Getting Back To Normal?

In my industry we pay very close attention to the Consumer Confidence Index. Primarily because this helps us gauge the consumers desires to buy or not buy things. As the U.S economy and my industry is largely based on consumerism this helps us forecast future trends.

We have noticed recently an increase in consumer interest to purchase as well as following through with such purchases over the last three weeks. There doesn't appear to be any significant market conditions that would encourage this behavior. I could argue just the opposite and that certain indicators trend to a further slowing of the economy.

One idea I have as to why this sudden surge is that the Obama hysteria is fading. It has been over two years of fanatic slobbering of what was to come from this self proclaimed messiah that reality is starting to settle in that he isn't anything more than a community organizer with no business experience. Many who voted for this accomplished party guy are beginning to awake to a hangover illuminating a President who really does want America to become a Socialistic Country.

Any good American politician understands that the United States people are conservative in nature. So when Obama starts inviting Iranian leaders to our 4th of July celebrations or entertains Huffington post bloggers at an international press conference the hearts of these elected officials start to skip a beat.

So as the Obama rage disappears then the political rhetoric of both aisles increases thus the grinding engine of the U.S. Congress begins to slow. I believe Americans are now seeing things getting back to normal and thus are able to come out of there homes and start living their lives again.

Astro-turf or Grassroots?

Darn it! I must have missed my marching orders. I didn't get the phone call, the email, the certified letter. Somebody rich in Washington was "organizing" and sending out drones to do their bidding on April 15th. The Richest of the Rich wanted to have a bunch of white redneck drones show up for what Pelosi called "astro-turf" Tea Parties because they aren't REAL GRASS ROOTS. These "rich orchestraters" want to protest the rich being taxed more under Obama.

I really missed the memo. So did the other 2000 people at my local tea party. My 13 and 11 year old holding the signs we made from the poster board bought at Staples that afternoon helped me push the stroller with the baby around road work to get to the state capitol. We were walking next to other moms with babies, dads with toddlers on their shoulders, guys on motorcycles, minivans of boy scouts, some retired veterans, some in business suits stepping out of the office at the end of the day to join us.

Most of the participants would benefit from a tax cut on the middle class. So why would they be at the tea party protesting taxes on "the rich"? Because we know that tax slogan is a fallacy. If you pay a utility bill, if you buy gas, if you use a telephone or cell phone,if you (God forbid) smoke, or consume alcohol: your taxes are going up! That sounds like middle class to me. If my husband succeeds in his business he will eventually move us into the $250,000 tax bracket. We had hoped at one time that the day would come... what is our incentive now? An extreme liberal relative (Obama supporter)complained to me the other day that she received a bonus check but such a large portion of the bonus was taken in tax that she will have to wait a year to get it back in her return. I wanted to say "why do you want it back"? Don't other's need that money? Isn't it going to important programs, necessary bailouts, mortage foreclosures? But more importantly, please notice that even the most loyal Obama supporter or tax and spend liberal does not like it when it is THEIR money taken. Its easy to take it from the "rich".

Nancy Pelosi, there was a time when our leaders would not disparage the average American for expressing their peaceful opinion. But now we find ourselves in an age when the first female Speaker of the House will disparage some of the taxpaying citizens and VOTERS of the country as mindless drones organized and paid for by the rich elite.

You dear lady are the mindless drone. You represent the worst of the rich elite and 'entitled'. And You put the ASS in Astro-turf.

Dinner With the President

The kerfuffle over AIG and banking bonuses has been labelled bad Kabuki Theater by many. Not only did these AIG employees have an agreement with AIG, AIG had an agreement with the government. Chris Dodd, lead arsonist in the mortgage meltdown and now the Senate fire chief, Secretary of the Treasury (SOT) Geithner and the White House added language to the proculus, non-stimulus bill which guaranteed these bonuses. So how about some perspective? These bonuses are one time payouts which are budget dust when compared to the Obama stimulus package and budget bill. AIG bonuses are 1/18,500th of the proposed $3.1 trillion budget. The bonuses are 1/4000^th of the total porculus package and they were put in that bill by Democratic Leadership.

These bonuses were no secret to anyone in the Dem Leadership, the Treasury or the White House. We should all be very afraid if government believes it has the authority to retroactively tax monies from anyone, but especially when targeting specific individuals. If we don't speak now who will speak when they come for us. Niemoller is always relevant.

Now Dodd and Geithner are doing the two step describing what they knew and when they knew it about these bonuses. Sadly the President and Dem leadership, abandoning election vows of transparency, allowed no time for anyone in Congress to read the 1000 page compendium of liberal dream spending. Time was of the essence, however. We surely didn't want any patriotic Americans or congressman nosing around that bill and figuring out exactly what the administration was trying to pull off.

Dodd and others benefited royally from AIG contributions over the years and this may have been payback. This is the likely explanation. It may also have been done in the name of trying to keep some halfway qualified individuals at the wheel at AIG. There may be a third possibility, though it may be too clever by half to have been conceived by the keystone cops running the White House. What about the possibility that AIG was set up as a convenient strawman for populist rage? Knowing that the President's sprint left through his Fulda Gap would rouse the opposition; a number of diversions would be needed to keep the eyes of the public and opposition party off, or uncertain of, the real mission. Innumerable distractions would be needed to create the chaotic environment necessary to gain the acquiescence of citizens to solutions which mandated toleration of the horror of building trillion dollar deficits in the first weeks of office. While some adult Democrats, like Ben Nelson are just beginning to question the budget math behind this socialist agenda, 85 Republican House jesters including Minority Whip Cantor, joined in this Kabuki for the absurd production.

