A recent quote from Matt Damon describing the kind of leader he wanted:
Somebody who believes that building a strong, solid, educated middle class is ultimately the best thing for America. Someone like FDR. There’s a misconception that leaders lead. They don’t. They follow. Every great movement has come from the bottom up.
(TIME, 9/12/2011, p. 92)
Do you believe this?
What kind of leader do you want?
Can you name anyone alive that fits that description?
Here is interesting article about a speech Senator Hatfield (who died August 7, 2011) gave some years ago at Warner Pacific College.
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20110821/COLUMN0108/108210326/Rep-Vic-Gilliam-reflects-his-time-Sen-Hatfield
Senator Hatfield
The comments Senator Hatfield in this speech could be applied to many other areas where Christians should be involved: political change, abortion protests, protecting my city parks, etc, – you name it. And Senator Hatfield lived what he is saying here.
Surprising Facts from RE-MAKING MONEY:
What cost $1 on August 15, 1971 – the day 40 years ago that Nixon removed the dollar’s gold anchor and unleashed inflation – in 2011 now costs on average more than $5.65.
Measured in inflation-adjusted dollars, the average American today earns the same income as he or she would have 30 years ago. Inflation has kept the purchasing power of American wages flat for three decades.
Despite $5 Trillion in recent “stimulus spending,” America’s economic growth for the past two Quarters has averaged an anemic 0.85 percent, within the margin of error of being zero or lower. This means that we may already be in a double-dip Great Recession. New economic research shows that Keynesian “stimulus” doesn’t work in modern societies.
The Federal Government now borrows 42 cents of every dollar it spends. The government now borrows $58,000 every second, $3.5 million every minute, $210 Million every hour….24/7.
Twice as many Americans now work for government as work in all of manufacturing combined.
51 percent of adult Americans now pay no income tax, and a 2011 Gallup Poll found that 47 percent of Americans now believe the government should impose more redistribution of income.
45 percent of all American households have at least one person living there who receives some form of regular government check. By the time 84 million baby boomers are retired, more than 60 percent of American households will be receiving regular government checks.
Nearly 40 percent of America’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), comes from federal, state or local government spending.
Since President Barack Obama’s January 2009 inauguration, the share of America’s GDP taken by the Federal Government has grown by roughly 25 percent – from 19 percent of America’s total income to more than 24 percent.
Government, in other words, has effectively grown 25 percent (one-quarter) bigger during just the past two and one half years under President Barack Obama.
The outgoing President of the Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City said that America “is no longer a market economy,” that our economy is now “crony capitalism” in which companies succeed or fail because of their contributions to politicians.
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By Michael Weiner
Email: mdweiner@swissamerica.com
Click here for bio and archived articles
Pray for friends on the East Coast,first the earthquake, then the hurricane. United States Geological Survey (USGS) has determined the epicenter of the Virginia earthquake was in a graveyard just outside of Washington, DC.
USGS scientists have discovered that the 5.9 disturbance appears to have been caused by all the American Founding Fathers rolling over in their graves because of the abominable condition of our elected politicians in office!
How about a new television program where one politician is voted off each week by the other politicians and sent home? The politicians have to live on social security and beat the bushes like the rest of the senior population. And they play with the inflated dollars we use that aren’t worth anything. How would they decide each week who goes home? I doubt if any network would buy the program. The networks are owned by Wall Street. (Remember the old Smother’s Brothers program that everyone watched each week and was kicked off by Washington?) Maybe an independent network could buy it?
In 1776 a restlessness stalked the new American colonies. Radical leaders in the colonies, opposing taxes imposed by England, rebelled not only for tax relief, but for the independence of the colonies from England. The underground printing presses quickly became a major force in shaping the destiny of the colonies. Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense”, published in January of 1776, argued that the cause of America should not be just a revolt against the taxes, but a demand for independence. The fifty page pamphlet sold over 100,000 copies in two months. More than any other single publication, “Common Sense” paved the way for the Declaration of Independence in July of 1776. As the vision for America grew, Pain wrote more than 16 other papers. In December of 1776 while Washington’s troops wintered demoralized, Washington read another of Paine’s papers to his troops.
“These are the times that try men’s souls…”
Paine was not the only writer that shaped the vision of new America. Dozens of publications were printed on basement printing presses by a network of visionaries. These publications, which were called “broadsides” at that time, shaped the country. It was the printed word that rallied Americans to the cause, building community and motivation that supported the American army with food, money, and supplies. The face of history was changed.
