They used that money to purchase a partially build aircraft carrier from the Ukraine.

Want to see a photo of your new carrier, the Peoples Republic of China Varyag, during sea trials in the Yellow Sea?

Then pop on over to the FoxNews website and take a look.

That means Republican in Name Only.

Why?

Because on November 30, 2011 good ole' Russell voted to SUSTAIN Governor Lynch's Veto of the Right to Work law HB474.

Russell, can you answer a few questions? Just do it in the comment section below. Be sure to read the Fire Pit Constitution first paying particular attention to Article 2 Section II.

• How much of your campaign contributions came from the unions, union sympathizers or union members?
• Why don't you want to give workers the RIGHT to choose whether or not they want to support a union?
• The mission of the unions is completely against our state motto of Live Free or Die. Why would you support the unions?
• Do you have visions of getting re-elected in light of the fact that most residents in the state don't support unions?

That means Republican in Name Only.

Why?

Because on November 30, 2011 good ole' Tim voted to SUSTAIN Governor Lynch's Veto of the Right to Work law HB474.

Tim, can you answer a few questions? Just do it in the comment section below. Be sure to read the Fire Pit Constitution first paying particular attention to Article 2 Section II.

• How much of your campaign contributions came from the unions, union sympathizers or union members?
• Why don't you want to give workers the RIGHT to choose whether or not they want to support a union?
• The mission of the unions is completely against our state motto of Live Free or Die. Why would you support the unions?
• Do you have visions of getting re-elected in light of the fact that most residents in the state don't support unions?

That means Republican in Name Only.

Why?

Because on November 30, 2011 good ole' Brian voted to SUSTAIN Governor Lynch's Veto of the Right to Work law HB474.

Brian, can you answer a few questions? Just do it in the comment section. Be sure to read the Fire Pit Constitution first paying particular attention to Article 2 Section II.

• How much of your campaign contributions came from the unions, union sympathizers or union members?
• Why don't you want to give workers the RIGHT to choose whether or not they want to support a union?
• The mission of the unions is completely against our state motto of Live Free or Die. Why would you support the unions?
• Do you have visions of getting re-elected in light of the fact that most residents in the state don't support unions?

That means Republican in Name Only.

Why?

Because on November 30, 2011 good ole' Michael voted to SUSTAIN Governor Lynch's Veto of the Right to Work law HB474.

Michael, can you answer a few questions below in the comments?

• How much of your campaign contributions came from the unions, union sympathizers or union members?
• Why don't you want to give workers the RIGHT to choose whether or not they want to support a union?
• The mission of the unions is completely against our state motto of Live Free or Die. Why would you support the unions?
• Finally, do you have visions of getting re-elected?

That means Republican in Name Only.

Why?

Because on November 30, 2011 good ole' Peter voted to SUSTAIN Governor Lynch's Veto of the Right to Work law HB474.

Peter, can you answer a few questions below in the comments?

• How much of your campaign contributions came from the unions, union sympathizers or union members?
• Why don't you want to give workers the RIGHT to choose whether or not they want to support a union?
• The mission of the unions is completely against our state motto of Live Free or Die. Why would you support the unions?
• Finally, do you have visions of getting re-elected?

That means Republican in Name Only.

Why?

Because on November 30, 2011 good ole' Julie voted to SUSTAIN Governor Lynch's Veto of the Right to Work law HB-474.

Julie, can you answer a few questions below in the comments?

• How much of your campaign contributions came from the unions, union sympathizers or union members?
• Why don't you want to give workers the RIGHT to choose whether or not they want to support a union?
• The mission of the unions is completely against our state motto of Live Free or Die. Why would you support the unions?
• Finally, do you have visions of getting re-elected?

I'm also acutely aware that lower-court lawsuits may get things wrong. It happens each and every day here in the good ole' USA. That's why we have the Supreme Court. For sake of discussion, let's not get hung up on lower court decisions that have never been adjudicated by the Supreme Court.

I suggest we try to settle this thing about President Obama going in reverse. It's worth a try, wouldn't you say?

Since we can't all agree on the definition of the phrase "natural born citizen", let's try to get to closure defining the opposite. That might give some clarity just as defining a sunny sky pretty much helps you envision a cloudy sky.

The Fourteenth Amendment pretty clearly states that if you're born in the United States, you're a citizen. It absolutely doesn't say anything about being a "natural-born citizen". You're just a citizen. That's a very helpful clue.

The reason it's helpful is simple. If those who pushed through the Fourteenth Amendment had thought that meant one was a "natural born citizen", then they would have used that phrase instead of just "citizen". Get it? They weren't dummies. They knew there was a difference. Think of what it took to get that amendment ratified! Believe me, there were lots of wise people debating the difference between the two.

We all know this is part of the debate raging about the illegal aliens. A pregnant illegal alien can cross over to the USA, deliver the baby, and that little guy or gal is a US citizen. Nothing like having an anchor in US soil. But I digress.

But there are those among us who will argue, stamp their feet, raise their shrill voices to try to drown out those who understand logic and reason. They will try to convince you or wear you down that the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution defines a "natural born citizen". Plain and simple it doesn't.

Before I go any further, note that I realize this is a very complex subject. I'm just trying to get the discussion moving here.

Let's try to drill down to define an un-natural born US citizen.

What are our choices? I'm sure there are many, but I'll list some of the possible ones I can think of.

Since the phrase has born in it, we just have to look at just two things:

• Location of the delivery of the baby
• Citizenship of the parents

We already know that you're a 'born' US citizen if you're born in a US state, or on any other thing that's considered US sovereign territory. Based upon my two-day stay on the USS George Washington - CVN-73 - I remember being told that the deck of that ship was also 4-plus acres of US sovereign territory.

That means there are lots of places you can be born and qualify immediately to be a US citizen.

It seems we're halfway there. We've got down the born part of the definition.

Now for the un-natural part.

If both parents of the child are US citizens, it doesn't make sense that they would fit to be un-natural. Think of what the opposite of that would be.

So let's think about the only other options.

If one or more of the parents were NOT a US citizen, that could get us much closer to the definition. So what are the options?

• The mom could be a citizen of some other country while the dad is a US citizen.
• The dad could be a citizen of some other country while the mom is a US citizen.
• Both parents could be a citizen of two different countries.
• Both parents could be citizens of the same country.

I think we're starting to get closer, but undoubtedly there's much to debate.

Remember, stay laser focused. We're trying to define what is an un-natural born US citizen.

If you need help with understanding this whole natural born citizen thing, then you need to read this very good summary of the Natural Born Citizen facts written by Nancy Salvato, the President and Director of Education for the Constitutional Literacy Program for Basics Project.

So what other options are there? Chime in. Let's come up with the authoritative definition for an Un-Natural Born US Citizen. I'm ready to read your comments.

There are two conditions here. The first one is that if you want to be eligible for the Office of President you have to be a citizen of the United States at the "time of the adoption of this Constitution". Since President Obama was born long after that day in the 1700's, then he needs to be a natural born Citizen.

Dr. Orly Taitz presented evidence in sworn testimony yesterday, November 18, 2011 in front of the New Hampshire Ballot Law Commission that President Obama's application to be on the 2012 Presidential Primary ballot is steeped in fraud.

I was there in the room just eight feet from her. I taped the video below.

Dr. Taitz pleaded with the commissioners to do their job and investigate the 85 pages of evidence, sworn affidavits, and imagery that proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Obama does not qualify to be on the ballot.

You may not want to watch the entire 57:34 of the video below, but I suggest you do.

Understand that the commissioners are sworn to defend the US Constitution.

Make your own decision if they are singled out in the oath of office, you know the one that says:

I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

Let's connect the dots.

If you need help in connecting the dots, then you need to read this very good summary of the Natural Born Citizen facts written by Nancy Salvato, the President and Director of Education for the Constitutional Literacy Program for Basics Project.

If you don't defend the US Constitution and you're complicit in perpetrating election fraud, aren't you guilty of a crime where you betray your country?

If you're not defending the US Constitution, wouldn't you be a domestic enemy?

It seems that would be so. There's no gray area. You're either an enemy or you're not.

All the commissioners had to do was vote that Obama could NOT be on the primary ballot until such time as he proved that he was a natural born citizen and that he does have a valid Social Security number.

But they didn't. I'd say that makes them guilty of treason. Just look up the definition yourself.

The citizens in the room erupted in anger at their decision. I got just a few seconds of it on tape. I wish I would have taped all of it.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I believe after you watch the video below, you'll be motivated to HELP Dr. Orly Taitz in her valiant crusade. I'm about to donate to her so she can continue to take off work to travel to all these hearings and court appearances. It's very expensive. Just think of what last-minute plane tickets cost, hotels, ground transportation, food, etc.

If you feel like I do that there are domestic enemies trying to take over our great land, the least you can do is donate $20 or $50 to Dr. Taitz so she can continue this great work. Even if you can only donate $5, that helps.

Please please don't be one who says after the fact, "Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda."

To donate, all you have to do is click here.

About three days before the event I got a phone call from Karen and an email from Jeff asking me if I wanted to ride on the bus with Michele and her staff after the event. Talk about a captive audience! The answer was Yes! I was also allowed to invite three other people.

Two of the people I invited were unable to make it on the bus, but Barbara Carlson, her assistant Nikki and Karen Testerman boarded with me.

Also on the bus were five of Michele's national staff as well as the bus driver. I was not introduced to them, but I was sitting next to what I believe was her chief of staff, Mr. Keith Nahigian of Nahigian Strategies.

I had the opportunity to share with Michele my idea about how to get her on Page One of Google for thousands of very important keyword search terms. I did it for her the next day. Just go type into Google: Michele Bachmann Auto Bailout. You should see two entries on page one that relate to me. A thumbnail of the YouTube video I shot at New England College and the page it rests on at our Lakes Region Tea Party site.

Here's a screen shot of what I see at Google when I do it. I Just below the video, that's the video I shot, was the other listing for the page at our Tea Party site.

She liked my video idea, but her national staff has ignored my repeated requests to help train the Iowa, South Carolina and Florida Tea Party members so it can happen. Oh well, what can you say? But I digress.

After about 15 minutes, Michele, Barbara, Nikki and Karen started talking about Barb's new book that has a few pages about Michele. I was just a spectator at that point.

The next thing I know there was a tap on my arm.

Keith said, "Tim, you seem to be really passionate about all of this. We're rolling out Michele's new Jobs Plan tomorrow and we have yet to put a title on it. What would you call it?"

I was really caught off guard as I had no idea what the main points of the plan were. I hemmed and hawed and thought about it.

You know how most men can't multi-task but women can? Well, Michele was monitoring the dialog between Keith and I. She never looked at us, as she seemed to be intently engaged in the conversation with the other three women.

Finally I blurted out, "Real Jobs Right Now."

All other conversation stopped and instantly Michele, snapped her head and looked directly at Keith and me.

"I LIKE that. I like that a lot," she quipped.

Keith even said it had a ring to it.

A little over a week later Michele participated in the Presidential Candidate debate in Nevada. No less than three times she uttered my phrase in her comments during the debate. Word for word!

I went to her website the next day, and there it was. Well, almost. Being an attorney and perhaps wanting to avoid a copyright issue she modified my catch phrase slightly. Or perhaps she changed it because it sounds better.

Last night Michele was being interviewed by Sean Hannity on his FoxNews program. The topic was the messy situation between Michele and her NH Campaign Staff. She pivoted quickly talking about how new campaign people are being hired and then segued into how her new jobs plan is the ticket. Then she said my phrase word for word again at 1:14 into the interview. "Real Jobs Right Now".

But we all know where it came from. Well, all of us on the bus that is.

If Michele happens to get elected - and it can be traced partially to this plank in her campaign, I'd sure like to feel how soft the mattress is in the Lincoln bedroom. :->

Now you know the facts. Let's see how they play out.

Or was it how it wasn't going to be "business as usual in Washington"?

I'm pretty certain it was along those lines.

Well, maybe, just maybe we were interpreting those statements the WRONG way! Maybe he didn't lie to us!

I maintain that President Obama knew all along that he was going to make things WORSE.

That corruption was going to be fundamentally different. That pillaging of our National Treasury was going to be worse by a factor of 10 or 20.

Can't you just wait to see the review of all the files, computers, etc. that the FBI took away from Solyndra? Hopefully forensic analysts will develop a clear picture of where the $500,000,000+ given to Solyndra Solar was spent?

Think about this for a moment. You did know I used to be a builder, right? So let's say you're the CEO of Solyndra. You just get a FREE $500,000,000 or so. You need to build a plant.

What happens if you hire a bunch of fake consultants (friends, relatives, campaign fund-raiser friends, etc.), construction managers, pay double for materials or other things and then get kickbacks from these people.

Let's take it a step further. Let's say that you, the CEO, direct the CFO, to make deposits in secret offshore accounts. Let's say the owners of those accounts won't access them for years after they've vacated their square, rectangular and oval-shaped DC offices.

Read this story about Solyndra from the ABC news website. It's about time the mainstream media is starting to lift up the rocks surrounding the Solyndra plant to see what slimy creatures are living there.

Oh, and you need to watch this developing story. It's already getting worse. Look what I just found on the FoxNews website. It's another Solyndra story about how our Administration wanted to give them even more money. This Solyndra thing could go all the way to the top. Cool!

Here's yet another story about more voter fraud. Anyone who doesn't think that it's happening needs to put down their crack pipe. For goodness sake, we had a major instance of voter fraud here in New Hampshire just last year when the new leader of the Republican party was elected.

The old guard was caught red-handed trying to manipulate the vote so that the new leader who had strong Tea Party backing would not rise to power.

I have no way of backing up this claim, but I'll bet that some form of voter fraud happens in over 80 percent of elections for public office. It's just not caught, and even when it is, it may go unreported. And even when reported, the report may get ignored. If you think for a minute that all newspaper editors, television station general managers, radio station program directors, and webmasters are lily white, well you need to buy two bridges, one tunnel and this giant boulder from me.

What's the old saying about power corrupting?

People of any party or persuasion will do anything - and I mean anything - to get power. It's in our DNA. Think Alpha Male.

In about an hour or so, the US stock markets will open. It's going to be a blood bath. Billions of dollars of wealth are going to be wiped out when the market opens.

A true leader would have been on television yesterday trying to calm the fears of the nation and sending a message to all of the world markets that we were going to make amends.

A true leader would have been on television leading with a plan. But Obama doesn't have a plan, or does he? Perhaps he's dumb like a fox.

You want my opinion? I actually feel like he's doing everything possible to destroy America's financial system. Bring everyone to their knees so they feel the only hope is the government. All you have to do is look back in history at other socialistic takeovers of other countries around the world. Economic bedlam almost always preceded such a change in government.

Have you really gotten your head around the National Debt and how serious the issue really is? When you start hearing numbers all the time, they sort of lose their impact. I feel it's best to show them graphically.

You look at the graph below and tell me if you think we're in trouble. Imagine instead of the graph being titled National Debt Since 1940 it said, "Your Monthly Bills Since 2000".

Do you think you'd be in a little trouble? If you think debt is good and we need to spend more, tell me where the money is going to come from to pay all the money back?

Oh, sure, tax the rich. Tax the evil corporations. Hey? Who passed all those laws? Wow, let's go look at the Congressional Record to see who voted for all those loopholes.

We're in deep trouble. We need to get the 50% of the people who pay no taxes to start to do their fair share. Everyone needs to pitch in to start to pay down the debt.

Oh, and the absolute BIGGEST thing to do is to cut spending. Freeze spending now and start to cut back 2 percent per year across the board. That's not draconian. It's a start.

If you have an idea on how to save the nation, share it below in the comments.

Remember, comment below. Show the world how you feel. Comments are like votes. But unlike voter fraud, just comment once. Get to the point and move on.

Tell me, can you imagine living that close to illegal aliens that were armed with automatic weapons?

You do realize why Obama is doing nothing about the leaky borders, don't you? It's all about reciprocity. Obama and the Democrats WANT illegal aliens to pour across the border. They want to grant them amnesty and then create a short cut to citizenship.

When that happens, they will have gained millions of votes for life. You don't believe me? Ask any Mexican about loyalty. They are perhaps some of the most loyal people on the planet. Loyalty is a great character trait.

The commercial is so good, meaning truthful, that some mainstream media outlets like ABC, A&E and the History Channel refuse to air it. I'm quite sure I saw it on FoxNews.

This new commercial is very similar to one that aired back in 1986 titled "The Deficit Trials".

Even back then some were worried about the National Debt, that just 25 years ago was 2 trillion dollars. Now, a few days after the ceiling was raised, to what, $16+ Trillion Dollars, I believe it might be a good idea to check out Rosetta Stone and start learning how to speak Mandarin.

Thank God for the Internet which allows us to openly share these ideas - and truths.

It's time that we get mobilized for the upcoming 2012 election. Here's what we need to do:

1. Kick out of office those officials that say one thing and do another
2. Elect citizens - NOT politicians - that WILL repeal all laws passed in the past three years.
3. Elect citizens that WILL start to dismantle the massive Federal bureaucracy starting with the Department of Education and the EPA
4. Pass a true Balanced Budget Amendment to the US Constitution
5. Freeze spending and do across-the-board budget cuts of 2% per year in all areas of the budget
6. Initiate massive reforms to all entitlement programs so they are sustainable
7. Make EVERY wage earner pay some form of income tax so they have a skin in the game

Remember, type a comment below so the world knows how YOU FEEL about the situation. Your comment below is just like a vote. Show the world you really care about the future of our nation.

I know in the past you've done a couple of posts alerting people to incidents of voter fraud. Thought you'd like to see voter fraud in which a couple of people were actually indicted. You should do a post about this one.

The this one is an article in the Baltimore Sun online edition about two aides of former Maryland governor Robert L. Ehrlich who were indicted two days ago for initiating deceptive robo phone calls that were intended to suppress votes.

It's indeed great to see that people are being charged and there may be justice for those who commit voter fraud.

But realize that voter fraud is rampant. Both parties are guilty.

Here's the first one that popped into my mind about the Democrats doing it. This story from the Wall Street Journal does a great job of exposing the mystery of how in the world Al Franken got elected in the great state of Minnesota.

Voter fraud is all about power. Plain and simple. There will always be those who crave and desire power over others.

Our Founding Fathers realized this. This is why the US Constitution is such a magical document.

Those who crave power - and right now the liberals in this nation seem hell bent on it - want to do away with the Constitution, or modify it in such a way as to get away from it's original meaning.

Remember, if you read the US Constitution, you'll see that the Government was supposed to have VERY LITTLE power and a small imprint on our daily lives.

That's not the case now, and unless it's changed back to the way it was, it will be the downfall of this great Republic.

The whipping boy he selected was unbelievable. President Barak Hussein Obama exclaimed, "You see it when you go to a bank and ... you use an ATM, you don't go to a bank teller. Or you go to the airport, and you're using a kiosk instead of checking in at the gate."

I installed an ATM machine on one of my commercial jobs in 1987! For goodness sakes, there are millions of these machines out there, many for well over 20 years. So if these machines take jobs, why no economic downturn in the 1990's or last decade?

Mr. President, just suck it up and make a proclamation that you don't know anything about economics. Tell the world that you've never had to meet a payroll. Admit that you probably would bankrupt a lemonade stand.

You can read much more about this and his shovel-ready jobs humor in this story at FoxNews.com.

My early prediction: He's One and Done. Enjoy him while you can. My question to you, your family, neighbors and fellow out-of-work friends: Can you really afford four more years of Obama?

Not me.

The video was taped at one of the mandatory public hearings or reading of the ordinance. I used to be a city councilman myself, and our charter required us to read a law at least three times at three separate meetings unless it was an emergency. This allowed citizens to come in and comment just as you see happening in the video.

Unfortunately, on June 13, 2011 the law was passed. Nick Taiber, was the only Cedar Falls Councilman that recognized that this law was totally out of line.

If you live in Cedar Falls, Iowa and are not incensed by this, something is wrong with you. If you are a resident and upset, then you need to mobilize and do everything possible to remove the six other members of your City Council from office.

Prior to that look into your city charter. Hopefully you have the ability to get a Referendum on the ballot so that you citizens can vote on this and overturn what your liberal Council members have done.

Laws like this are just another example of how government tries to take both liberty and property from citizens.

The problem is, it doesn't, not by a long shot. Read this article about how New Jersey residents are not only going to have to pay MORE for electricity because of this law, but they also get to look at these wonderful photovoltaic panels as they drive to and from their homes.

This is yet another example of government gone wild.

Are you upset yet? If so, how are you channeling that emotion so that this not only stops, but that we ensure it doesn't happen for many years to come.

Here's how I feel about it. The flag is a symbol of a group of states that just didn't see eye-to-eye with the North about certain issues, not the least of which was slavery. But the African Americans that are descendants of the slaves shouldn't be deeply offended.

Why? Because the slaves that toiled here for over 100 years could have been any race. They could have been white, yellow or even red. It just so happens that Africa was place the slaves came from.

The Confederate Flag is not all about hatred. Talk to anyone in the South and they'll tell you the Civil War was actually about the War of Northern Aggression, and they'll most likely tell you that the shots fired at Fort Sumter were not much different than boxes of tea that were dumped in Boston Harbor or the shots fired at Lexington and Concord, MA.

This video says it all.

You knew it was going to be special the moment Congresswoman Bachmann entered the room. She immediately started going person to person shaking hands and saying a genuine "Hello" to all. No one was skipped.

When Michele got to me she looked deep into my eyes saying, "Hello Tim, I'm glad you're here." That deep level of personalization telegraphed to me the rest of the night was going to be exceptional.

For the next 15 minutes, Congresswoman Bachmann gave an overview of what was going on in Washington DC touching on some of the challenges she's having with the leadership of the Republican party.

Prior to her arrival at the house, the organizer of the event handed out a post-sized card for us to write one question to the Congresswoman. These were collected before her arrival and sorted to give a wide variety of topics.

As the night disappeared before us, many in the audience asked tough but polite questions or made comments to something the Congresswoman said. It was a magical dialog where all were exposed to the real personality of Congresswoman Bachmann.

Late in the evening one of the questions that was read had to do with her seeking the highest office in the land. It was a respectful question, and she answered that she's seriously considering taking a shot at becoming President. She did not announce her candidacy.

Based upon the bold suggestions she offered up to deal with all the troubles we're in right now mixed with her no-nonsense and no-rhetoric exchange with us, I'd venture to say that she's just what we need right now. Never in my life have I been more impressed with a politician. Understand that I'm jaded when it comes to politicians, so you can conjure up what it takes to move the needle with me.

Just days before I attended the Tea Party rally at the state capitol in Concord where four other politicians spoke briefly, but much of it was oratory that was filled with common phrases meant to inspire. This is not what any of us heard in the two and one-half hours we were graced with Michele's presence.

Michele talked last night person to person with real solutions to real problems. I only wish I had been able to videotape her in that setting so you can see the real human being she is.

It's my hope that side of Congresswoman Bachmann makes it to YouTube or hopefully onto a video on this blog of mine. If you get to see what I saw last night, you'll be convinced in minutes that she's a real leader that's willing to take arrows in the back to do the right thing for you, your children and your grandchildren.

I anxiously await any announcement she has about her candidacy for President of the United States. Don't underestimate or question her intelligence, her patriotism and her deep love for the US Constitution. Not for a second.

If your representative does the right thing according to you, then you should thank them and let them know they're doing a good job. It's easy to rant when they do wrong by you, so take the time to thank them for a job well done.

I've been writing here at the Fire Pit for just about two years now. If you go back and read many of my early posts, you know that Congressman Ryan is a kindred spirit of mine. He understands the gravity of the situation. He knows that government spending, even prior to President Obama, is unsustainable.

How bad are the finances of the USA right now? Well, because of the unbelievable growth of government and insane laws passed in the first two years of the Obama term, the US suffered it worst monthly deficit ever in February, 2011. It was $223 Billion dollars.

To put that in perspective for all of the President Bush haters that are out there, his entire deficit for the entire fiscal year 2007 was only $163 Billion. This was the year before the Global Financial Crisis that caused the US Treasury to spew out bailout money like confetti at a victory rally.

Think about that. In one month, and just 28 days at that, the deficit was far more than it was for a year! Are the alarm bells starting to sound in your head yet?

Let's look at another set of numbers. Prior to President being sworn into office, the USA had approximately $10 Trillion of national debt. In just two years, President Obama has added nearly another $5 Trillion.

I've said it in the past and I'll say it again: I'm upset at 98 percent of past administrations and members of Congress. I don't care what party they belong to. The earmarks, the out-of-control spending, etc. have brought us to the edge of national bankruptcy.

That's where Congressman Paul Ryan's Path to Prosperity comes in. Read through it and you'll discover that it's but one proposed method to get us on the right track to saving our Republic.

The trouble is I don't see much hope for this blueprint as Congress begins to debate the 2012 fiscal year budget. Why? Look at the bitter fighting between the Democrats and Republicans late last week over just tens of billions of dollars.

We need to cut hundreds of billions, actually trillions, of dollars from the budget so we can start to reduce our national debt. The interest on the debt payments is starting to suffocate us.

Yes, the sacred entitlement programs of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid have to be changed. Such is life. When was the last time you broke a promise? I don't want to hear any bellyaching about this. It's time for many to suffer. That's what happens when you live the credit-card lifestyle.

How would you solve the current mess we're in? Let's see if you have a better plan than Congressman Ryan.

I decided to remove the cartoon from my post as well as any comments that referred to it so as not to create confusion. If you were one who commented on the cartoon, here's your second chance. Note that you can also comment about it at Ed's website.

Here's where Ed is wrong. It's pretty obvious to me that Ed, and anyone who maligns the Tea Party, has not taken the time to go to one of their events or a local meeting. I have. I was at the massive 9-12 Tea Party event that happened in Washington DC on September 12, 2009. I have the videos to prove it. Here's a link to the fifth video I taped while there. There are eighteen total videos about the event that day at my TJCTV YouTube channel.

Okay, I'll get back on topic.

I'm part of the Tea Party. My wife Kathy and I are part of a core group that's working to revive the Lakes Region Tea Party up here in New Hampshire. Soon that website will be updated with fresh info, so don't judge it by what you see now. There are just so many hours in the day.

Anyone who's part of the Tea Party movement knows that each individual has an agenda. Some feel strongly about the US Dollar and how worthless it is. Some feel strongly about overtaxation. Some feel strongly about out-of-control spending. Some want to emphasize abortion. Suffice it to say that just like in the real world, it's hard to get everyone to agree on one thing.

But what history is going to show is that the Tea Party will NOT be what Ed Stein thinks it is. He titled his cartoon Unsteady as She Goes. You and I may not be alive when it happens, but I'm confident that the Tea Party will be heralded as being largely responsible for saving this Republic.

The conservative values that many Tea Party members believe in are what the USA needs right now. The Tea Party is engaged in a conflict with a group of others who don't like the USA in it's present form and are bound and determined to reshape it in their likeness and image. Sorry, that's not going to happen.

Let's talk about history. Up until the past two decades, history was recorded in newspapers, books, audio tape, camera film, movie film, video tape, etc. I believe you get the picture. In most of these formats, the context of an event can be altered pretty significantly.

But now in the past two decades we've got a new tool. The Internet. With websites like this one, we can also ensure the events of the day are recorded and reported accurately with no or little spin. That's driving the Liberals and Progressive nuts. People like George Soros never anticipated the Internet back years and years ago when they started working on their diabolical plan of world domination - or whatever you want to call it.

Here's the best part. You can be part of history. By commenting below, future generations will see how you felt about an issue. Perhaps you'll have an original idea that no one else has ever considered. Your comments will be on the Internet forever because this website is never going away. I've got that outlined in my Last Will and Testament.

Here's what I want to leave you with. People make mistakes. I made one several days ago and now offer you complete transparency. You and millions of others may have made mistakes in the past. I feel one of them may be indifference. I made this mistake up until about three years ago.

It's time to correct that mistake if you're guilty of it. You can't be indifferent any longer about the state of affairs of this great nation.

I implore you to GET INVOLVED NOW. Readjust your priorities. Get up off the couch. Go to a Tea Party event in your area. Join a tea party or 912 Group. Go to a meeting. Talk to the people there. You'll be SHOCKED to discover they are patriots who are sick of seeing the US Constitution being shredded.

I doubt Ed Stein is going to come here and visit the Fire Pit, but if he does, I only wish I could sit and talk with him. I'd invite one other person that evening to join us around the glowing embers. It would be Kenny Chesney. I'd ask Kenny to sing a song to Ed - Kenney's Only Time Will Tell, But It Ain't Talkin'.

Ed, the Tea Party is not going to crash and sink. Time is going to tell us that it helped save the USA from all of the foreign and domestic enemies who are actively trying to dismember it.

What was Washington DC like back six months ago? Let's see, hmmmmmmmmm, if my math is correct that would be Ocotober of 2010.

Hey wait! The historic mid-term elections of November, 2010 had not taken place! The Democrats controlled:

• the House of Representatives
• the Senate
• the White House

Are you kidding me? Why wouldn't they have passed a budget when they had absolute control? What's the POLITICAL reasoning for that? At the very least, they could have done it during the lame-duck session when they had their hats handed to them.

Here's all you need to know now. They are working with a continuing resolution that keeps getting extended. This Continuing Resolution ONLY allows the Congress to cut discretionary spending.

Don't let the mainstream media fool or scare you as the rhetoric heats up about how DRASTIC the cuts are. For example, Nancy Pelosi was posturing just a day or so ago about how seniors using Meals on Wheels are going to starve if the proposed cuts go through.

Well Nancy, maybe we could have used the money from that expensive jet you bought a year or so ago to feed the hungry seniors. How many meals a day could we buy with the money spent on jet fuel, maintenance, support staff, etc. each time you were whisked back and forth from the Capitol to your lavish estate in California? I'd be willing to bet each round trip to/from CA to DC cost the taxpayers in excess of $250,000.

That's one heck of a lot of meals. You could just fly commercial like US Senator Kelly Ayotte does each week to and from work.

I got to ask her a question about how much time we really have until all hell breaks loose with the out-of-control government spending. You do realize that just a little over two years ago our national debt was a tad over $10 trillion dollars. Now's it's over $15 trillion. Thank you Barack, Nancy and Harry for that. Actually, thank you for NOTHING. You are losers in my book.

Can you believe that? It took hundreds of years to get to $10 trillion, but less than 30 months to grow that by 50%. Are you not incensed about that? Do you see how that's totally unsustainable?

I'm now involved in a core group that's starting our own Tea Party called the Lakes Region Tea Party here in New Hampshire.

Next time the Congresswoman is in New Hampshire, I'm going to see if I can't get her to address us.

Two photographers were taking our photo at the event. I was looking at my buddy who was holding my camera and the Congresswoman was looking at the other photographer.

