Fannie, Freddie bailout could double, regulator says: "Fannie and Freddie, the federally controlled mortgage finance giants, probably will need at least another $73 billion and perhaps as much as $215 billion from taxpayers in the next three years to meet their financial obligations, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said, but much of that money would automatically be returned to the government.
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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Friday, October 08, 2010
Government Licensing Internet News Report
Government Licensing Internet News Report: "New offer from Microsoft executives would open the door for state licenses to access the Internet, authorities have the power to block individual computers connecting to the world wide web under the pretext of preventing malicious attacks.
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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness
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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness
Thursday, October 07, 2010
Panel: Gov't thwarted worst-case scenario on spill - Yahoo! News
Panel: Gov't thwarted worst-case scenario on spill - Yahoo! News: "WASHINGTON – The White House blocked efforts by federal scientists to tell the public just how bad the Gulf oil spill could have been.
That finding comes from a panel appointed by President Barack Obama to investigate the worst offshore oil spill in history.
In documents released Wednesday, the national oil spill commission reveals that in late April or early May the White House budget office denied a request from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to make public the worst-case discharge from the blown-out well.
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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness
That finding comes from a panel appointed by President Barack Obama to investigate the worst offshore oil spill in history.
In documents released Wednesday, the national oil spill commission reveals that in late April or early May the White House budget office denied a request from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to make public the worst-case discharge from the blown-out well.
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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness
Gallup Finds U.S. Unemployment at 10.1% in September
Gallup Finds U.S. Unemployment at 10.1% in September: "PRINCETON, NJ -- Unemployment, as measured by Gallup without seasonal adjustment, increased to 10.1% in September -- up sharply from 9.3% in August and 8.9% in July. Much of this increase came during the second half of the month -- the unemployment rate was 9.4% in mid-September -- and therefore is unlikely to be picked up in the government's unemployment report on Friday.
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THE HARD TRUTH: BLACKS HATE WHITE PEOPLE | Angry White Dude
THE HARD TRUTH: BLACKS HATE WHITE PEOPLE | Angry White Dude: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"
I believe that race relations are hitting a new low. Articles like this are showing up more and more and it further divides Americans. I would really appreciate any comments you might have about the contents and tone of this article. Where is America heading?
Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness
I believe that race relations are hitting a new low. Articles like this are showing up more and more and it further divides Americans. I would really appreciate any comments you might have about the contents and tone of this article. Where is America heading?
Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness
The Bill of Rights - Amendment IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Study: Cap and Trade Could Cost 1.9 Million Jobs
Study: Cap and Trade Could Cost 1.9 Million Jobs
Please read this. It is important to consider for the future of everyone in the USA.
Please read this. It is important to consider for the future of everyone in the USA.
Wednesday, October 06, 2010
Global Governance Is at Critical Juncture
Global Governance Is at Critical Juncture: "The report defines global governance as the collective management of common problems at the international level. While there have been many successes since the end of World War II, “the growing number of issues on the international agenda, and their complexity, is outpacing the ability of international organizations and national governments to cope,” the report said.
Political power not only is shifting from established powers to rising countries and to a certain degree to the developing world, it is also shifting to nonstate entities — which include multinational businesses, nongovernmental organizations, civil-society groups, churches and faith-based organizations, and special-interest groups. Complicating the ability to effectively govern is both diverse perspectives and suspicions about global governance, which is often regarded as a Western concept that is alien to local and regional customs. This makes mastering the challenges even more difficult, the report said.
While many nonstate entities are contributing to global governance to resolve issues, a few groups such as international criminal organizations and terrorist groups that are empowered by technology can pose serious threats, the report said.
The authors note that global governance does not mean “world government.” The reason it does not mean a single global governing body is that nations are unlikely to abandon national sovereignty. In addition, there are multiple divergent interests and there continues to be deep-seated concerns about the effectiveness of current international institutions, the report said.
