Jillian Michaels is leaving 'The Biggest Loser'

This is a loss for this show. She always knew how to motivate people and even though she was tough, she had a big heart and really cared for all the contestants. Hope they can find someone with the same character. Wish her well and I believe she will make a wonderful mother.

Jillian Michaels is leaving 'The Biggest Loser'

Third Angels Message

I have been studing this lately. This is all very interesting and all backed up by factual finds and statements.

Thirdangelsmessage.com - main page

A Broken Machine

Small business is crucial to the American economy. These businesses have helped kick start our economy after the past several recessions. So why is this not taking place now? What has affected the make-up of our economic machine? It could be many reasons – the recent scandal in the mortgage industry with foreclosures is now leading the way to a apparent downfall, one that could send the whole economy reeling again to the likes of what we witnessed in 2008. Also contributing could be all the government tinkering over the past decade and a half. It is quite possible and very apparent that we simply broke it. We allowed greed to let the government make decisions that essentially broke our capitalistic economic machine. A machine that had run well for us over the past hundred years or so.

Several years ago when so many businesses – large and small – were making money like gangbusters, we all got greedy. Housing prices were skyrocketing, people were spending freely and everyone was buying things they really could not afford trading away a future. Credit was handed out like free candy at a record breaking pace. People were buying homes and getting loans on things they could not afford and should never have been able to obtain. Homes that really should have been worth about $200,000 were now selling for $350,000 or more. Interest rates were kept artificially low and so even more credit was handed out. Hell – money was being thrown around so much some people were really starting to believe that money was growing on trees. Everyone was getting credit, credit for everything they had dreamed about. If someone didn’t qualify, the banks created new ways for them to be able to get credit. We allowed our government and corporations to break the machine – we broke the machine!

Then when everything came crashing down – no one was spared. We all in some way contributed to the mess because we allowed our government and ourselves to fail. When the machine broke this time, there were not any spare parts to fix it. There was no way to put a band aid on this. People lost their homes – many who should have never owned them in the first place – people lost their possessions, businesses began to fail due to lost sales, mismanagement and bad loans and so many people lost their jobs – jobs that will take many years to recover. What were we all thinking? We listened to a government tell us things were fine, they said inflation was in check (that was minus food and gas, two items that skyrocketed in this timeframe). They said look – People can buy overpriced homes and cars and get credit for them.

Think about this now – how can family of four, making about $70,000 per year total income afford a $400,000 home, two car payments and all the other associated family expenses? This was happening all across America. Back in 1999, I bought a home in Las Vegas for $108,000m sold it in 2002 for $149,000 and as I followed is it sold again in 2005 for $350,000 – at one time the value had shot up to $400,000. Then what happens – the machine starts to make rumbling sounds and finally breaks down – crashes! That home now has a value of about $100,000 – 11 years later it is worth less than what is was brand new. It should have never been worth $350,000, Las Vegas’ economic make-up centered on tourism and the casinos, the city could not sustain that. But we let our government tell us different. We did not pay attention to what the politicians we elected were doing because we were greedy. We trusted the people we elected – yet we did not pay attention to what they were doing once they got in office.

So why is small business not pulling us out of this mess this time? It is because we broke the machine, we abused it, we did not take care of it, we allowed others to borrow it, tinker with it and they abused it. We messed it up pretty good. Now – we really need to face the facts – we can no longer fix it, we don’t have the right parts available. We need to build a new machine and learn to take care of it, put it on a maintenance schedule to keep it running smoothly.

There are so many people out of work, unemployment continues to hover around 10%. No one has cash to spend. We were all dependent on credit. People out of work, pay raises are slow to come or still non existent, hundreds of thousands lost their homes and jobs and businesses. Now we are also looking at a Mortgage Industry that has foreclosures on hold and many possible lawsuits lining up due to the crisis. Small businesses thrived on people being able to spend. Small business is now stuck in a rut along with many larger businesses.

President Obama has come up with many short term ideas but unfortunately his administration and the congress as a whole can not come up with the necessary solutions to get the economic machine back on track. They are unwilling to face the fact that we as a whole actually broke it. The government broke it, corporate America really broke it and we as Americans broke it. The bail out money given to all these companies did not help – the corporations used it to clear the red ink from their books and invest it in higher yielding shares and reaped the profits. With the profits, they did not invest it in hiring but are holding it within. Sure, now some of these corporations are paying back the money but we as Americans are the losers in this process. They borrowed our money, they made profits off it and they keep the rewards of those profits. Tell me – how did this help the economy? It didn’t not one bit, unemployment rose and is still hovering near 10%.

I still applaud Ford Motor Company. They did not take any bailout money, they went back and figure out what they needed to do and turned things around and made a profit at doing it the right way. Sure car sales went up at some of the other car manufacturers once the cash for clunkers was in place, but as soon as it expired, sales slowed again. The same happened in the housing industry, once the incentives were removed housing sales slumped. To top it off the government and the economist wondered why this happened – are you sure we have the right people running things?

The process is a simple one, the answer is not so simple. To keep business growing and to sustain that growth, people need to buy your product, your sales have to keep growing. At issue is the fact that so many people are out of work and so many people have less money that no one is spending. It used to be we spent more than we saved in this country – now we are saving more and there is less to spend. Credit is harder to come by and people are buying more with cash. All this contributes to lower sales. This all should be common sense to our government officials – we elected them in part because we believed they had some common sense. So to tackle this whole issue we all have to start with common sense. We first have to face the fact – We Broke the Machine.

Now – we faced that fact. Unfortunately so many of our elected officials have not. We have to face the fact that this will be a long process – not good news but it is a fact we need to face. So far our elected officials have not faced that fact. We also need to face the fact that we need to build a new economic machine – one we all agree we will take care of and nurture – many of our elected officials refuse to want to do this.

Some things are starting to turn around, but not enough to help us out of this mess. Several banks are still failing, some have seen the errors of their ways and have cut back on issuing credit, making it much harder to qualify. This is making it harder on many small businesses who rely on short term loans to stay afloat and other loans to expand. So many of these businesses no longer can qualify. They no longer have the sales to generate enough capital to show the banks they are able to repay the loans.

A big key to this whole process is finding a solution that will lead to middle class Americans increasing their spending. A substantial part of the process will also involve spending with hard cash and much less credit. Doing it this way is a longer healing process, but it would be more sustained and much more credible. This will be one of the pains of rebuilding the Machine. With so many people out of work we must face the fact that this process will be long and tedious. Many people will need to be retrained for new jobs and roles in other fields – a situation for which we as a country are simply not prepared.

The big fact we need to face is that we do not have the right people in power to take care of this job. We need to quit looking at which party is at fault – both parties help mess this up and neither seems to have the answers. The leadership is poor. We do not have a winning team in place and now the draft is approaching (election) a chance to get valuable replacement players that are willing to take us to the next level, willing to put in the true work it is going to take to get a new Machine built. This all starts in your own communities, with your local poloticians all the way up to the national level. Many localities are still run by the same families that contributed to this mess in the first place. People who are descendents of people who have been in power in some instances for a few hundred years, they are elected just because of their name. Not a good deal – this is not any better than voting along party lines. This country was not meant to be a two party system but we have now made it that way.

Further bailout packages to corporations is not the answer. We need to find a way to get money into the hands of the people so they can spend again and get companies to start growing. If we don’t build this machine correctly and maintain it, we are going to end up in this mess again. We need to build the Machine the right way, make it work and take care of it. It will be a long process for everyone, but working together we can do this. America was built on the backs of hard working Americans – we can not forget this. Hard work is what made us, hard work is what will get the Machine built and hard work is what will sustain growth.

With the elections coming up – remember this. Now is your opportunity to make a change for the better. Get people in office that will work hard for us, for the belief in America! Ignore the party lines, look at what each candidate has to truly offer. IT is our time to make a change and let our voice be heard. We must all remember that our government is – “By the people and for the people” it should not dictate to us, we should dictate to it. _ Just My Explosion of Thought!

America The Beautiful - Where have we gone wrong?

On this day 9 years ago, America suffered an attack on her home soil. On that day I felt thousands of souls pass through me and pierce my heart with a sadness like I had never felt. On September 11, 2001, Americans united as a nation for the first time in a long time. We all came together and celebrated the heroes who struggled to save survivors when the Towers fell. We also mourned the thousands that died that day In NY, Pennsylvania and in Arlington, VA at the Pentagon. For quite a while afterward we were united as a nation, as brothers and sisters. We forgot all our differences and pulled together, help one another out and showed our patriotism.

Since that day, we have all now faded back into the horizon. Where is all the Patriotism, the unification of people, minds and ideas? In this time of economic strife, we need to become more patriotic, we need to unite, pull together as a nation and help out those in our own country in need. When someone falls down, put out a hand and help them up.

You see, when the towers fell, the terrorist hoped we would fall apart as a nation. That in some form we would self destruct. Well during our current crisis, that is exactly what is happening. They are sitting back and laughing at us as we all continue to fall apart. We are not uniting, we are not working together and no one is putting out that hand to help a fallen neighbor back up.