Team Obama continues to stagger to the end zone of an American socialist state. There appears to be no Republican on the field capable of stopping them. It seems the screaming fans are left only with the hope that some Republican upstart will leap from the bench and knock the legs out from under the ungainly President. The crocodile tears and forced “outrage” from grifters like Dodd, Frank, Schumer, Pelosi, Waters, Obama and the rest are part of the game plan and serves one purpose. It is to advance the mantra that chaos reigns in the financial world and we need even more government control! As Rahm Emmanuel says, "never waste a good crisis."

The President is delivering on the promises he made to the American people during the never ending campaign. The apathy and mindlessness of hopey-changey Americans led them to strike a deal with the devil. The promise of hope and change was the promise of a government committed to taking care of everyone’s needs. The President’s message, at times subtle and at times obvious, has always been a massive consolidation of power centrally. It seems only a handful understood this was socialism. Many still do not appreciate the socialist net being dropped on them. Who can forget the memorable words of Peggy Joseph, choking back tears, “I won’t have to work to put gas in my car…”

Years of indoctrination by socialists at the public school and University level have negated the evidence which demonstrates the abject failure of socialism and have made it impossible for a large number of Americans to thoughtfully analyze the lessons of history.

We are getting change. There just doesn't seem to be a seat reserved for hope at the table the President has set.

The Feds now own banking, housing, and the auto industry.

The Department of Education, the National Education Association and other teacher union associated organizations have big plans. All hands prepare for a Crazy Ivan turn portside.

If you like the selection of appetizers, next on the menu at the table of hope is resting control of the energy sector from private industry. For those who couldn’t hear above the din of “hope and change” in the week before the election, Candidate Obama told us, in comments that were recorded by the San Francisco Chronicle nearly a year earlier but which were only released a few days before the election, that we should expect electricity and other energy bills to rise.

"Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket...because I'm capping greenhouse gases, coal power plants, natural gas -- you name it, whatever the industry was, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money they will pass that money on to consumers." Cap and trade, if it passes, will hamstring current energy industries, , make them unaffordable for Americans, bankrupt those industries and leave state run alternative energy options as the only option. The smart meters the President told us about last week are less about assisting you in optimizing energy use in your home and more about the government being able to optimize how best you use energy in your home.

Health care is a favorite on the Obama prix fixe menu. Democratic leaders are committed to a national health plan which will follow the course of all other such national systems. All points lead to rationing, restriction, and limitation under the watchful of eye of the same Congressional specialists that brought us the mortgage crisis. Those European nations that have not been successful in fully sanitizing the citizenry's free market memory are scrambling to re-introduce private enterprise solutions in efforts to resuscitate their failing health care systems. The costs of rationing are not merely inconvenience. Utilitarian methods will be part of the armamentarium employed to assist in rationing health care costs. This is standard operating procedure in the Netherlands, where adolescents may request euthanasia and infanticide is employed to kill infants determined to be doomed to a "poor quality of life and suffering." The methods to be used are well practiced and include limitation of care at the ends of the age spectrum (abortion, infanticide and euthanasia) and, for a number of conditions, palliative care (a good idea which has become perverted by some into a tool for actively ending life).

The culmination to this meal, the piece de resistance of this governmental orgy, is wresting control of other business sectors like manufacturing, farming and retail through an overhaul of immigration policy, elimination of current immigration restrictions and aggressive unionization.

What we are witnessing is nothing less than the march of a socialist blitzkrieg host whose only orders are to take no quarter and advance.

The government, including some sellout and cowardly Republicans, is absolutely responsible for the mess we now find ourselves in. First the Community Reinvestment Act which provided the opening to loosen lending strings and laid the groundwork for the mortgage crisis. Then the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992 which began cutting the strings of sound banking practice. Finally, the corrupt growth of Fannie and Freddie provided the perceived financial backstop lenders would need in disregarding common sense reasonable lending practice. Fannie and Freddie had full support and backing, and received all the authorization necessary to become the base for this unsustainable Ponzi scheme, from Congress. The leaders of the charge for massive government intrusion into the housing market in Congress were none other than Chris Dodd and Barney Frank.

Politicians, mainly Democrats, in the early 1990s, determined that home ownership was the latest inherent human right overlooked by the Founders, joining amongst others the "right to reproductive freedom" and the "right to redefine marriage." Trumpeting home ownership became the battle cry of Andrew Cuomo (then at HUD, now the AG of NY chasing down all the evil AIG bonus recipients) and Bill Clinton in the 90's, supported by the watchful eye of bank inspectors, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Attorney General Janet Reno.

