Ezra Taft Benson's Warning on Socialism Here and Abroad

Ezra Taft Benson, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture under President Eisenhower, shares what have become timeless admonitions on the onward march of Socialism. Enjoy!

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Chris Christie defines the sides in his current battle.

We need more leaders like this man.

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An amoral, non-religious assessment of homosexuality and the political environment surrounding it.

My first statement in this undertaking is as follows: I believe that one is entitled to make all personal decisions one wants in determining the direction and quality of one's own life.

My second statement is that I also believe that a set of consequences is naturally bound to every action one takes.

The final disclaimer I wish to make, prior to proceeding, is that honesty and truth are part of natural law. There are absolutes in the universe; either the earth was created or it just happens to be. Either OJ Simpson was involved in his wife's murder or he was not. Regardless of opinions, beliefs, arguments and perceptions, certain things are absolute and unchangeable. These absolutes are absolutes independent of popular culture or society's trending norms.

Now, I will get right into it. From a normative point of view, one's sexuality ought not be the subject of anything in the public sphere. A homosexual's preferences and practices should be kept private, as should a heterosexual's. The idea of forming a sort of public fraternity based on how one expresses himself or herself sexually is questionable in a civilized society, anyway. Imagine a group of people identifying themselves to the world as "orals", "anals", "consensual pedophiles" or "masturbationists". They would rightfully be viewed by society as deviants, sex-aholics who should enroll in counselling. One could also imagine a society where a group of people, who share in and enjoy certain types of sexual activity, might band together and claim they are being denied their civil rights.

The truth of the matter is that certain members of society, with equal standing under the law as any other member of society, have decided that their participation in a certain type of sexual activity is the main aspect that defines them. These are not only homosexuals. There are also heterosexuals who do a good job of letting people know of their enthusiasm for sexual gratification.

However, it is primarily a vocal, activist movement within the homosexual portion of society (along with the professional offense-takers of the Left) that has politicized their sexuality. I find it uncouth and offensive that anyone would use something as private as sex to make a political point or to get their hands on a microphone and a little attention.

I have known homosexuals that I have not particularly enjoyed, but it had nothing to do with their sexuality, but their personality. Exactly the same way I have enjoyed and not enjoyed certain heterosexuals based on the content of their characters.

Additionally, there has been extra buzz in the media recently about tensions between the LGBT in society and the straight folks. I believe this tension exists, but in my view, it is exaggerated by the two sides. On one hand, the gay community is on heightened alert because of all the attention being grabbed by the vocal members of their side. This leads to over-sensitivity. Anything could be taken as a divisive, hurtful remark.

Then the folks on the straight side feel that the gay community is pushing their stances too hard. This, too, results in over-sensitivity. Even showing up in public sometimes is seen as "taking a stand" or "forcing their lifestyle onto everyone else".

I will now repeat what most everyone's moms have said for years: If everyone would just be themselves, not worrying about what others may think about them, everyone would be getting along. Just have a sense of propriety; keep private things to yourself and close friends, regardless of sexual preferences.

To summarize: A person is a person and we all have the same rights. If you want to be sexually active, regardless of the preference, have a little respect and decency: don't publicize it or politicize it. Or to use the cliche, "Don't kiss and tell". Perhaps Bill Clinton got this one right: Don't ask, don't tell. This should be universal. Gender, preference, ethnicity, race, religion or creed... it does not matter. The thing that makes us similar is that we are all unique. Your quirk is no more special than mine, and vice versa.

Make your own choices in life and stick to them. Be confident and don't go down any paths you will regret or that you won't be able to endure.

Phrases and words that have jumped the shark...

* Jumped the Shark

* Double-dip recession

* Thrown under the bus

* Anything from 1990's Jim Carey movies

* ...So... (This word should never be a stand alone sentence. Additionally, it should never be used to end a sentence or thought, but in rare and grammatically correct cases.)

* Synergy in all its forms

* Gravitas

* Paradigm shift

* Outside the box

* Pushing the envelope

* Undocumented workers

* Surreal (Mainly when used by Hollywood actors)

* Serious as a heart attack

* Unexpected (when used to compare actual circumstances to the predictions of expert economists and meteorologists/climatologists)

* Cool beans

* I could care less

* Throw in the towel

* Cliche

* Let me be clear (just be clear, Mr. President)

* Can I ask a question?

* Hope and Change

* Man-made Global Warming (doesn't 'climate change' sound so much better?)

* You know what I mean?

* Ditto

* Apples to apples

* Fair enough

* To be (perfectly) honest

* Happenstance

* E-squeeze me

* Anything from Wayne's World

* Bless his/her heart/soul

* With every fiber of my being

* The popo

* Risky business

* Touch with a 10' pole

* Song and dance

* The whole 9 yards

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Have you seen the price of Silver?

