Thursday, September 30, 2010

Ron Paul’s Pledge to America (Video)


The Republican Party has a history of using desperate times to call for drastic measures and when bailing out AIG, bolstering Medicare or bombing Iraq, that party has always been willing to go big and bold on some of the largest government expansions in this nation’s history. But what about cutting government? You know, that stuff GOP politicians always talk about during election time?

One might think that in a political environment in which so many are desperate to reverse what they see as unsustainable government growth, Republican rhetoric might at least attempt to reflect that desperation. But when GOP leaders unveiled their “Pledge to America” last week, the only thing revealed is that these Republicans remain what they have always been-pansies. In a nutshell, the old Republican guard now pledges to save America from the excesses of Obama by basically returning to the level of government we experienced under Bush-when these exact same Republicans were doubling the size of government. The pledge reflects little substance, there’s not even anything about a balanced budget amendment or earmarks-two longstanding but fairly tame Republican gripes-and some of it even promotes GOP statism, with promises to repeal and “replace” national healthcare, and of course, to spend even more money on a “defense” budget that already accounts for half the earth’s military spending.

From the Contract with America in 1994 to the Pledge to America last week, the GOP has broken every contract or pledge it has ever made with conservatives. Now these same Republicans have made another empty promise, similar but even less appealing than the lies they’ve told in the past. 

This “pledge” is a joke.

When asked to give his take on the Pledge to America, Congressman Ron Paul stated the obvious on FOX Business, “I don’t hear enough precise things we would cut. I never hear that the military-industrial-complex should be addressed. I don’t ever hear that the discretionary and non-discretionary funding is all the same. I never hear which departments they really want to get rid of, so, it goes on and on and you just can’t have a little tinkering on the edges… as long as we want big government you can’t tinker with the edges.”

Tinkering indeed. 

In a Tea Party environment in which so many are tired of conventional GOP politicians screwing around with the peripheral and irrelevant, why shouldn’t conservatives look to the one Republican who has never screwed around? Instead of wondering if John Boehner is now serious, trying to figure out what Sarah Palin is saying, hoping that Scott Brown turns out to be something special, looking for something worthwhile about Newt Gingrich or wondering which version of Mitt Romney might run for president, why shouldn’t those serious about limiting government get fully behind the one conservative leader who has always been dead serious?

Congressman Ron Paul’s pledge to America is over three decades old and was taken the day he was sworn into office, or as he explained during a 2007 Republican presidential debate: “Hello, my name is Ron Paul. I am a congressman from Texas serving in my tenth term. I am the champion of the Constitution.” Virtually every Republican claims to be for the Constitution, but most with the moral authority of a cheating husband claiming to be a champion of marriage. Paul’s unwavering fidelity to this nation’s founding charter and his peers rampant infidelity can measured by the countless votes in which the Texas congressman stood as the sole opposition to the entire House of Representatives. This distinction is important as so many new Tea Party candidates are now criticized by the mainstream for being “extreme” in suggesting that we should follow the Constitution to the letter of the law, including dismantling the IRS, phasing out Social Security or abolishing the Department of Education. Such constitutionally-minded, nuts-and-bolts suggestions should be included in any serious conservative “pledge” to America-and have all been advocated by Paul his entire career.

To that extent that some conservatives may take issue with aspects of Paul’s constitutional philosophy is more often an invitation for self-examination. For example, many say they like Paul but part ways on foreign policy. Fair enough, but in supporting undeclared wars, the PATRIOT Act and forever empowering the Executive branch, such conservatives shouldn’t delude themselves that they actually stand for the Constitution or limited government in any substantive manner. In fact, they stand with the bulk of the Republican Party, who’ve also long made these constitutional exceptions, along with countless others, and not-so-curiously helped expand government every bit as much as the Democrats. Most Republicans claim to be for the Constitution-”but”-with the biggest “but” typically being a ridiculous and unnecessary foreign policy that costs as much as anything else the Tea Party now targets. Paul has always been for the Constitution, period, no “buts” about it.

So how comprehensively constitutional are conservatives willing to be? Those who wrote the Pledge to America obviously aren’t the least bit serious even as the Tea Party continues to show unprecedented conservative will. If the big government establishment now considers the Tea Party too radical, perhaps conservatives en masse should finally and fully consider the constitutional philosophy of the one man that establishment has also long considered too radical-and for the same reasons. There’s a reason Ron Paul’s influence continues to rise in conjunction with the rise of the Tea Party and to the extent that the movement adopts his philosophy, it will pledge itself to limiting government in a far more serious and comprehensive manner than it would listening to any other figure who now speaks in its name.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Obama: Born in the USA? NOT! (Video)

Hawaii Dems Button-Lipped on Obama Eligibility Status. Doc Missing Statement Candidate 'Qualified' Under U.S. Constitution

It long has been documented that when Barack Obama was picked by the Democratic Party to be its 2008 presidential candidate, only one state – Hawaii – was sent a document from Nancy Pelosi certifying that he was qualified under the requirements of the U.S. Constitution.

