advance of freedom is the surest strategy to undermine the appeal of terror in the world … Where freedom takes hold, hatred gives way to hope … When freedom takes hold, men and women turn to the peaceful pursuit of a better life … American values and American interests lead in the same direction: We stand for human liberty."
[Reference Here]

Where does all of this leave our current administration, the 44th Presidency of the United States? It is left to try and dismantle the good work previous generations had put in place in the name of Liberty with the allies in the United States press ... while reaping some of the benefits. UBL is dead, and is still dead, because of the larger strategy the 43rd Presidency had the foresight to put into play. Iraqi's can vote and express their human liberty our military and its strategy left behind.

The uprisings in Egypt, Yemen, Syria, and even Libya are actions that have been brought about because people can see what one country, with a similar demographic can do. The biggest problem with these developments lay in the fact there remains the risk that the desires of the people in the streets will be hijacked through jihad control freaks and, of course, the MEME agenda of the press ... led by Al Jazeera, and aided by our own administration through the lack of strategy used by the 44th Presidency ... Carter's Second Term!

Google's Blogger Down For Over 24 Hours!

2011-05-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

Blogger Logo - Image Credit: Blogger.com

Google's Blogger Down For Over 24 Hours!

Blogger ... Google's web log hosting portal, has been down for a full 24 hours at the time of this posting.

This seems like a modern era record for this usually very reliable communications service and personal publishing arm of the giant search powerhouse, Google.

With all of the push Google has been putting in on Chrome, one has to ask - Is Blogger now becoming just an ugly stepchild to the array of focused services that Google has to offer? What - isn't Blogger sexy enough for Google to keep outages down to a minimum?

If this is the case, Google's shine is losing its luster.

This excerpted from Blogger's Status Link:

Blogger Status

Friday, May 13, 2011

We’ve started restoring the posts that were temporarily removed and expect Blogger to be back to normal soon.

Posted by at 06:07 PDT

To get Blogger back to normal, all posts since 7:37am PDT on Weds, 5/11 have been temporarily removed. We expect everything to be back to normal soon. Sorry for the delay.

Posted by at 04:25 PDT

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UPDATE May 13, 2011 - 9:50am PT:

Blogger back online after nearly 30 hours of non-service.

Thanks, Google ... but we will be keeping an eye on you.

One Week Later ... UBL Is Still Dead!

2011-05-10T06:04:00.000-07:00

Last known image of UBL just after Seal team #6 visits his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Image Credit Edmund Jenks (2011)

One Week Later ... UBL Is Still Dead!

... but the information he left behind lives on.

Also, the Obama Administration believes it is O.K. to Kill bin Laden ... just don’t Waterboard him as discovered by Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday.

UBL is still dead but the President still insists on broadcasting every small detail of HIS involvement (why, is HE this insecure?) ... while HE should be dealing with all of this.

The Sad Blow-By-Blow Of Obama WH Storytelling On UBL

2011-05-06T08:54:00.000-07:00

The White House has said that the story changes because of the "Fog of War". How about the "fog of insecurity" - maybe what we are really witnessing is the "fog of Alinsky". Image Credit: Daily Mail (2009)

The Sad Blow-By-Blow Of Obama WH Storytelling On UBL

Here in Carter's Second Term, we are beginning to learn that this 44th Presidency of Barack Obama has nothing on the 39th Presidency of Jimmy Carter when it comes to getting a story straight.

In the Carter era, we were used to hearing a change of the narrative in a story (or correction) maybe once or twice. Here in the Obama edition of Carter's Second Term it is not uncommon to hear at least two or more corrections on the information communicated to us down in the lowly masses and that is just the way it is - take it or leave it. The problem with this is we live here, we know that credibility relates directly to the accuracy of what one communicates, and having to correct one's account of a situation, often, over a period time, is never good.

Employment numbers are commonly corrected at least twice, usually to a more negative direction (as reported today, we are now back at 9% up from 8.8% ... expect this to be adjusted upward a tenth or two in a couple of weeks).

The reporting on what is in the new healthcare law - ObamaCare - gets to the point where the only thing that this law doesn't effect is the daily outside temperature and that is only because one can not control the forces of nature or God ... unless, of course, you belong to one of this Administration's favored companies.

The President was consistent on stating that under this new healthcare law, we would be able to keep our Doctor and current healthcare plan. Yet, over this last year the law has been in effect, over 1,000 institution exemptions/waivers have been issued in order for some to have this statement remain true ... temporally.

It is great that Barack Obama and his administration acted and killed Usama bin Laden (UBL) but, again, what can anyone trust in regards to the truthfulness of the account of what happened May 1, 2011. Here is what we know that has been said by this 44th Presidency of Barack Obama during Carter's Second Term.

Obama as his motorcade navigates through the fog. Image Credit: Daily Mail (2009)

This excerpted and edited from Michelle Malkin's Facebook Posting -

The Fog of Fog
by Michelle Malkin on Friday, May 6, 2011 at 5:36am

Take One: Bin Laden died in a bloody firefight.

On Sunday night, Obama dramatically told the world that “after a firefight,” our brave men in uniform “killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body.”

Embellishing the story the next morning, White House deputy national security adviser John Brennan said at his briefing that bin Laden “was engaged in a firefight with those that entered the area of the house he was in. … And whether or not he got off any rounds, I quite frankly don’t know. … It was a firefight. He, therefore, was killed in that firefight.”

Take Two: Bin Laden did not engage in a firefight.

The day after Brennan disclosed such vivid details, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney walked them back Michael Jackson-style. Bin Laden, he said in version 2.0, “was not armed.” Brennan had clearly implied that bin Laden “resisted” with arms. Carney amended the narrative by insisting that “resistance does not require a firearm.” How exactly bin Laden resisted, Carney would not say.

It’s been all downhill, uphill, K-turns and 180s ever since. Fasten your seatbelts:

Take Three: Bin Laden’s wife died after her feckless husband used her as a human shield.

Take Four: Bin Laden’s wife did not die, wasn’t used as a human shield and was only shot in the leg. Someone else’s wife was killed, somewhere else in the house.

Take Five: A transport helicopter experienced “mechanical failure” and was forced to make a hard landing during the mission.

Take Six: A top-secret helicopter clipped the bin Laden compound wall, crashed and was purposely exploded after the mission to prevent our enemies from learning more about it.

Take Seven: The bin Laden photos would be released to the world as proof positive of his death.

Take Eight: The bin Laden photos would not be released to the world because no one needs proof and it’s more important to avoid offending peaceful Muslims who supposedly don’t embrace bin Laden as a “true” Muslim in the first place.

Take Nine: Bin Laden’s compound was a lavish mansion.

Take Ten: Bin Laden’s compound was a glorified pigsty.

Take Eleven: Bin Laden’s compound had absolutely no television, phone or computer access.

Take Twelve: Bin Laden’s compound was stocked with hard drives, thumb drives, DVDs and computers galore.

Take Thirteen: Er, remember that statement about bin Laden being armed? And then not armed? Well, the new version is that he had an AK-47 “nearby.”

Take Fourteen: A gung-ho Obama spearheaded the “gutsy” mission.

Take Fifteen: A reluctant Obama dithered for 16 hours before being persuaded by CIA Director Leon Panetta.

Take Sixteen: Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and close advisers watched the raid unfold in real time — “minute by minute,” according to Carney — and a gripping insider photo was posted immediately by the White House on the Flickr picture-sharing website for all to see.

Take Seventeen: Er, they weren’t really watching real-time video “minute by minute” because there was at least nearly a half-hour that they “didn’t know just exactly what was going on,” Panetta clarified. Or rather, un-clarified.

Take Eighteen: Stalwart Obama’s order was to kill, not capture, bin Laden.

Take Nineteen: Sensitive Obama’s order was to kill (SET ITAL) or (END ITAL) capture — and that’s why the SEAL team gave him a chance to surrender, upon which he resisted with arms, or actually didn’t resist with arms, but sort of resisted without arms, except there was an AK-47 nearby, sort of, or maybe not, thus making it possible to assert that while Decisive Obama did tell the SEALs to kill bin Laden and should claim all credit for doing so, Progressive Obama can also be absolved by bleeding hearts because of the painstakingly concocted post facto possibility that bin Laden somehow threatened our military — telepathically or something — before being taken out.

Take Twenty: “We’ve been as forthcoming with facts as we can be,” said an irritated Carney on Wednesday.

And they wonder why Americans of all political stripes think they’re blowing smoke.
[Reference Here]

How about the "fog of insecurity" - we could only wish this crowd children acting in adult roles would get their act level up to "Bush League"! Maybe what we are witnessing is the "fog of Alinsky".

The truth has a funny way of bubbling to the surface. How many times has the story changed and why can't this 44th Presidency get its story straight? On this issue it doesn't matter because UBL is STILL dead and not an intelligence node (but we got his thumb and hard drives - best of both worlds) or a terror threat here in Carter's Second Term.

Mitt Romney Blasts Administration's Response To Economic Peril

2011-04-25T08:37:00.000-07:00

Former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney announced on April 11 that he is “formally exploring a presidential bid”. Image Credit: conservativesforamerica.com

Mitt Romney Blasts Administration's Response To Economic Peril

In an opinion editorial featured in the little known and non-internet posting New Hampshire Union Leader, Mitt Romney does not believe that President Barack Obama and his administration is not serious about the economic health of the country.

The OP-ED entitled "Obama is not serious about America's financial health", which Romney later posted to his Facebook page, Mitt describes what he believes an executive response to the recent Standard & Poor's signaling of a change of the United States bond rating downward should be.

This excerpted and edited from Mitt Romney's Facebook posting -

Obama is Not Serious About America's Financial Health
by Mitt Romney on Monday, April 25, 2011 at 5:29am - Originally published in the New Hampshire Union Leader

America received a giant wake-up call when Standard & Poor’s, the bond rating agency, announced that it was changing the outlook on its highly prized AAA rating for U.S. Treasuries to “negative” from “stable.” This is the first ratings warning for the United States since S&P began evaluating our creditworthiness in 1941.

S&P’s action is a significant marker of our country’s deteriorating economic position.
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Obama’s top economic adviser, Austan Goolsbee, downplayed the event, saying, “I don’t make too much about it.” The President himself went on a weeklong campaign swing highlighted by six fundraisers and sharp partisan attacks against Republicans for their attempts at deficit reduction and entitlement reform.
----
Consider that during the Bush years, the U.S. government’s deficit — the gap between what Washington taxes and spends within a year — hovered between 2 percent and 4 percent of GDP. Already that was a problematic level.

But in the first year of the Obama administration, the shortfall in our annual spending exploded to 10 percent of GDP — a shocking number — and has risen even higher, to 11 percent of GDP in 2011.

No less dramatic has been the explosion in our level of debt, the total amount Washington has borrowed to pay for its out-of-control spending. In 2008, our debt was 40 percent of GDP. That was bad enough. But, according to S&P, even under the most optimistic scenario our government’s indebtedness will double to nearly 80 percent of GDP by 2013. Other estimates project that our nation’s debt will equal the entirety of our nation’s economy — 100 percent of GDP — by 2020.
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The main job of any executive — whether a CEO, a governor or a President — should be to avert these dangers, or work to repair them.
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We are not on a sustainable course. The consequences may come in slow-motion, with reduced growth, chronic high unemployment and a lower standard of living. Or they may come suddenly, in the kind of cascading crises that we just witnessed when the housing-price bubble burst. The only way to avert it is to take action that is rooted in the need to reduce spending.
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The overall picture may be dark, but we should not lose sight of what we are capable of as a country. Our economy is astonishingly flexible. It is highly diversified. We have low inflation.
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Even more significant are the clear signs that the American people have had enough of a federal government that is increasing in size and dominance. We are a great republic in which change is possible. The Obama administration may not be serious about addressing the problems that have caused the S&P downgrade, but in less than two years the voters will tell us whether they will issue a decisive downgrade of their own.
[Reference Here]

There may not be enough resolve in the rest of our Government houses (the House of Congress and the Senate) to stem the tide of damage this and the previous Executive Administrations have placed on our country.

Borrowing 4 billion dollars a day (that is $12.00 a day for each and every citizen living here in the United States ... or $4,356.00 each year) to hold on to the status quo will only kill what little freedoms we enjoy here in the once grand United States.

America's Pathway To Insolvency ... Near Completion

2011-02-20T08:12:00.000-08:00

A tipping point is about to be reached, in America, during Carter's Second Term. Image Credit The Carbon Catalog

America's Pathway To Insolvency ... Near Completion

In reading an article in the American Thinker, Jeff T. Allen highlights that our country is reaching a tipping point, that point in time where there is no return, where economic and societal crisis will be upon all of us. He believes that this crisis will visit us this year where averting a debt and currency implosion will crush us all.

Three major signs passed us by last week while we have been watching the Grammys, listening to reports from the unrest in the Islamic middle-east, and watched the start of the new season of the reality hit, Survivor.

All three of these events show a path of upheaval to the likes our nation has never seen and investing in Gold may not protect the average family nest egg.

First, the leadership in the House of Representatives backed off on its original promise of real control of government spending against an Executive Branch that is hell bent on pushing the money throttle to the floor.

Second, employment reporting by the government is never as clear as it is always first reported. The number of people unemployed always goes up "unexpectedly" yet what is rarely reported are the number of people who QUIT looking for work because it has become hopeless. All of these numbers are set against a "Benchmark" which were also revised. These benchmarks effect the adjustment of interest rates charged on the servicing of borrowed money which effect how well our current government and economic systems will work.

Third, Social Security payments to those who collect benefits has now passed collections by over 56 Billion dollars for 2011 as projected in a report released by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). This occurrence was not supposed to happen until the year 2020

This excerpted and edited from the American Thinker -

A Tipping Point Is Nearing
By Jeff T. Allen - February 14, 2011

Out of a $3.8 trillion government spending agenda, the wonkish Mr. Ryan, considered by many to be the best hope for fiscal conservatives, revealed proposed cuts of a whopping $74 billion. After some tense meetings, (referred to as a "revolt" by some media) newly elected conservative congressmen convinced the leadership to commit to unspecified cuts of an additional $26 billion. The actual "cuts" from any such legislation will, of course, be less once the appropriate political log rolling and deal-making are done- let's call it $50 billion (while the deficit grows by $26 billion during the week it takes to discuss it). So go the hopes for serious spending restraint from our newly elected wave of rabid, anti-big government Republicans. They may deliver cuts 1.3% of total spending that is itself approximately 90% greater than collected taxes. Let's mark this spending reduction effort as an epic fail, at a time when epic success is almost required for survival.
----
The little-noticed (not by the bond market) aspect of the report was the "benchmark" revisions, an attempt to get the total picture more accurate each year than simply adding up all the monthly change numbers. This year's benchmark revisions showed two alarming things: a decline from previously reported employment in December 2010 of nearly 500,000 jobs, and a reduction in the workforce of a similar amount.
----
In context, a 3.7% yield does not appear high by historical standards. In our current predicament, however, it is heading toward Armageddon. If interest rates on our debt rise by 1% it means our interest payments rise by more than $100 billion dollars annually (not including the interest payments owed to the Social Security Trust Fund--see below). As global liquidity and deficit spending have accelerated, food and commodity prices have skyrocketed, sending many prices up 25-50% worldwide since August.
----
[Social Security] Any limp action by conservatives to bring this program into solvency can be expected only to slow the raging river of red ink this behemoth program (along with its twin Godzilla, Medicare) spills on U.S. citizens. With no political will to fix them, these "entitlements" will obligate Americans to borrow more and more money from China--to honor promises we simply refuse to admit we can't keep.

So why do these developments argue for a crisis of Great Depression proportions? Because they speak unequivocally of our pathway to insolvency, and the potential of currency failure via hyperinflation, despite the hopes of conservatives and market participants to see a halt of such direction. Housing prices, the foundation of so much of private citizen debt loads, are destined for stagnation -- not inflation -- as the supply of homes is far greater than the demand -- 11% of the nation's homes stand empty today. When the world begins to recognize that there is no fix for America's borrowings, a fast and brutal exodus from our currency and bonds can send us a shock in mere weeks or months.

Unlike the Great Depression, however, we will enter such a shock in a weakened state, with few producers among us and record mountains of debt. More cataclysmic is the specter of inadequate food, as less than 4% of us farm, and those that do may cease to be as productive or may not accept devalued currency as payment, should the tipping point be crossed. Corn and wheat prices in the U.S. have nearly doubled in less than 12 months, using our rapidly evaporating currency as the medium of exchange.

The time for action has passed, which may only become apparent as the "aid" of easy money becomes seen as the harm that it is. May we all be spared the worst, but I offer no such prayers for those responsible. The harm that comes will be swifter, and more severe, than most of them thought possible.
Reference Here>>

We are not close to a growth-led recovery, and with the actions of our 44th President of the United States/Carter's Second Term acting in interference to the efforts of States to carry out their elected duties, we are definitely a nation in economic chaos.

The Lawless, Soft Tyranny Of Carter's Second Term

2011-02-04T12:09:00.001-08:00

The Obama Administration continues to pursue the implementation of a voided health care law ... breaking additional statutes of federal law. Image Credit: White House Photo Chuck Kennedy (2011)

The Lawless, Soft Tyranny Of Carter's Second Term

This week saw the coming and going of some major movements on the 2,700 page health care law that was passed last year by the Democrat Party, without debate, without reading, and without transparency that went by the official name of H.R.3590 - Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ... "ObamaCare"!

On Monday, January 31, 2011, a federal district court judge in Florida ruled that a key provision in the new health care law is unconstitutional, and that the entire law must be voided.