A lot cheaper than gold and a lot less "overhead". I spent about $800 on my little silver collection last year, and today, that pile of silver is worth $1,402.30. At the time of this writing, one ounce of silver was $21.90.

Commodities retain value while national currencies fluctuate based on governments' monetary policy at any given time. It may be prudent to invest in some commodities yourself. If you find any great deals, or if you have some of your own that you would like to liquidate, don't hesitate to leave a comment.

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Governor Christie (R-NJ) firmly responds to a teachers' union member

This man is brilliant! You may have already seen this one, but it is worth another look:








Absolutely brilliant!

Striking differences between GOP and Dems

America Remembers: September 11, 2010

Nine years ago, outside of a few scheming Muslim extremists, no one could have imagined a mosque and community center being built in a building so close to Ground Zero that its roof experienced structural damage from one of the planes' landing gear.

No one would have guessed that the US Government would join forces with a foreign nation to sue a US state for drafting and passing a localized version of the Federal immigration laws.

It would have been unthinkable to believe that the US Government would have taken control of most of the country's major banks, most of the car companies and purposely driven medical insurance companies out of business.

Nine years ago, who could have guessed that Congress and the President would make laws that would have to be passed in order to know what was contained in the bills (for those unfamiliar with this statement, this was Nancy Pelosi's big, final sales pitch for the passage of healthcare reform)?

Several months after our President promised healthcare would not add a dime to the deficit (which is now larger than all previous debts of all administrations combined...all in less than two years), but would save our economy, he is claiming that no one even suggested that healthcare passage would not cost a lot. With the first annual insurance renewal after the bill's passage, the average increase to insurance premiums (by design) was at least 18%. When all pieces of this legislation go into effect, there will be a special tax on the purchase of gold coins, fines from the IRS and jail time for those who do not comply with the new insurance policy requirements.

Nine years ago, it seemed that America had become reunified, firmly standing behind the Founding Principles of and standing up for freedom in America. Surely no one would have dreamed that the President of the United States nine years later would have single handedly destroyed the economies of Las Vegas, industrial cities in which private jets and even RVs are manufactured and any city, county or region in which off-shore drilling is a major contributor to the economic well-being.

Anyone who was there in NYC chanting: "USA, USA, USA!" while President Bush addressed them with a megaphone would have laughed at you if you told them that the POTUS, nine years into the future, would be bowing to foreign heads of state (and the mayor of Tampa), or doing a world apology tour for all of America's shortcomings, or delivering a speech in Cairo outlining Islam's contributions to the world (most of which were either pre-Muslim Persia or more than 1300 years in the past).

In fine, if a September 12, 2001 American could see what our own US Government would become nine years later, they would never believe it. That day, it was difficult to find a home, office, freeway overpass, car, semi, billboard or lapel without an American flag adorning it. Scripture verses were ubiquitous on banners in public view. The professional offense-takers of the Left were nowhere to be seen or heard.

Nearly 3000 Americans died because of a poisonous ideology that differs so much from our own spectrum of ideologies that demands for understanding show the ineptitude and intellectual simplicity of the demander. What we call an understanding nature is seen by our enemies as weakness. What is polite interaction in our society is a joke in theirs. Athenians believed that opening their society and education system to the Spartans would make friends out of enemies...this naivete led to their eventual destruction. So, too, our society believes itself to be so swell that we cannot fathom the idea of another society not loving us after getting to know us.

America IS great! Her people are the most generous, fun-loving, hard-working people on the planet. If our enemies were rational human-beings, letting them in to get to know us would be a brilliant idea. Unfortunately, they are not. They are demented degenerates who feel, in the deepest corners of their souls, that we are a threat to them. And in a sense we are. We are all about freedom and liberty. Our society does not smile upon immorality and filth, but we do not take every possible measure to prevent it. Therein lies the threat to Islamic terrorists: we allow people to make decisions in the their own lives that are less-than-prudent.

They cannot have that. They stone women to death (even their own daughters) for being seen in town holding hands with a boy. Women are subjugated in as many ways as possible, because as women, they possess characteristics that can tempt and distract the holy, holy men around them.

We, as Americans, are tolerant of other races, ethnicities and holders of differing religious and political viewpoints. Their interpretation of Islam cannot be tolerant. One must convert, pay significantly higher tax rates, leave or die.

These individuals only assimilate with a tolerant society for the purpose of studying it, then dismantling it.

These are some of the mental deficiencies that define the men who killed our fellow Americans nine years ago, and continue to plot against us today.

May we know and always REMEMBER what makes America special without wavering. May we always hold in solemn remembrance the memories of those who died. May God bless the mourners on this Patriots' Day. And may God bless America!

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Citizens who peaceably assemble daily at their places of employment...

