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RAPID RESPONSE (Archives)...Daily Commentary on News of the Day
This is a new section.  It will offer fresh, quick reactions by myself to news and events of the day, day by day, in this rapid-fire world of ours.  Of course, as in military campaigns, a rapid response in one direction may occasionally have to be followed by a "strategic withdrawal" in another direction.  Charge that to "the fog of war", and to the necessary flexibility any mental or military campaign must maintain to be effective.  But the mission will always be the same: common sense, based upon facts and "real politick", supported by a visceral sense of Justice and a commitment to be pro-active.  That's all I promise.
GS

Click here to return to the current Rapid Response list


WEDNESDAY, November 30, 2011

THE REST OF THE SORRY STORY ABOUT THIS GREAT RECESSION.

GS


This is from the Huffington Post in 2009:
"The legislation was the repeal of the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act (alternatively known as Gramm Leach Bliley), which allowed banks to merge with insurance companies and investment houses. And Dorgan was, at the time, on a proverbial island with his concerns. Only eight senators would vote against the measure -- lionized by its proponents, including senior staff in the Clinton administration and many now staffing President Obama, as the most important breakthrough in the worlds of finance and politics in decades.  ...  Nevertheless, the bill did not lack champions, many of whom declared that the original legislation -- forged during the Great Depression -- was both antiquated and cumbersome for the banking industry. Congress had tried 11 times to repeal Glass-Steagall. The twelfth was the charm.  ...
Ten years later, Dorgan has been vindicated. His warning that banks would become "too big to fail" has proven basically true in the wake of the current financial crisis. He seems eerily prescient for claiming then that Congress would "look back ten years time and say we should not have done this." But he wasn't entirely alone. Sens. Barbara Boxer, Barbara Mikulski, Richard Shelby, Tom Harkin and Richard Bryan also cast nay votes.
As did Sen. Russ Feingold, who, in a statement from his office, recalled that "Gramm-Leach-Bliley was just one of several bad policies that helped lead to the credit market crisis and the severe recession it helped cause."

This is from Counterpunch, an online newsletter, in September 2008:
"This disgraceful bow to the banking industry, eagerly signed into law by Bill Clinton in 1999, bears a major share of responsibility for the current banking crisis. Here’s the complete roll call of shame:
REPUBLICANS FOR (52): Abraham, Allard, Ashcroft, Bennett, Brownback, Bond, Bunning, Burns, Campbell, Chafee, Cochran, Collins, Coverdell, Craig, Crapo, DeWine, Domenici, Enzi, Frist, Gorton, Gramm (Tex.), Grams (Minn.), Grassley, Gregg, Hegel, Hatch, Helms, Hutchinson (Ark.), Hutchison (Tex.), Inhofe, Jeffords, Kyl, Lott, Lugar, Mack, McConnell, Murkowski, Nickles, Roberts, Roth, Santorum, Sessions, Smith (N.H.), Smith (Ore.), Snowe, Specter, Stevens, Thomas, Thompson, Thurmond, Voinovich and Warner.DEMOCRATS FOR (38): Akaka, Baucus, Bayh, Biden, Bingaman, Breaux, Byrd, Cleland, Conrad, Daschle, Dodd, Durbin, Edwards, Feinstein, Graham (Fla.), Hollings, Inouye, Johnson, Kennedy, Kerrey (Neb.), Kerry (Mass.), Kohl, Landrieu, Lautenberg, Leahy, Levin, Lieberman, Lincoln, Moynihan, Murray, Reed (R.L), Reid (Nev.), Robb, Rockefeller, Sarbanes, Schumer, Torricelli and Wyden.
REPUBLICANS AGAINST(1): Shelby.
DEMOCRATS AGAINST(7): Boxer, Bryan, Dorgan, Feingold, Harkin, Mikulski and Wellstone.
NOT VOTING: 2 REPUBLICANS (2): Fitzgerald (voted present) and McCain.
The House Democrats were no less enthusiastic in their endorsement of this invitation to plunder–the repeal passed there by a margin of 343-86, with the Donkey Party favoring the measure by a two-to-one margin, 138-69. Current House speaker Nancy Pelosi managed not to register a vote on this one, so great was her fear of offending her party’s corporate paymasters even though she knew passage was a sure thing."

Jan 3, 2007---Time for a reminder

Don't just skim over this, read it slowly and let it sink in..... If in doubt, check it out !!!

The day the democrats took over was not January 22nd 2009, it was actually January 3rd 2007 the day the Democrats took over the House of Representatives and the Senate, at the very start of the 110th Congress.

The Democrat Party controlled a majority in both chambers for the first time since the end of the 103rd Congress in 1995.

For those who are listening to the liberals propagating the fallacy that everything is "Bush's Fault", think about this:

January 3rd, 2007 was the day the Democrats took over the Senate and the Congress:

At the time:

The DOW Jones closed at 12,621.77

The GDP for the previous quarter was 3.5%

The Unemployment rate was 4.6%

George Bush's Economic policies SET A RECORD of 52 STRAIGHT MONTHS of JOB CREATION!

Remember the day...

January 3rd, 2007 was the day that Barney Frank took over the House Financial Services Committee and Chris Dodd took over the Senate Banking Committee.

The economic meltdown that happened 15 months later was in what part of the economy?

BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES!

THANK YOU DEMOCRATS for taking us from 13,000 DOW, 3.5 GDP and 4.6% Unemployment... to this CRISIS by (among MANY other things) dumping 5-6 TRILLION Dollars of toxic loans on the economy from YOUR Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac FIASCOES!