So today is a time to remember what happened. Remember how we all united and stood strong, how we went the extra step to help each other out. Let's not let them continue to win, we need to show the world our true strength. Show the world what America stands for and that we are Proud to be Americans!

Romer's Departure and the Economy

Christina Romer, chairman of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, was giving her "valedictory" at the National Press Club before she returns to teach at Berkeley, she used this stage to establish four points, each point much more unnerving than the last:

1. She had no idea how bad the economic collapse would be.
2. She still doesn't understand exactly why it was so bad.
3. The response to the collapse was inadequate.
4. She doesn't have much of an idea about how to fix things.

She will be leaving the council chairmanship after a dismal tenure that resulted in a loss of nearly 4 million jobs in a year and a half. Understanding this is not all her’s or this administration’s fault; the financial collapse occurred before she, and Obama, took office. It must be understood though that she was the president's top economist during this time and the administration consistently underestimated the depth of the economy's troubles. These serious miscalculations have caused many Americans to lose faith in the President and the Democratic party as a whole.

Romer had anticipated that President Obama's stimulus package would keep the unemployment rate at 8 percent or less; it has been at 9.5 percent and higher. One of her main bosses, Vice President Biden, had told Democrats in January that "you're going to see, come the spring, net increase in jobs every month." The country lost over 350,000 jobs in June and July.

In her speech Romer acknowledged, they (her and the administration) did not realize "how quickly and strongly the financial crisis would affect the economy." They "failed to anticipate just how violent the recession would be." Even I had seen this coming and people who are paid to analyze and predict these events did not see what hit them? What kind of amateurs are running our country. They had calculated that with the stimulus package they proposed being passed that unemployment would remain below 8%, instead it had the opposite effect and unemployment rose to 10%. Why would they think a bailout of corporate America would stimulate the economy, all it allowed for was companies to clear the red off their books and give them some breathing room while all the corporate heads could remain employed or receive generous severance packages to leave. All this while lowly middle class Americans were laid off in droves or had their salaries frozen for at least a few years.

The administration does not have an answer nor do they understand the concept of how America works. Here is the process – a person goes to work and earns a salary or wage, he takes home his pay, pays the bills, supports his family and in this process goes out and spends his earned wages. In so doing, he supports sales at other companies and in turn they are able to go out and purchase more products, pay their employee wages and with enough sales expand their operations. Now this is what happened, so many of the people that spent their money are now forced to reduce their spending because their wages were cut or frozen or can not spend or even pay their bills because they have no job. The companies that used to benefit from these sales on a consistent basis now are faced with reduced sales and have been forced to cut back on staff and reduce many of their prices. So this created a recession. This is what the current Administration that is running the country does not seem to understand – this simple concept.

How do we fix it – you have to get middle class America to feel confident about spending and then find a way to stimulate those people – not corporate America. If people were spending again, corporate America would fix itself. Unfortunately, in this process you have to train and condition people to spend again. The government has done the opposite, they have conditioned people to spend less and be more cautious now. This in effect will slow down any recovery.
Home sales have not recovered why? They have not and will not do well because so many people that were once eligible to purchase are now unable to even qualify. So many people have been foreclosed on and lost their jobs that now they no longer are even able to qualify for a loan. Sadly, many are even unable to find anyone to give them a lease to rent and have been forced to move back in with parents or relatives. This administration does not understand this. Not only this administration – but the one before it was not any better.

Fixing the problem is an issue that can not be ignored or delayed. Extending the tax cuts for wealthy Americans will not work. We need to stimulate the Americans that make less than $150,000 per year, this is the group that in the long run will pull us out of a recession. One they are able to spend again, sales will increase across all areas of the economy. But how will this administration and this congress understand this or find a way to fix it? – My explosion of thought!

John Lennon - Imagine

Shake it off and Step up

 One thing I have observed about many of the youth today is that when stuff happens, they tend to give up quickly. When they get piled upon, they don't know how to respond and just fold up. Here is a story told to me long ago by my grandfather. Just shows you that no matter how the world tries to throw stuff at you and bury you, you have to learn to improvise on the fly and step up ----
 
One day a farmer's donkey fell into an abandoned well. The animal cried grievously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old and the well needed to be buried anyway; so it just wasn't worth it to him to try to retrieve the donkey.He invited all his neighbours to come over and help him. They each grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. The donkey, realizing what was happening, at first cried and wailed horribly. Then after a few shovelfuls later, he quieted down completely. The farmer peered down into the well, and was astounded by what he saw. With every shovelful of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing some thing amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up on the new layer of dirt. As the farmer's neighbours continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. 

Pretty soon, the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and trotted off, to the shock and astonishment of all the neighbors. Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt and try to bury you. The trick to getting out from beneath it all, is to not let it bury you, but to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a stepping stone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up!  

Finally, the donkey gave the farmer who tried to bury him a good kicking. Which brings me to another moral for this story - When you try to cover your ass, it always comes back and gets you.

Ancient Buried Ship Hull Found at Ground Zero Site

NEW YORK (July 15) -- Workers at the World Trade Center site are excavating a 32-foot-long ship hull that apparently was used in the 18th century as part of the fill that extended lower Manhattan into the Hudson River.

It's hoped the artifact can be retrieved by the end of the day on Thursday, said archaeologist Molly McDonald. A boat specialist was going to the site to take a look at it.

See more here:

Ancient Buried Ship Hull Found at Ground Zero Site

Get America Growing Again!

The only way to fix our economy and start creating jobs at a brisk pace is to get middle class American Taxpayers to start to spend again. It is a proven method and to do so you have to get the cash into these people hands so they feel confident to spend again. Many middle class Americans have not had pay raises in at least 2 years, I being one of those. If you can get this class of people to start spending again, companies will start increasing sales and profits, more workers will be needed to help with the increase and more tax income will be generated. It is a trickle down effect that helps sustain long term growth. It will be a little tougher this go round because companies in order to survive have had to figure out how to do more with less. The cost of doing business has increased over the past 3 years and companies can no longer absorb all the costs. They either have to start passing them along or find a way to cut costs elsewhere. The sales per employee figure with many companies had to increase drastically, profit margins experienced steep drops. So now what they may have done with 30 workers 5 years ago, they have learned to do with 25 workers now. So to start adding employees they have to see substantial growth at a sustained rate. A lot of spending needs to be done folks!

With the government pumping money into large corporations and states, no income is generated to assist the people who spend on a regular basis - middle class Americans. The corporations use the money to pay off debts and clear their books. It gives them no incentive to really change their ways. I have respect for Ford, they did not take any money; they went back, regrouped, came up with a plan and instituted that plan right away. They are now one of the top automakers in the world, way ahead of the rest of the crowd.

Why can't our government figure this out - as long as Americans don't spend, the economy will not grow. There have also been so many home foreclosures, that there are now hundreds of thousands of people who have become ineligible to obtain home loans for the next several years. Many of these people are now living with relatives because they can not even get a lease. This will slow down home buying down the line and we will see a plateau.

It is going to be long term rebuilding process, at least another 5 to 7 years, before we all can dig out of this one - BUT that is only if the government sees how to fix the economy - get the money into the hands of people who will spend it and things will start to improve much quicker. I am not talking about the measly $400 or $800 to everyone - that is a slap in the face and worthless. You know if instead of bailing out all these companies and states with the billions that the government spent, they could have given each American taxpayer $40,000 or more each and spent less than 1/2 of what they did - the economy would have been much further along by now because most of these people would have went out and spent at least 3/4 of that. The only proven way to get out of a recession is for Americans to spend their way out. Maybe the government can look at suspending taxes for people making $125,000 or less for the rest of the year, this would throw more money to the people who need it and the people who will spend it. Bailouts of corporations is not and should not have been the direction the government took.

To get things straight again, there will also need to be a balance of cutting spending and an increase in taxes. You can only cut so much before you start having to eliminate many essential services. With debts in the federal and state governments so high a likely tax hike of some sort will be a necessary evil. I thinks an increase in gasoline taxes is fair, it is a tax that can be applied evenly across all classes. Everyone who drives will be pitching in. There has not been an increase here in years. Maybe look at a .02 or .03 increase per gallon. This will not cause a great hardship to anyone and it is a fair tax. Use 50% for Highway improvements and 50% for paying down the debt. I once saw an article from the oil industry that said increasing the taxes on gasoline would put an undue financial hardship on oil companies and they would have to increase the price of gas. The example was if the government imposed a tax of .04 a gallon, they would have to charge at least .08 or more. What a bunch of hogwash. It is a tax, you collect it and pass it through to the government. IF you get it done early, the government even gives you a little discount. So if the tax was .03 a gallon, you should only see prices increase by .03 a gallon. This would generate at current consumption about $350,000,000 a year.

