When government passes bills the consequences are often not seen for years, in fact when they are truly felt very few will ever understand the connection the consequences have with the legislation. Most will never know, no less understand what happened and why. This is why it is so dangerous and frightening to see these massive unread bills get through. Who knows what and when the consequences will be?
Let's look back to two major changes that came about in 1973 that we are truly feeling the consequences of now, but will even more so in the next few years. One was a legislative change with the ERISA laws, the other a Supreme Court Decision Roe v Wade. It would have been difficult in 1973 to see the profound ramifications these two decisions would cause in our lives, or that they in any way related to each other. However, together they have helped create a perfect storm for our seniors.
The ERISA laws dealt with changing the retirement plans of our nation's employees, it allowed companies to shed the cost of creating and funding the defined benefit plans our grandparents retired on, the proverbial gold watch and company fixed retirement program. This is when we as a nation changed from the defined benefit plans to defined contribution plans and a self-funded retirement of IRA's, Keoghs, SEPs, and 401ks. We forced everyday Americans to become investors however we never got around to teaching them how. This is what has created our retail investment industry of prepackaged mutual funds and fund managers and what has pushed the Dow to record levels for years.
When these new defined contribution plans went into effect the IRS wanted to know when they would see their taxes on those deferred income deposits, so the law spelled it out. When you turn 70 and one half years old, by law, you must start withdrawing money from you retirement accounts if you need it or not so that money can become taxable. The Required Minimum Distribution or RMD is calculated by age and amount in the fund. See below.
"The table shown below is the Uniform Lifetime Table, the most commonly used of three life-expectancy charts that help retirement account holders figure mandatory distributions. The other tables are for beneficiaries of retirement funds and account holders who have much younger spouses.
Joe Retiree, who is 80, a widower and whose IRA was worth $100,000 at the end of last year would use the Uniform Lifetime Table. It indicates a distribution period of 18.7 years for an 80-year-old. Therefore, Joe must take out at least $5,348 this year ($100,000 divided by 18.7).
To calculate the year's minimum distribution amount, take the age of the retiree and find the corresponding distribution period. Then divide the value of the IRA by the distribution period to find the required minimum distribution.
Required minimum IRA distributions
Age of retiree Distribution period (in years) Age of retiree Distribution period (in years)
70 27.4 93 9.6
71 26.5 94 9.1
72 25.6 95 8.6
73 24.7 96 8.1
74 23.8 97 7.6
75 22.9 98 7.1
76 22.0 99 6.7
77 21.2 100 6.3
78 20.3 101 5.9
79 19.5 102 5.5
80 18.7 103 5.2
81 17.9 104 4.9
82 17.1 105 4.5
83 16.3 106 4.2
84 15.5 107 3.9
85 14.8 108 3.7
86 14.1 109 3.4
87 13.4 110 3.1
88 12.7 111 2.9
89 12.0 112 2.6
90 11.4 113 2.4
91 10.8 114 2.1
92 10.2 115 or older 1.9 "
Now how does this impact us today?
The baby boomers have been the driving force of our economy since their birth and will continue to be for some time. In 2012 the first birth year of baby boomers will turn 70.5 years old and required by law to start their RMDs. If you look at the above chart you can see that they will be in their peak RMD years pulling their money out of the market through their 401ks and IRAs. That birth year will add 2.5 million people to the RMD requirements. Then for the each of the next 18 years 2.5 million more will join them pulling out their RMDs. This will have to create an impact on the stock market with all of these people cashing in with a smaller pool of younger workers putting in. Another question is how long will the younger workers keep putting money in if the market falls due to all of those RMDs.
Compounding our situation is the baby boomer drain on the Social Security program. When it was founded it was there were nearly thirty people paying into the system for every one who received benefits. The average length of time Americans were on Social Security was eighteen months from the date they retired until they passed away. Today, we are at about three people paying in for each who is taking benefits, and the average life expectancy is continuing to expand adding further strain on the system. Maybe that is the real idea behind Obamacare, shortening those lifespans to save money. In 2022 the Social Security program will be operating on a one to one ration, with only one paying in for each one drawing out. That was when most expected it to bankrupt, however this year it is already bleeding negative cash flow twelve years earlier than thought.
Also in 1973 Roe v Wade became law by Judicial mandate, I know that isn't how laws are supposed to be made, but let's not focus on that right now. What does Roe v Wade have to do with the Social Security and ERISA laws? It is simple math, those two programs are crashing due to the massive baby boomer generation pushing them over the edge. However, if we had not had Roe v Wade there would be 49,551,703 more Americans who would have been born since 1973. Those people would be working, buying homes, cars, clothes, and making defined contributions into their own IRAs and 401ks and having their income taxed for the Social Security program. If these babies weren't aborted we wouldn't be looking at the financial abyss facing us in the next few years.
So okay, these are the numbers, and they don't look good, what should we do about it?
Let me suggest looking to history once again to where a great deal of wealth was made. As the stock market fell, as millions of homes, land, and businesses were foreclosed, those who had money, or at least access to money, bought land. They bought Real Estate, there is only a finite amount, there will never be any more available than there is today. With prices and interest rates at the lowest we have seen in several decades, anyone who can purchase is setting themselves up for a ride on the inflation train when we actually start into recovery. Once again there will be massive fortunes made buying Real Estate. Just a tip, do as you see fit.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010
The Cordoba Initiative, What Does That Mean?
The phrase and underlying belief that for anyone who doesn't know history will be doomed to repeat it is playing out in our daily news today. Unfortunately, most of us have missed it by not knowing the significant history of it. I must admit that I missed it as well. That is in regard to the Cordoba Initiative Mosque near Ground Zero.
The discussion on this ranges from that it is insensitive to that it's their Constitutional right to freedom of religion to build it where ever they please. The discussion goes back in forth on who is this Imam, who is behind the finances, and how we must protect the rights of those we disagree with, to protect our own through our Constitution. However, were is the discussion of the meaning on the name, the history behind this name, and the obvious intersection with this location for this mosque?
The site of the 9/11 World Trade Center attack in NYC has been made into a permanent memorial in remembrance of the more than 2500 people that died there. This is not uncommon for our culture to honor those who have fallen with memorials, creating a sacred ground. For many of the family members this is a sacred grave site, as their loved ones bodies were never recovered, as they were incinerated into only ashes and those ashes are mixed into the soil there.
Now a Muslim group has bought property within 2 blocks of this site. There intention is to tear down the existing building and to erect a 13 story Mosque and Islamic Center. The cost of this project will be approximately 100 million dollars, money which was donated by persons whom wish their identity to remain anonymous. The name of this project is The Cordoba Initiative. An Inman, named Inman Farouk Abdul Rauf, is in charge of the project and he has been linked to terrorist groups outside
the US. He refuses to label Hamas as a terrorist organization, he has blamed America as responsible at least in part for the 9/11 attack, as well as for the existence of Osama bin Ladin.
The name they chose for this project, Cordoba Initiative, is an
interesting chose. For those who are not students of history, Cordoba is
a city in Spain. During the time of the Crusades it was one of Spain's
greatest cultural centers. The Moors, which were a group of Muslims from
North Africa invaded Spain beheading all infidels (non-Muslim
believers), captured Cordoba, converted it to their city and turned the
city's well known Catholic cathedral into a mosque.
Throughout history Muslims have been known to capture territory and always convert the most prized Christian churches into mosques. It is no accident that this
NYC Islamic Center is being called the Cordoba Initiative. They are
claiming a victory of 9/11 and creating their own memorial. In that culture their memorials are not in honor of the dead, but to display their victory over those who were defeated.
Mayor Bloomberg and the city council of NYC have approved the project, and made the statement that it symbolized the religious freedom allowed in America. The Governor of New York and others have offered to find another location for this center, which actual might be a more prime location, but would allow the mosque to be built where it would not be offensive to the 9/11 survivors. The Cordoba Initiative group
refused to relocate.
Last night Obama held a celebration of Ramadan (Friday 8/13),the Muslims most holy holiday, at the White House. At that time he made a statement welcoming the building of the Islamic Center in NYC, on it's chosen location near the 9/11 WTC Memorial.
Also Obama is paying Inman Rauf's way, as a representative of the US State Department as a representative of the Muslim faith in the US, on a trip to Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirate. Supposedly Inman Rauf is not to conduct any fund raising on this trip. This is Your tax dollar at work!
Do you suppose this location might have been chosen so that those family members and other Americans who go to Ground Zero to show respect for those who died at the WTC must hear a "celebration of victory over them" every time the Muslim call for prayer is chanted 5 times day from the new mosque, which could be heard at the WTC Memorial?
Does this information help make this less about is it insensitive or should we embrace their rights, and more about why they want to do this? It does to me.
The discussion on this ranges from that it is insensitive to that it's their Constitutional right to freedom of religion to build it where ever they please. The discussion goes back in forth on who is this Imam, who is behind the finances, and how we must protect the rights of those we disagree with, to protect our own through our Constitution. However, were is the discussion of the meaning on the name, the history behind this name, and the obvious intersection with this location for this mosque?
The site of the 9/11 World Trade Center attack in NYC has been made into a permanent memorial in remembrance of the more than 2500 people that died there. This is not uncommon for our culture to honor those who have fallen with memorials, creating a sacred ground. For many of the family members this is a sacred grave site, as their loved ones bodies were never recovered, as they were incinerated into only ashes and those ashes are mixed into the soil there.
Now a Muslim group has bought property within 2 blocks of this site. There intention is to tear down the existing building and to erect a 13 story Mosque and Islamic Center. The cost of this project will be approximately 100 million dollars, money which was donated by persons whom wish their identity to remain anonymous. The name of this project is The Cordoba Initiative. An Inman, named Inman Farouk Abdul Rauf, is in charge of the project and he has been linked to terrorist groups outside
the US. He refuses to label Hamas as a terrorist organization, he has blamed America as responsible at least in part for the 9/11 attack, as well as for the existence of Osama bin Ladin.
The name they chose for this project, Cordoba Initiative, is an
interesting chose. For those who are not students of history, Cordoba is
a city in Spain. During the time of the Crusades it was one of Spain's
greatest cultural centers. The Moors, which were a group of Muslims from
North Africa invaded Spain beheading all infidels (non-Muslim
believers), captured Cordoba, converted it to their city and turned the
city's well known Catholic cathedral into a mosque.
Throughout history Muslims have been known to capture territory and always convert the most prized Christian churches into mosques. It is no accident that this
NYC Islamic Center is being called the Cordoba Initiative. They are
claiming a victory of 9/11 and creating their own memorial. In that culture their memorials are not in honor of the dead, but to display their victory over those who were defeated.
Mayor Bloomberg and the city council of NYC have approved the project, and made the statement that it symbolized the religious freedom allowed in America. The Governor of New York and others have offered to find another location for this center, which actual might be a more prime location, but would allow the mosque to be built where it would not be offensive to the 9/11 survivors. The Cordoba Initiative group
refused to relocate.
Last night Obama held a celebration of Ramadan (Friday 8/13),the Muslims most holy holiday, at the White House. At that time he made a statement welcoming the building of the Islamic Center in NYC, on it's chosen location near the 9/11 WTC Memorial.
Also Obama is paying Inman Rauf's way, as a representative of the US State Department as a representative of the Muslim faith in the US, on a trip to Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirate. Supposedly Inman Rauf is not to conduct any fund raising on this trip. This is Your tax dollar at work!
Do you suppose this location might have been chosen so that those family members and other Americans who go to Ground Zero to show respect for those who died at the WTC must hear a "celebration of victory over them" every time the Muslim call for prayer is chanted 5 times day from the new mosque, which could be heard at the WTC Memorial?
