Did you know that the Pledge of Allegiance was inspired by socialism?

The Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, a self proclaimed Christian Socialist. He had been a Baptist minister but was forced to leave the ministry because he preached too much socialism in his sermons. His cousin Edward Bellamy was famous for writing the novel Looking Backward, which describes a utopian society in the year 2000 where everything is owned by the government and everyone works for the government, ala the Soviet Union.

Francis Bellamy worked with the National Education Association to incorporate the pledge in the public school system. When students recited the pledge, they raised their arms outward toward the flag. This practice was stopped after the Nazis became famous for the salute.

Also, the original pledge did not include the words "Under God". Those words were added in 1954 when the U.S. was in opposition against atheistic communism during the Cold War.

The original documents that created the United States of America state that the government is created by the people and for the people, not the reverse.



School children reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

Taxing Rebates

Would you like if your mortgage lender sent you a check and added the amount onto your mortgage debt against your will?
Would you like if your credit card company sent you a check and added the amount to your balance against your will?
Would you like if your government sent you a check and added the amount to the federal debt against your will?

In all cases one would have to pay more in the long run and have no choice. That is essentially what these "tax rebates" are. There are no spending cuts or tax cuts, this is just a loan taken out in our name. Also, checks are going to people who don't even pay income taxes, so those are just welfare checks. There's something smelly about politicians sending out checks during an election year.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/08/pf/taxes/rebates_what_you_need_to_know/

Buyer Beware

In John McCain's own words:

Promises more war:
"Its a tough war we're in. Its not gonna be over right away. There's gonna be other wars. I'm sorry to tell ya, there's gonna be other wars."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZCISY40qns
1/27/08

When asked about the possibility of the U.S. in Iraq for another fifty years, he says:
"Make it 100".... that'd be fine with me... I hope it would be fine with you".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFknKVjuyNk
1/3/08

Jokes about bombing Iran:
"Remember that old Beach Boys song, Bomb Iran? Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb, he he, anyway..."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAzBxFaio1I
4/19/07

Prior to the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq:
"The success will be fairly easy."
"I believe we can win an overwhelming victory in a short period of time"
Then in January 2007,
"The American people were led to believe that this would be some kind of a day at the beach, which many of us fully understood from the beginning that this would be a very difficult undertaking."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioy90nF2anI

Wants to use your money to fund embryonic stem cell research:
"I feel very strongly that these embryos are going to be frozen... or they're going to be discarded... those are the stem cells that I support the research on."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjbuoUhhUJQ
4/13/07

Admits he doesn't understand economics:
"The issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I've should, but I've got Greenspan's book".
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8397.html
late 2007

Doesn't want abortion legislation Roe vs Wade overturned, because
"[it could force] women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations."
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8397_Page2.html
1999

Blames America for Hitler rising to power, comparing Iraq to Nazi Germany:
"That kind of isolationism is what caused World War II... we allowed Hitler to come to power with that kind of attitude of isolationism and appeasement."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAzBxFaio1I
11/28/07

Lauds his McCain-Kennedy illegal immigration amnesty bill and favorably compares it to No Child Left Behind, and his cooperation with Ted Kennedy
"I would remind a lot of my friends that Ted Kennedy and President Bush worked together on No Child Left Behind, which was one of the landmark pieces of legislation of President Bush's first term".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCmwzlklEYE
6/10/07

Brags about voting against tax cuts with Democrat Joe Lieberman (who currently endorses McCain for president)
"Events that have transpired since then have validated that vote."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUDBV6RhQho
4/16/07

Proudly supports Al Gore's environmental policies that many believe will result in higher taxes and bigger government
"We have to have this cap and trade system, where if somebody reduces greenhouse gases they earn a credit and can sell it to someone else."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilhObZjwb1c
12/21/07

Proudly supports continuing and expanding the big-government No Child Left Behind education program
"My friends, if you scrap the whole thing then we're back at square one again!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbC33DURj-U&feature=related
11/18/07

Candidate positions on Iraq

This is what I've surmised from the candidate's websites:

