Hey Folks, We Need to Talk

Tags

"the War on Poverty", Acheivement, compassion, dependency, fdr, general-welfare-clause, government freebies, great-depression, handouts, Individual rights, Indoctrination, limitations, limitless, Personal responsibility, The "New Deal", The Other America

All the images that pass before our eyes … starving babies, homeless Veterans or single moms, so many struggling to make it … No, not in some remote third world country RIGHT HERE, in America – the wealthiest nation ever! It’s virtually impossible to wrap our heads around it. It’s overwhelming and heart wrenching. Surely, we can do better! Something more has to be done, right? No question! But what?

In response to those who hold that the”General Welfare clause” of the Constitution means taking care of the people, America, as a government,  has tried several different programs over the past few decades to help those in need to find their way to the American Dream and alleviate suffering. “The New Deal,” inspired by the Great Depression, opened the hearts and minds of Americans under FDR (D), way back in 1933–1937.But did it solve the problem of poverty in America? Short answer, no!

Neither was the “War on Poverty” initiated under President Johnson a success. More recently, the policies and programs of President Obama have done exactly the opposite of their so-called intent. They have found more people, not fewer, in the unemployment lines, applying for food stamps and other social programs.

In his January 1964 State of the Union address, President Lyndon Johnson proclaimed, “This administration today, here and now, declares unconditional war on poverty in America.” In the 50 years since that time, U.S. taxpayers have spent over $22 trillion on anti-poverty programs. Adjusted for inflation, this spending (which does not include Social Security or Medicare) is three times the cost of all U.S. military wars since the American Revolution. Yet progress against poverty, as measured by the U.S. Census Bureau, has been minimal, and in terms of President Johnson’s main goal of reducing the “causes” rather than the mere “consequences” of poverty, the War on Poverty has failed completely. In fact, a significant portion of the population is now less capable of self-sufficiency than it was when the War on Poverty began.

It’s a funny thing about human nature that philosophers seldom seem to consider well … There are specific things that motivate humans to productivity and achievement, and certain things which subdue those inclinations. The “war on poverty was a costly, tragic mistake,” the article, “Why the War on Poverty Failed: Handouts Provide the Wrong Incentives,” begins. “Possibly the most influential policy book in history, The Other America Michael Harrington’s The Other America, published in 1962. (Harrington died in 1989.) was cited again and again by the politicians, activists, and administrators who set up welfare programs in the 1960s. In it we find the fallacies that sent reformers down dark and tangled paths into today’s social tragedies.”

The tragic error of this thinking is in the assumption poverty is strictly a lack of material goods. “While the state of neediness we call poverty does involve a lack of material resources, it also involves a mass of psychological and moral problems, including weak motivation, lack of trust in others, ignorance, irresponsibility, self-destructiveness, short-sightedness, alcoholism, drug addiction, promiscuity, and violence.”  The article continues, “It was a perspective that led to intolerance. Since poverty was so simple to remedy—the activists reasoned—it was unethical not to act. “In a nation with a technology that could provide every citizen with a decent life,” Harrington thundered, “it is an outrage and a scandal that there should be such social misery.”⁴ For the activists, welfare programs did not involve complex relationships and intractable problems about which honest people could disagree. They were simple moral imperatives, and anyone who opposed them was seen as selfish and insensitive. (This dogmatic view has by no means disappeared from so-called liberal circles.)”

Yes, poverty is wretched wherever it appears, but the rational answer (contrary to the sentimental response) is not handouts or “freebies.” The answer is the proverbial “hand up,” instead of the “hand out!”

• Basic education and training, which sadly is no longer flourishing in our public schools, does more to cripple our children than prepare them for a productive adult life.
• Trade schools, long hidden by some pseudo-intellectual pride, hunger for eager students, but are shunned by a populace who want to start as CEO’s, rather than work their way up the ladder.
• Food banks, soup kitchens, and clothing closets are a great start to elp the hurting and many communities have such things, but more are needed, not from government, but from us … you and me.

The Biblical concept of compassion isn’t issued to the government, but to the individual. The Golden Rule (you remember, Do unto others …?) is not for governments, but people, whether people of faith or not … people helping people. Governments have no idea how to help as evidenced by 80 years of welfare programs initiated in an vain attempt to curtail poverty. The secret to overcoming poverty, in most cases, is personal responsibility, we all ought

Now, we have an avowed “democrat socialist”(whatever that is) asking for our votes so he can increase taxes on the wager-earner so he can also increase the number of programs handing out “stuff”to those now trapped in a unemployment and dependency on the government programs that were supposed to free them from poverty.

Isn’t 80 years of failure enough to make a statement to try another tact? It isn’t the rich that are the bad guys here. It is our own greed that as crippled the most successful, productive, innovative, creative, and compassionate culture it the world, and ALL of us are guilty of the same greed, both the have’s and the have not’s!

America, use your HEAD to choose our next president. Use your HEART to make a personal investment in your neighborhood and your neighbors. Vote for individual rights and personal responsibility!