Oh well, I still think it's a great photo, of her that is.

The professor also wrote to me,

" ... FYI, I am a college instructor and involuntary payer of dues for "union representation". If I didn't like the compensation/benefits offered to me, I could have refused the job. If I felt I can do better (or wanted to) elsewhere, I can leave. Instead, every month I get to contribute a portion of my salary to fund the union which provides me no value and very possibly limits my potential by virtue of the compensation structure they negotiated into the contract."

Here's how I feel about unions right now. They are, for the most part, unnecessary. Why? Because now we have so many ways to expose the truth about workplace situations and employers. Years ago workers had no way to easily tell the world what was going on behind the walls of a plant. We have video cameras in our phones, we have free publishing on the Internet, etc. If a worker wants to show an injustice, they have the tools at their fingertips to tell the world.

Workers are able to air their complaints in public like never before. Let the free market of labor determine what's fair. If you, as a worker, have sweet skills that few have in your community, why should you be LIMITED by your union as to what you can make? Why should you get paid the SAME as another worker if you work faster and better? If your skills are in short supply, you should make more. Negotiate that on your own with your employer. Why should your union dues go to causes you don't support?

The list of questions are endless.

You'll laugh at this video, unless you're a diehard union member that really feels that you're getting the short end of the stick for some reason.

But we're not going after it. Unfortunately for the next few decades, we're going to be an oil-based economy. Make no mistake about that. Crude oil is used in many products other than the gas tank on your car.

Currently we buy oil from some people who really don't like us. Our US dollars are helping them. How much longer they'll take US Dollars for oil is up in the air, but I digress.

Think about this. The oil that's here in the USA is owned by whom? You and I if it's found on land the government owns. Correct?

So if oil is selling for say $100 a barrel and it costs about $15 a barrel to get it out of the ground and to the refinery (that's a wild guess), then we as a nation would be making a profit of $85 per barrel that could be used to pay down our debt.

Or, we could just pay the $15 a barrel, and a small reasonable profit to the drillers and piping company. We would then have cheap energy again and be able to use the extra US Dollars in our wallets to buy other things or start to pay down our debt.

Extra money that is spent here in the USA on our products and services helps build our economy, not that of others.

We'd still have to import some things, but the more we buy from ourselves or the more things we make with our cheap energy and sell to others helps make us a net exporter. Our cheap energy could make us very competitive again.

These are macro-economic thoughts, but you get my point I hope. Think about it on a personal level. If you're super skilled and can do home repairs yourself, you can save tons of money rather that take your savings and give it to a plumber, roofer, painter or carpenter.

Sure, the money you pay these workers helps the overall economy, but if you're industrious and have the time, you can get done what needs to be done AND maintain possession of your money.

That can be done, to a degree, on a macro or nationwide level.

The bottom line is that we need to drill here now for our own oil. Our entire economy is based on oil and we depend on others for it. That's not prudent. No one will ever convince me otherwise. How do you feel about it? Do you want to always hope the oil will continue to show up in the holds of the supertankers?

Remember, HOPE is the emotion of last resort. When you hope for something it means you have no control over the outcome.

But when you look at Islam and chart it over time, you can see that certain followers of that religion are laser focused. They know what they want. Col. West in the video below gives you some of those data points.

We have to protect ourselves from this foreign enemy and we have to shun all of the domestic enemies who live here in the USA that are sympathetic to the cause of Islam. Make no mistake about it, a certain number of fervent Islams who believe in what's written in their holy books, they are constantly trying to take down Western Civilization. History shows us that this has been the case for centuries.

Now, I can hear sympathizers screech that I'm racist or bigoted or whatever. Here's the point. If you go back hundreds of years to the events in time that Col. Allen West mentions in the video below, do you think ALL of the Muslims or followers of Islam were sword-weilding fanatics? Of course not.

There was undoubtedly a large number of peaceful followers who didn't want to force their beliefs on others. They were moderates just as you have different factions in the Jewish religion or other religions.

The problem is that it only takes a small percentage of the radical element to gain and hold power - enough power to then use the power of social proof and other psychological tricks to gather many to support the cause. That's what you have to be watchful of.

You may not believe me, but just look at the gun laws in various states. Those in New York, Illinois, California, New Jersey and Massachusetts come to mind. Some of these states have very restrictive gun ownership and carry laws.

Yesterday a very good friend of mine named Pat, who lives in New Mexico, sent me a link to a video. I was very busy, but something told me to watch it. It was a chilling story told in first person by Dr. Suzanna Gratia-Hupp, and one that cuts right to the heart of the 2nd Amendment and the domestic enemies that are constantly trying to take down the USA and strip you of your rights.

This video was so powerful that I made a conscious decision to protect myself at all times. I've got a concealed carry permit. I'm allowed to carry a firearm and you should do the same. My guess is that you'll probably start thinking about owning a gun and carrying it around after you watch this video.

The woman in this video clearly identifies some of the domestic enemies in the closing seconds of the video. You don't want to miss that. Perhaps that hit me the hardest, not the part about me having to worry if I'll run into a madman one day on the street or if a band of thieves invades my home. There's a much more serious threat around us now.

Oh, one more thing. After the video ends I want you to imagine for a moment what you might have done if you had been in that Tuscon, AZ parking lot where Gabrielle Giffords was nearly assassinated, or if you had been at the Goleta, California postal processing center, or countless other places where in a matter of seconds you had to defend yourself. And I don't mean by using stones and rocks like those people over in Cairo, Egypt. What do you think the gun laws are over there? Here's my guess: If you're found with one, you're imprisoned for life or possibly shot.

It all has to do with the US Dollar. Right now it's the World Reserve Currency. It's the Big Kahuna. Well guess what? It can be replaced. What was the World Reserve Currency prior to the US Dollar? It was the British Sterling.

It's all very complex, but suffice it to say that when you're the reserve currency, you can run up trade deficits and not suffer the immediate impact other nations see when that happens.

Understand that the US Dollars in your wallet, purse or bank account only have value because others think they have value. As soon as that trust erodes, people wont' take the dollars for goods or services, *or* they'll want many more of them.

I just read a very detailed article about How to Fake an Economic Recovery that's loaded with citations. Reading and understanding the article and all the citations will take some time, but I beg you to do it.

I also suggest that you give serious consideration into converting some of your dollars into things that might not be considered worthless or of less value.

Here's all I want to leave you with. Go back in time and look at some of the printing on old US Currency. If you go back 80 or more years, you'd see US Dollars that had gold certificate on them.

I remember as a kid having US Currency in my pocket that said Silver Certificate above George's portrait. In fact, here's a photo of one of them I've saved for nearly 40 years.

Now go open your wallet. Look at your US paper money. What's it say now? Federal Reserve Note.

You know what a note is in the banking world? It's a promise. Typically when you get a mortgage on your home, you sign those papers, but in the stack of other papers you sign is a note. That's the real legal document between you and the lender. That's the thing where you promise to pay back the money you're borrowing.

Well, the US Dollars right now are just a note. They're backed by the full faith and credit of the US Government.

So tell me, how confident are you about the massive amount of debt we now have as a nation? It's up to almost $15 Trillion dollars. When President Obama took office, it was only $10 Trillion. I say that dripping with sarcasm.

If we don't stop, and I mean immediately, deficit spending each year at the Federal Level, we WILL go bankrupt. The dollars you have will pretty much become worthless.

Remember, when the world STOPS believing in our faith and credit, the game is over. In fact, the set is already over. We're just waiting for the match call.

UPDATE: February 18, 2011 10:07 am ET

Helen sent me an email in response to this Fire Pit post. She wanted me to watch a video made by a college student. It's FANTASTIC. This will help you stop the spin you here each day in the mainstream media.

This is really an unbelievable story when you think about it. There was a story about it on CNN.com and another one on FoxNews.com.

Chris Christie in New Jersey is doing the same thing. He's making tough choices because of promises made by previous politicians before him that simply can't be kept. State employees everywhere need to wake up. The party's over.

The days of defined benefit pensions are over. They're simply unrealistic and unsustainable. It's too bad that these employees were lied to by past politicians.

This is just the first round of cuts. Things in many states are going to get much worse.

And as for the Federal level, well, let's just say that when your proposed budget can only be funded with loan proceeds of 40 percent or more, that's simply wrong. Can you imagine basing your weekly budget - you know the money you spend on things each week - on borrowed money? Imagine having to borrow 40 percent of your money each week to get by. That tells you there is something seriously wrong with your lifestyle.

More on that in another Fire Pit post.

This is where distance comes into play. You need to know what you can do with each of your clubs.

Once you're putting, distance is even more critical. If you miss a putt, you want that ball to stop around the hole no more than say 16 inches away for a tap in.

If you're playing with others, you may want to use a ballmarker like this on the green. My very good friend Steve Loyola gave this to me for Christmas. I can't wait to use it this spring.

The fallout from what's happening is covered in great detail in a story I just read on FoxNews.com. It describes the breakdown of their society in the vacuum of police or security. It's a must read. Really pay attention as you read the story. Imagine looking forward.

If you do an autopsy on the situation, I believe you'll discover the people of Egypt are upset about high unemployment, a government that's concentrated power in the hands of a few instead of in the people, and all the window dressing that comes with that type of government.

Go back 235 years and pretty much the same thing was happening right here on our East Coast. Our Founding Fathers were upset at a government that was as oppressive as a stifling August day in New Orleans.

I feel we're headed that direction now here in the USA. Each day our government tries to wrestle more power from us and put it in the hands of those who work in those big white buildings in Washington DC. Taxes, some hidden in products and services, are going up in some towns, cities and states, and undoubtedly will rise at the Federal level. Inflation is rising, just look at your food and fuel bills.

Is the world going to read stories about us and our riots in a few years? We have all the ingredients here right now, but maybe not yet in sufficient quantities: High unemployment, unrest with the government, leadership that wants to grow government and take away choices from us, etc.

We've had a few peaceful protests. I attended the moster 9-12 rally in Washington DC on September 12, 2009. This past summer there were other rallies in the nation's capitol.

But at what point might the protests become more heated? Two years, five years or ten? What will spark them? The total collapse of the US Dollar? Out-of-control inflation?

Should we start a betting pool as to when the first violent protest will happen? No, that's too grim.

What do you think about this? Please comment. If you like this post, be sure to click the Share button above. We need to get this message out to as many as possible.

The bottom line is that politicians all over the USA have made promises to public service employees that just can't be kept. The defined benefit plans that have been created for policemen, firemen, teachers, etc. are just not sustainable.

I argued against these types of plans and raises when I was a Councilman in my village in Ohio. I got nowhere. All I can say is that at some point taxpayers are going to wake up and smell the coffee, roses, whatever.

I urge you to attend several of your local city or town meetings and see what kind of retirement benefits you're funding. It may surprise you.

This video has two things:

• a surprise ending
• very foul language

If you're offended by the use of the F-word, do NOT watch this video.

If you do watch the video and agree with what the man says, then start to do what he says most don't. Listen to what he says at the end when he points to his left temple.

Now that you've watched it, I can't tell you if what he says is accurate. You can look that up yourself. But if you're upset about illegal aliens who disobey and have no respect for our laws, then you need to take action. Speak up and contact your representatives telling them it's unacceptable to have open borders.

I'm all for immigration, so long as it's done legally. After all, that's how my grandparents came to America. They did it legally. Even native Americans have the same story, it's just that their ancestors immigrated here thousands of years ago.

You know what to do. If you like this blog post, you need to share it. Use the Share button above please.

So here's my question to you. What's your idea on how to fix just this one aspect of our massive national financial crisis?

Here's my plan. It's a little painful. This is just off the top of my head. I'm not saying for a moment it's a perfect plan and without holes in it.

First, everyone that's not paying income taxes has to start paying. No excuses. If my memory serves me right, I believe about 49 percent of the people who make a wage don't end up paying taxes. I feel everyone has to pay something and have a skin in the game. It may not be much, but it should help raise some revenue.

Second, the retirement age has to be raised. If you're like me and getting close to the point where you can get benefits, too bad. We're living much longer than when the current age to get benefits was set up.

There has to be some accounting for those who really don't need the Social Security checks. They have plenty of income from other sources. This really grates against my being, as it's redistribution of wealth in it's ugliest form. I'm not happy with this part of my plan, but the common sense thing is that certain people just don't really need the government money.

What are your ideas? What can we do to solve this mess? The sad thing is we wouldn't be in this mess if past Congresses didn't rape and pillage the fund. You do know that happened, didn't you? Yes, past elected officials of BOTH parties stole from the Social Security Fund. It's unbelievable.

Have you ever been stopped by a law enforcement officer? Perhaps you were speeding, ran a stop sign, or made an illegal turn. What's the first thing the officer asks for? She/he wants to validate if you're even allowed to drive. That person asks for your drivers license.

It looks like the days of the hall pass might be over with respect to Presidential candidates. If you want to run for President and have your name on a ballot, belly up to the bar and show us your papers. Read this great eligibility story sent to me by my wife about what's happening in the great state of Arizona.

Let's get this great idea spread out to the masses. Let's get laws passed like this in many states. We can make this happen. How? I need you to do two things immediately:

1. Click the Share button above. Share this blog post of mine far and wide. Put it on your Facebook page. Share it with as many as possible in your private email list. Let's get this story out there and do what's possible to make it go viral.

2. Contact your state representatives now. Call them, go to their websites. Pressure them to follow Arizona's footsteps. Send them a link to this post or to the story my wife sent me.

I've got a certified copy of my birth certificate clearly showing I was born at Deaconess Hospital in Cincinnati, OH. You've got a copy of yours, don't you? One would think that most people have one. It wouldn't be hard for a presidential candidate to supply this information.

Oh, here's another thing my wife shared with me. Listen to the audio on this video. The interesting part starts at 1:28 into the video. Can I verify if the caller is telling the truth? No. But let's truly put it to bed. Let's just get the states to pass the eligibility laws and have the candidates put up the proof of their citizenship.

UPDATE - January 28, 2011

A very close friend of mine Dick Daniels just sent me a link to a FoxNews.com story that Mike Evans says he was lying in the above radio broadcast.

You know, I'm not much of a conspiracy guy, but let's think about this for a moment. What would motivate Mike Evans to fabricate such a story and go on and on about it for several minutes when he knew he was on 34 radio stations? What does he have to gain, especially if he knew at the time he was lying?

That just doesn't make sense. First, he would really wreck the friendship with Governor Abercrombie. Why would a person want to do this? I could maybe understand it if Mike Evans stood to make a large sum of money from telling the lie. But he stood to gain nothing. Or am I missing something? If so, write about it in the comments below.

Let's look at the other side. Suppose Mike Evans was telling the truth. Once the broadcast got out and the most powerful man in the world heard it, don't you think he'd be a little upset? You bet. Did you happen to see the first Godfather movie? Can you hear in your head right now Marlon Brando saying, "Make him an offer he can't refuse."

Do you think Mike Evans got one of those offers? Stranger things have happened.

What really irks me about this is his arrogance. Does Rahm really feel he's above the law? Does he really feel that we're so stupid that we'll say, "Gosh, I guess it does make sense that since you owned a home and then came back to live here for three months, that's good enough."

We're not idiots, Rahm. My guess is that Rahm actually had an apartment of his own somewhere in or next to the White House. For goodness sake, he was the chief of staff. I'll bet that job comes with the responsibility of being within 500 feet of the President 95% of the time.

Maybe I missed it, did the White House get moved to Michigan Avenue in the past two years? Stranger things have happened.

You can read all about this on the CNN website. Rahm is hoping that the Illinois Supreme Court will see the light of day.

STORY UPDATE: January 25, 2011 1:15 p.m. ET

Believe it or not, the Illinois Supreme Court ordered the City of Chicago to allow Rahm's name to be put on the ballot WHILE the issue goes through the judicial process.

It's a dark day for Lady Justice. I'm so glad I don't live in Illinois.

Well looky looky, our President wants to get re-elected. My oh my. The polls seem to show that the American people are disgusted with his fundamental changes. Since meeting with former President Bill Clinton several weeks ago, President Obama has had time to develop a strategy to dupe us.

Our President is trying to come to the center, that place where all the independent voters live. He's knocking on your door. Do you remember those hilarious skits in the early days of Saturday Night Live? The ones with the talented Gilda Radner and the Land Shark? Those funny comedy acts were just a parody of the Little Red Riding Hood fable.

What's more, in an effort to get many to watch his State of the Union address on January 25, 2011, President Obama created a movie trailer. This was sent to his contributors and supporters yesterday:

You know, I have no recollection of any other President ever doing this - creating a slick preview video in an effort to get the buzz going. Am I wrong about that? If so, correct me in the comments below. Be sure to create a link to any similar video trailers done prior to the State of the Union speech. I want ones from Presidents Bush, Clinton, etc. if you can find them.

One of his statements in the video really struck me. It was very cleverly worded, exactly what I would expect from a politician. Our President says, at 2:45 into the video:

"But we're up to it, as long as we come together as a people -- Republicans, Democrats, independents -- as long as we focus on what binds us together as a people, as long as we're willing to find common ground even as we're having some very vigorous debates."

Oh how I wish I could interview President Obama. Here are a few of the tough questions I would ask:

"Mr. President, you said in your January 22, 2011 trailer State of the Union-Preview-Buzz video that we should come together as a people. What I'm wondering is why you feel this is so important now?

You didn't have this frame of mind in the past 24 months when you force-fed the Stimulus Spending Bills, the Cap and Tax Bill, and the ginormous Health Care Bill. If my memory and all the news at that time are accurate, the Republicans were not allowed to actively participate in the formation of those pieces of legislation. I don't remember weeks of vigorous debates as one might expect with landmark legislation. What's up with that?

You also said in the polished trailer, "We're also going to have to deal with our deficits and our debt in a responsible way ...." I don't know about you, but when I spend more each week than I make and run out of savings, I go bankrupt. Right now, that's what's happening with the USA. We're spending more than we're bringing in, we have no National Savings Account, and we're borrowing money in epic amounts. What's more, you're printing money with less and less backing each day that's devaluing dollars already in circulation.

You've signed two budget bills that have sunk us deeper in debt. You don't seem to be creating a budget that's paying off our national debt and creating a National Savings Account. My questions are:

Can you define what reasonable means to you and tell the American people, and our Chinese bankers, just exactly how you plan to cut hundreds of billions of dollars from next year's budget?

Can you share with us what new taxes you plan to impose on the American people if that's part of your plan?"

What questions would you ask our President if you had his ear and he was in front of a camera like he must have been yesterday afternoon? Tell me in the comments below. Remember, these are questions pointed towards President Obama, not any past president. You can do that on your own blog. Let's stay on topic here. We can't change the past, but we can have an impact on the future.

Remember, if you like this post, I need you to click the Share button up at the top of the page and do everything you can to spread this amongst your friends on Facebook, those in your email box, etc. Let's get the word out about the real truth and our latest wolf in sheep's clothing.

The past Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, if you remember, said this:

Can you believe the arrogance of a statement like that, even when it's a sound bite potentially taken out of context? I'm still boiling about her saying that and meaning it. Does she think we're idiots out here in the trenches? I guess the next thing she would have said would be, "Enjoy eating that cake boys and girls."

If you go back in history, I'm willing to bet it was unheard of, if not totally unacceptable, to pass a major piece of legislation without the lawmakers reading it and debating it. The final changes to the Health Care Bill happened hours before the vote. There wasn't time to digest what was in it.

Talk to anyone who's read the bill, and you'll see they are still in the fog that Ms. Pelosi talks about in the short video clip above. It's a highly complex piece of legislation to put it mildly.

It's caused my health care costs to rise. They were supposed to go down.

It's unconstitutional. Since when can the government force us to buy anything? Oh, I can hear some now, "But Tim, you have to buy car insurance!" Yes, that's true, but only if you decide you want to drive. Every citizen in the USA doesn't have to buy car insurance, but the current bill makes you buy health insurance.

Do we need health care reform? Of course we do. What we need, and I blogged about this over a year ago right here in the Fire Pit, is open competition.

Any insurance company should be able to sell any insurance policy to anyone or any company in any state at any time. Game, set, match. The free market will ordain the winners and losers in that contest.

Just look at Geico. I'm able to purchase auto insurance online here in New Hampshire just as you might be if you're in New Mexico, Washington or Alaska. Look at their rates compared to those of other insurance companies. No wonder people are buying Geico.

We also need extensive tort reform. That needs to be in the new health care bill.

I'd also like to see the bill written by our members of Congress, not some lobby that's funded by some rich billionaire or other cloaked special-interest group. I'll bet the entire health care bill could be written and be no more than 5 pages long. After all, less said is better. It's clearer and there's less chance of contradictions in the law.

What would you like to see in the new health care bill once we kick the current one to the curb? Just tell me in a comment below. Remember, the Share button works up at the top. If you like this post, share it please.

It's got to stop. We must not raise our debt ceiling. We need to cut back SPENDING by 15 percent or more if at all possible. This will allow us to meet our obligations without BORROWING money. You can't ever spend your way out of debt. If you think it's possible, give me real clear examples in the comments below.

You're going to hear all types of pundits and politicians beating their scare drums saying something like, "Acccckkkkk! If we don't raise the debt ceiling, we'll default on our US Treasury Bond payments and our AAA rating will be reduced. Then we'll pay more interest on our future bonds because we'll have to offer a more-attractive interest rate."

Here's a novel idea. Let's cut way back on spending so we can meet current debt obligations. Oh, I can here the lamentations now. "Tim, give me examples of where to cut. How would you do it? Blah, blah, blah."

It's so easy. How do you do it at your home? Are you out of a job? Did you get a pay cut? Did your spouse get laid off? What did you do? Did you STOP all unnecessary spending? Probably.

Did you cut back on extravagant spending? I'm sure you did. Did you try to pay your debts first and then the things needed for bare survival? I'm willing to bet Yes is the answer to that.

We can do the same thing at the national level. You and I both know there is enormous waste in many pork-barrel projects. There's massive waste in all programs. You and I know that for some reason, pay and benefits to Federal employees has gotten way ahead of the private sector. We can bring that back in balance easily.

We can follow the lead of Governor Chris Christie in New Jersey. We can study, in great detail, the proposed financial plan of Congressman Paul Ryan. We can create a 30-member task force of wise businesswomen/men who have done great jobs of cutting waste out of companies.

This task force can offer up solid proposals to bring down expenditures that will allow us to operate within budget and not raise the debt ceiling.

The bottom line is that we just have to stop the drunken spending. How many people do you know who have ruined their lives by out-of-control credit card spending? Be honest.

You're witnessing the same thing happening on a grand scale with many state governments and our Federal government. Study history and there are many examples of governments that have failed because of wasteful spending. Let's make sure the USA stays off that scrap heap for many more generations.

I was at Belmont Firearms yesterday when my smartphone broadcast it's pixie jingle alerting me an email had just arrived. You may not believe this, but I had just finished filling out the mandatory written form / questionare you need to complete to purchase a gun. I now have three in my growing collection.

I read the news alert email with the headline that six had died in the bloodbath. In shock, I told the gun store manager about it. He was also stunned.

This week you're going to hear the lamentations of those who want stiffer gun control. They're going to be tugging hard on your heartstrings. They'll want to ban handguns, as our boy Jared used a 9mm Glock to deliver death and suffering yesterday.

Well, read the Second Amendment. It's already been twisted and trampled on. We can't allow it to be further disparaged. The 2nd Amendment is as clear as day:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

The key words in that amendment are the last four:

"....shall not be infringed."

Yes, it's horrible what happened. But it wasn't the gun's fault. It was just a high-speed killing device. Jared, had he not had a gun, could have just as easily stabbed Congresswoman Giffords to death. With training, Jared could have killed others with a wicked knife before he could be subdued. It was Jared that caused the problem, NOT the gun.

Assuming that Jared purchased his gun legally, there are two questions that speak to mental health on the form. My guess is he didn't answer those honestly. If he had, he would have not been cleared to purchase the handgun.

Don't ever, for a moment, fall into the trap that gun control is the answer to our problems. It's not. Guns, in the hands of citizens, were partially responsible for us winning World War II in Europe. All you have to do is read about the history of the .45 Liberator pistol.

You know those rare times when you'd really like to bop someone, someone who's yanked your chain for months and months? Well, if you're one of those folks you'll enjoy this short 11-second video.

Many people are unaware that our US Constitution was written and signed more than a decade after we declared our independence from Britain. Yes, the Declaration of Independence happened in 1776 and the US Constitution's final draft was signed in Philadelphia in September of 1787. So it took time to assemble the way in which our country would operate.

Our Constitution is the framework by which our government gets its power from the people. In my opinion, when you consider it in its most basic form, our Constitution is our playbook, our rulebook that's not too much different from written rules you get when you open up a new board game.

The Founding Fathers were very smart and anticipated that things or conditions might change. New rules would have to be made or mistakes corrected. That's what amendments are all about. We have the 21st amendment because later on it was decided the 18th amendment was not the best of ideas. Remember that chapter in our history, that one about Prohibition?

I started this Fire Pit website in the fall of 2009 and here it is 2011 already. This community has operated without a written set of rules for that length of time. It's a community because it's an open blog where I allow you to comment if you so desire.

I've decided that it's now time to author and publish a Fire Pit Constitution. I'm going to mimic the US Constitution as much as I can, because it's such a brilliant document.

There's no way I could ever improve on it. Just like the US Constitution, the Fire Pit Constitution is going to be a living, breathing document. Think of it as a set of rules that guide us here in the Fire Pit and help keep some order. It's good to have some laws, don't you think? The trick is to make as few as possible so that we don't tie ourselves up in knots.

Preamble

I, the Benevolent Dictator, in an effort to create a more perfect political blog, establish the exchange of ideas, encourage robust but respectful debate, insure tranquility among participants, and secure the blessings of open, honest and civil discussion of various topics, do ordain and establish this Constitution of Tim Carter's Fire Pit.

ARTICLE ONE:

Section 1:

All legislative powers are hereby granted solely to Tim Carter, as he is the one who created this blog and pays said expenses. These powers will stay vested in him until such time of his death or he grants and passes the powers, in writing, to a successor.

Section 2:

Tim Carter, or his successor, will entertain suggestions to adopt, modify, or repeal articles, amendments, and/or laws from people who visit and read the blog. However, he is under no obligation to act upon such suggestions. Tim Carter, or his successor, will decide what, if anything, is to change.

Section 3:

Tim Carter is the sole adjudicator of any dispute on this blog. His decisions are final.

ARTICLE TWO

Section 1:

All participants of this blog, in the form of their comments, shall conduct themselves with the highest level of honor at all times in their discourse with Tim Carter and other participants. Tim Carter is also to be held to this standard of conduct.

Section 2:

All participants shall tell the truth at all times. If they are found to be guilty of making any false statements, providing false names or email addresses, etc., they face permanent expulsion from this blog. Because of their treachery, any and all comments they may have written will be deleted from this blog.

Section 3:

There is no unalienable right to freedom of speech on this blog. Respectful and intelligent dialog is encouraged, whereas hate or mean-spirited speech is deeply frowned upon.

Section 4:

All participants on this blog are expected to tell the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, at all times. An intentional half-truth shall be considered a whole lie.

ARTICLE THREE

Section 1:

Any participant that makes frequent comments or unduly long comments is encouraged to invest that passion and time in their own blog. Participants can create their own free blog at Blogger.com.

These purveyors can publish their profound and prolonged pronouncements and/or diatribe at their own blog and simply write a short comment at Tim Carter's Fire Pit that contains a link from Tim Carter's Fire Pit to their own post.

I started creating the message I sent in the Fire Pit list, and all was well as I continued to save each draft.

But when I saved the last draft, I didn't check to see if I was still sending to the Fire Pit list. Somehow the software switched over to my massive AsktheBuilder.com list. I hit the Send button thinking that I was sending to the Fire Pit list.

KABOOOM!

There was an explosion all right, but it was a good one. Within hours, I had thousands of new friends.

But there was collateral damage. About 20-25 people were bitterly upset. The mean-spirited emails they sent to me were unbelievable.

You can read how upset some were right here on this blog. Just go to the comments under the US Senator Kelly Ayotte post. Wow!

I've spent hours and hours opening well over 1,000 emails from folks who said things like, "Tim, this is why there are erasers on pencils. Mistakes happen."

The vast majority of folks had tolerance. The vast majority were happy the mistake happened. The vast majority agree with much that I've written about here at the Fire Pit.

But there's a small group of people who have a zero, or near-zero, tolerance for mistakes, opinions that don't match their's, etc. You may run into folks like this in your daily life.

I urge you, in this New Year, to have as much tolerance for opinions, mistakes, and points of view as there are grains of sand on my steep New Hampshire driveway this winter. I need the sand for traction. You'll need the tolerance to navigate these turbulent times we find ourselves.

If you're a member of the Zero-Tolerance Club, I wish and pray the people you work for, are married to, are friends with and who you deal with don't apply to join your alliance. Why? Because when you make your next mistake, you'll be kicked to the curb by them just like that group of 25 or so did to me. Not only did they hate many of the posts here at the Fire Pit, but they also immediately unsubscribed from my AsktheBuilder.com newsletter.

Can you believe their ideology blinds them so much that they would ignore tens of thousands of dollars of free home-improvement tips just because they don't see eye-to-eye with me? That's just crazy.

I don't agree with the stance of Alec Baldwin on his political beliefs, but that doesn't stop me from watching 30 Rock. I don't particularly enjoy hearing Barbara Streisand talk about issues, but I still listen to her sing There's a Time FoRuss. I'm sure you get my point.

Believe me, I'm going to be in constant contact with Kelly to ensure she does what she says here. What I mean is that I'll remind her, although I doubt she needs it, to VOTE for the things she talks about in this video.

That's all she has the power to do at this point. Who knows, in six years she may be signing Executive Orders. One never knows. Keep an eye on Kelly!

But then I immediately thought of you. Perhaps you're one of the millions of unemployed. You need a job. You have skills and desire, but are lost because there doesn't seem to be any work out there.

I was paging through a magazine of my daughter's and ran across an article of two moms, Kristen and Greta, who started their own online business two years ago. They created a site called LayerCakeShop.com. Read about them.

The first step of their journey was to just sell seven items on a website called Etsy.com. You don't need any Internet skills to have your products selling there. That went so well, they decided to break away and build their own site.

Do you have knowledge about something? A hobby? Do you have passion for a topic? Do you want to start selling things like Kristen and Greta and don't know where to start?

I've decided to help you. I've had an online business since 1995. In 1999, I was invited to be one of the charter members of a new very secret online entrepreneur group.

I reached out several hours ago to this group that I network with. They suggested that you seriously consider SiteBuildIt.com. This is a one-stop shop for all your needs if you know nothing about creating an online business.

