Twas the night before Christmas 2011 Poem

Twas the month before Christmas, when all through our land,

Not a Christian was praying nor taking a stand.

The progressives had hidden the reason for Christmas

Political correctness, multicultural sickness.

About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.

It might hurt people's feelings, best to concentrate on Bling

December 25th is just a 'Holiday.'

Forget your cultural roots these modern progressives say.

When out at the mall there arose such a clatter

Pepper spray you neighbor, need the sale item so no matter

CD’s from Lady Gaga and Miley, an X BOX, an I-Pod

Something was changing, besmirching the word of GOD!

Retailers promote Ramadan and Kwanzaa

In hopes to sell books by Al Franken & Jane Fonda.

WalMart will close not at all in your town

selling cheap Chinese goods with a false price roll down

At K-Mart and Staples and Penny's and Sears

You won't hear the word Christmas; it just disappears

Political correctness and Multiculturalism matter

more than the success of Jude-Christian culture they now shred and tatter

Now Feinstein, Forget Einstein, Now Pelosi, Much Sharpton,

On Alinsky , on Reid, organizer Obama and Clinton!

At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter

Pass this Bill now, to see if the changes matter.

And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith

Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace

The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded

The reason for the season, thru apathy went unguarded.

So as you celebrate 'Winter Break' under your 'Dream Tree'

Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.

Choose your words carefully, choose what you say

Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS, not Happy Holiday!

Hope & Change.

Change is the way of the world. Change can be a source of hope, or of despair. What is not good may be made better, or Vice versa.  Change is usually a source of anxiety, for what we love today may be gone tomorrow! We study history to remember the past so that we may preserve all that is good. We maintain our values in our collective memory so that what we cherish may flourish yet again and again to future generations. What to change, what to preserve? What to let go of and what to hold on to—these are matters requiring pragmatism, serious knowledge, a pure heart and motivations coupled with  great judgment. Hope is not a policy! Change (Policy) can be for better or worse, as we are certainly seeing now. May GOD Bless the United States of America!

The Law by Frederic Bastiat

"Anyone building a personal library of liberty must include in it a copy of Frédéric Bastiat’s classic
essay, “The Law.” First published in 1850 by the great French economist and journalist, it is as clear a statement
as has ever been made of the original American ideal  f government, as proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence, that the main purpose of any government is the protection of the lives, liberties, and property of its citizens." (from the forward)

The Law      There is no question in my mind that this essay should (sic: needs to be) required reading for each and every high school senior across the United States.  

1984

     The Obama administration has created and staffed a new position in their communications shop for helping coordinate rapid response to unfavorable stories and fostering and improving relations with the progressive online community.See a new attack on the President or his record? Use http://www.attackwatch.com/ to report it and discuss attacks as they happen.

     Yes, please report on your neighbors, family member and friends...where have we heard this before?

     A strikingly Dictatorial (re: Soviet/Nazi) stylized attempt to monitor online dissent. Who in the administration thinks this is the appropriate way for a president to act? I suppose when facts are stubborn things disinformation is the way.

"Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play. It is the absolute right of the State to supervise the formation of public opinion."~ Joseph Goebbels

Top of the World

a reminder of what it was like to take the famous elevator ride up the World Trade Center to the “Top of the World.” I first rode the elevator on a visit to NYC when I was a child. Still get goosebumps thinking about it...

Good Ridance Hurricane Irene

https://picasaweb.google.com/bcigol/Irene?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCJmG_Pu0uqPTMg&feat=directlinkTotowa and surrounding area Hurricane Irene pictures

Mikhail Gorbachev: I should have abandoned the Communist party earlier

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/16/gorbachev-guardian-interview

An excellent interview. Enlightening indeed from his perspective on a world changing event. 

Really find Larry Kudlow's analysis Spot On!

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/08/17/perrys_much_needed_defense_of_stable_money_110982.html 

