If China and Japan were to engage in even a minor altercation in the world’s economic market place, everyone around the globe will be impacted. Both of these economic power houses have had setbacks in recent years but both are beginning to recover .
If the sea lanes between China, Japan, and the Korean peninsula become hostile territory and patrolled by Military vessels, whose captains trigger fingers are close to their ships weapons, a great deal of the world’s international commerce which passes through this region will be significantly impacted. The international stock markets which we discovered yet again yesterday, reacts violently to rumors, let alone real news could drop the market precipitously . This will trigger hundreds of billions of dollars in losses to people’s savings accounts and pension funds.

Just as the single shot in Sarajevo against the Arch Duke Ferdinand set off world war I, the flash point of these Islands also become the trigger to a much wider conflict, than just merely some dispute between China and Japan.

Secretary of State Kerry rather than embarrassing the United States on the Obama administration periodic apology tour, should be concentrating his time and efforts diffusing this dispute. The congress should question and perhaps hold hearings asking the Department of State what they are doing to act as an intermediary between these two Pacific super powers.

There are many discouraged workers who have been unemployed a long time and see the prospect for employment as not being promising. This could include working couples . One member is employed and the other decide it’s not worth seeking a job . It includes students who decide to stay in school rather than work. It includes people who are working part time jobs but are not looking for full time employment. It also includes individuals who have been out of work for two years and no longer must show at the unemployment office to get their unemployment insurance.

People are more likely to enter the labor force when times are good rather than when times are bad.

This is the fifth year of this recession/anemic recovery. In my business career of 30 plus years I have never seen a period of economic pessimism as pervasive as it is today.

It is not coincidental that the two religious groups with the highest per capita income in the United States are Jews and Mormons. These religions emphasize strong families and traditional virtues.

These unintended consequences of the social safety networks undermines economic prosperity in our nation.

Just look closely at the Jewish community and even today for the better part they keep their business within their community and many of the close higher tier executives they hire are also Jewish. Does that mean the Jewish community are prejudice or non thinking in terms of their hiring, association, and prideful practices? There may be some component of preference associated with the fact that people are more comfortable with those people and those things in which they are familiar. There is no reason to expect that many blacks would not react in the same way or any other ethic group. There are still a segment of White Americans who will only vote and hire whites in this nation for the same reasons. Many would term this racism while others see it as pride or voting for that which they are familiar with.

In many ways some feel that blacks should emulate the Jewish model of keeping and turning the dollar over in their own community at least a few times before it goes out into the larger community. This is in fact how wealth is built. As the wealth is built it is important for the beneficiaries to extend a hand up to those who made it possible for them to become wealthy.

All of this is not to justify preferential treatment or emotional voting but rather to explain it. We should still continue to work towards a color blind society with liberty and justice for all.

Like the terrorism at fort hood, radical Islam is continuing to declare war on the United States. When will our President acknowledge this fact ? We must redouble our efforts to fight radical Islam both in the United States and abroad. There can be no doubt that radical Islam as an enemy is as dangerous to the future of the West as the former Soviet Union had ever been.

http://www.timwise.org/2013/04/terrorism-and-privilege-understanding-the-power-of-whiteness/

As the nation weeps for the victims of the horrific bombing in Boston yesterday, one searches for lessons amid the carnage, and finds few. That violence is unacceptable stands out as one, sure. That hatred — for humanity, for life, or whatever else might have animated the bomber or bombers — is never the source of constructive human action seems like a reasonably close second.

But I dare say there is more; a much less obvious and far more uncomfortable lesson, which many are loathe to learn, but which an event such as this makes readily apparent, and which we must acknowledge, no matter how painful.

It is a lesson about race, about whiteness, and specifically, about white privilege.

I know you don’t want to hear it. But I don’t much care. So here goes.

White privilege is knowing that even if the Boston Marathon bomber turns out to be white, his or her identity will not result in white folks generally being singled out for suspicion by law enforcement, or the TSA, or the FBI.

White privilege is knowing that even if the bomber turns out to be white, no one will call for whites to be profiled as terrorists as a result, subjected to special screening, or threatened with deportation.

White privilege is knowing that if the bomber turns out to be white, he or she will be viewed as an exception to an otherwise non-white rule, an aberration, an anomaly, and that he or she will be able to join the ranks of Tim McVeigh and Terry Nichols and Ted Kaczynski and Eric Rudolph and Joe Stack and George Metesky and Byron De La Beckwith and Bobby Frank Cherry and Thomas Blanton and Herman Frank Cash and Robert Chambliss and James von Brunn and Robert Mathews and David Lane and Michael F. Griffin and Paul Hill and John Salvi and James Kopp and Luke Helder and James David Adkisson and Scott Roeder and Shelley Shannon and Dennis Mahon and Wade Michael Page and Byron Williams and Kevin Harpham and William Krar and Judith Bruey and Edward Feltus and Raymond Kirk Dillard and Adam Lynn Cunningham and Bonnell Hughes and Randall Garrett Cole and James Ray McElroy and Michael Gorbey and Daniel Cowart and Paul Schlesselman and Frederick Thomas and Paul Ross Evans and Matt Goldsby and Jimmy Simmons and Kathy Simmons and Kaye Wiggins and Patricia Hughes and Jeremy Dunahoe and David McMenemy and Bobby Joe Rogers and Francis Grady and Demetrius Van Crocker and Floyd Raymond Looker, among the pantheon of white people who engage in (or have plotted) politically motivated violence meant to terrorize and kill, but whose actions result in the assumption of absolutely nothing about white people generally, or white Christians in particular.

And white privilege is being able to know nothing about the crimes committed by most of the terrorists listed above — indeed, never to have so much as heard most of their names — let alone to make assumptions about the role that their racial or ethnic identity may have played in their crimes.

White privilege is knowing that if the Boston bomber turns out to be white, we will not be asked to denounce him or her, so as to prove our own loyalties to the common national good. It is knowing that the next time a cop sees one of us standing on the sidewalk cheering on runners in a marathon, that cop will say exactly nothing to us as a result.

White privilege is knowing that if you are a white student from Nebraska — as opposed to, say, a student from Saudi Arabia — that no one, and I mean no one would think it important to detain and question you in the wake of a bombing such as the one at the Boston Marathon.

And white privilege is knowing that if this bomber turns out to be white, the United States government will not bomb whatever corn field or mountain town or stale suburb from which said bomber came, just to ensure that others like him or her don’t get any ideas. And if he turns out to be a member of the Irish Republican Army we won’t bomb Belfast. And if he’s an Italian American Catholic we won’t bomb the Vatican.

In short, white privilege is the thing that allows you (if you’re white) — and me — to view tragic events like this as merely horrific, and from the perspective of pure and innocent victims, rather than having to wonder, and to look over one’s shoulder, and to ask even if only in hushed tones, whether those we pass on the street might think that somehow we were involved.

It is the source of our unearned innocence and the cause of others’ unjustified oppression.

That is all. And it matters.

Oprah Winfrey heads the list with a net worth of 2.8 billion, followed by the likes of Sean Combs -$550 million; Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, and Magic Johnson each clocking in at around $500 million; and Jay-Z is estimated to be worth around $460 million.

Those numbers may seem impressive, and this is not to take away the business acumen of Sean Combs and Jay-Z but if you compare them to the richest, they are paltry. Oprah is only the 502nd richest person. The big names at the top of the list include Carlos Slim Helu ($78 billion), Bill Gates ($67 billion), and Warren Buffet ($53.5 billion). In looking at the list, I cannot help but notice not only a huge difference in the amount of wealth, but also the industries- telecom, tech, fashion, investing, energy, etc. vs. entertainments professions.

This tells me several things:

First, there is a lack of role models in the black business community. When athletes, musicians, and Oprah dominate your list, they are representing fields of employment that are not only extremely hard to break into, but the chances for success are rare as well. It is almost akin to winning the lottery because there is no real formula you can follow to become Michael Jordan–you either have the genetics to supplement the drive or you don’t.

Second, potential business role models are not making themselves visible enough to the youth to show an alternate and more viable path. You see Bill Gates and Warren Buffet in the news all the time; Robert and Shelia Johnson rarely appear on mainstream news outlets to publicize their efforts and beliefs.

White, Latino, and Asian kids are constantly exposed to examples of young entrepreneurs creating new businesses (esp. tech) and making millions. In these communities we have seen an explosion you could call the “Era of the Nerd.” It is cool to be smart, invent something, and make an insane fortune. Sometimes you don’t even have to be smart; just savvy, persistent, hard-working, or even simply support the right person. All of these examples come with the knowledge that you have to buckle down, work hard, and be on the constant look out for better opportunities and enhancing your business mentors. And your reward is not simply making a fortune for your self, but also creating employment and wealth for thousands of other people and possibly revolutionizing the world.

On the flip side, many black communities see the “get rich quick” idea. Become a pro athlete and make a million by the time you are 22. Become a rapper or singer and maybe you’ll get discovered. Become an actor and hope you get cast in that star-making role. Or, notoriously, turn to crime and get rich even quicker even if your life expectancy drops dramatically, as does your chances of avoiding jail time.

We can focus on the barriers to entry, differences in education and class, or a myriad of other problems our community faces; or we can find solutions.
We need businessmen to get more involved in our communities outside the school system. Instead of building another youth basketball center so people can pretend they have done something to help inner city kids, we need to build centers to teach kids about computers and business.

Instead of seeing athletes and musicians talking about their hitting the big time, we need to see stories about how people like Amos Winbush III rose from humble beginnings to make his millions.

Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) career fields are booming, yet blacks are graduating fewer and fewer into these fields. They are not quick payoff careers, but are a clear path into the upper middle class or higher. Many students claim these fields are intimidating in their perceived difficulty, but is that more intimidating than a life of low paying, menial jobs?

But more visible mentors opening learning centers will only do so far if we do not encourage our children at home. In all other ethnic communities you can see parents and communities fostering kids’ interests in STEM and business. When I look around most of the black communities, I do not see any urgency to inspire kids in such disciplines, rather I see ridicule and disinterest and pressure to find that magic lottery ticket. Many of the businesses in the inner city and urban communities are dominated by Koreans, Asians, Chinese and families from the Caribbean. These family’s are usually intact with a two parent house hold, education is essential, teenage pregnancy is rare, church is critical and they encourage and instill a culture of entrepreneurship in their children.

The pathologies that continue to erode the black family and community has to stop. We must take matters into our own hands and make a change. It is critical that African American congregations on Sunday’s encourages their members towards entrepreneurship and ownership and discourage looking to the government and uncle Sam as their source of existence.

We need more mentors, more role-models, and more encouragement so kids will see the same value in learning STEM and business principles as they do perfecting their jump shot.

What this demonstrates is that all of us are always vulnerable, much like Israel that lives everyday with the threat of bombings on buses, in cafe’s and other places where people normally congregate and live their lives. Terrorist can be anywhere because we are not a police state and there just are too many targets of opportunity in a free society. While it is important to mourn our dead and injured and too be thankful for our first responders, we need to take another page from Israel’s book. We need to clean up the debris and get on with our lives as if nothing happened. We must deny too the terrorist, the terror he wishes to instill into how hearts and psyche.

Yesterday a Texas man was accused of slashing 14 students of a college campus with a knife. It is now time to regulate knives and razors. No man should be permitted to have an unregistered straight razor for shaving. He can use an electric razor. He might get angry at his wife and slice her when breakfast is not properly prepared. When he goes to lunch, he may not use an unregistered steak knife for his sirloin steak. The chef must cut the steak in the kitchen with a registered knife. If the pieces are too big for the customer, the customer can send it back for re-cutting. Otherwise, he might sneak the steak knife out of the restaurant to stab an unsuspecting victim in a road rage incident. He also may not use a knife to whittle during his spare time. The art of whittling should only be done by licensed whittlers. Furthermore, he might cut himself if he has not been trained in the art of whittling. Fishermen should not be able to cut tangled lines with unregistered knives because they could be used to cut somebody in a fight on the wharf. Let the lines get tangle in the props. When he cooks dinner, he may not use an unregistered butcher knife to trim the fat off his roast. He needs to send it back to the butcher. He might commit suicide when he gets frustrated waiting for his fresh meat to be returned. Registering knives will have the side benefit of creating jobs for unemployed chefs and butchers who will have licenses to cut meat for unregistered consumers. Where is the registered knife lobby on this issue? Why has Congress not called for the registration of knives? Do not let the knife manufacturers association lobby to prevent the registration of knives.

Just spoke with SC former Governor Mark Sanford and congratulated him on his landslide victory last night in the Republican primary run off, for the 1st district of Charleston, SC. It is a blessing when “we the people” can look beyond an individuals fault and continue to see their good. I have known Mark for 25 years and can tell you emphatically that despite his past adulterous behavior, he’s one of the finest and most gentle individuals I have ever known.
I too was given another chance in my profession after my controversial No Child Left Behind in 2004. Like Mark we all learn how to better humans and without a doubt our wisdom, judgement, and discernment grows exponentially. There are many lessons we can learn when we fall from grace and are blessed to find our way back through grace and mercy.

Just ecstatic that he won again and that any of us who have fallen or will fall know that there is always the possibility of redemption and greater success; if and only we critically self examine our choices, motives, and learn from our valley experience.

At our core, we humans are good, moral creatures; we have the innate ability to sense right and wrong. It is only as we grow older and begin to indulge in greater acts of selfishness, expediency, and cultural relativism that we are lead down the path toward disregarding our inner compass.

I bet – and it’s crazy to have to think this way – that whether you’re a Republican or Democrat, as you read the above paragraph, you likely agreed with it. You Republican readers probably thought to yourselves, “You’re right. How sad that my economic and social conservatism makes me a de facto racist;” and you Democratic read- ers probably thought, “Exactly! Republicans are all racist and I’m not and couldn’t possibly be. Your point is?”

Tolerance, or rather the lack thereof, is my point. By automati- cally labeling one whole segment of the political spectrum as racist, the left has attempted to delegitimize all conservative thought. It’s a red herring. Rather than listen to and consider the true merits or flaws of conservatism, especially in regards to how policies will affect minorities, every idea is labeled as racially insensitive and therefore, inherently bad.
The virtue of tolerance demands that you check your prejudices at the door and consider the person and their beliefs based on their merits. We ask that all people do this when dealing with someone of a different race, yet how quickly we forget to exercise the same ideal when discussing politics.

BALTIMORE — The voice mail greeting at Benjamin Carson’s Johns Hopkins Hospital office, where he is the director of pediatric neurosurgery, stretches for almost eight minutes.

There are instructions for patients calling with medical emergencies. There’s information for fans who want to get one of his books autographed or book Carson as a motivational speaker. The most recent addition followed his National Prayer Breakfast appearance last month: “There has been an overwhelming response to Doctor Carson’s speech,” it warns. “If you are calling with remarks . . . please do not leave a message on this voice mail since it will impact our ability to get messages from patients.”

Carson’s voice mail greeting, which has been growing in 20-second increments for almost two decades, reflects the many identities that he has added through the years. The list includes world renowned neurosurgeon, author, speaker, inner-city folk hero, role model to evangelical Christians and, most recently, rising conservative political star.

His latest brush with fame followed the prayer breakfast speech in which he criticized the president’s health-care overhaul, called for a flat tax and warned that the enforcers of political correctness had put a dangerous “muzzle” on debate in the country. To the delight of conservatives, Carson delivered the address with a stone-faced President Obama sitting a few yards away.

Within days of his remarks, Carson was being touted as a possible presidential candidate by the Wall Street Journal. He got one of the most enthusiastic receptions at the recently held Conservative Political Action Conference, where he stoked speculation that he may, just may, be willing to run for president.

After a several-day onslaught from fans and the media, many wanting to know his potential political plans, Carson has eased away from suggestions he may have his eyes on the White House. The 61-year-old doctor now says the likelihood of a presidential run is “incredibly small.” What he really wants is a second career in television when he retires from Johns Hopkins later this year.

“Maybe if you write about it in your article, somebody will say, ‘Let’s do it,’ ” he said in an interview.

For now, his small office staff is struggling to manage the crush of attention from smitten conservatives and find time for his brain surgery patients between his sit-downs with the national media.

“Here you go Mister Hollywood,” joked Carol James, Carson’s physician assistant for the last 31 years.

She dropped off the latest unsolicited offering. It was a box of buttons bearing the letters “P.C.,” crossed out with a red slash, and a note from a supporter in Gulf Breeze, Fla.

“When you spoke on national television,” the fan wrote, “I knew I must send you these buttons.”

‘Treading new ground’

Carson relays his personal story these days with the practiced confidence of someone who has been telling and retelling it for decades. Each of his anecdotes has been honed to make a specific point aboutthe importance of religious faith, self-reliance and education.

“I was a horrible student. Most of my classmates thought I was the stupidest person in the world,” he says regularly of his early elementary school years. “They called me dummy.”

In the fifth grade, Carson’s illiterate mother pressed him to read at least two books a week and submit book reports that she pretended to grade. Within a year, he was among the top students in his class and a series of remarkable accomplishments followed. Carson vaulted from his inner-city Detroit high school to Yale, earned a medical degree at the University of Michigan and became the nation’s youngest chief of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

“When I decided to become a neurosurgeon, there had only been eight black neurosurgeons in the history of the world,” he said. “Really from the very get-go, I was sort of treading new ground.”

At Hopkins, Carson pioneered a lifesaving surgical procedure for children with epilepsy and in 1987 vaulted to national recognition when he led a surgical team that successfully separated twins conjoined at the head.

A few months later he signed a contract with a small Seventh-day Adventist press to publish his autobiography. Before the book was finished, Carson and his co-writer had concluded that his life story was worthy of much wider distribution and changed publishers.

“Some people who were very well versed in literature said: ‘This book is amazing. This is going to be a classic,’ ” Carson recalled. “I was a little skeptical, but they were right.”

The book, titled “Gifted Hands,” was published in 1990 by Zondervan, the country’s largest Christian press, and was an immediate hit with inner-city teachers who saw the black physician as a role model for their students.

Demand for Carson as a speaker soared. “I lost four secretaries in one year because people were calling and putting so much pressure on them,” Carson recalled.

Carson and his wife started a nationwide scholarship program to reward academic achievement — and he was name-checked on the HBO television drama “The Wire.”

Some of Carson’s fellow doctors have criticized his relatively low output of scholarly articles in medical journals. But in the Christian publishing world, Carson has been prolific, writing four books since 2000. “Gifted Hands” has sold almost 2 million copies and has become a standard part of many evangelical home-school curricula.

