Thursday, September 4, 2008

The Greatest Accolade Ever ! whoops... PART ll

Remember this The Greatest Accolade Ever ! whoops... http://normanhooben.blogspot.com/2008/08/greatest-accolade-ever-whoops.html Sit back an enjoy Part ll

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to Resign in Plea Deal

Thursday, September 04, 2008





The Wall Street Journal reports Kilpatrick will resign, plead guilty to two felonies, spend four months in jail and pay the city of Detroit $1 million.

Click here to read more at the Wall Street Journal.

Kilpatrick entered a Detroit courtroom Thursday morning and met with his attorneys in a side room off Wayne County Circuit Court Judge David Groner's courtroom, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Click here for photos.

Before meeting with attorneys, he told journalists their reports were wrong and they needed to check their sources, the Free Press said.

Click here to read the Free Press' report.

The Wayne County prosecutor's office, which has charged Kilpatrick with eight felonies in the perjury case, said the plea would take place during a scheduled docket conference before Groner Thursday morning. A hearing late Wednesday afternoon was abruptly canceled.

Related Stories

Kilpatrick spokesman Chris Garrett confirmed negotiations toward a plea were continuing late Wednesday.

It was "apparent that they are close," Kilpatrick attorney James Thomas said late Wednesday, adding that he was unsure if the deal being negotiated included any jail time for the mayor.

The announcement of a deal by the prosecutor's office sent reporters rushing from an extraordinary hearing Wednesday in which Gov. Jennifer Granholm is tasked with deciding if Kilpatrick should be removed from office for misconduct for his role in an $8.4 million whistle-blowers' settlement.

The governor's spokeswoman, Liz Boyd, said the removal hearing's second day would resume Thursday, an hour after Kilpatrick's appearance ends in Wayne County Circuit Court. A deal to resign would make Granholm's role moot.

The City Council has asked Granholm to use her constitutional authority to expel Kilpatrick for misconduct, saying it was misled when it approved the settlement last year with fired police officers.

Council members said they didn't know the deal carried secret provisions to keep a lid on steamy text messages between Kilpatrick and Christine Beatty, who was his chief of staff, on city-issued pagers.

Those messages, published by the Detroit Free Press in January, contradicted their denials of an extramarital affair when they testified at a trial last year involving the officers. That led Prosecutor Kym Worthy to charge the pair with perjury, conspiracy, misconduct and obstruction of justice.

The mayor would automatically be expelled from office if he is convicted of a felony. Kilpatrick also faces assault charges stemming from a confrontation in July.

Meanwhile, the Michigan attorney general's office, which is prosecuting the mayor on the assault charges, said it has no deal with Kilpatrick to close that case.

"We are ready to proceed to trial," spokesman Rusty Hills said. "These are serious offenses the mayor is charged with that involved officers in the performance of their duty."

News of a possible breakthrough between Kilpatrick and Worthy, after months of political and legal turmoil, overshadowed Granholm's historic hearing on the council's removal request.

Michigan governors are allowed by the state constitution to remove elected officials for misconduct, but the target never has been the leader of the state's largest city. The last time was in 1982, when Gov. William Milliken let a township official stay in office if he stopped drinking.

The mayor's legal team twice failed to persuade courts to stop the hearing Tuesday. Lawyers filed an appeal Wednesday with the Michigan Supreme Court, but there was no response from the justices.

Granholm, a fellow Democrat, has pared the case to two issues: Did Kilpatrick settle the lawsuits for personal gain because he feared release of the text messages? And did the mayor conceal information from the City Council?

A witness, Michael Stefani, an attorney for the three former police officers, said that he quickly settled lawsuits against the city after he told opposing attorneys that he planned to file text messages in court showing an affair between the mayor and Beatty.

Two officers had already won their whistle-blower trial the previous month, but the financial remedy ordered by a jury could have been appealed. Legal fees were unsettled, too.

Kilpatrick's lawyer, Sam McCargo, "looked shaken up" when he saw the messages and said he could call the mayor to pursue a "global resolution" with the officers, according to Stefani.

The assault charges against the mayor stem from a confrontation on his sister's porch. A sheriff's detective says Kilpatrick shoved him into another investigator as they were trying to serve a subpoena to the mayor's friend in the perjury case.

If Kilpatrick is forced from office, City Council President Ken Cockrel Jr. would succeed him until a special election is held.

In case you forgot... (see video below)



America The Beautiful

Hiring Advice - - September 4, 2008 -- Norman E. Hooben

You’re driving down the road just paying attention to your driving and the other traffic around you. You’ve made this trip many times; maybe even every day. You pass many familiar sites and buildings and such; you pay very little attention to these. You go by the gas station, the shopping center, the strip mall and the beauty shop. Would you say that you are complacent to these things? Sure. You could care less. Right?

Now let’s take that last item… the beauty shop. Do you care what’s going on inside there? Most likely, you would not. Somebody you know in there, maybe so. How about if one of the employees was pilfering cash from the cash register? You wouldn’t know…or wouldn’t care. But, a-ha, now you are the owner of that beauty shop. Are you beginning to care? You bet!