Paul wrote, “We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up” (Romans 15:1–2)

Excellent reading:

• Economic policies highlight partisan divide among governors
• Was the New Deal a success or failure?
• The War on Poverty After 50 Years
• Why the War on Poverty Failed
• What does the General Welfare Clause really mean?
• Allen West: Government Handouts a Form of Slavery
• Europeans Fear Crisis Threatens Liberal Benefits
• Uncovering the Bad Math (or Logic) of an Economic Analysis Embraced by Bernie Sanders

 

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Historic Presidency – Historic People

Tags

"In God We Trust", 2016, “2016: Obama’s America”, Benghazi, citizenship, Common Core, deception, Dinesh D'Souza, failure, fema-camps, foreign born, freedom, Hillary Clinton, IRS, Keystone Pipeline, militia, NDAA, NSA, obama, One nation under God, police state, survival, tyranny, US Constitution

Corey James wrote “Quit trashing Obama’s accomplishments. He has done more than any other President before him. He has an impressive list of accomplishments:

• First President to apply for college aid as a foreign student, then deny he was a foreigner.
• First President to have a social security number belonging to another man, from a state he has never lived in.
• First President to preside over a cut to the credit-rating of the United States.
• First President to violate the War Powers Act.
• First President to be held in contempt of court for illegally obstructing oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
• First President to require all Americans to purchase a product from a third party.
• First President to spend a trillion dollars on “shovel-ready” jobs when there was no such thing as “shovel-ready” jobs.* * * *
• First President to abrogate bankruptcy law to turn over control of companies to his union supporters.
• First President to by-pass Congress and implement the Dream Act through executive fiat.
• First President to order a secret amnesty program that stopped the deportation of illegal immigrants across the U.S. including those with criminal convictions.
• First President to demand a company hand-over $20 billion to one of his political appointees.
• First President to tell a CEO of a major corporation (Chrysler) to resign.
• First President to terminate America’s ability to put a man in space.
• First President to cancel the National Day of Prayer and to say that America is no longer a Christian nation.
• First President to have a law signed by an auto-pen without being present.
• First President to arbitrarily declare an existing law unconstitutional and refuse to enforce it.
• First President to threaten insurance companies if they publicly spoke out on the reasons for their rate increases.
• First President to tell a major manufacturing company in which state it is allowed to locate a factory.
• First President to file lawsuits against the states he swore an oath to protect (AZ, WI, OH, IN).
• First President to withdraw an existing coal permit that had been properly issued years ago.
• First President to actively try to bankrupt an American industry (coal).
• First President to fire an inspector general of AmeriCorps for catching one of his friends in a corruption case.
• First President to appoint 45 czars to replace elected officials in his office.
• First President to surround himself with radical left wing anarchists.
• First President to golf 73 separate times in his first two and a half years in office, 102 to date.
• First President to hide his medical, educational and travel records.
• First President to win a Nobel Peace Prize for doing NOTHING to earn it.
• First President to go on multiple “global apology tours” and concurrent “insult our friends” tours.
• First President to go on 17 lavish vacations, including date nights and Wednesday evening White House parties for his friends paid for by the taxpayers.
• First President to have 22 personal servants (taxpayer funded) for his wife.
• First President to keep a dog trainer on retainer for $102,000 a year at taxpayer expense.* * * *
• First President to fly in a personal trainer from Chicago at least once a week at taxpayer expense.* * * *
• First President to repeat the Holy Quran & tell us the early morning call of the Azan (Islamic call to worship) is the most beautiful sound on earth.
• First President to tell the military men and women that they should pay for their own private insurance because they “volunteered to go to war and knew the consequences.”
• Then he was the First President to tell the members of the military that THEY were UNPATRIOTIC for balking at the last suggestion.* * * *
• First President to side with a foreign nation over one of the American 50 states (Mexico vs. Arizona).

How is Obama’s “Hope and Change” working out for you?”

I believe Obama should be arrested and impeached for only a few of his “Great Accomplishments.” For being best President in many of his Democratic followers eyes… I feel this Great Nation in being misled in an immorally direction away from what it was originally founded on. I pray for the safety and promising future for our children. I pray our children do not become as greedy, ungrateful, anti-christian and un-patriotic as I see our current leaders leading their lives.

I commend you for reading all of this. And, I hope it has empowered you with knowledge and opened your eyes more.

Thank you,
Daniel S. Hudson
— feeling patriotic.

Silver Linings on the CR and DC Debacles Great News for Conservatives — If…

Tags

2014, “non-essential” federal employees, barack-obama, Benghazi and Syrian scandals, Continuing Resolution (CR), incompetence, IRS scandal, Leftist NeoCom cadres, obamacare, Tea / GOP infighting, The Party of Obama

“We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.” Benjamin Franklin (1776)

via the Patriot Post

Despite a colossal political blunder derailing the conservative Republican Continuing Resolution (CR) strategy three weeks ago, which in turn led to furloughs (read: “paid vacations”) for about 17% of “non-essential” federal employees, which in turn collapsed approval ratings for anyone with an “R” after their name, which in turn resulted in Republican submission to Barack Obama’s agenda, there are three silver linings on the horizon that will pay rich political dividends.