Banks and financial houses profited from this mess, yes. Some eagerly jumped on the mortgage party bandwagon, abused it, and deserve prison time. Countrywide is a great example of just such an organization. Countrywide was run by Angelo Mozilo. Some may remember who Angelo numbered among his friends and preferred clients? Yes, the senior architect of the subprime crisis, Senator Chris Dodd! Dodd received a $75,000 reduction in mortgage payments through the "Friends of Angelo" program at Countrywide. Dodd still refuses to release all records related to that transaction and Dodd still sanctimoniously calls for the hides of banking executives.

These banks and institutions, against the better judgment of many, were told to make these loans or else face scrutiny and suits from DOJ, bank inspectors and a variety of "community organization" groups. They were told not to worry about the loans defaulting, Freddie and Fannie were the backstop. The chronology is well documented at American Thinker. The bubble continuously expanded, burst and the rest is history; lots of people in homes they never should have purchased, bad loan paper everywhere, and financial mayhem.

The government has failed the nation miserably as it inserted itself into the housing market over the last 20 years. Yet the same leaders who got us into this mess are not only not held accountable, they are supervising the resuscitation of the patient and all they can prescribe is the same snake oil they have fed the citizenry for 20 years. More government intervention. Yeah, that’s the ticket.

As America burns, the citizenry blithely ignore the malevolent and criminal behavior of many in Congress who have led the assault on the principles which have previously guided our nation. Benjamin Franklin cautioned, when asked what type of government the deliberations of the Constitutional Convention had given the new nation, "A republic, if you can keep it." These words today fall on many ignorant or deaf ears.

We are all on the fast track to become wards of the state. In the next budget year it is likely that a minority of citizens will be paying taxes. So we ask why would we willingly allow this to happen? Why would we allow ourselves to go from the most productive nation on earth, and the greatest guarantor of freedom around the world, to a junior partner in the collapsing nations of the Western world socialist union club?

Europe has become torpid and apathetic, content to wallow in mediocrity in the name of increased state custodial care. Alexander Bernard writes eloquently on this topic in National Review. Europeans pay enormous taxes, work little as it only incurs greater taxation, produce less (from industry through the art world), are incapable of mounting even a decent military parade to celebrate European Union day, and don't have any interest in having children to contribute to a failing tax base which desperately needs more workers. Europe, from an indigenous European population viewpoint, is dying. A nation with households that average 1.1 children cannot sustain population growth. Those unfamiliar with the catastrophic demography facing Europe should read America Alone. With all due respect, we should acknowledge that given the utilitarian view of socialists, most in Europe see their own destruction as perhaps one of their greatest achievements.

Freedom is not free and while not lost yet, it is ours to lose. The greatest challenge is awakening an increasingly disinterested, self-absorbed populace with an attention span measured in seconds. We are witnessing the greatest transfer of wealth from the private sector to the government in the history of man. The President wrote in the Chicago Tribune last week, “I also know that we need not choose between a chaotic and unforgiving capitalism and an oppressive government-run economy. That is a false choice that will not serve our people or any people.” Mark Steyn replies, "Really? For the moment, it’s a 'false choice' mainly in the sense that he’s not offering it: 'a chaotic and unforgiving capitalism' is not on the menu, which leaves 'an oppressive government-run economy' as pretty much the only game in town. How oppressive is yet to be determined." Those who that say we have all already been victims of unforgiving capitalism review the previous synopsis of Fannie, Freddie and the unindicted arsonists Frank, Dodd and others.

From GK Chesterton, "The chief feature of our time is the meekness of the mob and the madness of government." So where to from here? D-Day is Election Day 2010, but those of us who are concerned with the survival of liberty have our work cut out for us. Conservative citizens should consider five actions:

1. Innumerable issues are under consideration now which will enormously impact the direction of our country. Conservative voices need to be heard by political leaders at the local, state and federal level. For those who have never called or visited a legislator's office, get to it. Email is convenient, but means little. We are still in the main guaranteed free speech, unless you work in a government agency or on a university campus, so use it.

2. Consider making campaign contributions, $10 or $25, to individual candidates committed to personal liberty and American exceptionalism. Do not contribute to general Republican Committees (the RNC, or the National Republican Senatorial Committee for example) until they hold phony Republicans accountable. Never forget that three Republican Senators, Collins (Me) Spector (Pa), and Snowe (Me), are responsible for the passage of the porculus "stimulus" package which we desperately needed, but waited five days for the President's signature in a staged Denver venue.

Candidates worthy of your support may not be in your district. You are free to support them, however. Examples include LTC Allen West running for Congress in Florida and Pat Toomey, who will declare as a candidate for Arlen Spector's Senate seat in Pennsylvania. Pray for the identification of strong Republican candidates in Connecticut for Chris Dodd's Senate seat, in Pennsylvania for opposition to the treasonous John Murtha, and in New Jersey for the Governor's seat in that great people's republic.

As conservatives it is our responsibility to be informed and understand where Republicans in name only serve and support conservative Republican challengers. The list of so called Republicans who need to either be defeated, or join the party which best represents their views, is lengthy. Identifying these individuals and other key political races local and nationally is labor intensive work. Mainstream media will not give any attention to such candidates and has become an organ of the Democratic political machine. The good news is that others in the new media of the blogosphere are committed to this purpose. Blogs such as Hugh Hewitt's and Michelle Malkin's are some of the increasing number of conservative political sites providing insights on candidates for key political seats at all levels.

