North Pole Working Conditions: Exposed!

Call me a Scrooge if you like, but I feel compelled to ex-press in writing my displeasure, if not outright disgust, over a song that gets a good deal of favor-able attention during the holiday season, attention I believe is unwarranted.

You’ve undoubtedly heard the song. It’s called “Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer.”

In my opinion this dubious holiday favorite sends, especially to our innocent and impressionable children, a number of highly damaging messages. First of all, it singles out a member of a group because he was different, different in a way he apparently couldn’t help. Then it describes in graphic detail how he was rejected and boisterously ridiculed by other members of the group, a group employed by, of all people, Santa Claus!

I ask you, shouldn’t Old Saint Nick have been keeping a closer eye out for unacceptable behavior among his paid staff? After all, here is a man, or so we are told, who checks up on every child in the world to see if they’ve been good or bad, but then neglects to check on the day-to-day behavior of his own reindeer. Don’t employers have a moral and legal obligation to see to it that harassment in any form or guise never enters the workplace? I thought Santa was the head guy at the North Pole, the man ultimately responsible for controlling employee behavior there? If this song is true, it would appear that he’s not everything he’s cracked up to be.

And then, as if that wasn’t enough, when Santa called upon Rudolph to carry out a task none of the others were equipped to handle, suddenly Rudolph’s supercilious co-workers “loved him.” And the blatant hypocrisy didn’t end there. The song goes on to say that they made wildly effusive and insincere predictions about his future, some sappy remarks about how he was going to go “down in history.”

And why do you suppose the other reindeer had this sudden change of heart? Well let’s be candid. In all likelihood it was for no reason other than to save their cushy jobs, a job that required them to pull a sleigh just one night a year. They doubtless reversed their position simply because they didn’t want Santa to lay them off now that it was apparent that the whole miserable lot of them, with the exception of one, was lacking a vital all-weather night-flying component--a shiny red nose.

So now do you see why I object so strenuously to this mindless melody? All the deeper issues are never even touched upon, and in the end there’s this so-called happy ending. But in actuality there’s nothing happy about it. Everything is just left unresolved!

A dispassionate examination of the facts reveals, I think, a more likely and far darker outcome. Rudolph had been abused and traumatized for quite some time. He obviously had developed deep seated feelings of inadequacy. Quite likely he never felt worthy of the confidence Santa suddenly placed in him on that foggy Christmas Eve, or the fame it brought to him. If he wasn’t already drinking heavily, as his nose suggests he might have been, it is my guess that he ultimately turned to alcohol and died in obscurity.

But an even larger issue here is whether Santa Claus ever learned the vital lessons one must learn in order to be a good and capable employer, lessons like always making sure that employees who are different are never singled out and cruelly victimized by thoughtless co-workers.

Because if Santa failed to learn and implement those lessons, and we really have no way of knowing whether he did or didn’t, aren’t the doubts this song places in the minds of small children going to be deeply disturbing? Aren’t their tender little minds going to be needlessly tormented with nagging suspicions about the true nature and character of one of the world’s most beloved and venerable characters?

But hey, don’t get me wrong. I’m only trying to apply a little objectivity to this whole tragic and shameful affair.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Free Federal Money

The ability to acquire and dispense federal funds to their home state has become a power-ful advantage to congressional incumbents seeking re-election. We recently witnessed that first-hand right here in Nevada in the tightly contested senate race between Sharron Angle and incumbent Harry Reid.

Members of congress, if they wish to do so, can portray themselves as irreplaceable philanthropists and benefactors, indispensable conduits through which “free” federal money flows to their largely helpless and needy constituents. By playing upon our fears, these crafty politicians can lead us into believing that the world would come to a swift and dreadful end if they were not re-elected.

But let’s take a look at what “free” federal money consists of and what it is doing to us besides making false gods of some of our more wily and unscrupulous politicians.

Simply put, federal money is tax dollars combined with borrowed money. The borrowed portion comes principally from foreign countries, the most prominent being China. The tax portion comes for the most part from ordinary American citizens like you and me.

So what is our growing dependence on federal money doing to us? There actually are a number of things, but here’s one to consider: It is inexorably expanding the power of the federal government while diminishing the power of the state governments.

Think about it. Money is power. So when money generated in Nevada by Nevadans is taken out of Nevada and sent to Washington, only to come back several dollars short and with strings attached, who do you think is winning and who do you think is losing?

Perhaps it’s time Nevadans and Americans in general gave some serious thought to this country’s history. In the beginning there were 13 states. Representatives of those 13 states met together to form a federal government. That’s a key point to remember. I’ll repeat it: The states formed the federal government. It wasn’t the other way around.

So why have the states now become secondary entities, entities that must depend for their survival upon the “generosity” of the federal government and the money brokering skills of their most senior members of congress? Isn’t there something inherently wrong with this arrangement, an arrangement whereby the creature, the federal government, is steadily gaining control over its creators, the states?

If we’re going to get things back to the way they were intended to be in this country, we as individual citizens must clear the fog out of our heads and return to some fundamental principles, and I emphasize the word fundamental.

A few suggestions: If you’re not already one, become a responsible and productive citizen. Don’t expect the federal government to do anything for you that you can do for yourself, even if it will temporarily put a hardship on you. Don’t blame others for your problems. Live within your means, and in your every word and deed demonstrate to your children and grandchildren why that course of action ultimately will yield a greater degree of security for themselves and the nation as a whole than living recklessly will.

And most importantly, begin urging your state and local leaders to start saying no to federal dollars. They’re not worth what we’re exchanging for them: Our precious Constitutional rights and liberties.

Be advised that any and all attempts by the federal government to redistribute wealth in this country carry within them the additional side effect of redistributing power. If we want our system of government to continue having the vital checks and balances provided by the Constitution, we must at some point reverse this dangerous political trend.

The system that has evolved subtly over the past 6 or 7 decades is a degraded and degrading version of what the Founders gave us. Contrary to what some in Washington are telling us, there is nothing beneficial about an arrangement that places the states and their citizens in a position of dependency in relation to the federal government. And if this trend is permitted to continue, the 50 sovereign states soon will become nothing more than regional subdivisions of the federal government.

Then all the eggs, or I should say all the political power, will be in one basket, an idea that once was considered to be a bad one.

If you think it still is, please start speaking up!

The Hero of BB-36

Joseph K. Taussig, Jr. (U.S. Naval Academy, class of '41) received the Navy Cross for heroism on board USS Nevada (BB-36) at Pearl Harbor. He was perhaps best known as the officer of the deck aboard Nevada when Japanese planes attacked “Battleship Row” on 7 December 1941. Fourteen bombs hit Nevada that day; 43 people were killed and 118 wounded.

After sounding the alert on his ship, the 21-year-old ensign manned a starboard anti-aircraft gun and refused to leave his post after taking a hit to his left leg. In his own words, “I was directing fire at the outset of the attack when I don't know what hit me, something went completely through my thigh. They ordered a cot for me, and I just continued to control the gun batteries. Some enlisted men brought a stretcher and I stayed up there until the (ship's) whole structure caught fire. They brought me down through the fire. The Navy said I was decorated because I refused to leave my post.”

“This is a direct order,” the ensign said to BM1 Bob Norman, who was trying to carry him away to safety. “Leave me alone!” “I'm sorry sir,” replied Norman, “but this is one order I'm going to have to disobey.”