Each of these favorable outcomes will greatly benefit the campaigns of conservative Republicans for a generation if, and only if, there is a cease-fire in the foolish and fatalistic “Tea v. GOP infighting,” which undermined the outstanding CR strategy House conservative were advancing on schedule four weeks ago.

I’ll get to those opportunities in a moment, but first, let me recap where we were just four short weeks ago:

In mid-September, Republicans had Barack Obama and his Leftist NeoCom cadres on the ropes, getting pounded and losing ground fast. Obama was plagued with the IRS, Benghazi and Syrian scandals, among a growing list of other failures, which were thoroughly undermining his second term agenda.

Making matters worse for The Party of Obama, the inevitable launch of ObamaCare (the so-called “Affordable Care Act”) on October 1, a day after the deadline for the CR, was, by all accounts, going to be a cascading disaster – not just from a technical standpoint but also from a political standpoint in the months and years to come.

READ MORE HERE!

It is TIME for those who oppose the policies and purpose of Obama to UNITE and work together to …

Hundreds of veterans descended on Washington, D.C. on Sunday under overcast skies and light rain to protest the closure of the war memorials during the government shutdown — and tore down the barricades surrounding the memorials to sounds of horns from truckers and cars and the roar of motorcycle engines.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/10/13/from-the-dc-photodesk-vets-storm-wwii-memorial-and-march-on-white-house/#ixzz2hcpVPd00

• Install men and women of integrity and character to public office on EVERY level. That may mean … YOU run for office!!!
• Find and support those who possess the courage to take what, according to the media, will be an “unpopular” stand, but you and I know differently!!!
• We must get beyond party politics! It’s not about Democrat-Republican, or Liberal-Conservative. It’s about RIGHT and WRONG!!! I don’t care what the party affiliation is, I will support ANY moral, conservative / Constitutional individual willing to give his or her life to supporting and defending our founding documents and the integrity thereof!

Last Call Anyone?

Tags

Benghazi-gate, But God, Declaration of Independence, Dr. Benjamin Spock, Dr. Thomas A Harris, fast-furious, freedom, I'm OK; You're OK, LAST DAYS, Osama bin Laden, President Obama, SEAL Team6, secular humanist doctrine

If you haven’t listened to the title song posted here, please do …

This is not an article on the “Last Days,” but it is a post with the intent on drawing our attention to the bizarre flip-flop of good vs bad behaviors in our American culture today. Have you noticed? Have you seen “good” deeds outlawed while “bad” behavior is rewarded? Individual citizens are arrested for having a Bible study in their home while the current administration gets away with … “Fast & Furious” (Border agent Brian Terry slain by FBI weapon in Mexican hands), SEAL Team6 (that targeted Osama Bin Laden) 30 of 38 members of that team are now dead, and “Benghazi-gate” which resulted in 4 dead Americans and unknown numbers of survivors that have disappeared. There are other evidences, but the point is clear.

But this isn’t about politics or even President Obama. It is about the American people. It is about our “evolution!” Who knows what prompted those early adventurers to leave their European homes in search of … what? FREEDOM! If I asked each reader to give a definition of FREEDOM, I’d get as many different answers as there are readers. Our Declaration of Independence declares the purpose of government is to secure for every citizen our unalienable Rights, among which are LIFE, LIBERTY, and the PURSUIT of HAPPINESS.

BUT … “There is a way which seems right to a man but its end is the way of death.” “Every man’s way is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weights the hearts.” Proverbs 16:25; 21:2

Few would deny the human potential for good, but many deny the same humans the potential for bad. let’s clarify good and bad for the purpose of this article as good = constructive and bad = destructive.

Like the Prometheus of Aeschylus, who challenged the Olympian gods, and stole their fire to give to mankind, so our ancestors came to these shores, to bring progress, through science and Classical culture, safely away from the oligarchical pestilence of Europe. Here, ships arrive with Pilgrim settlers in Salem Harbor, 1628.

The early Pilgrims, Puritans, and merchants came to the “new World” to build, or contruct, a new world! The “old” world was fraught with tyranny, political & religious oppression, and affliction – “destructive” conditions. They sought a place to start fresh. Their moral compass dictated their ideals, and while there are always exceptions to the rule, they aspired to a high moral standard as taught by their religious practices. There is no doubt each perceived their obligation to strive for “holiness” in their everyday lives, and did so to the best of their ability and understanding, imperfect though they remained. Still, they sought to better themselves. Do we?

For decades now, students have been taught they are descendants of monkeys, simply another primate, with a somewhat larger brain. Some educators and scientists aren’t even convinced of that much. In the 60’s two radical physicians, Dr. Benjamin Spock and Dr. Thomas A Harris, took center stage with their work. Dr Spock encouraged permissiveness by telling parents they restricted the child’s creative potential when imposing morals. Dr. Harris confirmed this is his thesis: I’m OK; You’re OK Both of these men subscribed to a secular humanist doctrine which, basically says, “If it feels good, do it!”