“It just sells and sells and sells,” says Stan Gundry, a senior vice president at Zondervan, a Christian media company and unit of Harper Collins.

As a public speaker, Carson has been drawing big audiences since the mid-1990s. Six times a year, as many as 800 students pack into the main auditorium at Johns Hopkins Hospital for one of his “Think Big” lectures in which he shares his faith-based philosophy. Last summer, a medical school in Lagos, Nigeria, was named after him.

“For him, the attention was natural,” said James, his longtime physician assistant. “For the rest of us, it was crazy. . . . This has become much, much more than a medical practice. With each new book, movie or prayer breakfast speech there is a whole new surge of people who are interested in him.”

Dire warnings

Carson’s embrace of a more overtly political identity began last year with his latest book, “America the Beautiful,” the first that he published without a professional co-writer. He wrote it with his wife.

In contrast to his earlier, sunnier works, the book argues that the United States is in the midst of a crisis that could lead to its destruction. “I was extremely concerned about what kind of country we were leaving for our children,” he said. “I thought maybe I could wait until I retired. But I decided I couldn’t.”

Carson delivers his dire warnings in a calm, soothing voice, but speaks with the certainty and, at times, extreme self-confidence of an accomplished neurosurgeon.

“I think everyone needs to hear what I am talking about,” he said in an interview.

His economic philosophy reflects the tea party movement and its deep concern about the country’s growing national debt.

He draws his ideas on simplifying the tax code from Christianity. “When I pick up my Bible, you know what I see? I see the fairest individual in the universe, God, and he’s given us a system,” Carson said at the prayer breakfast. “It’s called tithe.”

At the Conservative Political Action Conference a few weeks later, Carson suggested that government should rely on churches to provide a safety net for the poor and get out of the social welfare business. “Why is the government trying to duplicate what [churches] are supposed to be doing?” he asked.

Hospital as ‘haven’

Carson has long viewed his medical practice as a place where he can escape the demands of the more public aspects of his life. “When I go into the hospital or the operating room, it is like a haven,” he said. “A safe haven. You forget about all that other stuff and just concentrate on the patient.”

Today, his cramped office looks as though it has been frozen in time. A sickly cactus sits on his small office’s lone window sill. Pushed up against the wall is a frayed, red couch that could have been salvaged from Goodwill. Carson has taken naps on it between late-night surgeries for more than 20 years.

The stress and demands of his newfound fame have in recent weeks invaded his medical practice. Carson’s office manager of 17 years describes the month of February as a “total blur.”

His physicians assistant, who has been with him for 31 years, complains that he barely has time to operate on his patients. “We are trying to squeeze them in between every media organization in the world,” she said

The sudden outpouring of attention, meanwhile, has left Carson pondering his next act. He is set to retire from his medical practice in about 100 days.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if I decided to do more things on television,” he said. Carson was dressed in surgical scrubs and scuffed tennis shoes. His cellphone beeped.

“I got to go,” he said. “They are ready for me in the operating room.”

Before he left, Carson finished his thought. He would like to do a show that focuses on “educating the American populace about things that are essential to our freedom,” he said in his soft, steady voice. Or he would like to try a show that would bring together people who hold opposing views on critical issues that are dividing the nation. Carson would then help them seek a middle ground or resolution.

“If the proper venue was presented, I would probably accept such a thing,” he said.

The number of physicians in a recent survey that are planning early retirement because of the affordable care act has risen to 60%. Not only is there an issue of money but there is also an issue of who is going to care for the additional 30 million people who have been placed on the societal rolls.

One of the major pillars of our current healthcare systems are insurance company’s that profit by denying people care. This is a fundamental conflict of interest that has not been addressed in a meaningful way in the affordable care act. Unless we address these fundamental flaws we are truly just wasting time and money. Another glaring omission is tort reform, which was excluded because the trial lawyers association is a powerful lobby with great influence over the administration. The fear of malpractice suits leads to defensive medicine which drives the cost up for everyone in a very significant manner. Also medical malpractice lawsuits jog our legal system and negatively impact medical resources, which must spend time addressing cases which in the vast majority of instances are found to have no merit.

This will perhaps be the best example in history of how rampant out of control government bureaucracy can destroy a previously functional system. This is not to say that healthcare reform was not necessary, but needs to be done in a rational and efficient way and not just done for the sake of doing it. If we can learn that lesson perhaps the whole exercise may have been worthwhile.

Guests: Armstrong Williams, Chris Hahn
Guest Host: Montel Williams

Topics: “Say Anything!” guest host Montel Williams, conservative talk show host Armstrong Williams and Democratic strategist Chris Hahn discuss the controversy surrounding U.S. drone policy.

“Civil rights advocates out there are all worried about privacy — what is the difference in a drone and a scope? Nothing,” Montel says. “It’s just technology. In this city alone, outside of this building, there are drones hanging on every corner so if the drone is at 1,000 feet or the drone is on the ground, the technology isn’t the question, the laws that govern the use of the technology is the argument.”

Montel also describes scenarios where using drones would help protect American soldiers.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/9RABZq5IoaQ?

both sides can say that this administration or that adminstration has lied about something and it’s true – for years both sides have kept the truth from the United States citizens to further their own agendas. they tell you what they think you want to hear in the moment. the current is no better than the past ones – it’s time we all stood up to the burecracy and vote them out before we no longer have that right.”

carolinagirl

Send your comments & questions to info@Rightsidewire.com

It is fact that both parties so egregiously waste money that they come to blows and hurt family paychecks when they could be looking at ways to save that would benefit everyone.

We have programs that are double, even triple funded to do the same thing. Why? Because some Congressman or Senator wants there name on a legacy project. I’ve talked to administrators that have begged Congressional staff to dissuade the passage of such redundant bills. They get told that the bill will be passed anyway because the Senator wants to tell his constituents that he did something about some cause or another. The result produces zero impact on the cause du jour and more millions down the toilet.

And then we have the much-ballyhooed “Congressional Squatters.” These are Congressmen that refuse to use the housing stipend they receive to rent a place in the DC area and instead pocket the money and sleep in their offices. They usually claim it’s to keep them in the mindset of serving the people, but what is does is show a penny wise and pound-foolish attitude. Due to these misers, Capitol Hill is forced to keep the heating, cooling, and electricity running 24/7 costing us taxpayers millions a year. They save themselves a few thousand by refusing to rent a crash pad with several other congressmen and cost the nation literally millions.

The name “Howard Stirk” is taken from my mother’s maiden name, Howard, and my father’s middle-name, Stirk. Knowing the humble, hard-scrabble beginnings of my family in rural South Carolina, I felt honoring my parents in this small way was the right thing to do. My parents are third generation Republicans and they pass along to my nine siblings and me a deep abiding faith in God, empowering your neighbor, strong work ethic, philanthropy, thrift, honesty, integrity and to never lose faith in human potential.

I graduated from Terrell’s Bay High School in the late 70s and never really thought of a career in television until after my mentor Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Clarence Thomas was confirmed in 1991. I served as his chief spokesperson at the time.
During that period in my life, I felt the media was very bias, and unless people with my way of thinking and school of thought got into influencing public opinion, syndicating and owning products it would not change.
With a strong background in business in the real estate market, I was able to transition to sharing my commentary on radio/ television and print media. In the 90s I was a five-year columnist for USA Today and contributed to the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal. I was more into the corporate world and always had a business mindset.
If the FCC and Antitrust division approve my acquisitions, there will eventually be programming changes. I’m definitely a change agent. I have considered and tossed around in my head many ideas about programming. It’s something I’ve been a part of for the last 20 years developing programs for the Renaissance Cable TV Network and the prime time specials that we produce. My staff and I are definitely looking forward to the responsibility and overwhelming challenge. You will eventually see our programming signature and vision because I am a firm believer that local television must cater to a wide variety of concerns of the local community and we certainly want to be on the cutting edge for this progression.
There are never any limits on our ambition. We must all strive to be moral, ethical, and legal in all that we do. My parents always believed as long as you are moral, legal and ethical the world is your playground. From this perspective everything is about the relationships you’ve developed over a lifetime which are always rooted in unconditional trust and loyalty.
Everyone is irreplaceable and you should always treat all people with kindness, respect, and dignity. You never know the place in life those people are going to rise to and how they can and will impact your growth and development.
It is a satisfying feeling to present the Rightside program to viewers in my hometown and Flint Michigan. My family and the people I grew up with have been watching our show on local TV for the past 10 years.

Audience members at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland last week cheered Dr. Carson, on screen, after he said, “Let’s just say if you magically put me in the White House ”
Then with a single speech delivered asPresident Obama looked stonily on, he was lofted into the conservative firmament as its newest star: a renowned neurosurgeon who is black and has the credibility to attack the president on health care.
In his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast last month, Dr. Carson criticized the health care overhaul and higher taxes on the rich, while warning that “the P.C. police are out in force at all times.”
Overnight, he was embraced by conservatives including those at The Wall Street Journal editorial page, which proclaimed, “Ben Carson for President” — a suggestion Dr. Carson helped feed at a high-profile gathering last weekend, the Conservative Political Action Conference. He was interrupted by sustained cheers when he coyly said, “Let’s just say if you magically put me in the White House…”
In an interview in his office at Johns Hopkins University, he said he had been told for years that he could have a political career. It would be built on his compelling personal story that began in poverty in Detroit, leading to fame through pioneering work separating conjoined twins and his own self-help and inspirational books, including “America the Beautiful: Rediscovering What Made This Nation Great.”
While Dr. Carson, 61, said that there were better candidates out there, he did not rule out a presidential run in 2016. “Certainly if a year and a half went by and there was no one on the scene and people are still clamoring, I would have to take that into consideration,” he said in the interview. “I would never turn my back on my fellow citizens.”
He is in some ways a dream candidate for Republicans. But he also fits nicely into the realm of fantasy where the very early jockeying over 2016 now plays out. No modern contender without a political résumé has ever gotten close to a major party nomination.
But political strategists said that outsiders can have an impact, especially when they expose the shortcomings of conventional candidates.
“I think it speaks to the vacuum not just in the Republican Party but in politics,” Alex Castellanos, a Republican consultant, said of Dr. Carson’s appeal. “Anybody who is serious and thoughtful and an antipolitician is the opposite of the mess we’ve got now. If you can separate two Siamese twins, maybe you can separate Democrats and Republicans in Washington.”
Dr. Carson has been all but overwhelmed since his speech at the Feb. 7 prayer breakfast, which exploded on YouTube and was fanned by his follow-up appearances on Fox News.
“If you are calling with remarks regarding that speech, please do not leave a message on this voice mail,” his office recording instructs callers, referring them to a fax line and e-mail address. The recording, nearly seven minutes long, also includes instructions for speaking requests, media interviews, school visits and autographs, as well as how to buy Dr. Carson’s books “and other merchandise.”
Sales of “America the Beautiful,” his latest book, soared to 46,000 in the six weeks since his prayer breakfast speech, from fewer than 1,000 sold this year before to the speech, according to Nielsen BookScan.
“People all over the nation are starved for honesty and common sense,” Dr. Carson said in his office. He had seven pens jammed in the pocket of his physician coat, which he wore over blue scrubs and scuffed white sneakers. He spoke very softly, but not because he is shy or self-deprecating. He told the CPAC audience that some of his most poignant feedback came “from older Americans who said they had given up and they were waiting to die and now they felt a sense of revival once again.”
In speeches and writings, Dr. Carson describes growing up with a divorced mother whose education stopped at the third grade and who worked two, and sometimes, three jobs. He was teased as “dummy” because his grades were so bad. But his mother insisted that he and an older brother turn off the television and read, writing weekly book reports that she could only feign understanding.
He went to Yale and the University of Michigan Medical School, and at 33, became director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins. He gained fame for a series of operations separating conjoined twins, long and risky procedures that did not always succeed. His 1996 autobiography, “Gifted Hands,” became a movie starring Cuba Gooding Jr.
“He is one of the acknowledged leaders of pediatric neurosurgery,” said Dr. Donlin Long, a retired chairman of neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins, who first brought Dr. Carson to the department.

Dr. Carson said he was a “flaming liberal” in college but became conservative through his own climb to success. “One thing I always believed strongly in was personal responsibility and hard work,” he said. “I found the Democrat Party leaving me behind on that particular issue.”
With his wife, Candy, Dr. Carson founded the Carson Scholars Fund, which awards $1,000 to students to help pay for college. He has also endowed Ben Carson Reading Rooms at schools that serve disadvantaged students.
Although Dr. Carson is a registered independent and has declined to identify himself as a Republican, his views are solidly conservative. He belongs to a Seventh-day Adventist church and says churches are better mechanisms for taking care of the poor than government.
He draws on the Bible’s description of tithing to argue in favor of a flat tax, a perennial favorite of conservatives. “You make $10 billion, you put in a billion; you make $10, you put in 1,” Dr. Carson explained at the prayer breakfast. “Now some people say that’s not fair because it doesn’t hurt the guy who made 10 billion as much as the guy who makes 10. Where does it say you’ve got to hurt the guy?”
Dr. Carson said that he was in the new top federal bracket for family income above $450,000.
Dr. Carson also advocates an alternative to the Affordable Care Act. Most people could pay most of their medical bills through health savings accounts, he said in his office. He would eliminate Medicaid and Medicare, and for the poor, government would make the contributions to their health accounts.
He estimated that the cost of his treatment of a child with cancer could run as high as $300,000 including hospital and chemotherapy costs. No individual could afford so much from a health savings account, he said, but the difference could be made up by catastrophic care insurance. At CPAC, Dr. Carson told conservatives that he would retire this year, because “there are so many more things that can be done.” The hint of a political future drew appreciative cheers.
But he said in his office that he had decided a while ago to step back from medicine after noticing that neurosurgeons he knew died young, which he attributed to stress. His immediate plans include public speaking and promoting his education foundation.
As for politics, he said, “I would like to have a voice.”

Governor Cuomo of NY recently announced a deal to extend the “temporary” tax increase on millionaires. The current income tax rate on the state’s 30,000 millionaires is 8.82% and about 14% on those residing in New York City.

Do liberal politicians in NY truly believe the wealthy will stay in NY with the extension of these higher taxes? The naïve do. According to Ron Deutsch, the executive director of New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness, “I think there are a lot of wealthy New Yorkers who realize they love this state, they want to be part of the solution, and they are happy to pay a little bit higher income-tax rate.” (NYT 3/20/13)

I suggest that Mr. Deutsch and New York’s liberal politicians check out the flights between NY and West Palm Beach, Fl. filled with tax refugees. “These are highly mobile people that have options and are being solicited daily by governors of Florida, Texas, Puerto Rico, Utah — lower-tax states — and it feels like Albany was not considering the implications of the combined tax burden,” said Kathryn S. Wylde, the president of the Partnership for New York City. (NYT 3/20/13) I personally know a very large number of wealthy people who were residents of New York and are now tax refuges living in Florida.

But the more important impact of this high tax rate is not on the wealthy who leave but on the young entrepreneurs who leave or do not come to NY. These high tax rates create a disincentive for young entrepreneurs who want to become millionaires. Do the high tax liberals think that these entrepreneurs will continue to start businesses in NY which will provide Jobs? A potential successful entrepreneur recognizes that his after-tax profit would be 15% (yes, do the math) less in NY than it would be in Florida or Texas. How many jobs are lost when that entrepreneur decides not to locate in NY because of higher taxes?

Speaking of jobs, NY’s politicians are also raising the minimum wage to $9.00. NY’s unemployment rate is 8.3% which is substantially higher than the national rate of 7.7%. But that comparison understates the problem. In upstate NY, the unemployment rate is 9.6%. In NY City, it is 9.9%. Minority unemployment is roughly 75% higher than general unemployment. Youth unemployment is about double the general unemployment rate.

What makes NY’s politicians think that employers will agree to pay $9.00 per hour for an unemployed person without skills when they would not pay $7.25 per hour? Would the potential entrepreneur using unskilled labor choose to locate in NY when his cost for unskilled labor in Florida or Texas would be $7.25? Only the naïve liberal who has never created a job would deny the obvious. At $9.00 per hour, the entrepreneur using unskilled labor moves to Florida or Texas – not New York. This may not matter to the unemployed college student from Scarsdale, but it is a disaster for the unskilled minority youth living in Harlem.

Politicians at both the state and national level need to understand that wealth and income are created by the private sector. Government cannot create wealth. It can redistribute wealth. It can also create the incentives and disincentives for creating wealth. But it cannot order the economy to create income or wealth through legislation. Otherwise why not pass a $100 hour minimum wage and a mandatory law that all business must increase employment by an additional 8%? Using static mathematics which ignores the rules of economics, such legislation would result in all Americans earning over $200,000 a year and eliminate all unemployment. The only problem is that America’s per capital income is about $50,000 per person! Where is the other $150,000 per person to come from?

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/20/nyregion/albany-deal-would-keep-higher-tax-rate-on-top-incomes.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130320&_r=0

Serena Williams is number one in the world again, becoming the oldest woman in the history of tennis to do so. She won her first U.S. Open title in 1999 as a teenager, and to think that almost fifteen years later, she still has the motivation to dominate the sport, is quite unique to the sport. Women’s tennis is famous for stars retiring early like Justine Henin and Kim Clisters, or plummeting from the top of the world ranks because they got comfortable. To stay on top for years in any sport is counterintuitive to human nature, and that is why it’s so impressive. In life we get comfortable, cozy, satisfied, we retire, we relax, we lounge. Once a goal is achieved the attitude is generally “Now that’s over” never “What’s next.”

That drive is why I still to some degree admire Lance Armstrong. Yes he did steroids and was a cheater, and even worse he sued people who he knew were telling the truth. But to recover from near death cancer, to have the belief and desire to think he could win a Tour de France, then to go out and train 15hours a day in the Texas heat, is pretty inhuman. Tiger Woods has said he practices for 14 hours a day, hitting balls, chipping, and putting again and again and again. Ed Bradley in a sixty minutes piece a few years ago described it as “A never ending quest for perfection.”

Jerry Rice was unheard of out of high school and went to a Division I-AA school Mississippi Valley State. Through an obsession with being the best, at whatever the cost, he ended up becoming the NFL’s all time leading receiver, and a three time Super Bowl champ. During his rookie year he started running up a 2 and a half mile hill in San Carlos, California to stay in shape. He regularly did it in 15 minutes, and many of his teammates who tried couldn’t even finish. As a child in the sweltering heat of Mississippi summers he used to catch bricks thrown by his father who constructed houses, and any brick dropped wasdeducted from his paycheck. Steve Young said he had no “off” switch unlike everyone else.