Federal Judge Roger Vinson agreed with the 26 state-government plaintiffs that Congress exceeded its authority by passing a law penalizing individuals who do not have health insurance.

"I must reluctantly conclude that Congress exceeded the bounds of its authority in passing the Act with the individual mandate," Vinson writes. "Because the individual mandate is unconstitutional and not sever-able, the entire Act must be declared void."

On Wednesday, February 2, 2011 the United States Senate held a vote to REPEAL the 2,700 page health care law. Senate Democrats fended off a Republican effort to repeal the law overhauling the health care system, voting down the measure, 47-51, submitted as an amendment to an airports construction bill. So, Senate Democrats voted to uphold a Federal Court voided and unconstitutional ObamaCare law.

This places our government in a Constitutional crisis. For four days now, our 44th Presidency has fail to respond, and has sought to obstruct the intent of the Judges decision.

This excerpted and edited from NewsOK -

Alaska gov.: Enacting health care may violate oath
By BECKY BOHRER, Oklahoman - Published: February 3, 2011

Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell is asking his attorney general to advise him on whether implementing the federal health care overhaul would put Parnell in violation of his oath of office.
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Parnell says he took an oath to support and defend the constitutions of the United States and Alaska. While the Republican governor concedes the issue is expected to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, he says he has a duty to uphold the law and wants the attorney general to advise him on what the duty is after the Florida ruling.
Reference Here>>

This begs the question; Why doesn't this ruling have every elected official and agency head in violation to their oath of office?

It turns out that there is a federal statute which will place States ... all States in contempt of this ruling if they continue to spend federal money to set up the bureaucracy required to implement the ObamaCare law.

Radio host and former federal lawyer, Mark Lavin posits, "Now the states of Wisconsin and Florida, it appears, have decided that there's no law for them to implement any longer. And they are in fact correct, since the last position of the law as it applies to Obamacare is that there is no law.

And so the states should stop implementing this statue until there is a different ruling from a higher court. If the Obama administration wants to continue to violate the Constitution, to defy a federal judge, and play rope-a dope, then you states have no responsibility whatsoever to comply.

And you insurance companies ... there is no Obamacare law officially. It's been voided. And it is not an act of civil defiance to refuse to adhere to any aspect of it.

The act of civil defiance -- that is, the act of constitutional violation -- are occurring on the other side." said Mark Lavin Thursday.

There is a federal statute - Crimes and Criminal Procedure - 18 USC Section 641 / Public money, property, or records - which will place the Federal Government, States, and local Governments in contempt of this ruling if they continue to spend federal money to set up the bureaucracy required to implement the ObamaCare law.

This is what 18 USC Section 641 states:

Crimes and Criminal Procedure - 18 USC Section 641

Legal Research Home > US Laws > Crimes and Criminal Procedure > Crimes and Criminal Procedure - 18 USC Section 641

01/19/04

Sec. 641. Public money, property or records

Whoever embezzles, steals, purloins, or knowingly converts to his
use or the use of another, or without authority, sells, conveys or
disposes of any record, voucher, money, or thing of value of the
United States or of any department or agency thereof, or any
property made or being made under contract for the United States or
any department or agency thereof; or

Whoever receives, conceals, or retains the same with intent to
convert it to his use or gain, knowing it to have been embezzled,
stolen, purloined or converted -

Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten
years, or both; but if the value of such property does not exceed
the sum of $1,000, he shall be fined under this title or imprisoned
not more than one year, or both.

The word "value" means face, par, or market value, or cost price,
either wholesale or retail, whichever is greater.

AMENDMENTS
1996 - Pub. L. 104-294 substituted "$1,000" for "$100" in third
par.
1994 - Pub. L. 103-322, in third par., substituted "fined under
this title" for "fined not more than $10,000" after "Shall be" and
for "fined not more than $1,000" after "he shall be".

SHORT TITLE OF 1984 AMENDMENT
Pub. L. 98-473, title II, chapter XI, part I (Secs. 1110-1115),
Sec. 1110, Oct. 12, 1984, 98 Stat. 2148, provided that: "This Part
[enacting section 667 of this title and amending sections 2316 and
2317 of this title] may be cited as the 'Livestock Fraud Protection
Act'."

Last modified: April 13, 2006

It is high time for this government of Carter's Second Term/the 44th Presidency of Barack Obama to start obeying the law and stop with their soft tyranny of ignoring the law and legal rulings handed down from our court system.

UPDATE #1: Here is a link to additional soft tyranny tactics of Barack Obama and his administration having to do with the drilling of oil.

Favorite take-away quote from source article - “The government was not at liberty to impose its own will after the court struck down the policy,” Sam Giberga, Hornbeck Offshore Services general counsel, said. “The government, like any citizen, had to obey the ruling, even if it didn’t like it.”

UPDATE #2: This article entitled "Obama Invites Crisis If He Ignores Ruling" from Investors Business Daily.

Favorite take-away quote - "Failure of the Obama administration to stop all activity related to the law that the federal court held to be unconstitutional would create a potential constitutional showdown between the two branches rarely seen in our nation's history. When coupled with the state's refusal to submit to federal regulations implementing a law that has been stripped from the books, our nation is looking at a potentially historic fight not only between branches of government but between the states and the federal government."

From Iran to Egypt, to Albania ... it's Muslim 52 card pick-up

2011-01-30T06:23:00.000-08:00

Egyptian demonstrators tear a portrait of President Hosni Mubarak during a protest against his rule in the northern port city of Alexandria on Thursday. Image Credit: AFP/Getty Images/Clarity Media

From Iran to Egypt, to Albania ... it's a Muslim-inspired game of 52 card pick-up

Just as the news was around a year ago, the cable news channels are a blaze with news of another citizen uprising against a decades long oppressive regime. Last year, it was the democracy "Green Movement" out of Iran against the religious Mullah ruling class. The last couple of days have been filled with Egypt's unrest against the secular tyranny of Mubarak with many wanting to fill the potential vacuumed with their own agendas ... from democracy to strong man rule to the Muslim idealism of Sharia Law. Tunisia, Albania, Lebanon, Yemen, Iran, Jordan, Syria, Somalia, and Egypt (to mention a few) are all in a ruling class versus a country class (citizens) game of 52 card pick-up of revolt and the people being ruled need a beacon to point to in order to fuse the direction of this unrest.

How does this play in a world where the stalwart of democracy around the world - The United States - is ruled by as progressive apologists as it has ever been in its over 250 year history?

Where is the beacon of leadership toward freedom and democracy when the ruling class here is busy trying to fashion a government healthcare, free-market commerce, and environmental policy yoke around the necks of its voting populous that will limit the personal freedoms to all in this country?

Why are the current leaders in our executive branch of this 44th presidency playing around with its critical role in world leadership and abdicating its responsibility by having a foreign policy that is ambiguous?

Image Credit: Flickr.com

This excerpted and edited from Pajamas Media and Michael Ladeen -

Egypt: Revolution? By Whom? For What?

January 28, 2011 - by Michael Ledeen - posted at Pajamas Media

As I’ve remarked in the past–but you can’t say the truth too often, right? — nobody knows what a revolution looks like. And in fact that last clause may be very misleading, because there is no one thing that a revolution looks like. Some revolutions happen very quietly, like the Information Revolution.

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You can’t judge a revolution by its theatrics. Something real has to happen, something beyond marching, chanting slogans, and making demands. Revolutions end systems of rule and replace them with new ones. Is that happening now in the Middle East? I think that the Green Movement in Iran is revolutionary, and that, if successful, it would end the Islamic Republic and replace it with a secular political system that separates mosque and state. I think that the efforts by Hezbollah to take over Lebanon also constitute an attempt at revolutionary change, because it would turn the secular Lebanese system into an Islamic Republic. It can go both ways.

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[I] Remember my Grandma Mashe: “Things are never so bad they can’t get worse.”

So how are we to look at it all?

The basic point is that most everything and everywhere is up for grabs.

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There are lots of different forces in play, and in many cases there is no way to know who will make what decisions, let alone what decisions they will make. Orders will be given, some of them will be obeyed while others will be ignored.

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Nobody knows how this will play out. Not even the mullahs. Everyone’s in a big hurry, and lots of mistakes will be made.

And what about us?

We are supposed to be the revolutionaries, and we must support democratic revolution against tyranny. But we must not support phony democrats, and for the president to say “Egypt’s destiny will be determined by the Egyptian people,” or “everyone wants to be free” is silly and dangerous. Egypt’s destiny will be determined by a fight among Egyptian people, some of whom wish to be free and others who wish to install a tyranny worse than Mubarak’s. That’s the opposite of freedom. Think about the free elections in Gaza that brought the Hamas killers to power. For that matter, think about Khomeini, viewed at the time as a progressive democrat by many of the leading intellectual and political lights of the West, from Foucault to Andrew Young.

We should have been pressuring the friendly tyrants in the Middle East to liberalize their polities lo these many years. We should have done it in the shah’s Iran, and in Mubarak’s Egypt, and in Ben Ali’s Tunisia. It is possible to move peacefully from dictatorship to democracy (think Taiwan. Think Chile. Think South Africa). But we didn’t, in part because of the racist stereotype that goes under the label “the Arab street,” according to which the Arab masses are motivated above all by an unrelenting rage at Israel for its oppression of the beloved Palestinians. That myth went along with another: the belief that the culture of the Arab world (sometimes expanded to “the culture of the Muslim world”) was totally resistant to democracy. The tumult has nothing to do with Palestine/Israel and even a blind bat can see hundreds of thousands of Arabs fighting for democracy, as have their fellow Muslims in Iran.

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It’s quite clear that Obama is totally bamboozled. He has no culture to deal with this situation, nor does Hillary.

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Does the intelligence community have people who know in detail who is who in the tumults? Historically we haven’t been great at this — the intelligence failures at the time of the Iranian revolution could fill a fat volume, with another needed to chronicle the failures during the following 31 years — but we’ve got a lot of Arabists and we may be lucky enough to have a few very good ones.

If we do, and if [Leon] Panetta and General Clapper know who they are, then we can try to pick and choose, supporting real democrats and thwarting the likes of al Baradei, the love child of both the Muslim Brotherhood and the Tehran crowd. Surely we know who he is. We should broadcast it.

----

Let’s hope there’s someone who can grab the president’s ears and explain the rules and the players. But the winning gambit — finally support democratic revolution in Iran — isn’t even being discussed. Paradoxically, this is a very good moment to endorse the Green Movement. I mean, if we’re going to praise the Tunisian and Egyptian freedom fighters, all the more reason to hail the true martyrs in Iran, currently being slaughtered in the country’s prisons at the blood-curdling rate of three per day. And that’s only the officially acknowledged executions.

So, having failed to do what we should have done for the past many decades, we should stick to what got us here: support democratic revolution. But not false revolutionaries. Remember Grandma.

Reference Here>>

Our leaders should be showing leadership to the world in our foreign policy and support for more of we enjoy over the powers of tyranny and Sharia Law to the masses and show the way to a better life based on freedom.

It is a game of 52 card pick-up, and as we can see with this Carter's Second Term over the last two years ... both here and throughout the Muslim world. We can be thankful that in this country we still have a modicum of public policy power through the ballot box and not violence.

The 44th President's Penultimate State Of The Union Speech

2011-01-26T08:08:00.000-08:00

President Barack Obama delivering his State of the Union address in Washington, D.C. Tuesday's speech was his second State of the Union address. Image Credit: Getty Images via Clarity Media

The 44th President's Penultimate State Of The Union Speech

Barack Obama gave his second speech to the Congress reviewing his view on where our country is today and updating his call to spend more money during the next year. If we are lucky, this will be the next to the last "State Of The Union" speech he will be required to deliver.

Barack Obama became our nation's 44th President just two years ago and decided to outspend any other of the previous 43 presidents through increasing the budgets of the operation of all government agencies by over 25% in an economy that was only growing an anemic 2.1% over this same period. He also passed a one-time emergency stimulus spending bill that boosted the spending of all of the agencies by about an additional 25% making the increase during these two years of around 50%.

In his speech, he said he recognizes that the American people sent a message to have government spending become under control so he proposed that the Congress freeze spending at current levels for the next five years. Sadly, this would suggest not to cut the 25% of continued increased spending he has placed on all of us while our economy may only grow at between 2-3% during the same time period.

He claimed that our nation is facing a "Sputnik" moment (where the country recognizes it is behind the successes of other nations)and called for increased government investments/spending in education, innovation, and infrastructure (like high-speed trains - all the while AMTRAK looses over 1 Billion dollars as it grows to new ridership rates). Do not forget to raise the debt ceiling to 14 Billion while your at it!

Last November, the President's party saw congressional election losses that have not been seen in over 70 years and State government losses that could be claimed as the most sweeping ... ever. The President at the time of the election last November 2010 mentioned that he and his Democrat political party suffered a shellacking but in this latest speech, while speaking words that, for the first time, did not mention George Bush and the previous administration, put forth more of the same expansion of government spending and control through regulation and additional paperwork. He still wants to keep the expansion of government ownership of the nation's healthcare system.

Our country can not afford the agenda of President Barack Obama and the country knows it. If we wish to be able to experience the blessings of self-government, we will need to change the leadership in the executive branch and stop the progressive movement. Last night, we all may have just witnessed the penultimate State Of The Union speech of this 44th presidency ... Carter's Second Term.

ObamaCare Repeal Watch - It's 21 For 12

2011-01-20T06:26:00.000-08:00

Over the last two years, we have watched an out of control Congress run roughshod over the American people and our Constitution. We watched the healthcare reform bill pass the U.S. Congress, which will destroy our Healthcare system. Watching all of this insanity, we realized that we can no longer sit on the sidelines and allow our country to continue to fall short of its potential greatness. To help restore America, we created Generation America and Generation America Voice. Image Credit: Generation America Voice and the 21-12 Project

ObamaCare Repeal Watch - It's 21 For '12

The 112th Congress in one of it's first actions of duty, voted to repeal ObamaCare by a wide margin. In fact, the repeal vote received more votes in passing than the ObamaCare bill received for its passage into law. The vote count aided by the landslide election last November of 63 new Republican Party congressmen and the help from 3 Democrat Party congressmen came in at 245 for repeal to 189 against repeal ... a good day for America and a potential step back from a Government Payer (single-payer) health care system - the eventual goal of ObamaCare.

So now it is 21 for '12 in order to have the repeal bill be seen on the floor of the Senate ... the next step toward the repeal process. There are 21 Democrat Party Senators who will be up for election in the next election cycle in the year 2012. Assuming that all Republican Senators would vote to repeal ObamaCare, it would only require 4 Democrat Party Senators to join the Republicans to move this process to the desk of the 44th President of the United States.

It is important to all of those who wish to maintain the decision-making power over the health of their lives (and this is not the only decision-making power at risk in the law that was passed by the 111th Congress we currently refer to as ObamaCare).

To help organize the efforts of the nearly 70% of all Americans who are against the present health care law passed by the 111th Congress, entitled "The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act of 2010", an alternative advocacy group that counters the efforts of AARP has been established. This group is called Generation America Voice and the effort to organize all who wish to protect their rights this ObamaCare law intends to take away is named Project 21-12!

This excerpted and edited from Generation America Voice -

Project 21-12 - OUR PLAN:

Project 21-12 is Generation America’s plan to Repeal ObamaCare.

The new Republican House of Representatives have voted to repeal ObamaCare. The repeal effort now moves to the Senate. Many political observers predict that this is where it will stall and die. To the contrary, we believe that through a simple plan of action, the Senate can be motivated to pass this bill and ObamaCare will be repealed.

There are 21 Democratic Senators who voted FOR ObamaCare and all of them are up for reelection in 2012, thus Project 21-12. The project is an outreach to these 21 Democrat Senators in an attempt to inform them about the terrible harm this bill does to older Americans and the economic catastrophe that ObamaCare will create. We believe that these Senators, as they have the opportunity to reflect on ObamaCare and the negative effects we are already seeing, will listen to reason and reconsider their original support of ObamaCare.

All of Washington, including these 21 Senators fully understands the historic exceelection this past November. They follow the public opinion polls that reflect resounding dissatisfaction with ObamaCare. Many of these Senators are worried and understand that they will have a very difficult time retaining their seats if they continue to support ObamaCare.

What excites us about this plan is its simplicity. The Republicans will control 47 Senate seats. We only need 4 Democrats to change their vote to repeal ObamaCare. This can be done.
Reference Here>>

It is funny that people believe that a "Single-Payer" system is best for all. Have they ever asked themselves the following questions?:

1) Where does the money come from to pay the provider?

2) If the Government is paying the provider, who does the provider answer to - the patient or the payer?

3) If the Government payer also collects taxes on people when they die through Estate Taxes, doesn't this fact set up an additional conflict of interest?

4) Can the cost be reduced when additional people in the payer process are placed between the provider and the patient?

5) Can insurance companies really reduce additional costs if they can not compete in all 50 states (currently restricted by imposed laws)?

I am sure you and others who have pondered this issue have a few good questions for people who feel that a single-payer approach is the ideal to consider ... but this is just a start. These questions do not even address the Constitutional individual freedoms that are erased if a single-payer process were to be established.

Remember ... we Americans do have actual power over those who believe they are members of the ruling class. Get involved in the 21-12 Project and just see where this ride takes us on the path to Repeal And Replace here during Carter's Second Term.

Sheriff Dupnick And The Malice Of The Accusatory Left

2011-01-11T20:19:00.000-08:00

Politically Frustrated: Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik could not hide his anger at the 'vitriol' that he said may have caused the already-unstable gunman to react by going on a shooting rampage as he spoke at a press conference. Image Credit: Reuters

Sheriff Dupnik And The Malice Of The Accusatory Left

It is definitely tragic that a young man, born of politically connected parents, who had a history of arrests for acting out, without developing a record, showed up at a public meeting set by a recently re-elected Congresswoman and with malice in his heart started pouring bullets into those that had gathered to share thoughts about their community.

