The Seventeenth letter of John to the Philistines.

The term “Philistine” is defined in the modern vernacular as a derogatory term used to describe a person holding a vulgar set of values.  A Philistine is someone who despises or undervalues art, beauty, intellectual rigor, or spiritual values. Philistines are also said to be materialistic and to favor pop culture values unthinkingly.  The American landscape is filled with Philistines these days, and you know who you are.

The Coming American Diaspora: Today, we are exporting our jobs; tomorrow we will be exporting our children.  Nations fail.  Israel was destroyed twice in ancient times, leading to two Jewish diasporas; the first to Babylon and the second to Europe after Rome destroyed Israel putting down the Maccabee Revolt.  In more recent times, Ireland had so many of its citizens flee to America from the Great Potato Famine, that more Irish now live in Boston than Dublin.  Millions of Italians fled a corrupt and stagnant Italy in the early 20^th century.

People vote with their feet.  Poorly run nations, with little economic opportunity and severe oppression, end up with “brain drains”, as the best and brightest leave for better opportunities elsewhere.  Parents want a better life for their children than they themselves had.  It is an impulse hard wired into our DNA, and it applies even in prosperous nations.  Exhibit “A” of this phenomenon is the American Dream, where the American middle class (even though it was the envy of the world) never settled for stagnation for their offspring.  Families worked hard to see to it that their children got better educations, better wages, and even better living conditions than their own.  At the other end of the scale, things got so bad in Eastern Europe under Soviet hegemony that the Soviets erected the Iron Curtain, symbolized by the Berlin Wall, in order to staunch the flow of people with key skills (or not) fleeing to the West.  But the human response is always the same.

Does anyone think America is immune to this happening here?  Does anyone think that if America keeps on the path it is on, that our children will be better off than we are now?  The stage is being set for millions of Americans to decide to emigrate abroad for a better life.  Consider the sad state of the Union today:

Debt:  The government is racking up huge, multigenerational debts to be paid for by our children and grandchildren.  In addition to the 15 trillion dollar current Federal debt, unfunded future liabilities of the Federal government total over 115 trillion.  This amounts to over a million dollars to be paid (in taxes) by every man, woman, and child in the U.S., although you can be sure that productive Americans will have to pay the freight for many citizens who remain locked into the government dole.  During 2011, U.S. debt surpassed 100% of GDP for the first time ever.

The U.S. government is now responsible for more than a third of all the government debt on the planet.  Oh, and these debts don’t even include those about to be created by the government taking over the healthcare industry, a future liability that will dwarf Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.  Barack Obama’s proposed budget for 2012 projects government debt to rise to 26 trillion dollars.  How many people will decide to simply avoid this debt burden by leaving the country?

Inflation:  Prices for food and fuel are skyrocketing.  Gasoline prices have more than doubled in 2 years.  According to a CNBC report, the average household paid $4,155.00 for gas in 2011.  Prices for staples such as corn are 5 times what they were before the government decided to subsidize ethanol.

Electricity costs have risen faster than the rate of inflation five years in a row, as reported in a USA Today Money report.  The cost of college tuition also continues to rise faster than the rate of inflation, and has done so for decades.  College students are borrowing twice as much money to pay tuition as they did a decade ago.

Healthcare costs continue to rise sharply.   Business Insider reports that personal expenditures on healthcare have risen from 9.5% in 1980 to 16.3% today of total household wealth.   In a sign that a brain drain may already be occurring in America, a shocking IBD/TPP Poll taken in 2010 found that 45% of all U.S. doctors are considering leaving the medical profession or retiring early as a result of what Obamacare will do to their ability to earn a living.  Today there are 960,000 doctors in the U.S.  A full 40% of them are 55 years or older.  The American Association of Medical Colleges expects the U.S. to lose 150,000 doctors in the next 15 years just to normal attrition alone.  According to the Physician Hospitals of America, Obamacare has already forced the cancellation of at least 60 doctor-owned hospitals that were scheduled to open.

Currency Devaluation:  To get the same purchasing power that you got from $20.00 back in 1970, you today have to spend $116.00.  To get the same purchasing power of $20.00 in 1913, you would have to spend $457.00 dollars.

Shrinking Economic Opportunity:  There are fewer payroll jobs in the U.S. today than there were in 2000.  At the same time, we have added an extra 30 million people to our population, not counting the estimated 30 million illegals who have entered the country since the last Amnesty in the 1980’s.

At the same time, America is hemorrhaging jobs.  According to an article by Paul Craig Roberts, in the last 12 years America has lost 5.5 MILLION manufacturing jobs!  U.S. employment in the manufacture of consumer electronics has fallen 40% in the same period.  The production of machinery has fallen 30%, motor vehicles and parts by 44%, and clothing by 66%.

In 2010, an average of 23 factories a day were shut down in America.  More than 56,000 manufacturing plants have shut down since 2001.  In 2000, America had 72 million well-paying middle class jobs.  That figure has fallen to 65 million today.  According to Reuters, 23.7 million American workers are unemployed or underemployed today.

Hostess Brands, the maker of Twinkies and Wonder Bread, has filed for bankruptcy.  Sears recently announced the closing of between 100 to 120 Sears and Kmart stores.  Retail Traffic, a retail consulting firm, is projecting more than 5,000 stores of prominent retailers will be closed in 2012.

The official U6 number maintained by the U.S. government reports that unemployment, including long term unemployed, is at 16%.  John Williams of Shadow Government Statistics argues that even this shockingly high number has been massaged.  The government routinely deletes discouraged workers who haven’t looked for work in 12 months.  Williams calculates the real rate of U.S. unemployment is 22.4 percent!