Facing a fire that severely damaged the ship, Taussig resisted but was forcefully carried below decks by his shipmates where he was treated for his injuries. Besides receiving the Navy Cross, the Navy's second highest award for valor following the Medal of Honor in precedence, Taussig was also awarded the Purple Heart.

He stayed in several hospitals until April 1946, when his left leg was amputated. He returned to active duty three days later. By the time he finally retired from active naval service in 1954 he was, at age 34, the youngest captain in the Navy.

Reprinted from www.navsource.org

Thanksgiving Proclamation

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their Joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanks-giving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th. day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection of the People of this country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the greatest degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all the People, by constantly being a government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executived and obeyed, to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and Us, and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789.

(signed George Washington)

Thirteen Trillion And Growing

Sometimes it is useful to compare one thing with other things in order to get a grasp of it’s true size. So let’s compare some numbers.

The circumference of earth is 24,902 miles. The distance between the moon and the earth is 238,857 miles. The distance between the sun and the earth is 92,935,700 miles. The distance between the sun and Pluto, the most distant planet in the solar system, is 3,670,052,070 miles.

But get a load of this. The U.S. national debt is approaching $13,700,000,000,000--and is still growing! That's a huge number, an almost unfathomable number, a number that exceeds even the physical dimensions of our solar system.

So what do we learn from this? We learn that God was nowhere near as expansive and extravagant in creating the earth and the solar system as congress has been in creating a bigger government and national debt.

Furthermore, God knew when to stop. When He was finished, He pronounced His work “good,” and He rested.

When will congress be satisfied with the size of its dreadful and disordered creation? When will it stop and rest?

God only knows.

A Pre-Election Review of Fundamentals

We are a fortunate people. We inherited from our ancestors a free coun-try. But freedom permits us to make choices, and if we make a series of bad ones, or allow our leaders to, we can lose what we inherited.

In a totalitarian regime the government makes all the major decisions regarding human conduct. The people make few or none. In one sense it is an easy life. A citizen hardly has to think. He just has to do as he is told.

In a free country, however, it’s different. In a free country the people have important individual responsibilities to carry out. They must think and plan for themselves. And that can be hard work, work that requires intelligence, courage, discipline and determination.

But if one makes prudent choices and plans well, the work, effort and sacrifice can ultimately yield enormous dividends. And not just in money alone, for men and women need more than money to make their lives satisfying and complete. They need to feel that they are personally accomplishing something. I think that is what the Founders were referring to when they proclaimed that among man’s inherent rights was the right to pursue happiness. Or in other words, the right to seek contentment and fulfillment.

So what are some of the responsibilities free men and women must bear in a free society? First among those responsibilities is the duty to take care of one’s self. Free men and women must be self-reliant. After all, how can anyone expect to be free if he or she is partially or wholly dependent upon someone else?

Furthermore, in America we the people govern ourselves. Ours is a government of the people, by the people and for the people. The people are an integral and indispensable part of our governmental apparatus. When we voluntarily take ourselves out of that apparatus, or permit our political leaders to ignore us or bypass us, the very substance and form of government are significantly altered, which creates a serious imbalance of power, an imbalance that greatly favors government officials and bureaucrats.

If we wish to remain free and preserve our priceless heritage, it is absolutely imperative that we stop neglecting our constitutional role in the government. We must get involved again, deeply and intensely involved, which will mean a substantial reordering of our personal priorities. On occasion we may even have to make some sacrifices--like the Founders and our ancestors did.

Additionally, we must become much better informed. We have to be able to separate the real issues from the imaginary and contrived ones. We have to start providing some meaningful guidance to our public servants, servants who have demonstrated that they cannot be left unsupervised for even short periods of time. This goes for presidents as well as for most members of congress. All have shown us that they require a firm hand to keep them on track, and we must provide it.

Over the past several decades, a long string of highly detrimental federal laws and regulations were conjured up and enacted by our so-called representatives in Washington. These largely unconstitutional orders and edicts now are bearing their noxious fruit, and are creating a suppressive atmosphere wherein it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, for even the most honest and willing among us to earn an adequate livelihood. Or even to hold on to what they’ve already acquired. This has led to a deep sense of frustration among the working middle class, who more and more are seeing themselves being squeezed out of existence.

So what does all this add up to? Simply this: Americans with drive and ambition are being denied a fundamental and inherent human right--the right to pursue happiness. The government has so poisoned the economic environment in this country that working Americans no longer can feel confident that their careful planning and hard work will improve their lot in life.

My friends, while we still can, we must resume our rightful place in the government. Freedom is about choices, and we need to start making better ones as individuals and as citizens. This election is no ordinary election. It is not just about electing candidates. It’s about electing candidates who support the Constitution, and dismissing those who don’t. In a very real sense it’s about choosing between a constitutional government and an oligarchy. It’s about choosing between a government of the people or a government of the few.

I don’t think it’s too strong to say that this November 2nd will either be the beginning of a fresh start in America or the last pitiful sigh of a dying republic.

We are at an important crossroads in America. The course our nation takes over the coming months and years will be determined in large measure by what we the people do on this election day. Let’s start working together to get our country back on track.

Freedom is a tenable objective only for responsible individuals.--Milton and Rose Friedman in Free to Choose: A Personal Statement

Our Constitution: Use it or Lose it.

Contrary to what some are saying, our Consti-tution is still critically important. First and foremost among its virtues is the fact that it provides us with protec-tion against would-be and evolving tyrants.

The U.S. Constitution was written and imple-mented to act as a curb against the worst elements and tendencies of human nature, and there is no evidence to suggest that those elements and tendencies have significantly declined or moderated in mankind since the adoption of the Constitution 223 years ago. Therefore, the protection it affords us is still extremely valuable, even though some insist that the document is outdated.

Our Constitution was designed to distribute political power in such a way that it could not readily fall into the hands of an elite few. That is the whole purpose of the Constitution. The Founders knew that most men, with nothing to counter their personal ambitions and passions, would ultimately and invariably succumb to the weaknesses and vices that afflict, to one degree or another, all human beings.

Americans, be warned! Government is power; thus it is dangerous! Consequently it must be kept scrupulously under control and out of the hands those who exhibit even the slightest predilection for disregarding the rights of others.

If we continue to let our president and members of congress undermine and dismantle our Constitution, we are going to find ourselves living under a Nazi-like regime, a regime with vicious and savage propensities.

This will inevitably occur because power corrupts. We already see it happening. Many of our political leaders are growing arrogant, and no longer feel obligated or compelled to restrain themselves.

Wake up! Begin exercising your powers and rights as free Americans, powers and rights you retain explicitly through the 9th and 10th amendments to the Constitution. Start demanding absolute obedience to the Constitution as a condition of employment for your elected officials. The rules of government are clearly contained in the Constitution. Yet many holding our nation’s highest political offices are blatantly ignoring those rules. Therefore, they are cheating.

Don't be misled, the reason Barack Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi habitually ignore the Constitution is because they resent the limitations it imposes upon them. They don’t want to be impeded in any way as they carry out their tyrannical ambitions. They want to be free to do as they damn well please.

They must be stopped! Please lend a hand!

Liberty vs. Tyranny

I already know every-thing I need to know to make the right choice in Nevada’s Sharron Angle vs. Harry Reid senate race.

He’s for big government; she isn’t.

Everything else is mere election-year rhetoric--the typical bruising and boisterous comments opposing candidates hurl at one another when they’re fighting for votes.

