Friday, January 16, 2009

It Will Happen To You If You Let It



If video does not load click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkS2BRoCd2I

A Must Read - Pay attention now, or pay later!

The following was forwarded to me from a friend in Texas. It is a good summary of what I have been harping on for the last several years...and for the most part, all for naught. Nobody, with the exception of a few friends, has paid any heed to my warnings. Friends such as Ron Arnold and Bill Witwiki have tried in vain to broadcast these warnings over the airways (I was an occasional guest) (WRJM-FM, 93.7) until we were shut down by some left-wing lawyers [just what Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)and Harry Reid (D-NV) have pushed with their so-called Fairness Doctrine...more properly known as the un-Fairness Doctrine]. These warnings are real and if you pay no attention now, you'll pay later.


I do disagree with one segment of the Rev. Williams' article where he says, "They" have given up on implementing the North American Union..." The plan is all but implemented as you can see the new monetary unit, the Amero, has already been distributed to foreign banks. This one from a bank in Belgium:
You should also take note that when the Amero is distributed and your dollars are turned in (mandatory) that you will lose approximately 90% of your spending power. So if you haven't saved by now, it's too late (Maybe you'll win the lottery!)
Also, regarding the North American Union (the power elite's Security and Prosperity Agreement), note the map on the 50 Amero note. You should be smarter than a 5th grader to recognize that it's not the good ole U. S. of A. This Bush-Clinton-Bush conspiracy is not a theory...pay attention when they speak! - Norman E. Hooben

Copy of e-mail message follows: (H-T Hoot Gibson)

Rev. Lindsey Williams: (Very Important)

Dear Friends and Family:

For some years now, I have been saying that the "money changers" and "banksters" in London and New York are setting us up. They're playing a money game in which all of the marbles are on the table. It seems that this game is now in the bottom of the Ninth inning. Tonight I listened to the Reverend Lindsey Williams on American Voice Radio, hosted by Ms. Gianni Hayes. Some people will recognize his name, some won't. I am not going to go into a lengthy bio. You will have to do that research yourself, assuming you even have an interest. I will only mention that he is the man who,because of his contacts in the oil industry, correctly predicted that the world price for oil would fall from roughly $140.00 per barrel to less than $50.00 per barrel. He claims to be well connected to what he calls "the power elite," and I firmly believe that he is telling the truth. But, what he calls the power elite is just one level of corporate America. He interacted with the high paid servants of the oil industry. That would be the executives of ARCO and other big oil companies when he served as chaplain for the Alaska pipeline. He knows and admits that the "real power" is much further up the food chain. Bottom line? Personally, as far as I am concerned, Reverend Williams character and credibility are unimpeachable. I think it is very important to pay attention to what he has to say.

After two hours of interview I had four legal pages of notes. I am going to relate as best I can the highlights of that interview. Some of you will get duplications because some of you are on more than one of my mailing lists. Please understand. I consider this matter to be extremely important!

This will be rough, since it will be stream of consciousness, right off of my note pad. But it is the message that is important and not the delivery.

1. The reason why the "elite" dropped the world price of oil down below $50.00 a barrel was to wage economic warfare against the Arab/ OPEC countries. "They" seek to bankrupt OPEC countries., especially the Iranians by cutting their revenues more than 75%. (Do you think that is why Mr. Chavez is so belligerent towards the USA?) Why would they do that? Because Iran and the other OPEC states are getting too strong and too wealthy. The Iranians are running an oil bourse, that effectively sidesteps the oil markets of New York and London. (My note. Even worse they are trading oil not for dollars but for other currencies such as the Euro. This is a direct threat to the western banking system.) According to Williams, this will not be allowed to continue. This is about control!! "What is happening today has been planned for years and there are other more nefarious motives, which will be outlined below.

2. The world reserve currency is the dollar and dollar denominated assets such as U.S. Treasury Debt. The Arabs have been recycling their petro dollars into U.S. Treasury debt for thirty five years. (My comment. The Arabs/OPEC have been financing our national debt. This is per agreement with the New York Banking establishment, and the U.S. Treasury. This arrangement has been part of the world order since the collapse of the Bretton Wood Agreement in 1971. This is now coming to an end.) Now that they are being bankrupted (intentionally) the OPEC/Arab states are no longer willing or able to buy Treasury Debt. Hence, the interest on the National Debt (which now exceeds 15 Trillion dollars?) is not being financed by foreign creditors. China, India and other Asian states are doing the same thing. "They are running from dollar denominated assets." Therefore, the Federal Reserve is now buying up all the Treasury Debt issued by the U.S. Treasury to cover the debt maintenance on the national debt. (My Comment. This is called monetization and it is highly inflationary.) (My note. To put this in perspective, the so-called bailout, which was really nothing but a heist without the guns, in the amount of 700 billion dollars, was actually in the amount of 8.5 trillion dollars. All of this sum represents more debt "created" by the Federal Reserve which is then added to the National Debt. In addition to being extremely inflationary, we will be paying interest ("tribute?") on this debt to the banksters in perpetuity.)

3. Gold and Oil generally move in tandem i.e., when oil goes up, so does gold. This has not been the case since the oil market collapsed. Gold has shown huge relative strength to the price of oil. Because of intense world wide demand and speculation
the relationship between gold and oil will no longer continue. Gold will now move independently of oil.

