Aung San Suu Kyi is Free!!

Aung San Suu Kyi is a political activist in Burma who has been under house arrest for the past seven years was freed yesterday by the government of Burma.  Below are several articles about the situation.  Burma has been ruled by military juntas since the sixties.  In 1997 Aung San Suu Kyi founded the National League for Democracy calling for nonviolence and civil disobedience.  Aung San Suu Kyi has been working to bring democracy to Burma and more freedom for the people.  She wishes to meet with the leaders of Burma and talk bringing more freedom to the country.

The U.N, and groups like Amnesty International have been working for many years to free Aung San Suu Kyi.  She has urged the people of Burma to work with her saying that she can't do it alone. "
"I'm not going to be able to do it alone," Suu Kyi said. "You've got to do it with me. One person alone can't do anything as important as bringing change and democracy to a country."  She does wish to work together with the government to bring change saying, "
“I’m going to work for national reconciliation. That is a very important thing,” she said, adding: “There is nobody I cannot talk to. I am prepared to talk with anyone. I have no personal grudge toward anybody.”

Hopefully her releasal signals a better day and brighter future for the people of Burma, a better day with more freedom for the people.

To check out a history of Burma go to, http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/11/03/myanmar.timeline.elections/index.html

To check out Amnesty International, a group dedicated to increase awarness of human rights violations around the world and protect human rights around the world check out their website at,
http://www.amnestyusa.org/index.html.  Search by country or issue, find out what you can do to make a difference in the world, write letters, there is a whole bunch of stuff to do, so check them out!







Sources/Articles To Read

• http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/14/aung-san-suu-kyi-burma-junta

• http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/11/14/myanmar.suu.kyi.speech/index.html?eref=rss_world&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_world+%28RSS%3A+World%29

• http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/15/world/asia/15myanmar.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

• http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/11/13/myanmar.suu.kyi/index.html

• http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/11/13/myanmar.suu.kyi.profile/index.html

Election Results-The Polls Are In

Today is about America!

Yesterday was partisan, yesterday was Republican, Democrat, Independent, Libertarian, Tea Party, whatever party.  Today is about America.  Where we are going, what we need to get done, today we are all Americans regardless of the way you voted yesterday.  There are people today who don't like the way polls turned out, I certainly don't like all of the results, but today everyone should be happy.  We live in a great country!  We get to vote, we get to choose our government and direct the way our country moves.  We have the freedom to choose who to vote for, and because we have that freedom and that awesome right and privilege, we should all be happy today.

Below are a list of places to get election results, keep checking throughout the day, some places haven't finished yet.

• http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/
• http://www.foxnews.com/politics/index.html 
•  http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2010/results/main.results/
•  http://election.townhall.com/election-2010/
•  http://results.enr.clarityelections.com/NC/22580/39373/en/select-county.html

 As predicted, the Republicans now have control of the house picking up 56 seats.  While the Senate is still controlled by the Democrats the lead has been narrowed by five seats.   Some are already calling the next session of Congress a lame duck session.  There is certainly reason to believe that a lame duck session could occur.  The ideas and what both parties want to accomplish are vastly different.  However I hope that all members of Congress and work together for the American people.  Sometimes it's easy to think of the other side as evil.  There are certain people that I don't care for when it comes to their politics, but they aren't evil and they do love this country and they are trying to do best by this country.  We may disagree on what is best for the country, or how to get there but calling names and being divided does not solve the problems our country is facing and is a slap in the face to the people who voted.  I hope that this session of Congress can work together for the greater good of the people and our country.

Of the major races here are the results.

• Nancy Pelosi won with 80% of the vote.
• Harry Reid won by a 5% lead.  
• Barbara Boxer wins with a nine point lead.

Looking back at an older post with key races outlined here are the following.  The older post is entitled Elections Are Coming!! if you are interested in what was predicted.

• Texas, Florida, Washington, Colorado, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Connecticut, West Virginia, North Carolina, Alaska, Ohio, Delaware, Louisiana, and New York.

 In Texas Rick Perry(R) beat Bill White for Governor.  23 of the 32 house seats went to the republicans.  In Florida Marco Rubio(R) won the senate seat.  Rick Scott(R) beat his democratic opponent Alex Sink by one point..  Colorado is also in a tie for the senate seat with most of the precincts reported in right now the democratic candidate Micheal Bennet is leading by one point.  Against the surprise of many President Obama's old seat went to the Republican Mark Kirk, many thought Alexi Giannoulias would win the election.  In Pennsylvania, Pat Toomey won his bid for senate seat, six years ago he lost to Arlan Specter.  Rand Paul won the senate seat by a 12% lead.  In Wisconsin, Ron Johnson beat our Russ Feingold for senate. In Connecticut, McMahon did not win against Bluementhal.  In West Virginia, the Republicans won two of the three house seats, and the Democrats won the remaining house seat and the governor.  In North Carolina, Richard Burr(YAY!) won his reelection with a twelve point lead.  Our Governor was not up for reelection and in the house the Republicans won six out of thirteen seats.  On the state level the Republicans hold the majority in the General Assembly which hasn't happened in 112 years.  In Alaska the Republicans took the only house seat and the governor, the senate seat has a 41% write in with 34% for the republican Joe Miller.  I have to say my knowledge on the write in thing is somewhat limited so I don't really know what that means for Alaska.  Ohio the Republicans took 14 of the 18 seats in the house, the Governor and the senate seat.  In Delaware the Republics did not fair so well.  Tea party backed favorite Christine O'Donnell lost the senate race and the Democrats took both house seats.  In LOusiina the Republicans took six of the seven house seats as well as the senate seat.  And finally in New York,  the Democrats took both senate seats, the governor, and took 21 of the 29 house seats.

What this means for the country?  That will come in the next post!

Election Day!!!

I am such a nerd.  It's one o'clock in the morning and I'm flipping through different websites tracking election results while most people are sleeping and waiting until the morning to find out who wins.  But I love it!  I'm so excited.

Why does California have to be three hours behind me?????????  Why??  I'm waiting for the coast to finish election results.

Nancy Pelosi won, she has 75% of the vote with John Dennis.  I guess it could change only 0.2 percent of precincts have reported.  But that's a huge lead.

Barbara Boxer and Carly Fiorina are neck in neck.  Fiorina is leading by one point with 20.2% of precincts reported.

Sharron Angle is down five points with 46% of precincts reported.  CNN is predicting that Harry Reid will beat Sharron Angle.

For election updates

• http://election.townhall.com/election-2010/
• http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2010/results/main.results/
• http://www.foxnews.com/interactive/politics/election-map-2010/#race=keyRaces&pres=false
• http://www.sba-list.org/scoreboard

Some of these races are going to come down to the wire.  The Republicans are going to pick up a majority in the House of Representatives and some say possible a majority in the Senate although that is unlikely.  But the Democratic majority in the Senate will be limited to a few seats.  Right now the Democrats lead in the Senate by two seats.  This is a historic night!  I can't wait to see what happens.

For my own state Richard Burr(R) won his senate seat again and in the House of Representatives Brad Miller won by 10% of the votes beating Bill Randall.  The North Carolina General Assembly is in Republican control although not for my district.  I'm a little bummed by this.  I really liked Jon Hardister and Jeff Hyde, hopefully they will both consider running again in 2012, they are definitely the people we need in government.

Tomorrow I will have a special post with full election results, what it means for our country, and of course my own personal opinions.  I'm going to be so tired!  But it's totally worth it!

Politics As Usual

“Sometimes I wonder if we shall ever grow up in our politics and say definite things which mean something, or whether we shall always go on using generalities to which everyone can subscribe, and which mean very little."-Eleanor Roosevelt

“Politics isn't about big money or power games; it's about the improvement of people's lives”- Paul Wellstone

As this election cycle is almost over, I've been thinking a lot about politics.  The way things are done, and how terrible it is.  I know politics are dirty and hard.  Winston Churchill said, "In war, you can only be killed once, but in politics, many times."  But I don't think it should be so bad.  I'm beginning to think that I want to go more into politics than originally planned.  Politics as usual has to stop.  I want to change politics.  The two quotes at the top represent where I am going with this post.  I want to point out a few different problem areas that I see with politics.

