Divine Bullet

VISIT OUR NEW SITE

2006-10-07T07:32:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the assistance of Blogger and Blogspot we are developing a new site and you are invited to enjoy the new look and enhanced features of this site.

Our new address is
http://dictionarydogs.blogspot.com

This is a new type of site and involves a main site for hot news and then sub sites featuring our Dictionary Dogs, each waitng in a dog house to track down information for you. These are different breeds and each was selected for the information needed.
Subjects relate to politics, your home and general living, your health and your finances and what ever we think might interest you.

Please check us out. Here is an easy link.

N.Y.TIMES AND NIC REPORT

2006-09-26T09:50:00.000-07:00

The New York Times claims Iraq War worsens threat of Terrorism.

It really seems a shame when something of this importance is clouded with controversy over bias. And it is a shame the New York Times does not follow the standards of the Los Angeles Times which are based on the code of ethics of the American Society of Newspaper Editors.

The LA Times standard says that anonymous sources will be used as a last resort.
Our first amendment protected us against the hiding from the public all facets of a news story. We should be given reliable information from reputable sources that are disclosed and we should be given all facts and information supporting all sides of a story. The New York Times seems to be silent on this issue. If they had refused an unconfirmed story would someone have gone public? Or if they pressured the President would he have released the story? We already have a call for an investigation in Congress and that will slow down other legislation.

I remember when I was attending a very competent school and starting to learn to write term papers and articles. I used what I thought was a highly regarded source (almost 60 years ago) the New York Times. But my professor made an example of my poor choice before the class and I learned the importance of going to source documents, not articles in newspapers for an acceptable dissertation. Scholars with higher degrees know they do not advance if they do not use documented references.

The New York Times has published an article that is based on the anonymous comments of a dozen people. No confirmation of anyone for the record.
Our courts will not accept testimony unless it is from a witness directly.
The New York Times will accept unsubstantiated tips which places doubt in our minds as to the motives of the Times and their tipsters.

Already we are hearing that the information was based on only a part of the report referred to. We know the Times has been reported to be biased against the administration and Washington DC is reported to lean in thought against the current administration. In particular, there are strong feelings in part of the intelligence community. An NIC report before the Iraq war started predicted the possibility of an increase in terrorism and possibly the intelligence community is anxious to say we told you so!

The press is given strong powers of access and freedom but what standards must the press follow to retain those privileges? I have explained some issues in greater depth and you will find these comments if you click here.

Reports of death might be exaggerated?

2006-09-25T01:01:00.000-07:00

OSAMA BIN LADEN

Please do not be overly enthused about reports of Bin Laden’s death. I believe in the strong probability these reports are part of the propaganda war being waged by the terrorists against the West and in particular, the USA.

An effective war strategy is to encourage confusion among the citizens, build our hopes then break them down and cause depression, cause us to divide with each other and our allies. “Divide and conquer” is a historical weapon and the group including North Korea, Iran, Venezuela and a couple of others know how to stimulate, confuse and detract us.

Iran and Venezuela spoke against our government with very disrespectful terms that caused us embarrassment and division as we watched the world gleefully applaud the speeches.

The depressed us and now they might be giving us a carrot by suggesting Bin Laden is deceased but will then snatch away the carrot and depress us and play with our emotions.

So do not play their game. Stay aloof.

I have discussed this with you before. Please see my posting:

Increase income with government reform.

2006-09-20T01:46:00.000-07:00

GIVING YOUR SELF MORE INCOME!!!!

There is a bill in congress right now with many co-signers that will pass as soon as enough of us add our support and ask them to pass the bill. Read along and I will tell you how this bill is going to increase your income dramatically.

A group of successful business men have put together twenty million dollars and hired economists and accountants to make a study and they have discovered some very interesting things about our income tax that will help you. In fact, if they can implement their findings your income will increase, much of the IRS staff will be absorbed into other duties, social security and even Medicaid will be fully funded. As a bonus our economy will expand as money from all over the world comes back to the USA for its tax advantages.

What this hired brain trust found was that in each product we buy, the price is increased by the cost of taxes paid by each participant of producing the product. Corporate income taxes, workers share of taxes paid by the companies, income taxes paid by truckers and other contract workers. The amount of tax paid varies by product but if you buy something like a VCR for $100.00 an average of $22.00 is going to pay taxes. So the brain trust says stop taxes so the price will drop to $78.00 and then add back in $23.00 as a built in consumption or sales tax and now the price will still be about $100.00 but now there is a big difference.

Look at your last pay check and note the amount that is deducted for taxes and social security. If that amount were paid to you instead of being deducted see how much your taxes will increase! You see, your taxes will be paid by a consumption or sales tax that replaces the corporate taxes passed on to you during the preparation of the items you buy.
This will eliminate wasted dollars spent complying with or avoiding taxes, costs that are passed on to you in the purchase price. The consumption tax will be on every new item you buy and people who never pay taxes will be helping you each time they buy something.
That $100 VCR is still going to cost you $100 or maybe $101 but your paycheck will increase by the amount of taxes you had deducted for income and Social Security and Medicare!

PLEASE READ THESE LAST TWO PARAGRAPHS AGAIN. IT IS IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND THIS CONCEPT.

And that is not all the increase in income you will receive.

All heads of households will receive a payment each month to advance to them the cost of the consumption tax for the basic necessities of that household for that month.
Explain please: Let’s say you are a married couple and you have two children. At this time, the government has decided it will cost you $25,660 for your basic household requirements. If someone earned or spent below that amount it is defined as below the poverty level.
Don’t worry about the name, it is just the way to establish a figure to say that all income at or below that amount is required to give your family the basics. It has then been decided that a family should not pay sales tax on that amount. It would be unfair and cause a burden in taxation for lower income people. So the bill before congress requires the government to refund you in advance the tax on that amount which is $491.82
a month for a family of 4. It is called a prebate. Did you look at the withholding from your payroll stub? Let’s say you are having about $350 taken out for taxes: Add to that the $492 prebate and your income will increase almost $850 a month.
When was the last time your income went up about $10,000 per year? The fair tax has been recognized as the fairest treatment for lower income people. (Even if you are not working your income will increase by the amount of the prebate).

Now let us examine this big increase. Most of that, the $492 is intended to go for the consumption or sales tax. But remember the paragraphs above; when you get the corporate taxes that are passed on to you out of the sales price the final price you pay at the cash register will be almost identical to the price you paid before so that prebate of $492 plus taxes saved for a total of $850 will really be a net increase in the money in your pocket. I charted incomes before and after the change and I discovered it is a huge increase in take home pay or cash in your pocket.

Do you know what happens when more consumers have more to spend? More of you can qualify for and afford to buy your own house so real estate will boom. With more money many of you will increase consumption so the economy will increase. Some of you will save some of that money so with increased savings in banks mortgage rates will decline and more of you can afford mortgages which will also help the real estate market.

Without income taxes and taxes on savings more people will take their savings out of foreign deposits designed to skirt our taxes and deposit that money here in US banks. In fact our tax treatment for investment and savings will suddenly become the best or one of the best in the world so lots of money will flow into our banks. This will reduce mortgage rates, encourage investment and growth for our country and you will be much better off. There will be better jobs, a higher demand for your work and you will be very happy.

You can also always buy used items and save paying a consumption tax, it is OK. There will be a lot more spending and lots of taxes will be paid in just from the consumption of a more affluent America.
Tourists will come and they will help pay our taxes through their consumption. People who obtained money by various means whether it was a gift or it was stolen or it was for some unreported sales will now pay for their share of your taxes when they spend their money.

You do not have to worry about Social Security or Medicare any more; it will be funded and is provided for.
You should approach the Fair Tax as an investment. If you are going to learn about this powerful and exciting proposed change in the taxing system you will be investing time and you might spend a few dollars attending rallies or even donating.

A little time is well invested in reading the enjoyable Boortz-Linder “The Fair Tax Book”. This is vital because there are a few special interest groups who want to stop the program for their own financial benefit. They are inclined to feed you erroneous information. When you do your own research you will learn the truth.

This reading time is an investment. You could do other things with your time that would bring you a return and your mail is probably full of offers.

When you invest you might consider a safe bank CD at 3% and if you find a return at 5-6% you will think it is a good return. 10% would be excellent, if you thought you could get 25% you would be very, very happy and I am showing you an investment that will exceed anything you have ever done. Normally, if someone promised a high return I would say run to the nearest exit, but when the Fair Tax is passed you have great potential. Do not let this opportunity pass by.

I am showing you that time worth about $100 and invested in the Fair Tax will return over $100,000 to you in a little over 10 years. This return will be expanded when you realize that your family will save also so you could add $100,000 for each child you have.

In addition we are going to redirect billions of wasted dollars toward productive gains for you and the results are expected to be amazing. American families and businesses could be wasting as much as $600 billion each year in trying to comply with or legally avoid the current tax code. The real secret is that businesses do not pay any of the costs of the taxes. Business does not exist without a reasonable profit, all other expenses; including taxes are passed on to you as part of the selling price of the product. You are paying this cost.
When the fair Tax is passed the businesses will not have any more taxes to pass to you. In fact, the magic of the program is that you will pay about the same price for products but the portion that went for business expenses related to taxes will now be used to pay our federal taxes. The economists who figured that out are heroes!

There is also about $1 trillion dollars in illegal transactions that take place each year. These include all illegal sales of stolen valuables, drugs, and other items. With the Fair Tax these profits will be taxed when the people involved spend their profits on consumer items. Purchases such as big cars, yachts, new homes, jewelry and so on. Part of their conspicuous consumption will be given to support the government, reduce your taxes and help pay for your Social Security and Medicare.

The same is true of visitors and tourists from other countries. They will help pay for your government and its programs.

Our present tax code has many discouraging elements. If you earn a significant amount of money or you own a corporation you are pressured by high tax rates on savings to find off-shore locations where you can save thousands of dollars a year. This takes money out of our domestic banks where it helps reduce interest rates and benefits the economy of the country where it is placed. With taxes eliminated it will be cheaper, safer and a lot more convenient for large savings funds to be kept in a reliable domestic banking system. With extra money to invest, competition will drive down interest rates you pay on your house and on credit cards. Just make a quick estimate of what you think your average credit card balance is for any year. If cheaper money caused lower interest rates you could save 10% or more. So take your average credit card balance and add 10% of that amount to your return on your investment in the Fair Tax. While you are at it add 2-3% of your mortgage balance to that return also.

We will eliminate the federal death tax and federal taxes on savings and there is a list provided below that will describe other taxes that discourage working, investing and the economy.

Because of no federal taxes our domestic products will be more competitive in the world trade without the taxes increasing their cost. Increased US sales will help increase our economy which will increase worker demand making your salary increase. At the same time, foreign goods will be sold with the embedded tax that will help reduce their advantage while helping to pay the costs of our government.

There are many professionals now working on tax code compliance and avoidance. This wonderful brain power will be concentrated on how to improve the efficiency of business, how best to invest the money and how best to improve products and customer service in order to help their companies earn their share of the expanding economy.

Your Government can concentrate on issues that are important to citizens rather than negotiating over who gets certain tax benefits.

I have given you some high lights of how you benefit from supporting the fair tax. If you would like more detail, here is a place to go. There are many more benefits that I have not explained.
http://50reasons.blogspot.com

Deborah maintains this site with 50 reasons why she supports the Fair Tax. These were provided by Ken Van Dellen. Deborah will also give you links to the various Fair Tax sites. Great job, Deborah. Thank you.

We should also thank the fine Houston business executives who invested the time and money to hire experts to develop the Fair Tax solution. http://www.fairtax.org Thanks to Congressman John Linder for his untiring efforts to prepare the act, promote it and get many co-sponsors and finally to talk show host Neil Boortz who has taken the time to learn the system and educate us.

Now, it is up to you and me to spread the word. We need to increase the numbers in our support group. If this article helps, please copy it and distribute it.

Thank you for your interest.

Stewart “Stew” Rusby
When I find worthy causes or develop what might be a solution I invite you to join me in searching for a silver bullet solution to this and other problems at http://divinebullet.blogspot.com

WAR IS NOT A GAME

2006-09-18T13:57:00.000-07:00

ARE WE AT WAR OR MAKING BELIEVE WE ARE AT WAR?

Part of our government is convinced that we are being attacked by terrorists and they are attempting to protect us and wage war against the attackers.

Part of our government only wants us to wage war under certain conditions which would not infringe upon the rights of the enemy.

Our armed forces are trained to destroy and kill. If they win, they are successful, but to win they must destroy the enemy.

It is very simple. The objective is to win. When you win, you can go home, that is the exit strategy. If the enemy loses then everything they own, including their land belongs to us.

We entered into an agreement with many other countries in 1941 and it was called the Geneva Convention. The countries who signed the documents agreed to treat their prisoners a certain way.
John McCain was a prisoner of one of these countries but they did not meet the terms of the agreement. We lost that war as McCain sat in prison while we argued if we should release our full military might.
Not many have been as fair and considerate as the United States. There are many terrorists in various groups and they want to rob you and kill you. Unless they are in uniform and represent some country they would not be entitled to treatment under terms of the Geneva Agreement. These are terrorists, thugs, and gangsters. They do not negotiate unless in a position of distress where they cannot win. If they think they can win, they will not negotiate and will try to kill you. If they are part of some Far East cells who believe they will be a martyr if they die trying to kill you, nothing will stop them, there is no negotiation, just game playing until they get the advantage. They will laugh at your stupidity in trying to bargain with them.

We have thugs and killers in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. We were holding them until the fighting ended where we took them from the battlefields.
Our Supreme Court has decided we must give these thugs all the rights of the Geneva Agreement even though they are not fighting for a country or were in uniform. They hide in civilian clothes and often hide behind women and children. The court decision was 5-3 and would have been 5-4 but one member did not participate because he had already ruled on the case. If he voted it would have been 5-4. This one vote difference ruled the military tribunals that tried these prisoners were unconstitutional and illegal under the Geneva Conventions. They did say the prisoners could be tried in military tribunals authorized by congress. The court said the Geneva Convention applied to civil wars and thus to thugs and terrorists.

The problem is two fold. First, the Geneva conventions were written in a way that gave an incentive to countries to join the agreement to insure better treatment for their prisoners. By giving the benefits to all, it takes away the incentive to join the agreement.

Second, the decision interferes with the rights of the Commander in Chief to have unusual wartime powers. He (or she) must move quickly to protect the citizens and there is not always time to wait for debate. We are seeing extended bickering between the Congress and the President and the President and the Supreme Court in an attempt to limit the powers of the President. This bickering can cost us dearly during times of emergency.

If these powers are questioned will decisions made in the past be reversed?
Remember that the Emancipation Proclamation prepared and signed by President Abraham Lincoln was done using his wartime powers and was not challenged by the judiciary at the time. This resulted in the freedom of the first slaves. Is the Court now going to try to reverse that?

In addition our units that interrogate these prisoners are now afraid of being charged with a crime. There is only one result from this action. If we take a prisoner and we cannot try to obtain information from him then he is of no value to us. It is useless to take prisoners so the incentive will be to terminate him in the battle zone.

Now we have another situation. We ask our men and women to volunteer for service. We put them in harms way having carefully taught them to destroy our enemies. 7 Marines and 1 Navy Corpsman see a man on the opposite side of the road carrying an AK47. That is an assault rifle used for killing people. It is a battle weapon. If he is going to carry it around areas where our military is he should be expected to be shot at.
In 1941 there were German Submarines operating in the Western Atlantic. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt ordered them sunk. He said that if you see a snake poised to strike you crush him before he strikes. In fact, we have discussions going on now with many suggesting that we strike Iran and North Korea before they strike us.
Should the marines terminate this threat with an AK 47? They then noticed he was carrying a shovel and he started to dig alongside the road. With all the damage and death resulting from road side bombs and mines it seemed obvious the armed intruder performing an act that could cause death and destruction must be eliminated. It happened.

There are still 3 marines being held for this act and they are charged with a crime. They are lining up attorneys to defend them and their families will no doubt lose their homes and savings in an attempt to save their sons from these terrible charges.

There is only one result from this action. Our brave young men will no longer want to volunteer for the military. The risks and the costs are too high. The people at home will not appreciate their service and we will not defend their action.

It is obvious we are not serious about defending ourselves and our families from the terrorists. I believe we need to tell our children not to have any more children. If we are not going to fight with the intention of winning then we will surely lose and we should not want to place our future generations in the position of the horrible and brutal tactics that are used by those who will conquer us. They are thugs, murderers, rapists, opportunists and they are intent on using us as their slaves, converting us to their beliefs or destroying us.
They are very clever and patient. They have stolen a peaceful religion and profess edicts that were not intended. They feel that the actions of the westerners have caused the deaths of many of their people so when they kill us it is just an eye for an eye. And when they kill us they believe they become martyrs and will go to a rewarding afterlife.

If they want to play the game of an eye for an eye we should fight fire with fire. We can hire mercenaries to intercept and destroy them. We can increase our security. We can support tribes and countries that want to destroy them. We have done it before and could do it now. But we must not hesitate. We have to be committed and it all starts right now with you and me. Other wise, quit having kids, you are condemning them to a life worse than hell.

If you disagree, tell me. (DTM)
If you agree, tell others. (ATO)

MEXICO SECRETLY HELPING BORDER PATROL

2006-09-15T08:29:00.000-07:00

MEXICO SECRETLY HELPING IMMIGRATION

Why were we not told about the work in Mexico that will help reduce the number of illegals coming across our border? Is this of no interest to the press? It is not a secret.

The basic problem in Mexico is the economy and the lack of jobs. This causes the Mexican citizens to endanger themselves during trips to the United States to find work.

Mexico imports $120 billion of U.S. goods a year.
The gross national product of Mexico was $200 billion in 1987 and by 2005 reached $769 billion.
Interest rates in Mexico in 1987 were 120 percent and they have dropped to 9.2 percent.
The economy continues to be strong in Mexico even though there has been a political crisis.
The electronics industry is booming in Mexico. Your flat screen TV might be a Japanese Sony but it might have been made in Mexico.

What is causing this boom in Mexico?
NAFTA

What is my source for this information?
Hector Marquez, director of Mexico’s Trade and NAFTA Office in Washington, D.C. His office will even offer incentives, including grants and loans, to help businesses begin trading with Mexico. (His visit to Daytona Beach was reported in the News-Journal on 9/14.)

Was it just about two weeks ago that we heard Electrolux was moving to Mexico?
Was it yesterday we heard about the worker program in Canada where low cost labor is transported to Canada to work on various crops, housed and then after 7 months and paying taxes are shipped back home to Mexico? Nice, they summer in the north and winter in the warm south.
NAFTA was first proposed under Bush-I and finally enacted under Clinton. Ross Perot was opposed because he felt it would draw labor away from the U.S. (That is a solution to one of our problems but Perot was correct in his prediction.) Actually, 60% of Clinton’s party in congress voted against NAFTA. It was with Republican help that it passed with strong union opposition. Clinton signed. Both sides had their own objectives. Vincente Fox wanted to use NAFTA to generate free passage of citizens across the border but 9/11 has directed the concentration of the U.S. into protection of the border.

I had proposed a complimentary program for along the border that would provide fencing and security plus industrial expansion and jobs by making use of low cost Mexican labor without allowing non citizens access to the U.S. but would give access to enclosed industries along the border. See:
http://divinebullet.blogspot.com/2005/09/mexican-lemonade.html

We still must insist on keeping the border controlled.
We still must insist on taking action against employers of illegals.
Sorry guys, you can hire them but do it legally. Push for the Canadian plan.

And look at the benefits of the Fair Tax program which will bring the investment we want to support programs like building industry along the border. We want good things for you. If NAFTA has some non beneficial effects on our labor and economy they will be swept away by the expansion effects of the Fair Tax program. Our only problem will be to find enough workers to keep up with the production potential. We will experience a renewed advance in machine efficiency out of necessity but a guest worker program like Canada uses would be helpful.

If you disagree, tell me. (DTM)
If you agree, tell others. (ATO)

Stew Rusby

TORTURE,DEPRESSION AND THE TERRORISTS

2006-09-13T17:07:00.000-07:00

YOU ARE BEING TORTURED

Right now you are being tortured. It is happening day after day and it is cruel.

The online encyclopedia states that:
Torture is any act, by which severe psychological pain is intentionally inflicted on a person as a means of intimidation.

Right now, we are receiving information by acts of our terrorist enemies that cause severe psychological pain on each of us.

Countries like Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela and in the past, Cuba and Iraq have disseminated information that confuses us and cause us psychological pain.
Terrorists like Bin Laden, AlQuida, the Taliban, Hezbollah and Communists
have also been involved.

Iran for example will indicate an interest in meeting for negotiations but then will send terrorists to Iraq and Afghanistan to stop our efforts to help those citizens and the terrorists kill them to show we are weak or they will attack our military. After a time period they announce they do not want to meet with us and will proceed with nuclear expansion. When they attack us they hide behind innocent civilians and if we counter attack we are charged with being the terrorists who slaughter women and children. We become depressed and suffer psychological pain.

Is Bin Laden alive? We have not seen him for months on any of his films. Soon we will start to believe he is dead. Then he will appear. We will be depressed, confused and suffer psychological pain and Bin Laden will have won again.

North Korea tells us they will meet with the major powers and we relax a little, then they test fire a missile They say they will only talk to us one on one and announce if anyone threatens them they have missiles aimed toward South Korea and will kill millions of innocent families. It makes us look bad, confuses us, depresses us and we suffer psychological pain and the terrorists will have won again.

We are getting threats from Venezuela who is also getting very cozy with Cuba

This action of giving us hope and then changing the tone or attacking us is a psychological ploy designed to cause pain and discourage us and put us in opposition with each other. It is one of the oldest tools of war to confuse and divide the enemy. The terrorists boldly announce that we cannot win and we will lose.

The saddest thought of all is that they are right. We are divided, we cannot agree on how to fight them, we are afraid to fight them. We are more worried about criticism than we are about protecting our children from a horrible future. The press and the media play the enemies tapes over and over and we listen like robots. Our enemies control what their citizens look at or hear. They are taught that we are the enemy and they must sacrifice their children to stop us. We get depressed and suffer psychological pain.

In addition to the psychological attacks they weaken us in other ways. They attack others and we try to help them. Our money for oil is used to help finance their munitions, then they offer to help finance reconstruction, we try to keep up with them by making contributions and we expend enormous funds to keep ourselves defensive and support incursions. We sacrifice and become depressed and suffer psychological pain.

We better be careful about conserving fuel, the media we look at and the press we read or believe.
We better start believing in each other.

It starts right here, right now.
If you disagree tell me.
If you agree, tell others.
Now.

2006-09-09T08:35:00.000-07:00

THE FAIR TAX PART 3

You should approach the Fair Tax as an investment. If you are going to learn about this powerful and exciting proposed change in the taxing system you will be investing time and you might spend a few dollars attending rallies or even donating.

A little time is well invested in reading the enjoyable Boortz-Linder “The Fair Tax Book”. This is vital because there are a few special interest groups who want to stop the program for their own financial benefit. They are inclined to feed you erroneous information. When you do your own research you will learn the truth.

This reading time is an investment. You could do other things with your time that would bring you a return and your mail is probably full of offers.

When you invest you might consider a safe bank CD at 3% and if you find a return at 5-6% you will think it is a good return. 10% would be excellent, if you thought you could get 25% you would be very, very happy and I want to show you an investment that will exceed anything you have ever done. Normally, if someone promised a high return I would say run to the nearest exit, but when the Fair Tax is passed you have great potential. Do not let this opportunity pass by.

I am going to show you that time worth about $100 and invested in the Fair Tax will return over $100,000 to you in a little over 10 years. This return will be expanded when applied to your family.

I have already told you about the pay raise you will receive; it could be $7,500 to $10,000 a year or more. Remember that each head of household receives the prebate so your children will also receive the benefit when they set up their own households so the return on investment expands as your family grows.

In addition we are going to redirect billions of wasted dollars toward productive gains for you and the results are expected to be amazing. American families and businesses could be wasting as much as $600 billion in trying to comply with or legally avoid the current tax code. The real secret is that businesses do not pay any of the costs of the taxes. Business does not exist without a reasonable profit, all other expenses; including taxes are passed on to you as part of the selling price of the product. You are paying this cost.
When the fair Tax is passed the businesses will not have any more taxes to pass to you. In fact, the magic of the program is that you will pay about the same price for products but the portion that went for business expenses related to taxes will now be used to pay our federal taxes. The economists who figured that out are heroes!

There is also about $1 trillion dollars in illegal transactions that take place each year. These include all illegal sales of stolen valuables, drugs, and other items. With the Fair Tax these profits will be taxed when the people involved spend their profits on consumer items. Purchases such as big cars, yachts, new homes, jewelry and so on. Part of their conspicuous consumption will be given to support the government, reduce your taxes and help pay for your Social Security and Medicare.

The same is true of visitors and tourists from other countries. They will help pay for your government and its programs.

Our present tax code has many discouraging elements. If you earn a significant amount of money or you own a corporation you are pressured by high tax rates on savings to find off-shore locations where you can save thousands of dollars a year. This takes money out of our domestic banks where it helps reduce interest rates and benefits the economy of the country where it is placed. With taxes eliminated it will be cheaper, safer and a lot more convenient for large savings funds to be kept in a reliable domestic banking system. With extra money to invest, competition will drive down interest rates you pay on your house and on credit cards. Just make a quick estimate of what you think your average credit card balance is for any year. If cheaper money caused lower interest rates you could save 10% or more. So take your average credit card balance and add 10% of that amount to your return on your investment in the Fair Tax. While you are at it add 2-3% of your mortgage balance to that return also.

We will eliminate the federal death tax and federal taxes on savings and there is a list provided below that will describe other taxes that discourage working , investing and the economy.

Because of no federal taxes our domestic products will be more competitive in the world trade without the taxes increasing their cost. Increased US sales will help increase our economy which will increase worker demand making your salary increase. At the same time, foreign goods will be sold with the embedded tax that will help reduce their advantage while helping to pay the costs of our government.

There are many professionals now working on tax code compliance and avoidance. This wonderful brain power will be concentrated on how to improve the efficiency of business, how best to invest the money and how best to improve products and customer service in order to help their companies earn their share of the expanding economy.

Your Government can concentrate on issues that are important to citizens rather than negotiating over who gets certain tax benefits.

I have given you some high lights of how you benefit from supporting the fair tax. If you would like more detail, here is a place to go. There are many more benefits that I have not explained.
http://50reasons.blogspot.com

Deborah maintains this site with 50 reasons why she supports the Fair Tax. These were provided by Ken Van Dellen. Deborah will also give you links to the various Fair Tax sites. Great job, Deborah. Thank you.

We should also thank the fine Houston business executives who invested the time and money to hire experts to develop the Fair Tax solution. http://www.fairtax.org Thanks to Congressman John Linder for his untiring efforts to prepare the act, promote it and get many co-sponsors and finally to Neil Boortz who has taken the time to learn the system and educate us.

Now, it is up to you and me to spread the word. We need to increase the numbers in our support group. If this article helps, please copy it and distribute it.

Thank you for your interest.

Stewart “Stew” Rusby
When I find worthy causes or develop what might be a solution I invite you to join me in searching for a silver bullet solution to this and other problems at http://divinebullet.blogspot.com

2006-09-07T05:05:00.000-07:00

ARE YOU REALLY INTERESTED?
(DO YOU VOTE IN THE PRIMARIES?)

After the primary election in Florida I wanted to review the statistics and see if there was any trend or indicator that would let us know how interested voters would be in the national elections.

This figure might not have any significance because a triggering incident could change the thoughts of the public and change the outcome. Therefore, any information developed must be related to today and considered with tongue in cheek as a future indicator. Researchers in the break rooms kid about the BS estimate (Blue Sky thinking) or the ever popular WAG (wild a—guess) or the old reliable wyswyg (what you see is what you get) and so on but they can be rough on each other because it is a serious business.

I found very little. Search after search failed to develop projections or analysis. There was a report in the Miami area about the rains keeping voters away and the turn out being about 15%. A blogger reported a 20% turn out which was more dependable because projections were based on 85% of the precincts reporting. The State did give good figures so I could look at the turnout but had to go back to the previous year for registered voters.

I would say the turnout was between 20% and 25% and if I studied some past elections I would think the figure is about what you would expect. One comment was the turnout reflected the lack of confidence in the voting machines and system. The Times commented on the prospects of Democrats gaining on the Republicans.

Actually the Democrats have more registered voters than the Republicans. But the Republicans had a higher percentage of turn out.
Am I wrong to believe that the major metropolitan areas in Florida are controlled by the Democrats and the voting systems would be led by individuals elected by their Democratic constituency? Would that also include the Miami area where Bush was accused of having stolen the election? The cable channel Fox News admitted the major TV channels reported the outcome of the election going to the Democrats when the polls closed, forgetting that the polls in the panhandle were open another hour because of the time zone difference. They estimated a loss in votes of about 15,000 because so many thought the election was over and decided. Of this 15,000 about 12,000 would have gone to the Republican side. This fact is always ignored in the projection or wishful thinking of the press.

Marc Ambinder of the Hotline wrote an article for the Washington Post about how the Independents are gaining strength as the political parties lose steam. Interesting article that would make Neil Boortz and his Libertarians happy. The article has some good points that can be applied to the activity in the Northeast where independents are stronger. The article I saw was reprinted in a local Liberal paper alongside a Times article about the GOP forgetting its principles.
We can’t argue with that can we? We have the life long dream of many seasoned Republicans with control today of both houses of congress and the Presidency. It is hard to overlook the wasted effort with the pork barrel spending of those who have the power. It is so disappointing. But even with all that the Republicans still outperformed the Democrats in Florida.

My conclusion? Don’t give up on the dedicated yet, they are still plugging away. There was an old story that said the plodders will always win. The hot shots come and go but those plodders who stay at it and keep plodding along and will get there in the end after the hot shots have fallen by the wayside.