4. This year, 2009,
the USA will face total financial collapse. The dollar will also collapse in value, and it will take years for the U.S.A. to recover.

5. OPEC has been cutting production steadily but they cannot influence the supply of oil enough to affect the world price.

6. Ms. Hayes tried to get pastor Lindsey to point the finger at a particular ethnic group. He would not do so, but much to his credit he said that the Papacy and the Jesuits had nothing to do with what was going on.

7. He said we have more than enough oil in the USA for our own needs, but the so-called "elite" as he calls them have no intention of EVER developing a major oil field in the continental U.S. or Alaska. "They" will not allow this country to become energy independent, and they intend to continue to keep us dependent on foreign oil sources. (My note. Dependency is another word for control.) Later he mentioned the field just disclosed by the USGS which is located in Montana and N. Dakota. (This I believe is the Bakken Field.) He said that it contains 320 billion barrels which is only 10% of the reserves. This oil is worth about 15 trillion dollars. (My note. In others words the 300 BB is the easy oil. Its the oil that will flow out of the ground under its own pressure. That means total reserves of this one field using secondary and tertiary recovery techniques are probably near three trillion barrels. To put that in perspective the Saudis have reserves of about 260 Billion barrels.) One of the senators from Montana has been screaming about this to Congress. He has been totally ignored by both Congress and the media.

8. Regarding Obama. "It did not matter who won the election." The handlers around Obama are, for the most part, members of the Council on Foreign Relations. "The elite." "The globalists." They are essentially the same people who ran the Clinton administration and both Bush administrations. "There will be absolutely no change in either our domestic or foreign policy. (My note. The people who have looted this country will continue to loot this country.) Regarding, economic policies "Obama" will be another Hoover." In other words Obama will follow orders and will take the fall for the economic calamity that is about to unfold. (My note. Obama is another feckless, empty suit, who was selected, trained, groomed, packaged and sold to a gullible, naive and lazy American public.)

9. Because of the tremendous cut in revenue to the Arab states (75%.) Dubai will become a "wasteland." Already they have suspended all construction on major buildings in Dubai. "There will be no change in the future. "

10. All of the Arab states are sliding into a depression. There budget planning is based upon $80.00 oil, so they are cutting there expenditures dramatically----especially infrastructure and public works.

11. In addition to no longer buying our treasury debt, the Arab/OPEC states are now actively selling what treasury debt they hold. This is also occurring throughout Asia, especially china. This of course amounts to Trillions of dollars of Treasury debt etc. (My Note. If the Fed is now monetizing these debt instruments, which they must surely do since they are the buyer of last resort, this will also be highly inflationary.)
The Arabs/OPEC/Asia are converting their dollars and dollar denominated assets to gold and other hard assets.

12. The long term goal of "these people" is to control and own everything. "They intend to break us." (My comment. Geeeez. I am confused. Here, all along, I have been told by the media that our enemies are in the middle east.)

13. Gasoline will remain at approximately $1.50 per gallon for the next year to a year and half. This is killing the State government gas tax revenues. Total, state tax revenues are collapsing. Expect many states to go bankrupt----especially California.

14. "They" intend to control the world price of oil by dumping massive amounts of oil on the market to keep the price down. They intend to use, among other sources, an oil field in Indonesia that "they" just brought "on line." This field has reserves of more than 300 billion barrels. He also mentioned another field in northern Russia.

15. The ultimate objective is to "
destroy the USA." At the same time "they" seek to consolidate control over all assets of any significance. "They" already own and control, the banks, and the media. (My note. Williams did not say, but obviously, they also control the oil industry.) "They" intend to gain control of the entire auto industry. According to Williams "why not buy the auto industry? All they need to do is create the credit in a computer entry." The takeover of the auto industry will happen when the time is right. They also seek control of all the real estate that is worth owning. According to pastor Williams, everyone is going to be paying rent by the time this thing is over. Again he emphasized that "After years of collapse they intend to own everything."

16. Russia is a major world power. Tensions will increase between the west and Russia. Look for a return of the cold war. (My note. He did not say it but I got the feeling that the Russians are not anxious to become part of the New World Order. Of course this oil price suppression is really hurting the Russians. They have had to devalue the Ruble seven times.)

17. "There will be no attack on Iran. There will no war with Iran." "The American people will not stand for it." They intend to accomplish their goal of destroying Iran by economic means. "They will accomplish their goal of destroying Iran without the need of another 911 false flag operation."

18. "Within six to nine months we will be into full blown hyper inflation." "Buy everything you need right NOW!!!!" "Prepare your dinner table NOW! It is going to be 1933 all over again."

19. "The nations of the world, especially China, are dumping U.S. currency and buying gold.

20. "The reason why it is getting so hard for people to buy gold is that "they" do not want people to be able to protect themselves."
"They don't want people to have something that is REAL." (My note. It is hard to find any significant quantities of gold anywhere. Silver too!)

21. "They fear people buying gold because it is something "they" can't control. They feel that only they, the elite, should own gold.""They regard it as real money."

22. Their greatest fear is that the people will "wake up" from their slumber. "In fact they are terrified." They do not intend to impose martial law. They believe this would cause an armed revolution and that they do not want. Hmmmm. ( I guess that is why the founders included the Second Amendment in the Constitution.) "A revolution means they could lose control."