Does this information help make this less about is it insensitive or should we embrace their rights, and more about why they want to do this? It does to me.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Jefferson and Madison on Secession and Nullification
There is far too much chatter today among far too many people advocating either secession or nullification regarding the protest of an overreaching federal government. I share the frustration, and the temptation to just tell them to pound sand feels good. However, if we actually played either of those cards it would end our Republic, it would destroy that which we claim we treasure our, Constitution, our very free and independent Republic. Either nullification or secession would create anarchy. It is not Constitutional no matter what anyone tells you, no where will you find any such provision.
This is the story where these ideas first came up, where those who try to spin this story as proof that it was part of the founder's Constitution. Even as you read this you will learn that those players were working to make political hay, and even Jefferson who was pushing the envelope said he was totally against the idea of secession. At least learn the history.
When the Federalist's during the John Adams administration passed the Alien and Sedition Acts, it created a firestorm with the Republican Party led by Thomas Jefferson, Adams's Vice President.
Jefferson with his ally James Madison, the author of the United States Constitution and co-leader of the Republican Party developed their party's strategy. Jefferson drafted resolutions boldly claiming the constitutional authority of the individual states to declare the Alien and Sedition Acts not only unconstitutional but null and void.
In his original draft of what became the Kentucky Resolutions, Jefferson began with the unexpected proposition that the states in the union were not obligated to give blind obeisance to the federal government. He followed that initial statement with the critical constitutional premise that the union was a compact among the individual states.
Under the compact, the federal government was assigned certain explicit powers; all other government authority necessarily remained with the states. Because the constitution was derived from the compact among the states, Jefferson concluded that each state retained the right to judge for itself whether an act of Congress was unconstitutional. When an act of Congress was unconstitutional, as Jefferson believed the Alien and Sedition Acts were, redress was left for the states.
The states, through their elected representatives in Congress, could of course, fight for the repeal of unconstitutional legislation. But, as Jefferson well knew, repeal of the Alien and Sedition Acts was unlikely in the Federalist-controlled Congress. As an alternative to congressional repeal, Jefferson claimed that the individual states could declare the Alien and Sedition Acts unconstitutional and null and void.
Jefferson wrote that, "where powers are assumed which have not been delegated, a nullification of the act is the rightful remedy; every state has a natural right in cases not within the compact, to nullify of their own authority all assumptions of powers by others within their limits." Although his resolutions were drafted for a single state legislature, Jefferson invited others states to "concur in declaring these acts void and of no force" and to prohibit the application of any other legislation "not plainly and intentionally authorized by the Constitution" within their respective states.
Jefferson gave the draft to his neighbor and confidant, Wilson Cary Nicholas, who passed it on to John Breckinridge, a Kentucky legislator and loyal Republican. Both men were sworn to secrecy in protecting Jefferson's identity as the author. By the time the Kentucky legislature passed the resolutions in revised form on November 10th, Jefferson's most controversial proposal, that Kentucky act upon the declaration that the Alien and Sedition laws were null and void, was eliminated. Significantly, the Kentucky legislature's relatively moderate remedy was to work with other states assemblies for the repeal of the Alien and Sedition Acts.
Madison's companion resolutions passed by the Virginia legislature in December did not contain Jefferson's provisions justifying a declaration by the state that the federal legislation was null and void. Madison, in fact, disagreed with Jefferson on that critical point as well as the exact nature of the constitutional compact. Of course Madison disagreed with much of Jefferson's ideas on the Constitution, he hid Jefferson's beliefs that each generation should have a revolution every twenty years, that no generation should be forced to live under the rules set forth by the previous generation for years to protect Jefferson from scorn.
Madison conceded that states joined together to form the union, but he was not convinced, as Jefferson was, that the Constitution allowed a state to declare an act of Congress null and void. He was not even certain that a state was the ultimate judge of the constitutionality of a congressional act, nor did he demand that the states redress what he considered an unconstitutional act. Madison's Virginia Resolutions called for congressional repeal of the Alien and Sedition Acts.
In preparing the Republican response to the Alien and Sedition Acts, Jefferson had, characteristically, worked simultaneously on two distinct levels; the philosophical and the pragmatic. At the theoretical level, Jefferson could proclaim the most radical constitutional position, as he did in his original resolutions.
Taken literally, such a state's rights position justified the most extreme political measures, even secession. However, Jefferson strongly opposed any secessionist movement, calming distraught colleagues such as another state's rights advocate, Virginia's John Taylor, who had raised the possibility of Virginia's and North Carolina's withdrawing from the union in 1798.
Admitting that the crisis was serious, Jefferson nonetheless told Taylor, "In every free and deliberating society, there must, from the nature of man, be opposite parties and violent dissensions and discords; and one of these for the most part, must prevail over the other for a longer or shorter time. Perhaps this party division is necessary to induce each to watch and relate to the people the proceedings of the others." Jefferson concluded his letter to Taylor optimistically: "A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolved, and the people recovering their true sight, restoring the government to it's true principles."
It is these resolutions by Jefferson that gave credence to a constitutional claim, highly controversial in 1798 and yet two centuries since, that the states through their legislatures, possessed a sovereignty under the Constitution comparable in scope and authority to that of the federal government.
However, when reviewing the words of Madison, the Father of the Constitution, and even the words of the most radical Jefferson, neither believed for a moment that secession was a constitutional option.
This is the story where these ideas first came up, where those who try to spin this story as proof that it was part of the founder's Constitution. Even as you read this you will learn that those players were working to make political hay, and even Jefferson who was pushing the envelope said he was totally against the idea of secession. At least learn the history.
When the Federalist's during the John Adams administration passed the Alien and Sedition Acts, it created a firestorm with the Republican Party led by Thomas Jefferson, Adams's Vice President.
Jefferson with his ally James Madison, the author of the United States Constitution and co-leader of the Republican Party developed their party's strategy. Jefferson drafted resolutions boldly claiming the constitutional authority of the individual states to declare the Alien and Sedition Acts not only unconstitutional but null and void.