NFL Suspends Chargers WR Vincent Jackson For Three Games - SBNation.com

NFL Suspends Chargers WR Vincent Jackson For Three Games - SBNation.com

Vincent Jackson Working Out With Donovan McNabb In Phoenix - SBNation.com

Vincent Jackson Working Out With Donovan McNabb In Phoenix - SBNation.com

Oval Office Apology

The government is trying to focus all blame on the oil companies for not having plans in place to prevent/clean-up from an offshore oil spill. If you look back on history, there has never been a plan in place. Our government never required a plan be put in place and the government never had a plan of its own.

What about the government response to the spill? Why did the government fail the American public by not overseeing what the inspectors were doing, or in this case not doing. Why did our government wait so long to accept help from other countries? BP screwed up bad on this but only because the government allowed them to.

When aid was offered from Sweden with their large Oil Skimmers, we did not accept their assistance. The government has also refused help form at least 10 other countries including Canada, Mexico and Great Britain. The oil skimmers from Sweden which are some of the largest and most efficient in the world could have helped to clean up so much more of the oil spill. The ships are capable of collecting 50 tons of oil / hour, around 1000 tons/day. Currently the leak spews out 1000 – 1500 tons/day if current estimates are accurate. Just the other day the State Department issued a statement on behalf of the President: "While there is no need right now that the US cannot meet, the US Coast Guard is assessing these offers of assistance to see if there will be something which we will need in the near future," it added. I am telling the government right now – we need the help damn it!

Democrats and Republicans have both aimed some of their criticism at Obama. Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) complained about the "incompetent response to this disaster" and said that President Obama had given too much cleanup authority to BP and behaved like "a spectator in the stands." Our President is expected to be a leader and demand answers and solutions. He should be exploring and using any means available including foreign aid to help with this horrible situation.

So I say to our government – to out President - I expect to hear an apology from you to the American public during your Oval Office speech. Our government failed us just as bad as BP. We have plans in place for various other disasters, why not have one for off shore oil spills. I want to express my deepest gratitude to the rest of the world that has offered to help us – we appreciate the offer and we really can use all the help we can get, but our government does not seem to feel the same urgency. I hope when we do finally ask you for help, your offer still stands. – My explosion of thought!

Sinking to Rise - A Poem

My heart sinks low each day
Each night I cry and pray
Everyone seems so far away
They ask me not if I’m okay
My thoughts no more do they convey
The love that now does go astray
My heart does heavy weigh
My feeling now in decay
I feel so lost in disarray
They all to me betray
Hope I wish I would belay
The sharp pain does me slay
I feel inside cold as clay
I wish from the sun I’d feel a ray
My life does now delay
A vote for promise is now nay
I pray to God to lead the way
I see the darkness at the end of the driveway
Against me now they do gainsay
My soul has dived into the bay
The evil now I can not slay
The fires rise and form a spray
To each to him to find a way
This awful game that you now play
Please get me out without delay
I want out of the fray
I hold within a beautiful bouquet

The BP Spill and Our Government's Failure

The bottom line on this is that the government - all of the government failed us in allowing the behavior of these oil companies to go on. Both republicans and democrats are responsible. The President is responsible on the clean-up end because he was not quick to respond. Louisiana has begged for federal assistance for weeks from the President and he ignored them. The barrier they requested was just approved - after billions of dollars in economic, ecologic and personal disaster has already taken place.

In addition the European Union, the United Nations and 14 individual countries, like Sweden, are offering to help the U.S. clean up the mess in the Gulf of Mexico. The President has been in talks with the United Nations. The President just visited the Gulf area to see first had the disaster that will take years if not a decade to clean up. His slow response is abhorrible.
The little country of Sweden, has been offering to send three ships with the ability to skim 50 tons of oil per hour from the water’s surface with a capacity of 1000 tons. It could take a few weeks for the ships to get here. Swedish officials say the offer has been made and they’re just waiting for a request from Washington. These are very large oil skimming vessels that should have been mobilized a few weeks ago. Once the oil reaches the shoal waters of the panhandle, these large vessels will be useless.

In a country like the USA, that drills, transports and uses more oil than any other country in the world, why doesn’t the U.S. have the largest oil skimmers in the world. The money we pay in taxes is supposed to be used to educate, protect and defend all of us. There are HAZMAT response vehicles in many of our fire departments and emergency response teams. We are equipped to handle oil spills on the road. How come we are not equipped to handle them out at sea? If Sweden can afford to have ships like this on standby, why can’t we? Why haven’t we demanded all along that oil companies, with their enormous profits, keep a fleet of such ships on standby in the Gulf and anywhere there are offshore oil platforms?

When it was time for the Coast Guard to procure new vessels, they didn't think large oil skimmers or multi-purpose vessels were needed or were necessary for their needs. An oil skimmer doesn’t quite have the appeal of a slick, fast cutter armed with multiple weaponry. When the Coast Guard became part of the Department of Homeland Security, its mission focused more on coastal defense, patrol and drug interdiction, the emergency response for rescue and environmental protection suffered.

This is not just the fault of BP but on our government - people who we elected to watch out for these things. They said they depended on what the oil companies said - took their word without asking the simple questions. One question that could have prevented all of this that I would have asked: Let's see Mr. Oil Company - we have never drilled a well like this have we. Weell no Mr. Investigator we have not. - Do you know what issues you may run into Mr. Oil Company.- Not really Mr. Investigator, we never drilled this deep in the ocean before. - Well Mr. Oil company, what if something happens, what will you do, what plans are in place, what equipment do you have that can stop or plug this thing at these depths that has been tested? - Well Mr. Inspector - we don't really have an answer for that. - I SEE Mr. Oil company, Then I can not allow this to go forward until you can present to me facts with answers to my questions and proof that you have the technology to prevent or stop anything that may go wrong.

None of this was done. Shame on our government! We need to get the whole bunch out and vote in people who will look out for the American citizens, not people who line their pockets.

“The rules on what plans must be filed by exploration companies before drilling a well were relaxed in early 2008 by the Bush administration. Thereafter there was reportedly some confusion over whether the BP well qualified to be exempted, but that appears to be precisely what happened. If so, lawmakers in Washington are likely to target the Interior Department for falling down on its responsibilities and becoming too cozy with the oil giants. “I’m of the opinion that boosterism breeds complacency and complacency breeds disaster,” said Congressman Edward Markey. “That, in my opinion, is what happened.”‘ -The Independent

A report in the Washington Post in April of 2009, pointed to the MMS (US Minerals Management Service) giving BP a “categorical exclusion” from filing reports on what exactly it would do in the event of a blowout at the Deepwater Horizon. According to the Post, the MMS, in its infinite wisdom, concluded any blowout that might occur wouldn’t be bad enough to threaten coastal ecosystems. So why worry? Now we have blobs of oil are reportedly washing up on the white sand beaches of Alabama and all along the Louisiana coastline, killing hundreds of birds and other wildlife, ruining the eco system, threatening the mouth of the Mississippi River, putting people out of work and causing billions of dollars in damage.

So what do we have to say about all of this. Sure BP is at fault – they have taken the blame for this mess. But we can’t put this all on them, our government has failed us. In comparison to Katrina which was caused by nature – this is far bigger. We are not even sure if anyone can stop this leak right now. What if it can not be stopped? Will this be the end of us all, all our water contaminated a huge upset of the eco system? All because some simple questions were not asked or maybe even the answers ignored. This is serious people, we should all be worried and we should all be questioning all the people we have in office right now. Who is managing this mess – not the mess in the gulf – but the mess we have in government. This government is supposed to be Of the people and For the people. We as citizens need to get a grip on government. We need to get people who truly care about this country and the people who are citizens into office. The people we have in now both Democrats and Republicans including the office of the President have no clue and are all guilty of this mess. We as American citizens were dependent of the people in office to protect us from situations like this. Voice your opinion and vote for new people to replace all of them.

See the live feed here: BP Oil Leak Live

This is MY EXPLOSION OF THOUGHT!

Moment of Remembrance on Memorial Day

America Unites In Remembrance
The White House Commission on Remembrance, established by Congress in 2000, is an independent, non-partisan government agency that encourages Americans to honor the sacrifices of our fallen and their families. It promotes acts of remembrance throughout the year and asks citizens to pay our debt of gratitude in memory of those who died in service to our country by giving something back to the Nation.

The Commission is also tasked with sponsoring the National Moment of Remembrance, Public Law 106-579, which invites everyone to pause where they are at 3:00 p.m. on Memorial Day in an uplifting act of national unity. In this shared remembrance, we have the chance to successfully connect as Americans.

Please take time out of your day on Monday May 31, 2010 to remember those who have fought for our freedom and gave their lives so we could live free. They served our country and they should be honored. Please also remember all those who fell on September 11, 2001, they are also heroes.

To see more on this government agency click here: White House Commission on Remembrance.

Endurance swimmer braves glacial lake

This guy has some big kahunas despite what cold usually does. He is one of the few in the world that can even attempt such a feat!