Now a series of blogs reports are heating up the issue again, this time revealing documents that showed it apparently was Hawaii's local Democratic Party that refused to include that certification on its paperwork naming Obama as its candidate.

Even today, the Hawaii Democratic Party was staying mum, declining attempts by WND to obtain a comment on why it handled the 2008 presidential race paperwork as it did. 

The original report came from a commentator at Canada Free Press who revealed the Democrats failed to certify their candidate's eligibility in 49 of the 50 states.


"In most states," writer JB Williams said at the time last year, "it appears that the DNC never certified constitutional eligibility for Barack Hussein Obama, despite their many claims of proper vetting and certification, all of which we now know to be false."

As WND reported, Williams released copies of two documents apparently prepared by Democrats to certify  Obama as their nominee for president. One contains language affirming his constitutional eligibility, filed in Hawaii where state law requires the specific language, and another omits the language, filed in the remaining 49 states.

Now a series of reports, including those from blogger JBJD, the butterdezillion blog, Obama Release Your Records blog and the Fellowshipofminds blog, are revealing the local state party's stance in 2008.

The blog reports cite each other, as well as apparent Democratic Party documents posted online from the 2000, 2004 and 2008 elections.

The images reveal the change in wording that Hawaii Democrats adopted when Obama was their candidate.

In choosing Al Gore and Joe Lieberman in 2000, this was their statement:

"THIS IS TO CERTIFY that the following candidates for President and Vice-President of the United States are legally qualified to serve under the provisions of the United States Constitution and are the duly chosen candidates of both the state and the national Democratic Parties by balloting at the Presidential Preference Poll and Caucus held March 7, 2000 in the State of Hawaii and by acclamation at the National Democratic Convention held August 14-17, 2000 in Los Angeles, California."


Article by Bob Unruh, WND

Friday, September 24, 2010

Town Hall Questioner To Obama: 'I'm Exhausted Of Defending You' (Video)

WELL DEAR....AREN'T WE ALL??

Government Report Cites ACORN Offshoot for 'Ineligible' Payments, Grant Problems

From A Tiny ACORN Does A Mighty Scandal Grow



An official report released this week says an ACORN offshoot group cannot properly account for how it has spent millions of federal dollars and recommends that the group repay the government and be put on standby mode until it cleans up its act.

The report from the inspector general for the Department of Housing and Urban Development reviewed how ACORN Housing Corporation -- now called Affordable Housing Centers of America -- has spent federal grant money over the past two decades. The report described the group's book-keeping as "problematic and unsupported," and claimed that more than $65,000 in "ineligible" salary expenses were charged to a federal grant last year, including costs for six employees after they were terminated. 

The report said more than $19 million from HUD went to the organization since 1995, and that about 80 percent of the $3.25 million received between 2008 and 2009 went toward salaries. 

"For continued approval as a HUD-approved housing counseling agency and for future awards consideration, AHC must bring its operations into full compliance with applicable laws," the IG report said, recommending that it be placed on "inactive" status by the federal housing department. 

The study is the latest blow to the beleaguered low-income advocacy group ACORN and its offshoots. After Congress voted to cut funding to the main organization following the release of undercover videos that showed its workers appearing to help a couple posing as a pimp and prostitute, the organization's affiliates and chapters have been reorganizing under different names. 

ACORN Housing Corporation, which was formed in 1985 by ACORN organizers, changed its name this year to Affordable Housing Centers of America. 

The IG report recommended that the organization reimburse the government for the $65,000 in "ineligible" expenses -- and either provide support for other salary costs or reimburse that money as well. 

A memo released Sept. 7 by the Department of Housing and Urban Development agreed that the group should either "provide documentation" to support its expenses or reimburse the government. 

The department "will evaluate if inactive 'status' is warranted," the memo said. 

In response, a representative for Affordable Housing Centers of America wrote in a Sept. 10 letter to the inspector general's office that "almost all" personnel records unavailable during the audit "have now been located." The response also said the group instituted an "electronic time-keeping system" to record how grant money is applied -- a reform that "satisfies" one of the recommendations in the report. 

The response said the organization "does not dispute" that expenses for terminated employees, as well as expenses for prior-year costs, were "erroneously charged" to the federal government. 

However, Affordable Housing Centers of America argued that it should not have to repay the money because the group "incurred substantial other allowable costs" last year that it did not charge to Washington. 

"Importantly, none of the findings suggest that funds were misused or that counseling work was not performed," the response said, adding that the group will work "constructively" to improve its operation. 

The inspector general study was requested by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., ranking Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. 

"It doesn't matter if it's $10 or $10,000 -- there is no acceptable amount of abuse or mismanagement that the federal government should tolerate when it comes to the taxpayers' dollars," Issa said in a written statement.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

UFOs Visited Nuclear Weapons Sites, Former US Air Force Officers Say (Video)

More Secrets Being Kept From Us By Big Brother??

UFOs have monitored and possibly tampered with American nuclear weapons, according to a group of former Air Force officers who will make their claims public next week at a Washington, D.C., news conference.