We need to think more like athletes in our culture. We need to understand we should be judged upon our merits, and that bad breaks are a part of the equation. Hard work doesn’t always mean success financially, but it gives one the attitude needed to be successful in other walks of life. Serena and Venus grew up in Compton, California learning the game from their drivenfather on a broken tennis court. They fought all challenges of their neighborhood, race within the sport, and poverty to the highest peak.

A society where people are judged upon their merits is better for everyone, not an entitlement society. A merits based society naturally creates an atmosphere of competition and work that makes everyone better in return. Never being satisfied (with the right perspective of course) in any aspect of life gives us the edge to look back at the end of our days and say “I think I did pretty much all that I wanted to do.” It would be a lot harder to look in the mirror and say “Maybe I didn’t work that hard, or try that hard or could have done better.” To look and say I tried to do everything in life I wanted to do, well that would be satisfying regardless of success.

Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are all conservative values and their preservation should be the goal and priority of all Americans. It has everything to do with the American way of life and nothing to do with one’s race or social status. When individuals attempt to inflame the American populace by emphasizing differences rather than proposing visionary goals behind which everyone can place their energy , it is destructive to these conservative values.

One of the greatest dangers facing America today is fiscal irresponsibility . One need not be a Republican to understand the implications of unfettered governmental expansion and resultant spending. One who fails to understand this has limited analytical capacity and we must all engage in a program to educate our fellow citizens.

TVNewsCheck, March 6, 2013 3:26 PM EST

http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/65975/armstrong-looks-to-build-on-weyiwwmb?utm_source=Listrak&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=Armstrong+Looks+To+Build+On+WEYI-WWMB&utm_campaign=Armstrong+Looks+To+Build+On+WEYI-WWMB

Conservative TV commentator Armstrong Williams, who has teamed up with Sinclair Broadcast Group to acquire TV stations in Flint, Mich., and Myrtle Beach, S.C., says that he will be calling the shots over programming, personnel and other issues at the stations.

“In ownership, all decisions are yours,” he told TVNewsCheck in an interview today.

As part of Sinclair’s $370 million deal to buy 18 Barrington Broadcasting Group TV stations, Williams’ newly formed Howard Stirk Holdings LLC will be acquiring the license assets of Barrington’s WEYI (NBC) Flint and Sagamore Hill’s WWMB (CW) Myrtle Beach.

Under the deal, according to Sinclair CFO David Amy, the station group will guarantee Williams’ loan and become a “service provider” to Williams’ stations, presumably though stations Sinclair has or is acquiring in the markets.
In Flint, Sinclair owns WSMH (Fox) and its proxy, Mission Broadcasting, is buying WBSF (CW) from Barrington. In Myrtle Beach, Sinclair is buying WPDE (ABC) from Barrington.

Like Williams, Amy stressed that despite the connections Williams would fully control WEYI and WWMB.
Williams said some aspects of his agreements with Sinclair were still under development.

In his interview with TVNewsCheck, Williams said he wanted to wait until his deal received FCC and antitrust clearance before discussing specific plans for each of the stations. But he said he knows WWMB far better than he knows WEYI, because his production company has been producing some programming out of WWMB for 10 years.

He also said he doesn’t envison making huge changes that would affect the ability of either station to generate revenues. “While I want to provide community programming and reflect the community that the television stations are in, I’m in this business to make money, and I don’t apologize for that,” Williams said.

Williams also said that Sinclair has been distributing his programming — including his nationally syndicated The Armstrong Williams Show — for more 10 years.

In addition, Williams said he is currently looking for a residence in Myrtle Beach and intends to be actively involved in the operations of both TV stations. “I plan to be in this business for the long term, and not only with those two [WEYI and WWMB] stations,” Williams said. “My hope is to add more.”

Armstrong was reprimanded by the FCC in July 2007 for promoting the Bush administration’s No Child Left Behind education plan in some programming, without disclosing that he had been paid by the Bush administration to do so.
The FCC also fined Sinclair $36,000 for airing some programming that included Williams discussing the No Child Left Behind that same year. Sinclair said it didn’t know about the sponsorship arrangement at the time.
“Sometimes you use bad judgment,” Williams says now.

“I suffered for it, but I paid the price. I’ve moved on and I’ve learned from it, and I’m a better CEO and entrepreneur as a result.”

The founders were truly thoughtful in fact genius in their perspective on enabling the states to be incubators for innovation. Both from a political and public policy stand point as well as economic and commercial . As a result we have these dynamic ecosystems of economic excellence like NY city for finance, silicon valley for technology. What we truly need to think about is how we help every region of this nation to develop the kind of commercial and innovative energy that you see in places like NY City and Silicon valley. How do we bring together all the resources in various communities, public sector, private sector, universities, civic organizations to leverage the best assets in those communities to create real dynamism and innovation.

The real thought is how do we replicate what is happening in silicon valley throughout the rest of the country. We are seeing a real explosion of innovation in Austin, Texas. Denver, CO. Chicago. The resource triangle in NC has been a true source of innovation. We need to extend that beyond a limited number of regions where it now exist.

Over the past decade, the Fed has pursued a policy of easy money which has made interest rates lower than they would have been in an unregulated market. Among the tools used to control interest rates, the Fed buys and sells government bonds. The 10 year US treasury note market is a good proxy to examine the Fed’s impact on interest rates. Over the past 100 years and between 2000 and 2007 (before the onset of the Great Recession), the rate averaged 5%. From 2009 to 2011, the rate was in the 2-4% range, and for the last 2 years it dropped below 2%.

Applying conventional wisdom, the 60% drop in interest rates from 5% to 2% over the past five years should have played a major role in stimulating the country’s stagnant economy. In fact, increased doses of easy money and low rates did not generate a strong recovery. Over the past 5 years, the economy grew at a tepid 1.5%; the slowest recovery in the post war period. Of course, government fiscal policy also has an impact on recovery. But even in conjunction with aggressive stimulus spending, easy money by the Fed did not generate a robust economic recovery.

There are many economic distortions created by artificially low interest rates. Perhaps the most obvious is the shift of income from savers who receive lower interest income to borrowers who pay lower interest expense. Consequently, the retired saver has less money to spend per month on his lifestyle, and the borrower has additional money to spend on his. This shift in income has hit senior citizens living off financial assets especially hard. It has also had a major negative impact on middle age workers with IRA’s and companies contributing to traditional pension funds for their employees. When interest rates fall, pension contributors have to contribute larger sums of money to keep the future income from the pension from declining.

Perhaps the largest shift in interest income over the past five years has come from individual savers and financial institutions to the government. A $100 billion of 5% treasury notes cost the government $5 billion in annual interest. At 2%, the interest cost to the government is $2 billion. That is a shift of $3 billion of consumption from the private sector to the relatively inefficient public sector. Apply this logic to the total national debt of $16 trillion. A 3% reduction in government borrowing cost reduces private sector consumption by nearly $500 billion! Coincidently, this is also a 3% shift in national income from the private sector to the public sector. If this massive transfer of income had been orchestrated by Congress rather than the Fed, it would have been called a Tax! The Fed calls it “easy” money.

Another effect of low interest rates is the increased money available for capital spending, real estate and collectables. In the residential real estate market, interest rates for 10 year adjustable rate mortgages have declined from 5% to 3% over the past 5 years. As a result, a couple willing to spend $20,000 per year in interest can increase their mortgage loan from $400,000 to $666,666. Where there is a limited supply of real estate, this reduction in rates can create a speculative bubble. Conceptually, reduced interest rates have the same impact on commodities and collectables.

Conventional economic wisdom says that the increased money going into housing and capital goods creates construction and factory jobs. This is only true until the bubble burst. At that point there is an excess of construction and capital goods, and these excess workers are laid off. They are not rehired until the excess housing or capital goods are back in long term equilibrium. That could take years.

Artificially low interest rates contribute to unemployment in other ways as well. Low interest rates make marginal capital investments more attractive than hiring low cost labor. For example, assume a restaurant has a choice of buying a $150,000 dishwashing machine or hiring a new human dishwasher. At the minimum wage of $7.25, it cost about $14,500 per year to hire a full time human dishwasher. If interest rates are 12%, the interest cost of a financed dishwashing machine is $18,000 per year. It is cheaper for the restaurant to hire a human dishwasher at the higher rates. However, if rates are 5% or $7,500 per year, it is cheaper to buy the dishwashing machine. This displacement of workers by capital investment tends to affect the least educated and lowest skilled workers the most. This displacement of low skilled workers by cheap capital may partially explain why income distribution in America has become skewed toward the wealthy in recent years.

Perhaps the most pernicious effect of protracted periods of artificially low interest rates is the impact on savings. One of the reasons for delaying consumption and saving money is that the saver gets paid interest for his thrift. If a person saves $1,000, he will receive $50 per year at 5%; but at today’s bank rate of .2%, he will receive a mere $2. This is hardly an incentive for people to put aside money for their future. As a matter of fact they have an incentive to borrow money for their homes and cars rather than save for them. Aside from the direct financial impact of low rates on savings, low rates create a moral hazard; they discourage savings. Society’s ingrained virtues of thrift developed over many generations are being undermined by these habitual low rates.

While economists and policy makers debate whether the Fed’s policy of easy money is a net positive or negative, it is clear that there are significant negative effects. These negative effects include increased unemployment by the least skilled, reduction in income for senior citizens, over-spending in capital goods and real estate, and a reduction in savings. It also shifts resources from the private sector to the public sector via a stealth tax by the Fed called “easy” money. Easy money by the Fed over the past 5 years has not resulted in a robust economic recovery. Therefore, the Fed should cease manipulating interest rates, and let a free capital market set interest rates. There is not a big risk that the economic recovery would be worse by relying on free capital markets.

Logan D. Delany, Jr.Entrepreneur

For more than twenty years Armstrong Williams has been producing and hosting high-quality public affairs and entertainment programming for the broadcast industry, including for Sinclair. Mr. Williams has also served as the Chief Operating Officer of the Renaissance TV Cable Network (2001-2003), where he managed staff, programming, advertising and the development of prime-time specials. He has been a frequent guest on national programs and networks that include The Today Show, Good Morning America, Charlie Rose, CNN, MSNBC, Sky News, DC TV and the Joy Behar show. Mr. Williams has also produced many prime-time specials with national and international leaders, such as US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Poet Maya Angelou, former Vice-President Dick Cheney, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Today’s announcement fulfills a life-long dream to own and operate broadcast facilities and give back to an industry that I love,” said Mr. Williams. “I have been privileged to work with the Sinclair Broadcast Group for years and I am truly thankful for the opportunity it has provided. Many in the industry talk about diversity and expanding opportunity, but here the Sinclair Broadcast Group is putting words into action,” Mr. Williams added. The name “Howard Stirk” is taken from my mother’s maiden name, Howard, and my father’s middle-name, Stirk, Mr. Williams explained. “Knowing the humble, hard-scrabble beginnings of my family in rural South Carolina, I felt honoring my parents in this small way was the right thing to do,” he concluded.

A native of Marion, South Carolina, Mr. Williams received his baccalaureate degree in Political Science and English from South Carolina State University and is a lifetime member of the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity. He served on the President’s Commission on White House Fellows appointed by President Bush from 2001-2005, and presently serves on the Independence Federal S&L Bank, the Carson Scholarship Fund, and the NEWSMAX Advisory Board.

Sinclair currently owns and operates programs or provides sales services to 87 television stations in 47 markets. Sinclair’s television group reaches approximately 27.1% of US television households and includes FOX, ABC, MyTV, CW, CBS, NBC and Azteca affiliates. The transaction is subject to approval by the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) and antitrust authorities. Following those approvals, Howard Stirk Holdings, LLC anticipates a closing by the summer.

Contact: Shirley Dave, Graham Williams Group, Inc. (202) 546-5400

The reason why? Studies show that women in tense, strained marriages are more likely than men to suffer from mental and physical problems like depression and high blood pressure. Moreover, the lack of intelligent men out there pushes women to prioritize money and success over happiness. If a woman believes that her ability to find a potential companion is jeopardized, it will greatly impact her decision-making in the working world.

While I applaud the many hard-working women out there who embrace the principles of economic liberty and free-market capitalism to make an honest living, women should not feel like having a successful career is the only way to be successful and happy.

A recently published study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 2012 said that women are pushed into thinking lucrative careers are the only option because of a “low male sex ratio” and the difficulty of finding a long-term partner if women choose a lucrative career.

Women should not have to suffer because they want to raise a family by settling for less. Children are affected by these decisions when women who do want to marry settle for lesser men who do not treat their wives or children with the respect they deserve.

Children are extremely malleable, and they can use all the influence they can get from a loving two-parent household in order to become successful adults.

Men and women of the world: there is hope if you want to find a suitable mate. Stop settling for less, respect each other and the right person will come.

If we are to solve the massive economic problems facing our nation we will need innovative independent thinkers from all walks of life. They can contribute to solutions that will eventually benefit all of us, rather than blindly following the dictates of a political power structure that is only interested in it’s own self aggrandizement.

“We the People” need to awaken to the sad fact that our nation is being exploited by both political power structures. They pass laws that apply to the masses and not themselves. They become adolescents and point fingers when this nation face devastating challenges and cries out for principle leadership. They manipulate the American people with lies, rhetoric, deceit and continuously to exploit the ignorance and lack of understanding of the people who elected them. How is it possible that the best and brightest in the Executive and Legislative Branch of our Government, can’t find common sense solutions on the critical issues that confront us today ? We need to focus less on electing the intellectual and Ivy League elite of our nation and return farmers, factory workers, carpenters, Teachers, Law Enforcement, and Military leaders to the highest offices of the land. When electing the individuals that our Congress envision during our founding, we will return a modicum of common sense and true leadership to our nation. When this happens, then and only then will America return to the pinnacle of spiritual and economic success.

In round 4 they are now being ask to eliminate the sequestration cuts, to once again kick the can down the road and address this serious matter later in the year. Unfortunately the strategy of kicking the can down the road does not solve our deficit problem. In fact it make matters much worst. America would be in a much better bargaining position if the Republican allowed the sequester cuts to occur. It’s easier for elected officials to add spending than to cut spending. After the cuts occur let President Obama convince Americans that we need to increase the deficit. That is a much more difficult burden when the federal government has just had four trillion dollar deficits and no fiscal balance in sight.

Armstrong Williams

Rush Limbaugh proposes mental health background checks for members of the press

February 20, 2013

Topics: Gun laws, Media, Rush Limbaugh

Guests: Armstrong Williams, Sam Seder

Armstrong Williams and Sam Seder join “Say Anything!” host Joy Behar to discuss whether Rush Limbaugh is still in control of the GOP. They also address Limbaugh’s latest “idea” — to make journalists get mental health background checks.

Is the love gone? John McCain gets an earful at a town hall meeting

February 20, 2013

Topics: Immigration, John McCain, Social Security

Guests: Armstrong Williams, Rebecca Dana, Sam Seder

“Say Anything!” host Joy Behar, Sam Seder, Armstrong Williams and Rebecca Dana analyze John McCain’s recent town hall spat, in which an angry citizen confronted him over his stance on immigration.

Watch ‘Joy Behar: Say Anything!’ Mon-Thurs Evenings at 9E/6P on Current TV. Find Current on your TV.

The Loudoun County School Board is reaching the denouement of a multiyear deliberation about an application for a charter school that has strong ties to Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish Islamist. His followers have already started some 135 American charter schools. Their focus is to promote an increasingly Shariah-dominated Turkey.

Incredibly, the school board’s members are studiously avoiding any acknowledgment or discussion of the role of Fethullah Gulen and his movement in the charter school. They have wrestled for many months with a host of problems with the application — such as serious deficiencies with the proposed curriculum, the financing, the management, the teachers and Maryland’s Chesapeake Science Point Public Charter School, the school in Anne Arundel County specifically cited as the “model” for the Loudoun Math and Information Technology Academy.

Yet the members of the school board have, to date, been unwilling to recognize that these problems are actually endemic in Gulen-associated schools — including Chesapeake Science Point. These problems are also much in evidence in three Gulen charter schools in Fulton County, Ga. Two of the three have lost their charters; the third — an elementary school — may soon follow suit.

I had the occasion to visit Fulton County last week and talked with several people involved in one aspect or another of its difficulties with the Gulenists. These included a former teacher, the parent of a former student and a local administrator. One thing is clear from these conversations: You simply cannot begin to understand, let alone cope with, the sorts of issues inherent in “Gulen-inspired” schools if you indulge — for whatever reason, be it “political correctness,” sensitivity to “diversity,” fear of litigation or being branded an “Islamophobe,” racist, etc. — in the pretense that applications like the one in Loudoun County can be properly evaluated while excluding from the evaluation process the 800-pound gorilla in the room: the applicants’ manifest associations to the Gulen movement.

Fortunately, the Loudoun County School Board is expected to hear from Mary Addi on Tuesday, in the course of its last public input session on the application for the Loudoun Math and Information Technology Academy. Ms. Addi and her Turkish husband, Mustafa Emanet, both formerly taught in a Gulen school in Cleveland. They have courageously made public their insights into issues sure to afflict the Loudoun County school system if the current application is approved: systematic mismanagement; use of Turkish teachers who are unqualified to teach, do not speak English comprehensibly or both; visa fraud; financial irregularities; chronic deviation from the curriculum and other rules and regulations meant to govern its operations; and so on. These issues have affected other Gulen charter schools around the country. Ms. Addi and her husband have even contributed to an ongoing investigation of the Gulen Movement and its schools by the FBI.

In a letter previously submitted to a select committee of the Loudoun School Board that — to its credit — actually recommended rejection of the Gulen charter application, Ms. Addi wrote:

“According to my husband, in addition to garnering as much taxpayer money as possible, the Gulen movement’s other agenda is to spread Islam though subliminal indoctrinations. More specifically, the mission is to spread Islam by means of the Turkish events such as trips to Turkey, the Turkish Olympics, other cultural events and teaching Turkish as a second language.

“Although the Gulenists are careful not to speak directly about their religious beliefs, it is their hope that by indoctrinating American students and parents with their culture and hospitality, that the students will likewise be more susceptible to religious conversion.”

Such behavior would, of course, fall afoul of prohibitions in the Virginia code barring proselytization in public schools. Like the rest of the Gulen program, however, unless the application is rejected, it is predictable that Loudoun County will find itself wrestling with what other school systems have confronted elsewhere: an entrenched school, indifferent to its obligations and responsibilities — and exceedingly difficult to discipline due, in part, to the Gulenists’ intensive efforts to buy political protection from county supervisors, state legislators, governors and others.

If the mere prospect of those sorts of vexing problems were not grounds enough to reject the application, this passage from the Loudoun County School Board code of conduct should be: “I must never neglect my personal obligation to the community and my legal obligation to the State, nor surrender these responsibilities to any other person, group, or organization; but that, beyond these, I have a moral and civic obligation to the Nation which can remain strong and free only so long as public schools in the United States of America are kept free and strong.”

Keeping our public schools free and strong means keeping them out of the clutches of cultish supremacists, be they of the Turkish Islamist stripe or any other.

Frank J. Gaffney Jr. was an assistant secretary of defense under President Reagan. He is now president of the Center for Security Policy (SecureFreedom.org), a columnist for The Washington Times and host of the nationally syndicated program “Secure Freedom Radio.”

© Copyright 2013 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.

The restorative powers of the hot springs in the German town seem to make chess players play more aggressively, to judge from two games there more than 140 years apart.

Propelled by two wins in his final two games, world champion Viswanathan Anand of India captured the first Grenke Chess Classic Sunday with a 6½-2½ score, a half-point clear of U.S.-born Italian GM Fabiano Caruana in the six-grandmaster double round robin event. Two of his wins came against German GM Arkady Naiditsch, who emerged as a fan favorite at Baden-Baden with just two draws in his 10 games.

Naiditsch’s win over fellow German GM Daniel Fridman was one of the highlights of the event. One of the virtues of the game’s great attackers — from Spielmann to Tal to Kasparov — is the serene confidence upon entering into a speculative assault that, basically, something will turn up. One can’t calculate all the tactics from the get-go, but if one has initiative, imagination and a little luck, the combinations almost magically will suggest themselves when needed.

In a classic Classical King’s Indian fight, Black’s sacrificial 20. Nc2 Ng5 21. Bd3? (overlooking the threat; Fridman later regretted rejecting the safer 21. Qd3) Ndf3+! 22. gxf3 Qd7 proves to be fully justified, but White puts up a spirited defense, and Naiditsch will have to find several more exclamation-point moves to sew up the point.

Enlarge Photo

Fridman-Naiditsch after 29. Nf4. more >

White makes Black work right away with 23. Be2 Rf6 (threatening 24Nh3+ 25. Kh1 Nf4 26. Bxf4 [Ne1 Qh3+ 27. Kg1 Rh6] Qh3+ 27. Kg1 Rg6+ 28. Bg3 Rh6 and wins) 24. Nd5! (overlooked by Black; losing was 24. Ne3? Qh3 25. Ng4 Bxg4 26. fxg4 Raf8! 27. Qd3 Rh6) Rh6 25. f4 Nh3+ (Qh3? 26. Bf3 Nxf3+ 27. Qxf3 Bg4 28. Qg2 holds) 26. Kg2 exf4 (Nxf4+ 27. Kf3 Rh2! 28. Ke3! — and not 28. Bxh2?? Qh3+ 29. Bg3 Ng2!! 30. Nde3 Nh4 mate!) 27. Bh2 f3+! 28. Bxf3 Ng5 29. Nf4 (see diagram), when Black stokes the fire again with 29Rxh2+! 30. Kxh2 Be5.

White again appears on the verge of consolidating while keeping his material advantage when Naiditsch brilliantly exploits a fatal slip: 33. Kf1 Be6 34. Nd4 Bc4+ 35. Be2 Nxe4 36. Bxc4? (36. Rg1! would have kept White in the game; e.g. 36Qe5 37. Nf3 [Bxc4? Nd2+ 38. Kg2 Qg5+ 39. Kh3 Qh6+ 40. Kg4 Nxc4 and the White king is toast] Qxb2 38. Qd4+ Qxd4 39. Nxd4 Bd5, and Black’s bishops give him only a modest edge) Nd2+ 37. Ke2 d5!! (Qxd4? 38. Rxh7+! Kxh7 38. Qh1+ Kg6 40. Rg1+ Bg5 41. Bd3+ Kf6 42. Qh5 and things are getting hairy for both sides; 37Re8+? 38. Kd3 Qg6+ 39. Kc3 d5 40. Qh5! and White defends), when 38. Bxd5 leads to mate after 38Re8+ 39. Kd3 Qg6+ 40. Kc3 Rc8+ 41. Kg4 Qb6+ — one point of 37d5 was to clear the way for the queen to the queenside — 42. Nb5 Bd6+ 43. Ka4 Qa6 mate.

Fridman tries 38. Qc2, but his jumbled pieces allow yet one more serendipitous tactic: 38Re8+ 39. Kd1 Nxc4 40. Qc3 (Nf3 Nxb2+) Re4 41. Nf5 Nxb2+ 42. Kc2 Re2+ 43. Kb3 Qxc3+ 44. Kxc3 Be5+ 45. Nd4 Re4!, and White resigned as 46. Kxb2 Bxd4+ 47. Kb3 Bxa1 48. Rxa1 Rf4 is a trivial endgame win for Black.

–

Baden-Baden was the site of the first great modern tournament played on German soil way back in 1870, with former world champion Adolf Anderssen getting a measure of revenge on the man who dethroned him, Wilhelm Steinitz, taking first place and beating the Austrian twice along the way. (Baden-Baden broke ground in a number of ways, including being the first tournament to employ chess clocks to time moves.)

Anderssen was one of the great attacking players of the game’s Romantic Age, and his win with Black against Steinitz shows the same kind of something-will-turn-up confidence that Naiditsch displayed.

One doesn’t associate Anderssen with the King’s Gambit Declined, but he gets the sharp and unbalanced position he probably hoped for against the more positional-minded Steinitz. White eschews several sharper choices during the game (18. Nxf7!? Rxf7 19. Bxf7+ Kxf7 20. b4 looks promising, and 25. Ra5! — instead of the game’s 25. Rxa6? — might have clinched the contest), and when Black finally gets his licks in, he doesn’t miss.

Thus: 27. Bxc5? (Bc3! keeps White’s edge, while he could even try 27. Nh6+!? gxh6 28. Qxf6 Rxb4! 29. Qxh6 Rxe4+ 30. Kf2 Rf4+ 31. Kg3 Ne4+ 32. Nxe4 f6 with a double-edged game) Rb2+ 28. Ke3 Qa5!, threatening mate on the move.

By 32. Nh3 Re8, Anderssen’s forces are beautifully placed for the final assault and the tactics seem almost to play themselves. Black cashed in after 35. Kg3 Rxe4 36. Qf1 Qe5+ 37. Kh4 gxh3+ 38. Kxh3 Rb3+ 39. g3 Rf4 40. Nxh6+ Kf8 41. Qc4 (threatening 42. Qxb3 and 42. Qxf7 mate, but it’s not White’s turn) Rh4+! 42. Kg2 (Kxh4 Qh5 mate) Rxh2+! 43. Kxh2 (Kf1 Rf3+ 44. Kg1 Qxg3 mate) Qxg3+ 44. Kh1 Qh3+ 45. Kg1 Rg3+, and White gave up in light of 46. Kf2 Rg2+ 47. Ke1 Qe3+ 48. Qe2 Qxe2 mate.

Fridman-Naiditsch, Baden-Baden, Germany, February 2013

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The great irony that is overlooked in the immigration debate is that the typical political players in this fight are absent. Where are the unions and their leaders who pounce at every opportunity to protect wages and worker rights? Why aren’t they railing against the notion of unskilled, cheap labor flooding into this country? Where are the liberals who cry against “big business” at any chance they get? How come they aren’t deriding corporations for supporting amnesty to continue the cheap labor pool? Why do liberals support the immigrants and their “we just want a job to provide for our families” story, yet rally against tax relief and the minimum wage? The simple fact is that in this case business is seen as an ally, so unions, leftists, and an entire political party are hopping on board because its suits their agenda. This is another example of the Obama White house and Democratic Party moving forward with no clear agenda, no real leadership, and no real stance.

Why do the ends justify the means when it comes to immigration? “Sure, I jumped a fence and came to this country illegally. Yes, I’ve spent the past ten years dodging and ducking law enforcement. But because of it, my wife has a better job and my kids a better life. So please just let me be.” How is “letting them be” fair to the millions on the other side of the Mexican-United States border that played by the rules and waited their turn? How is that fair to the millions of Americans who are paying taxes so an illegal’s child can go to school for free and wife can go to hospitals without charge? Moreover, why is it that the longer one breaks the law (i.e. remained in this country illegally) the more they are entitled to be supported by it (i.e. get amnesty)?

I’ve heard the argument that we must choose between giving illegals a free ticket or risk shutting down the economy. This is just not true. It’s a false choice to argue that we either give illegals a free ticket here in the US, or force the economy to shut down. First of all, an argument can be made that illegals drain the economy as much as they stimulate it. Secondly, claiming that Americans will not perform certain cheap labor is both erroneous and insulting. Americans have a vast history of performing hard work for low pay and there’s no proof that they wouldn’t continue that tendency today. Furthermore, this claim insults both the American (you’re a fat cat) and the undocumented worker (you’re not worthy of a real job). Merely talking about this aspect of the immigration debate encourages racism, bigotry, and a return to a class society.

No one with half a heart wants to separate families, but this is a nation of laws, not of feel-good policies. Without a solid system in place, nobody will respect the law. And the problems stemming from illegal immigration today are a perfect example of why we create and enforce tough laws. The reality is that under proposed legislation put forth by republicans, illegals will eventually be able to reunite with their family in the US. After an illegal comes forth, documents their work, pays a fine, and returns to their country, they will be able to legally come back to America to work and join their family. This legislation will improve national security, give relief to tax payers, and ensure that immigrants truly become part of American society.

Once new immigration laws take effect and undocumented workers are accounted for or return to their home country we can get down to the root of the problem: keeping track of who enters this country. If we are going to get serious about immigration in this country and truly address the problems surrounding it, we must monitor who enters this country legally and illegally. We should all be able to agree on that! Border security does not mean that Americans are anti-immigration – any educated American knows that immigrants founded this country – it simply means that for security, economic, and health reasons, we must know who lives within our borders.

Armstrong Williams

The findings come by way of a new report from the Virginia-based Mandiant Corp., which claims its “research and observations indicate that the Communist Party of China is tasking the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to commit systematic cyber espionage and data theft against organizations around the world.”

The report comes at a time when the White House is pushing for more cuts to America’s military.

Fox News says the “secret group” has hacked U.S. information at energy, aerospace and IT and telecommunication firms. Hackers obtained access to the likes of blueprints and contact lists, Fox News reports.

China dismissed the report as “groundless,” according to a report from The Associated Press. But Mandiant traced 141 instances of cybersecurity breaches that targeted facilities in the U.S. and around the world back to this single small Chinese military office, AP reported.

The report said the hacking started in 2006 and rapidly increased, CBS reported.

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Once a person turns 65, their TRICARE Prime or Standard coverage stops by law as TRICARE Prime and Standard have to stop after age 64. That means to continue TRICARE coverage, a person has to enroll in TRICARE for Life (TFL). TFL is a partnership between Medicare and TRICARE with Medicare acting as the primary payer and TRICARE acting as a Medicare Supplement. There is no need for a Medicare Supplement policy if a person has TFL. Before TFL, there was just Medicare at age 65 and beyond as TRICARE coverage stopped for all after that.

My husband is approaching his 65th birthday and with being priority “1” in the VA Heath Care System, I am wondering what your take is on Medicare B? The cost is six times more than TRICARE Prime, which I only paid for him since 2007, but he really seeks most of his health care at the VA hospital. He sometimes sees a private hematologist and heart doctor, but I am speaking with the VA regarding treating these conditions.

I know if there is an emergency, I can take him to our local hospital since Bay Pines VA Medical Center is two hours away. I can just call VA within 72 hours, and they will ask if I would transfer him.

I will turn 65 next year and must pay for Medicare again six times more than TRICARE Prime. It hardly seems fair they would do this to us at an age when I am his sole non-compensated caregiver and only get $300 from Social Security retirement. It is low because I have not been able to work as I was caring for my husband since 1969 and became ill myself.

I have been assisting my husband in his effort to increase his VA compensation for his service-connected disabilities.

I keep up with your columns whenever I can and value your advice.

Genevieve R.
Via the Internet

Dear Genevieve:

TRICARE is the health-care program for service members, retirees and their families. TFL requires enrollment in Medicare Parts A and B — only those two parts. They do not recommend TFL-eligible persons enrolling in Medicare Part D pharmacy coverage as TRICARE pharmacy coverage continues after age 64 for all TFL members.

For vets who are VA health-care eligible, they have the choice to enroll in TFL and have dual coverage with VA health care or just VA health care. Without the TFL, they will also do without the Tricare pharmacy coverage.

Consider these issues if you go VA health care alone. Are you sure that VA health care is all you’ll ever need in the future? Are you confident with the VA’s level of service and availability? A spouse would need to check for the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA) eligibility. Should you choose not to enroll in Medicare/TFL at age 65 and should you ever change your mind, you’ll pay a penalty to get into Medicare/TFL at a later date. The penalty being 10 percent additional monthly premium for each full-year enrollment is delayed.

Shaft notes

• Sen. Patty Murray, Washington Democrat, and Sen. Jon Tester, Montana Democrat, have introduced legislation to adjust current eligibility requirements for children who receive health care under the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA). Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a child may stay on a parent’s health insurance plan to age 26. However, children who are CHAMPVA beneficiaries lose their eligibility for coverage at age 23, if not before. The legislation introduced recently by Ms. Murray and Mr. Tester would raise the maximum age for CHAMPVA eligibility to age 26 to bring eligibility under the VA program into parity with the private sector.

“As more and more service members return home from Afghanistan, CHAMPVA will continue playing a vital role in caring for veterans’ loved ones,” Ms. Murray said. “In our ongoing commitment to keep the faith with our nation’s heroes, this bill ensures CHAMPVA recipients — without regard to their type of coverage, student status or marital status — are eligible for health care coverage under their parent’s plan in the same way as their peers.”

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With Congress out of town this week and Mr. Obama back in Washington after a weekend golf vacation in Florida, the president will press his case for passing more tax increases instead of relying solely on spending cuts as Republicans want in order to produce enough deficit reduction over the next 10 years to avoid the so-called sequester set to kick in March 1.

SEE RELATED: Congress leaves town with layoffs in its wake; defense industry likely to cut thousands of workers

Mr. Obama has invited emergency responders to join him on the stage to illustrate the types of jobs that are on the line if Congress fails to avoid the $85 billion in cuts divided between defense and domestic needs.

If the cuts go into effect, economists have warned that hundreds of thousands of middle-class jobs across the country could be lost. The White House said Monday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency would eliminate funding for state and local grants that support firefighter positions and state and local emergency management personnel, hampering the government’s ability to respond to natural disasters and other emergencies.

Before Congress left for a weeklong recess, defense-hawk Republicans furiously filed bills in the House and Senate to cancel the defense cuts and replace them with savings from attrition in the federal workforce.

But other Republicans have said they are ready to swallow the defense cuts in order to get the domestic cuts, and argue that the Defense Department has grown along with the rest of the government and can handle the trims.

Mr. Obama and most Democrats don’t want to see the domestic cuts and warn that slicing the budget so indiscriminately could send the still-struggling economic recovery off the rails.

SEE RELATED: Sequestration becomes partisan game of political chicken on the Hill

Mr. Obama has proposed a deficit-reduction plan he says is balanced because it increases taxes and overhauls entitlement programs, though he has been very short on the specifics of the spending cuts.

“The House and Senate have said they want to do a budget, and that budget must be balanced and cut spending where we can, reform our entitlement programs and ask the wealthiest few and big corporations to pay their fair share,” the official said.

At the very least, Mr. Obama argues, Republicans should pass a short-term fix and punt the issue down the road to allow time for a thorough debate about overhauling the nation’s tax code and closing tax loopholes.

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Nobody does tough-talking better than a Republican senator. It’s not easy talking tough, and the follow-through can be even harder.

Last week, John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina roasted and toasted Chuck Hagel, as if the republic would be in deadly peril if he were confirmed as secretary of defense. This week, they’re assuring the White House that, well, they were just kidding. (“Can’t you guys take a joke?”)

Mr. McCain, a key Republican wise man on defense issues, insists he still thinks Mr. Hagel is not qualified to be the main man of the U.S. military, “but I don’t believe that we should hold up his nomination any further, because I think [we’ve had] a reasonable amount of time to have questions answered.”

Right on cue, Mr. Graham, who describes Mr. Hagel as not only “unqualified,” but “radical,” said he had at last received a letter from Mr. Hagel in response to the questions he asked during the confirmation hearings, and he’ll take Mr. Hagel’s word that he didn’t mean all that nice stuff he said about Iran and the nasty stuff he said about the Iraq war, the Jews and Israel.

Senators are tigers about process, less concerned about content. Standing tall when, all about him, fairies and elves are losing their heads, makes a senator’s chin whiskers ache and his teeth itch. The Constitution assigns to the Senate the unique duty to “advise and consent,” but it’s a lot easier in Gasbag City to “advise and submit.” The idea behind “advise and consent” was that sometimes a president’s nominee would be so dreadful that consent must be withheld to nudge a president to reconsider his sin and repent with another nominee.

To listen to the Hagel hearing, you would have thought that both Mr. McCain and Mr. Graham were sure this was one of those occasions — and that the reasons were so important and so obvious that every weapon at hand, including the filibuster, must be employed to keep “one of the most unqualified, radical choices for secretary of defense in a long time” as far from the Pentagon as possible.

Maybe these worthies were just blowing smoke at the president and his choice. Maybe it was partisan scorn at a rogue and turncoat. Maybe they just didn’t like the cut of his jib. But if they really, really think Mr. Hagel is not qualified to serve, then withholding consent, even if the withholding requires parliamentary tricks and schemes, is a bounden duty.

Just why the president wants the rambling, bumbling, stumbling Mr. Hagel as his secretary of defense is a puzzle. He already has Joe Biden for comic relief. Unless it’s true, as many in Washington believe it is, that the president is determined to substitute squish for strength and Mr. Hagel shares his dream of dismantling the nation’s defenses and trusting the nation’s defense to international organizations like the United Nations. Who needs the Army, the Navy and the Marines when U.N. peacekeepers from both Upper and Lower Slobbovia could be called in to man the ramparts?

The military chiefs are doing their part, sounding the usual threats to close the orphanage and throw the kids into the cold, rainy streets unless they get the money they want. There’s enough unsequestered money for the Navy to pay a $2 billion bonus to run its ships on biofuels, instead of conventional fuel, and for the Army to continue funding a $28 billion “battlefield intelligence processor,” but not enough to send the new carrier Harry S. Truman to sea. The president thinks decisions like these will be right up Chuck Hagel’s street.

The Republican senators who sounded so fit to fight only a week ago may think they’re standing on principle and process now, but to the rest of us it looks like the same old Washington game of endless palaver and expensive pretense. Why did these guys make such a big deal of something they knew they wouldn’t get genuinely excited about in the end?

Mr. McCain and Mr. Graham should now lead a chorus of that old English folk song about the Duke of York, who sounds a lot like a Republican senator: “Oh, the grand old Duke of York, he had 10,000 men; He marched them up to the top of the hill, and he marched them down again.”

• Wesley Pruden is editor emeritus of The Washington Times.

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​Columnist George E. Curry has published an article called “Greedy King Children At it Again,” which is nothing more than a hit piece. In the column, Curry alleges that the King family charges people for use of the famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

​Dr. Bernice King has made it clear to me emphatically that no school was ever charged a royalty nor was any school ever sued for using that speech. “In reviewing the past records and files I have never seen any indication that such events happened before.”Whereas Dr. King had a dream, now his children have a nightmare.

It was not the King children who established royalty rights in all of Dr. King’s work. This was done specifically by Dr. and Mrs. King for the benefit of their children. Furthermore, this is only for the commercialization and profit off of the work of Dr. King. And isn’t that entirely reasonable? The King family is not charging people for, say, educational usage of their father.

For Mr. Curry to spread the falsehood that the King family is charging schools for the “I Have a Dream”speech is not only wrong, but hurtful, embarrassing to these good people. I

Armstrong Williams

My fellow Americans, the performance of the US economy and government finances over the past four years has been a major disappointment. My policies of increasing government control over the economy and the lives of individual Americans did not deliver the performance that I promised the American people. However, I still believe these are the best policies for us to follow in the future.

When I took office in January 2009, the economy was in the worst recession since the great depression. Despite record stimulus spending and aggressive monetary policy by the Federal Reserve Bank, the economy grew at a disappointing 1.5% per year. This is half the post war growth rate of 3%. This is also substantially below the post war recovery growth rate of 4-6%. Unfortunately, during the fourth quarter of 2012, the economy actually contracted by a small amount.

The average post war economic recovery occurred in less than a year and a half. After 4 years we are still waiting for a convincing economic recovery. I am certain that if we continue to spend even more stimulus money, the recovery will come before I leave office in 2016.

Let me be clear that I follow the advice of the best left wing Keynesian economists in the country like the Nobel Prize winner writing op-eds in the New York Times. They advised me to borrow in excess of $1 trillion a year to finance deficit spending to stimulate the economy. Spending borrowed money for current consumption may appear improvident to you and even to me. However, I defer to recommendations of these Ivy League pedigree economists who are above my pay grade rather than the recommendations of the business community. The economists are smarter than business men and women creating jobs in the private sector.

As you know, my policies are designed to help the middle class. Even more disappointing than the generally mediocre performance of the economy, the median family income declined 3% from $52, 546 in 2008 to $50,094 in 2012. I recently implemented a tax increase on people with excessively high current incomes, which will redistribute some of their excess income to the middle class so that I can report an increase in median family income next year. I am aware that much of this income is derived from ownership of small businesses, but my advisors, like billionaire investor Warrant Buffett, assure me that patriotic rich Americans will gladly pay for these taxes entirely by reducing their personal spending rather than pulling back on re-investment in their businesses.

I also hope to raise the median family income by passing a new higher minimum wage law. Businesses with $7.25 hour labor will have to pay an additional $1.75 an hour. This increase is expected to increase the wages of millions of workers at the low end of the pay scale. I also expect these patriotic rich businessmen to absorb the increase in wages without passing the higher cost of labor to you the consumer, which might cause you to buy less of their product and thus result in layoffs.

I wanted to raise the minimum wage to $50 per hour so that all American’s can be upper middle class. However my economic advisors advised against it because that rate would significantly reduce employment. Unfortunately they could not explain to me why a minimum wage of $50 per hour would kill jobs but $9.00 will not. I guess it takes a PhD and a Nobel Prize in economics to understand.

I am sorry that your commute to work and heating your house has become more expensive over the past four years. The price of gasoline increased from $2.25 per gallon in 2009 to about $3.40 today. Dr. Steven Chu, our Nobel Prize winning Energy Secretary, assured me that $10 gallon gas, government investments in failing solar energy companies and electric cars, closing public land to oil drilling, and killing the Keystone Pipe line would improve America’s energy supply. Let me assure you that these policies will eventually result in lower energy costs. Please be patient.

After spending two years getting Obamacare passed in my first term, I now realize that too many Americans are unemployed. Unemployment increased from 7.3% when I took office to 7.9% today. Obamacare should help unemployment in America. Since more Americans will have access to health care, new jobs will be created in the health care sector. It does not matter that increased insurance costs to pay for Obamacare will reduce profits in the private sector. Warren Buffett assures me that patriotic businesses will absorb the costs and not pass them on to employees in the form of lower wages and customers in the form of higher prices. These are the same patriotic business people willing to absorb the $1.75 increase in the minimum wage without raising prices or cutting back hours.

Youth unemployment is a serious waste of America’s future talent. During my first term of office, youth unemployment increased from 12.8% to 16.5%. My Nobel Prize advisors tell me that raising the minimum wage by $1.75 will have no material adverse impact on youth unemployment. I know that Americans who hire their teenage neighbors to cut grass or to baby sit at the minimum wage will be happy to pay an extra couple of dollars an hour. These patriotic Americans will not cut the number of hours their teenage neighbor works merely because they will have less money to spend on their weekly restaurant visit with their spouse. Of course the restaurants that they patronize will miss the business, but the owner will be willing to absorb the loss of business without reducing his employees’ work schedule.

I know some Americans are disappointed that we have not reduced the budget deficit. Prior to my taking office, the budget deficit was a record $459 billion or 17% of government revenues! The national debt was $10 trillion or $33,000 per American. You may recall that I harshly criticized President Bush for this outrageous deficit and promised to cut it in half.

I am happy to report that after four years of budget deficits in excess of $1 trillion, my next budget will be under $1 trillion. We have reduced the projected deficit by increasing taxes on the rich. Of course, the rich will have to make as much as they did last year in order for us to actually collect these higher taxes. My advisors assure me that taxable income will not decline from increased labor costs, increased Obamacare costs and rich taxpayers reducing their taxable income to avoid higher taxes. I hope to increase these taxes even more in the near future to further reduce the deficit.

Some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle think that we should reduce the deficit by cutting spending. In particular, they want to reduce entitlement spending. Entitlement spending is 58% of the budget and expected to grow at 6-9% a year as the baby boomers retire. We can’t cut that because the boomers paid into the system and will vote us politicians out of office if we touch it. Interest spending is nearly 8% of the budget even with record low interest rates. We must pay the interest or we will not be able to borrow any more money in the private markets. S&P has already reduced America’s AAA credit rating because our national debt has increased to $16 trillion or $51,000 for every American, which is 101% of our annual gross domestic product. (You’ll be glad to know that we are suing this unpatriotic rating agency for its outrageous business practices during the mortgage boom, even while we ceased to investigate similar business practices by the patriotic rating agencies that did not cut our ratings.) I have already cut defense spending so much that the professional military pigs and their allies are squealing.

Therefore we must continue to raise taxes. Unfortunately, the rich do not have enough money to pay for the deficit. Even if we take 100% of their earnings over $500,000, that will not cover the deficit. Therefore we must eventually tax the middle class if we are to begin to cut the long-term deficit.

As you can see, my policies will continue to lead to stagnant growth, high unemployment and large government deficits for the foreseeable future. However, your government will be there to take care of you if you are sick, unemployed, retired or do not make enough money. You only have to give up the American Dream of prosperity through hard work and individual initiative.

Logan D. Delany, Jr.Entrepreneur

We have the largest national debt of any nation in the history of mankind. That’s certainly a change from the booming postwar years, in which we became the wealthiest and fastest-growing nation in the history of mankind. What a change a generation makes.

Even our most basic institutions are changing.

And so we are becoming Europe not only in our inability to pay our debts, but also in our ability to defend ourselves. As Justice Scalia has lamented, this is quickly becoming a country I do not recognize, and, sadly, change is coming in increasingly negative ways. Greece is a small country: its implosion is only a fraction of what the American implosion will look like. We’re not entitled to high national self-esteem. We need to be honest about the direction of this country, and reverse course where necessary.

In other words, we need change.

Armstrong Williams

The reason that tithing is such a fair way to tax people is because it’s proportional. As soon as you move away from proportional taxing, ideology takes over. As a result ideology is quite frankly arbitrary and depends upon the flavor of the month. A growing number of people seriously think that the rich should pay more, while some feel they should pay less. When you introduce the tithing concepts of proportionality all of those arguments disappear immediately. One could legitimately make the argument that if the top one percent pay 37% of the income taxes and the top 5% pay 59%, this clearly demonstrates their tax base should be lower. The top 5% don’t make 59% of the income and yet they pay 59% of the taxes. Therefore it is simple and fair to make the argument that they are being over tax. One could delve into all types of arguments depending on their ideology and that is why simplification is the only true and fair solution.

Tithing represents 10% of one’s increase . A proportional tax system does not have to reside at 10%. It can be higher or lower depending on the needs of the government. Because it would be applied proportionally to the entire population, the government would be unlikely to raise taxes to a very high level, for it would effect everyone and not just a small group of voters. This is a clear advantage of a proportional tax rate where everyone participates. Again a logical analysis of a system where 50% of the people pay no income taxes, but are allowed to vote to make the other people pay more taxes, makes absolutely no sense. If one goes back and analyze not only tithing but many of the principles advocated in the Bible, I think they can rediscover what true fairness is.

I also strongly encourage you to read more about Dr. Ben Carson, especially his latest NY Times best selling book “America the Beautiful”.

Armstrong Williams

This story is courtesy of “The Shadow League.” For more sports stories, go to www.theshadowleague.com.

This story is courtesy of “The Shadow League.” For more sports stories, go to www.theshadowleague.com.

Why did Ed Koch carry a grudge against the Cuomos to his grave?

Topics: Andrew Cuomo, Ed Koch, Gay rights, Mario Cuomo, Scandals

Guests: Armstrong Williams, Robert Zimmerman

“Say Anything!” host Joy Behar talks with political strategist Robert Zimmerman and conservative talk show host Armstrong Williams about whether Mario Cuomo was behind posters calling for people to “vote for Cuomo, not the homo,” during his mayoral race against Ed Koch in 1977.

Watch ‘Joy Behar: Say Anything!’ Mon-Thurs Evenings at 9E/6P on Current TV. Find Current on your TV.

Obama should “move boldly” on the agenda he articulated in his second inaugural address, which included strong words about addressing climate change, Gore said in an interview on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS.”

While efforts to tackle climate change would run into GOP opposition in Congress, Gore said the president had ample powers to bear from the executive branch in addressing the issue.

“There are some actions he can take that do not require congressional approval,” he said. “There is a law on the books that requires the EPA to regulate pollution. The Supreme Court has agreed with the obvious interpretation that global warming pollution is pollution. It’s been applied to new coal plants. It should be applied to all facilities.”

After taking his oath of office for a second term, Obama vowed the U.S. would “respond to the threat of climate change,” and jabbed at climate skeptics blocking such efforts.

“Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms,” he said. “The path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult. But America cannot resist this transition; we must lead it.”

Gore said he believes Obama has found a “new firmness” entering his second term when it comes to dealing with GOP opposition, which made itself evident during his standoff over the “fiscal cliff” at the end of 2012.

“I think that he’s learned a great deal during his first term. I don’t want to sound patronizing in saying that. I’ve learned a great deal from watching his first term,” he said. “But I think that you already see a greater depth and sophistication in his approach.”

Accompanying Obama’s new resolve is a “wariness” by Republicans to stand in the way of all his efforts, he argued.

“There is a new awareness, that the American people don’t want gridlock. They don’t want sclerosis,” he said. “They don’t want this hyper-partisanship.”

On other issues, Gore said that the influx of corporate money into the political process has “functionally corrupted” democracy, and called for comprehensive campaign finance reform.

“The Congress now finds it virtually impossible to pass any kind of reform unless they first get permission from the special interests who are most involved with the issue involved and who finance their campaign,” he said. “And that’s pitiful.”

Gore also defended the sale of his TV news network, Current TV, to Al Jazeera America. He called the new owners a “highly respected international news gathering organization.”

“I think the net result, it’s going to be very positive for the American media landscape,” he said.

Wayne LaPierre, chief executive of the NRA, accused the Obama administration of wanting to seek more restrictions on guns than they currently are saying, arguing that the White House was similarly deceptive on the president’s healthcare law.

“I think what they’ll do is they’ll turn this universal [background] check on the law-abiding into a universal registry on law-abiding people,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.”

When pressed by host Chris Wallace on the fact that the White House has said nothing about a universal registry, LaPierre responded, “And ‘ObamaCare’ wasn’t a tax until they needed it to be a tax. I don’t think you can trust these people.”

LaPierre was referring to the administration arguing the healthcare law amounts to a tax before the Supreme Court — an argument the high court agreed with in upholding the individual-mandate portion of the law as a valid use of taxing power.

On Sunday, LaPierre continued his efforts to stem momentum for new gun-control legislation in the wake of the school shooting in Newtown, Conn. He contended that a universal background check would not be workable, in part because of the lack of digitized mental health records and the fact that criminals would not seek out guns in that fashion.

“It’s a fraud to call it universal. It’s never going to be universal,” he said. “The criminals aren’t going to cooperate with it, they could care less…we ought to call it the check on law-abiding citizens of this country.”

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He also pushed back on any attempt to limit the types of weapons an American can purchase or the amount of ammunition a magazine could hold. The White House and Democrats are pushing to ban high-capacity magazines like the ones used by Jared Loughner in the Arizona shooting of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and others.

“If you limit their ability to use semiautomatic technology, you limit their ability to survive,” LaPierre argued.

“You ought to be able to have what you need to protect yourself, not what some politician thinks is reasonable,” he added.

Asked in a pre-Super Bowl interview if he thought the group should end its ban on gay scout leaders and members, Obama responded with a direct: “Yes.”

“My attitude is that gays and lesbians should have access and opportunity the same way everybody else does, in every institution and walk of life,” Obama said.

Obama’s comments come as Boy Scouts leaders say they will discuss whether to change their long-standing ban during an upcoming meeting.

Obama made equal rights for gays and lesbians a central part of his second inaugural address last month, becoming the first president ever to discuss gay rights in an inaugural speech.

“Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law — for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well,” Obama said during his remarks after taking the ceremonial oath of office.

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During his first term, Obama also became the first sitting president to back same-sex marriage and formally ended the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

The Boy Scouts decision to revisit the ban has attracted criticism from one prominent GOP leader, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, himself an Eagle Scout.

Perry on Saturday spoke out against lifting the ban. “I think most people see absolutely no reason to change the position and neither do I,” he said, according to a report in the Dallas Morning News.

This conversation illustrates the serious problems with cookie cutter solutions. We must learn how to use computer technology and many other sources of information gathering to craft policies that work for diverse societies. Otherwise we will continually develop policies that generally want work in the long run.

Armstrong Williams

President Bush during his two terms in office made a considerable attempt to build bridges in the black community. His grassroots support for school vouchers and the diversity of his own cabinet should have proclaimed to black Americans that they are part of the Republican Party. President Obama could care less and is held to an entirely different standard about selecting blacks to join his cabinet, nominating blacks to a seat on the Supreme Court and Secretary of State. What other president would have been given a pass by the mainstream media and civil rights movement after tossing Susan Rice under and over the bus. But black America’s distrust of the Republican Party runs deep and may now be deeper. The psychological scars won’t just fade away.

Can anyone give insights into what the GOP must do to start the process of gaining and maintaining the trust and support of the overall black community ?

Armstrong Williams

To this day, many black officeholders depend on the perception of on-going, widespread racism in order to remain competitive in the electoral process. They underplay the dramatic improvements in economic and social status experienced by blacks over the last 40 years. Large numbers of their constituents, particularly those who came to age during the overt racism of the past half century, continue to believe that the problems confronting the black lower class stem primarily from racism.

Herein lies the greatest missed opportunity of the civil rights movement. They never prepared for the day when the hand of God moved the conscious of a nation and many whites joined the spiritual movement to start treating minorities as equals. Their entire public image, their very legitimacy as political and cultural spokespersons–was predicated on the rhetoric of a black versus white war. As my mentor Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas once observed, the [civil rights] revolution missed a larger point by merely changing the status [of minorities] from invisible to victimized.

Tragically, this point was also missed by the pop culture, which glorifies images of black misogyny, violence and victimization. We hold up gansta rappers as models of achievement. Hey, they’re just keeping it real we say. Meanwhile our children stare at these sociopath’s with adoring eyes. They emulate their mean sense of entitlement, their broken English, and their violence, because this is what the popular culture tells us it means to be black.

Armstrong Williams

The more mature generation who is well read, is extraordinarily concerned about our fiscal viability in the future. Those who are not well read are primarily concerned about whether anything will impact their safety net. One thing that distinguishes people from animals is our ability to process information . This allows us to plan and strategize for our future. When we are only concerned about the here and now we are forfeiting a huge part of the benefits of humanity and acting more like animals who tend to react to what’s going on in the here and now.

Hopefully not only our younger generation but the current generation will come to understand before it’s too late, that we are the captains of our own destiny. What we do to today has a profound impact on what we do and become tomorrow.

Armstrong Williams

“It’s not just to celebrate Tim Scott, but the values he represents, The response was remarkable.” William

Making Scott the first African-American senator from the South since Reconstruction is a major step forward for the Republicans. The move made Scott the GOP’s most prominent African American. If Scott runs for president, as did Sen. Barack Obama, it’s questionable how Blacks will vote. Some Blacks are calling Scott, “another Clarence Thomas.”

Seven Blacks have served in the U.S Senate – four happened to be Republicans. The first was Hiram Revels, a Republican from Mississippi. From the Civil War to struggles for equality in the 1950s and 1960s, the Republican Party has led the way on civil rights, abolishing slavery, passing the 14th and 15th Amendments, ending Jim Crow and enacting the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Like so many of today’s Black males, Scott was raised by a single mother. He was “lost and struggling” until a Chick-fil-A franchise owner took an interest in him. It was this relationship that taught Scott individualism and conservative values. Scott praises his mother and the late conservative entrepreneur John Moniz, for teaching him “basic Biblical business practices.”

Scott is the type of Black success story most would brag about. After barely making it through high school, Scott went to college on a football scholarship, became an insurance salesman and eventually a U.S. congressman and senator. Scott’s story is akin to many Americans who struggle early in life and rise to greatness through hard work and determination.

Scott is a Black role model, unfortunately, many of the opportunities Scott was able to take advantage of are not available today. Prior to being elected to Congress in 2010, Scott served on the Charleston County Council for 13 years, including four terms as chairman and in the South Carolina House of Representatives for two years where he was elected Chairman of the Freshman Caucus and House Whip. He owned Tim Scott Allstate and was a partner in Pathway Real Estate Group.

African-American U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, South Carolina’s only Democratic congressman says, “I am confident Tim Scott will represent South Carolina and the country honorably.” The South Carolina African-American Chamber of Commerce says, “he brings a unique – and badly-needed perspective – to Washington.” The 47-year-old-Scott is a Tea Party conservative and isn’t married, making South Carolina the only state in the Union with two unmarried senators. Lindsey Graham is the other.

Scott is long on Biblical values and, in 1997, supported having the Ten Commandments posted outside county council chambers. Scott replaces Sen. Jim DeMint, an influential conservative and Tea Party favorite, who resigned to become president of the Heritage Foundation. DeMint took over the conservative think tank from Heritage founder Ed Fuelner, whose million dollar salary in 2010 was 10 times DeMint’s $174,000 annual Senate salary.

Scott’s appointment was an adept and “smooth move” on the part of Republicans. The move means that this new breed of Republicans are consulting veteran Black Republicans such as strategist Raynard Jackson who says, “Republicans will not gain significant Black support unless they take policy positions that advance core Black interests … African Americans need capitalism and conservative values, and Scott is a great vehicle.”

Prior to Scott, only six Blacks have served in the U.S. Senate. They were two Mississippians – Revels who served in 1870 – 1874 and Blanche Bruce who served from 1875 to 1881; Edward Brooke of Massachusetts from 1967 to 1979; Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois from 1993 to 1999; Barack Obama of Illinois from 2005 until he resigned after his presidential election in 2008; and Roland Burris, who was appointed to replace Obama and served until November 2010.

William Reed CEO, Black Press International Business/Economic Feature BUSINESS EXCHANGE

William Reed is publisher of “Who’s Who in Black Corporate America” and available for projects via the BaileyGroup.org

Right now, the Library of Congress is exhibiting drafts of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in his own hand, in honor of its 150th anniversary. I recommend viewing these profound two pages of Lincoln’s cursive, which show us both the boldness and the vulnerability of the greatest of our leaders.

It is hard to believe how long ago it was: not very long at all. A century and a half is, from the perspective of history, or even a lifetime, not much. It is two lifetimes, back to back. In the course of human history, it is a dream of a shadow; from the perspective of universal history, it is nothing at all.

And yet, on Martin Luther King Day of all days, the United States inaugurated our first black president for the second time.

Martin Luther King’s rise to power and influence occurred just over a century after the Emancipation, one long lifetime’s distance. Even in that time, as difficult and full of hatred and scorn as it was, remarkable, astounding progress was made, not just among Dubois’ “Talented Ten,” but among the entire black community, and, indeed, the nation as a whole. Fighting in World Wars had made men more tolerant of those from different religions and backgrounds; desegregation of the armed forces made them see through the foolishness of racial prejudice.

Armstrong Williams

In the business community, education is not limited to business school. It often requires technical knowledge to build a product or provide a service. Perhaps most importantly, it requires knowledge of customers, markets and competitors.

Education goes beyond formal education. Success also requires learning on the job so that a person constantly improves skills to add more value to his employer, clients, patients, audience and customers.

Commitment is another ingredient of perspiration. “When times get tough, the tough get going.” Successful people do not let barriers, difficulties or failure discourage them. Commitment requires a positive attitude. Commitment also means putting business, profession obligations, and study before conflicting temptations of pleasure and leisure. A student going to a frat party the night before his medical school exam is probably not committed to being a doctor.

Focus keeps the successful on track. It is rare for a person to be good at everything at the same time. For example very few successful professional athletes can pursue a career in the learned professions at the same time. Successful research scientists are rarely professional actors at the same time. Successful entrepreneurs focus on industries that they know best whether it is computers, software, electronics, real estate or entertainment.

Hard work both literally and metaphorically results in perspiration. The successful athlete must constantly challenge his ability in practice to be successful. A natural boxer who does not practice will lose to the less gifted athlete who practices constantly to hone his strength and skill. Mike Milken, the phenomenally successful junk bond financier of the 1980’s, came to office every day at 4:00 am and left at 8:00 pm. Milken had a sign on his desk: “The harder I work, the luckier I get.”

While “inspiration” is 10% of success, it is an important element. It is harder to define than perspiration, but you know it when you see it. Inspiration includes the ability to see opportunity. It includes the ability to solve problems and to think outside of the box. It also includes internal motivation and judgment.

Inspired people see under-recognized opportunities and think outside of the box to solve problems. Steve Jobs recognized that exploiting the power of the computer went beyond the typewriter keyboard and developed the computer mouse. Thomas Edison saw the need for improved artificial lighting and invented the light bulb. He did not try to improve the candle. Henry Ford saw the opportunity of providing low cost automobiles to the middle class by perfecting mass production of the automobile. Albert Einstein recognized that Newtonian physics could not explain certain physical phenomenon and developed the theory of relativity.

There is no clear path to success. My personal observation of successful individuals in history and that I have personally known convinces me that perspiration and inspiration are key ingredients. If an American wants to be successful, he or she must look for inspiration and be prepared to sweat.

Members now work for two days a week. They work on Tuesday and Wednesday and leave for their district on Thursday night. Some members even sleep in their offices! Our political system can’t be successful if they don’t build the relationships necessary to put the partisan bickering and political games behind the greater good of the country. Technology has led society in a more inward direction, because people don’t have to rely on other peoples company as much as they used too. It has also created a barrier in our political system by allowing our members to be constantly monitored from their home districts. The end result means they leave Washington more frequently to explain themselves to their constituents, and our country is left without necessary solutions to sustain itself.

Armstrong Williams

​The problem today is not purely polarization, of course political parties are going to have drastically different views, it’sthat too many people associate themselves with these views. This blinds us to what we can agree on, we fight about so many things, but if we focused on things we agree upon the country would be much better off. Even though Medicare was a hot button issue with the emergence of Paul Ryan in the presidential election, Ryan actually cosponsored a bill to reform it with one of the most liberal senators, Ron Wyden from Oregon. People on both sides acknowledge it is going broke, but we are still stuck in a debate about how to fix it. Extreme rhetoric from both political parties feeds into their supporters and makes this common ground issue harder to solve. Both parties knew Social Security was in trouble in the early 1980’s, but Ronald Reagan and Tip Oneill joined worked together and fixed it. In the 1990’sBill Clinton and Newt Gingrich butted heads, but eventually passed welfare reform, cut capital gains taxes to help investment, and balanced the budget. But why don’t these broadcompromises seem to work anymore?

Last week on CNN Former Majority leader Trent Lott appeared and discussed the ongoing stall in the fiscal cliff talks, and delivered his take. Congress he said was a much different place when he first arrived, because everyone in both parties socialized more, and they all had permanent residence in Washington DC. Before cell phones, the internet, fax machines and other devices people needed each other’s presence more to fill time, and members in both parties played golf together, went to happy hours, and had family dinners and BBQ’s. The technological innovation in the last 15 years has created a distance between members within their own parties and across the aisle that was essential to how our political system worked. Bob Dole, the 1996 presidential nominee for the Republicans frequently joined Daniel Patrick Moynihan, one of the most liberal members in the senate to in passing bi partisan legislation in the sixties and seventies. In the eighties Ronald Reagan frequently had Tip O’Neill over for drinks and passed bi partisan tax reform on an enormous scale (once in 1981 and again in 1986). They had a relationship, a friendship, and that trumped their political gamesmanship. Those relationships made the system work, and America’s biggest legislative success in the last fifty years has been on a bi partisan basis (Civil Rights Act, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security Reform).

Members now work for two days a week. They work on Tuesday and Wednesday and leave for their district on Thursday night. Some members even sleep in their offices! Our political system can’t be successful if they don’t build the relationships necessary to put the partisan bickering and political games behind the greater good of the country. Technology has led society in a more inward direction, because people don’t have to rely on other peoples company as much as they used too. It has also created a barrier in our political system by allowing our members to be constantly monitored from their home districts. The end result means they leave Washington more frequently to explain themselves to their constituents, and our country is left without necessary solutions to sustain itself.

I am a constitutional conservative I have strong beliefs about the role of government, and cures for societal ills, but there are certain issues I am sure people of opposite views can agree with me upon. We are sixteen trillion in debt, isn’t that outrageous? Do the mass majority of people believe the debt and spending levels we have now are sustainable and smart policy? Didn’t Bill Clinton campaign against the deficits run in the1980’s and implement a balanced budget? Didn’t Dwight Eisenhower, a moderate, enact The Interstate Highway Act that helped create millions of new jobs successfully?

As Americans we need to rise above the political parties language and thought, and talk to one another about our views. We might discover common ground that will move America forward. Our members don’t do this anymore as Trent Lott pointed out, and that is why the country is suffering. We can’t let the political parties separate us, or else America will be in peril, we must stand up and talk to one another.

Armstrong Williams

failure is not punished, but at best ignored, at worst rewarded. Once a program is in place, it is almost never repealed, even when Republicans obtain political power because voters become dependent on it.

Progressives have known this for as long as they have been blowing up the bureaucracy. Congressman Henry Waxman famously said that, if it took losing a few Members of Congress in the next election to get Obamacare passed, it would be worth it. And this was no partisan bias: Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell agreed, warning his troops that once an entitlement is given, it is nearly impossible to get it back.

Armstrong Williams

It is not however too late for reclaiming the tenants of faith and morality that propelled this nation to the pinnacle of success in record time. It is not too late in fact to be one nation under God. Unfortunately unless we have appropriate leadership this will not occur and we will continue the inexorably decline has characterized every other pinnacle nation before us.

Armstrong Williams

Ultimatley what we must do to change this drastic course of elections is to eliminate ignorance from our culture.

Armstrong Williams

It was not a deal that solved our nations spending frenzy, but a few things passed that help many lower income people.

Armstrong Williams

CHEF LALA’S CHINO-LATINO CHICKEN LETTUCE WRAPS

1 tablespoon canola oil
1 pound ground chicken
4 ounces Chef LaLa Homemade Carne Asada Marinade
1/3 cup jícama, diced small
1/3 cup green onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup peanuts, chopped
12 large lettuce leaves

Preparation:
1. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook and stir 2 to 3 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
2. Stir in Chef LaLa Homemade Carne Asada Marinade. Stir-fry 2 minutes or until sauce boils. Remove from heat, stir in jícama, green onions, and peanuts.
3. Divide filling evenly among lettuce leaves; roll up.
Serve warm or at room temperature. Do not let filling stand at room temperature for more than 2 hours.

But before we point all the blame for this tragedy on the Second Amendment, there are a number of reasons why the Second Amendment is still relevant today.

Our Founders put this law into place not so we could commit atrocities on our own people. Our “right to keep and bear arms” was created as something that is “necessary” as a protection measure as a result of the unfortunate, ever-present occurrence of evil.

While we do have a military to protect us in matters of war, here are instances of home-grown terrorism where the Second Amendment has saved numerous lives that the news reports will not highlight. Some of these instances the Libertarian Party highlighted in a recent press release, but all were checked for accuracy:

• The 1997 Pearl High School shooting in Pearl, Miss., was halted by the school’s vice principal after he retrieved the Colt .45 he kept in his truck to prevent the shooter’s plan to go to the middle school.

• The 1998 Parker Middle School dance shooting in Edinboro, Pa. ended when the owner of the restaurant next door confronted the perpetrator with his shotgun, ordering him to drop his weapon and held him at bay for eleven minutes while he searched for other weapons

• The 2002 Appalachian School of Law shooting in Grundy, Va., came to an abrupt conclusion when students carrying firearms confronted the shooter and held him down until police arrived

• A 2007 mall shooting in Ogden, Utah, ended when an armed off-duty police officer intervened.

• The June 2009 Holocaust Museum shooting in Washington, DC ended when two other security officers shot the Holocaust denier after he killed a security guard

• An April 2012 church shooting in Aurora, Colo. was stopped by a member of the congregation carrying a gun. The perpetrator who started the shooting was also a released convicted felon.

• At the recent Clackamas mall shooting in Portland, Ore., the gunman took his own life minutes after being confronted by a shopper carrying a concealed weapon.

In all these situations, none of these people wanted to open fire on these people. They opened fire because their own lives as well as the lives of others were in danger.

That being said, while the need to defend one’s self is necessary, there also needs to be increased regulation, education, and mental health testing before one purchases a gun so people know how to use them in the correct manner.

Just this past Sunday, President Obama traveled to Newtown, CT to partake in a vigil for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting. He was guarded by secret service armed with high-powered weapons.

If outlawing weapons or just particular weapons and not allowing teachers or other civilians to carry firearms will prevent such horrible shootings then why then does the President need to be protected with firearms?

These secret service workers were trained to use and respect these weapons. The average citizen can also be trained to use and respect certain weapons in an appropriate manner with appropriate screening measures in place- and by no means does the average citizen need to own nor should they own an AK-47.

It worries me how the conversation in our country is so willing to take away one’s constitutional right to bear arms because some bad people can get a hold of guns. Before you know it, people will call for getting rid of the First Amendment because a small minority use religion as a means to justify violence.

As much as outlawing weapons seems like the right thing to do every time a tragedy like this happens, an outright ban on guns will not fix the problem.

We have to face the reality that evil will always be present no matter how much we try to legislate around it, but what we can do is better educate our citizens to use our right to defend ourselves against those who abuse our right to inflict terror upon the most vulnerable of our citizens.

Katherine Rodriguez

Tip #1: Make smaller, monthly goals rather than one lofty goal.
One year is a long time to work on a goal, but it’s also a long time to fall behind on a goal. Instead of setting a New Year’s resolution for an entire year, break it up into smaller segments, like monthly goals.

Tip #2: Buddy up.
Making dual resolutions with a friend makes it easier to stick to them. If you’re both relying on each other, you’ll be less likely to back out or quit altogether. Partner up with a friend or family member with the same goals as you, then work together to make them happen.

Tip #3: Give yourself a break.
To make your goal more fail-proof, don’t set it up to be too difficult to achieve. Be realistic. If your goal is to eat healthier, don’t make every food you enjoy off limits. Everything is better in moderation.

Tip #4: Have a support system.
Failure is more likely to happen if the people around you are pressuring you and tempting you to fail. Make sure your friends and family are on board with your resolutions to ensure they won’t try to steer you down the wrong path.
New goals are a great way to gain lifelong health (www.lifelonghealth.com) and lower your risk of disease. Healthy choices can be made any day of the year, so if you find yourself failing, start again or make new ones. It doesn’t have to be January to be the start of a healthier you.

1. Mecca for outdoor enthusiasts.
Nature lovers might experience sensory overload. The area is home to the world’s largest fresh water natural springs and seven state parks. Hikers can expect waterfalls, rivers, sinkholes and Florida wildlife like bison and alligators.
The abundance of rivers makes the region great for boating, fishing and cave diving, especially towns like Melrose and Alachua. Devoted animal fans can visit the Paynes Prairie State Reserve in Micanopy or the Mill Creek Retirement Home for Horses in Alachua. Micanopy also holds the reputation as Florida’s best city for antique shopping.

2. Catch a show at The Hipp.
The Hippodrome Theatre is a focal point of Gainesville’s cozy downtown, typically presenting some of the best theatre in the country. The Hipp, as it’s fondly known, also has an art gallery and a first-rate cinema.
Don’t miss other classic downtown activities, such as ice skating at the Bo Diddley Community Plaza and dining at locally owned restaurants — be it fondue, Mediterranean or sushi.

3. The University of Florida.
Being the college town surrounding one of the country’s most prestigious universities has its perks. Check out the Butterfly Rainforest at the Florida Museum of Natural History, which is on the UF campus. It’s just as magical as it sounds. Or visit the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art. Other nearby attractions include the University of Florida Bat House and Kanapaha Botanical Gardens.
To get an insider’s look at what to see while in Gainesville, go to www.visitgainesville.com.

Travel advertisers should visit adinknetwork.com, a media resource to reach women readers of national magazines in local U.S. geographic markets.

Travel advertisers should visit adinknetwork.com, a media resource to reach women readers of national magazines in local U.S. geographic markets.

Parents let alone can’t punish there children and in NY parents can be arrested for verbally challenging there kids.

This new era of dumbing down the American family has created such a vacuum. It is now that we are beginning to see the consequences that has resulted from this abandoning of morality, discipline, and common sense.

Do you actually think that rhetoric, more government anti- family policies are going to cure what ails us?

We don’t have to worry about Foreign grown terrorist coming to our country. Our new terrorist are home grown and are our very own teenage and adult children. They kill innocent people in theaters , shopping malls, massacre children , their friends, teachers, and adults in classrooms with out any regards for human life. They kill their parents and any anyone who stands in their way. Without a dou bt parents, teachers, friend and loved ones see the warning signs and yet can’t act until there is a murderous crime scene where the assassin usually in a cowardly manner, kill themselves . The media, Hollywood, hip hop, and the entertainment culture must equally share blame, and not the usual rhetoric of placing the blame with lack of gun control laws.

The media is often Obsessed with black on black crime; lack of a family structure and yet none of these massacres happen in inner city and urban America. You don’t see young black men killing people in the classroom , in shopping malls or movie theaters. These heinous crimes happen in suburban America with a young white male committing the mind boggling atrocities. Why doesn’t the media and there so call experts discuss how these young white males consume the music, violence, Hollywood entertainment culture and perpetrate these unconscionable acts as assassins. If these assassins were black , the conversation would be about why young black male culture is a vicious cycle of terrorism and cold blooded murder.

These crimes were non existent 50 years ago. What has changed in America that the media and there so called experts refuse to bring in the media spotlight?

Armstrong Williams

The economic progress of black America has stalled or declined in the past twenty years.

Blacks have failed to narrow the wage and employment gap during this period, even controlling for educational attainment. More critically, the wealth gap between blacks and whites is now wider than ever – by some estimates white Americans have over twenty times the wealth of the average black American. Furthermore, Blacks constitute about twelve percent of the U.S. population, yet account for less than 1% of GDP, and declining.

This is a surprising state of affairs given the progress blacks have made in other aspects of American life: blacks have made many valuable contributions in politics, art, religion and entertainment. For the most part, they can vote freely and are no longer subjected to de jure discrimination. What then accounts for their stalled economic progress?

To address the first question, it might perhaps be useful to triangulate a bit. When adrift upon a sea of uncertainty, it’s often useful to pick two points on land and point your ship between them. For sake of argument, let’s pick as our two points of reference the age-old debate as to whether black American culture is essentially a surviving African culture or a wholly separate culture born of their experience in this country.

On one point, anthropologists such as the liberal Melville Herskovits and the structural-functional school studied African culture, and came to believe that black Americans are essentially Africans. People in the Herskovits school point to surviving traits in African language patterns, religion and music as evidence of a “cultural focus” that is strong in some areas. On the surface, this might appear to be true, as music, religion, sports and entertainment are areas in which blacks have most successfully excelled in this country. Business and commerce, Herskovits believed, were not part of that cultural strength Africans brought to America. Herskovits’ beleaguered black graduate assistant at Columbia University, Zora Neal Hurston, found herself often the object of his study — as he closely observed her and tried to detect so-called “Africanisms” in her language and behavior. Hurston went on to receive her doctorate and made important contributions to the fields of anthropology and literature, and would later assert that some of the traditions Herskovits ‘observed’ in black Americans were not rooted in African traditions at all, but were actually practical adaptations to antebellum life.

At the other point, you have sociologists such as the renowned Howard University Professor E. Franklin Frazier who argue that the structure of slavery obliterated any trace of African culture in black Americans. Under this strain of thought, black American culture is wholly the product of their experience in America, stemming from slavery, through de jure discrimination, and continuing to present. He dismissed the black so-called ‘bourgeoisie’ (really a limited professional class) as a fake entity – as they did not control the means of production of any significant sector of goods and services in the U.S. Any political or economic advantage they managed to secure, he noted, came as a result of protection by the Federal Government. In fact, the largest sector of this class consisted of government employees. Frazier aroused the ire of the landless ‘Negro’ gentry when he pointed out that in 1960 all of the assets in black-owned banks in the United States amounted to less than the assets of one small white-owned bank in rural New York. They were bourgeois in appearance only; they had crudely mimicked the behavior and mannerisms of upper class America in an effort to assimilate that never quite panned out – precisely because they lacked any economic power.

He further asserted that the culture of the lower strata of black society was the result of neglect, racism, and poverty, and not a reflection on any African heritage. He credited many of the observed behaviors among poor blacks as stemming from the conditions in which they found themselves – landless, jobless drifters with no real political or legal rights, and living under the terror of state-sanctioned vigilante organizations like the Klu Klux Klan; in fact their very names – Washington, Jefferson and Adams — were taken out of reference from the plantations on which they had been enslaved (curiously, you rarely hear of blacks with the surname Lincoln). Thus, their tendency to shuck and jive, to make ostentatious displays of clothing and jewelry, to dance and perform ‘chittlin circuit’ theatre, and indeed the practice of eating chittlins’ (pig intestines) – were no throwback to the days of Africa, but stemmed from a situation in which they were denied human and property rights until relatively late in America’s history (essentially since the civil rights movement).

Frazier was especially keen on noting the destruction of the black family under slavery and the conditions of Jim Crow in the American South. Since the end of slavery, there has always existed inequality between the labor force participation of black women and men, which caused an imbalance in the roles of husband and wife, even before desegregation. But since 1980, the black family institution has declined precipitously. The vast majority of blacks born in this country are born into single parent households, mostly run by single black women.

Why is that? In an age in which blacks are free to marry each other, and enjoy drastically expanded education activities and political rights, it would seem that there would be a blossoming of middle class black culture in this country. Well, let’s go back to Herskovits and liberalism for a minute. The logical extension of the anthropologists’ love affair with the native tends to perpetuate dysfunctional traits. Liberals in many ways defined what ‘real’ black culture was in this country, and it was the ‘noble savage’ mentality that they depicted. I’ve seen this over and over again in practice; liberals go out of their way to find the most dysfunctional aspects of black culture and celebrate them. When they see a black person who displayed any evidence of culture and refinement, they dismiss him as inauthentic. They want a slave narrative to make them happy, and will stop at nothing until they get one.

Unfortunately the black community has been all too willing to give them what they want. ‘You want me to speak Ebonics?’ Fine, I’ll show you Ebonics in return for a government education grant. You want to fund welfare instead of businesses? Fine, we’ll make sure and have plenty of children out of wedlock so as to qualify. The effect of liberal intervention into almost all aspects of black American life, while in some ways well-intentioned, has suffered from the law of unintended consequences: despite the billions spent on government programs for minorities, fully fifty years after the ‘Great Society’ was instituted, the majority of black Americans are worse off both politically and economically than before the civil rights movement began.

Herskovits other implication: that blacks in Africa did not have a cultural focus on trade and economics also bears criticism. A look back in the history of Africa, whether one is talking about Egypt, the great civilizations of Timbuktu or Mali, reveals a rich history of trade and commerce. It is a matter of historical record that the Malian emperor Mansa Musa nearly destroyed the economy of Saudi Arabia when he loaded camels with Gold and went on Hajj there. In fact, the Gold-Salt trade across the Sahara was one of the chief economic movements in the world during the fourteenth through seventeenth centuries. Herskovits’ mistake is that he essentially observed a fallen African civilization at one discreet period in time and tried to imply that somehow these traits were innate or immutable – authentic.

As noted above, nothing could be further from the truth. Bud sadly, many American blacks, even among the educated classes have set about trying to make themselves seem more ‘authentic.’ The blast gangster rap, have taken to calling women out of their name, and call other educated blacks who fail to submit to the cultural stereotypes ‘Uncle Toms.’ The pernicious effect of this false consciousness starts at home and extends to the commercial sphere. Prominent American blacks such as Bill Cosby, who dare criticize this sad state of affairs, have been roundly chastised.

Many black children, after the fashion of so-called black authenticity, grow up fatherless. It’s gotten to the point where in many communities it is actually rare for a two parent household to exist. They largely become wards of the state, whether through welfare, school lunch programs, or, ultimately incarceration. It is telling that over a hundred years after the passage of the thirteenth Amendment outlawing slavery, there are more blacks imprisoned today than there were slaves in 1850. And the route back to slavery for most of them is pretty clear. It starts with keeping it real, failing to go to school and study; it proceeds to a maladaptive language pattern, Ebonics, and its attendant cognitive deprivation; it proceeds to joblessness and poor economic opportunities for those who do not educate themselves; and it finally descends to crime and jail.

This space does not permit me to address the myriad other factors that could account for blacks lack of economic progress – lingering effects of labor market discrimination, lack of intergeneration wealth, and so on – but I wanted to focus on something that at least black Americans can have some control over improving. A strong family life is the single most important factor in building wealth in America. Married households tend to earn far more than their single counterparts. Children in two-parent households are far more likely to receive cognitive stimulation and moral guidance. And families are the primary transmission vehicles of intergenerational wealth in this country. Education is the second-most important aspect of building wealth. I don’t believe it’s going too far to suggest that watching less television, reading more, and engaging in mentally stimulating activities such as dinner table conversations could go a long way towards closing the wealth gap.

Armstrong Williams

TVONE Washington Watch with Roland Martin

Recently someone wrote a very moving post on our blog www.ElderChicks.com about having endured the loss of family closest to her and now dealing with the serious illness of her daughters. It has taken a very long time, but she has emerged from a very dark period in her life realizing that she is able once again to feel joy, something she feared would never happen again. The cloud of sorrow and despair has finally, actually lifted.

Her experience can help us understand the very real possibility that we can do this too. We can focus on happy memories, on the things we laughed about together, and the joy the missing ones brought into our lives. And we can share these memories with the young people who may never have known them, celebrating their legacy by keeping good memories alive.

Family means so much more than who is here today. Let’s keep those who are gone with us and give the gift of knowing them to our children and grandchildren.

Happy Holidays!

Thelma Reese. Ed. D.

Note to editors:?This story is targeted for Illinois

The impact of increased interest rates on government interest costs and the budget deficit would be devastating. At today’s historically low interest rates, the government pays an average interest rate of 2.2% on the national debt of $16 trillion, or $359 billion. In a recovery, expect rates to increase to the historical average in the range of 5% to 7%. If rates on government debt to increase to 6%, the interest cost of federal debt would increase to $960 billion. That would increase the 2012 deficit 50% from $1.2 trillion to $1.8 trillion. The government would have to make up this short fall by increasing taxes, cutting spending or borrowing more money.

The increase in rates also has an adverse impact on the nation’s banking and financial system because increasing market interest rates reduce the market value of debt. For example, the current interest rate on 10 year treasury notes is 1.6% compared to the historical average rate of 6.6%. If market interest rates on these notes increases to 6.6%, the note would have a market value of 65% of the original principal amount. This is a 35% reduction in the principal value of these notes. A 35% reduction in America’s $16 trillion debt will cause $5.6 trillion loss to the holders of the national debt. Since a significant amount of the national debt is held by the banking system and by American investors such insurance companies, pension funds and retired individuals, such a decline will have a major impact on their net worth and solvency.

Logan Delany CEO and Founder Delany Capital Group

* Always consult your pediatrician for questions and concerns about fever in infants and children.

COCONUT SNOWBALL
1 hour prep and overnight freeze
Servings: Makes 1 snowball

Custard ingredients:
1 1/4 cups coconut milk
2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
2 egg yolks
Combine all the ingredients in a small pot, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Cook on medium-low heat while stirring constantly until the custard thickens slightly. Strain the custard and allow it to cool at room temperature.
While the custard is cooling, start making the mousse.

Mousse ingredients:
2 cups heavy cream (whipped)
14 ounces white chocolate
1 ounce Camus cognac
2 gelatin sheets
Whip the heavy cream with a whisk until it forms medium-stiff peaks. Melt the white chocolate over a double boiler. Soak the gelatin sheets in ice water until it’s softened (5 minutes), and strain the gelatin to remove any excess liquid. Add the gelatin to the Camus cognac and melt them together (30 seconds at a time). Add the cognac to the custard, stir in the white chocolate, and mix until completely smooth. Fold in the heavy cream. Place the mousse in an airtight container and refrigerate overnight.

Assembly:
4 ounces pineapple juice
1 ounce Camus cognac
3 ladyfinger cookies
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup diced pineapple (garnish)
2 leaves fresh cilantro (garnish)
1/4 cup coconut milk (garnish)
1 tablespoon olive oil (garnish)
Combine 4 ounces of pineapple juice with 1 ounce of Camus cognac. Cut 3 ladyfingers in half and dip quickly in the pineapple juice. Using a 4-ounce scoop, position the mousse onto a sheet of parchment paper. Place the ladyfingers in the middle of the mousse. Place the mousse in the freezer for 30 minutes (or until firm).
When the mousse is firm but pliable, roll it into a ball, and coat it in shredded coconut. Place the snowball in the refrigerator and start the final plating — positioning the snowball in the middle of an attractive plate or bowl, garnishing the dish with diced pineapple, cilantro leaves, coconut milk and a little olive oil.

This President can’t differentiate his allies from enemies. He would rather be loved and mocked rather than be respected and feared.

Armstrong Williams

This is already a terribly negative Convention. Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL, got up on stage and said that “women can’t trust Mitt Romney.” Who does Nancy Keenan speak for? She, no doubt, would claim that she speaks for all women, which is about as arrogant as it gets.

The Democrats have made the strange choice of portraying Mitt Romney as both a flip-flopper and an extremist. I have news for them: you can’t be both. If he were extreme, he wouldn’t flip flop; if he flip-flopped, he wouldn’t be extreme. They’ve even shown us video from Romney’s Senate run in 1994 against Ted Kennedy. They think that it will help their cause by showing a younger, more moderate Romney.

The Democrats need to stick to a narrative. If they’re going to play dirty—and they have definitely decided to do that—they’re going to have to be a lot more convincing, and they’re going to have to do it in front of the right cameras

The successes of Clinton and failures of Obama are stark. When Clinton’s leftist agenda ushered in a Republican Congress after his first 2 years in office, he triangulated to the political center. Under similar circumstances, Obama doubled down on his leftist agenda. Clinton found common ground with Newt Gingrich and the Republican congress. In doing so, he presided over one of the most prosperous periods of the 20th century. After the Democrats lost control of congress to Republicans in a landslide after Obama’s first two years, he failed to find common ground with the Republican congress. Consequently, he has presided over the worst economy since the Great Depression of the 1930’s.

The policy differences between the former president and Obama are also stark. Clinton is most remembered for “ending welfare as we know it.” He understood the moral hazards inherent in the welfare state and sought to limit the role of government. Obama is in the process of dismantling the Clinton welfare forms by eliminating the work requirement for welfare. He is clearly a proponent of imposing the Western European welfare state model of cradle to grave entitlements on the American people.

While Clinton increased income taxes on all taxpayers, he lowered the capital gains tax. Obama has imposed a number of new taxes on the American people such as the Obamacare taxes and the Medicare taxes. In addition, he would like to impose higher income taxes on only rich Americans and small business owners. The purpose of his tax increase on the rich is not to raise income to balance the budget, but because it thinks it is “the right thing to do.” Clinton espoused no such divisive class warfare.

Under Clinton, the federal government was fiscally responsible and balanced the budget with a surplus. Under Obama, the annual deficit exceeded $1 trillion every year and the total accumulated debt exceeds $5 trillion.

Finally, does the DNC really want to remind voters of Clinton’s lack of respect of women? It is bad enough that he had sex with a 21 year old intern in the oval office. He continues to be seen around the world with various women. Does he not respect his marriage vows? At least he could be discrete about his infidelities. Why do Hillary and Democratic women tolerate this man?

Will the Clinton’s speech provide red meat for Obama’s critics or will his halo convince the uncommitted voters?

Logan D. Delany, Jr.Entrepreneur

During his four decades as an NFL owner, Art Modell helped negotiate the league’s lucrative contracts with television networks that generated $8.4 billion for the league, served as president of the NFL from 1967 to 1969, and chaired the negotiations for the first collective bargaining agreement with the players in 1968 a succession of winning ideas and the expansion of the N.F.L. into many cities; the 1970 merger of the American Football League and the National Football League into competing N.F.L. conferences; preseason games. He also was the driving force behind the 1970 contract between the NFL and ABC to televise games on Monday night.

In 1995 when Mr. Modell announced that, having lost $21 million in the previous two seasons, he would move the Browns to Baltimore for 1996. Wounded Cleveland shrieked betrayal after “Pride of Cleveland” and “Super Citizen” awards, and was elected to the boards of corporations and universities.. There were street protests, hate mail and death threats against Mr. Modell. At the final home game, beer bottles and seats torn from their moorings rained down on the field.

In hindsight people in Cleveland need to realize that at the time he moved the team, the Indians got a new stadium, the Cavs got a new stadium, the Rock ‘n Roll hall of fame was built, and they built a science museum next door, and then told Art Modell (I believe he also would use some of his own money) that the Browns wouldn’t get a new stadium, get over it Cleveland.

He was never the same man after moving the Browns. I believe it broke his heart, are words uttered by many that know Art Modell.

Modell Is to me & others regarded as one of the most influential movers and shakers in the NFL for much of his four-decade tenure. There is an oft-used phrase in the annual Hall of Fame discussions that one “cannot write the history of the league without including certain candidates” Art Modell.

Good and bad, it would be difficult to imagine the N.F.L as it is without his role.

“Football became my livelihood,” Modell once acknowledged. “And my life.” a statment to me that Is underrated In this league & by Mr. Modell himself.

“Mr. Art Modell Is The N.F.L!” His 43 seasons in the league represented more than half of the NFL’s history.

When I first met him (away from the normal handshake & hello), he was sitting in a sideroom from the box with 10 TV’s on the wall and I was trying to watch the Bills game. when I reach the arch way of the room he said “Please have a seat” I felt like a huge kid In a dream,  he says ” Which team are you rooting for?” “THE BILLS” I thought he was going to let me have It, Instead he smile looked at the wall & turned to the Bills game on one of the two big Tv’s. He then turned toward me & said “Ralph, hes a good man”.

I will never forget the story he told my about him & Ralph Wilson. Ive been to the box 5 times since, everytime I would see Art go inside the box to watch the games I couldnt help but want to go sit there aswell in hopes for another great story!! My last game Im Very Thankful to David Modell who emailed me to offer a ticket to the 2012 playoff game last seasons, not knowing this would be the last time I would see Art.

R.I.P Art & Pat Modell

In the real world, Santa Claus is actually a better businessman than Mitt Romney. He outsources the making of toys to the manufacturers. He then gets the retailers and media to do all the advertising at no cost to him. He even outsources the buying and delivery of gifts on Christmas morning to children’s parents, and he gets all the credit. That is a great business model.

Perhaps the Democrats have not yet figured out that in the real world, parent’s pay for gifts delivered by Santa Claus. The government is not Santa Claus giving out free gifts to citizens. Taxpayers must pay for these gifts.

Logan D. Delany, Jr.Entrepreneur

The Democrats are already responding to the Republican convention, and changing their speaker lineup: According to Donovan Slack of Politico, the Democrats are adding women and minorities to their roster, which I take to mean that the Republican convention was effective. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s speech was presidential — it wouldn’t be hard to imagine her giving that if she were the nominee. Just as stirring was that of Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. Some left-wing critics noted that the RNC stage was more diverse than the RNC delegation; I ask, would you prefer it the other way around?

I’m afraid that that’s the case with the Democratic National Convention. As Matt Yglesias tweeted, “[the] DNC lineup exaggerates whiteness of the party relative to its actual voting base.”

One good way to judge the confidence of a campaign is to note how often it uses ad hominem attacks. The more ad hominems, the less confident they must be.

Armstrong Williams

The chairman immediately denied the allegation, saying he was being persecuted for the good work he did in the course of the committee’s work. Confronted with video and audio evidence of the receipt of the said funds, Hon Lawan soon developed cold feet and owned up to receiving the sum of $620,000.00 but said he reported the matter to the house leadership and some security agencies.

Hon. Farouk Lawan, Chairman of the House Ad-Hoc probe panel on the subsidy is a very well respected Nigerian and a 3rd term member of the House of Representatives who had in past few years championed the course of the common man or so it seemed. He also is the head of a well respected pressure group within the house, known as the “Integrity Group” and dreaded by the executive. His voice was seen as a voice of truth and reason and many Nigerians had come to see him as a thorough bred politician who can be relied upon. It was therefore a rude shock when these revelations were made about his person.