23. "The American people are terrified of Obama." "The day after the election the gun shops in the USA were emptied by alarmed and frightened citizens." "Wal Mart reported that the day after the election their sales of ammunition went up by 400%. It was a record for ammunition sales in a twenty four hour period. (My note. This continued for several weeks after the election.) Evidently this behavior caused a great deal of alarm.

24. "They" have given up on implementing the North American Union and are "going all the way." The goal is total global control of everything. Global Government. Global bank. Global Currency. Etc. (My note. This NWO globalism business has always included a global army, and a global religion. I am sure we will be hearing more about global religion from "Americas pastor," Rick Warren)

Pastor Williams was asked what can we do? He made some suggestion which are not surprising. They are:

1. Get your spiritual house in order. (My note. I totally agree with Rev. Williams. At the core, this struggle is spiritual in nature. It is also a war on human consciousness. And, It is about both controlling and breaking the human spirit. That can only happen if we allow it to happen. "They" need us to surrender our God given powers to them for them to accomplish their evil deeds. Think, think, think! People must learn to use the magnificent brain that God gave us. Be skeptical of everything. In the coming months
accept nothing at face value. Investigate everything. To do that you will need to turn off the "electronic sewer" "they" call television. Better yet, throw the damn thing in the dump where it belongs.The electronic and print media are a wasteland designed to keep you distracted, misled, confused and misinformed. You will NEVER discover anything of value watching boobokvision. Never!!!! Trust nobody until that person has EARNED your trust. And above all, question everything, especially if it comes from people in a position of authority. And, finally recognize that "the enemy" is within. The enemies of freedom are right here. Inside the gates.)

2. Plant a garden.

3. Get out of debt.
He said debt is the main weapon of subversion and control used by "these people." (My note. I totally agree with that remark unless all of your debt is unsecured and you own no real assets. Can't squeeze blood from a stone.)

4. Store lots of food. "The farm economy is collapsing."

That was all he had to say, but I am sure everyone on this list can fill in the rest.

I would only add, that disclosure is what these parasitic cockroaches fear the most. So, feel free to circulate this memo. But, PLEASE remove my address. I don't want to be spammed. I have already won so many lotteries I just can't collect the money fast enough.

Get ready. Be prepared. Protect yourself and your family. Protect your fellow Americans.

Keep smiling!!! It confuses "the enemy."
.
Good luck and God bless! Choose life!!!!


Related stories:
Russia Will Dominate The World
Obama Urged To Shape New Economic Order
Hillary Clinton's Radical Summer
A CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER

Bird Strikes ...see the video -

Bird gets ingested in airplane engine... see video below

Bird Strikes That Caused U.S. Airways Hidson River Crash are Transportation and Environmental Problem

January 15, 2009 04:33 PM ET Maura Judkis

A U.S. Airways Flight out of LaGuardia crashed into the Hudson River today after it was struck by birds - a simple, but extremely dangerous hazard for aircraft around the world. The plane is still in the water, but all passengers are reported to have escaped into rescue craft.

Bird strikes, the aviation term for a bird hitting a windshield of a plane, or getting sucked into an engine fan, are as much an environmental problem as a transportation problem. They often occur at low altitudes, during takeoff or landing. Animal advocates and groups like the International Bird Strike Committee often work with airports and the Federal Aviation Administration to protect both birds and passengers from catastrophe. There are a few ways to do this:

  • Design airports to avoid bird habitats. The FAA's website lists gulls and waterfowl among the most dangerous to aircraft. Knowing the proximity of wetlands and bird habitats to runways can help mitigate risk.
  • Modify the environment of the airport to make it unattractive to birds. The International Bird Strike Committee, says that this could including removing trees and bushes from the area, eliminating or netting water bodies, and ceasing agricultural activity near the airport.
  • Modify flight paths. When birds are migrating, certain paths can be avoided.
  • Use other animals to keep birds away. Airports have successfully experimented with using dogs to chase away birds. Some airports have used falcons as predators for the smaller birds.
  • Capture and relocate birds. Birds can also legally be killed by aircraft authorities who have obtained the proper permissions, if the species is not endangered or protected.

Reader Comments

Bird Strikes

Why can't airplane manufacturers come up with a design to protect engine such as a grid on the front of the engine that stops the bird getting into the engine. Or a sharp grid that slices birds into small pieces so that the engine can digest it better. It may sound funny, but something has to be done to safe guard lives.


bird protection for aircraft

When birds get ingested into aircraft engines the problem is that the debris limits airflow and and the blades in the compressor section get smaller and smaller as the debris progresses thru the engine Finally the compressor will stall and backfire.

The birds can actrally penetrate the skin of the aircraft. The blades of the turbine are very hard. If you had a screen on the front of the engine it would just get clogged.

There is no easy awnswer to the problem but there are many protocals in place to watch the birds warn the birds with sound etc.

The only thing i can think of is for the aircraft to have a special horn or sound system to warn the birds. i do not think that has been tried. I am an artist and that is MY IDEA. So give me credit.

I am a former jet engine mechanic. - End of comments.

Bird gets ingested in airplane engine... see video here:

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Obama becomes ‘Renegade’ on U.S. secret service list





Moscow News
Obama becomes ‘Renegade’ on U.S. secret service list

RIA Novosti - U.S. president-elect Barack Obama has been assigned Renegade as his secret service codename, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Obama's wife is to be known as Renaissance, his daughter Malia has been given the name Radiance and her sister Sasha Rosebud.