What do we do, then, when we feel as Paul felt when he wrote:

ROMANS 7: 19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.

Psychiatrists and psychologists agree … Shove those guilt feelings down. Ignore them! They’re nonsensical, old-fashioned, and not logical. Heard any of that lately? Maybe in the “contraception” debate?

The TRUTH is that “compromise” has leaked into our American culture. On the Alternatives to Marriage website, I found this information:

“increasingly more children today are living with unmarried parents:

39.7% of all births are to unmarried women (CDC, 2007).

Nearly 40% of different-sex, unmarried American households include children (CPS, 2007).

41% of first births by unmarried women are born to cohabiting partners (Larry Bumpass and Hsien-Hen Lu, 2000).

About two-fifths of children are expected to live in a cohabiting household at some point (Census, 2000).”

If we think there will not be “fallout” from this, we’re only kidding ourselves. And, as always, it is the children who pay the price. The really pathetic part is there is no distinction in the organized church. We, as free but corrupt humans have chosen destruction … destruction of our own lives and those of our children. We have chosen destruction of our nation’s character and the liberties our predecessors fought and died to achieve. We have squandered our “birthright!” But God … God has a better way, if we will make the necessary adjustments.

I want to leave you with a few wise words … no, not mine! I ask you only to consider them while I do the same, and make the necessary corrections.

• “Be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life.” Proverbs 4:23
• “There is a way which seems right to a man but its end is the way of death.” Proverbs 16: 25
• “You may believe you are doing right, but the Lord judges your reasons.” Proverbs 21: 2
• “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings. Jeremiah 17: 9-10

From Community Organizing to Mass Manipulation

Tags

Ambassador Christopher Stevens, Ambassador Susan Rice, American jobs, Benghazi, Congressional Research Service, Environment and Public Works, EPA, Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Job-Killing Regulations, means-tested, Obama tries to Rewrites History, obama-administration, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, VISION for America, Welfare Spending

Americans are finally coming to realization that much of the rhetoric of the President is just that – rhetoric! Sadly, it is rhetoric designed to herd the masses of the American people in the direction he (and his backers) believe will best enable their agenda to take hold. It is extraordinarily difficult for most of us to comprehend President Obama’s VISION for our future because it is so completely contradictory to our Founding documents (Declaration of Independence & US Constitution) and to the history of our experiment in personal liberty. In fact, the 2016 documentary visualizes President Obama’s vision well, but still, it is so foreign to our way of thinking. We must remind ourselves that President Obama was NOT raised as an American. He was not raised with baseball, apple pie, and freedom. His VISION for America, regardless of what he might say as he panders to the various and dwindling crowds as he campaigns, is to put her people – more and more of us – in shackles. VP Biden may have “gaffed” that comment weeks ago, but it is reality! The more Americans yield to his system-breaking “free stuff,” the fewer PRODUCERS actually work … which will lead to more Americans down & out, and so on. The cycle must be broken, and thoroughly broken! Help the poor become producers and the cycle is done! President Obama, along with any rational person, can understand this, yet it is not his goal! WHY?

In the articles below, it is clearly visible that our former community organizing President is still organizing … pushing his will, often by Executive Order, circumventing the elected Congress whose job it is to legislate, to accomplish his unpopular agenda.

WHERE ARE OUR REPRESENTATIVES??? WE-the-PEOPLE elected individuals to speak for us, to work for our best interest on the state level and in DC. WHERE ARE THEY? Why are they so silent as President Obama usurps Congressional authority and legislates from the Oval Office?

Morning Bell: Welfare Spending Shattering All-Time Highs

It’s been a pretty big year for welfare—and a new report shows welfare is bigger than ever.

The Obama Administration turned a giant spotlight on the welfare system in July when the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proclaimed it had the authority to gut the work requirements from the welfare reform that had helped lift so many people out of poverty after 1996.

This morning, a new report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) shows the staggering reality of the growing welfare state—echoing Heritage’s own research that reveals welfare spending is approaching the $1 trillion mark.

Roughly 100 million people—one-third of the U.S. population—receive aid from at least one means-tested welfare program each month. Average benefits come to around $9,000 per recipient. If converted to cash, means-tested welfare spending is more than five times the amount needed to eliminate all poverty in the United States.

Despite the fact that welfare spending was already at record levels when he took office, President Obama has increased federal means-tested welfare spending by more than a third. Benefits under “means-tested” programs are calculated based on a recipient’s means to support himself; in other words, they are intended to assist low-income Americans. The character of this aid is hand-out more than hand-up. Able-bodied recipients rarely are required to work or prepare for work to receive aid.

Report: EPA Delaying Job-Killing Regulations to Aid Obama Re-Election

President Obama is putting off major environmental regulations until after the November elections in order to avoid the political blowback of the economic damage those regulations will cause, according to a new Senate report.

Environmental regulators in the Obama administration “don’t want this economic pain to hit American families just before the election because it would cost President Obama votes,” states the report, released by Environment and Public Works ranking member Jim Inhofe (R-OK) on Thursday, “so they have simply decided to punt, intending to move full speed ahead if they gain a second term.”