(BTW: Bush asked Congress 17 TIMES to stop Fannie & Freddie - starting in 2001 because it was financially risky for the US economy).

And who took the THIRD highest pay-off from Fannie Mae AND Freddie Mac? OBAMA

And who fought against reform of Fannie and Freddie?

OBAMA and the Democrat Congress

So when someone tries to blame Bush... REMEMBER JANUARY 3rd, 2007.... THE DAY THE DEMOCRATS TOOK OVER!"

Bush may have been in the car but the Democrats were in charge of the gas pedal and steering wheel they were driving.

Budgets do not come from the White House. They come from Congress and the party that controlled Congress since January 2007 is the Democrat Party.

Furthermore, the Democrats controlled the budget process for 2008 & 2009 as well as 2010 &2011.

In that first year, they had to contend with George Bush, which caused them to compromise on spending, when Bush somewhat belatedly got tough on spending increases.

For 2009 though, Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid by-passed George Bush entirely, passing continuing resolutions to keep government running until Barack Obama could take office. At that time, they passed a massive omnibus spending bill to complete the 2009 budgets.

And where was Barack Obama during this time? He was a member of that very Congress that passed all of these massive spending bills, and he signed the omnibus bill as President to complete 2009.Let's remember what the deficits looked like during that period: (below)

If the Democrats inherited any deficit, it was the 2007 deficit, the last of the Republican budgets. That deficit was the lowest in five years, and the fourth straight decline in deficit spending. After that, Democrats in Congress took control of spending, and that includes Barack Obama, who voted for the budgets.

If Obama inherited anything, he inherited it from himself.

In a nutshell, what Obama is saying is I inherited a deficit that I voted for and then I voted to expand that
deficit four-fold since January 20th.


TUESDAY, November 29
, 2011

MUSINGS ON THE RECENT BOARD RETREAT

GENERAL:

SPECIFICS:

WE CAN DO ALL THIS !

George A. Sprecace, M.D., J.D.
November 1, 2011



MONDAY, November 28, 2011

"THA'S  MY BOY"...RIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING.

GS


Article published in The Day, Nov 22, 2011
Surging Gingrich sets out to prove his staying power
By AMY GARDNER The Washington Post
Nashua, N.H. - Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich touched down in New Hampshire on Monday to assume the title of surging presidential candidate - and to try to impart to it a staying power that has eluded those who have risen and stumbled before.
The fifth Republican contender to climb to the top of public polls this year, Gingrich took advantage of the moment to again announce his plans to reform Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and various programs for the poor. Campaign money is coming in, he said, and a staff that shrank to a dozen after an implosion in June has grown to 40. Gingrich is even allowing himself to look ahead to a general-election contest against President Barack Obama, because, he said, "one of the reasons people support me is because they can see me debating Obama."
Gingrich's challenge is to keep his momentum going a bit longer than the other Republicans who have vied for the role of chief rival to Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor.
Gingrich entered the contest with enough baggage to prompt skepticism that his campaign could go anywhere. He had an extramarital affair with the woman who is now his third wife, and as House speaker he was sanctioned for ethical violations. More recently, he has had to fend off questions about a report that he received between $1.6 million and $1.8 million in consulting fees for advising Freddie Mac, a federally backed housing finance giant that is despised by conservatives.
"He's got obvious vulnerabilities," said James McCloskey, 38, who came to see Gingrich in Manchester on Monday. "Between Freddie Mac and his marriages, he's going to have to answer some tough questions. But he's an absolutely brilliant mind."
Gingrich said Monday that he is better positioned than his rivals to last. The way he sees it, his decades in Washington don't make him an insider, because he offers an anti-establishment message that appeals to conservatives. And because of his years in Washington, he has the policy background - and a Rolodex of national contacts - to help him attract votes.
"I don't take Washington seriously," Gingrich said. "I don't go in and say, 'What are the norms in Washington?' I say, 'Let's establish new norms.' "
Gingrich's proposal to reform entitlements was a case in point. His plan was an amalgamation of ideas he has already broached and that Republicans have supported in the past - creating private savings accounts in lieu of the current Social Security program, empowering states to administer Medicaid with federal block grants. But Gingrich also took it a step further. Food stamps must go, he said. Public housing, too. Kids should take jobs in their schools - both to acquire a work ethic and to replace janitors whose union contracts pay them too much.
On a day when Romney was campaigning just a few miles down the road, Gingrich was also, more subtly, going after his chief rival for being a more status-quo candidate.
"I have a DNA model in my head," Gingrich said. "What I want to do is different from traditional politics and government."
Gingrich's surge is a little different from those of Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas and businessman Herman Cain, who were relatively unknown when they shot up in the polls. Gingrich did the opposite. His campaign fell apart just days after he launched it, torn by internal disagreements and revelations that Gingrich had owed the jeweler Tiffany's as much as $500,000.
He also angered many conservatives by labeling the House Republicans' Medicare plan "right-wing social engineering," making the kind of over-the-top comment that many observers say has always been his undoing.
"In a normal environment, he wouldn't have been able to come back to the top of the heap," said Ed Rollins, a longtime Republican strategist, who worked with Bachmann's campaign this year. "This has been such an unusual year."
Gingrich has recovered slowly, largely by impressing voters during debates - the very medium that has hurt the fortunes of some of his rivals, notably Perry. After the first few debates, conservative radio personality Rush Limbaugh called Gingrich the only "grown-up" in the room - a perception that many rank-and-file Republicans appear to have come to share.
"I've watched every single debate," said Amie Martin, 41, a marketing professional from Nashua who came to Manchester to hear Gingrich give his speech on entitlements. "I've been saying all year, 'Look, you've got to listen to Newt. He's always spot-on.' The more people listen to Newt, the more people see that he makes sense."
Other strategies helped Gingrich survive the lean months of his campaign.
Through his now-dissolved think tank, American Solutions, Gingrich was able to build a network of supporters who were active within the tea party. They helped arrange campaign events in Iowa and elsewhere. Gingrich also took his wife, Callista, on many of his trips - and she was regularly a hit with the crowds.
"We didn't have any staff until a week ago," said Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond, recalling the lean summer months when the entire staff - and the Gingriches - would stay with Greg Ganske, a former congressman from Des Moines, every time they campaigned in Iowa.
Some of those who resigned in the spring went on to join Perry's operation. But others rejoined Gingrich this month. Gingrich has bolstered his staff in Iowa, New Hampshire and Florida, and, unlike many contenders, has a notable operation in South Carolina. He is launching Web sites tailored to every state, including NewtHampshire.com, which he said signed up 250 volunteers just last week.
"What about yard signs?" Martin, the Gingrich supporter, asked the campaign's New Hampshire volunteer coordinator Monday.
"Get back to me on Wednesday!" was the reply. "We've got 4,000 coming in."
Still, Gingrich has a lot of ground to make up. After the last filing report in October, his campaign said it was deep in debt, whereas Romney had nearly $15 million in cash on hand.
Hammond, the campaign spokesman, said: "Newt said it would take 2 1/2 months. He said not to pay attention to the coverage because it was going to be awful, and to continue to plow ahead. 'We need to focus one day at a time. Focus on one day, and do one thing, and we will get going again.' And he was right."


