Three-handed Poker

Every time a new national crisis bubbles up I’m forced to wonder if it’s a real crisis or a politically manufactured crisis. The current S&P downgrade of the American credit rating from AAA to AA+ is no exception.

Consider, if you will, that the same S&P that helped Congress and Wall Street banksters build the house of cards that caused this mess, is now penalizing their partner for the result. Also, never forget that this administration has a well-established practice of manufacturing crisis after crisis in order to roll over any and all obstructions to fundamentally change America. Notice I said fundamentally change America, not American government which is what was sold to the wide-eyed swooning masses that seem to continue to hope, still.

This is a game of three-handed poker. There’s the Obama administration and a seemingly willing if not marginalized Congress playing one hand. Then there’s the Wall Street banksters who control the rating agencies, (S&P, Fitch, and Moody’s), playing a hand. And then there’s us. The taxpaying people that think we own our own property and wealth. Who thinks that the parasites aren’t working together and playing their game together to fleece the mark? Are we to believe that there is honor among thieves, all of a sudden?

Crisis demands reaction. Desperate situation require desperate measures. This president and the people he surrounds himself with have definitely demonstrated a willingness to push this nation and its economic system over a cliff in order to embrace the tenets of a modern version of socialism. This is serfdom, make no mistake. Central planners are pulling Obama’s strings and he loves being the tool that heralds the destruction of what he considers colonialism in America. Free market capitalism is on its death bed.

If we continue to sit, mesmerized by the cards turning in this game, we’ll end up broke, beaten, and receptive to the certain top-down solutions from this president that will ensure the demise of America and the future of the world. That may sound extreme, if you like to watch the pretty cards and guess what will happen next. In my opinion, we are the mark, people. And they’re openly dealing from the bottom of the deck. If we as a nation do not wake up soon, look for an “article 48”, {“Article 48 of the constitution of the Weimar Republic of Germany (1919–1933) allowed the President, under certain circumstances, to take emergency measures without the prior consent of the Reichstag. This power was understood to include the promulgation of "emergency decrees (Notverordnungen)"}, that will lead to the final death of liberty and freemen.

God help me to scream loud enough or find the right words that will resonate with the good people of my flailing nation.

Childhood Fables

I often wonder how many mothers told their children the same stories, fables, and nursery rhymes that my mother told me. “Chicken Little” and “The Little Boy That Cried Wolf” resonate from the shadows of long ago, inside my head.

Someone should tell those stories to Barack Obama and his band of merry men. Rahm Emanuel’s “Never let a crisis go to waste” and Joe Biden’s prognostication that this young president would be faced with a crisis within the first six months after becoming president; and that his response would first appear to be wrong… keep slapping me in the face. From H1N1 to TARP, from bailout after bailout to the gulf oil spill, from the Arab Spring to the ever popular class warfare politics of fear, president Obama has played Chicken Little and that little boy that cried wolf.

Now we are to believe the world will plunge into catastrophic “crisis” if the national debt ceiling is not raised by August 2nd. Why? Why is the media so invested in this president and his policies? Why is this administration “Fundamentally changing America?” Why are so many accepting that it is inevitable, just because people like George Soros says so? Why are so many lying down in front of the steam roller of European style Socialism and central planning?

Scaring seniors has again been pulled out of the democrat’s playbook and dusted off. After all, it has been a very useful trick play in the past. Why not try it on a new generation? The Sesame Street generation is now old enough to vote and their indoctrination is paying dividends to the current political class. They haven’t seen this before. They have been shielded from this type of history by teacher and parent alike, perhaps with good intentions, but to the detriment of their frame of reference. Quite honestly, “Hope and Change” is warm and fuzzy. Who doesn’t like warm and fuzzy? Why look at something ugly, when there’s a plethora of distractions to entertain with whistles and buzzwords and pretty colors that just make you feel happy… and sedate… and… sleepy…

I’ll tell you why. Because when you've witnessed or been taught history’s reason to create scary stories, fables, and nursery rhymes, you are not as easily distracted. When your spidy senses start tingling and the little hairs on the back of your neck stand up, you resist the desire to go back to sleep and wait for the good ending to the dream you were having.

I keep saying it. I will keep saying it. WAKE UP, AMERICA!!! Talk to your kids and grandkids. Make them aware of what you know. Other influences are activating them, whether you like it or not.