The report lists a number of major environmental regulations that are either in their nascent stages or have yet to be implemented. Collectively, those regulations “will destroy millions of American jobs and cause energy prices to skyrocket even more,” Inhofe said in a news release accompanying the report.

> > > READ MORE

Clinton, Obama Try to Rewrite History on Benghazi

For more than a month, Obama Administration officials have shifted blame for lack of intelligence or diplomatic security in Benghazi, Libya, where terrorist attacks on September 11 killed four Americans. But now, all of a sudden, both Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and—during last night’s presidential debate—President Obama himself have decided to claim ultimate responsibility. These claims seem perfunctory, do not bear any consequences for either Clinton or Obama, and come more than a month too late.

Glen Doherty, Tyrone Woods and Sean Smith killed along with Ambassador Stevens in Benghazi terrorist attack

Not only that, but the President is also trying to rewrite history, claiming last night that he did say that it was a terrorist attack that cost the lives of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three security personnel. In one of the tensest moments of the debate, the President evaded Mitt Romney’s question of clarification in which he asked, “You said…it was an act of terror. It was not a spontaneous demonstration, is that what you’re saying?”

For a point of clarification, President Obama in the White House Rose Garden the day after the attack mentioned “acts of terror” in a general statement. Furthermore, the Administration repeatedly blamed the attacks on the now-infamous YouTube video on several occasions—on September 16 with Ambassador Susan Rice on five Sunday morning shows, and on September 25 in Obama’s speech to the U.N. And don’t forget in his appearance on The View the day before.

> > > READ MORE

Please continue to talk to our friends and neighbors about the TRUTH! Please pray that TRUTH will overtake deception in our midst. Thank you!

Wasted Food, Hungry Kids: Michelle Obama’s Bill in Action

Tags

#brownbagginit, Department of Agriculture, food waste, Michelle Obama

Dimitrios Menas, front, and Zach Freese talk to Plum High School cafeteria workers Doris Drop and Diane Pivik in this file photo. Students are protesting higher lunch prices by bringing in their own food. Lillian DeDomenic | For the Plum Advance Leader

In 2010, Michelle Obama went to a lame-duck session of Congress with a request: pass a nutrition bill giving the United States Department of Agriculture broad new powers to regulate school lunches. That bill was passed in late December of that year, and the new regulations have started to go into effect, with the predictable results of wasted food and angry, hungry children.

The cinnamon rolls and chili everyone loved from their childhood are now gone. Bands and other school groups can no longer sell candy bars as a fundraiser. The government is mandating everything from portion size to how many tomatoes have to be on a salad.

P.J. Moran, a food service director for a small district in rural Kansas, said wastage has gone up “at least 20 percent” over last year, as students, particularly at the grade school level, cannot refuse anything on their trays — but, of course, cannot be forced to eat it.

At the high school and junior high levels, things are more flexible, but not much. Moran said those students can refuse up to three items on the tray, but must take the fruit and vegetable servings whether they plan to eat them or not.

The district’s principal, Jim Bolden, said that at the beginning of the year, food service put fresh peaches on the students’ trays, only to helplessly watch them be thrown away by students who didn’t want them:

I bet we threw away four boxes of peaches.

The 8th grade class, which had planned — as always — to sell candy bars to fund its class trip this spring, has had to find new ways to fund it as sales of candy bars this year are allowed only during certain hours. Says Bolden:

Next year we will not be able to do any selling of food products at all. Right now we cannot sell from an hour before lunch until an hour after lunch ends.

Not only is the mandated food not popular and often wasted, there also is not enough of it, and students are protesting … CONTINUE READING

Mitt on ENERGY: STOP the WAR on COAL!

Tags

accountability, Domestic Energy Production, jobs, Keystone XL pipeline, North American Energy Partnership, private-sector-led development, Trade deficit

An affordable, reliable energy supply is fundamental to a prosperous and growing economy. With the right policies in place, America can become an energy superpower – and we can end our expensive and dangerous dependence on OPEC. Until recently, this would have been unthinkable. But as is so often the case, the hard work and innovation of American workers and businesses have yielded astonishing results. While the government was throwing hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars away at Solyndra, new technologies developed in the private sector have unleashed an energy revolution in this country.

A successful national energy strategy will have a fundamental influence on the well-being of the nation. Dramatically increasing domestic energy production can bolster the competitiveness of virtually every industry in the country, creating millions of new jobs from coast to coast. With fewer energy imports and more exports of manufactured goods, America’s trade deficit will decline and the dollar will strengthen. The benefits even extend beyond immediate economic growth. The lease payments, royalties, and taxes paid to the American people in return for the development of our resources will yield more than a trillion of dollars in new government revenue over time. And all Americans can rest assured that the nation’s security is no longer beholden to unstable but oil-rich regions half way around the world…

MITT’S PLAN

Mitt Romney will make America an energy superpower, rapidly and responsibly increasing our own production and partnering with our allies Canada and Mexico to achieve energy independence on this continent by 2020. This will require genuine support for increased energy production, a more rational approach to regulation, and a government that facilitates private-sector-led development of new energy technologies by focusing on funding research and removing barriers, rather than chasing fads and picking winners and losers.

• Empower states to control onshore energy development

States will be empowered to control all forms of energy production on all lands within their borders, excluding only those that are specifically designated off-limits. Federal agencies will certify, but the states will lead.


• Open offshore areas for energy development

Mitt will establish the most robust five-year offshore lease plan in history, that opens new areas for resource development – including off the coasts of Virginia and the Carolinas – and sets minimum production targets to increase accountability.


• Pursue a North American Energy Partnership

Mitt will approve the Keystone XL pipeline, establish a new regional agreement to facilitate cross-border energy investment, promote and expand regulatory cooperation with Canada and Mexico and institute fast-track regulatory approval processes for cross-border pipelines and other infrastructure.


• Ensure accurate assessment of energy resources

Instead of relying on decades-old surveys developed with decades-old technologies, Mitt’s plan facilitates new energy assessments to determine the true extent of our resource endowment.


• Restore transparency and fairness to permitting and regulation

Mitt will pursue measured reforms of our environmental laws and regulations to strengthen environmental protection without destroying jobs or paralyzing industries. Mitt’s plan will also streamline the gauntlet of reviews, processes, administrative procedures, and lawsuits that mire so many new projects in red tape.


• Facilitate private-sector-led development of new energy technologies

Mitt will promote innovation by focusing the federal government on the job it does best – research and development – and will eliminate any barriers that might prevent new energy technologies from succeeding on their own merits. Strengthening and streamlining regulations and permitting processes will benefit the development of both traditional and alternative energy sources, and encourage the use of a diverse range of fuels including natural gas in transportation.

MITT’S PLAN HAS WIDE-RANGING BENEFITS FOR AMERICA.

• More than three million new jobs, including over one million in manufacturing;
• An economic resurgence adding more than $500 billion to GDP;
• A stronger dollar and a reduced trade deficit;
• More than $1 trillion in revenue for federal, state, and local governments;
• Lower energy prices for job creators and middle-class families; and
• National security strengthened by freedom from dependence on foreign energy supplies.

BLOGGER’S NOTE: I heave heard many people say, “Well, Obama has been bad for the USA, but what will Mitt do?” Try as I might, over the last few weeks, I haven’t read much about MITT’s plans. Lots about why Obama is a failure and needs to be replaced, but little about MITT. I assume much of that is due to the MSM bias and lack of coverage for Romney/Ryan on the campaign trail. With this in mind, I have taken it upon myself to inform myself AND any of my readers as care to learn what Mitt is all about. The obvious place to start is on his website. Explore!

Coal company facing aggressive regulations announces 1,200 layoffs

Tags

Coal industry, Domestic Energy Policies, Energy independence, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), It's the ECONOMY, jobs, STUPID

Coal company Alpha Natural Resources announced Tuesday it would be laying off 1,200 workers and closing eight coal mines to face two new challenges: cheap natural gas and “a regulatory environment that’s aggressively aimed at constraining the use of coal.”

The Associated Press reports that the company is cutting production by 16 million tons and 1,200 jobs nationwide, with 400 layoffs occurring immediately by closing coal mines in Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Four mines will be closed in West Virginia, another three will be closed in Virginia and one in Pennsylvania. All the mines are non-union operations, according to the AP.

In total, nearly one-tenth of the company’s 13,000-person workforce will be laid off.

Republicans jumped on this announcement, criticizing President Obama’s so-called “war on coal” as they work to pass bills aimed at ending new regulations.

The Stop the War on Coal Act of 2012 contains a bundle of provisions which the House has already passed, including one provision which prohibits the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gas emissions and another restricts planned EPA rules regarding coal ash disposal and management.

“President Obama’s War on Coal means fewer jobs and higher energy costs for Americans. Coal is a critical component to our nation’s energy future, and I am proud to support this legislation that will help preserve this vital energy source for future generations,” said Kansas Republican Rep. Mike Pompeo, one of the leading critics of President Obama’s coal policies, talking about the Stop the War on Coal Act.

The Daily Caller reported in July that 175 coal-fired generators, or 8.5 percent of the total coal-fired capacity in the United States, were expected to be retired in 2012 and Alpha’s announcement comes on the heels of of a rough summer for the coal industry.

> > > CONTINUE READING

What is The Shadow Party in America?

George Soros – The Shadow Puppet Master for the Radical Progressive Socialists within the Democratic Party

The Shadow Party: Part I

The “Shadow Party” is a term originally devised by journalists to describe “527” political committees promoting Democratic Party agendas. It is here used more specifically to refer to the network of non-profit activist groups organized by George Soros and others to mobilize resources — money, get-out-the-vote drives, campaign advertising and policy initiatives — to elect Democratic candidates and guide the Democratic Party towards the left. The Internet fund-raising operation MoveOn.org is a key component. The Shadow Party in this sense was conceived and organized principally by Soros, Hillary Clinton and Harold Ickes. Its efforts are amplified by, and coordinated with, key government unions and the activist groups associated with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). The key organizers of these groups are veterans of the Sixties left. The individuals and organizations listed on this page are some of the major players, past and present, in the Shadow Party. For a comprehensive discussion of the Shadow Party, its constituent members, and its agendas and activities, click here.