Today, as with these visionaries, men and women who have shaped history have always had their networks. Those who have lead from the networks and using the tools of communications have always been the major force of cultural change. Hundreds of years ago in Europe the Gutenberg Press paved the way for the Scientific Revolution, the Reformation, and the Industrial Age. America was the first country in the world that was birthed from the cultural forces of the Gutenberg Press.
During the middle of the twentieth century the picture changed. During the last few decades the powers that have charted our personal destinies have always been the wealthy. In the Industrial Age, only the wealthy could purchase and control the means of production and afford the networks necessary to remain in control. The wealthy have always had their networks – their country clubs, private schools, international “commissions”, and even their electronic networks on large main-frame computers.
With the emerging of the personal computers, social networks, PayPal and more this is no longer true. Because of the rapidly decreasing cost of technology, it no longer takes large resources to build networks that span geographic barriers or to access any type of information. The new underground force for change is no longer the printing press and broadsides, but rather the Internet. Pamphlets, eBooks, papers, and blog postings can easily be stored and distributed using the Internet. Like the visionaries of early America, the leaders of our time are quickly discovering the power of the Internet and are using it to build networks and motivate people for change. Information published electronically can circulate far faster and less expensively than the printed word. Information is power, and the networks for communication and information access are already becoming available to almost anyone in the developed countries.
As a result, these new electronic networks are already having and will have in the near future a profound effect on our culture. Learning and using these is important taking back our government. We need to stand up for our rights now – or we will lose them.
““With the coming of the information society, we have for the first time an economy based on a key resource that is not only renewable but self-generating…We are drowning in information but starving for knowledge.”
John Naisbitt
“Networks offer what bureaucracies can never deliver – the horizontal link…Hierarchies promote moving up and getting ahead, produce stress, tension, and anxiety. Networking empowers the individual, and people in networks tend to nurture one another.”
John Naisbitt
(This may be distributed if reference given)
The cost of licensing a small business in Oregon doubled in the last two years – Thanks to Senator Richard Devlin, D-Tualatin (who is supposed to represent me) and others in the state legislature.
When the legislature began discussing this expensive licensing idea, I wrote to Senator Devlin and begging him not to increase the licensing costs, as this would harm small businesses in a very economically depressed state. Others must have written to him as well, as the legislature took the step of referring the issue to the voters.
Unfortunately, the election was bought by the unions, and the license fees were doubled. Now it appears that Devlins is owned by the unions. The Oregonian reports:
http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/06/sen_richard_devlin_accused_of.html
Small businesses need to grow in Oregon. Senator Devlins apparent doesn’t support this. This is a red flag for the Republicans. Time to send him home. Thank you, The Oregonian, for covering this.
Why did Bernie Madoff go to prison? To make it simple, he talked people into investing with him. Trouble was, he didn’t invest their money. As time rolled on he simply took the money from the new investors to pay off the old investors. Finally there were too many old investors and not enough money from new investors coming in to keep the payments going.
Madoff did to his investors what the government has been doing to us for over 70 years with Social Security. There is no meaningful difference between the two schemes, except that one was operated by a private individual who is now in jail, and the other is operated by politicians who enjoy perks, privileges and status in spite of their actions.
| Bernie Madoff | Social Security |
|---|---|
| Takes money from investors with the promise that the money will be invested and made available to them later. | Takes money from wage earners with the promise that the money will be invested in a “Trust Fund” (Lock Box) and made available later. |
| Instead of investing the money Madoff spends it on nice homes in the Hamptons and yachts. | Instead of depositing money in a Trust Fund the politicians transfer it to the General Revenue Fund and use it for general spending and vote buying. |
| When the time comes to pay the investors back Madoff simply uses some of the new funds from newer investors to pay back the older investors. | When benefits for older investors become due the politicians pay them with money taken from younger and newer wage earners to pay the seniors. |
| When Madoff’s scheme is discovered all hell breaks loose. New investors won’t give him any more cash. | When Social Security runs out of money the politicians try to force the taxpayers to send them some more; or they will cancel SS to all those who paid into it. |
| Bernie Madoff is in jail. |
Politicians remain in Washington …with fat medical and retirement benefits. |
Here are a few “positive” notes:
This is not saying that Social Security and even Medicare should be abandoned. Rather, that it was implemented wrong and illegally. The first amendment to the Constitution grants the citizens the freedom of religion, of speech, of the press, and the right to assemble. They didn’t means those were the only freedoms we had. To correct that impression, the tenth amendment was added that , essentially, said if it wasn’t restricted by the Constitution or the state, it was a freedom. There is nothing in the Constitution about Social Security, public education, and a host of other things that have been imposed o n us illegally. Moreover, the Constitution defined a procedure if we wished to add something like Social Security and these other things. That has been violated illegally.