3. Regarding voting, do it.Voting is a privilege shared by few other citizens of the world.We all need to exercise our right to vote.In addition consider volunteering as a poll watcher and support get out the vote efforts

4. References to supporting the Republican Party may not be well received by many who have given up hope on the GOP, but it is our current best chance to loyally oppose the Democratic Party's reckless lurch to socialism. Consider this time as an opportunity to remake the Republican Party. We have established that a nuanced, Republican lite non-ideology does not work. Ask Senator McCain. The Libertarian route has repeatedly proven to be a non-starter and recipe for, more often than not, Democratic success.

A return to traditional conservative principles of individual responsibility, limited but effective government, reduced taxation, strong national defense, energy independence and the stimulus of a new energy industry (oil drilling, nuclear power plant construction, clean coal and continued pursuit of alternative energy sources), appreciation of the right to life (for the unborn, for the aged), a responsible immigration policy, and a willingness to tolerate the Judeo-Christian Enlightenment tradition which has been the source of this nation's prosperity.

Many Republican Party organizations will need our assistance in the quest to rediscover their role as a party of loyal opposition committed to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This includes not only supporting proper candidates but reviewing current primary voting procedures which may have allowed, in many states and perhaps nationally, Democrats to have a greater influence on Republican nominees than Republicans.

5. If conservativism is to survive, concerned parents have to take a very active role in what is being taught to their children, wherever they may be schooling. Understand that there is an agenda at state schools which will likely only become more radicalized over the next several years. This may seem like the rhetorical comments of a knuckle dragging, narrow-minded ignorant conservative unable to appreciate the enlightenment offered by state education. It is the duty of thoughtful citizens to regularly re-evaluate their positions. On the matter of public education I take seriously the words of President Obama's good friend Bill Ayers. Ayers, in addition to being an unrepentant terrorist who bombed the nation's capitol, is also an internationally recognized Professor of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, recently elected vice president for curriculum of the 25,000-member American Educational Research Association (AERA), the nation’s largest organization of education-school professors and researchers. This board writes the curriculum agenda for public schools across America. Ayers terrorist history is reprehensible but worries me far less than the indoctrination he envisions for children in public schools. From the WSJ, "Mr. Ayers is the founder of the 'small schools' movement in which individual schools built around specific political themes push students to 'confront issues of inequity, war, and violence.' He believes teacher education programs should serve as 'sites of resistance to an oppressive system.' The point, says Mr. Ayers in his Teaching Toward Freedom is to 'teach against oppression, against America's history of evil and racism, thereby forcing social transformation.'"

Will we awaken from our self induced slumber and realize that the dream of individual liberty may have been just that, a short lived romp through a mesmerizing garden that required maintenance and upkeep we were unwilling to support? It seems we have beome a nation of Chance the Gardeners. Are we capable of recognizing that we are beginning a long day's journey into night? This journey is being expedited and its path obscured by the daily reaffirmation from leaders that chaos reigns and government must act now to save our nation. Our government retains all the superficial trappings of the vital republic it once was, but the advance of tyranny in premeditated fashion destroys the vital core that has made our nation great.

The words of the great American patriots, unknown to many Americans today, ring as true today as in 1776. From Thomas Paine, "These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it Now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict the more glorious the triumph."

Quaere verum

Are You Paying Attention?

Back when the possibility of Barak Obama becoming President was a strong possibility I noticed a change occurring among the friends and people I associate with on a regular basis. There has always been a strong commitment with my friends towards God, family, patriotism, freedom, personal reliance and the belief that our forefathers new what they were doing when they founded the greatest country in the world.

But I found that many were "getting back to their roots". Now, an outsider looking at these families may say they were already checked out of normal society. They would see families of 6, 7, 8 or more kids, they would see parents homeschooling their children, stay at home mom's, a high proportion of business owners, a commitment to their church and a lack of material items. But I sensed something more than that was going on around me. Then Barak Obama became President Obama and he immediately began tearing down fibers that I believe hold this Country together; funding for worldwide abortion, rescinding the ban on stem cell research, government control of banks and financial institutions and the banning of guns just to mention a few.

It just happened that I was invited to several men's functions all in a short period of time, poker evenings, cigar get together and a dad's night out and I discovered these men are all on the move. They were either in the process of planning or some stage of completing things like, growing their own garden, moving their family out to more land or stocking up on guns. These are not a bunch of fanatics, these are smart men with great families. A group of guys I was honored to be associated with, whose opinions I trust and give much thought to and they were voicing concerns about issues happening in this country and how to handle them.

My family is moving forward with many of the suggestions I heard during these get together's and one of them was getting firearms. Something I haven't had around the house since my first child was born but something I felt was needed now more than before. I went to a gun show to get reacquainted with the industry and the products available. The entire time I was there I felt welcomed and among people with similar concerns, ideas and values, these were my people. Just regular dad's, some with their sons and a few with their entire family. I also noticed it was packed, wall to wall people. This wasn't a surprise since I have read how gun permits were up 40%, gun producers are up to 8 months behind on orders and some types of ammunition are jumping off the shelf. So my wife and I decided to buy some guns and start a program to get our whole family to learn to hunt, and protect oneself.