The BBA Proposal is a Sales Job

It seems like eons ago, that I was in sales. As most people, I sought and consumed every bit of information on how to sell from the experts of selling. What one sells is really of no consequence. It’s the process… the steps of selling… that are highlighted in any sales program, course, or procedure that are intended to be learned, habituated, and practiced by the successful salesperson. I had a mentor and teacher that had sold everything from vacuum cleaners and aluminum siding to real estate and life insurance. He was a marvel to watch. He practiced and taught me the ten step sales process. Within those ten steps, (you can find variations of the ten step sales process anywhere), there were embedded processes that the salesperson used to achieve that step.

I said all that to say that more and more I recognize that whole sales process every day. But it is not from people trying to sell me widgets or wonders of life products. We are being constantly sold by our political leaders. They seem to see the voters that have placed their hope and trust in them and their representation, as merely marks, mooches, and deals to close. Don’t you often feel it too? When you listen to a news conference, listen for any the ten steps and you’ll hear them. One in particular that is very popular with politicians is called the “alternate of choice” question that is designed to lead the prospective buyer where the seller wishes. “Do you support my plan, or the status quo?, comes to mind as an example, while the obvious and appropriate solutions are intentionally omitted from discussion altogether.

Another of these alternate of choice mazes we are being led into right now is the “Cut, Cap, and Balance” proposal being enshrined as viable. This is a very dangerous plan being set in motion. Not unlike the seemingly ever hovering sword of Damocles that is a Con-Con, (Constitutional Convention), which somehow will not be vanquished by fact and sound reason, the proposed BBA, (balanced budget amendment), threatens to steal liberty under the guise of responsible legislation. This is total and unmitigating fallacy. To change our Constitution in order to advance some political expediency should be held as treasonous. We must stand against this effort, whenever it rears its ugly little head.

I’ll bet the ranch that every siding salesman that hears our president or many in our federal government speaking about their “plans” for our nation feels like they are sitting through a vinyl siding demo and close. When you realize someone is trying to sell you something and especially something you don’t want to buy, you become more and more guarded. Well folks, most of us feel so pressured with the “hard sell” by our political leaders that we all seem to acquiesce, agree, or resist.

I fall pretty firmly into the latter of the three categories more often than makes me comfortable. Nobody wants to feel all “bristles and barbs” all the time, and that is just another part of the psychology used. If one maintains a guarded posture, they are deemed conspiracy theorists or extremists.

We must not be restrained or coerced from resistance of bad ideology. We must stand together against the out-of-control expansion of government that is both unsustainable and survives at the expense and loss of liberty. Please, stand against bad “solutions” that are presented as the only alternative idea to other bad ideas. We are better than this. Our nation and its future is too important to not stand and engage, together.

Please read Publius Huldah’s blog posting on the dangers inherent in the proposed BBA. http://publiushuldah.wordpress.com.

Stand!

Imagine being awakened in the night by the sound of breaking glass. You struggle to clear the Ambien from your blurry head. You ask yourself, “Did I really hear that, or am I still dreaming?” Your first instinct is to comfort yourself by making excuses and waiting… straining to hear more noises that might confirm or put to rest your fear. By then, it might be too late.

People are divided into three groups. Group One: Kharma is King - The “Oh, that’ll never happen to me,” crowd. They think that living by their honored credo of “live and let live”, will insulate them from danger. These are the people you see interviewed after a neighboring family is murdered that invariably say “that sort of thing just doesn’t happen around here.” These people are willfully oblivious to any contradicting statistics that say otherwise. Group One people just want to be left alone to graze and sleep and breed, in peace. They are safe knowing there has always been, and will always be a shepherd tending to all that scary stuff. This group usually lives by whatever personal morals or standards that they assume are held and appreciated by everyone. By in large, Group One consists of about 75% of the total population.

Group Two: Opportunity Knocks - The “never let a weakness remain unexploited” group. This group is always pursuing people from Group One to manipulate, coerce, or exploit to advantage themselves. Group Two members range from the modest entitlement parasite to the narcissistic predator, but they all merely covet, perpetually. This group thinks that morals and standards are for the weak-minded and that people that adhere to such archaic notions declare vulnerability and invite the consequences visited upon them by the corrupt. “There’s a sucker born every day”, is their standard. Be the hammer or be the nail is their life focus. Group Two consists of about 20% of total population.