Understand that if you do sign up with them, the link above is an affiliate link. That means I get a very small commission from SiteBuildIt.com for referring you to them. The Federal Trade Commission requires I disclose this. I have no problem with that, because I know that the folks at SiteBuildIt.com will take care of you.

Go ahead, mimic what I do each day online. I make my own hours. I love to work, if you want to call it that. I can even work laying in my hammock, sitting on my deck or sitting down by the lake's edge.

You can to. You can do what Kristen, Greta, I and hundreds of thousands do each day. You can create your own job in this New Year and get your personal economy and our national economy going again.

Forget about waiting on the government. Just do it yourself! Heck, I'm a huge DIY guy. The only thing holding you back is yourself. Like they say in the Nike commercials:

You can do this. You CAN sell things online. I've been selling products online since 1996. It was so hard to do back then, you simply can't believe it. Now it's easy.

If you want the Easy Button to short circuit what Kristen and Greta have done, then you need to go to SiteBuildIt.com.

I'm not much for government legislation and control in our lives, but some laws are absolutely necessary. My wife Kathy and I own a plot of land in New Hampshire that's part of a seven-lot association. Fortunately we were able to help write the rules of the association. We included language in the covenants all about dark skies lighting.

I urge you to get in touch with your state legislators and get them on board with the policies at the Dark Skies Association. Future generations will thank us indeed.

I copied the first two paragraphs from their About Us page to give you a snapshot of what they're about:

"OweNo is a national public awareness campaign whose mission is to educate Americans about the causes and consequences of the projected growth in federal debt levels and engage them in a national movement to address these important fiscal challenges.

America faces a growing crisis -- our $13.6 trillion federal debt is expected to grow to astonishing levels in future years, threatening the economic health of our nation, and particularly our nation's most vulnerable citizens and the next generation who will inherit our debt. But if we act now to put together a plan for our fiscal future ­- and if we work together across party lines to implement it - we can start to fix the problem, live within our means and create a better nation for our kids."

I urge you to get on to their newsletter list so you get periodic emails about news, announcements and any initiatives. They seem like they know what they're talking about.

I just wanted to drop you a quick note to let you know how you have inspired me. I live outside Louisville, Kentucky. My family lives south of Bowling Green, about 120 miles south on I-65. I have been making that trip several times a year for the past 30 years. Yesterday, on the way back from celebrating Christmas with the family, I stopped for a cup of coffee at a MacDonalds in Munfordville, about half-way home. I noticed on the little screen at the drive-thru that the tax on our two $1 cups was 18 cents.

Having a master's degree in engineering, I quickly determined that the total did not match our state's 6% standard theivery. When I asked why the tax was at 9% instead of the normal 6%, I was told that Munfordville has a 3% restaurant tax.

Shamefully, the only one to receive my wrath at that point was the poor minimum wage guy at the drive-thru window. I tried to make sure he understood that I was not angry with him, but to make sure he told his manager and passed it on to the Democrats that run that community the Tea Party had stopped by, but would NEVER come back.

When I got home, I looked up the number for the Chamber of Commerce in Munfordville and left a message that after 30 years of steady business there, I would now be taking my two dollar purchase once a month to the McDonalds at Cave City, two exits down.

That'll learn um.

Jim, wait till you start to travel like I do. The lodging taxes, food tax, travel tax, etc. that communities load onto travelers who can't vote in a city make quite a few travelers upset.

Their excuse is that while you're in the fair city you're using their infrastructure, police, fire department, etc. without paying. My argument is that's no way to treat a guest. There's absolutely two sides to that story, but wait till you see a hotel bill that's got 18 percent or more taxes on top of it.

We told them we didn't want earmarks.

We told them that we didn't like stinky politics.

Well, my buddy Dan Gray, who operates a very cool car review website called MpgOMatic.com, created a very fitting video back this summer about what happened the past five weeks.

Fortunately the Stink Bug Party is over in Washington DC. Many of the stink bugs have been put into bottles, they've been capped, and shipped back to their districts.

Some will argue that it's totally fair. Well, if it's fair, then EVERYONE should pay an estate tax. Don't you agree? Or, is it better to just tax the wealthy because they represent such a small voting block that it doesn't matter if they're upset?

You do realize this is the motivation of elected officials don't you? How can they get the most by upsetting the LEAST amount of voters. I know this is true because for four years I sat at a table surrounded by several politicians that OPENLY said this. Perhaps you're not aware I was an elected official for two terms of office. I was voted into office as a village councilman in Amberley Village, Ohio in both 2005 and 2007.

Anyone who dies just after the ball drops at Times Square in New York City in just 13 days is going to be subject to the reinstated Death Tax. Ooops, not everybody. You can read the latest about this in today's FoxNews story about the Congressional Battle going on over the Estate Tax.

Are you curious where others stand on the Estate Tax? Go take this quick unscientific survey. I wasn't surprised by the results. I doubt you will be either.

What's your takeaway after seeing the survey results and reading the story about the battle in Congress over this? Can you see why we absolutely must work each day to remove people from office that think like Congressman Anthony Weiner? He's so out of touch with the vast majority of American people, it's unimaginable.

Here's what's happening this weekend - right now as you're sipping your coffee. Congress is working at putting into place a law that a vast majority of people don't want. They don't care what you and I think.

Oh wait, that's right, we're just these DUMB, UNEDUCATED, UNINFORMED IDIOTS that can't do research, and are IGNORANT OF BASIC ECONOMIC principles. We're weak and just not able to discover the TRUTH. The elected officials are these pious acolytes, beacons of understanding, that know what's best for us. Why didn't I see that? Did you miss that too?

Let the comments begin!

This is a classic he said-she said lawsuit. There are no videos of what happened. There are no photos. It's Ward's word against Ms. Harris. Remember, no witnesses.

Ms. Harris was not harmed. No shots were fired.

But Ward Bird is in the New Hampshire state prison right now serving 3-6 years for criminal threatening with a firearm.

Are you kidding me? It's now criminal to have a firearm in your hand when you ask someone repeatedly to leave your land? Land that was clearly posted No Trespassing.

Go to the FreeWardBird.org website now and read all about this insane breach of justice.

I'd sincerely appreciate it if you would comment at that site and call Governor John Lynch's office to express your outrage. He should have pardoned this man before they could even start the engine to the van that took Ward from the courtroom to prison.

What would happen is that some or all would have their Federal Income taxes stay the same if they can agree on the contents of the bill.

But the word cut has such a nice ring to it, doesn't it.

There are countless stories all over the Internet about this, so you can take your pick to see who's got many of the facts.

The current problem, the way I see it, are the earmarks that are part of the proposed bill. Including earmarks onto this major piece of legislation muddies the waters when it comes to voting.

A vast majority of Americans spoke out about this perverted method of legislation on November 2, 2010.

Many are sick of earmarks and pork. I know I am. If you are, I want you to tell me exactly how you feel with a comment below.

The problem with earmarks is that you don't get a true barometric reading as to where your elected official stands on the primary piece of legislation.

This is why earmarks need to be outlawed. Each spending item should have it's own vote. An earmark that's part of a larger bill might only be a piece of legislation that's several pages that can be digested quickly. We get an up and down vote on each item so you and I can see exactly where our elected officials interests lie.

Take for example the current massive unemployment benefits that are part of the deal being brokered right now between the President and Congress.

That aspect of the bill should have it's own vote.

Here's an interesting take on the Unemployment Benefits I found on the FoxNews website.

Then there's another twist from Bloomberg Businessweek magazine. They had a fascinating article about prolonging unemployment benefits. The first paragraph has an interesting nugget.

Times are tough. If you or someone you know is out of work, there are jobs out there. Are they a perfect match for your skills? Possibly not. Beggars can't be choosers in this market.

There's nothing but opportunity online. There are countless websites where you can register your talents. You might become a virtual employee. I happen to have three of these that work in my businesses. One's 3,000 miles from me.

Think outside the box. Do whatever it takes to be productive. That's one of the things that's going to help our economy start to rumble along again.

But back to the earmarks. I can hear the lamentations of those who like them. They might say that they're such a convenient method to get around all those pesky committee meetings and hearings.

After all, Congressmen and Presidents have parties to attend and other things that are so much more important than our business. Remember, the elected officials are our servants. Somehow they think it's the other way around.

Let the Comments begin!

Are the facts at their website correct? Beats me. I don't have time to check that out. That's your job.

If you discover an error, then you can argue with them at their website or deal with that in the Comment section just below.

Chuck sent me the link to the Detroit Free Press story at the end of a conversation we were having about my Dream Act post from two days ago.

When we first started talking, Chuck commented that he understands why some politicians want to have illegal aliens pay taxes to help fund the entitlements for the aging USA population. Chuck is in favor of giving productive illegal aliens a fast track to become Americans by attending college or serving in the military, as was suggested by the "Dream Act," but he isn't necessarily in favor of allowing non-productive illegal aliens participate in entitlements that they don't deserve.

Our discussion was centered around some facts in a book by Harry Dent called
The Great Depression Ahead: How to Prosper in the Debt Crisis of 2010 - 2012. These facts are not new, it's just that most politicians up until now have buried their heads in the sand about the aging US population. They don't want to pay the toll at the voting booth each November.

The bottom line is that if the current entitlement programs, as well as that horrid Health Care Bill signed into law in March of 2010, continue in their current form, the cost to pay for them will be on the shoulders of a smaller group of working Americans.

Chuck commented that as the US population ages, the older folk won't be paying as much in taxes, but they'll likely still need infrastructure to survive. In the history of the world, it's always been the new young workers who pay taxes. They're the ones that typically create innovation and drive the economy.

He further stated that retirement is a ponzi scheme, and with our declining birth rate we need young people from somewhere to shore up the Madoff Madness we now have.

Chuck and I talked about what happens in the real world when expenses start to get bigger than income. In most instances, people cut back on spending except for the bare necessities to survive.

We're at that point here now in the USA. We're in the survival mode and don't try to fool yourself.

Of course I bristled at Chuck's position to have the illegal aliens help pay for our sins. If I remember correctly, they wouldn't be illegal, as Chuck would like to see some sort of amnesty as proposed in the Dream Act. It's important to note that Chuck had yet to bring up to me what Mike Bishop was proposing in Michigan.

Here's what I said in the call. I propose a three-pronged attack to solve the looming entitlement crisis, as well as much of our deficit woes. Have I got the hard numbers to ensure it will work? No, but by gosh if Michigan can do it, we can go a long way to solving our financial issues by manning up to them. Here's my rough outline:

Step 1. Repeal the monster Health Care Bill and deliver the bad news to USA citizens that Chris Christie's been doing in New Jersey. We're going to have to make significant changes to Social Security and Medicare. The bottom line is that many US citizens are going to have to get fewer benefits and work much longer.

Step 2. STOP crazy spending on crazy pork-barrel projects. Just as in real life when time gets tough you don't go out to eat, you don't go on the expensive vacations, etc. We need to STOP spending money on all things that are NOT essential until such time as we get the debt paid way down and the economy running on 12 cylinders.

Step 3. Initiate my pay cuts to government employees. If they don't like it, they can resign and scratch out a living with the rest of us here in the private sector.

Do these three things and I guarantee you that we can balance the budget, or get darn close, like Michigan is going to do.

Let the Comments begin!

You do realize some cultures place a very high value on loyalty, don't you? It's a noble and highly prized hallmark if you ask me. I remember clearly a conversation I had with an employee of a major tool manufacturer about ten years ago.

We were talking about the influx of Spanish-speaking workers into the USA construction marketplace and how this tool manufacturer was marketing to that segment. This man was trying to explain to me about brand loyalty and how it transcended into everyday life with those folks who were coming to the USA from below the 32nd parallel.

I don't know if what this man told me is true. But I do know all about loyalty. Let's assume, for sake of discussion, that it's true.

If this is the case, you can see why certain members of the current Congress are so interested in creating a fast track to US citizenship for the illegal aliens that are on our soil.

If they became citizens by cutting the line - remember, we have a process that millions have used to become legal US citizens - then these new fast-trackers would become VERY loyal to those that gave them this highly valued thing.

The deep psychological trigger of reciprocity would be clicked with each future election for generations. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand this, as you succumb to reciprocity on a daily basis, assuming you're not a psychopath who has no feelings.

I'm upset at virtually all of our elected officials, past presidents, President Obama and countless others about the illegal alien situation. It's unthinkable that we don't control our borders. Have you been paying attention to the news lately? Are you aware of the American citizens over the past few years who've gone *hiking* near North Korea, Iran and other countries? What happens to those folks?

I'll tell you what happens. All you have to do is read what I saw at the Belmont Firearms Gun Range where I go to practice my marksmanship. Based on what I read in the news, I'd say this is all pretty accurate.

It's sickening. It's unbelievable and it's unacceptable. I'm not talking about what OTHER countries do, I'm talking about what WE do to people that cross our borders illegally.

But this version about the Tea Party had me laughing out loud. Tell me what you think in the comments below.

Oh, an ad may show up and cover the subtitles. Just click the X in the upper right corner to close the advertisement.

Why? Because every HVAC contractor had to spend hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on new equipment, gauges, etc. to deal with the replacement Freon. Richard felt that the politicians set themselves up long in advance to be in position to pull some of the billions of dollars off this conveyor belt.

Is the same thing happening with global warming, oops, I mean climate change? I'd say yes, as we just have to peel back all the layers of who's really selling the carbon credits.

What about the new aggressive mileage requirements for new cars? Read this story in USA Today about new car gas mileage requirements and it should make you quiver.

Maybe it's time to get into the used auto parts business. As we get closer to these new requirements, many will buy cars that don't meet the newer mileage requirements and keep them for a very long time. Those cars will need parts.

While on the subject of conspiracies, what about JFK? Don't you think there was a second gunman?

Do the math yourself. How many hours have you toiled at your profession? Were you a stay-at-home mom your career? I'd say you've got over 100,000 hours in that. Did you work at a job for 25 years? Then you probably have 62,000 hours in that investment.

My very good friend Russell Waters sent me an email with a pretend news story. Imagine how Joel would feel if this appeared tomorrow or next week in the national news feed:

President Barack Hussein Obama has recently appointed a Golf Czar and major rule changes in the game of golf will become effective in January 2011. This is only a preview, as the complete rule book (expect 2,000 pages) is being rewritten as we speak. Here are a few of the changes.

Golfers with handicaps:

- below 10 will have their green fees increased by 35%.
- between 11 and 18 will see no increase in green fees.
- above 18 will get a $20 check each time they play.

The term "gimme" will be changed to "entitlement" and will be used as follows:
- handicaps below 10, no entitlements.
- handicaps from 11 to 17, entitlements for putter length putts.
- handicaps above 18, if your ball is on green, no need to putt, just pick it up.

These entitlements are intended to bring about fairness and, most importantly, equality in scoring. In addition, a Player will be limited to a maximum of one birdie or six pars in any given 18-hole round.

Any excess must be given to those fellow players who have not yet scored a birdie or par. Only after all players have received a birdie or par from the player actually making the birdie or par, can that player begin to count his pars and birdies again.

The current USGA handicap system will be used for the above purposes, but the term 'net score' will be available only for scoring those players with handicaps of 18 and above.

This is intended to 'redistribute' the success of winning by making sure that in every competition, the above 18 handicap players will post only 'net score' against every other player's gross score. These new rules are intended to CHANGE the game of golf.

Golf must be about equal outcomes. It should have nothing to do with ability, hard work, practice, and responsibility. This is the "right thing to do, because it's fair".

Heck, this sounds great, don't you agree? Let's have equality in everything.

Let's redistribute your money and half your clothes. Let's say you don't have too much. You may have far more than a homeless person. Well then, let's take all your money and give it to the homeless. After all, you'll still have your house, furniture, car, and credit cards.

You get my point. This redistribution thing just doesn't work. It's not fair. We live in the Land of Opportunity. I'm all about offering opportunity to everyone. It's no different than a foot race.

We're all at the starting line. But several have trained hard, run hundreds of miles, and watched their diets. But others have done nothing. Those who have diligently trained to run the race fast deserve to be rewarded for their effort.

Those who've done nothing to work deserve last place.

Oh, I can hear it now. "Tim, what about the poor souls that can't race. They're physically challenged. What about them?"

Well, I'm sorry about that. Mother Nature deals those cards everyday. Just look around you. Look what happens naturally each day. We need to play by those rules.

Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans.

Velma proceeded to get up and tell President Obama, "Quite frankly, I'm exhausted. Exhausted of defending you, defending your administration, defending the man for change I voted for, and deeply disappointed with where we are right now."

President Obama, as you might expect, was totally unprepared for this comment.

Foxnews.com, in a story two days ago, reports that Velma Hart has lost her job. She's another victim of this harsh recession. She's not alone. There are millions who are in the same boat.

Here's what you don't seem to see covered in the mainstream media. Let's discuss what's happened over the past three or four years.

We know the economy was in trouble. It was starting to circle the drain during the final months of President Bush's last term in office. The commercial credit marked froze as solid as the glaciers in Antarctica in March of 2008. Armageddon hit in September of 2008 when the stock market crashed. These epic events helped usher Obama into office. It's rare that the planets align like that in the 90 days before a major election.

But one would think that the absolute main priority of President Obama and his overwhelming majority in the House and Senate would be to really take action and restart the economy. After all, that's what it's all about - jobs and a vibrant economy.

But that's not what happened. Obama, like most men, can't multi-task. He was laser focused on health care. It took a year to ram that down our throats. The House was also working on Cap and Tax.

Oh, don't start telling me about the Stimulus packages. Don't tell me that was the grand plan.

Did you ever look at the list of those projects? They were not jobs that last forever. Heck, many of the projects have yet to start! These were primarily pork barrel projects for local districts. Do you know anyone that's benefited from these Stimulus jobs? Tell me their story in the comments below.

On that September day, Velma said to President Obama, "And quite frankly, Mr. President, I need you to answer honestly," she said, "Is this my new reality?"

Velma, you're constructing your new reality now and will really do so when your severance package dries up. I wish you the best trying to find a new job that will take advantage of your skill set.

Well, I'll tell you why I routinely go to FoxNews.com. They seem to have stories that the other news websites tend to ignore. I just went to CNN.com, MSNBC.com and CBSNews.com. I typed into their search engines: Al Gore and Ethanol.

As you might expect, I couldn't find one story about Mr. Gore and his appearance at this conference, much less quotes from him. What's the definition of bias again? Let's see, is it close to this:

prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair (New Oxford American Dictionary)

But I digress.

It's not news that politicians think about themselves. Vice President Gore was quoted, " ... I had a certain fondness for the farmers of the state of Iowa because I was about to run for president." Yawn, we know all about politicians who are selfish.

The shocking thing in the story - the main takeaway for you - is the insane numbers of how much corn is used to make ethanol. The following figures are not typos my friends:

• 41 percent of USA corn production is burned up


• 15 percent of the world's corn production is consumed in engines

What's the secondary effect of this you might ask? Have you gone grocery shopping lately? Have you seen the prices of things go up? You bet prices are climbing.

How many items in your large grocery store do you think contain corn? Go ahead take a guess from the list below:

• 50


• 175


• 864


• 1,793


• 4,000

Did you guess 864? If so, you're wrong. How about 1,793? Sorry, wrong again. If you picked 4,000, congratulations! You must have watched Glenn Beck's show on FoxNews last week. Oh, I can hear the lamentations in the comments now.

Why don't the other cable news networks or the mainstream media networks like ABC, NBC and CBS tell us these facts? Why is it always that Beck guy? Oh wait! Look closely at the video above, that's Glenn when he was on CNN. Makes you wonder if Glenn left CNN on his own accord.

Look at the labels of the products in your home. Do you see the word corn or fructose on them? If so, there you have it. Don't forget how much of our meat contains corn. Yes, it's used as feed for millions of animals we eat. It makes them tasty. People Eating Tasty Animals. That sort of has a ring to it.

We need to eat corn and extract oil from our soil until such time as we figure out how to economically make liquid hydrogen. We need to constantly put pressure on all selfish politicians of any party and expose their shenanigans.

I love our farmers. I want them to make a living. We NEED our farmers, but we need them growing food to eat, not burn.

Reminder: When you start to unload in the comments below, be sure to put facts in your arguments. Watch out for all the broad brush statements. Here's an example: "You want selfish, well let me tell you, Bush and Cheney were the most selfish of all. Blah blah blah." Include facts and links.

My guess is that many years ago we'd discover that government employees made a conscious decision to trade opportunity for security. Simply put, the odds of a government employee losing their job is small as when was the last time you heard of government downsizing?

A government employee years ago sucked it up and realized they would rather have job security in place of higher wages in a job that might disappear. I feel that's a reasonable trade off. After all, nothing ventured - nothing gained, right?

Well, fast forward to the 21st century. Let's take a look at some interesting annual salaries. I'll list them for you:

• $22,676
• $50,462
• $74,403
• $174,000

The first one is the average salary of a US Army soldier. She / he is the person on the front lines defending our freedom and liberty. One might think that they deserve much higher pay for what they do, correct?

The second salary is that of the average US worker. I'm talking about a worker in the private sector. That's possibly you and me.

The third listing is the average salary of a US Government worker today. No, that's not a typo.

The final salary is the base pay of a US Congressman/woman.

Are you starting to see the irony of this? Why would the salary of the servants be more than the people employing them?

This is yet another example of Government Gone Wild.

I don't care what side of the political fence you're on. This is absolutely outrageous.

I'm anxiously awaiting someone posting a comment defending the higher salaries. Please enlighten me.

Don't believe me, Google it.

Here's just one story about it from the Washington Examiner.

Unions and the government are a very bad idea. President Kennedy started this insanity with Executive Order 10988.

If you're not outraged by this, you're NOT paying attention.

What's more, the TSA is now conducting what, on the streets, would be gross sexual imposition in an attempt to find terrorists.

All they have to do is follow the lead of the Israelis.

Strategically challenging flawed court precedent to restore our Constitution and our individual liberties.

The organization was founded by a man named Van Irion. He's got an impressive list of credentials.

Currently they're fighting a court battle in Tennessee against Obamacare.

I suggest you make a very small $1 donation and join as a class-action plaintiff to this lawsuit. Kathy did as well as thousands of others. I'll be joining it myself in a few minutes.

You may be yawning and shrugging your shoulders at this point thinking that it's not worth your time. Well, before you give up, read this letter that Kathy got from Dawn at the Liberty Legal Foundation a few days ago. Pay particular attention to the first few paragraphs. Doesn't that make your blood boil? Here's the entire letter:

Kathleen,

Van normally writes our updates, but he is unable to write this message because he cannot accurately report the actions of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee without risking professional sanctions. Therefore, I'm writing this update. Van will provide future updates.

Please do not be disappointed by the news you are about to read. It is a set-back, but only a minor and temporary one. Please read this entire message.

Our hearing, scheduled for this Friday has been canceled. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee has dismissed our case without a hearing. It ruled that over 25,000 American citizens have no right to challenge the Constitutionality of Obamacare. The most stunning part of this ruling was the reasoning of the court. It ignored recent rulings from other Federal District Courts in Michigan and Virginia. Those Courts both ruled that most Americans have standing to challenge the Constitutionality of Obamacare. The Tennessee court ignored their rulings and concluded that none of the 25,000 named plaintiffs could possibly prove that they are being personally injured by Obamacare. This ruling is, of course, absurd. It is also an insult to common sense, an insult to the rules of civil procedure, and an insult to the rule of law.

Now for the good news: This is just a temporary delay in our battle. Because the Tennessee Court based its dismissal on a supposed lack of standing, we can refile our case with a court that has a good Constitutional track record. Since we are a nationwide class action, we can refile anywhere in the U.S. and will do so as soon as possible. In anticipation of the TN court's decision, we have been intensively researching Federal District Courts across the country. Liberty Legal Foundation has many friends within the Constitutional law/Patriot movements. We're actively consulting with all of them in order to identify the best Federal District Court in which to re-file our lawsuit. We have identified several Federal Court judges that are likely to follow the Constitution in this case. You are all part of this process. We would appreciate any research, contacts, and input you all have regarding re-filing our case.

Many of you may ask why we aren't appealing our dismissal. We certainly have that right. However, doing so would delay our battle unnecessarily. As explained above, we don't have to appeal because we can re-file in a better court. More importantly, winning an appeal at this point would simply return us to the same District Court that just dismissed us. You see, the Tennessee Court's absurd ruling did not address the commerce clause question that we presented. We believe that the Tennessee court's avoidance of the commerce clause issue was intentional and based upon political or personal motives. If the court had ruled regarding the commerce clause question we could have appealed to the Circuit Court and then to the Supreme Court. Instead the Tennessee court choose to address a purely procedural issue. Because of this, the best result we could hope for from an appeal would be to return to the Tennessee District Court for further absurd rulings. So, if we appealed and won, we would still be no closer to getting a ruling about the commerce clause, and we would have lost at least a year in litigating the appeal.

It is important to remember that the OCA is attempting to reverse 68 years of bad Supreme Court precedent. All the other lawsuits challenge pieces of Obamacare. Their goal is to eliminate Obamacare. Our goal is to eliminate Obamacare AND restore Constitutional limitations on Congressional power. Ours is the only lawsuit that seeks to restore the original meaning of the commerce clause. If successful the OCA will return the limits on Congress that existed prior to 1942. The 1942 Wickard v. Filburn ruling is greatly responsible for the explosive growth of the Federal government over the past 68 years. That is why we must continue our fight. We are the only lawsuit that directly attacks this flawed legal precedent.

Since we filed our lawsuit last April several other groups, including the Virginia Attorney General, have raised the commerce clause arguments in their anti-Obamacare lawsuits. We are very glad to see this. It means that we are raising the country's awareness of this issue. However, it is important to remember that all of the other groups are raising the commerce clause issue as an afterthought. None of the other lawsuits are focusing on this issue. None of them are likely to cause the reversal of this Supreme Court precedent, because none of the other groups are actively arguing for such reversal. The OCA is unique because its goal from the beginning has been to overturn the FDR-Supreme Court's commerce clause precedent as well as overturn Obamacare.

We will continue this fight until we win. We can never give up and never surrender to those who seek to destroy our God given and Constitutionally protected freedom!

In Liberty,

Dawn Irion, Co-Founder
Liberty Legal Foundation
dawn@libertylegalfoundation.com

P.S. Please do not be disappointed at this delay. Our fight is to restore the Constitutional limitations placed upon Congress by overturning the legal precedent that allowed Obamacare to be passed. We are fighting to restore the original meaning of the commerce clause. This litigation will take time, but we are determined to get it right. Please continue to spread the word about the Obamacare Class Action. We need more people to join our fight now more than ever. Also, this ongoing fight costs money and time. Please give what you can to support Liberty Legal Foundation to help continue our fight. Thank you all for your support.

My friend Mark Billings passed this on to me. Thanks Mark!

But one thing I want you to watch are President Bush's eyes. Watch how often he blinks. What you'll see is that he doesn't blink too often.

Talk with any body-language expert and she/he will tell you that as the rate of eye blinking increases, the level of nervousness of the person who is blinking is rising. You're typically nervous in an interview if you're worried about saying the wrong thing or if you're afraid something might be given away.

To put this in perspective, watch how many times President Obama blinks in a recent 60 Minutes interview. Wow, what was President Obama afraid might happen, especially in a very friendly interview conducted by a mainstream media outlet that is known to tilt towards the left heavily?

It was invigorating to see voters spurn the platform of the progressives and liberals who rammed the health care takeover down our throats. All one had to do was look at the polls to see that the majority of Americans were never happy with that legislation.

It was refreshing to see Americans reject politicians who feel it's best to pass legislation and then discover what's in it.

It was encouraging to see fellow citizens who want elected officials who pledge to balance the budget and be fiscally conservative.

Now it's time to make sure we stay on the right track. As Sarah Palin said two days ago, the train is leaving the station but going a different direction than it's been heading. I guarantee you that you'll see a vast number of Democrats start to sing a totally different tune.

You'll see these weasels talk about how perhaps maybe it's a good idea to do all the things they rejected outright in the past 18 months. As I've written in many past posts here, they'll flip on issues because many want to be re-elected more than they want life itself.

Oh, did you see our President's press conference yesterday? He still doesn't get it. He says he does, but he drew a line in the sand that clearly stated his way is the best and he evidently knows what the people want. Talk about living in a bubble.

It's time for more predictions. I'll gladly make a few more now. President Obama is a one-and-done president. His arrogance has doomed him to be a one-termer. He doesn't possess the savvy compromise skills former President Clinton had.

Many Democrats that voted against bills to reign in the out-of-control spending will be defeated in 2012. The election two days ago was just the first leg in a long race. It's going to take at least eight to ten years before we clean house and get rid of most of the domestic enemies that wiggled their way into power.

You'll see more blogs like this one that help spread the truth, because God knows that much of the mainstream media is still spewing half truths. Remember, a half truth is a whole lie.

You'll see the liberals and progressives continue to make bombastic statements that are not supported by facts. They'll continue to beat the hollow drum that all of this is George Bush's fault. They'll never produce the facts that the Congress that passed all the spending bills since 2006 was Democratic controlled.

They'll never quote the Congressional Record showing you who actually voted Yes on the legislation. Why? Because virtually all those bills were pushed through by the Democrats.

They'll continue to blame corporate greed, although many of those making these statements have products in their homes made by these companies. Talk about hypocrisy.

You'll see many of these comments start right here at the bottom of this post.

Finally, you'll see the American people rise to the occasion and continue to get more involved in the conservative political process. You'll see the Tea Party grow and become populated with moderate Democrats that see their party has become far too radical.

You'll see more people base decisions on facts than hope. They've seen what happens when you HOPE. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Hope is the emotion of LAST RESORT. You saw what Hope got us in the 2008 election. The American people have kicked Hope to the curb - and rightly so.

This ship was the first submarine to carry out a successful underwater attack during the War of Northern Aggression - that's a name you'll commonly hear from Southerners who, to this day, get quite emotional about the conflict. If you hail from the north side of the Mason-Dixon line, you probably know it as the Civil War.

What does the H.L. Hunley have to do with tomorrow's election? Everything.

The Union forces had created a naval blockade of the Charleston harbor during the war. They were trying to use this method to starve the city into submission. As shipping was the primary way for goods to get to the people of the city, this blockade was sure to work.

But the Northerners pretty much underestimated the resolve, determination, ingenutiy and emotion of the Southerners.

The H.L. Hunley was a product of this never-give-up attitude. Built in Mobile, Alabama and shipped by rail to Charleston, South Carolina, this submarine sunk not once, but three times. The determined Southerners raised this heavy iron ship from the harbor waters two times in an effort to succeed.