Now upon auditing the register and customer slips you find out that, yes indeed, one of your employees (you know, the one you hired) is no longer considered trustworthy and you have to take some drastic measures. Firing the employee may help somewhat but the damage has already been done; you’ve been robbed and you may have been robbed all along.

Here we have a situation whereas you thought you were hiring an upstanding, honest individual because the interview went so well. The prospective employee at the time had an excellent use of the English language and was very convincing. The person sold her/himself with good salesmanship and you bought it (hired the person).

You find out later that if you had only inquired about this person there was ample evidence from other sources (references, prior employers, police, etc.) that this person was truly unreliable. But I see, you really hired the person because she/he was an honor student at Demagoguery Beauty Academy.

Remember now, you are the owner. You are the owner of your country. It is your responsibility to hire honest, upstanding people to work in your beauty shop, America the Beautiful. And you can find ample evidence that Barrack Hussein Obama is untrustworthy, unfaithful, and dishonest to his employer (you). Are you going to wait until the damage has already been done? Or, Are you going to take drastic measures? Fire him now before the damage to America the Beautiful turns ugly. Don’t be complacent with her, she’s your country!

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

President Bush, This is your religion of peace!

The reporter’s name has been changed. ‘Dispatches: Undercover Mosque - The Return’ will be broadcast on Channel 4 at 8pm on Monday

The Telegraph:

In a large balcony above the beautiful main hall at Regent’s Park Mosque in London - widely considered the most important mosque in Britain - I am filming undercover as the woman preacher gives her talk.

What should be done to a Muslim who converts to another faith? “We kill him,” she says, “kill him, kill, kill…You have to kill him, you understand?”

Adulterers, she says, are to be stoned to death - and as for homosexuals, and women who “make themselves like a man, a woman like a man … the punishment is kill, kill them, throw them from the highest place”.

These punishments, the preacher says, are to be implemented in a future Islamic state. “This is not to tell you to start killing people,” she continues. “There must be a Muslim leader, when the Muslim army becomes stronger, when Islam has grown enough.”

A young female student from the group interrupts her: the punishment should also be to stone the homosexuals to death, once they have been thrown from a high place.

These are teachings I never expected to hear inside Regent’s Park Mosque, which is supposedly committed to interfaith dialogue and moderation, and was set up more than 60 years ago, to represent British Muslims to the Government. And many of those listening were teenage British girls or, even more disturbingly, young children.

My investigation for Channel 4’s Dispatches came after last year’s Undercover Mosque, which investigated claims that teachings of intolerance and fundamentalism were spreading through Britain’s mosques from the Saudi Arabian religious establishment - which is closely linked to the Saudi Arabian government.

In response, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia denied it was spreading intolerance, while Regent’s Park Mosque, which featured in the film, urged all mosques to be “vigilant” and monitor what was taught on their premises.

So earlier this year, dressed in a full Islamic jilbaab, I went back to Regent’s Park Mosque to see what was being taught there. As a woman, I had to go to the main female section, where I found this circle preaching every Saturday and Sunday, eight hours at a time, to any woman who has come to pray.

The mosque is meant to promote moderation and integration. But although the circle does preach against terrorism and does not incite Muslims to break British laws, it teaches Muslims to “keep away” and segregate themselves from disbelievers: “Islam is keeping away from disbelief and from the disbelievers, the people who disbelieve.”

Friendship with non-Muslims is discouraged because “loyalty is only to the Muslim, not to the kaffir [disbeliever]“.

A woman who was friendly with a non-Muslim woman was heavily criticised: “It’s part of Islam, of the correct belief, that you love those who love Allah and that you hate those who hate Allah.”

One preacher even says Muslims shouldn’t live in Britain at all: “It is not befitting for Muslims that he should reside in the land of evil, the land of the kuffaar, the land of the disbelievers.”

Another, Um Saleem, says Muslims should not take British citizenship as their loyalty is to Allah.

“Some conditions can take you into disbelief, to take the British citizenship, whether you like it or not, for these people, you are selling your religion, it’s a very serious thing, it is not allowed to give allegiance to other than Allah.”

Their teachings shocked me. This was not the Islam that I and many other Muslims in the UK were taught as youngsters, nor is it a version that most Muslims follow.

I was amazed at how many young British women seemed to find this version of the faith attractive. One young girl told me that when she first attended the circle, she was dressed in jeans and that she had many non-Muslim friends. She now loves only those that are around her - “other sisters in the circle” - and only engages with non-Muslims to try to convert them. Many of the sisters had the idea of living as a separate community - a concept alien to me and many other Muslims I know.

Regent’s Park Mosque has a major interfaith department, which arranges visits from the Government, the civil service, representatives of other religions and thousands of British school children a year.

I watched as an interfaith group was brought in to meet the mosque’s women’s circle for a civilised exchange. But when the interfaith group wasn’t there, the preacher attacked other faiths, and the very concept of interfaith dialogue.