While at a local gun store I ran into the same quality of persons I did at the gun show. One of them who was a retired police officer from the great state of Texas. I began telling him my story of why I am now purchasing a hand gun and the reason why I feel my family needs this protection. He then retold a story of where he was involved in trying to bring order to the Hurricane Katrina area. He reminded me of how easy it was for some people once they became hungry to turn to violence. That if you did not poses a firearm at that time you were at a high risk of a home invasion, being robbed or even raped. He said that even though people knew they were being rescued at some point still resorted to violence. He told me that under duress there will always be some sizable portion of people who would turn to violence for their own survival.

This was my wake up call. Our Country is in economic duress, certainly not by any measure as bad as the great Depression but you wouldn't know it listening to our President. President Obama is and continues to feed the message that we are in for a whole lot more hurting. What if he's right? What if more people start having a harder time feeding their families? What if people who don't have any skills to provide for themselves or moral character decide they will just take it from me? My family isn't going to wait for that time to come before we are prepared and neither should you.

When Will We Speak?

We are a blessed nation. What other country can boast of a Speaker of the House who is a visionary Catholic scholar, as comfortable speaking on the Augustinian view on ensoulment, as she is on the inexplicable phenomenon of 500,000,000 Americans losing their jobs every month our nation is without a “recovery package”. The Speaker’s formidable intellect was once again on display when she was asked last month how expanding family planning services might stimulate the economy? Speaker Pelosi replied:

"Well, the family planning services reduce cost. They reduce cost. The states are in terrible fiscal budget crises now and part of what we do for children's health, education and some of those elements are to help the states meet their financial needs. One of those - one of the initiatives you mentioned, the contraception, will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government."

Pelosi, Reid, Biden, and Obama….Oh my. How about a mulligan on this one. Well, might we be able to exchange the plague America has wrought upon herself for the trivial annoyance of infestation by frogs, flies, boils, and locusts? Yes, elections do have consequences.

Even before this comment, there has been clear evidence that policy makers, while not all as vocal, are willing to at least give consideration to the utilitarian view, rooted in eugenics, and so candidly championed by the Speaker. Eugenics is the study of agencies under social control that improve or impair the racial qualities of future generations either physically or mentally. Utilitarianism is the belief that the moral worth of an action is determined solely by its contribution to overall utility or happiness. Succinctly, utilitarianism is the greatest good for the greatest number.

The work of Charles Darwin, in particular The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, formed the foundation of modern eugenic thought and inspired its founder, Francis Galton. Galton’s efforts led to an explosion of eugenic thought and practice which had its birth not in Nazi Germany but in the United States. The most staggering evidence of this is the forced sterilization and relocation program carried out in the United States over a period of thirty years in thirty one states. During this time over 20,000 “unfit” individuals were sterilized against their will. Notable amongst Eugenic advocates was Margaret Sanger. The founder of the American Birth Control League (ABCL) organization, the ABCL leadership council was dominated by members of the American Eugenics Society. Sanger ultimately went on to found the organization which became Planned Parenthood. Margaret Sanger stated birth control "is nothing more or less than the facilitation of the process of weeding out the unfit, of preventing the birth of defectives or of those who will become defectives." Say what you want about Speaker Pelosi, she is honest in saying what she thinks about birth control, its usefulness in containing costs to society and her commitment to support it. Sanger would be proud of Speaker Pelosi’s candor.

Abortion, a primary plank of the Democratic Party, always shrouded in the language of “reproductive freedom”, has been the “secret” weapon in the liberal utilitarian march. At least two communities are prime evidence of this agenda. Exhibit one is infants with Down syndrome. Down Syndrome Awareness day was March 21st. Down Syndrome results from an extra (3) number 21 chromosomes…thus Down Syndrome Awareness Day is 3/21. The march of the utilitarians has led inexorably to the targeting of unborns with Down syndrome. It is very possible, given the current recommendations of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) that all pregnant women be offered screening for Down syndrome that in the future there will be no infants born with Down syndrome. It is a disturbing fact that 80-90% of unborn infants diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted, and even more will be identified with current screening recommendations. Rates of births of Down syndrome infants have dropped in many nations. Denmark recently reported rates have been reduced by 50% with current prenatal testing. This is looked at by policy makers as a reduction in birth defects. Eugenicists, costumed as supporters of women’s health, reproductive rights, fiscal responsibility, and “quality of life”, wield abortion as a primary weapon in the battle to eliminate Down syndrome.

Despite the rapid disappearance of infants being born with Down syndrome, some of the greatest advocates for individuals with Down syndrome are incapable of confronting the larger utilitarianism at work. There is insistence from some advocates that if we are to reverse this disturbing trend of aborting unborn children with Down syndrome, we need to educate the community. Some believe that if more parents understood that individuals with Down syndrome can be functional community members, this trend of “discrimination” could be altered. Such work must be and is being carried out by tireless Down syndrome advocates; yet while all Down syndrome advocates ultimately believe that aborting the unborn with Down syndrome is “discriminatory”, the language is laughable. Only in 21st Century America would we call the systemic selective termination, abortion, and targeted killing of a population of the unborn, with a condition that is not life threatening but will render them less capable mentally, “discriminatory”.

