Post Scripts

Posted by Tina

Like many of you I am a casual observer of politics having never directly participated in the game other than to pay attention and vote. Through the years, and with the help of the internet and alternative media outlets, I have learned a great deal about the performers of national politics….those men and women who actually rise to prominence on the national stage. Almost all of them have learned to compromise and negotiate in the game they have come to know as politics. Few are able to retain the label of statesman dedicated to the nation and the Constitutional principles they have sworn to uphold. Too many to count have managed to sink to the lowest levels of degradation and self interest. Unfortunately more often than not these are the leaders who rise to the most powerful positions. One such legislator is Harry Reid, the current Senate Majority Leader.

Reid’s recent move to go nuclear was immediately criticized for its blatant hypocrisy. Journalists of every stripe pulled quotes from many prominent Democrats who went ballistic back when the option was suggested by Republicans under Bush.

Some Americans, recalling those earlier quotes were dismayed by the move; others wondered what possible difference it could make…after all they still needed a majority.

Derek Hunter of TownHall imagines a scenario that perfectly fits the self-serving, power hungry figure who orchestrated the move:

But more than that, by changing the filibuster rules on lifetime appointments to the judiciary, what’s to stop any future majority leader from changing them for legislation? The Democrats would have no credibility when it comes to their outrage should Republicans take the Senate in 2014 and the White House in 2016 and invoke the Reid Rule to repeal not only Obamacare, but every piece of legislation Democrats passed in the Obama years. Moreover, they would be nothing more than speech machines while Republicans eliminated entire departments.

Imagine Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., eliminating the EPA, Department of Education and more while Democrats stood by with nothing but the bitter taste of karma in their mouths and the knowledge they did this to themselves. Come to think of it, that doesn’t sound too bad.

If Republicans held the House of Representatives and took the Senate in 2014 and the White House in 2016, they could move to change the rules of the Senate to eliminate the filibuster completely, pass a constitutionally conservative agenda, and dramatically reduce the size and scope of government. Then, following the Reid Rule of a simple majority to change Senate rules at any time, create the McConnell Rule – vote to reinstate the filibuster and to change the rules of the Senate to require 75 votes to change Senate rules in the future. That would lock in those changes for essentially forever.

Of course that probably won’t happen, nor should it, but thanks to Harry Reid and the 51 other Democrats who voted this week to push the button on the “nuclear options,” it could.

The founders knew that too much power invested in a single individual would be a disaster for a nation of free people. They brilliantly devised a plan to keep power hungry, self-serving individuals from wielding too much power. The spirit of that system was continued by those who first conceived of and wrote Senate and House rules. The spirit of those rules has been broken. The people are the losers and will not being served by this heinous act of self-interest.

Posted by Tina

While we lay sleeping in our beds last night a preliminary deal was struck with Iran over their nuclear capability program.

A very good article in The American Spectator lays out the soft terms of the deal:

Iran is getting billions of dollars in sanctions relief (which President Obama will effect by executive order) in exchange for chemically degrading its stockpile of 20% enriched uranium through oxidization — without giving up any of its 3.5% enriched uranium. Uranium enrichment is not a linear process: 3.5% enrichment is about 60% of the way to 90% enrichment — that is, to weapons-grade uranium — and 20% enrichment is about 90% of the way to 90% enrichment.

Up until now, Iran had enough 20% enriched uranium to produce enough weapons-grade uranium for bomb in a month or less (former IAEA Deputy Director Olli Heinonen told me and other reporters on a conference call last month that “if certain arrangements are done, it can even go down to two weeks”). But because Iran has built such a large number of centrifuges and built up such a large stock of low-enriched uranium, it can replenish its supply of 20% uranium within a month. Optimistically, then, this extends Iran’s potential break-out time to build a weaponizable uranium stockpile from a month to two months.

That wouldn’t be so bad if the Iranians weren’t allowed to continue to enrich more uranium. .

The deal, which was brokered by Secretary Kerry, western powers, China, and Russia might as well have been a gift…very little was asked of Iran. The deal is being viewed with a skeptical eye by top legislators from both parties in Congress. Some vow to continue sanctions:

New York Democrat Chuck Schummer said the deal was disproportionately good for Iran and that it was strong sanctions that gave the US and our allies leverage with Tehran. He believes Republicans will join with Democrats to pass additional sanctions when the Congress meets again in December.