One preacher said of Christians praying in a church: “What are these people doing in there, these things are so vile, what they say with their tongues is so vile and disgusting, it’s an abomination.” As for the concept of interfaith live-and-let-live: “This is false. It does not work. This concept is a lie, it is fake, and it is a farce.”

Like many of the other women at the circle, I was soon invited to private sessions in houses around London, to “learn more” about Islam - or their version of Islam. Um Saleem was also at some of these sessions. Here, the women were given strict restrictions on their lives: it is reiterated that British Muslim women cannot travel far without a male guardian, cannot mix with men, and have to remain fully covered up at all times.

One woman in the audience queried the strict rulings that she cannot travel without a mahram - a male member of the family - escorting her. She asked: “Sister, if me and my husband, we can’t go together, what do I do if I want to go?”

She was told she cannot travel by herself.

She asked again: “So what do I do?”

“You go with your husband,” Um Saleem replied.

There were also restrictions on education or work opportunities. One woman, who works for the NHS, was told she should leave her job as it meant mixing with men and not wearing a full Islamic garment.

“You know that working in an environment that is not Islamic, working with the kuffaar, all this takes you away from the religion and hardens your heart and it would be lying to you if I say it’s OK,” Um Saleem explained.

Um Saleem also criticised Muslim women who integrate into society - a view that is counter to the aims of the Regent’s Park Mosque.

“You see Muslims in every sphere of everyday life in this country, I see Muslims, it breaks my heart when I see them working in banks, short sleeves, tight scarf like this, make-up, being with the kuffaar all the time, even speaking their language,” she said.

The director general of Regent’s Park Mosque is Dr Ahmed Al Dubayan, a Saudi diplomat. He has denied to Dispatches that his mosque promotes the Saudi version of the faith, often called Wahhabism. And indeed, the imams in the main hall are Egyptian, and the sermons I heard from them were tolerant and moderate when you listen to them on Fridays.

But the preachers I heard in the women’s section took their theology directly from Saudi Arabia. One of them had recently returned from three years of study in Saudi Arabia, and the other preachers almost exclusively directed me to the works, sermons, fatwas and online sites of the scholars of the Saudi Arabian religious establishment and their adherents.

Confronted with these female preachers’ comments, Dr Al Dubayan insisted that the views did not reflect those of the Regent’s Park Mosque, and that Um Saleem was not an authorised teacher. “The ICC [the London Central Mosque and Islamic Cultural Centre, most commonly referred to as the Regent's Park Mosque] is committed to interfaith and cross-cultural understanding,” he said. “It does not support or condone extreme views, racial hatred, violence or intolerance.”

He said one of the preachers we filmed was unknown to him. Another, Um Saleem, had requested permission to be an authorised teacher at the mosque, but had been refused, as she did not supply references and written information about her teachings and views. Until I contacted him, both he and the mosque had not known of her teachings and views.

Um Saleem later told me that her comments that Muslims could not take British citizenship were “erroneous” and indeed apologised for them. As for comments that Muslims cannot live in a non-Muslim country, she agreed that the language used was “inappropriate”. She continued: “Whilst it is recommended for a Muslim to migrate to a Muslim country, it is not obligatory.”

She added: “We are not blind followers of any government or any ‘clerics’. We do criticise other religions, just as other religions criticise Islam…we encourage integration into society.”

However, she stood by some of her other claims, stating that the rulings that women could not travel alone, and could not work if it conflicted with religious requirements, were “totally justified by Islamic texts”.

“You may regard these juristic and textual rulings as ‘extreme restrictions’,” she said. “But we see them as our way of life and a liberation of the soul.”

The Mosque’s official bookshop was another focus for the Dispatches film last year when our reporters discovered intolerant and fundamentalist DVDs.

Dr Al Dubayan said they would be removed pending an investigation, but I found the same fundamentalist preachers’ works still openly displayed and sold there. DVDs preaching that disbelievers are “evil, wicked, mischievous people … they do the most evil, filthy things”; that men are in charge of women and should control them.

One speaker says of the Jews: “Their time will come, like every other evil person’s time will come.” Another speech, this time by Sheikh Khalid Yasin, who learned Arabic in Saudi Arabia, praised the deterrent effect of sharia law: “Then people can see, people without hands, people can see in public heads rolling down the street, people got [sic] their hands and feet from opposite sides chopped off and they see them crucified…they see people put up against the pole and see them get lashed in public they see it, and because they see it, it acts as a deterrent for them because they say I don’t want that to happen to me.”

Sheikh Yasin responded to me that his comments should be considered in context. He said he did not support or promote Saudi Arabian government policy or religious rhetoric, and said capital punishments were carried out by many states and governments. “The lecture was aimed at reforming the Muslim people, the Muslim society and the Muslim world … to be adjudicated by the Sovereign Islamic State” when one exists.

The company that runs the bookshop, Darussalam International Publications, is a British company with links to Saudi Arabia.

Darussalam International Publications told me that the bookshop sells a wide range of material which they “do not necessarily agree with”.

It said: “We try to represent a variety of… opinions through the products we sell…in order to spread peace, respect, tolerance and understanding.”