SUNDAY, November 27, 2011

FOR FURTHER EVIDENCE OF ALL THIS, YOU NEED LOOK NO FURTHER THAN THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE PUBLISHED ON SUNDAY, NOV. 20, THE LEAD ARTICLE ENTITLED: "TEACHING GOOD SEX".

GS

UN radicals are promoting "comprehensive sexuality education"

"Comprehensive sexuality education" will steal your children's souls

Help the Friday Fax fight back...

November 22, 2011

Dear Friend of the Friday Fax,

A few years ago, we discovered a pamphlet in Mexico that actually suggested that bestiality was acceptable. And right on this pamphlet was the name UNICEF!

Two years ago we reported on a Planned Parenthood pamphlet made available to Girl Scouts that unnatural sex acts were just fine (I cannot name the acts for even mentioning them is pornographic).

The pelvic left at the UN wants to undermine the morals of our sons and daughters. They do this in many ways. Perhaps the most insidious is what they call "comprehensive sexuality education."

This is a program that is totally value free, that attempts to indoctrinate our children into the soul-destroying idea that children are "sexual from birth" and that any sexual act is equal to any other.

The Friday Fax is uniquely positioned to alert the world to these attacks on the health and morals of our children. Friday Fax reporters are at the UN every day, or they are buried deep in UN websites and UN documents uncovering the plans of UN radicals to harm our children.

Right now we have a team of seven very talented reporters who look closely at these outrages every day. These magnificent seven are among the world's experts on UN outrages.

If not for their work, many of these outrages would be completely unknown!

We have an immediate need to keep the Friday Fax going. Go HERE and give as much as you can.

The Friday Fax is not free to produce. Your precious dollars go to 1) salaries, 2) office rent, 2) telephone bills, 3) printing and postage of the printed edition of the Friday Fax, 4) the enormous costs of sending out 20,000,000+ emails every year. All told, the Friday Fax costs $170,000 each and every year.

There are many ways to financially support the Friday Fax. You can use your credit card using our totally secure server. You can also use the regular mail. Your can use PayPal. You can wire your donation directly.

Go HERE and follow instructions. Go HERE and give the Friday Fax a truly sacrificial gift. Can you afford $1000? How about $500? Or $100? Or $50.

Your help is essential to our efforts to defend the health and morals of our children from UN radicals and others on the pelvic left.

Many thanks for your prayers and for your help.


Yours sincerely,

Austin Ruse
President, C-FAM


SATURDAY, November 26, 2011

Attached is an excellent Editorial in The Day...which could be entitled: RESTORING "US" IN USA.
Although understandable given the era (early 1970's), the repeal of the Draft was an enduring error of epic proportions.  Gone is the concept of Service above Self, replaced by "Me".  Gone is the sense of belonging...if not to a family in its broken condition, then at least to a Society. Gone is a powerful means of developing "self-image" instead of expecting it to be imparted from without. Gone is the concept of Public Service, as distinguished from the self-service of career politicians.  Gone is the opportunity, either by remedial education in the Armed Forces or by life-education,  to correct the total failure of "Public Education" and its discredited denizens to provide even a foundation in the three R's. And gone for many is the opportunity for a meaningful and productive life and livelihood through life-long education after military service.  The sorry state of our Republic can be traced substantially to this situation.  And this is probably the easiest one of the many changes that must take place in our national life to restore America to its future potential.  Otherwise, our decline and fall are at hand.     Fortunately, we still have a choice...for now. 