The first two sinkings were training exercises. Thirteen brave seamen gave their lives in Charleston harbor in these efforts. But the last time the H. L. Hunley sailed, eight crew members met their fate about four miles offshore out at sea. This happened a short while after the Hunley successfully detonated a torpedo it impaled in the hull of the USS Housatonic.

Wandering through the sterile warehouse yesterday you could see all kind of artifacts. There was the actual gold $20 piece that was in the pocket of Lieutenant George E. Dixon. This bent coin took a direct hit from a bullet during the Battle of Shiloh saving his life.

But the things I stared at the longest time were the Medals of Honor awarded to each crew member by the Sons of the Confederate Veterans. These gold and silver medallions were like a beacon that grabbed me and wouldn't let go.

This is the highest honor a warrior can receive. It's awarded for bravery and courage above and beyond the call of duty. The eight crew members of the Hunley volunteered for the mission. They believed in their noble cause to drive away the Union forces that were suffocating them. They gave their lives in that iron tomb that dark night off the South Carolina shore to defeat their enemy.

Tomorrow you have the chance to do the same thing. We're being suffocated now by politicians who are blockading our Constitutional principles and those found in the Declaration of Independence. Our President campaigned on "fundamental change". He has hundreds of supporters in Congress who indeed believe in this mission and charge.

The trouble is, this change is towards an ideology that's failed everywhere it's been tried in the world. You and I are being suffocated by socialism.

You have a chance to earn an award similar to the Medal of Honor tomorrow on November 2, 2010 while inside the polling booth. When you vote against candidates that support the socialist and progressive movement, you'll qualify for this new Badge of Principles and Character.

Just as the crew of the Hunley was trying to drive away those that were aiming to harm them and their families, it's your job tomorrow to repel the liberals and progressives that are currently attacking you and your family. Vote with honor tomorrow. Vote with courage. Vote to save and preserve the Constitution and our great nation as envisioned by our Founding Fathers.

He's got his foot to the floor with respect to spending. He's spent more money in the past two years - and this is BORROWED money I might add - than perhaps 50 years of previous administrations. I've not fact checked that, but I'm confident he's so over budget it's not even a stretch.

President Obama is openly hostile to business. I'm a small business, so you bet I'm scared.

But as for thinking clearly, well, he's got that part all wrong. Millions of us will be thinking and voting with the utmost clarity on November 2, 2010. In fact, I already voted and my mind is as clear as a bell. I voted against all candidates that support President Obama. They're domestic enemies as far as I'm concerned.

Had he advanced slowly much like a sniper in a ghillie suit as past politicians, we probably would have not noticed. But our leader has awakened a sleeping giant. See if you don't agree with what Mike sent me:

One 82-year-old lady loves Obama and she may have a very good point. She says that Obama is amazing, and is rebuilding the American dream! She gives us an entirely new slant on the "amazing" job Obama is doing, and she says that she will thank God for the President. Keep reading for her additional comments and an explanation.

When discussing Obama, she says:

1. Obama destroyed the Clinton Political Machine, driving a stake through the heart of Hillary's presidential aspirations - something no Republican was ever able to do.

2. Obama killed off the Kennedy Dynasty - no more Kennedys trolling Washington looking for booze and women wanting rides home.

3. Obama is destroying the Democratic Party before our eyes! Dennis Moore had never lost a race. Evan Bayh had never lost a race. Byron Dorgan had never lost a race. Harry Reid - soon to be GONE! These are just a handful of the Democrats whose political careers Obama has destroyed. By the end of 2010, dozens more will be gone. Just think, in December of 2008 the Democrats were on the rise. In the last two election cycles, they had picked up 14 Senate seats and 52 House seats. The press was touting the death of the Conservative Movement and the Republican Party. However, in just one year, Obama put a stop to all of this and will probably give the House - if not the Senate - back to the Republicans.

4. Obama has completely exposed liberals and progressives for what they are. Sadly, every generation seems to need to re-learn the lesson on why they should never actually put liberals in charge. Obama is bringing home the lesson very well:

Liberals tax, borrow and spend.
Liberals won't bring themselves to protect America .
Liberals want to take over the economy.
Liberals think they know what is best for everyone.
Liberals are not happy until they are running YOUR life.

5. Obama has brought more Americans back to conservatism than anyone since Reagan. In one year, he has rejuvenated the Conservative Movement and brought out to the streets millions of freedom loving Americans. Name one other time when you saw your friends and neighbors this interested in taking back America !

6. Obama, with his "amazing leadership," has sparked the greatest period of sales of firearms and ammunition this country has seen. Law abiding citizens have rallied and have provided a "stimulus" to the sporting goods field while other industries have failed, faded, or moved off-shore.

7. In all honesty, one year ago I was more afraid than I have been in my life. Not afraid of the economy, but afraid of the direction our country was going. I thought, Americans have forgotten what this country is all about. My neighbors and friends, even strangers, have proved to me that my lack of confidence in the greatness and wisdom of the American people has been flat wrong.

8. When the American people wake up, no smooth talking teleprompter reader can fool them! Barack Obama has served to wake up these great Americans!

Again, I want to say: "Thank you, Barack Obama!" After all, this is exactly the kind of hope and change we desperately needed!!

Dear Editor,

I'm a small businessman here in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire and voted for the first time using an absentee ballot. My choices weren't hard for a few of the candidates running, especially for the two women vying for the District 2 State Senate Seat.

Prior to voting, I was determined to talk with Jeanie Forrester and Deb Reynolds. Jeannie and I spoke about the issues the week of the NH primary. She resonated with me with her stance on small business issues.

Small business carries lots of the water here in NH. We have one of the highest business profits tax in the nation. Jeanie suggested two things that could help lower the tax rate businesses like me pay on profits. Understand that if my profits tax is lower, I can use that extra money to hire more people. Adding jobs is a good thing for everyone.

Jeanie Forrester talked about scaling back the size of government to help reduce the tax burden. She also talked about adopting a program similar to what the state of Kentucky did in the 1980's to attract new business. Kentucky offered businesses a moratorium on their property taxes for up to ten years.

Ten days ago I got a campaign card in the mail from incumbent Deb Reynolds. At the bottom it had her phone number. I dialed the number and discovered it was wrong. Are you kidding me? What does that tell you about attention to detail?

After calling her state senate office, a staff person gave me the correct number. When Deb and I talked, her idea to help business was to expand broadband coverage. It even said that on her campaign mailing. My research indicates well over 90 percent of the state of NH has high-speed Internet coverage. Those places where no broadband exists are not particularly suitable for small business anyway.

What's more, after questioning Deb about cheaper alternative methods to get broadband to our outlying areas, she had no idea about using wireless technology. This is what Third World countries are now using because it's cheaper and can get the signal to people without poles and cables running up every back road.

After hanging up, my choice was clear. How could Deb Reynolds possibly handle complex issues on our behalf if she can't even get her phone number right? Add to that hitching her wagon to decades-old technology with respect to broadband access.

We need bright people with fresh ideas representing us in Concord. I'm anxious to see Jeanie Forrester win on November 2nd.

Tim Carter
Founder - AsktheBuilder.com
Meredith, NH 03253

Dear Editor,

I'm a small businessman here in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire and voted for the first time using an absentee ballot. My choices weren't hard for a few of the candidates running, especially for the two women vying for the District 2 State Senate Seat.

Prior to voting, I was determined to talk with Jeanie Forrester and Deb Reynolds. Jeannie and I spoke about the issues the week of the NH primary. She resonated with me with her stance on small business issues.

Small business carries lots of the water here in NH. We have one of the highest business profits tax in the nation. Jeanie suggested two things that could help lower the tax rate businesses like me pay on profits. Understand that if my profits tax is lower, I can use that extra money to hire more people. Adding jobs is a good thing for everyone.

Jeanie Forrester talked about scaling back the size of government to help reduce the tax burden. She also talked about adopting a program similar to what the state of Kentucky did in the 1980's to attract new business. Kentucky offered businesses a moratorium on their property taxes for up to ten years.

Ten days ago I got a campaign card in the mail from incumbent Deb Reynolds. At the bottom it had her phone number. I dialed the number and discovered it was wrong. Are you kidding me? What does that tell you about attention to detail?

After calling her state senate office, a staff person gave me the correct number. When Deb and I talked, her idea to help business was to expand broadband coverage. It even said that on her campaign mailing. My research indicates well over 90 percent of the state of NH has high-speed Internet coverage. Those places where no broadband exists are not particularly suitable for small business anyway.

What's more, after questioning Deb about cheaper alternative methods to get broadband to our outlying areas, she had no idea about using wireless technology. This is what Third World countries are now using because it's cheaper and can get the signal to people without poles and cables running up every back road.

After hanging up, my choice was clear. How could Deb Reynolds possibly handle complex issues on our behalf if she can't even get her phone number right? Add to that hitching her wagon to decades-old technology with respect to broadband access.

We need bright people with fresh ideas representing us in Concord. I'm anxious to see Jeanie Forrester win on November 2nd.

Tim Carter
Founder - AsktheBuilder.com
Meredith, NH 03253

"... The basic fact is, most of these people just don't know what they are talking about. They are in large part getting their information from Glenn Beck, who totally and dangerously distorts facts, and frames everything in a myopic paranoia."

Lou, you get my emails. You know what I said a few weeks ago, don't you? Maybe you missed that one. I said that if you can prove that Glenn distorts the facts, then do so.

But don't confuse Glenn's opinions with facts. You have opinions about things as do all of us. We can debate opinions all day long and never make any progress. Here's an example.

You may say, "Glenn Beck is a hate monger." That's an opinion. I may talk till I'm blue in the face and never convince you he's not.

But if I said, "Glenn Beck said on his show last night that one of the logos for the Fabian Socialist movement is a wolf in sheep's clothing," that's a FACT. I'm making a statement about a particular thing that's we can prove is right or wrong.

It would be up to you to prove that statement is wrong. You would have to offer up an independent source about Fabian Socialism that showed they have a decidedly different logo.

Here's another example. You and I may be together sitting at an outdoor restaurant. You may say it's chilly and cool. I may think it's not. We can debate that till the cows come home.

But I may say, "It's 67 F," holding in my hand the exact thermometer that the US Weather Service uses for their readings. What I said is a fact. If you felt it was not 67 F, then you would have to prove I read the instrument wrong or it was out of calibration.

I say let the games begin! I've provided you with unlimited space in the comment area below this post. You go gather up all the FACTS you can about things that Glenn Beck has said. Please provide the URLs to the videos so we can see and hear him say them, and print them below. Be sure to then provide the URLs to the places that prove he's wrong.

Remember Lou, you need to talk about facts, not opinions. We'll see very soon if you possess that clarity. I'm sure the Court of Public Opinion will object strenuously if you don't.

Game On Lou!

It's all about reciprocity. You see, inside each human being is a deep psychological trigger that's flipped when that person accepts a gift or a favor. Food stamps are a gift, make no mistake about that. And because the gift involves survival, you have to eat to live, the person receiving the food stamps doesn't hesitate to reciprocate.

The science of this phenomenon is undisputed. It's covered in great detail in the book, Influence - The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini.

If you're the person receiving the food stamps, what possibly can you give back to the government? They don't want the wrappers or boxes that the food came in.

They, the politicians who gave you the food stamps, just want you to give them your vote. Yes, you can easily give them your vote. That, my friend, is reciprocity.

It's all part of Fabian Socialism. Make no mistake about that. Enlarging the Food Stamp Program, or SNAP as it's now called, is just another hammer blow to reshape the world to what Fabian Socialists want it to be like under their rule.

You probably think I'm crazy when I write things like this, don't you? Well, see for yourself. Check out the stained glass window that's a synopsis of the beliefs of the Fabian Socialists.

Look really closely at the logo shield above the red-hot globe of the Earth. Yes, that's a wolf in sheep's clothing. Have I got your attention yet? If so, write a comment below. That's how you can help me to tend Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

This is just part of the problem. Whatever happened to the term public servant? In the old days, if you wanted a job with security, one that would not go away, in return, you the employee, gave up any number of things. You would typically get lower pay, fewer benefits, etc. But you, the government employee, were okay with that because you knew each day you had a job.

But now it appears we, the taxpayers, have become the servants of government employees. They get paid more than equivalent workers in the private sector and they get better pensions and benefits.

Yes, some of the vendors are helping to foot the bill for this two-day health fair on Capitol Hill, but you know that taxpayer dollars and resources are being spent to make it happen. That's wrong.

In my opinion, all of these things the staffers are going to see and be exposed to can happen on a weekend at the local shopping malls in DC.

Understand that the actual bill that passed was H.R. 3590 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. As stated on GovTrack:

"This is the Senate's health care bill. The bill started off with text regarding an unrelated matter but the Senate is co-opted this bill as a vehicle for passage of their reform and changed the text in whole to the health care bill. They do this because the Constitution requires all revenue bills to start in the House, and their health reform plan involves revenue. So they have chosen to work off of a bill that started in the House, even if that bill is unrelated."

Please watch the following video, download a copy of H.R. 3590 (it's a huge file, beware!), and try to match up the points in the following video with language in the final bill that was signed into law. It may take some digging as the pages and section numbers stated in the following video will NOT match up with the final bill.

If you find a video like the one just below that is about H.R. 3590, PLEASE mention its URL in the comments below. I'll then load THAT video here. But for now, I'm willing to bet that MANY of the points made in the following video are indeed in H.R. 3590.

Tell me, are you upset yet? Are you ready to have those that voted YES on this bill continue to represent you?

Do you disagree with the points in the video? Do you think they are distortions? If so, give us your facts in the comments below. Make the corrections there giving us the links to the actual language you feel is in the bill.

But what is this all about? The liberals and progressives are sending out millions of emails across the land to folks they feel are there supporters. They're labeling people like me as extremists. Our illustrious Vice-President Joe Biden sent one yesterday to a great patriot friend of mine who lives in Santa Fe. You can read it below.

Normally I may object to the use of the word "extremists" as being incendiary - much like napalm used in warfare. It's political warfare going on now, but in this instance I actually believe that Joe, his buddy Barack and the entire crew used the right word.

The principles that I believe in, as well as the rest of the Tea Party Movement followers are undoubtedly seen as EXTREME if you're a liberal or progressive! It reminds me of contractors I see all the time do something wrong. They actually think they're doing a task correctly, but because they've been doing it WRONG so long, they feel they're right.

So to the liberals. They're so grounded in their left-wing ideology that they feel the principles and tenets found in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are extreme.

Here's a copy of Joe's email. It's cleverly written, so you know Joe didn't write it. Some public relations professional with a psychology background wrote this for the liberals.

From: Joe Biden Date: September 27, 2010 3:15:37 PM MDT To: Name / email hidden by me to prevent SPAM to recipient Subject: 31 donations in Santa Fe Reply-To: info@barackobama.com

Friend --

I'll tell you one thing that worries me about this election: There's a small group of billionaires and corporate special interests that are trying to buy their way back into power. They're spending their fortunes to defeat our folks and elect some of the most right-wing Republicans this country has ever seen.

We've launched the By the People Fund to fight back, with the goal of reaching 3 million grassroots donations to power the most ambitious on-the-ground effort ever waged in an election like this.

Here's the deal: We're only 22,981 donations away from shattering that goal right now. We could reach it this month, with one big push this week.

It's going to take 31 grassroots donations in Santa Fe to get there.

Please chip in $5 to the By the People Fund today -- and help us take back our elections.

I spent 36 years in the Senate, serving alongside Republicans of all stripes. But some of the Republicans running now are not from your grandfather's Republican Party. They're from the Republican Tea Party:

-- Sharron Angle, who wants to be the next senator from Nevada, has called for phasing out Social Security and Medicare -- and even wants to end maternity coverage.

-- Pat Toomey is running for Senate in Pennsylvania. He wants to de-regulate Big Oil and open up the Great Lakes for drilling.

-- Christine O'Donnell, who is vying for the same Senate seat I was honored to hold in Delaware, is campaigning on repealing health reform.

The fact is this: The corporate special interests trying to elect these Republicans don't care if they're supporting extremists.

They just want us out of the way. With your help, we've enacted historic reforms despite their best efforts to derail us. Now, they're focused on one thing -- creating a Congress in which they can call the shots once again.

That's why they're pulling out all the stops -- and spending millions -- to win in November.

But we will not stand by and let them take the country backward.

We're counting on you to chip in today to fight back. Your donation will help us fund the organizing going on right now in key races across the country.

Please donate $5 or more and help us reach our By the People Fund goal:

https://donate.barackobama.com/3Million

Thank you,

Joe Biden

P.S. -- Tomorrow night at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time, President Obama will be rallying with supporters in Madison, Wisconsin. It should be an exciting event -- and you can watch it live at www.BarackObama.com.

But that suffering, if you read the article, is pretty much confined to those residents of Taylor that pay property taxes. Wait till you read the percentage increase of property taxes the residents of Taylor have endured recently. Do you think that's sustainable?

Don't let a municipal employee of Taylor tell you they get stuck paying the property tax. The people in the private sector pay all the property taxes of the local government employees.

These local and state government pension time bombs are scattered all across the USA. In Amberley Village, Ohio the same thing is happening. Peel back the layers of the generous benefits that those employees get and you'll be shocked.

The Amberley Village police and fire officers, many hard working and dedicated, can opt in to a state DROP program that allows them to boost their pensions significantly in the later years of their careers. Who pays for this? The citizens of Ohio and Amberley Village who muggle about their lives each day with their blinders on.

Jon, you're most welcome at the Fire Pit anytime. It would be an honor to sit with you and discuss how we're going to gently step back from the precipice. Linda, you come to.

What's worse, is that you know this is happening all over the USA. It's perhaps rampant in big cities, but undoubtedly happens in smaller rural areas where it's easy for a dominant party to bully others.

If you're looking for a new hobby, do in your city or town what Catherine Engelbrecht did with her friends. I may start this myself with my other new hobby, geocaching.

You're so wrong about the tax cuts.

When was the last time you were hired by a poor man? The media makes out many wealthy people to be greedy, selfish and wasteful. That's not the case with all of the rich people I know.

Many wealthy people own businesses that create the backbone of the USA economy. They own both large and small businesses.

My income as a small businessman happens to be above the threshold of the proposed tax cut. If Obama gets his way and raises the taxes, I will pay more to the government. I could have used that same money and hired two new people up here in New Hampshire thus helping grow our state economy.

But now I'm not hiring anyone waiting to see what's going to happen. Tens of thousands of other small and medium businesses like me are doing the same. We are not hiring because we may lose money.

How's that possible you ask? If we hire now and the Bush tax cuts are not extended to us, the wealthy, we not only have to spend the money for an employee or two, but then we also have to give the government more money. Do the math. That means we take a pay cut for trying to help. Don't forget, the private sector employees and business owners carry all the water. Well, not all the workers, see far below.

Anyway, would you do that? Would you put yourself in a position to lose money?

Here's the formula to grow our economy and get out of this mess we're in:

CUT Government Spending Across the Board IMMEDIATELY- except for Defense - by 35%.

You don't have to fire anyone. Just tell every government employee they have to suck it up, do their part, and take a pay cut. If they don't like that, they can resign and go get a job in the private sector.

Please be aware that recent studies show clearly that government employees make more money and benefits than their equals in the private sector. Many government workers are doing quite well indeed.

You do realize that every single government employee is feeling little or no pain at this time with respect to their job security. Most of them do not wake up each day wondering if they'll get laid off. If taxes go up for them, they don't suffer. Those of us in the private sector who work and pay taxes pay ALL of the salary, benefits, and all of the taxes of each government employee. The government workers carry none of the water when it comes to balancing the budget or paying down our national debt. We, in the private sector, deliver it to them in 55-gallon barrels.

The only way for government employees to pitch in and help solve the budget issue is for them to make their own contribution by taking less money from the pot. It's that simple. They could also resign, ask that their job be eliminated, and come to work in the private sector making an even bigger contribution by helping the rest of us carry the water.

Then, cut taxes by 10 percent across the board and watch the economy soar as it did under President Reagan. If I knew my taxes would get cut, I would not keep that money. I would reinvest it in my business hiring not two people but perhaps four or five to make my business grow even faster. The GROWTH of my business will make me more money. That's the beauty of capitalism.

Those new employees I hired would now have money to spend on products and services and they would help grow the economy. Imagine tens of thousands of businesswomen and businessmen doing this.

And there you have it. Oh, here's another factoid from a recent article in Forbes magazine.

"The top 1% of Americans pay 40% of all federal income taxes; the next 9% of income earners pay another 30%. So the top 10% of income earners pay 70% of all the taxes; the bottom 40% pays next to nothing. This does indeed seem unfair - to the rich."

ARE YOU KIDDING ME????

That's insanely unfair.

The reason politicians can get away with targeting the very wealthy is because they're such a small voting block. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out.

Retirement income planning is something that many older Americans are now thinking about on a daily basis. The recession of 2008 that continues to this day is not going to turn around anytime soon in my opinion. The rules to the game of life as we once knew it have changed dramatically.

When the other two parts to the series are published, I'll create links to them. I urge you to start using any and all retirement planning tools as soon as possible. I'm working my butt off right now forging my own tools that will help me create little ATM machines each of which that will spit out a small amount of money each day to help me pay my bills and allow me to not have to wring my hands each day. You can do the same. We live in the land of opportunity here in the USA. Take advantage of it.

Watch this video of Governor Chris Christie politely answering a New Jersey teacher who had the floor during a Q and A session at a town hall meeting. The banner behind the governor leads me to believe it's not at town meeting, but I absolutely could be mistaken.

I love Governor Christie's attitude and his willingness to take arrows, spears and swords in an effort to do the right thing. History will absolutely treat Governor Christie favorably as he's a true patriot.

Mr. Zibel wrote the following at the end of his story:

Moody's Analytics projects that home prices could drop another 20 percent by early 2012 if there is another recession. Even if the recovery remains on track, Moody's forecasts that prices will falling another 5 percent and hit bottom early next year.

A continuing surge of foreclosures is also making the problem worse.

The nation is now on track to have more than 1 million homes lost to foreclosure by the end of the year, according to foreclosure listing service RealtyTrac Inc. That would eclipse the more than 900,000 homes repossessed in 2009, and compares with the more than 100,000 homes that lenders typically seized per year before the housing bust.

Those at risk of foreclosure are having a hard time getting help. Nearly half of the 1.3 million U.S. homeowners who enrolled in the Obama administration's flagship mortgage-relief program have fallen out, the Treasury Department said last week. That compares with about 422,000 homeowners, or roughly 32 percent of those who started the program, have received permanent loan modifications and are making their payments on time.

After copying and pasting the above portion of the article, Chuck then said:

Place yourself in John Q. Public's shoes:

You're unemployed or not confident about your continued employment.

The home you bought as a retirement nest-egg is now worth considerably less than your mortgage balance.

You have no equity in your home to upgrade to a larger home.

You have no equity in your home to pay down credit cards or for home improvements or vacations.

You had hoped to sell your home to fund your retirement, but now you'll have to save more of your paycheck.

If consumer spending is 70% of GDP, what could possibly change John Q. Public's scenario that would get him spending again?

Now that's a profound analysis. The sad part is that the current administration, as well as I believe many politicians at all levels, are unaware of this potential mindset.

I did hear this being discussed in a panel discussion on FoxNews just yesterday, but it centered on creating jobs in the private sector. It's like links in a chain. Everything is indeed interconnected.

More jobs, long-term ones - not stupid stimulus jobs that evaporate when all the road work is done, would go a long way to build confidence so that people would start to spend again.

Think about the answer to Chuck's question. Just exactly what will it take to get John Q. Public to start spending again? After all, mortgage rates are at historic lows, and the real estate market is as grim as those attending a child's funeral.

Don't listen to the blather of politicians who are saying we're on the road to recovery. That the current policies will pull us out of the fire. That's all balderdash.

We, the Public, are under assault from all fronts. City, State and the Federal governments are in debt up to their ears. Many of these bodies are going to be coming after you and I from all directions to subtly raise taxes to cover the debt. That causes even more agony with respect to disposable dollars to fuel a recovery.

Once again, part of the solution is to shrink government. Reduce the actual cost rather than try to find money to balance the budgets.

What do you think? What are you going to do on November 2, 2010? Are you starting to get energized? Are you going to start to take control of your destiny? You can do that very easily by GETTING INVOLVED in the campaign of a candidate that feels as I do and understands how all of these things are interconnected. You also need to VOTE on November 2, 2010.

Write a comment below. Tell me how you feel about what Chuck had to say.

How can this happen you ask? It's simple. I was a two-term elected council member of Amberley Village, Ohio. We rarely had more than three or four residents attend our Council meetings. The meetings were taped and played back at a later date on cable access television, so other residents could watch what happened. With so few people paying attention, you bet that shenanigans can happen.

I suspect this is what the autopsy will show in Bell, California when the California attorney general finishes his investigation. The residents of Bell probably assumed all was well and simply never attended the meetings. That's like asking the fox to guard the hen house.

This same thing can happen on a national level. I actually think it has to a large degree. Many USA citizens have become apathetic to government. When this happens, the elected officials go on a feeding frenzy. We're seeing it happening now.

But the American people are waking up. Let's hope they're totally lucid and caffeinated on November 2, 2010.

In the most recent Big Idea article, they talked about pumping carbon dioxide deep into the Earth to get rid of it so it doesn't create global warming. Are you kidding me? What are the bad scientific ramifications and secondary effects of pumping TONS of carbon dioxide into the Earth? Does Mother Nature do this regularly? Of course not.

Here's a magazine that promotes the natural way things happen suggesting a most unnatural solution. In the September issue I wonder if we'll see an article suggesting we try connecting continental plates together with giant bolts so they don't move around causing earthquakes and tsunamis.

I was so troubled by this article I sent yet another letter to editor of the magazine just moments before writing this. Here's what I sent to the Editor in Chief at National Geographic magazine. If you see it in an upcoming issue and I miss it, please let me know!

Dear Editor:

Your Big Idea - Carbon Capture article in the August 2010 issue about pumping carbon dioxide deep into the Earth to offset global warming very well might end up in the Hall of Scientific Shame in years to come. It will probably be in the same wing as blood letting, electroshock therapy for depression and adjacent to the perfectly flat scale model of the Earth - the one with the ships going off the edge.

Each issue I wait and wait for hallmark balanced journalism. Why haven't you done an article on the climate change that's based on indisputable evidence? You know, the climate change that created New York state's Finger Lakes, the terminal glacial moraines in the Midwest and the glacial geology all over the Northeast USA. We've had four periods of massive snow and ice accumulation and then melting over the past two million years, but not one factory, car, bus, truck or power plant was around when the climate was heating up and cooling off.

Tim Carter
Meredith, NH

I'm so sick of the lemmings that worship Al Gore and all the other *scientists* that say they are professionals. I can clearly remember my early science classes. Father Ludwig at Roger Bacon High School taught us that ALL the facts and observances dealing with an hypothesis MUST be considered and analyzed.

So why is all the hard evidence about Continental Glaciation being ignored? The facts are there. Mother Nature has CHANGED the CLIMATE on her own without us having done one darn thing to help her.

Our ancestors were shivering in caves in Europe during the last period of continental glaciation. Their cousins on the Serengeti Plain in Africa were probably wearing light jackets and rain coats as the climate there was perhaps cooler and wetter. Remember, these ancestors of ours relied on things made by hand, not factories, they had no power plants, and transportation happened using the footmobile.

How does all this affect you? Simple. You need to contact your Congressional representatives who are supporting the horrible Cap and Tax, er I mean, Cap and Trade legislation and tell them the entire bill is based on false science. Send them an admission ticket to the Hall of Scientific Shame.

For decades we had politicians who understood the American people. They tended to make small changes that didn't upset most of us. The changes were often so slight, we didn't even notice.

But Obama has been making radical changes. Many people don't like this. When you try to come up with similar situations you can see why the professor likens our current situation here in the USA to an occupation by an unfriendly force.

We'll discover if he's right and if I'm close on November 2, 2010. I'll take a nap that day as I absolutely will stay up late watching the West Coast results come in.

Take a look at this and just remember elections in November 2010.

U.S. House & Senate have voted themselves $4,700 and $5,300 raises respectively.

They voted to NOT give you a S.S. Cost of living raise in 2010 and 2011.

Your Medicare premiums will go up $285.60 for the 2-years 2010 and 2011.

You will not get the 3% COLA: $660/yr.

Your total 2-yr loss and cost is -$1,600 or -$3,200 for husband and wife.

Over these same 2-years each member of Congress will get $10,000.

Do you feel used?

Will they have your cost of drugs - doctor fees - local taxes - food, etc., decrease?
NO WAY.

Congress received a raise and has better health and retirement benefits than you or I.

Why should they care about you?

You never did anything about it in the past.

Send the message to these individuals --- ! YOU'RE FIRED !

In 2010 you will have a chance to get rid of the sitting Congress: up to 1/3 of the Senate and 100% of the House!

Make sure you're still mad in November 2010 and remind their replacements not to screw-up.

It is okay to forward this to your sphere of influence if you are finally tired of the abuse.

Maybe it's time for Amendment 28 to the Constitution.

"Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators or Representatives, and Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States ."

If you don't email the URL of this webpage to all your friends, you're just part of the problem of national apathy.

To add insult to injury, the boat was built in New Zealand, not by skilled USA labor. What do all you Massachusetts union boat builders have to say about that? Heck, you can be a union worker anywhere in the USA that's unknowingly donated your hard-earned money, in the form of your union dues, to John Kerry's re-election efforts. I'll bet you're steamed, just like the mussels that will be served to Kerry's friends and guests on the Isabel.

What's ironic about this event is that his home state of Massachusetts is in deep financial trouble facing a budget deficit of close to $1 billion this year. It appears that Kerry feels it okay for all the other MA citizens to carry this water, even though he's probably one of the richest residents in Massachusetts and can easily afford to pay the taxes due.

It doesn't matter if you're liberal, conservative or somewhere in between on this issue. Surely you're sick of politicians who say one thing and expect us to toe the tax line, but when it comes to them they find a loophole or flat out ignore the law. I can't wait to read your comment if you're going to come to Kerry's defense.

The point is simple. There will always be those that want to rule and dominate. They crave power and all that comes with it. History is full of these people. Think of any ruler going back deep into history: the Pharohs of Egypt, Roman emperors, Alexander the Great, Attila the Hun, Kings of France or England, etc. All of these power lovers had an entourage. It's no different today. Those who are promoting an "ism" (marxism, communism, socialism, fascism, etc.) want to be on the edges of power vortex where they get benefits that the masses don't.

I urge you to circulate the link to this page to all you know so they can see a cartoon made in 1948, sixty-two years ago, that's as relevant now as it was then. When you see the salesman in the cartoon hawking the elixir, you'll undoubtedly replay in your head sound bites of Obama in his campaign speeches. It's unnerving. Perhaps he used this cartoon when he was rehearsing!