Dr Al Dubayan reiterated that the bookshop was run by an independent company. “Despite having no control over the bookshop, we met with those running the bookshop after your programme was broadcast. We made it clear that it was not acceptable for the bookshop to stock materials containing extremist views. We were assured … all offending material had been removed.”

Interviewees for the film explained that an ideology like this has spread throughout Britain’s mosques from the Saudi Arabian religious establishment. One leading Muslim figure told me: “Petrodollar money coming from Saudi Arabia has basically distorted the growth and development of the Muslim community in Britain”; while a British imam accuses them of distorting Islam - “the abuse and misuse of this great faith of mine”.

I share the imam’s outrage at the way a peaceful monotheistic religion - so close to Christianity and Judaism in its essential beliefs - has been hijacked. To hear a call for the killing of someone because of his or her sexuality or for changing their faith in what is meant to be a place of contemplation is truly shocking.

The imam went on to say: “The underlying motive here is to find a way of continuously implanting this permanent wedge between the wider British society and the younger Muslims living in Britain.”

As Professor Anthony Glees, who runs the Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies at Brunel University, explains: “To think, as I believe our government thinks, that it makes ideological sense to play patsy with the Saudi government is folly of the first order of magnitude. We will be paying for it for years to come.”

Cross posted from http://sigmundcarlandalfred.wordpress.com/

Where Have All Our Leaders Gone

Where have all our leaders gone?
Long time passing
Where have all our leaders gone?
Long time ago
Where have our leaders gone?
Islamists have picked them every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
The following cross posted from Right Truth

I thank the men and women of the Muslim community for their contributions to America, says President Bush

From White House.gov:

For Immediate Release

Office of the Press Secretary

August 29, 2008

I send greetings to Muslims observing Ramadan in America and around the globe.

The holy month of Ramadan is a special time of prayer, fasting, and service. For Muslims, these days commemorate the revelation of God's word to the prophet Muhammad in the form of the Qur'an.

I thank the men and women of the Muslim community for their contributions to America. Your love of family, and gratitude to God have strengthened the moral fabric of our country. Our Nation is stronger and more hopeful because of the generosity, talents, and compassion of our Muslim citizens.

Laura and I send our best wishes. Ramadan Mubarak.

GEORGE W. BUSH


Hat tip to Michael who included the following pictures in the email:

http://rhymeswithright.mu.nu/archives/images/wtc-9-11.jpg



The image



The image


QUIZ: What Religion Are They???

1. Task Force Black Kills Hundreds of Al Qaeda Terrorists In Black Ops Campaign.

Answer: Al-Qaeda is MUSLIM.

2. Nigerian gunmen are demanding $12 million for the release of an Israeli businessman, Ehud Avni, kidnapped at his home in the Niger River Delta city of Port Harcourt.

Answer: Nigerian majority religion is ISLAM.

3. Iran Warns Any Attack Would Start World War.

Answer: Iran is majority MUSLIM.

4. Terrorist, Abdelkader Belliraj,50, Moroccan-born Belgian has been captured: He had quite a resume: accused terrorist kingpin, assassin, gangster, double agent and hotelier, and three dozen suspected members of a network he is accused of arming for a terrorist campaign.

Belliraj’s intrigues over the last quarter of a century chart a singular history of Muslim radicalism, from a meeting with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1981 to a meal with Osama bin Laden just 10 days before the Sept. 11 attacks. (continue reading)

Answer: Muslim.

Any questions? In President George W. Bush's words, "Thank you Muslims!"

Continued with comments from Storm'n Norm'n

President Bush, "When will you ever learn?"

And there is an anti-American (pro-Muslim) Governor in Pennsylvania (When will he ever learn?):

Monday, September 1, 2008

The Devouring Dragon of Socialism Eating America


If you want to know what the future holds for America, read the following essay. It’s a blueprint that history has established for how once free nations are beguiled into Socialism and then destruction.
Some Americans are recognizing just how precarious we currently find ourselves as a nation, and that this coming election may be the final push into abject Marxism and the dissolution of the Republic itself: “Your Amerika, Not My America.
America was never meant or intended to be a democracy - we were intended to be the most fragile form of government; a Republic. It was the only kind of government that could preserve and sustain the kind of liberty we were gifted as a nation. Freedom cannot endure in a Democracy and freedom is killed outright in in a Socialist one.
But Americans have been brainwashed into discarding responsibility for hand outs and entitlements. America is far down the road to Socialism and the calls to empower government even larger are deafening. The campaigns for president are nothing but pandering propaganda to institute Socialism. Obama is being worshipped as a messiah by the media and the masses as some kind of political god in the flesh. This is a dangerous mindset that ultimately leads to massive bloodshed in revolutions that take republics to horrific dictatorships.
You’re being lied to America - by the very politicians who promise to be your saviors. Read this essay, it’s the closest thing you have to a real crystal ball if America does not do an abrupt about-face and returns to the roots of our true history and heritage.