Although the "secret names" are usually widely known the White House Communications Agency, which assigns the names, has not revealed its selection method, a tradition started after WWII.

The only restriction is they should be easily pronounced and clearly understood by those transmitting and receiving radio communications. However, some thought has obviously gone into the names.

Vice-president-elect Joe Biden, who has Irish roots, has been assigned the codename Celtic.

Vice President Dick Cheney, a keen fisherman, is known as Angler.

Outgoing-president George Bush is known as Tumbler - his father was known as Timberwolf. Ronald Reagan, a former Hollywood actor who appeared in numerous Westerns, was known as Rawhide, John F. Kennedy Lancer and Bill Clinton Eagle.

Pope John Paul II was assigned the codename Halo during a visit to the U.S. and Britain‘s Queen Elizabeth II is known as Kittyhawk or Redfern.

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Thursday, January 15, 2009

Let 'em crawl... Expropriation hasn't worked so well for Hugo Chavez. "Oh the poor thing, I feel deeply sorry...yeah, right!"

From Investors Business Daily

Hugo Crawls Back

By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY Posted Thursday, January 15, 2009 4:20 PM PT

Energy: Low oil prices and plunging output have seen Venezuela's Hugo Chavez come groveling back to U.S. oil firms for new investment after abusing them earlier. But Big Oil, once bitten, should now be twice shy.

The only reason left to make a long-term investment in Venezuela is to bet that Hugo Chavez won't be around long enough to rip them off again.

Chevron, Shell, and France's Total have quietly been approached for investment, the New York Times reports, even as they still smart from the expropriation of their assets in 2007.

It wasn't just the billions in losses. It's also unlikely they have forgotten the fireworks, troops, banners and torch-bearing Chavista mobs seizing their property in the name of "the people."

So it's quite a humiliation for the strongman, who once boasted, "We are taking back our country," to be back begging for help.

Expropriation hasn't worked so well. Chavez's state oil company, PDVSA, had virtually nothing left in its coffers after squandering $700 billion in oil earnings on political schemes like light bulb and milk factories. It needs $20 billion to develop its Orinoco Basin projects, which could produce 1.2 million barrels a day, but it can only do it with partners who have both capital and technology.

Chavez's original plan was to replace U.S. oil companies with state-controlled ones from Iran, Russia, Vietnam, Belarus and China. China, for one, wasn't impressed with Hugo's terms and didn't bite. Others, like Iran and Belarus, don't have the technology. Venezuelan oil, remember, is heavy and takes lots of refining.

That's partly why output has fallen to 2.3 million barrels a day, down 32% from 3.4 million a decade ago. Chavez not only expropriated assets of five major private oil companies without paying, he also demanded that a 20% supply cut dictated by his OPEC membership come from remaining private oil firms, not Venezuela.

It was fun while the high oil prices lasted. But the reality is, they never do. Oil is an industry with a long cycle that evens out $134 a barrel oil with $9 a barrel oil over many years. High oil price years are a market signal to drill more with investment, not a license to fling dollar bills. Companies invest knowing this cycle exists.

CIA Director Michael Hayden said Thursday that a $40-per-barrel oil price means Venezuela's high-sulfur crude will fetch just $30 a barrel. "That's real trouble for that (Chavez) regime — so you could see a lot of fracturing there," he said.

Confident that high oil prices would last forever, Chavez is now in the winter he thought would never come. Now that it has, the companies he burned are unlikely to make big investments. Why do so when they might be confiscated when prices get high again?

Venezuela is now facing a steep investment drop in other industries, thanks to Chavez' foolish expropriations of farms, steel companies, cement companies, electricity companies and pretty much anything productive. After attracting less than $1 billion in 2008, investment turned negative in the last quarter of 2008.

The Heritage Foundation, in its 2009 Index of Economic Freedom released this week, ranked Venezuela No. 28 out of 29, losing out to investment "paradises" like Bolivia, Haiti and Ecuador. Only Cuba was lower. Things are unlikely to change under Chavez.

Oil companies don't invest on emotion. They need assurances that they won't be expropriated again, and Chavez has a huge credibility problem there. That said, our need for oil remains.

Instead of risking expropriation in Venezuela again, why don't we let our oil companies drill for the hundreds of billions of barrels of oil reserves we have right here in the U.S.?

In the meantime, if any oil company says yes to Chavez, it might not be such good news for him. It might signal a cold political calculation that Chavez won't be around to steal from them again.

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Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Coming To America - A must see video

Pamela Geller, Atlas Shrugs* Interviews Geert Wilders (*Atlas Shrugs website)

Related stories... Europe is falling... Stop The Madness...

Goodbye America...our last best hope on earth ...

Useful Idiots ... (courtesy of RadarSite)

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At some point when rights are trampled upon... Will you cross the line?

When liberty is being destroyed, you must stand in defense of it....
In the heritage of this country, there is a line and there are graves that mark that line...
They are the graves of our patriot dead...
They are the graves of the people that went into battle in order to make sure that the Constitution of the United States would be preserved that the liberty that it represents would survive...

Standing? Just what is Standing?

Law. the right to initiate or participate in a legal action.

According to Amendment I of the United States Constitution every citizen has the right "...to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Therefor Mr. Obama, I have a grievance..., "Show me your official birth certificate... Now!"