Congress and the President have failed us. On the next election we can begin to clean some of this up. If the ones there are serious and want to stay there, they need to set the Social Security and Medicare up so that it operates legally and get the states to endorse it as an amendment. That means a little over a year to submit this to the states. Next, they need to put themselves on the same systems (Social Security and Medicare) they have us on. No pensions or fancy medical care. Anything short of this means they’ve endorsed Madoff’s pyramid scheme. And that isn’t legal.
You also probably noticed there hasn’t been in increase in Social Security payout to the seniors in the last two years. Yet the amount paid is supposed to increase with the cost of living. Everyone knows the cost of living has increased, so why is the government stealing from the seniors?
Isn’t it time our government was held accountable?
Where is “Thomas Jefferson” now when we really need him? We really need some major changes. Now.
John F. Kennedy held a dinner in the white House for a group of the brightest minds in the nation at that time.. He made this statement:” This is perhaps the assembly of the most intelligence ever to gather at one time in the White House with the exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”
When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe , we shall become as corrupt as Europe .
Thomas Jefferson
The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
Thomas Jefferson
It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes, a principle which if acted on, would save one-half the wars of the world.
Thomas Jefferson
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
Thomas Jefferson
My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.
Thomas Jefferson
No free man shall ever be deprived the use of arms.
Thomas Jefferson
The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.
Thomas Jefferson
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Thomas Jefferson
To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was a remarkable man who began his learning very early in life and never stopped.
At 5, he began studying under his cousins’ tutor.
At 9, he studied Latin, Greek and French.
At 14, he studied classical literature and additional languages.
At 16, he entered the College of William and Mary.
At 19, he studied Law for 5 years, starting under George Wythe.
At 23, he started his own law practice.
At 25, he was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses.
At 31, he wrote the widely circulated “Summary View of the Rights of British America ” and retired from his law practice.
At 32, he was a Delegate to the Second Continental Congress.
At 33,he wrote the Declaration of Independence.
At 33, he took three years to revise Virginia ‘s legal code and wrote a Public Education bill and a statute for Religious Freedom.
At 36, he was elected the second Governor of Virginia succeeding Patrick Henry.
At 40, he served in Congress for two years.
At 41, he was the American minister to France and negotiated commercial treaties with European nations along with Ben Franklin and John Adams.
At 46, he served as the first Secretary of State under George Washington.
At 53, he served as Vice President and was elected president of the American Philosophical Society.
At 55,he drafted the Kentucky Resolutions and became the active head of Republican Party.
At 57, he was elected the third president of the United States .
At 60, he obtained the Louisiana Purchase , doubling the nation’s size.
At 61, he was elected to a second term as President.
At 65, he retired to Monticello .
At 80, he helped President Monroe shape the Monroe Doctrine.
At 81, he almost single-handedly created the University of
Virginia and served as its first president.
At 83, he died, on the 50th anniversary of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence along with John Adams.
Thomas Jefferson knew because he himself had studied the previously failed attempts at government. He understood actual history, the nature of God, God’s laws, and the nature of man. That happens to be way more than what most understand today. His is a voice from the past to lead us into the future.
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There is another quote that is attributed to Jefferson but there is no hard proof he said it:
Thomas Jefferson said in 1802:
‘I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property – until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.’
You can find the history of this particular quote at: http://www.snopes.com/quotes/jefferson/banks.asp. Jefferson was against big government (anti-Federalist) and certainly would have subscribed to the basic sentiments of the quote.
Southwest Hills Baptist Church in Portland is doing a series on understanding the Constitution. Seems like the Government people have left the Constitution behind a long time ago. We need to return to it. Some people are putting the notes to the class up. You can find them at: http://wallbuilders.steveeason.com/The earliest video on the channel is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahpxj0s8K5oWe are n the process of changing the search string fromSWHillstoWbconstHillsBetter yet, if you are in the Portland area why not attend the class? There’s more – we can’t post copyrighted stuff on this site. The class title is “Wallbuilders: The Christian Roots of America” lead by Herb Grey and Doug Lundin. Starts each week at 10:45 Rm 210/211 at Southwest Hills Baptist Church, 9100 SW 135th Ave. , Beaverton, OR 97008 (503) 524-8686.Sunday, May 22, 2011, is the last Sunday for this class.
