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PLEASE PASS THIS TO YOUR FRIENDS--LET THEM KNOW MORE ABOUT POLITICS AND PUBLIC POLICY THE FORMER MAINSTREAM MEDIA WON'T TELL. THANKS
1. James Jay Carafano: Save our all-volunteer military, By: James Carafano, Washington Examiner, 12/19/10
Ted Kennedy spent the last 30 years trying to make sure that the lives of young Americans be interrupted for two years, he believed that you belong to the State and that you MUST serve the Master, and pay high taxes and be controlled in your daily life by government--sounds like a totalitarian dictator--which is what he wanted to be.
"Throughout most of the Cold War, the United States used the draft to fill its military ranks. Previously, we had resorted to conscription only during hot wars -- the Civil War and the two World Wars. But Cold War Congresses went along with a peacetime draft, because they thought it would be cheap.
Well, like most good "deals," you get what you pay for. The quality of draftees wasn't great. Motivation and morale were worse. And because they left as soon as their enlistment was up, the cost of training replacements made the draftee military not much of a bargain.
Along came Friedman, who had long argued that a draft was "inconsistent with a free society." As the head of a presidential commission, he also made the case that an all-volunteer force would be more economical and far more effective than a conscription-based military. When Congress ended the draft in 1973, Laird put Friedman's theories into practice.
That all-volunteer force, combined with President Reagan's 1980s defense buildup, turned everything around. The U.S. military went from being almost a has-been to the most respected, feared and effective military force on Earth."
2. The Federal Reserve Bans A Local Oklahoma Bank From Displaying Crosses, Bible Verses And Christmas Buttons, The Economic Collapse, 12/20/10
The Feds have told a private bank they may not have Crosses, Bible verses or Christmas buttons for the Christmas season. Who says we have private banks--Obama thinks he owns all the banks in the nation. If the bank was privately owned it could tell the openly anti-Christian Barack to go to hell. It isn't--private property does not exist as long as the totalitarian Obama is in the White House. YOU belong to the State.
Barack Obama's bigotry is showing again--will we fight back? Oh, who said the Federal Reserve is a private organization? If so, why can they order another private organization in it’s' policies?
"When Federal Reserve examiners recently visited a local bank in Perkins, Oklahoma they demanded that the bank take down a "Bible verse of the day" and crosses that were displayed on the teller's counter. In addition, the agents from the Federal Reserve forced all bank personnel to remove buttons that said "Merry Christmas, God With Us". The bank was also ordered to remove a "Bible verse of the day" from the bank's website. According to Federal Reserve officials, all visible expressions of Christian faith by bank officials are now banned in all banks across the United States.
Now, before people start screaming "separation of church and state", please keep in mind that the "state" is not involved here. The local bank in Perkins is a privately-owned financial institution. The owners of that bank should be able to express themselves however they want."
3. Monitoring America, Dana Priest, William Arkin, Washington Post, 12/20/10
No nation, not even the Old Soviet Union had its citizens under such tight control and monitoring.
"* Technologies and techniques honed for use on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan have migrated into the hands of law enforcement agencies in America.
* The FBI is building a database with the names and certain personal information, such as employment history, of thousands of U.S. citizens and residents whom a local police officer or a fellow citizen believed to be acting suspiciously. It is accessible to an increasing number of local law enforcement and military criminal investigators, increasing concerns that it could somehow end up in the public domain.
* Seeking to learn more about Islam and terrorism, some law enforcement agencies have hired as trainers self-described experts whose extremist views on Islam and terrorism are considered inaccurate and counterproductive by the FBI and U.S. intelligence agencies.
* The Department of Homeland Security sends its state and local partners intelligence reports with little meaningful guidance, and state reports have sometimes inappropriately reported on lawful meetings."
4. $24.5 Trillion In US National Debt, $144 Trillion In Unfunded Liabilities In... 2015, Submitted by Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge, 12/20/2010
I really want to report good news. But at my age, I can not lie. California IS in a Depression and Moodys is about to downgrade the bonds of the Federal government.
"Some other observations for the US economy in 2015 simply assuming current conditions persist:
Looks like a college diploma, thinks to President Obama will be as "valuable" as a High School diploma--not much.
"Consider a recent Washington Post story, "Md's Towson University conquers 'graduation gap.'" The story explains how Towson is now among the tiny few that have equalized graduation across blacks, whites, and Hispanics. The article's tone was clearly celebratory. Meanwhile, a report prepared by The Education Trust (cited in the Post story) that examines the topic more broadly insisted that equal graduation rates "would be a very big step in putting our country on a path to a better and more equitable future."
The tip-off to this educational chicanery is the silence regarding actual learning, as if the physical piece of paper signified educational competency. There is nothing about what these graduates majored in, their class rank and future academic success in graduate schools, professional certification exams scores, or future employment. Having the piece of paper is, apparently, the great accomplishment.
More...
1. James Jay Carafano: Save our all-volunteer military, By: James Carafano, Washington Examiner, 12/19/10
Ted Kennedy spent the last 30 years trying to make sure that the lives of young Americans be interrupted for two years, he believed that you belong to the State and that you MUST serve the Master, and pay high taxes and be controlled in your daily life by government--sounds like a totalitarian dictator--which is what he wanted to be.