GS


Article published in The Day, Nov 26, 2011
A troubling trend in military service

The results of a new survey showing the percentage of Americans serving in the military has shrunk to its lowest level in more than 75 years underscores concerns that out-of-touch civilians are less capable of making informed decisions about such critical issues as when this country should go to war.

"What we have is an armed services that's at war and a public that's not very engaged," Paul Taylor, executive vice president of the Pew Research Center, told The New York Times. "Typically when our nation is at war, it's a front-burner issue for the public. But with these post-9/11 wars, which are now past the 10-year mark, the public has been paying less and less attention."

The Pew survey found that less than 1 percent of the U.S. population has been on active military duty at any given time in the last decade, compared with 9 percent of Americans who were in uniform during World War II. A main reason for this decline has been the phasing out of the draft in 1973.

While this newspaper does not advocate the return of military conscription we believe the idea of compulsory enlistment in some form of national service has merit. Many countries around the world require such service for 18-year-olds, lasting one to three years, which benefits not only the government but also helps conscripts learn new skills, appreciate the value of leadership and teamwork, and develop a sense of responsibility for contributing to society.

Contemporary U.S. culture, on the other hand, seems to reflect a growing disconnect and disparity rather than any sense of national unity, as indicated by the emergence of both the tea party and Occupy Wall Street movements. Far from a nation united, we have become a nation divided.

Our government's progressively dysfunctional behavior has contributed to an increasingly distrustful public, which reinforces a cycle of cynicism so distant from the hopeful national spirit that pulled this nation out of the Great Depression and other national crises.

As for the trend toward a lowered percentage of citizens connected to the military, nowhere is this more clearly defined than in the halls of Congress.

Only 22 percent of members of Congress today have served in the armed forces - higher than the national average but still the lowest ratio among elected officials since at least World War II, when four in five members had military experience.

Yet these are the same representatives who can declare war, and whose budget authority determines military pay and benefits.

Speaking of politics, the Pew survey also found, not surprisingly, that those in the public connected through a family member to the military tended to be more conservative.

Some 73 percent of Republicans reported a family connection to the military, compared to 59 percent of Democrats and 56 percent of independents.

Correspondingly, those with family ties to the armed forces were more likely to be critical of President Barack Obama's handling of his job as commander in chief, with 41 percent saying they disapprove, compared to 34 percent for those without a family member who served.


FRIDAY, November 25, 2011

In recent weeks I have been asked why my personal comments on Rapid Response have been sparing in contrast to postings of the comments of others. 
In keeping with the original premise and promise of this section, I will provide original commentary when those opinions are not receiving adequate airing in the media.

The Republican debate derby, and the inevitable liberal press reactions, are providing ample exposure for many of my opinions.  The Platform of the Tea Party Movement, offered below, is another source. 

But the most clear and prolific reflections of my opinions can be found regularly in the words of Newt Gingrich, who has long been my choice for Republican nominee for President of the U.S.

However, to repeat some of my earlier comments:

So you see, I can still create my own melody to rise above the cacophony out there.

GS

Tea Party Movement Platform

Ten Core Beliefs of the Modern-Day Tea Party Movement


“Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.”

Abraham Lincoln


Preamble: The Tea Party Movement is an all-inclusive American grassroots movement with the belief that everyone is created equal and deserves an equal opportunity to thrive in these United States where they may “pursue life, liberty and happiness” as stated in the Declaration of Independence and guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States.

No one is excluded from participation in the Tea Party Movement. Everyone is welcomed to join in seeking to achieve the Tea Party Movement goals, which are as follows:

1. Eliminate Excessive Taxes - Excessively high taxes are a burden for those exercising their personal liberty to work hard and prosper as afforded by the Constitution. A fiscally responsible government protects the freedom of its citizens to enjoy the fruits of their own labor without interference from a government that has exceeded its necessary size, scope and reach into the lives of its citizens.

“Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery.” --Calvin Coolidge

“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

“Any tax is a discouragement and therefore a regulation.” --Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Also see: What is the Tea Party; Tea Party Ideas; Tea Partiers; Voice of the Tea Party

2. Eliminate the National Debt - By implementing fiscally conservative policies at all levels of government, progress can be made toward eliminating the U.S. National Debt. Massive increases in the National Debt have created and continue to create a huge burden for the next generation of Americans, thus imperiling the country’s short-term and long-term economic health and prosperity.

“You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.” --Abraham Lincoln

“If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.” --Thomas Paine, 1776

“As on the one hand, the necessity for borrowing in particular emergencies cannot be doubted, so on the other, it is equally evident that to be able to borrow upon good terms, it is essential that the credit of a nation should be well established.” --Alexander Hamilton, 1790

Tea Party Platform continued:

3. Eliminate Deficit Spending - All deficit spending must be eliminated immediately. We insist that government representatives at all levels maintain a fiscally responsible budget and balance the books as would be expected of any American business.

“Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness.” --George Washington

“A penny saved is a penny earned.” --Benjamin Franklin

“Tomorrow, every Fault is to be amended; but that Tomorrow never comes.” --Benjamin Franklin

Tea Party Platform - Home of the Tea Party Movement Platform continued:

4. Protect Free Markets - America’s free enterprise system allows businesses to thrive as they compete in the open marketplace and strive toward ever better services and products. Allowing free markets to prosper unfettered by government interference is what propelled this country to greatness with an enduring belief in the industriousness and innovations of the populace.