As the ability of scientists to diagnose potentially undesirable traits in the unborn progresses, there will no doubt be more called to the eugenic banner. Genes for a predisposition to cancer, autism, and homosexuality are under investigation. Such diagnostic “advances” will lead to the further elimination of many unborns. What may be less consistently discussed in these cases is the uncertainty that even with a possible genetic predisposition it is not known whether such genetic material would ultimately be expressed in an individual. That aside, the ability to assess unborns for even mild abnormalities or a preferred sex will support a very personal eugenics. Imperfection, and eugenics, will mean different things to different people, and science will be expanding to accommodate the increasing demands from states and individuals for diversity in eugenic selection. What will become increasingly inapparent to our increasingly secular citizenry is the fact that we are all imperfect, in somebody’s eyes.

Peter Singer, the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University, and a leader in utilitarian thought, has openly stated what few find controversial, that it is moral and ethical to abort unborns with Down syndrome. Professor Singer, speaking for an increasingly vocal element of the utilitarian movement however, takes the next logical utilitarian leap. Professor Singer also supports the killing of infants with Down syndrome, and infants and individuals with other mentally and physically impairing conditions. From Professor Singer, “the fact that a being is a human being, in the sense of a member of the species Homo sapiens, is not relevant to the wrongness of killing it; it is, rather, characteristics like rationality, autonomy, and self-consciousness that make a difference. Infants lack these characteristics. Killing them, therefore, cannot be equated with killing normal human beings, or any other self-conscious beings.” To the utilitarian, targeting the unborn population with Down syndrome offers the opportunity to eliminate a group of infants who, in their judgment, are incapable of societal integration, are a burden on families and communities, and would otherwise live a life of “suffering”.

Some have referred to the unborn with Down syndrome as the canary in the eugenic coal mine. The Down syndrome population is certainly the current canary in the ever expanding netherworld catacombs of the eugenicist coal mine. The mine floor, however, is littered with the bodies of millions of other victims. The African-American unborn infant population is the second exhibit in the expanding eugenic exhibit. African-Americans have historically used abortion services at three to four times the rate of other groups. The comments of Rep. Pelosi bring this well into perspective. While the Speaker prefers to use the terms family planning and contraception, refusing to use the “a” word, she makes her point. It seems unlikely that the Speaker is talking about family planning services reducing cost in families supported by “high skill people who are already professionals” or families supported by “white male construction workers”. These are not the groups that concern the Speaker, nor the President’s Economic Advisor Robert Reich for that matter. No, the Speaker is referring to individuals in low income groups who, if they were allowed to see the natural result of sexual liberties we promoted in their communities over the last forty years, would bankrupt the ever diminishing assets of state and federal treasuries. I will go out on a limb and presume the Speaker is referring to the African American community.

A rough estimate is that approximately 10-12,000,000 unborn black infants have been sacrificed on the abortion altar since the passage of Roe v. Wade in 1973. That represents an abortion rate of black infants at least three times the rate of white abortion rates. A rarely discussed medical finding is that abortion elevates the risk, in a dose dependent fashion (more abortions more risk), for a future extremely premature baby born at less than 32 weeks. Such deliveries can result in the death of the infant or injuries associated with extreme prematurity, including debilitating cerebral palsy. The evidence for this is powerful and based on over 100 studies over the past 40 years. So the end result of abortion is...well....it doesn’t end. For the black community it has meant not only the loss of millions of infants, it has meant extreme prematurity rates that are three to four times that of other groups. This means large numbers of premature deaths of very small African-American infants and much higher rates of cerebral palsy.

G.K. Chesterton, noted author and opponent of eugenic thought in the early 20th Century quotes, in Eugenics and Other Evils (Perry edition), the eugenics founder Francis Galton. Galton writes openly and unapologetically of strategies for developing acceptance of eugenic theory. “The course of procedure that lies within the functions of a learned and active society includes persistence in setting forth the national importance of eugenics. There are three stages to be passed through: (1) It must be made familiar as an academic question, until its exact importance has been understood and accepted as fact (Global warming anyone?) (2) It must be recognized as a subject whose practical development deserves serious consideration. (3) It must be introduced into the national conscience, like a new religion. It has, indeed, strong claims to become an orthodox religious tenet of the future, for eugenics cooperates with the workings of human nature by securing that humanity shall be represented by the fittest races.”

Chesterton offers another pearl, “There is one strong, outstanding thing about Eugenics, and that is its meanness. Wealth, and the social science supported by wealth, had tried an inhuman experiment. The experiment had entirely failed. They sought to make wealth accumulate and they made men decay. Then, instead of confessing the error, and trying to restore the wealth, or attempting to repair the decay, they are trying to cover their first cruel experiment with a more cruel experiment. They put a poisonous plaster on a poisonous wound. Vilest of all, they actually quote the bewilderment produced among the poor by their first blunder as a reason for allowing them to blunder again. They are apparently ready to arrest all the opponents of their system as mad, merely because the system was maddening.”