UPDATE: July 13, 2010 - Last night while watching FoxNews, it was reported that a new poll shows 55% of voters feel President Obama is a socialist. The shocking thing is that this poll was taken by the Democratic Corps - an organization founded by two Democratic soldiers - James Carville and Stan Greenberg. Wow!

Governor Schwarzenegger's method to help balance his state budget is more brilliant than mine. He just said that all salaried state workers not covered with a union contract now make the Federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. It's a stroke of genius. After all, if that wage base is good enough for people who work out in the real world, it's good enough for government employees, right?

Of course the government workers have options. They don't have a gun to their heads making them come into work each day in Sacramento. They can tender their resignation and go find a better paying job. After all they live in the United States, the land of opportunity. We've got legal immigrants who leave all behind to come here to make a life for themselves. Surely a US citizen has a tremendous advantage.

But you'll see people rant and rave about this. In fact, one of them is quoted in the USA Today story. Robert Blanche, a state employee mentioned, "He's (Schwarzenegger) trying to balance the budget on the backs of state employees." Robert, give me a break! The citizens of California are suffering as well in many other ways. You need to suffer along with them. Your frustration and anger is misdirected. The blame lies with past state legislators who overspent and created budget numbers based on an ever-expanding economy.

Now that we're in a depression, yes we are, it's time for extreme measures. The golden honey pot of state money is empty. Get realistic, Robert.

You can hear the manager's question at the end of a video shot by WISN-TV, but Vice President Biden walked away not responding. His "smartass" reply must have happened just after the video stopped.

Let's assume Biden made the rude comment to the manager. If so, it's just another piece of evidence screaming about how out of touch some politicians are with us, their bosses.

Vice President Biden may have thought the manager was a smartass, or even worse, but he is expected to keep that bottled up inside. You bet his public-relations handler, if he has one, wished he would have replied, "Sir, lowering taxes is something we should look at. If my memory serves me right, I believe in the 1980's we lowered taxes and the USA experienced a massive economic growth spurt. I'll remind my colleagues of this back in DC and we'll see if we can't honor your request."

But no, Biden was a victim of amygdala hijacking (thank you Professor Laura Beauvais Ph.D. - URI). He didn't stop to think before he opened his custard hole.

This is why we need to fire (not re-elect) politicians who think the way Biden does - or should I say not think.

I urge you to visit Kelly's AyotteforSenate website and discover more about her. I have a feeling that you'll like what you see.

Remember, if we want to take back our great nation from those who are daily taking us down the road to ruin, we MUST help them. This means donating money to their cause. Even if you don't live in NH, Kelly can use your help. Every dollar you donate allows her to broadcast her message. Believe me, I know as I was elected twice to public office. You need money for signs, ads, staff, etc. Help Kelly now.

Greece has billions of dollars worth of bonds due in less than two weeks. Because their politicians have been spending like drunken sailors, they don't have the money to pay the bond holders. Bonds are just IOUs.

Governments are not much different than you or I. Just as we need a big loan to buy a house, a government may need a monster loan to build a railroad, a sewer plant, or any other massive project. Heck, as in the case of the USA, we borrow money to pay for giveaway programs. Yes, we borrow money to just give it away for free to our citizens. But I digress.

The person that buys the bond is simply a lender. They make a deal where they lend their actual money to the government hoping to get their money back, plus interest over some period of time. There are short-term and long-term bonds.

Bonds are considered pretty safe investments, especially when they are issued by governments. Why? Because it's always felt the government will repay the bonds by raising taxes or manufacturing the money that's owed.

But the Greek case is very interesting. Greece doesn't control its currency anymore. It's part of the cabal that uses the Euro. This means that Greece can't go fire up it's printing presses to *make* money to pay off the bond holders. Isn't that interesting!

Think about it from the standpoint of the bond holders. If they don't get their money and the interest due, they'll be VERY reluctant to buy any more bonds - not only from Greece, but any other country that wants to pay back the amount in Euros.

So the countries that are all part of the Euro coterie are in emergency meetings right now trying to figure out how to keep the bondholders happy and at the same time get the countries that use the Euro to rein in spending with controls that work. It's not going to be an easy task.

You see, printing more money (Euros) to pay back the bondholders isn't such a great idea. Why? That new money dilutes the value of the existing money that's in circulation. The other nations that use the Euro for their currency DON'T want to see *their* money devalued. See why this is so complex? Greece's foolish spending is now causing pain for all the countries that use the Euro.

At some point, if there's too much *money* out there, it can lose it's value as no one wants to possess it. Scarcity of something is what creates value. I mean for goodness sake, how much do you value sand? It's a worthless commodity because there's so much of it.

What's all of this have to do with us here in the USA? Plenty. I've been saying for months that our out-of-control spending will lead to the financial ruin of our country. Our politicians are paying our bond holders with BORROWED money, not real dollars that have been saved.

What's happening here in the USA is no different than you or I getting a new credit card and using the limit on that card to pay off a different credit card bill from six months ago. Remember, there are two ways to pay off debt: Use money you've produced and saved (slow and laborious), or go borrow money (quick and fast) to pay off a debt you happen to owe some other person, bank, bondholder, etc.

This can happen on a grand scale. Many politicians will tell you that the USA is too big to fail. That's poppycock. Look at history! The Greeks have already failed once before. Go to Athens and peer at the crumbling ruins of their grand empire of thousands of years ago. Hells bells, they don't even have the money to preserve those relics, so Mother Nature is slowly reclaiming them.

Egypt failed. Rome failed. Attila the Hun got his clock cleaned. Spain failed 600 years ago. England took her place and bit the dust in the 1800's or so. The list of failed civilizations is as long as lines of people wanting to buy the new iPad.
You bet we can fail.

How do we prevent the financial failure of the USA? It's so easy. We drastically rein in our out-of-control and wasteful government spending. We operate on a balanced Federal budget, just as the states are forced to do. We run the nation as we run our own personal finances.

To achieve this goal, we need to elect politicians that have the foresight to do this. It's starting to happen already! Did you see what happened yesterday in Utah? Yes, the Republican party kicked Robert Bennett to the curb. He had his 18 years in the Senate. The people in power in Utah recognize that it's time to do the right thing.

The rest of us NEED to follow Utah's lead, or we'll be where Greece and the rest of Europe are today.

What I mean is that shrewd politicians who want to change the direction of a nation do it in a very slow way so as to cloak their real intentions. Radical movements attract attention. Slow and thoughtful tweaks of policy or position usually don't get citizens upset.

But over time, and in some cases this can be decades, the small movements add up to a major change. I believe this action on this topic is one of these.

I'm not the first to talk about the Progressive movement trying to achieve a goal over generations. Those who are behind this dedicate themselves to knowing that in their lifetime the ultimate goal may not be achieved. They sacrifice themselves on the altar of the Progressive Movement to be one more building block. Think of it as chapters in a book.

Hilary Clinton and Barrack Obama want to be named in the title of one of these chapters. They're on their way to accomplishing this now. You and I need to stop their progress by electing officials who place our Constitution FIRST and those rights desired by other countries in the World SECOND.

I don't know about you, but most people in the World don't care about us and our beliefs, so why should we put on center stage here in the USA all of the beliefs of others? It's time to stop this silliness of trying to satisfy everyone. It's just not possible.

Revere America is a new organization dedicated to advancing common sense public policies rooted in our traditions of freedom and free markets that will once again make America secure and prosperous for generations to come.

When you step back and think about those words, they map out a pretty broad strategy. There are many public policies. In fact, I would say there are hundreds of them. Think about all the issues: taxes, energy, defense, immigration, etc. All you really have to do is look at the Cabinet positions for the primary topics, and then subdivide into all the things covered under each one.

The first goal of this new organization is to gather one million signatures of citizens who still shudder to think how the Obama Care Health Care Bill was ramrodded and shoved down the collective throats of Americans when there were accurate polls that a vast majority of citizens didn't want this Bill.

I urge you to visit the RevereAmerica.org site and sign their petition.

You missed the flip side of the 'Patriots' label which these right wingers give their opponents, i.e. Tories. And for that look no further than another columnist on the WP, Tim Carter on the real estate page or askthebuilder.com. He calls himself a patriot and others who question his politics on the site, e.g. me, a tory. He is a builder, not a destroyer, by trade, so maybe he just does not realize what others might do with these words. But these labels say something. Tories were traitors in the revolution, hunted down and expelled and that is just how some of these people imagine anyone who opposes them.

What can you say about this? My take on the email is pretty simple. Robert is trying to get The Washington Post to drop my syndicated newspaper column Ask the Builder, even though in my home-improvement column I never discuss politics.

What's more, Robert did the age-old trick of pulling statements out of context. All you have to do is go read any of the past posts here at the Fire Pit about Tories and you can see how I referenced that term.

Then go read any post where I use the word 'patriot'. It's always used in the strictest sense - one who loves their country. You can be of any political leaning and still be a patriot. However, there's a big difference between one who treats our Constitution as the sacred document it is vs. a person who would use it to wrap fish.

I'm saddened by Robert's email. He's trying to diminish my income just because he and I can't see eye to eye on issues. Robert, don't you believe in free speech? Are you trying to stifle me? Are you lashing out because you want to hurt me? Is that the American way? Is that what a patriot would do? What's next my friend?

Robert, I wonder what visitors here to the Fire Pit would say to you face to face if given the opportunity. We'll find out in a short time as the comments start to build below.

* Author's Note: During the last week of April, 2010 I was contacted by Ms. Marie Still who is employed by the Metropolitan Regional Informations Systems, Inc. She wanted me to make it clear that Mr. Thomas is not an employee of the company. He's a customer. Ms. Still indicated that any customer that does business with them can obtain an email address that ends with the mris.com domain-name extension.

Thus my original statement at the top of this post still stands and is 100 percent accurate. Mr. Thomas is, or was in the past, connected in a business relationship with the Metropolitan Regional Informations Systems, Inc. If asked by Ms. Still, I'll gladly copy and paste the entire email thread between her and I showing this to be fact. I'll post that as well.

Over the past few hours several have commented on other posts at this website. Some are filled with despair. I've gotten one email from a person who wants to run away and move to another country. Are you kidding me? The USA is the best country in the world. Never run away from problems. Run AT them full speed.

Here's what I don't understand. I've visited two different stores today. I talked to everyone that could fog a mirror. Not one was for the Health Care Bill. They are all depressed. I was too, but now that feeling is turning into power.

Here's what I can't comprehend. If I could find a person who was for the Health Care Bill I'd ask them:

Did you know that it was virtually impossible to read the bill, digest it and debate it in its entirety in the past 72 hours? Are you positive that your representative read the bill and understood it? Can you read a 500-page book in a weekend? The Health Care Bill was over 2,000 pages of legalize.

Do you think it's a good idea to go bankrupt? This bill will do it to our country in less than ten years.

Did you know that Massachusetts Health Care System is on life support? It's only because the Federal government has been transfusing it with cash that the state of Massachusetts has not already gone bankrupt. Don't believe me? Read what Cal Thomas has to say.

Did you know a vast majority of Americans were against the bill? The polls clearly show this. What do you have to say about a Congress that treats its constituents with such contempt? Oh, that's right, you're for the bill so you're thinking they did the right thing.

I could go on and on. As it is, my thoughts are disjointed.

But hear me now. I'll chase Carol Shea Porter, my House representative, to the gates of Hell for voting Yes on this Bill. I'll do everything in my power to ensure she's voted out of office on November 2, 2010. I'll work the polls for the best candidate that runs against her. I'll invest hundreds of dollars in ads. You name it, I'll do it.

If you feel as I do, then pledge now to get more involved and do whatever you can to help any candidate that's running against someone who voted Yes to the bill. It's time we did a hard reset on Congress.

Once we get the right team in DC, we then simply repeal this horrible bill. We've repealed Amendments to our Constitution, so repealing a bill is like shooting fish in a barrel. Make sure any person you vote for has put in writing before the election language that says they'll repeal this bill. Don't for a moment trust a verbal promise.

I did that. I made up a couple of signs ("No on 'Health Care'" and, "Don't 'Slaughter' our Constitution") and drove the 39 miles and 1 hour into Santa Fe, where I was the only one on St. Michael's Drive in front of Ben Ray Lujan's (D-NM 03) office this afternoon.

The vast majority of the drivers that went by had no reaction to my
signs. I was able, however, to determine the reactions of 40 of them:

32 in favor and 8 against what I had to say.

One of the "againsts" was a fellow on a bicycle who figured the health care bill would have no effect, since the drug companies controlled health care before the bill and would control it after, and who said we lost our Constitution years ago, commenting that the last time we declared war on anyone was Italy in WWII and that all of the wars since were unconstitutional.

One of the "fors" was an older fellow who looked at my signs and said, "You're doing a good job."

Another one of the "fors" was a fellow and his daughter who parked their car, came over and said, "I want to shake your hand." He was from Texas and said that they wouldn't put up with the nonsense that has been going on. He mentioned about Texas seceding. I commented that I had gone to graduate school in Texas and heard that Texas had reserved for itself that option.

I got there at 1:27 and left at 5:00, quite sore from holding the signs in the wind and cold.

Craig, I personally thank you for this effort. It's all about social proof. More will do what you did, especially those who saw you, because they need to see others doing it first.

Take the War in Iraq for example. People thrash President Bush for this action. Slow down partner, Congress has to vote to fund the war. Go look at the Congressional Record to see how many Democrats and Republicans both voted for it. Remember, if a person or party didn't want to go to war, they just vote No and the funding stops if there is a majority who are against it.

I'm also seeing a trend in the comments where you may be saying I'm bloviating, but not offering up solutions. Not true. Go back and read many, if not all, of my past posts here in the Fire Pit.

I'll give you the Cliff's Notes version right now:

• Start to Fix Health Care With Open Competition Across State Lines and Tort Reform


• Shrink Government by 35 Percent


• Balance the Budget Every Year


• Start to Pay Down the National Debt


• Lower Taxes to Stimulate the Growth of Business


• Prohibit Earmarks on Legislation

Those are the goals. Achieving them is easy. We just need people in Congress who have the guts to do them and take any arrows that come their way. I'd do it in a heartbeat.

Do you have better solutions? Let's hear them. Write your comments below. Make sure they add value to the conversation.

I'll not waste time trying to summarize what Michael has to say about House Bill 3200. Go read for yourself. It's chilling.

Rise up now. Grab your sword, pike pole, bow and arrow, knife, dagger, etc. This is the last stand. The domestic enemy is upon us, they smell blood and are nearly at our necks.

If your remember nothing else, remember this:

Take No Prisoners

Effective today the threat level is red. It doesn't get any more dangerous than that. Thanks to my very dear friend Veronica Hill for producing the above graphic. Another great friend, Chuck Eglinton sent me the first one, as well as five other subscribers. Thanks so much to all for sending in your graphics.

It's red because of the extreme measures that Congress is going to to try to get the Health Care Bill passed. Today they exposed a trick where they can "deem" something passed. It's a dusty old rule that some previous Congress put into play. We MUST stop this. It's absolute insanity.

Add to that the Executive Powers that, over time, have been granted to the President of the United States. These powers have become too extreme as can be seen by the below chart that was shown today on Glenn Beck's show. This chart was created by by Phil Kerpen at Americans for Prosperity.

Do you understand it? Do you see how President Obama has bypassed Congress on several initiatives? This is not what the Founding Fathers had in mind. Have other Presidents done this? Yes. Does this power need to be scaled back? You bet it does.

The bottom line is that you and I need to put the brakes on. It's time for a hard reset. We absolutely need to put in office true patriots that will honor the Constitution, not try to twist and bend it.

Will you help me? Will you now devote your life to preserve the Republic? We are engaged in hand-to-hand combat with progressive forces that absolutely want to concentrate power and grow government. The evidence is everywhere.

Show me you will join me. Pledge to do it in a comment below. Tell me what you'll do. You have many options. You can pledge to call and write your representatives Monday through Friday. You can pledge money and donate it to causes that are trying to put true patriots in office. You can pledge to go to the next Tea Party meeting or event. You can pledge to start to contact all your friends and neighbors. You can pledge to run for office yourself.

But you must pledge. If you don't, you may regret it. I beg you not to utter the words months or years from now: Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda.

We have domestic enemies who are trying to rip the Constitution to shreds. If you don't believe me, watch today's Glenn Beck show once it's loaded to his website.

We are now at a very historic moment in our nation's history. It's one of those times where the course of the nation can make a drastic change. Just look at history.

Imagine what the debate was like in 1863 as the Civil War was raging. It had to be similar to what's happening now with the polarized sides about this health care debate.

But think for a moment what our great nation would be like today if Pickett's Charge on the gentle farmland of Gettysburg had been a success and the South gone on to win the Civil War. Would there be two nations? Would the South have truly split away, or, would they have taken over the North and slavery be the norm today in many households here in the USA? That's a strange concept to even ponder.

However, that's where we are at right now. If this monsterous health care bill passes, what will the USA be like in 20 years? I shudder to think about it.

I've said it before and I'll keep saying it: The Free Market can fix health care. Allow for open competition across state lines for any company to sell any policy to anyone or any business, and things will immediately improve.

Take it one step farther. Remove the restrictions about who can build hospitals where they want. Yes, there are such restrictions! Let the free market decide who can build the most efficient hospital in each city. The one with the best doctors and best staff. Do you fly much? Then you know why Southwest Airlines is kicking butt in these tough times.

Here's the bottom line. You and I alone can defeat this health care bill. The sole reason there has been no vote on Capitol Hill is because House Speaker Pelosi knows it will not pass. There are House representatives who seem to have put down the Kool-Aid and are starting to think about the upcoming election this November.

My House rep is one of them - Carol Shea-Porter. I've already written to her twice telling her that if she votes Yes on the Bill, I'll gladly provide my truck to her just before Thanksgiving to help move her out of her headquarters in Manchester, NH. You see, she will lose the election if she votes Yes. I know that like I know the sun will rise tomorrow.

Remember, that's the only Achilles Heel of a politician - they just want to stay in office. They are no different than children. If you want your kid to do something, threaten to take away the thing they desire most. In the case of my youngest daughter, that would be her cell phone.

It's so easy to stop this health care bill. All you have to do is pick up the phone or send an email to your Congressional representatives - both your US Senators and your House representative. Take it one step further. Get on the phone or email all of your friends and relatives. Plead with them to make the same calls. Tell them the time is NOW.

This is the exact emotion the Union soldiers conjured up that humid muggy day at Gettysburg when Pickett's men were coming towards the low stone wall and the stand of trees. In the heat of the battle it was hand-to-hand combat. The Union mustered just a tad more strength, determination, and fortitude than what the Confederates had at that moment. Affix your bayonet to your phone or keyboard right now and stand by my side in this battle to the death.

Here's a list of who needs to be called. Do it during the week when a human answers the phone

I can tell you right now that I want to do the same thing up in NH. Who wants to go in on a project like this?

Are you taking this personally yet? You should be. Here's a man that's rejecting our wishes, surrounded by his party members that are doing the same. Call it contempt, tyranny, ignorance, whatever.

One thing's for sure. IF the Administration and the Democratic Congress use the Reconciliation card to pass this bill, it will be political suicide. The vast majority of citizens in this nation like you and I will go on the warpath. We're already painting our faces for November, 2, 2010, but now we'll grab the tomahawks.

Add to this the disregard for the facts that are out there about doctors. I just read a fascinating story in USA Today about the primary care doctor shortage. Connie, a retired RN, wrote to me about this months ago. Now what she revealed is in the mainstream media.

I urge you to contact your Senators, House Reps and even the President telling them all that passage of the Health Care Bill will be hazardous to their political health.

My lovely wife Kathy sent me an email about a fascinating video. I urge you to watch this tasteful and revealing video produced by the Dallas Tea Party to show who seems to have a racial slant. Shame on you MSNBC and Keith Olbermann. Oh, do you hear that distant rumble over the horizon? Yes, it's the storm building that's going to forever change your life. It's fury will be unleashed on November 2, 2010.

Needless to say, Graham has a unique perspective on events unfolding here in the United States with regards to the Cap and Trade Bill that passed the US House of Representatives back in 2009. Here's what he sent me overnight:

Patricia Booth was a government employee in her mid forties managing a department of more than 60 staff when she first started taking little brown pills in the hope that they would cure stubborn patches of spots on her face. Ms Ying Wu who was employed as a "Chinese Doctor" advised Mrs Booth to take up to 30 of the pills 3 times a day which were sold by the Chinese Medical Centre in Chelmsford, Essex.

The pills contained a substance, aristolochic acid, which is known to cause renal problems and cancer although they were billed as both safe and natural. In Patricia Booth's case taking them over a five year period led to kidney failure and later on cancer of the urinary tract.

Ying Wu was ultimately charged with "administering a noxious substance so as to endanger life or inflict grievous bodily harm". In court the judge ruled that Ms Wu did not know that the medicine contained a poison, Wu was found not guilty and discharged.

In February 2010 the Corus Steelworks in Redcar, England was closed leaving 1,600 men unemployed. The plant is in official terms merely mothballed although at an estimated reactivation cost of $100 million everyone knows that steel will never be made there again.

By 'mothballing' the plant the Indian company Tata who own Corus can still make money out of the dead plant to the tune of as much as £250 million over the next 3 years. This is because the coke making activity of the steel plant will continue to receive it's allocation of 7 million carbon credits each year under the European Union Carbon Emissions Trading allowance system (CET) because it theoretically could be used to emit carbon dioxide. The actual value of the credits can rise or fall but the principle is clear.

An Indian company is making money by closing down a British company. To be entirely fair Tata have just said that they will bank the credits for 3 years to see if anyone wants to buy the steel plant but let's be honest this is just a bit of window dressing. The British taxpayer is going to pay an Indian firm to lay off British workers who will largely not find alternative employment.

If carbon trading didn't exist would that steel plant still be open? Possibly not but the fat carbon sweetener surely makes it tempting to just shut up shop rather than to figure out how to make the plant viable.

The British Government, as revealed by the EU's Official Journal, has allocated £60 million of taxpayers' money to be spent on buying carbon credits from the Third World for the use of government buildings and other official purposes - so that our civil servants can continue to benefit from the CO2 emissions needed to keep their offices warm and lit.

This money will be used to buy Certified Emissions Reduction (CER) credits under the UN's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) set up under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. The deal will be brokered by a number of intermediaries including Barclays and J P Morgan.

The big winners in this scam are Indian and Chinese companies who can show (sort of) that they have in some way cut their greenhouse gas emissions. They can do this by, say, buiding a giant coal fired barbecue and then not using it therefore 'earning' CERs.

They can then sell their CERs through intermediaries, to allow organisations in the West, such as the British Government, to continue pumping out greenhouse gases such as CO2.

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) administers a startling array of rackets under the umberella concept of emission reduction it's not just confined to CO2. The most lucrative sector of the CDM market is based on chloroflourocarbons (CFCs) which under the Kyoto Treaty are classified as greenhouse gasses way more potent than CO2.

The CFC scam works like this. Chinese and Indian firms are permitted to carry on producing the refrigerant gas known as HCFC-22 until 2030. But a by-product of this process is HCFC-23, 11,700 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than CO2. The firms can then destroy the HCFC-23, claiming allocations of carbon credits worth billions for doing so (while much of the useful HCFC-22 is then sold on to the international black market).

In the meantime we, the British, must pay these Asian countries for the priviledge of keeping our civil servants warm as well as paying them to shut down our steel plants.

The first chairman of the UNFCC was a Canadian businessman called Maurice Strong. Maurice now lives in exile in Beijing after he got caught taking a million bucks from Saddam Hussein in the "Oil for Food" racket. He played a key part in setting up China's carbon exchange, to buy and sell the CDM credits administered by the UNFCCC - of which Strong himself was the chief architect.

Who is it that actually benefits from all of this stuff? A small handfull of Asian business men and everyone who derives their living from CDM market trading.

We are being prescribed pills of carbon and CDM credits for an illness that doesn't exist. Spending money on this medicine will make us all very sick. The difference between Ying Wu and Maurice Strong is that Strong knows that the medicine is poison and also Ying Wu is probably sorry for what she did.

Even though there is no actual evidence to show that the world is getting unstoppably warmer we persist in throwing money at Asia in the forlorn hope that they may slow their own economic growth.

We have foolishly allowed ourselves to base important policies on what we now know to be discredited climate data. In so doing we have created a monstrous financial racket that must be stopped before we, like Patricia Booth, cannot survive without dialysis three times a week.

Graham, I couldn't agree more. The older I get, the more I wonder about conspiracy plots like this hatched in high-level meetings between top-level politicians and businessmen. Just look at the silly, but serious, plot in the classic movie Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

When you stop and think about it, one can see how a well-financed plan that unfolds over 10 or 15 years could absolutely shift the populist thinking and make a handful of people very rich just as happens with anyone with insider information.

Think about this for a moment. What kind of politician would try to push a boulder up a hill? What drives that kind of philosophy? If you step back and really look at it, especially if you've been blessed with children in your life, you quickly see it's only one thing: selfishness.

President Obama is only thinking of one person, himself. The evidence is everywhere. We are in the midst of the worst recession in decades. Millions of Americans are out of work. The prospects of strong jobs that last a lifetime dwindle everyday. The nation is spending more than it's taking in. In other words, the financial footing of our nation is crumbling. Yet only lip service is being paid to this situation.

The last thing the USA needs at this time is more financial stress, however the President continues to spend his time on an issue that:

• will cost hundreds of billions of dollars we don't have
• is an issue a majority of the citizens clearly don't want

Does that kind of behavior remind you of a child that is laser focused on just one thing and constantly asks for it? You bet it does.

Selfishness is the root of all evil. Do an autopsy on any crime, misdeed, or immoral act and you'll almost always trace the cause of it to some selfish motivation.

President Obama and the leadership of the Democratic Party are currently displaying some of the most egocentric behavior ever seen in the public spotlight. Recently Tiger Woods drove into the beam's path, but now our President is back in the limelight. The longer he stands in it soaking up those infrared rays of public opinion, the sooner he'll catch on fire.

How did it come to pass that we shifted much of our manufacturing offshore? There are MANY reasons indeed, some of which are over regulation. Each time a new law is passed that affects manufacturing, it raises the price of the thing being made. Some laws are good, others are passed to help some special interest group.

It's time we vote with our dollars. Try to buy American-made products when possible and do as the editorial urges - talk to the store owners and tell them to FIND products Made in the USA. We do want to have open trade with other countries, but, as with all things, in moderation. If we stop making things here, we'll be beholden to other nations for everything. That's bad. Just look at our oil situation.

I'm proud to say I'm the owner of a company that makes something from scratch here in the USA! I produce perhaps the best oxygen bleach sold in the USA. Not only do the ingredients come from the USA, but the packaging, the labor and fulfillment are done in Cincinnati, OH. My Stain Solver is a great USA product. There are tens of thousands of companies that still make things here. I urge you to keep as many of your dollars here onshore as possible. It will help us.

Here's part of the text of the speech:

Today, we must make a pact with each other to end this reckless conduct with the people's government. Today, we come to terms with the fact that we cannot spend money on everything we want. Today, the days of Alice in Wonderland budgeting in Trenton end.

Today, we are going to act swiftly to fix problems long ignored. Today, I begin to do what I promised the people of New Jersey I would do. Today, I begin to give them the change they voted for in November.

The state cannot this year spend another $100 million contributing to a pension system that is desperately in need of reform. I am encouraged by the bi-partisan bills filed in the Senate this week to begin pension and benefit reform.

These bills must just mark the beginning, not the end, of our conversation and actions on pension and benefit reform. Because make no mistake about it, pensions and benefits are the major driver of our spending increases at all levels of government--state, county, municipal and school board. Also, don't believe our citizens don't know it and demand, finally, from their government real action and meaningful reform. The special interests have already begun to scream their favorite word, which, coincidentally, is my nine year old son's favorite word when we are making him do something he knows is right but does not want to do--"unfair."
Let's tell our citizens the truth--today--right now--about what failing to do strong reforms costs them.

One state retiree, 49 years old, paid, over the course of his entire career, a total of $124,000 towards his retirement pension and health benefits. What will we pay him? $3.3 million in pension payments over his life and nearly $500,000 for health care benefits -- a total of $3.8m on a $120,000 investment. Is that fair?

A retired teacher paid $62,000 towards her pension and nothing, yes nothing, for full family medical, dental and vision coverage over her entire career. What will we pay her? $1.4 million in pension benefits and another $215,000 in health care benefit premiums over her lifetime. Is it "fair" for all of us and our children to have to pay for this excess?

The total unfunded pension and medical benefit costs are $90 billion. We would have to pay $7 billion per year to make them current. We don't have that money--you know it and I know it. What has been done to our citizens by offering a pension system we cannot afford and health benefits that are 41% more expensive than the average fortune 500 company's costs is the truly unfair part of this equation.

The only principled path in light of these mountainous challenges is this--take these reform bills, make them even stronger and put them on my desk before I return here on March sixteenth for my budget address. And on this you have my pledge--unlike in the past, when you stood up and did what was right, this governor will not pull the rug out from underneath you--I will sign strong reform bills.

But until that reform is enacted, we cannot in good conscience fund a system that is out of control, bankrupting our state and its people, and making promises it cannot meet in the long term.

Go to the APP.com website to see the actual full transcript.

John, with the support of his station, decided enough was enough. As a trained scientist, he lays out a series of facts that are not half truths. When you watch all of the videos in this series, I'm convinced you'll come away shaking your head about how Al Gore was able to almost pull the wool completely over our eyes.

Below is the first segment of John's fascinating series. Just below that is another remake of the Hitler movie that will surely get you laughing about Al Gore. There is some profanity in the subtitles, so don't be shocked when you see it.

Before you watch the following mashup video, please read the email I received from a virtual friend of mine from New Zealand. I can't wait to meet Graham in person one day. He's the one who made me aware of the following video when he said:

Many of you receiving this mail from me can be forgiven for an 'oh no not another rant from Green' type shudder but this one is a bit different in that it contains a joke which is extremely well executed.

You will also know that I have altered my posisition from believer (circa 2000), through skepticism (2006) to outright heretic. I have spent many hundreds of hours looking at data (mainly from New Zealand and Australia) which shows no trace of warming and every sign of being fiddled (like I don't know how to encourage data).

The Met Office published (still on their web site) that they couldn't afford to keep the raw station data because it was 'technically difficult'. The best funded IT setup in Britain couldn't manage to put a couple of sets of tapes aside. Really. The BBC pensions system now depends on the great carbon casino. 8 billion reasons to be biased.

The four faithful left in the film are James Hansen the big cheese in NOAA (who also brought you the ice age scare of '75), Michale 'Hockey Stick' Mann, Phil Jones head of CRU (stood down) at the University of Easy Access and Keith Briffa who's tree ring proxy was shown to be bogus by McIntyre and chums.