"While most of the incidents apparently involved mere surveillance, in a few cases, a significant number of nuclear missiles suddenly and simultaneously malfunctioned, just as USAF security policemen reported seeing disc-shaped craft hovering nearby," says Robert Hastings, author of "UFOs and Nukes: Extraordinary Encounters at Nuclear Weapons Sites."

On Monday, at the National Press Club, Hastings will present six former Air Force personnel who will break their silence and disclose dramatic first-hand experiences with UFOs at nuclear weapons sites.

In a statement, Hastings said, "At long last, all of these witnesses are coming forward to say that, as unbelievable as it may seem to some, UFOs have long monitored and sometimes tampered with our nukes."

Hastings' co-host for the news conference, ICBM launch officer Capt. Robert Salas, was witness to a UFO incident in 1967 that, he says, caused a missile disruption at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, and he was ordered to keep quiet about it.

"The Air Force is lying about the national security implications of unidentified aerial objects at nuclear bases, and we can prove it," Salas said.

                                 
Disclose.tv - Larry King: UFOs shutting down Military Sites 1/4 Video

Another officer scheduled to appear at Monday's conference, Col. Charles Halt, witnessed a disc-shaped object shooting beams of light onto the joint Anglo/American RAF Bentwaters airbase in England in 1980. The lights were reportedly near the base's nuclear weapons storage area.

"I believe that the security services of both the United States and the United Kingdom have attempted -- both then and now -- to subvert the significance of what occurred at RAF Bentwaters by the use of well-practiced methods of disinformation."

Along with the other officers who will be on hand to support this remarkable UFO agenda, Hastings says that he and the auspicious military group will discuss the national security implications of these and other UFO incidents, and they will urge the government to come clean about the subject.

In addition to declassified U.S. government documents that will be offered at the event, the group plans to address the following questions:
  • Why do UFOs continue to appear at nuclear weapons sites, decade after decade?
  • What might these incursions indicate about the intentions and goals of those who presumably pilot these craft?
  • Why has the U.S. government chosen to keep the American public, and people everywhere, in the dark about these dramatic developments?

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

The Forgotten Man (Video)

This painting by artist Jon McNaughton is the epitome of the saying: "A Picture Paints a Thousand Words" 

In this case it also paints the suffering of a nation. 

What has Obama done?

What are YOU willing to do to change things?

Monday, September 20, 2010

Even If You Favor Amnesty For Some Illegal Teens, This DREAM Act Must Be Stopped!

ABC quoted me as saying that there is no question that many of the teenagers who would get an amnesty through the DREAM Act make for "compelling" cases. But I'm also quoted saying that this DREAM amnesty should not be passed.

If the DREAM Act were actually limited to the PR rhetoric that comes out of the pro-amnesty organizations, there might be reason for a debate.

If you barely paid attention, you would think this amnesty is just about illegal aliens who are high school valedictorians.

If you pay a little more attention you would know it is larger than that but think it is for good students who are teenagers or college students who were brought to the U.S. illegally when they were toddlers. You would think that they don't know the language of their home country, have no ties there and if not given a U.S. amnesty would be without a country.

And you might have believed all the rhetoric of the pro-amnesty forces of the last year that they only want legalization (amnesty) for illegal aliens if it is coupled with strong enforcement measures that will prevent a buildup of an illegal population in the future.

Well, the open-borders people have spent millions of dollars on PR firms to figure out how to lie to and mislead the American people in the smoothest way possible -- how to seem to be saying things that they actually aren't.

Here's the real story:
No. 1: Not valedictorians -- or even necessarily good students.
Any illegal alien who can manage to meet the minimum requirements to graduate from high school or get an equivalent degree meets the first test.
 
No. 2: Primarily NOT teens or college students.
The Senate DREAM bill allows you to be up to 35 years old!
The House bill has no upper limit.
 
No. 3: Don't have to have come when a child.
An illegal alien can get this amnesty even if he didn't arrive in the U.S. until age 15. That's right -- he can spend his first 15 years learning the language and culture of his home country and developing all kinds of ties there and then come to the U.S. and later claim need for a DREAM amnesty because he supposedly has no country to go back to.

I was on a national Hispanic cable TV show last week on which a videotaped profile was run of a well-heeled-looking woman from another country bragging in front of New York City scenery that a few years ago she had illegally overstayed her tourist visa when her son was 15 so he could go to a U.S. college and pursue a U.S. career. DREAM would reward her and all the rest of people in the world who might think like her.
 
No. 4: Bill is open to gigantic fraud.
The bill is written so that the 2, 3 or 4 million illegal-alien applicants only have to CLAIM to meet the criteria. They don't have to PROVE anything.

The government has to build a case, one illegal at a time, and prove the claims on the application are false in order for the illegal alien to lose the amnesty. Can you imagine how many times that is likely to happen?
 
No. 5: DREAM does nothing to stop the behavior that put teenagers into their situation. It leaves the jobs magnet in place.
This amnesty has no enforcement measures at all. It allows employers to continue to hire illegal aliens, enticing millions more parents to bring their children here illegally and stay long enough for them to become high school students and demand another amnesty in a few years.
 