BP Oil Spill Live Feed

IF you would like to see the live feed from the BP oil Spill click here: BP Spill

A Child's View Can Be So Enlightening - Something I read

A veterinarian had been called to examine a sick ten-year-old Irish Wolfhound named Belker. The dog's owners, Ron, his wife Lisa, and their little boy Shane, were all very attached to Belker, and they were hoping for a miracle.

He examined Belker and found he was dying of cancer. He told the family we couldn't do anything for Belker, and offered to perform the euthanasia procedure for the old dog in their home. As they made arrangements, Ron and Lisa told him they thought it would be good for six-year-old Shane to observe the procedure. They felt as though Shane might learn something from the experience.

The next day, he felt the familiar catch in his throat as Belker's family surrounded him. Shane seemed so calm, petting the old dog for the last time, that he wondered if he understood what was going on. Within a few minutes, Belker slipped peacefully away.

The little boy seemed to accept Belker's transition without any difficulty or confusion. They all sat together for a while after Belker's death, wondering aloud about the sad fact that animal lives are shorter than human lives. Shane, who had been listening quietly, piped up, 'I know why.'

Startled, they all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next stunned them. They had never heard a more comforting explanation.

He said, 'People are born so that they can learn how to live a good Life -- like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?' The six-year-old continued, 'Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don't have to stay as long.'

Illegal Immigration - Getting tired of this

Why are all these other states so concerned about the Laws of Arizona? They are taking up so much time on the new immigration law there. California - you are about to go bankrupt - I think you need to keep to yourself and fix your problems - maybe if you were not supporting so many illegal immigrants there you would not be so bad off. What is it costing you - a couple of billion dollars at least every year. I know in Maryland illegal immigrants cost the state about $1.4 billion a year in costs, so in a state that is much larger it has to be about 5 times or more that figure. New York - you have issues with wall street, the banks, terrorists - I think those are more important to you to focus on. New Jersey - there is always some corruption going on there - clean up your own backyard before telling someone else how you feel.

You see - the Immigration Law just passed in Arizona has the support of over 73% of the voters there. These people agree wit the law, it is costing their state billions of dollars a year to deal with people who by the laws of the United States are criminals. All these supporters of ILLEGAL(do you know the definition of the word) immigrants are supporters of criminals. Hell - why don't you support letting Charles Manson out of jail - no difference, he is a criminal, so are people who break into our country or any other country for that matter. Mexico who is very outspoken about the USA being lenient has tougher laws than we do and they enforce them. You go to jail for at least two years and have to pay a fine, then when you get out they deport you. That is if they remember they threw you in jail in the first place. Have you seen some of their jails - dirt floors, poor hygiene, nasty food.

Try to break into another country and see where it gets you. What would Iran do to you? So what I am saying is just shut up about the Arizona law - they are not saying they are going to stop you on the street. Their law says you have to be breaking another law to make you suspicious. So if you are law abiding - why are you worrying? Major League baseball needs to stay out of these political games also, they need to concentrate on cleaning up their players on all these drugs. I guess the MLB is trying to say that 27% of their players are illegal.

Please remember this law only is for the State of Arizona. People will still vacation there, people are not moving out of the state in droves. Take a look at a county in Virginia - Prince William County in Northern Va passed a similar law a few years back because of the cost of the illegal immigrants there. The only people to flee that county were the illegal immigrants themselves. No on is boycotting them. They have the illegal immigration population pretty much under control now and their costs are down.

Please remember - the law states ILLEGAL. I hate the congressmen that are crying saying their ancestors were immigrants and were not treated this way. Well their ancestors were LEGAL immigrants, not ILLEGAL. I worked with a few immigrants that were here legally and received their citizenship to help bring their families over here LEGALLY. They actually treat people trying to come into the country LEGALLY worse than they do the ILLEGAL immigrants. What a country we have. - my explosion of thought!

Tennessee Flood Relief

It is time we help our own people in this country. It seems when ever there is a relief area somewhere else in the world, Americans are asked to step up and help out with millions of dollars in private and government assistance. There are many areas in Tennessee where people did not have any flood insurance since flooding in those areas only seems to happen every several hundred years. Many of these people are struggling through hard economic times and have lost everything. Please take your time to pitch in and help out however you can.

We need to start thinking about the citizens in this country first before thinking about other countries when offering relief. It is horrible that the Tennessee Flood is getting so little headlines across the country while the BP oil rig explosion is taking all the headlines. Even President Obama has dissed them - don't let his administration talk about George Bush anymore. He did not want to travel to the Tennessee flood area because he said he would get in the way. When President Bush said something similar - he drew and uproar of anger - especially from those in Hollywood. So now that Obama has done virtually the same thing and treated the people of Tennessee the Republican and democrats are equal.

Please help out with your support - don't let these people continue to suffer while we turn our attention away. They desperately need your assistance. You can help out greatly by going to http://www.hon.org/AboutUs/index.php/disaster/FloodMay2010.html and signing up click her to donate to the Red Cross or donate to the Salvation Army. Every little bit can help and the people of Tennessee will appreciate all your help.

Illegal Immigrants(Aliens) and Arizona

Robert Sarver owner of the Phoenix Suns suggested the team wear their Noche Latina alternates for their game today against San Antonio. He stated that frustration with the federal government's failure to deal with the illegal immigration issue led to the passage of what he called "a flawed state law." He went on to say: "However intended, the result of passing the law is that our basic principles of equal rights and protection under the law are being called into question," he said, "and Arizona's already struggling economy will suffer even further setbacks at a time when the state can ill-afford them."

I think the very first thing that we must remember here is that this law is to target “ILLEGAL” aliens – meaning people that broke into our Country without authorization.

That means that they did not come into this country legally, they used illegal means to gain entry. Illegal - prohibited by law or by official or accepted rules; not according to or authorized by law; unlawful. So we have a law that they are supposed to follow and people are actually arguing that these people have rights – Sarver's comments above even go as far as saying they are protected by equal rights under the law. How stupid can that be. The equal rights he is referring to are equal rights that are afforded to AMERICAN CITIZENS. An alien who is present in a country (which is foreign to him/her) unlawfully or without the country's authorization is known as an illegal alien of that country. An illegal alien commonly refers to a foreign national who resides in another country unlawfully, either by entering that country at a place other than a designated port-of-entry or as result of the expiration of a non-immigrant visa.

Also, Sarver is disrespectful to Latin Americans by wearing a Jersey that is not Latin. He is using a jersey that says “Los Suns”, if he wanted to truly respect them he would make the phrase correct “Los Sōlis”. I am guessing that he only wants to half respect them.

Did you know not long after a Collier County Sheriff’s Office program in Arizona to deport troublesome illegal aliens concluded back in December that Mauricio Escalante, 33, an Immokalee farm worker, and illegal alien stabbed a teenage farm worker, Charlie Guzman, to death for speaking English instead of Spanish. There are hardships to be borne by turning a blind eye toward illegal immigrants among us. Ask the family of Charlie Guzman. Not all illegal immigrants are bad, but statistics point to many among them that are.

Many countries around the world have tough immigration laws and high punishments for those that enter their country illegally. Last year Italy made their laws tougher on illegal immigrants and impose a $14,000 fine on each individual and they can also hold them in a jail for up to 6 months before deporting them. Some places in Latin America will throw you in a dirt floor cell and may even forget you are there for quite some time. In Mexico, the one country that is pleading with the US to back off on illegal immigrants, they have some of the toughest illegal immigrant laws: A penalty of up to two years in prison and a fine of three hundred to five thousand pesos will be imposed on the foreigner who enters the country illegally." (Article 123). A Mexican who marries a foreigner with the sole objective of helping the foreigner live in the country is subject to up to five years in prison. (Article 127). Also if you are a Mexican and help illegals gain entry into Mexico, you commit a felony. The EU Union countries can hold you in a cell for up to 18 months before deporting you.

The law in Arizona is one the people of the state support with a wide majority. Over 70% of people in the state support the law. 65% of Americans support the law. It is not racial profiling, it is not racist. If you are in this country illegally you are committing a crime. Should we start ignoring all the rest of our laws also, murders you can go free about your business, drug dealers – go ahead and go about your business as well, anyone want to go rob a few stores – no problem let’s all support them. Many people who support illegal aliens do so because they are cheap labor, they can pay them under the table and can pay them less than minimum wages. These people are the ones who are really insulting them and these people are also breaking the law. The federal government needs to take action and start enforcing the law. This is not a racist issue like so many people are making it to be. Are many of these people another nationality – you can bet the bank that they are, but ALL ILLEGAL ALIENS are from foreign countries, they are all foreign nationalities. There is now estimated up to 12 million illegal aliens in this country, about 95% of them are employed getting paid substandard wages for jobs that American Citizens should have.

So if you believe that illegal aliens have full rights of American Citizens and you support them being here you should be supporting every single person in the US that breaks any laws, if not you are a hypocrite to your beliefs. If one group of people is allowed to break our laws and they are not even citizens of our country, then shouldn’t we grant this same right to our own citizens? Become a land of no laws, total mayhem, pillage, steal, rape, kill and do as you please because that is exactly what you are promoting – breaking the law is ok. Now I don’t believe in treating illegal aliens with disrespect, we should make sure they are treated with respect and made to understand that we have rules for entering our country. They need to abide by those rules, just like all the people who emigrate here legally every year. Let’s find a middle ground and enforce the laws we make that are fair for entering into this country. – my explosion of thought!

Our National Debt - America's Embarrassment

Our government’s spending is very much out of control. To date our National debt is well over $8 trillion dollars. Our government continues to spend away our future and the future of our children and grandchildren, They have borrowed heavily from other government programs such as Social Security and various other federal trust funds without a hint of how it will ever be paid back.

President Obama has felt the pressure and is speaking to a commission that was formed to discover and investigate ways to help reduce the deficit. Over the next ten years the deficit of our country is expected to balloon to well over $20 trillion dollars with no real relief or ideas to reduce it currently in site. The future looks quite bleak. Foreign investors may soon be demanding higher interest rates to America to keep funding this debt. The US is borrowing more and more just to keep up with interest payments. If interest rates were to spike suddenly it could cause our economy, which is just starting to show small signs of life, to spiral downward.

In order to keep the debt under control, some form of spending cuts, spending freezes and the unspeakable tax increases will be necessary. Should we, as Americans, be worried? I for one think so and I think we should make our voice be heard in the next elections. So many political officials (I call them this because they are not really representing the true wants of their constituents) are more concerned about getting their votes and they can not make the hard decisions that are really a necessity due to the large amount of debt that our government carries. Unfortunately, we as American are going to have to bite the bullet on this issue.

Newsweek last week made a bold statement saying “America’s Back!” Unfortunately this is quite a misstatement and an untruth to the American people. With the great debt, sluggish improvement to the unemployment rate, continued increases in foreclosures and a lack of true job creations by private industry, many Americans are still suffering through this economic downturn. We are seeing some slight improvement in some areas of retail sales, but it has not been enough to spurn the job creation necessary for our economy to really begin to grow. Something needs to be done and we need to get it going quickly.

Years ago I sat on a board of directors of a Homeowners Association. We had some serious financial issues facing us due to years of mismanagement Management and past boards doing and voting for things only because they look popular and kept those people on the board. They had borrowed heavily from their reserve fund to cover cost overruns from year to year, they had multiple repair projects that were due to be started, maintenance projects were needed around the property and utility rates had increased and were not planned for in the budget. For the previous 6 or 7 years, the condo fee had either been reduced or not increased while during this time they were operating at a loss and only survived because a reserve fund for capital improvements was established years before they came on board – they borrowed to pay for all the losses from year to year. Many thought this was great – no condo fee increases – less money out of their pockets, so they thought. After I came on board and was made the treasurer, I met with the accountant, I did not have the real knowledge to see everything that was going on but had sat and chaired several oversight committees and saw many discrepancies. The accountant explained to me the issues and the fines we faced if we did not put a plan together for the next few years to repay the reserve fund money that was borrowed to pay off losses. There are laws that regulated these set aside funds and something had to be done. I worked with the accountant and presented a plan to the rest of the board to get us back on the right track. We implemented an 8% condo fee increase for the next year and 5% for the following year, at the same time we put together a realistic budget with cost savings and a repayment plan. We cut our trash contract by thousands of dollars and reduced staff. We also put in place a plan to increase the condo fee consistent with the inflation rate and allowed for no borrowing from the reserve fund. At first it was an unpopular decision but eventually after we explained what was going on, it became more acceptable. I was told I would not be reelected to the board due to this, but remarkably I was elected by quite a wide margin. Over the next few years the reserve fund was repaid and we were no longer operating at a loss. When I left and a new board was in place, they adopted the same formula we came up with.

America, we need to do the same thing here. Our government has borrowed heavily from our reserve funds (Social Security and other programs) and this all has to be repaid. This is a reserve for our future and the future of our children. In the short term it will seem painful, but if we act now and get things going, in 5 to 10 years we will be back to respectability around the world and show them why we are leaders. We need to dictate to our government – and it is our government – that this is what we want. We need to look at various ways to cut costs, maintain services, reduce spending on entitlement programs and reign in our government officials. As painful as people may think this sounds, we also need to look at various ways to generate additional money to pay down the debt by increase some taxes. This money should be specifically earmarked to pay down the national debt. We can look at increasing taxes on gasoline by a modest amount – maybe .02 - .03 per gallon. Oil companies say this will increase their costs – I don’t really get that one, it is a tax that Americans will pay at the pump that is specifically earmarked to reduce the deficit. It is not taxing them in the least – wouldn’t that be a shame. This would be a fair tax across the board because all Americans who drive would pay it. We can look at a 2% increase on income taxes to all those who make over $250,000 per year for a period of at least 5 years and at the same time look at cutting taxes on the less wealthy – those with a family of 4 or more making less than $70,000 per year. We should also look at reducing or cutting aid to foreign countries for the next 5 years – why are we borrowing money to give aid to other countries? Federal government hiring should be frozen for the next 3 years and tax breaks to some larger corporations should be reviewed and cut back. To get us back on track, we all need to work together; we all need to chip in some way at least for the short term. If we all work together as a nation we can and will accomplish this enormous feat. We need to realize how serious a situation our country is in.

Obama continues to remind us that he inherited this. He did inherit some of it, but he has helped to greatly contribute to it also by his administration’s continued spending and corporate takeovers. He has failed to stimulate job creations mainly because he has failed to face the answer on how to recover from this recession. In order for us to start to see real growth, new jobs and reduced unemployment, Americans need to feel good about themselves and about their futures. Americans need to feel comfortable about spending again in order to get the economy moving at a healthy pace. Once this happens, companies will start spending again, they will start creating new jobs and increase hiring. Let’s all face it, there is no easy solutions to all of this and we will all need to pull together to work this one out. We need to elect the right people, not vote along party lines – research and vote for the person that understands what is going on, someone that will stand up for you and help get this country back to greatness. This country was built upon the backs of our hardworking forefathers, all working together, doing their part – let’s not forget that! – my explosion of thought!

Tea Party Patriots - A Viable Alternative?

Over the past year and a half I have been hearing more and more about the Tea Party Patriots. A conservative group that are true believers in the Federalist movement and protections that the US Constitution provides all citizens. They are listed as a non-partisan, non-profit social welfare organization dedicated to furthering the common good and general welfare of the people of the United States.

In their statements they profess to educate the public and promote the principles of fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government and free markets. Recently several candidates have arisen claiming to be representing the Tea Party. Some like Scott Ashjian a self proclaimed Tea Party candidate, may or may not really be associated with the Tea Party. Recently leaders of the Tea Party have said they have not endorsed him as a candidate. Originally he registered as a Republican and later changed his Party tot eh Tea Party. Another Party - The Independent American Party, which has a candidate on the ballot for the Nevada Senate race, had argued that Ashjian was registered as a Republican and not Tea Party when he originally filed to qualify for the ballot on March 2. A Nevada judge ruled Thursday that Scott Ashjian’s name will remain on November’s ballot as a Tea Party candidate for Senate.

There are several candidates attempting to unseat Democratic Senator Harry Reid. After the past several years of him ignoring his constituents for his own gain, many people would be glad to see him unseated in Nevada. Harry Reid is a supporter of big government and all the tyranny comes with it — big tax hikes, wasteful spending and government takeovers – somewhat of a socialist agenda. He has been in politics for more than 4 decades, and has become completely out of touch with Americans, particularly the constituents of his own State of Nevada. He has this belief that Washington houses all the intelligence. Harry Reid has contributed to Nevada’s big downfall. Instead of constructing ways to help sustain and improve his own State, he ignored his fellow Nevadans and spent well over a year pushing for the new healthcare reform, all while his state suffered huge unemployment, thousands of home foreclosures and a collapse of all home values in the state. Since he became the majority leader, the Silver State’s unemployment rate has risen from Just over 4% to over 13%. Nevada may be one state where the Tea Party can gain a foot hold and become a respected foe as another Party to break the grip of this two party system that has run this country into near ruin.

The Tea Part Patriots welcome the participation by all citizens of the United States. The Tea Party online groups, blogs and news feeds are offered for the exchange of ideas related to their mission. Despite the many rumors floating around, The Tea Party Patriots do not condone and will not tolerate discrimination of any kind, and it will not tolerate comments encouraging any kind of illegal activities. If you post on their site or blogs they do expect and demand that you self-police, conduct yourselves in a civil and responsible manner and ask you to refrain from profanity, slander and personal attacks.