What has nearly the same level of malice is the initial and continuing statements of those in our country who are politically left, liberal, progressive, and of the Democrat Political Party.

Within two hours of this tragic event (as pointed out by news commentator, Sean Hannity), perpetrated by the then unidentified Jared Lee Loughner, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman penned:

We don’t have proof yet that this was political, but the odds are that it was. She’s been the target of violence before. And for those wondering why a Blue Dog Democrat, the kind Republicans might be able to work with, might be a target, the answer is that she’s a Democrat who survived what was otherwise a GOP sweep in Arizona, precisely because the Republicans nominated a Tea Party activist.
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You know that Republicans will yell about the evils of partisanship whenever anyone tries to make a connection between the rhetoric of Beck, Limbaugh, etc. and the violence I fear we’re going to see in the months and years ahead. But violent acts are what happen when you create a climate of hate. And it’s long past time for the GOP’s leaders to take a stand against the hate-mongers.
Reference Here>>

Further, and this might be a bit more troubling, Clarence Dupnik, the Pima County Sheriff started to appear on news programs to talk about the law enforcement efforts to take control and report the facts of what transpired on the ground ... began to make accusations in the same tone set by Paul Krugman, an OP-ED columnist, but in the context of an official on the scene.

Sheriff Dupnik sparked much of the accusatory debate during a press conference Saturday evening in which he blamed talk radio and television for a decline of discourse in America.

"I think the vitriolic rhetoric that we hear day in and day out from people in the radio business and some people in the TV business and what (we) see on TV and how our youngsters are being raised, that this has not become the nice United States of America that most of us grew up in. And I think it's time that we do the soul-searching," the Sheriff said.

On Sunday, Dupnik didn't back down.

"I think we're the tombstone of the United States of America," Dupnik said of The Grand Canyon State, which a day earlier he called the “Mecca” of hatred and bigotry. "To try to inflame the public on a daily basis 24 hours a day, seven days a week has impact on people, especially who are unbalanced personalities to begin with."
Reference Here>>

"The sheriff out there in Tucson, I think he's got it right," Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., the assistant minority whip, told "Fox News Sunday." "Words do have consequences. And I think that we have to really -- this is nothing new. I've been saying this for a long time now."

"I think the sheriff was right," added Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., who appeared on CBS' "Face the Nation."

"Bob, when you and I grew up, we grew up listening to essentially three major news outlets: NBC, ABC, and of course, CBS. We listened to people like Walter Cronkite and Eric Sevareid, and Huntley-Brinkley, and they saw their job as to inform us of the facts and we would make a conclusion," Hoyer said. "Far too many broadcasts now and so many outlets have the intent of inciting, and inciting people to opposition, to anger, to thinking the other side is less than moral. And I think that is a context in which somebody who is mentally unbalanced can somehow feel justified in taking this kind of action. And I think we need to all take cognizance of that and be aware that what we say can, in fact, have consequences."

The context of all of the support statements for the Sheriff of Pima County do nothing to recognize the unique situation the Sheriff had placed himself. He was booked to speak about the unfolding event and facts surrounding this targeted act of murder and violence and he freely went on to speculate as to the cause of the acts of the person the police had in custody based upon (self-admitted by the Sheriff, when asked by Fox News Anchor, Megyn Kelly) no facts ... and no proof. Clarence Dupnik - Pima County Sheriff stated that this was his opinion as a person that spent 50 years in law enforcement but that in this specific case he currently had no facts for his opinion.

Arizona shooting suspect Jared Lee Loughner in a photo released by the Pima County Sheriff's Department. The man allegedly responsible for last Saturday’s shooting spree that left six people dead, a U.S. congresswoman clinging to life, and 13 other people injured appeared in court Monday to hear formal charges against him, in one of the first steps of what is likely to be a complex and extended legal process. Here, Mr. Loughner is happy that the press, the Sheriff of Pima County, and leaders in the Democrat Political Party are working hard to bring him excuses for his mass-murderous act while he builds a defense to escape the death penalty. Image Credit: Pima County Sheriff's Department

After all of these days since the act of mass-murder had been carried out by Jared Lee Loughner, we now know through various reports that he had been arrest several times for making threats against others at college, he was registered politically as an Independent, he smoked dope regularly, that he erected a human skull bearing satanic alter in the backyard of his parents home, his mother, Amy, works for the Pima County board of supervisors, he was the only child in the Loughner family, he posted a series of rambling YouTube videos in which he speaks of mind control, dreaming and a "new currency", he was a model student when it came to attendance, he didn't perform well on tests, he handed in an assignment with geometric doodles instead of answers, he listed on his YouTube profile page his favorite books as "Animal Farm," "Brave New World" and "Mein Kampf", he apparently met Congresswoman Gabby Giffords once in 2007, and described her as "stupid and unintelligent", he was a deeply disturbed young man who’d been wandering the neighborhood he grew up in with an especially strange look in his eyes in recent days, neighbors say Jared’s mother is very friendly and outgoing, although his father, Randy, is “very aggressive, very angry all the time about petty things according to neighbors, and lastly ... Pima Community College suspended Jared Lee Loughner in September after administrators grew disturbed over one of his Internet posts, and told his parents he would need a mental health clearance if he wanted to return.

No where is there a background that would suggest the "vitriolic rhetoric that we hear day in and day out from people in the radio business and some people in the TV business and what (we) see on TV and how our youngsters are being raised, that this has not become the nice United States of America that most of us grew up in" as the rhetoric of the politically left, liberal, progressive, and of the Democrat Political Party has asserted has any basis in fact.

"We must reject the idea that every time a law is broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his [or her] actions." - Ronald Reagan

The Pima County Sheriff, Clarence Dupnik, should lose his position as sheriff for his unprofessional approach to talking with the media. He has proven that he can not be trusted in an environment that requires nuance, discernment, and the ability to relate to all of the citizens he is responsible to protect. To listen to him ... the only people he feels comfortable representing are the philosophically Big, Bigger, Biggest Government type of people.

Please do not ask how this situation might square with the Sheriff's perspective on what may ... or may not constitute freedom of speech here during the politically divisive 44th Presidency - Carter's Second Term.

The Bankruptcy Beat Goes On In A Bad Obama Economy

2011-01-04T19:15:00.000-08:00

Image Credit: citytowninfo.com

The Bankruptcy Beat Goes On In A Bad Obama Economy

All of the government "stimulus" and government spending in the world can not repair a free market economy.

The number of Americans filing for bankruptcy in 2010 ticked up 9% over the previous year to more than 1.53 million, industry groups said Monday.

The number of consumers filing for bankruptcy has increased each year since 2005, when bankruptcy laws were revamped to make bankruptcy more difficult, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute and the National Bankruptcy Research Center.

This 2010 figure of reported bankruptcies far outpaces the 1,407,788 total consumer filings that were recorded during 2009, a trend that the American Bankruptcy Institute attributes to high debt and a stagnant economy.

"The steady climb of consumer filings notwithstanding the 2005 bankruptcy law restrictions demonstrate that families continue to turn to bankruptcy as a result of high debt burdens and stagnant income growth," ABI Executive Director Samuel Gerdano said in a statement. "We expect that consumer filings will continue to rise in 2011."

With a total of 118,146 bankruptcy filings, December 2010 was a particularly bad month for consumers, an increase of 3% over November's level.
(ht: CNNMoney)

The Obama administration combined with entrenched ruling class politicians that have run Washington federal politics over these last several decades is finally coming to roost here in 2011 as the national debt exceeds 14 Trillion dollars.

using a total population of 333,000,000 (333 Million - 1/3 of a Billion) for ease of mathematics ... a Trillion dollars is 1,000 Billion dollars, and a Billion dollars is equal to a contribution of $3.00 for each and every person wither the person is 9 months, or 90 years old. Using this base of logic, each and every human being in the United States owes the federal government over $42,000 in order to wipe out the current level of debt.

The debt is growing at over 4 Billion dollars a day or by the end of today YOU will have to add another $12.00 to the $42,000 that you and everyone else owes to wipe out the debt our representatives are piling onto us at this moment.

Bankruptcy is a default against a personal debt and everyone owed looses their time and money they invested in meeting the wants and needs of the person who is declaring bankruptcy. The federal debt is still owed to everyone ... and by everyone else.

Translate this to California's debt of 28 Billion dollars the math does not get any better. At an estimated population of 37 million as of July 2009 which will translate to $27.03 for every Billion dollars of debt. Using this logic - each and every Californian is in debt $27.03 for every Billion dollars X 28 Billion = $756.76.

Motor Trend Green, Rush Limbaugh, And A Nielsen Reality

2010-11-24T08:10:00.000-08:00

Ford named The Automotive Green Marketer of the Year by Nielsen at LA Auto Show 2010 - Nielsen research found • 85% of consumers said they recalled seeing a ‘green’ auto ad recently and, on average across the 23 brands measured, 67% of consumers said they had a more positive opinion of green marketing after seeing the ad. • Further to that, 41% of consumers said the ad increased their consideration to buy the featured vehicle. • Green auto ads resonated better than the average auto ad with 12% higher Message Recall, the percentage in which a viewer can recall an ad, the brand or vehicle featured in the ad, and the green message conveyed. • Among nearly 60,000 social media messages analyzed for auto brands, consumers view their green auto marketing efforts in a favorable light with 12 times more positive “buzz” than negative [ctrl-click image to launch YouTube of announcement]. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2010)

Motor Trend Green, Rush Limbaugh, And A Nielsen Reality

This last week during Press Days at the 2010 LA Auto Show, General Motors was doing its best to place its best foot forward and some in the automotive press were more than willing to play along. On the very same day that Motor Trend Magazine announced that it was awarding the Motor Trend Car of the Year 2010 to the Chevrolet Volt ... General Motors placed stock on the open market for people to buy (Initial Purchase Offer - IPO).

This honor by Motor Trend has been cherished by almost every manufacturer throughout the years but this year seemed unusual ... even by Rush Limbaugh.

Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2010)

Motor Trend magazine has fired back, slamming Rush Limbaugh for his ill-informed critique of the Motor Trend Car of the year for 2010 the Chevy Volt by General Motors (GM).

Talk show host, Rush Limbaugh has been on a few rants against GM's Chevy Volt, saying,

Of all the cars in the world, the Chevrolet Volt is the Car of the Year? Motor Trend magazine, that’s the end of them. How in the world do they have any credibility? Not one has been sold [and] the Volt is the Car of the Year.

That prompted this charged, and somewhat petty response from Motor Trend Magazine, editor Todd Lassa:

So, Mr. Limbaugh; you didn’t enjoy your drive of our 2011 Car of the Year, the Chevrolet Volt? Assuming you’ve been anywhere near the biggest automotive technological breakthrough since … I don’t know, maybe the self-starter, could you even find your way to the front seat? Or are you happy attacking a car that you’ve never even seen in person?

The Motor Trend blog continued its trenchant, and unprofessional take down of Rush Limbaugh's disagreements against the Chevy Volt, ending with this nasty left hook:

I’m sure GM would be happy to lend you one for the weekend. Just remember: driving and Oxycontin don’t mix.

Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2010)

I (as both the LA Motor Culture Examiner and the LA Conservative Examiner) have some of the same troubles with the Volt being named car of the year by Motor Trend Magazine when the General Motors plan is to produce ONLY 10,000 of these citizen owned/Government owned white elephants that require an even bigger giveaway of our tax dollars ($7,500 incentive discount from the $41,000 list price) just to try to shove them, dare I say, down our throats?!

They should be selling this car as a car that has a 300 mile range on current infrastructure fuel with a pure electric power extension of maybe 40 miles.

The Volt was also named Green Car of the year all on the same day that GM issued its IPO stock offer. We call this monetizing our tax dollar debt. I already have money in GM thanks to the new rules implemented by the Government here in Carter's Second Term, why would I wish to invest more money in this joke of a Government and Union owned enterprise when there are choices that I CAN make for myself to invest in companies, green companies that are owned by people who actually have a connection to what they make?

Ford was named as the first ever Automotive Green Marketer of the Year by Nielsen ... now there IS a company that has a legacy to its product that one could invest in without having to look over one's shoulder!

This is what the press release had to say about Ford:

Ford has built significant awareness over the past year around their hybrid vehicles and fuel-efficient cars with key campaigns for Fiesta and Fusion Hybrid, as well as their Drive One 2.0 brand ads featuring hybrids and miles-per-gallon (MPG) related ads. In addition, Ford’s official sponsorship of Fox’s reality show American Idol, which put specific emphasis on the hybrid offerings, has helped drive increased awareness of their green message among millions of people every week. Last season, American Idol’s popular Ford Music Video Challenge, in which exclusive Ford music videos aired each week, featured the Fusion Hybrid and Escape Hybrid, successfully grabbing the attention of consumers. Meanwhile, the company continued to break ground in social media with the launch of new apps aimed at expanding its reach to a new class of prospective car-buyers.

“The Automotive Green Marketer of the Year award is not just about great creative, although we all know that’s a crucial element of any effective ad campaign,” said Lois Miller, President, Nielsen Automotive. “However, this is bigger than one creative. This award is for the auto marketer who was most effective at leveraging its brand to further the ‘green’ movement and create positive awareness for all the auto industry is doing to drive fuel-efficiency and eco-friendly practices. This was best exemplified by Ford.”

Basically, this is where the rubber meets the ol' green road ... Ford's contribution takes into account REALITY! ... something Todd Lassa and Motor Trend may have lost touch with a few egos (and possible political campaign contributions) ago.

AARP Raises Premiums - Advocacy Clashes With Reality

2010-11-07T07:14:00.000-08:00

Contrary to Democratic politician's promises when they jammed Obamacare through the Senate and Congress, claiming that when the public found out all that was in the bill they would start to support it, opposition is rising as the public becomes aware of what Washington Democrats actually passed and Obama signed into law. Caption & Image Credit: wakeupamericans-spree.blogspot.com

AARP Raises Premiums - Advocacy Clashes With Reality

Truth has a funny way of dispelling the aggressive distortion of an advocacy point-of-view.

A classic case in point has popped up over at the insurance and liberal advocacy organization American association of retired persons, AARP. AARP is a non-profit organization which helps people above the age of 50 to lead a peaceful life both health and finance. Most famous of AARP programs is AARP insurance.

AARP is now telling its employees that insurance costs will rise by 8 percent to 13 percent next year, partly as a result of the ObamaCare law it supported.

This excerpted and edited from the Washington Times -

Obamacare spurs AARP to raise premiums
By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar - Associated Press - 6:35 p.m., Thursday, November 4, 2010

AARP's endorsement helped secure passage of President Obama's health care overhaul. Now the seniors' lobby is telling its employees their insurance costs will rise, partly as a result of the law.
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AARP added that it is changing co-payments and deductibles to avoid a 40 percent tax on high-cost health plans that takes effect in 2018 under the law. Aerospace giant Boeing also has cited the tax in asking its workers to pay more. Shifting costs to employees lowers the value of a health care plan and acts like an escape hatch from the tax.

"Most plan co-pays and deductibles have been modified," Jennifer Hodges, AARP's director of compensation and benefits, wrote employees in an Oct. 25 e-mail. "Plan value changes were necessary not only from a cost-management standpoint, but also to ensure that AARP's plans fall below the threshold for high-cost group plans under health care reform."
Reference Here>>

Ever since Barack Obama took the office as the 44th President of the United States, AARP endorsed the efforts of the Democrat political party in its efforts at healthcare reform. These efforts had little to do with improving a free market approach and everything to do with having the Government become the chief decider on what insurance will look like ... even if the Government has to become the "Single-Payer" in the insurance equation.

The chief reason AARP was an advocate on ObamaCare can be found where AARP makes their money ... in Medigap insurance coverage. Medigap plans are a cash cow for AARP and if people don't need them because they can enroll in Medicare Advantage plans, that's a revenue loss for AARP. Obamacare helps to do away with Medicare Advantage plans.

While the organization has some partnering arrangements with Medicare Advantage plans, they provide a fraction of the revenues to the organization that Medigap does.

Second, if Medicare's benefits are cut by $400 billion or more, seniors will have an ever greater need for Medigap coverage.

"There's an inherent conflict of interest," former AARP executive Marilyn Moon says of AARP's royalty arrangements. "They're ending up becoming very dependent on sources of income."

Tens of thousands of seniors have resigned from AARP, many of them cutting up their membership cards to protest the organization's promotion of health reform.

The new chief executive officer of AARP, Barry Rand, who was a strong supporter of President Obama during last year's presidential campaign, says AARP is not protesting the Medicare cuts because reducing waste and fraud in Medicare will make the program stronger over the long term.

The 40 million-strong AARP represents people 50 and older, including retirees on Medicare and Social Security. Its endorsement of President Barack Obama's health bill came at a critical time last year, just days before a vote on the House floor.

"The [insurance rate]impact on [our]AARP employees is not a factor at all in our policy-making, which is directed at the impact on our membership and on all older Americans," said said David Certner, AARP legislative affairs director.

One has to ask ... how many 50 years of age and older employees does AARP actually have?

We , at Carter's Second Term, believe - AARP ... the American association of retired persons, is less about protecting the interests of retired persons than it is at protecting its cash cows in the insurance business.