In his original draft of what became the Kentucky Resolutions, Jefferson began with the unexpected proposition that the states in the union were not obligated to give blind obeisance to the federal government. He followed that initial statement with the critical constitutional premise that the union was a compact among the individual states.
Under the compact, the federal government was assigned certain explicit powers; all other government authority necessarily remained with the states. Because the constitution was derived from the compact among the states, Jefferson concluded that each state retained the right to judge for itself whether an act of Congress was unconstitutional. When an act of Congress was unconstitutional, as Jefferson believed the Alien and Sedition Acts were, redress was left for the states.
The states, through their elected representatives in Congress, could of course, fight for the repeal of unconstitutional legislation. But, as Jefferson well knew, repeal of the Alien and Sedition Acts was unlikely in the Federalist-controlled Congress. As an alternative to congressional repeal, Jefferson claimed that the individual states could declare the Alien and Sedition Acts unconstitutional and null and void.
Jefferson wrote that, "where powers are assumed which have not been delegated, a nullification of the act is the rightful remedy; every state has a natural right in cases not within the compact, to nullify of their own authority all assumptions of powers by others within their limits." Although his resolutions were drafted for a single state legislature, Jefferson invited others states to "concur in declaring these acts void and of no force" and to prohibit the application of any other legislation "not plainly and intentionally authorized by the Constitution" within their respective states.
Jefferson gave the draft to his neighbor and confidant, Wilson Cary Nicholas, who passed it on to John Breckinridge, a Kentucky legislator and loyal Republican. Both men were sworn to secrecy in protecting Jefferson's identity as the author. By the time the Kentucky legislature passed the resolutions in revised form on November 10th, Jefferson's most controversial proposal, that Kentucky act upon the declaration that the Alien and Sedition laws were null and void, was eliminated. Significantly, the Kentucky legislature's relatively moderate remedy was to work with other states assemblies for the repeal of the Alien and Sedition Acts.
Madison's companion resolutions passed by the Virginia legislature in December did not contain Jefferson's provisions justifying a declaration by the state that the federal legislation was null and void. Madison, in fact, disagreed with Jefferson on that critical point as well as the exact nature of the constitutional compact. Of course Madison disagreed with much of Jefferson's ideas on the Constitution, he hid Jefferson's beliefs that each generation should have a revolution every twenty years, that no generation should be forced to live under the rules set forth by the previous generation for years to protect Jefferson from scorn.
Madison conceded that states joined together to form the union, but he was not convinced, as Jefferson was, that the Constitution allowed a state to declare an act of Congress null and void. He was not even certain that a state was the ultimate judge of the constitutionality of a congressional act, nor did he demand that the states redress what he considered an unconstitutional act. Madison's Virginia Resolutions called for congressional repeal of the Alien and Sedition Acts.
In preparing the Republican response to the Alien and Sedition Acts, Jefferson had, characteristically, worked simultaneously on two distinct levels; the philosophical and the pragmatic. At the theoretical level, Jefferson could proclaim the most radical constitutional position, as he did in his original resolutions.
Taken literally, such a state's rights position justified the most extreme political measures, even secession. However, Jefferson strongly opposed any secessionist movement, calming distraught colleagues such as another state's rights advocate, Virginia's John Taylor, who had raised the possibility of Virginia's and North Carolina's withdrawing from the union in 1798.
Admitting that the crisis was serious, Jefferson nonetheless told Taylor, "In every free and deliberating society, there must, from the nature of man, be opposite parties and violent dissensions and discords; and one of these for the most part, must prevail over the other for a longer or shorter time. Perhaps this party division is necessary to induce each to watch and relate to the people the proceedings of the others." Jefferson concluded his letter to Taylor optimistically: "A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolved, and the people recovering their true sight, restoring the government to it's true principles."
It is these resolutions by Jefferson that gave credence to a constitutional claim, highly controversial in 1798 and yet two centuries since, that the states through their legislatures, possessed a sovereignty under the Constitution comparable in scope and authority to that of the federal government.
However, when reviewing the words of Madison, the Father of the Constitution, and even the words of the most radical Jefferson, neither believed for a moment that secession was a constitutional option.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Why We The People Must Protect The Electoral College.
While the Republican Party, the Tea Partiers, and the political pundits on the right are almost giddy with anticipation of the 2010 election results that promise a sea change in the ideological make up of the House and Senate, trouble is brewing for 2012. An evil wrapped in pretty paper that even many conservatives and even more independents actually think might be a good idea is bubbling to the surface. That evil is eliminating the Electoral College.
Massachusetts just passed a law that they will no longer use the electoral college for their votes. They voted to give all 12 of their electoral votes to the candidate who wins the national popular vote. If enough states would do this in the next two years it might be impossible to beat Obama, or any future democrat candidate for president.
The argument that is made is that it is an archaic system that can block the will of the people by allowing a candidate to win the presidency while getting less popular votes. This has happened four times in our Republic's history. The first time was in 1824 when John Quincy Adams, who actually lost both the popular vote and the electoral college vote to Andrew Jackson, but since neither won the mandatory 131electoral vote it went to the House to decide giving Adams the victory.
The second time was in 1876 when Rutherford Hayes won the election by one electoral vote but lost the popular vote by 250,000 to Samuel Tilden. Later in 1888 Benjamin Harrison defeated Grover Cleveland with a 233 to 168 electoral votes while losing the popular vote by 90,000. In 2000 George W. Bush won in a 271 to 266 electoral college vote but lost the popular vote by 540,000.
There are many who believe that those situations are not fair, that they are not democratic. How can we live in a democracy and not embrace the will of the people? First of all, we do not live in a democracy, but in a Constitutional Republic. Not one time in the Constitution is the word democracy found. In the founders writings and in the recorded comments from them the only time democracy is used is in a derisive manner as something to be feared and avoided at all cost. History had already proven to our founders that true Democracies always fail and always usher in an oligarchy and tyranny.