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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness
Political power not only is shifting from established powers to rising countries and to a certain degree to the developing world, it is also shifting to nonstate entities — which include multinational businesses, nongovernmental organizations, civil-society groups, churches and faith-based organizations, and special-interest groups. Complicating the ability to effectively govern is both diverse perspectives and suspicions about global governance, which is often regarded as a Western concept that is alien to local and regional customs. This makes mastering the challenges even more difficult, the report said.
While many nonstate entities are contributing to global governance to resolve issues, a few groups such as international criminal organizations and terrorist groups that are empowered by technology can pose serious threats, the report said.
The authors note that global governance does not mean “world government.” The reason it does not mean a single global governing body is that nations are unlikely to abandon national sovereignty. In addition, there are multiple divergent interests and there continues to be deep-seated concerns about the effectiveness of current international institutions, the report said.
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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness
Tuesday, October 05, 2010
Super-rich investors buy gold by ton | Reuters
Super-rich investors buy gold by ton | Reuters:
"Fears of a double-dip downturn have boosted the appetite for physical bullion as well as for mining company shares and exchange-traded funds, UBS executive Josef Stadler told the Reuters Global Private Banking Summit.
'They don't only buy ETFs or futures; they buy physical gold,' said Stadler, who runs the Swiss bank's services for clients with assets of at least $50 million to invest.
UBS is recommending top-tier clients hold 7-10 percent of their assets in precious metals like gold, which is on course for its tenth consecutive yearly gain and traded at around $1,314.50 an ounce on Monday, near the record level reached last week.
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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness
"Fears of a double-dip downturn have boosted the appetite for physical bullion as well as for mining company shares and exchange-traded funds, UBS executive Josef Stadler told the Reuters Global Private Banking Summit.
'They don't only buy ETFs or futures; they buy physical gold,' said Stadler, who runs the Swiss bank's services for clients with assets of at least $50 million to invest.
UBS is recommending top-tier clients hold 7-10 percent of their assets in precious metals like gold, which is on course for its tenth consecutive yearly gain and traded at around $1,314.50 an ounce on Monday, near the record level reached last week.
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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Townhall - The Obliteration of a Generation of Democrats
Townhall - The Obliteration of a Generation of Democrats:
"Currently, according to published polls, Republicans are leading in 54 Democratic House districts and, in 19 more, the incumbent congressman is under 50 percent of the vote and his GOP challenger is within five points. That makes 73 seats where victory is within easy grasp for the Republican Party. The only reason the list is not longer is that there are 160 Democratic House districts that were considered so strongly blue that there is no recent polling available.
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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness
"Currently, according to published polls, Republicans are leading in 54 Democratic House districts and, in 19 more, the incumbent congressman is under 50 percent of the vote and his GOP challenger is within five points. That makes 73 seats where victory is within easy grasp for the Republican Party. The only reason the list is not longer is that there are 160 Democratic House districts that were considered so strongly blue that there is no recent polling available.
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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Dismantling America - by Thomas Sowell
"'We the people' are the familiar opening words of the Constitution of the United States-- the framework for a self-governing people, free from the arbitrary edicts of rulers. It was the blueprint for America, and the success of America made that blueprint something that other nations sought to follow.
At the time when it was written, however, the Constitution was a radical departure from the autocratic governments of the 18th century. Since it was something so new and different, the reasons for the Constitution's provisions were spelled out in 'The Federalist,' a book written by three of the writers of the Constitution, as a sort of instruction guide to a new product.
The Constitution was not only a challenge to the despotic governments of its time, it has been a continuing challenge-- to this day-- to all those who think that ordinary people should be ruled by their betters, whether an elite of blood, or of books or of whatever else gives people a puffed-up sense of importance.
While the kings of old have faded into the mists of history, the principle of the divine rights of kings to impose whatever they wish on the masses lives on today in the rampaging presumptions of those who consider themselves anointed to impose their notions on others.
The Constitution of the United States is the biggest single obstacle to the carrying out of such rampaging presumptions, so it is not surprising that those with such presumptions have led the way in denigrating, undermining and evading the Constitution.