Carter = A Steward Vs Obama = A Scold

2010-10-28T10:38:00.000-07:00

Rush Limbaugh said “An American president has never had facial expressions like this. At least we’ve never seen photos of an American president with facial expressions like this.” Image Credit: Drudge Report/Wire Service

Carter = A Steward Vs Obama = A Scold

An opinion article written by senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, Shelby Steele, helps to explain how confounding this 44th presidency is to live through.

Forget about the facts that Senator Obama promised unity, transparency, reduced deficits, responsible and accountable governance when he was campaigning to become president in 2008. All of this, and more, are sooooo 2008 here in Carter's Second Term.

Forget about the very astute understanding that we find ourselves in a political "Class Warfare" - and it is not the kind one immediately comes to. It isn't rich versus poor, or Democrat versus Republican, or liberial versus conservative but a Ruling Class (career political operatives and those purchased by their actions - ie: Unions, government workers, community organizations, and etc.) versus Country Class - defined as those who believe in this country and the Constitution that formed it!

What Shelby Steele articulates well is the opinion that what we are suffering from isn't a leader that is choosing to lead a country of greatness but to scold a country that operates from a position of bad faith.

This excerpted and edited from the Wall Street Journal -

A Referendum on the Redeemer
By Shelby Steele, Wall Street Journal - October 28, 2010

Whether or not the Republicans win big next week, it is already clear that the "transformative" aspirations of the Obama presidency—the special promise of this first black president to "change" us into a better society—are much less likely to materialize. There will be enough Republican gains to make the "no" in the "party of no" even more formidable, if not definitive.
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His embarrassed supporters console themselves that their intentions were good; their vote helped make history. But for Mr. Obama himself there is no road back to the charisma and political capital he enjoyed on his inauguration day. How is it that Barack Obama could step into the presidency with an air of inevitability and then, in less than two years, find himself unwelcome at the campaign rallies of many of his fellow Democrats?

The first answer is well-known: His policymaking has been grandiose, thoughtless and bullying. His health-care bill was ambitious to the point of destructiveness and, finally, so chaotic that today no citizen knows where they stand in relation to it.
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His coming of age paralleled exactly the unfolding of a new "counterculture" American identity. And this new American identity—and the post-1960s liberalism it spawned—is grounded in a remarkable irony: bad faith in America as virtue itself, bad faith in the classic American identity of constitutional freedom and capitalism as the way to a better America.
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He is simply the first president we have seen grounded in this counterculture American identity. When he bows to foreign leaders, he is displaying the counterculture Americanism of honorable self-effacement in which America acknowledges its own capacity for evil as prelude to engagement.

Bad faith in America became virtuous in the '60s when America finally acknowledged so many of its flagrant hypocrisies: the segregation of blacks, the suppression of women, the exploitation of other minorities, the "imperialism" of the Vietnam War, the indifference to the environment, the hypocrisy of puritanical sexual mores and so on. The compounding of all these hypocrisies added up to the crowning idea of the '60s: that America was characterologically evil.
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Among today's liberal elite, bad faith in America is a sophistication, a kind of hipness.
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There was no vision of the future in "Hope and Change." It is an expression of bad faith in America, but its great ingenuity was to turn that bad faith into political motivation, into votes. But there is a limit to bad faith as power, and Mr. Obama and the Democratic Party may have now reached that limit.

The great weakness of bad faith is that it disallows American exceptionalism as a rationale for power. It puts Mr. Obama and the Democrats in the position of forever redeeming a fallen nation, rather than leading a great nation. They bet on America's characterological evil and not on her sense of fairness, generosity or ingenuity.

When bad faith is your framework (Michelle Obama never being proud of her country until it supported her husband), then you become more a national scold than a real leader. You lead out of a feeling that your opposition is really only the latest incarnation of that old characterological evil that you always knew was there. Thus the tea party—despite all the evidence to the contrary—is seen as racist and bigoted.
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Our great presidents have been stewards, men who broadly identified with the whole of America. Stewardship meant responsibility even for those segments of America where one might be reviled.
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But he [Obama] has functioned more as a redeemer than a steward, a leader who sees a badness in us from which we must be redeemed. Many Americans are afraid of this because a mandate as grandiose as redemption justifies a vast expansion of government. A redeemer can't just tweak and guide a faltering economy; he will need a trillion- dollar stimulus package. He can't take on health care a step at a time; he must do it all at once, finally mandating that every citizen buy in.

Next week's election is, among other things, a referendum on the idea of president-as- redeemer. We have a president so determined to transform and redeem us from what we are that, by his own words, he is willing to risk being a one-term president.

People now wonder if Barack Obama can pivot back to the center like Bill Clinton did after his set-back in '94. But Mr. Clinton was already a steward, a policy wonk, a man of the center. Mr. Obama has to change archetypes.
Reference Here>>

One has to believe that a human Bill-Of-Rights, a Constitution that intentionally limits the size, power, and scope of Government, and the nature of our American Rule-Of-Law that starts from the position that everyone who is suspected of a crime is presumed innocent in the eyes of the court, are inherently evil in order to believe that "Bad Faith" is America!

It is time to vote on November 2nd, 2010 for anything but DEMOCRAT ... for the Democrat Political Party IS the politics of BAD FAITH ... not the politics of greatness here in Carter's Second Term.

When the nation goes to the polls on November 2nd, the citizens will not be going to the polls to VOTE ... but they will be going to the polls to issue a Restraining Order on the Obama Administration and the rest of the Democrat Party!

Obama Hate Speech In Obama's Own Words

2010-10-26T07:56:00.000-07:00

'I am not king': Obama tells Latino voters he can't conjure immigration reform alone. Image Credit: Luis Sinco

Obama Hate Speech In Obama's Own Words

Barack Obama views America through very critical and radical eyes. In a recent interview given to the NBC Spanish language broadcast arm, Univision, on the mid-term campaign trail, Barack Obama speaks about the view of illegal immigrants who (from his point-of-view) are potentially sitting on the sidelines, sheathing for a way for America to act on their behalf.

What is interesting about this interview is the way Barack Obama uses the voice of the Latin American illegal immigrant to pull forward his divisive point of view of what American Values ought to be.

This Excerpted and edited from LA Time Blog reprint of the Univision interview transcript -

Transcript of President Barack Obama with Univision
October 25, 2010 | 1:14 pm

President Barack Obama was interviewed by Eddie "Piolin" Sotelo last week in Los Angeles for a Univision radio program that aired Monday.

Sotelo asked the president to focus on immigration. When the Spanish-language radio giant suggested that the Obama administration was more dedicated to fixing issues like healthcare than immigration, the president disagreed.

“My cabinet has been working very hard on trying to get it done, but ultimately, I think somebody said the other day, I am president, I am not king. I can't do these things just by myself. We have a system of government that requires the Congress to work with the executive branch to make it happen. I'm committed to making it happen, but I've gotta have some partners to do it,” Obama said.
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POTUS: Well, here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna see how well we do in this election and I think a lot of it is gonna depend on whether we still have some support not only from Democrats, but also Republicans, but they're gonna be paying attention to this election.

And if Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, we're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us, if they don't see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election, then I think it's gonna be harder and that's why I think it's so important that people focus on voting on November 2.
Reference Here>>

So, the President of the United States engages in a divide and conqurer - American against American - by speaking a voice that suggests a war within ... he further stated that "And that's why this election coming up is so important because we essentially have to say that those who are politicizing the issue, who are supportive of the Arizona law, who talk only about border security but aren't willing to talk about the other aspects of this, who don't support the Dream Act, who are out there engaging in rhetoric that is divisive and damaging that -- those aren't the kinds of folks who represent our core American values."

So basically, Americans who believe in sovereignty are to be viewed as enemies and do not represent core American values. Thanks!

These are the thoughts of a man who ran for the office of President of the United States on the premise that there are no Red States, or Blue States but there is only the United States of America.

Talk about whipping up the "BASE" ... I do not know about you, but the hateful thoughts and attitudes expressed above are nothing more than the real thoughts and attitudes of the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama!

Soros Money Gets Juan Williams Fired From NPR

2010-10-21T18:57:00.000-07:00

So, with the news that George Soros is buying one hundred political “reporters” for National Public Radio (NPR), one waits with bated breath for the left to decry the fact that a famous anti-American leftist is buying and influencing the “news.” Image Credit: Big Journalism

Soros Money Gets Juan Williams Fired From NPR

Yesterday, Glenn Beck opened his show stating that he had something else planned to present for the hour but something came up in the form of an email that he had to address.

The email concerned itself with the new round of donations being issued by Billionaire progressive, George Soros and his campaign to get Glenn Beck fired from Fox News through boycotts by advertisers to his program. The memo confirmed that Soros had just given the left-wing hell-raising blog, Media Matters, a million dollars and asked them to broaden their boycott efforts to all of Fox News ... the declarations are on the MM website.

It turns out that recently, George Soros has also given a very large donation (1.8 million dollars for 100 reporters) to National Public Radio (NPR) as well.

This morning, NPR has just announced that it was firing longtime author and Democrat politics commentator, Juan Williams. NPR used as its reasoning that Jaun Williams' appearance on the Fox News top rated politics, culture information, and commentary show, The O'Reilly Factor, resulted in Juan expressing feelings that were inconsistent with its world view ... or something to that effect.

This excerpted and edited from The Atlantic -

Juan Williams Fired by NPR For No Particular Reason (UPDATED)
By Jeffery Goldberg - Oct 21 2010, 12:23 AM ET

National Public Radio has fired the political analyst Juan Williams for comments he made about Muslims on Bill O'Reilly's Fox show. These are two of the controversial comments in question, according to The New York Times:

'I mean, look, Bill, I'm not a bigot. You know the kind of books I've written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous."

And this, in reference to Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistani immigrant who attempted to blow up Times Square with a car bomb:

"He said the war with Muslims, America's war is just beginning, first drop of blood. I don't think there's any way to get away from these facts."

The first quotation reflects the views, I'm guessing, of the vast majority of people who fly in this country (and in Europe and Asia and other parts of the world, as well). With some regularity, Muslim men associated with radical Islamist organizations have been trying to kill American civilians, here and abroad. A group of 19 Muslim men succeeded beyond their wildest dreams in their mission nine years ago. The majority of Muslims abhor terrorism, and Muslims are the disproportionate victims of Muslim terror, but the essential truth remains that most of the world's spectacular terrorism today -- thwarted and achieved -- is committed by Muslims.

Juan Williams misunderstands one crucial fact: Muslim terrorists who are attempting to commit acts of terror seldom if ever dress in "Muslim garb"; they dress, for obvious tactical reasons, in a manner meant to help them blend in with surroundings. So Williams is wrong, I think, to be particularly suspicious of traditionally-dressed Muslims. But is he wrong to worry about Islamist terrorism? Of course not.
Reference Here>>

So, the real reason for the firing seems confused, at best.

What is consistent here is that both Juan Williams and Mara Liasson are (or were) longtime contributors to NPR and are contributors to Fox News and therein lays the rub. Soros money is now beginning to turn the screws and place pressure from where the money is placed and directed. Mira Liasson has said previously, that her participation on discussion panels at Fox News (primarily with Brit Hume and Bret Baier) has been questioned by the staff at NPR.

One wonders here during Carter's Second Term ... just when will all of the Soros money will catch up with her (Mara Liasson) and gets her removed from either NPR or have her resign from Fox News due to "pressures"?

This act by George Soros and his media minions is an attempt to end free speech through fear!

Boxer VFW Endorsement In Dispute By VFW Leadership

2010-10-11T07:15:00.000-07:00

Photo of letter issued by the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States calling the actions of the VFW-PAC into question as it relates to political endorsements. This photo was taken at a protest rally outside of the VFW-PAC news conference to endorse Barbara Boxer for her fifth term as United States Senator. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2010)

Boxer VFW Endorsement In Dispute By VFW Leadership

In what may be a case of identity theft through going rogue, the separate political action committee organization using the "VFW" in its name is endorsing candidates without the blessing of the real VFW organization out of Kansas City, MO.

In a letter issued October 8, 2010, titled "VFW Leadership at Odds with VFW-PAC" and signed by Richard L. Eubank - National Commander, Richard L. DeNoyer - Sr. Vice Commander, and John E. Hamilton - Jr. Vice Commander, the VFW leadership called the methodology process used by the PAC "seriously flawed at best this year and in immediate need of extensive review," in the wake of the recent congressional endorsements made by the committee.

This separate organization, formed by 12 VFW members, is acting rogue in their endorsements of Barbara Boxer, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi. The voting record and personal statements from all of these endorsed candidates should have had them removed from consideration.

This photo was taken at a protest rally outside of the VFW-PAC news conference to endorse Barbara Boxer for her fifth term as United States Senator. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2010)

This excerpted and edited from the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States website -

VFW Leadership at Odds with VFW-PAC
By Richard L. Eubank - National Commander, Richard L. DeNoyer - Sr. Vice Commander, and John E. Hamilton - Jr. Vice Commander - October 8, 2010 - VFW, Kansas City, MO.

“Even though the law requires that VFW-PAC be a separate organization, the acronym ‘VFW’ is attached to the committee and the natural assumption is that the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States is somehow making the endorsement decisions. Nothing could be further from the truth, but perception is reality,” said National Commander Richard Eubank.

“Obviously, an organization's political positions have to reflect the opinions of its members. But those opinions can't be perceived as ‘off the wall,’ and the methodology used this year to grade candidates obviously is skewed in favor of the incumbent. That isn’t fair, and it actually subverts the democratic process.”
Reference Here>>

Paul Chabot - Statewide Chairman, Veterans for Carly Coalition, Iraq War Vet, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (Kansas City) Lifemember) as he presents the letter from the VFW leadership out of Kansas City, MO, and reviews Barbara Boxer's voting record on Veteran's Affairs. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2010)

Barbara Boxers record is as follows (re-published from LA Conservative Examiner):

To be clear, this endorsement should be protested on these facts on the actions and voting record of this current Senator from California (information provided by the Pasadena Patriots - TeaPac - Paul Chabot - Statewide Chairman, Veterans for Carly Coalition, Iraq War Vet, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (Kansas City) Lifemember):

Boxer Military Fact Check

1) Barbara Boxer continues to campaign with Jane Fonda. I do not have to remind Veterans the harm that Jane Fonda caused to our Nation - they know all too well.

2) In California, we have 1.9 million Veterans, 30,000 returning from war each year. While the California unemployment rate is 12.4%, Veterans in California have over a 30% unemployment rate. Of the total number of unemployed persons in California, 25% are Veterans. The problem has gotten much worse under Boxer, not better.

3) Our VA Hospitals are overloaded, bulging at the seams; the quality of care is decreasing while wait lines are increasing beyond any reasonable expectation. As a Vet who receives care at California VA's, I can firmly
attest to this fact and the outrage felt by my fellow Veterans.

4) Barbara Boxer has consistently voted against funding for our troops in times of war. In 2007, she was one of only 14 senators to vote against supplemental funding for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. That bill included billions of dollars in funding for body armor, for mine-resistant vehicles, for defense health programs - including funding for the treatment of soldiers suffering from PTSD and brain trauma - and to help combat IEDs.

5) In 2003, Boxer was one of just 12 senators to oppose the $87 billion supplemental appropriation for the reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan, which provided funding for body armor, communications equipment, equipment maintenance and operation, defense health programs, increased imminent danger pay. The reconstruction package also included funds to help military families by increasing the Family Separation Allowance, by allowing family members to visit soldiers who are ill or injured as a result of their active-duty service and by providing access to the benefits of the Family Medical Leave Act.

6) Boxer has repeatedly disrespected prominent members of our military. Who can forget the time she upbraided Brigadier General Michael Walsh during a committee hearing for calling her "ma'am" instead of "senator."

7) Boxer has also refused to condemn the offensive, defamatory advertisement MoveOn.org ran against General David Petraeus, who is now commanding our forces in Afghanistan.

It is for these reasons, that we must ask the VFW-PAC to rescind its endorsement of Barbara Boxer.

Reference Here>>

This photo was taken at a protest rally outside of the VFW-PAC news conference to endorse Barbara Boxer for her fifth term as United States Senator. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2010)

This excerpted and edited from the LA Times -

Boxer highlights endorsement by VFW-PAC
By: Cathleen Decker - October 10, 2010 | 5:13 pm

Fiorina has been critical of Boxer’s record on military issues, including Boxer's vote against a military spending bill that Boxer opposed because she said it did not outline a clear exit strategy from Iraq. On Sunday after speaking at a civic affairs conference hosted by the Iranian American Jewish community in Century City, Fiorina said the VFW PAC had “lost a great deal of credibility because they’ve demonstrated once again that all they ever do is endorse incumbent politicians.”

“There are a great number of veterans who are offended by Boxer’s refusal to support our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan," Fiorina told reporters Sunday. "There are veterans who are offended by the way she dressed down a general, and there are, unfortunately for the VFW PAC, now a whole lot of veterans who are offended by the decision the VFW PAC has taken.”

Fiorina’s campaign also released a statement by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and other military veterans, objecting to the VFW's endorsement of her. (McCain is campaigning for Fiorina).

Asked after her speech about McCain's objection, Boxer merely smiled and replied: "I'm so excited to have the VFW endorsement. I couldn't be more thrilled."
Reference Here>>

This photo was taken at a protest rally outside of the VFW-PAC news conference to endorse Barbara Boxer for her fifth term as United States Senator. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2010)

Well, no matter how tainted or in dispute, or bogus an endorsement may be (especially given one's own voting record and personal statements) ... the accepting of this VFW-PAC endorsement passes for something to be excited about by Barbara Boxer, here during Carter's Second Term (the 44th Presidency of the United States).