THE SAD ROAD TO SOCLIALISM
What happens When Private Property is No Longer a Right
by John Loeffler
“But if the government undertakes to control and to raise wages, and cannot do it; if the government undertakes to care for all who may be in want, and cannot do it; if the government undertakes to support all unemployed workers, and cannot do it; if the government undertakes to lend interest-free money to all borrowers, and cannot do it; if …. ‘The state considers that its purpose is to enlighten, to develop, to enlarge, to strengthen, to spiritualize, and to sanctify the soul of the people’ — and if the government cannot do all of these things, what then? Is it not certain that after every government failure — which, alas! is more than probable — there will be an equally inevitable revolution?”-Frederic Bastiat, “The Law,” June, 1850
It’s been more than 150 years since Frederic Bastiat wrote his treatise, The Law, a small work, challenging the ravages of failing socialism thrust upon France as a result of the French revolution.
In that unique pamphlet, Bastiat points out that when the law of any country supports the moral belief systems of a people, defends the rights of said people and their property, the law is perceived as being moral; a defense against evil and those who flaunt it as being immoral. Payment of taxes and civic obligations are perceived as a virtue and those who flout this as criminals.
However, when the law becomes a source of plunder or pits itself in opposition to the morals of the people, the people perceive the law to be immoral and widely despise it. Indeed, in those times, flouting the law is extolled as virtue.
Another book by contemporary author Hernando Desoto, The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else, points out much the same thing, that the security of ownership of private property guaranteed by law for the lower and middle classes has been the essential ingredient resulting in the prosperity enjoyed by many western countries. Without this security, where the state becomes an impediment to commerce or property ownership, the people are forced to operate their economies outside of law, which is once again perceived as evil, rather than a force for good.
In essence, when a government goes from being a protector of private property to a plunderer of it, it places itself on a course of chaos, economic ruin and its own ultimate self-destruction.
The Three Steps of Socialism
Socialism is the mechanism which transforms government from its noble role as a protector into a predator and, since the citizens of our fine country seem determined to plow through socialism to its bitter end, we should examine the territory through which these three sad steps lead. The core result of socialism is the destruction of private property and wealth.
The events described in this piece are a composite of the ravages of socialism experienced in other countries. While each country does experience all the events portrayed, all socialist countries follow the same miserable path. The U.S. doesn’t have to go down this path, but it seems determines to do so.
We’re Off to See the Wizard
One of the great dangers of any government by the people is that sooner or later their politicians discover they can vote largess from the public trust. Their first experiment at this bold new adventure invariably revolves around social programs enacted in the name of morality and the public good or even solving some current crisis. Who could oppose that? “After all,” it will be argued, “don’t you care about people, or the welfare of the country, or the environment?”
The lure of this argument has been absolutely irresistible from the Roman Empire to the French and Bolshevik revolutions to Socialist Parties (D) and (R) in the USA today.
Step One - The Moral Argument: A Promise of Something for Nothing
The moral argument that we can finally solve poverty, pain, sickness, and hunger with “free” money seems just to good to be true. It usually is but it sells to the public. To fund these allegedly moral programs, the assets of the gentle citizens must be quietly taxed in the name of the public good.
Only a few wise and isolated voices warn that this baby dragon they have just hatched will grow up to be a fire-breathing monster. But not to fear, the wise voices are generally shouted down by the gentle politicians, who fiercely demonize protestors as selfish “whabbledygots” blocking the road to the perfect society. After all, how could something so noble do anything bad to the country?
At first the rich are the only ones asked to pay more of their “fair share.” In the U.S. income tax originally only affected upper-bracket individuals. In this early stage, few complain and everyone seems happy, except for those nagging voices still warning of dire consequences ahead; the ones the gentle legislators wish would just shut up. Other than that they have little to fear because the gentle legislators appear to be heroes placing our feet firmly on the road to utopia. Soon they promise all the have-nots will have and those who do have, will have just a little less. After all, as we said, it’s just their “fair share.”
Ah but time rumbles onward, and the number of people dependent upon these programs swells along with the number of “free” government programs. Free things do sell, and that’s what politicians want to do: sell their programs.
As the programs swell, they become unwieldy, requiring large bloated bureaucracies to administer them to ward off the inevitable fraud and corruption, consuming an ever greater part of the tax booty and servicing less to the originally intended recipients. In order to control the chaos of a large group of people cueing up to get something for nothing, large volumes of laws and regulations have to be written to control who gets what and where and when and who the givers and who the takers are. Now, the bureaucrats who administer these programs are also dependent on them for their livelihoods. This entrenches the program and assures its progression to Stage Two.
The Magic Dragon Isn’t Cute Anymore
Somewhere along the line, the gentle legislators discover that their baby dragon has grown and it’s snarling at them a lot. It wants much food. They’re not controlling it; it’s controlling them. However, in order to retain their prestigious position, ever-increasing sources must be found to feed their growing rapacious raptor.
The food source (tax burden) shifts rapidly downward into the middle class, as the gentle politicians coo that only the rich are being soaked. Concomitant with the increase of taxation, the miracle of hidden taxation through monetary inflation is discovered as central banks print more and more money to allow the good times to continue over and above what direct taxation will allow.
This process of monetary inflation results in debasement of the currency, causing the citizens to work harder and harder and run faster and faster to keep up with the loss of their currency’s value and the concomitant rise of prices. It’s slow at first but accelerates along an insidious exponential path. Ultimately it destroys everything the middle class works for.
Additional reptilian food sources called “revenue streams” are created. More fees, fines, “mitigation payments” and permits are required to do almost anything, driving the cost of doing everything upwards. Coupled with this is a bewildering array of regulation and laws making the business of life more and more difficult to accomplish. Big businesses can absorb this but the middle class ultimately buckles under the strain. The dragon is never satisfied.
Stage 2: Silent War Between Government and Its Citizens
At some point, the unwashed masses suspect their politicians aren’t really gentle any more much less benevolent. This is where a silent war between government and people erupts. It’s a blurry transition through never-never land when the politicians still claim to be gentle but the people sense that they have gone from being protectors of the public good and private property to a plunderers of it; from morality to immorality.
The “Bastiat” transition doesn’t take place all at once but, one by one, members of the working class realize they’re toiling like mad and getting no where. What they do make is confiscated in taxes or destroyed in inflation. They have little left over and their life’s savings are being destroyed while the politicians tell them all is just fine, creating cognitive dissonance between the hardship workers experience and the good times the politicians promise.