But here’s what sets Sharron Angle apart--miles apart from Harry Reid. Sharron Angle understands that the U.S. Constitution was written to place limits on the federal government. Furthermore, Sharron Angle appreciates why the Founders believed it was necessary to impose those limits.

Harry Reid doesn’t.

Harry Reid has demonstrated, beyond any reasonable doubt, that he is a staunch advocate of big government, meddlesome government, high-handed government. He has revealed himself to be a key member and player in the Washington faction that believes the people are stupid and government is all-knowing and wise.

Make no mistake about it. An ever-enlarging federal government, a government that is daily arrogating unconstitutional powers to itself, is a serious and dangerous threat to our liberty. A government that is recklessly sinking this country deeper and deeper into debt is a serious and dangerous threat to our liberty. A government that is intent upon robbing the industrious and thrifty so it may transfer their earnings to those who are not industrious and thrifty is a serious and dangerous threat to our liberty.

Fellow Nevadans: There is no time to waste. We must, this very moment, get started on the pressing task of down-sizing the federal government and stripping it of all its unconstitutional, and therefore illegal, powers. If we don’t, it will overtake us and consume us like a ravenous wolf. You can bet on it.

We, you and I, can begin that urgent down-sizing process right now by encouraging our relatives, friends and neighbors to get solidly behind Sharron Angle. Harry Reid and his like-minded cronies have brought untold grief and hardship to millions of Americans. And they’re not finished. They’re planning to unleash even more.

Without question, Harry Reid must go. And Sharron Angle is the ideal replacement.

Sharron Angle has courageously and candidly put her views and beliefs before the public. And in doing so she has taken a good deal of flak.

For instance, she believes that social security should be phased out. Well why not? It isn’t working and it’s going broke. Why not replace it with a system that returns control and responsibility back into the hands of the individual?

She also has said it is not the role of a U.S. Senator to create jobs. Well she’s right; it isn’t. In a free-market economy private enterprise creates the jobs and the government maintains a general atmosphere conducive to private enterprise, an atmosphere in which honest entrepreneurs can acquire capital, start a business, hire employees and grow, all without stifling government interference and taxation.

I strongly urge every Nevadan to take a fresh look at Sharron Angle. Harry Reid has served four terms in the U.S. Senate, and what has he accomplished in all those years? I’ll tell you what he has accomplished. His unwise votes in the Senate helped create the ruinous government policies that led this country into the most catastrophic economic disaster since the Great Depression.

Certainly no rational person is naïve enough to believe that this mess can be easily turned around. On the contrary, having a malignant tumor cut out of your body is always a painful experience. But if we truly love America, if we want it returned to its former vigor and glory, if we want it restored to the condition it was in before the big-government crowd got hold of it, we must systematically rid congress of those who are destroying it.

And in Nevada we now have before us a perfect opportunity to do just that. Come November, please take a bold and unequivocal stand against big government: Vote for Sharron Angle! Vote for liberty!

There is no better time than now to start putting our badly weakened and beleaguered country back on solid ground, and back into the hands of the people, where it rightfully belongs.

Where Do You Stand?

Our current president is expanding both the reach and scope of the federal govern-ment at a pace never before witnessed in American his-tory. Some see nothing wrong with it; others are angry and alarmed.

I suppose which side of the fence one is on depends largely upon how much faith one is willing to place in gov-ernment. Our Founders were skeptical of government; therefore they placed their faith in the people. Obviously President Obama and his faction disagree with the Founders, and are frantically trying to reorder the system.

However, anyone with even a fair knowledge of history knows that most governments have been repressive and invasive. Ours, on the other hand, is a shining exception. Of course, in recent years high school graduates have been leaving school with only a fragmentary understanding of history so they are largely unaware of that. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions regarding which of the two struggling factions, liberals or conservatives, is benefiting most due to that regrettable oversight.

Because the Founders were placing their trust in the people, they elected to establish a small government with extremely limited powers. Those powers were so limited, in fact, that they were listed in writing to minimize any future confusion that might develop regarding the nature of the government they were creating.

The Founders also believed it was absolutely essential to divide rather than consolidate even those sparse powers the people were yielding to their government. Therefore they created within the federal government three distinct bodies or branches: a legislative, an executive and a judicial.

And then, as extra insurance, they added a Bill of Rights to the Constitution that laid out in plain English where the federal government stood in relation to the people and the sovereign states whose duly elected representatives had convened to form it.

Now with all that said, I have a favor to ask of you. Today I invite all who read this to carefully and objectively analyze what level of confidence he or she has in the government now operating in Washington--the officious and oversized government that is ruthlessly and arrogantly trampling down the constitutional restraints that were wisely put in place to keep it from getting out of hand. I ask you to do this so you may determine which side of the fence you are on. For it is a matter of grave importance that each citizen of the United States knows, without question, where he or she stands in this raging struggle for control over our lives and futures.

This certainly is no time to be forgetting that our Constitution was written expressly to secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity. I ask you: Where will our security be, where will our liberty be, once the powers of government no longer rest in our hands?

Hope

Jesus said: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”

My friends, we have wandered into forbidden paths. We have placed ourselves in a vulnerable spot. And consequently we are in danger of being plucked!

During the last presidential campaign a lot of mileage was squeezed out of the word “hope.” Unfortunately the person doing the squeezing was using the word merely as a crass campaign tactic. He was employing it only for the sake of arousing pleasant emotions within the populace, pleasant emotions he believed would then be associated with him.

To some, however, the word hope is valued more highly than that and is held in much greater esteem. To them it is a word not to be carelessly tossed about, for hope is what people cling to when they have little else. No principled person would ever think of employing that term solely for the purpose of enticing discouraged and despondent men and women into believing that meaningful help was on the way when it wasn’t. But regrettably that is how low some politicians in this country will stoop in order to get themselves elected to high political office.

Of course, all who are acquainted with the Bible and believe its words know better than to place their full hope and trust in prevaricating politicians--or any mortal man, for that matter. The Bible warns: “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.” We also read: “Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.”

I will pose a question. If the man who puts his trust in the Lord is blessed, is the man who puts his trust in man cursed? I don’t know, but considering what is currently going on around us, I think the possibility is well worth considering.

A Founding Father and our country’s second president John Adams wrote: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

Adams understood that only those who know right from wrong, those capable of properly regulating their own conduct and affairs, could be expected to live harmoniously, peacefully and successfully under a national government as small and limited as the one outlined in our constitution. Immoral men, he knew, would require a stricter and more comprehensive form of government, a government not unlike the Frankenstein that has been under construction for over 70 years in this country and is now nearing completion.

Jesus said: “In this world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

So long as we are in this world, complete and permanent happiness will elude us. Evil-minded men, or even well-intentioned men, may from time to time step forward offering alluring ideas and promises, but we always will find those men, whatever their inner motives, to be woefully ill equipped to transform our world into anything remotely resembling a Garden of Eden.

Our founders gave us, as Adams pointed out, a constitution possessing just enough power to adequately govern moral and religious men and women. Nevertheless the government it underpins worked marvelously well for a great many years and spawned a previously unheard of level of security and prosperity for the vast majority of our nation’s citizens. Yet despite this huge body of historical evidence, there are many, including our current president, who now see our constitution and government as “inadequate.” But the question is: Does the inadequacy lie in the constitution and government or in us?