No. 6: DREAM leaves intact the chain migration system that will allow these 2.1 million illegal aliens to eventually send for millions more relatives.
Rather quickly, the amnestied illegal aliens would be able to get green cards for their parents. And millions of additional relatives would be able to start planning their applications and getting in line. This starts with adult siblings and moves on to aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.

A large percentage of the illegal aliens in the U.S. today are extended family members of the illegal aliens who got amnesty in 1986 and also those in the six more-limited amnesties in the 1990s.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Happy Constitution Day!! (Videos)

This is YOUR Document. Read it. Know it!







GOD BLESS AMERICA!




Evidence Mounts of BP Spraying Toxic Dispersants

Shirley and Don Tillman, residents of Pass Christian, Mississippi, have owned shrimp boats, an oyster boat and many pleasure boats. They spent much time on the Gulf of Mexico before working in BP's Vessels Of Opportunity (VOO) program looking for and trying to clean up oil.

photo
Private contractor in Carolina Skiff with tank of Corexit dispersant, August 10, south of Pass Christian Harbor, 9:30 AM. (Photo: Don Tillman)
Don decided to work in the VOO program in order to assist his brother, who was unable to do so due to health problems. Thus, Don worked on the boat and Shirley decided to join him as a deckhand most of the days.

"We love the Gulf, our life is here and so when this oil disaster happened, we wanted to do what we could to help clean it up," Shirley explained to Truthout.

However, not long after they began working in BP's response effort in June, what they saw disturbed them. "It didn't take long for us to understand that something was very, very wrong about this whole thing," Shirley told Truthout. "So that's when I started keeping a diary of what we experienced and began taking a lot of pictures. We had to speak up about what we know is being done to our Gulf."

Shirley logged what they saw and took hundreds of photos. The Tillmans confirm, both with what they logged in writing as well as in photos, what Truthout has reported before: BP has hired out-of-state contractors to use unregistered boats, usually of the Carolina Skiff variety, to spray toxic Corexit dispersants on oil located by VOO workers.

Shirley provided Truthout with key excerpts from the diary she kept of her experiences out on the water with her husband while they worked in the VOO program before they, like most of the other VOO workers in Mississippi, were laid off because the state of Mississippi, along with the US Coast Guard, has declared there is no more "recoverable oil" in their area.

"The first day I went, I noticed a lot of foam on the water," reads her entry from June 26. "My husband said he had been seeing a lot of it. At that time, we were just looking for 'Oil.' We would go out in groups of normally, five boats. The Coast Guard was over the VOO operation. There was always a Coast Guard on at least one of the boats. They would tell us when to leave the harbor, where to go and how fast to go. They had flags on each of the VOO boats and also a transponder. Sometimes we would have one or more National Guardsmen in our group too, as well as an occasional safety man to monitor the air quality and procedures on the boat. If we found anything, the Coast Guard in our group would call it in to 'Seahorse' and they would determine what action would be taken."

Along with giving a clear description of how the Coast Guard was thus always aware of the findings of the VOO workers, her diary provides, at times, heart-wrenching descriptions of what is happening to the marine life and wildlife of the Gulf of Mexico.

"Before we went to work, I went down by the beach," reads her entry from July 4. "There were dead jellyfish everywhere. Some of them were surrounded by foam. A seagull was by the waters edge, as the foamy stuff continued to wash up. There was also a crane that appeared to be sick. It didn't look like it had any oil on it, but it just stood there, no matter how close I got."

On the morning of August 5, Shirley describes spotting a dead young dolphin floating in the water. "As we waited for the VOO Wildlife boat to come pick it up, we noticed a pod of dolphins close by," she writes. "Even with all the boats around, they did not leave until the dead one was removed from the water. It was very emotional, for all of us."
The next day, August 6, found her logging more death. "Last night on the news, they reported a fish kill. Before we went to work, I went to the beach by the harbor. The seagulls were everywhere. As for the dead fish, the only ones on the beach, were ones that the tide had left when it went back out. The rest of the 'Fish Kill,' was laying underwater, on the bottom. It was mainly flounder and crab. We only spotted two dead flounder floating that day. I can only imagine how many were on the bottom ... I went back to the beach after work. The tide had gone out and the seagulls were eating all the dead fish that had been exposed. You could still see dead fish underwater, still on the bottom. Dead fish don't float anymore?"

The Tillman's primary concern is the rampant use of toxic dispersants by what they described as private contractors working in unregistered boats, that regularly were going out into the Gulf as they and other VOO teams were coming in from their days' work. There was, oftentimes, so much dispersant on top of the water, their boat left a trail.

"The first thing I noticed, was the 'trail' the boat was leaving in the water," her log from July 10 reads. "You could see exactly where we had been, as far back as you could see. Around 11:00, we were in oil sheen and brownish clumps. We were North of Cat and Ship Island when the Coast Guard told us to drop the boom over. When you pick the boom up, you have to wear 'protective gear.'"