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UN must investigate Hamas - What's this? A joke!

I received this E-mail today (see below)

Sure! I'll sign your petition but it won't do any good! The United Nations is worthless and as far as it's UNICEF program goes, it is just a fund-raiser department for UN personnel to rape woman and children in un-developed countries around the world...

"With the United Nations already under fire for the Oil-for-Food mega-scandal and other corruption, sensational allegations of rampant sexual exploitation and rape of young girls and women by the U.N.'s so-called "peacekeepers" and civilian staffers in the Congo is dragging the global body's reputation to an all-time low." Read more...

"Members of the United Nations peacekeeping forces in southern Sudan are facing allegations of raping and abusing children as young as 12, The Daily Telegraph reported today. ...Read more...

E-mail follows: (Video included)

----- Original Message -----


To: N H

Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2009 10:42 AM

Subject: UN must investigate Hamas





!!! ACTION ALERT !!!

SIGN OUR PETITION TO THE U.N. CALLING FOR AN INVESTIGATION OF HAMAS’ TREATMENT OF CHILDREN



Dear Norman,

Yesterday, we sent you the link to a 3 and ½ minute video posted on YouTube showing Hamas’ abuse and exploitation of children. On this video, you will see how Hamas terrorists and their sympathizers begin training children as young as 1 year old to be terrorists; how they brainwash children to hate and want to kill Jews; and how they use children as human shields to protect themselves from opposing fire.

If you didn’t see this disturbing video, please click on the image below.

Once you’ve seen this, we’re sure you’ll agree that international attention must be drawn to this outrage. That’s why we have crafted a petition to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, calling on him to initiate an investigation into Hamas’ terrible abuse and exploitation of children in the Gaza Strip.

To read and sign the petition, please click here. This is about more than the children of Gaza. This is about exposing to the world the horrors of the jihadist doctrine that drives Hamas and its virulent, ugly anti-Semitism. It’s about giving the world yet one more perspective on the evil inherent in Islamofascism, the perspective that I witnessed first-hand as a child used as a human shield by the Palestinians in Lebanon, as detailed in my New York Times Best Seller Because They Hate: A survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America.

It will only take you a few moments to sign the petition. When we present it to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, it will include only your name and state.

I appeal to your conscience to join me today. Children are the future. Hitler used the children to build a killing machine without conscience. The Islamists are doing the same today preparing and calling for the second holocaust. We cannot sit silent and allow this to happen under our watch. Join me in sending a strong message to the UN saying, “not in my name, not in my time, we demand an investigation and action about this.”

Please forward this to everyone you know. If you haven’t yet seen the video below, please do so right away. Then click here to sign our petition.

I thank you and our future generation will thank you.

Brigitte Gabriel




And if you think for one moment that the United Nations will stop this, you need to do some serious thinking...The United Nations always takes the side of Hamas!



The United Nations is the most corrupt organization in the world...sometimes outdone by the Democratic Party of the United States of America!

Atlas Shrugged Re-Visited - "the looters and their laws."

From the Wall Street Journal

'Atlas Shrugged': From Fiction to Fact in 52 Years

Some years ago when I worked at the libertarian Cato Institute, we used to label any new hire who had not yet read "Atlas Shrugged" a "virgin." Being conversant in Ayn Rand's classic novel about the economic carnage caused by big government run amok was practically a job requirement. If only "Atlas" were required reading for every member of Congress and political appointee in the Obama administration. I'm confident that we'd get out of the current financial mess a lot faster.

[Atlas Shrugged] Getty Images

The art for a 1999 postage stamp.

Many of us who know Rand's work have noticed that with each passing week, and with each successive bailout plan and economic-stimulus scheme out of Washington, our current politicians are committing the very acts of economic lunacy that "Atlas Shrugged" parodied in 1957, when this 1,000-page novel was first published and became an instant hit.

Rand, who had come to America from Soviet Russia with striking insights into totalitarianism and the destructiveness of socialism, was already a celebrity. The left, naturally, hated her. But as recently as 1991, a survey by the Library of Congress and the Book of the Month Club found that readers rated "Atlas" as the second-most influential book in their lives, behind only the Bible.

For the uninitiated, the moral of the story is simply this: Politicians invariably respond to crises -- that in most cases they themselves created -- by spawning new government programs, laws and regulations. These, in turn, generate more havoc and poverty, which inspires the politicians to create more programs . . . and the downward spiral repeats itself until the productive sectors of the economy collapse under the collective weight of taxes and other burdens imposed in the name of fairness, equality and do-goodism.

In the book, these relentless wealth redistributionists and their programs are disparaged as "the looters and their laws." Every new act of government futility and stupidity carries with it a benevolent-sounding title. These include the "Anti-Greed Act" to redistribute income (sounds like Charlie Rangel's promises soak-the-rich tax bill) and the "Equalization of Opportunity Act" to prevent people from starting more than one business (to give other people a chance). My personal favorite, the "Anti Dog-Eat-Dog Act," aims to restrict cut-throat competition between firms and thus slow the wave of business bankruptcies. Why didn't Hank Paulson think of that?

These acts and edicts sound farcical, yes, but no more so than the actual events in Washington, circa 2008. We already have been served up the $700 billion "Emergency Economic Stabilization Act" and the "Auto Industry Financing and Restructuring Act." Now that Barack Obama is in town, he will soon sign into law with great urgency the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan." This latest Hail Mary pass will increase the federal budget (which has already expanded by $1.5 trillion in eight years under George Bush) by an additional $1 trillion -- in roughly his first 100 days in office.