This group started up when it became apparent that the freedoms of our country were being threatened. Thousands and then millions of people from around the country responded. They stepped up and began to fight back. They began calling, we emailing and rallying. They started to organize and they endorsed protests and even marched on Washington. They wanted to make it clear that they would not be silenced by those who pretended not to listen and hoped they would tire and go back to their daily lives. The progress of this group amazingly quick and they learned more strategical ideas and to organize much quicker and better. They are targeting the upcoming primary elections as their first true chance to really be heard and begin to make a difference. They believe the every one of us counts and it takes all the people to make the important and vital changes that are necessary for this Country, this Nation to be restored to it’s former glory! We live in the one of the only countries on the planet where we are free to choose a side without the fear of retaliation from the government, yet there may be those in government that would like that to change. People around the world envy all our freedoms. The time has come for citizens of the USA to stand up and let our leaders know what we want. This may be the year that the American people will begin taking back our country from those that would destroy it. Help restore our great country to what the founders made it.

Did you know that after winning our independence our leaders were concerned about too strong of a central government and they drafted the Articles of Confederation. This document did not institute a strong enough central government. Our founding fathers saw within a few decades what had hampered civilizations for thousands of years, too much government or not enough. For ages and ages men had drifted from one extreme to the other. The balance of power between anarchy and tyranny had always proved to be very elusive. The framers of our Constitution (our Forefathers) were men of very deep faith and intelligent and knowledgeable of history. They drew upon the biblical Israelites and Anglo Saxons as well as others to draft a form of government based upon free-men electing their leaders and living by Gods law. Many personal letters from our founders show constant tribute and that give thanks to God our creator for guidance while drafting the greatest governmental document ever written. This young newly formed country also needed something stronger than a loose confederation of states. After several months, working under a great amount of pressure for a new country that was in danger of coming apart at the seams, our Constitution was born. A reasonable and fair balance of power had been found. The people of this great country were now free to pursue education, science, the arts, industry and religion among many other endeavors.

This new found freedom would eventually lead to an explosion of innovation and creativity never seen before in history. We would go from traveling in ox-carts to putting a ship in space and then a man on the moon in less than 200 years. This country would be responsible for tremendous change in the world around us. People looked up to this country.

But now things have hit a crossroads and our Constitution is being disrespected by so many of our elected officials. Our government has exploded to enormous proportions, the national debt is unsustainable and becoming uncontrollable, entitlements to special interests are out of hand and our national security is substantially weakened. The Christian values and faith that this great Nation was founded upon are being thrown aside and they acting as if our Constitution does not matter anymore. This is so wrong and unprecedented. I love the United States of America and everything it used to stand for. It is time to take the gloves off; stand up and fight. We need to take our Government back; Our Government that is by the people and for the people.

The balance of power has tipped the scales toward tyranny. While we have been busy raising our families, building our businesses, and furthering our careers, our elected officials have been left to do as they please. We were brain washed into this two party system, where if you don’t play right, or actually by the rules they make up, you get left out of the game. Many of these current politicians have done us wrong. They are supposed to be representatives of the People as granted in our Constitution; instead they have become politicians representing groups and interests that line their pockets. It is time for us as Americans to say we have had enough. Stand up and restore this country to the Framers intent with our Constitution. Do not let the Socialist ideas take hold and destroy all of us. Joseph Stalin once said: "America is like a healthy body and its resistance is threefold: its patriotism, its morality, and its spiritual life. If we can undermine these three areas, America will collapse from within." He also stated to William Z. Foster, leader of the Communist Party U.S.A: “Work for more government intervention and control of the business activities of the people. In this way the American people will accept Communism without knowing it.” It was Stalin’s idea of conquering America without a fight. Don’t let these things come true, educate yourselves and break yourselves from voting within a two-party system. Maybe the Tea Party is not the party for you to endorse, but it is a start. Do your research and make your choice. – my explosion of thought!

The USA - A Republic by the People

I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America,
and to the Republic for which it stands,
one Nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty
and justice for all."

We say the Pledge of Allegiance and in it we all Pledge Allegiance to our Republic and not to a democracy. Our form of Government is a “Republic and not a “democracy”. We should be raising public awareness regarding that distinction. A republic and a democracy are somewhat similar in many aspects except one important one. In a republic the sovereignty is in each individual person. In a democracy the sovereignty is in the group.

A Republic is a form of government in which the powers of sovereignty are vested in the people and they are exercised by the people, either directly, or through a representative chosen by the people, to whom these powers are specially delegated. In a republic the group only has advisory powers; the sovereign individual is free to reject the majority group, it is their right. There is one exception to this in the US form of Republic - if 100% of a jury convicts, then the individual loses sovereignty and is subject to group-think as in a democracy.

A Democracy is a form of government in which the sovereign power resides in and is exercised by the whole body of free citizens directly or indirectly through a system of representation, as distinguished from a monarchy or an aristocracy. In a true democracy, 51% beats 49%. In other words, the minority has no rights. The minority only has those privileges granted by the dictatorship of the majority.

The distinctions between a Republic and a Democratic society should never be considered an idle one. The Constitution of this Country guarantees to every state a Republican form of government(see Art. 4, Sec. 4). No individual state may join the United States unless it is a Republic. The Republic of the USA is one that is dedicated to "liberty and justice for all." The individual rights of the minority are a priority. The citizens of the USA have natural rights instead of civil rights. Everyone is protected by the Bill of Rights from the majority. One vote in a jury can stop all of the majority from depriving any one of the people of his rights; this would not be so if the United States were a democracy.

In a democracy there is not a significant minority: minority rights do not exist except for civil rights granted by a condescending majority of the people. There are only five of the U.S. Constitution's first ten amendments that apply to Citizens of the United States. To state things in a simply way –a democracy is a dictatorship of the majority. One famous person who suffered at the hands of a Democracy was Socrates; he was executed by a democracy: even though he harmed no one, the majority of that democracy found him intolerable.

To explain things a little further - In a Republic, the sovereignty resides in the people, whether it be one or many. One individual may act on their own or through their representatives as they so choose to solve a problem. Further more, the people have no true obligation to the government; instead, the government being hired by the people is obliged to its owners, the people. The people own the government agencies; the government agencies own the citizens. In the USA we have more of a three-tiered cast system consisting of people - government agencies - and citizens. When the Constitution was established it was done by the people to "ordain and establish this Constitution," not for themselves, but "for the whole United States of America." By delegating powers to the government agencies the people gave up none of their own powers. This unique adoption of this concept is why the U.S. has been called the "Great Experiment in self government." The People of this country govern themselves, while they delegate to their agents (government agencies) to perform tasks listed in the Preamble of the Constitution for the benefit of the People. So can self-governing people coexist and prevail over government agencies that have no authority over the People? The Preamble states: We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

The citizens of the United States are totally subject to the laws of the United States as provided for with the 14th Amendment of U.S. Constitution. The United States is a unique mixture of the two systems of government; a Republican under Common Law, and democratic under statutory law. The People enjoy their God-given natural rights in the Republic. In a democracy, the Citizens enjoy only government granted privileges. Much of this argument points to the views of two major philosophers, Hobbes and Locke - read more about these two here - http://www.essortment.com/all/hobbeslocke_rbtz.htm. Hobbes was more on the side of government. His belief was that sovereignty was vested in the state. Locke was for the people. His belief was based on the principle that the fountain of sovereignty was the People of the state. The Statist prefer Hobbes; Populists lean more towards Locke. In the state of California, the Government Code sides exclusively with Locke. Two sections of their constitution state "The people of this State do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them." The preambles of both the U.S.A. and the state of California Constitutions also point to the choice of Locke by the People. It should always be the hope of each USA citizen that the U.S. will always remain a Republic, because we value individual freedom. Thomas Jefferson made a statement that liberty and ignorance cannot coexist.

To make things clear we must understand that in the Representative type of Democracy, The Majority’s power is considered absolute and unlimited; its decisions can not be appealed under the legal system that is established to give effect to this form of government. This lends way to unlimited Tyranny-by-Majority. This was what The Framers of the United States Constitution meant in 1787, in debates in the Framing Convention, when they explicitly condemned the "excesses of democracy" and the abuses under any Democracy of the unalienable rights of the individual by the majority. Many examples are provided in the immediate post-1776 years by the legislatures of several of the States. In reaction against earlier royal tyranny, which had been exercised through oppressions by royal governors and judges of the new State governments, while the legislatures acted as if they were virtually omnipotent? There were no effective State Constitutions constructed to limit the legislatures because most State governments were operating under mere Acts of their respective legislatures which were mislabeled "Constitutions." It was not until 1780 that the first true Republic through constitutionally limited government was adopted by Massachusetts, followed by New Hampshire in 1784, many other States later (Connecticut and Rhode Island continued under their old Charters for many years).

In 1781-1782 Thomas Jefferson wrote that "An elective despotism was not the government we fought for . . ." He went on to denounce the despotic concentration of power in the Virginia Legislature, under the so-called "Constitution" which stated: "All the powers of government, legislative, executive, judiciary, result to the legislative body. The Framing Convention’s records show proof that by denouncing the "excesses of democracy" the Framers were not opposing a popular type of government for the United States; their main purpose was to create a sound system of this type. By contending to the contrary is creating a means to falsify history. Falsification such as this not only maligns the high purpose and good character of The Framers but berates the spirit of the truly Free Man in America who at that time happily accepted and lived with gratification under the Constitution as their own fundamental law and under the Republic which it created. They believed and were confident for the first time that the security of their liberties were thereby protected against abuse by all possible violators, including The Majority momentarily in control of government.

The Framers of our Constitution knew that nothing but a Republic can provide safeguards for the people’s liberties which are inescapably victimized by a Democracy’s form and system of unlimited Government-over-Man featuring The Majority. They also understood that the American people would not consent to any form of government but that of a Republic.

A Republic form of government’s purpose is to control The Majority, as well as all others among the people. This is true to protect The Individual’s God-given, unalienable rights and therefore for the protection of the rights of The Minority, of all minorities, and the liberties of all the people in general. The definition of a Republic is: a constitutionally limited government of the representative type, created by a written Constitution--adopted by the people and changeable (from its original meaning) only by the people, through its amendment; with its powers divided between three separate Branches: Executive, Legislative and Judicial. Here the term "the people" means the electorate.

The people adopt the Constitution as their fundamental law by utilizing a Constitutional Convention--exclusively chosen by them for this sole purpose, to frame it for consideration and approval by them either directly or by representatives in a Ratifying Convention. This Constitutional Convention, for either framing or ratification, is one of our country’s greatest contributions to the mechanics of government; of self-government through constitutionally limited government. One of the first, specific discussions of this new American development was an entry in 1775 in John Adams’ "Autobiography" that commented on the framing by a convention and ratification by the people as follows: "By conventions of representatives, freely, fairly, and proportionately chosen . . . the convention may send out their project of a constitution, to the people in their several towns, counties, or districts, and the people may make the acceptance of it their own act." To note - first proposal in 1778 of a Constitution for Massachusetts was rejected for the reason that it had been framed and proposed not by a specially chosen convention but by members of the legislature who were involved in general legislative duties, including those pertaining to the conduct of the war.

The Constitutional Convention of Massachusetts was the first successful one ever held in the world (New Hampshire had earlier held one unsuccessfully). Then in 1788, the United States Constitution was framed by the Federal Convention for the people’s consideration and then ratified by the people of the several States through a Ratifying Convention in each State that was specially chosen by the people for this sole purpose. Afterward other States gradually followed in principle the Massachusetts form of Constitution.

This form of establishing constitutionally limited government was designed to put into practice the principle of the Declaration of Independence: that the people form their own governments and grant these governments only "just powers," limited powers, in order to secure and to keep secure, their God-given, unalienable rights. This American system of government thus bars equally the "snob-rule" of a governing Elite and the "mob-rule" of an Omnipotent Majority. This is set up to preclude the existence in America of any governmental power capable of being misused so as to violate The Individual’s rights--to endanger the people’s liberties.

We as American citizens should fight for, defend and preserve our Republican society. This is what our forefathers wanted and knew would be best for this country. They assembled a Constitution that could be amended according to the “Peoples” demands and conform to changing times. We can not allow our Government to run us and control us, this is not the intent of the Laws laid down by our forefathers. We can not allow socialist views and perspectives to be implemented within our Government. For Our Government was created “By the People and for the People”. We create, amend and make the necessary adjustments to this as we the People see fit. The Government does not know what is best for us; We the People shall Govern what is best for our form of Government. – My Explosion of Thought.

Our Economy April 2010

The economy is ever so slowly showing small signs that we may be experiencing some recovery. There are more companies that are beginning to move out of a survival mindset and back into a growth mode. Some of these companies are relying on mergers and acquisitions to achieve new growth, targeting other businesses that may complement or expand their basic model. Others are looking at better and more cost efficient ways to manage their businesses.

Many business leaders have stated that the fundamentals of productivity have changed for good. Uncovering new ways to free up cash and lift operating performance and production. Many more companies are going on the offensive, they are aiming to drive workplace efficiency. They are accomplishing this by focusing more on retention – increasing salaries and benefits, increasing production among their current employment base and with development and empowerment of top talent. They have discovered that operational efficiency as a result is the best way to deliver more value in today’s markets. They are focusing more on empowering their top talent to pursue better and new creative solutions. They are utilizing the knowledge and experience of those they already have on board. Even with a mild economic upswing on the horizon, the focus on doing more with less won’t fade away.

Core business practices are mandating managers and other staff to anticipate risks earlier and manage them more effectively. This also requires establishing what risks are worth taking and which risks should be avoided. When proper and stable risk management is most effective, key roles and responsibilities will be communicated throughout the company. In business today where we hear of previously unimaginable events, companies need to master the discipline of risk intelligence. As this recession begins slowly to gain, recovery will not follow a familiar pattern; companies will need to contend with a new and more competitive marketplace.

The recent economic growth report said we had about a 5.6% growth rate. After you take out restocking of low inventory levels, the real number for growth rate was only 1.8%. A 40% increase in gas prices over last March drove the March Consumer Price Index up about 2.3%. Gasoline prices are based mostly on oil prices, which were only $40 a barrel this time last year. What may help some in the months to come is that demand in this country is still below numbers in the past and gasoline supplies are still in surplus. What can hurt is if speculators again start up and force prices on a more brisk upward trend. Just in the past few weeks we have seen gas prices edge up by .10 to .15 per gallon.

I believe we are still looking deep into next year to see any real sustained growth in this country. The time frame could grow much shorter if job growth was surging. Unfortunately it is not. The mild increase in employment in March was not sufficient enough to bring down the 9.7% unemployment rate. The most recent look at the employment market is still not encouraging. For the week ending April 3, about 460,000 new applications for unemployment benefits were filed. This begins another week in what has become a stubborn trend which cannot seem to produce sustained employment improvements. It is anticipated that service industries are on the cusp of hiring and we may see some measurable improvement before too long. Unfortunately it is very likely that those joining the ranks of the newly-unemployed will be many state and local government workers many that are connected with public education, as many state governments have announced that their budgets are being severely curtailed.

The rising stock market seems unable to overcome weak labor markets and the severe downturn in home values, so it may be a while until sustained growth can be obtained. Many areas of the country are still suffering from the economic downturn and home prices have yet to show sustained movement. It has not been an opportune time to place your home on the market in many parts of the country. Many people are selling out of desperation due to job loss or decrease pay. On the same block there may be a home for sale for $300,000 and right down the street 2 similar homes that were foreclosed on can be purchased for $90,000 to $150,000.

Here are some parts of the country that have been hit hard and have yet to see an upward trend:
A. Las Vegas, Nevada
The population from about 1996 – 2001 saw huge increases yearly. But over the past 2 years it has declined about 6 to 7%. The average wage has sharply declined in this time period also. They have seen a very steep drop in new building permits, with a decline of 63.63%. Unemployment from January 2007-January 2010 has sharply increased by 180%. There has been a negative in new jobs added from February 2007 - February 2010 of a negative 12%. To top that off the change in median home prices from market peak in 2006 was a huge drop of 50% from that peak. Many people who bought even before the peak have seen prices decline. A home I had purchased in 1999 for $118,000 I sold in 2001 for $149,000, it was sold again in 2005 for $265,000, the current value of that home is now at $99,000 a 17% drop from what I paid for it when it was newly constructed and a 63% drop from its last selling price.

B. Sacramento/Roseville, CA
The Sacramento area of California saw a decrease in population of about 3% in the past few years. There was a remarkable drop in new building permits in the last 3 years of about 75%. Unemployment in this area from 2007 to 2010 decreased by 142%. New job creation decreased by approximately 8% and the decline in home prices saw a drop of over 35%.

C. Orlando-Kissimmee, FL
In the Orlando area of Florida from 2007 to 2010 building saw a very steep drop off with new building permits dropping by over 65%. The population in this area saw a decrease of about 4% as people relocated to areas with better job opportunities or were forced to move in with relatives in other areas. The unemployment rate during this period realized an outstanding drop of over 250%. New jobs adding in this time resulted in a negative of over 8% and home prices dropped by 35%.

D. Phoenix, AZ
Phoenix, AZ was another area hit hard over the past few years. Between 1995 and 2003 that saw double digit increase in jobs, home prices, population and building. Over the past 3 years though the population has seen a decline of about 7%. New building permits declined by a whopping 83% as home prices declined by over 35%. Unemployment in the area jumped by over 145% and new jobs added was a negative 10%. I knew a couple who moved out there in late 2005, he had taken a new job with a security firm and they had a home built for about $250,000, homes at the time were going up everywhere in the Phoenix area. By mid 2007 his company went under, he put his home up for sale, but they were still building in his community and prices there were on the decline. The new homes were now selling for $200,000, not wanting to take a loss he rented it out and moved back to the DC area to take a job. Less than year later the renter lost his job and moved out, he had no other choice and let the home go into a short sale.

E. Los Angeles/Long Beach, CA
Good old Los Angeles, the City of Angels. I just heard that last week, Nicolas Cage lost two adjacent Malibu, California, properties and his Bel Air home to the bank. This is after his two homes in New Orleans went into foreclosure at the end of last year and his Las Vegas Mansion which he paid $8.95 Million for in 2006 just sold for $4.95 million. See photos here: http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/jan/25/nicolas-cages-foreclosed-las-vegas-home-sells-495-/ . His Bel Air home failed to sell at Auction last week. Cage had initially tried to sell it for $35 million. The home went up for auction at $10.5 million and had no takers. The home was once owned by Dean Martin and also by the heartthrob Tom Jones, the 11,817-square-foot compound has a 35-seat home theater, a full Olympic pool, nine bathrooms and the walls are covered with framed comic-book covers from Cage’s collection. He blames his current financial difficulties on his finance/business manager Samuel Levin and is currently suing him. So even the stars in this city have been hit somewhat by the recession (I say it was still on the brink of a depression). Unemployment in LA jumped a staggering 163% in the past 3 years while new building permits declined by over 50%. Home prices in the area dropped almost 30% and they had a new jobs added decline of over 8%. The population in the city remained relatively unchanged.

So as you can see we still have quite a ways to go. Home prices need to show some more movement. You can expect the Federal Reserve to keep the borrowing rate pretty much stable but I would still expect to see an increase of at least ¼% in the next several months and maybe another ½% over the next 8 – 12 months. We need to get the value of the dollar to increase some and with the interest rates so low, we can not expect to see much movement. The government still needs to find a way to motivate and stimulate the middle class in this country so that they will be able to start spending again. As I have been saying, until this core group of people in this country start spending again we can not expect to see us pull ourselves out of this recession fully. My Explosion of Thought!

Our Society

So many days I look around and see what our world looks like today compared to when I was little and growing up. It is a scarier world with so many temptations for our children. We did not have the internet or 200 channels on TV. We might have had 8 or 9 channels and if you positioned the antennae just right you might be able to get in a couple of other stations. Instead of spending hours on the internet, we came home from school, did our homework and went out to play with our friends, who were our neighbors.

Now kids spend hours and hours watching TV and going on the internet. The content is eroded of what is offered on TV now and is not really what we want our kids to be watching. Some of it is the parent’s faults for what they allow. Some parents now days do not want to raise their kids, they let the media and others do that. The kids see something on TV and think it is ok for them to behave that way. We were taught when we were young that TV is make believe and we should not be acting out what we see on TV. Kids are not always taught that now, especially since the advent of so many reality shows. The internet is another very dangerous place, you try to screen what they can see, but then they go to a friends house that is not screened and you have no control. When we were told to do something or to complete chores, we did it or we suffered the consequences. Now the so called experts want you to be gentile with your kids, they want to tell you how to raise your children, they think their way is best.

So let’s see how their way is best. Over the last 10 or 15 years since they have started instituting all these programs and rules for raising your children what has happened. The crime rate among younger children ages 10 – 14 has almost doubled. While the teen pregnancy rate among 16 – 18 year olds has slightly declined, the pregnancy rate among 12 – 14 year olds has sharply increased. We are supposed to believe what social service programs across the country are doing and instituting and trying to tell everyone is better is working? Do you see this? The many people I have talked to don’t see how things are better and they believe that until we go back to a more firm form of discipline that things will only get worse. I am not saying that you need to spank your children, but there needs to be discipline at an early stage in life. You must remember that there is a difference between a spanking and abuse if that is the route you have chosen. Be careful not to cross this line. Anger should never drive your actions. The Bible tells us that we can not spare the rod. So is God’s word correct, is God lying to us – can anyone at any level of our government look you in the eye and say God has lied to us? If so, then we have allowed the Devil to start a take over of our government officials. We should rethink our voting habits and put Christians back in office.

As far as teaching your children, you need to teach them about love and hate about right and wrong at an early age. Believe it or not there are still many places in this country where very prejudiced people still live, some are not far from our Nations Capital. What we need to understand is that children are not born with hate and prejudice; they learn it from adults who teach them that. I have never hated anyone in my life and people have done some harsh things, said some hurtful things and gone out of their way to do these things to me. I am not a judge of these people; God in Heaven will judge them when their time comes. You see if you die hating someone and never went to them to ask their forgiveness for your hate, the Bible says you can not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Do you want to risk eternal damnation for your hateful heart and prejudice? Do you want your children to follow this course of action also? By teaching these behaviors you are leading them down the devils path. Teach your children God’s way and when they speak tell them to look the person they are speaking to in the eye. If you can not look me in the eye when you speak to me, you are hiding something; maybe hiding the devil inside, knowing what you have to say to me is not the truth but the ways of the devil.

It is not for you to judge your neighbor, your friend or anyone, if you have not ever sinned, you may cast the first stone. So if you ever told a lie, ever talked back to or disobeyed your parents commands or ever even sworn or cussed, you have sinned just as great a sin as the person who might have committed murder – this is how the Bible sees sin. Sin is sin and you must ask forgiveness of the person you sinned against and ask forgiveness of God to get into Heaven. If your actions have hurt someone and caused them to be punished because of lies you told, you must ask for forgiveness from that person. What else is important is that you must also learn to forgive, because if you can not forgive, you can not enter into God’s Kingdom either. God has commanded us to love our neighbor and love our enemy. If we love everyone, we have no enemies. These are things we should teach our children, teachings that God gave to us to guide us and raise our families in His Light.

I do not hate anyone and have never hated anyone. There are people I do not associate with because of their behavior and their actions, but I do not hate them. If anything I pray for them that God will show them the Light and open their eyes one day so that they may have the opportunity to enter into Heaven. Life is too short to fill your heart with hate and spite. There are better things you can do with your time and with your life. All that hate ages you and causes stress. God is loving, caring and forgiving. We should seek him out in times of despair and we should teach our children this also. Our Country was founded on Religious beliefs in Christianity whether you like it or not. If we want to change the behavior of or children we need to change it by looking to the Bible and to God for answers, not to special interest groups or other people. God commands us to come to him and He will guide us.

When you look at the statistics of what is going on with our children in our current society do you really want to trust someone else to tell you how to raise your children? Many of these people have never had children of their own they are very young and have not yet experienced life. Ask how many of them read their Bibles each day or even how many times they have picked it up and opened it in the past year. We must go back to our Christian principles in order to get this country going in the right direction again and it starts with our children. Again – My Explosion of Thought!

The Faith - Our Faith

Jude 1:3 is possibly one of the most misunderstood and neglected verses today. The attitude of the many preachers and other professors of the word of God today is that they have no real desire to contend for anything. Many would rather have a large congregation and concentrate on growing that large congregation than to take the necessary steps defend the faith.

In the Bible God commands us to "...earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." In Jude 1:3 it is written: "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints."

To properly defend the faith, there are several key things we must do. Remember that the faith is the Word of God, we must contend for this faith. God does not mention to only contend for major things of faith and not the minor things. So many people today want to focus on the major things of the Word of God and they stop focusing on the minor issues. According to the verse above, all of the Words in the Scriptures are major issues to God for they are the faith. You can not ever determine which part of the Scriptures are minor and should not be defended. All the words of the Bible are worthy of being cherished and preserved in the Name of God.

Read this phrase, "...which was once delivered unto the saints." What you should always remember is that faith never changes, it is, it was and it shall forever be. We make the mistake of thinking that both sides need to compromise in order to get along. We need to understand if faith is compromised in the least; it no longer is considered the faith. Watered down faith is no longer a strength, it becomes weak and solvent. When you distort the faith, then what was the faith discontinues being the faith. Your belief in the Faith must continue to be strong and this belief must be taught to our children and also to their children and so on.

When God says to us “earnestly contend for the faith..." He is saying to us that we must earnestly, passionately and zealously, fight for the faith. We can not be passive about our defense of the faith; doing so is disobeying His Word and His Commandment.

God is utilizing the word "contend" to show us what we are to be impassioned about. God commands us to be passionate about contending for the faith. If you contend for something you are striving for it. By contending for something, you become spirited by it. By contending for something, you will lambaste those you are contending against. By contending for something you will vehemently defend others over the faith. This is what contending for the faith means.

Remember you are commanded to defend the faith. It is never to be supplanted or it is no longer is the faith. By protecting the faith there will come some instances whereby you will not get along with some, which is a condition of contention for something. The contention becomes worth it because the faith is at risk. Some people my feel hurt contending for the faith, but remember that God never tells us to stop contending for the faith just because someone’s feelings may get hurt. He tells us to defend it zealously.

Are you protecting the faith? Are you allowing the faith to be changed by your lack of involvement? Are you allowing others to weaken your resolve in the faith? As Christians we must zealously defend the faith. If we should lose the faith we have lost everything. God gave us the Faith; Let it not be destroyed!

This is my explosion of thought! This is a brief recap inspired by the Word of God and taken from words spoken by the evangelist Allen Domelle