John Boehner issued the following statement: “The interim deal has been and will continue to be met with healthy skepticism and hard questions, not just of the Iranians, but of ourselves and our allies involved in the negotiations. If the U.S. doesn’t keep the pressure up, we will look back on the interim deal as a remarkably clever Iranian move to dismantle the international sanctions regime while maintaining its infrastructure and material to pursue a break-out nuclear capability.”

The BBC reports on the appeasing opinion:

The US secretary of state has said the deal reached on Sunday over Iran’s nuclear programme will make Israel and the Middle East a safer place.

John Kerry was speaking after Iran agreed to curb some of its nuclear activities in return for about $7bn (£4.3bn) in sanctions relief. …

…UK Prime Minister David Cameron said it “demonstrates how persistent diplomacy and tough sanctions can together help us to advance our national interest”.

US President Barack Obama welcomed the deal, saying it would “help prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon”.

The leader whose country has the most to lose if the appeasers are wrong, Benjamin Netanyahu, had a much different take:

“What was agreed last night in Geneva is not a historic agreement, it is a historic mistake,” he said. “Today the world has become much more dangerous because the most dangerous regime in the world took a significant step to getting the most dangerous weapon in the world.”

For the first time, he said, the leading powers of the world agreed to uranium enrichment in Iran, while removing sanctions that it has taken years to build up in exchange for “cosmetic Iranian concession that are possible to do away with in a matter of weeks.”

Netanyahu said the consequences of this deal threaten many countries, including Israel. He reiterated what he has said in the past, that Israel is not obligated by the agreement.

I have to agree with Netanyahu. I can’t imagine thinking that a country that has repeatedly stated it’s desires to eliminate Israel and Western nations, including America, is a country that can be trusted:

AFP – Israel is a “cancerous tumour” that will soon be finished off, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday told demonstrators holding an annual protest against the existence of the Jewish state.

“The Zionist regime and the Zionists are a cancerous tumour. Even if one cell of them is left in one inch of (Palestinian) land, in the future this story (of Israel’s existence) will repeat,” he said in a speech in Tehran marking Iran’s Quds Day that was broadcast on state television.

“The nations of the region will soon finish off the usurper Zionists in the Palestinian land…. A new Middle East will definitely be formed. With the grace of God and help of the nations, in the new Middle East there will be no trace of the Americans and Zionists,” he said.

The Iranians have changed their front man but they have not changed their ways. I fear our President and his Secretary of State are being played.

This article was updated at 6:50

Posted by Tina

The people have it within their power to create the barriers and boundaries for civil society. The simply must be unified, committed, and unafraid! As word spreads that the people will not stand by and allow thugs and hooligans to roam our streets committing acts of violence against innocent citizens we will begin to take out streets back.

Breitbart reports that one teen playing this knockout game got a wake up call by a legally armed citizen:

A teen playing the “Knockout Game” in Lansing, Michigan unwittingly targeted a concealed carry permit holder and was shot twice. He survived and is now in jail.

As Breitbart News previously reported, the “Knockout Game” thrives in areas where victims are unarmed. In the “game,” teens approach a stranger on the sidewalk or in an alley and punch the stranger in an attempt to knock him or her out. A punch that results in a knockout scores one point.

WILX in Lansing reported that teenager Marvell Weaver, who is black, tried to knock out a father who was standing at a bus stop waiting for his daughter to arrive. Instead of simply punching the father, Weaver tried a variation on the “game” by trying to taze the man. The taser malfunctioned, and the father pulled a .40 cal handgun and shot the teenager twice.

Weaver admits to previously knocking out six or seven people on other days before targeting the man who shot him. He said being shot by the father at the bus stop was “a lesson learned.”
Weaver is now serving one year in jail.

Young people need boundaries and rules and they need the adults around them to uphold the barriers. Our society has been tolerant, understanding, and absent to the point that young people are without support to grow up.

Time passes, Things Change…Round three could be a knockout punch if we all stick together for civility!

Posted by Tina

We mark the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy on this day. It is a day of reflection for many of us who were present on that fateful day and experienced the shock and sense of loss that stunned the people in an unreal, confusing shroud of unbelief. The one thing that reverberates for me today isn’t the tragedy of that time or the controversy that surrounds the murder but the contemporary notion that the Republican Party has been taken over by radicals in the Tea Party. Kennedy deserves criticism as all presidents do but he was an American and he understood the meaning and brilliance of the Constitution and the value of freedom.