I believe a close inspection of ourselves and our nation’s leaders will confirm that it lies in us. A large and ever-increasing number of us lack the moral and ethical qualities our ancestors possessed in abundance. Americans gradually have changed over the years. And in so doing we have rendered ourselves unfit to live under that great banner of liberty written by our founding fathers. It is time to humble ourselves and admit that we have permitted our political leaders to transform themselves into gods, false gods to whom we foolishly have acquiesced and followed deep into the wilderness.

But be of good cheer! There still is before us one sure way out. If we yearn to one day possess real security and genuine happiness, we need only to shut our ears to those who are garrulously foisting upon us a debased hope, a hope that is nothing more than a crude forgery of the real thing, and begin listening once again to the voice of He who has overcome the world, He who continues patiently to offer us hope that is both untarnished and authentic.

And if we will listen to His message and try diligently to obey, then whatever hardships may befall us, we will, like the Christians of old, be able to proclaim with confidence: “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.”

Without question and without fail there will be tribulation in this world--some natural and some man-made. But we may rest assured that we always will be much better prepared to cope with and endure those times of distress and uncerainty if our hope for a brighter future is rooted not in politicians and government but in God.

It Is Time To Take The Bushel Off Your Candle

Wouldn’t you think news stories should be prioritized and reported on the basis of how vital and urgent the information is to the public? For example, if a category-5 hurricane was about to strike a major U.S. city, would it be appropriate to forego the reporting of that story in favor of reporting on the latest fashion designs coming out of Paris?

I don’t think so.

So why is it that with our entire nation teetering precariously on the very brink of a catastrophic political and economic breakdown all the major network news organizations are bypassing the story?

If you are a fisherman, aren’t you trying to catch the biggest fish in the sea? If you are an investor, aren’t you always looking for the investment opportunity of a life-time? So why aren’t our top network news reporters going after the most important, crucial and newsworthy story of the century--the impending sociopolitical upheaval that is about to overtake the United States if its citizens don’t awaken and get their house in order?

Isn’t this behavior oddly inconsistent with the objectives of their profession? We assume, after all, that these wide-gauge gossips are entitled to their exorbitant salaries and superstar status because they are the best darn news gatherers and reporters in the business. Yet they are missing the elephant-in-the-living-room story. So what gives?

What gives is that virtually all of our mainstream news media luminaries are little more than hired hands. They are mere pawns who do nothing more nor less than what they are told to do. They aren’t independent thinkers, at all; they’re propagandists who mindlessly carry out the will of others in exchange for a little prestige and a high salary. The only difference between them and Hitler’s Joseph Goebbels is their wardrobe. They don’t wear brown uniforms at One World Order rallies. Not yet, at least.

What we must come to understand, if we are to survive as a free people, is that our current mainstream news media functions to conceal information, not reveal it. When news come into a network news bureau, a good deal of it, that which has the greatest potential for enlightening the public, is discarded immediately. The small portion that remains is then substantially modified and smartly packaged before it is released for public consumption.

If you are surprised by that, you shouldn’t be. After all, when a clandestine syndicate of unprincipled men and women are attempting to take over the world, it goes without saying that they must retain a corps of professional and polished liars to keep their secrets and distract the intended victims.

So what is my message for today? Simply this: It is time to take the bushel off your candle. Massive and horrendous crimes are unfolding before our very eyes. And honorable men and woman do not stand by with their hands in their pockets while masked criminals, working under a cloak of darkness, commit with impunity outrageous and despicable acts. Surely we Americans don’t want to be like the “good” Germans who shut their eyes to the atrocities of Nazism.

One of the simplest and most effectual ways ordinary citizens can thwart these unscrupulous vermin and eventually bring them to justice is to start shedding some much needed light into areas where presently there is only darkness. With things as they are now in this country, I think a great many people are becoming more and more willing to accept the idea that there are outright traitors operating as an organized body in the highest levels and offices of our government as well as within the nation’s news media.

When I was a kid, I occasionally heard adults conjecturing about such things, but I considered the possibilities to be both remote and minimal. However, as I’ve grown and matured, and witnessed first-hand many strange and questionable developments in the way our government is run, I’ve come to believe that their nagging doubts and fears were fully justified--mainly because this admittedly incredible theory of things provides the only reasonable explanation for why our nation’s health and vitality has deteriorated so rapidly and alarmingly over the past several decades.

At the end of World War II America was without question the most powerful nation on earth. But now, just 65 years later, our once vibrant and enviable national economy is in shambles and we are smothering in debt. Are we expected to believe that this is just a coincidence? Are we expected to believe that this is merely the result of ignorance and gross incompetence on the part of our national leaders?

No my friends, that’s what the news media wants us to believe. But in actuality the many problems, fears and uncertainties we currently are facing in this country are the direct result of a carefully developed and executed plot to bring America to her knees. And we won’t get this mess cleaned up, or things straightened out, until a sufficient number of us recognize what is truly going on around us.

So if you want your children and grandchildren to live in a special land where they can achieve their highest hopes and ambitions, please get out there and start casting some light into the shadowy recesses where these treacherous rats live and breed. Because it is quite obvious that the current superstars of American journalism are determined to keep this fiendish plot enshrouded in impenetrable darkness.

Let There Be Light

Perhaps it is time to go over some fundamen-tals.

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”

What you have just read are the first fifty words of the Bible. Can anyone doubt that those first fifty words were carefully chosen? I am confident that they were, for I believe they convey to us an extremely vital piece of information--that above all else, God intended for man to live in light, not in darkness.

If we go on further in the Bible to John 1: 1-5, we find these additional passages regarding light.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”

Continuing yet further to John 3: 16-20, we find still more information on the subject of light.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.”

So here we are. The year is now 2010, and more than ever before we are being told by influential men and women in high places that they can save the world. But there is one particularly disturbing and frightening aspect to their methods. They are not forthright with the people. They withhold and conceal truth; they love darkness rather than light.

My friends, that is a very revealing clue if you wish to know whether the high and the mighty of this world are truly working in the best interest of everyone on the planet.

Isaiah wrote: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness.” (Isaiah 5: 20)

Are we not subjected every day to that kind of spin on reality? Are we not told incessantly that those who hold conservative views are backward and bad, while those who hold liberal views are enlightened and good?

Friends, we are being plunged deeper and deeper into a state of darkness by those who are attempting to seduce us into believing that they can save the world. But have you ever asked yourself why, if their motives are purely unselfish and noble, they have found it necessary to shun truth and shut out light? Could it be, perchance, because their intentions are not purely unselfish and noble; and that they do not want their evil intentions to come to light, lest their deeds should be reproved?

Jesus said: “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” (John 8: 12)

If you believe the Bible, as I do, then it is clear to you that God gave us light, both physical and spiritual. He lovingly gave us those gifts so we could see our way and avoid snares and pitfalls.

A choice is before us. Shall we follow Jesus Christ, whose life is the light of men, or shall we follow those in high places who hate the light and work assiduously to keep us in the dark?

I say, as God did: “Let there be light.”

Truth

Today I am going to play philosopher and theologian and speak of truth. And for those on a tight schedule, I will keep it brief.

The originator of Christianity once said: “Know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” That simple statement reveals something extremely important about the nature of truth, something mankind must never forget; i.e., that knowing truth is liberating. And if that is so, then follow-ing error must take man down the opposite path. It must lead unquestionably to loss of freedom and confinement.

So are you starting to see where I’m going with this?