2006-09-05T12:50:00.000-07:00

CONGRESS WIGGLES-MILITARY SUFFERS!!!

It seems such a long time ago that I spent several years in the military and probably one of the most discouraging events was when the chicken in our diet increased from twice a week to 4 times a week. It was obvious to us that the government balanced the national budget on the enlisted man’s diet. It was so obvious it was ridiculous. We knew.

Is it happening again? Or should I say it is still happening!!!

Last week there was a comment on the Fox News that the Central Military Command was anticipating military reductions. This uncertainty was heightened by a possible shift in power in congress.

Then I noted some printed comments followed by media notation about the reduction in military from 2.4 million members to the present 1.4 million members and concerns of further reductions.

I did not find any information in searches of regular web sites so I shifted my sources and started looking at blog sites. I found some information and clarification and wrote this great blog, but then it turned out not to be a good source and I had to drop the posting. Now I have been able to revise it and thank you for your patience.

What is facing the Republican controlled congress is a major quandary. We all know the publicity has been negative by the main stream press and the opposition is gaining strength in opposing the war in Iraq, The President made a strong speech today explaining the support needed to maintain our strength and commitment. The Republicans are trying to avoid a confrontation between moderates and conservatives in the party and to hold them together until after the November elections.

At stake is the need to reduce the budget and balance what is left of the budget between factions of the party to hold them in the fold.

It is a tough fight and in the meantime our brave armed forces; those honored volunteers are getting a lot more chicken. They might also be facing other cuts.
There are indications that something must be cut and it might be shifted to domestic cuts with some belt tightening of some sensitive programs. This will all be played out in the future. We have to expect stalling until after the election and see what happens then. In the meantime, our troops must wonder what will happen if one of the houses is lost and how this would probably seriously affect their future. We cannot expect them to sit and wonder without it affecting them.

We, the public have to be strong. We are being pressured with concern about our budget deficit. Actually, although at a high figure, in relation to the increase in our total gross domestic product it is not that high, it is under control and being reduced by the pump priming method used by the President. This priming had been used before by JFK and Reagan with good success. I am looking for current reports to give you up to date figures but they are elusive. If a man makes 50 thousand a year and a neighbor makes 500 thousand a year the man with the higher income will have more debt but it will probably be less as a percentage of his total income than the man with the smaller income. That is how the US is today. It is making big bucks and has more debt but it is less of the total income than when the country was smaller. So do not let the press or the politicians mislead you.

We need to raise enough money to support our military. If they want to cut spending, cut out the pork, take a hard look at the Fair Tax which will expand our economy and also develop more energy production at home to keep more of our expenditures working for us instead of the enemy. We voted in the majority to send them over there. Now, are we going to leave them in poor equipment and skimp on their food? With every serving of chicken, we send the message-you are on your own-sorry-we don’t care anymore. Oh yeah, don’t worry about replacements. We don’t have the money. We need another bridge in Alaska, you know-getting me elected is more important than getting you home.

But most of all-have faith.

PRIMARY ELECTION VOTING

2006-09-03T21:54:00.000-07:00

PRIMARY ELECTIONS

There will be 13 states plus 3 possessions having their primary elections in September.

If you have the opportunity to vote in the primary I hope you realize this election is just as important, maybe even more important than the general election in November. The primary is organized so party members can select the candidate to run in the November general election.

For the past 8 years the main stream media (or drive by media) has decided that the majority of the American voters made some serious mistakes and the media is out to show them why they are wrong.

The media is not mean or vicious. They believe in what they are doing. They cannot believe that the public does not feel what they feel and believe as they do. For the past 8 years they have been trying to make us realize that the public made mistakes and they will try to get us back on track.

They put out information as they think it should be and then report on polls that seem to reflect some success on their part in correcting our thinking. The general public is influenced by the pressure and direction of the media. The general public tends to read only the headlines or at best, a few words of a couple of paragraphs. They start to have doubts about themselves and with the belief that they are out of step with everyone else they begin to allow themselves to be influenced.

This was our founding fathers greatest fear, that a press, controlled by the government would be able to influence the masses. Instead, we have a press controlled by the attitude of large city influential giants and the result is as bad as the influence the first amendment tried to avoid.

Now, it is because of you and interested people like you that the primary is so important.
You have read past the headlines and you have visited some websites like mine and maybe some of those links on the side, you have learned about digging for the truth and have made up your own mind.

Congratulations to you. You are a part of a powerful and informed group and it rests on your shoulders to help direct our nation. The average person will not vote in this election, only those like you who care enough to be informed will take an interest in voting. That is why I commend you and encourage you to vote. Select the person who can best help your party achieve its goals. You might even have to vote for someone you don’t want as the candidate, but you have to pick the one who can win in November. That person might not
meet all your requirements but will be better than the alternative. Think about the opposition. What will happen if they win?

Who will make it safe? Who will make it safer for your grandchildren? Who will support your principles? Who will look at our constitution as a protector of the people, not of the politician?

Polls are being published and we do not know if we should trust these polls often based on one or two thousand people.
Do they reflect the feeling of those who will actually vote?
Do they reflect special interests groups who might make an extra push because a spark has stimulated their interest?
Has some group discovered a way to influence the polls by introducing questional votes?
Will new voting equipment stop or change the way a person votes?
Will the new early voting trends stimulate new groups to vote, groups that have not voted before?
Will some sudden push in publicity or event stir some individuals to vote?

Most of these events will occur in the general election, while the primary will tend to be those like you who consistently take an interest and know what is happening. The primary selection is where you can be sure you will have an influence.

We thank you for voting.

Saddam,Castro,Iran, Chavez

2006-09-01T04:38:00.000-07:00

DO YOU WANT TO CONNECT SOME DOTS?

Sometimes things happen and then we forget about them and something that might have been important gets lost in the shuffle. Do you remember when we found some brand new fighter jets buried in the sand in the desert in Iraq?

When I first read this I was reminded of a former client of a member of our company who made parts for jet engines. I stopped to see him one day and he was kind enough to show me through his shop. He pointed out some equipment he used for cleanliness and he commented on the high internal speed of jet engines and how certain contaminants could destroy an engine in a short time period. This coincided with my experiences of automobile engines and how we did serious damage to a beautiful classic engine because we drove it before changing and flushing the lubricant.
A jet engine with sand can be flushed but it runs a serious risk of running no more than an hour or so before it fails. However, Saddam could use them for short trips to neighboring countries to drop suitcases of bacteria, chemical weapons or other dirty bombs. Certainly no risk to the U.S.

Then we find information on the internet about the Saddam-Castro connection and claims they had a secret lab in Havana making chemical weapons. Could it be true? Could that be the use for the airplanes? If Saddam transported the sand contaminated planes to Cuba, they took off low heading South and then curved out over the gulf to fly to Miami a couple of them could surely make it and our radar might not show where they were coming from. They would be Saddam’s planes and if he was lucky no connection would be made to Castro.

Radar. Remember Saddam giving big rewards to whoever could shoot down our fighter jets? What about the one he did get? Could he have taken equipment from that plane and mounted it in his own jet so it would look like one of our own jet fighters on our radar?

If you connect enough dots you can find for certainty some risk to the U.S.

Or is this the delusions of an old Navy non-com with too much time on his hands?
Time will tell….

Oh, there is one more Peter Falk issue.
It is now reported that the collaboration has moved from Saddam, and Castro to Iran, Castro and Chavez in Venezuela. It is also reported the lab has been packed up and flown to Venezuela.

Mix in a long range rocket from North Korea, some big cash from Iran and Chavez and we have a great conspiracy theory or a great plot for a scary movie.

(Sources: Search Google for Saddam Castro Connection).

THANKS DANIEL FREEDMAN
Click on the link to Daniel Freedman on the links section and read his article about “Why is Good News Buried?” Great article about the 2nd Iraqi province being taken over by Iraqi security forces and no mention of it in the MSM.

2006-08-31T07:46:00.000-07:00

FORMER PRESIDENT JAMES EARL CARTER, JR. 1977-1981

I turned 50 when Mr. Carter was President. I was very active in Real Estate Brokerage.
I had spent some time as an elected official and was tuned in to the political process.

I was in North West New Jersey with a large family and concerned about the accident at 3 mile island in Pennsylvania. There was a nuclear accident at a power plant and there was tension as to what to do to be safe.

Suddenly President Carter shows up at the scene and most of us were thinking “What is he doing there” and “Please don’t let him touch anything”. President Carter was not held in high regard by the American public.

Sometime after that incident I was caught off guard by one of those stories on Paul Harvey’s, “Now you know the rest of the story”. Paul Harvey told about a nuclear accident in Canada and that there was a potential melt down and how our government asked a young Naval Officer and nuclear engineer to volunteer to wade into the mess and save the world. He told how that young hero did agree to go and he stopped the reaction and was quite a hero. Then he told us that hero was President Jimmy Carter when he was a young man and I was really embarrassed that I had such doubts about this brave man.

While preparing to write about this for you I did a search to confirm Carter’s presence and brave action but I failed. What I did learn on historic sites was that Carter went there as part of a team. One of the web sites was a history of the town in Canada where the event occurred and the historian who was a physicist at the power plant described how their people were already clearing up the contaminated water and Carter arrived as part of a team that came to help with that project. Carter had been trained as a nuclear u-boat captain during his time in the U.S. Navy.

Now, knowing more about the truth of his history I am very concerned about his current foray into the diplomatic stumbling that he is doing. He recently went to England and chastised Prime Minister Blair for being so supportive of the President of the United States. When Mr. Carter was President we had great pride in our country and no one was tolerated who left our shores and criticized our government overseas. It was not done but seems to be common now.

Ghazel Omid, a young lady who escaped from Iran has written a book, “Living in Hell” and has a web site of the same name. Ms. Omid has explained that Mr. Carter is going to meet with the former President of Iran and this act will be viewed by the radical Muslims as a defeat for the United States and that Iran will be able to gain international prestige by forcing a highly placed individual from the United States to meet with Iran.

This is a very sad situation in our international prestige and our history.
I do not believe our President should have allowed this man to visit us other than address the UN and get out. But I am concerned that the forces out to win the next election have such strong support from the press and media that they weakened the President and in his moves to avoid controversy is making mistakes.

This is my viewpoint. I know it is not the same as yours or others but then I do not think like you or others. For a more profound viewpoint please go to the link on the left for Hugh Hewitt and he will give you the rest of the story.

THE WEATHER

By this time you know that Ernesto has fizzled and just brought us rain which we appreciated.
This happens a lot in North East Florida where we live. For about two weeks a hurricane
heads toward Florida and then turns North and devastates some other area with less publicity.

There is a hurricane named John that is headed toward the Baja Peninsula off Mexico and it is a huge storm. They are sweating out the same situation. Will it turn before it destroys some resorts?

I have cable and my TV, telephone and computer are all from the same service. It is fast, the lines are buried and it is usually dependable. The high speed computer service was off for awhile this morning so I am late posting the news today. I have some clean up to do with putting storm supplies away and then I will be back on schedule.

Lexington, Lieberman,Morris,Blankley,blog

2006-08-30T04:42:00.000-07:00

GOOD MORNING, August 30, 2006

While contemplating my thoughts for today I am reminded of a couple of statements I made, For example, yesterday I commented on the waste in building big airport towers if no-one was going to look out the big windows and notice a plane was on the wrong runway. Especially in a low traffic airport like Lexington.
A few hours later the FAA admitted allowing the airport to operate with one air traffic controller on duty when there should have been two. Even if there was a violation the controller should have checked. Especially after the taxiway had been redesigned.

When Joe Lieberman lost his primary I pointed out the mix of voter registrations and predicted, as did others, that he would do well in the polls and the election. His poll numbers are up and that prediction is coming true.
Richard Morris (a former Clinton advisor) stated last night on TV that the party that promotes the concern about the war on terror will win the election. Iraq is a negative, protection against terrorism is a positive and we will see these items come into focus.

I also read an article by Tony Blankley about an article in the Jerusalem Post about Ghazi Hamad, an official spokesman for the Hamas controlled Palestinian Authority where he called upon the Palestinians to change their ways. You can read the article at the link below.
Tony Blankley: The bacteria of stupidity

It would be nice if the Muslims started listening to some forward thinking members of their groups. That could go for Iraq also. All they have to do is look for peace and try to live comfortably in a world that will care for them. Instead, they are fighting among themselves for personal power. And causing its benefactors great stress during the process.

BLOGGING

I was recently introduced to this world of blogging by a book telling about the profound effect bloggers have had on the world in the past few years. I find people in 3 groups. Those who do not know anything, those who have heard about it and those who do it. There are about 20 million blogs on the internet right now. There are a few dailies and some of these rise to the top and are read by thousands each day. They are a source of unedited news and you can select the bias you want. There are places to search by subject and title.
Some that can establish a level of confidence and trust with their readers succeed. Some, that have an angle succeed for awhile but do not stay.
There are some that are business oriented and some are extensions of a company web site. One of these is http://www.palmcoastd.com where you will see my wife and her position featured on the home page. In effect, this is a blog oriented toward a specific market and the publishing business. It helps the customers understand the services offered and is a friendly link and introduction to a business organization.

You can search news from a blog, see my link to Google on the left. You can also search for” Google search blog” and you will find a search engine that will search blogs by title or subject or phrase.
Many people are rejecting newspapers and taking their news from the blog world.

WEATHER and news

Speaking of news, I expected to be looking at a lot of rain and wind as a hurricane approached us today. It has turned into another tropical storm and we are looking forward to some much needed rain without the ultra high winds. The Carolinas could do worse if the storm strengthens over the Atlantic Ocean.

I cannot believe we flew that character back first class and released him after he conned us into thinking he killed JonBenet. Well, now you know how to get a free air trip.

More later and thanks for reading.

Ernesto update at 9 AM

2006-08-29T05:59:00.000-07:00

There was a computer model update at 2 AM and at 8 AM which agree on a prediction that Ernesto will enter Florida along the SW gulf coast as a tropical storm nearing hurricane level one speed. Ernesto is then expected to travel north through Florida and exit near Palm Coast or St. Augustine as a weakened tropical storm and then re-enter the South in SC or NC possibly as a hurricane then disapating over land.
The prediction is based on slight weakening of cold front and high pressure areas in the southern states.
I am not going to board up my windows now but will have the wood handy if there is a change. Storms usually do not come through our area and this is unusual.
I have given an opinion based on opinions and estimates of others. Do not rely on me, you need to do your own investigation and make your own decisions.
Good luck.
Stew

Lexington,New Orleans, FEMA,Los Angeles, Northridge and Ernesto

2006-08-29T04:09:00.000-07:00

LEXINGTON AIRPORT.