Hillary Clinton / Barack Obama
They have essentially the same position. Within 60 days, develop plan to remove some troops. Not remove all troops within 60 days, just start the process of removing some of them. Keep troops in the region to fight al Qaeda or in case instability breaks out. Get the United Nations and border countries to meet to discuss stabilization. Send billions in foreign aid.

http://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/iraq/
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/iraq/

John McCain
He wants to increase troops and build up the Iraq police and military. He wants American and Iraq troops policing the streets. He wants the U.S. military to oversee reconstruction. He wants to put "international pressure" on neighbors Syria and Iran so they don't get involved in Iraq. Won't reduce presence unless success is achieved, and believes success is a secure democracy in Iraq.

http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/fdeb03a7-30b0-4ece-8e34-4c7ea83f11d8.htm

Mike Huckabee
He says he doesn't want troop withdrawal unless the country is stable, but then says U.S. support isn't guaranteed if the Iraq government doesn't make progress. Doesn't want any timetables for withdrawal. Wants to involve regional countries to help provide stability financially and militarily. Believes victory is turning Iraq into a democracy.

http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Issues.View&Issue_id=2

Ron Paul
Wants to direct the military leadership to plan immediate withdrawal. Opposed the Iraq war from beginning. Says military is spread too thin and the U.S. can't afford the financial burden. Believes al Qaeda's plan was to get the U.S in a long war and drain its resources, as evident by the falling dollar. Says Iraqi political factions have been at war for centuries and American lives shouldn't be lost waiting for them to come together.

http://www.ronpaul2008.com/issues/iraq/

Presumptive nominees

First of all, remember the Wisconsin Democratic and Republican primaries are Tuesday, February 19th. We don't have to be registered with a party to vote. This Tuesday, another 22 states will have primaries. The election won't necessarily be over after that, because about half of the country still won't have voted.

I find it somewhat funny now that the major news media is trying to say it is a two person race (McCain and Romney) for the nomination, especially since the media has relentlessly criticized these two candidates over the past year. Romney used the government to mandate health care insurance, raised taxes and publicly declared being pro-choice as governor of Massachusetts, now he is saying the opposite. McCain opposed tax cuts in 2001 and 2003, supports amnesty for illegal immigrants, opposed the appointments of conservative Supreme Court justices, and has supported the annual budget deficits of the last 8 years.

Just because someone says they are Republican doesn't mean they are fiscally conservative. Under Bush, the federal government added $3 trillion to the federal debt, which is more than Bill Clinton did. And it wasn't all due to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, because $2 trillion was from domestic program increases (farm subsidies, prescription drug programs, education programs like No Child Left Behind). Bush is the biggest spender since Democrat Lyndon Johnson, see here:

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/20767.html

Lyndon Johnson was president in the 60s, and the over-spending on warfare and welfare of that decade led to economic problems in the 70s. Many economists are predicting the same thing now.

I will leave you with a fact that you won't find on the television news networks. Ron Paul is the only candidate who increased his fundraising in every quarter last year. Here is the amount each candidate raised from October to December last year:

$26.8 million - Hilary Clinton
$22.8 million - Barack Obama
$19.7 million - Ron Paul
$9 million - Mitt Romney (excluding his personal contributions)
$6.8 million - John McCain
$6.6 million - Mike Huckabee

source: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0108/8250.html

I think this says two things. One, Republicans will have a tough time winning the election in November, because Democrats have dominated fundraising and turnout at the primaries. Two, the future of politics lies with the internet. The internet is in its relative infancy. Over time, more people will use the internet to find information and the major news networks will have less and less influence.

Out of Touch with Reality

Someone told me recently that a certain presidential candidate I liked had "bad ideas" and was "out of touch with reality". In my opinion, the presidential candidates who are promising more programs and more spending are the ones with "bad ideas" and "out of touch with reality".