In actual fact, I believe that Gore is simply an opportunist who grasped the means to make himself a ton of dough and not the brains behind it all. The others along with Patchauri (head if IPCC and lead author of AR4) deserve their time before a jury.

The only thing to take comfort from in this whole sorry mess is the role that the internet has played in exposing the crooked, lying, cheating criminals who have been prepared to sodomise science for their own benefit.

Enjoy the movie.

Best Regards

g2

WHAT????? Charles Krauthammer was quick to offer his opinion, which I happen to agree with, that portrays the President as a person who is oblivious to what We the People want and is just barging ahead in any way at all to get this primary agenda item passed. You see, he wants Health Care to be his legacy. Our President wants Health Care more than anything in the world.

But here is where, I believe, many of the politicians up on Capitol Hill have it wrong. They are once again just trying to posture to benefit themselves in some way. Are they not paying attention to the polls, to the emails and calls they get, etc.? You and I know the answer to that. It's No.

Each week we get closer to election day November, 2010. I'll tell you now it will be an historic day. The low rumbles of thunder that you can barely hear over the horizon are being produced by the storm of those of us who are resolved to change what's happening.

Like a picnicing group of young teenagers at a beach, many of the politicians in power are ignoring the distant storm's rumble. They continue to frolic and play in the sand. But soon the outflow winds of the storm will rush out and cause them to scatter. Watch the posturing, the change of position, the insincere apologies, etc. continue over the next few months as they try to win us back.

Forget about it. We've filed for divorce. It's over. That's what you and I'll be doing in the voting booth. Our votes will be the final signature on the divorce papers. I've had it with the politicians of old. They got their bite off the juicy apple.

This same thing is happening at the state and municipal level all around the USA. Had you read the headline stories in the Cincinnati Enquirer (Fishwrap) over the Christmas holidays, you'd have discovered that the spineless City Council there didn't have the guts to make the tough decisions to bridge their $51 million +/- upcoming budget deficit. Instead, they borrowed money from savings accounts that had a positive cash balance.

Look at the bleak financial condition of Illinois, California, New York and Connecticut. These states are facing deepening budget crises. If you live in one of these states, one of two things is going to happen: Your taxes are going to go up, or your services will be cut. In the worst situation, both will happen at the same time.

It's time for us to stop the politicians who are spending like a drunken sailor. It's both unacceptable and unsustainable. As I've said before, you and I can't do this on a personal level - spend money we don't have without going bankrupt at some point - so why are we continuing to elect politicians who believe in this philosophy?

Please read both of the stories above and let me know what conclusion you come to. Look at the graph in the Forbes story showing the different countries that have gone bust. It can happen here in the United States. What's even worse, is that if we don't turn around our deficit situation with deep cuts, we will soon be China's lapdog. They WILL dictate to us many of the things we do, just as we did to Great Britain many years ago after they had a major financial collapse after the American Revolution.

Several hours after my February 1, 2010 Fire Pit newsletter was sent out, I had the most interesting thing happen. Three subscribers were very upset about me calling names and being divisive. They were upset at my use of the word desecrators and misery. I knew it was a matter of time before there would be subscribers who are on the list, but think differently than I do. That's okay. All are welcome around the Fire Pit.

But the economic situation in our country now is so severe, that it's time for radical change. The Federal Government has too much power, and it's time to give back power to the states. It's time to elect real people to office who have the guts to make very tough choices and dismantle block by block the massive government we have in Washington, DC. We actually don't have a choice. We can't afford it.

We the People now have the power, using the Internet, to hold politicians' feet to the fire. I vote we transport them here to my real Fire Pit, get some of my seasoned oak blazing and take off their socks. Anyone want to help me?

• Time Magazine's Is the Campaign-Finance Ruling Good for Democracy?
• George Will's Opinion Piece



• New York Times Editorial

How do you feel about this? My thoughts are very crisp. One or two major corporations can overwhelm a great candidate who is unknown and can't easily get contributions from people like you and me.

I'm absolutely for campaign contribution donation limits. Not only should a person or entity (corporation, union, non-profit group, etc.) only be able to give a certain amount to a given candidate, they should only be allowed to donate a certain maximum amount of money in any year. This would force all to choose wisely where they want to place their bets.

I ran for office twice and was elected both times. I received small donations. It's important to have money that helps buy signs, pay for mailings, purchase TV commercials, etc. But to allow unlimited monies to flow into a campaign fund from a person or business of any type is wrong.

This would allow corporations to buy a political seat just like you or I go to the store to purchase a loaf of bread. It would be that easy. How do we reverse this horrible decision? We elect people to Congress who'll pass a law that reverses the Court's ruling. Someone needs to check the water supply in the Supreme Court building in Washington, DC.

I need to take Carol to Cincinnati, OH where she can meet my good friend Al Sicking. Albert cared for both his mother and father until such time as he had to send both back to Heaven. Al's no different than thousands of men and women who are caregivers. Yes Carol, women are moms. I get that. But many men are very caring and have feelings. We don't grunt all the time.

I'm very sad to say that Congresswoman Shea-Porter is my representative in Congress.

I predicted Scott's victory several days ago on January 17, 2010. No, I don't have mystic powers, but I was in Washington, DC on September 12, 2009 (see my videos here - be sure to Select All to see all the videos at that channel) and I have the great fortune to receive email on a daily basis from many patriots who subscribe to this Fire Pit news and my AsktheBuilder.com newsletter. That incoming stream of data is showing that everyday Americans, who used to be complacent, have now readjusted their priorities in life. Politics now matter to many.

I'm one of these people. When President Obama announced his candidacy to run for President, I'll never forget where I was. There I was standing in an airport gift shop getting a snack before boarding a flight. I was watching a TV monitor in the shop that was broadcasting a cable news show. It got my attention for some reason. My reaction was two-fold; What an odd early start to the race and who is this guy with the golden tongue? Even then I didn't care too much. But the spark that ignited the Fire Pit was struck that day.

So what's happened? Many people, including me, were so busy living their lives that they just didn't care about politics. For many years, the clever ones in office knew how to slowly chip away at our liberties, covertly raise taxes and do so many other things that were changing the fundamentals of our great nation without upsetting us too much.

But the politicians in power got cocky. It spiraled out of control over the past eight years much like a drug addict's habit. The politicians got drunk with power, and this caused them to exist in a parallel universe they call Capitol Hill. Those in power now treat our nation's Capitol as if it's their private place. They forget it's ours. Many there are out of touch and worse yet, blatantly make decisions without ever consulting us.

My Congressional representative Carol Shea Porter is one of these people. She's delusional. I say this with the utmost respect, but mean that she goes about her business each day not probing us as to what we want. The same thing is happening in the vast majority of Congressional districts all across America.

Those days are over.

The sleeping giant, the American Public, has awoken. We are grumpy and we are now going to put in power people that think like we do. If they are not up to the task, they will be replaced.

You're going to see the growth of real citizen reporting. I'm trying to do it now with two websites, CarolSheaPorterFacts.com and FrankGuintaFacts.com. Gone are the days of pat answers steeped in rhetoric. People are searching the Internet to discover the truth about candidates. I'm on page one already for many of the common search terms for both of these candidates, but they are both blinded by the politics of old. They continue to ignore me. I'm hoping for the day where 500 +/- other patriots build websites like those to hold 24/7/365 press conferences each day with their representatives and those who want the seat.

Why are websites like this important? Because for years politicians have known that they had a hall pass. They could say one thing at rallies and in interviews and then do another thing with little recourse. It used to be HARD to find out what politicians had said in the past. Now it's easy. A real patriot has no trouble stating his position in writing. They know they won't please everyone, but are working for the true common good.

But traditional politicians don't want to be cornered. They don't want to have anything in writing that will come back to bite them. We don't need people like that in power. We need people who are willing to put in writing what they stand for and then act accordingly. It's a trait that's gone a little out of fashion. It's called Honor.

It's time to go out and discover candidates with Honor. Please help me. Remember, this is a war. It's not over, and the domestic enemy we face will never totally surrender as did General Lee. We must continue to press forward and mobilize for the great battle that's going to happen November 2, 2010 - the soon-to-be-historic Mid-Term elections. As the fabled rock star Jim Morrison of the Doors wrote:

Now night arrives with her purple legions

Tomorrow we enter the town of my birth

It's going to be an epic battle. Gather your strength.

A speed camera detector is not really much different than a red-light camera. Both are snapping a photograph of your car and its license plate. The speed camera triggers the photo if you exceed a certain speed. The red light camera activates if it senses a car entering the intersection as the traffic signal is turning red.

The valid argument against these red-light speed cameras stems back to George Orwell's novel 1984. The government is spying on you with cameras. Where do they stop? Sure, you can speed and not get a ticket when a police officer doesn't see you. The same is true in your own home. How many illegal things can you do behind your four walls and not get charged?

The bottom line is that these cameras are sold to communities as accident preventers and safety devices. In reality, they are ATM machines for government. Let's call a spade a spade.

To avoid a ticket, you can rely on speed camera detection. Any number of companies sell traditional radar detectors that sense the invisible radio beam that communicates to the camera you're being bad. You can also put pressure on your elected officials to get rid of these pesky devices. Finally, you can obey the law. Personally, I prefer options two and three.

There's a lot at stake. Currently President Obama is using slash-and-burn warfare to get his agenda through and his name in the history books. It's really convenient when you have 60 US Senators to block filibusters in the Senate Chambers. That's what he has now, but it could vaporize in a little over 48 hours when all the votes are cast and counted.

Today, I saw the advertisement you see here on the USA Today website. It's a volatile ad paid for by SEIU.org. They're in a cage fight in this election as their leadership is lockstep with the President on much of his agenda. The SEIU people don't want to see the 60-vote majority in the US Senate disappear.

This explains why they are trying to associate Brown with Sarah Palin. The far-left liberals view Sarah as the Devil herself, and want to paint Scott with the same brush. Trouble is, I feel the ideology of the SEIU is blinding them. This ad could easily backfire and persuade people to vote for Brown. Why? I'm convinced that many middle-of-the-road Democrats are sick of politics as usual.

I say usual, but I mean Politics Gone Wild. That's what's happened over the past ten years or so. Both Democrats and many Republicans have lost sight of what's the right thing to do for the country as a whole. This SEIU.org ad against Scott Brown is a perfect example. The SEIU folks don't give a hoot about the truth. They don't care about you or me. They just care about themselves and will do anything to get their way.

This is what the Tea Party, the 912 Movement, and Get Out of Our House initiatives are all about. Those who are part of these camps, myself and tens of millions of other patriots here in the USA have had enough of these selfish politicians, and we're going to change it.

You'll see it happen on Tuesday. If my intuition is correct, this coming Tuesday will be recognized by future historians as the high-water mark for the Progressive and Socialist movement here in the USA. When Scott Brown wins that election in one of the bluest states in the USA, you know the people are tired of self-centered agendas. I'll be staying up late to see the results come in. Join me at Murphy's Tap Room in Manchester, NH.

But I can tell you this. After what's happened over the last 30 days, I'm convinced we've reached the tipping point. Just look at what happened behind closed doors in the ten days leading up to the Senate vote. Bribes to get votes. If you or I had made similar deals with politicians to get a vote on something we wanted, we would have been arrested. What makes it that politicians are immune from prosecution in these situations? That's a rhetorical question.

Look around you. Are you any better off than you were two years ago? How many friends, relatives, neighbors, etc. do you know that are out of work and have slim prospects of getting hired? Do you have confidence that Congress in it's entirety has any clue how to really fix the situation? I can tell you I don't.

There are millions of patriots who feel like I do. One of them made a great video that's on YouTube. My very good friend Roger Henthorn brought it to my attention. It says it all in my opinion. You'll see it just below.

But before you watch it, promise me you'll take some action after watching it. That action can be any number of things. But my suggestion is to make a commitment to yourself to get involved. One way to do it is to go to a great website called Get Out of Our House. Sign up there and you'll be connected to people who think like you and I. This is what it's going to take to stop the madness. If you decide to not get involved hoping that things get better on their own, well, we all now know what happens when you make decisions based on Hope.......

The story was about how the top senators who are driving the Health Care bus right now have received huge campaign contributions from corporations that are directly related to the Health Care business.

If I ever run for Congress, and I'm not ruling out that possibility, I would try to pass a bill that would eliminate contributions to politicians like this. If you read Robert Cialdini's book Influence - The Psychology of Persuasion, you'll quickly discover that Ms. Kozeny is either a bold-faced liar or is as naive as a little lamb.

Dr. Cialdini's book covers, in great detail, the absolute power of reciprocity. When you accept a gift of just about any value, it flips a deep-rooted switch in your head that makes you feel obligated to do something for the person who gave you the gift. This emotion is programmed into the DNA of all humans, and is no doubt a survival instinct.

I feel lobbyists are needed in some capacity, as I understand the importance of what they do. In the summer of 2008, I had to testify in front of Congress on three occasions in an effort to educate them on aspects of the Internet. Plain and simple I was a lobbyist. The only thing I didn't do was participate in closed-door meetings with the legislators.

I discovered quickly that Congressmen and women can't be experts about everything. They need to hear from people in each industry, BUT the legislators have to be able to separate spin from facts when they can. That's a huge challenge and an ethical minefield.

However, when you add millions of dollars to a campaign fund and Dr. Cialdini's theorems to the mix, you can see why real campaign spending reform is critical to getting our nation back on track. Only legislators who can defeat Jedi mind tricks stand a chance against campaign contributions of any type. Surely you've succumbed to this psychological power at some point in your life when given a gift.

Read what Connie has to say from her perspective. I can tell you that there are two associations that may be able to verify some of the data she shares:

Association of American Physicians and Surgeons

American Medical Association

I called Connie to speak with her, and she indicated in the conversation that the AMA at some point in its history did something to alienate the surgeons. This is why a secondary association was formed. It had something to do with payments for surgerys on patients who had other illnesses that had nothing to do with the surgery, but made surgery harder. Somehow Senator Ted Kennedy had something to do with this is what Connie told me. You'll have to verify that on your own.

Read her letter, let it soak in, then contact your Senators NOW to get them to stop this madness. Did you see the most recent Rasmussen poll? I believe over 60 percent of Americans polled, do not want this Health Care Bill.

One last thing - in the letter you'll see two places in the letter where there is a grid pattern. The one was Connie's address and the other her phone number. She asked that I not publish those.

There are many profound parts of this speech, but pay attention to what Newt says about Jefferson and Madison. I want to know if you're one of the people that can join the battle in one of the 513,000 public offices he mentions. I've decided to do it. I'm running next November as a State of New Hampshire representative. I've not yet decided whether to run for the House or the Senate. If you can't run for office, then by gosh go find out who really wants to take our country away from the desecrators and support them.

Enjoy this video sent to me by my very dear friend Russell Waters. I also was notified by a fellow patriot, Kevin Makatak. Thanks to both!

Here's the best way I can explain it, and I'm sure I'm leaving out some technical points. The servers that house my websites, as well as other website servers on the Internet, have the ability to collect the IP addresses of the personal and business computers that access the pages at my websites. Understand that each separate computer that accesses the Internet has a unique IP address. Think of an IP address as a social security number.

The IP address, among other things, tell me the general location of the computer, NOT the person who is actually at the keyboard. There is no hidden camera or fingerprint capture device. For example, I may know you're located in a certain city. I know the page you came from before you get to my site and I know the page you clicked to leave my site. But I have no idea of the who you really are. You could be Sasquatch for all I know.

This data can be used by advertising brokers to serve you ads that will solve the problems you have or show you ads about things you're interested in. It can predict your behavior. For example, if you visit hunting websites frequently, it assumes you like to hunt so you may see ads about boots, camo gear, and backpacks. I think you get the point.

I have ads like that on my website. They are provided by three different ad networks: Google, Chitika and Kontera. In fact, look on the right side of this page to see the Google ads. Well over 98 percent of my gross revenues come either directly or indirectly from these ads. If the ads were not there, I'd go out of business overnight. That's a fact. There is no way I could afford to pay all the costs to keep the websites up with no revenue coming in.

People like Congressman Boucher want websites like mine to have to serve you first with a screen that allows you to turn off these ads. You and I both know that 90 percent of the people will click to have the ads turned off. If that happens, then my revenue stream dries up instantly, and I turn off my websites. And you lose access to great free information. It's that simple.

Do you use Google as a search engine? Over 70 percent of the people who visit my websites do. Do you use Google Maps, Google Documents, Google Earth, Google's Picasa, Gmail, etc.? How do you think Google allows all that to be free to you and I? Yep, through ad revenue. What do you think will happen to Google? I could go on and on.

Read more about the issue at this website: KeepOurWebFree.org. If this upsets you, then you know what to do. Immediately contact your Congressman/woman and Senators and tell them to kill the Net Neutrality Bill.

Here's a little history, once again unconfirmed but spoken by other citizens at the hearing, about the New Hampshire state constitution. Evidently there is an article in the document that says the legislature can't pass a tax unless they first conduct a public hearing. The intent of that is really good, as it allows citizens to speak up before the vote. It's very possible that citizen outcry could sway votes. I've seen that happen firsthand sitting behind the dais as a Councilman in Amberley Village, OH.

But that didn't happen with this Bill. There was no public hearing before it was passed. There was no discussion. The public hearing I attended yesterday was about the rules that would be used to administer the law. What? You mean all of that wasn't worked out before the law was enacted? Are you kidding me? This is exactly what's happening at the Federal level with the Health Care Bill and several others that the out-of-control Congress has enacted.

Back to the New Hampshire Bill. What it did, in a nutshell, is make a change to the long-standing Interest and Dividends law. This new law affects distributions from LLCs here in the state. The bottom line is that money not distributed in the form of a "reasonable salary" would be taxed. Even loan money flowing into the entity would be taxed. As many CPAs stated who testified, it's clearly an income tax.

The longer I sat in the hearing, the angrier I became. It affected the rest of my day. I was reminded of the day 21 years ago when I heard that the council in my village was trying to change our zoning to allow condominiums to be built. Amberley Village was very unique, in that it had absolutely no multi-family housing. That's one of the main reasons I decided to build there.

I wasn't interested in politics at the time and had just built my new home adjacent to some park land that was zoned the same as the land that was being considered for condominiums. I knew that if one piece of ground in the village had its zoning changed, then all similar ground was at risk. Zoning change is like the proverbial camel's nose in the tent.

What does zoning have to do with income taxes you ask? It's not that. It's all about politicians doing things while most in the general public are tuned out. What I discovered back all those years ago is that had I attended council meetings, and more importantly committee meetings, this condominium zoning issue was being discussed months before it bubbled to the surface at the mandatory public hearing. The politicians in my village were not at all transparent. Hells bells, we're a small village. They could have easily sent out a mailing getting feedback to help guide them in the committee meetings.

I could have rallied other citizens in the village months before and squashed the proposal long before any public hearing was scheduled. But because I was not interested, just living my life hoping they would do the right thing, I had no clue what was going on. Another woman and I did rally the citizens and the two of us defeated the zoning change by going door to door in the village collecting nearly 1,000 signatures that were against the zoning. All of that could have been done with one mailing.

I've now decided that the same thing has to be done here at the State level. I'm not alone. Over 200 angry New Hampshire citizens were at the public hearing yesterday. In fact, there was such an outpouring of interest, they had to change the venue of the hearing at the last minute to accommodate the large crowd that attended.

This is also the reason we have so many troubles at the national level. We've allowed our politicians to run the show while we go about our daily lives. The out-of-control spending will bankrupt our nation. Don't listen to what the mainstream media is telling you. Actually, they are ignoring the real facts.

Because of what happened yesterday, I've decided to run for state office as our local representative. I've had it, just like I did 21 years ago. To give you perspective on how angry I was, I'm even going back on a promise I made to myself never to run for office again. I was an elected Councilman for two terms and had to deal with politicians each week. It made me sick and raised my blood pressure. But this time, I feel it will be different. Something tells me that other like-minded ordinary citizens are going to run so that we can turn this great state of New Hampshire around. Film at 11.

My very good friend Loren Power and others sent me a link to this video. I BEG you to copy the link to this page of the Fire Pit and broadcast it far and wide. Send the link to everyone on your email list with a powerful subject line. We must grab our muskets and affix our bayonets. It's time for hand-to-hand combat.

All that was important to me was that I go to my grave knowing that I was not afraid to speak out in an effort to help motivate others, like you, into action.

The basic tenets of the founding members of the original 13 Colonies, extended over the succeeding 250 odd years; meaning those expressed in our Constitution and our Bill of Rights are being trampled by the race to socialism advocated by the current president and his group. His Democratic supporters on the hill; those Congressmen/women and Senators who fail to honor and respect this great nation in their efforts to achieve cronyism, personal gain and to try and enhance their own private agendas are almost despicable in their transparency and disregard for the
foundations of the United States of America.

So, with the greatest respect to Barry Bernier and all the other valiant fighting men and women of our Armed Forces, I submit that his case is clouded insofar as laying the reasons for his retirement situation on the Bush Administration. I'm certain Barrie's contributions to our national defense and protection have been of the highest order of merit. He; and thousands upon thousands of other retired military members, paid their
price for citizenship in this great country. They all deserve the strongest support that their elected representatives can provide for their continuing well being in their retirement years.

I have experienced nothing but the finest of treatment during not only my active military duty years (28) , but also following my retirement from Department of the Army civil service. That treatment included the availability and use of health care funded; in my case, for my wife and myself, along with our contributions to those health care systems. Although we probably do not have the "Cadillac care" that many supporters of the present administration allude to; and we do not receive a competitive retirement check (...with civilian sector retirement packages, on average), we live today comfortably and; moreover, safely in a world that is seen by many as going "Topsy-Turvy".

Another odd thing about Obama's rush to enact dramatic and drastic changes to the present health care processes is that those same administration officials; set to disembowel that system enjoy the Cadillac care provided to them by the U.S. Government and will continue enjoying that care today and tomorrow, will
continue to receive despite what they vote in the way of change for the "rest" of our countrymen/women and children. I see no fairness nor unity; muchless bi-partisanship, in that event.

I don't feel that I have specifically addressed Barry's complaints about his tax situation and the residual amount of his military retirement now available to him. I'm not sure I could address those issues. Each individuals case is different, of course. Some had been able to take early steps to prepare for the days of their ultimate retirement.
Some were disappointed by the an adequate absence of a nation's gratitude for their service in the country's defense.

I'm sure Barry's case has many obliques that would have to be considered if there were any processes wherein he could seek the improvement of his retirement years. For many ex or retired service members, the road does appear to weaken as time goes on. For example, the absence of a very meager Cost Of Living Allowance (COLA) from retired military paychecks; as it is from civilian retirement paychecks as well, means even tighter times for the majority of retirees who depend almost solely on their retired pay checks to see them through from month to month.

That factor alone; perhaps, would have characterized itself to me as a very important item to have been continued in Obama's efforts to re-distribute the nation's taxes. Very much more important, as I see it, than applying those same taxes to the list of ridiculous issues we see being discovered each day in terms of the stimulus funds.

I apologize for running this reply into a bully pulpit for my observations on what is happening today in the military; and undoubtedly the civilian, retirement worlds. The current threats to the funding of MEDICARE are the most scary thing about the entire Health Care issues being debated on the hill at the present time. We pray that cooler, wiser heads will prevail and we will not be throttled by slam-dunking MEDICARE as the Congress deals with this vital assistance to our aging population.

Thanks, Tim. Keep up the good fight. I enjoy reading your daily digest and now the Fire Pit as well.

Sincerely,

Vic Markey, Williamsburg, VA

Vic, all great points. Let's hope that many open their minds and think about what's the real truth, and more importantly, what will the secondary effects be of the actions of our current politicians? I think history has already given us a good preview.

I have really enjoyed the Fire Pit so far, and have previously enjoyed your AsktheBuilder e-mails and website. The posting on The Fire Pit by the retired marine inspired me to send this e-mail. Like you, I first want to think him for his service, it is very much appreciated. Unfortunately it sounds like he has been mislead by liberals.

I would like to encourage you and your readers to go to the public library and check out a copy of the March 2008 edition of Consumer Reports. Consumers Union, publishers of Consumer Reports, and, in my opinion, an organization that leans a bit to the left, conducted a study of the health care crisis and their final article on the subject was in the March 2008 edition.

In that article they show that hospital and physician costs have risen significantly more that that of insurance companies over the past 35 years. Insurance companies are actually fourth on the list, slightly behind pharmaceutical companies. Since insurance companies pay benefits for hospital and physician costs, naturally the insurance costs are also going to rise. But this shows that health care reform should be focusing at the hospital and physician costs; instead the liberal ads try to make the insurance companies the villains. Bring down the cost of the actual health care itself, and the insurance costs will follow. Insurance costs are a symptom of the health care crisis, not a cause.

Many people also suspect the profit margins of insurance companies are very high, and they are wrong. According to Morningstar data, over approximately the last year, insurance companies had a 3.4% profit margin, which puts them 87 out 215 industries. Meanwhile real-estate trusts that are landlords for hospitals and other healthcare facilities were number 2 on the list. People might want to check out this story.

The insurance industry has been one of the most highly regulated industries for many years. That regulation is partly to blame for insurance costs. In the late 80s the states tried to make insurance more accessible to individuals and small groups by putting in strict rating requirements, guarantee issue in some situations and other requirements. Look where that has gotten us. That movement caused some insurance companies to get out of the health care market, reducing competition and driving up costs.

The liberals have been very good at their propaganda, and it really concerns me that so many good Americans have fallen for it, hook, line and sinker. I like to think of the liberals as a drug pusher, and the drug they are pushing is entitlements. The liberals like to sell people on the idea that they don't have to be responsible for anything, that the government can do it all for them. And, unfortunately, too many people buy into that crap.

Keep the faith...and thanks again for The Fire Pit.

Mike Cochrane
Omaha, NE

Well said Mike! As I've mentioned before, why pass this enormous bill that creates nothing but trouble when we can first test this simple thing: Just open up competition across state lines. Allow any insurance company to sell any policy to any person or business no matter where they live.

We have Walmart and Saks Fifth Avenue in this great nation serving two entirely different markets. The same will happen in health insurance. Companies will create products - great ones - that work for those in every strata of the populace. We see that in every industry, restaurants, clothing, electronics, etc.

What I like about that method is if you want a better health-insurance plan, then you better yourself so you can buy it. That's what everyone does with everything else.

Hello all,

It's time to take our State back from the career politicians that are destroying it. A group called Citizens for California Reform has constructed the Citizens Legislature Act which, if approved by the California voters, would change our full time legislatures into part time and reduce their pay by 50%. California Legislatures now receive $113,000 per year salary plus $162.00 per day per diem (tax free), living allowances, plus many other perks (highest paid in the country).

These legislatures make a great deal of money and consistently fail our hard working citizens. Currently 43 of the 50 states have part time legislatures and prior to 1966 California was part time as well. It's time we call the full time idea a failure and rid our state of full time career politicians who's number one priority is themselves.

In order to get this on the 2010 ballot one million signatures must be collected in approximately 140 days. Please go to the web site for Citizens for California Reform to get additional information and to download the petition. Each petition can be signed by two registered voters as long as they are registered to vote in the same county. The petition does require 8.5"x14" paper and will not count if printed on the wrong size paper. If you would rather not download from the site, let me know and I can send it to you.

Please spread the word (email, facebook, phone), if everyone educated their family and friends on the matter and got them to sign the petition we should be able to draw up enough signatures to get this on the ballot. This can't be done without our action. It's time for the silent majority to make some noise.

Thank you

Jamie

At first I was going to just copy sections of the email, but the more I thought about it, you need to read it in its entirety to feel Alan's passion, his disgust and his anger at the situation. I urge you to let those same emotions start to boil inside you.

Tim,

The argument and offensive strategy is really much simpler; everything that's happening is essentially "unconstitutional"! In other words, we shouldn't get hung up on individual agendas of the Left, because "individual" agendas are nothing more than distractions in large quantities. That being said, everything that is happening is theft of our individual liberties to choose, or defer! And it's happening on a "global" scale.

It's a simple argument; and it's the same argument for most ALL their agenda. 100 arguments for 100 oppressive policies are waaay too watered down. They're ALL robbing me, us, everyone of our LIBERTY! One argument!!! One Rally Cry!!! Denial of our Constitutional Rights...Liberty!

And any politician who votes for ANY of this crap will be targeted by me as someone guilty of "treason"; consciously acting in violation of our Constitution! That is the topic of my soon to be mailed letter to all in the House and Senate.

We have +200 distributors of our products, all with employees, all with customers in the "construction" industry that I will engage in every state by e-mail and broadcast fax with names etc. of our elected leaders who have betrayed the greatest documents ever produced by man...the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and just as importantly...our trust.

NONE of these policy makers have an OUNCE of experience in producing a product, turning a profit, developing competitive 'business strategies", managing personnel, etc, etc; and They're Re-shaping our Future??? Wrong People; Wrong Place; Wrong Time; Wrong Agenda!!!

It ALL comes center focus on our "Constitution" that Obama has stated needs to be "radically re-interpreted"! NO!!! They are ALL out of bounds and I'm threatening them with THAT as traitors!

I am not going to 'proof read' this so I hope my ramblings made some sense. YOU keep going!!! I'm doing what I can with limited "time".

Alan

Bingo. That's exactly what's going on. No wonder history is such an important subject. Remember what Julius Caesar is so famous for as a military leader? Divide and Conquer.

This is what Alan's referring to. Many arguments equal distractions which divide our attention and carve us up into smaller groups. It's what lions do on the savanna. They carve out a wildebeest or two from the herd and go in for the kill.

The domestic enemies of liberty are trying to do the same thing to us now. They've done a splendid job of distracting us. They've taken away hundreds of liberties. Think about it, each law, each act, just about everything that comes off Capital Hill restricts what you and I can do each day. That's exactly what Alan is talking about. It's that simple.

Yes Alan, Patrick Henry had it right all those years ago: Give me Liberty, or Give Me Death. It was a cage fight then with the King of England, and now it's a cage fight with any politician that thinks he/she knows what's best for you or I. I'd like to modify Patrick Henry's battle cry and use the words from the patriot who died on September 11 on United Airlines Flight 93:

Give me Liberty or Give Me Death - Roll It!

Yes, let's get rolling right now. It's the right time, we're in the right place, we have the right agenda and we have tens of millions of the right people right alongside of us Alan. I've never been more ready in my life.

Hey Tim!

Just viewed "your very good buddy", Steve Loyola's "funny video" and failed to see the humor from an obvious group of individuals who probably do not even maintain their own coverage for health insurance! As a senior citizen, who sees my contemporaries spending on an average of $250 to $300 per month for coverage for a 20% amount not covered by Medicare and for prescription drug coverage, Brother Steve should perhaps be more objective.