My wife has been flying in and out of the Lexington airport this year related to a special project connected to her work. We have been watching the reports of the tragic accident there with great interest and the scenes shown on TV are very familiar to her.
There are two things we know for sure:
1. The airport runways are not marked clearly so you can tell which one you are using.
2. The control tower has big windows so you can see the airport but no one looked out to see if the plane was headed in the right direction and on the correct runway. They have excused themselves and said they are too busy to “baby sit” the aircraft. Why then are we building high towers with big windows so they can see what is going on? Just one quick peek would have saved 50 lives and many reputations and maybe a small airline. Do they have computer screens that show the location of larger aircraft and that it is on the wrong runway? How many planes took off that morning? Were they that busy that they could not look?
Watch for the answers to these questions and other airports need to review their own procedures. The towers are under management of the same organization that oversees major highways, FEMA and Amtrak.

NEW ORLEANS

We have every politician who can make it in New Orleans working to blame the other party.
Of course, we remember 4:31 A.M. January 17, 1994. I was sitting in my recliner in front of the TV checking the morning paper. My wife was just about to get up and prepare for her first day at a new job. We were temporarily staying in an apartment on the ground floor of a 3 story building. We were in the valley near Los Angeles about 4 miles from Northridge where at least 16 people living on the ground floor of buildings just like ours were about to die.
A large roar started. The TV fell off and bruised my leg. I got up to go for my wife and she was calling me, as I tried to call back to her and nothing came out of my mouth. I tried to walk back through the hallway but the shock waves made it feel as if I were stepping into valleys and peaks but the floor was solid concrete. It seemed to take forever but I made it and we huddled together in a door frame.
We slept in our car for a few nights until our building was approved for occupancy. The President flew into town with a lot of publicity. We were directed to visit FEMA offices where we would be made “whole” or put back into the position we were in before the earthquake. Whole for us meant hundreds of dollars in broken items and we were not able to start work because nothing was open so we were losing income and paying rent on a building we could not occupy.
FEMA was sorry but they could not make us “whole”. There were a couple of reasons I have tried to block out. It was not impressive sitting before this group of high paid “experts” telling us why they could not help us after enticing us with all the wonderful things they had promised. We even heard people calling into talk shows on the radio stations that were operating and bragging about how they had been able to get two and three payments for rent amounting to thousands of dollars. It seems if you lied, you could get money and some of the people knew how to con FEMA and helped each other.

FEMA was screwed up then and it is still screwed up. Do we blame the heads of government of both parties or do we look at the career professionals who have been running the agencies for many years? Pros who the news tells us are being paid about double the average salary of non governmental employees.

NO GO ERNESTO

Right now we are basing the projected hurricane track on yesterday’s computer models.
Only one model was updated early this morning and that shows Ernesto reduced to a tropical storm over Cuba and then traveling up the gulf to the Sanibel area and then crossing Florida to South of New Smyrna and going along the coast up toward Cape Hatteras.
The strength of the storm is not clear. Based on older models it will be a tropical storm but based on the latest computer model it could gain some strength as it travels part way up the gulf coast in warm water.
We do know it will not go up to the New Orleans area. The cold front and high pressure areas in the southern part of the US tend to push it down and to the east into the Atlantic as it travels north.
I have to decide if I should board up my windows and will do that later this morning and will let you know what the latest computer models show at that time. It will start raining here later today. We need that rain.

Have a great day if you can.

Ernesto,Cuba, Florida, Rumsfeld and news bias

2006-08-28T03:59:00.000-07:00

HEADLINE NEWS AUGUST 28, 2006.

At the top of the news today is Hurricane Ernesto. As it passes directly over Haiti and now Cuba it is expected to lose strength. If it can recover this strength on the way to Florida, it will become a category one hurricane. There is the possibility it will not recover.
The computer models are influenced by a cold front and the high pressure centers behind the front which causes the computers to calculate the hurricane will move eastward and pass directly over or through Florida. In any scenario Miami to Ft. Myers will take the full force of the storm. If it travels north through Florida it will weaken while over land before it reaches the Jacksonville area. If it travels north along the coastal waters it will stay strong or even gain some strength.
We must watch the storm the next couple of days. The projected path puts the center of the storm at my location in Florida at 2 AM on Thursday. I will be busy getting storm panels ready to insert in the windows. We have metal panels ordered but we are on a waiting list for delivery and installation.
We have found these storms often change at the last minute and will at least provide some needed rain.
Stay in touch for daily updates. If my postings stop you know it is headed here and we ran away for a couple of days.

In other news I note the local paper has a headline
RUMSFELD: DEFENSE SHIELD INADEQUATE.
From the Google News Search (Link on my web site) the headline is:
CONFIDANT RUMSFELD REVIEWS DEFENSE SHIELD.

It is amazing how our thoughts about the war are controlled by the press we are exposed to. I usually watch Fox news which tries to be objective and concentrate on facts. Some of the editorials do lean in certain ways. However, news reporters like Smith are objective. O’Reilly tries to be in the middle While Hannity and Coombs give both viewpoints. It is interesting to see that O’Reilly is accused of each side of taking a non objective view, no doubt the result of not spewing forth the talking points.
For the news, I scan the Google news, Check one side with the New York Times and the other with the Washington Times. I also give a link to a reporter with the New York Sun.

Try to stay warm.

Blame for the Oil Shortage and Prices

2006-08-27T08:44:00.000-07:00

WHO TO BLAME FOR THE OIL MESS!!!

You, Me, all of us.
It is our fault that oil prices are so high and we just will not do anything about it.

I have given an analysis of this before. Go to the archives of July 2006 and then January 2006.

I hear people say we should build mass transportation.
Even if they built it we would not use it. We love our cars and unlike other countries we are too affluent to not use them.

Building mass transportation and changing the attitude of the population will take years. You need to read my postings above and learn about our transportation systems and how we have abandoned them for the car. Sure, I try to offer a solution, but it will take help and years to convert our way of thinking.

In the meantime there are some things we could do to reduce our usage of oil which all involve conservation and better habits. If I mention them someone will say they are silly but I am going to take a shot at it anyway.
Do the following:
Read my comments as listed in the archives.
Slow down. Our traffic on the interstate is moving at 75 mph. We could save a significant amount of fuel if we slowed down to 55. We all have to slow down.
Do some planning for trips to the store and shopping and work. Can you reduce a few trips by planning? Can you ride with someone else or give someone else a ride?
Can you have the children ride the bus and not join the long lines at schools?
Check the air pressure in your tires every 2 weeks.

Ask the big money and politicians to cut back on use of private jets and yachts.
Show some interest in conservation, alternative fuels and finding new sources of fuel.
When the futures traders see your interest and efforts and anticipate a reduction in price they will sell crude futures short before the price drops. This will absolutely cause oil prices to drop and reduce the profit going to terrorist supporters.

Need an incentive? The terrorists are supported by your excessive use of fuel. Without the billions we send them they would have to cut back on financing the death of our troops and people around the world. Think about please. We are sending them money to kill us! It is a lot easier to cut back at home.

News:Centanni,Ernesto,Iran and shuttle

2006-08-27T04:01:00.000-07:00

HEADLINE NEWS SUNDAY AUGUST 27.

Centanni and Wiig released, Ernesto now Hurricane and heads for Florida, Iran pledges fight for nuclear use and US plans sanctions, shuttle delayed.

The journalists have been released and are safe as confirmed by CNN, Fox News and New Zealand diplomat. The photo above is one I took of Steve Centanni covering a presidential appearance in Daytona Beach

Ernesto has achieved hurricane status and is moving closer to Cuba. Computer models show it turning NE toward Florida and hitting Jacksonville area Thursday night. I will get my window covers ready, but the track could change and probably will the next few days. 4 of 5 computer models show it turning into north Florida.

Iran opened its heavy water plant needed to enhance uranium, the UN is softening its approach so the US is promising to enforce its own sanctions and might be alone. Other countries want a share of the billions of oil money flowing into Iran.

The shuttle launch pad was hit by lightening which is normal. Inspections to be made and possible launch target is just after 4 PM on Monday.

Attorney General and Reporters Undisclosed Sources

2006-08-26T11:31:00.000-07:00

The Attorney General announces position on reporters being required to reveal undisclosed sources.

I have seen only one newscast about this subject and I expect there will be ample discussion and argument over the next weeks and months regarding this subject.
Reporters feel they have some first amendment rights to disclose information without revealing their sources.

I do not agree with them because they have already told us they should not use this practice unless it is a last resort. How can that be?

The constitution was very vague about the freedom of the press. In the first amendment a very short statement about congress not making any laws to abridge the press leaves a situation open to interpretation and argument as to what is the press that has this power.

I even found statements that it was better not to give any details so that it would slide through ratification easier. It was ratified by 9 states and it is interesting to review the states and their rural nature and possibly simpler expectations.

The press itself seemed to recognize the lack of definition and I believe, but am not positive, that they set up their own standards which helped define the press that would be protected by the first amendment.

Many feel the press is not conforming to its own standards and if not, I put forth the argument that if the press does not meet the definition of the press which it has helped to define, then it is not the “press” and not entitled to the protections given it. This would include the excessive use of undisclosed sources which some leading papers have covered in their standards as only being used in certain circumstances and as a last resort.

You can read my original posting on this subject, please go to Archive, select August 2006, and scroll down to August 11 under “Press, Free Press and Congress then The Freedom of the Press”

Happy Saturday America!

2006-08-26T04:27:00.000-07:00

August 26, 2006
WEATHER:
The weather map has changed overnight so your newspaper map is outdated. Storms are shown this morning extending from North Texas up through Missouri to Illinois. Spotty rain showers along gulf coast of Texas and the west coast of Florida. There is rain in Jacksonville and the east I-4 corridor.

Tropical storm Ernesto is well organized and could develop into a strong hurricane. Watch this closely, it is in the Caribbean and is projected to head into the Gulf of Mexico about Tuesday. Key West should feel rain early Tuesday morning but many changes can take place.

Tropical Depression Debby is still out in Atlantic and will make a curve to the north and then northeast Sunday. If you are on a ship avoid the area.

Tropical storm Ileana is in the pacific and slowly weakening.
Hurricane Ioke is in the Pacific west of Hawaii.

HEADLINES TODAY:
Thank you Europe. The EU has pledged about half the troops needed for the occupation of Lebanon. From 5600 to 6900 will be sent and added to those already pledged. The French with the experienced foreign legion will head the groups.

The UN resolutions call for disarmament but Annan says it will not be by force? How do you disarm terrorists? They are like hit and run robbers-so one holds you up and you talk him into giving up his gun? I don’t think so. When you confront crooks with overpowering force they might give up or they might fight to the death.

The US is checking on the use of cluster bombs by Israel. Their use in Lebanon violated some agreement we have with them.

TODAY’S OTHER HEADLINES:
A psychology student from Lafayette College in Pennsylvania was found to have a stick of dynamite in his checked luggage on a flight from Argentina. There were 7 incidents yesterday of disruptions to US flights. Is it a full moon?

Iran has responded to UN demands with blah, blah, blah. They keep stalling. When it gets close to crunch time they will start an incident somewhere else. Let’s see, it is time for Noriega to create an incident or maybe even Castro.

Late news, Steve Centanni

2006-08-25T20:31:00.000-07:00

Friday, August 25
There is late breaking news on Saturday night that some progress is being made with the captives of Steve Centanni of Fox News and his cameraman.
You can see a photo of Steve when he was in my area for the visit of The President in Daytona Beach, FL. Check the photo and my comments by going to the August archives and scroll down to august 15.

2006-08-25T11:15:00.000-07:00

TAX REFORM OR MORE SNOW JOBS?
A second posting with more Fair Tax income.

In the first section of this subject of tax reform I introduced the Fair Tax to you and explained that your income would increase by the amount now deducted for withholding taxes and Medicare. Some employers might even pass along the amount they are now charged for their share of your withholding taxes.

I want to reveal to you another source of income that will also help to increase your monthly income.
Let me say that all the information I am giving you now is covered in the Fair Tax Book by Neal Boortz and John Linder. You should buy the book and study it. I am highlighting a few details to stimulate you and maybe clarify a couple of issues. I have found a couple of items I question and I will get to those also in future postings.

Now for another source of income. All heads of households will receive a payment each month to advance to them the cost of the consumption tax for the basic necessities of that household for that month.
Explain please: Let’s say you are a married couple and you have two children. At this time, the government has decided it will cost you $25,660 for your basic household requirements. If someone earned or spent below that amount it is defined as below the poverty level.
Don’t worry about the name, it is just the way to establish a figure to say that all income at or below that amount is required to give your family the basics. It has then been decided that a family should not pay sales tax on that amount. It would be unfair and cause a burden in taxation for lower income people. So the bill before congress requires the government to refund you in advance the tax on that amount which is $491.82
a month. Did you look at the withholding from your payroll stub? Let’s say you are having about $350 taken out for taxes: Add to that the $492 prebate and your income will increase almost $850 a month.
When was the last time your income went up about $10,000 per year? The fair tax has been recognized as the fairest treatment for lower income people.

Now let us examine this big increase. Most of that, the $492 will go for the consumption or sales tax. But remember the first lesson, when we get the corporate taxes that are passed on to you out of the sales price the final price you pay at the cash register will be almost identical to the price you paid before so that refund of $850 will really be a net increase in the money in your pocket. Do you know what happens when more consumers have more to spend? More of you can qualify for and afford to buy your own house so real estate will boom. With more money many of you will increase consumption so the economy will increase. Some of you will save some of that money so with increased savings mortgage rates will decline and more of you can afford mortgages which will also help the real estate market.

Without income taxes and taxes on savings more people will take their savings out of foreign deposits designed to skirt our taxes and deposit that money here in US banks. In fact our tax treatment for investment and savings will suddenly become the best or one of the best in the world so lots of money will flow into our banks. This will reduce mortgage rates, encourage investment and growth for our country and you will be much better off. There will be better jobs, a higher demand for your work and you will be very happy.

You can also always buy used items and save paying a consumption tax, it is OK. There will be a lot more spending and lots of taxes will be paid in just from the consumption of a more affluent America.
Tourists will come and they will help pay our taxes through their consumption. People who obtained money by various means whether it was a gift or it was stolen or it was for some unreported sales will now pay for their share of your taxes when they spend the money.

You do not have to worry about Social Security or Medicare any more; it will be funded and is provided for.

OK, that is enough for today. Absorb this and I will come back with some additional information. In the meantime you can read the book and you can go to the web site at www.fairtax.org. There might be a group of volunteers in your town who will explain more of the tax to you.

2006-08-25T10:46:00.000-07:00

MEMORIES OF AN OLD MAN.

I remember the thirties.
I remember the poverty.
I remember people with college degrees begging for jobs as delivery boys.
I remember working all day for 50 cents.
I remember when I was about to be drafted to go into the army and crawl through rice fields in Korea and be killed.
I remember joining the Navy so I could have a shower before I died.
I remember donating shoes to send to our army in Korea because our defense budget could not afford to buy them.
I remember visiting countries where we traveled in groups for safety.
I remember seeing poverty so bad the people did not care about living.
I remember seeing young people offering to sell themselves for pennies.

And how I remembered seeing our flag flying over our possessions, our military bases and our ships at sea.
I remember seeing that flag and the protection and warmth it offered me and my comrades. When we were close to that flag we were embraced in a cocoon of protection and comfort.
Many of our veterans have died to protect that flag and make it strong.
I remember a number of almost a million servicemen and women have died so that flag can fly and lead us back to warmth and protection.