Especially considering that each one of us has a hidden mortgage to the tune of $175,000. This is our individual share of the $53 trillion in liabilities (federal debt) and unfunded commitments (Social Security, Medicare, etc). If you don't believe me, these numbers come from our nation's non-partisan head accountant, David M. Walker, Comptroller General of the United States. See Walkers statistics here:

http://blog.al.com/bn/2008/01/comptroller_general_of_the_uni.html

Why does this debt matter? It matters because all of us paying Social Security taxes all our lives will not get anything when we retire because there will be no money to pay benefits. It also means foreign countries will begin to lose faith in the dollar, which means prices of imports will go up. If you haven't noticed, our dollar is losing its value and is now worth less than the Canadian dollar. See here:

http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?from=USD&to=CAD&amt=1&t=5y

So, what are the presidential candidates planning to do about spending? All of them plan to increase spending (except one, of course). This is from a study by the non-partisan National Taxpayers Union. See study here:

http://www.ntu.org/main/press.php?PressID=991&org_name=NTUF

Summary of increases in spending from the report:
$287.0 billion - Barack Obama
$218.2 billion - Hillary Clinton
$54.2 billion - Mike Huckabee
$19.5 billion - Mitt Romney
$6.9 billion - John McCain
$-150.0 billion - Ron Paul

Given our current economic circumstances, cutting federal spending seems like a good idea to me. I also think there are some good ideas for economic stimulus here:

http://www.ronpaul2008.com/prosperity

If anyone thinks these are bad ideas I'd be very interested to know which ones and why.

Fair and Balanced?

Whenever one hears information it is important to understand the perspective of the source. The Fox News channel claims it is "fair and balanced". However, the news channel has demonstrated that motto is obviously not true. Fox News held a Republican debate the day before the New Hampshire primary, and Ron Paul was excluded from the debate. This despite these facts:

- he led all Republicans in fundraising in the last quarter of 2007
- he finished far ahead of Rudy Giuliani in the Iowa Caucus
- he was polling far head of Fred Thompson in New Hampshire
- he was polling very close to Mike Huckabee and Giuliani in New Hampshire

The Paul campaign asked Fox News why he was excluded and Fox News would not give an answer. It is the right of Fox News to invite whoever they want to a debate. However, we, as viewers, need to understand their point of view. Personally, Fox News will not be my choice for objective news. Perhaps Fox News should consider changing their motto from "fair and balanced" to "unfair and biased".

Will Terror Follow Us Home?

On September 20, 2001, President George W. Bush addressed the American people and gave the following reason for why al Qaeda attacks us: "...its goal is remaking the world -- and imposing its radical beliefs on people everywhere." Bush continued, "They hate our freedoms -- our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other." However, Michael Scheuer (the former CIA chief of the Bin Laden Issue Station) disagrees. In his book Imperial Hubris, he states the following six U.S. policies as bin Laden's and al Qaeda's motivation:

"
- U.S. support for Israel that keeps Palestinians in the Israelis' thrall.
- U.S. and other Western troops on the Arabian peninsula.
- U.S. occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.
- U.S. support for Russia, India, and China against their Muslim militants.
- U.S. pressure on Arab energy producers to keep their oil prices low.
- U.S. support for apostate, corrupt, and tyrannical Muslim governments.
"

Notice that not one of Scheuer's points claim al Qaeda is attempting to convert the world to Islam or that it wants to destroy America's freedoms.

Many U.S. citizens are concerned now that if our troops leave Iraq, al Qaeda will "follow us home." If we falsely believe they hate us because we are free, then the threat of terror will remain forever. However, if we listen to Mr. Scheuer and understand al Qaeda's true motivations, then we realize that our national security can be protected by altering U.S. foreign policy.


Sources
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010920-8.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Scheuer
Scheuer, Michael. Imperial Hubris. Brassey's Inc, 2004

Failure Is Not An Option

In November of 2008, the United States of America will choose its next leader. That leader will be counted on to make tough decisions that will shape the future of the world. Perhaps one of the toughest decisions of our young century was the decision to go to war against Iraq. Many of the 2008 Presidential candidates went on public record regarding this decision. It is up to the people to decide if these candidates passed the test or if they failed. Failure must disqualify a candidate as a Presidential option.

H.J.RES.114, October, 2002 - To authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against Iraq:

Voted for:

Joe Biden
Sam Brownback
Hillary Clinton
Christopher Dodd
John Edwards
Duncan Hunter
John McCain
Tom Tancredo
Fred Thompson

Voted against:

Dennis Kucinich
Ron Paul


Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_Resolution
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d107:H.J.RES.114: