by Tina Grazier
The word “lobbyist” is enough to make otherwise calm and collected folks pull their hair and gnash their teeth…activities that involve influence, money, and ethics can have that effect on a person. Recent allegations of corrupt practices by lobbyists and politician have added to the burn in our bellies and may have played a sizable role in the defeat of republicans in the last election. But did you know that lobbying is protected by the First Amendment? That’s right, the First Amendment stipulates the people’s right "to petition the Government for a redress of grievances," and this is precisely what most lobbyists do for their clients. As I’ve said before, the government’s ability to tax, regulate and restrict or mandate activities that negatively effect businesses and individuals must be balanced. The founders wisely gave the people a way to fight back.
I urge anyone who is interested in this subject to read the article, “In Defense of Lobbying,” by Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post online. It offers insight into the differences between “good” lobbying and “bad” lobbying and also takes a peek into how the press sometimes fails to differentiate between the two. He even provides a defense of “bad” lobbying that goes straight to the point about abuse of this important right:
…You wouldn't need to be seeking advantage if the federal government had not appropriated for itself in the 20th century all kinds of powers, regulations, intrusions and manipulations (often through the tax code) that had never been presumed in the 19th century and certainly were never imagined by the Founders. What appears to be rent-seeking is thus redress of a larger grievance -- insufferable government meddling in what had traditionally been considered an area of free enterprise.
The more we arm ourselves with knowledge the better prepared we are to make wise choices in our leadership. When we are informed and knowlegable we are better positioned to demand that our leaders act in an ethical manner.
This is American Pride?: 
Elections tend to bring out some real ding dongs, mostly on the left. 
by Tina Grazier
These liberal zealots have repeatedly committed gross acts of what many would consider treason and done provocation’s that would have provoked lesser people to violence. But, this rable are not standing up to maniacal killers; they are standing up against ordinary people that represent the true values of middle America. They are taking aim at the very people that have been allowing them to abuse their 1st Amendment right. They are deriding the every day working people who understand the role of our men and women serving in the military and the persistent realities of running the republic. 
Are you inadvertantly poisoning yourself? A lot of people like to carry bottled water around in cars just for the convenience, but it's probably not a good idea. Research has shown that often times plastic water bottles left in cars get hot. The heat causes chemicals to leach from the plastic into your drinking water! Polyethylene terephthalate is found in most grade 1 plastics and the grade 1 plastic is used in making most bottles destined for drinking water. 
Turns out some scientists at the Danish Meteorological Institute released a study in 1991 from data that goes back centuries. The data tracked solar activity and temperature cycles and guess what? Global temperatures track right along with the cycles of the sun…just like somebody planned it that way! It’s made Canadian scientists curious enough to seek funding for solar research. Be prepared for a chilling effect on science by consensus…read the full article, 
This may be the most shocking story I've ever read about government waste and somehow it's been swept under the carpet by the media that carried this story starting in 2001. Now it's a story that has been all but forgotten, so let us refresh your memory. 
The next day this "almost historic" investigation was halted and greatly overshadowed by the perilous events of 9/11 and apparently no further inquiry was made about the missing money or at least none that I could find. So I am left to believe that to this day it has not been solved, despite ever more spending on the military in the name of fighting terrorism and homeland security. 
I wondered how our first president might view the divisions and rancor created by our two party system in this Presidential race of 2008. The mud has been flying amongs the candidates and it will soon by flying at the party's themselves. 
"A new counter-terrorism phrasebook has been drawn up within UK's Whitehall to advise civil servants on how to talk to Muslim communities about the nature of the terror threat without implying they are specifically to blame. Reflecting the government's decision to abandon the "aggressive rhetoric" of the so-called war on terror, the guide tells civil servants not to use terms such as Islamist extremism or jihadi-fundamentalist but instead to refer to violent extremism and criminal murderers or thugs to avoid any implication that there is an explicit link between Islam and terrorism."
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