If what Jesus said is correct, and I have no reason to believe otherwise, then is it any wonder that the national news media tells us lies and withholds truth? Is it any wonder that our schools teach our children rubbish instead of facts? And is it any wonder that President Obama, congressional leaders and wacko economists keep assuring us that sustainable, long-term prosperity can be achieved by continually borrowing money from our enemy China?

Hey, we’re being led like blind men carefully into captivity!

But listen up. Truth is out there. Admittedly, it may be concealed under an ever growing pile of misinformation, but it’s out there. And it’s time we started uncovering it, sharing it with our friends, and then acting upon it in a lawful and concerted manner.

President Obama is wrong! Contrary to what he may think, America is still a Christian nation. It is both imprudent and premature for him to believe that we have abandoned our true and immortal Savior in order to follow a false and mortal one!

I promised I would keep this brief, so in closing I will offer this: Understanding Bible truths is more important than having a gun; nevertheless, I would advise you to keep one handy.

One Less Predator

Man’s most fundamental and earnest desire is to live. He will go to great lengths to survive. For primitive man, survival required a full day’s work and more. Here he was, somewhere on the surface of an undevel-oped and unforgiving planet, faced with the enormous and relentless challenge of perpetuat-ing his existence.

Let’s examine some of the basic things he needed in order to sustain himself beyond a few days, which, by the way, is what we call security, another of man’s fundamental interests.

First he needed a reliable and plentiful source of water and food. Life, he knew, was unsustainable where these necessities were beyond his reach. His first task, therefore, was to locate an area where these essentials were reasonably accessible to him and where he was free to acquire them without great difficulty or undue interference. After all, even back then there were only 24 hours in a day. If he couldn’t gather up each day what he needed to support himself for a day, he was going to run into trouble.

Upon finding a place suitable to his needs, his next order of business was to erect a shelter. Man is simply not equipped to withstand the elements without some form of protection. After venturing out each day to secure a livelihood, he needed a safe and comfortable place to come back to--a place where he could rest and recuperate so he could go out the following day and do it all over again.

And finally, his long-term survival depended upon having reliable weapons and other implements so he would have a fighting chance in his daily quest to acquire food and other indispensable items. It is a fact of nature that the animals he was seeking for nourishment also wanted to live and, therefore, did not make themselves readily available to him. Additionally, he needed weapons for protection against predators, both animal and human, who also were fiercely committed to their own daily struggle for survival.

Once he had these basics tenuously in place, the primitive man enjoyed some level of stability in his life, and he felt a little less anxious about his survival. Nevertheless, he could never totally relax, for now he was faced with the endless challenge of holding on to what he had worked so diligently to acquire--an area in which to work and live, some essential tools and weapons, and his own home. Through brains, initiative, courage and determination he had carved out for himself a place upon God’s green earth. It was his because he found it, secured it, and drew his livelihood from it. But it was only his so long as he could hang on to it. And the ways in which it could be lost were almost endless.

In this way modern man differs very little from primitive man, with one salient exception: Primitive man had one less predator to contend with. He had no federal government plotting feverishly and doggedly to rob him of his livelihood and undermine his security.

“Progress might have been all right once, but it's gone on too long.” ~Ogden Nash

Calling Things By Their Right Name

There is a Chinese proverb that says, “The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right name.”

A great many Americans who instinctively know something is desperately wrong in this country still labor under the mistaken notion that our society is breaking down solely because those who hold our nation’s highest political offices are incompetent fools.

If you are one of those who hold this view, I would like to invite you to begin looking at things from a new perspective.

What if these men and women, or at least a significant portion of them, are not incompetent fools at all, but are in fact shrewd schemers--schemers who are intentionally trying to weaken our country and draw power to themselves so they may transform our government into something else--like an oligarchy, for example?

If this alternative view of things, shocking as it may seem, is correct, then those who subscribe to the other view are calling our chief leaders in Washington by the wrong name. They are calling them incompetent when they are in truth a highly effective and ambitious band of turncoats.

I ask you. Could any of our top leaders in the federal government seriously believe that when a nation is 13 trillion dollars in debt that borrowing still more money will magically revitalize the national economy and usher in a bright new era of growth and prosperity? No, of course they don’t. They know as well as you do that it will only make matters worse.

Bottom line: Our foremost national leaders may be fools, but they are not incompetent. They only appear that way to those who don’t understand what their ultimate objective is. Indeed, in their relentless efforts to undermine and destroy our political and economic systems they have demonstrated a good deal of ability and expertise, not to mention a remarkable degree of audacity and persistence.

Therefore, it is absolutely imperative that we, as concerned Americans, recognize one paramount fact: We will never succeed in defeating this virulent strain of mutant monsters until we see them for what they really are and start calling them by their right name--TRAITORS who have abused our trust.

I call upon each of you to revive the patriot in your soul! Time is short. The clock is ticking.

The Political Wisdom of Barry Goldwater

Among the conser-vative politicians of the 1950s through the 1980s, few stand out as vividly as the late Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater.

In 1964, when Barry Goldwater was the Republican candidate for president running against Democrat Lyndon Johnson, I was just a kid in high school with little understanding of politics. I recall almost nothing about that campaign and election, only that Goldwater lost big-time. One thing I do remember, however, is that Goldwater’s opponent and the news media cast him as a reckless wild man in sharp contrast to Lyndon Johnson’s carefully fabricated media image as a self-restrained and reasonable leader.

History records that Lyndon Johnson, upon his election to the presidency, immediately launched a massive program of social spending that he termed “The Great Society.” Looking back on it now, the only thing that was great about it was that it was a great mistake, for what it actually did was transform an already great society into a mediocre one. It accomplished this by inviting hundreds of thousands of wholly unproductive and semi-productive Americans to become wards of the state, which they were all too happy to do. So I ask you, from today’s perspective, “Who turned out to be the most reckless candidate? Who steered us further away from the safe course set by our Founders and drove us more deeply into the barbed-wire enclosure of government control?”

I suppose as a whole present-day Americans aren’t even as politically astute as the generation that was hoodwinked into choosing Lyndon Johnson over Barry Goldwater in 1964. Nevertheless, I offer a few of Senator Goldwater's beliefs and insights on the proper role of government in the hope that someone, somewhere might recognize their value and take heed.

What follows are random quotes drawn from Barry Goldwater’s book, first published in 1960, entitled The Conscience of a Conservative.

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Surely the first obligation of a political thinker is to understand the nature of man.

The Conservative looks upon politics as the art of achieving the maximum amount of freedom for individuals that is consistent with the maintenance of social order.

We shall return to proven ways--not because they are old, but because they are true.

The framers of the Constitution had learned the lesson. They were not only students of history, but victims of it: they knew from vivid, personal experience that freedom depends on effective restraints against the accumulation of power in a single authority. And that is what the Constitution is: a system of restraints against the natural tendency of government to expand in the direction of absolutism.

The Tenth Amendment is not "a general assumption," but a prohibitory rule of law. The Tenth Amendment recognizes the States' jurisdiction in certain areas. States' Rights means that the States have a right to act or not to act, as they see fit, in the areas reserved to them. The States may have duties corresponding to these rights, but the duties are owed to the people of the States, not to the federal government. Therefore, the recourse lies not with the federal government, which is not sovereign, but with the people who are, and who have full power to take disciplinary action.

Nothing could so far advance the cause of freedom as for state officials throughout the land to assert their rightful claims to lost state power; and for the federal government to withdraw promptly and totally from every jurisdiction which the Constitution reserved to the states.

