AMERICAN CAPITALISM GONE WITH A WHIMPER

By Stanislav Mishin
Russia

27.04.2009 Source: Pravda.Ru URL: http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/107459-american_capitalism-0
It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people.
True, the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years. The initial testing grounds was conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was. But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the fists of the Marxists.
Those lessons were taken and used to properly prepare the American populace for the surrender of their freedoms and souls, to the whims of their elites and betters.
First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas then the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their "right" to choke down a McDonalds burger or a BurgerKing burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our "democracy". Pride blind the foolish.
Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different "branches and denominations" were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the "winning" side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the "winning" side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power. Even our H oly Orthodox churches are scandalously liberalized in America.
The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America's short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.
These past two weeks have been the most breath taking of all. First came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, loses and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs look little more then ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beat our own thieves in the shear volumes. Should we congratulate them?
These men, of course, are not an elected panel but made up of appointees picked from the very financial oligarchs and their henchmen who are now gorging themselves on trillions of American dollars, in one bailout after another. They are also usurping the rights, duties and powers of the American congress (parliament). Again, congress has put up little more then a whimper to their masters.
Then came Barack Obama's command that GM's (General Motor) president step down from leadership of his compa ny. That is correct, dear reader, in the land of "pure" free markets, the American president now has the power, the self given power, to fire CEOs and we can assume other employees of private companies, at will. Come hither, go dither, the centurion commands his minions.
So it should be no surprise, that the American president has followed this up with a "bold" move of declaring that he and another group of unelected, chosen stooges will now redesign the entire automotive industry and will even be the guarantee of automobile policies. I am sure that if given the chance, they would happily try and redesign it for the whole of the world, too. Prime Minister Putin, less then two months ago, warned Obama and UK's Blair, not to follow the path to Marxism, it only leads to disaster. Apparently, even though we suffered 70 years of this Western sponsored horror show, we know nothing, as foolish, drunken Russians, so let our "wise" Anglo-Saxon fools find out the folly of their own pride.
Again, the American public has taken this with barely a whimper...but a "freeman" whimper.
So, should it be any surprise to discover that the Democratically controlled Congress of America is working on passing a new regulation that would give the American Treasury department the power to set "fair" maximum salaries, evaluate performance and control how private companies give out pay raises and bonuses? Senator Barney Franks, a social pervert basking in his homosexuality (of course, amongst the modern, enlightened American societal norm, as well as that of the general West, homosexuality is not only not a looked down upon life choice, but is often praised as a virtue) and his Marxist enlightenment, has led this effort. He stresses that this only affects companies that receive government monies, but it is retroactive and taken to a logical extreme, this would include any company or industry that has ever received a tax break or incentive.
The Russian owners of American companies and industries should look thoughtfully at this and the option of closing their facilities down and fleeing the land of the Red as fast as possible. In other words, divest while there is still value left.
The proud American will go down into his slavery with out a fight, beating his chest and proclaiming to the world, how free he really is. The world will only snicker.
Stanislav Mishin
The article has been reprinted with the kind permission from the author and originally appears on his blog, Mat Rodina

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IN A SOLDIER'S NAME

By Ron Ewart

Many years ago, when I was in high school, I ran into kind of a strange, lonely, muscular young man with a keen intellect and a quick and inquiring mind. He was full of life and future promise. Many nights we would sit in his 1940 coup until well after midnight, discussing philosophy, science, religion, school, cars, women, politics and airplanes. Not necessarily in that order. Sometimes during our talks, he would sketch out cars, free hand. The detail in his drawings was astounding, in both depth and perspective. It was as if he could see every detail of the car he held in his mind and then transferred that detail through his arm and hand, to the paper. This skill he possessed, was indeed a gift but a gift that never blossomed into a full-blown talent.
On many occasions, we went camping and fishing together and thrived on our talks. It was if our minds were one, each searching together for life's truths. On one fishing trip with he and another friend, we arrived late at the trail head and set up a lean-to to sleep, before the climb to the lake the next day. Around 4 AM in the morning, a mouse ran over my friend's outstretched arm, that sent him flying out of his sleeping bag with a curse. Of course that woke up me and our other friend up and so we broke camp and headed up the trail. It was raining and the climb was steep. Around 10:00 AM we stopped for lunch. The three of us ended up eating three days supply of food at that one sitting and decided to Hell with the climb to the lake, hiked out to the car and drove back to town. Later that night we all went to see a late show. All told, we had been up for almost 36 hours. But when you are young, sleep wasn't all that important.
Young men tend to be idealistic, as we were, but it was the beginning of a life-long friendship between my friend and I. This young man was talented by every measure. He could have been anything he wanted to be. Instead his choice lead him down a path he could have never imagined, much less desired.
After high school, we went our separate ways. He joined the Army and my knowledge of his Army life was sparse. Occasionally, I would receive a letter or a post card with a short note. He told me of his relationship with a German girl that had soured and made him ill to the point that he lost his sight and he ended up in San Francisco's Presidio Hospital. I remember thinking at the time that the story was a little strange. I drove all the way from Seattle to San Francisco to visit him in the hospital. I was told later that his sight returned after two holes were bored in his skull to relieve the pressure. His recovery extended into months.
He eventually was discharged from the service, later married and had one child. For some reason I can't, to this day, understand, I did not see or talk to him much after he married. I remember he became quite religious, never suspecting why.
Several years ago I visited him in his home on Bainbridge Island, Washington. He had retired from his job at Boeings and could not work. He was confined to his home, could barely walk and got around mostly with a cane, or in a wheel chair. His legs had ballooned up to nearly three times their normal size. I never asked him about them, not wanting to embarrass him.
In late 2004, I learned that he had been transferred to the VA Hospital in Seattle, so I went to visit him. I finally got up the courage to ask him about his legs. As he sat on his hospital bed, he appeared unshaven, somewhat disheveled, wearing a maroon shirt, an Army ranger hat and shorts, which exposed his legs. They were grotesquely immense and covered with white scales and red blotches. He could only get around in a wheel chair, but still he possessed an uncanny quit wit and humor.
He began his story by telling me that he was a prisoner of war in Vietnam for well over two years, prior to the U. S. military build up. Because his mission as an Army Ranger was secret, he maintained his German cover story, at least to me. He explained that as torture, his captors would put him in a cage suspended from a rope and then lower his body in the river, with just his head showing, for days at a time. The river was essentially a human sewer. The VA doctors believed that river fungus attacked his legs, causing the unsightly conditions and the bloating, that lasted the rest of his life.
I asked how he escaped and he said that Army helicopters flew over and blasted the prison camp. He described buildings disintegrating, while trucks and bodies were flying through the air. His two guards were distracted by the attack and one ran off. The other guard looked away for a second, which was my friend's opportunity. He grabbed a shovel and dispatched the second guard with one blow. He then reached down and picked up the guard's automatic weapon and ran into the jungle. He wandered for days with no idea where he was until he found himself somewhere in Thailand. Friendly soldiers took him to safety. Later, he was transferred to Presidio Hospital in San Francisco where his injuries from captivity were treated. That was when I visited him, not having any clue to the real events. For the rest of his life he was plagued by the memories of his ordeal. Even so, he never lost his sense of humor.
Unfortunately, the doctors couldn't do much for him and he was transferred to an old soldiers' home near Port Orchard, WA to live out the rest of his painful life. On July 4, 2006, American Independence Day, this brave man, this patriot, this hero of his country, succumbed to his injuries and indignities suffered at the hands of his captors, while a prisoner of war in Viet Nam. He gave his life for our country and his country spat upon him for that sacrifice.
This man was behind enemy lines in the hands of brutal and cruel Viet Nam captors for well over two years. He wasn't supposed to be there and the NSA came to him after he was repatriated and removed any record from his home of ever having been in Viet Nam. His Army records were lost in a St. Louis archives fire. The only thing available was a DD-214 that listed him being discharged in 1959 as a private. He was in fact, a sergeant. He received no medals even though he was a prisoner of war and escaped. The VA never paid a dime for his final days in the nursing home. That's what our government did for this man.
I wrote letters to senators, congressmen, the head of the VA and to the Special Forces Association. As best I could, I researched his military service. I was told that the hospital at the Presidio in San Francisco was torn down in 2000. No one there seemed to know where his records were. The NSA knows he was in Viet Nam and probably has records of it. The Hospital at the Presidio knows he was at the hospital and the records are somewhere in archives. I know he was at Presidio because I visited him in person, when I learned he had arrived there. He died without ever being recognized by his Country for the sacrifices he was forced to make.
So why is his story relevant? Because he is one of hundreds of thousands of brave men and women that were ordered by our government to sacrifice their lives, limbs and minds in the defense of our Constitutional freedoms, in a foreign land. But now those very freedoms and our property rights are under attack by our own Government. We must now fight with a government that has subscribed to the doctrine that environmental protection and socialist agendas, trump constitutional liberties, while they steal our land, our money and our freedom. If we look away from this battle and do nothing, we dishonor the sacrifices of my friend and many other brave souls who endured and are enduring, unimaginable hardships across the front lines from our enemies, so that all of us can remain free.
So I ask in his name, Robert C. Copeland, husband, father, American hero and patriot, that you join with me in making sure that the foundation of this great Nation and our Constitution, are forever protected and vigorously defended. I ask that together we take up our weapons of legislative and judicial actions and civil disobedience in this fight against our Government, so that my friend's sacrifice and those of his brave brethren will have not been in vain.
We must realize that our government's attack on our constitutional liberties is growing and endless. This country of WE THE PEOPLE is supposed to be a country of WE THE PEOPLE, not THEM THE GOVERNMENT. WE THE PEOPLE have been hiding under a rock and if we allow the destruction of our Constitution, it won't be the Twin Towers that will have tumbled down, it will be our whole way of life and the very foundation that made and kept us free. For without our Constitution we are just another country immersed in socialism, mind-numbing mediocrity and vanishing liberty and my friend's sacrifice and the sacrifice of so many other brave souls, will have been for naught.
On this Memorial Day in the year of our Lord 2009, in his name, I here so dedicate this brief story of Robert Copeland's life and his sacrifices that he gave for his Country. And to all others who have so sacrificed, I hereby dedicate my life to the preservation of liberty here at home, that they so valiantly dedicated their lives to our freedom, abroad.