Her log from August 1 describes, in detail, an incident of the Coast Guard not allowing them to collect oil and his proceeding to deny what they found was even oil:
"Around 2:00 p.m., we started noticing a lot of oil sheen. We were North of the East end of Cat Island, but South of the Inter Coastal channel. There was, as usual, a Coast Guard on one of the boats in our team. He called in to report it, but we were told not to drop the boom, it was just 'Fish Oil.' In the beginning of the clean-up operation, if something was floating on the water and it looked like oil, it was oil or oil sheen. Later they would sometimes say it was just 'Fish Oil.' Also, if it was heavy foam with a brown or rust color, originally it was 'Oil Mousse.' Later it was called 'Algae.' We were then told to head Northwest. The further we went, the worse the 'Fish Oil' got. Then, the foam was mixed in with the oil. It was at least the size of a football field, around our boat alone. My husband got on the radio and asked if they could put the boom over." The Coast Guard, again, told them no. "We were then headed West, back towards Pass Christian. A pleasure boat flagged one of the boats in our group down and told him that there was oil all over. The Coast Guard said to tell him that they were aware of the situation ... On the way back to the Pass Harbor, I asked my husband, 'Just exactly what are we even doing out here?' He told me that he was beginning to think that it was all just for show. I can only imagine what the people on the pleasure boat had to say when they got back home that day. Probably, that they had seen a lot of oil on the water and the VOO boats were out there just riding around in it and not doing anything to clean it up. That is exactly what happened. We decided then to start documenting as much as we could. I believe it was the very next day, Thad Allen was on TV saying that they were scaling operations back due to the fact that, 'No oil has been seen in the Gulf in almost two weeks.' Now, if we had pulled boom on Sunday and unloaded a bunch of dirty boom in the Pass harbor, it might have been a problem for him later."
Dispersant remnant. June 26, 2010.
  Dispersant remnant, June 26, 2010. (Photo: Shirley Tillman)

On August 5, she describes a rare instance of their being allowed to drop boom in order to collect oil. "We had a Coast Guard and two Safety Men on our boat. We went to the West of the Pass Harbor. The water looked black in places. Lots of bubbles, not foam, just bubbles. Around 8:30, we were in oil sheen and mousse and were told to drop the boom. The more we pulled the boom, it appeared the more was coming up. The Pass [Christian] Harbor was closed because the oil was coming in so bad. We pulled boom back and forth the rest of the afternoon."

Oiled Boom. August 5, 2010.
Oiled boom, August 5, 2010. (Photo: Shirley Tillman)

Oil sheen and dispersant remnant. August 1, 2010.
Oil sheen and dispersant remnant, August 1, 2010. (Photo: Shirley Tillman)


To read rest of article click here

 

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Reality Check

 

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. 'Since you are all such good customers,' he said, 'I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20.'Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected.

They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?'

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each paying man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now pa id $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

'I only got a dollar out of the $20,'declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,' but he got $10!'

'Yeah, that's right,' exclaimed the fifth man. 'I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!'

'That's true!!' shouted the seventh man. 'Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!'

'Wait a minute,' yelled the first four men in unison. 'We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!'

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking at another bar where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics, University of Georgia

For those of you who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Rancher Who Lives On Arizona/Mexico Border Tells It Like It Is

I believe story telling to be an art form, certainly verbal record is the oldest form of recording history and recognized by historians worldwide. 

There is an old adage among those who love to tell a good tale, “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.” And yet there are times when the truth is even more fantastic than exaggeration. What I write here is the truth, plain and simple.

I reside on, and manage a large cattle ranch in the far southeastern corner of Arizona. I’ve been here for 13 years and in that time frame have become far too familiar with the illegal trafficking in human beings, marijuana and other illicit drugs. Some have called it “the wetback culture” or “America’s border problem”. Lately it’s been taking steroids.

The recent murder of Robert Krentz by an illegal alien has received massive amounts of publicity worldwide. I live on the ranch bordering the Krentz ranch to the east and north. I can see the Krentz home looking out of my front door approximately 10 miles away. The day after Rob’s death I was involved in tracking the outlaw into Mexico. I saw the outlaw’s footprints where he crossed the border fence. I mention this to say I feel that I’m qualified to speak about current border issues.

My home has been broken into twice. My son’s home has been broken into also and between us we have had between twenty and thirty thousand dollars worth of stuff stolen from us including two ranch pick-ups, a four wheeler, 9 firearms (including a loaded AK 47) cash, jewelry all of our credit cards, driver’s license, etc. A guest house here on the ranch has been broken into so many times we quit counting… many times we haven’t even called the Sheriff’s dept. The Cochise County Sheriff’s dept. has no less than fifteen reports on file where I’ve called for assistance dealing with an outlaw illegal alien.


Several months ago, not long after Rob Krentz’s death, Fox news (channel 10 in Phoenix AZ) contacted me and expressed interest in coming down and doing a news story about me and the problems myself and other ranchers in this area have had in recent months with illegal outlaws. 