Group Three: Warriors – The “Assess, adapt and overcome” group. This group’s members seem always to have their heads above the crowd, scanning the horizon, looking, smelling, feeling, and sensing the dynamics played out by people of groups one and two. They try to avoid getting involved as long as it appears to be mutually colluded but are compelled to intervene when right is assaulted by wrong… and they know the difference. They are the real leaders in society. They are the soldiers willing to risk dying to protect a way of life for their country, the police officers sworn to protect the innocent and keep the peace, the firemen that risk their life to save the lives and property of strangers. They are the ones that can see what needs to be done… and without hesitation, does it. The Warriors Group lives by firm morals, rigid standards, and a well-established code of ethics. Group Three consists of about 5% of the total population.

Now that you’ve decided to try to join the Warrior Group, let’s consider what we must assess. I contend that the current administration has already accomplished its primary goal. While everybody is busy trying to pick a replacement for 2012, Obama and his merry band of looters have absconded with trillions from the treasury to build their power base and army of revolutionaries, always knowing that they’d be replaced after the first term.

That’s why his team of players have all but returned or melted away back into whence they came already. He expects to lose in 2012. He’s planned all along to lose the presidency. That is why he has spent three years of creating crisis after crisis after crisis, to leave to his successor. That’s why he has not done anything to address the many real and pressing dangers that everyone asks why about. I used to wonder whether he was merely inept or intentionally ideologically dogmatic. He’s neither, I’ve come to believe. He is the current figurehead of Group Two.

Now, here’s the challenge we must take. We must look beyond Anthony Weiner, Hollywood, and the Mainstream Media fluff and bilge. We must look to the horizon and see the threat. We must strengthen our number and prepare not to withstand, but to overcome the likes of Obama’s Chicago, Soros, and the Clintons. We need our eyes wide open and our feet planted firmly upon the foundation of the Constitution, our history, and a common knowledge of who America is and was meant to be.

We need to stand!

Whatever did we manage before the N.E.A.?

I recently read Ayn Rand's 'Atlas Shrugged' and wondered why isn't this book required reading in American Public Schools. Then, an afterthought so epiphanous that a light bulb should have appeared over my head accompanied by the sound of a very loud slap. Our Public School system in America has been overtaken by the government, which has been overtaken by the progressive Fabian Socialists through the Department of Education and the N.E.A..

Saul Alinsky's 'Rules for Radicals' can be readily and easily found near the top of the list of reccomended reading in almost every school. Besides not having any vile directions toward opposing all authority, parents, church, police, military, and even generally each other... there are no really cool cartoons to reinforce the ever popular cultivation of low individual expectation and high collective entitlement.

And then, theres that ugly little fact that they just can't understand and benefit by all those old concepts and atiquated ideals. The teachers are too over-burdened with AYP (average yearly progress) standards and 'No Child Left Behind' testing requirements.

I read today in my local newspaper that... Though our schools have missed the standard, again... our schools are improving. Through the hard work against all odds and back-breaking budgetary pressures, our teachers are embracing the United States federal government's economic comfort within the new standard of "less worse."

This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina, Kansas, U.S.A.

It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, and reprinted by the Salina Journal.

8th Grade Final Exam: Salina, KS - 1895
Grammar (Time, one hour)

1. Give nine rules for the use of capital letters.
2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications.
3. Define verse, stanza and paragraph
4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of 'lie, 'play,' and 'run.'
5. Define case; illustrate each case.
6. What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation.
7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.

Arithmetic (Time, 1 hour 15 minutes)

1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft. Deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. Wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3,942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1,050 lbs. - For tare?
4. District No 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find the cost of 6,720 lbs. Coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft.. Long at $20 per metre?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt

U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)

1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, and 1865.

Orthography (Time, one hour)

[Do we even know what this is??]

1. What is meant by the following: alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, and syllabication?
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: tri graph, sub vocals, diphthong, cognate letters, and linguals.

4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u.'
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.' Name two exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi, dis-mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup.
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.
9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks
and by syllabication.

Geography (Time, one hour)

1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall, and Orinoco.
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each.
7. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
8. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
9. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.

Notice that the exam took FIVE HOURS to complete. Gives the saying 'he only had an 8th grade education' a whole new meaning, doesn't it?!

It also shows us how poor our education system has become.

......and by the way, the title of this post was intentionally... un-brilliant.... After all, I received most of my education in American Public Schools.

Where’s that switch?

I enjoyed what Ed Bradford posted in the TCOT Action Projects Constitutional Classroom, today.

Ed posted, in part:

"We're soon going to have too much to talk about. Cap and Tax is another interesting "issue". I have declared it to be a "law respecting an establishment of religion". I say that because CHIGW (pronounced "chig-wa") is the Church of Human Induced Global Warming as established by the EPA Administrators beliefs! I found this in the EPA reports on CO2.