The left has been pushing this idea of ending the electoral college for decades with good reason. It would virtually guarantee that they would have a lifetime strangle hold on the presidency. All they would have to do is is win the election in the ten or eleven largest cities in America and everyone else's votes would be wasted. Our founders worked and fought throughout the summer of 1787 to put so many layers of checks and balances in our form of government to make sure that ALL Americans would have as equal a say in their government as humanly possible.
The Senate was formed to be the voice of the more wealthy Americans, it was also determined to give the small states equal voice by distributing to every state the very same 2 Senators. The House was divided by districts so that the citizens of large states voices would not be diminished. This was designed to have an equal representation for equal amounts of people, where states with larger populations would have more congressmen and states with less population few congressmen. This is why a fair and honest census is important to assure that your voice is heard equally. It was this distribution of power that brought about the most repugnant rule ever in our Constitution, the 3/5th rule, where slaves were assigned the value of 3/5ths of a person for congressional district distribution. This was a compromise and the only way to get the Southern states to ratify the Constitution by giving them a much larger population than they had of free men who could vote. This assured the South that the North couldn't garner enough votes in the House to outlaw slavery.
The electoral college was designed so that every American would have a say in the election of their president and the big cities wouldn't dominate the election. We saw a wonderful example of just how that works in 2000 with Bush and Gore.
Counties won:
Gore – 677
Bush – 2,434.
Square miles won:
Gore – 580,134
Bush – 2,427,039
Population of counties won:
Gore – 127 million
Bush – 143 million
See the map for yourself: http://fs.huntingdon.edu/jlewis/Outlines/BushCountyMapMandate.htm
If the electoral college was not in place 78% of those counties in America could have stayed home and not bothered voting. If we get rid of this protection for our free republic it would only be a matter of time that they all would just stay home, as all would be lost before the election began.
There would be no reason for any president to ever go to any place other than the biggest cities because all would be won or lost there. It would be the greatest fear of Thomas Jefferson come true. In fact the greatest fears of all of our founders come true.
Massachusetts just passed a law that they will no longer use the electoral college for their votes. They voted to give all 12 of their electoral votes to the candidate who wins the national popular vote. If enough states would do this in the next two years it might be impossible to beat Obama, or any future democrat candidate for president.
The argument that is made is that it is an archaic system that can block the will of the people by allowing a candidate to win the presidency while getting less popular votes. This has happened four times in our Republic's history. The first time was in 1824 when John Quincy Adams, who actually lost both the popular vote and the electoral college vote to Andrew Jackson, but since neither won the mandatory 131electoral vote it went to the House to decide giving Adams the victory.
The second time was in 1876 when Rutherford Hayes won the election by one electoral vote but lost the popular vote by 250,000 to Samuel Tilden. Later in 1888 Benjamin Harrison defeated Grover Cleveland with a 233 to 168 electoral votes while losing the popular vote by 90,000. In 2000 George W. Bush won in a 271 to 266 electoral college vote but lost the popular vote by 540,000.
There are many who believe that those situations are not fair, that they are not democratic. How can we live in a democracy and not embrace the will of the people? First of all, we do not live in a democracy, but in a Constitutional Republic. Not one time in the Constitution is the word democracy found. In the founders writings and in the recorded comments from them the only time democracy is used is in a derisive manner as something to be feared and avoided at all cost. History had already proven to our founders that true Democracies always fail and always usher in an oligarchy and tyranny.
The left has been pushing this idea of ending the electoral college for decades with good reason. It would virtually guarantee that they would have a lifetime strangle hold on the presidency. All they would have to do is is win the election in the ten or eleven largest cities in America and everyone else's votes would be wasted. Our founders worked and fought throughout the summer of 1787 to put so many layers of checks and balances in our form of government to make sure that ALL Americans would have as equal a say in their government as humanly possible.
The Senate was formed to be the voice of the more wealthy Americans, it was also determined to give the small states equal voice by distributing to every state the very same 2 Senators. The House was divided by districts so that the citizens of large states voices would not be diminished. This was designed to have an equal representation for equal amounts of people, where states with larger populations would have more congressmen and states with less population few congressmen. This is why a fair and honest census is important to assure that your voice is heard equally. It was this distribution of power that brought about the most repugnant rule ever in our Constitution, the 3/5th rule, where slaves were assigned the value of 3/5ths of a person for congressional district distribution. This was a compromise and the only way to get the Southern states to ratify the Constitution by giving them a much larger population than they had of free men who could vote. This assured the South that the North couldn't garner enough votes in the House to outlaw slavery.
The electoral college was designed so that every American would have a say in the election of their president and the big cities wouldn't dominate the election. We saw a wonderful example of just how that works in 2000 with Bush and Gore.
Counties won:
Gore – 677
Bush – 2,434.
Square miles won:
Gore – 580,134
Bush – 2,427,039
Population of counties won:
Gore – 127 million
Bush – 143 million
See the map for yourself: http://fs.huntingdon.edu/jlewis/Outlines/BushCountyMapMandate.htm
If the electoral college was not in place 78% of those counties in America could have stayed home and not bothered voting. If we get rid of this protection for our free republic it would only be a matter of time that they all would just stay home, as all would be lost before the election began.
There would be no reason for any president to ever go to any place other than the biggest cities because all would be won or lost there. It would be the greatest fear of Thomas Jefferson come true. In fact the greatest fears of all of our founders come true.
Monday, July 19, 2010
There Are Three Ways The Democrats Can Win This Fall.
In just 106 days We The People will be going to the polls to express our thoughts and beliefs through our right to vote in our free Republic. This right was bought for us by the blood of those who have gone before us, giving us the opportunity to choose our own leaders and the direction of our government.
In just over three months, all polls and conventional wisdom, predict a sea-change in ideology as We The People pull the reins of power away from the one party rule under the Progressive Democrats where President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and the Democrats have greatly overreached in their power grabs. They have shoved sweeping nation changing bills through without letting the American people know what was in them, not even allowing the opposition party Republicans a seat at the table for so much as a discussion. They have even shut their own party members out with a basically just shut up and vote if you know what is good for you style.