August 17, 2011

Perry's Red-Hot Bernanke Slam: A Much Needed Defense of the Dollar

By Larry Kudlow

Gov. Rick Perry scorched the political pot on Tuesday with a red-hot rhetorical attack on Fed-head Ben Bernanke. When asked about the Fed reopening the monetary spigots, Perry said, “If this guy prints more money between now and the election, I don’t know what y’all would do to him in Iowa, but we -- we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas.”
And that wasn’t all. In a more controversial slam, Perry said, “Printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history is almost treacherous -- or treasonous -- in my opinion.” (Italics mine.)
Pretty rough stuff. Very aggressive language. And undoubtedly way too strong. It was poorly received in the financial world.
No, Ben Bernanke is not a traitor. This is a policy dispute; it’s not a matter of patriotism. However, and this is an important however, the rest of Perry’s statement suggests that his analysis of Fed policy is right on target. In other words, wrong words, right analysis.
The Texas governor, who by some polls is the new Republican presidential frontrunner, went on to say, “We’ve already tried this. All it’s going to be doing is devaluing the dollar in your pocket. And we cannot afford that.”
Well, to me that is exactly right.
Let’s take a quick look at Bernanke’s QE2 record of pump-priming: The dollar fell 12 percent on foreign-exchange markets. The consumer price index jumped over 5 percent at an annual rate. And the $600 billion cheapening of the greenback led to skyrocketing commodity prices, including oil, gasoline, and food. That oil-price shock is one of the principal factors behind the 0.8 percent first-half economic stutter. As a result of the jump in inflation linked to QE2, real consumer incomes slumped badly and consumer spending fell substantially.
Before QE2 the economy was growing about 2.5 percent, even though it was already blunted by numerous tax and regulatory obstacles. But the cheap-dollar oil shock came perilously close to pushing us into recession.
So it turns out that Governor Perry -- even with his overly strong language -- is a pretty sharp economic and monetary analyst.
In fact, Perry’s analysis actually channels recent Fed dissents by reserve-bank president’s Dick Fisher of Dallas, Charles Plosser of Philadelphia, and Narayana Kocherlakota of Minneapolis. They object to a two-year extension of the Fed’s zero-interest-rate policy, and in so doing have set down an opposition marker to a potential new shock-and-awe quantitative easing that many fear will be announced on August 26 when Bernanke speaks to the Jackson Hole Fed conference.
What makes Governor Perry’s position even more interesting is his disagreement with former governor Mitt Romney. When I interviewed Mr. Romney this past April, he essentially defended Ben Bernanke and dollar depreciation. “Well, you know, I think Ben Bernanke is a student of monetary policy,” Romney said. “He’s doing as good a job as he thinks he can do in the Federal Reserve.”
Meanwhile, in Tea Party circles on the campaign trail, Mr. Bernanke is a much disliked figure. Rightly or wrongly he is blamed for bailing out Wall Street. Also, many view Bernanke’s massive money-creation, along with President Obama’s massive federal-stimulus spending, as another failed big-government attempt to revive the economy.
Tea partiers and many others fervently believe in lower spending, reduced tax burdens, and a regulatory rollback to strengthen small businesses and the private economy. They’re against Uncle Sam just throwing money at problems.
So in this sense Governor Perry’s red-hot riposte at Bernanke may be shrewd politics, as well as a much needed defense of stable money.
The former Air Force captain piloted C-130 missions in Central and South America, North Africa, and all over Europe. He’s a fierce devotee of American exceptionalism and greatness. My hunch is, just like Ronald Reagan, Governor Perry views a collapsing-dollar threat as more evidence of American decline. And he is very much opposed to any of that. 

Lawrence Kudlow is host of CNBC's The Kudlow Report and co-host of The Call. He is also a former Reagan economic advisor and a syndicated columnist. Visit his blog, Kudlow's Money Politics.

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it

Let’s then take a moment and reflect on the words of James Madison:

On the founding principles: “The happy Union of these States is a wonder; their Constitution a miracle; their example the hope of Liberty throughout the world.”~~ James Madison

On politics and demagoguery: “There is no maxim, in my opinion, which is more liable to be misapplied, and which, therefore, more needs elucidation, than the current one, that the interest of the majority is the political standard of right and wrong.”~~ James Madison

On the Economy: “What prudent merchant will hazard his fortunes in any new branch of commerce when he knows not that his plans may be rendered unlawful before they can be executed?”~~ James Madison

On the Healthcare Omnibus Spendulus Maximus: “It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.”~~ James Madison

Panzerlied

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JDkdc246QQ&hd=1Panzerlied

No glorification of the Nazi terror but, a great military march it surely is.

German lyrics	Approximate translation
First stanza
Ob's stürmt oder schneit, ob die Sonne uns lacht, Der Tag glühend heiß, oder eiskalt die Nacht, Bestaubt sind die Gesichter, doch froh ist unser Sinn, Ja, unser Sinn, Es braust unser Panzer im Sturmwind dahin.	Whether it storms or snows, whether the sun smiles upon us, The day glowing hot, or the freezing of night. Dusty are our faces, but joyful are our minds, Yes, our minds Our tank rushes forward in the storm.

How my work day goes........

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