FREEDOM'S SAFETY VALVE

By Ron Ewart, President

"The 10th Amendment, Freedom's Safety Valve"
© Copyright May 20, 2009 - All Rights Reserved

The wisdom of the Founding Fathers borders on providence. How was it that their perspective of individual freedom was so clear in their minds and so succinct in their words? How was it that they were able to insert so many road blocks in our founding documents, to government tyranny? First, they limited the power and scope of the central government authority by specifying what those powers were. Knowing that those limits might not stop the exponential growth of a central government, they inserted the "Separation of Powers" doctrine that balanced the power of the three branches of government against each other. These wise men weren't even sure if constitutional limits and the Separation of Powers was sufficient to inhibit the all-too insidious desire by politicians to increase their power, so they gave all those rights that were not specifically enumerated in the Constitution, to the states and to the people, via the 10th Amendment: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
The wisdom of these great men may have just saved the United States of America from self-immolation, if not trial by the fire of revolution. That central government would move to increase its power is not an unknown phenomenon. We have 5,000 years of history that proves men in power will do whatever is necessary to expand their power, including circumventing the very documents that authorize their power. We should not be surprised that the American central government has parroted that history and their violations of the limits on their power, expand almost daily. What remains to be seen is whether the Founding Father's safety valve in the 10th Amendment, can restore the power to the consent of the governed, that last ditch answer, that last of all alternatives before revolution becomes the final solution ..... the supreme power that is reserved to the states and the people.
Well take heart. The 10th Amendment is alive and well and showing its teeth. Tired of the lust for power that exists in that den of thieves in Washington DC, robbers of the public treasury, legislators in many states are once again, showing their independence ..... the independence that is embodied in the 9th and 10th Amendments to the U. S. Constitution. Several states have already passed resolutions warning the central government that they have exceeded their limited powers and the states are exercising their rights and powers under the 10th Amendment. Some states are even strengthening the 2nd Amendment by passing resolutions informing the government that any firearms or ammunition manufactured in their state and kept in their state, do not fall under any jurisdiction of the federal government.
This sudden rise in state courage, is infectious. Other state legislatures are following suit. There is now a new organization called "The Patrick Henry Caucus", inviting legislators from all levels of government to join with them in preserving, protecting and defending the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the state in which the individual legislator holds residence.
Yes Americans! That unstoppable spirit of freedom is on the rise and it must infuriate those in power, for otherwise why would the American government, under the offices of Homeland Security, issue a report on potential extremists who would dare to proclaim their rights under the constitution (imagine that), believe in the sanctity of marriage between a man and woman, believe that abortion is murder, believe that amnesty for illegal aliens is just plain wrong, and these so-called extremists are now being labeled by government as a threat to national security? Why would they say that returning veterans who have served this country honorably by laying down their lives for our freedom, are potential extremists who would be vulnerable to extremists acts? Why indeed!
Thomas Jefferson said: "When the people fear the government, we have tyranny. When the government fears the people, we have liberty." The government is beginning to fear the people once again and they grow nervous. As they grow more apprehensive of the people's rise to reclaim their freedom, they will do even more crazy things to increase their power over us and increase their enforcement of a growing body of unconstitutional law.
Barry Goldwater said: "Extremism in the defense of liberty is not a vice." We hail the constitutional extremists who stand up for liberty. We wave our right hand in the air, in support of the tea party revolution. We take our hats off to those who believe that amnesty for illegals is wrong, that abortion is murder and that the constitution is worth defending, even with our lives. We are proud to be a part of the idea that freedom is the natural order and that whatever is necessary to preserve that freedom is indeed, not a vice.
Every day we stand in amazement at the wisdom of our Founding Fathers and the skill and knowledge they exhibited in giving us (at great cost) a solid foundation (our Constitution) that works to preserve freedom and inhibit tyranny.
We ask that all those of you who know of a legislator who is supporting 9th and 10th Amendment resolutions in their state, to personally thank and encourage them. They need your support. They are truly domestic heroes and America needs every last one of them, if she is to remain free.
In the name of those Founding Fathers and all those who cherish freedom, we hereby claim our right to life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness, without undo, unnecessary and unconstitutional government interference, so help us God.
Ron Ewart, President
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF RURAL LANDOWNERS
P. O. Box 1031, Issaquah, WA 98027
425 222-4742 or 1 800 682-7848
(Fax No. 425 222-4743)
Website: www.narlo.org

THERE IS NO FREEDOM, WITHOUT INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM

By Ron Ewart
© Copyright May 17, 2009 - All Rights Reserved

The noise is shattering. It shudders the air for almost a hundred miles. It shakes the ground upon which you stand, as you witness in awe, man's almost arrogant defiance of the forces of nature. It belches unimaginable fire and smoke from its tail and slowly, it breaks the bonds of Earth's gravity and rises ever faster, arcing into an azure sky. It screeches in anger against Earth's attempts to pull it back. A long, curving stream of white smoke outlines its path into the awaiting heavens. In but a minute it is nothing but a spec against a backdrop of blue. Suddenly a soundless puff of flame and smoke mark the separation of its lift-off stage rockets. Spaceship Discovery has broken free of Earth and reaches for the stars, at five miles per second.
For centuries, a six-foot tall biped, who walked out of the jungles and grasslands of yesteryear, some 20,000 years ago, has been on a torturous path to go ever farther and faster and to even defy the chains of gravity that binds him to the Earth. Over the last five millennium, each of his decisions for war or peace, has driven him towards an unseen goal, a need to explore and to fulfill his insatiable desire to learn more about himself and his universe. But that drive made an exponential leap into the future, when a small band of men on a new continent, decided that freedom had a greater value than life itself. They were committed to risk their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor in the defense of liberty. From that fateful decision and the resulting struggle, individual freedom was born.
Along the way man has made many mistakes, but along the way he has made great strides as well ..... ever since his creativity, industriousness, ambition and generosity were unleashed under that greatest of all symbols of freedom, the American flag. It is that individual freedom that has brought man to the edge of jumping off this once infinitely large planet and to reach his outstretched "hand" into the secrets and mysteries of an infinite Universe. The question is, can he keep up the pace of this quest, if he allows freedom to slip from his grasp ..... that very freedom that has allowed him to reach such unimaginable heights, in just a short 233 years.
It is said by many that America is a free country and many come here because of the perception that it is a free country. However, by any measure, it is anything but a free country because without individual freedom, there is no freedom and individual freedom has been trashed, as the first 10 Amendments of the U. S. Constitution, (the original Bill of Rights) that guarantee our individual freedom, have been, or will be repealed, one by one. Oh sure, there is still freedom of speech, sort of. And the freedom to worship in a religion of one's choice is still pretty much in tact. The Third Amendment about soldiers being quartered in private residences during time of war has not been breached since the civil war, as far as we know. But the Second amendment and the Fourth, Fifth, the Eighth, the Ninth, the Tenth and the Fourteenth have been badly bruised, if not outright repealed by actions of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of government, that operate in concert with each other to entrench their power over the states and the people. The "Separation of Powers" doctrine, as enshrined in the Constitution by the Founding Fathers, is essentially dead, or in its final death throes.
The Fourth Amendment requiring "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated", is being violated every day by government, in its pursuit to make you secure, at the expense of your liberty.
The Fifth Amendment stating that: No person shall.........."be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation", is all but irrelevant. Government takes, reduces your right-of-use, or decreases the value of your property consistently, by act, law, regulation, restriction, ordinance and eminent domain abuse, without due process and without just compensation. U. S. Supreme Court decisions have aided and abetted the destruction of the Fifth Amendment, by sanctioning government police powers, way beyond the limits of the constitution.
The Eighth Amendment stating that: "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted" has been rendered meaningless, as the penalty for violating some draconian environmental regulation mounts into thousands upon thousands of dollars in fines and can even be criminalized that can result in lengthy incarceration. Woe be to the man who violates an environmental regulation, for he shall be crucified on the alter of the enviro-viper.
The Ninth and Tenth Amendments stating respectively that: "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people" and "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people", are no longer relevant. The Federal Government has so exceeded its enumerated powers contained in the Constitution, as to render "states rights" and the "rights of the people" virtually non-existent. The Feds write federal mandates, forcing the states to comply and if they don't, the Feds withhold federal money for other federal programs run by the states. So the states capitulate to the rising power of the Feds with their "beaks" pointing skyward for federal dollars, like baby birds in a nest, waiting for their federal "mother" to deliver their next meal.
The sanctity and dignity of human life and the human spirit (or soul if you will) only has meaning when there is "free choice". That human spirit has a driving force to survive first and then express itself through its individual wants and desires second. Creativity, industriousness, ingenuity and compassion are the expression of those individual wants and desires. Such expression is different in every human being. Some expressions are good, while still others are evil. Some of those wants and desires complement each other. Nevertheless, it is from these wants and desires, tempered with a large dose of morality, from which most human achievement and advances in the human condition occur. These characteristics are most abundant when the individual has free choice.
In the book, "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand, her philosophy of the individual and individual freedom was embodied in one chapter in the book entitled, "This is John Galt Speaking". We have excerpted a few paragraphs from this chapter, as they are relevant to this discussion. (Bold emphasis our ours)
"Man's mind is his basic tool of survival. Life is given to him, survival is not. His body is given to him, its sustenance is not. His mind is given to him, its content is not. To remain alive, he must act, and before he can act he must know the nature and purpose of his action. He cannot obtain his food without a knowledge of food and of the way to obtain it. He cannot dig a ditch–or build a cyclotron–without a knowledge of his aim and of the means to achieve it. To remain alive, he must think."
"But to think is an act of choice. The key to what you so recklessly call 'human nature, the open secret you live with, yet dread to name, is the fact that man is a being of volitional consciousness. Reason does not work automatically; thinking is not a mechanical process; the connections of logic are not made by instinct. The function of our stomach, lungs or heart is automatic; the function to think or to evade that effort is an act of free choice. But you are not free to escape from your nature, from the fact that reason is your means of survival–so that for you, who are a human being, the question 'to be or not to be' is the question 'to think or not to think'"
"There is only one fundamental alternative in the universe; existence or non-existence–and it pertains to a single class of entities: to living organisms. The existence of inanimate matter is unconditional, the existence of life is not: it depends on a specific course of action. Matter is indestructible, it changes its forms, but it cannot cease to exist. It is only a living organism that faces a constant alternative: the issue of life or death. Life is a process of self-sustaining and self-generated action. If an organism fails in that effort, it ceases to exist. It is only the concept of "Life' that makes the concept of 'Value' possible. It is only to a living entity that things can be good or evil."
"A plant must feed itself in order to live; the sunlight, the water, the chemicals it needs are the values its nature has set it to pursue; its life is the standard of value directing its actions. But a plant has no choice of action; there are alternatives in the conditions it encounters, but there is no alternative in its function: it acts automatically to further its life, it cannot act for its own destruction."
Man, on the other hand, can act for his own survival, or his own destruction. He can either choose life or death, or he can choose freedom, or enslavement. If the power of government rises, man can choose either to resist that power, or capitulate to that power. In America, we have a foundation of law, our Constitution, that allows us to not only resist government's rising power, but to reduce the power of government without having to resort to revolution. But to do so, man must choose individual freedom and be willing to pay the price required for the preservation, protection and defense of that freedom. To do otherwise, is to be condemned to be an indentured slave to others who own his life, his liberty and his property, as well as the fruits of his labors. To do otherwise, is worse than death.