To prepare for my interview with Fox, I asked for assistance from six other neighboring ranchers and businessmen. All of these men are prominent men in the community, tax payers, business owners and individuals who have the best of reputations. Together we made a map of the area which covered from the southeastern corner of AZ going west about 20 miles to the silver creek area, and going north about 30 miles to the area around the towns of Portal, AZ and Rodeo, N.M. On this map we made marks recording violations to United States law committed by illegal aliens. We did not use government statistics (we wouldn’t know how to get them) but recorded incidents that we knew had happened first hand, many of which we had witnessed. We tried to record only the incidents that have happened in the last several years.
  • The sum total of what we recorded is this:
  • The arrest or capture of 40 illegal in one bunch – 40
(we didn’t bother with the countless smaller groups)
  • Loads of Marijuana found and captured – 213
  • Dangerous encounters with illegal aliens – 132
(assault, burglaries, forced entries, etc.)
  • Dead illegal aliens found by civilians – 16
  • High speed vehicle chases between dope haulers and law enforcement – 14
  • Illegal aliens spotted with firearms – 12
  • Fires started by illegal aliens – 9
Over 100,000 acres burned with the cost to taxpayers of $ 40,000,000. One fire near Portal AZ in June of 2010 cost $10,000,000. to fight (forest Service estimate)
  • Outlandish incidents – 4
Example: One bachelor in the Portal area was burglarized around 100 times. He finally took all his valuables and put them in a steel vault and welded the door shut. He then moved out of his house into a shed hoping the illegal aliens would leave him alone. They did not and he finally abandoned his property. Another outlandish event was when outlaws stole a brand new Caterpillar motor grader on the Geronimo Trail east of Douglas, AZ and drove south through the border fence never to be seen again. The grader belonged to Cochise County Hwy Dept.
  • Financial losses to private sector - $100,000,000.00
(losses in real estate value, personal property, etc., losses in wildlife habitat – immeasurable)

Last but certainly not least, the murder of Rob Krentz, which is right in the center of our map.

Let me put this in perspective. The area I’m talking about is an area that covers approximately 17 or 18 townships with only 20 miles being adjacent to the US – Mexico Boundary. Within this area, there is a population of perhaps 600 people, 90% of which reside in Rodeo, N.M. or Portal, AZ, 30 miles or so north of Mexico. No less than 80% of the people in this area have been burglarized or otherwise molested by illegal aliens. This area is about half as big as the Diamond A ranch or Babbitt ranch in northern AZ, both of which I’ve been employed on.

 ~ The Author ~

I’m sorry to report that this, in my opinion, is the small part of the story. The Mexican-American border has taken a dramatic change for the worse in the last several years. Those of us who live here see it first hand. As early as February of 1999 Sheriff Larry Dever warned me and others at a town hall meeting at the Apache School that the Sinaloa Cartel was moving into the Douglas-Agua Prieta area (Rob Krentz was at this meeting). The cities of Nuevo Laredo, Coahila, Cuidad Juarez, Chihuahua, and other border towns south of Texas have been controlled by outlaws for years. There is virtually no law enforcement in those places. The law is the law of the jungle. Until the last two years it seemed that Agua Prieta and Nogales were safer places but that has dramatically changed in recent months.

I am personally acquainted with 2 Mexican men, that I know to be honest and trustworthy, who have been involved first hand with Mexican outlaw terrorist acts. One witnessed first hand an execution of several people in broad daylight in Juarez. Several weeks later his daughter witnessed an assassination in Casas Grandes, Chihuahua no more than fifteen feet from where she stood. The other man is a legal Mexican green card holder (who was employed by the Krentz family for years) whose nephew was murdered by cartel members in Sonora. At night people in Douglas are hearing machine gun fire from Agua Prieta south of the border fence.

The Sinaloa Cartel is now putting a stranglehold on Agua Prieta. No more than 2 months ago 8 armed Mexicans were confronted by 2, U.S. Border Patrol agents north of the International Boundary in southeast Cochise County disguised as Federalizes. They were in fact cartel employees armed with assault rifles and automatic pistols. Mexican people that know tell me the situation in Agua Prieta has deteriorated dramatically in recent months. The good people are told to look the other way “or else.” Volumes could be written about this subject alone, but I will move on.

You could ask, “So what does this have to do with us living north of the border fence?” Plenty! The situation on the border isn’t just about a few workers walking north. It has everything to do with big business. Billions of dollars are being made trafficking humans, drugs, and contraband across the International Boundary. The Sinaloa Cartel, headed by Chapo Guzman and others, is reaping huge profits doing business along the border. The average coyote charges $1500 - $2500 to guide an illegal alien north to find work; usually abandoning them a short distance north of the line. A young man willing to pack dope north can make more than a construction worker or a teacher in the U.S. and only work a day or two a week.

This is not all south of the line. I could take you and show you businesses where checks and credit cards are not accepted and where very few customers walk through the door, yet the owners live in the largest mansions in town and drive very expensive cars. Could there be some money laundering going on? There are only two industries of any significance in Douglas, AZ: law enforcement (Douglas has one of the largest Border Patrol stations in America), and the illegal trafficking of drugs, people, etc. across the border. 

These two industries feed on each other, and the powers that be seem happy with the situation. Crooked politicians look good to the public when they clean up drunk driving and prostitution, until you find they own bars and whore houses south of the line. These things have happened!