How about the Lobbyists from the INSURANCE INDUSTRY? There is where a real solution could be found, if that group could be held accountable for their actions! When, in some cases, an individual receiving $700-$800 needs to contribute the aforementioned amount to an uncontrolled industry every month, a change needs to be made. "Talking Point" low-budjet videos don't get it done, I'm sorry. And, they certainly do not provide a senior citizen a solution on how to live month to month on $400!

Whether the change is made by Republicans, Democrats, or Independents should make no difference. INTEGRITY from our elected representatives should be the primary guide for their decisions in voting, as it should be for us all.

What is the objective here? Do we want to bring back George Bush and Dick Cheney ideology? I do not always agree with the current administrations policies, but I certainly am not going to allow my vote to be influenced by a "Talking Point" generated from individuals, who, in their own narcisstic worlds, have never had to sacrifice anything for the rights to run their mouths and/or rip-off this Republic. The re-birth of an attitude of the "Antebellum South" might be entertaining to some people, but it sure is not constructive, or of any benefit to any of us.

Let's get positive! Eight years of "rip-off" went unchecked, and now there is outcry! I want results and respect, not hollow rhetoric.

Respectfully,

Barry E. Bernier, USMC, Retired

Barry, first of all, I want to thank you on behalf of my family and myself for your service to our great nation. Without service like that from millions - many who gave the ultimate sacrifice - I would not be able to type this.

I don't want to dissect each line of what you said, but you may have missed the point of the video. My personal takeaway is that the current way the Health Care Bill is crafted is not going to give us the best fix for the problem we have. Every major entitlement program the government has created is insolvent. That's a fact. And now you want the government to control your health care? Surely you can't be serious.

I've said it time and again, but the private sector can easily fix what's wrong. We simply need to take the handcuffs off the health care industry. You do realize that there is very limited competition across state lines. Not every company can sell every product in each state. Remove those blockades and you'll see the same great service and low prices that you see in any free market. How come we're not gritching about our auto, house and life insurance bills and coverage? Simple; there's open competition.

We need less government, not more. Government laws we have in place are largely responsible for the health-care mess. And the chicanery stretches back much farther than eight years.

Barry, be very careful, your ideology, I'm afraid, may be blinding you. Before you blame a president and vice president, always go to the Congressional Record and see who voted to pass the funding bills about which you complain. I'm quite confident you'll be surprised.

Climategate (see links below) seems to confirm the peer-reviewed MIT peer-reviwed paper that the earth has actually been cooling for 8+ yrs. Apparently this ClimateGate thing is ALL OVER the news headlines in Europe and Asia.

Temperature data was manipulated to show increases instead of decreases. Hacked emails proving this have been admitted as being genuine. It's not what mainstream (liberal) media like ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN etc. report. It's what they choose NOT to report.

Matt then provided links to any number of websites that have points about this story.

As with ALL things on the Internet, if you go to the following sites - be sure you trust the source before you start quoting it to others! Please understand that I don't have the time nor the resources to fact check all that's in the following links.

But I do have a college degree in geology and lived for 56 years about ten miles from the terminal moraine of the Wisconsin continental glacier. My most recent home in Cincinnati, OH was built on top of till from the Illinoian continental glacier. I have the photos to prove that.

Here's something you're NOT seeing in the mainstream media. As early as 21,000 - 18,000 years ago nearly all of Ohio was covered by a massive glacier that stretched back to the North Pole. It covered much of the upper Midwest, New England and much of central and all of eastern Canada. It's gone. There were no cars, factories, buses, trucks, etc. belching out CO2 then. What's more, how much climate CHANGE must happen to create that ice in the first place?

Want even more fodder? What if I told you this process of the creation of the massive ice sheets and their subsequent MELTING happened four times in the past 2,000,000 years? Tell me Al Gore, what say you about that? I urge you to read up on Continental glaciation. The evidence is all around us. Just ask anyone who lives in upstate New York's Finger Lakes region. Heck, the lake I live on - Loch Winnisquam - here in New Hampshire, was created by the Wisconsin glacier as were all the notches up in the White Mountains.

Here are the links Matt sent me. Happy reading!!

Real Clear Politics

Examiner

FoxNews.com Editorial - This is a very good piece.

New York Times editorial - another great piece.

NewBusters - This one discusses how the mainstream media is ignoring the scandal.

Climate-Gate.org - This appears to be a portal website collecting many of the articles.

Hats off to Matt for shedding light on many of these sites.

But what I did was nothing compared to what some folks did on Hawaii's Kauai island. My hat's off to these great patriots who rebuilt a bridge washed out by a big storm in Polihale State Park. You need to read this story. I'm not talking about some little two-bit bridge.

Wait till you see what the projected cost was and how fast the citizens got the job done. It will blow your mind. This is the type of thinking and results we need to get out of our elected officials and some bureaucrats who just putter along at 5 mph. I want to thank my new friend April Ball for sending me the tip about the go-getter residents on Kauai island.

After seeing this, I'm convinced that we can't rely on the current administration for sound advice. We'll have to get ourselves out of this mess. Are you ready to roll up your sleeves?

Frances then asked me:

I'm volunteering for this, even though I myself can't think of a lot of solutions, but it occurred to me that you might have some good ideas that could make a difference. I'll find out what information the forum is asking for, and pass it on to you. We all are capable of making a difference if we put our mind to it.

I responded pretty much off the cuff with this:

This is so easy.......

1. Immediately STOP all funding to the TARP Stimulus package. It's not a prudent use of the money.

2. Immediately STOP all legislation about Cap and Tax. This will eliminate jobs long term.

3. Immediately STOP all legislation to the Health Care Bill. This will drain resources.

4. Immediately STOP any and all funding to extra projects that are contributing to our deficit. We must get to a balanced budget. Time is of the essence.

5. Put an immediate hiring freeze on all government agencies. No extra employees are allowed to be hired for any reason. Replacements for existing workers that quit or retire can be hired.

These measures will stop the hemorrhaging of desperately needed cash to get our government back on track. You can't spend your way out of debt. Not as deep in debt as we are.

The reason all this is important is that if we don't stop this gushing of cash, no matter what the President does, the country will go down the tubes.

Let's assume you can convince him to do this. The additional Action Items might include:

1. Immediate passage of a simple Fair Tax. Eliminate the existing tax code. Radical moves create radical reactions. The business environment will explode with excitement and reinvestment.

2. In addition to the Fair Tax, Congress should pass tax credits that apply to small businesses that invest in expansion of any type. These credits will allow the businesses to expand faster, and hire more people.

3. Pass legislation that provided long-term tax credits for proven alternative-energy projects so these industries don't die on the vine as short-term credits expire. Small businesses will rapidly fill this vacuum with hundreds of thousands of jobs.

These simple steps would immediately instill great confidence in the general population as well as in the business community. They would also benefit the long-term health of the nation. The trouble is, the current batch of legislators only seem to be interested in selfish short-term goals.

A question I have that I do not believe has been adequately addressed is - what will be done with the Medicare "savings" and new health care taxes during the 3 to 4 years we all will be waiting to receive the benefits from our new health care plan(s)? My prediction? Whatever money materializes will immediately be drained off for other purposes and 4 years from now we will be scratching our heads trying to decide where we will get the money from that the new health plan requires. This is not a new problem and the damage to our country is cumulative.

If Social Security money collected each year would have been used to fund current payments to beneficiaries AND to build a self-sufficient fund for future obligations, we would not be facing SS bankruptcy and raising the eligibility age and/or increasing employee taxes would be unnecessary.

Government pension obligations are similar examples of shifting revenue to unrelated projects without regard to future obligations that could have been provided for by reduced spending. Today's elected officeholders will point to prior administrations' shortcomings, but do the very same things to shift the burden to the next generation. Our financial custodians have failed to act as trustees and how we vote is our only remedy.

A second question is - there are supposed to be 10 million people who truly need healthcare reform, so why don't we try to help them now, instead of completely reinventing the health care wheel with new taxes, but without new benefits for anyone during the next four years? We all are praying that our economy will have recovered in a few years, but people need help now more than they need assistance in a good economy.

Not one single economist has pointed to a source that has the potential to meet the current need for millions of jobs - not hundreds or thousands - but millions of jobs to reemploy the unemployed and provide jobs for new job seekers looking for their first position with the hope of supporting a new family. We need unemployment to be 5% or less and figure out how to pay for or cut back on existing programs before we launch new billion dollar projects.

Those are great points, Bob! This is all a tangled web. Keep in mind one small point, often overlooked, that I published in my Thanksgiving newsletter. The average politician often wants the office more than they want life itself. Thus they will use every trick and power they have to remain in office. One of those tricks is reciprocity.

If a politician gives you something, say free health care, lower taxes, a local earmark project, you subconsciously feel obligated to do something in return. The easiest thing for you to give back is your vote. In my opinion, this is the only motivation right now for this Health Care Bill. Those supporting it are flipping a switch in everyone's head thinking that we now are obligated to the kind politicians for thinking of us. Well, not me buster! The only switch flipped in my head is the one to keep exposing what's really happening.

This skit would have been even more hilarious if it weren't true. The current situation with our National Debt, what we owe to the Chinese government and the smoke that is being blown at us each day by those in power will only allow you to laugh for just a few moments.

We're in dire straights, and I applaud the cast of SNL for having the courage to tell the truth on their show. Kudos to them!

California is an Omen

A good friend of mine, Jason Hill, wrote to me from Wrightwood, California:

California is in such mess. What's new? Right now our local school district is facing 6 million dollars in cuts. The district is proposing a $250 parcel tax on us to cover the 6 million dollars. We have a great district that produces great results. I am at a loss. My gut says we need to hit rock bottom in this state and start over. My heart says pay the two fifty so the students do not suffer. My mind says revert to gut feeling!

Jason, this is where the nation's headed. More taxes to pay for things we might not be able to afford. This Health Care Bill is but one. Read what Senator Judd Gregg (NH) has to say about the real cost of this Bill. It's insanity. When the dust settles, your gut is going to feel really bad, and you may have to wait in a long line for a remedy.

But there is hope, Jason, look what the voters in Wisconsin did. Tom Kohlman sent me this fascinating news story about voters who arranged a recall election. They were upset about out-of-control spending concerning a new jail.

It's time we do the same. We must get our cheeks out of our seats and follow the lead of the voters of Monroe County, Wisconsin. Are you sick of politicians who are spending us into oblivion? Then get involved. Talk up how you feel. Don't be shy. That's the problem here in the USA. People have been trained NOT to talk about politics because it might offend someone. Too bad, so sad! We are at a tipping point and it's time to take action.

Effective immediately, all insurance companies can sell any health-insurance policy to any person or any company in any state in the USA.

Read what the Wall Street Journal has to say about the Health Care Bill. If that doesn't make the eyeballs in your head rotate backwards, then I don't know what to say.

The Senate is getting ready to take action. They will vote for a modified version of the Bill soon. We must stop this now for a host of reasons. We already know that government can't run entitlement programs. I've been repeating it for weeks that Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are insolvent. They're broke in other words. Who's going to bail them out? Yes, you, your kids and your grandkids all because self-sufficiency seems to be out of fashion. The free market can solve this health care issue. The reason we're where we are is because of politicians who passed laws LIMITING competition. It's true! Think about your auto, home and life policies. Why isn't there a huge debate about those products? Simple, there's open competition across state lines.

It's time now. It's time for you to push your chips into the center of the table like I have. I BEG you to write your Senators now and tell them how you feel. Urge your friends, relatives, neighbors, co-workers and anyone you come into contact with. It's do or die right now.

Remember that the Senators WANT to remain in office, often more than they want life itself. I know this as I was an elected official for two terms. I had to deal with politicians each day. I know how they think. It's hard to describe. But know that if you tell them that you ABSOLUTELY will vote for a person that wants government OUT of health care - that will get their attention. My family and I thank you in advance for taking the time to do this. Your letter or email very likely will be the straw that breaks the back of your Senators.

If you liked what you just read, then I urge you to open this newsletter each week and go to the bottom to The Fire Pit. That's where I sit around with you and share what's on my mind. I'd love to hear from you. Feel free to write me telling me what you think. I'll reprint your letter on my blog giving you a platform that you otherwise might not have. I can hear your chips rustling now as they slide across the felt.

I'll close with this profound statement I received from another subscriber who lives halfway around the planet. Ih Tan, who resides about 20Km from Kota Kinabalu (capital of Sabah), East Malaysia / Borneo, wrote, "A good Govt is a Govt where people do not feel its presence."

Ih, you got that right!

Dave, you're no slug! You just got busy or distracted. Many get overwhelmed with too much email or get too busy to read everything.

What Dave's email communicated to me was that you may also be one that doesn't read all the way to the end of my newsletter, that's where The Fire Pit is, or you haven't opened an issue for a long time. That explains the shocking headline of today's issue. I wanted to get your attention.

You may be like Dave. You may not be aware that six months ago I took a huge chance and shared my feelings about what's happening in our great nation right now. I've been doing that in just about every newsletter since May, and you can see all past newsletter issues if you haven't saved them.

We're at a critical time in our nation's history. Each day we're drifting farther away from the principles in our Constitution. You and I can debate that till the cows come home, but it's true. Government is out of control. Spending is out of control. Just two months ago we registered the largest deficit in history - $1.4 Trillion dollars. Our nation is Trillions of dollars in debt.

The simple concept of self sufficiency is aggressively being kicked to the curb by some who feel differently than tens of millions of patriots who I know are out there. As government grows, liberties tend to evaporate. We who work productive jobs each day have to support on our backs all the government employees who are telling us what to do. You'll never convince me that's what the Founding Fathers had in mind. Not on your best day.

At what point does this government growth break down? Simple. Look at what happened in East Germany, the Soviet Union and what's happening in China now. Capitalism, free markets and liberty go hand in hand. Socialism and the redistribution of wealth hinders a society. You don't believe me? If you think they work, then lead by example. Send me copies of all the extra checks showing that you redistribute your money each week to people less fortunate than you. Show me that you redistribute your money above and beyond the taxes you pay.

I was in Washington DC on September 12, 2009. I was in that crowd of nearly 1,500,000 talking to patriots of every party there who are sick of what's going on. They, like Kathy my wife and I, are tired of big government, politicians of ANY party who think of themselves, elected officials who focus on their lobbyists and buddies *instead* of future Americans who are not yet born. We need leaders in power who think like our Founding Fathers. They thought about future generations, not themselves. Yes, I'm right of center and on the right side of history at this point in time.

How can I make that bold statement with confidence? I already know the hundreds of emails I'll be getting. I can save you some time if you just read this. In the past six months, I've lost perhaps 500 subscribers because I took the chance and shared my beliefs instead of being *politically correct* and keeping quiet in my newsletter. On the other hand, I've added at least 20,000 new subscribers since May who've NOT unsubscribed. Furthermore, each time I send a newsletter I get about 5 bitter emails from folks who are ideologically opposed to me. Mixed in with those are 40 or 50 that congratulate me. You don't have to have a math PhD to realize those facts are statistically relevant data offering proof that a majority are sick and tired of business as usual when it comes to government.

Each week within hours of sending each newsletter I hear from people who think it's a bad idea to mix business and politics. It's a quality-of-life issue at this time of my life. If I feel better each day, my quality of life is improving. There's no way I want to live in quiet desperation each day wondering what might have happened if I'd taken the chance. I'll never have to say that. I've gone all in. All my chips are in the center of the table when I hit the Queue button in the software that sends this newsletter to you. What's more, I've created a website that's an online press conference with my Congressional representative, Carol Shea Porter. If you have a blog or website of your own, I'd sure appreciate it if you'd tell your audience about it. The URL is easy:

http://www.carolsheaporterfacts.com

But what happens if this indifference is exposed? What happens if an opponent finds out and can prove that an elected official is ignoring fair questions? That politician will have some explaining to do.

I've started to do this with my own House representative, Ms. Carol Shea-Porter. She represents New Hampshire's First District. If you have an inside connection with Carol, you may want to contact her and tell her that the longer she ignores her constituents, the more excuses she'll have to conjure up in the upcoming months. Remember, excuses are reasons for failure.

To be completely fair to Congresswoman Shea-Porter, I'm launching later this week a companion web site for her opponent in the upcoming election - Frank Guinta, the current mayor of Manchester, NH. I'll pose the same questions to both candidates and see who has the fortitude to answer them. If they don't answer the questions, the Court of Public Opinion will render its decision for sure.

But before we start celebrating, we have more work. Unless you live under a rock, I'm sure you realize that a few days ago the House narrowly passed the Health Care Bill. It now needs to run the gauntlet of the Senate. Senators are in the center of the vortex of power and want their jobs more than life itself. It's time to contact them and tell them their days in power are numbered if they vote Yes on a bill containing the public option. I've said it before and I'll say it again: The US Government has yet to prove to me that they can run an entitlement program. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are insolvent - that means they are bankrupt or on the verge of bankruptcy.

For starters, I suggest we try one easy thing. Let's pass just one simple law and see what happens. All the law has to say is:

Effective immediately, all insurance companies can sell any product to any person or company in any state in the USA.

We all know that open competition brings us great products at affordable prices in everything else we buy each day. It works in the auto and home-insurance marketplace. The free market hates vacuums. Competition fills voids when businesses see they can offer a product a better price. Let's try this SIMPLE thing before we create another layer of government that will consume trillions of dollars.

I also heard from other people who didn't live in Canada, some very rude I might add, but Curtis had some great ideas. He wrote:

"Hi Tim,

First time e-mailer. Love your newsletter and tips. Also appreciated your two suggestions on health care reform.

Here are a few more suggestions: there needs to be built-in incentives in a health reform plan to encourage consumers to be thoughtful, cost containing consumers.

1. Establish a national health care provider Price Center on the web. All doctors, hospitals and clinics would be required by law to post their prices for all standard services. This would include dental and vision too. Organized by state and region this would be a driving force in moving costs lower.

2. Establish a national health insurance policy that must be sold by all insurance companies in the country across all state lines.

3. Establish and promote a national HSA eligible policy that provides incentives for saving unused dollars to our IRAs

(Mine has $16,000 tax free dollars in it now and I have been in it only for 5 years) NOTE: my HSA Eligible Health Insurance has increased in cost by only 1% per year over the past 5 years!!!!

4. For the working poor, this HSA system could add HSA saved dollars to their social security check at retirement. Change the law so that HSA deposits can not be removed period for none medical reasons until age 65.

Thanks for all you do,"

Curtis Sexton
La Pine, OR 97739

Curtis, be sure to send these ideas to your representatives.

My wife Kathy sent me this fascinating link about denials of care.

Finally, here are two excellent videos that I feel summarize many of my emotions that I have about the current Health Care Debate. Congressman Mike Rogers - Michigan's 8th District - simply nails it in these two short speeches he makes at two different committee meetings up on Capitol Hill:

September 24th Committee Meeting

Ron Thompson alerted me to the best of the two videos. Watch this second video and see if you don't agree.

Are you upset? If so, WRITE to your representatives now.

"Since 1901, the Nobel Prize has been honoring men and women from all corners of the globe for outstanding achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and for work in peace."

Wow! When you look up the definition of achievement, it talks about things that have happened in the past. It seems like the committee based their decision on Hope - they *hope* there will be world peace and that our President is the man that will pull the levers. My simple question is: When Iran or North Korea finish building their nuclear weapons and then launch them, is the Nobel committee allowed to rescind the prize? The more likely scenario, as there is historical precedent, is that Israel will launch their own nuclear strike within the next year to prevent the second Holocaust. What's our President doing now to prevent any of this from happening? That's a rhetorical question - so you know.

http://www.operationcanyouhearusnow.org/

Cash For Clunkers Explained

If you traded in a clunker worth $3500, you get $4500 off for an apparent "savings" of $1000.

However, you have to pay taxes on the $4500 come April 15th (something that no auto dealer will tell you). If you are in the 30% tax bracket, you will pay $1350 on that $4500.

So, rather than save $1000, you actually pay an extra $350 to the feds. In addition, you traded in a car that was most likely paid for. Now you have 4 or 5 years of payments on a car that you did not need, that was costing you less to run than the payments that you will now be making.

But wait, it gets even better - you also got ripped off by the dealer.

For example, every dealer in LA was selling the Ford Focus with all the goodies including A/C, auto transmission, power windows, etc. for $12,500 the month before the "cash for clunkers" program started.

When "cash for clunkers" came along, they stopped discounting them and instead sold them at the list price of $15,500. So, you paid $3000 more than you would have the month before. (Honda, Toyota, and Kia played the same list price game that Ford and Chevy did).

So let's do the final tally here:

You traded in a car worth: $3500
You got a discount of: $4500
--------
Net so far: +$1000
But you have to pay: $1350 in taxes on the $4500
--------
Net so far: -$350
And you paid: $3000 more than the car was selling for the month before
--------
Net: -$3350

We could also add in the additional taxes (sales tax, state tax, etc.) on the extra $3000 that you paid for the car, along with the 5 years of interest on the car loan but lets just stop here.

So who actually made out on the deal? The feds collected taxes on the car along with taxes on the $4500 they "gave" you. The car dealers made an extra $3000 or more on every car they sold along with the kickbacks from the manufacturers and the loan companies. The manufacturers got to dump lots of cars they could not give away the month before. And the poor stupid consumer got saddled with even more debt that they cannot afford.

Obama and his band of merry men convinced Joe Consumer that he was getting $4500 in "free" money from the "government" when in fact Joe was giving away his $3500 car and paying an additional $3350 for the privilege.

Cash for Clunkers Update

Last issue I published the body of an email I received from someone about the Cash for Clunkers program. There was a major error in the material dealing with consumers having to pay tax on the $4,500 rebate. If you are one of these people, take a deep breath. No taxes are due to the Federal Government.

You may be one of the subscribers that pointed that out to me. Thanks for doing that. I tried to be very careful with that item, because I didn't vet the information. In fact, I put a clear warning right at the top stating that I didn't verify the facts or the math. That wasn't good enough for Ms. Nicki Hanson. Nicki very politely and professionally executed a debate that stretched out over an afternoon pointing out that it was not right to publish information that's not vetted. After several emails, I finally saw what Nicki was talking about and agreed with her. To that point, from now on, I'll do my best to vet the information or publish the actual source so that you can make up your own mind as to its validity. Nicki, thanks for jumping into the cage fight with me. You have one heck of a headlock. :->

Think what's been happening over the past twenty years. What kind of deficit spending has been going on here in the USA? For a short time, President Clinton did have a surplus year or two I believe, so he's to be complemented for that. But since then, the Congresses and our Presidents have been on a spending spree. They are spending money that's not yet been created. How's that possible you ask? Easy. Sell promissory notes. We happen to officially call them US Treasury Bills or Bonds. It's a simple piece of paper that says a person or country will get back a fixed amount of US money plus some extra in the form of interest. The interest is the money you and I have not yet created.

But what's happened over the past ten months? Our Congress, with the encouragement of our President, has quadrupled our annual deficit and quadrupled our National Debt. They are spewing money in the form of US Treasury Bills onto the market at a pace never seen before in history. All of this extra money is devaluing the US Dollar. It's making what little you and I might have in savings worth less.

It gets worse. This practice usually leads to inflation. Inflation is a funny thing. If you have a fixed debt or loan (US Treasury Bills are such a beast), then inflation is sort of a good thing. Inflation allows you to pay off loans with cheaper dollars. When inflation happens, you tend to have your wages raised to help offset the higher cost of things you buy each day. The government can initiate inflation any number of ways, just as the free market can. Think about that. The government can trigger inflation to help take the sting out of paying for the T-Bills that will come due in the future.

So if you have things you want to sell - say oil (Middle East, Russia, South America, etc.), manufactured products (China, India, etc.), food (South America, etc.), then you probably don't want to exchange your products for a currency that is suspect or losing value. That's what's starting to happen. That's what the story at Fox is all about.

How can we turn this around? Easy. We kick out of office anyone who thinks nothing of deficit spending. We elect people who will govern like you and I run our households. We only spend what we make each week, right? The USA is going - or is - bankrupt. I've been waiting for this story for months. If you've been a subscriber for some time, you know I've already talked about this. We MUST STOP spending money we don't have. You can't sustain that type of economic policy in your own life, so why in the world would you think collectively - We the People - can get away with it?

I can already see the emails I'm going to get: "What about the billions spent on the useless wars, Tim!" Well, that's a great question. Go look in the Congressional Record to see WHO voted Yes to fund those wars. Congress has to approve the spending to go to war. A vast majority of those in office now voted Yes to spend the war money. I could go on and on.

For the security and preservation of your own financial future and that of your children and grandchildren, I BEG you to write to your Senators and your Congressman/woman TODAY. Provide the link to the Fox story. Tell them how you feel about spending money we don't have. Tell them who you'll vote for next time around.

Contact your Congressman/woman.

Contact your Senators.

My favorite photo was the one held by the tax slave. You must see that one!

Two of the photos were a young family that are all dressed in red tee shirts. They were from Baton Rouge, LA. I talked with the young father and they drove 31 hours to get to Washington, DC. It was that important to them. That's the takeaway from this. I ask you: How important is your future, and that of your family, to you? Do you like the direction America is headed? If so, fine. If not, then you must get involved. This means going to rallies, writing your representatives and doing anything you can to get others plugged in.

The Health-Care Bill

Our President and Congress seem hell-bent on passing a health-care bill. If you're not up to speed on this issue, I urge you to get into the game. Is our current health care system perfect? Heck no. Why not make some adjustments before we start from scratch? How about the two things I mentioned last issue? Open up competition completely so that every company can sell every policy in every state. How about aggressive tort reform? Keep in mind that the competition aspect will help regulate company profits and salaries. Those companies that try to make more money will have to pass that on to the policy holders. Just as you now shop for the best bargain on all the things you buy, you'll be able to do that with health insurance. Why would you ever want a system with NO competition?

That brings me to a point we discussed at Molly Malone's with Philip Bender. If you're a Canadian subscriber, I ask you to please write to me telling me about your feelings with the Canadian health-care system. Tell me about how it works for emergency care and routine checkups. But also tell me about how it works if you have a health issue that needs surgery or major hospitalization. How long do you have to wait to see a specialist? I'll publish all the stories on a page at my web site. Please put your contact information in the email so I can confirm you live in Canada.

The same goes if you're a subscriber from Texas. Can you tell me if the tort reform in your state has made a difference to you? How? I'll publish each story that's from a Texan. Please include your contact info so I can confirm you hail from the Lone Star State. Go longhorns, not! :-> I'm a Bearcat fan myself.....

While on Health Care.....

Each issue, I get a few emails from subscribers who are very hot under the collar about the health-care issue. I'm talking about people who want a single-payer system. By chance I discovered that many of these people forget who the government is. They all seem to think it's this invisible *thing*. They forget they/we are the government. So in all my replies I've said something like:

"Dear ________, It appears you're really passionate about this health-care issue and feel that all those uninsured or under-insured people need help. Can you please do me a favor? Since your passion runs so deep and you feel it's a worthy cause, can you email me a copy of your canceled check? The one you sent into the US Treasury above and beyond what you paid in taxes last year? Or, if you made a generous contribution to your local hospital that cares for those who walk through the door and don't pay, a copy of that check will suffice. If you really feel this is such a great cause, then I would expect you to lead by example. If you're not contributing extra money of your own now, then don't complain about others who object to paying."

Guess what? Each time I send that reply email, I *never* hear from that person again. I guess they don't own a scanner ......... NOT! By the way, the same feeling goes for any new program. If you're a believer in a new program that raises taxes or creates a new tax, I want to see your canceled check before you lead me by your hand to the wood shed.

Contact your representatives. I can't say that enough.

Here are easy links for you:

Your US House Representative

Your US Senators

Please consider subscribing to this new channel if you use YouTube.

It will be the new home for all the videos I make that have nothing to do with home improvement, including a few of me getting up on a wake board for the first time the day before I went to Washington DC. I shot about 20 videos in DC and will load all of them over the next few days. Here is one of me just before I walked into Freedom Plaza. Some kind of big race was happening at the same time. The poor runners had to navigate through a huge crowd.

When I was first in Freedom Plaza, I had to call Kathy to tell her about all that was going on. She must have been in the shower, as I got voice mail. But my emotions got the best of me, and I was all choked up. I was holding back tears of joy, and not saying anything. No doubt she heard all the crowd noise and wondered why I was silent. How silly that I was embarrassed about crying on the phone to my wife! But I regained my composure and mumbled something about how unbelievable the sight of all the people was. I'd never protested before, nor been in such a vibrant crowd of people.

You must believe me - we are experiencing a second revolution. I beg you to become part of it. The words I kept using in my videos were that We the People are taking back our country from the current leaders who are looting and raping our great nation of all its treasures. Go to Google and find your local Tea Party organization. If there isn't one, get some friends together and start your own chapter.

We must continue to put extreme pressure on our elected officials. I don't mean extreme yelling, but high and tight fastball questions. For example, here are some I'll be sending to my Congresswoman and Senator Shaheen:

Recently some shocking videos about unlawful advice of Acorn employees have surfaced. Do you intend to support legislation or introduce it that will stop all funding to this organization?

Recent professional polls show that a vast majority of Americans are not in favor of the current health-care legislation that you're working on. Will you continue to ignore the wishes of the people?

Health care reform is needed, but let's do it in stages. How about we introduce national tort reform like they did in Texas. It's done wonders to lower health-care costs there. Let's allow insurance companies to sell their products in every state increasing competition. Will you support legislation or introduce it to allow these two things?

I could go on and on, but you get the point. SAVE the questions you send in a different program, and then save the answer you get. I'm going to show you soon how to create a simple website where you can then put this information up on the Internet and it will show up on page one of Google. I'm working on that presentation for you.

So much to do, so little time. What I really need are a few patriots who are very tech savvy to help in this effort. Are you one? Can I offload to you some of the things I want to do? Let's schedule a conference call to figure out how I can get some help to make your ideas come true.

Next week, I'm going to share some very troubling news about the China's growing reluctance to buying our Treasury Bills. I'm also going to share some data I gleaned from a Wall Street Journal editorial. It's a sobering synopsis of the tremendous inequalities of who and who isn't paying taxes here in the USA.

I don't know about you, but I really feel that everyone should pay *some* tax, no matter what their income is. Why? Because if you don't have a skin in the game, you place little value on the way the money is spend by politicians. But imagine if you had to give just $5.00 each week to the Federal Government, and that $5 was a meal for you, you'd probably be very interested in the way politicians voted. It's my feeling that the Income Tax code has been manipulated so that many don't pay so they shrug their shoulders at all the debate about issues.

You'll probably agree when you see the numbers!

However, if you still want to come to New Hampshire and meet me face to face, I'll carve out a weekend. Email me if you want to come.