But those friends of the dragon on the dole still insist the dragon’s intentions are moral, even if its methods are not. As tax rates push ever higher into confiscatory ranges, self-preservation kicks in and the people take defensive action against what they no longer perceive as moral duty but legally-sanctioned plunder. They do this at the same time they pretend the gentle politicians are correct even though they know better.
The rich catch on and move their assets offshore and sometimes themselves out of the reach of the dragon; they expatriate. They have the means to structure their finances in such as way as preserve wealth. Besides, the politicians are frequently among this class so they aren’t about to let the dragon loose on themselves.
Unfortunately, the middle class doesn’t have this option, so it fights the dragon by engaging in evasive maneuvers. Citizens cheat on taxes, and seek to conceal taxable assets. Whenever possible transactions are shielded from the ever-prying eyes of the hungry dragon.
As the ravages of taxation and inflation eat out the middle class’s substance, a vibrant underground economy springs up, utilizing barter, cash, foreign currencies, precious metals or other means to conceal taxable activity. Regulatory laws are flouted as people try to “see what they can get away with.” Often times this underground economy has an organized crime component vis a vis the former Soviet Union.
The second half of Stage Two of the war kicks into gear as the dragon responds to the rising opposition and imposes a growing panoply of laws and regulations with increasing fines, penalties and prison sentences. To block the rampant flouting of law, the dragon wants to monitor everything the citizens do in order to assure that plunder shall be paid, all in the name of the rule of law, public order and morality. Civil rights break down, all in the name of morality and public security.
Every once in a while the beleaguered middle class pleads with the gentle politicians to fix the problem, unaware that it was the gentle politicians, who created it all in the first place. But politicians are more than happy to be seen as dragon slayers, and create a series of scapegoats for the problem, transferring blame for the mess and enacting a new series of programs to supposedly fix the problem. In reality, they just delay the pain, put the dragon on steroids and making the problem far worse.
The war is not without casualties. As it becomes ever more difficult for small businesses to function in the poisoned atmosphere of taxes, fees, fines, regulations and prosecutions, more of the middle class throws up its hands and goes elsewhere or becomes part of the the dependent poor. Small business goes out of business or operates illegally. As inflation devours life savings, people are wiped out. Retirees have a difficult time getting on as their lifetime achievements are destroyed. Most of the middle class slides inexorably down the slope into poverty.
There is a moral consequence as scandals erupt in the politico and monied classes. Disrespect of law is common. In the free-for-all, everyone is in it for himself and no one can afford to obey the law. Jails swell with those unfortunate enough to get caught. As more complex laws are steadily passed, finally all citizens become law-breakers.
This enables the dragon to seek pretexts for seizing the assets of citizens. Businesses are nationalized. Wage and price controls are instituted. Property ownership is forcibly transferred from those who oppose the dragon to those who support it. Retirement plans are brought under the “protection” of government and their owners left with government-issued IOUs. Assets are seized on the mere allegation of criminal activity. Indeed, law enforcement agencies encourage their members to plunder. They even make arrangements with organized crime at times. The list of plunder-and-defend possibilities is astounding.
In an effort to stem the hemorrhage, the middle class starts throwing out the rascal politicians, only to elect another group of rascals. This has little effect, since the dragon is now a self-existing monster that doesn’t require gentle politicians. By this stage it’s clear: Small and middle class businesses, ranchers and farmers all know who the enemy is: the dragon. There is no illusion that the politicians are gentle or acting in their best interests.
As the security of property ownership declines, investments flee and the economic environment becomes unstable, no one wants to invest where earnings will be heavily taxed, or even the possibility of direct confiscation on the allegation of having violated a plethora of unknowable, unobservable laws. Doing business is just too dangerous.
As doing business becomes dangerous, investments die, jobs go out of existence, increasing the pain of the working lower and middle classes. Small business is always the primary creator of employment and it is the most abused. In the end, the rich are never soaked, the middle class is destroyed and the poor discover that there is no free lunch.
Stage Three: Dies Irae: A Day of Wrath and Mourning
Ultimately the dragon cannot keep its promises. This last stage is where events turn nasty and chaotic. It is a dangerous time. It is a time no country should ever wish to reach.
Politicians are perceived as ravenous wolves. Blame and finger-pointing frenzies among politicians erupt to deflect responsibility for the chaos they have caused as they attempt to hold onto their privileged status.
Faith in government dissolves along with faith in the currency. Widespread flouting of law is common and tax payments quit. If it gets bad enough, crime flourishes, both organized and random. The domestic economy collapses into a depression and the currency just collapses.
By this time there are several violently outraged groups of people: the first group consists of those who have been dependent on the dragon for their free programs, and once the dragon reneges on its promises to provide these, they are outraged at the violation of their imagined rights to a free lunch. This group can include pensioners who paid the dragon money but discover the dragon spent it all before they retired.
The second group is the middle class, who have been beaten to death to feed the dragon and his cronies. They have lost all their livelihood and property. This is the point where many revolutions occur. Sometimes the revolutions are non-bloody and occur only at the voting booths; sometimes they are bloody and violent. It is a dangerous time because the chaos caused by the breakdown of economic and political order coupled with the collapse of morality often requires brute force to restore order, and brute force is the fertile ground for dictators and the destruction of rights.
One of the great ironies of history is that those who started the mess and benefitted greatly from it are rarely ever called to pay for the crimes and carnage they caused.
Finally the dragon dies.
Conclusion
No country trapped in socialism goes through all the events described above, which is a composite of past histories. It can turn itself at any time providing it is prepared to discipline itself the undergo the pain required to get off the public dole, much like coming off an addiction. Few societies ever want to face that, so they condemn themselves to all three stages. And the longer they wait to enact the necessary changes, the worse the pain becomes.
From currency, to energy to property rights, issues today are clouded with so much static and partisan bickering that the average person has little real comprehension of what is happening. Frequently Democrats and Republicans blame each other when often they’re both responsible and fiddle while Rome burns.
America is truly at an economic and moral crossroad, having already started into Stage Two of the sad road to socialism. Whether or not we plow through all three stages remains to be seen. It takes great moral courage to prevent this but politicians tend to be neither moral or courageous.
Thus it is up to what actions are moral, legal and necessary to see us, our families and friends safely through the tempest. But as a ray of hope, it is here where Americans in times past have always shown themselves most noble.

Sunday, August 31, 2008

The Lies Of Joe Biden - Digging himself a bigger hole. [ updated Sep 5, 2008 ]

This just in via email. The following was sent to me from a friend in Massachusetts.

Ron,

I feel an obligation to honesty and truth to share with you some facts. My Father and Mother instilled in me the values and morals of treating people fairly and always being honest. If you purchase something, you pay for it. If you borrow something, you give it back.

I have been "stiffed" three times in my 30 year professional career by someone who I rendered services to, gave a finished product to, but who refused to pay for those services even though they acknowledged the services and products were correct, were what they asked for, and were never challenged for not being correct. I am lucky in having only three, but those three hurt badly.

Joe Biden was one of those people. I worked on his 1988 Presidential campaign financial disclosure engagement. I busted it for him and got everything right. He stiffed me for over $15,000 worth of work. He refused to pay once he dropped out of the race. I did similar Capitol Hill campaign financial disclosure work for Bob Dole, Pat Buchanan, and a Democratic candidate for Ambassador to New Zealand. All of those folks paid even though they lost the election or did not get the appointment. That type of work is very demanding and very tedious because your efforts are scrutinized by Congress. Biden did not care.

I am on the Board of Directors of a company that owns a majority position in a private jet management company in Northern Virginia. They manage jets for businesses and rich folks. They also charter planes to the public. This past winter John Thompson chartered over $250,000 worth of air time. He paid every penny.

Joe Biden, in his latest unsuccessful run for President, chartered over $150,000 worth of air time. He PAID ZERO. He continues to refuse to pay stating his race is over and he is out of money. He never once complained about his flights. Joe Biden is a rich man. He could pay.

Joe Biden is a liar and a cheat. I know it first hand. Character is what life is all about. Joe Biden is a man of bad character and sets a bad example for America.

I feel compelled to share this dark side of a man who asks for your vote and trust.

Best Regards,

Bruce D. Riddle, CPA, CFP
BDR Associates, LLC
2401 Research Boulevard, Suite 101
Rockville, MD 20850

Work - (240) 631-1981
Cell - (301) 580-7800

Fax - (240) 631-2778
Website
- www.bdrtax.com



August 31, 2008

Joe Biden's Mythical Blue-Collar Roots

By Steve Chapman

Joe Biden once got in trouble for plagiarizing a speech and inflating his academic record. So it will not surprise you to find that his famous working-class background turns out to be mythical. But it may surprise you to learn that Biden isn't the one who has trouble with the facts.