The American people are more energized going into this election that I have ever seen, more so than the Jimmy Carter years, more so than 1994, it looks like a political tsunami is on the horizon.
There are three ways that the Democrats will be able to stay in power after this election. Please do not take them lightly, none of these ideas are completely impossible, and frankly are likely, the question is how much and can it be overcome?
1. The Democrats could steal the election through massive voter fraud.
2. The Democrats could remain in control by completing a tyrannical move of suspending all elections due to the "crisis du jour."
3. The Conservatives could self-destruct by splitting their votes with any number of possible third party candidates giving the Democrats the victory by us playing Russian Roulette with a full clip.
Do you believe that Obama and the Democrats can steal the election? If you don't you might not have been paying attention to how it is done.
How Do the Democrats Steal an Election?
What we are seeing is the transplantation of Cook County, IL, Chicago politics to communities throughout the nation who have never before seen the level of fraud and intimidation that can be generated by thousands of unethical Democrats, including private citizens, local, state, and federal officials, and politicians, convinced that breaking the law is okay as long as the “right” candidate wins.
Read what a Chicago political machine insider, Lee Cary, said in a July 6th interview with American Thinker magazine article.
“In Chicago, the Precinct Captains watch to see who votes and who doesn’t. Then, at the end of the day, others will cast votes for those who haven’t shown up to vote, all under the direction of the Precinct Captain. If the actual voter shows up later, they’re given someone else’s card. The Republican poll watchers don’t stop this. Hell, most of them are actually Democrats.”
This is the Democrat Voter Fraud Game plan:
1.ACORN registers the names, legitimate or not.
2.Black Panther, SEIU and other “community organizer” groups intimidate people, especially minorities, from voting Republican.
3.Voter lists remain unscrubbed of felons, dead people, and illegal immigrants.
4.On Election Day, precinct workers submit any unused ballots for Democrat candidates.
5.Democrat officials and politicians pretend like nothing happened.
It’s as easy as that to steal an election.
My son was the GOP Political Director for one of the most Conservative Republican Counties in America, Hamilton County, IN in 2008. He called me around ten in the morning on election day asking if I could go to the polling location at University High School where there were lines four hours long. These people in these lines, mostly moms were being told by eleven ACORN workers to just go home and meet the kids bus, that there was no way they would get in to vote in time. The ACORN group were telling the women that they were attorneys, and if the moms would just give them their names and addresses that these attorneys would vote for them.
Why would ACORN and the Obama campaign focus on one of the most conservative areas? Because in Indiana Hamilton County has 25% of all the GOP voters for the entire state. Any GOP candidate has to win Hamilton County big to overcome the votes in Lake and Marion County to win a state wide vote.
Do you remember that on election night the big question was will Indiana go for Obama, the first Democrat since LBJ to win Indiana? The wait was for the vote count in Lake County and Gary, Indiana. When the media interviewed the Mayor of Gary, he said that the vote wouldn't be in until they knew how many were needed. This comment caused Bob Beckel, long time Democrat operative to throw his head back and laugh, "Lake County, IN, has never turned in their votes until they know how many votes the Democrat needs." On this same election in Indiana's 7th District, there were 3 apartment complexes that had 100% absentee ballot voting with every single apartment voting, and every single one voting for Andre Carson.
What can we do? What do we need to do?
We will need an army of Republican Poll Watchers this November. You say you want to make a difference, this is the best place to start.
The voter fraud stories so far are just the tip of a very large iceberg. No one really knows the full extent of the problem and the Democratic Party is counting on Americans to shrug it off as just another conservative conspiracy theory.
The dropping of voter intimidation charges by Department of Justice political appointees against billy club wielding Black Panthers sends the message to the Democrat community that mass voter fraud can continue without fear of legal reprisal. Keep in mind, there was an internal memo to all of the Justice Dept. that there would be no prosecution of anyone of color who was accused of voter intimidation.
While the problem may be substantial, there is one way Republicans can fight back: Keep a close eye on voting locations. Election fraud only works if citizens remain ignorant to the problem and unwilling to become involved in the voting process. I will tell you that I was able to back the eleven ACORN operatives down and force them to stay behind the line required on election day. Frankly I was sent by my son because I don't shrink from confrontation and can take care of myself if things get rough. We need those who will be willing to watch, willing to raise their voices, and at least one per location who can protect those who do.
This is maybe the most important election in our Republic's history. We need You to volunteer not only to vote, but to stand in the gap to be a poll watcher, to watch for corruption, especially in traditional Democrat precincts.
We can win, but "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men (and women) do nothing"
America Needs You!!
In just over three months, all polls and conventional wisdom, predict a sea-change in ideology as We The People pull the reins of power away from the one party rule under the Progressive Democrats where President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and the Democrats have greatly overreached in their power grabs. They have shoved sweeping nation changing bills through without letting the American people know what was in them, not even allowing the opposition party Republicans a seat at the table for so much as a discussion. They have even shut their own party members out with a basically just shut up and vote if you know what is good for you style.
The American people are more energized going into this election that I have ever seen, more so than the Jimmy Carter years, more so than 1994, it looks like a political tsunami is on the horizon.
There are three ways that the Democrats will be able to stay in power after this election. Please do not take them lightly, none of these ideas are completely impossible, and frankly are likely, the question is how much and can it be overcome?
1. The Democrats could steal the election through massive voter fraud.
2. The Democrats could remain in control by completing a tyrannical move of suspending all elections due to the "crisis du jour."
3. The Conservatives could self-destruct by splitting their votes with any number of possible third party candidates giving the Democrats the victory by us playing Russian Roulette with a full clip.
Do you believe that Obama and the Democrats can steal the election? If you don't you might not have been paying attention to how it is done.
