Am I crazy, or is this outrageous? I'm having trouble digesting the way the media is portraying a couple of stories right now. First, there's Rick Perry and his flub at the presidential debate. Now, there's Herman Cain and his flabbergast concerning foreign policy. Are these important stories? I don't know contrast them with this:

Couple days ago, 60 Minutes comes out with a story called "Congress: Trading stock on inside information?" Now, OBVIOUSLY, one would say, this is ILLEGAL; INSIDER TRADING IS ILLEGAL. Every red-blooded American even a little versed in a few business laws knows that trading stock on inside information is illegal; one simply cannot profit from the market in this manner. Again this is cheating and its illegal.

Oh, except for Congress.

I DON'T GET IT AMERICA? WHAT DO WE CARE ABOUT? What's more important, the news about the Republican candidates forgetting a line, or the news that Congress is an unreservedly, unabashedly, corrupt entity. If I recall my history, the Roman Empire was not conquered as other empires had been. The Roman Empire crumbled and rotted from the inside out. Looks as if the American Empire is following in its footsteps.

Common Sense

I begin a reading of the Thomas Paine classic. It so scarce in this day. So disillusioned I am with the politics in this country. Interestingly enough there is a great podcast titled Common Sense. It would behoove you to check it out.

The Real Problem

So, Congress has agreed to raise the debt ceiling. Did any red-blooded American really doubt that they would? Really? I didn't. It's clear that Congress, as a whole, is virtually spineless. It has been clear for a very long time. So, although my aggravation for the current debacle knows no boundaries, I will blog about the real problem. Everything else is just the fallout.

The real problem is the United States' political system. The real problem is the political parties known as the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. This is the greatest threat facing the world's undisputed and premier superpower in our time and our children's time in the near future. If something isn't done to change America's political system, and I'm not talking about just a little tweak; I'm talking about fundamentally, radically, and completely eradicating the current system and starting with something else, I fear something far worse than 2008-Present is brewing. Literally...because of the current political system, our representatives, our president, the leadership of this country.

To start with, I would suggest things like: congressional term limits for both houses of Congress, making lobbying to Congress illegal in any and every form except a formal speech in the chambers during a session before all congresspeople, make campaign contributions illegal from every source except a red-blooded American with a social security number and that to a limit of $1,000, give absolutely anyone running for president a seat at the presidential debates regardless of party affiliation or coffer size, I could go on I guess, but you see where I'm going.

Even these suggestions aren't radically transforming the political system yet, but they may start to. The toxic dump that is Washington D.C. and the Republican and Democratic party are just that, toxic to the welfare of all Americans. Why we Americans keep voting them into positions of leadership when they clearly are not capable is mysterious, at best.

Defense

Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it compromises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes...known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few...No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare. -James Madison, 1795

World military expenditure in 2010 is estimated to have reached $1.62 trillion in current dollars. (Global Issues, 2011)

The USA with its massive spending budget, is the principal determinant of the current world trend, and its military expenditure now accounts for just under half of the world total, at 43% of the world total. (Global Issues, 2011)

A Conflict Without End

The title you read is the title to an article, an editorial of The New York Times May 16. So disturbing is this piece that I quote the entire opening chapter for you.

"Osama bin Laden had been dead only a few days when House Republicans began their efforts to expand, rather than contract, the war on terror. Not content with the president's wide-ranging powers to pursue the archcriminals of Sept. 11, 2001, Republicans want to authorize the military to pursue virtually anyone suspected of terrorism, anywhere on earth, from now to the end of time." (The New York Times, 2011)

Far-fetched? Irrational? Impossible? I thought so. But, since 2001 actually, I've come to the consclusion that nothing is impossible for our all-knowing and all-powerful lawmakers. Is it me or is there just simply no oversight? Is it me or does it seem like, literally, they will just do whatever they want to do with absolutely no regard for you and me, the citizens that elect them and that they purport to "work for".

Granted I've done no research. I'm jumping the gun because I'm jaded, yes. I pulled up the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, however I cannot make heads or tails of it. What do I know? I'm not a politician; the thing is in their language, not in ours. I do know that there's a-whole-heckuva-lot-of money in that bill. Billions and billions of dollars; I did see those figures. And where there is a-whole-heckuva-lot-of money there's an enormous incentive to keep the status quo. T'ain't that raght? It's human nature people.

What we lost in 2001, and even before that, we will never get back. Benjamin Franklin said, "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

He also said, and I say to you, "There never was a good war or a bad peace."

Old Glory

It was a dingy gray and wet spring day as I was driving down the main thorough-way in my hometown. As I approached a stoplight, and I veered into the left turn lane, I noticed a rag right in the middle of the lane where I would go over it with my car yet not run directly over it with the tires. The closer I came to it the more recognizable were its colors of red, white, and blue; and just as I went over it in my car I recognized it completely. It was a small U.S. flag that had broken off of a car's window, one with a plastic piece that attached it to that window.