“That some achieve great success, is proof to all that others can achieve it as well.” --Abraham Lincoln

“You cannot build character and courage by taking away a man’s initiative and independence.” --Abraham Lincoln

“The government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” --Ronald Reagan

Tea Party Platform continued:

5. Abide by the Constitution of the United States - The U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of the land and must be adhered to without exception at all levels of government. This includes the Bill of Rights and other Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and their provisions designed to protect states’ rights and individual liberties.

“A general Dissolution of Principles & Manners will more surely overthrow the Liberties of America than the whole Force of the Common Enemy.” --Samuel Adams, 1779

“The Constitution is the guide which I will never abandon.” --George Washington

“We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.” --Abraham Lincoln

Tea Party Platform continued:

6. Promote Civic Responsibility - Citizen involvement at the grassroots level allows the voice of the American people to be heard and directs the political behaviors of our representatives at both the local and national level so they, in turn, may be most effective in working to preserve the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness of this country’s citizens.

“The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.” --Patrick Henry

“To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.” --Abraham Lincoln

“Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains to bring it to light” --George Washington

“All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.” --Thomas Jefferson

Tea Party Platform - Home of the Tea Party Movement Platform continued:

7. Reduce the Overall Size of Government - A bloated bureaucracy creates wasteful spending that plagues our government. Reducing the overall size, scope and reach of government at both local and national levels will help to eliminate inefficiencies that result in deficit spending which adds to our country’s debt.

“My observation is that whenever one person is found adequate to the discharge of a duty...it is worse executed by two persons, and scarcely done at all if three or more are employed therein.” --George Washington

“If we can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people, under the pretense of taking care of them, they must become happy.” --Samuel Adams, 1802

“Energy and persistence conquer all things.” --Benjamin Franklin

Tea Party Platform continued:

8. Believe in the People - The American people, given their guaranteed freedoms, will thrive in a democratic, capitalist environment which allows individuals to strive toward ever greater achievements, innovations and the efficient production of needed and valued goods and services.

“Industry need not wish.” --Benjamin Franklin

“Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.” --Abraham Lincoln

“The people will save their government, if the government itself will allow them.” --Abraham Lincoln

Tea Party Platform continued:

9. Avoid the Pitfalls of Politics -American politics is burdened by big money from lobbyists and special interests with an undue influence on the peoples’ representatives. The Tea Party movement is seen as a threat to the entrenched political parties and thus is the continual target of smear campaigns and misrepresentation of its ideals. We choose not to respond to these attacks except to strongly and explicitly disavow any and all hate speech, any and all violence as well as insinuations of violence, and any and all extreme and fringe elements that bring discredit to the Tea Party Movement. We are a peaceful movement and respect other's opinions and views even though they do not agree with our own. We stand by the Tea Party beliefs and goals and choose to focus our energies on ensuring that our government representatives do the same.

“I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts.” --Abraham Lincoln

“Honesty is the best policy.” --Benjamin Franklin

“Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.” --George Washington

Also see: What is the Tea Party; Tea Party Ideas; Tea Partiers; Voice of the Tea Party

Tea Party Platform continued:
10. Maintain Local Independence - The strength and resilience of a grassroots movement is the ability of citizens at the local level to determine their own platforms, agendas and priorities free of an overriding central leadership. Exercising the clearly stated message of the Tea Party movement by its nature involves discourse about which policies and candidates best hold to our stated principles, and these various opinions should flourish and evolve at the local level.

“Here sir, the people govern.” --Alexander Hamilton in a speech to the New York Ratifying Convention, 1788

“Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves, therefore, are its only safe depositories.” --Samuel Adams, 1781

“This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it.” --Abraham Lincoln

Tea Party Platform - Thank you for visiting the Tea Party Movement Platform Website



MONDAY through THURSDAY, November 21 through 24, 2011

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL


That's in recognition of all of God's gifts to us, for all the gifts that our families have given us, and for the opportunity to be all that we can be. 

Of course, that is not true of everyone.  And, to the extent that we can, we have an obligation to help those in need. 

But we also have an obligation to distinguish between the "deserving underserved" and the "undeserving underserved".  To paraphrase the Bible, if you won't work, you won't eat.  That should be the criterion used by us individually and by our government...if we are to avoid the decline and fall of America from within. 

So, pay attention, Folks.  That attention, and your actions in the 2012 elections and including your VOTE,  will determine the future of America.   YOUR CHOICE.

GS



SUNDAY, November 20, 2011

Only one fact could have been added to this list: the last Federal Budget passed was on 4/27/09, even though the D's controlled all three branches of the government until last election.  When the R's won the House, they immediately passed a budget but the D controlled Senate refuses to bring it up for a vote.  Obama presented  budget this year that was so bad the Senate voted it down 97/0.  

Jan 3, 2007---Time for a reminder

Don't just skim over this, read it slowly and let it sink in..... If in doubt, check it out !!!

The day the democrats took over was not January 22nd 2009, it was actually January 3rd 2007 the day the Democrats took over the House of Representatives and the Senate, at the very start of the 110th Congress.

The Democrat Party controlled a majority in both chambers for the first time since the end of the 103rd Congress in 1995.

For those who are listening to the liberals propagating the fallacy that everything is "Bush's Fault", think about this:

January 3rd, 2007 was the day the Democrats took over the Senate and the Congress:

At the time:

The DOW Jones closed at 12,621.77

The GDP for the previous quarter was 3.5%

The Unemployment rate was 4.6%

George Bush's Economic policies SET A RECORD of 52 STRAIGHT MONTHS of JOB CREATION!

Remember the day...

January 3rd, 2007 was the day that Barney Frank took over the House Financial Services Committee and Chris Dodd took over the Senate Banking Committee.

The economic meltdown that happened 15 months later was in what part of the economy?

BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES!


THANK YOU DEMOCRATS for taking us from 13,000 DOW, 3.5 GDP and 4.6% Unemployment... to this CRISIS by (among MANY other things) dumping 5-6 TRILLION Dollars of toxic loans on the economy from YOUR Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac FIASCOES!

(BTW: Bush asked Congress 17 TIMES to stop Fannie & Freddie - starting in 2001 because it was financially risky for the US economy).

And who took the THIRD highest pay-off from Fannie Mae AND Freddie Mac? 
OBAMA

And who fought against reform of Fannie and Freddie?

OBAMA and the Democrat Congress

So when someone tries to blame Bush... REMEMBER JANUARY 3rd, 2007.... THE DAY THE DEMOCRATS TOOK OVER!"

Bush may have been in the car but the Democrats were in charge of the gas pedal and steering wheel they were driving.

Budgets do not come from the White House. They come from Congress and the party that controlled Congress since January 2007 is the Democrat Party.

Furthermore, the Democrats controlled the budget process for 2008 & 2009 as well as 2010 &2011.

In that first year, they had to contend with George Bush, which caused them to compromise on spending, when Bush somewhat belatedly got tough on spending increases.

For 2009 though, Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid by-passed George Bush entirely, passing continuing resolutions to keep government running until Barack Obama could take office. At that time, they passed a massive omnibus spending bill to complete the 2009 budgets.

And where was 
Barack Obama during this time? He was a member of that very Congress that passed all of these massive spending bills, and he signed the omnibus bill as President to complete 2009.Let's remember what the deficits looked like during that period: (below)

If the Democrats inherited any deficit, it was the 2007 deficit, the last of the Republican budgets. That deficit was the lowest in five years, and the fourth straight decline in deficit spending. After that, Democrats in Congress took control of spending, and that includes Barack Obama, who voted for the budgets.

If Obama inherited anything, he inherited it from himself.

In a nutshell, what Obama is saying is I inherited a deficit that I voted for and then I voted to expand that

deficit four-fold since January 20th.


FRIDAY and SATURDAY, November 18 and 19, 2011

Obituary printed in the London Times - Interesting and sadly rather true. 


Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend,Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: 
- Knowing when to come in out of the rain; 
- Why the early bird gets the worm; 
- Life isn't always fair; 
- and maybe it was my fault. 

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition. 

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault. 

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap and was promptly awarded a huge settlement. 

Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason. 

He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers; 
I Know My Rights 
I Want It Now 
Someone Else Is To Blame 
I'm A Victim 

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.


WEDNESDAY through THURSDAY, November 9 through 17
, 2011

The following is all the more relevant as we decide on our leadership in the 2012 elections...and as we have just witnessed the results of elections in New London, Ct.
I will support and assist Mayor-Elect Finizio when I agree with his policies...but I will never support King Finizio.

GS


>
> A MAN WITH GREAT INSIGHT OF WHICH MANY OF HIS THOUGHTS & WARNINGS HAVE COME TO ROOST!!
>
> 1.) Read Thomas Jefferson's incredible career, to establish his credentials in your mind.
>
> THEN....
>
> 2.) Read his conclusions and statements below ... they are stunningly, and scarily, true today  ...
> would that we had all have taken note of his warnings ... you will be shocked by their current validity ...
>
> 3.) Carefully consider his wise words, absorb and use.....
>
>
>
> Thomas Jefferson - Curriculum Vitae
>
> At 5, began studying under his cousin's tutor.
>   
> At 9, studied Latin, Greek and French.
>
> At 14, studied classical literature and additional languages.
>
> At 16, entered the College of William and Mary.   
>
> At 19, studied Law for 5 years starting under George Wythe.
>
> At 23, started his own law practice.
>
> At 25, was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses.
>
> At 31, wrote the widely circulated "Summary View of the Rights of British America " and retired from his law practice.
>
> At 32, was a Delegate to the Second Continental Congress.
>   
> At 33, wrote the Declaration of Independence
>
> At 33, took three years to revise Virginia ’s legal code and wrote a Public Education bill and a statute for Religious Freedom.
>   
> At 36, was elected the second Governor of Virginia succeeding Patrick Henry.
>
> At 40, served in Congress for two years.

> At 41, was the American minister to France and negotiated commercial treaties with European nations along with Ben Franklin and John Adams.
>   
> At 46, served as the first Secretary of State under George Washington.
>   
> At 53, served as Vice President and was elected president of the American Philosophical Society.
>   
> At 55, drafted the Kentucky Resolutions and became the active head of
> Republican Party.   
>
> At 57, was elected the third president of the United States     
>
> At 60, obtained the Louisiana Purchase doubling the nation’s size.   
>
> At 61, was elected to a second term as President.   
>
> At 65, retired to Monticello

> At 80, helped President Monroe shape the Monroe Doctrine.   
>
> At 81, almost single-handedly created the University of Virginia and served as its first president.   
>
> At 83, died on the 50th anniversary of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence along with John Adams 
>
> Thomas Jefferson knew because he himself studied the previous failed attempts at government.  He understood actual history, the nature of God, his laws and the nature of man.  That happens to be way more than what most understand today.  Jefferson really knew his stuff.  A voice from the past to lead us in the future:
>
> John F. Kennedy held a dinner in the white House for a group of the brightest minds in the nation at that time. He made this statement:
>
> "This is perhaps the assembly of the most intelligence ever to gather at one time in the White House
> with the exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."
>   
>
> And here's what the great man himself , had to say.....
>
> “When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe .”  -- Thomas Jefferson
>
> “The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work, and give to those who would not.”  -- Thomas Jefferson
>
> “It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes.  A principle which, if acted on, would save one-half the wars of the world.”
> -- Thomas Jefferson
>
> “I predict future happiness for Americans, if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”  -- Thomas Jefferson
>
> “My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.”  -- Thomas Jefferson
>
> “No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.”  -- Thomas Jefferson
>
> “The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.”
> -- Thomas Jefferson
>
> “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”  -- Thomas Jefferson
>
> “To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical.” -- Thomas Jefferson
>
> AND FINALLY......
>
> Thomas Jefferson said in 1802:
>
> “I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. 
> If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation,
> the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property
> - until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.”
>

TUESDAY, November 8, 2011

ON THIS PARTICULAR DAY, ELECTION DAY, IT IS FITTING TO OFFER THE OPINION PIECE SHOWN BELOW. 
AS I SAID ON THE DAY FOLLOWING ELECTION DAY IN 2008, THE NATION HAD DEMONSTRATED THE RESULTS OF A MASS  HYPNOTIC SPELL.

FOLKS, BOTH TODAY IN LOCAL AND IN STATE ELECTIONS...AND IN NOVEMBER,
2012...

IT'S TIME TO WAKE UP !!

GS

>
> The Washington Post
> August 18, 2011 Obama: The Affirmative Action President by Matt Patterson
> (columnist - Washington Post, New York Post, San Francisco Examiner)
>
> Years from now, historians may regard the 2008 election of Barack Obama as
> an inscrutable and disturbing phenomenon, a baffling breed of mass hysteria
> akin perhaps to the witch craze of the Middle Ages. How, they will wonder,
> did a man so devoid of professional accomplishment beguile so many into
> thinking he could manage the world's largest economy, direct the world's
> most powerful military, execute the world's most consequential job?
>
> Imagine a future historian examining Obama's pre-presidential life: ushered
> into and through the Ivy League despite unremarkable grades and test scores
> along the way; a cushy non-job as a "community organizer"; a brief career as
> a state legislator devoid of legislative achievement (and in fact nearly
> devoid of his attention, so often did he vote "present") ; and finally an
> unaccomplished single term in the United States Senate, the entirety of
> which was devoted to his presidential ambitions. He left no academic legacy
> in academia, authored no signature legislation as a legislator.
>
> And then there is the matter of his troubling associations: the
> white-hating, America-loathing preacher who for decades served as Obama's
> "spiritual mentor"; a real-life, actual terrorist who served as Obama's
> colleague and political sponsor. It is easy to imagine a future historian
> looking at it all and asking: how on Earth was such a man elected president?
>
>
> Not content to wait for history, the incomparable Norman Podhoretz addressed
> the question recently in the Wall Street Journal:
>
> To be sure, no white candidate who had close associations with an outspoken
> hater of America like Jeremiah Wright and an unrepentant terrorist like Bill
> Ayers, would have lasted a single day. But because Mr. Obama was black, and
> therefore entitled in the eyes of liberaldom to have hung out with
> protesters against various American injustices, even if they were a bit
> extreme, he was given a pass.
>
> Let that sink in: Obama was given a pass -- held to a lower standard --
> because of the color of his skin. Podhoretz continues:
>
> And in any case, what did such ancient history matter when he was also so
> articulate and elegant and (as he himself had said) "non-threatening," all
> of which gave him a fighting chance to become the first black president and
> thereby to lay the curse of racism to rest?
>
> Podhoretz puts his finger, I think, on the animating pulse of the Obama
> phenomenon -- affirmativeaction. Not in the legal sense, of course. But
> certainly in the motivating sentiment behind all affirmative action laws and
> regulations, which are designed primarily to make white people, and
> especially white liberals, feel good about themselves.
>
> Unfortunately, minorities often suffer so that whites can pat themselves on
> the back. Liberals routinely admit minorities to schools for which they are
> not qualified, yet take no responsibility for the inevitable poor
> performance and high drop-out rates which follow. Liberals don't care if
> these minority students fail; liberals aren't around to witness the
> emotional devastation and deflated self esteem resulting from the racist
> policy that is affirmative action. Yes, racist.
>
> Holding someone to a separate standard merely because of the color of his
> skin -- that's affirmative action in a nutshell, and if that isn't racism,
> then nothing is. And that is what America did to Obama.
>
> True, Obama himself was never troubled by his lack of achievements, but why
> would he be? As many have noted, Obama was told he was good enough for
> Columbia despite undistinguished grades at Occidental; he was told he was
> good enough for the US Senate despite a mediocre record in Illinois ; he was
> told he was good enough to be president despite no record at all in the
> Senate. All his life, every step of the way, Obama was told he was good
> enough for the next step, in spite of ample evidence to the contrary. What
> could this breed if not the sort of empty narcissism on display every time
> Obama speaks?
>
> In 2008, many who agreed that he lacked executive qualifications nonetheless
> raved about Obama's oratory skills, intellect, and cool character. Those
> people -- conservatives included -- ought now to be deeply embarrassed. The
> man thinks and speaks in the hoariest of clichés, and that's when he has his
> teleprompter in front of him; when the prompter is absent he can barely
> think or speak at all. Not one original idea has ever issued from his mouth
> -- it's all warmed-over Marxism of the kind that has failed over and over
> again for 100 years.
>
> And what about his character? Obama is constantly blaming anything and
> everything else for his troubles. Bush did it; it was bad luck; I inherited
> this mess. It is embarrassing to see a president so willing to advertise his
> own powerlessness, so comfortable with his own incompetence. But really,
> what were we to expect? The man has never been responsible for anything, so
> how do we expect him to act responsibly?
>
> In short: our president is a small and small-minded man, with neither the
> temperament nor the intellect to handle his job. When you understand that,
> and only when you understand that, will the current erosion of liberty and
> prosperity make sense. It could not have gone otherwise with such a man in
> the Oval Office.
>