The party that was represented by the too short term of John F. Kennedy was, after his assassination, taken over by those elements who have more affinity for the elements of Marx. Words mean things. Words reveal the principles that will direct a Presidents leadership. Let us examine the word of three prominent and popular Presidents in commemoration of John F. Kennedy.

JOHN F. KENNEDY

“Lower rates of taxation will stimulate economic activity and so raise the levels of personal and corporate income as to yield within a few years an increased – not a reduced – flow of revenues to the federal government.” – John F. Kennedy

“Our tax system still siphons out of the private economy too large a share of personal and business purchasing power and reduces the incentive for risk, investment and effort – thereby aborting our recoveries and stifling our national growth rate.” – John F. Kennedy

“A tax cut means higher family income and higher business profits and a balanced federal budget. Every taxpayer and his family will have more money left over after taxes for a new car, a new home, new conveniences, education and investment. Every businessman can keep a higher percentage of his profits in his cash register or put it to work expanding or improving his business, and as the national income grows, the federal government will ultimately end up with more revenues.” – John F. Kennedy

RONALD REAGAN

The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help. – Ronald Reagan

The problem is not that people are taxed too little, the problem is that government spends too much.To sit back hoping that someday, some way, someone will make things right is to go on feeding the crocodile, hoping he will eat you last – but eat you he will. – Ronald Reagan

Common sense told us that when you put a big tax on something, the people will produce less of it. So, we cut the people’s tax rates, and the people produced more than ever before. – Ronald Reagan

We are learning that the way to prosperity is not more bureaucracy and redistribution of wealth but less government and more freedom for the entrepreneur and for the creativity of the individual. – Ronald Reagan

The federal government has taken on functions it was never intended to perform and which it does not perform well. There should be a planned, orderly transfer of such functions to states and communities and a transfer with them of the sources of taxation to pay for them. – Ronald Reagan

Government is never more dangerous than when our desire to have it help us blinds us to its great power to harm us. – Ronald Reagan

BARACK OBAMA

You see, our predecessors understood that government could not, and should not, solve every problem. They understood that there are instances when the gains in security from government action are not worth the added constraints on our freedom. But they also understood that the danger of too much government is matched by the perils of too little; that without the leavening hand of wise policy, markets can crash, monopolies can stifle competition, and the vulnerable can be exploited. And they knew that when any government measure, no matter how carefully crafted or beneficial, is subject to scorn; when any efforts to help people in need are attacked as un-American; when facts and reason are thrown overboard and only timidity passes for wisdom, and we can no longer even engage in a civil conversation with each other over the things that truly matter — that at that point we don’t merely lose our capacity to solve big challenges. We lose something essential about ourselves. – Barack Obama

But, the Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth, and of more basic issues such as political and economic justice in society. To that extent, as radical as I think people try to characterize the Warren Court, it wasn’t that radical. It didn’t break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution, at least as it’s been interpreted, and the Warren Court interpreted in the same way, that generally the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties. Says what the states can’t do to you. Says what the federal government can’t do to you, but doesn’t say what the federal government or state government must do on your behalf. – Barack Obama

Two of these presidents express view that are consistent with the founding ideals of our nation. One is a Democrat and the other had been a Democrat but turned away from the party because, he surmised, it had moved away from him and his ideals. The third is the man who leads our nation today.

The Constitution granted the federal government limited powers. The Constitution reflected the fact that the nation was a group of United States…free states! The Constitution was written as a unifying document that recognized and supported individual and states rights.

Exclusive Powers of the National Government

Powers reserved to the national government include:

Protect the nation- establish an army and navy
Print money (bills and coins)
Declare war
Enter into treaties with foreign governments
Regulate commerce between states and international trade
Establish post offices and issue postage
Exclusive Powers of State Governments

Powers reserved to state governments include:

Exercise powers neither delegated to the national government nor prohibited from the states by the U.S. Constitution
Issue licenses
Regulate intrastate (within the state) commerce
Conduct elections
Ratify amendments to the U.S. Constitution

Which president represents a turning away from America’s founding ideals?

Which President is the radical…the extremist?

Which party is being influenced by extremist ideals?

That would be our current president, Barrack Hussein Obama , who believes that the federal government should be more powerful and have greater control in individual lives.