While various political leaders have, over the centuries, done things that violated either the spirit or the letter of the Constitution, few dared to openly say that the Constitution was wrong and that what they wanted was right.
It was the Progressives of a hundred years ago who began saying that the Constitution needed to be subordinated to whatever they chose to call 'the needs of the times.' Nor were they content to say that the Constitution needed more Amendments, for that would have meant that the much disdained masses would have something to say about whether, or what kind, of Amendments were needed.
The agenda then, as now, has been for our betters to decide among themselves which Constitutional safeguards against arbitrary government power should be disregarded, in the name of meeting 'the needs of the times'-- as they choose to define those needs.
The first open attack on the Constitution by a President of the United States was made by our only president with a Ph.D., Woodrow Wilson. Virtually all the arguments as to why judges should not take the Constitution as meaning what its words plainly say, but 'interpret' it to mean whatever it ought to mean, in order to meet 'the needs of the times,' were made by Woodrow Wilson.
It is no coincidence that those who imagine themselves so much wiser and nobler than the rest of us should be in the forefront of those who seek to erode Constitutional restrictions on the arbitrary powers of government. How can our betters impose their superior wisdom and virtue on us, when the Constitution gets in the way at every turn, with all its provisions to safeguard a system based on a self-governing people?
To get their way, the elites must erode or dismantle the Constitution, bit by bit, in one way or another. What that means is that they must dismantle America. This has been going on piecemeal over the years but now we have an administration in Washington that circumvents the Constitution wholesale, with its laws passed so fast that the public cannot know what is in them, its appointment of 'czars' wielding greater power than Cabinet members, without having to be exposed to pubic scrutiny by going through the confirmation process prescribed by the Constitution for Cabinet members.
Now there is leaked news of plans to change the immigration laws by administrative fiat, rather than Congressional legislation, presumably because Congress might be unduly influenced by those pesky voters-- with their Constitutional rights-- who have shown clearly that they do not want amnesty and open borders, despite however much our betters do. If the Obama administration gets away with this, and can add a few million illegals to the voting rolls in time for the 2012 elections, that can mean reelection, and with it a continuing and accelerating dismantling of America.
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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness
At the time when it was written, however, the Constitution was a radical departure from the autocratic governments of the 18th century. Since it was something so new and different, the reasons for the Constitution's provisions were spelled out in 'The Federalist,' a book written by three of the writers of the Constitution, as a sort of instruction guide to a new product.
The Constitution was not only a challenge to the despotic governments of its time, it has been a continuing challenge-- to this day-- to all those who think that ordinary people should be ruled by their betters, whether an elite of blood, or of books or of whatever else gives people a puffed-up sense of importance.
While the kings of old have faded into the mists of history, the principle of the divine rights of kings to impose whatever they wish on the masses lives on today in the rampaging presumptions of those who consider themselves anointed to impose their notions on others.
The Constitution of the United States is the biggest single obstacle to the carrying out of such rampaging presumptions, so it is not surprising that those with such presumptions have led the way in denigrating, undermining and evading the Constitution.
While various political leaders have, over the centuries, done things that violated either the spirit or the letter of the Constitution, few dared to openly say that the Constitution was wrong and that what they wanted was right.
It was the Progressives of a hundred years ago who began saying that the Constitution needed to be subordinated to whatever they chose to call 'the needs of the times.' Nor were they content to say that the Constitution needed more Amendments, for that would have meant that the much disdained masses would have something to say about whether, or what kind, of Amendments were needed.
The agenda then, as now, has been for our betters to decide among themselves which Constitutional safeguards against arbitrary government power should be disregarded, in the name of meeting 'the needs of the times'-- as they choose to define those needs.
The first open attack on the Constitution by a President of the United States was made by our only president with a Ph.D., Woodrow Wilson. Virtually all the arguments as to why judges should not take the Constitution as meaning what its words plainly say, but 'interpret' it to mean whatever it ought to mean, in order to meet 'the needs of the times,' were made by Woodrow Wilson.