Boxer Endorsement UPDATE - VFW Leaders Tell PAC to Rescind Boxer, Klein Endorsements - Published October 13, 2010 | FOX News/Associated Press

VFW UPDATE - VFW Commander-in-Chief disolvess its Political Action Committee (VFW-PAC) after disputed endorsements - October 15, 2010

It is now evident to most of the VFW leadership, both National and especially the departments, that the VFW has been subjected to extreme negative publicity throughout the nation, and the recent endorsement decisions have, in fact, harmed the VFW’s reputation and future ability to fulfill our mission.

I cannot let this erosion of public support for our great organization continue. The apparent lack of the committee to address these concerns will lead to a proposal by me, as Commander-in-Chief, to amend the by-laws at the 112th National Convention for the purpose of dissolving the PAC. Meanwhile, under the authority granted to me as Commander-in-Chief in section 619 of the VFW National By-Laws and under section 620 of the Manual of Procedure, I am withdrawing all PAC appointments effective October 15, 2010.

One Nation Rally - The Hodge-Podge Of Disgruntled Socialist Rant

2010-10-03T06:27:00.000-07:00

Demand the changes we voted for - One Nation Working Together is a social movement of individuals and organizations committed to putting America back to work and pulling America back together. Coming from a diverse set of backgrounds, experiences, beliefs and orientations, we are determined to build a more united country with good jobs, equal justice, and quality public education for all [how come they did not use a photo from the actual rally?]. Image Credit: OneNationWorkingTogether.org via the infamous Martin Luther King speech held on the mall 47 years ago

One Nation Rally - The Hodge-Podge Of Disgruntled Socialist Rant

This rally, billed as being planned before the Restoring Honor Rally was planned and held, was a disorienting and divisive collection of speeches and music without a clear direction to it except an "I Want More From You" chant of bigger Government socialist utopia.

One by one, Communists the likes of Van Jones, Union Leadership operatives from SEIU, AFL-CIO, and etc., and single Race representatives from American Indian tribal associations political landscape operatives (Al Sharpton), La Raza (which translates to "The Race") hispanic rights over all others ... especially legal citizens, came to the microphone to exclaim their injustice and ax to grind in the name of unity ... with all of this being moderated by MSNBC's Ed Shultz. Can you feel the love?

More than 400 organizations, including liberal faith, environmental, union, and gay rights groups, sponsored the "One Nation Working Together" demonstration on the same end of the National Mall where a month ago tea party activists and sympathizers met to hear conservative TV and Radio commentator Glenn Beck, Former Governor Sarah Palin, and a host of other speakers talk to the issue of "Restoring Honor" to our broken nation.

Organizers claimed they had as many participants as Beck's rally. But Saturday's crowds were less dense and didn't reach as far to the edges as they did during Beck's rally (see photo below). The National Park Service stopped providing official crowd estimates in the 1990s.

Side-By-Side - Restoring America Rally on left (packed with concerned American citizens) / One Socialist Nation Rally on right (packed with all of the Messiah's socialist citizens) - ironic and telling, isn't it? Image Credit: The Blaze (2010)

This excerpted and edited from Gateway Pundit -

Figures. CSPAN Uses Tea Party Rally Crowd Shot for Leftist “One Nation” Rally Article

Posted by Jim Hoft on Saturday, October 2, 2010, 10:56 AM

CSPAN is airing the leftist “One ~~Socialist~~ Nation” rally today in Washington DC.
Unfortunately, they didn’t have a good crowd shot of the turnout… So they used a photo from a Glenn Beck tea party rally.

Notice the Gadsden flags in the background.
(Hat Tip Editor)

This is despite the fact that thousands of supporters were given free rides by unions and the NAACP to the rally.

The actual crowd is a little sparse at the One Nation rally today.

Despite the free rides and T-shirts the leftists just couldn’t match this crowd.

This photo is from the Glenn Beck rally last month.

Reference Here>>

AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka urged participants, including his union's members, to band together. "There is nothing, and I mean nothing, we can't do when we stand side by side, shoulder to shoulder," Trumka said. "We will stand together. And we will win together. And we won't let anyone — and I mean anyone — stand in our way."

"Coming out of here, we've got to go home and ask our friends to vote, ask our neighbors to vote," NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous said.

Socialist protesters and paraphernalia dominated today's left-wing protest rally in Washington, DC. The so-called "One Nation" rally was led primarily by labor unions as an attempt to counter Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor Rally, which took place in DC on 8-28-2010.

Rose Dixon, a health care worker from Pawleys Island, S.C., said she hopes the rally sends a message to lawmakers on Capitol Hill. "Stop the obstructionism. Work together," Dixon said. "Stop playing politics as usual and to put the American people first. We're tired of the politics and the posturing and the games."

This quote sticks out because of its absurdity ... we have been governed since January 20, 2009 by an Executive Branch and Legislative Branch that has a single political party with a voting super majority - and they have passed legislation that has expanded Federal Government by nearly 25% and added more taxpayer debt in 19 months that it took forty previous Executive and Legislative Branches to amass in over 200 years (over 3 Trillion Dollars).

The "obstructionism" Rose Dixon is referring to, of course, is having the Federal Government release money directly to her and people like her. These people believe all power and income comes from Government as opposed to the fruits of one's own labor or intellectual property.

Not once during the rally did we, at Carter's Second Term, see or hear anyone stand up for the Constitution of the United States or the Bill of Rights.

Organizers insisted the rally was not partisan. They said the message of the rally is about job creation, quality education and economic justice. However, the 400 organizations, such as the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union, Code Pink, the ACLU, and etc. always back Democrat Party candidates. We have to ask ... what are they rallying for? Their political party currently controls all of the power of this current Federal Government and unfortunately it is "One Nation"!

NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous was right as it relates what is needed to change things as they are in Washington today ... "we've got to go home and ask our friends to vote, ask our neighbors to vote" ... that is, we have to go into our neighborhoods and ask each of our neighbors to vote for a person that will go to Washington and vote to uphold working to have a smaller government, the Constitution of the United States, and the Bill of Rights here during Carter's Second Term.

Dreamin' On The Nightmare Of The Dream Act

2010-09-21T08:19:00.000-07:00

U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez discusses immigration issues while pandering to students at a conference organized by Elev8 Chicago students. Image Credit: Eric Young Smith

Dreamin' On The Nightmare Of The Dream Act

Harry Reid, in an effort to diminish the Rule-Of-Law, is working actively to give benefits and citizenship away through a piece of legislation he wishes to get passed by tucking it away as a rider on a military appropriations bill currently working through Congress.

The reason this "Dream Act" is a nightmare is that it seeks to slice up and weaken current immigration law that protects those who played by the rules and waited to become legitimate Green Card holders and/or citizens in the first place.

To have this legislation come up and be potentially passed into law as a rider without the debate and the vetting process required through the rule of law attacks the essence of sovereignty that makes the United States be the United States.

Further, these law breakers who make it into the United States believe they are entitled to have all of the financial assistance that full citizens are able to apply for just because they are here - a belief held by those we elect to protect us and the sovereignty our country.

This from Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.)

"These [kids] are Americans in ALL, but paper ..." - This quote from Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), in its full context, can be found starting at 3:04 and the fact is, these people, no matter what age, are NOT Americans - in paper or otherwise.

Illegal is illegal no matter what the circumstance. All undocumented immigrants need to be held to the Rule-Of-Law for without enforcement ... there is no law. The Dream Act opens the door to convert illegal to citizen without the processes that all other immigrants had to go through to become citizens. Sneak in and get citizenship ... try this approach in any other country. The Dream Act is nothing but a nightmare.

This is why I am urging everybody stuck here in Carter's Second Term to pick up the phone and call Sen. Brown now to urge him to NOT support the DREAM Act due to the issue - the Rule-Of-Law. This issue should be debated and considered on its own merits alone and not tucked into a military appropriations bill. His number is (617) 565-3170.

Tell him (or the representative who answers the phone) that it doesn't make sense to diminish the Rule-Of-Law and to talk to his Senate colleagues Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins to vote down the Dream Act for the same reasons.

Dreamy UPDATE - Reid ends up voting against own amnesty agenda rider ... The Dream Act!:

Today two Arkansas Democrats, blocked the bill that had the two riders - one repealing "Don't Ask Don't Tell" gay rights agenda for military service and one prelude to amnesty for Students and etc. ... "The Dream Act", with many arguing that the added measures, whether they supported them or not, had no place riding in a defense-spending bill. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who had championed the bills, also ended up voting against the defense bill for procedural reasons. The Republicans held strong - "Hats Off!"

More than 2.1 million children and adults under 35 years old would have been eligible if the DREAM Act passed, according to estimates by the Migration Policy Institute, and a little more than a quarter of them live in California alone. This means that California dodges another UNFUNDED Federally mandated spending bullet!

The defense policy bill has traditionally enjoyed bipartisan support, passing 48 years in a row with both parties eager to back the military. But this year, with the bill being introduced to the Senate floor in a paralyzing atmosphere just weeks ahead of the midterm elections, both parties have sought to add amendments that motivate their supporters.

“They want to weigh this bill down with controversy in a transparent attempt to show their special interest groups that they haven’t forgotten about them ahead of the election,’’ said Senator Mitch McConnell, the minority leader. “This is not a serious exercise. It’s a show.’’

That is the story here on the frontlines of Carter's Second Term.

Robert Gibbs defends Obama's 'mainstream' Christian religion

2010-09-03T08:13:00.000-07:00

Trinity United Church of Christ - "A CHURCH IN BLACK ... and white". Trinity UCC was founded in 1961. Ten years later, when the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright became its pastor, the church had 87 families. Today, Trinity UCC has more than 8,000 members, 70 ministries and three Sunday worship services. Image Credit: TUCC Newsletter

Robert Gibbs defends Obama's 'mainstream' Christian religion

Glenn Beck stated on his radio program this week (as reported by Associated Press) that President Barack Obama practices a version of Christianity that is not recognized by most people. Beck said that this "liberation theology" is all about "oppressors" and "victims."

The White House Press Secretary, Robert Gibbs defended this critique by Glenn Beck by saying President Barack Obama is a "committed, mainstream Christian." Further, Gibbs said, "I can only imagine where Mr. Beck conjured that from."

Carter's Second Term looked into the website of Barack Obama's church during the 2008 presidential campaign ... the one he claims to have attended for twenty years, where he married his wife Michelle, and had his two daughters christened ... and this is exactly what we found.

Originally published at MAXINE on January 13, 2008 -

"Ideating" Barack Obama & Trinity United Church of Christ

IBM has a commercial where a workgroup is lying on floormats spread out on the floor of a large room, with those pillows people use on airplanes that form around the neck. The lights are off. When a man who is checking the rooms opens the door and turns on the lights to a neon glow, he discovers this room full of people, lying on the floor in orderly rows.

The man asks, “What are you guys doing?”

A female voice calls out, “We’re ideating.”

Well, we at MAXINE, felt like doing a little “Ideating” of our own when we began to read about Barack Obama and his twenty year association with the Chicago-based Trinity United Church of Christ.

The problem isn’t that this church may/may not have practices or beliefs that many would not consider mainstream – such as have some believers who speak in tongues, or handle snakes, or think that the Devil and Jesus Christ are related in a family way, or do a bunch of faith healings in a tent, or – well you get the idea. The problem starts with what this church tells about ITSELF and what it believes on its website.

Barack Obama (pictured here with TUCC Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr.) has put his religion back into the headlines, trumpeting the power and salvation of faith and asking a church audience in South Carolina to help him become “an instrument of God” and join him in creating “a Kingdom right here on Earth." Image Credit: Trinity United Church of Christ/Religion News Service via FOX News

This issue first came to our attention during a morning review of Pajamas Media through this excerpted posting –

Obama’s Creepy, Race-Obsessed Church
By Burt Prelutsky - Pajamas Media – 1/12/2007

Introduction from PJM
A leading Democratic candidate for president attends an “Afrocentric” church that bestows awards on Louis Farrakhan and practically defines itself through race-baiting. Burt Prelutsky asks, why isn’t Barack Obama’s faith-based problem making national headlines and the nightly news?

One of the obvious differences between Democrats and Republicans is the role that religion plays in their presidential campaigns. For instance, every Democrat, while pretending to believe that “separation of church and state” actually appears somewhere in the Constitution, must also insist that religion plays an essential role in his or her life.
----
What’s more, when questioning these people, the liberal media kindly limits itself to a yes or no question regarding the existence of God.
----
Why is it, I wonder, that nobody is asking Barack Obama about his religious convictions? From what I’ve gathered, they’re far more fascinating than Mitt Romney’s.
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The vision statement of the TUCC is based upon something called the systematized liberation theology that began in 1969 with the publication of Dr. James Cone’s book, “Black Power and Black Theology.” Dr. Cone believes that black Christians should not follow the “White Church,” as it had failed to support them in their struggle for equal rights in America. I suspect that most white Christians would disagree.

Trinity United boasts that it is a congregation “Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian.” What’s more, “it is a congregation with a non-negotiable commitment to Africa. We are an African people, and remain true to our native land, the mother continent, the cradle of civilization.”

Its pastor, Reverend Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., has referred to “white arrogance” and “the United States of Whiter America.” To my ears, that sounds unashamedly black, but I’m not so sure about the unapologetically Christian.

Furthermore, Rev. Wright’s church publishes a magazine, The Trumpet. Not too surprisingly, all things considered, the recipient of the 2007 Lifetime Achievement Trumpeter Award for Social Justice was none other than Louis Farrakhan, the fellow who plays the race card even better than he plays his violin.
----
That being said, I have no idea how a member of a black church that apparently feels it owes greater allegiance to Africa than to America and that pays homage to a bigot like Farrakhan, has the gall to present himself as the one candidate who can bring us all together.
Reference Here>>

Of course we had to do some investigation of our own, and sure enough this “Ideating” stuff can get really interesting.

Again, Barack Obama states that he has been an active member of this church for the last twenty years.

The website of the Trinity United Church of Christ has several revealing and disturbing written postings that need to be read in context in order to see what all of the fuss is about.

Trinity United Church of Christ sanctuary. Image Credit: TUCC

This from the TUCC website –

Trinity United Church of Christ

We are a congregation which is Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian... Our roots in the Black religious experience and tradition are deep, lasting and permanent. We are an African people, and remain "true to our native land," the mother continent, the cradle of civilization.

God has superintended our pilgrimage through the days of slavery, the days of segregation, and the long night of racism. It is God who gives us the strength and courage to continuously address injustice as a people, and as a congregation. We constantly affirm our trust in God through cultural expression of a Black worship service and ministries which address the Black Community.

The Pastor as well as the membership of Trinity United Church of Christ is committed to a 10-point Vision:

1. A congregation committed to ADORATION.

2. A congregation preaching SALVATION.

3. A congregation actively seeking RECONCILIATION.

4. A congregation with a non-negotiable COMMITMENT TO AFRICA.

5. A congregation committed to BIBLICAL EDUCATION.

6. A congregation committed to CULTURAL EDUCATION.

7. A congregation committed to the HISTORICAL EDUCATION OF AFRICAN PEOPLE IN DIASPORA.

8. A congregation committed to LIBERATION.

9. A congregation committed to RESTORATION.

10. A congregation working towards ECONOMIC PARITY.
Reference Here>>

Image from YouTube video of The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan receiving from Obama's pastor, Dr. Wright Jr., the "Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright,Jr. Lifetime Achievement Trumpeteer" Award for Social Justice at the 2007 Trumpet Gala held on November 2, 2007 - Hyatt Regency Chicago - Video Credit: TRINITYCHGO - TUCC

Talking Points

Dr. Wright’s talking points (3.1.7) [3/1/2007] for Trinity United Church of Christ its Web site and the Black Value System (in response to Erik Rush’s comments (2.28.07) on the Hannity and Colmes show):

• One of the biggest gaps in knowledge that causes the kind of ignorance that you hear spouted by this man [Erik Rush] and those like him, has to do with the fact that these persons are completely ignorant when it comes to the Black religious tradition. The vision statement of Trinity United Church of Christ is based upon the systematized liberation theology that started in 1969 with the publication of Dr. James Cone’s book, Black Power and Black Theology.

• Black theology is one of the many theologies in the Americas that became popular during the liberation theology movement. They include Hispanic theology, Native American theology, Asian theology and Womanist theology.

• I use the word “systematized” because Black liberation theology was in existence long before Dr. Cone’s book. It originates in the days of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. It was systematized and published by theologians, Old Testament scholars, New Testament scholars, ethicists, church historians, and historians of religion such as Dr. James Cone, Dr. Cain Hope Felder, Dr. Gayraud Wilmore, Dr. Jacqueline Grant, Dr. Kelley Brown Douglas, Dr. Renita Weems, Dr. Katie Cannon, Dr. Dwight Hopkins, Dr. Linda Thomas, and Dr. Randall Bailey.

• These scholars, who write in various disciplines, also include seminary presidents like Dr. John Kinney and professors of Hebrew Bible, like Dr. Jerome Ross. Black liberation theology defines Africans and African Americans as subjects – not the objects which colonizers and oppressors have consistently defined “others” as.

• We [African Americans] were always seen as objects. When we started defining ourselves, it scared those who try to control others by naming them and defining them for them; Oppressors do not like “others” defining themselves.

• To have a church whose theological perspective starts from the vantage point of Black liberation theology being its center, is not to say that African or African American people are superior to any one else.

• African-centered thought, unlike Eurocentrism, does not assume superiority and look at everyone else as being inferior.

• There is more than one center from which to view the world. In the words of Dr. Janice Hale, “Difference does not mean deficience.” It is from this vantage point that Black liberation theology speaks.