Looking into the rear view mirror I noticed there were no other cars behind me and after a few seconds of deliberation I put the car in reverse. I backed up to the place, jumped out in the drizzly morning rain and picked up the flag. It's now hanging in my back patio. It looks rough. I'm not sure how long it had laid there on the highway. It looks as if it had been run over a few times. But even with all that, its red, white, and blue are still striking.

I love this flag. There's something about the U.S. flag that is above the government that flies its colors. There's something about the U.S. flag that is above Republicans and Democrats. There's something about the U.S. flag that is above the squabbling, the corruption, the bribery, the shamelessness, the conniving, the waste, the hypocrisy, the sham, the show for the media, etc., etc., etc.

I revile against my government because of the abuses perpetrated by people with "my" interests in mind. People that purport to "listen" to what I want. People that pretend to be in touch with me, the everyday American.

I love my country. I hate what they are doing to it.

I love my flag. I hate what they have done to it.

In Christ Alone by the Newsboys

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
'Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt of life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
'til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand

Democracy?!

YAY for Democracy! Wait...yay for democracy right? Why don't I hear the US, the world's bastion for democracy, backing the protests for democracy? Am I just not listening to the right news source? Where are you Obama? How about McCain, Clinton (oh she said a little one time), Palin, Boehner, Kerry, anybody?

From NYSE to FSE

After 219 years as the citadel of American capitalism, the New York Stock Exchange was near an agreement to be acquired by Deutsche Börse AG in a deal that would create the world's largest financial exchange. Wall Street Journal Feb. 10, 2011.

It took me a few days to digest the news. I'm still not sure I've wrapped my brain around it. There is very little to say. The headline says it all. For 219 years of the 234 we have existed as a nation, the New York Stock Exchange has too. Does anybody else have a problem with this or is it just me? Call me over-dramatic here, but we've turned a corner in the game called globalization. Is profit bad, no profit isn't bad. But sell history like the New York Stock Exchange off to the highest bidder? Can you do that?

I recall a recent sellout from just down the street there. Wall Street sold us, the American taxpayer, out almost three years ago now to the tune of $1.4 trillion or so right? Has the American taxpayer forgotten about that? Do we care? Is anybody out there in charge of all that keeping track, have they paid us back? I'd like an update...

Prophecy from ABC?

Fascinating documentary; watch "The Next Financial Crisis" on YouTube. This is the first of three parts. In a nutshell the film asks the question, "So the government bailed out the banks, but who's gonna bail out the government?"

Folks, it's not a secret that our government is about bankrupt. "If Congress does not act to increase the Treasury Department's legal borrowing limit, which could be reached as soon as the first week of April, the government would face problems refinancing its debt and raising money for its operations, and, at worst, would risk default." (New York Times 2011)

Well, it's frightening yes, because, what then? Suppose the US government does default on its debt? We already know the dollar holds its value precariously, even somewhat artificially, based on "consumer confidence"; consumers being every other nation that must trade in dollars, the world's only reserve currency.

So what does it all mean? Well as a Christian I can rest in the assurance that I know how it will end. You see, contrary to popular belief, this world had a definite birth date, and it has a definite end date. I don't know that date, but I know who does. I have thought for a long time there would be another financial crisis coming and I've thought that this one we wouldn't recover from.

It doesn't take an economist to see how things are shaping up.

Egypt and the Good ol' USA

You know...I've been thinking a whole lot about this Egypt thing. Should Mubarak go? I don't know, his country seems to think so, he doesn't. We send them $1.5 bn a year in military and other aid because they are our ally in that region against the "war on terror". So do we as a government think so, essentially we buy the status quo over there don't we?

Well, that status quo no longer serves the people of Egypt and they would like to make their voices heard...for real this time. I wonder what would happen in the USA if that many people stood up and protested against say...the two party system that rules this "democracy" with an iron grip.

And that got me to thinking in this way: We're not all that different from Egypt. Yeah sure we've got Walmart and Macy's, Best Buy and Men's Wearhouse, Chili's and Olive Garden, and they don't. We can buy fuel at the corner every other week or so for about 3 bucks a gallon. Then we swing over to Safeway and stock up on groceries. So yeah, we're a whole lot different in that respect.

But, basically the same group of people have 'ruled' this, our beloved nation, the world's bastion of democracy, for how long? Back and forth, back and forth. More government intervention, less government intervention. Recent elections gave congress back to the Republicans from the Democrats and the country almost unequivocally heralded that as change when just two years prior we voted in so much change from Republicans to Democrats, whew?!

Forgive me if I grow a little cynical, and dizzy, and have developed a crink in my neck because of the volleying back and forth. Pfff! Change?!

China and Egypt

Apparently honor, the dignity of human right, , are all for sale. I've been watching it happen in our own country with not a little concern, bordering on disgust actually, for the last...oh twenty years I guess. The United States of America: bastion of freedom, of democracy, of human rights, offering them all up for sale.