TUESDAY through MONDAY, November 1 through 7, 2011

SOON WE WILL BE ABLE TO SAY: REST IN PIECES.

GS


Piece by piece, will Obama's health-care reform law be dismantled?
By Gail Russell Chaddock | Christian Science Monitor – Wed, Nov 2, 2011

The administration itself has abandoned a long-term health-care provision for seniors, and the Supreme Court will decide soon whether to take up the law. Critics see beginning of the end for Obama's health-care reforms.

The landmark health-care reform law – President Obama's signature domestic triumph – has suffered its first major body blow, dealt not by Republican lawmakers intent on dismantling "Obamacare" but by the administration's own Health and Human Services (HHS) Department.

The setback came in mid-October, and it means that a piece of the 2010 Affordable Care Act – a new program intended to help seniors and disabled people afford at-home care – will not be set up after all. The problem? HHS could not see how to make that program, called CLASS, "actuarially sound" for 75 years, as the law required.

The Obama administration's acknowledgment that the CLASS numbers don't add up is only fueling the GOP narrative that the entire health-care law is a boondoggle and won't provide the cost savings to government that Democrats had promised. Indeed, the CLASS (Community Living Assistance Services and Supports) Act was supposed to shrink US deficits by $72.2 billion over 10 years – fully half the $140 billion in deficit reduction the Obama administration claimed for the overall health-care reform law at time of passage.

"Had the whole bill been subject to the accounting and actuarial review that the CLASS Act was, it would not have survived either," says former Sen. Judd Gregg (R) of New Hampshire, who slipped in the pesky actuarial requirement as the CLASS legislation was taking shape.

RECOMMENDED: Health care law's future: four scenarios

The demise of CLASS, say critics, signals the beginning of the end of Mr. Obama's health-care reform law. Many Republicans have pledged to starve it of funding, and the US Supreme Court is slated to discuss in a Nov. 10 closed-door conference whether to hear the various legal challenges to it. Moreover, the law's bid to expand Medicaid, a public health program for the poor, is in jeopardy as states restrict access and make cuts to try to control rising costs.

Supporters of Obama's health-care reforms acknowledge that the collapse of the long-term care provision could drive support for a broader repeal of the law. But they are playing down that concern.

"Clearly, the CLASS Act was the premier attempt in the Affordable Care Act to address long-term care," says Ron Pollack of Families USA, a national organization for health-care consumers. "That said, this program was really separate from all of the remaining portions of the act and should have no impact at all in terms of their implementation."

Now that the CLASS program will not materialize, where does that leave the health-care consumer?

At least 2 in 3 seniors will need help with daily activities at some point in their remaining years, estimates HHS. But fewer than 10 percent of those age 50 or older have private insurance to help pay for it, according to the Congressional Research Service. Options include a nursing home at a median annual cost in 2010 of $75,000, assisted living at $37,500, or a home-care attendant at $19 an hour to help with basics such as eating and getting into bed. But Medicare covers only limited long-term care services, meaning individuals pay for them mostly out of pocket. Medicaid does cover such services, but beneficiaries must have nearly depleted all resources before they are eligible.

"There needs to be a mechanism by which people can insure themselves against being bankrupted by medical expenses later in their life," says Jared Bernstein, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

The CLASS program would have allowed people to buy insurance to cover in-home care; after paying into it for five years, they would be eligible for, say, a $50-a-day benefit to subsidize an attendant's salary, so they could afford to live at home rather than in a more expensive institutional setting.

But HHS documents reviewed by a House and Senate GOP CLASS Act working group showed that HHS officials were concerned as early as May 2009 that CLASS could not be sustained without billions in taxpayer subsidies by the third decade, when claims would be spiking.

Is this the end of the issue? Not likely. Republicans and some business groups say it's not enough that HHS says it is scrapping plans for the CLASS program. They want Congress to repeal it.

"CLASS is not gone – not yet," said Rep. Denny Rehberg (R) of Montana, a member of the CLASS Act working group, at an Oct. 26 hearing. "The secretary can claim she has the authority to, in effect, rewrite it."

The US Chamber of Commerce, which backed the overall health-care reform law, is also calling on law-makers to repeal CLASS, saying it will never benefit taxpayers and could yet be revived by regulators. Democrats, though, still want to find a way to make the CLASS Act work.

"Cheering the suspension of CLASS does nothing for the working families in my district who are already under the enormous stress that comes when a parent falls seriously ill and who have no way of paying for the around-the-clock care their loved one needs," said Rep. Ted Deutch (D) of Florida, at the Oct. 26 hearing.

According to updated estimates from the Congressional Budget Office, the Affordable Care Act will cut federal deficits by $127 billion over 10 years, even now that CLASS is excluded.


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