• Systematized Black liberation theology is 40 years old. Scholars of African and African American religious history show that Black liberation theology, however, has been in existence for 400 years. It is found in the songs, the sermons, the testimonies and the oral literature of Africans throughout the Diaspora.
Reference Here>>

“IDEa … what?”, The man at the door asks the workgroup lying on the floor, on mats, while having their necks supported with custom travel pillows. Image Credit: IBM via Mikntosh3001

And last but not the least -

THE BLACK VALUE SYSTEM

Trinity United Church of Christ adopted the Black Value System, written by the Manford Byrd Recognition Committee, chaired by the late Vallmer Jordan in 1981.

Dr. Manford Byrd, our brother in Christ, withstood the ravage of being denied his earned ascension to the number one position in the Chicago School System. His dedication to the pursuit of excellence, despite systematic denials, has inspired the congregation of Trinity United Church of Christ. Prayerfully, we have called upon the wisdom of all past generations of suffering Blacks for guidance in fashioning an instrument of Black self-determination, the Black Value System.

Beginning in 1982, an annual Black Value System – Educational Scholarship in the name of Dr. Byrd was instituted. The first recipient of the Dr. Manford Byrd Award, which is given annually to the man or woman who best exemplifies the Black Value System, was our brother, Dr. Manford Byrd.

These Black Ethics must be taught and exemplified in homes, churches, nurseries and schools, wherever Blacks are gathered. They consist of the following concepts:

1) Commitment to God. “The God of our weary years” will give us the strength to give up prayerful passivism and become Black Christian Activists, soldiers for Black freedom and the dignity of all humankind.

2) Commitment to the Black Community. The highest level of achievement for any Black person must be a contribution of strength and continuity of the Black Community

3) Commitment to the Black Family. The Black family circle must generate strength, stability and love, despite the uncertainty of externals, because these characteristics are required if the developing person is to withstand warping by our racist competitive society.

Those Blacks who are blessed with membership in a strong family unit must reach out and expand that blessing to the less fortunate.

4) Dedication to the Pursuit of Education. We must forswear anti-intellectualism. Continued survival demands that each Black person be developed to the utmost of his/her mental potential despite the inadequacies of the formal education process. “Real education” fosters understanding of ourselves as well as every aspect of our environment. Also, it develops within us the ability to fashion concepts and tools for better utilization of our resources, and more effective solutions to our problems. Since the majority of Blacks have been denied such learning, Black Education must include elements that produce high school graduates with marketable skills, a trade or qualifications for apprenticeships, or proper preparation for college.

Basic education for all Blacks should include Mathematics, Science, Logic, General Semantics, Participative Politics, Economics and Finance, and the Care and Nurture of Black minds.

5) Dedication to the Pursuit of Excellence. To the extent that we individually reach for, even strain for excellence, we increase, geometrically, the value and resourcefulness of the Black Community. We must recognize the relativity of one’s best; this year’s best can be bettered next year. Such is the language of growth and development. We must seek to excel in every endeavor.

6) Adherence to the Black Work Ethic. “It is becoming harder to find qualified people to work in Chicago.” Whether this is true or not, it represents one of the many reasons given by businesses and industries for deserting the Chicago area. We must realize that a location with good facilities, adequate transportation and a reputation for producing skilled workers will attract industry. We are in competition with other cities, states and nations for jobs. High productivity must be a goal of the Black workforce.

7) Commitment to Self-Discipline and Self-Respect. To accomplish anything worthwhile requires self-discipline. We must be a community of self-disciplined persons if we are to actualize and utilize our own human resources, instead of perpetually submitting to exploitation by others. Self-discipline, coupled with a respect for self, will enable each of us to be an instrument of Black Progress and a model for Black Youth.

8) Disavowal of the Pursuit of “Middleclassness.” Classic methodology on control of captives teaches that captors must be able to identify the “talented tenth” of those subjugated, especially those who show promise of providing the kind of leadership that might threaten the captor’s control.

Those so identified are separated from the rest of the people by:

** Killing them off directly, and/or fostering a social system that encourages them to kill off one another.

** Placing them in concentration camps, and/or structuring an economic environment that induces captive youth to fill the jails and prisons.

** Seducing them into a socioeconomic class system which, while training them to earn more dollars, hypnotizes them into believing they are better than others and teaches them to think in terms of “we” and “they” instead of “us.”

** So, while it is permissible to chase “middleclassness” with all our might, we must avoid the third separation method – the psychological entrapment of Black “middleclassness.” If we avoid this snare, we will also diminish our “voluntary” contributions to methods A and B. And more importantly, Black people no longer will be deprived of their birthright: the leadership, resourcefulness and example of their own talented persons.

9) Pledge to Make the Fruits of All Developing and Acquired Skills Available to the Black Community.

10) Pledge to Allocate Regularly, a Portion of Personal Resources for Strengthening and Supporting Black Institutions.

11) Pledge Allegiance to All Black Leadership Who Espouse and Embrace the Black Value System.

12) Personal Commitment to Embracement of the Black Value System. To measure the worth and validity of all activity in terms of positive contributions to the general welfare of the Black Community and the Advancement of Black People towards freedom.
Reference Here>>

Not at all as Carter's Second Term White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs put it - President Barack Obama is a "committed, mainstream Christian." All pretty biased and somewhat inflammatory stuff if what we are seeking here is a mainstream Christian culture based on Christian values.

Obama Administration - Green Agenda Push Raises Aviation Safety And Security Vulnerability

2010-08-27T10:55:00.000-07:00

Wind turbine farms give fits to air traffic control radar. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2010)

Obama Administration - Green Agenda Push Raises Aviation Safety And Security Vulnerability

Funny thing about priorities ... they always have a way of pointing out why the simple approach became the simple approach in the first place.

The Obama Administration, picking up and carrying majority of the water for the (largely socialist) Green Movement through its energy policy, highlights just WHY petroleum based products have become so widely used and continue to be the popular choice for power in the face of other proven alternatives.

The new Chevrolet (not Chevy, ever) Volt ... at only 40 miles per several hour recharge (receptacle shown above) and a list price of around $40,000 dollars ... is poised to place additional strains on an already taxed power grid with little positive benefit. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2010)

Take the creation of electricity for the general grid used for powering our homes, streetlights, and if you listen to what one United States Government owned automobile company has to say - automobiles like the Volt, for example. Many years have been invested into wind turbine technology to the point that it has become an economically viable contributor to the electric power that fuels the grid but as more turbine farms pop-up, incited by incentives provided by the Federal Government, an unintended problem is making itself clear.

Wind turbine farms, when located near military facilities, impair security and safety. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2010)

Wind turbine farms make the radar systems that keep our aviation traffic informed and secure in the skies above completely compromised. That's right, radar systems become confused when wind turbine blades begin to turn enmasse because the radar signal that returns reads or present themselves in many disturbing ways - heavy storm activity and blackout zones where air traffic and its control disappear completely from the radar screen.

This excerpted and edited from The New York Times -

Wind Turbine Projects Run Into Resistance
By LEORA BROYDO VESTEL - NYT - Published: August 26, 2010

The United States military has found a new menace hiding here in the vast emptiness of the Mojave Desert in California: wind turbines.

The wind turbines pose an unacceptable risk to training, testing and national security in certain regions, Dr. Dorothy Robyn, deputy under secretary of defense, recently told a House Armed Services subcommittee.

Because of its concerns, the Defense Department has emerged as a formidable opponent of wind projects in direct conflict with another branch of the federal government, the Energy Department, which is spending billions of dollars on wind projects as part of President Obama’s broader effort to promote renewable energy.

“I call it the train wreck of the 2000s,” said Gary Seifert, who has been studying the radar-wind energy clash at the Idaho National Laboratory, an Energy Department research facility. “The train wreck is the competing resources for two national needs: energy security and national security.”
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Collisions between the industry and the military have occurred in the Columbia River Gorge on the Oregon-Washington border and in the Great Lakes region. But the conflicts now appear to be most frequent in the Mojave, where the Air Force, Navy and Army control 20,000 square miles of airspace and associated land in California and Nevada that they use for bomb tests; low-altitude, high-speed air maneuvers; and radar testing and development.
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The military says that the thousands of existing turbines in the gusty Tehachapi Mountains, to the west of the R-2508 military complex in the Mojave Desert, have already limited its abilities to test airborne radar used for target detection in F/A-18s and other aircraft.

“We cannot test in certain directions because of the presence of wind turbines in the Tehachapi area,” said Tony Parisi, the complex’s sustainability officer. “Our concern is construction in other areas will further limit where we can do this kind of testing.”
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As a result of the military’s opposition, Horizon Wind Energy recently withdrew three project applications in the area. AES Wind Generation said it found out in May, after nine years of planning, that the military had objections to its proposal to build a 82.5-megawatt, 33-turbine wind farm.
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The impact of wind turbines on radar had been a back-burner concern for years, but it heated up in March, when the Defense Department put a last-minute halt to the $2 billion, 338-turbine Shepherds Flat wind project in Oregon out of concern the turbines would impair the effectiveness of long-range surveillance radar.
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Eliminating turbine clutter on radar is complicated. Part of the challenge is that many radar systems in use in the United States date back to the 1950s and have outdated processing capabilities — in some cases, less than those of a modern laptop computer. While there are technology fixes to ease interference on these aging systems, it can be tricky to filter out just the turbines.

On radar, “a wind turbine can look like a 747 on final approach,” said Peter Drake, technical director at Raytheon, a major provider of radar systems. “We don’t want to have the software eliminate a real 747.”
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Mr. Debenham just wants his three individual turbines to win approval. The concerns of the local military have been directed to Washington for review. In the meantime, millions of dollars in financing and renewable energy incentives are, well, twisting in the wind.

“I’m in limbo. My customers are in limbo,” he said. “Can you tell anyone in Obama’s office?”
Reference Here>>

The fact is, and there's plenty of evidence over these last 19 months in office to suggest, no one can tell anyone in Obama's office - or even Back Obama himself - ANYTHING! This crowd is hell bent on placing this country into a full-steam ahead position on every idealistic political agenda they hold no matter how simple the solution or how damaging the alternatives may be.

The Obama Administration is the "Ruling Class" and that is just tough for those who, or what, may be injured from their view and lack of representation of the citizens who supposedly own (Country Class) this country ... remember "by the people, and for the people?"

Obama's economic train on a one-way, dead-end track

2010-06-30T06:40:00.000-07:00

Runaway Train of Thought by Tzod Earf. Image Credit: toonpool

Obama's economic train on a one-way, dead-end track

We are nearing the second quarter of 2010, ending 17 months of a disastrous economic policy that has not delivered jobs and has increased government debt to one-trillion dollars, four times larger than at anytime in our history as a country.

The $787 Billion dollar (revised upward to $865 Billion dollars), stimulus spending package has not delivered on its promise to hold unemployment down to only 8% (currently hovering around 10%) and the "shovel ready" projects that local and state governments had in the wings and were often cited as to where the money would be spent only amounted to about 10% of the spending. Most of the spending has been absorbed by the extensive network of bureaucracies that paid for studies performed by people who were already employed in education and research organizations ... organizations that do not add to the Gross Domestic Product of goods and services that grow an economy and build an economy.

The recognition of the one-way government spending track that dead-ends when the money runs out - because printing money without the goods & services to back up the amount of dollars flowing in the economy, devalues the economy and leads to inflation - even has liberal observers at Mainstream Media outlets (MSM) up in arms in frustration.

This excerpted and edited from the New York Times -

Wrong Track Distress
By BOB HERBERT, Op-Ed Columnist, New York Times - Published: June 28, 2010

It’s getting harder and harder for most Americans, looking honestly at the state of the nation, to see the glass as half full. And that’s why the public opinion polls contain nothing but bad news for Barack Obama and the Democrats.
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Mr. Obama and the Democrats have wasted the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity handed to them in the 2008 election. They did not focus on jobs, jobs, jobs as their primary mission, and they did not call on Americans to join in a bold national effort (which would have required a great deal of shared sacrifice) to solve a wide range of very serious problems, from our over-reliance on fossil fuels to the sorry state of public education to the need to rebuild the nation’s rotting infrastructure.
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Mr. Obama had campaigned on the mantra of change, and that would have been the kind of change that working people could have gotten behind. But it never happened. Job creation was the trump card in the hand held by Mr. Obama and the Democrats, but they never played it. And now we’re paying a fearful price.

Fifteen million Americans are unemployed, according to the official count, which wildly understates the reality. Assuming no future economic setbacks and job creation at a rate of 200,000 or so a month, it would take more than a decade to get us back to where we were when the Great Recession began in December 2007. But we’re nowhere near that kind of sustained job growth. Last month, a measly 41,000 private-sector jobs were created.

We are in deep, deep gumbo.

The Obama administration feels it should get a great deal of credit for its economic stimulus efforts, its health care initiative, its financial reform legislation, its vastly increased aid to education and so forth. And maybe if we were grading papers, there would be a fair number of decent marks to be handed out.
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There is a widespread feeling that only the rich and well-placed can count on Washington’s help, and that toxic sentiment is spreading like the oil stain in the gulf, with ominous implications for President Obama and his party. It’s in this atmosphere that support for the president and his agenda is sinking like a stone.

Employment is the No. 1 issue for most ordinary Americans. Their anxiety on this front only grows as they watch teachers, firefighters and police officers lining up to walk the unemployment plank as state and local governments wrestle with horrendous budget deficits.
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By nearly 2 to 1, respondents to the most recent New York Times/CBS News poll believed the United States is on the wrong track. Despite the yelping and destructive machinations of the deficit hawks, employment and the economy are by far the public’s biggest concern. Mr. Obama is paying dearly for his tin ear on this topic. Fifty-four percent of respondents believed he does not have a clear plan for creating jobs. Only 45 percent approved of his overall handling of the economy, compared with 48 percent who disapproved.

It’s not too late for the president to turn things around, but there is no indication that he has any plan or strategy for doing it. And the political environment right now, with confidence in the administration waning and budgetary fears unnecessarily heightened by the deficit hawks, is not good.

It would take an extraordinary exercise in leadership to rally the country behind a full-bore jobs-creation campaign — nothing short of large-scale nation-building on the home front. Maybe that’s impossible in the current environment. But that’s what the country needs.
Reference Here>>

These words above were written by an op-ed opinion columnist for the New York Times who has always been a champion of progressive politics and liberal causes and happens to be African-American ... a tough, but honest assessment.

But the track analogy does not end there ...

This excerpted and edited from the Los Angeles Times -

With federal stimulus funds running out, economic worries grow
Much of the $787-billion stimulus [adjusted up to $865-billion] has been spent, creating jobs and extending jobless benefits. But with lawmakers reluctant to approve more funding, concerns are rising about staving off another recession.
By Alana Semuels, Los Angeles Times - June 30, 2010

With home sales sliding, employers reluctant to hire and world stock markets gyrating wildly, the U.S. economy is in danger of stalling. Now one of its only reliable sources of fuel is running out: federal stimulus spending.
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Jitters about a global slowdown pounded world markets Tuesday after an index forecasting Chinese economic activity was revised downward and Greek workers walked off the job to protest government budget cuts. In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average plunged 268 points on news from the Conference Board that consumer confidence fell in June after three straight months of gains.

Economists worry that the weak labor market will spook U.S. consumers, whose spending fuels the economy. Dwindling federal stimulus funds are only heightening those fears.
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The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has been contentious since Congress approved it in February 2009 to aid an economy mired in a deep recession. Republicans have been particularly critical of the program and its price tag.
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But seventeen months later, those stimulus jobs, along with temporary government positions created for the 2010 census, are among the few bright spots in a dismal employment market. The nation's unemployment rate is 9.7% and companies have shown little willingness to hire. Private-sector employers added just 41,000 jobs in May, out of a total of 431,000 jobs created.

The government has few levers left to pull to produce quick growth. Interest rates are already at rock-bottom levels. Concerns about swelling U.S. deficits have many on Capitol Hill opposed to the idea of another stimulus. That has some economists worried.

"There's an uncomfortably high probability that we slip back into recession," said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics. "If we slip back, there's no policy response. We won't have the resources to respond."

To be sure, there are still thousands of ongoing stimulus projects and billions of dollars to be spent. The Obama administration is calling this "Recovery Summer" and will spotlight dozens of stimulus projects in the coming weeks. But many important programs are losing funding.
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Efforts to extend those provisions are stalled in Congress. The National Employment Law Project estimates that 1.63 million workers will exhaust their benefits by the end of this week, and at least 140,000 workers will lose COBRA coverage.

In California, which has the nation's third-highest unemployment rate at 12.4%, the Employment Development Department estimates that 205,000 unemployed workers will not receive further benefits without congressional action. About 2 million Californians are unemployed; nearly half of them have been out of work for 27 weeks or more.

"There's nothing out there," said Jennifer Tilt, a 52-year-old resident of Bloomington, a town in San Bernardino County, whose unemployment benefits will expire soon. Tilt, who has a bachelor's degree, said she's applied for jobs at fast-food restaurants to no avail. She's dependent on her two grown children and her mother's Social Security check to pay the bills.
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"The human impact of requiring us to find another $1.8 billion in spending cuts to replace federal funding that was designed to help states avoid deep cuts … is both cruel and counterproductive," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote to the state congressional delegation earlier this month.

Republicans say extending benefits and other provisions of the stimulus bill will add to the country's trillion-dollar deficit. "Here's another idea Democrats should consider, one that Americans have been proposing loudly and clearly: Stop spending money you don't have," Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said last week on the Senate floor.

But Democrats — and some economists — say that spending money now to create jobs and fund unemployment benefits is the only way to stave off another recession.