A month later …

Part 1: Origins

“My family is more important to me than my party,” declared Senator Zell Miller, a Georgia Democrat, as he spoke from the podium of the Republican National Convention on September 1. “There is but one man to whom I am willing to entrust their future and that man’s name is George Bush.” [1]

Many Democrats howled in outrage at Miller’s “betrayal” – former President Jimmy Carter in particular. In an angry personal letter to the Georgia senator, Carter accused Miller of “unprecedented disloyalty” and declared, “You have betrayed our trust. [I]t’s quite possible that your rabid speech damaged our party…”

But nothing Miller said could possibly have damaged the Democratic Party more than its own leaders had done in making the war in Iraq a partisan issue and embracing the anti-war cause. In his anger, Carter had mistaken the symptom for the disease. Long before Zell Miller’s démarche, Ronald Reagan — a Roosevelt Democrat who re-registered as a Republican in 1962 — followed a similar course, explaining, “I didn’t leave the Democratic Party; the Democratic Party left me.”[3]

The leftward drift of the Democratic Party accelerated through the Vietnam years, spurred by the anti-war candidacies of Bobby Kennedy, Eugene McCarthy and George McGovern. When the congressional Democrats pulled the plug on aid to our allies in southeast Asia in the 1970s, a contingent of anti-Communist “Scoop” Jackson Democrats crossed the aisle in protest and became Republicans – an act for which they were labeled “neo-conservatives.” Rank-and-file Democrats staged a silent but even more devastating walk-out after four years of Jimmy Carter’s “blame America” Administration, casting their ballots by the millions for the Gipper.

The Democrats’ current presidential aspirant John Kerry has ambitiously modeled his political career after John F. Kennedy’s. Yet their politics bear little resemblance. If Kennedy were alive today, Democrats would condemn his sweeping capital gains tax cuts as a sop to the rich. His militant anti-Communism would evoke charges of right-wing “paranoia.” And the vow he made in his inaugural address to confront tyranny anywhere in the world would win him the label of “neo-conservative” imperialist among today’s Democrats. Instead of calling on Americans to “support any friend” and “oppose any foe” — as Kennedy did in his famous address – many Democrats are busy sabotaging our war effort in Iraq, with speeches as strident as any that emanated from the New Left during the Vietnam era.

The devolution of the Democrats from the Cold War party of Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy to the progressive party of Edward Kennedy and John F. Kerry has long been in progress, and is not quite complete. But the Democrats’ final transformation into a party of the left in the European mode may not be far off. Barely noticed by political observers, an activist juggernaut has seized control of the party’s national electoral apparatus, organized, financed and directed by the left.

This party within the party has no official name, but some journalists and commentators have begun referring to it as the Shadow Party, a term that we will use as well. It denotes a network of non-profit groups presently raising hundreds of millions of dollars for deployment on the campaign battlefield. This money pays for advertising, get-out-the-vote-drives, opposition research, dirty tricks and virtually every aspect of a modern electoral campaign. But it does so through independent groups with no formal connection to the Democratic Party.

Follow the Money

The Shadow Party emerged from the dense thicket of campaign finance reforms engineered by Senators John McCain and Russ Feingold. Thanks to the soft-money ban enacted by the McCain-Feingold Act of March 27, 2002, the Democratic Party entered the current election cycle hard pressed to raise enough money legally to undertake a winning campaign. This created an imperative that found its inevitable loophole (as critics of McCain-Feingold always warned it would). Consequently, the driving force in the political war against George Bush is now a group of billionaires and millionaires operating through the veiled structures of the Shadow Party.

Under McCain-Feingold, political parties and candidates can only accept “hard money” contributions – that is, contributions given to a specific political party for a specific political campaign. Such contributions must be reported to the Federal Election Commission, and are limited to a $2,000 maximum per donor for each candidate, or $5,000 per donor if they are paid to a federally registered political action committee (PAC). Historically, Republicans have enjoyed a 2-1 advantage over Democrats in raising hard-money contributions from individual donors. Democrats have relied much more heavily on soft-money contributions from large institutions such as unions … (more)

The Soros Factor

According to conventional wisdom the Shadow Party began taking form shortly after March 27, 2002 – the date President Bush signed the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, popularly known as McCain-Feingold. However, the Shadow Party’s earliest origins predate the Reform Act by many years. The principal mover behind the Shadow Party is Wall Street billionaire and leftwinger George Soros. A New York hedge fund manager, global investment banker and currency trader, Soros has a personal net worth in the $7 billion range. Under his aegis, the Shadow Party has created a new power base for the left, independent of the mainstream party apparatus – a leverage point from which to tilt the party in an ever-more-radical direction.