"Congress shall make no law... ...abridging... ...the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

-First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States



From America's largest corporations down to Main Street's smallest businesses, from manufacturing to farming and professional services, one charateristic is shared by all: the citizens peaceably assemble to execute the business of America.

It has always seemed a bit odd to me that a corporate tax even exists. The notion that businesses pay taxes, specifically written to exact revenue from them--the vehicles through which America's citizenry earns income from which it pays taxes--has always seemed to me to be double-dipping.

To paraphrase one of my favorite presidents--Calvin Coolidge-- to tax more than is absolutely necessary is tantamount to theft. By taxing businesses, government is not only stealing from the business entity, but every dollar that goes to the Treasury is one dollar that cannot be invested in new research, new infrastructure and new employees. The more taxes that are secured the more Americans there are who are not assembling peaceably in America's places of commerce. Corporate taxes are collected at the expense of employees, would-be employees and the hard-working class of Americans.

You see, there are simple math equations that govern the economy. How many of us remember the supply and demand graphs from Economics 101? There is always a specific point at which we reach equilibrium and that point determines fair market price of the good in question. This applies to labor and compensation just the same. Mathematically, there is a place where those who seek employment and those who seek employees meet and that point defines fair market wages for the service rendered.

Anyone who remembers the graph of which I speak should also remember what artificial floors and ceilings do. For those who do not recollect, floors and ceilings such as minimum wage and quotas (artificial floors) or pay caps and operational regulations (artificial ceilings) create gaps. These gaps result in fixed, permanent unemployment numbers and fixed, permanent under production.

One might argue, and many do, that the taxes exacted from businesses are necessary. And they would be correct. But if more folks were peaceably assembling in locations where they could make their own money, there would be much less dependency on the government to provide the services that depend on taxation.

I find it curious that politicians (and certain segments of society) view businesses as the enemy. Congress parades CEOs around in and out of hearings and investigations, demonizing and scrutinizing them all the way. Each time our elected and appointed officials even suspect a company has committed some type of transgression, they form committees to investigate the situation, then the committee draws up bills and eventually a new law is passed to prohibit the unsavory act from happening again. But you can always count on Congress to take it a step or two too far.

Once Congress has spoken, the decision that led to the decision that resulted in the first mis-step each become illegal. Each governmental move ties up more and more company resources and man power that would otherwise be used on producing a product or making a process more efficient. This sets progress into decline (or as many of today's elites would say: a negative growth phase). By extension, new hires that would be in line to start working get pushed back. The consequence to this setback is that recovery in the jobs market is delayed and production declines. This leads to less revenue which leads to pay cuts or layoffs, if sustained for a prolonged period of time.

As I see it, government's obsession with meddling in the private sector not only causes ongoing economic damage to this country, but it also does so in violation of the First Amendment.

If one is unemployed, he or she cannot assemble peaceably, as previously defined, a job is required for that. and although I would not say a job is a right to be guaranteed by the government, the government certainly lacks the authority to continue to inhibit job creation. Additionally, one must ask the question: To whom can the American people turn for redress of their grievances when their very own government is the entity that is abusing their freedoms?

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Not the most attractive bumper sticker (if there is such a thing as an attractive bumper sticker), but...

It seems that our elected and appointed officials today are soft, quasi-academics who believe signing a feel-good accord that accomplishes nothing is a sign of moving forward. Document diplomacy is a joke, such as UN condemnations of Iran, formal requests for apologies from North Korea for instigating violence in the peninsula, or verbal rebukes of Israel based on false charges inspired by clever PR campaigns of terrorist groups. None of these resolutions resolve anything. They produce nothing, but more hot air from our politicians.

Congress is trying right now to pass another stimulus/bailout worth a current $26B. There is still a ridiculously large amount of unseen cash from the last whopper they passed. The leadership is peddling this as the only way to save the jobs of teachers and police/firefighters. We all, by now, should be able to see right through this. They use this same group of necessary workers as excuses for every budget increase they ever propose. Instead of cutting the crucial services, why do politicians never stand up and offer a list of the "luxury" services to cut. A freeze is not a cut! A simple 1.4% pay raise for federal employees (who already make almost double what their private sector counterparts make, when considering pay + benefits) is not a cut.

We need strong, honest leadership in America. If this administration is purposely making our deficit skyrocketing, it would be nice to hear them say it. If they are not trying to destroy this country, it would help us all if they would lower the partisan blinders and talk to actual experts instead of political appointee hacks who have never had any real-world experience.

These policies are far more damaging than the over-spending that took place in the previous administration. And how can our leaders believe we are so dumb as to believe that "inheriting" $400B debt and making it $1.7T could possibly be the fault of the last administration? The condescending arrogance is sickening!

Our politicians must acquire the courage necessary to fix these problems or they need to be replaced with those who have it. Stop wasteful spending. Shrink the budget. Cut taxes to increase the tax base, increase consumer spending and thereby increase government revenue!

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