How Do the Democrats Steal an Election?
What we are seeing is the transplantation of Cook County, IL, Chicago politics to communities throughout the nation who have never before seen the level of fraud and intimidation that can be generated by thousands of unethical Democrats, including private citizens, local, state, and federal officials, and politicians, convinced that breaking the law is okay as long as the “right” candidate wins.
Read what a Chicago political machine insider, Lee Cary, said in a July 6th interview with American Thinker magazine article.
“In Chicago, the Precinct Captains watch to see who votes and who doesn’t. Then, at the end of the day, others will cast votes for those who haven’t shown up to vote, all under the direction of the Precinct Captain. If the actual voter shows up later, they’re given someone else’s card. The Republican poll watchers don’t stop this. Hell, most of them are actually Democrats.”
This is the Democrat Voter Fraud Game plan:
1.ACORN registers the names, legitimate or not.
2.Black Panther, SEIU and other “community organizer” groups intimidate people, especially minorities, from voting Republican.
3.Voter lists remain unscrubbed of felons, dead people, and illegal immigrants.
4.On Election Day, precinct workers submit any unused ballots for Democrat candidates.
5.Democrat officials and politicians pretend like nothing happened.
It’s as easy as that to steal an election.
My son was the GOP Political Director for one of the most Conservative Republican Counties in America, Hamilton County, IN in 2008. He called me around ten in the morning on election day asking if I could go to the polling location at University High School where there were lines four hours long. These people in these lines, mostly moms were being told by eleven ACORN workers to just go home and meet the kids bus, that there was no way they would get in to vote in time. The ACORN group were telling the women that they were attorneys, and if the moms would just give them their names and addresses that these attorneys would vote for them.
Why would ACORN and the Obama campaign focus on one of the most conservative areas? Because in Indiana Hamilton County has 25% of all the GOP voters for the entire state. Any GOP candidate has to win Hamilton County big to overcome the votes in Lake and Marion County to win a state wide vote.
Do you remember that on election night the big question was will Indiana go for Obama, the first Democrat since LBJ to win Indiana? The wait was for the vote count in Lake County and Gary, Indiana. When the media interviewed the Mayor of Gary, he said that the vote wouldn't be in until they knew how many were needed. This comment caused Bob Beckel, long time Democrat operative to throw his head back and laugh, "Lake County, IN, has never turned in their votes until they know how many votes the Democrat needs." On this same election in Indiana's 7th District, there were 3 apartment complexes that had 100% absentee ballot voting with every single apartment voting, and every single one voting for Andre Carson.
What can we do? What do we need to do?
We will need an army of Republican Poll Watchers this November. You say you want to make a difference, this is the best place to start.
The voter fraud stories so far are just the tip of a very large iceberg. No one really knows the full extent of the problem and the Democratic Party is counting on Americans to shrug it off as just another conservative conspiracy theory.
The dropping of voter intimidation charges by Department of Justice political appointees against billy club wielding Black Panthers sends the message to the Democrat community that mass voter fraud can continue without fear of legal reprisal. Keep in mind, there was an internal memo to all of the Justice Dept. that there would be no prosecution of anyone of color who was accused of voter intimidation.
While the problem may be substantial, there is one way Republicans can fight back: Keep a close eye on voting locations. Election fraud only works if citizens remain ignorant to the problem and unwilling to become involved in the voting process. I will tell you that I was able to back the eleven ACORN operatives down and force them to stay behind the line required on election day. Frankly I was sent by my son because I don't shrink from confrontation and can take care of myself if things get rough. We need those who will be willing to watch, willing to raise their voices, and at least one per location who can protect those who do.
This is maybe the most important election in our Republic's history. We need You to volunteer not only to vote, but to stand in the gap to be a poll watcher, to watch for corruption, especially in traditional Democrat precincts.
We can win, but "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men (and women) do nothing"
America Needs You!!
Saturday, July 17, 2010
The Indictment Against Want-To-Be King Obama.
As I read the story on Obama flying his dog Bo to Maine for vacation on a separate jet, the only thing I could think was this is not the action of a president, but of a king. Obama doesn't see himself governing, but ruling America, with I believe, his eyes on the world. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he plans to surrender our sovereignty to the United Nations for the pay off of them placing him in charge.
The more I thought about Obama's seeing himself as a Kenyan King, the more I thought of Jefferson's indictments against King George in 1776. It seemed that it might be interesting to view them and look at how they might apply to our plight today. Frankly, I was surprised how easily they can be made against Obama even without tweaking them at all. Below I will put my updated indictments against want-to-be King Obama, and them below them Jefferson's against King George, see for yourself how well even Jefferson's fit today.
The Indictment Against Want-to-be King Obama:
The history of the present King of Obamaland is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He further sues his Governors who try to enforce the laws he refuses to do.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. These places have been away from the light of day, they have been behind closed doors without access to press or minority parties.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. He has forced through the passage of 2,000 plus page bills without any friend of foe having read them.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. He has protected those villains who stood between legal voters and the polls to keep opposing voters from their free expression of their votes.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance. He has now established more than 35 Czars without Senate approval, along with giving control of the medical system for our elderly to a sycophant without allowing Senate approval.
He has established among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies answerable only to him as a National Police Force equal to in training, strength, and equipment of our Armed forces without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render this new Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power, but his own.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: By shutting down our own drilling and subsidizing the drilling of his friend George Soros.
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies.
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns jobs, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. He has posted signs at vast acreage of American soil in Arizona telling Americans to stay out ceding it to illegal aliens and their criminal activities.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. He claims to have not heard, or seen those citizens screaming to be heard, he just makes crude sexual references about them.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence.
They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of We the People of The United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
Jefferson's Indictment Against King George:
The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
Scary isn't it?
The more I thought about Obama's seeing himself as a Kenyan King, the more I thought of Jefferson's indictments against King George in 1776. It seemed that it might be interesting to view them and look at how they might apply to our plight today. Frankly, I was surprised how easily they can be made against Obama even without tweaking them at all. Below I will put my updated indictments against want-to-be King Obama, and them below them Jefferson's against King George, see for yourself how well even Jefferson's fit today.