Only Soros knows when he first conceived the idea of forming this network. However, clear hints of his intentions began to appear as early as the 2000 election. By that time, Soros had already baffled friend and foe alike with his increasingly strident attacks on capitalism – the very system which had elevated him from a penniless Hungarian refugee to one of the world’s wealthiest men. In his 1998 book The Crisis of Global Capitalism, Soros predicted an imminent collapse of the global financial system. Financiers like himself were largely to blame, he wrote, for they had allowed greed to overwhelm their humanity. “The (global capitalist) system is deeply flawed,” wrote Soros. “As long as capitalism remains triumphant, the pursuit of money overrides all other social considerations.” [6]

Soros offered no coherent solution to the problem. He simply continued his long-established pattern of pouring money into a hodge-podge of fashionable leftwing causes, such as promoting mass immigration into the United States; financing anti-gun lawsuits and lobbyists; demanding voting rights for felons; seeking the abolition of capital punishment; exacerbating Palestinian unrest; promoting abortion; feminism; population control; gay liberation; euthanasia; radical theories of education; marijuana legalization and global government.

… CONTINUE READING HERE

George Soros–The Shadow Puppet Master–Radical Progressive Socialists–Democratic Party – Videos

So where does all this lead? I don’t have the answers, but I’m not done yet! Whatever happens, our daily lives will continue much as they are today, most likely. We will go to work, have time with family and friends, and take time to write about it one place or another! It’s good, I believe, to chew on these things, but in the long run, none of us knows if life will change here in these United States, and if so, how much? Perspective is a key element in survival!

Romney-Ryan Ticket Puts Entitlement Crisis at Center of Campaign

A formidable team!

NOTE: Naturally, the Progressive left has totally perverted both the definition and the truth of this issue. Any of us who have worked legally in this country have deposited into both Social Security and Medicare. They are legitimate entitlements. Medicaid , food stamps & welfare are social assistance programs, unfairly lumped together with the real entitlements. The pathetic part is our government has spent it! That is the crisis we and future generations face today. Without changes, there will soon be NO help for our Seniors. We must get this message out and speak it clearly for all to hear and understand. ~ BBB

On the USS Wisconsin in Norfolk harbor, a coatless Mitt Romney named a tieless Paul Ryan as his vice presidential nominee.

Romney’s choice was not much of a surprise after he told NBC’s Chuck Todd on Thursday that he wanted someone with a “vision for the country, that adds something to the political discourse about the direction of the country. I mean, I happen to believe this is a defining election for America, that we’re going to be voting for what kind of America we’re going to have.” [AGREED!]

This arguably describes some of the others mentioned as possible nominees, but it clearly fits Ryan.

He doesn’t fit some of the standard criteria for vice president. He hasn’t won a statewide election, held an executive position or become well-known nationally or even in much of Wisconsin.

But more than anyone else, more even (as impolite as it is to say) than the putative presidential nominee, Ryan has set the course for the Republican Party for the past three years, both on policy and in politics. From his post as chairman of the House Budget Committee, he has made himself not just a plausible national nominee but a formidable one by advancing and arguing for major changes in entitlement policy.

He has argued consistently that entitlement programs — Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid — are on an unsustainable trajectory. Left alone, they threaten to crowd out necessary government spending and throttle the private sector.

Few public policy experts, on the center-left as well as the right, disagree. But many politicians, certainly those in the Obama White House, shy away from confronting the entitlement crisis. Better to demagogue your way through one more election cycle and kick the can down the road.

What’s astonishing is that Ryan has persuaded his fellow Republicans to follow his lead. Almost all House and Senate Republicans have voted for his budget resolutions. And they have included his proposal to change Medicare, for those currently younger than 55, from the current fee-for-service system to premium support, in which recipients would choose from an array of insurers, with subsidies to low earners.

Republicans rallied to the Ryan plan during the nomination contest. Newt Gingrich was lambasted for calling Ryan’s budget right-wing social engineering, while Romney over time moved to embrace the basic elements of Ryan’s budget and Medicare reforms.

Ryan campaigned enthusiastically for Romney in the Wisconsin primary, and there was clearly a rapport between these two number crunchers. Romney would defer to Ryan to answer and has made a point of staying in touch with him after clinching the nomination.

As a number cruncher, Romney surely recognizes that Ryan knows federal budget policy about as well as anyone. And the sometimes politically tone-deaf Romney must admire Ryan’s ability, honed in hundreds of town meetings in his marginal congressional district, to explain his stances in a way that wins over ordinary voters.

The WINNING TEAM!

Naturally, Democrats have attacked the Ryan plan as gutting Medicare and have produced an ad showing Ryan shoving a wheelchair-bound granny down a hill. They’re licking their chops at the prospect of running a Mediscare campaign against the Romney-Ryan ticket.

But it’s not clear that the Mediscare tactic will work when the issue gains great visibility, as it will from Ryan’s selection.

For Ryan and Romney can make the point — lost in the shuffle when this is a low-visibility issue — that their plan would leave the current Medicare system in place for current recipients and those who are 55 or older. Those who have made plans based on the present program could continue to rely on it. > > > READ MORE