Our veterans who have died and many, many more who were wounded have asked you for a simple favor, it is an easy favor to ask and you probably think it is trivial and unimportant.

Please, as a very small favor to all who died or were wounded to give protection to your rights and freedom, will you please treat that flag as a part of their lives and think of them when you see it, handle it or retire it.

We veterans beg of you. Please allow us the simple courtesy of protection for that which we hold so dear. It is our life and our sacred duty to protect that flag so it will mark the way for you when you need to seek comfort.
We know we are asking something that might seem to be a sacrifice to you but please remember how much we gave for you and the small favor we ask in return.

Weather and headlines, Friday,August 25, 2006

2006-08-25T04:28:00.000-07:00

WEATHER:
The US map is well visited by numerous highs and lows. Today the lows could dominate the east coast and influence tropical storm Debby. That storm will start to turn north this weekend but the influence of other forces could re-direct it to the north east coast of the US. Debby has just become better defined and we will watch it.
There are storm patterns right now in North Texas with rain headed east to Oklahoma.
There are also storm patterns around the great lakes drifting to the east over Lake Huron.
There is a tropical storm #5 in the South Caribbean that is well defined and will become tropical storm Ernesto soon. Predictions are for it to head west but that could change.

HEADLINES TODAY:
I see a typical pattern here of France talking about sending 4000 troops then reducing that to only 200 and now offering 1500 for Lebanon. The press reports that they agreed to increase from 200 to 1500 and it makes France look wonderful. Actually, they have let everyone down by dropping from 4000 to only 1500. That is 500 more than Spain and will probably allow France to still be in charge.
Meanwhile Kofi Annon is chatting with Iran and seeming to be opposed to sanctions. Time to investigate the flow of money?

TODAY’S OTHER HEADLINES:
The JonBenet maybe killer is in jail in the US. Will have to be charged today because that is the law in Colorado. If they left him in LA there would have been more time to investigate because the law gives more time. The smart money says the DA in Colorado is savvy and must have some other evidence. We will see….

Now we have a morning after pill. Good. Can only be purchased if over 18. Will result in large sales indicating high sexual activity at age 18 but unwanted pregnancies will decline in ages under 18. Potential for stem cell research will decline because of reduced birth rate.
There are no restrictions for stem cell research. When the federal government was authorized by the current administration for the first time to give money for research it was restricted to certain sources of cells. There are no fund restrictions for research when the funds are from private or public sources.

South Korea and Japan say North Korea probably has 1-2 nuclear bombs. That is a problem and this has been stirred up while Iran is under scrutiny. Too much activity is stirred up by Iran. Also Chavez is visiting China and was recently in Cuba.

Do we have enough military to take on more problems? A search of the internet indicates about one million four hundred thousand active military. Most of our troops in Iraq seem to be from reserves. Do we have a lot of military administration sitting around bases throughout the world? I have suggested we get about 800,000 on a training exercise around Iraq with the message that this sleeping giant is disturbed and the world better slow down and pay attention. See my previous post: “What would Teddy Do?”

Watch out for your laptops! The way things are going I would not be surprised to see some restrictions placed on carrying laptops on aircraft. Let us hope this settles down.

The final item is the most ridiculous item and that is the man in India who named his restaurant after someone we all hate. So is there a lesson to be learned here? If you want world wide publicity do what he did. Name your business after someone everyone hates. He selected Hitler. After the world talks about it, apologize and change the name and now you are known as the place that used to be named after Hitler but you are world famous and have lots of business.
Using this lesson I can get publicity for my blog by naming it after someone who is really hated by everyone. But who is hated by everyone?
“Saddam’s notes” maybe? Or the Enron Chronicles or the “Big Oil Pool” wait, I know who gets blamed for everything and the press says he is hated around the world- I will call it the “Bush Blast”
I am sorry; I did not mean to offend anyone.
I am changing the name back to the Divine Bullet (Dreaming up the silver bullet).
Have a great day.

IRAN ATTACK OF OIL RIG

2006-08-24T08:55:00.000-07:00

IRAN ATTACKS ROMANIAN OIL RIG
Late yesterday gun boats from Iran attacked an oil rig belonging to Romania in waters off Iran in a commercial dispute. Guns were fired and the workmen are being detained by the Iranian troops.
This was not reported in any of the papers and is still not on the wires. I received a tip and searched the internet for details.

2006-08-24T04:06:00.000-07:00

GOOD MORNING AMERICA. Thursday, August 24, 2006

WEATHER:
When the newspapers went to bed last night they showed a low pressure area in the Dakotas and a high around Indiana producing moderate conditions throughout the country. This morning a low has formed in Southern California, 2 highs near Arizona and New Mexico which is good and a low near the Georgia, Alabama border. We can expect some activity developing today around those low pressure zones so check on those areas later in the day.
Tropical storm Debbie is expected to make a turn away from us and is still far out to sea and will not be expected to be a mainland problem.
NEWS:
It is interesting that a new stem cell procedure has been found that will not harm embryos. Still some controversy but looks promising. Headlines always refer to current administration as failing to sign bill that would allow stem cell research to expand but they fail to mention that it is the first administration ever to allow any stem cell research paid for with federal funding. Research paid for by private funds is not federally controlled.
Also in the headlines are Iran and Lebanon.
Iran is now willing to negotiate. The UN resolution called for sanctions if uranium enrichment for nuclear weapons not stopped. Iran’s’ offer to talk and negotiate is about everything but enrichment and they state they will not stop.
We have a dilemma. If we wait until they have the bomb we have to nuke them before they nuke us and hundreds of thousands of civilians will die. If we go in before they have the bomb we can use conventional weapons as in Iraq but there will still be casualties and much criticism as we have about Iraq. I doubt that we have the heart for it. I have offered a solution using a TR or JFK show of force. See my previous posting “What would Teddy Do”. The proposal will become more appropriate as time goes on.

Lebanon says if peace breaks down other militant forces will step in to help them. (Mostly terrorist groups). The peace is already breaking down due to UN failure to act and now China is pulling back now so the UN will not be helpful.

Some papers are discussing falling prices in real estate with a bubble about to burst. In my 25 years in real estate I saw this pattern before. Sellers will tend to rent their homes out until the prices firm up and will rent homes where they are moving to. Some will delay their moves and the impact will not be as bad as you might expect. In some areas there is an overbuilding of rentals and condos, these areas will suffer more because condo sales will slow except to investors at low prices and with financing. The cycle will change in about 5 years.

I posted my second part of the dialog request about issues instead of individuals and finished with my thoughts about grass roots movements. This second section should be read after reading the first part the day before. I split it because it was more than you want to read at one sitting.

Thanks for checking in.
Stewart “Stew” Rusby

Democrat,Republican, Libertarian or Independent? Continued

2006-08-23T20:10:00.000-07:00

A grass roots movement by bloggers toward the goal of changing campaign finance looks very interesting to me, even if we had to start a new party as great grandfather helped do or we selected candidates and worked to help them regardless of party line. Our representation has been bought out and we stood by and watched them do it. Now, with our blogs, we have the power to improve it.

Just as Lincoln was the result of a grass roots movement and there have been others such as anti discrimination movements. Right now there is a movement pushing tax reform with the Fair Tax program. The group and movement are growing with rallies of thousands in Atlanta and Orlando.

Also think about the growth of our huge grass roots movement of blogs throughout the world. Bloggers are bringing news directly without the control of editors or publishers and the movement is well documented in the book “Blog, Understanding Reformation” by Hugh Hewitt and published by Nelson Books. I will quote a couple of facts from his book but I urge you to buy it and read it. Our world is leaving the traditional newspaper world and taking news directly from the internet. It is not difficult to find blogs that are reliable and informative. You can tune into the life of citizens in many countries and learn what is happening immediately. You do not wait for tomorrow’s paper; you can get the news as it happens from where it happens. Good bloggers are great researchers. They dig and dig until they get reliable facts and report the information to the public with or without a viewpoint, however you want it. There is software available that will list blogs when you turn on your computer and you can scan those you like as often as you like. The best bloggers post several times a day. There are millions of blogs to choose from and search engines to help you find what you want. Some bloggers read many blogs before they post their own. Those who have developed a following of 20,000, 50,000, and 120,000 and so on keep in touch with what is happening. They are well informed, have developed a following and are relied upon for facts. I was really impressed with Hugh Hewitt’s style of documenting the source of all important information. His book is a resource and directory which speaks well for his law training and professorial credentials. He learned early that when learning and exhibiting skills academia does not accept news articles as source documents, they are very unreliable, you need source documents and the blog community only allows those who appreciate that to climb to relevance.

Howard Dean got a big boost from bloggers during his campaign and the Republican National Committee lists a blog on its current site.
When Hugh Hewitt wrote his book two years ago there were about 4 million blogs and there are about 60,000 being created each month and one estimate places the current total at 19 million. This huge growth took place in just a few years. Hewitt’s book is filled with statistics about the growth of the blogs and the influence they have had, the influence on the problems of Trent Lott, mistakes made by the New York Times, John Kerry’s claims about Christmas in Cambodia and lots more. Bloggers found information and spread the word and interfered with the influence of the main stream press.

I would like to see that power turned loose on the political scene. However, I do not want to start condemning any politician, after all, we allowed them to put themselves in this mess. But we must be heard and we must support those who will place their civic responsibilities ahead of personal goals. The Contract with America was a good example and demonstrated that many good politicians would place the community first. It was a goal of Newt Gingrich who is a historian which complements his problem solving abilities and I noticed just today there is renewed interest in him.

(Sometimes I start writing and the discussion seems to be influenced. Maybe great grandfather or my dad has more influence than we think.) Our country is in a mess with campaign finance and the influence of big money. We might as well not even vote! The candidates are selected by who will finance them and how well they can raise money, not on their interest in representing us. We are fed information by headlines carefully worded to steer our thinking and then we are polled to see if the influence is there and then our politicians tell us they will vote the way we want them to. But often they listen to their big dollar contributors and figure out ways to mislead us.
Blgos have the power to change it all. Blogs can give the people a chance to be heard.

2006-08-23T04:13:00.000-07:00

GOOD MORNING AMERICA. Wednesday, August 23, 2006

WEATHER:
Much of the country is dominated by high pressure centers which tend to push storms away. There are a couple of lows moving across the center of the country. Storm is in northern Wisconsin this morning and another just moving off North Carolina. There is a tropical storm “Debby” just moving east from the coast of Africa that we will watch and a tropical depression “Hector” in the Pacific. Ileana and Ioke are still active in the Pacific.

NEWS:
Everything about the same as it was when you went to bed.
Iran is still game playing with typical efforts of terrorist’s states to keep us unsettled. They gain when they get our hopes up and then knock them down and depress us. The more they can do to depress us and make us unhappy with our leadership improves their position and makes us weaker and more willing to move back.

See my posting titled “What would Teddy do?” as to our best course of action.

The New York Times has brought up the UN peacekeeper rules of engagement from last week.

France is still dallying about how many to send to Lebanon. Is it 1500 or 3000 with higher figure being reconsidered so maybe they can be in charge?

Fox news taking note of increase in Bush approval polls.

O’Reilly had a segment about the decrease in welfare rolls due to legislation pushing welfare recipients back to work. His outlook was positive.
A local paper had an editorial citing same law and how it was failing and leaving many in poverty.
We need to sort this out. Who is correct?

Late yesterday I posted my thoughts about my political affiliations. I am trying to get a dialog going with people of different viewpoints so I am discussing my background.
I will follow that up today with some additional thoughts and action needed to remove the influence of campaign finance funds. Our politicians must sell their principles to get into and stay in office. I believe we must take some of the blame because we stood by and watched while congress got themselves into this mess. A representative is only in office 2 years and must spend most of that time raising funds to stay in office. There is little time left for serious leadership us so we are cheated out of our representation. This is an issue that should concern all citizens regardless of political outlook.
We can change this and I will talk to you about how we can do that. Later today.
Thanks for checking in.
Stewart “Stew” Rusby

Democrat,Republican, Libertarian or Independent?

2006-08-22T18:04:00.000-07:00

This is a touchy subject but one that we should review. None of us are too far apart in our beliefs of core values and I would like to reach members from all parties or points of view. I will explain why and also why I have been active as a Republican.

About 110 years ago my Great Grandfather, John Rusby joined a grass roots movement that was important to all of us. John had a community store in Franklin Township, NJ. The name of the town has since been changed to Nutley and the Rusby store was near the school.

A grass roots movement had started in the Midwest and spread across the North to the East. John became a member and supporter. The movement had a singular purpose and that was to end slavery. It was decided to start a new party and then they elected Abraham Lincoln as their candidate. Lincoln was elected and they went to war with the states that did not want to end slavery and during that war President Lincoln used his war time powers to sign and enact the Emancipation Proclamation which freed many slaves.

Lincoln took a big gamble but the strategy worked and resistance was overcome.
These are the same war time powers we are fighting over now in the attempt to intercept communications between terrorists. A number of presidents have used the same powers and there was an incident with FDR when he planned to appoint several more judges to the Supreme Court in order to control a ruling he needed to proceed with the war. Things worked out for him anyway so he did not proceed with the plan.

My Grandfather was a conservative minister and when Sears and Roebuck decided to sell alcoholic products in their popular home catalog Grandfather placed a large sign on his lawn on a very busy road and along with others placed great pressure on the company to change.

My Father sometimes took me with him as he worked as a Republican county committeeman to try to get candidates elected. My first memory of a campaign was when we stood along a small village street handing out flyers for Tom Dewey who was running against FDR. Mr. Dewey was across the street and he watched me handing out his flyers and must have wondered why we did not cross that small street and meet him. I might have even received an autograph. But Dad would not cross that street. He was a deacon in the church and Mr. Dewey was standing in front of the hotel bar. My dad never walked on that side of the street where there was a bar.

In later years I worked on other campaigns and the time came for me to decide if I wanted to run for public office. I wondered if I should continue on as a Republican, was I doing it because I believed in the goals or just because my Father was a Republican? I went to the library and looked up the principles of the Republican and Democratic Parties. It seemed that the Republicans were better organized in their goals and I felt closer to the goals so I stayed with them. I ran for an office of township committee and lost. Two years later I ran again and won as the only Republican with the other four Democratic members. In the next election we won two more seats and I became chairman with the honorary title of mayor, the youngest in my town. We moved to another part of our county and I did not run for re-election but then the bipartisan county committee appointed me to an economic development committee and we made a difference in our county.

Now I am looking at our goals of both parties. My Dad would have been so excited to see us with control of both houses of congress and the white house. For about 40 years the Democrats had control of at least 2 of the three and the Republicans could not fulfill their goals of smaller government and more conservative spending.

When we did achieve some control we were conservative for awhile with Mr. Gingrich but then we went on a spending spree and lost all our principles. Now the pork barrel is so big that many great republicans would be disappointed and ashamed.

Right now our government is lost to the control of rich individuals, the media, corporations and big movements who finance the campaigns and buy power from those running for office. Even their staff can now accept gifts so if you want to bring an issue to a congressperson you have to get it past an aide that might be paid off to block you.

Today I heard a part of the Neal Boortz radio show. Neal is a Libertarian and has given much assistance to the Fair Tax movement. Today he quoted some figures about the numbers of illegal aliens caught and returned under the Clinton administration and the number of companies fined for hiring illegal aliens. He then gave the figures for the same groups since Mr. Bush has become President. I must say I was shocked when he quoted figures showing both sets of the numbers had gone way down since Bush has been in office. We are talking thousands being reduced to hundreds or less. And then he hit us with which states had benefited the most. No one reports this. Boortz noted the Republican business community wants the workers and the end result is that it brings the Democrats more votes so neither side has fought this issue. I have to check Boortz sources and report back to you. For now consider it unverified however, Boortz is usually reliable but he does preach not to believe anything you hear on his show or see on his website without verifying it yourself.

If we, that is you and I concentrate on issues instead of party propaganda we could start our own grass roots movement and force a change in campaign finance. We have to take back control of our politicians and put them back to work for us. We cannot have them under the influence of those who do not represent the American people. Even if we were to provide the cost of their campaigns, better decisions and less pork barrel grabs would probably more than pay the large cost involved.

Good Morning America,Tuesday Aug. 22, 2006

2006-08-22T03:52:00.000-07:00

GOOD MORNING !
WEATHER:
Much of the country is dominated by high pressure centers which tend to push storms away. Some mild activity around north Texas and neighboring states. Low pressure centers moved into place along the west coast states over night so keep an eye out for some activity in near future. Seems clear right now.

NEWS:

The headlines this morning are that Iran has deferred answer regarding cooperation to end of month. We expected something to happen today and we need to be alert. It is a high holy day for Iran and they picked this day for response. It might be that factions in Iran disagree. They are indicating complicated response and want more talks. China is asking that Iran dispute be settled peaceably. (They must have a new missile to sell).

Italy will send some peacekeepers to Lebanon if Israel keeps truce. No one seems to want to step up and help.
Bush at press conference wants to stay the course
CNN poll shows percentage of Americans opposing war increasing which shows influence of main stream press.
But I do agree we are all getting tired which is what the terrorists want. Stay strong.

I was really honored yesterday to have one of the really big blogs link to my site yesterday to highlight the story about war games in Iraq. This was done by the author of the book “Blog”, Mr. Hugh Hewitt and you will find a link to his very popular site in the links section on the left side of the page. Survival in this blog era depends on you, the visitors and recognition from Mr. Hewitt and his flattering words were a big boost.

My Wife, Sonia was recognized by her company and fills their main page with a non flattering but highly visible photo and write up. Check it out at http://www.palmcoastd.com

So have a great day, unless Iran has a surprise it should be a pretty good day. I am working on a couple of stories and will be posting more later today.
Thank you for visiting.

GOOD MORNING AMERICA, Aug.21,,2006

2006-08-21T04:12:00.000-07:00

WEATHER:
High pressure areas have pushed most storms away. An exception is some activity this morning in North Texas, Oklahoma and Texas. The rest of the country is calm with some clouds in the South. Hector has reduced to a tropical storm north and east of Hawaii but Ioke has increased to a hurricane and it is southwest of Hawaii.

HEADLINES TODAY:
Gunmen ambush Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad again killing 22 and leaving hundreds wounded.
The UN wants the cease fire in Lebanon to be enforced. (They can’t seem to understand that is what we thought the UN would do.)

TODAY’S HEADLINES:
The JonBenet maybe killer is in jail in the US. Not yet charged and will provide news for weeks. Polls show you folks love this story.

A second trial of Saddam begins today, this time for genocide.

Lieberman moves to the left, maybe to satisfy polls and asks Rummy to resign.
Where are the solutions from our congress?
Check out this site below as I propose a bold action for the Far East. I believe it would make Teddy Roosevelt proud, maybe even JFK. But why do I have to try to divine this silver bullet. We pay people to do this.
Speaking of pay did you see that our government payroll is double that of the average citizen? Of course it costs double to live in Washington or many of our major cities like New York.

The NY Times adds a story about Britain not being able to reduce calls for murder for Islam.
They also feature the Europeans holding back on supplying troops for Lebanon security. The Washington Times reports the Lebanese defense minister has requested Syria not to incite Israel by firing at them.
Also in the Washington times there is a report of a possibility of Israel and Syria having peace talks.

The sports:
By this time you know Tiger Woods won the PGA open by 5 strokes. He seems to be back to his brilliance and wowed the crowd. His 12th major victory.

Matt Kenseth won the NASCAR race at Michigan. He is second in over all points.
Jeff Gordon came in second and Smoke (Tony Stewart) was third. Kasey Kane was fourth and Mark Martin was fifth.
Earnhardt, Jr. was sixth and was fun to watch. He ran a great race and lead for awhile. A stroke of luck kept him from being higher. It was especially nice to hear the tribute he gave Mark Martin as he described the fun he had racing a great pro and gentleman. Good job Jr. You are growing in the hearts of America.

What Would Teddy Do?

2006-08-21T04:10:00.000-07:00

I think Teddy Roosevelt or FDR or JFK or even Regan would take a bold stand. I have been divining this silver bullet over the past 2 weeks. Unfortunately Iran has stolen my thunder so it will look like I am copying them. However, it is obvious Iran has some clever people on their side and they are making us look weak. The latest move is to show their strength during some war games.

I have been considering proposing the US and Allies have a war exercise or war games in Iraq in order to pull a JFK or Teddy and show our strength. We must tell the world that we are a friendly nation, if others ask for our help or appear in need we will help them, and those who treat their citizens with decency and fairness such as in a democracy, we will assist them and protect them to the best of our ability. We must also point out that we make mistakes and we try to go where we are wanted but sometimes conflicts arise. We want the world at peace and to feel safe. If others do not agree with our philosophy we do not care as long as they do not threaten world peace.

Many of our citizens would prefer that we become reclusive and protect what we have, but we are not selfish and we feel compelled to help others. That attitude keeps us in continual problems and that is the cross we bear.

If we are threatened we become angry and have been described as a sleeping giant. We need to demonstrate the power of that sleeping giant and do it in a dramatic way.

My proposal is to have a war games program in and around Iraq. While there we can clear out some intruders and try to bring peace to a troubled world. While living under Saddam this country has developed a system of self protection by demonstrating what is asked but concentrating on survival. We saw this when scientists admitted telling Saddam that they were developing advanced weapons and were on the verge of success and he kept supplying large sums of money which was used with survival as the goal. Dangerous promises in exchange for comfortable survival. Even Saddam reached his power as the head of a mob, he out tricked the trickiest of the country and murdered his way to power. Survival was not making Saddam unhappy, comfortable survival was pleasing Saddam and they learned their lessons well. Even when we liberated the country the citizens concentrated on survival and looted museums and palaces.

Today the country is filled with those who would bring back a regime that they can trick again for a more comfortable survival, tribes are fighting for personal power instead of sharing a free land with neighbors and now some tribes are fighting for independence and choosing to have their own country. Other countries are sending in terrorists to keep the country unstable, incite us to kill innocents and make us fight with each other in hopes we will do as we usually do and give up.

It is time to chastise them like a little boy and set some standards.
First: we need to have strength and courage and work together.
We must also illustrate to Iran and Syria that we have the might and power if really disturbed to bring them to an imposed peace. If they do not have the bomb we could attack selected bases and fight their army and navy. However, once they have the bomb we have no choice but to destroy them and all their innocent citizens with a bigger bomb delivered without warning before they can fire at our homeland. This is a tricky position aggravated by the greed of Russia and France and Syria and China and North Korea and Venezuela and Castro who want to sell them arms to help finance their own desires.
To see how Iran will become look at North Korea. They hold South Korea hostage by threatening them with rockets aimed in their direction at the moment we move against them. If we sneaked flights in and dropped the bomb on them it would destroy their innocent civilian population, rockets would be fired at South Korea and innocents there would be killed and then we would be concerned with retaliation of China and maybe Russia.

But, while we still have time we can demonstrate our strength and leave Iran and Syria wondering how serious we are.
According to several internet sites I estimate the size of our military at about 2 million active duty personnel. The range seems to be about 1.4 million active and 1.3 million reserves.
If we were to activate about half of our active military, a force of about 700,000 troops with their airplanes, ships and armaments and send them to Southern Iraq and have them sweep the country along the borders of Iran and Syria. Then we enfold down around Baghdad and while there locating intruders from Syria and Iran and clearing out weapons, including searching mosques and palaces. Our ships could disrupt but not block traffic to Iran and Syria.
We could invite other nations to bring in troops for training, the larger the force the better and it is a great place to train NATO and UN peacekeepers. We would all learn as we put fear in the hearts of our adversaries.
I am concerned that we could put in excess of 500,000 soldiers in the field, we need more and we need help from NATO and England.
We need congress to fund the effort quickly; we need the main stream press not to destroy the effort by criticizing it if it becomes an active program. Debate before and after but while in process it must be a concentrated effort of each and every one of us to show solid support that will tell these terrorist nations to “back off”. The giant is restless and we want to calm his fears.

GOOD MORNING AMERICA,Sunday Aug.20,2006

2006-08-20T04:34:00.000-07:00

WEATHER:
A powerful earthquake occurred between South America and Antarctica. (7.2)

Several low pressure points moved east from the West Coast indicating rain in a band from New Mexico through North Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas and also in the North East of the US.
There is a tropical storm 500 miles south of Acapulco and hurricane Hector is 1500 miles east of the Hawaiian Islands. (Usually called typhoons in the Pacific but marked hurricane).
High heat area from North Texas to North Louisiana.

NEWS:
Today’s news will be dominated by the return to the US of the JonBenet Ramsey maybe-attacker.
Attacks in Afghanistan by police and NATO aircraft killed 71 suspected Taliban. Other clashes caused death of 4 US service personnel.
Iran tested some short range missiles.

SPORTS
Tiger Woods now in tie for lead of the PGA tournament.
College football begins in about 2 weeks. (Go Cyclones).
NASCAR fans have a race at 2:30 EST from Michigan. The odds are for Kasey Kahne. The fans are for Jr. who won the Busch race yesterday. Smoke is lurking and Sadler made a good move.

I have avoided mentioning the name of the JonBenet maybe-attacker. The professional standards of newspapers, using the New York Times code of ethics as the example states that a suspect should not be identified until charged with a crime. I believe this maybe-attacker will be charged on return to the US. I will also mention the servicemen associated with the killings in Haditha. According to an interview by an attorney representing one of them, no one has been charged yet. The code of ethics has been violated and should be investigated. More about this subject in my report that you can jump to by clicking on the press, free press article previously printed. I hope you will also take note of my prediction of Lieberman’s potential success in the article I did about him just after his primary loss. That article is listed in the side bar also.

I saw an interesting interview of a young Muslim lady who is trying to organize Muslim women to take their religion back from those who have converted it to a terrorist program. She claims it is a peace oriented religion. We hear controversy about this subject with claims that the Koran instructs conversion or killing of non believers. I have been searching the Koran on line and have not been able to locate the issue. Most of what I read supports the young lady. I wish her well, in the organizations I have been associated with the ladies have been better organized and accomplished more than the men and I hope this movement reflects that same success.
The Iranians have outsmarted us on several moves. They diverted attention from their nuke program by stimulating a war with Israel, they made Israel look bad by hiding in civilian housing and causing civilian deaths blamed on Israel and then stepped in with huge amounts of cash they gave to the civilians and have plans to provide funding for rebuilding Lebanon and made it all look like it was backed by the United States. Now they are having war games demonstrating their power. All of this has been financed by our (and others) purchases of high priced oil because we are too important to use mass transportation.
We have been snookered.
(Please see my comments on Cars, planes and trains in the archives).

GOOD MORNING AMERICA, Aug.19,2006

2006-08-19T04:57:00.000-07:00

GOOD MORNING AMERICA
Saturday, August 19,2006
Your morning news:

Weather conditions include band of storms from New Mexico NorthEast to Ohio. Also Vermont and New Hampshire, Lake Superior and North East Florida. The west coast including Washington and Oregon look clear. Hurricane Hector SW of Baja headed NW into Pacific.

HEADLINES TODAY:
Iran launches military exercises.
Annan says UN will not wage war.
Skirmish in Lebanon by Israeli commandos and Hezbollah troops kills one Israeli soldier
Ramsey suspect or non-suspect to be flown to US on Sunday
Seven Shiite religious pilgrims gunned down in Baghdad
Ford to halt production in 10 plants.
FDA approves bacteria killing spray for food that kills six viruses that kill hundreds each year.
Just off the blogs: Israel arrests Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister.

Media Confusion, JonBenet Ramsey and Air traffic disruption

2006-08-18T10:17:00.000-07:00

JonBenet Ramsey and the media frenzy.

What we are experiencing is a mass of confusing reports about the facts related to a reported confession related to this tragic death. At the same time there was a flurry of contradictions in reports related to a disruption of a passenger Jet flying to Washington, DC from London.

The confusing reports were discussed on the O’Reilly show with Bernard Goldberg and Jane Hall.
The opinion expressed seemed to excuse the media by stating the media relied on “official” information which was incorrect. O’Reilly expressed that it was difficult to get information that he could depend upon.

I respect their opinions, they are far more experienced than I am, however I feel the press and the media are not following the standards set out for them selves. If you look on the sidebar at my recent posts and select “Press, free press and congress” you will find the standards that require presenting all sides of an issue and if the reporters had contacted all sides including investigators and police officials involved they would have presented the different stories to the public and we would not have been misled.

I believe my comments about this subject were substantiated by these incidents. There is a site that tracks media reporting and bias called the Media Research Center and you can keep up with their reports at http://www.mediaresearch.org/welcome.asp

New approach to politics and gay marriage

2006-08-17T10:24:00.000-07:00

A new approach to politics:

I have been thinking about my personal goals what direction should I take with my blog. I have to define myself and my objectives and I have been thinking about what if I tried to develop a communication with people of all political backgrounds. I have friends, neighbors and family who have views that are not in agreement with mine but we get along fine, they are all nice people and I have warm feelings about all of them even though we might have different political views.
So I have thought about trying to open a dialog with people who feel some changes need to be made in our representation in Washington and elsewhere and avoid the politics.

As I was contemplating this I stumbled into a web site connected to Wikipedia and I hope you will take a look at the site and at the mission statement. I believe it will help me meet my goal and I hope you will participate also.

The founder of Wikipedia has started this new project called Campaigns Wikia. It will be found at http://www.wikia.com/wiki/Community_portal and its mission statement, a message from the founder can be found at http://campaigns.wikia.com/wiki/Mission_Statement or just look for the link on the left side of the page.

A passing comment about gay marriage.

I do not have a problem with gays forming a family arrangement. I am one of those who believe that being gay is not voluntary, rather, it is in the genes and the individual has no choice. In fact, why would someone choose a lifestyle that causes them difficulties? There are many times gays are treated badly and I cannot see them seeking the difficult hurdles by choice.
One factor should not be overlooked. Marriage is a church supported ritual and can we impose laws that dictate how the church operates? I think not. If a church wishes to adopt a policy on their own that is their business but we should confine our government intervention to civil ceremonies only.
If you feel the government can impose restrictions on the church then you should also approve putting religious symbols and traditions back into the government buildings, ceremonies and procedures.

Tax Reform

2006-08-16T08:07:00.000-07:00

Correction to previous blog re Free Press:
The third paragraph describes a condition where persons within a sphere of influence will be influenced to emulate a more dominant phiosophy. I believe I had been introduced to this concept by an appearance of Hugh Hewitt during a TV Cable interview. I am now reading Hugh's book "BLOG" and it describes this concept and reminded me of the source of my opinion. Please read the book, it is excellent. Also visit his site www.hughhewitt.com and enjoy his current comments. Hugh prides himself on being accurate and providing reliable and truthful information. I believe in Hugh and he inspires many of us. I apologize for not giving credit before now.

The posting for today will introduce you to a subject that I will discuss in several postings.

TAX REFORM OR MORE SNOW JOBS?

Congress likes to treat us like they raise mushrooms:
You keep them in the dark, cover them with BS and at the first sign of life cut them off at the roots.

I think tax reform would be to totally simplify and reform our complicated tax system. Congress likes to make modifications with special exemptions for special groups which mean the rest of us pay more. It gives the congress power. I put through your exemption, now you help me. Now, it is even OK to send their aides some special gifts, so if the aide is getting a trip from a special group and you want to talk to the senator about a problem with that group, forget it, your mail will probably never reach that senator.

I want to see total tax reform. I would like to see a specialized group of experts study the situation and then come up with a better plan.

Believe it or not, my prayers have been answered. A group of successful business men have put together twenty million dollars and hired economists and accountants to make a study and they have discovered some very interesting things that will help us. In fact, if they can implement their findings your income will increase, much of the IRS staff will be absorbed into other duties, social security and even Medicaid will be fully funded. As a bonus our economy will expand as money from all over the world comes to or comes back to the USA for its tax advantages.

What this hired brain trust found was that in each product we buy, the price is increased by the cost of taxes paid by each participant of producing the product. Corporate income taxes, workers share of taxes paid by the companies, income taxes paid by truckers and other contract workers. The amount of tax paid varies by product but if you buy a VCR for $100.00 on average $22.00 is going to pay taxes. So the brain trust says stop taxes so the price will drop to $78.00 and then add back in $23.00 as a built in consumption or sales tax and now the price will still be about $100.00 but now there is a big difference.

Look at your last pay check and note the amount that is deducted for taxes and social security. If that amount were paid to you instead of being deducted see how much your take home pay will increase!

And that is not all the increase you will receive but you will have to wait for the next issue so I can feed this information to you in small bits so you can absorb it. The tax is known as the “Fair Tax” and you can research it on your own. But please come back as I lead you through the benefits and drawbacks of this program and why it will not pass unless you want it.

Steve Centanni and crew missing

2006-08-15T07:57:00.000-07:00

STEVE CENTANNI TAKEN HOSTAGE!

Here is a photo of Steve at work in Daytona Beach during the last presidential campaign.
I was amazed to see him appear about every half hour and give an update. I assume he had to work hard to report in 30 different ways to say the crowd was waiting for the president. There was a press tent nearby where the reporters such as Steve could get press releases and sit at long tables to update their presentations. Now and then he and his crew would climb up on a flat bed trailer, fire up their camera and Steve would give report after report and try to look excited and interesting at each individual appearance. It was striking to see how much routine and boring work there was involved in preparation for a short minute of fame broadcast around the world.

It takes pros like Steve to make these appearances work, for example, on one appearance there seemed to be a short in the microphone wire and there was an indication of Steve even getting a short jolt of electricity. As the crew moved to help, Steve seemed to know which wires to twist and retaining ring to turn and the show went on with no indication of trouble.

I do not understand why they would go after Steve Centanni. He is a straight reporter. He gives the news and reports what is happening without any hint of personal feelings. Everyone gets a fair shake with Steve, just the report of what each has to say and no indication of bias. Why some group would take Steve does not make sense because they have silenced a reporter who gives their actions a fair description.

Steve has a long history of reporting from battlefields for Fox news and he has been in many risky situations. Let us hope his captors will keep him well. There is no indication who might have taken him, this group of masked, well organized and trained men who completed a well planned act of whisking him away from near a Palestinian security building in Gaza City.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

Confusion

2006-08-14T07:39:00.000-07:00

A HEADLINE WE DO NOT EXPECT TO SEE:
UN ENFORCES RESOLUTION WITH SANCTIONS.

A HEADLINE WE DO EXPECT TO SEE:
MORE BRIBES SUSPECTED AT UN.

CONFUSION

Here is the topic of the day!

Confusion is the key word.
We are not sure what is going to happen in Israel and Lebanon.
Where would you send a message to Hezbollah? They are not a country; they are not a member of the UN and are not bound by agreements with it. We only think we know who the head of the group is; he is a cleric who wants to kill many of us if not all of us. He teaches his followers that their supreme being will give them carnal rewards in heaven and it is honorable to kill us.

Word coming out of Israel is that the troops fought under difficult and confusing conditions. The people are unhappy with the truce agreement and more so as they learn more about it. They blame their prime minister and the United States and in particular, our president.

Militarily our best approach would have been to assist Israel and help them win. We need to consider the influence of Iran and Syria as suppliers and enablers. However, we followed the wishes of the critics and worked for a diplomatic solution and now we will be blamed for that.

We are one of the most powerful nations in the world and we are fighting the financial interests of the two other strong nations plus two that are on the verge of being a serious problem and another that is emerging as a serious problem.

You know who I mean. China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Venezuela and don’t forget France. Which of these are interested in financial gains and how many are ready to buy influence in the UN?

We can look for a strong leader to take us out of this mess but no country has faced a problem with these same conditions or as serious.

Congress needs to get beyond the politics and work for a solution. This is a time when men and women of quality will place the safety of their constituents ahead of their own political aspirations.
Who among you can lead us like Washington, Lincoln, FDR, Teddy Roosevelt, JFK or Regan. Bush has the dedication but he lacks the confidence of the nation to back a bold solution. Many will say the confidence was stolen from him by powerful interests. Those interests are too selfish to give it back and he has about 2 years to go. We cannot wait for a new leader to emerge. If Congress does not pull together, the failure of our nation will be placed upon them by historical reflection.

Press, free press and congress

2006-08-11T20:06:00.000-07:00

Newspaper headlines we will never see!
500 WMD'S FOUND IN IRAQ
(A couple months ago)

THE FREEDOM OF THE PRESS!

The American Society of Newspaper Editors has a statement that ends with: “These principles are intended to preserve, protect and strengthen the bond of trust and respect between American journalists and the American people, a bond that is essential to sustain the grant of freedom entrusted to both by the nation’s founders.” The ASNE further states: “Freedom of the press belongs to the people. It must be defended against encroachment or assault from any quarter, public or private. Journalists must be constantly alert to see that the public’s business is conducted in public. They must be vigilant against all who would exploit the press for selfish purposes.”

If the press were meeting the responsibility of freedom entrusted to it why then would so many subscribers be going to other sources for news. Why would there be so many objections from a large segment of the population about bias. Why would there be so many objections published about bias and unfair coverage?

However, I do not think the press wants to distort the news but they seem to be guided by their own societal influences. In our major cities we have some fine entrepreneurs who are leaders in their community. If you want to work for them or receive some other benefit from them you will be careful to understand their viewpoint and might even emulate it. At the very least you are not going to argue with them. Therefore, that person will tend to think that his or her viewpoint reflects the majority viewpoint of the community. When this influence is apparent in the press or other media the leaders and those around them can easily feel they express the majority opinion when in fact, commitment to that opinion might be shallow.

The right to freedom of the press is found in The Bill of Rights, Amendment #1.
It is part of a longer sentence and includes other directives so look for yourself and see if you agree that it is a very simple statement without any explanation or limitations:

Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of the press.

Possibly the framers were considering an event such as a building burning down or a duel between two men of distinction and they wisely decided and the states agreed that congress would not enact any laws that restricted the transference of that information to us. These were prudent men, in simpler times wanting to convey information to their citizens.
Madison’s notes were simple and his draft read: “….and the freedom of the press as one of the great bulwarks of liberty shall be inviolable.” This was changed by the committee,
“The freedom of …and of the press…shall not be infringed” This was again changed by the senate to its present form.
There is no indication of debate about the subject other than Madison warning against abstract propositions and keeping it simple to aid ratification.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment01/06.html
My impression of case law and decisions by the supreme court have been related to supporting the principle of the press having access to records and that is not our problem.
http://usinfo.stategov/journals/itdhr/0297/ijde/goodale.htm
Our problem is the lack of complete disclosure of the viewpoint of all sides or the subtle repetition of a favorite viewpoint.
There were also prudent gentlemen concerning themselves with ethics of various situations, especially in medicine and law. Restrictive codes of ethics were developed by the press and these have given me guidance in my comments.

Before we proceed with the ethics we should consider the times and conditions related to the founding of our constitution.
In the 1770’s our country faced a serious turmoil caused by the throwing off of British rule, taxation, trade restrictions and westward expansion. However, the loss of these restrictions also caused the loss of protection and markets provided by the Brits. My most enjoyable and concise source of this information has been “A Brilliant Solution” by historian and author Carol Berkin, (Harcourt 2003). Dr. Berkin writes an enlightening view of the conditions at the time of the preparation of our constitution and I urge you to obtain and read the results of her research. She describes the controversies that developed between the states, some tariffs established, the difficulties of doing commerce and the frustration that brought the original states to band together as a confederation and then establish a constitution which became law when ratified by just 9 states with large rural areas.

When the decision was made to adopt such a simplistic directive that congress will not abridge the freedom of the press I wanted to understand what the supporters had in mind and that led me to an 1800 dictionary to define “press” which is related to the business of publishing the “News”. The “news” is defined as a previously unreported event. These are not clues that help me understand their simple, all inclusive action.

During my research I looked at the history of codes of ethics and that seems to be a historical thread of interest. It is quite possible that the early press recognized the void left by no clear definition of the press and so the press attempted to define itself so that by following some standards of performance it would preclude the investigation or consideration by the congress.
If we assume this is the reason for establishing the codes of ethics then we see a clear and interesting pattern with a code that has defined the operation of the press.
You can read the statement of principles of the American Society of Newspaper Editors on line. Just search newspaper code of ethics for many resources. I did find the Olympian in Washington was an easy summary list to review. http://news.theolympian.com/ethics/ and the Virginian Pilot also had an interesting presentation. You want to look at the New York and Los Angeles Times codes of ethics although it appears these might have been revised in recent years.
Finding the older, more original codes helps to give the early thinking of how the press wanted itself to be considered.

When you review these codes you understand the definition the press gave itself. It established its identity and standards to meet so that the public could be assured of receiving complete and unbiased news from a group worthy of the protection of our constitution.

If the press does not meet the standards and definition of its process as defined by itself, does it then fail to meet the definition in the constitution and therefore be subject to standards to be enacted by congress? The first amendment says congress will make no laws that abridge the freedom of the press, but if the press fails to meet the standards established by the press itself does it then fail to meet the definition of the term press in the first amendment and is therefore eligible for control by the congress?

Examples from a code of ethics:
“A fair-minded reader of Times news coverage should not be able to discern the private opinions of those who contributed to that coverage, or to infer that the newspaper is promoting any agenda.”
“Reporters should try genuinely to understand all points of view.”
“People who will be shown in an adverse light in an article must be given a meaningful opportunity to defend themselves.”
“Relying in print on unnamed sources should be a last resort,…”
“Fabrication of any type is unacceptable.”
“The Times does not identify suspects of criminal investigations who have not been charged or arrested.” ….”If someone we have identified as a suspect ultimately is not charged, we should make that known in a follow-up story. The follow-up should be played comparably to the original story if possible.”
“Editorial employees may not use their positions at the paper to promote personal agendas or causes. Nor should they allow their outside activities to undermine the impartiality of Times coverage. In fact or in appearance.”
“Staff members may not engage in political advocacy-as members of a campaign or an organization specifically concerned with political change. Nor may they contribute money to a partisan campaign or candidate.” (Note: visit the LA Times)

The next consideration is to evaluate the performance of the press over the past few years. A great way to review how well the press has performed is to read the book “Blog” by Hugh Hewitt. (Nelson Press, 2005). It is an easy and enjoyable read and anyone interested in this subject will enjoy it..

Mr. Hewitt is a radio show host, a professor of law at Chapman University Law School, author of several books, columnist and a blogger. He can be found at http://www.hughhewitt.com/ His book and his web site will give many examples of media distortion and bias. If you have reviewed the codes of ethics you will see that the press is not meeting its own standards. Other media such as television and the internet do not have the sophisticated codes such as are found in the press so it is not likely that they could be included in the action being discussed.

Mr. Hewitt’s book will give well documented examples of how the bloggers have made many of these failures of the press and the media obvious to the public and resulted in changes in the position of those involved. Maybe bloggers can be the safety control of the media but I think the media and the press must recognize their unique position and do something to make changes. If they do not make corrections soon, I feel there is justification to amend the constitution to define the certain limits, relying heavily on the standards established by the standards of the media itself, their code of ethics and I feel as long as the change is confined to the handling of the news, not the access to the news it should receive a favorable hearing before the courts.

Joe Lieberman

2006-08-10T10:34:00.000-07:00

HEADLINES WE DREAM ABOUT!

BLAIR, BUSH,PAKISTAN COUP
DILIGENCE KEEPS COUNTRIES SAFE

CONGRESS CHARGED WITH OBSTRUCTION IN FAILURE OF US ATTEMPS TO INTERCEPT PLANE BOMBINGS.

JOE LIEBERMAN

Did Lieberman lose in Connecticut?

Lieberman finished with 47% of the Democratic Vote and his opponent received 52%.

Leo Hindery, a Democratic fund raiser appeared on Fox News channel and stated that he could read a lot of anti Bush in the vote. If that is true, he means 52% of Democrats, if that is true Hinderey needs to worry about the 47% of Bush approval in his own party.

Did Joe Lieberman really lose?
There are 700,000 Democratic registered voters, 450,000 Republican and 930,000 independent voters. (Heard on Fox)

So if Lamont gets 52% of the Democrats, 47% of the Independents and 10% of the Republicans he will have a total of 804,000 votes.

If Lieberman gets 47% of the Democrats, 25% of the Republicans and 50% of the independents he ends up with 861,000 votes and wins the election.

The Democrats have many places to use their funds that are more important than Connecticut. They know Lieberman will still stay with the party vote so there is no incentive to pour more money into the state.

The Republican probably could not win but Lieberman has the best prospects. I used figures based on 100% turnout. The Anti vote will have a better turn out and that will be the anti Lamont.

To check out the voter statistics check out www.sots.ct.gov/ElectionsServices/election_results/statistics/enrolhst.pdf

Simple solutions 7-07

2006-08-08T13:55:00.000-07:00

Simple solutions workshop for August 2007:

How come about 1/3 of the oil we be buy comes from Canada and yet we worry about taking oil from the North part of Alaska? How come environmentalists are not concerned with locations closer to our border and the headwaters to some of our streams?

How come we always harp on Richard Cheney about the money he makes from Halliburton and the edge they get because he is in a position to help them? I hear one of the largest stockholders was Lyndon Johnson and now it is his estate. Lady Bird must be doing OK. I wonder who her friends are.

How come you cannot quote someone else as testimony in a court case and keep their identity confidential? The media does it all the time and will crucify someone with information from unnamed sources.

How come we have one million four hundred thousand active military (according to Wikipedia) but only 140,000 are available to go to Iraq? (And many of these are from the reserves, not the active troops). Does that mean that 90% of our troops are not capable of helping to defend us?

Just suppose about 20,000 thieves and murderers descended on a large city, took some police officers as hostages and took control of the water servicing that city, threatening to cut off its supply. These thieves hid among the population and used them as shields. About 10,000 well equipped police officers were dispatched to try to capture them and it became a long and difficult process. Every time a civilian shield was shot the police were reprimanded, not the thieves. Surrounding mayors and governors refused to send help but demanded that the police work for a cease fire. What? Ask a murderer to agree to a cease fire? You mean you recognize the thieves, give them status and expect them to make an honorable commitment?
Get a life America. A similar scenario is happening now in the far east and it will come here soon. Part of our supply of oil for heat and light is threatened to be cut off if we fight back. The thieves are already infiltrating our sanctuary without borders and preparing to attack us. (See WWW.CNSnews.com)

Introduction to our solution to fuel and road problems

2006-07-13T19:54:00.000-07:00

Do you realize there probably exists today the technology to move our automobiles along the highways powered by nuclear fuel and reduce our dependence on oil?

Just come outside of your box and visualize this for me.
If we build tracks above the highways on which can run Magnetic Levitation racks, the electricity can be supplied by any available power.

Now visualize these racks being built as a type of cage and you drive your car into this cage and it is secured there.

Then, these cages with our cars inside can be moved to staging and acceleration tracks where they connect and move as groups, all computer controlled while you take a nap. These trains of racks can move your cars at up to 300 miles an hour. Just think how far you could travel between 6 AM and 9AM when you can cover 900 miles during that time period. And when you approach your destination the computer will move your cars rack to a deceleration lane and drop you off at a disembarking station and you drive away in your present car.

We have some refinements to make such as being creative about heating and cooling the climate inside the car. We also need to provide power in the car if we want to watch TV. All solvable problems.
The system is also adaptable to electric or hybrid cars, some small trucks and possibly truck cargo units.
Read on through my next and earlier blog.
Thank you.

resolving road, transportation and fuel problems

2006-01-05T19:56:00.000-08:00

AUTOMOBILES, TRAFFIC, TRANSPORTATION AND HIGHWAY CHAOS
I need your help. You and many more like you. I need your suggestions and I need your support asking others to take an interest.
I believe we have a major transportation problem.We have so many automobiles traveling the highways we are constantly expanding our roads. Thousands of you, your friends and your loved ones are being killed each year. A large portion of your income goes to buy and maintain yourautomobiles. Fuel is very expensive We see 3 lane highways being expanded to 6 lanes and expectations they will need to be 12 lanes in a few years.
Chaos.
Some of the statistics offered include a recorded highway deaths of 43,000 per year. A large percentage are on rural roads. But it works out to over 115 per day, That is equivalent to one jumbo jet crashing every 3 days, the same number of deaths in the twin towers every month and the same number that have died in Iraq every 2 and a half weeks. My apologies to the families of those who have died in the twin towers and in Iraq. I do not wish to belittle those tradgedies, I just wish to bring your attention to the death we face on our highways and the enormity of our tragedy.
Is there a solution?Mass transportation could help.Most attempts to promote mass transportation have failed. There are a few great systems such as the trains that service Washington DC, the trolley system that willtransport you through Portland, Oregon, the subway system in New York City and there are others.But we need more, much more and it can be developed but it needs our help. Yours and mine.
First, we must analyze the problem. We must understand why it developed before we can decide how to change it.Second, we must set a goal for a sound transportation concept.Third, we must stimulate the inventive minds that can create such a system.Fourth, we must support the new system and make it financially successful.
To start the process I am going to tell you my thoughts for each step outlined above. I am not so conceited that I think my ideas have much merit, but getting you to think about the problem and getting you to develop a better idea will stimulate the process.
To make this work, we need a central home base leading us, exposing the ideas, seeing that each idea is recorded and recognized. Every contribution needs to rewarded, somehow.
My suggestion is to ask museums to take on the task of presenting the program. If many museums would develop a display and receive back the ideas of visitors, adults, school children, high school and college classes along with the thoughts of advanced scientists and engineers we could, all working toward the same goal, stimulate a superior transportation system that we would prefer to use rather than avoid. We could also design it so there is not competition between systems.
Our efforts to develop and sustain a mass transportation system have failed in the past because these efforts have placed each segment of the system in competition with each other. We love our automobiles, they have become the status symbol of our culture and we love to drive them. They compete with the trains and buses and trolleys for our comfort and attention. The buses compete with the trains and they compete with the airplanes and marine travel.
When we start analyzing the problem we will probably find the biggest problem is ourselves. We just do not want to use mass transit and so it fails.
I submit to you that the first step in solving the problem is to combine our automobiles with mass transit and that might give us an opportunity for a solution. If we can develop this theme we could probably achieve the 4 goals described above.
Let us imagine we could work together and develop a new system. For example, we could have cars that are van like with comfortable seats on one side and a television or radio on the other side. When these vans or travel modules are placed in a transport "rack" it would travel in groups with other modules at high speeds, like 300 miles per hour using magnetic levitation. Most of the technology for this type of system is already developed. Instead of discarding our present rail right of ways we could be saving them for a new transportation system. If we use the approach of encouraging potential users of helping to select the design of a system we would develop interest, loyalty and future usage.
There, in simple form we have described a system that is possible to develop. The train companies can get involved in the trackage and transporting. The automobile manufacturers still produce the modules. These same modules might be placed in large planes for travel either shorter distances by the ground effect aerial transports over water or at high elevations on super transports for the longer distances.
Everyone works together so the need for each system to compete with each other is minimized.
A change in our system and some improvements are needed but it is our responsibility. The solution rests with you and me. And here is what we must do:
We must change our attitude about transportation. We must make transportation safer by making mass transportation more attractive. We will start with education. We must make everyone aware of our problem and a possible attractive solution. I suggest we start with museums and encourage them to put up displays that will educate all ages. We need to start teaching young people to worship something other than material items, especially the automobile. We need the help of students of all ages to provide ideas for a new system. We need to encourage engineers, technicians and inventors to design solutions for a new system. We need to encourage citizens to accept mass transportation as safer and more convenient than driving long distances on highways. We need to encourage politicians to stimulate creativity and we need to encourage manufacturers to work together to have an integrated design that encourages high use, not competition.
A Sample journey
How about a sample journey? Let me invite you on an imaginary ride in one form of a new transportation system. I agree, this is not perfect and maybe not possible but I feel most of the components exist. If you do not like the system, please suggest a better system, we are open to your thoughts and will help you develop and promote your ideas.
Our journey.
You decide you want to take a trip and you need to stop at the office first and then leave for a trip to Dallas and you live in St. Augustine, Florida.First, you enter your destination into your computer and let it know when you want to leave and when you expect to return. You transfer the information to a memory stick and take it to your transportation module in its docking station in the garage. You insert the memory stick into the cars computer memory reader. It might already be loaded if you have the wireless networking connected.The transportation module is your car with a few modifications. It has all the bells and whistles of the old cars, maybe a little more of a sleek egg style because it is designed to allow you maximum comfort while traveling. At the allotted time you load your bags and move your module out of the docking station. Your computer tells you the best route to your office, either by a mass transit mode or by a straight drive. After you leave the office you head out for the mass transit docking station. Your module has special docking connectors to hold it in the travel system. Your module can be any form you want but it has a maximum size and the four docking points that meet standard travel requirements.Your computer directs you to the docking station where you follow the directions and your module is driven into and connected to a travel frame or cage. This frame slides out and up into the handling tracks and is moved to the acceleration track and finally merged into the high speed travel lanes.Your module is modified inside so that you can have restful seats, television, radio and a view out either end. You are merged sideways so there is a module every 5 feet and all units will move at the maximum rate of speed depending on the distance traveled. A long trip such as from Florida to Dallas will be completed at 300 miles per hour and the modules could be moved by magnetic levitation.If you need to make a comfort stop you send a signal to your computer and you are moved over to a deceleration track and sent to a rest station.At your destination you are sent to a disembarkation station at the point closest to your destination. You will be eased out of the frame and then drive to your location.
The movement is controlled by a central location which gives the opportunity to bypass the auto's own engine and be moved by a central power grid. If mag lev is utilized then the power is electricity and great economies can be realized with an impact on the savings of oil.
There, in simple form you have made a trip on a system that is possible to develop. The train companies can get involved in the trackage and transporting. The automobile manufacturers still produce the modules. These same modules might be placed in large planes for travel either shorter distances by the ground effect aerial transports over water or at high elevations on super transports for the longer distances.
Everyone works together so the need for each system to compete with each other is minimized.
It all starts with you and me. Do you know someone you can forward this information to or someone you can send to the blog for information?
Thank you for your help.Stew RusbyA contribution to fuel savings
As you review the entries to this blog and understand the concept I am trying to stimulate I hope you will recognize the following:I am trying to stimulate your thoughts so you can contribute to the concept of a new type of transportation that will not infringe upon your own desire to have your own automobile.The personal auto will be altered slightly to be compatible with a convenient and more efficient travel system.The new travel system can be powered by the autos themselves but the ability exists to ustilize a central power system that could reduce our need for oil.Thank you for reading my suggestions and I hope your thought process stimulates a contribution of ideas from you. If you scroll down to the bottom of the postings you can follow the introduction and grasp the over all concept.
The purpose of this proposal.
1. Make all citizens primarily of the United States aware of our growing need to change our transportation habits.
2. Create this awareness by stimulating educational exhibits.
3. Create interaction with visitors to the exhibit by stimulating their participation and bonding their support.
4. Present the history of transportation illustrating the dedication in the US to the automobile and how the fondness for it as a status symbol is a strong influence.
5. Present a sample model for a transportation system to help visitors develop their own ideas for solutions.. Record and reward these proposals.
6. In the past suggestions for mass transit have placed the various modes in competition. The model presented attempts to combine all forms of transportation into a mutually beneficial project.
&. The author does not benefit from the project. It is a stimulating project designed to cause interaction and thought contribution.
IT ALL STARTS WITH A COMMENT EXPANDED BY COMMUNICATION.WILL YOU HELP?
When you see a movie or some depiction of the future it usually involves some type of transportation floating through the air in some mysterious way.
Imagine the traffic from your local interstate floating up there. Pretty crowded.
I think we can start thinking about something more practical, maybe using the new magnetic levitation processes as mentioned above. There is a high speed train operating in Japan using mag lev. I think we will develop a way in which we could have our own car attach to a rack type system like you see in industrial plants moving products along. Our cars could be standardized to fit these racks or conveyors and be moved along at high speed using maglev. Our bright young inventors will figure it out.Anyway, most of the technology exists and needs to be refined, we need understanding to accept it and adapt to a new efficient form of travel. We must start thinking about it now because it will take several years to develop.

Mexican lemonade

2005-09-01T03:16:00.000-07:00

Everyone wins
We have the very distressing situation where our neighbors to the South are in need of work with an improved wage and are tempted to sneak across our borders to help improve the lives of their families. The desire of many of our residents is to slow the influx but this is like trying to hold back a huge river. You can build a dam but you can never stop the river. However, we can control much of it by allowing an outlet or weir to relieve the pressure and in turn control a portion of the flow.In the case of the flow of so many across our border from the South efforts to construct a dam would require huge numbers of troops to block the border. We have other tools available to us and the first tool is to define the problem. The problem involves the desire for income so our solution involves satisfying that desire in a way that is advantages to our nation and results in a team effort with our neighbors to develop an income producing program that controls the immigration. In the process we might build a system that competes with exporting countries who have an advantage of cheaper labor.I believe the government should endorse and encourage "Free Work Zones" along the border. These Free Work zones would be something like the Free Trade Zones established throughout the US that give industries tax breaks related to imports.A free work zone would be an agricultural or industrial park near the border where companies that can use low wage labor could establish farms and manufacturing plants to hire nonresidents. The area would be fenced and guarded so that the workers could enter from the Mexico side, register and be assigned work or work into steady employment with an established business. They would work short weeks with longer shifts or as a product might require which gives them time to go back home and visit their families.Such a project would accomplish several things.Mexidans could work and not have to try to sneak into the USA for employment.Mexicans could earn a higher rate of income and still be near the border of Mexico with time to go home to their families and take money to them.These two advantages would reduce the pressure of illegal immigration and give the Mexican what he wants with more convenience.Minimum wage laws must be adhered to.Time is required to set up the project and get companies to participate. The Free Trade Zones took a little time but they were successful.Housing must be set up for the workers but it can be rented to them and will pay for itself.A special tax rate could be established for workers going there because they would be saving the USA money in enforcement.They would not participate in SSI.Good workers who take courses and desire to become citizens could be worked into our system with controlled arrangements.States that are not adjacent to borders would not be in favor of such a project because it might reduce the numbers of cheap laborers going to their states illegally so it must be proposed to and supported by the Governors and congresspeople of adjacent states.We are dealing with a problem of hundreds of thousands of poor people struggling to survive and they want to sneak into our country for income.The problem is their need for income so the solution is to provide a source of income that will benefit our country. With a Free Labor Zone everyone wins.The President has tried to get support for registering illegals and providing temporary work permits and this approach would also reduce the huge numbers of illegals so our immigration service can concentrate on fewer illegals who want to enter the country for other purposes. I do not oppose the Presidents plan and it might be helpful in addition to the Free Work Zone and both would accomplish the same goal of reducing the numbers of illegals so our agents can be more effective.

A Divine Bullet for New Orleans

2005-09-01T03:07:00.000-07:00

I heard a talk show this morning where the question was raised about the aid offered to rebuild New Orleans and the show host offered the comment that it would be better to give everyone a pile of money to move on rather than rebuild New Orleans. (The infrastructure).
I do not see that happening. However, there is a problem developing that is not being explained to the folks who are returning to their homes.
We are told that most of the flooded homes must be destroyed and rebuilt because of mildew, fungus and other damage. Many of these homes are older and of a reasonable value and housed many low income families. When these houses are rebuilt they must meet the current standards of constuction, current codes and will be constructed at current costs of labor.
The good folks who moved out of the old houses will now be found unable to qualify for the mortgages required to build the new houses. This is a major problem that will effect the people long after the press has gone and there will be heartache and shock. Rentals will also be much more expensive.
Giving these folks money to move on to areas where they can purchase more moderate housing might be the fairest offer yet suggested.
What will happen to New Orleans? The mayor has a plan for a Las Vegas style community and that might happen by default.