But this, in my opinion, is only the beginning. Chapo Guzman who heads up the Sinaloa Cartel is a multibillionaire. This guy and others like him may be cruel and sinister people but they are also very smart businessmen. They are reaping profits off of the largest tax free unregulated business on the planet. They have so much cash they are befuddled what to do with it all. But they are going to figure it out.

There are rumors that Guzman is financing modern, state of the art feedlots and packing houses in Mexico with plans to overtake America as the Western hemisphere’s leading beef producer. This is probably only a small part of his plans. Mexico is a nation rich in natural recourses. Petroleum is abundant and the corrupt Mexican government is in control of all of it. Pemex is the only gas station in town. Pemex, because of the incompetent Mexican government, is broke. 

Chapo Guzman is at war with the Mexican government and has dreams (not unrealistic) of controlling the entire nation. Think of all of Mexico’s natural resources in the control of Chapo Guzman! He already has the most profitable business in the world - selling Marijuana to your next door neighbor. 

Think what he could do with a tax free unregulated strangle hold on a nation of poor people begging to work for practically nothing.

Do you think that Chapo Guzman and others like him haven’t thought of all of this? Do you think that Guzman isn’t laughing all the way to the bank as he watches the evening news and hears how the American Government proclaims that the situation on the border is under control? What is going on in northern Mexico is capitalism in its rawest form. 

They have an untaxed unregulated business making huge profits and they have no plans of closing up shop any time soon. We here in the U.S. are overtaxed, overregulated and being smothered by increasingly intrusive government that makes it hard to do business in a successful manner. You don’t have to be rocket scientist to figure this one out.

This has nothing to do with being Republican or Democrat or Latino or White. It has everything to do with being right or wrong. I came from a long line of Democrats. My great uncle was a U.S. Senator for several decades. My grandfather was an attorney, and a Superior Court Judge. I have a 1939 copy of a Time Magazine with his picture when he ran as a Democrat for Congress. The only time in history the U.S deficit was paid off was by a Democrat – Andrew Jackson. John Kennedy announced nearly 50 years ago that America could put a man on the moon and in less than a decade we did it.

I am now a registered Republican, but I’m not a Democrat hater. But, how can the president of the “can do” nation of Andrew Jackson’s and JFK’s party say we can’t seal the border? We conquered Adolph Hitler in World War II, but can’t seal the border? We put a man on the moon but can’t seal a leaking oil well in less than 90 days? While this is going on we tax and regulate American business with a vengeance that stifles the free market system that has made our country great. While Janet Napolitano announces the border is safer than ever, Chapo Guzman and others pack billions of American dollars south to invest in a tax free market with one of the largest cheap labor force on the planet at his disposal!

I challenge you to come to Douglas, AZ and drive east on the Geronimo Trail, or northeast on US Hwy 80 to places on the map like Chiracahua and Apache. Or go to Rodeo and Hatchita, NM. Go and search out the 5 biggest cattle ranches in the Apache, AZ area and ask them what they think. Go to Hidalgo County, N.M. and ask the ranchers and cowboys there what they are seeing and hearing. Ask the people who we do business with what they think of our opinions. I challenge you to ask the prominent people in this area, who work hard and pay taxes if they agree with Barack Obama or Ed Ashurst when it comes to what is really going on near the U.S.-Mexican border. Unlike Obama and others I don’t have to be surrounded by sycophants to make a statement. I purposefully left out the names of those who helped me with my map and the data I collected when preparing for the Fox interview.

In closing I challenge you to look around to see if what I say is the truth. This isn’t about a few Mexicans wandering around looking for a job. This is about American civilization going into a time of tremendous change – a building has foundations and walls, maybe the foundation of our country is still strong, I don’t know, but the walls have certainly fallen down and the keepers of the house are out to lunch.

Ed Ashurst, Apache Arizona

Sunday, September 12, 2010

1,280 Architects and Engineers Launch Third Light Beam into NYC Night Skyline on 9th Anniversary of September 11th (Video)


Represents WTC Bldg 7’s still-officially-unexplained free fall collapse and explosive implications.

At 9:11 p.m. on the 9th anniversary of the September attacks, the members of the 1,280-strong Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth (AE911Truth) lit up the skies over Manhattan with a towering 2-billion-candlepower beam of light to raise public awareness that three, not just two, World Trade Center high-rise buildings collapsed symmetrically at near free-fall acceleration on 9/11, though only two were hit by planes. 

“Why is there a Third Beam in my skyline?” New Yorkers are asking themselves tonight.  



AE911Truth founder Richard Gage, AIA, answered that question earlier in the day at a 2:00 press conference in front of the entrance to the now-rebuilt WTC 7 where he was joined by 9/11 victims’ family members, members of NYC CAN (New York City Coalition for Accountability Now) and an audience of hundreds of concerned citizens from NYC and across the country.

“The people of New York need to see the light that a third WTC skyscraper not hit by any plane was destroyed on Sept. 11th and that they have been deceived about what happened on that terrible day,” he said. “Tonight we are shining the spotlight, literally, on the fact that the official story of what happened at Ground Zero simply cannot be true and that a new, truly independent investigation is needed. This new investigation is needed both as a matter of national security and as the key to real justice for the victims of the Twin Towers.”