I'm now just going to hit the high spots as I've got to get upstairs and grout the shower floor.

First, what's up with our elected officials calling us names and trying to belittle us for objecting to their viewpoints? Boy, what a great way to win friends. Just Google Nancy Pelosi UnAmerican and you'll see what I mean. A bunch of our members of Congress are trying to make us feel bad about voicing our opinions. Protests all through our great history have been filled with passion and raised voices. No matter what the issue, people of all different parties have shouted at their government officials. Fortunately we still have that liberty here, but I sometimes wonder for how much longer.

A good friend Bob Rankin passed along a tip that really ties in with some of the things I ask you to do. I'll suggest to you to do research to see what's being said here or there about an issue. That can be an enormous amount of work, unless you know a trick.

Here's what Bob sent me last week:

"Enter these searches into Google:

Sickening..."

Kenneth Gladney is a patriot that got roughed up a town meeting he attended.

The point is, look at that search string and the formatting. What happens is that by telling Google:

site:askthebuilder.com ceramic tile

By entering the command line as I show above, you are asking Google to go to my site and show ALL pages that have the phrase ceramic tile.

See how you can use this on any website to see how the are covering a story? It's a huge time saver. You'll also get an education on media bias!

# # #

Have you watched any news coverage about the town-hall meetings happening across the nation? There were quite a few at first, but when some of the members of Congress saw that the crowds wanted real answers, many were cancelled.

My own House representative refuses at this point to host a meeting. This is a decision that could have an unpleasant outcome for her on election day in 2010. Read my blog post about this.

Perhaps the most inspiring patriot I've seen so far is a stay-at-home mom, Katy Abram. She lives in Pennsylvania and went face to face with Senator Specter. I urge you to watch this video. She starts to talk at 5:14 into the video. If you've not seen what Katy said, it's a MUST WATCH. She's a patriot, and her unrehearsed comments were from deep in her heart. She said the same thing Admiral Yamamoto muttered after Pearl Harbor was bombed. I don't know if the Admiral actually said it in real life, but the actor that portrayed him in Tora, Tora, Tora did!

Go here to see Katy the patriot.

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The 912 Project

I'm going to attend the 912 project in Washington DC on September 12th. If you want to hook up and meet there, email me offlist. We'll exchange contact info and try to coordinate meeting there. I'm going to meet Bob Rankin and his wife Loreli there. I sure hope you can come.

We have to shrink the sizes of our government at all levels. The fuel or money for all of the employees and programs comes from those of us who are not working in government. Each new proposed program adds financial burden to those of us paying taxes. And I shouldn't have to say that some people pay way more taxes than others. A vast percentage of Americans pay no income tax. That's an entirely different discussion on another day.

Think about the proposed Health Care Bill that's front and center in the news. How many tens of thousands of new government workers will be added to facilitate it? Who pays for that?

Speaking of money, did you see in today's news that the overall tax receipts to the government are on pace to be down 18 percent this year? WOW!! But our elected officials have quadrupled the budget deficit in just the past seven months. We passed a trillion dollars last month and will end the fiscal year with a deficit near $1.8 TRILLION dollars. Taxes flowing into the Treasury are dropping because people are out of work and business profits are down. You and I MUST communicate to our elected officials that we must STOP spending money that's not there.

Congress is on their summer vacation right now. Your elected officials are back home, and many are having meetings. It's imperative you and I attend these open meetings to let them know how you feel about any and all the issues. If you can't go to a meeting, write or call them. This is more important now than you can ever imagine.

Have you seen on the news over the past few days the blistering town meetings? Americans just like you and I are telling their officials how upset they are. Believe me, it works. As I said last time, the average politician wants his job more than you can ever imagine. You and I can absolutely control the outcome of voting on Bills in Congress.

Are you happy with the way the Federal Government is handling the major entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicade and Medicare? Are you aware of the deep financial trouble all these programs are in? Are you aware of the tens of billions of dollars of fraud in the Medicare and Medicade programs? It makes me sick. I can't imagine the mess Health Care would be if run by our government. Not only that, I want to control my health care destiny, not have some government worker tell me whether or not I'm eligible for a procedure.

I beg you to get up to speed on this Health Care Bill. Watch all the Cable News shows. Heck, watch a different network each night to see what each one has to say. Then you decide. All I can say is that the Health Care Bill, in its proposed format, scares the holy heck out of me. It should you as well. Here's an interesting link with health care facts I got from Bob Rankin, a subscriber, last week:

Ten days ago, I contacted my two US Senators, Judd Gregg and Jeanne Shaheen, about the Health Care Bill. I never heard back from Senator Shaheen. That was a mistake on her part.

But I got back a personal letter, much to my surprise from Senator Gregg. I'm here to tell you that when you and I take the time to write and call, it makes an enormous difference. Please read what Senator Gregg wrote to me.

Yes, my address in New Hampshire is in the letter. I have no fear publishing it. It's easy to find me even without doing that. I'm focused on what's happening in our government because I have enormous trepidation about the future and how it affects all of us. I'm going all in as in a Texas Hold'em poker game. I need you to do the same. Put it all on the line now and be a patriot.

Thanks for stopping by the Fire Pit. If you want to do it in person, you know where to find it. Realize that we can't start a fire until after 5 p.m. each day. That's the law. Contact me before you come, so I make sure there's enough wood and liquid refreshment.

One of the interesting things is how as we've grown older we've become more politically active and aware. I remember this as a kid listening to my parents talk. Mom and Dad would watch the nightly news and talk about the economy and the Vietnam War. It was soooooooo boring to me! But I could tell they were really concerned with what was happening in politics.

Now 45 years later, I think I understand why. As we get older, it becomes harder for us to change course. It's tough to start over. There's less time and less energy to create a nest egg. Young people have all sorts of options. If you're under 30 years of age, you may be just blowing off what I'm saying as you don't think like an older person. I suggest you reconsider that, because events happening today can have a profound effect on your future.

I'm taking the time to write about all of these things because up until a few years ago I had grown apathetic thinking none of us could change things within government. Perhaps you feel this way and/or just don't care. I beg you to reconsider. Why? Because we must change things soon. That apathy was shared by many, and politicians of every flavor took advantage of it. This is exactly how we got into the huge mess we are now in. We, the People, have not been doing a great job of watching what the elected officials in Washington are doing. We hoped all would go well. Remember the last newsletter? You can't base decisions on hope.

Did you hear the news that happened several days ago? This year's Federal Budget Deficit topped One Trillion dollars for the first time ever, and we still have three months to go in our fiscal year! This is insanity.

Then the Social Security Administration had a huge conference in Arizona to the tune of $700,000. It was primarily a stress-relief conference.

And don't get me started on the Health Care Bill in the House and Senate now. Go do your own research. Heck, the Congressional Budget Office disagrees with our Leader. They say the Health Care Bill will add to our enormous out-of-control deficit. Go see pages two and three of the report sent to Congress.

You want more on the Health Care Bill? Read what Investors Business Daily has to say. My buddy Bob Rankin sent me this story.

Then go to www.foxnews.com or www.cnn.com or www.msnbc.com See what you find about it. It will blow your mind. The Health Care Bill is so flawed and so unconstitutional, it's almost hard to believe an American wrote it. Go see what the Congressional Budget Office has to say about the Health Care Bill. It will ruin your day.

I could list many other wasteful things the government is doing with our money. We must force our elected officials at the Federal level to STOP spending money we don't have. You can't borrow your way out of debt on a personal level, so why would you feel the government - which is us by the way, you and I are the government - can do it? You and I would go bankrupt in a heartbeat if each week we spent more money than we were taking in. We absolutely must stop the elected officials in Washington from spending money we don't have.

So how do you and I accomplish this task? We look at history. What did Caesar do? He divided and conquered. What happened to Achilles? He got shot by an arrow in the heel. Ouch!

It's not as hard as you might think to make sweeping changes in the government. Let me relate it to you on a personal level. I have some data that can help us. About a month ago, I promised you a story about the individuals I served with on the Amberley Village Planning Commission and the Amberley Village Council. That's the small village in Ohio where I lived before moving to New Hampshire.

I was an appointed official for eight years on the Planning Commission, and I was elected to office twice as a Councilman. The point of this short story is to show you how easy it is to get things done in government, especially when you're NOT an appointed or elected official. Yes, I typed that correctly. You don't have to be elected to get things done. To get things done, you just need to know what strings to pull and what buttons to push.

I'm not a politician by nature. I only ran for office because of a zoning issue that directly affected me. But once elected, I was surrounded by individuals who were politicians. I'm talking small-village politics here, but spend some time with the people I served with and you'd walk away thinking they were members of the US Senate. A handful of these council members I interacted with on a weekly basis wanted the office - and the mayor's chair - more than they wanted life itself. It was crazy, as many residents in the village didn't even know who was on Council. Anyone outside of the village surely didn't care.

But that desire to have and hold office is the Achilles Heel of just about any politician - at least most I see today. As Kathy will tell you, the trouble with politics today is that most look at it as a career. This is why we need term limits in Congress. We have it at the Presidential level, why not in Congress? But I digress.

Just about all the Council members I served with were swayed when a small, but vocal, group would come to a meeting. But not me. I would stand my ground on an issue so long as I had all the facts and I felt like I was doing the right thing for the benefit of the entire Village. I would listen to the residents, but vote on an issue trying to look at how the issue would affect residents of the village who had yet to be born.

Fifty vociferous residents in the Town Hall would make many of the Council members change their positions on an issue, even though those 50 were not a majority of the 3,500 residents AND these loudmouths might be on the wrong side of an issue. But because the weak council members I served with WANTED, in the next election, the votes of those 50 people, they would side with them on an issue to appease them. It was insanity.

You and I can use this predictable behavior against career politicians as their psychological profile most surely matches that of the council members I served with. If enough of us take a few moments to focus our energy tightly and REGULARLY against our representatives, we'll get their attention. This is what Caesar did. He divided. I only want you to worry about the Senators and Congressmen/women in the state you live in. Forget about the others. Don't be distracted by them. If you take the time to visit the website of your officials and you write - and THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of other constituents do it, the Senators and Congressmen WILL LISTEN.

You've heard this before, but you've probably shrugged your shoulders because you don't know how to get their attention, you've been too busy, or you feel alone. Just moments ago I wrote my Congresswoman - Carol Shea Porter and told her to vote AGAINST the upcoming Health Care Bill. It took me less than three minutes to do that. Remember, a vast majority of the elected officials in Washington DC want to hold that position of power more than they want life itself. That's their Achilles Heel.

Understand that you have to act NOW if you want stop the Cap and Trade and the Health Care Bills. You can't wait another day. You must contact your House Representative and two Senators now.

But if you want to STOP the politicians from trying to pass these insane spending bills, you're going to love this idea of mine. If you're frustrated, worried, angry and concerned about the future of the USA, you're not alone. I've discovered over the past two months that there are TENS OF THOUSANDS of people just like you who are sick and tired of government as usual and want real change, not the Change Rhetoric that was spilling off the lips of candidates at each speech opportunity last October as water cascades over a waterfall. These thousands of people who think like you are subscribers to this newsletter.

Let me ask you if this excites you. Would you be interested in learning how to apply painful direct pressure to your representatives in Congress? I'm talking about your own House representative and your two Senators. I only need less than 600 people across the nation who are as passionate as you and I to do the really heavy lifting. But I need hundreds of thousands of helpers to do much easier work.

I've decided to produce a little mini conference where I show you how to write very effective short letters that get the attention of elected officials. For those who really want to make a difference, I'm going to show you how in less than one hour you can build an effective small website that will absolutely get the attention of your elected officials. This website, if done the way I will show you, will get on page one of the results for search engines each time a person types in a specific search phrase about your representatives.

If this is of interest to you, and you're willing to come to New Hampshire for a weekend to see how this works, email me. PLEASE only respond if you're sincerely interested in coming and learning. If you respond and are part of a very large group, there may be a very small fee charged to cover the cost of me renting a hall or space to put on the presentation. If you're interested in HELPING me run this conference and have any skills that should be taught, please email me. In both cases, PLEASE make the Subject Line of your email say: Congress Conference.

There are two aspects to the problem I think. First, you may be busy just like the rest of humanity. What's more, you may be one who doesn't mind delegating responsibilities. That's not a bad thing to do in many instances, so long as the person you count on does what you want them to do. You delegate when you vote for someone to hold a political office. As Glenn Beck says in his book, An Inconvenient Book, you *lend* that person your power. Each of us has a little power. When you add it all up, it's enormous.

I'm reminded of a story I heard at a convention over 20 years ago. The speaker was talking about a builder who was going out to dinner with his wife. The builder mentioned in passing as he drove, "Well honey, I hired a new finish carpenter today. He'll help us make lots of money. I sure hope he works out."

The wife cocked her head slightly after processing what her husband said and uttered one simple comment, "What do you mean you HOPE?"

The builder didn't test the carpenter. He didn't go look at his past work. The builder *trusted* what the carpenter said about his abilities. The odds are the carpenter either embellished his skills in the interview or flat out lied to get the job. Never ever base your decisions on HOPE when money is on the line.

When you base decisions on HOPE, all sorts of bad jujumagumbo can happen.

The second aspect is the overuse of the word government. This word is thrown about by you, me and others each day as if it's this invisible third-person thing that no one can really quantify. Here's what I mean. How many times have you heard political rhetoric from any elected official that says, ".....blah, blah, blah a government subsidy will help solve that issue.... the government will bail out that company...... we should let the government save California from bankruptcy... " or some similar statement? So you think, "Good, I'm glad the *government* is going to do that, because I'm too busy and have my own problems."

Guess what, YOU AND I AND YOUR FAMILY, NEIGHBORS, CO-WORKERS, RELATIVES, FRIENDS are the Government. This means that each time money is being spent for something, it's coming out of your pocket or that of someone you might care about. If it's a hidden tax on business, you bet it's coming out of YOUR pocket in higher prices or LOWER QUALITY as the business will pass on that tax to you inside the product.

So in the two weeks that have passed since the last newsletter, what's happened besides Michael Jackson and Billy Mays joining my Mom up in Heaven? Well, the House of Representatives passed last Friday afternoon - interesting timing by the way - the largest tax increase in the history of the world. Don't believe me??? Go Google the Cap and Trade Bill and read MULTIPLE sources that have the facts about the bill.

If this bill becomes law in it's present form - (you and I can have it killed now by contacting the Senators in your state) - you and I are going to see:

1. Increased energy costs.
2. Mandatory energy retrofitting of YOUR home before you sell it.
3. Possible job loses as US companies take manufacturing offshore so they can remain competitive.
4. Too many other bad things to list.

Please understand that this Bill is based on Global Warming, er, I mean *Climate Change*. Last Wednesday, I contacted my US House Representative Carol Shea-Porter and wrote this:

"Dear Representative Shea-Porter,

You are basing your decision on incomplete data. I can prove it. I'm all for energy independence, but your strong opinion about the real causes of global warming may be dead wrong.

Let's talk for five minutes on the phone about global warming. My college degree is in Geology. I don't want to fight and argue, I want to try to get your head around the truth.

Do you realize that just six miles from my former home in Cincinnati you can still see the terminal moraine of the Wisconsin Glacier? A 1,000-foot high ice face was there just 18,000 years ago. This ice stretched back to the North Pole. This same ice sheet stretched east and also completely covered the Granite State. Franconia, Crawford and Pinkham Notches were created by this same huge continental glacier.

What caused this massive glacier composed of countless cubic miles of ice to melt and go back to the Arctic over the past 12,000 years? There were no factories, no cars, no buses, no trucks, etc. Think about that long and hard. How much climate change do you need to have happen to melt that *enormous* amount of ice that stretched all across the Midwest to New England and then all over Canada back up to the North Pole?

Are you really ready for the truth? What if I told you that in the past 2,000,000 years this same situation occurred four times? That's right - four periods of massive continental glaciation followed by four periods of INTERGLACIAL WARMING. Natural warming that completely melted the ice FOUR different times. We are currently in one of the interglacial WARMING periods - all natural - all caused by Mother Nature.

You want to get a second or third opinion verifying these facts? Simple. Contact the Geology Department at Plymouth State College or any other New Hampshire state college. Talk with any of the professors that specialize in glacial geology.

Bottom Line: Mother Nature is causing the climate change you're embracing as man made. And if you really search the literature, you'll discover that CO2 levels have been elevated higher than what we have now. That info was obtained by coring ice in Greenland and Antarctica. These periods of elevated CO2 were tens of thousands of years ago. Once again, no burning of fossil fuels were happening.

Do even more research and you'll discover troubling flaws in the current Global Warming argument. Many say that CO2 levels are causing the warming. Solid data shows that warming has happened that's followed by the rise in CO2. Just look in the literature.

I need you to realize that I'll be posting your reply to me on a new website I'm creating and this response to you. All residents in New Hampshire will be able to see it. What we want to see is if you have an open mind and are willing to reconsider your opinion based on real facts. If you're a consumer of Al Gore's Kool-Aid, you might want to switch to a new brand. His movie is full of distorted facts."

End of letter to Carol Shea-Porter.

Here's the interesting thing about the Global Warming movement. They - and I'm not totally certain of who's in charge of it - recognized that the data was working against them. So have you noticed how the mainstream media avoids the term Global Warming? They changed it to Climate Change so they are covered no matter which way the temperatures move. Understand that Mother Nature is CONSTANTLY adjusting the thermostat dial just as Kathy and I fight over it each winter.

Well, I'm too tired to throw another log on the embers in the pit. I'll talk to you next time about what's going on. In the meantime I BEG you to contact your US Senators and tell them to KILL the Cap and Trade Bill. Before you send those emails, go read up to prove to yourself what I said above is true. Go to as many sources as you can to get the real facts.

I'll be writing about certain things in my blog and will link to it from here. The first blog post is one I believe everyone will appreciate. It's all about maps, GPS and the Constitution.

I did something very satisfying this week. I took the time to write to both of my US Senators and my Congresswoman. Sadly, none of them have responded. I didn't expect a personal reply, but I did expect a staff member to send me a canned response. Just over a year ago, I contacted former Congressman Chabot in Ohio and within ten days I was sitting in his office discussing what was on my mind. He responded! After reading the next few lines, I sure hope you reach out and write to your representatives. Time is of the essence. You'll see why in just a moment when you read my response below to an email.

Something tells me that this section will most often be me sharing an email I got the previous week from a subscriber like you and my response to it. Here's one I got overnight from Mr. Lindsey Horner:

"Dear Tim,

I find your Newsletter excellent and have learned much from it and put some of the ideas to good use in my business. I have bought a few of your e-books and also find them to be excellent.

I thought that your tax rant was a bit jarring to say the least even though you did post a warning before diving in. I agree that it's your newsletter and it's free and you can say whatever you want and we can read it or not, agree with it or not or just hit delete or unsubscribe, all part of the precious freedoms we all enjoy in this flawed yet great land of ours. But the effect was similar to reading a political newsletter and having the writer digress to share his thoughts on installing toilets or grouting tile or shingling roofs: it was out of place.

It's not that I don't agree with your politics (though I happen not to), I wrote a similar note as this to someone who has a Green Building newsletter after he chose to mount a soapbox considerably to the left of yours.

Since these matters are clearly important to you and you think about them seriously, maybe you'd want to consider a site or blog dedicated solely to your political concerns where everyone could air their opinions at greater length.

By the way, I also agree that these are historic times. Last November, we overwhelmingly voted for change and for the first time in my life (I'm 48), it seems there is an actual chance that big oil, big coal, big business, big insurance and all their millionaire lobbyists will stop writing the ticket for working people like you and me. If you are going to continue to rant in the newsletter (and I somehow suspect you will), why not one on the astronomical cost of health insurance which is rendering us unable to compete internationally, rendering us a laughingstock before the world and doing far more damage than taxes ever could. I, personally, don't mind paying taxes if I see results from doing so (mass transit, schools, infrastructure etc.). Health Insurance costs are crippling me and my business to a far greater degree.

Keep up the good work and best of luck with your mom."

Mr. Lindsey Horner
Splendid Splinter Woodworking and Carpentry
New York, NY

Here's my response to Lindsey. It really allowed me to summarize many of the things swirling in my head the past week:

"Lindsey,

Thanks for your very professional and polite reply. I sincerely appreciate it. Of those who disagree with the political subject matter in my past two newsletters, you're in a distinct minority. Many who share your opinions and beliefs were rude, mean-spirited and vile. It's important to note that I wasn't upset by one of them. We all have the liberty to say what we want. Isn't that a great thing? I'm convinced that the subscribers of mine who were screaming were just doing so in an attempt to bully me into shutting up. That's not going to happen.

I am going to shift some of my musings to my blog, you'll see that in a few hours when the newsletter comes out, but I'm starting a new section of the newsletter called The Fire Pit. In it I will digress each week to tell you what I'm thinking about. I'll be touching on health care and all sorts of issues - *not* as an expert, but as a concerned citizen just like you that has questions. The point of this is to use my platform to stimulate others to enter into the discussion and hopefully begin to get active. Based upon hundreds of emails I got over the past week, I've come to realize that tens of thousands of my subscribers *want* me to do this. They told they derive inner strength from me taking a position on a topic.

So let's talk about health care for just a moment. I'm *not* trying to get a one-on-one debate going with you because we're both busy. You and I run our businesses the way they should be run. We take in - hopefully - more money than we spend each month. Right? You can't sustain a business on borrowing, as eventually you end up with so much debt you can't make the payments on all you owe.

Where in the world will the proposed $1 Trillion cost of the Health-Care Plan - announced yesterday by the President - come from? Note that is a conservative number. When have you ever seen the Federal Government come in under budget on a program of this magnitude? If it's more taxes on beverages and things, that's a drain on our economy.

Is health care important? You bet it is. Is our current system in need of repair? Yes. Is the proposed fix by our President the best one? No one can say today. We need to debate it and not be strong armed into a plan. That happened over the past eight months with the Stimulus Bill, and I'm pretty much certain the elected officials got that wrong. In fact, our vice president admitted that much this past Sunday on national TV, saying that they "guessed" wrong. I don't know about you, but we can't treat the current economic situation like the $500 Black Jack table at the Bellagio where we 'guess' at the next card the dealer will turn. There is too much at stake to base decisions on hope. We can't *hope* all will get better. At this stage of the game, we can only bet on sure things. Simple and basic economic principals that are based on proven theory are the way to go. Running a business or a government in the black - not red - is one of these proven theories that works.

Think about this for a moment. We - as a nation - only have a finite amount of money in play each day in the USA - just as you and I have in our businesses. You and I can't just keep writing checks to suppliers, loan payments, other bills, paychecks and bonuses. At some point, the checking account runs dry and we start writing checks that will bounce. Right?

So to the Federal Government. We can't sustain a spending spree when we don't have the money. Are you aware that the Federal Government in the past seven months has created out of thin air the money to pay for all the bailouts and the Stimulus? And our President, as well as many elected officials, want to continue to do this. History has many examples of nations that have done this. That printing of money *devalues significantly* the real money that the day before was on the playing table. Remember, real money that's created, or made, from increased productivity is a good thing. But adding MORE money into the system each day just because you can dilutes the power of the 'real' money and its perceived value by others - most notably the Chinese who are the primary ones buying our T-Bills and US Bonds. Think of the Chinese as VISA and Master Card. More on that in a moment.

Are you paying attention to what's going on in California? Do you realize they have the 8th largest economy in the world when you compare it to other nations? The unemployment is 11 percent in California and *rising*. This means the citizens in California can't sustain their own government. They are tens of billions of dollars in the red with their annual budget. Their citizens in the past few days went to the polls and rejected the idea of paying even more to the state government to keep it afloat. Understand that's exactly where the US Federal Government is headed. It's absolutely possible for the US Government to go bankrupt. It's happened in many countries over the years and will happen here if we stay the present course. You can't keep raising taxes to cover the debt and expect our economy to flourish.

What will that mean to you personally when this happens? That's the kind of thinking I implore you to do. That's the type of thinking I'm asking my newsletter subscribers to do each day.

In closing, I want to add that it's my personal feeling that a vast majority of our US Senators and Congressmen/women - from both parties - as well as a vast majority of bureaucrats actually don't understand this. I'm convinced they believe that there is no way we could go bankrupt. How is this possible? Here's my hypothesis. They have been appropriating so much money for so long - and it always was there - that they really believe that you can just keep printing and spending. It's no different from regular folk who just run up debt on five, ten or more credit cards. The card seems to work each time they slide it through the scanner at the store, so these people keep sliding it. Then all of a sudden one day the cashier says, "Sir/Madam, your card didn't authorize." That absolutely can happen to the US Government and the cashier will be the Chinese Finance Minister.

Stay tuned as the famous country singer Kenny Chesney had a song that's describes the moment in time where we now find ourselves: Only Time Will Tell. The actual lyric in the song is, " ... Only time will tell, but it ain't talkin' ". So you, I and 300 million other Americans are going to have Father Time scream at us what the outcome will be. I don't know about you, but I'm not going to stand idly by waiting for this moment. I'm going to do everything in my power to get others to react now and stop this spending spree so that we don't go bankrupt as a nation."

End of my reply to Lindsey.....

How do you feel about this? Convinced? If so contact your US Senators and Congressman/woman and tell them to stop the madness. We can't continue to borrow and spend what we don't have. I'll tell you next week why it's SO IMPORTANT that you write. I'll recount my past phone call with Senator Jon Kyl - AZ, and a few of the idiots I served with on Amberley Village Council. Don't think I'm calling Senator Kyl an idiot. He just got placed in that sentence. It will all make sense next week. I BEG you to take the time right now and write to your representatives.

The complainers were all gritching at me to stay away from politics because I'm doing a *home-improvement* newsletter, not political commentary. I see that point, but the style of my newsletter is such that I'm conversing with you no different than if you and I were sitting on my deck chewing the fat. All topics are game in my newsletter. Family, sports, investing, movies, etc. Whatever is happening in my life, you'll know about via this newsletter.

I had to gently remind the complainers that this newsletter is free, and because of that they had very little collateral to use when raking me over the coals. Rest assured I value you as a subscriber, but I really put a tremendous amount of effort into each issue for virtually no financial gain. It's primarily a hobby for me. Since there is no money in this for me, I feel I have the right to let you know how I feel about things.

But Curt Alexander, a subscriber from Montana, really hit the nail on the head with his comment:

"First and foremost, I read your recent newsletter and enjoyed it - especially the section on no taxes. (Editor's Note: I didn't rant saying NO to all taxes. My rant was that the constant raising of taxes, including the proposed VAT tax, had made me upset.)

Usually, I try to avoid politics and politicians because they just frustrate me. But, the more I do that the more I see you and I losing in freedoms and in unjust taxation (not to mention bailouts).

You know a lot of people are afraid to get too 'political' with their newsletters and subscribers. But, as the old saying goes, you either stand for something or nothing at all. I for one, am standing right behind you on this issue. And it's folks like you, with a large sounding board, who can do the most to get the word out that what we are doing in this country is WRONG. It's morally wrong and it's also unconstitutional.

Also, I saw Judge Napolitano on Glenn Beck a few weeks ago and he mentioned something I have not heard covered elsewhere. He is trying to start a petition and get enough Americans to sign it so he can take it to Congress and get it talked about. What is the petition? It's to abolish the federal income tax.

Now, while it's probably an extreme long shot the whole point is to give a nice warning shot across the bow and let the powers that be know that we are fed up!

So, I just wanted to thank you for getting the word out because you aren't alone (and apparently neither am I)."

Curt is correct. I do recognize that I have a platform from which to speak, and I try NOT to abuse it. But I do stand for something and I'm NOT afraid to say what's on my mind for fear of losing a subscriber or two or ten or a thousand. What's at stake here is monumental - the quality of life of us going forward and that of our children and their children.

When I rant about something political, please understand that I'm not trying to necessarily convert you to my way of thinking. All I'm doing is trying to raise the awareness of a particular topic. I'll conclude by saying you better be acutely aware of what's going on now as it's historic.

I responded privately to many who wrote to me after the last issue. In those responses, I mentioned that I felt we are about to have another revolution in this great nation. The last time it was facilitated with gunpowder. This time it will be electrons similar to what make this newsletter possible. I urge you to get involved, or get well out of the line of fire.

Rumor has it that some members of Congress are trying to meddle with one of the few industries - the Internet and technology - in the USA that's currently hitting on all eight cylinders. This isn't a partisan comment, but I can maybe count on several fingers the things the Federal Government has touched in my lifetime that really came out fantastic. The track record normally is that government tends to make a mess of much it touches.

While I'm in DC, I'll be asking the legislators my own questions. One that's at the top of my list is the current administration's balloon that was recently floated about an invisible Value-Added Tax (VAT). Sometimes this is called a national sales tax. My wife Kathy told me that she saw a segment on Neil Cavuto's show on FoxNews that talked about this. I don't know about you, but I've HAD IT WITH TAXES. That's one of the reasons I moved to New Hampshire.

The evil thing about a Value-Added Tax is that it's levied on businesses which then pass it through to you and I. This tax can be levied at each step in the distribution process. Remember that some products pass through many businesses before they finally get to you. The VAT can be added at each step. Take milk for example. The farmer gets taxed, the huge dairy processor gets taxed when he sells it to the grocer, then the grocer gets taxed as he puts it in your shopping bags.

You don't see this tax at the cash register as a separate tax. You just see a higher price for the thing you're buying. Since we all have fixed amounts of cash each week, we end up buying less because our money doesn't go as far. It's insanity, especially since the foreign governments who have a VAT raise the tax regularly to get more money. You, as a consumer, think it's just inflation. Nope, it's more taxation.

I'll get off my soapbox now with this one final thought: How is it that New Hampshire is able to offer many, if not all, of the same things you get in your state without an income tax and NO sales tax? That's right, there is no personal income tax and no sales tax here in the Live Free or Die state.

Yes, there are rumblings in our state capital of Concord about imposing a tax, but for years and years the citizens here have had great roads, good schools, fire and police protection, public health care, etc. The state legislators here in NH that are trying to raise taxes will find their collective butts kicked to the curb at the next election if I have my way.

The bottom line is that we all have to wake up and smell the roses. Government needs to go on a crash cash diet. Just as you have to eat less to lose weight, we MUST stop the flow of your money and mine into the bottomless pit of government treasuries.

How about I put you in a really bad mood? Go read this story about how much debt you and and I have in today's edition of USA Today. If this doesn't get you upset about the tax-and-spend policies of our government, then you must have won the lottery a couple of times over.

Can you tell I'm a little upset? You should be too. If you don't want any more taxation, you must get active. Contact your representatives, attend tea party gatherings. You'll see me at many of such gatherings here in New Hampshire in the coming months. Hunt me down and say Hello!