It is no coincidence that those who imagine themselves so much wiser and nobler than the rest of us should be in the forefront of those who seek to erode Constitutional restrictions on the arbitrary powers of government. How can our betters impose their superior wisdom and virtue on us, when the Constitution gets in the way at every turn, with all its provisions to safeguard a system based on a self-governing people?
To get their way, the elites must erode or dismantle the Constitution, bit by bit, in one way or another. What that means is that they must dismantle America. This has been going on piecemeal over the years but now we have an administration in Washington that circumvents the Constitution wholesale, with its laws passed so fast that the public cannot know what is in them, its appointment of 'czars' wielding greater power than Cabinet members, without having to be exposed to pubic scrutiny by going through the confirmation process prescribed by the Constitution for Cabinet members.
Now there is leaked news of plans to change the immigration laws by administrative fiat, rather than Congressional legislation, presumably because Congress might be unduly influenced by those pesky voters-- with their Constitutional rights-- who have shown clearly that they do not want amnesty and open borders, despite however much our betters do. If the Obama administration gets away with this, and can add a few million illegals to the voting rolls in time for the 2012 elections, that can mean reelection, and with it a continuing and accelerating dismantling of America.
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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness
Obama Stimulus Made Economic Crisis Worse, `Black Swan' Author Taleb Says - Bloomberg
Obama Stimulus Made Economic Crisis Worse, `Black Swan' Author Taleb Says - Bloomberg: "U.S. President Barack Obama and his administration weakened the country’s economy by seeking to foster growth instead of paying down the federal debt, said Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of “The Black Swan.”
“Obama did exactly the opposite of what should have been done,” Taleb said yesterday in Montreal in a speech as part of Canada’s Salon Speakers series. “He surrounded himself with people who exacerbated the problem. You have a person who has cancer and instead of removing the cancer, you give him tranquilizers. When you give tranquilizers to a cancer patient, they feel better but the cancer gets worse.”
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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness
“Obama did exactly the opposite of what should have been done,” Taleb said yesterday in Montreal in a speech as part of Canada’s Salon Speakers series. “He surrounded himself with people who exacerbated the problem. You have a person who has cancer and instead of removing the cancer, you give him tranquilizers. When you give tranquilizers to a cancer patient, they feel better but the cancer gets worse.”
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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness
Friday, September 24, 2010
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Our Constitution
Our Constitution
The constitution of the United States was written to control the political appetites of our Federal government – not directed towards the States or the people.
Our constitution, a creation of James Madison, prevents the majority from imposing tyranny over the minority. Our constitution proscribes negative prohibitions for our federal government to thwart tyranny, autocratic rule, theocracy, dictatorship, or any undemocratic activity. All authority not specifically given to the federal government was intended to reside in the State and/or the people.
The House of Representatives provides 435 representatives on the basis of population size by direct vote of the citizens. The Senate was designed to provide 2 senators for each state in the union and originally appointed by each state legislature.
Question about The Senate:
Why do we now popularly elect Senators? Is there been any unintended consequences as a result of this change?
Are the States no longer represented in Congress because Senators are popularly elected?
Senate deals blow to proposed 'Don't ask, don't tell' repeal in 56-43 vote - TheHill.com
Senate deals blow to proposed 'Don't ask, don't tell' repeal in 56-43 vote - TheHill.com: "The Senate on Tuesday dealt a significant blow to the Obama administration’s efforts to repeal the ban on openly gay people serving in the military.
In a 56-43 vote, Senate Democratic leaders fell short of the 60 votes they needed to proceed to the 2011 defense authorization bill, which included language to repeal the Clinton-era “Don’t ask, don’t tell” law. Every Senate Republican present and three Democrats voted to block debate on the bill.
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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness
In a 56-43 vote, Senate Democratic leaders fell short of the 60 votes they needed to proceed to the 2011 defense authorization bill, which included language to repeal the Clinton-era “Don’t ask, don’t tell” law. Every Senate Republican present and three Democrats voted to block debate on the bill.
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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness
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