A decade ago, America was ranked number one in the world in average wealth per adult.  By 2010, America had fallen to seventh place, according to ZeroHedge.com.  Wages for the middle class continue to decline, as adjusted for inflation.  Since 2007, median household income in the U.S. has fallen 6.8%.  According to Bloomberg, between 1969 and 2009, median wages earned by American men between the ages of 30 and 50 dropped by 27%, adjusted for inflation.

Increasing Poverty:  The number of children living in poverty in the U.S. rose from 17% to 22% from 2006 to 2010.  The number of Americans on food stamps has exploded under Barack Obama, going from 31 million Americans in 2008 to over 42 million Americans in 2011.

Because of these dire economic trends, and the unlikelihood of any significant change in direction in the near future, it is inevitable that millions of Americans will start going abroad to obtain university degrees in other countries where it is more affordable, as well as healthcare tourism in order to avoid the rationing that will come with Obamacare.  Foreign countries are set to become a chief source of well-paying jobs to the American middle class, as the U.S. private sector continues to shrink in real terms.  Once these trends start, the numbers of Americans who go abroad and do not return to America will also rise, resulting in a permanent outflow of population.  It has happened to other countries, and it can happen to us too.  The death of the American Dream here will not stop humanity from dreaming, and yearning for a better life.  People will simply go elsewhere in their pursuit of happiness.

The foregoing doesn’t even include other quality of life issues such as rising violent crime, and the creepy evolution of the Department of Homeland Security into a Stasi-like secret police.  No other nation on Earth requires its citizens to be sexually assaulted to board an airplane like the TSA does to Americans.  Political and religious repression is accelerating in this country at an alarming rate; exemplified by the Obama Regime’s attack on Catholic health care providers by requiring them to provide contraceptives and abortificents.  How ironic that a country founded by those fleeing religious persecution has come to the point where citizens may one day soon emigrate abroad for the same reason.

Jan. 21, 2012

Sen. Michael Doherty

NJ State Capitol

Trenton, NJ

Dear Senator Doherty:

To begin, I wish to express my appreciation for your service in representing the people, your constituency, of the recently formed Legislative District. Your office carries with it great responsibility, and to date, have performed your duties with great distinction.

This letter is to congratulate you on your recent appointment to the Judiciary Committee. Your replacing of Sen. Jennifer Beck is most appropriate and prudent, and will reflect in a most positive outcome in regards to the fight against the Homosexual marriage agenda.

Elected officials, whom elect to put aside common sense and Nature’s Laws, along with the maintaining of the well-being of its communities foundations for self-aggrandizement purposes, as in the “Flip Flopping” of Sen. Beck, must indeed be addressed not only via the Party, but by their constituents.

I applaud your efforts while remaining confident that your influence in not only the Judiciary Committee, but the Education and Labor Committees you are a member of will benefit most positively because of your contributions.  Thus producing a major benefit to the people you represent in our beautiful State of New Jersey… Americas best days and years can yet still be ahead.

Best Regards:

David Larsen

Tewksbury, NJ

If Barack Obama had been an Italian Cruise Ship Captain, I bet this is what we would be reading today…

PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

sola del Giglio, January 21, 2012:

Disgraced Cruise Ship Captain Makes First Public Statement

This morning disgraced Italian cruise ship Captain Barack Hussain Obamalosci made the following public statement, reading from a teleprompter tied to a street corner on the Tuscan island of Giglio.

“Good Morning. I stand before you today to proudly announce that my crew and I have confirmed that more than 4,179 passengers and crew of the cruise ship Costa Concordia are now safe. Under my leadership we have been able to save more than 99 and ½ % of the souls from this ship and we believe the remaining half of one percent were rich passengers who could afford to lose their lives.

To those who say that I have abdicated my responsibilities as captain of the ship, I say …let me be clear…this tragedy is the direct result of the eight years of failed navigational policies of the former Captain Giorgio Bushcoloni. It is he who established the practice of sailing this ship through the Tuscany Islands and, although I may have sailed closer, my actions were not significantly different than the former captain. I inherited this route.

To those who would say that I left the ship prematurely to focus on my own selfish concerns, I assure you that EVERY moment I was off of that ship I was tirelessly focused on thinking about ways to save more passengers – just ask Michelle.

I believe it is vital that we learn the right lessons from this tragedy because there are those who would bitterly cling to their bibles and life vests and tell you that the fault lies with me. Nothing could be further from the truth.

This incident clearly demonstrates the need for improved regulation of the industry and punishing penalties for the company that built this ship and the cruise line that profited tremendously from the ship. This disaster clearly illustrates the failure of a capitalist system that puts profits ahead of people and rewards risk taking instead of security.

This incident also is clearly a byproduct of global warming – which obviously caused the Arctic seas to rise causing it to lower here in the Tuscan Isle chain – which unnecessarily exposed the ship to shallow waters.

Now there are some who would say it is time to change captains. But in a dangerous moment like this, clearly the last things we should do is change captains of the ship.

I am prepared to return to the Costa Concordia immediately after a weekend of golf and begin the difficult process of bringing those who caused this tragedy to justice. Together we can right this ship, but in order to get it right, we will first have to steer it to the far left. Thank You. “

The Sixteenth letter of John to the Philistines.

The term “Philistine” is defined in the modern vernacular as a derogatory term used to describe a person holding a vulgar set of values.  A Philistine is someone who despises or undervalues art, beauty, intellectual rigor, or spiritual values. Philistines are also said to be materialistic and to favor pop culture values unthinkingly.  The American landscape is filled with Philistines these days, and you know who you are.

The Republican Presidential Primary Race: We are well into the third week of January, 2012, and the Republican field has shrunk down to the Final Four.  It is time to give my thoughts on the race before it is over.  I have often said that there are only three types of person who seek political office:  1) The Egomaniacs, 2) The Social Climbers, and 3) The Wind Mill Tilters.

The Egomaniacs are easy to spot.  Exhibit A for this category would be Donald Trump, although actual presidents like Barak Obama and Bill Clinton also fall into this category.  The egomaniac seeks political office because according to his or her worldview, the rest of us just couldn’t possibly manage to get along without their brilliance, and it is a mystery as to how we ever did before they came along.  You have to be a real egomaniac to say, as Barak Obama actually did, that his election would result in the level of the seas dropping.

This news bulletin just in:  Three years after electing Barak Obama, the sea level is still holding steady.

The Social Climbers are easily the most populous group inhabiting the political landscape, and constitute the largest segment of your garden variety politician.  What I mean by the term “social climber” is the person who gets into politics to make money, to gain power, or a pension, or all of the above.  Political office is a means to an end for these types, and the end they are seeking to serve is themselves.  This type of office seeker constitutes what we know of as “the ruling class”, also known as “the establishment”.  They are the party apparatchiks who started their careers running for school board (with union backing), and kept on moving up the ladder to town council, to freeholder, to state assemblyman, etc.

Social Climbers stand for nothing, ideologically, beyond supporting their party, right or wrong.  Social Climbers are the types that will run away from a contested race if the party establishment offers them a lesser sinecure.  Say, hypothetically, quitting a congressional race in return for a “guaranteed” freeholder seat.  When the party says:  “jump”, the Social Climber says:  “How high?”

Social Climbers are, by their very nature, politicians who can be bought off.  They are corrupted by power from the very start, and actually attaining power only makes the corruption that much more complete.  So, if a powerful lobbyist is able to steer millions to the Social Climber’s re-election campaign, you can be sure the Social Climber will vote for whatever will please that lobbyist, and the best interest of the country be damned.

Since Social Climbers are corrupt and can be bought off, and since they constitute the vast population of the ruling class, they are genuinely baffled by, and fear, the last category of politician, precisely because the last category does not respond to the forms of graft that they themselves succumb to.

The last category of office seeker is what I call the Windmill Tilters.  This is a reference to Don Quixote.  For you Philistines that are unfamiliar with this literary work, here is a short synopsis of the story for you:

Don Quixote is a middle-aged man from the region of La Mancha in central Spain. Obsessed with the chivalrous ideals touted in books he has read, he decides to take up his lance and sword to defend the helpless and destroy the wicked. Don Quixote imagines that the windmills he sees in the countryside are actually monstrous dragons whom he tilts with, that is to say attacks with his lance from horseback at a gallop.  Don Quixote rides the roads of Spain in search of glory and grand adventure. He gives up food, shelter, and comfort, all in the name of a peasant woman, Dulcinea del Toboso, whom he envisions as a princess.

Don Quixote, as you might imagine, is derided as an insane, hallucinatory old fool, and his mission an impossible one to succeed at.  It is from this book that we get the phrase “quixotic quest”, that is to say, an impossible dream or hopeless crusade.  But Don Quixote means well, is highly motivated by lofty ideals, and is not susceptible to corruption.

It is those last qualities that define what I refer to as the Windmill Tilters, the office seekers who do so not for personal gain or power, but because they want to do what is best for their country.  The Windmill Tilter is a patriot; loyal to God, country, and kin.  In the American landscape today, the spirit of the Windmill Tilter is embodied by the Tea Party movement, the 9-12 Project, and those who want to return our Republic, the Federal Government, and the Republican Party to fealty to the Constitution.

Your guide to the Republican Presidential field:

Mitt Romney:  The quintessential Social Climber, Mitt is the handpicked candidate of the Ruling Class.  He is only a change in speed from Barack Obama, not in direction.  He can be depended on to preserve the status quo of large, centralized government, and remains unrepentant for Romneycare.  This is why of all the presidential candidates, the Left Wing Media has left him relatively alone.  The entire Occupy Wall Street movement was created by the Obama regime to vilify Mitt Romney, a Wall Street venture capitalist.  He does have some good points, like understanding how capitalism works and how to grow a private business.  He knows how to meet a payroll, and I for one wouldn’t mind a guy who likes to fire people sitting as the chief executive officer of the Federal Government.  I like his proposal to have the states administer the social programs that have been created by the Federal government, without the strings and the mandates from Washington.  It would at least be a start but it does not shrink government, it merely moves the bulk from the Federal level to the State level.

Mitt Romney is the dirtiest campaigner in the field, relying on massive amounts of money, factually challenged attack ads, and opposition researchers.  Not surprisingly, Leonard Lance has rushed to endorse Mitt Romney.  Birds of a feather, and all that.

Ron Paul:  If you look in the dictionary for a definition of Windmill Tilter, you’ll find a picture of Ron Paul.  Ron Paul means well.  Ron Paul does not seek the Presidency for self-gain.  Ron Paul is not corruptible.  Ron Paul is right about our country needing to go back to Constitutional principles.  Unfortunately, Ron Paul would be a disaster as a Commander in Chief.  Ron Paul is a unique hybrid, combining the domestic policy of Andrew Jackson (kill the Fed, state’s rights) with the foreign policy of Neville Chamberlain.  While Ron Paul would make an excellent Treasury Secretary, he remains completely blind to the existential threat posed by radical Islam, not to mention a nuclear armed Iran.  Ron Paul buys into the mantra of the Left that the United States is responsible for all the violence and wars in the world and that if we would just withdraw from the world into complete isolationism, everyone would leave us alone.  Someone needs to give Ron Paul a history book and educate him on why the Marine Corps anthem mentions the “shores of Tripoli”.  America’s first foreign war (other than with England) was to go to modern day Libya and teach the Barbary Pirates why it would be a good idea to stop attacking American shipping.  It is an important, but forgotten footnote of history that when confronted by America and asked why they were attacking us, the Barbary Pirates answered by saying that their Holy Book commanded them to do so.  That book was the Koran.  Nothing has changed in 200 years except that Islam has now equipped itself with modern weapons invented by the West.

Ironically, Ron Paul’s foreign policy is the same as Barack Obama’s.  They both intend to gut the military until it is a shadow of its former self.  They both want to run out of Afghanistan whether we’ve won the war or not.  They both are blind to what Iran intends to do with nuclear weapons.  They both want to leave the Middle East to be run by Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood.  They both will turn their backs on Israel.

Rick Santorum:  Basically a Windmill Tilter, especially if you remember how many times he has run for president and only ever got low single digits in the polls before this year.  If you look up in the dictionary the definition of “nice guy”, you’ll find a picture of Rick Santorum.  Rick Santorum is the most normal guy standing on the debate stage.  He is the closest to the common man.  Heck, he even does his own taxes!  Santorum’s personal life is beyond reproach, and his voting record is solidly conservative.  Rick Santorum has a little too much in common with the common man when it comes to debate skills, however, and many a primary voter has woken up in a cold sweat thinking about how Rick Santorum would do against Obama and the inevitable, hyper partisan, handpicked debate moderator panel of Keith Olberman,  John King, and George Snuffleupagus.  While not quite the tongue tied, deer-in-the-headlights disaster of Rick Perry, Rick Santorum wouldn’t be able to pick up and use an analogy, allegory, metaphor, or rhetorical flourish if they had handles on them.  Rick Santorum never progressed in speech class beyond the use of the simple, declarative sentence.  Phrases like:  “My father was a coal miner.”  “I am pro-life.” “I will cut the size of government.”  Now, don’t get me wrong.  You can go far with simple declarative sentences.  You can catch a cab, board a plane, and order from a restaurant menu just using simple declarative sentences.  The one thing you won’t do is inspire the soul and thrill the heart.  This is Rick Santorum’s glaring deficiency and, unfortunately for him, he now has to pay for the eight years of cringing that George W. Bush put us all through as we sat watching him wrestling with his own tongue to construct a complete sentence.  Republican voters yearn for a conservative who can persuasively and, dare I say poetically defend and expound on conservatism.  Which brings us to….

Newt Gingrich:  Newt manages to embody all three categories; egomaniac, social climber,  and Windmill Tilter, although in Newt’s case, there seems to be an emphasis on egomaniac.  Legislatively, he has some solid conservative victories to crow about, like the Contract with America.  He also had some awful defeats, like giving in to Clinton on the government shut down battle just hours before Clinton was going to cave in and agree to a balanced budget amendment.  Newt has committed mortal sins against conservatism, including but not limited to singing the praises of Andrew Jackson (who gave us the genocide of the Native American), Teddy Roosevelt (who started the Progressive Movement), Woodrow Wilson (America’s first Fascist President who gave us the Income Tax, the Palmer Raids, and the re-segregation of the military and the Federal government) and FDR (America’s first President for Life, whose policies made the Great Depression the Great Depression).  Newt has sat on a couch with Nancy Pelosi and pitched cap & trade to fight the hoax known as man-made global warming.  He even sat on a couch with Hillary Clinton (and probably got her cooties).  The list of negatives is too long to recount here, although in Newt’s defense he has admitted that many of these things were mistakes (unlike Mitt Romney, who still defends Romneycare).

But what Newt brings to the table is rhetorical skills in a debate worthy of Homer, Marc Antony, and Cicero all rolled into one.  Who else but Newt could have taken a race card dealt from the bottom of the deck by Juan Williams and batted it out of the park, jammed it down Juan’s throat, and blow it out Juan’s colon?!?  And get the first standing ovation in a modern televised presidential debate?  Maybe Chuck Norris, but he’s not running for President.  He endorsed Newt today though.

The endless series of presidential debates has only served to showcase Newt’s debate skills to the Republican voters of America.  I suspect that Newt having pulled even with Romney in the polls is due in no small part to the visceral yearning in the gut of Republican voters to finally have a nominee that can eloquently defend conservatism.

I also judge a man by who his enemies are.  Despite all his sins against conservatism, Newt seems to have the right enemies.  If he were truly the Progressive, Big Government Guy that some of his prior statements would suggest, why is the White House Propaganda Machine, formerly known as the mainstream press, so hot to eliminate him?

Ultimately, the choice will be made for us by others, and will be made long before the primary vote comes to New Jersey in June.  I can say that any of the four men left in the Republican field would be better than Barack Insane Obama, hmm, hmm, hmm.  The reason why any of them would be better is a simple one:  They don’t hate America like Obama does.  If there were any doubt on that last point, it was laid to rest when Obama killed the Keystone pipeline.  That project was just what America needs now:  Tens of thousands of shovel ready jobs that would bring us cheap, secure energy.  To block this from happening is nothing short of sabotage of the American economy.  It was like throwing a spike strip across the road just as the American economy was trying to get into first gear.

OMG:  Obama Must Go!

I had a very good day for two reasons on January 2, 2012.  First of all, New Jersey announced Congressional redistricting placing me in the realigned 7^th District and secondly, my valued friend, David Larsen, announced his candidacy to be my next Congressman in District 7.  He has integrity, the right values, the right focus, and the right understanding of who a Congressman should be in Washington, DC.  He has the Right Direction.  As much as this “made my day” from my personal perspective here in New Jersey, this article is not only about New Jersey, but also for the rest of the USA.

We have continually seen gridlock in Congress, especially over the budget issues.  On the surface, there appears to be a clash of ideologies.  Both sides of the aisle feel that they are right, though I have to ask the follow up question, based on what?  What is the basis for their position?  It is the Democrats vs. the Republicans?  Is it preservation of a seat in Congress in the next election if they vote with the leadership?  Whatever the real reason is, and I encourage you to consider the second one as much as the first one, the gridlock has generated expected poll results.  How can doing nothing accomplish anything other than a record low approval rating?  We have seen statistics that put the Congressional approval rating at from 5% to 12%.  A recent Rasmussen report of likely voters has Congress’ approval rating at 5%.  A current CBS News poll has the rating at a whopping 12%.  Since 1975, the ratings have been between 20 and 40%.  That is not great either, but it sure beats the most recent results.

I firmly believe that when voters send people to Congress, they are expecting something good to happen.  The euphoria over a new Congress leaves us with a hope that things will change.  The American people have been let down yet again.  What does it take?  Change!  There is an old saying that says that to continue doing the same thing and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity.  Let me be clear, I am not calling anyone insane.  But, I do want to challenge a common voter process as one to take a good look at.

We as a country are experiencing poor congressional approval ratings.  Despite the poor showing, we keep sending many of the same people to congress.  We (including me in the past) act is if the ineffective congressmen and women are everywhere except in the district we are responsible to vote in.  We take the easy route at the voting booth.  We keep sending the incumbents to Washington.  We seem to think that what worked in the past will work again.  This logic is flawed at the outset.  The past is not working!  It is time for a change, sweeping change!  We need to make changes all over, including at the leadership level.  We can elect a new class of freshman, and combine them with the Congressmen and women that are doing a good job, but if we do not change the leadership; we will be subject to more of the same.  The existing leaders and some of them that are in line for leadership positions, possibly in the line because it is their “turn” to lead are going to result in more of the same gridlock.  History has shown that to be the case.  The leaders must also be subject to change.  They cannot continue to be re-elected every two years to the House and every six years to the Senate just because they happen to have leadership roles.  True change will only happen if the current leadership is not reelected to Congress.  That process starts in the primaries.

There are fresh faces all over the political landscape that are like David Larsen who want to serve as Statesmen, not politicians.  Many of these need to run in the primaries against the incumbents, as is the case in Mr. Larsen’s run for the 7^th District in New Jersey.  We as voters need to take the time necessary to review the records of our sitting Congressmen and compare them to the opportunities being presented by qualified candidates like David Larsen.  We as voters need to support them in the primaries.  We have the ultimate say, and it is our responsibility to exercise that in the best interest of our districts, states and country.  Change begins with the first vote cast for a new, qualified person that is seeking to represent their district or state in Congress, with a dream of making a difference.   If the first vote for change is not cast in the primary in many cases, the status quo is likely to continue and we will have lost an opportunity to impact the results in Washington.

We cannot afford it!  We are at a turning point in this country.  Let’s bring in fresh, grounded, conservative ideas from people that are more interested in solving problems than keeping their seat warm for another 2 or 6 years in Congress.  It is time for the politicians to stay home, and for the Statesmen to return to Congress!

The Fifteenth letter of John to the Philistines.

The term “Philistine” is defined in the modern vernacular as a derogatory term used to describe a person holding a vulgar set of values.  A Philistine is someone who despises or undervalues art, beauty, intellectual rigor, or spiritual values. Philistines are also said to be materialistic and to favor pop culture values unthinkingly.  The American landscape is filled with Philistines these days, and you know who you are.

A New Year’s Remembrance:

Do you remember America when we had big, roomy cars that were sturdy enough that you could lay on the hood to watch the stars without causing the sheet metal to dent?

Do you remember America when we aspired to National Greatness, and led the world in the exploration of space?

Do you remember having the expectation, as a kid, of retiring on the Moon; instead of having to beg for your life before a government Death Panel?

Do you remember America when most moms stayed at home to raise their kids, instead of being forced to work to pay high tax bills?

Do you remember America when the Democrat Party fought communism, instead of working to turn America communist?

Do you remember America when you earned enough money that you could save and buy a new car every few years?

Do you remember America when you could confidently expect your children to have a higher standard of living than you did, instead of still living at home with you into their 30’s?

Do you remember America when you could see family off at the airport at the gate, or greet them at the gate when they arrived home, without being groped and assaulted by a government employee with a badge?

Do you remember America when college tuition was low enough that you could work your way through school instead of having to take out six figure loans?

Do you remember America when you could pray in school?

Do you remember America when school’s still had Christmas vacation, Christmas concerts, and Easter Break?

Do you remember America when children born out of wedlock were the exception, and not the norm?

Do you remember America when we still made things in America?

Do you remember America when we had large bins of corn in the supermarket that cost 5 ears of corn for a dollar?

Do you remember America when you weren’t afraid of your government?

Do you remember America when it was okay for a high school football coach to pray with his team before a game?

Do you remember America when our cities were not decimated with blighted ghettos?

Do you remember America when you could still find a job that didn’t require a government license of some sort?

Do you remember America when the immigrants that came to our shores wanted to become Americans, leave behind their former national loyalties, and speak English?

Do you remember America when we led the world in patents and IPO’s?

Do you remember America when we still built power plants and refineries?

Do you remember America when Congress still felt it had to pass an Amendment to the Constitution if it wanted to exercise a new power to regulate or tax?

Do you remember America when it was no big deal to sell your house for more than you paid for it, within six months?

Do you remember America when we looked forward to each new year with hope and the promise of greater prosperity, rather than fear and dread of economic decline and calamity?

I do.

The Fourteenth letter of John to the Philistines.

The term “Philistine” is defined in the modern vernacular as a derogatory term used to describe a person holding a vulgar set of values.  A Philistine is someone who despises or undervalues art, beauty, intellectual rigor, or spiritual values. Philistines are also said to be materialistic and to favor pop culture values unthinkingly.  The American landscape is filled with Philistines these days, and you know who you are.

A Christmas Prayer:

Dear Lord, forgive us for we are sinners.

Oh Lord, please forgive us for our sins, in what we have done, and in what we have failed to do.

Holy Lord Jesus, please have mercy on us.  We want to do your work, oh Lord, but we are imperfect instruments in your hands.

Dear Heavenly Father, please remind us that you are not on our side; it is we who must be on your side.

Father in Heaven, our hearts are filled this Christmas season with anxiety and dread of our Earthly concerns; we know that a great evil has come and is spreading throughout our land.

We know, Lord, that it may be in your Divine Plan to chastise us for our past arrogance, for turning away from you, for our pride and for many of us having turned to pagan false idols, and for many of us having taken up the cause of Satan and his slavery.

We humbly ask you, oh Lord, to let such a bitter cup pass our lips if it is at all possible; but if it is Your Will that we should suffer through trials of famine, plague, war, and pestilence; then in this, as in all things, Thy Will be done Lord.

We thank you Lord, for having sent us your only Son, to redeem our sins, and for the joy and hope that the Christmas season brings to all of mankind.

AMEN.

The Thirteenth letter of John to the Philistines. The term “Philistine” is defined in the modern vernacular as a derogatory term used to describe a person holding a vulgar set of values.  A Philistine is someone who despises or undervalues art, beauty, intellectual rigor, or spiritual values. Philistines are also said to be materialistic and to favor pop culture values unthinkingly.  The American landscape is filled with Philistines these days, and you know who you are.

The Bill of Rights, Version 2.0: With the hindsight of the last 200 years, and in light of the last 100 year assault on the Constitution by the American Progressive Movement, it is time to restate the Bill of Rights.  Therefore, I present the Bill of Rights as I would have written them, and as it should have been written in order for the Constitution to withstand the Progressive assault (that is to say the movement to a socialist, collectivist tyranny) begun by Teddy Roosevelt and prosecuted by Woodrow Wilson, FDR, LBJ, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama.  It is an assault that has neutered our rights under the Constitution, and has left our country unrecognizable to Americans living just 3 generations ago.  For the ease of comprehension by the reader, additions are underlined apart from the original text.

BILL OF RIGHTS version 2.0

Article [I]¹³

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, except with respect to those cults worshipping Satan or inciting the murder of innocents, which shall be prohibited.  This shall in no way be construed to mean that Congress cannot give support to any religious denomination it chooses, nor that individuals on public property or in the conduct of public proceedings cannot give reverent thanks to God, nor construed to mean that any citizen has a right to be free from the influence of religion practiced by others. Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances except in cases of treason.  Congress shall make no laws requiring the licensing, permitting, or taxing of speech or the press or public assembly.  Congress shall make no law limiting or prohibiting the expenditure of monies or other valuable consideration in the support of candidates for elective office, or in petitioning for the passage or repeal of any law.

Article [II]

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the individual people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed in any way by Congress or the States, and individual citizens shall have the right to bear any personal firearm used by the militia, or the standing army or navy, respectively and without exception, a well armed population being necessary to prevent the rise of tyranny.

Article [III]

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Article [IV]

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, property, modes of conveyance, papers, communications, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Article [V]

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, neither by their testimony nor by their physical status nor other tangible evidence from their bodies, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, defined herein as solely consisting of property used for public works limited to highways, roads, bridges, canals and ports, without just compensation to be determined by fair market value.

Article [VI]

In all criminal prosecutions, in matters of any magnitude, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of citizens of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence, at the expense of the accused which shall be reimbursed by the State to the accused in cases of acquittal or innocence.

Article [VII]

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury of one’s peers shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Article [VIII]

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.  This shall not be construed to prohibit any punishment currently imposed in any of the several States, nor any other traditional punishment including corporal punishments.

Article [IX]

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.  These rights shall include, but not be limited to, the right of the people to determine when to bestow the rights of personhood on children, including the unborn, the right of the people to define the institution of marriage, the right of the people to procreate as they choose, the right of the people to raise and educate their children as they see fit without interference by the State through regulations or taxation, the right of the people to own property, inherit, contract, work, save, invest, and devise their own estates, the right of the people to be subject to taxation equally, without reference to their station or income, and the right of the people to be free to use their property and all natural resources thereupon as they see fit, without interference by the State through regulations or taxation.

Article [X]

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.  The protection and promotion of the social welfare of the people shall be delegated and reserved solely to the States under the Constitution and prohibited by it to the United States.  In no case shall this Constitution be construed to create a right of the people to any man-made commodity or service produced by their fellow citizens.

Your thoughts and comments are welcome.

We experienced an event last week that should be generating questions in us.  Herman Cain’s “suspension” of his campaign for President leaves me saddened.  Not because he is the perfect candidate for President, but because he is was attacked with allegations that resulted in the “suspension” of a candidate with a high degree of integrity and character, which would provide a much needed refocus of priorities and policy in the White House.  We need people like this running for office so that the public has the best candidate pool to choose from.   I asked myself when this started, if the allegations were to any degree correct, why would anyone run for President knowing full well that these types of things would come out?  Why subject themselves and their families to the resulting humiliation?  We have examples of people being in positions of power that for some reason, results in what appears to be an absence of flow to the brain.  Power can cloud the thought process if the power becomes the god of that person.  I do not think that Herman Cain falls into that category.

Unfortunately the nature of political campaigns leaves room for accusations becoming accepted as truth.  The campaign cannot afford to spend all of its time defending such allegations, and those that make the allegations know that.  So, the more that is said, the more it is received as truth.  All the accusers need to do is say it often enough and the accusation will accomplish its task due to the nature of the campaign environment.  We get into the situation of questioning the character and integrity of the candidate.  Then, so that we do not allow ourselves to be unpersuaded by the allegations, we fall in line so that we appear wise and we confirm by our actions that we certainly do not want a candidate of questionable character running for President.  In that confirmation, we make unsubstantiated decisions.  The issue is, upon who’s statements do we make these decisions?  Unless there is proof of some kind that the allegations are true, we make a decision based on what would certainly not hold up in court.

The candidate certainly has a responsibility with how he or she handles the allegations.  A quick, pointed response is required with emphasis on truth that is supported by clear statements that say that there is no truth behind these allegations and there is no proof available to substantiate something that did not happen.  If there has been a “misinterpretation” of a factual event, lay it out there!  Make it clear.  Draw a line in the sand as to the fact that the candidate is not going to spend his or her valuable time defending accusations and will continue to serve the American people better by focusing on the issues of the campaign.  If a candidate cannot do what I have described here, then he or she should consider alternative actions.

When I thought about this issue with Herman Cain and the speed by which he was “convicted” I was reminded of another time when Jesus “drew a line in the sand” when He was approached by the Pharisees about a woman caught in adultery.  They were trying to trap Him into confirming the Law that said that women caught in adultery should be stoned, or to act against the law that was provided by His Father by saying that she should not.  The issue here as Jesus saw it was that the Pharisees wanted to stone this women, yet Jesus in classic Jesus style reminded them about themselves and the sin they had engaged in.  He started to write something in the sand.  When they pressed him on the issue, He said in John 8:7, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”  The description of this event continues in John.  He went back to writing in the sand.  The Bible does not say what He was writing, and the fact that it does not reveal what He was writing probably makes the point He ultimately makes applicable to everyone.  Some Bible scholars believe that He was writing sins in the sand that had been committed by the Pharisees.  One by one they walked away,  the oldest to the youngest, leaving the woman and Jesus alone there.  Jesus stood up and asked if anyone had condemned her.  She said no.  He said in verse 11, “I do not condemn you, either.”  Now, He did not stop there.  This was not a “get out of jail free” card.  He said, “Go, and sin no more.”  She had to change her life style, which could have been a type of jail for her because she may not have known how to do anything else.  Or, she may be subject to this again.  The point of all this was not an issue of whether she was guilty or not.  It was an issue of judgement by people that were in no position to judge based on their past lives.  After all, there may not have even been a trial yet for this women.  The Bible  does not make that point clear, which takes the issue back to the judgement issue.

Herman Cain was judged and convicted before there were facts to substantiate the actions.  Is Herman Cain perfect?  No.  Are we?  No.  This is not to say we should accept  candidates of proven questionable character.  It means we should not throw out candidates with unproven questionable character.  The political approach of trying to destroy the character of strong candidates should not be allowed by the public.  How do we do that?  Stand behind the candidate.  The poll results will show support and we will not end up with bad results.  The minority is controlling the majority.  It is an approach taken because the opposition does not want to face the facts, or the face, in the campaign.  Was Herman Cain’s character challenged when he was low in the polls?  No, he was not perceived as a threat until later.  Then, the mud slinging started.  There will be times that a candidate’s character should be challenged.  When it happens the next time, examine the timing of the event.  To be honest with you, I am hoping that God allows the truth to be revealed, and that the proper result occurs.

The Twelfth letter of John to the Philistines.

The term “Philistine” is defined in the modern vernacular as a derogatory term used to describe a person holding a vulgar set of values.  A Philistine is someone who despises or undervalues art, beauty, intellectual rigor, or spiritual values. Philistines are also said to be materialistic and to favor pop culture values unthinkingly.  The American landscape is filled with Philistines these days, and you know who you are.

How to Fix the Dollar and Avoid Currency Collapse: Our currency is in trouble and it needs to be fixed.   The dollar has been on an unbroken trajectory of decline in value for the last 200 years.  The decline has accelerated precipitously since 1940.  One dollar now has the purchasing power that seven cents had in the year 1800.  See the chart here:  http://seekingalpha.com/article/39992-what-s-behind-the-u-s-dollar-s-decline

There are two problems with the dollar.  First, it is a “floating” currency not backed by anything.  Second, the dollar is being over-printed by the Federal Reserve, a “private” bank whose books are secret and is unaccountable to Congress.  Once upon a time, currencies were “pegged” to a commodity like gold or silver.  In fact, currency used to BE precious metals, with its own intrinsic value.  When your money is a commodity with intrinsic value, it is impossible for it to collapse and become worthless.  No, that only happens when you use paper money that is backed by nothing except the “full faith and credit of the United States”, which is to say, nothing but empty, meaningless promises.

The modern dollar traces its history back to the first issuance of the “greenback” by the U.S. Treasury in 1862.  See, history of U.S. paper money here:  http://www.ronscurrency.com/rhist.htm The U.S. government was at the time hard pressed to finance the Civil War.  When the United States originally switched from silver and gold coins to paper money, the paper note said on its face that it could be redeemed for gold.  Indeed you could, once upon a time, take a Federal Reserve note and redeem it for gold if you wanted to (1/35^th of an ounce of gold prior to 1973).   That all ended when Richard Nixon took the U.S. dollar off the gold standard for good in 1973.   The result was massive inflation.  Since then, things have only gotten progressively worse (pun intended) as the U.S. has moved from a creditor nation that was the world’s leader in manufacturing to the world’s leading debtor nation; where nearly everything in our consumer economy is made in China.   This trend is only accelerating under the Obama Regime, as manufacturing and energy sectors are chased offshore by ever higher levels of government regulation and taxation.

The second problem with the dollar is that it is being inflated on purpose.  The Fed is printing trillions of dollars out of thin air, and every additional dollar printed dilutes the value of yours sitting in your wallet.  Under the Obama Regime, the Federal Reserve, without notice or consent of the people through their congressional representatives, has been engaged in two particularly destructive policies:  The first is the Fed monetizing the debt of the U.S. government.  What does this mean?  It means that the Fed is buying up U.S. treasuries.  One arm of the government is “buying” the government’s debt from another arm of the same government.   The U.S. has run out of private creditors willing to buy our debt bonds, so now we’re just writing ourselves I.O.U.’s and running the printing presses 24/7, creating the needed trillions of dollars out of thin air.  See Glenn Beck explain it here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CB30rDkIucE&feature=related

The second destructive policy of the Fed is that it has been using dollars it prints up to buy foreign sovereign debt.  The Fed has reportedly propped up the Euro to the tune of over seven trillion dollars, lashing our currency (through the full faith and credit of the United States) to the doomed Euro, further weakening our banking system.  See here:  http://www.personalliberty.com/survival-and-self-sufficiency/did-the-fed-handcuff-the-u-s-economy-to-the-euro/

So, to sum up, our currency is in trouble because it has no intrinsic value, we have been over printing our currency by trillions of dollars, and the government credit that is supposed to back our dollar is itself massively in debt, and holding trillions of dollars of bad foreign sovereign debt.

The answer to stabilizing the value of the dollar is to go back to linking it to a commodity.  I do not propose going back to the gold standard for several reasons.  First of all, most of the world’s gold is not located inside the United States, which is to say we cannot control the supply of gold.  Secondly, the price of gold is too high for it to be a feasible commodity to link the dollar to.  The U.S. government is in 15 trillion dollars of debt, with additional liabilities of 117 trillion dollars if you count all of the obligations the government is going to incur to pay its obligations under Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and this figure doesn’t even include the trillions that Obamacare will cost.   See the debt growing in real time here:  http://www.usdebtclock.org/ With gold costing around $2000.00 an ounce, how is a broke, massively in debt government supposed to buy enough gold to back our currency?  The answer is that it cannot.

Lastly, I would not choose gold because the confidence in the dollar is so low, and the value of gold so high, there would be a guaranteed run on the Mint to redeem dollars for gold.   It is too easy to transport gold because it is a relatively compact store of wealth.  At the same time, you want the dollar to be redeemable for something more tangible than quantities that would amount to dust.

The answer is coal.  The United States has 275 billion tons of coal reserves, more than any other nation on Earth.  By the way, this represents a 250 year supply of energy at current rates of consumption.  See, http://www.clean-energy.us/facts/coal.htm U.S. coal deposits contain more energy than all the Earth’s oil reserves combined.  See, http://www.teachcoal.org/aboutcoal/articles/fastfacts.html The Federal government lists U.S. recoverable coal reserves (feasibly mined) at 261 billion short tons.  A short ton is 2,000 pounds.  Total U.S. coal reserves, including those not easily minable or proven, are estimated by the U.S. government to be as high as an astounding 4 trillion short tons.  See, http://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm?page=coal_reserves Approximately one third of U.S. coal production comes from Federally owned land.  See,  http://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1625f/downloads/ChapterA.pdf

Now, that last sentence is the key.  One third of U.S. coal production comes from Federally owned land.  In other words, our debt ridden government is actually the owner of vast stores of wealth in the form of natural resources, not the least being our coal reserves.  That means the government doesn’t have to acquire the coal, it already owns it.  That means the government can control the supply.

The Federal Reserve Bank charter will be revoked, the Fed dissolved, and their property and records seized by the Justice Department for criminal investigations of Ben Bernanke and company.  The U.S. Mint can be restored as the issuer of U.S. currency.  The new “coalback” will replace the “greenback”.  I propose an exchange rate of one dollar for one ounce of coal.  Sixteen dollars will get you a pound of coal.  Average citizens will be able to exchange their green backs for coal backs at a rate of one to one.  Banks that are sitting on trillions of dollars received from the Fed under TARP and Quantitative Easing will have a much, much less favorable rate of exchange.  This will have the salutary effect of removing all those trillions of empty dollars and keep them from getting out into the private economy and causing massive inflation.  Banks will be allowed to fail.  The U.S. government will get out of the banking business, as it has no place under the Constitution running sectors of the private economy.

Coal has the advantage of being bulky.  It is impractical to have a run on our mint to redeem dollars for coal, simply because you can’t walk away with much coal from the teller’s window.  Bring in a few trains of coal cars and park it outside the mint for show.  Anyone who wants to redeem their dollars for coal is responsible for transporting the coal themselves, at their own cost.  Now, how much can an average person redeem at any one time?  At the proposed exchange rate, it would cost you $32,000 to redeem one ton of coal.  A heavy duty pickup could maybe carry two tons, or $64,000 worth of coal.  While we have linked our dollar to a commodity with intrinsic value, it will not be practical for those dollars to be redeemed in quantity.

Confidence in the dollar will be restored.  People will know the dollar represents real value and that it can never become worthless.  Global investors desperate for a safe haven for their money will eagerly buy dollars over other currencies.  There will be no more talk of replacing the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.  We will no longer be dishonoring our debt to China.  The price of oil, priced in dollars, will fall in a big way, over-night.  Lower energy costs will instantly translate into better economic growth domestically.  Obviously, all those anti-coal regulations being issued by the Obama EPA will have to go, but that too is in the national interest.  We need to encourage production and use of coal, natural gas, and shale oil within the U.S.  The only thing standing in the way of U.S. energy independence is a bunch of luddite environmentalists and a hoax called global warming.  Enough of this lunacy.  We have the means to fix our currency, and our economy.  All we lack is the political leadership to do it.