For starters, as the quote by Eleanor Roosevelt says, when are politicians going to start telling people stuff, anything would be nice.  Watch a political campaign commercial, or if you get the things in the mail, for the most part, what do they say?????  Nothing.  They somehow villanize their opponent, and show why you shouldn't vote for their opponent, but they don't ever say why you should vote for them.  Now I am speaking in general terms, I have received things in the mail for certain candidates that say what they believe in or support or what they want to do in office.  However for the most part, they really don't say anything.  And when the commercials that talk about the opponent, they are terrible.  I saw one recently for Bill Randall running for Congressional District 13 in North Carolina.  In the commercial it stated that Bill Randall supported tax cuts for business taking jobs overseas.  Well the average person is going to get mad at this, who wouldn't.  I mean really Bill Randall is giving money to companies that are taking jobs away from Americans!!  And most people aren't going to take time, or don't have the time to look this up.  In reality, Bill Randall supports lowering the capital gains taxes(North Carolina has the highest capital gains tax in the region) so that business will stay in North Carolina or will come to North Carolina bringing jobs.  These ads that attack the opponent do show the people why you might not want to vote for one person, but do not give reasons do vote for the person behind the ad.  Here is one I found that briefly touches on what the person behind the ad supports although not very long.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QCJdtgluBY&feature=related, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MefZZgBuv8I&feature=channel.  A example of a bad ad is this, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JkxTv4SQww.  An atheist group donated money to Kay Hagan's campaign and then she was called godless and smeared.  How is she responsible for who gives her campaign money?  I mean come on, let's be reasonable.  Why can't we have ads, that show what the opponent beliefs, without vilifying them, and then state what you believe in.  Is that really so difficult?????????  I have received in the mail flyer's for certain candidates that clearly outline what they believe in, and what they want to do if voted in.  It was so nice to receive it.  So next time you watch a political commercial, don't take what is said at face value, stop and think about it, look up what candidates stand for.  Because many people don't have time to look information up, politicians know this and so they purposely fill ads with information meant to inflame the voters against their opponent without saying anything about themselves.

As to the second quote.  A politician is a public servant, a person takes that job to serve the people, in the state or district or city or country or wherever.  That's what it should be anyway.  It seems that now we have to many politicians who are in for other reasons.  I guess for the power since it can't be the money.  So now there are politicians who are in for power, to keep said power they have to consistently be re-elected.  How do you do that, make campaign ads that don't say anything, and lie to the people to get them to re-elect you.  And again, the average person doesn't have the time to look up stuff, so politicians slip through.  It seems that more and more politicians are looking out for their own interests instead of the people they represent.  Now in general I don't think people looking out for their own interest is a bad thing, it creates competition.  But when the citizens vote for a person to serve their best interests, it's wrong for that person not to.   A politician is someone who is to serve the public, not further their own interests.

Now as to a few tangents.  On Saturday my family went out to do early voting.  And what I saw really irritated me.  There were a million yard signs, and a million people out handing out flyer's and trying to talk to people.  Do people really think that by putting out signs that people vote for politicians, is this a game of name recognition?  That is hardly fair, if so it comes down to who has the most money and can buy the most signs.  I knew walking into the polling place who I was voting for, so I wasn't about to stop and talk to anybody, besides the fact that I have serious doubts that if those people would have liked my opinion anyway.  The rule is that people can't do that within like 70 feet of something of the polling place, and there was a sign that said so.  And of course all these people where right next to the sign,  I don't think they should be allowed there at all.  When we walked up we were surrounded by people.  Voting is a personal decision, one that you can share if you want to, and I don't think people should be allowed outside to try to persuade you.  When you go to vote, you either know who you will be voting for, you are voting straight ticket, or you will make up your mind when you get in there so I understand why the people where there.  But it shouldn't be allowed or again it comes down to the campaign that can send out the most people.  On our way back out, my mom and me went another way to avoid the mass of people.  Then this lady thanked us for voting.  I wonder if she would thank me if she knew how I was going to vote.  I shouldn't be thanked for voting, it's my job.  I don't get thanked for showing up to work on time, I'm expected to be there.  The same for voting, I take voting very seriously.  As a citizen of this country voting and being informed is part of my job. 


Being a politician is a public servant job, and being a politician, one should put the interests of the people before personal gains.  We also need to have less negativity, more positive, and politicians that actually tell people what they believe in, what they supported.  People in general should never be afraid to stand by what they believe in.  We need to stop pork barrel spending and wasting taxpayer money.  We need to have less government to have more personal liberty.  We need to have politicians who speak about real issues and don't give none answer answers.  We need honesty and transparency in Washington.  And what we need the most are informed citizens and voters.  Without these changes, we can never hope for anything to change and improve. 


Think about the people you are voting for, make time to be informed and get out and vote. 


Sources

• Quotes- http://thinkexist.com/quotations/politics/2.html

A Quote to Consider

Where is the line where we lose our morals, our beliefs?  Do we stick by what is right, even in the face of certain defeat, letting those beliefs become the tools of others as a means of defeating us, always hoping that in a battle of good versus evil that good will always emerge victorious?  Or do we cast aside what we believe in that we might win on the promise of picking them back up when the fight is over, risking everything to win?

Ready, Set, Vote!!

Who's ready to vote on Tuesday??????????  I am!!!  Except I'm voting Saturday because I have to work Tuesday.  But when I get off from work on Tuesday I am going home and turning on the TV and I'm waiting up for election results to roll in.  So I'll probably be tired in class on Wednesday but I don't care!  This is my first election and I am super excited!!  I mean I this will be going on the list of my most excited moments ever list.  America is great!  And unlike many people in the world we get the opportunity to choose our government, to have a hand in the politics of this country and what our country does.  It's amazing!  It's amazing that we get that freedom, that choice.  So I hope that everyone goes out and votes, don't blow this opportunity.  Here are some tips for voting.  This is a very important election and I hope that every one goes out and votes. On Tuesday, all across this great country we will vote and this election just isn't about the people, Republican or Democrat, elections all over this country come down to something far more important.  There is an idea in political science called path dependency, basically it's the idea that history matters.  A country is on a path, and one event can forever change the path the country moves on.  And I think that right now, we are at that point in our history that our path is going to change.  It's all up to us which path we choose.

Here is one site that has FAQ's about voting and below are some tips for voting day!

http://lwvc.convio.net/site/PageServer?pagename=easyvoter_voting_faq

Also be aware that in Nevada, New York and North Carolina there have been reports of irregularities at voting places.  In Nevada when people are voting for Sharron Angle(YAY!!)  Harry Reid's(BOO!!) name keeps popping up. In North Carolina when people are voting for the Republican Party, the Democrat Party keeps coming up.  So when you go to vote, be very careful and double, or triple check your ballot before submitting it.  It's bull crap!  I'm sorry, no I'm not, that is fraud!!  Politics are dirty, I understand that, but this goes to far, this calls in to question our entire system.  Democracy is a government by the people for the people!!  That means that the citizens of this country choose who we want in office, and if we don't choose one person, they graciously step out of office.  If the people of the state or district or country don't choose you, then maybe you should reevaluate what you think.  One way  a country is considred more free than others are having free and fair elections, but this doesn't sound free or fair to me.  In Chicago people are getting abseentee ballots in the mail with the wrong address, which means that peoples votes are being throw away.  Oh my Gosh!!!!!  I can't not say how much this pisses me off!!  People choose and if they don't choose you, maybe you need to reevaluate what you believe in but you don't do something so low down and wrong as to take away people's rights to vote!!!!!  IT IS WRONG!!!!  People choose, not people choose and we can get rid of a bunch of votes so we end up winning anyway.  When that happens then people are not represented they way they should be.  I know that politics are dirty, and negative campaign ads and all sorts of other tricks are used to sway people into voting a certain way, and for the record I don't really like those either.  But at least people still get the right to vote for who they think is best, even if that decision has been biased.  So be careful when you vote to make sure you are voting for the people you want.

Think Before You Vote

EXACTLY AS IT IS!




HEAVEN AND HELL



While walking down the street one day a Corrupt Senator was tragically hit by a car and died.



His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance.



"Welcome to heaven," says St. Peter. "Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we're not sure what to do with you."



"No problem, just let me in," says the Senator.



"Well, I'd like to, but I have orders from the higher ups. What we'll do is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity."



"Really?, I've made up my mind. I want to be in heaven," says the Senator.



"I'm sorry, but we have our rules."



And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell.



The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him.



Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people.

They played a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster, caviar and the finest champagne.



Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly guy who is having a good time dancing and telling jokes.



They are all having such a good time that before the Senator realizes it, it is time to go.



Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises.



The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens in heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him, "Now it's time to visit heaven...⤝



So, 24 hours passed with the Senator joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns.



"Well, then, you've spent a day in hell and another in heaven. Now choose your eternity."



The Senator reflects for a minute, then he answers: "Well, I would never have said it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be better off in hell."



So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell...



Now the doors of the elevator open and he's in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage. He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags as more trash falls from above



The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulders.



"I don't understand," stammers the Senator. "Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now there's just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable. What happened?"



The devil smiles at him and says,



"Yesterday we were campaigning, Today, you voted.."



Vote wisely on November 2, 2010

Dispute Over U.N. Report Evokes Rwandan Déjà Vu

This is an article I found, and deviates from what I usually talk about, but this article has irritated me!!  I have to talk about it! 

What is wrong with people?????????????  Perhaps I look at things in life to simply,but in life some things are right and some things are wrong.  And you shouldn't do something wrong just because you might have a valid reason.  It's WRONG!!!!!  The UN has a memo about the atrocitites commited in Rwanda and Congo.  And they won't publish it, because pressure from Washington and Rwanda.  The president of Rwanda, Paul Kagame doesn't want it published because while he may not have killed any of these people, he was in the group of people who did, and many people think that he had to know.  America doesn't want it published because it could cause tensions between the people in Rwanda.  Well by that logic, we should act like the Holocaust in Germany didn't happen because we don't want to cause tensions between Jews and Germans.  I mean really!!!!!  Does this make any sense?  It was perverse world do people live in where they think they can change what has happened?  Publish the report or not, we all know that thousands of people were killed, and I'm pretty sure the two groups in Rwanda know that.  What is this?  Sounds like 1984 to me where we can control what people think or believe just by realasing certain information. 

"The dispute immediately raised some pointed questions. Would the United Nations stand its ground, or would it suppress or alter a report about the past for the sake of the present?"   Well it looks like the United Nations is going to suppress the report, they failed the people of Rwanda, and then the people of the Congo, and now it looks like they are going to fail all those that lost their lifes in this tragedy.  Not really making me like the UN any better, and my opinion of them is pretty low.

I mean really?????!!!!!!!  What is wrong with people?  You cannot sacrifice what is right and true, for the sake of keeping people happy, or any other reason!!!  It's WRONG!! 




Sources
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/01/world/africa/01rwanda.html?pagewanted=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

Republican Pledge to America

Last week the Republicans issued a "Pledge to America."  This pledge is their new governing agenda.  I have provided the link for the document at the bottom of this post under my sources.  I am registered with no party affiliation because I agree with George Washington, who in his farewell address warned against political parties.  However I am conservative.  The Republican Party has irritated me in recent years, by being far to moderate, i.e. John McCain.  However after reading the "Pledge to America," if they will really stick to these principles that they have laid out, I think I'm going to start liking the Republican Party more.

The main points of said pledge are as follows,

• Creating jobs
• Cutting spending
• Reforming Congress
• Repealing and Replacing the job-killing health care law
• a strong national defense

Creating jobs is a must, the current unemployment rate sits at 9.6 percent.  Yes, I do know that President Obama and others in Congress have tried to help, but as usual when government tries to do something, they get the opposite of what they want, and the people who pay for this are the people.  August 2008, unemployment sat right at six percent.  Under the last two years of this administration, unemployment has risen 3.6 percent, and the deficit has risen four trillion dollars.

While I was already inclined to believe that the president's policies would not work, they have proven themselves not to work.  Do his ideas even make sense in and world?  In debt, and someone is going to spend there way out of debt??????  That doesn't even sound logical.  To create jobs, we have to do the hard thing that one one wants to do, I don't want to do it, I wish I could wake up in the morning and yay!  the economy is better.  Sorry, we have to be realistic.  We, the people, the government, we have to leave the economy alone.  It's called laissez faire.  The government leaves the market, the economy alone.  The problem with this solution is that the average American is impatient, so am I.  Adn we want the economy to be better tomorrow and it isn't so many Americans so and complain to the government, who are trying to get reelected so they turn around and pass a bill to "fix" the economy that only makes it worse, so people keep yelling, politicians keep passing bills.  It's one vicious circle.  What needs to happen, the politicians leave the economy alone, the people tough it out, which won't be easy, we are up for a rough and bumpy ride, and in time the economy will improve.  The ways to speed this along is less government intervention and lower taxes.  Then will the economy improve, and people will invest, and make bussiness and create jobs, and people have more money, so the government has more money, so there are less people living off the government, so the government doesn't need as much money, so that money can be used to paying off our debt or can be given back to the people who will spend it, then business make money, invest, create jobs and there are more people with more money and the cycle keeps going.  What a great cycle.

Cutting spending, well I touched on that a little.  But a few more points.  While it would be nice for the government to be able to give us all healthcare and other things, right now isn't the time to do so.  When we have no debt, or a very diminshed debt, then is the time to have the discussions about the government giving things away free, then is the time to discuss right and wrong, to big government and all the other issues that go into those arguments.   But until then, I don't even want to discuss those, we simply cannot afford any more social programs, we can't even afford the ones we have already. 

Reforming Congress.  If we could talk to the Founding Fathers, we would learn how very skeptical of government they were.  And you can't really blame them, there so called democracy was taxing them with no representation, they had no voice and less freedom, if that's the government you live under, why would you trust government?  You wouldn't which is why when the Constitution was being written, the Founding Fathers wrote the government in such a way that limited what they could do so the people's freedoms wouldn't suffer. My favorite movie of all time in 1776.  And in this movie, there are a couple lines that John Adams says about the Congress that I can undestand.  The first, " A second flood, a simple famine, plagues of locusts everywhere, or a cataclysmic earthquake, I'd accept with some despair. But no, You sent us Congress! Good God, Sir, was that fair?"  And the second, "I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is called a disgrace; that two are called a law firm, and that three or more become a Congress! And by God, I have had this Congress! For ten years, King George and his Parliament have gulled, cullied, and diddled these colonies with their illegal taxes! Stamp Acts, Townshend Acts, Sugar Acts, Tea Acts! And when we dared stand up like men, they have stopped our trade, seized our ships, blockaded our ports, burned our towns, and spilled our BLOOD! And still, this Congress refuses to grant ANY of my proposals on independence, even so much as the courtesty of open debate! Good God, what in hell are you waiting for?"  Do our representatives listen to us?  Do they read legislation?  Do they even know what they are voting for?  Who knows.  But right there is the issue.  We don't know, and we should.  Ideas to reform Congress include a "read the bill" reform, allowing more open and fair debate, and requiring that every bill contain a citation of  Constitutional authority.  Maybe we could get some real transparency in Congress.

Repealing health care seems rather straight forward.  Neither can we afford it, or is it constitutional.   After repealing health care, the government would focus on how to reform health care that would lower costs and protect American jobs.

We have been in the Middle East for 10 years now, we still have troops in Germany, Japan, parts of Asia, all over the world, and concering the Middle East, little has been accomplished.  A strong national defense would create a coherent strategy to deal with and defeat terroism.  This would include clean troop funding bills, keeping terrorists of American soil and fully funding missile defense.

















Sources

• http://johnboehner.house.gov/News/DocumentPrint.aspx?DocumentID=208421
• http://pledge.gop.gov/
• http://www.gop.gov/resources/library/documents/solutions/a-pledge-to-america.pdf
• http://cedarcomm.com/~stevelm1/usdebt.htm
• http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf- Unemployment rate
• http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068156/quotes

Jobs Americans Won't Do

We all have heard this line; the illegal immigrants are a problem because they do the jobs American’s won’t do. Perhaps that is true, but again, this would be the consequence of the government’s action. As I have said before, when the federal government tries to do something, in some perverse way, the results are the opposite of what they want. And welfare and all these programs the government has created have created a welfare state. NO, let the record show I don’t advocate removing all of these programs, we do need some of them, to a certain point. However, we have created a welfare state, with a mass of people dependent upon the government to survive, instead of depending on crazy ideas like hard work, family and perseverance. I think that American’s would do these jobs, if they had to. However it is far easier to life off the government’s dime, albeit not the greatest life. Why? Are we as a people afraid to try? Afraid to work our asses off? If I had no other choice I would pick tobacco. I am extremely lucky; I have a job at McDonalds. (Not that I like it that much, but it’s a job) I think what our country is missing, are the Rockefellers, the Fords, and the Carnegies. The people who were greedy and hard working and consequently, filthy stinking rich. I think people are afraid, if they realize it or not; afraid to have to work hard, and not get much, for that chance to work their way up. So my solution is simple. Stop the welfare, no not stop all of it tomorrow, over the next 10 years slowly reduce the amount. Ween people off of it. That and get rid of illegal immigrants, and build a wall on the border. And what would happen????? Unemployment would go down, because more Americans would be working, more people would be paying into the system and then the government could take some of the money currently being spent on welfare and spend the money in other areas, such as…… I don’t know…..PAYING OF THE 13 TRILLION DOLLARS WE HAVE IN DEBT!!! Yes this presents a simplified version. But I think it is an idea that would work. It worked during the great depression. I think anyone presented with the choice of starve or pick vegetable would obviously choose the second option. And while these jobs are currently being paid below minimum wage, the wages would have to go up once the cheap labour that can be found in illegal immigrants has left the country. I mean really if you think about it, someone was doing those jobs before the Hispanics. Who??? Americans!

Elections Are Coming!!

Elections are getting closer, and right now is the time to start deciding who to vote for. 

Don't know who is running?????  Check out Project Vote Smart at http://www.vote-smart.org/ where you can enter your zip code and find information about who is running in your district.  You can search with your zip code or by entering in a last name.  The website has information about elected officials, bios, party affiliations.


For those who are interested in different election hot spots around the country there are some very interesting races to keep a watch on.  Key races to watch are in Texas, Florida, Washington, Colorado, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Connecticut, West Virginia, North Carolina, Alaska, Ohio, Delaware, Louisiana, and New  York.

• Nevada

                   Harry Reid is up for reelection, and many would like to see Senator Reid voted out of office, including yours truely.  Sharron Angle is campaigning against Harry Reid.  According to Real Clear Politics, this race is very, very close.  Check out their polls,  http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2010/senate/nv/nevada_senate_angle_vs_reid-1517.html Defenitly a race to watch.

• Florida

               In Florida there is a three-way contest between Republican Marco Rubio, independent Charlie Crist, and democrat Kendrick Meek.  Polls show Rubio and Crist is a close race.  This is a good race to watch, in one of the countries most important swing states.  Some think that if the GOP can hold this seat then they won't loss any current seats in the Senate.

• Washington

               Patty Murry, fourth ranking Democratic leader is facing a challenge from Dino Rossi who defeated a tea party opponent in the primary, if Rossi can unite the republican party, he has a good chance of winning.

• California

                In California, Barbara Boxer and Nancy Pelosi are both up for reelection.  Barbara Boxer is running against Carly Fiorina and Nancy Pelosi is running against John Dennis.  Both are conservative voices that we desperatly need in Washington.  Links for campaigns are at the bottom of my post under sources.  Again Real Clear Politics are showing very close races.  Check out Boxer vs. Fiorina at, http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2010/senate/ca/california_senate_boxer_vs_fiorina-1094.html and Pelosi vs. Dennis at

• Colorado

              Democratic incumbent Michael Bennent won in the primary and is now facing a tea party republican who upset the establisment favorite in the primaries.  In the governor's race there is a huge democratic advantage, good for Bennent, but colorado has elected conservatives before.

• Illinois

               Barack Obama's old senate seat is up for reelection.  And it comes down to democrat Alexi Giannoulias who's family knows all about corrupt Illinois politics with a family bank that has customers who are mobsters and republican Mark Kirk.  Alexi Giannoulias has the lead but with many predicting a huge important year in voting this election is to close to call.

• Pennsylvania

               Six years ago Pat Toomey lost to Arlen Specter, and for a hard right conservative in a centrist leaning state, in a normal year he wouldn't have a chance, lucky for him, and the state of Pennsylvainia that this isn't a normal year.

• Kentucky

            Rand Paul a tea party member and libertarian upset the GOP establishment by beating the republican Mitch McConnell.  Now he is facing Jack Conway.  Polls are everywhere, two polls show a close race, the other shows Paul leading.  Conway's only hope is to paint Paul as an extremist.

• Wisconsin

                 Ron Johnson is a small business owner who says he knows how to create jobs.  That's very important to a lot of people.  Running against Johnson is Senator Russ Feingold.  A democrat that has teamed up with McCain in the past.(That makes McCain look a little suspect, but that's probally why my daddy calls McCain a RINO or a republican in name only.)  Johnson is portraying Feingold as the typical big-spending job-killing liberal(which he is).  Feingold has heard this many times before and survived but polls are showing Feingold behind Johnson.

•  Connecticut

                   Republican Linda McMahon is running against Attorney General Dick Blumenthal.  McMahon spent twenty million of her own money to win the primary and is still trailing Blementhal  She hopes to close the gap by going after Blumenthal's credibility.

•  West Virginia
•  North Carolina
•  Alaska
•  Ohio
•  Delaware
•  Louisiana
•  New York

These are other races that will play an important part in the upcoming election.  If democratic seats in West Virginia or New York are in deep jeopardy, a republican majority could be the possible outcome.  If Delaware, North Carolina or Lousiana come in, a huge republican landslide might not happen.  All of these races are showing a possible change in politics in America and what Americans want.  According to Real Clear Politics they are showing that the democrats stand to lose nine seats in Senate, and the republicans gaining five, four are toss ups.  In the House they are predicting the republicans gaining a majority of 206 seats to the democrats 191.  With 38 seats being toss up. 

My predictions??  I think we are going to see a huge surge in republican votes.  I predict more conservaties being elected, which is already happening last week in many primaries the tea party backed canidates won republican primairies.  I think that Americans in general don't like where this country is going and a lot of being are mad.  I've never watched an election this closely before in my life, and I can't wait to see what happens in the five,six weeks.






Sources

http://blog.timesunion.com/nypotomac/the-ten-most-important-senate-races-of-2010/3714/

Carly Fiorina- http://www.carlyforca.com/

John Dennis- http://www.johndennis2010.com/

Real Clear Politics- http://www.realclearpolitics.com/?state=nwa

Happy Constitution Day!!!!!

Today is the 223th aniversary of when our Constitution was ratified.

Here is a little quiz to see how well you know the Constitution.  I will add the answers in a few days.



1.Has the Constitution always guided our country?


2. What are the three branches of government named in the Constitution?

3. Does the Constitution allow the Supreme Court to make law?

4. Does the Constitution empower the President to make law?

5. Does the Constitution give the Federal government any power in the field of education?

6. Where in the Constitution is there authorization to dispense foreign aid?

7. Did the Constitution give the Federal government power to create a bank?

8. Can the provisions of a treaty supersede the Constitution?

9. Does the Constitution allow a President to take the nation into war?

10. Can you name any of the four crimes mentioned in the Constitution?

11. Should the Bill of Rights be considered part of the original Constitution?

12. According to the Constitution, how can a President and other national officers be removed from office?

13. How many amendments have been added to the Constitution?

14. How is an amendment added to the Constitution?

15. Does the Constitution say anything about illegal immigration?

16. Is the term of a President limited by the Constitution?

17. Which part of the Federal government holds “the power of the purse”?

18. Does the Constitution provide a method for expelling a member of Congress?

19. How many times is the word “democracy” mentioned in the Constitution?

20. Does the Bill of Rights grant the people free speech, freedom of the press, the right to possess a weapon, etc?




Sources

http://www.personalliberty.com/conservative-politics/liberty/do-you-really-know-the-constitution/?eiid=&rmid=2010_09_17_PLA&rrid=307035622

Special Operations Warrior Foundation

Here is an email I recieved from the SOWF, the Special Operations Warrior Foundation.  This is a great organization, that is doing great work for the children of those that have served and given their lives for our country.  I believe in the work that SOWF is doing and I think it is important to support those who serve our country.  Take time to read thier message, and remember them.  This is a great organization.




On behalf of the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, I wish to extend my sincere thank you for your support of the foundation and the Restoring Honor Rally being held 8/28. No matter how many times we say it, we cannot thank you enough.



America's military Special Operations forces are bearing the brunt of the war. Although they go into harm's way voluntarily, the least we can do as caring Americans is to always remember their sacrifices and the families they leave behind.



Higher casualties are increasing the need for our family assistance programs. We now support 127 surviving children with full college scholarships -- tuition, books, fees, room, board and expenses -- and there are another 500 children who have not yet entered college.



In the past three years, we provided over $1 million in support to our wounded warriors. What better way is there to support our troops?



Below is a portion of a letter from one of our families that we'd like to share with you..





How the Special Operations Warrior Foundation Has Helped Our Family



My fiance' Sheri, has a 25 year old son, Fletcher, whose father was killed during a training exercise while aboard a U.S. Army helicopter. Fletcher was only 8 years old when he lost his father, MSgt. Harvey Moore, an accomplished Army Ranger, a Ranger's Ranger if you will. Fletcher's story is not unlike the many children of special warriors that the SOWF has paid to educate over the years. Their work is a gift from God to so many.





Where this story takes a turn is the persistence and dedication of the people at the SOWF. Fletcher's first attempt at college did not go as hoped. He made the same sort of mistakes that we all make when we are young. Hopefully we learn and move forward. Fletcher did just that. Had the SOWF not given him a chance to improve his college performance, all of the assistance may have well been cut off. But no, they made him a deal. Get back on track at a local community college and we will continue to support you. He held up his end of the deal, and so did the SOWF.





This past Spring, Fletch graduated from Armstrong Atlantic University in Savannah with a bachelor of science degree in Biology. Next month, Fletch starts his first year of medical school. Because of the prayers of his mother, the commitment of the SOWF, and most importantly the commitment of Fletcher himself to turn it all around, we have yet another reason to celebrate all that is GOOD about America.



We Need Your Help

With your help, the memory of the sacrifices of special operations warriors will live on, their children will be educated, and the families of the severely wounded will be with them as they recuperate.



Make a donation today



Your donation is tax deductible in accordance with IRS rules and regulations.



For information about the rally, please be sure to check our Glenn Beck's page for the latest information, including bus transportation, parking, what not to bring, etc.



Thank you very much for your help and I look forward to seeing many of you at the rally.



Sincerely,





John T. Carney Jr.

Colonel, USAF (Ret)

President/CEO



www.specialops.org

New Pages!

Exciting  news!!!  Beside my main page and my page for books to read, I'm in the proccess of starting three more pages on my blog.  Including a page for quotes by famous people, or not so famous people but good quotes none the less.  And the second page will be titled, "Stimulus Money A.K.A. How The Federal Government Wasted Your Money."  I think that is the title I want, the title might change, but the page will still be focusing on taxpaper money wasted in stimulus plans.  The last one will be full of political cartoons.

Brought to you courtesy of the U.S. Government!

While in D.C. I saw something that I just couldn't believe. In Washington D.C. there is now a tax on plastic bags, to cut down the use of plastic bags in order to be more environmentally friendly.  While I have no problem taking care of the environment, I think it is important to take care of the environment, but I don't think it is the governments job to make us take care of the environment.  And while the tax is only five cents per plastic bag, the principle is still wrong.  It is not the governments job to make the citizens do something, even something that might be important.  It's called individual freedom, freedom of choice.  Another problem with this is that this law seems insignificant, harmless even.  But that's the way it works, if someone decided to take over our freedoms all at once, well no one would stand for it, but when they take them away one at a time, slowly whittling away at our rights, they can slip these laws through, right under our noses.  The solution to this problem, well all those in Washington D.C. need to get in contact with their representatives and tell them to remove this law from existence.  The rest of us, we just need to be aware of what is going on, so that we can stop further attempts to take away our liberties, so that we can be aware that the federal government is expanding into other areas that aren't theirs.  Yes a five cents tax on plastic bags is not that big of a deal, but it is followed by the government interfering with our lives more and more. 

For the record, I paid the stupid five cents for the bag, I refuse to be a pawn in the governments game.  HAHA!  LOL

8/28 Restoring Honor Rally

Amazing!!!!  There is no other word for this weekend.  I don't know what to say about it, you had to be there.  But I'll try I'm working on a blog post now that I will post as soon as I finish.  It was amazing and a honor and pleasure to be there. 

Walked around until 2 am and now I'm heading back to the Lincoln memorial to camp out :)

I'm here I'm here I'm here I'm here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

**My futures so bright I gotta wear shades**

Half and hour to the capital!

**My futures so bright I gotta wear shades**

Just based the exit for Quantico, Thanks to all those who serve our country!!

**My futures so bright I gotta wear shades**

Just passed through Richmond!!

I just saw the first sign for Washington!! In 128 miles!

(2/2) begin to describe my excitement! I'll let you know all about it when I get back!

(1/2) On my way to Washington D.C. For the 8/28 Rally! It's my first time to visit the capital of this great country and my first political rally! I can't

Illegal Immigration

"Amnesty is a big billboard, a flashing billboard, to the rest of the world that we don't really mean our immigration law. "-Richard Lamm


Amnesty according to Merriam-Webster is, "the act of an authority (as a government) by which pardon is granted to a large group of individuals."  So when it comes to amnesty and illegal immigration, that means we pardon all the illegal immigrants and allow to stay in our country.  Which on some level sounds very nice.  "Aww, you broke the law, oh well you can stay anyway." 

So in this post, I'll be talking about illegal immigration, and why it's bad, why amnesty is bad and why we need to build a fence.


In this country we have laws.  And we follow them, most of us, and those that don't follow the laws have to deal with the consequences of their actions, welcome to jail!  When we ignore the laws of our land and let people go on like nothing ever happened, then our system is a sham.  As the quote says when we don't follow our own laws, that shows the world they don't really matter.  When people say they have certain values or believes, but when times get hard and they leave desert these values, then those people never really held those values to begin with.  Same applies to laws, if we don't follow them when it's hard we never really had that law.  When we give ammnesty we tell the world, come to America we won't kick you out, we will let you stay.  Now for the record, I don't have a problem with immigrants, many of my friends are.  I admire them, they make me feel bad sometimes, and inspire me because they have moved here from many different places and from places they are not as good as America.  And they know what they want and work their butts off to achieve it.  They work harder than many people.  I have a problem with illegal immigrants.  People who break our laws to gain access to this country.  According to Homeland Security the number of illegal immigrants are at 10.8 million for 2009.  Most of these coming from South and Central America, and many from Mexico.  Some bringing in the problems with the drug cartels. 


Now some people claim that having all these illegal immigrants aren't taxing the system.  Now I have to argue.  These people aren't citizens, which makes it hard to find a job, and the ones they find are low paying jobs.  But they are sending their children to schools, and to emergency rooms and using various resources that are supposed to be for American citizens, and because they are 10.8 million people using these resources, I have a very hard time believing they aren't a burden on our system.  However if these extra people aren't a burden on the system, then why is Mexico bracing for the return of these people?  They don't have the money to support these people either, which means money is needed to support these people.  When you have 10.8 million people who are willing to work for cheaper prices, they take jobs that American citizens could have, and with a current unemployment rate of 9.6 according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics we need all the jobs we can get.

Now how to we fix this problem?  Very simple.  We build a wall, not just a fence, a wall.  Think Berlin.  I mean it a big, thick wall, with barbed wire on the top.  When someone is found coming in this country illegally, put them in a helicopter, with a parachute and someone who speaks Spanish to tell them how to use it.  Fly over Mexico and drop them into Mexico with a parachute.  Yes, this will take lots of money but now is the perfect time.  One of they main reasons that these people are coming into America is for a better way of life.  Well right now we are struggling with that.  There aren't a lot of jobs for them to take.  Some are starting to go back.  Right now will our economy is not doing so good, we need to build the wall so when we are doing better we can stop the flow of people trying to come in.  And no ammesty.  When we find illegal immigrants in this country, we kick them out. 

Finally just something to think about.  When people in America and around the world want to talk trash about how we are so mean to not let these people in our country, we are certainly nicer than other countries.  Former president Jimmy Carter just went to North Korea to aid in the release of an American citizen who was sentenced to eight years of hard labor and a fine of 700,000 dollars for entering the country illegally.  Most countries around the world don't joke around with immigration and neither should we.



We need to crack down on illegal immigration, this is a problem we can no longer afford to ignore.  If we don't deal with this now, it's going to get to a point where we won't be able to deal with it later.  So tell you representatives to vote against ammnesty and for building a fence to protect our border and help secure our country.






Sources

New Article-http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/28/world/asia/28korea.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Quote-http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/immigration.html

Homeland Security Report- http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/ois_ill_pe_2009.pdf?tag=contentMain;contentBody

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics-http://www.google.com/publicdata?ds=usunemployment&met=unemployment_rate&tdim=true&dl=en&hl=en&q=unemployment+rate

Venezuela and Socilism, and People want this because??????????

I'm taking Comparative Politics this semester in school and my  professor has links on the class's Moodle site for a few different new sources.  On my break I go and check to see what's going on in the world.  And today we are going to talk about Venezuela.  The article was titled, "Venezuela, More Deadly Than Iraq, Wonders Why."    I have the link at the bottom for you to see the article itself. 

Well it turns out Venezuela is violent, like crazy violent.  In 2009 the number of civilian deaths were above 16,000.  But people live with this, however when a newspaper published an article with a picture of murder victims on the front page, the government didn't like that to much.  They told the newspaper to stop publishing pictures of violence.  To quote Teodoro Petkoff an editor from a different newspaper, "Forget the hundreds of children who die from stray bullets, or the kids who go through the horror of seeing their parents or older siblings killed before their eyes.  Their problem is the photograph.”  I'm glad for the citizens of Venezuela that their government has their priorities straight.  Venezuela is currently under a decade long surge in homicides since the election of Hugo Chavez.  Of course crime problems do not appear over night, but the number of homicides this last year are three times higher than before Hugo Chavez stepped into office.


Socialism is supposed to be great, it's on the road to communism, it's for the people, everyone is equal and everyone is happy, right?  Well not in Venezuela.  But let's look into why the crime rate is so high.


While other countries economies around Venezuela are growing, the economy of Venezuela is shrinking, and the gap between rich and poor is growing, despite spending on anti-poverty programs.  Wait, you mean the government can't help people be less poor????????  I know shocking, to some people.  I'm here to tell you people that the government can't fix the people's problems.  That's not what they are here for.  All that spending and it isn't doing any good, I wish my government would realize this and stop spending.

Another reason for the high crime rate is that the salaries of police officers are low, and with the highest inflation in the hemisphere, more than 30 percent, police officers are turning to kidnapping and other means to supplement their income.  Ohhhh wait, you mean lots of government spending and higher taxes, generally both found in more left leaning governments leads to inflation, which everyone thinks is bad?  Talk about corruption, like in Batman Begins, you know you have problems when the police are crooked. 

Other people put blame for the high crime rate more on the government.  Apparently the judicial system of Venezuela is becoming more political which means that the judges lose their interdependency and are aligning themselves more with the political movement of Hugo Chavez.  A lot of state employees are being forced to leave their jobs, and in some cases the country.  Henrique Capriles, the governor of Miranda, a state that encompases parts of Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, says the Hugo Chavez has made the homicide rate worse by cutting money for state and city governments led by political opponents and by taking about thousands of guns from their police forces after losing elections.  Great this just gets more and more corrupt. 

Now they are trying, Venezuela is getting help from Cuba and Nicaragua, two countries that have maintained the lowest murder rates in Latin America.

However the issue of the picture in the paper are sparking into discussions of the governments efforts to have more control over new sources they are not in charge off.  What ever happened to freedom of the press??????  Government officials are also threatening an inquiry into "Rotten Town,"  a music video by a Venezuelan reggae singer which shows a young child killed by a stray bullet.  "We elected him to crack down on the problems we face,” he said. “But there’s no control of criminals on the street, no control of anything.” From Hector Olivares a citizen of Venezuela, who has lost two sons.

So overall, Hugo Chavez, and socialism has know control of the press, a higher crime rate, corruption, inflation, a huge gap between rich and poor despite spending on anti-poverty programs, limited freedom of speech, I mean wow I now understand why people want socialism, is sounds great to me.  I pray for the people of Venezuela, I really do, that God will keep them safe, and that their government can solve this problem of all these murders, and that their new efforts to combat this problem will work.









Sources

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/world/americas/23venez.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

Czar Part 1- John Holdren

For the first czar let's look at John Holdren. John Holdren is the advisor to the President for science and technology, he is the Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and he is the Co-Chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. So just why should people be uncomfortable with John Holdren being an advisor to the president? Well many of his ideas are weird, and scary and wrong. In his book Ecoscience written with Paul R. Ehrlich, Anne H. Ehrlich, and W.H. Freeman discusses some ideas that most people would never think about. Some of these ideas are

•  That women could and should be forced to have abortions, if they want to or not.
• He advocates putting drugs in the water that will make people unable to have children.
•  Single mothers and teen mothers should have their babies taken from them against their will and given to other couples to raise.
• Creation of a transnational "Planetary Regime" that would assume control of the global economy and dictate the details of Americans' lives and would have an armed international police force to to enforce this.  If you click on the second source the page has pictures of sections of the book in question. 
• John Holdren advocates for a de-development of the United States and other Western countries in order to conserve energy and facilitate growth in underdeveloped countries

In 1984 John Holdren worked for the editorial board of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.  This publications personnel were accused of giving information to the Soviet Union that helped them create their first atomic bomb.  A man who opposed the Reagan Administration because their military build up would anger the Russians, a man who is an anti-nuclear activist but worked for the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.

John Holdren is a man with not just weird, strange, and wrong ideas about what to do about population but is extremely against the free market, capitalistic economy we have in this country, the system that made this country what it is.  Whatever happened to the ideas of personal freedom and choice that for so many years have been one of the great things about this country?  And now there are people, people who advise the president that don't just think we need to have population control but in such ways as putting drugs in the drinking water.  Maybe population control is needed, but not is such a sneaky and underhanded way.









Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Holdren
http://zombietime.com/john_holdren/

http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=2368

Big Government = :(

This was the signature on my cell phone text messages.  And after seeing it hundreds of times, hundreds of text messages I decided to write a blog post about it.  A friend asked me what this message meant and to give you a simple answer this is what I sent back, however I will go into more detail about why big government equals a sad face.  "It means that when we have bigger government that life is sadder, big government is what we have now with lots of programs and generally higher taxes and consequently less freedom, that when we have a small government that doesn't interfere with our lives we have more freedom in our lives and more happiness and some people suffer and that's sad for them but people have control over their life and its their choice."  This blog post will be broken up into three parts: part one will be different definitions of big and small government, part two will be why limited or small government is a good thing, and big government is a bad thing, and the third part will be different quotes from different people about big and small government.

Part One

According to Wikipedia, a small government is, "A Small government is one which minimizes its own activities. In its "perfect" form, minarchism, the state confines itself to foreign policy, defense and law while leaving other activities to local government, companies and individuals."

Wikipedia defines big government as, "Big government (sometimes capitalized as Big Government) is a term  used to describe a government which is considered to be excessively large, corrupt and inefficient, or inappropriately involved in certain areas of public policy. In this latter sense, the term may also be used by political liberals in relation to government policies which attempt to regulate matters considered to be private or personal, such as private sexual behavior."



Limited government is a government where any more than minimal governmental intervention in personal liberties and the economy is not usually allowed by law, usually in a written Constitution. It is closely related to free market libertarianism and some tendencies of classical liberalism and conservatism in the United States. The theory of limited government contrasts with the idea that government should intervene to promote equality and opportunity through regulation of property and wealth redistribution.(Wikipedia)



This goes along with the idea of laissez-faire which is "a doctrine opposing governmental interference in economic affairs beyond the minimum necessary for the maintenance of peace and property rights, a philosophy or practice characterized by a usually deliberate abstention from direction or interference especially with individual freedom of choice and action."(Merriam-Webster Dictionary)  This word comes from the french laissez faire, which means let the people do as they choose.


Part Two

Government is not a bad thing, we need our government, however we need them in their place, which isn't our lives.  This is the inherent danger of having a bigger government.  Passing a law that bans smoking from restaurants and such doesn't sound so bad.  Same goes for a ban on selling junk food in schools.  It sounds so nice, it's good, it's for the people, it's for the students.  But what often times people don't think about is that these harmless laws are quite harmful.  They slowly chip away at our freedoms.  Don't we as individuals have the right to choose if we want to go in a restaurant or business that has smoking going on?  I as an individual know that if I go in a bar people will be smoking in there, I choose to put myself at risk for secondhand smoke.  Don't high school students have the choice to decide if they want to eat junk food from vending machines?  Or maybe we are all just to stupid to make these decisions.  Well I don't think that we are, and yes there are some people out there that can't make good decisions, however they still have the freedom to make a stupid decision.  Some people are attracted to Big Government because you know like England, they have higher taxes but they have multiple programs and give out so much money.  Maybe I'm alone in this opinion, but I would rather have my own money and decide what to do with it.  Many of these people use these emotional rallying cries.  Example with the health care reform well think of all the people suffering without health care, because those mean, evil insurance companies wouldn't give them insurance.  Or under the Bush Administration, with the health care bill to cover more children, think of the children!!  I remember when I said I didn't support it more than one person accused me of not liking children.  But at the end of the day we give up certain freedoms for all the laws that government wants to pass.  And when Big Government gets involved in the economy, we all just need to run for cover.  Every time the government tries to help the economy, well they get the opposite result, when the government tries to help anybody, or anything they get the opposite result from what the want.  I'll make an equation for you.

:) = people + hard work + love + God

When you substitute government for anyone  you, the equation derails.

:( = people + government + love + God

:( = people + hard work + government + God

:( = people + hard work + love + government

Think about it, they want to help education, they ruined it.  They want to help the economy, nothing so far has happened.  Well I take that back the unemployment rate  went down 0.1% which makes the president and vice-president happy.  They try to make health care better, just wait.  I remember an episode of a cartoon I used to watch where this kids mom wanted to have a pretty garden but she couldn't and so Timmy wished that his mom could grow stuff in a garden and his fairy godparents made his wish come true.  But in this episode before the wish, you see the mom standing in her yard she picks up a flower and immediately it dies and she starts to cry and says, "everything I touch dies!!"  I equate the government to this when they try to fix something, or make it better.  Everything they touch blows up in their faces, and do you know who are the real losers in that?  Us.  Can we all stop being the losers in the politicians game of who can fix what?  Can we all tell them to stop???  Maybe I'm the only one, maybe I'm crazy, maybe I'm all alone in my opinions, but I don't think that's the way it is.  I don't want or need the government.  When was the government here to give people what they want or need?  The government is here to protect us(hence the police, EMS, fire department, not health care), make treaties, deal with other countries, that kind of stuff.  Not to make programs to help people get a home, to get money for college, to tell us what is bad for us to eat, to give us free health care.  It's called hard work.  And just like it says, sometimes, a lot of times it's hard.  I have a scholarship that pays for tuition, but I have to buy books, I have to save money for when I transfer out of the community college because I don't get much in the way of financial aid.  I have to work at McDonalds.  And sometimes I absolutely HATE it.  But it's helping me get where I need to go isn't it?????  Or I could sit around and wait for the government to give me money, or just as great, wait for it to fall from the sky!  I want to be a lawyer, which means that I need to get my undergraduate degree as cheaply as possible which is why I go to a community college, which is why I most likely will live at home and go to the four year school in the city I live in.  And as friends have pointed out, I miss some of the college experience, I don't live on campus, I don't have a ton of free time to hang out with my friends.  But I have to do what I have to do to be a lawyer.  Hard work and sacrificing don't always feel good, many times I see on Facebook are talking about going out with friends and hanging in the dorms and all this fun stuff.  Sometimes I miss that, I miss what I can't do because five nights a week I'm at McDonalds.  But you got to do what you got to do.  Even when it sucks.  And that is what many people in this country need to realize.  My parents waited for like 20 years to buy their first house, they wanted to do it years ago, but financially it would have been a dumb decision.  So they didn't, they went without.  A lot of times people in general want something, but they don't want to put out the effort to get it.  And it's not the governments job to give us what we want but don't want to work for.  I don't want the governments help, because one day when I graduate law school, I'll know it was my achievement, that I did it on my work, my sacrifice, it will be my victory, mine.  And that and God keeps me going.






Part Three

"A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government." Thomas Jefferson

"I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive.-Thomas Jefferson
Most bad government has grown out of too much government.-Thomas Jefferson


The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first.-Thomas Jefferson


Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have ... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases.


"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws." -- Tacitus, Roman senator and historian (A.D. c.56-c.115)

"The more prohibitions th
ere are, the poorer the people will be. The more laws are promulgated, the more thieves and bandits there will be." -- Lao-tzu, The Tao Te Ching (believed written in China, 6th century BC).
It is not the function of our Government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the Government from falling into error.”


Robert H. Jackson quotes














 
 
 
Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_government
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limited_government
 
http://www.fff.org/freedom/0291c.asp
 
http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/AmericanIdeal/yardstick/pr5.html
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_government
 
Thomas Jefferson Quote- http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/t/thomasjeff130495.html


http://www.fightthebias.com/Quotes/thomas_jefferson.htm

http://www.whale.to/vaccine/quotes12.html

http://thinkexist.com/quotes/with/keyword/government/

Czars!!!!!

As we all know President Obama has czars, and a lot of them. Who are these people? What do they do? Why are they holding the position that they do? What exactly is a czar and when did this all start? These are questions that I will be looking into in the next few blog posts. I am going to be writing a series of blog posts dedicated all the the presidents czars.

These people are high level officials that have a particular policy they are in charge of. The term "czar" is a media term popularly applied to these people. This dates back to the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt, was used in reference to people in Nixon and Ford administrations. To put is simply, these "czars" are simply advisors to the president in various areas.  I will be looking into these czars, to see who exactly they are.


Some would say that President Obama is a socialist, many people get mad at these comments and want to argue that he isn't. But many of the people he associates with are socialist, and kind of weird quite frankly and when you hang with someone long enough you start to be like them. Of course you can be friends with people who differ when it comes to political ideologies, but why would you give them a position in the government?  These are some ideas to consider. Anyway some of these czars are very interesting so enjoy.


List of Obama Czars

NOTE: positions that also existed under previous administrations are indicated with an *.
1. Afghanistan Czar - Richard Holbrooke
2. AIDS Czar * - Jeffrey Crowley
3. Auto Recovery Czar - Ed Montgomery
4. Border Czar * - Alan Bersin
5. California Water Czar - David J. Hayes
6. Car Czar - Ron Bloom
7. Central Region Czar - Dennis Ross
8. Climate Czar - Todd Stern
9. Domestic Violence Czar - Lynn Rosenthal
10. Drug Czar * - Gil Kerlikowske
11. Economic Czar * - Paul Volcker
12. Energy and Environment Czar - Carol Browner
13. Faith-Based Czar * - Joshua DuBois
14. Government Performance Czar - Jeffrey Zients
15. Great Lakes Czar - Cameron Davis
16. Green Jobs Czar - Van Jones
17. Guantanamo Closure Czar - Daniel Fried
18. Health Czar * - Nancy-Ann DeParle
19. Information Czar - Vivek Kundra
20. Intelligence Czar * - Dennis Blair
21. Mideast Peace Czar - George Mitchell
22. Pay Czar - Kenneth R. Feinberg
23. Regulatory Czar - Cass R. Sunstein *
24. Science Czar - John Holdren
25. Stimulus Accountability Czar - Earl Devaney
26. Sudan Czar - J. Scott Gration
27. TARP Czar - Herb Allison
28. Technology Czar - Aneesh Chopra
29. Terrorism Czar - John Brennan
30. Urban Affairs Czar - Adolfo Carrion Jr.
31. Weapons Czar - Ashton Carter


Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._executive_branch_czars

Where do we go from here?

I know the health care bill was passed Sunday night, but I didn't know until Monday, and I've been trying to decide what to do and what to say. But before I go into the blog post I would like to recognize those members of the House who voted against health care reform.