"Throughout most of the Cold War, the United States used the draft to fill its military ranks. Previously, we had resorted to conscription only during hot wars -- the Civil War and the two World Wars. But Cold War Congresses went along with a peacetime draft, because they thought it would be cheap.
Well, like most good "deals," you get what you pay for. The quality of draftees wasn't great. Motivation and morale were worse. And because they left as soon as their enlistment was up, the cost of training replacements made the draftee military not much of a bargain.
Along came Friedman, who had long argued that a draft was "inconsistent with a free society." As the head of a presidential commission, he also made the case that an all-volunteer force would be more economical and far more effective than a conscription-based military. When Congress ended the draft in 1973, Laird put Friedman's theories into practice.
That all-volunteer force, combined with President Reagan's 1980s defense buildup, turned everything around. The U.S. military went from being almost a has-been to the most respected, feared and effective military force on Earth."
2. The Federal Reserve Bans A Local Oklahoma Bank From Displaying Crosses, Bible Verses And Christmas Buttons, The Economic Collapse, 12/20/10
The Feds have told a private bank they may not have Crosses, Bible verses or Christmas buttons for the Christmas season. Who says we have private banks--Obama thinks he owns all the banks in the nation. If the bank was privately owned it could tell the openly anti-Christian Barack to go to hell. It isn't--private property does not exist as long as the totalitarian Obama is in the White House. YOU belong to the State.
Barack Obama's bigotry is showing again--will we fight back? Oh, who said the Federal Reserve is a private organization? If so, why can they order another private organization in it’s' policies?
"When Federal Reserve examiners recently visited a local bank in Perkins, Oklahoma they demanded that the bank take down a "Bible verse of the day" and crosses that were displayed on the teller's counter. In addition, the agents from the Federal Reserve forced all bank personnel to remove buttons that said "Merry Christmas, God With Us". The bank was also ordered to remove a "Bible verse of the day" from the bank's website. According to Federal Reserve officials, all visible expressions of Christian faith by bank officials are now banned in all banks across the United States.
Now, before people start screaming "separation of church and state", please keep in mind that the "state" is not involved here. The local bank in Perkins is a privately-owned financial institution. The owners of that bank should be able to express themselves however they want."
3. Monitoring America, Dana Priest, William Arkin, Washington Post, 12/20/10
No nation, not even the Old Soviet Union had its citizens under such tight control and monitoring.
"* Technologies and techniques honed for use on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan have migrated into the hands of law enforcement agencies in America.
* The FBI is building a database with the names and certain personal information, such as employment history, of thousands of U.S. citizens and residents whom a local police officer or a fellow citizen believed to be acting suspiciously. It is accessible to an increasing number of local law enforcement and military criminal investigators, increasing concerns that it could somehow end up in the public domain.
* Seeking to learn more about Islam and terrorism, some law enforcement agencies have hired as trainers self-described experts whose extremist views on Islam and terrorism are considered inaccurate and counterproductive by the FBI and U.S. intelligence agencies.
* The Department of Homeland Security sends its state and local partners intelligence reports with little meaningful guidance, and state reports have sometimes inappropriately reported on lawful meetings."
4. $24.5 Trillion In US National Debt, $144 Trillion In Unfunded Liabilities In... 2015, Submitted by Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge, 12/20/2010
I really want to report good news. But at my age, I can not lie. California IS in a Depression and Moodys is about to downgrade the bonds of the Federal government.
"Some other observations for the US economy in 2015 simply assuming current conditions persist:
- Federal spending will be $3.3 trillion per year, and with federal revenue of $2.3 trillion (this number will be reduced as it also assumes $731 billion in payroll tax, a number which will likely be indefinitely reduced) the result is a budget deficit of $983.7 billion.
- Annual Medicare/Medicaid expenses will be just over $1 trillion
- US population: 326.8 million
- US workforce 131.3 million (and declining)
- Officially unemployed: 19.4 million
- Actual unemployed: 22.3 million
- State/Federal employees: 17.9 million
- People on SSN and other retirees: 72.6 million
- Food stamp recipients: 89.7 million
- Foreclosures: 2 million
- Social Security Liability: $19 trillion
- Medicare Liability: $99 trillion
- Total US Unfunded Liabilities: $144 trillion
- Gross Debt to GDP: 143%"
Looks like a college diploma, thinks to President Obama will be as "valuable" as a High School diploma--not much.
"Consider a recent Washington Post story, "Md's Towson University conquers 'graduation gap.'" The story explains how Towson is now among the tiny few that have equalized graduation across blacks, whites, and Hispanics. The article's tone was clearly celebratory. Meanwhile, a report prepared by The Education Trust (cited in the Post story) that examines the topic more broadly insisted that equal graduation rates "would be a very big step in putting our country on a path to a better and more equitable future."
The tip-off to this educational chicanery is the silence regarding actual learning, as if the physical piece of paper signified educational competency. There is nothing about what these graduates majored in, their class rank and future academic success in graduate schools, professional certification exams scores, or future employment. Having the piece of paper is, apparently, the great accomplishment.
More...