"What worries me the most is this idea that austerity is going to be helpful," said Michael Reich, a professor of economics at UC Berkeley, who said that ending unemployment benefits could drive more people to file for disability and hamper long-term growth. "When you make an economy shrink, it makes it harder to pay back debt in the future."

The nation's construction industry provides a window into the tough choices facing lawmakers. Federal tax credits have helped drive home sales while stimulus spending on infrastructure has put laborers back to work. Such subsidies are unsustainable in the long run. But when to pull the plug?

New-home sales dropped 33% in May as home-buyer tax credits ended. Construction employment declined in 25 states that same month, according to the Associated General Contractors of America.
Reference Here>>

Stop Spending, Stop Spending, Stop Spending money that does not exist.

It is time to implement what worked after the disastrous economy handed to us by the 39th presidency of Jimmy Carter. It is time to kill off the experiment of social engineering that caused this recession in the first place with the creation of sub-prime junk mortgages instigated through the quasi governmental organizations of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, cut taxed and regulation requirements imposed by the government which restrict businesses ability to invest and grow the goods and services they produce to meet the needs of our consumer-based economy. It is time to re-embrace American Exceptional-ism!

It is time to visualize becoming a winning team once again, here in Carter's Second Term.

Gross Domestic Product growth revised by Obama's Commerce Department down 15.6%

2010-06-25T09:22:00.000-07:00

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Spain's Finance Minister Elena Salgado, Bank of Korea Governor Kim Choong-soo, South Korea's Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun and France's Economy Minister Christine Lagarde at the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting. Image Credit: Reuters

Gross Domestic Product growth revised by Obama's Commerce Department down 15.6%

The Obama Administration was wrong in its initial estimate of the growth in our economy during the first quarter (January through March 2010) of this second year of the 44th Presidency.

The first estimates released to the public by the Commerce Department placed the growth in the GDP, which measures consumer spending, at an anemic but sustainable 3.2%. This growth would have shown some positive effect of the nearly one-trillion dollar Stimulus Government Spending legislation that was passed into law over one year ago ... if it were true, but this initial estimate was a fabrication.

Today, the Obama Administration released a second revised figure which set the level of growth downward to only 2.7%. This growth represents a negative growth because it does not keep up with the expansion in our population and shows how little Government spending can do to spur the economy in creating wealth through economic growth.

This excerpted and edited from the Wall Street Journal -

Economists React: ‘Not an Encouraging Mix’ in GDP Report
By Phil Izzo, Wall Street Journal - June 25, 2010, 10:42 AM ET

Economists and others weigh in on the downwardly revised 2.7% advance in first-quarter GDP.

–The revision was a result of a downward adjustment to consumer spending and higher than originally reported imports, which were only partly offset by upward revisions to exports and inventories.
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The biggest debate is over the path of the labor market recovery and hence the ability of consumers to help drive real growth.
–Joshua Shapiro, MFR Inc.

–The economy is still vulnerable to a double dip scenario. The downward revision from 3.2% in the advanced report to 3% in first revision and now just 2.7% shows that as the Obama/Bernanke stimulus wears off so does the upward momentum in the economy. With the banking and consumer sector still struggling with weak balance sheets , exogenous events like the European Sovereign Debt crisis are more likely to have lasting negative effects on the recovery.
–Steven Ricchiuto, Mizuho Securities

–The 2.7% first quarter GDP gain is below the Fed’s 2010 central tendency of 3.2% to 3.7%. Growth would have to average between 3.3% and 4.0% the rest of the year to hit the Fed’s forecast. –Jonathan Basile, Credit Suisse
Reference Here>>

Do not look for any grand leadership that has our country looking to make growth our primary agenda.

This also excerpted and edited from the Wall Street Journal -

Our Agenda for the G-20
Countries should work to stabilize debt levels, enact new financial regulation, and reduce their dependence on fossil fuels.
By TIMOTHY GEITHNER And LAWRENCE SUMMERS - WSJ Opinion Journal - JUNE 23, 2010

While the U.S. was the major source of demand for the world economic growth before the crisis, global demand must rest on many pillars going forward. That is why the G-20 must support Europe's reform program and the financing that Europe and the IMF will provide to countries facing acute fiscal challenges.
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To maintain the momentum of the U.S. recovery, we need strong, balanced and sustainable global growth. Global growth will help double U.S. exports over the next five years, supporting several million American jobs, a key goal of the president's export initiative.
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In this new era, when emerging markets account for two-thirds of global growth, concerted action by the G-20 is the only effective way to confront the challenges that lie ahead.
Reference Here>>

Now ... doesn't that make one feel confident about the economic leadership and growth here in this era of Carter's Second Term!

We need a new coach - we can not play the "World's Game" with a leadership that doesn't care that the team has as a goal ... to win the league! ... every other team on the field has that as the goal.

The Obama Administration as Hugo Chavez - Governance through "Rule Of Edict"

2010-06-22T07:17:00.000-07:00

The Obama Administration's U.S. Labor Secretary, Hilda L. Solis; Congressman John Larson (D-CT); and Capital Workforce Partners, Tom Phillips, discuss the importance of Summer Youth Employment Programs and developing our future workforce. (l-r) AFL-CIO, John Olsen, U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, Congressman John Larson, CWP Tom Phillips, and CWP Board Chair, Rich Cohen. Image Credit: Capitalworkforce.org

The Obama Administration as Hugo Chavez - Governance through "Rule Of Edict"

It was leaked to the Associated Press today that the Obama Administration plans on making and enforcing law without involving the actual body that is the only Governmental body to create law ... the Congress.

This is a disturbing precedent, for if a President and his Administration is allowed to over reach its authority in the making and application of law in this way our country becomes a dictatorship where laws are the purview of the "Strongman" and his staff as opposed to a country that is ruled through the processes and rule of law.

This excerpted and edited from the Associated Press -

AP sources: Gay workers to get family leave
By PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer – Mon Jun 21, 8:00 pm ET

The Labor Department intends to issue regulations this week ordering businesses to give gay employees equal treatment under a law permitting workers unpaid time off to care for newborns or loved ones.
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The Family and Medical Leave Act allows workers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave each year to take care of loved ones or themselves. The 1993 law, which also allows employees to take time off for adoptions, has previously only been applied to heterosexual couples.

The Labor Department planned to extend those rights based on a new interpretation of the law, the officials said. There was no plan to ask Congress to change the law.
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Earlier this month, Obama issued orders for government agencies to extend child care services and expanded family leave to their workers. Obama's order for federal employees, though, covers only benefits that can be extended under existing law, without congressional action. Legislative action would be required for a full range of health care and other benefits.
Reference Here>>

If a non-lawmaking authority is able to interpret the procedure-based properly made law to EXTEND rights spelled out in the law ... the same bastard process could TAKE AWAY rights without the proper application of the rule of law.

With the way this 44th Presidency is allowed to make decisions ... it makes one believe they think, "HELL, why do we even have a Constitution, a Bill of Rights, and a separation of powers through three branches of Government?"

Welcome to the realities of Carter's Second Term!

Most disturbing quote from Barack Obama's first ever speech from the Oval Office

2010-06-17T07:14:00.000-07:00

President Barack Obama in the Oval Office on his first day in office 1/21/09, at his desk, chin in hand, pondering his new job as President of the United States of America. Image Credit: United States Government Works

Most disturbing quote from Barack Obama's first ever speech from the Oval Office

The most disturbing quote lifted from the speech delivered by our 44th president in his first speech delivered from the impressive backdrop of the Oval Office of the White House was "We have refused to settle for the paltry limits of conventional wisdom. Instead, what has defined us as a nation since our founding is the capacity to shape our destiny -- our determination to fight for the America we want for our children. Even if we're unsure exactly what that looks like. Even if we don't yet know precisely how we're going to get there. We know we'll get there."

This quote is disturbing on many levels ... but mostly, it is disturbing because it highlights the determination of the progressive political mind to control without being sure of the result.

The part that says "Even if we're unsure exactly what that looks like. Even if we don't yet know precisely how we're going to get there. We know we'll get there." is a little like piloting a rudderless dingy aiming for an island paradise ... and that is the biggest problem. As a nation, we have always had the capacity to, at least, adhere to the guiding principles laid out by our founding document - The Constitution of the United States backed up by the Bill of Rights.

The statement "Even if we're unsure exactly what that looks like." suggests a target rooted in pure idealism without the informed temperament of historical precedent. Conventional wisdom has its place when one is attempting to reach a target with a high probability of success on a first or second try.

What this President, and the Congress he directs, doesn't understand is that the shotgun approach (passage of the Stimulus Spending Bill, Omnibus Spending Bill, Obamacare, the pursuit of Net Neutrality, Immigration Reform with Amnesty, moratoriums on drilling for oil and limits on the pursuit of other forms of conventional energy combined with the Cap & Trade carbon taxing human activity agenda) to reaching an ideal universe without the informed guidance of historical result will be doomed in waste and the corruption of greed which all result in a lack of personal freedom which the Constitution and the Bill of Rights were written to protect.

Some of the lessons that were learned during the 39th Presidency of Jimmy Carter are now being repeated on a much larger scale. This is where the idealistic philosophy of the progressive political mind ends up taking us all ... and THAT passes for "Conventional Wisdom" here in Carter's Second Term.

The Executive pursuit of destruction in Carter's Second Term

2010-06-16T11:47:00.000-07:00

President Barack Obama talks with, from left, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change Carol Browner, Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs Phil Schiliro, and National Economic Council Director Larry Summers, along the Colonnade of the White House, June 10, 2010. Image Credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

The Executive pursuit of destruction in Carter's Second Term

Didn't Barack Obama, in the broadcast speech he delivered from the Oval Office from the White House, look like the room was beginning to swallow him up? The chairs, picture frames and flags in the background appeared to grow in size.

The President rambled on using the Oval Office as a backdrop to highlight his views in four areas - 1.) Stop leak 2.) Clean-Up 3.) Restoration 4.) Cap & Trade. A promise of having the breech at the BP/Deep Water Horizon at being 90% contained very soon, additional Czars and more commissions to look into dealing with the protection of the coast in the gulf and the clean-up of the wetlands, and an evoking of FDR, World War II, and God's blessing is what passes for command and control leadership in a disaster for this President and his Administration.

Sitting on the sidelines for the better part of 57 days since 11 people lost their lives in an explosion that eventually sank the oil drilling and capture platform, Deep Water Horizon, that created a massive leaking breech of oil into the Gulf of Mexico and is now threatening the livelihoods of people dependent on fishing, tourism, and oil drilling operations along the shores of the Gulf. The President has implemented a shut down moratorium of all drilling and oil recovery which will place as many as i20,000 thousand people out of work unnecessarily, reducing tax receipts the Government was looking to collect to pay for its takeover agenda and putting additional stress on the economic strength of the Gulf States. If people are not being paid for work ... they have no money to pay for goods and services and those people begin to suffer.

In his "call to action" plea he delivered during his speech last night ... he began to sound exactly as Jimmy Carter did 31 years ago in a speech he gave during the famed "odd/even" oil crisis.

This excerpted and edited from WGBH's American Experience -

President Carter stated in his now infamous "Malaise Speech" - "Energy will be the immediate test of our ability to unite this nation, and it can also be the standard around which we rally. On the battlefield of energy we can win for our nation a new confidence, and we can seize control again of our common destiny."

"These efforts will cost money, a lot of money, and that is why Congress must enact the windfall profits tax without delay. It will be money well spent. Unlike the billions of dollars that we ship to foreign countries to pay for foreign oil, these funds will be paid by Americans to Americans. These funds will go to fight, not to increase, inflation and unemployment."

"I will continue to travel this country, to hear the people of America. You can help me to develop a national agenda for the 1980s. I will listen and I will act. We will act together. These were the promises I made three years ago, and I intend to keep them."

"Little by little we can and we must rebuild our confidence. We can spend until we empty our treasuries, and we may summon all the wonders of science. But we can succeed only if we tap our greatest resources -- America's people, America's values, and America's confidence."

"In closing, let me say this: I will do my best, but I will not do it alone. Let your voice be heard. Whenever you have a chance, say something good about our country. With God's help and for the sake of our nation, it is time for us to join hands in America. Let us commit ourselves together to a rebirth of the American spirit. Working together with our common faith we cannot fail."
Reference Here>>

In contrast ... President Barack Obama said nearly the exact same things, the same vague points of fear and destruction through Government processes.

The President addresses the American people from the Oval Office for the first time on the ongoing Administration-wide response to the BP oil spill and America’s clean energy future. Image Credit: The White House - Public Domain

This excerpted and edited from a transcript posted at CBS News -

"The consequences of our inaction are now in plain sight. Countries like China are investing in clean energy jobs and industries that should be right here in America. Each day, we send nearly $1 billion of our wealth to foreign countries for their oil. And today, as we look to the Gulf, we see an entire way of life being threatened by a menacing cloud of black crude."

"Each of us has a part to play in a new future that will benefit all of us. As we recover from this recession, the transition to clean energy has the potential to grow our economy and create millions of jobs -- but only if we accelerate that transition. Only if we seize the moment. And only if we rally together and act as one nation -- workers and entrepreneurs; scientists and citizens; the public and private sectors."

"When I was a candidate for this office [the only high level of experience he can actually point to - not leadership but a speech], I laid out a set of principles that would move our country towards energy independence. Last year, the House of Representatives acted on these principles by passing a strong and comprehensive energy and climate bill -- a bill that finally makes clean energy the profitable kind of energy for America's businesses."

"Now, there are costs associated with this transition. And there are some who believe that we can't afford those costs right now [STRAW DOG]. I say we can't afford not to change how we produce and use energy -- because the long-term costs to our economy, our national security, and our environment are far greater."

"So I'm happy to look at other ideas and approaches from either party -- as long they seriously tackle our addiction to fossil fuels. Some have suggested raising efficiency standards in our buildings like we did in our cars and trucks. Some believe we should set standards to ensure that more of our electricity comes from wind and solar power. Others wonder why the energy industry only spends a fraction of what the high-tech industry does on research and development -- and want to rapidly boost our investments in such research and development."

"But the one approach I will not accept is inaction. The one answer I will not settle for is the idea that this challenge is somehow too big and too difficult to meet [STRAW DOG]. You know, the same thing was said about our ability to produce enough planes and tanks in World War II [STRAW DOG]. The same thing was said about our ability to harness the science and technology to land a man safely on the surface of the moon [STRAW DOG]. And yet, time and again, we have refused to settle for the paltry limits of conventional wisdom. Instead, what has defined us as a nation since our founding is the capacity to shape our destiny -- our determination to fight for the America we want for our children. Even if we're unsure exactly what that looks like [STRAW DOG]. Even if we don't yet know precisely how we're going to get there. We know we'll get there."

"Each year, at the beginning of shrimping season, the region's fishermen take part in a tradition that was brought to America long ago by fishing immigrants from Europe. It's called "The Blessing of the Fleet," and today it's a celebration where clergy from different religions gather to say a prayer for the safety and success of the men and women who will soon head out to sea -- some for weeks at a time."

"Tonight, we pray for that courage. We pray for the people of the Gulf. And we pray that a hand may guide us through the storm towards a brighter day. Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America."
Reference Here>>

Today, Barack Obama has received his commitment that BP will set up a $20 Billion escrow account to be managed by the Obama Administration presumably to pay for damages and clean-up of wetlands but just who will keep an eye on the activities of where this money will go?

The Obama Administration will not be looking at itself ... especially with the current political party that is in control. Look upon this money to become a slush fund to perpetuate this current political leadership structure of destruction here in Carter's Second Term.

Obama - paloosa: Where lack of focus meets hubris every Wednesday night

2010-06-03T21:59:00.000-07:00

The former Beatle, Paul McCartney, accepted the third Gershwin Prize For Popular Song from the President at the event and played a show. He serenaded the first lady by playing The Beatles' song 'Michelle', directing the lyrics at her, reports The Guardian.Image Credit: PA Photos

Obama - paloosa: Where lack of focus meets hubris every Wednesday night

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle, since moving into the White House, started a tradition of having a mid-week party where artists primarily from the world of music, come to perform for the first couple, friends, and invited guests.

This week marked an occasion where the President decided to have this weekly fete coincide with the bestowment of the honor of appointing someone to the Library Of Congress through the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. Paul McCartney embarrassed himself by gushing all over Barack Obama upon receiving his, what has to be, 2,000th career honor or award - must have been rookie jitters.

Nero (in this case, McCartney) fiddles while Rome burns to the ground:

The oil breech in the Gulf continuing on for 45 days with its first Government approval request response being issued today

Unemployment approaching 10% for almost the better part of a year

Democrat Party politicians loosing their offices left and right when illegal job offers from the White House are unable to remove some of them before hand

States enacting laws to take control over processes the Federal Government should be responsible for but refuse to take the responsibility to enforce

Popularity polls having one's job approval rating plummet after only 16 months in office ... just seem to be getting in the way of the grand party held every Wednesday night and they all wonder (the inner circle at the White House) why isn't everyone else interested in what Michelle is wearing to impress Paul McCartney, Jerry Seinfeld, Stevie Wonder (oops, he can not see ... but that doesn't matter, he's here every Wednesday night), The Jonas Brothers (who are also often guests), Faith Hill, Elvis Costello, Emmylou Harris, Jack White and Dave Grohl among the other performers at the tribute event for McCartney.

Obamapaloosa!... an event where denial gets passed around at the White House every Wednesday night and taken in like a Thai-Gold, opium laced marijuana spliff at Woodstock!

Welcome to the progressive leadership paradigm we are forced to live under and witness here during Carter's Second Term.