Government does not have an unlimited claim on the earnings of individuals. One of the foremost precepts of the natural law is man's right to the possession and the use of his property. And a man's earnings are his property as much as his land and the house in which he lives. Indeed, in the industrial age, earnings are probably the most prevalent form of property.

Socialism-through-Welfarism poses a far greater danger to freedom than Socialism-through-Nationalization precisely because it is more difficult to combat. The evils of Nationalization are self-evident and immediate. Those of Welfarism are veiled and tend to be postponed.

The effect of Welfarism on freedom will be felt later on--after its beneficiaries have become its victims, after dependence on government has turned into bondage and it is too late to unlock the jail.

The long range political consequences of Welfarism are plain enough: as we have seen, the State that is able to deal with its citizens as wards and dependents has gathered unto itself unlimited political and economic power and is thus able to rule as absolutely as any oriental despot.

The truth, of course, is that the federal government has no funds except those it extracts from the taxpayers who reside in the various States. The money that the federal government pays to State X for education has been taken from the citizens of State X in federal taxes and comes back to them, minus the Washington brokerage fee. The less wealthy States, to be sure, receive slightly more than they give, just as the more wealthy states receive somewhat less. But the differences are negligible. For the most part, federal aid simply substitutes the tax-collecting facilities of the federal government for those of local governments.

My view is that if State X possesses the wealth to educate its children adequately, but has failed to utilize its wealth for that purpose, it is up to the people of State X to take remedial action through their local and state governments. The federal government has neither the right nor the duty to intervene.

Conservatism, we are told, is out-of-date. The charge is preposterous and we ought boldly to say so. The laws of God, and of nature, have no dateline. The principles on which the Conservative political position is based have been established by a process that has nothing to do with the social, economic and political landscape that changes from decade to decade and from century to century. These principles are derived from the nature of man, and from the truths that God has revealed about His creation. Circumstances do change. So do the problems that are shaped by circumstances. But the principles that govern the solution of the problems do not. To suggest that the Conservative philosophy is out of date is akin to saying that the Golden Rule, or the Ten Commandments or Aristotle's Politics are out of date. The Conservative approach is nothing more or less than an attempt to apply the wisdom and experience and the revealed truths of the past to the problems of today.

I have been much concerned that so many people today with Conservative instincts feel compelled to apologize for them.

Every man, for his individual good and for the good of his society, is responsible for his own development.

If the Conservative is less anxious than his Liberal brethren to increase Social Security "benefits," it is because he is more anxious than his Liberal brethren that people be free throughout their lives to spend their earnings when and as they see fit.

Who will proclaim in a campaign speech: "I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution, or that have failed in their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is 'needed' before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible. And if I should later be attacked for neglecting my constituents' 'interests,' I shall reply that I was informed their main interest is liberty and that in that cause I am doing the very best I can."

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I sincerely hope that some or all of these words have stirred your soul a little. I know they stirred mine. We are way off track, my friends, and I don’t know what it will take to get us back to where we ought to be. But I know this: We won’t get back on course if we remain cowardly and ignorant. Make no mistake about it--any government that is steadily amassing power, as ours is, is doing so by robbing the people of their inherent rights and freedoms, no matter how benevolent or innocent that government pretends to be.

We have before us a stark reality: Push the federal government out of our lives or be overtaken by it. Delay strengthens the enemy. Take a stand today!

The Oil Spill

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has gener-ated a lot of bad news. The spill is said to be the worst catastrophe of its kind in history. The company responsible for the spill, BP, is receiving much criticism, and rightly so. But who else shares responsibility for this unprecedented environmental disaster?

Let me suggest that the government of the United States, particularly the Department of the Interior, and Americans in general also are to blame.

Let’s begin with the government.

The U.S. government, through the Department of the Interior, granted to BP an offshore lease which permitted the company to drill for oil 5,000 feet below the surface in the Gulf of Mexico. This was done even though the DOI itself admits that drilling for oil even 1,000 feet below the surface is a pretty dicey undertaking, one fraught with risks. So why does our government issue permits to oil companies wishing to drill at those extreme depths?

They issue them because big oil companies, whether domestic or foreign, wield enormous power and influence. In fact, it might be said that their power is exceeded only by the world’s central banks, our own Federal Reserve being among them, when it comes to behind-the-scenes manipulation of the world’s governments and economies.

You see many people--the vast majority, in fact--still fail to recognize that our government is no longer entirely in our hands. It is for the most part in the hands of those who, by hook or by crook, have managed to corner vast quantities of the world’s wealth, thereby gaining for themselves almost limitless power. At the moment, these shady figures prefer to operate behind closed doors and undercover. They get their traitorous work accomplished by purchasing and grooming puppet leaders to fill important offices within government, people on the make who are willing to promote the cabal’s interests while luring ordinary citizens into captivity by offering them a “helping hand” and doing what’s in their “best interest.” How do you suppose, for example, that an obscure nobody like Barack Obama rose from out of the blue to become president of the United States?

But enough said on the government’s unsavory involvement. Now let’s turn our attention to why the American public also is to blame.

The publics’ complicity in this boils down to just one thing: we have an insatiable appetite for oil. Consider this. Daily oil consumption in the U.S. roughly matches the daily combined consumption of the next four leading consumers of oil: China, Japan, Russia and India. And here’s another interesting comparison. The U.S. consumes nearly ten times more oil per day than our neighbor Canada does.

When I was a kid, the average American family owned one car and used it sparingly. Now everyone in a family who possesses a driver’s license owns a vehicle, not to mention all the motor homes, quads, dirt bikes, snowmobiles and watercraft many families also have. Some of these vehicles are on the move day and night.

I would dare say, and I’m sure many would agree, that most Americans wish to continue living in the fashion they’re accustomed to. Most of us, even so-called environmentalists, show little interest in altering our present lifestyle. Therefore our government permits oil companies to reach out further and further into previously unexplored regions of the earth in search of more oil, oil we all are willing to buy and consume voraciously, thus increasing the wealth and influence of corporations that already have us by the throat.

In other words, BP was drilling, and the government was allowing them to, because there is a huge worldwide demand for oil. And without question American consumers are demanding the lion share of it.

So next time a hot surge of righteous indignation towards BP and the mess they’ve created wells up inside of you, remember that you and the government you support also are to blame. And if you really want to make a difference, if you really don’t want to see anymore pelicans smothering in black goo, sell two or three of your automobiles and start taking the bus to work. And put your teenagers on bicycles. They probably could use the exercise.

And one more thing. If we don’t cut back voluntarily, the government will take the opportunity--indeed, jump at it--to create insidious new laws and regulations that will force us to, thereby further undermining the power of the people and expanding the power of the government.

BP screwed up, and it’s going to cost them. It may even fall by the wayside. But in the long run the world’s largest oil companies, like the world’s largest banks, will continue to grow and prosper and consolidate their power and influence, irrespective of any dog and pony shows staged by President Obama and members of Congress.

You can count on it.

The Bill of Rights

When the Bill of Rights initially was considered by the Consti-tutional Convention and the First Congress, it was a controversial topic. Many, even among the Founding Fathers, saw no reason for one. They believed the re-straints imposed upon the federal government by the Constitution were sufficient. However, we now recognize what a great blessing the Bill of Rights is, and realize that those who insisted upon its adoption were endowed with an extraordinary degree of foresight.