THE STIMULATION OF BANDON MARSH

By Jim Beers


Recently I was asked by an Oregonian, "What is a little National Wildlife Refuge like Bandon Marsh going to do with $950,000 in 'Stimulus' funding?" He asked me to go online and read an article in the local Bandon paper about this local windfall from Washington and then try to explain what they are going to do with it.
In the article in the local paper titled "Stimulus money to help Oregon wildlife projects" it was mentioned that Bandon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge would receive $950,000. There was no indication of what this windfall would be spent upon other than "wildlife" and the Oregon economy.
An examination of a map of Bandon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge reveals two units of land, one on the North side of the Coquille River and another unit somewhat "kitty-corner" adjacent to the other on the South side of the Coquille River close to the mouth of the River where it dumps into the Pacific at the town of Bandon, Oregon. The refuge is a total of 889 acres and the South Unit is described as "a natural area with no habitat manipulation"; "an undisturbed salt marsh"; and a place where "resource values are maintained by natural processes". The North Unit, called the "Ni-les'tun Unit", is described as being "purchased" by the Federal government but is believed to have a title clouded by Native American considerations. According to the Refuge website, "Public use on the Ni-les'tun Unit is currently limited to environmental education". This refuge is part of a larger manned complex of southern Oregon coastal refuges and "is monitored to ensure that these values are not compromised. "
While the South Unit is "an undisturbed salt marsh", the North Unit "is diked lowland pasture and will eventually be restored to tidal marsh, making history as the largest tidal marsh restoration project ever attempted in Oregon." Not surprisingly, the internet now carries a notice of request for input on the following project, "The public is invited to comment on plans for the proposed wetlands restoration project in the Ni-les'tun Unit of the Bandon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge. A draft Environmental Assessment for the project - and the related North Bank Lane Improvement Project - has been prepared by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Federal Highway Administration, Western Federal Lands Division."
This project is what the $950,000 is intended to accomplish. The project is compsed of two parts:
- First is the "tidal marsh restoration consisting of removing the artificial levees, approximately 15 miles of interior drainage ditches, and three tide gates. The project also would include reconstructing the creek channels for Fahys, Redd, and No Name creeks."
- Second is the the improvement of North Bank Lane "to reduce flooding, permit implementation of the wetland restoration project, improve the pavement surface, and better accommodate the mixed (bicycle and vehicle) use of the roadway." The total acreage encompassed by the project is 400 acres.
The money will go for everything from construction and public input to "planning and supervision" charges by a Regional Office and the Washington Office of the US Fish and Wildlife Service. 400 acres "improved" with $950,000 comes out to $23,750 per acre. While public use on this area is now "limited to environmental education", it is my considered opinion (as a former Chief of Operations for the National Wildlife Refuges) that the likelihood of any future hunting or fishing on this unit will be even more remote as a result of this project to "return historic tidal influence and provide habitat for a suite of wildlife including migratory shorebirds, waterfowl, and anadromous and resident fishes."
In crazy economic times such as these, attempting to explain the origin and funding of such a project seems quaint and a little like swatting at a fly in a windstorm but putting such cynicism aside, here is how this comes to be:
When any Refuge (or National Park or National Forest) is purchased or otherwise obtained it is obligatory that it comes on the heels of some great urgency. Everything from it will be "developed" or "destroyed" to it must be "restored" or some sort of plant/animal mix ("Native", "pristine", "Wilderness", etc.) must be "saved." Often it is the agencies operatives in cahoots with environmental/Animal Rights organizations or bureaucrats working with Congressional staffs to A. increase agency budgets while, B. helping to re-elect some lifelong (and therefore powerful) politician.
When such Refuge (or Park or Forest) is authorized by Congress the agency immediately produces a list of personnel and money "needed" and a justification for why they are necessary and what they will do. As any citizen over the age of 12 knows, such lists are always excessive in every aspect with the hopeful expectation of a more modest level of support by the "fiscally-concerned" politicians from President on down.
When the Refuge (et al) is staffed the manager's most important job is to assure funding increases and his own promotion in the future. This means long lists of every sort of maintenance, operations, AND construction project imaginable is assembled and kept always on hand.
Simultaneously, each US Fish and Wildlife Service Regional Office assembles and prioritizes, and "buffs up" all the Regional needs for the Refuges in the Region for as much as ten years into the future under every imaginable (from budget cut protections to taking advantage of unimaginable, as now, funding windfalls in competition with all other Regions and all other USFWS hogs at such an overflowing federal trough.
Likewise, the USFWS Washington Office keeps these "Lists" and massages and buffs them as do the Regional Offices only their purpose is to out-compete the National Park Service and the US Forest Service whenever cuts (God forbid!) come down the pike but, as now, to get every bit of slop from this "Stimulus" package or any other (God forbid!) future such federal spending orgies.
So when the President and Congress jammed through the "Stimulus" and the "Bailout" and the "largest federal budget" and the "largest deficit in American history" - our federal bureaucrats were ready and up to the job of getting "their" (meaning the largest possible) share. The Secretary of the Interior got the "most" he could for Interior (US Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service) from the White House and Congress. Likewise his "Assistants" (like everyone else acting like they cared about "priorities" but really divvying things up based on 1. who are our "friends, 2. who needs to be reelected, 3. who are our enemies, and 4. last but certainly not least what is the best way to do this to benefit me in the future?) divided it up between the agencies while "tweaking" the projects and locations in ways that the bureaucrats are only too glad to quietly comply with. This happened several times during the 70's and 80's as Presidents sought re-election or one party was worried about holding onto Congress so it was thought that a "big" environmental funding package for Parks and Refuges (who could resisit supporting such wonderful politicians as would "come-up with such finding for such a nobel cause?) might save the day. Nevere were they anything like this "Stimulus" but the players and the play were just the same.
So everyone is happy. Oregon gets $X and every paper touts the largesse of our political elites. "Wildlife" is "helped" by making a "diked lowland pasture" that is essentially useless into a "restored salt marsh" that will make a very small contribution to environmental diversity but will also remain "useless" (remember that "Useless means unable to USE) to those that live nearby. The local town is grateful for money from Washington (heaven?) in hard times and they are sure to be even more amenable to federal wishes (i.e. mandates) in the future. State governments didn't have "to raise taxes" and state bureaucrats are trying to figure how they can benefit from such future largesse (by "partnering?", by "Cooperating?', by performing enforcement?, By abject begging?) as they envision an inevitable (to them but not to me) decline inhunting, fishing, trapping, logging, ranching, farming, etc. both because of places to do such things disappearing but more importantly (to them) their complete surrender to the machinations of the environmental/animal rights radicals that infiltrate their ranks and are seemingly unopposed as they impose their radical agendas on the Nation.
I for one don't need my marshes "stimulated", I need them managed for human activities in ways that assure their values and productivity are available to future generations. In most ways, modern bureaucratic controls by radical bureaucracies for pernicious ends like "Environmental Education" (i.e. environmental propaganda), "Wilderness", "Sanctuaries", "Ecosystems", "Native Species", "Critical Habitats", etc., etc. are worse than the destruction of these areas. Destroyed areas can one day be restored or can restore themselves but in the meantime government areas are increasingly "useless" and even anti-human use oriented as well as destructive of human communities by eliminating revenue from renewable natural resources and creating fires of catastrophic proportions and proliferation of deadly and destructive predators.
As for the $950,000, call me old-fashioned but it would be better left in the taxpayers pockets and off the list of assumed debt that my kids and grankids are being asked to sign!
Jim Beers 13 May 2009

THE UTMOST GOOD FAITH OF THE PARTIES

By Ron Ewart, President
National Association of Rural Landowners
© Copyright May 10, 2009 - All Rights Reserved

The late, uncommonly wise radio commentator Paul Harvey, had a saying that he used often in his 50 years of broadcasting and it went like this: "Self Government, without Self Discipline, Will Not Work." The adage applies to many aspects of our life, not only in dealing with each other, but more importantly, in our relationship with government.
In the end, we are judged by the standards we live by, good or bad and most of us are aware of what behavior is good or bad. If we allow ourselves to set standards for our own behavior that are less than we are able to achieve, we affect everyone around us, including our own children, who parrot what we say and do. The lines in a fairly popular western song, summed it up in another way. "..... you surround yourself with people who demand so little of you."
For over 30 years we have dealt with people who owned land, predominantly ranchers and farmers. We called them the salt of the Earth and we still do. They had a creed that most of them lived by that worked out to be: "..... my word is my bond" and they wondered why we needed all this paper work to consummate the purchase of their property. We had one landowner who said, "..... that's fine, you buy my property, give me a check and I'll give you a deed." Of course, in this complicated day of real estate transactions, title insurance and escrows, we said "..... it doesn't work that way any more sir, we have to go through escrow." We doubt, to this day, if he really understood and in a way, we regretted having to burst his bubble. To this landowner, life came in simple, uncomplicated, black and white terms and it was foreign to him to do it any other way. For those of us who grew up in the 1950's, when life was simple and uncomplicated, we have empathy for those who believed it should still be this way.
During those thirty years we would have people lament to us that the person they had a contract with, was violating the contract. They said: "..... he can't do that, we have a contract." We would have to explain to them that a contract is only as good as the "utmost good faith of the parties involved." If there was no good faith on one or both sides, well then the injured party would find themselves in the precarious and unpredictable hands of a lawyer and the courts and whatever their lawyer could prove against the other side's lawyer in a court of law, on the injured party's behalf ..... in most cases, a crap shoot at best.

Today, even though the American people have a contract (the U. S. Constitution) with the 545 people who lead this country, the leaders have egregiously, blatantly and with malice aforethought, violated that contract for the perpetuation of their power and for their own personal gain. The sad part is, both of us, on either side of that contract, have displayed bad faith. The leaders have violated the contract by passing laws in direct conflict with that contract and have acted in contradiction to its terms. The governed, on the other hand, have violated the same contract by not holding the leaders accountable to the terms of that contract, since again, a contract is only as good as "the utmost good faith of the parties."
As long as the ruling party to the contract continues to act in bad faith, without being held accountable by the good faith actions of the governed ..... as long as the governed turn their heads when the ruling party acts in bad faith, the contract (our U. S. Constitution) has no force or effect and the violations to that contract will grow exponentially, until such time as the protections offered by that contract are void. We are dangerously close to that point.
As free Americans, we find ourselves with our backs to the edge of a precipice and an intractable entity, national and international governments, money changers, power brokers and special interest groups, are pushing us ever closer to the edge. We either turn and fight the advancing enemy, or we succumb to the force of gravity in our irreversible plunge to the bottom of the canyon, where either death or slavery awaits us.

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When we were in Tucson, AZ a few years ago, at a restaurant, we walked up to a man in uniform and specifically thanked him for his service to our country. He thanked us and then said the day before, he had been spat on by two passer-bys, so our gratitude was doubly welcome. For one of our service men or women to be treated by an American in this fashion, is an unabashed insult and the height of ignorance and stupidity. So we are proposing a different way to thank our service men and women.
BUY A MEAL FOR OUR SERVICE MEN AND WOMEN: We would like to make an overture to our service men or women in America and abroad. Whenever you are at a restaurant and you see a service man and his family, or a group of service men or women having a meal, if you have the resources, may we be so bold as to suggest that you go over and pick up their tab and thank them for their service to this great country. Or do it anonymously from a grateful American, through the waiter. Without these brave men and women, we would not be arguing over the breadth of our freedom. There would be none. Let this be a start to an American tradition to last through the ages. Let all Americans show "the utmost good faith" to those individuals who stand on the front lines, between us and our enemies.
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And a happy and glorious Mother's Day to every American mother who stands on the front lines between the rest of us and their children. May we show each and every one of them "the utmost good faith" for their selfless service to humanity.

SEARCHING FOR INSIGHT

By Jim Beers


Reading Chesterton has been both a delightful and rewarding pastime for me in so many ways. Simple enjoyment, spiritual growth, and avoiding modern social pitfalls are but a few of the benefits I glean with every new Chesterton adventure. As with other such readers I am sure, attempting to apply Chestertonian observations to the current issues and problems of today is something that is both human and commendable. Attempting to harmonize Chesterton with the political atmosphere of the United States today is however, a disconcerting matter.
An example of the difficulty inherent in applying Chestertonian observations was driven home to me in a conversation between several Chestertonians last year. When it was mentioned that Chesterton had little time for persons that held lukewarm beliefs about important matters; one of the participants mentioned how "Rush" (Limbaugh) had said essentially the same thing on his radio show. The reaction was immediate and not kind to the effect that any comparison between Chesterton and Limbaugh was akin to sacrilege and stupid to boot, end of conversation. That (not the comparison of GKC and Rush but the impossibility of dialogue about Chesterton and today's issues) was a shame because Chesterton's writing, his times, and debates are very relevant to the major issues facing society today.
A short list of such current concerns in the US might include:
- Private property no longer a right protected by government but rather a dispensation to be granted or withdrawn by governmental whim.
- Societal chaos resulting from fatherless children and the disappearance of enduring marriages and family units.

- Race and sex classifications by government to award preferences to some and to deny rights to others thereby dividing society and reversing the maxim "one from many" into "many from one".
- A growing and uncontrollable central government "taking over" medicine, banks, and manufacturing companies while incurring massive debts, designing vehicles and "redesigning" "the economy" much like Soviet planners sought to do for decades and Nazi leaders attempted for a shorter period.
- Elimination of the right of medical workers to refuse to conduct abortions, "mercy"-killings, or to destroy embryos.
- Elimination of the right of religious organizations to refuse to employ those that disagree with their teachings.
- The corrosion of freedom of speech as growing lists of prohibited words and phrases parallel unfettered central government growth.
- The disappearance of State and Local Constitutional authorities as these authorities are absorbed by the central government.
- The use of coerced taxes to fund foreign and domestic abortions, embryo destruction, and "birth" (i.e. "population") control.
- The nature of the relationship of western "developed" nations with societies like Russia, North Korea, Islamic nations, and "undeveloped" nations.
- The driving issue of the moral and societal implications of continued accelerating taxes and unchallenged central government authority increasingly rivaling that of the absolute authority under monarchs, despots, and tyrants throughout history.
Consider the period of Chesterton's life and his writing career. He lived from 1874 to 1936. He wrote extensively from roughly 1900 'til his death in 1936. He dabbled in Socialism early on but then (like so many young idealists) recognized the hollow lies and agendas of the Socialists. He discovered the truth of Christianity and spent the balance of his life growing this belief and sprinkling it throughout his writings on things as diverse as waging war, the nature of nationality, and the ideal of small communities and neighborhoods administered by local governments protected by a benevolent and limited central government. He wrote and debated about literally everything of concern to Englishmen and Christians of his day. It is these people, the challenges they faced, and the ideas of Chesterton's day that I find so relevant to us today.
Consider the following intertwined threads and personalities of Chesterton's day:
- Karl Marx wrote his Communist Manifesto (1848) in London after being chased out of Berlin, Paris, and Brussels. The resulting revolutions and social upheavals put into movement societal changes and spin-offs like the Fabian Socialists and the Russian Revolution (1917).
- Fabian Socialism was founded in England (1884) by Sidney and Beatrice Webb and a coterie of followers that included George Bernard Shaw and HG Wells. These Fabian Socialists were committed to an all-powerful central government much like the communist model only more gently implemented and headed by intellectually superior luminaries such as themselves. This movement spread to America and has many active and quietly supportive enthusiasts both in and out of government down to the present day.
- Margaret Sanger's sexual revolution, beginning in 1912 and continuing for 50 years, made contraceptives widely available and brought eugenics (selective breeding of humans to "weed out" the "unfit"; the "unfit" being whatever group or condition offends the powerful) into the open as a basis for a future "Scientifically Organized State". Her efforts played a significant part in the creation of Planned Parenthood and abortion on demand as the international tools they are today for eliminating "overpopulation" and "unfit" populations. This thinking owed much to the Darwinian theory of "survival of the fittest" as articulated in his 1859 tome ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. Darwin died when Chesterton was only six years old but his theories had spread far and wide by the time Chesterton began writing.
- Hitler's advent and seizure of the German state (1921 - 1933) based on severe intimidation of opponents and Draconian racial and national classifications for unspeakable eugenic principles and purposes. Hitler's promise of a strong economy, jobs, and glory persuaded Germans to look away temporarily as his hold on power became absolute, dissent was eliminated, and "unfit" Germans began to disappear but by then it was too late.
- The 1931 Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Church introduced the legitimized use of contraceptives and thereby began the growing acceptance in western Christian societies that sex was no longer only legitimate between a married husband and wife with the acceptance of the fact that procreation (children) was the ultimate purpose. The resulting public notion of sex as recreation (even unavoidable recreation by children according to current curricula) contributed greatly to the current societal chaos surrounding same-sex marriage and prevalence, divorce, fatherless children, sex education of the young, the explosion of pornography and sex crimes, school authority superceding parental authority, and the disappearing family as the basic building block of society.
- Certain specifically American phenomena during the Chestertonian era would include:

1.) President (1901-1909) Teddy Roosevelt's expansion of the federal landholdings led to the subsequent notion that such Parks, Forests, and Refuges were no longer within any State and therefore not subject to State authority or responsive to local communities. It became accepted that such landholdings should be constantly grown and treated like independent estates similar to Royal lands under a monarchy. Concepts such as a federally controlled "economy" (anti-business) and the need to subordinate human private property rights to the "needs" of the "natural" world were also first articulated by TR.
2.) This was further expanded by President (1912 - 1920) Woodrow Wilson who implemented an unlimited progressive income tax to fund federal expansion, changed the manner in which US Senators were elected (thereby changing them from advocates for their certain state to international dandies much like a House of Lords), and instituted governmental racial classifications to segregate the federal workplace and the military.
I leave it to you to judge the importance of Margaret Sanger, Darwin, and the 1931 Lambeth Conference on the American family; or Hitler's relevance (popularly elected; big spender; road builder; car designer; killer of the helpless like the mentally retarded as well as dissenters, Gypsies, and Jews) to current governmental race and sex classifications for all manner of uses in today's society or to current massive government "Shovel-Ready Stimulus" funding programs to save us like 1932 Germans or to the growing list of "control" (i.e. life taking) of the unborn, depressed, ill, and disabled among us with government funding and support. I leave it to you to agree or not that Fabian Socialists and Republican Teddy Roosevelt and the Democrat Woodrow Wilson each had a part in setting in motion the shift of the US government from a Constitutional Republican form to a centrally-controlled state with only those rights that government chooses to allow.
In my limited (but always expanding) reading of Chesterton I do not find the arguments so common today in the US about Taxation Levels and The Role and Size of Government. Rather I find him and Shaw talking of mankind, societies, and ideas: Shaw as an atheist and Chesterton as a believer in God. Chesterton enjoyed dismissing the "specialists" and "scientists" using their "expertise" as a reason for granting them power while he defended the rights and opinions of every man to shape the world and community in which he lived. Chesterton advocated a Distributist society that I for one am at a loss to see existing under any all-powerful central government but rather wholly dependent on a limited central government and the sort of State and Local Constitutional authority that is rapidly disappearing all over the United States today. Shaw, on the other hand, extols the "intelligent" as rightful rulers while ignoring (or downplaying?) the absolute dependence his Socialist society proposals would have for a large and all-powerful central government.
It is this difference in perspective between today and 100 years ago regarding the same issue - Socialism and an all-powerful central government - that can prove beneficial to those of us facing these threats today. While we confront the results of recent trends like the debilitations of welfare, animal rights, environmental dogmas masquerading as science, and Islamic terrorism; Chesterton and Shaw wrestled over vegetarianism, eugenics, Darwinian science, Prussian dreams of conquest, and the horrors of the Communist rule in Russia. Their notions and reactions to these threats are like studying the history of the Constitutional Convention or the Revolutionary War as we prepare to defend our Constitutional Rights or our very nationhood from foreign threats.
For instance, what of the morality of coerced taxation for ostensible government "charity"? Are there any limits that a non-wartime government should recognize when it comes to taxation? What is the morality of paying taxes that are used for abortions or euthanasia or destroying embryos? How to best respond to terrorism? What limits ought to apply when defending a nation from harm or a home or family from danger? When is carrying a weapon justified; why ought it to be a right? What does "unalienable" truly mean?
Chesterton speaks at length of the necessity for national sovereignty and local controls while Shaw infers a worldwide Socialist hegemony as inevitable. What references are present in their debates and writings to the nascent League of Nations that Wilson so enthusiastically embraced? What relevance has that to the United Nations of today? What particular aspects of the German embrace of Hitler caught Chesterton's eye? Chesterton rejected the British campaign against the Boers while enthusiastically supporting the British campaign in WWI; what precedents might his arguments provide us for confronting Islamic terrorism or the likes of Russia and North Korea? What of the understanding that Chesterton and his friend Belloc had 100 years ago concerning historic and current (to them) relations with Islam: what were their attitudes and how has history born them out?
The challenge is to find the references and to place them in a modern context. They are there in Chesterton's writing. All that is needed is a willingness to read him and an understanding of history that allows you to recognize the relevance. After that, all that is needed is a forum to share what you found. By the way, the fellow that unwittingly mentioned GK and "Rush" in the same sentence was yours truly, a skeptic genuinely disenchanted with the current American political scene and earnestly seeking Truth in a world every bit as topsy-turvy as the one GK Chesterton addressed so well, not so long ago.
Jim Beers 5 May 2009

LOST

ITSSD: Americans' Constitutional Rights Will Be Trampled Unless Congress Convenes Public Hearings on the UN Law of the Sea Convention
PRINCETON, N.J., May 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a new article appearing within the forthcoming issue of the Santa Clara Journal of International Law entitled, What Goes Around, Comes Around: How UNCLOS Ratification Will Herald Europe's Precautionary Principle as US Law, international attorney LAWRENCE KOGAN calls upon all Americans to immediately exercise their constitutionally guaranteed 'right to know'. This article identifies the multiple pathways through which global environmental extremists, US trans-nationalists, and the 111th Congressional supermajority seek to use the highly complex United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) as a loading platform from which to import into the American heartland very harmful UN and European-anchored environmental treaty and customary international law rules. "Unless the public demands due process of law from their congressional representatives," emphasized Kogan, "such rules, resembling rogue waves, will collectively override US sovereignty and the supremacy of the US Constitution and its accompanying Bill of Rights".
According to Kogan, "The US Navy continues to publicly deny the likely adverse consequences of the more than 45 plus environmental UNCLOS articles, regulations, protocols and annexes that implicitly and explicitly incorporate Europe's Precautionary Principle. This principle is known not only to raise indirect taxes and to threaten American free enterprise by chilling investments in technological innovations, reducing economic activity and increasing product manufacturing, processing and distribution costs and service fees, but to also severely impact military planning. Indeed, since, at least the late 1990's, foreign governments and environmental activist groups have invoked this controversial European legal nostrum to block US commercial activity, to curtail the Navy's ability to train offshore with sonar equipment, and to impair the timely US naval exercise of customary international law rights to freedom of navigation and innocent passage, both on the high seas and in territorial waters and at the north and south poles."
"Meanwhile," notes Kogan, "there are 'environmentally-enlightened' congressional committee chairs and ranking members who appear to be enamored with the legislative and associated regulatory powers derived from Europe's political civil law Precautionary Principle, especially those who hail from the coastal States of Alaska, California, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York. They are busily preparing amendments to a host of US federal environmental, chemical and energy statutes that would expressly incorporate said principle as US law from within our own borders and thereby obviate the need for special US legislation to implement the UNCLOS' land and air-based pollution provisions. For example, these amended statutes, the new carbon cap-and-trade regime currently under development and the proposal for a new federal oceans policy are designed to achieve regulatory harmonization with socialist Europe. Their effect is to attenuate and subjugate US constitutionally guaranteed individual rights, including private property, to global communal interests. In addition to raising the cost of living for all Americans, they would also create disguised environmental trade barriers that are likely to injure and trigger retaliation from US trading partners, all at a time when the US is suffering from a deep financial crisis."
It has been observed that the Obama administration is paying lip service to ensuring Americans greater public transparency and a higher standard of governmental ethics than had its predecessors, even as it devises how to exploit the opaque federal administrative regulatory process to enshrine Europe's Precautionary Principle as US law. Perhaps, this explains why it has yet to 'walk the talk' to move those congressional committees possessing oversight jurisdiction concerning the UNCLOS' environmental, economic and tribunal components to hold open public hearings, prior to ratification, that substantively discuss their impact on the US economy, US national security, US constitutional rights and US sovereignty. If, however, 'change' is in the air as this administration insists, then nothing less than full disclosure will make it authentic.
The Institute for Trade, Standards and Sustainable Development (ITSSD) is a non-partisan non-profit international legal research and educational organization that examines international law relating to trade, industry and positive sustainable development around the world. An annotated version of this press release is accessible at: http://itssd.org/news.html. The full law review article is accessible at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1356837.
Phone: 609-658-7417 Fax: 609-897-9598 Email: info@itssd.org
Website: www.itssd.org
SOURCE Institute for Trade, Standards, and Sustainable Development

MARC MORANO TAKES ON AL GORE

Submitted by Marc Morano

Gore the 1st 'Carbon Billionaire?' - Morano on 'The O'Reilly Factor' - NYT Issues 'Climate Correction' - Stop term 'Global Warming!' - Round Up - May 4, 2009
Video/Transcript: Gore the 1st 'Carbon Billionaire?' - The O'Reilly Factor features Morano - Climate Depot - May 1, 2009
Morano Excerpt: "Al Gore wants to become the first carbon billionaire. And he is poised to do it. [...] As much as Gore's made now, it is going to be piker league compared to what he is going to make in five years if all these new carbon trading mandates go through. [...] He who controls carbon controls life. It is a bureaucrat's dream to control carbon dioxide and Washington is a field of dreams right now." Watch the video of Climate Depot's Executive Editor/Chief Correspondent Marc Morano's May 1, 2009 appearance on "The O'Reilly Factor" on Fox News Channel here or here:
Fox News Did Air Gore's 'Every Penny' Non-Profit Claim - Video Challenges Media Matters Claim - Climate Depot - May 5, 2009
Excerpt: Media Matters for America is claiming that Fox News edited the video clip of Gore's Congressional testimony during a May 1 segment "to remove his statements that he donates the money he makes from his climate-related work to a non-profit organization." But Fox News did air the clip earlier in the program of Gore claiming that "every penny" he earns goes to his non-profit. See this video clip of The O'Reilly Factor's May 1, 2009 show introduction featuring Gore making the "every penny" statement. (Gore clip begins at 30 sec. mark) In addition, as one report on Gore's finances noted: "So what if [Gore's] giving all his money to the [non-profit] Alliance for Climate Protection. He's the chair! He gets a tax write-off for donating that money, and then directs where the money goes." See Background/Related Links section below for more details.
NYT and Reporter Revkin Issue 'Correction' - Admit 'Error' in Front Page Global Warming Article Touted By Gore! - Climate Depot - May 2, 2009
Excerpt: The New York Times has issued a "climate correction" for an "error" in its April 24, 2009 (posted online April 23) high profile front page global warming article that was touted by former Vice President Al Gore during his Congressional testimony as evidence that industry was clouding the science of climate change. [ See: Gore Mouthing-Off About Make-Believe Madoffs & NYT Corrects Article Gore Cited in Congressional Testimony] [.] As Climate Depot exclusively reported, Revkin's article came under immediate fire from scientists and others who called into question the central claims and the accuracy of the story. [.] Australian Paleoclimate researcher Dr. Robert M. "Bob" Carter was the first to dismiss the NYT's Revkin article as "strange, silly even." [.] UK's Lord Christopher Monckton was even more outraged and accused the New York Times and Revkin of "deliberate misrepresentation" in climate article and of writing a "mendacious article."
NYT reveals enviro strategies: Stop use of term global warming - It 'turns people off - fostering images of shaggy-haired liberals' - May 1, 2009
Excerpt: 'Don't confuse people with cap and trade; use terms like cap and cash back or pollution reduction refund'
UN Warns: Climate change has 'affected physical growth and educational status of many children' - May 2, 2009
Excerpt: The lives of women and children are particularly being affected by the growing problem of climate change, a United Nations official has warned. Deputy Resident Representative of the United Nations' Develop-ment Programme (UNDP), Akiko Fujii, has stressed that changes in weather patterns have affected the physical growth and educational status of many children. "Climate change can have quite a huge impact on all aspects of human development. Climate change affects the entire world, whatever you do in Jamaica can affect the world, because we are living in the same planet," Fujii told the Jamaica Information Service.

MAN CANNOT CONTROL THE HEAVENS

By Ron Ewart

No, man certainly cannot control the Heavens and he can't alter the laws of the Universe. But you would think he would be able to control his own behavior and activities, given how smart he claims to be. It would appear that, throughout history, the opposite has been and continues to be true. An obvious character flaw in the species.
In our frequent articles we have made a concerted effort to bring simplicity to all of the issues we face as American citizens and landowners. There are root causes for everything and if we understand the root causes, we might just be able to fix "it", when things go wrong. The difficulty comes in first determining all of the outside influences (government controls, market forces, education, egos, money, power brokers, etc.) that we face on a daily basis and the priorities we set to fix those issues, one at a time. The other malady we face is our own apathy. After all, why should we get involved? However, for our own survival in the pursuit of happiness and the perpetuation of liberty, the arguments for getting involved are crystal clear. But before getting involved, understanding the root causes of what ails us, is paramount.
As countries grow and population increases, as diversion of interests propagate, as divisions in agendas spread wider apart, as governments, corporations, businesses, unions, special interest groups get larger and larger, a point is reached where the foundations of our culture and the ability to control our own individual lives under that foundation, begins to breakdown. We are well past that point now and we are truly out of control, where our "fixes" don't work, where rules are meant to be broken, where more rules become necessary and enforcement of all the rules becomes much more difficult.
Remember September 12, 2001, when we all came together with a common purpose, to strike back at the enemy that would perpetrate this violent and dastardly act against innocents in New York and Washington DC. We wrote songs and poems and built momuments to the dead. We gave speeches, we got angry and for a while, we were “one” with purpose. How long did it last before we settled back into our own little factions of self-interest? Not long. Now we have anti-war protestors, we have political parties at odds with each other, scurrilously and shamelessly pandering to one faction or another, using the public treasury as the lever and unconstitutional law as the fulcrum.
How did we get here? Bigness got us here. Big government, big business, big banks, big unions and big special interest groups. Although bigness gives us concentration of power and degrades individual rights and human dignity, bigness also gives us a condition of being out of control and the very real frustration of not being able to get in control. Large entities, by their very size, lose control of processes, personnel and finances, no matter how much they tell you that they are in control. Accounting errors and financial mismanagement emerge and management of personnel becomes diluted and ineffective.
Take a look around at big cities today. They are anything but in control and in fact are a huge drain on the entire financial structure of the nation because of that lack of control. One of the reasons they are out of control is due in large part to their bigness and to the intolerable density of humans in close proximity to each other, requiring more rules and regulations directly related to that density. Unfortunately, this unbalanced, out-of-control environment produces the votes necessary to keep the insane asylum that has been the past and the current inmates in Washington DC, in power.

So what do we do if we are big? We write rules and policies until there is a rule and policy for every single potential action or inaction. Pretty soon we write rules to strengthen the rules we have already written. We write rules to comply with other rules from other “big” entities. Then if we don’t get enough compliance for the rules, we write more rules and increase penalties and enforcement. Eventually, as time goes by and as the rules increase, we turn more and more law abiding citizens into law breakers with the potential of a breaking down in civil society.