Robert, Aderholt of Alabama, John Adler of New Jersey, William Akin of Mossuri, Rodney Alexander of Louisiana, Jason Altmire of Pennselvania, Stephen Austria of Ohio, Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, Thomas Bachus of Alambama, Brian Baird of Washigton, James Barrett of South Carolina, John Barrow of Georgia, Roscoe Bartlett of Maryland, Joe Barton of Texas, Judith biggert of Illinois, Brian Bilbray of California, Gus Bilirakis of Florida, Robert Bishop of Utah, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Roy Blunt of Mossuri, JOhn Boccieri of Ohio, John Boehner of Ohio, Josiah Bonner of Alabama, John Boozman of Arkansas, David Boren of Oklahoma, Frederick Boucher of Virginia, Charles Boustany of Lousina, F. Allen Boyd of Florida, Kevin Brady of Texas, Bobby Bright of Alambama, Paul Broun of Georgia, Henry Brown of South Carolina, Waite Brown of Florida, Vernon Buchana of Florida, Michael Burgess of Texas, Danny Burton of Indiana, Stephen Buer of Indiana, Kenneth Calvert of California, David Camp of Michigan, John Campbell of California, Eric Cantor of Virgina, Shelley Capito of West Virginia, John Carter of Texas, William Cassidy of Lousina, Michael Castle of Delware, Jason Caffetz of Utha, Albert Chandler of Kentucky, Travis Childers of Minnesota, John Coble of North Carolina, Michael Coffman of Colorado, Thomas Cole of Oklahoma, Michael Conaway of Texas, Ander Crenshaw of Florida, John Culberson of Texas, Artur Davis of Alabama, Geoffrey Davis of Kentucky, Lincoln Davis of Tennessee, John Deal of Georgia, Charles Dent of Pennselvayia, Lincoln Daiz-Balart of Florida, Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, David Dreier of California, John Duncan of Tennessee, Thomas Edwards of Texas, Vernon Ehlers of Michigan, Jo Ann Emerson of Missouri, Mary Fallin of Oklahoma, Jeffrey Flake of Arizona, John Fleming of Lousiana, James Forbes of Virginia, Jeffrey Fortenberry of Nebraska, Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, Trent Franks of Arizona, Rodney Frelinghuysen of New Jersey, Elton Gallegly of California, Ernest Garrett of New Jersey, James Gerlach of Pennselyvania, John Gingrey of Georgia, Lous Gohmert of Texas, Robert Goodlatte of Virginia, Barton Gordon of Tennessee, Kay Granger of Texas, Samuel Graves of Missouri, Parker Griffith of Alabama, Steven Guthrie of Kentucky, Ralph Hall of Texas, Gregg Harper of Minnesota, Doc Hastings of Washington, Dean Heller of Nevada, Jeb Hensarling of Texas, Walter Herger of Califonia, Sandlin Herseth of South Dakota, Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, Duncan Hunter of California, Robert Inglis of South Carolina, Darrell Issa of California, Lynn Jenkins of Kansas, Sam Johnson of Texas, Timothy Johnson of Illinois, Walter Jones of North Carolina, Jordan Kim of Ohio, Peter King of New York, Steve King of Iowa, Jack Kingston of Georgia, Mark Kirk of Illinois, Larry Kissell of North Carolina, John Kline of Minnesotta, Suzanne Kosmas of Florida, Frank Kratovil of Maryland, Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, Steven LaTourette of Ohio, Doug Lamborn of Colorado, Leonard Lance of New Jersey, Thomas Latham of Iowa, Robert Latta of Ohio, Christopher Lee of New York, Charles Lewis of California, John Linder of Georgian, Frank LoBiondo of New Jersey, Frank Lucas of Oklahoma, Blaine Luetkemeyer of Missouri, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Daniel Lungren of California, Connie Mach of Florida, Mary Mach of California, Donald Manzullo of Illinois, Kenny Marchant of Texas, Betsy Markey of Colorado, Jim Marshal of Georgia, Eric Massa of New York, James Matheson of Utah, Kevin McCarthy of California, Michael McCaul of Texas, Tom McClintock of California, Thaddeus McCoter of Michigan, Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, Mike McIntyre of North Carolina, Howard McKeon of California, Michael McMahon of New York, Cathy McMoris-Rodgers, Charles Melancon of Lousina,
John Mica of Florida, Candice Miller of Michigan, Gary Miller of California, Jefferson Miller of Florida, Walk Minnick of Idaho, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Scott Murphy of New York, Timothy Murphy of Pennslyvania, Sue Myrick of North Carolina, Randy Neugebauer of Texas, Devin Nunes of California, Glenn Nye of Virginia, Pete Olson of Texas, Ronald Paul of Texas, Erik Paulsen of Minnesota, Mike Pence of Indiana, Collin Peterson of Minnesota, Evert Petri of Wisconsin, Joseph Pitts of Pennslyvania, Todd Platts of Pennslyvania, Ted Poe of Texas, Bill Posey of Florida, Tom Price of Georgia, Adam Putnam of Florida, George Padanovich of California, Dennis Rehberg of Montana, David Reichert of Washington, David Roe of Tennessee, Harold Rogers of Kentucky, Mike Rogers of Alabama, Mike Roegers of Michigan, Dana Rohrabacher of California, Thomas Rooney of Florida, IIeana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, Peter Roskam of Illinois, Michael Ross of Arkansas, Edward Royce of California, Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, Steve Scalise of Lousiana, Jean Schmidt of Ohio, Aaron Schock of Illinois, Frank Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, Pete Sessions of Texas, John Shadegg of Arizona, John Shimkus of Illinois, Heath Shuler of North Carolina, William Shuster of Pennslyvania, Michael Simpson of Idaho, Isaac Skelton of Missouri, Adrian Smith of Nebraska, Christopher Smith of New Jersey, Lamar Smith of Texas, Mark Souder of Indiana, Clifford Stearns of Florida, John Sullivan of Oklahoma, John Tanner of Tennessee, Gary Taylor of Minnesota, Harry Teague of New Mexico, Lee Terry of Nebraska, Glenn Thompson of Pennslyvania, William McClellan of Texas, Todd Tiahrt of Kansas, Patrick Tiberi of Oklahoma, Michael Turner of Oklahoma, Frederick Upton of Michigan, Greg Walden of Oragon, Zachary Wamp of Tennessee, Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia, Wayne Whitfield of Kentucky, Addison Wilson of South Carolina, Robert Wittman of Virginia, Frank Wolf of Virginia, Charles Young of Florida, and Donald Young of Arkansas.


What do we do???? It's simple. We fight. And no not literally fight. Like Gandhi said, "Use truth as your anvil, nonviolence as your hammer and anything that does not stand the test when it is brought to the anvil of truth and hammered with nonviolence, reject it." But we fight, we vote, we tell our friends, we do everything in our power to fight what is happening. I refuse to it aside and watch my country e destroyed, I want my children to grow up in the same country that I did.

Email and call your people in Congress, email the president. Let them know your not happy, tell them how they vote determines if you vote for them or not. No one wants to be unemployed, even them, but some of them will if they keep what they are doing up. Our government is a government by the people for the people, remember they work for us, and just like any employer, if we don't like what they do, we "fire" them. But we have to tell them what to do, we can't blame them for how they vote if we don't tell them what we want.

Find a Tea Pary locally, go to http://www.teapartypatriots.org/ and you can enter your zip code and find local events. This Thursday I will be attending a local Tea Party event in my city. Find conservative talk radio. Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, just remember t onot just take what they say to be the way it is, look it up find your own sources, be informed. If your in the Greensboro area, go to http://www.rush945.com/main.html for conservative talk radio, with Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck and other people too. Find people that think like you do and get and stay connected, it's one thing the other side and the media is good at doing, making you feel like your all alone, a minority, DON'T BELIEVE IT!!!!! Your not alone, we are the majority but if they can make you feel that way, well if your just a few, all alone, what's the point in trying to fight, what's the point in doing anything???? And if they can get us to feel that way, they have won.

Another thing to do is to talk to people, this isn't always easy, I don't know how to talk to other people about this stuff very well either but you have to try, start with your friends and family, they should be easier than random people because they like/love you and are going to listen. Post stuff on Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, whatever you have, that's a easy way to spread the word.

Check out the 9/12 Project, this was started by Glenn Beck, it's the nine principles and twelve values that founded this country and can get this country back on track. http://www.the912project.com/


This probally won't be easy. So what???? Something worth getting if rarely ever easy, if it's easy, anybody can get it. Just know it won't be easy, know that now. But at the end of the day, it really comes down to this, in 20. 30 years, when you look back on this part of your life, and our country, will you remember you fighting to save and restore your country? Or will you remember you backing out because it was hard? In 20 or 30 years, I know what I will remember, and I hope that I can't stop what's going on so in 20 or 30 years, our country had radically changed.


The last and most important thing to do is probally the simplest. PRAY.





Sources
List of Politicans-http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/votes/house/healthcare/


Gandhi Quote-http://www.gandhi-king-season.net/g-truth.htm