The Bill of Rights serves as a clear and unmistakable boundary between the limited powers delegated to the federal government and the almost limitless rights retained by the people. The Bill of Rights is, in effect, a “NO TRESPASSING” sign to over zealous and designing politicians.

If you haven’t read the Bill of Rights recently, please take a moment to do so. Every true American should be thoroughly acquainted with the first ten amendments to our Constitution. They all are important, but please pay particular attention to IX and X. You may on some occasion wish to bring these to the attention of our current president or to those who represent you in congress.

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Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment II
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

Amendment III
No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Amendment V
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Amendment VI
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

Amendment VII
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Amendment VIII
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Amendment IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

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Too often we take these rights for granted. That is because we always have had them. But if they were ever taken from us, overnight our lives and the lives of our posterity would be dramatically altered in ways we can hardly imagine.

The turncoats in Washington recognize that in order to abolish these rights without creating too great a stir, they must make us believe that the challenges currently facing America and the world are so great that they can be solved only by granting additional power to government. But remember: No matter how challenging or complex the affairs of the world may seem to be, requiring free men and women to surrender their rights certainly will not make things better.

Anyone possessing even a modicum of commonsense realizes that the world cannot be improved by enslaving vast quantities of people, if for no other reason than it would seriously reduce the number of honest and capable minds that could be set to work solving problems.

We have a treasure in the Bill of Rights. Guard it with your life.

The Jeep: A War-Winning Machine

Let’s take a break from the dreary world of politics for a moment and turn our atten-tion to a brighter and more hopeful topic--Jeeps. Not Cherokees or Liberties, but real Jeeps--the ones you can remove the top from and lay the windshield down; the ones that put bugs in your teeth and mud in your eyes.

For many months now I have been scrupulously monitoring such network news luminaries as Brian Williams, Diane Sawyer and Katie Couric, and nary a word, pro or con, has crossed their lips concerning Jeeps. I don’t know about you, but this glaring omission makes me more than just a little suspicious. Why, I keep asking myself, are they withholding information about Jeeps? What do they expect to gain by pretending these beloved and sporty little vehicles don’t exist?

But let us not waste our time today becoming hopelessly mired in bottomless questions and fathomless mysteries. Let us, instead, be practical. Let us do what we, as honest Americans, can do. Let us begin filling that conspicuous and gaping void created by our illustrious colleagues in New York who labor mightily each day to bemuse and befuddle us.

The brawny and sprightly Jeep traces its noble origins to a portentous time when the industrialized nations of the world were arming madly for war--a conflagration that ultimately came to be called World War II. The U.S. Army, acutely aware of the mounting danger, put out a request for a light reconnaissance vehicle. Three automakers--Ford, Willys and Bantam--submitted prototypes for evaluation. Following a period of intense scrutiny and rigorous testing, the Willys design was adopted, and thus the diminutive but mighty Jeep was born. It’s arrival came not a moment too soon, for on December 7, 1941, the United States was suddenly and unequivocally swept into the unfolding global conflict.

In its first incarnation, the Jeep came in but one color--olive drab; nevertheless G.I.’s around the world fell instantly in love with it. It possessed a striking and rugged beauty few men could resist. It soon was the American fighting man’s most cherished and faithful companion.

The Jeep served gallantly on every front of the war and was an invaluable component of the Allies’ vast war effort. The need for them eventually grew so great, in fact, that Ford was called upon to assist Willys in their production. Following the war, General Eisenhower praised the Jeep as one of three implements without which the war could not have been won. This salute from a widely respected general secured forever the Jeep’s reputation as a war-winning machine.

Fortunately for the Jeep and all the rest of us, its career did not end when victory came. Indeed, it made a speedy and effortless transition to civilian life. It went directly to work assisting farmers and ranchers, geologists and miners, surveyors and road builders, campers and hunters. It could be found anyplace ruggedness, fidelity and pluck were required in a vehicle.

The first nonmilitary version of the Jeep, which appeared immediately following the war, was designated the CJ-2A. Since its debut, the civilian Jeep has undergone a number of alterations, upgrades and refinements, many decried by today’s purists. Nevertheless, the fundamental elements that comprised the heart and soul of those original olive drab beauties still reside in the Jeep’s latest variant--the Wrangler.

Of the nearly 650,000 Jeeps produced by Willys and Ford during World War II, only a handful remain today, each one a tangible link to a tumultuous period in our nation’s history, a time of feverish activity and great danger, a time when all Americans stood tall and united against the barbarous forces of tyranny.

So remember. Even though they don’t always get the attention they deserve, Jeeps do exist. And they continue to elicit respect, joy and wonderment in all of us who still can appreciate indomitable strength, unwavering steadiness and simple beauty.

Spreading the Wealth

A fallacy being perpet-uated by President Obama is that our nation’s wealth isn’t being spread around properly. (Remember his comment to “Joe the Plumber?”) Apparently the president thinks it is unfair that the people who are willing to work live more comfortably than those who are unwilling to work. Therefore, he believes the government should step in and even things out.

But the fact is, the nation’s wealth already is being spread around quite effectively. Each day working Americans earn a share of our country’s wealth, and each day they pass a portion of that wealth on to others. Not a day goes by that purchases aren’t made and services paid for. Even the rich, though despised and vilified by liberals, participate fully in this daily process. In fact, because they earn more, they generally spend more. Money is being briskly exchanged all the time in this country; it doesn’t just sit around idle.

So what is it that the president is objecting to? Quite simply, he is displeased about who controls the process. What displeases him is that the people who earn the wealth get to decide where it goes after they earn it. He doesn’t like that.

Here is what he would like to see happen instead. He wants all the nation’s wealth to flow unimpeded to the federal government so bureaucrats under his charge and control may distribute it as he sees fit. Why? Because he believes his judgment is superior to ours. Elitists, you see, always think they--and they alone--know what is right. And President Obama is an elitist, through and through.

But remember this: Our nation was founded on principles aimed at maximizing individual freedom while limiting the powers of government. What Barack Obama and others refer to as “spreading the wealth” is simply a ruse for taking power and control away from the people and consolidating it into the hands of government. This is contrary to our founding principles and therefore is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!

Think about it. Only the shiftless and indolent are dissatisfied with the manner in which wealth is spread in this country. They complain that the nation’s wealth isn’t reaching them; but if they refuse to place themselves along the path of that wealth as it is flowing by, how do they realistically expect to acquire a share of it? All the rest of us know and understand that we must get out of bed in the morning and drive to a place where money can be earned--and spend the entire day there. Sure it’s inconvenient, but we don’t expect to draw water from the river unless we’re willing to go down to the river’s edge everyday and get our shoes muddy.

When it comes to his position on “spreading the wealth,” the president is brashly displaying his true colors, and they are not red, white and blue. How could any real American, least of all the president, believe it is in the best interest of our country to be encouraging those who refuse to work to harbor resentment towards those who are willing to work. And certainly the president, the nation’s highest political leader, shouldn’t be encouraging those who won’t work to believe that our economic system, the free enterprise system, is fundamentally unfair. That system is NOT unfair! It only seems that way to people who aren’t enterprising.

Bottom line: The president is pitting the working class against the nonworking class, and is promoting and lending respectability to a lie, solely for the purpose of gaining power. Barack Obama is not content with being president, he wants to be an emperor, a ruler unencumbered by restraints.