Posted by Tina

What to think of the newest trend in random acts of violence?

Knockout is a game that young men play for kicks and a few laughs. The victims aren’t laughing. At least one is dead and several others have experienced severe injuries. These violent attacks are waged on strangers in a senseless manner by kids who seem to have a sense of entitlement. Attacks have occurred across the nation, mostly in urban areas. Three New Jersey teens face murder charges after an attack ended in death for a homeless man.

There are days when I think there is no hope at all for society.

Posted by Tina

I guess it’s entirely appropriate that this blow up of the Constitution in the Senate should happen under an administration that is already constitutionally challenged and plagued by scandal, but leave it to that old scoundrel Harry Reid, huh? What a dark figure this guy is! Anyway, Reid decided today to adopt the nuclear option for President Obama’s nominees which means that instead of 61 votes the Senate will only have to have 51 votes, a majority, to pass on any appointee. Reid and Obama have made a grand bargain to pack the courts over the next three years. The only real limitation is that it doesn’t apply to Supreme Court nominees.

Republicans have approved about 99% of Obama’s nominees, according to senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell. This seems a rather desperate move given the circumstances. Some speculation has been made that they wanted to get Obamacare out of the news cycle for a bit but that seems unlikely to me. Appointments mostly go unnoticed to the average American but getting cancellation notices in the mail, finding out your premiums have gone up drastically, or discovering that you can no longer use the same doctor or hospital is much more intimate and compelling to the average Jane or Joe.

the Wall Street Journal has the story:

A bitterly divided Senate voted Thursday to ease the confirmation process for most presidential nominees, a momentous and potentially risky step that limits the ability of Republicans to block President Barack Obama’s choices for executive-branch and most judicial posts.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) engineered the rules change, over Republican objections, with a complicated parliamentary maneuver that ended up placing new curbs on the use of the filibuster—a move so controversial that it is often called the “nuclear option.”

“The American people believe Congress is broken. The American people believe the Senate is broken…It’s time to change the Senate before this institution becomes obsolete,” Mr. Reid said.

The key vote was 52-48, with all but three Democrats—Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan, Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Joe Manchin of West Virginia—voting for the change and all 45 Republicans opposed.

Republicans considered this move once when they were in control but decided against it because they knew it would be bad for the country and was a monumental power grab that would one day come back to bite them when Democrats got their turn.

Harry Reid’s excuse is a joke. No matter how divided the country is we have NOT elected him Czar and we do not appreciate this solution to the checks and balances framework that was given us in the Constitution.

The people will have the final say as always and next year will be here in a heartbeat for us oldsters!

Posted by Tina

National Journal is reporting that major news outlets have a bone to pick with the Obama administration. New York Times photographer Doug Mills delivered the letter signed by his collegues to Jay Carney:

New York Times photographer Doug Mills strode into Jay Carney’s office Oct. 29 with a pile of pictures taken exclusively by President Obama’s official photographer at events the White House press corps was forbidden to cover. “This one,” Mills said, sliding one picture after another off his stack and onto the press secretary’s desk. “This one, too – and this one and this one and … .”

The red-faced photographer, joined by colleagues on the White House Correspondents’ Association board, finished his 10-minute presentation with a flourish that made Carney, a former Moscow correspondent for Time, wince.

“You guys,” Mills said, “are just like Tass.”

Comparing the White House to the Russian news agency is a hyperbole, of course, but less so with each new administration. Obama’s image-makers are taking advantage of new technologies that democratized the media, subverting independent news organizations that hold the president accountable. A generation ago, a few mainstream media organizations held a monopoly on public information about the White House. Today, the White House itself is behaving monopolistic.

The fast-moving trend is hampering reporters and videographers who cover the White House, but Mills’ profession has probably been hardest hit. “As surely as if they were placing a hand over a journalist’s camera lens, officials in this administration are blocking the public from having an independent view of important functions of the Executive Branch of government,” reads a letter delivered today to Carney by the WHCA and several member news organizations including The Associated Press and The New York Times.
The letter includes examples of important news events that were not covered by media photographers, and yet pictures were taken by the White House image team and widely distributed via social media. This happens almost daily.

Hey…it’s about time somebody took a stand! Maybe having the IRS target journalists has lit an awakening by fire in the world of journalism. We can hope!