So here we are. We have big government, big bureaucracies, big business, big banks, big unions and big special interest groups lobbying for, or writing, rule, after rule, after rule. Many of those rules become new legislation and then law. Bigness, concentration of power and out-of-control entities have buried WE THE PEOPLE in frustration, confusion and the feeling of utter helplessness, that is until WE THE PEOPLE have had enough and decide to draw a line in the sand.

Our Founding Fathers were very concerned about who had control and went to great lengths to see that control could not be concentrated in too few hands, or in only one branch of government. From the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson wrote: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the 'consent' of the governed,”

But as government got “bigger”, Jefferson’s “consent of the governed” became essentially meaningless, as our representatives and senators assumed more and more power, as government got ever bigger and bigger. In response to government bigness and power, business and labor had to get bigger and more powerful, in order to have influence with big government. Then big government started handing off some of their power and authority to bureaucracies, who then got bigger and assumed more power and authority than was ever dreamed of by the Founding Fathers. Since the “consent of the governed” was powerless, due mostly to their own fragmentation and division, special interest groups began getting bigger and more powerful in order to have more influence on big government, as well. As government, bureaucracies, banks, businesses, unions and special interest groups got larger and more powerful, they began to get out-of-control with their processes, personnel and finances. They are so out of control now that we have constant nightmares of ineptness, waste, fraud, abuse and corruption, in almost every one of our institutions, that no one person or group seems to be able to bring under control.
We have state and local governments getting more powerful and larger and more out of control. State legislatures write laws, regulations, restrictions and ordinances constantly. Bureaucracies of state governments write their own laws, regulations, rules, restrictions and ordinances without end and without legislative oversight. All this legislation filters down to local governments who then write laws, regulations, rules, restrictions and ordinances to comply with state and federal laws, regulations, rules, restrictions and ordinances, in a never-ending vicious circle. In the end, the PEOPLE become impotent and disenfranchised from the political process and lose control, as the so-called "consent of the governed".
One of our greatest strengths as a country and as individual jurisdictions within that country, was keeping political power in the hands of the people in local subdivisions of government; i.e. boroughs, hamlets, cities, parishes, counties and even states. At a meeting in Skagit County, Washington where we gave a speech on land use and eminent domain issues, a county commissioner in attendance, lamented that his county had been sued 162 times by special interest groups and a state bureaucracy for not being in compliance with a state land use law. The county commissioners, in desperation and going broke fast with legal fees supporting their position, threw their hands in the air and asked the special interest groups and the state how they wanted the law written and the county would write it that way. So much for local control.
The point that we would like to make here, is that no matter how big governments, businesses, banks, unions and special interest groups get, the ultimate power and control is still inherent in WE THE PEOPLE, if the PEOPLE are of one mind and that one mind is based on a solid foundation of the fundamental principles of freedom and liberty, as in our U. S. Constitution and the constitutions of the individual states. But we are so fragmented and so diverse, becoming of one mind is problematic. Until we are of one mind, bigness, concentration of power and out-of-control entities will be our undoing, if not our virtual enslavement.
One might say ..... well how does "bigness" affect freedom, liberty, property rights, gun rights, the bill of rights, states rights, illegal immigration, the fraud that is man-caused global warming, cap and trade legislation, gun control, nationalization of businesses, bank bailouts, stimulus packages, water boarding, Gitmo, the war on terror, national health care, socialism, the United Nations, the one-world-order, cunning presidents and arrogant congresses? In just about every way possible. Ron Ewart, President

CO2 A ROTUND SUBJECT

By Ron Ewart

What do Obama, the U. S. Congress and the automobile's catalytic converter have in common? Lots of shine, expensive and do all the wrong things!
Let's go back to 1975 when the U. S. Congress, always meddling in the private affairs of industry and the people, (more now, than ever) were convinced by the inmates of the environmental cult, to "convert" the emissions from automobile exhaust to less toxic substances, for the protection of that other God, Gai'a, the God of Earth. This new meddling would require a very expensive catalytic converter. Let's see now ..... what was that one less toxic substance the catalytic converter, converted the exhaust to? That's right, you guessed it ..... carbon dioxide, CO2 in a chemist's language.
Now, today, praise be to Gai'a, CO2 is a pollutant! And why is it a pollutant? Because the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says it is. Why does the EPA say it is a pollutant? Because the inmates of the environmental cult told them to say it, because allegedly, CO2 will fly up into the stratosphere and stop heat from escaping the Earth and thus raise the temperature of the Earth by a whopping 0.7 degrees centigrade, in 150 years. Good Lord! Now that is a crisis.
Oops! Except for four little tiny things the "inmates" keep forgetting, or purposely choose to ignore. CO2 is heavier than air and thus stays close to the ground where the plants trees and sea-life suck it up by the quadrillion tons. If plants, trees and ocean creatures love it so, how can it be a pollutant? How indeed! Now CO2 represents less than 0.2% of all other greenhouse gases. Man's contribution to that CO2 is even a much smaller percentage than 0.2%. The largest greenhouse gas having the greatest affect on planet's heating or cooling, is water vapor. Water vapor represents at least 95% of all greenhouse gases. Common sense dictates that water vapor has the greatest greenhouse effect, if any, and CO2 is less than negligible. Then of course, the "inmates" completely disregard the significant effect that the great big heat-producer and nuclear furnace in the sky, has on planet Gai'a, our Sun. Finally, there is the effect of cosmic rays on the production of clouds. Less clouds, more heating. More clouds, less heating. Tell the "inmates" to add these variables in their computer models and see what they get. Gibberish! Any scientists worth his degree will tell you, you can't produce long-range accurate predictions, by computer-modelling, a non-linear dynamic system. Remember, a weather forecast is only good for about two hours. Five-day and 10-day weather forecasts are non-reliable in less than 24 hours. Check it out.

Nevertheless, in the infinite wisdom of Obama, past presidents, the ever-corrupt U. S. Congress and the inmates over there at the environmental cult agency (ECA), CO2 must now be reduced, or eliminated altogether to prevent that crisis of all crises, man-caused global warming. Obviously, this will require new rules to be promulgated by ECA to limit this poisonous, highly toxic, pollutant, that plants, trees and sea-life love. Let's see. What will those new rules cost, do you think? Probably trillions.

What then the catalytic converter that produces huge quantities of CO2? It will obviously have to be redesigned to convert engine exhaust into something less toxic than CO2. Hmmm! What would that less-toxic something be? CO1, maybe, or how about just "O". Wait a minute. You can't produce "O", when the car burns all the "O", or can you?. In the end, it is just one more unnecessary cost added to the price of a car for a non-crisis that government manufactured, for reasons that remain only known to them. No wonder American car companies are going broke.

And one more thing. Did you know that catalytic converters are lined with Platinum, or another rare-earth metal? The current spot price for platinum is around $1,100 per oz. The spot price for gold is hovering around $900 an oz. So platinum is more expensive than Gold. That begs the question, how much did the cost of the platinum or other rare-earth element, that lines the inside of a catalytic converter, add to the original price of a car? A catalytic converter that emits CO2, which has now been declared a pollutant by the inmates in the asylum, the president, congress, the environmental cult and the EPA and must be significantly reduced, or eliminated? At least hundreds of dollars per car, is the answer. Hmmm!

When government sticks "its" dirty little hands in places they don't belong, nor have the authority to be there in the first place, the unintended consequences their actions produce, rains down on our freedom and liberty parade and we the people get to pay through the nose for their stupidity ..... or is it their insanity?

The question is, how long are we the people going to let the inmates run the asylum ..... inmates that operate in direct violation of the document that gives them their very limited authority to operate?