We are well down the road of Galton’s stages for the promulgation of a eugenic religion. It is standard fare now in the black community. African-American political leaders doggedly search for all variety of disparities and espouse their elimination, but in adhering to the abortion industry which has helped bring them to power, not only accept but vociferously defend policies which slay 300,000 black unborn infants a year. Their solution is to double down on affirmative action and diversity training which they claim will abate the racism cited as the root of all evils in the black community. Parents of Down syndrome children are routinely asked, “Didn’t you have the test?”, close their eyes to the wanton decimation of their communities ranks and put their faith in education to turn back the tide of the ultimate from of “discrimination.” Nancy Pelosi’s comments are stunning, not because they are revealing to anyone who has been watching, but because she, like Galton, feels no remorse at openly stating a eugenic agenda.

Rep. Pelosi went on to comment, later, “Let the State give every defective full knowledge of how to avoid children, and supply them free with contraceptives; better still, offer them a substantial monetary reward to consent to sterilization, and as long as they are given to understand that the operation ‘will make no difference’, they will in most cases agree.” Most of us would not be surprised to hear the Speaker utter these words on a national stage. Amazingly, I think few of us would have been shocked at all to hear her make such a statement, and some might actually agree. That is how desensitized many of us have become. These are not the Speaker's words, however. The above quote is from one of the primary eugenic journals of the 1920s, Birth Control News, published by Margaret Sanger.

Advocates of eugenic thought have increasingly fortified their position in American society. Like a malignant, determined tumor they have metastasized throughout their host over the past 100 years. These elements are now poised for a tumor explosion. While focusing on the unborn and young life in this discussion, the utilitarian menace is an equal opportunity destroyer, seeking out the defenseless whether they be unborn, young, old or otherwise infirmed. Maternity, geriatric, and chronic disease wards are target rich environments for the utilitarians. America may not have fully acquiesced in the Eugenics war but the clock is ticking. Lest we develop the will to overcome this utilitarian cancer, the end result will inevitably be the literal and figurative death of the host, an end to the American society built on individual liberty and the right to self-determination.

It may be that the outrageous targeting of unborn African-Americans and unborns with Down syndrome for elimination, if exposed, could be mobilized to expose the nefarious motives of increasingly utilitarian political and social policy. Many in racial and disability advocacy cling to the sacredness of women’s reproductive rights and the hope that education will stave off decimation of their communities. What we all must ultimately recognize is that the true utilitarian has no loyalties in determining who the non-persons are, who are the unfit. Authorities in the utilitarian movement reserve the right to judge cognizance, self-awareness, and the capacity to reason. These qualities define personhood for utilitarians. Many (the elderly, newborn and others) humans will find themselves unable to meet the utilitarian criteria of self-conscious beings or persons. Infanticide and euthanasia then become the order of the day. In Holland, euthanasia is common practice and protocols for euthanasia of infants are well developed and have been published in major American medical journals.

While we may not yet be the Netherlands, we have a President who has made it clear that it is "above my paygrade" to state when life begins. That said, the President seems willing to make some assumptions, given that he was unwilling, as a state senator, to support a vote on the same Born Alive Infant Protection Act that was supported by the staunchest abortion supporters in the US Senate. The Freedom of Choice Act, also supported by the President, will allow for an unprecedented expansion of access to abortion. Many seem willing to sprint down the path of utilitarianism. Utilitarianism, in deploying abortion and euthanasia, does not discriminate. There are multiple groups that are and will be targeted by the proponents of such a philosophy and we must be willing to confront this immoral ideology that has devalued life, born and unborn, to such a degree that it is left for a few to decide on a grand scale what life is worth living and what life is not.

At his time in our history, government appears to have become ungovernable. Chesterton described the rise of the Progressives in 1914 as a period where “law has become lawless; that is it cannot see where laws should stop. The chief feature of our time is the meekness of the mob and the madness of the government. In this atmosphere it is natural enough that medical experts, being authorities, should go mad as well.” As I have listened to very well meaning Down syndrome and African American leaders dismiss opposition to abortion in favor of advocacy strategies based on educating the public in an attempt to turn back societal tides, I am reminded of the words of Martin Neimoller, German Lutheran pastor in Berlin who lived through the rise and fall of the Nazis. He was an outspoken proponent for accepting the burden of collective guilt for WW II. He viewed this as a means of atonement for the suffering that the German nation, through the Nazis, had caused before and during WW II. He was imprisoned in 1937 and sent to Dachau. He barely escaped execution and wrote these words shortly after he emerged from prison:


First they came for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up, because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me.

Quaere verum

Taxing AIG

The United States Congress is furious that employees of AIG are receiving personal compensation that the legislators have deemed excessive and unwarranted. AIG has responded with something similar to “…it’s in the employees contract, we have to pay them…” Well the leaders of the free world, President Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are not going to get duped by that excuse, they have something in their back pocket, and it’s called taxation. The House of Representatives (and soon the Senate) have passed a bill imposing a 90% tax on AIG employee bonuses and in some cases taxing 100% leaving the worker with nothing. "I look forward to receiving a final product that will serve as a strong signal to the executives who run these firms that such compensation will not be tolerated," the president said in a statement.
I am not outraged as so many American’s are about executives of a U.S. bailed out company receiving a “Bonus”. But I am very scared that our citizens don’t recognize what has really happened. Let’s just review a few things. First, this is a United States Company and those receiving monies are U.S. Citizens. This is crucial in realizing that what is happening to them can happen to us. Second, the employees have a written contract to receive these funds. In our Country a contract is honored by the law. Third, the word “Bonus” is nothing more than deferred compensation. Lastly, the US Congress has passed a law targeted towards taxing a specific company.