The current economic strategy is right out of "Atlas Shrugged": The more incompetent you are in business, the more handouts the politicians will bestow on you. That's the justification for the $2 trillion of subsidies doled out already to keep afloat distressed insurance companies, banks, Wall Street investment houses, and auto companies -- while standing next in line for their share of the booty are real-estate developers, the steel industry, chemical companies, airlines, ethanol producers, construction firms and even catfish farmers. With each successive bailout to "calm the markets," another trillion of national wealth is subsequently lost. Yet, as "Atlas" grimly foretold, we now treat the incompetent who wreck their companies as victims, while those resourceful business owners who manage to make a profit are portrayed as recipients of illegitimate "windfalls."

When Rand was writing in the 1950s, one of the pillars of American industrial might was the railroads. In her novel the railroad owner, Dagny Taggart, an enterprising industrialist, has a FedEx-like vision for expansion and first-rate service by rail. But she is continuously badgered, cajoled, taxed, ruled and regulated -- always in the public interest -- into bankruptcy. Sound far-fetched? On the day I sat down to write this ode to "Atlas," a Wall Street Journal headline blared: "Rail Shippers Ask Congress to Regulate Freight Prices."

In one chapter of the book, an entrepreneur invents a new miracle metal -- stronger but lighter than steel. The government immediately appropriates the invention in "the public good." The politicians demand that the metal inventor come to Washington and sign over ownership of his invention or lose everything.

The scene is eerily similar to an event late last year when six bank presidents were summoned by Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson to Washington, and then shuttled into a conference room and told, in effect, that they could not leave until they collectively signed a document handing over percentages of their future profits to the government. The Treasury folks insisted that this shakedown, too, was all in "the public interest."

Ultimately, "Atlas Shrugged" is a celebration of the entrepreneur, the risk taker and the cultivator of wealth through human intellect. Critics dismissed the novel as simple-minded, and even some of Rand's political admirers complained that she lacked compassion. Yet one pertinent warning resounds throughout the book: When profits and wealth and creativity are denigrated in society, they start to disappear -- leaving everyone the poorer.

One memorable moment in "Atlas" occurs near the very end, when the economy has been rendered comatose by all the great economic minds in Washington. Finally, and out of desperation, the politicians come to the heroic businessman John Galt (who has resisted their assault on capitalism) and beg him to help them get the economy back on track. The discussion sounds much like what would happen today:

Galt: "You want me to be Economic Dictator?"

Mr. Thompson: "Yes!"

"And you'll obey any order I give?"

"Implicitly!"

"Then start by abolishing all income taxes."

"Oh no!" screamed Mr. Thompson, leaping to his feet. "We couldn't do that . . . How would we pay government employees?"

"Fire your government employees."

"Oh, no!"

Abolishing the income tax. Now that really would be a genuine economic stimulus. But Mr. Obama and the Democrats in Washington want to do the opposite: to raise the income tax "for purposes of fairness" as Barack Obama puts it.

David Kelley, the president of the Atlas Society, which is dedicated to promoting Rand's ideas, explains that "the older the book gets, the more timely its message." He tells me that there are plans to make "Atlas Shrugged" into a major motion picture -- it is the only classic novel of recent decades that was never made into a movie. "We don't need to make a movie out of the book," Mr. Kelley jokes. "We are living it right now."

Mr. Moore is senior economics writer for The Wall Street Journal editorial page.

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Sunday, January 11, 2009

Paul Newman died that day too...

Prologue: For all of you who have written to me regarding the title of this post...I am not the author. The faux title may not be fitting for "All the truth fit to print." but I let it remain for it was chosen by the author...and for good intentions. You may have not come here to read an obituary of Ed Freeman because he was not as well known as Paul Newman...nor Clark Gable, John Wayne, or even Superman. But if I were to wrap all of the Hollywood stars in the embodiment of a real Superman, I would pick Ed Freeman over the entire bunch! Most of the heros of filmdom were imaginary, Ed Freeman was real! ~ Norman E. Hooben
ps: Paul Newman died on a different day.


You're an 18 or 19 year old kid. You're critically wounded, and dying in the jungle in the Ia Drang Valley, 11-14-1965, LZ Xray, Vietnam. Your infantry unit is outnumbered 8 - 1, and the enemy fire is so intense, from 100 or 200 yards away, that your own Infantry Commander has ordered the MediVac helicopters to stop coming in.
You're lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns, and you know you're not getting out. Your family is 1/2 way around the world, 12,000 miles away, and you'll never see them again. As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day.
Then, over the machine gun noise, you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter, and you look up to see an un-armed Huey, but it doesn't seem real, because no Medi-Vac markings are on it.
Ed Freeman is coming for you. He's not Medi-Vac, so it's not his job, but he's flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire, after the Medi-Vacs were ordered not to come.
He's coming anyway.
And he drops it in, and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 2 or 3 of you on board.
Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire, to the Doctors and Nurses.
And, he kept coming back.... 13 more times..... And took about 30 of you and your buddies out, who would never have gotten out.
Medal of Honor Recipient Ed Freeman died last Wednesday at the age of 80, in Boise, ID ......May God rest his soul.....
(Oh yeah, Paul Newman died that day too. I guess you knew that -- He got a lot more press than Ed Freeman.)