“So look into the NYC evening skyline tonight at 9:11 and ask yourself this question: “What can I do to shine a light of truth and justice for the family members and first responders?”

Gage is in NYC Sept. 11 and 12 to speak at a live-streamed symposium on “How the World Changed After 9/11.” This event at INN World Report, 56 Walker Street, Lower Manhattan, features national and international leaders of the 9/11 Truth and accountability movement.

“Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth are here to give any and all press and media all the technical support you need in order to break this story of the crime of the century,” Gage said. “The real story is not about the Islamic Cultural Center, which is a red herring fed to the media to keep New Yorkers emotionally occupied while the crime of the century — the explosive demolition of three World Trade Center skyscrapers on 9/11 — goes almost completely unquestioned.”  

“Building 7 is a smoking gun of the WTC crime scene. We hope that after tonight, New Yorkers will realize this and see what happened here on September 11th in a whole new light.”


Obama’s College Classmate Speaks Out

Rahm Emanuel cynically said, "You never want a crisis to go to waste." It is now becoming clear that the crisis he was referring to is Barack Obama's presidency.

Barack Obama is no fool. He is not incompetent. To the contrary, he is brilliant. He knows exactly what he's doing. He is purposely overwhelming the U.S. economy to create systemic failure, economic crisis and social chaos-- thereby destroying capitalism and our country from within.

Barack Obama is my college classmate (Columbia University, class of '83).  As Glenn Beck correctly predicted from day one, Obama is following the plan of Cloward & Piven, two professors at Columbia University. They outlined a plan to socialize America by overwhelming the system with government spending and entitlement demands. 


Add up the clues below. Taken individually they're alarming. Taken as a whole, it is a brilliant, Machiavellian game plan to turn the United States into a socialist/Marxist state with a permanent majority that desperately needs government for survival ... and can be counted on to always vote for bigger government. Why not? They have no responsibility to pay for it. 

·         Universal health care. The health care bill had very little to do with health care. It had everything to do with unionizing millions of hospital and health care workers, as well as adding 15,000 to 20,000 new IRS agents (who will join government employee unions). Obama doesn't care that giving free health care to 30 million Americans will add trillions to the national debt. What he does care about is that it cements the dependence of those 30 million voters to Democrats and big government. Who but a socialist revolutionary would pass this reckless spending bill in the middle of a depression? 

·         Cap and trade. Like health care legislation having nothing to do with health care, cap and trade has nothing to do with global warming. It has everything to do with redistribution of income, government control of the economy and a criminal payoff to Obama's biggest contributors. Those powerful and wealthy unions and contributors (like GE, which owns NBC, MSNBC and CNBC) can then be counted on to support everything Obama wants. They will kick-back hundreds of millions of dollars in contributions to Obama and the Democratic Party to keep them in power. The bonus is that all the new taxes on Americans with bigger cars, bigger homes and businesses helps Obama "spread the wealth around." 

·         Make Puerto Rico a state. Why? Who's asking for a 51st state? Who's asking for millions of new welfare recipients and government entitlement addicts in the middle of a depression? Certainly not American taxpayers. But this has been Obama's plan all along. His goal is to add two new Democrat senators, five Democrat congressman and a million loyal Democratic voters who are dependent on big government. 

·         Legalize 12 million illegal immigrants. Just giving these 12 million potential new citizens free health care alone could overwhelm the system and bankrupt America. But it adds 12 million reliable new Democrat voters who can be counted on to support big government. Add another few trillion dollars in welfare, aid to dependent children, food stamps, free medical, education, tax credits for the poor, and eventually Social Security. 

·         Stimulus and bailouts. Where did all that money go? It went to Democrat contributors, organizations (ACORN), and unions -- including billions of dollars to save or create jobs of government employees across the country. It went to save GM and Chrysler so that their employees could keep paying union dues. It went to AIG so that Goldman Sachs could be bailed out (after giving Obama almost $1 million in contributions). A staggering $125 billion went to teachers (thereby protecting their union dues). All those public employees will vote loyally Democrat to protect their bloated salaries and pensions that are bankrupting America. The country goes broke, future generations face a bleak future, but Obama, the Democrat Party, government, and the unions grow more powerful. The ends justify the means. 

·         Raise taxes on small business owners, high-income earners, and job creators. Put the entire burden on only the top 20 percent of taxpayers, redistribute the income, punish success, and reward those who did nothing to deserve it (except vote for Obama). Reagan wanted to dramatically cut taxes in order to starve the government. Obama wants to dramatically raise taxes to starve his political opposition.
 
With the acts outlined above, Obama and his regime have created a vast and rapidly expanding constituency of voters dependent on big government; a vast privileged class of public employees who work for big government; and a government dedicated to destroying capitalism and installing themselves as socialist rulers by overwhelming the system. 
 
Add it up and you've got the perfect Marxist scheme - all devised by my Columbia University college classmate Barack Obama using the Cloward and Piven Plan. 

Written By Wayne Allyn Root, Columbia University Class of 1982, June 6, 2010