The people receiving the “bonuses” are just like you and me, well several live a lot larger life styles than me but I am happy for them not jealous. These citizens made a deal, a contract with a company on what their job is and what they would take in compensation for doing it. None of us have read their contracts and have no idea whether they completed the tasks necessary to receive the compensation. But I am sure that under the duress AIG is currently under the employees must have fulfilled their tasks in order to get paid. This is no different than the contract I have with my kid’s orthodontist. I will pay him in full when he completes the task of making their teeth straight. He didn’t give me any guarantees that when he’s finished that my kids smile will provide them a better paying job or more dates. I may have hoped for that outcome but that wasn’t the deal.

You may say, “Fine, but they received tax payer money to keep the company afloat and without it these people wouldn’t have a job and therefore wouldn’t be getting a bonus”. Perhaps, but the company didn’t go under, they didn’t go into bankruptcy, they continued on running the business. Our representatives made the decision to spend our money to keep that business from going into bankruptcy. Our government made the decision to spend billions of dollars to make sure that these people who are now receiving bonuses stayed in action. You can’t have it both ways. The deal made by Obama, Pelosi and Reid was we need AIG not to fail, so here’s the money. Senator Dodd from Connecticut even had added into the deal that the bonuses were protected. That was the deal, the contract, the agreement.

So now we have an outraged public and every politician is deflecting this anger onto AIG as greedy people, with no conscience and self-serving one Senator even calling for them to commit suicide. To address the grumblings of its people our leaders have decided they have the authority to specifically tax a particular company or person in any manner they choose. Think about this, what is stopping them from coming after you? Do you think you’re safe because you “don’t make enough money”? Ask yourself, how much is not enough? Do you think your business is safe because “I’m just a small business owner?” Really, how small is too small? Perhaps you have said “well I’m not taking government money”. Is socialized health care, Medicare, social security, food stamps, mortgage assistance, or State colleges government assistance?

We all need to peel back the onion and see how we are losing freedoms and liberties at an alarming rate.

What Are the Rich Thinking About?

When I ask the question, what are the rich thinking about, I am only referring to riches involving money and I consider the well-to-do to be the top 4% of wage earners in this Country, those making over $100,000/year. The easiest way to spot the affluent is to see if they bought a home over $500,000 because those are the only ones who could afford it.

I have several friends who are loaded but every single one of them doesn’t consider themselves rich. Some own well over a $1,000,000 in real estate, have expensive cars, kids who go to private schools and who travel the world. Yet they all want to complain about President Obama taxing them and how hard it will be on their family and how it will plunge our economy even further into recession. Now I agree with their conclusions on the results of over taxation but come on, their rich. A strange thing though, they all want to be included in my sphere of people, the people without all the toys, struggling to make ends meet, face losing a job or perhaps own a small business under pressure. OK I’m a big tent type of person so I am willing to welcome them in joining the cause in helping us over throw this oppressive leaning government. I say how we must stop the pro-abortion groups, save our rights to own a gun, stop the government’s attempt to silence free speech and rise up against the invasion of illegal aliens so I ask them, are you with me? Are you with me?

Well, not so much. You see, the rich care about their money, that’s probably why they have so much of it. But the problem the well off don’t recognize is that people like me, those who apparently give higher value to morals and the principles on which this Country was founded on than to the mere existence of money are the ones fighting to save the rich their money. If I was only interested in my family’s immediate needs I would be an Obama supporter. My family stands to benefit from a majority of the Presidents social programs from health care to lower taxes. So if the wealthy only represent 4% of our Country and need the support of the conservative middle class to help them why would they shrug off our concerns? If the rich don’t want the conservative majority to abandon them then I suggest that the wealthy start picking up the causes of their friends as well as their own.

Housing Bailout

President Obama wants to save the housing market by providing $75 Billion to people who can't afford their homes and are unable to make their mortgage payments. He has decided that those of us who do make our payments are in much better shape and therefore the government will take our money and give it to those who are either incapable of making sound financial decisions or had a lust for toys they now can't afford. Has the President asked the question that after the impoverished family living in their 4,000 square foot shack receive their relief what they will do afterwards? OK, I understand that not everybody in a foreclosure situation bought a large home (keep in mind the average square foot home in the 1950's was 983 square feet, typically 1 full bath and children shared bedrooms).
Many consider themselves middle class, perhaps business owners who just got caught up in a housing market that is tumbling. Well let's peel back the onion and ask some fundamental questions? How much credit card debt do you have? How much do you owe on your cars? How much savings do you have? Could your family have been able to live in a smaller house? Then the biggest questions one should be asked is, where did you get the idea you should never suffer? No where did our founding fathers say you have a right to a house, a car, or a spa membership. They did say you have a right to pursue happiness not that your guaranteed it.