In his Wednesday night speech at the Democratic convention, Biden referred to "those of us who grew up in middle-class neighborhoods like Scranton and Wilmington." In the video preceding his address, he said that the people he knew as a boy didn't regard themselves as working class but as middle class.

So what did the news media report? "Sen. Joseph R. Biden accepted the vice presidential nomination of the Democratic Party with a speech that harkened back to his working-class roots in Scranton," said The Washington Post. The Wall Street Journal informed readers that "Sen. Joe Biden showcased his working-class upbringing." The New York Times said he "spoke frequently, and earnestly, of his blue-collar background."

No, he didn't. In fact, he did just the opposite. Anyone paying attention would have noticed as much. But the legend of Joe Biden, born in a welding shop, dies hard with political reporters, who find it easier to romanticize a gritty, hardscrabble childhood than a conventionally comfortable one.

The facts are there for anyone who wants to look at them. When Joe Biden Sr. died in 2002, his obituary in the News-Journal of Wilmington reported that when he married in 1941, "he was working as a sales representative for Amoco Oil Co. in Harrisburg."

It went on, "Biden also was an executive in a Boston-based company that supplied waterproof sealant for U.S. merchant marine ships built during World War II. After the war, he co-owned an airport and crop-dusting service on Long Island." Upon moving his family to Delaware, the News-Journal said, Biden "worked in the state first as a sales manager for auto dealerships and later in real-estate condominium sales."

Executive, co-owner and manager? Those titles identify the jobholder as solidly middle class, if not better. They fall in the category of white-collar occupations, not blue-collar.

And Biden Sr. clearly knew the difference. In his book, "Promises to Keep," Biden writes that his father was "the most elegantly dressed, perfectly manicured, perfectly tailored car sales manager Wilmington, Del., had ever seen."

Biden notes that he himself could have gone to the best public high school in Delaware. Instead, he enrolled at Archmere Academy, a Catholic prep school that made him think he had "died and gone to Yale." He took a summer job to help pay the steep tuition, which today amounts to $18,450 a year.

That doesn't mean the Bidens never had financial trouble. Biden says they had to move in with his mother's parents after one setback, and he remembers "when the electric company would send a collector to the house."

For nearly a year, the father was reduced to cleaning boilers for a heating company. But middle-class people are not immune to unemployment and bad business deals, and the Bidens regained their footing before long.

So where did he get his working-class reputation? Partly it comes from Biden's streetwise demeanor and his preoccupation with the fact that his family wasn't as well-off as some of the people he knew -- which seems to have given him a permanent chip on his shoulder. Partly it comes from his frequent tributes to blue-collar folks, such as the firefighters who took him to the hospital when he suffered an aneurysm.

But mostly it reflects journalists' weakness for simple, vivid narratives. It's easy to write about a statesman who worked his way up from a log cabin. It's easy to write about a leader who came from great wealth. But someone growing up the son of a sales manager is a bit lacking in color and drama.

The errors about Biden bring to mind the recent satirical report from humorist Andy Borowitz: "A member of the U.S. Olympic diving team was disqualified from competition today when it was learned that he did not have a sufficiently compelling human story line to exploit on the NBC telecast of the worldwide sporting event."

Biden just didn't have a sufficiently compelling human story line for a presidential campaign. Luckily, he does now.

schapman@tribune.com

Copyright 2008, Creators Syndicate Inc.

Posted by: Pat

Aug 31, 08:39 AM


baracknaphobia Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So, when the likes of screeching Paul Begalia talk
> about McCain's skin cancer etc. in the context of
> Sarah Palin being a 'heartbeat' away from the
> presidency, he can perhaps, finally channel the
> sentiment of my recent trip to Ross to buy more
> covers in the event that Obama is elected. But
> even better than that, we can now respond with a
> mention that Biden may well drop dead from another
> aneurism leaving us with no president, vice or
> otherwise.


Actually the chances of Biden having another aneurism are probably less than McCain having one since they would have checked to make sure no other weaknesses existed.

Posted by: Norm

Aug 31, 08:36 AM




Typical White Supremacist...Biden, Kennedy, Clinton...and all the way back to Franklin D. Roosevelt, the guy that made all Blacks legal minorities.

Posted by: baracknaphobia

Aug 31, 08:36 AM




So, when the likes of screeching Paul Begalia talk about McCain's skin cancer etc. in the context of Sarah Palin being a 'heartbeat' away from the presidency, he can perhaps, finally channel the sentiment of my recent trip to Ross to buy more covers in the event that Obama is elected. But even better than that, we can now respond with a mention that Biden may well drop dead from another aneurism leaving us with no president, vice or otherwise.

Posted by: egb

Aug 31, 08:28 AM




How dishonest...the author failed to mention how much ambiguity there is in the terms "working class" and "middle class".

Instead, the author presents those categories as clearly defined, such that what one person considers "working class", everyone considers "working class", and what one person considers "middle class", everyone considers "middle class".