The following from HeroBracelets.org

In memory of Ed Freeman. Medal of Honor winner.

You’re an 18 or 19 year old kid.
You’re critically wounded,
and dying in the jungle in the
Ia Drang Valley, 11-14-1965.

LZ Xray, Vietnam.

Your Infantry Unit is outnumbered 8 - 1,
and the enemy fire is so intense,
from 100 or 200 yards away,
that your own Infantry Commander
has ordered the Medi-Vac helicopters to stop coming in.

You’re lying there,
listening to the enemy machine guns,
and you know you’re not getting out.
Your family is 1/2 way around the world,
12,000 miles away,
and you’ll never see them again.
As the world starts to fade in and out,
you know this is the day.

Then, over the machine gun noise,
you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter,
and you look up to see a Huey,
but it doesn’t seem real,
because no Medi-Vac markings are on it.

Ed Freeman is coming for you.
He’s not Medi-Vac, so it’s not his job,
but he’s flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire,
after the Medi-Vacs were ordered not to come.

He’s coming anyway.

And he drops it in,
and sits there in the machine gun fire,
as they load 2 or 3 of you on board.

Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire,
to the Doctors and Nurses.

And, he kept coming back…… 13 more times…..
and took about 30 of you and your buddies out,
who would never have gotten out.

Medal of Honor Winner Ed Freeman died yesterday Aug 20
at 80, in Boise, ID.

None of that is Hollywood fiction!

God Bless Ed Freeman.

——————————–

Medal of Honor
FREEMAN, ED W.
Rank and organization: Captain, U.S. Army, Company A, 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion,
First Cavalry Division (Airmobile)
Place and date: Ia Drang Valley, Republic of Vietnam, 14 November 1965
Born: 1928
Citation:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Captain Ed W. Freeman, United States Army, distinguished himself by numerous acts of conspicuous gallantry and extraordinary intrepidity on 14 November, 1965, while serving with Company A, 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion, First Cavalry Division (Airmobile). As a flight leader and second in command of a 16-helicopter lift unit, he supported a heavily engaged American infantry battalion at landing zone X-ray in the Ia Drang Valley, Republic of Vietnam. The infantry unit was almost out of ammunition, after taking some of the heaviest casualties of the war, fighting off a relentless attack from a highly motivated, heavily armed enemy force. When the infantry commander closed the helicopter landing zone, due to intense direct enemy fire, Captain Freeman risked his own life by flying his unarmed helicopter through a gauntlet of enemy fire, time after time, delivering critically needed ammunition, water and medical supplies to the underseige battalion. His flights had a direct impact on the battle’s outcome by providing the engaged units with timely supplies of ammunition critical to their survival without which they would almost surely have experienced a much greater loss of life. After medical evacuation helicopters refused to fly into the area, due to intense enemy fire, Captain Freeman flew 14 separate rescue missions, providing life- saving evacuation of an estimates 30 seriously wounded soldiers, some of whom would not have survived, had he not acted.All flights were made into a small emergency landing zone within 100 to 200 meters of the defensive perimeter where heavily committed units were perilously holding off the attacking elements. Captain Freeman’s selfless acts of great valor, extraordinary perseverance and intrepidity were far above and beyond the call of duty or mission and set a superb example of leadership and courage for all of his peers. Captain Freeman’s extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit and the United States Army.

—————————————-

Bush awards Medal of Honor to Vietnam helicopter pilot

WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Bush on Monday, July 16, 2001, presented the nation’s highest military honor to an Army chopper pilot who is credited with evacuating wounded soldiers and delivering supplies to a battle zone during the Vietnam War.

Thirty-six years ago, Capt. Ed W. Freeman, a flight leader and second-in-command of a 16-helicopter lift unit, flew his unarmed helicopter through enemy fire to deliver ammunition, water and medical supplies to an infantry battalion engaged in battle in what was then the Republic of Vietnam.

“He served his country and his comrades to the fullest, rising above and beyond anything the Army or the nation could have ever asked,” Bush said.

The president draped the Medal of Honor around the neck of Freeman, of Boise, Idaho, in a brief ceremony before other medal winners, Freeman’s family, government officials and members of Congress.

According to the citation, Freeman “supported a heavily engaged American infantry battalion” in the la Drang Valley.

The infantry unit “was almost out of ammunition, after taking some of the heaviest casualties of the war, fighting off a relentless attack from a highly motivated, heavily armed enemy force,” the citation reads.

“When the infantry commander closed the helicopter landing zone, due to intense direct enemy fire, Capt. Freeman risked his own life.”

According to the citation, “his flights had a direct impact on the battle’s outcome by providing the engaged units with timely supplies of ammunition critical to their survival without which they would almost surely have experienced a much greater loss of life.”

The citation said Freeman flew 14 separate rescue missions, “providing life-saving evacuation of an estimated 30 seriously wounded soldiers, some of whom would not have survived, had he not acted.”

Monday’s ceremony was the first time Bush has handed out the Medal of Honor.

  1. Comment by Nolan Raborn

    God bless men like Captain Ed Freeman. There are not nearly enough of them left in this once great nation and we dearly need more of them. Rest in peace Captain.