Since a known relationship between CO2 emissions and weather is missing, any actions (laws) based in that have to be based on simple beliefs. When this country was in its infancy, governments paid the salaries of local church leaders. It wasn't until the early 1800's that most of the paid positions were eliminated in rewritten state constitutions. Note, however, the US Constitution was silent on the issue at the time."

I like the thinking on the establishment of religion issue, but I think that the collusive association of media, Wall Street, and Government has sufficiently watered down direct accountability. They are all hiding behind the other. I like the premise though and feel it might resonate with voters if added to the enumerable reasons to demand Al Gore be tarred and feathered. If only the "green" thing could have been somehow associated with Jesus Christ. California's willing embrace of "green" gimmickry will someday be its most egregious folly and "gift" to the rest of the Union, along with wide open borders and antichristianity.

Allan Hampton, another fellow classmate queried about what part of TCOTUS provides specifically language to enforce and punish elected officials that violate their oaths of office.

I'm afraid if you are seeking an on/off switch or a silver bullet solution to enforce or correct unethical behavior from within TCOTUS, you will have spent a lot of time and energy for naught.

Generations of politicians have normalized hubris and have developed traditional violations of ethics. That is the real reason they have perpetuated the wall between church and state. Wiggle room. Mercurial issue positioning to pander to special interests and total avoidance of personal accountability or responsibility have become "savvy politics."

Gerrymandering, government enabled voter fraud, electronic voting with no paper trail, elections decided by a compromised judicial system… all being played out in real-time play by play live broadcasting TV among burger commercials and gadget pitchmen have mesmerized a nation.

It will take more than a single obscurity within the Constitution to set this all even close to right. It will take a many-pronged and orchestrated methodology of education and activation of the citizenry, made aware of how governmental exploitation of carefully cultivated fear has divided them one from another, preventing them as a whole from expecting oaths of office to be honored by the elected and appointed.

Most importantly, it will take leadership from within the body of this nation to emerge from outside of the existing political establishment, armed with the commitment to ALL of the principles and purposes written into the construction of the Constitution of the United States. It will not be because they have been chained to an oath. It will be because they have made an oath within themselves.

I watched the current president stand before the original documents of the Framers to read a speech from Teleprompters to a national audience. More was said by the media about his "stagecraft" than was said about his self-serving content. I found myself wishing that he'd just turn around and read the real news to the nation.

Tear Down That Wall!

Liberty over Tyranny

"When the citizenry fears its government, there is tyranny. When the government fears its citizenry, there is liberty."

This statement must be understood, realized, and affirmed by every citizen wishing to regain control of an out-of-control government! We really do have the ability and the right to constructively influence and therefore change the course of our government. Force a return to the Constitution of The United States of America as our future, not merely our history. Consider the following ideas.

Repeal the 16^th Amendment of the Constitution

Each state's citizens must join other states' citizens in developing and promoting the demand that our State Congress petition the Federal Congress to legislate the repeal of the 16^th Amendment of the Constitution and dissolve the government's system to collect Federal Income Taxes. Grass roots movements like the recent "Tea Parties", are looking to distill their message of discontent into real action that will be worth their participation and individual contribution.

Am I right in my understanding that If 2/3 of the states of the United States do likewise, the federal Congress is forced to address the petition. Even if they do not write legislation amending the Constitution, the power of the proposed concept would affect restraint on the government.

Term limits

In my opinion, we must remove the attraction for corruption and graft by halting the pursuit of a career of professional politics. Priorities of career professional politicians are in direct and absolute conflict with representation of, by, and for the people of this nation. There exists a self-sustaining and self-perpetuating wall of insulation and isolation between the government and the citizenry that has made void the checks and balances in the three branches of government. I think that wall would be wrought asunder by the institution of term limits.

America, "Tear down that wall!"

...Unless...

Unless following this sort of logic would by its very nature be the trap that is always at the end of meddlesome hands. It's said that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Herein lies an example of that sentiment.

Ask yourself what might happen as unintended consequence, once any part of the Constitution is chipped away by whatever populism prevails, at whatever time, in whatever State, county, or parish, no matter how well-intended the proponents are... and envision surely well-intended wedges driven into imagined cracks in all parts of the Constitution of The United States... and therefore, the Union and its very future.

We are not wiser, nor better equiped by our generation, than the Framers were in theirs. The Constitution is not to be so trifled with that any portion of it be made premise to attack and bring asunder any other portion, part, or purpose of the whole of it.