BP's Top Kill procedure is stopping the flow of oil - Thad Allen

2010-05-27T06:51:00.000-07:00

Brown pelicans sit behind an oil boom surrounding their island earlier this week in Barataria Bay, La. The island is home to brown pelicans, egrets and roseate spoonbills, some now stained by oil from the BP oil spill. Officials now say it may be impossible to clean the hundreds of miles of coastal wetlands and islands affected by the massive spill which continues gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. Image Credit: John Moore

BP's Top Kill procedure is stopping the flow of oil - Thad Allen

U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, the main person on the scene of the oil well rupture from the US Government, in an interview with Dave Cohen of New Orleans' WWL radio said that engineers have "stopped the hydrocarbons from coming up" and have been able "to stabilize the wellhead and are pumping mud into it."

This interview took place at 9:22 a.m. ET and represents the first good news about the incident that claimed 11 lives and has shown how productive and effective a US Government disaster response under the Obama Administration can be.

One Congressman's view of the response of the Obama Administration goes like this:

... And this expression of gratefulness to the Obama Administration from Democratic strategist and New Orleans resident James Carville.

"The President of the United States could've come down here, he could've been involved with the families of these 11 people" who died on the rig after an explosion, Carville said on ABC's Good Morning America. "He could be commandeering tankers and making BP bring tankers in and clean this up. They could be deploying people to the coast right now. He could be with the Corps of Engineers and the Coast Guard...doing something about these regulations. These people are crying, they're begging for something down here, and it just looks like he's not involved in this."

His voice rising, Carville cried out, "Man, you got to get down here and take control of this! Put somebody in charge of this thing and get this moving! We're about to die down here!"

Later, Carville said the administration needs "to launch a criminal investigation -- the Attorney General needs to investigate criminal negligence on the part of BP and what went on at MMS (the Minerals Management Service, the federal agency that regulates offshore drilling). There's a thousand things that he could do. He just needs to get down here and start doing something, people are dying."

Welcome to the sinking feeling that we are experiencing living in Carter's Second Term ... on steroids!

Tea Party Movement defined - quotes from Rand Paul

2010-05-19T08:40:00.000-07:00

Republican Rand Paul, the 47 year old son of Texas Congressman and past 2008 Presidential candidate, Ron Paul, has become a political phenomenon making his first bid for public office, rode a wave of support from the "tea party" movement into Kentucky's fall election, where Democratic Attorney General Jack Conway promises to turn back the small-government movement. Image Credit: humblelibertarian.com

Tea Party Movement defined - quotes from Rand Paul

The media and the political society in Washington D.C. didn't see it coming. They labeled these primaries that took place on May 18, 2010 as a move toward typical mid-term "Anti-Incumbency", "Angry", and worse ... "Racist Backlash".

Democrat Arlen Spector lost his bid for a seventh term by running on the policies of the Obama Administration after making the desperate move to save his career by switching political parties from Republican to Democrat. This loss was significant largely due to the fact that President Barack Obama, himself, campaigned for Arlen Spector against the eventual primary winner (Joe Sestak) as he had for other Democrats in tight races in late 2009 and 2010 with the same losing result. The Arlen Spector case, if taken alone, may have been typical mid-term "Anti-Incumbency", "Angry", and worse ... "Racist Backlash" if it was not for the looming fact that Joe Sestak still has to beat Republican Senate nominee Pat Toomey for the Senate seat where going in, Toomey has a statistical lead.

The most significant race in that it was the one race where Republicans and Democrats were going up against a candidate who ran on a Tea Party platform, was the race for the Republican Senate seat in Kentucky ... nominee Rand Paul. In his victory speech, he was able to lay out what these political primaries for the November 2010 mid-term elections will actually be about. Not "Anti-Incumbency", "Anger", and worse ... "Racist Backlash" as the main reporting of these events have been cast.

The following are quotes from Rand Paul, Republican Senate nominee from Kentucky as Mr. Paul’s supporters gathered around the fireplace at his victory party at the Bowling Green Country Club - with 99 percent of precincts reporting, Mr. Paul led Mr. Grayson by 24 percentage points:

"The tea party movement is huge," Paul told cheering supporters. "The mandate of our victory tonight is huge. I think America's greatness hinges on us doing something to save the country. The tea party movement is about saving the country from a mountain of debt that is devouring our country and I think could lead to chaos."

"Washington is horribly broken. I think we stand on a precipice," Paul said, "we are encountering a day of reckoning, and this movement, this tea party movement, is a message to Washington that we're unhappy and that we want things done differently."

"People are already saying now you need to weave and dodge, now you need to switch," Paul said in his victory speech. "Now you need to give up your conservative message. You need to become a moderate. You need to give up the tea party. ... The tea party message is not a radical message. It's not an extreme message. What is extreme is a $2 trillion deficit."

Rand Paul hammered President Obama for “apologizing for America’s greatness,” and said about Capitalism, “we should not apologize to the rest of the world for our system.”

Rand Paul also said we “should be proud of Capitalism. Capitalism is freedom.”

"It's a nationwide movement," he added, "What I say to Washington is watch out, here we come."

"It symbolizes the growth of the freedom movement," Ron Paul said.

Paul won the Republican nomination without the support of U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Louisville ... the senior Senator from Kentucky.

McConnell endorsed Grayson late in the campaign.

So it is out with the old ... and progressive (Democrat or Republican) political culture, without malice, or anger in Washington D.C. - this is what typifies the Tea Party Movement.

Obamacare - The Law: CBO re-projects to over $1 TRILLION in expenses

2010-05-15T07:16:00.000-07:00

The democrats where so excited when the CBO's estimated the savings over ten years will be $130 billion because of the new health care reform bill. There is a big "but". The CBO also estimates, according to Barack Obama's budget, the United States National debt will rise $9.8 Trillion dollars in the same period. Thus, Obama is going to spending $9.8 Trillion more money than the government earns from tax revenues. How? By borrowing and printing money to cover the shortfall. This will raise the National Debt from 2010 levels of $12.5 trillion to $22 Trillion - or a debt held by the average family of four of $293,326.00. Image Credit: DeficitAid.com

Obamacare - The Law: CBO re-projects to over $1 TRILLION in expenses

This week the Congressional Budget Office, formed and mandated to provide objective and impartial economic analysis assistance to the House of Representatives and the Senate, readjusted the estimate of spending ordered through the recent passage of the Health Care Reform Bill into law ... Obamacare. Discretionary spending could add another $115 billion-plus to the 10-year cost of health-care overhaul. Since there are only 300
million people living and under control of this Obamacare law to pay for this additional spending, this translates to a projected cost to every man, woman, and child to $383.33 each.

Do the math ... which should have been done before our leaders voted this Government Control Agenda known as Obamacare into law ... for every family of four ( a mother, father and two rug-rats), this translates to a family bill to come due at some time of an additional $1,533!

Where is the accountability? Where is the real social justice in a process that intentionally hides the truth of a projected action until it becomes the law of the land so it becomes almost impossible to undue such a corrosive act to living a life in freedom?

In a letter to Rep. Jerry Lewis, the CBO estimated that administrative costs for implementing the legislation will total between $10 billion and $20 billion. Various grants and programs ranging from the small ($45 million for young women's breast-health awareness) to the big ($39 billion for Indian health programs), will add up to about $105 billion. The CBO couldn’t provide an estimate for another group of grants and programs whose funding levels weren’t specified by the bill, it said.

The A.P. notes that the costs weren’t included in earlier CBO estimates because the funds are considered discretionary, to be approved by Congress as needed.

Spending is spending and this discretionary spending is spending that can not be decided upon by the individual but decided upon by a Government worker from money that the Government will collect from each of us in fees and taxes. This collected money that one earns will not be spent by the individual as he or she sees fit for their needs, but spent by the Government as they see fit and without specific and open approval of the people who pay for this spending.

This excerpted and edited from ABC News -

CBO: Health Care Bill Will Cost $115 Billion More Than Previously Assessed
Jake Tapper, Political Punch - ABC News | May 12, 2010 9:08 AM

The director of the Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday that the health care reform legislation would cost, over the next ten years, $115 billion more than previously thought, bringing the total cost to more than $1 trillion.
----
CBO had originally estimated that the health care reform bill would result in a net reduction in federal deficits of $143 billion from 2010-2019; this revised number would eliminate most of that savings.

In a statement, House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said that the new CBO analysis "provides ample cause for alarm. This comes just weeks after the Obama administration itself released an analysis confirming that the new law actually increases Americans’ health care costs. The American people wanted one thing above all from health care reform: lower costs, which Washington Democrats promised, but they did not deliver. These revelations widen the serious credibility gap President Obama is facing."
Reference Here>>

And this excerpted and edited from the New American -

ObamaCare Already Exceeds Projections
Written by Michael Tennant, New American - Wednesday, 12 May 2010 10:16

Benjamin Franklin famously said that the only two certainties in life are death and taxes. It’s time to add another certainty to that list: Any government program will end up costing far more than estimated at its inception.

Medicare is probably the most famous illustration of this truism. In an outstanding article entitled “The Medicare Monster” in the January 1993 issue of Reason, Steven Hayward and Erik Peterson wrote:

At its start, in 1966, Medicare cost $3 billion. The House Ways and Means Committee estimated that Medicare would cost only about $12 billion by 1990 (a figure that included an allowance for inflation). This was a supposedly “conservative” estimate. But in 1990 Medicare actually cost $107 billion.
----
Reports the Associated Press: “President Barack Obama's new health care law could potentially add at least $115 billion more to government health care spending over the next 10 years, congressional budget referees said Tuesday.” According to the Congressional Budget Office, these costs were not included in earlier estimates for two reasons: (1) because they result from discretionary spending that Congress may or may not approve (though when was the last time Congress refused to fund anything, let alone something as sensitive as healthcare?); and (2) because the legislation was rushed through Congress so quickly that the CBO didn’t have enough time to calculate the costs fully before passage.

Thus, just seven weeks after Obama signed his healthcare “reform” bill into law, it is already likely to cost 12 percent more than projected. You don’t have to be Nostradamus to foresee actual costs dwarfing the $1 trillion estimate long before the next decade is out.

The additional cost also wipes out nearly all of Obama’s alleged deficit reduction, which was supposed to be $143 billion over the next 10 years. (This claim of deficit reduction in itself barely resembles truth: The Obama bill assumes that future healthcare spending will explode and that the new bill will merely reduce the future exploding costs by $143 billion.) Of course, the administration claims it won’t allow this to happen, saying that “Obama would demand that added spending be offset with cuts in other domestic programs,” according to the AP. Don’t hold your breath.
----
Congress generally dismissed fears of cost overruns. Rep. Claude Pepper (D-Fla.) said: “The cost will not be greater than our present efficient [sic] and wasteful fee-for-service system. According to experts the charge to the average family under a national health-insurance program will actually be less than it pays now, partly because the employer and government will contribute to the fund.”

Here’s one more certainty to tack on to Franklin’s maxim: In Washington, the more things change — even when it’s “change we can believe in” — the more they stay the same.
Reference Here>>

Right now, early in Carter's Second Term, it is time to begin the actions to reduce the influence and size of our current Government and we start in November by voting for anyone who wishes to put forth the effort to REPEL OBAMACARE!

There, right there ... is over $1 TRILLION in expenses that can be cut which translates to a family-of-four savings of $13,333 - it's just a start against the nearly $300,000 this Government expects to take from each family of four over the next decade.

It's Cinco de Mayo ... Celebrate With An Arizona Buy-Cott!

2010-05-05T06:46:00.000-07:00

Image Credit: IowaPresidentialWatch.com 4/27/2010

It's Cinco de Mayo ... Celebrate With An Arizona Buy-Cott!

Today not only marks the day Mexico recognizes a thwarted attack by France (as promoted and celebrated first in the United States by Corona Beer as a promotion to sell their product) ... today is the day independent American citizens can begin to show support for Arizona in its effort to localize Federal immigration law.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010 at 8:00am (any timezone) marks the official start to Buy Arizona, where people intentionally purchase goods and services from companies that claim their headquarters in Arizona in a "Buy-Cott" - a reversal to the time honored consumerism activity known as a boycott.

Ahhhhh, to purchase, as opposed to ignore the goods or services produced, from a company just feels more affirming and, well, AMERICAN! After all, directed consuming is so Capitalistic and un-Obama Administration.

It's Cinco de Mayo, so go out and celebrate by first purchasing an American flag from the American Flag & Pole Co. http://www.americanflagandpole.com/, then go online and pick up some protection in the form of a non-lethal deterrents from Taser International http://www.taser.com/pages/default.aspx, followed by digital identity theft protection software and services designed by Lifelock http://www.lifelock.com/, and finally ... go to dinner at PF Changs http://www.pfchangs.com ... OK, so this food selection does not contain tortillas or salsa but it is time for a new tradition.

The main activity for Cinco de Mayo, and beyond during this "Carter's Second Term", is to begin the tradition of American self-reliance beginning with the show of support of a State that wishes to take control of its destiny in the service to its citizens over the actions (in this case, inaction) of the Federal Government.

BUY ARIZONA - Support Arizona based corporations, local businesses, on-line retailers, and tourism.

The following list is just a sampling of the great companies you can support directly with consumerism ... and there is something for everyone - this IS America. PLEASE SHARE!!

Be sure to check back at the folloing website regularly ... more companies will be added as soon as they are identified! http://www.socaltaxrevoltcoalition.org

Buy Arizona begins today - Image Credit: Southern California Tax Revolt Coalition - Home of the San Diego Tea Party

ARIZONA BUY-COTT

-------------------------------------------------

PLAN A TRIP TO ARIZONA

http://www.arizonaguide.com/
http://www.nps.gov/applications/parksearch/state.cfm?st=AZ
http://azstateparks.com
http://www.camparizona.com
http://www.arizona-bed-breakfast.com/
http://www.verdecanyonrr.com/
http://www.thetrain.com/
http://www.arizonawine.org/

-----------------------------------------------

SUPPORT ARIZONA COMPANIES:

• Allied Waste Industries
http://sd.disposal.com/

• America West Airlines
http://www.usairways.com

• American Flag & Pole Co.
http://www.americanflagandpole.com/

• American Spirit Arms (Manufacturer of precision firearms)
http://www.americanspiritarms.com/pages/about_asa.html

• Arizona Artists
http://www.arizonaartists.net/

• Arizona Cardinals (Football)
http://www.azcardinals.com/

• Arizona Diamondbacks (MLB Baseball)
http://arizona.diamondbacks.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=ari

• Arizona Highways (magazine)
http://www.arizonahighways.com/

• Best Western
http://www.bestwestern.com/

• Bookmans (largest used book seller in AZ)
http://www.bookmans.com/

• Cerreta Fine Chocolates
http://www.cerreta.com/index.cfm

• Candy's Apples (gourmet candied apples)
http://www.gourmetcandyapples.com/

• Circle K (Convenience Store)
http://www.circlek.com/

• CSK Auto (Checker Auto Parts, Schucks Auto Supply, Kragen Auto Parts, Murray's Discount Auto Stores)
http://www.cskauto.com/

• Clear Channel Outdoor
http://www.clearchanneloutdoor.com/

• Cold Stone Creamery
http://www.coldstonecreamery.com/

• Dial
http://www.dialsoap.com/

• Discount Tire Company
http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/home.do

Eleanor Joseph Confections (truffles & more!)
http://www.eleanorjosephconfections.com/

• Fairytale Brownies
http://www.brownies.com/default.aspx

• Fender Music Instruments
http://www.fender.com/#/american-deluxe

• Flight Miniatures (model aircraft)
http://www.flightminiatures.com/

• Grand Canyon Airlines
http://www.grandcanyonairlines.com/

• GreenNurture.com (green corporate consulting)
http://www.greennurture.com/

• Greyhound Corp.
http://www.greyhound.com/home/

• GoDaddy
http://www.godaddy.com

• Harkins Theatres
http://www.harkinstheatres.com/

• Hollycake (Letterpress Stationery)
http://www.hollycakepress.com/

• Hopi Market
http://www.hopimarket.com/

• Kona Grill
http://www.konagrill.com/

• Knight Transportation
http://www.knighttrans.com/

• Lifelock
http://www.lifelock.com/

• Massage Envy
http://www.massageenvy.com/

• Mesa Air Group (Mesa Airliines, Go!, Freedom Airlines)
http://www.mesa-air.com/

• McClendon's Select (mail order organic fruit and honey)

• M. R. Designs & Gifts (Gift Baskets)
http://www.mrdesignsandgifts.com/

• My Computer Works (Scottsdale. Online computer repair) http://www.mycomputerworks.com/

• Navajo Fine Jewelry & Collectibles
http://www.gonavajo.com/navajoart/default.asp

• PF Changs
http://www.pfchangs.com

• Ping (Golf)
http://www.ping.com/welcome.aspx

• Phoenix Coyotes (NHL Hockey)
http://coyotes.nhl.com/

• PetSmart
http://www.petsmart.com

• Poore Brothers Pototo Chips
http://www.inventuregroup.net/Poore-Brothers.asp

• Protégé Sports
http://www.protegesportsinc.com/

• Ramada Hotels
http://www.ramada.com

• Robar (firearms & accessories)
http://www.robarguns.com/

• Set Enterprises (board games & brain puzzles)
http://www.setgame.com/

• Seven Sisters Sweet Shop and Chocolate
http://www.7sisterssweetshopandchocolate.com/

• Sky Mall
http://www.skymall.co

• Surf City Squeeze
http://www.surfcitysqueeze.com/

• Taser International
http://www.taser.com/pages/default.aspx

• U-Haul
http://www.uhaul.com/

• University of Phoenix
http://www.phoenix.edu

• US Airways
http://www.usairways.com

On Facebook: ARIZONA BUY-COTT