There was a time, not long ago, when we stood up to other countries in defense of the dignity and rights that human life imparts on every living being. Am I just being over-sentimental, unrealistic, idealistic, and just imagining that we once stood on the side of revolutions like the one in Tahrir Square? Maybe I was too young to remember correctly, did we stand up against the Chinese on the side of the revolution at Tiananmen Square? Or had we sold them our honor, our dignity, our stance on human rights by 1989 already?

$45 billion worth of Boeing airplanes is apparently the price this time around for looking the other way.

Quoting The Independent, "US politicians, who will host Hu [Jintao] tomorrow, are impatient for results about China's economic policies. A meager outcome at the summit could raise congressional pressure on Beijing over the trade deficit and the way it manages the yuan. A group of 84 politicians urged Obama in a letter today to tell Hu that "America's patience is near an end" over China's failure to play by trade rules." No one seemed that impatient, or no politician seemed to urge China, concerning human rights.

And now Egypt. Where stand ye America?

For a long time I've advocated, albeit in my own circle of friends, for a viable third party inside our nation's political system. The need for said third party has never been more urgent than it is now. This of course would not be in the best interest of the two major ruling parties we have now; but it would be in the best interest of the American people.

It seems more and more that there are two classes of people in this country; and here I would like to know what you think. Does it seem like to you that there are two classes of people in this country today; the American people, and those who govern us? It's as if they are so out of touch with normal American people that they hardly seem American to me. They're more like pure capitalists. As if that were a state itself, The Capital. (Get the wordplay on the capitol?)

I bring up one last question. If congress is in charge of regulating the rest of the country's industry, commerce, trade, finance, etc., who's in charge of regulating congress? Or at least holding congress accountable? We the people? So, is anybody doing it?! You say yes, every election cycle, we hold them accountable to us. I say nay, that is incorrect.

Oscillating back and forth between Republican and Democrat does not make an accountable congress with oversight by the American people. It makes for a seesaw, tug-o-war, you scratch my back I'll scratch yours, appearance of a democracy, that is in essence an oligarchy, does it not? Isn't that the definition of an oligarchy? Government by the few.

Assange Again

It's been a while since this mess with Wikileaks started. But, I can't seem to let it go. To the extent that I have ceased informing myself of news across the board. Bit dysfunctional? Perhaps. But...I'm disturbed more than I've been before with our politico elite. And it's all over this whole Wikileaks thing. Pro or against Assange, why do the "leaders" of our country want to take him down? Well, the answer is simple, they've got something to hide.

I'm not sure what worries me more, our political system's reaction to Wikileaks, which again, is fairly disturbing, because freedom is the stalwart this country was built upon, if anything is, but apparently, and suddenly, there are limits to these freedoms after all; for our safety of course, and that means limits to information, transportation, soon we'll have limits on the Internet itself, that, or some people's defense of our political system's reaction to Wikileaks. There are some that would argue our government is doing the right thing. He should be stopped. The reasons are myriad, homeland defense, espionage, treason, etc., but can you really build a case on any of these. I mean really, Nixon, Clinton, Dubya Bush? What I mean is, are the freedoms, and blood, this country was built upon only for citizens living within its borders? Oh, they argue, if an American citizen was doing this he/she would be arrested and charged too. Oh, ok, thanks for clarifying the debate for me, that makes it better.

Just to show you the hypocrisy..."there is no indication yet that the US government is considering espionage charges against The New York Times, even though the newspaper, like Wikileaks, published stolen classified documents. Prosecuting a news organization like The Times would be virtually without precedent in the United States. If government lawyers go after Wikileaks, they would probably argue that it is not a news organization." (NPR.org, Assange, Manning: Parallels, But Links Unclear)

Preaching today...

So, in the first two posts you shall see the dichotomy, nay the plurality of what this blog might entail. I am a Christian. As such I follow Christ. A quote by Ghandi keeps me grounded in Christ though, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." Ouch. Can hardly argue with that to this day.

Well, there but for the grace of God, go I. If there is an inkling of the image of Christ in me, it is because I surrender and ask Him to give me the strength and make me more like Him. "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus," Romans 8:1

And so, I will be preaching today on God's calling us; everyone of us, according to His purpose. Wish me luck. Actually no, wish me God's blessing. I just want to share with my friends what He has done for me.

So to catch you up...

I've been speaking my mind out on Facebook. And yes, lots of people get to hear me rant; but it occurred to me that, maybe those people didn't really want to hear what I thought of the political system in this country or the lack thereof, the financial infrastructure in this country or the lack thereof, my views on history, and my views on God and religion, and so on...the things that I'm really passionate about. So, I started this blog. Join me, you won't offend me. Let me know what you think. Get involved in the discussion - after all, that's what this is all about right?

There are many things wrong with this country. I want to be part of the solution. To be fair, there are many things right with this country. I love my country. That's why I have chosen to exercise my unalienable right to express my views and opinions.

So, there you have it. I hope to see you here, I hope to see you often.

Smart Economics Tip #1

To the Federal Reserve Bank, which is not a federal institution by any stretch. It is a for-profit corporation and they know the following law of economics:

Printing dollars to pump into the monetary system will further dilute the value of said dollar.