We can no longer afford to be complacent. If we don’t act fast and assert our Constitutional rights as free men and women, the president, you can be sure, will get his promotion.

The Single Biggest Threat?

Recently during a nuclear summit held in Washington, President Obama said: "The central focus of this nuclear summit is the fact that the single biggest threat to U.S. security, both short term, medium term and long term, would be the possibility of a terrorist organization obtaining a nuclear weapon."

Although I heartily agree that the threat of terrorists obtaining a nuclear device and employing it against a major U.S. city is a very serious one, it certainly is not the most immediate or dire threat facing the U.S. at this time. The single biggest threat facing America right now is the one from within. It is the large and growing number of high-level office holders in Washington, including President Obama, who no longer believe in the U.S. Constitution or the system of government it underpins.

Make no mistake about it, these insidious betrayers, who have clandestinely infiltrated our nation’s very heart and core, constitute America’s deadliest enemies.

We need to remember that a nation is strong, and therefore enjoys a greater level of security, when a majority of its citizens believe strongly in the principles upon which it was founded. The true believers in any political and economic ideology, be it capitalism, socialism, communism or terrorism, are always deeply committed to its continuing success and everlasting survival. On the other hand, when a people and their leaders begin to doubt their own political and economic doctrines, they seriously weaken that nation, making it more vulnerable to destructive influences from within and without.

America was established and built on individual liberty, free enterprise and limited government, principles that once were held in high esteem by all Americans. It prospered and became a mighty nation, the mightiest on earth, by following this unique and formerly vaunted body of tenets.

But now many, including the president, congressional leaders and federal justices, are losing faith in these cherished values that were instilled in us by our wise and courageous forebears. These perverse defectors want to turn us away from our traditional American values that have held us in good stead for so many years and embrace instead the bitter and toxic ideals of collectivism. If they succeed in making these ill-advised changes, they very quickly will turn America into a third-rate nation.

And that, my friends, not international terrorism, is the most critical danger currently facing America. Our highest leaders in Washington, men and women in whom we have entrusted our very lives and futures, are intentionally and maliciously undermining our nation’s strength, and placing us at a potentially fatal disadvantage in a cruel and highly competitive world where only the brave, the diligent and the sturdy survive and prosper.

Let us resolve today to reaffirm our nation’s traditional values, and to put our personal and political houses back in order. And I promise you that if we will do that, no enemy, foreign or domestic, will ever subdue or enslave us.

What Real Freedom Entails

Allow me pose a few questions. How does our government expect to stimulate the econ-omy when it is doing everything within and beyond its power to kill individual initiative? Doesn’t it see that its actions will stymie rather than stimulate the economy? Does our government really believe that our citi-zens will remain bold, aggressive, enterpris-ing and industrious once it has gained the power to arbitrarily transfer much of what they earn and possess to someone else? Is our government really so stupid that it cannot see that these actions will greatly diminish a citizen’s incentive to work hard and make prudent choices?

Ask yourselves this: What drives people to work hard and plan prudently if it is not the hope of improving their condition? And what guarantee will they have that their condition will improve once they have lost the power to use their earnings and accumulated belongings as they see fit?

Are we gullible enough to fall for this nonsense? (I could have employed the barnyard term for “nonsense,” but out of a respect for my readers I chose not to.)

Just because a growing number of misguided fools in Washington think socialism has merit is no reason for us, the sensible working class, to buy into it. In fact, for what it’s worth, I would say their interest in pursuing it is reason enough for staying completely clear of it. After all, does any creature on the planet possess faultier judgment than a politician?

America was largely developed by the people, not by the government. Let us never forget that. The astonishing level of prosperity we have achieved and enjoyed over the years is the result of individual effort and sacrifice. It was not achieved through government control and planning. Ordinary people, all across America, were free to rise or fall based upon their personal abilities and determination. The majority, to one degree or another, survived and prospered. They endured the many uncertainties and hardships associated with pursuing their aspirations and dreams because they believed they, not their timid and idle neighbors, would reap the benefits of their efforts. This demanding process not only produced good and useful citizens, but it made America a great nation as well.

However, if we wish to remain great and to continue flourishing, it is absolutely vital that we remain free. Our citizens must be permitted to retain control over their own lives and destinies, as the founders intended. This will necessitate a dramatic reduction in both the size and power of government, which conversely will place more responsibility upon the shoulders of individual citizens, who no longer will have the luxury of ducking their civic and moral obligations. But that’s what real freedom entails, folks.

As for those among us who refuse to work, I guess they will just have to live off scraps and like it.

Better To Perish Than To Live As Slaves

Some may disagree with what I am about to say, but the fact is, all people, wherever they may reside in the world, have chosen the govern-ment they live under. And it is not a choice made once and for all. Even small choices made over time may substantially alter or destabilize the most firmly established and well balanced govern-ments. Each day citizens may either resist changes to their existing political apparatus, sometimes strongly, or they may simply go along with them. In any event, they are making conscious choices, choices that will lead to a definite outcome.

Consider Germany in the 1930s. During hard economic times and a period of political and social unrest, the people of Germany stood at a crossroads. With a number of alternatives before them, they chose Nazism. Some actively chose it; others, the vast majority, chose it simply by giving in to it. Nevertheless, as a result of these collective choices, the German people opened the way for a charismatic figure, Adolf Hitler, to seize absolute control of their government. And once he had that control firmly vested in his hands, he wasted no time cajoling and bullying the largely decent citizens of Germany down a dangerous and desperate path, a path that ultimately led them to their downfall.

But let us return to the here and now, to the America of 2010. At this very moment, we, the current generation of Americans, are choosing by design or by default the government our children and grandchildren will live under. And it is this government that will determine to a very great extent the level of success, prosperity and personal fulfillment they will experience in their lives.

Though we obviously are not the Germans of the 1930s, there is no reason to suppose that we are any less susceptible to the blandishments of amoral and smooth-talking politicians, especially during difficult and uncertain times.

From a book entitled “As a Man Thinketh,” by James Allen, comes this unusual and thought-provoking quote: “It has been usual for men to think and to say, ‘Many are slaves because one man is an oppressor; let us hate the oppressor.’ Now, however, there is among an increasing few a tendency to reverse this judgment, and to say, ‘One man is an oppressor because many are slaves; let us despise the slaves.’”

I believe strongly that we in America are retreating steadily from our traditional values of independence and self reliance, and are adopting instead the mentality of slaves. More and more we yearn not for liberty, as our ancestors did, but for a life devoid of any real responsibility, a life where thinking for one’s self is largely unnecessary. But have we ever stopped to realize that by exhibiting this despicable behavior we may be inviting an oppressor to step in?

Americans, it is time to wake up! It is time to stop drifting with the current. It is time to begin resisting not only the slave-making policies of our government but our own wishful and impractical thinking. We must forthwith refrain from giving our government any indication whatsoever that we are composed of the material from which slaves can be made. We must let our representatives in Washington know, in no uncertain terms, that we still are proud and defiant Americans, Americans willing to fight for our precious liberties, the ones God granted to us and that were secured for us in our nation’s founding document, the Constitution.

Winston Churchill, no stranger to fighting tyrants, once said: “If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.”

Let us hesitate no longer. The time to make a crucial decision has arrived. Let us this very day, this very moment, resolve to resist oppression and choose liberty, as those who went before us did.


"They tell us Sir, that we are weak -- unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature has placed in our power." -- Patrick Henry