  2. Comment by Brad B. Rininger

    Captain Ed Freeman is a Man whom in spite of policial wars turned ugly and physical, chose to ignor all improprieties, wrong motives and wrong doing and unfairness, but to elevate the importance of life even beyond his own. Long shall he live in heaven aside the one he so rightfully portrayed. God bless Mr. Captain Ed Freeman and his family.
    Brad

  3. Comment by ron langley

    truely an american hero and there were many.

  4. Comment by Tom Barrett

    Can anyone out there send me an Ed Freeman bracelet? I have two other bracelets, but this would have the greatest meaning.
    Tom Barrett
    32275 SW Arbor Lake Drive
    Wilsonville, OR 97070

    Thank you.

  5. Comment by Homer R. Steedly Jr.

    I have talked to several helicopter pilots and their crew members who flew for me in Vietnam. They all thought we grunts were the brave, heroic ones. Let me correct that! We were hidden, often below ground, out of direct sight and fire. You guys were up in the air, where every enemy soldier could clearly see and shoot at you. YOU ARE THE HEROES!!! God bless each and every one of you.
    Bravo and Delta Companies 1st of the 8th Infantry, 4th Infantry Division, August 1968 - March 1970. We owe you our very lives.

  6. Comment by Robert Granger

    Having served with Capt. Steedly on Hill 467, there are a large number of us grunts that would not be enjoing life, if it were not for the brave pilots and crews of those ships.
    May good bless them all.


The War In Iraq...Winning isn't news! Damn the New York Times!

Winning Isn't News

By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY Posted Monday, July 07, 2008 4:20 PM PT

Iraq: What would happen if the U.S. won a war but the media didn't tell the American public? Apparently, we have to rely on a British newspaper for the news that we've defeated the last remnants of al-Qaida in Iraq.



Read More: Energy Global Warming



London's Sunday Times called it "the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror." A terrorist force that once numbered more than 12,000, with strongholds in the west and central regions of Iraq, has over two years been reduced to a mere 1,200 fighters, backed against the wall in the northern city of Mosul.

The destruction of al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI) is one of the most unlikely and unforeseen events in the long history of American warfare. We can thank President Bush's surge strategy, in which he bucked both Republican and Democratic leaders in Washington by increasing our forces there instead of surrendering.

We can also thank the leadership of the new general he placed in charge there, David Petraeus, who may be the foremost expert in the world on counter-insurgency warfare. And we can thank those serving in our military in Iraq who engaged local Iraqi tribal leaders and convinced them America was their friend and AQI their enemy.

Al-Qaida's loss of the hearts and minds of ordinary Iraqis began in Anbar Province, which had been written off as a basket case, and spread out from there.

Now, in Operation Lion's Roar the Iraqi army and the U.S. 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment is destroying the fraction of terrorists who are left. More than 1,000 AQI operatives have already been apprehended.

Sunday Times reporter Marie Colvin, traveling with Iraqi forces in Mosul, found little AQI presence even in bullet-ridden residential areas that were once insurgency strongholds, and reported that the terrorists have lost control of its Mosul urban base, with what is left of the organization having fled south into the countryside.

Meanwhile, the State Department reports that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government has achieved "satisfactory" progress on 15 of the 18 political benchmarks — a big change for the better from a year ago.

Things are going so well that Maliki has even for the first time floated the idea of a timetable for withdrawal of American forces. He did so while visiting the United Arab Emirates, which over the weekend announced that it was forgiving almost $7 billion of debt owed by Baghdad — an impressive vote of confidence from a fellow Arab state in the future of a free Iraq.

But where are the headlines and the front-page stories about all this good news? As the Media Research Center pointed out last week, "the CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News and CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 were silent Tuesday night about the benchmarks" that signaled political progress.

The war in Iraq has been turned around 180 degrees both militarily and politically because the president stuck to his guns. Yet apart from IBD, Fox News Channel and parts of the foreign press, the media don't seem to consider this historic event a big story.

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Just Who Is Hamas? - and other warnings!

Related Story... West ignoring real Hamas agenda
From "One News Now" (H-T L. Sloane)
Former terrorist says West ignoring real Hamas agenda
Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 1/10/2009 4:15:00 AMBookmark and Share

Hamas supporterA former Palestinian terrorist says the West continues to pursue a failed idea that somehow terrorism against Israel will stop when the Palestinians get their own homeland.

Walid Shoebat is a former member of the Palestine Liberation Organization and a convert to Christianity. He now runs the Walid Shoebat Foundation, which is an organization that cries out for the justice of Israel and the Jewish people. Shoebat, author of the recently published God's War on Terror: Islam, Prophecy and the Bible, believes the recent terrorist rocket attacks by Hamas have nothing to do with wanting a Palestinian homeland.

"The core issue is not an issue of land whatsoever. It's an issue of wiping the state of Israel out. If you look at even suicide bombing -- historically, if you look from 1980 until 2003, let's say -- 224 suicide bombings out of 300 existed in Islamic countries with no occupation whatsoever," he notes. "So it's not simply the desire to create a Palestinian state. It is the desire to destroy the Jewish state, and that's what we see."

Walid Shoebat smallShoebat contends this effort is being carried out by a huge network of Islamic enemies. "It's a rebel network involved between Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran, Syria. Many Islamic countries are involved in this," he points out. "Saudi Arabia was funding...this kind of thing. So it's a huge network that we're dealing with."