The Indictment Against Want-to-be King Obama:
The history of the present King of Obamaland is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He further sues his Governors who try to enforce the laws he refuses to do.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. These places have been away from the light of day, they have been behind closed doors without access to press or minority parties.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. He has forced through the passage of 2,000 plus page bills without any friend of foe having read them.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. He has protected those villains who stood between legal voters and the polls to keep opposing voters from their free expression of their votes.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance. He has now established more than 35 Czars without Senate approval, along with giving control of the medical system for our elderly to a sycophant without allowing Senate approval.
He has established among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies answerable only to him as a National Police Force equal to in training, strength, and equipment of our Armed forces without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render this new Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power, but his own.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: By shutting down our own drilling and subsidizing the drilling of his friend George Soros.
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies.
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns jobs, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. He has posted signs at vast acreage of American soil in Arizona telling Americans to stay out ceding it to illegal aliens and their criminal activities.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. He claims to have not heard, or seen those citizens screaming to be heard, he just makes crude sexual references about them.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence.
They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of We the People of The United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
Jefferson's Indictment Against King George:
The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
Scary isn't it?
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Who Knows Who You May Inspire.
As you go through life it makes sense to treat people well, you never know who you may impact and the importance that it can make in their lives. There is an old quote that I can't find the author, that says, "Be Nice To People on Your Way Up You Always Meet Them On Your Way Down." If for no other reason that makes a lot of sense.
You can impact people in ways that you would never have guessed, and often may never find out. Wouldn't it be wonderful if it was for the good. Every so often God smacks me upside the head to remind me. Once when going to the bank I met one of my old high school teachers. She was the study hall teacher, her days were filled with yelling at kids who seemed to find new ways daily to drive her to distraction. I learned early on how to play her so that could get away with anything and write my own rules in that class. When we met in front of that bank, I was ten years out of school and she long retired. She spoke of how much I meant to her, that I was the only one who was nice to her. I was so ashamed that my motives were anything but pure in my manipulations of this lonely woman who saw her only friendly face one who was using her, it broke my heart for her. I got the message.
There have been other lessons good and bad to keep reminding me of the impact we all have on others. Surely you have as well. Who knows something you do today could inspire someone else who you have never met that might one day save your life.
In 1939 a movie was released called "Code of the Secret Service." It was about a Secret Service Agent named Brass Bancroft, it wasn't a big hit, even the actor said it was one of his worst films he ever made. But it proved to be a very important one.
Why? Because the movie capture the imagination of a ten year old boy in Miami, Florida, Jerry Parr. Jerry said "I made my dad take me to that movie quite a few times." This little boy vowed when he grew up that he would be a Secret Service agent, and he did.
Fast forward forty-two years to March 30th, 1981, Secret Service agent Jerry Parr was part of the detail guarding President Reagan when John Hinkley tried to assassinate Reagan. It was Parr who jumped in front of the hail of bullets to tackle Reagan and push him into the limo, that sped off toward the White House. It was Parr who saw Reagan coughing up blood, and made the decision to rush him to the hospital. Neither knew that a ricocheting bullet had entered into Reagan's chest, causing massive internal bleeding.
Parr's decision to seek immediate medical care saved Reagan's life. Brass Bancroft would have been proud, I am sure that the actor Ronald Reagan was happy he had inspired Parr to join the Secret Service.
Reagan, ever the man who could deliver a great line, even with losing half of the blood in his body gave a couple great quips. He told the doctor about to do surgery, "I hope you're a Republican." To his wife Nancy to set her at ease, "Honey, I forgot to duck."
So treat people well, you know never know.
You can impact people in ways that you would never have guessed, and often may never find out. Wouldn't it be wonderful if it was for the good. Every so often God smacks me upside the head to remind me. Once when going to the bank I met one of my old high school teachers. She was the study hall teacher, her days were filled with yelling at kids who seemed to find new ways daily to drive her to distraction. I learned early on how to play her so that could get away with anything and write my own rules in that class. When we met in front of that bank, I was ten years out of school and she long retired. She spoke of how much I meant to her, that I was the only one who was nice to her. I was so ashamed that my motives were anything but pure in my manipulations of this lonely woman who saw her only friendly face one who was using her, it broke my heart for her. I got the message.
There have been other lessons good and bad to keep reminding me of the impact we all have on others. Surely you have as well. Who knows something you do today could inspire someone else who you have never met that might one day save your life.
In 1939 a movie was released called "Code of the Secret Service." It was about a Secret Service Agent named Brass Bancroft, it wasn't a big hit, even the actor said it was one of his worst films he ever made. But it proved to be a very important one.
Why? Because the movie capture the imagination of a ten year old boy in Miami, Florida, Jerry Parr. Jerry said "I made my dad take me to that movie quite a few times." This little boy vowed when he grew up that he would be a Secret Service agent, and he did.
Fast forward forty-two years to March 30th, 1981, Secret Service agent Jerry Parr was part of the detail guarding President Reagan when John Hinkley tried to assassinate Reagan. It was Parr who jumped in front of the hail of bullets to tackle Reagan and push him into the limo, that sped off toward the White House. It was Parr who saw Reagan coughing up blood, and made the decision to rush him to the hospital. Neither knew that a ricocheting bullet had entered into Reagan's chest, causing massive internal bleeding.
Parr's decision to seek immediate medical care saved Reagan's life. Brass Bancroft would have been proud, I am sure that the actor Ronald Reagan was happy he had inspired Parr to join the Secret Service.
Reagan, ever the man who could deliver a great line, even with losing half of the blood in his body gave a couple great quips. He told the doctor about to do surgery, "I hope you're a Republican." To his wife Nancy to set her at ease, "Honey, I forgot to duck."
So treat people well, you know never know.
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