Posted by Tina

Chief Hall made an appearance on Fox Business this morning. He represents three tribes from the Black Hills of North Dakota and he shared fantastic news that will make a real difference in the lives of his people. The tribes are getting into the oil business.

Chief Hall has negotiated with oil companies, as Sarah Palin did in Alaska, so that individual tribe members will receive a portion of the profits from oil and gas fracked on Indian land. Half of the wells that are scheduled to go online are already operating and producing more oil than Syria produces. The wells will do a lot to help his tribe but that isn’t the only benefit. The tribe will build a refinery on Indian land and ultimately help America to become energy independent.

Chief Hall was asked whether the tribes have been harassed by environmentalists. He replied that they are always around but that after investigating fully he discovered that drilling goes miles below the aquifer and poses no danger to their water. He went on to say that fracking is a clean process that will not harm Mother Earth or Father River. Wells on Indian Land are already producing more oil than Syria.

I say good for Chief Hall and the tribes he represents!

Posted by Tina

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” – Abraham Lincoln, November 19, 1863

Abraham Lincoln delivered this famous speech 150 Years ago today. We may not be fighting in the fields and hollows with swords and breechloaders but we are a sorely divided nation. This speech is as timely today as it was in Lincoln’s day. The words and sentiment have long endured; let us hope the cause of liberty continues to endure.

This version of the speech is written on the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. There are other, slightly different, versions. Find out why, and read the differing copy at Abraham Lincoln Online

By Jack Lee, 18 Nov. 2013

David Stockman: Fed is creating the mother of all bubbles. Stockman was the director of the Office of Management and Budget under Reagan. He claims the Federal Reserve under President Obama has created false prosperity in the stock market leading to the formation of a high risk bubble. He says it has been a bonanza for the one percenters, the leverage traders and the stock speculators, but it’s placed the United States economy is back in the hands of the same crew that brought us the dot-com crash and the housing bubble. And that’s not confidence inspiring.

Stockman’s rationale reads like Econ-101, you can’t keep holding back interest rates while creating $85 billion dollars a month to buy government bonds for very long without creating a massive bubble on the point of a needle called debt. As Stockman points out, there’s no underlying equity being created. However, the debt keeps accruing and that gives us this false sense of prosperity. Of course the Federal Reserve tells us don’t worry, we’re going to gently apply the brakes and slow the quantitative easing in a way that we’ll hardly notice. Oh really? Then why does the mere mention of the Feds backing off the throttle send the stock market reeling into a massive sell off?

Stockman says, “…there’s nobody left in the stock market except drugged up day traders and robots who are being mainlined by the daily injection of liquidity from the Fed. This is utterly irrational.”

Stockman doesn’t discount the fact that the Fed employs some very bright people, but he says they are bureaucrats and they think like government bureaucrats. They are out of touch with the real world and real world economy.

The financial author and CNN commentator, Jim Rogers, echoes Stockman’s sentiments. He says the Feds have a created a sea of liquidity and when it dries up we’re all going to pay the price. “There will be no avoiding the harm when the tapering begins.”

(Fed Nominee Yellen shown left) Fortune magazine recently asked Janet Yellen, next in line to Chair the Federal Reserve, if she was at all concerned about the stock market being over valued? She said flatly, no, that the market is fairly valued and she saw reason to fear a bubble forming in the market. Critics argue that the Feds have kept interest rates artificially low and this has the effect of making the market look cheap.

Fortune concludes, “Back in the ’80s, though, lots of U.S. companies were rated AAA. Few are today. The most common rating for U.S. corporate bonds is BBB+, one notch above junk. The expected yield on those bonds is 5.9%. Use that yield, and we’re not that far away from where the Fed model starts flashing sell.

We might get there pretty soon. When the Fed slows its bond buying, which most people expect will happen by the middle of next year, interest rates on all bonds are likely to go up, not just Treasuries. And corporate bond yields don’t have to move up much before stocks go from looking cheap, to rather expensive. Bubble territory is not as far away as it looks.”

Nobody has a crystal ball when the bubble is going to pop, we can only trust that it will. This is an economic reality that is so basic it rivals the law of supply and demand in terms of simplicity. If there’s a bottom line, it’s this, you can’t borrow your way into prosperity, at some point you have to create equity and there is no equity in what the Feds are doing, it’s all debt and it’s all on us to repay it.

For more on this story read http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/apr/2/are-housing-investors-creating-a-new-bubble/