Since the news broke, there have been different versions to the same story and Nigerians are perplexed by the unfolding drama playing out once again at the hollowed chambers of the House of Representatives. There are more questions begging for answers and the House of Representatives has once again shot itself in the foot and betrayed the confidence reposed in it by the general public. Again, an assignment that is intended to throw more light on the corruption ridden petroleum sector which accounts for more than 80% of Nigeria’s economic mainstay has again been dashed and with it the hopes and aspirations of millions of ordinary people who are depending on the prudent management of these resources to affect their lives. We may have returned to the same spot we were

before the probe.

Nigeria is, indeed, my country and our legisLOOTERS are doing all they can to make it better.

Peter Nwokolo Public Affairs Analyst based in Lagos, Nigeria.

I will be keeping all of you posted as stories develop here. If there are any questions, post them in the comments section and I will get to them as soon as I can.

A statement from the family says he died following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures. It doesn’t say where he died.

Armstrong commanded the Apollo 11 spacecraft that landed on the moon July 20, 1969, radioed back to Earth the historic news of “onesmall step for man & one giant leap for mankind.”

Armstrong and fellow astronaut Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin spent nearly three hours walking on the moon, collecting samples, conducting experiments and taking photographs. In all, 12 Americans walked on the moon from 1969 to 1972.

R.I.P Neil!! Thanks For Taking That Giant Leap For Mankind!! “Anthony T. Carr Jr”

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/08/25/astronaut-neil-armstrong-dies-at-82/#ixzz24acv92AV

Do you know the definitions of “commerce,” “entrepreneurship” and/or “free-enterprise”?

August, which is National Black Business Month [NBBM], is a good time for Black Americans to start productive business activities. African Americans across the U.S. are urged to join the National Black Business Month movement to encourage Blacks to patronize Black-owned businesses. The movement could spark discussions and initiatives that educate Blacks in American capitalism and at the same time revive the country’s Black business districts.

For some, the National Black Business Month concept will set off debate about the continued usefulness and fairness of a month and initiative dedicated to one race. What African Americans need now is a race-based initiative and culture to support Black-owned businesses. Contemporary Blacks’ participation in the American capitalistic system is highly suspect. Blacks show high levels of economic dysfunction and are unique in our lack of internal commerce.

Studies show that nowadays, a dollar goes into and out of the Black community in 15 minutes. A poor understanding of capitalism and internal circulation of funds plague Black communities. Money circulates zero to one time within the Black community, compared to a dollar circulation rate of six times among Latino communities, nine times among Asian communities and an unlimited number of times within White and Jewish communities, according to the University of Georgia’s Selig Center for Economic Growth.

The National Black Business Month movement will raise the visibility of African-American entrepreneurs as the most promising solutions for the growth of American cities and commerce. National Black Business Month is an ideal time to define: “commerce,” “entrepreneurship” and “free-enterprise” to your friends and family. It can build a pillar for business in Black American culture. The basic concept behind National Black Business Month is for African Americans to make a commitment to visit a Black-owned business on each of the 31 days of August. The movement has at its base educating the masses of Blacks and other Americans on the advantages of developing and supporting Black business enterprises. NBBM had inaugural events in San Jose in June and in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco in August.

Executives at BlackMoney.com are the movement’s primary advocates. Their objective is to motivate “commerce toward, between and among the nation’s Black businesses”; and to urge a show of solidarity to help Black-owned businesses increase their consumer traffic and revenue. “Each one tells one” could be a “force multiplier” for Black businesses and economics. The NBBM needs to grow legs, and you can help. To effectively participate in the NBBM initiative African Americans are requested: 1.) Visit some of the small businesses in your city or community. 2.) Go inside the business and introduce yourself. 3.) Even if you don’t buy anything, look around to see if there are items, services or products that you may have better use for on another day.

John William Templeton is a co-founder of National Black Business Month. A business journalist, Templeton is a nationally recognized author, historian, demographer and financial expert. A graduate of Howard University’s School of Communications, Templeton and his associates tout Black-and Minority-owned businesses as “increasingly important” to America’s economy.

A business [also known as an enterprise or firm] is an organization engaged in the trade of goods and/ or services to consumers. There are 1.9 million Black-owned businesses in the U.S. Black-owned firms annually employ 921,032 people, and generate $137.5 billion in receipts. These days, minority business operations need ongoing support from their neighbors, local legislatures and corporate brethren. Black-owned businesses are prominent in health care and social assistance [19 percent], repair and maintenance and personal and laundry services [19 percent]. Administrative and support services, waste management and remediation services industries account for 11 percent.

It’s time Blacks came together on business. Over the next few weeks, let’s spread the word on Black Business Month as much as we can. John Templeton can be reached at: johnwtempleton@blackbusinessmonth.com and/or BlackMoney.com

William Reed CEO, Black Press International Business/Economic Feature BUSINESS EXCHANGE

(William Reed is available for speaking/seminar projects via the Bailey Group.org)

All of which is complete nonsense. To his credit, he quickly recognized that this was a terrible faux pas and apologized, stating that he had misspoken.

In a supposedly enlightened age, the concepts Akin posited are ridiculous — and particularly embarrassing for the GOP, because, of course, the mainstream media will try to portray these idiotic statements as representative of all Republicans. This is no closer to the truth than to say that Joe Biden’s statements of putting people back in chains are representative of all Democrats.

Hopefully Akin himself will be able to objectively assess whether his remaining in the race will be detrimental to his party and will make an appropriate choice by 5 p.m. today, the deadline for the party being able to replace him with another candidate.

Unfortunately, this will not be the last incredibly stupid thing that will be said by an individual from one or the other party. We the people have to be smart enough to recognize these gaffes for what they are and not let a biased media whip us into an inappropriate frenzy: or the GOP demanding the removal of Akin from the ballot because he has become toxic to the overall party agenda, as they prepare for their August 27 – 31 convention in Tampa, Fla. Let the voters of Missouri decide the fate of Todd Akin !!

His pick of Paul Ryan as his running mate is not only the bravest move of his political career, but the bravest pick of any running mate ever. Mitt Romney is essentially betting not only his entire career on November, but betting the entire future of the country on it as well.

Americans now have a clearer choice than they did before; voting for Mitt Romney is no longer voting for Anybody Palatable But Obama, but for an entirely different world view.

Because the stakes are now so much higher, I love this pick; it’s a stroke of genius. Paul Ryan is an amazing leader in Washington, one of the smartest and nicest guys in town. He’s a perfect fit for Mitt Romney, too. Like Governor Romney, Ryan is a brilliant economic thinker, a dedicated and honorable family man, and an articulate proponent of rational, conservative principles.

Last week, this race was about President Barack Obama. Now this race is about the future of America. Romney is gambling the entire conservative brand on November, and giving America a choice: if they really want Bismarckian statism, then they can have it. Or, if they want prosperity and freedom, they can have that back too. Romney is thinking very long-term, like a true leader should.

A lot of people on both sides have called this a risky move; they are right. But that is why it is so brilliant: if America is going down, it’s at least going down swinging. If Obama is re-elected, and we continue on the path that we are on, within a decade the interest on our debt will be larger than our military spending, and large enough to fund the entire Chinese military. Within a decade, America will no longer be able to hide that it has lost its dominance. When a future Gibbon looks backs through the rubble, he will at least be able to say that the good guys gave it one last shot.

Romney was not reckless, however; he knew that President Obama was already going to attack him for associating with Paul Ryan. The Republican House has already passed two Ryan budgets, and Obama is hoping to run against the Republican House: David Axelrod was already sharpening his guilt-by-association fallacy.

It is a testament to Ryan’s influence that his name was almost a litmus test during the debates and during the primaries. President Obama’s hyperventilating about the Ryan budgets as “thinly veiled Social Darwinism” and a “Trojan horse,” and “you’re-on-your-own economics” only demonstrate the President’s extremism, not Chairman Ryan’s. How many people voted for Obama’s budget? No one: not Barney Frank, not Maxine Waters, not Henry Waxman. You can pick any Democrat in Congress and Obama is still to their left.

Romney knew that he was going to be pilloried and abused as a Social Darwinist already: it must have occurred to him, why run from it?

In Washington, you eventually learn not to worry about what people say about you, because your opponents will rationalize everything their way anyhow. If Romney had picked Portman, then they would have called Romney a coward who approves of Bush’s budget director. If he had picked Rubio, they would have said Romney caved to conventional wisdom. It’s just the way campaigns work: no matter what you do, you will be attacked.

One reasonable objection, however, might be that you want a guy like Ryan in the House, where he has risen by sheer merit to a leadership role. Reportedly, Ryan even turned down a job as OMB director for President Bush. But Ryan is already term-limited out of staying on as Budget Committee Chairman; would you put him on Appropriations? Ways and Means? What would you do with him? His effectiveness would be diminished in the supporting role which he must now take on.

Therefore, Ryan as Vice-President is a perfect match. He shares many good qualities with Romney, and compliments the few that he lacks. The job of an executive is to make decisions, and Romney has demonstrated a brilliant judgment. It took courage for Romney to pick Ryan, and there has been no better example of courage in Washington than the Budget Chairman.

And no one should question whether or not Ryan is qualified for the job. Put Ryan beside President Obama. One is a dorky numbers guy; one is an entertainer. One is all substance, one is all style. We will know in November which one we should choose, and we again will therefore know who we are.

Armstrong Williams

Bis was something of an ambassador. No, a king – the king of Capitol Hill. His throne sat at the corner of Second Street and Massachusetts, a stone’s throw from Union Station, on land that technically belongs to Exxon.

Bis got to know the faces of all those who passed him. And for those in his good graces, he’d warn, “No skinny dipping.” When pressed to explain this unusual piece of advice, he reasoned, “It’s illegal. And once they cross state lines to Virginia, it’s a felony. I’d be an accessory to a felony misdemeanor and subject to prosecution if I told people to go skinny-dipping.” He says he was a law student for two years at Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Michigan.

But in the District, Bis was a collector. For years he stored his belongings on the strip outside of Exxon. They were impossible to miss, spanning fifteen feet, stretched waist-high, and covered by water resistant tarps. His collection consisted mostly of discarded items from the interns staying at the Heritage Institute’s dorms down the street, though Bis also promised that Interpol paperwork and a “$3,000 C.I.A.-grade laptop computer” were among his curbside items. But city beautification efforts forced him to remove his things in the summer of 2009, leaving him with only a few of his personal effects.

Still upbeat, Bis was still up bright and early to keep an eye on his court. “I’m up twenty-four seven. When you’re sleeping, I’m working. I keep an eye on places, and I carry phone numbers.” He talked about someone trying jimmy the lock at the Heritage Foundation a couple of years back. Bis whipped out his list of phone numbers and called the police.

Most residents appreciated his initiative. As far as they were concerned, Bis was a neighbor like any other. And they made sure he was taken care of. Bis was pround of his relationships with the local residents, and was often seen with grocery bags of food neighbors packed him for lunch. “People have leftovers and things, and they’re nice enough to give me some. Everything I got comes from donations. I don’t ask for anything.”

And to show his gratitude, he was ever on watch. At the sound of a tire screech or police siren, Bis would cut short whatever he was saying and try to figure out what was happening. He’d often excuse himself saying, “I don’t mean to be rude, but I have to see what’s going on here.” He’d mumble a few words in French and hobble towards the commotion. Duty called.

Link to original article: http://leahjharris.wordpress.com/published-work/essays/neighborhood-watch/

Leah J. Haris

Peter’s Blog: http://peterbis.blogspot.com

Armstrong Williams

This is in sharp contrast to the Obama-Biden ticket’s liberal fiscal policy of expanding the social welfare state with ineffective government stimulus programs, trillion dollar deficits, increased national debt, unsustainable entitlements, and larger intrusive government. This liberal fiscal policy has been tried for nearly four years and failed to deliver promised prosperity and reduced unemployment.

Prior to the selection of Ryan, it was not clear whether Romney was Obama –lite or had a better way for America. With this selection, Romney made it clear that Americans need to hear the truth. There is no such thing as the tooth fairy in the real world. Paul Ryan, as chairman of the House Budget Committee, has for several years put his budget in writing for all to see. He has made it clear that federal government cannot continue to make entitlement promises it cannot afford. The government must have a balanced budget like any responsible organization or family. Under Obama, there has been no budget for 4 years, and the government has run trillion dollar deficits each year. The country can no longer afford to let the government encumber young Americans with the crushing government debt that will destroy their future prosperity. The national debt today is in excess of $50,000 for every American and growing. That is $200,000 for a family a four and larger than most American’s home mortgage!

Some liberal Americans do not want to hear the truth. They believe the government owes all Americans an education, a job, health care, a pension and free birth control pills. The government can pay for this generosity by taxing those who are economically the most productive and successful. They believe that successful entrepreneurs and small business owners “did not build their business” through hard work, intelligence and perseverance. The government is responsible for their success. Historical evidence to the contrary, these liberal Americans believe that the productive members of the society will continue to be economically productive even when the government taxes most of their earnings. These Americans pay lip service to the traditional American ethic of individual responsibility, but who do not want to bear the consequences of individual responsibility.

Fortunately, most middle Americans still ascribe to the ethic of individual responsibility. They do not expect someone else to pay their way. These Americans work hard to pay for their children’s education, medical bills, homes, cars and retirement. They have budgets where income generally exceeds expenses. They may get government assistance in the form of social security or Medicare, but they paid for it out of their earnings. These Americans also understand that politicians may have overpromised certain entitlement benefits that the country can no longer afford. The costs of restructuring these entitlements now will be less than waiting to the future. Most of these Americans also understand that income, wealth, and jobs are created by the private sector. Government jobs require taxes from the private sector to pay for them. They rarely create non-tax revenue to support the government.

In November, American voters will decide which path the country will take to return to economic prosperity. Romney now provides a clear fiscally conservative limited government alternative to Obama’s fiscally liberal large government approach. It is not easy to tell voters that there is no “pain free” solution to America’s problems. No family likes to cut back on expenses so they can live within their means on a reduced budget. Most people would rather believe the pain free solutions promised by the Obama administration where somebody else pays.

If a majority of voters choose the tooth fairy Obama-Biden ticket, Americans can look to the stagnation of Europe to see the country’s economic future. It is not a pretty picture to have a country’s creditors dictating political decisions when a spend thrift government can no longer borrow to cover its deficits. Look at the Germans dictating fiscal policy in Greece, Italy and Spain. China is America’s largest creditor. Will the Chinese be more benevolent than the Germans?

Logan D. Delany, Jr.Entrepreneur

Here is another of my commentaries that is based on an article I wrote for the Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) website. This time the predication for my CAPS commentary was a report that aired on CBS News’ 60 Minutes on July 29, 2012.

I urge you to please take the time to watch the video of that poignant 60 Minutes report, for which a link is provided in my commentary. As a retired INS Special Agent I often encountered the horrific conditions under which illegal aliens lived and worked in the United States. It turned my stomach to see how these vulnerable people were, all too often exploited. My colleagues and I understood that effective border security- and not just where our southern border was concerned but where all methods of entry into our country needed to be secured. We came to understand from first hand experience, that effective immigration enforcement from within the interior of the United States could accomplish a number of critically important goals- to protect Americans from the specter of terrorists and transnational criminals, to discourage the outrageous exploitation of foreign workers and, at the same time, help make certain that American and lawful immigrant workers would be able to find work to enable them to support themselves and their families.

Anyone who argues against the securing of our borders and means of entering the United States from those who would violate our borders and our laws is actually arguing against the fundamental goals I just noted above. Yet there are many politicians across this country, on all levels of government- local, city, state and federal who have managed to oppose effective immigration law enforcement and still get elected and then re-elected to public office. Often they are able to do this because the Chamber of Commerce and the unholy alliance that they have forged with various corporations and advocacy groups have been able to raise incredible sums of cash to fill the coffers of elected officials who will do their bidding, especially where immigration is concerned.

Violations of our borders and our immigration laws are not “victimless” crimes. These failures of border security and effective immigration law enforcement cause our country and our citizens to bleed both red and green! Lives are lost to the transnational criminal aliens who come from the four corners of this planet. Terrorists and those who support their violent objectives have also inflicted casualties in the United States.

Meanwhile Americans who, through no fault of their own have lost their jobs and consequently their thin slice of the “American Dream” to foreign workers who either violate our immigration laws by running our borders or by violating the terms of their admission into the United States. High tech workers have lost their jobs to foreign workers who have gamed the visa process.

When you read the transcript of the segment of the 60 Minutes episode or watch the video of that episode, I want you to consider that the father who now lives out of a truck with his two children is described as being an unemployed carpenter. Think of how many tradesman have lost their jobs to “day laborers.”

My dad was a construction worker, a “plumber by trade” as he would proudly tell people who asked him what he did for a living. He died more than 40 years ago when I was 19 years old and he was 57. He died of lung cancer- likely caused by his 3 pack a day Chesterfield cigarette habit and his exposure to asbestos in the shipyards during the Second World War where he worked on American warships and on construction jobs in the years after World War !! ended. I can still recall the days my dad would trudge through the front door with that look in his eyes that came whenever he was laid off from work. I remember how hard it was for my parents to make ends meet during the months he was unemployed.

Today those tradesman are finding it increasingly difficult to find work especially work that pays enough for an American family to live on. All too many are competing with day laborers for scarce jobs. You cannot compare the quality of the work a tradesman does with the work a day laborer does- but for unscrupulous building contractors, often all that matters is maximizing profits. For those employers, day laborers are the solution.

We have become accustomed to the barrage of images of aliens who live in squalor. However, it is rare to see how citizens of the United States, in growing numbers are now also living in squalor inside the United States of America!

It is often said that charity begins at home!

CBS News and the folks at 60 Minutes should be commended for telling the side of the story that is rarely told or shown! The 60 Minutes report did not draw the connection between the loss increasing numbers of Americans who have lost their jobs to foreign workers- but the connection must be made!

President Obama’s end run around the Constitution to essentially enact the DREAM Act via misuse of executive orders will ultimately enable millions of illegal aliens to be granted employment authorization. These aliens will become immediately eligible to obtain driver’s licenses and Social Security cards as well as credit cards and other such documents even though they will not be able to furnish reliable proof as to their true identities. This fact alone should give us all cause for pause! This is a national security nightmare! This nightmare is not being created by our adversaries but by the actions of the current administration without the consent of Congress!

Furthermore, aliens who receive employment authorization will have as much lawful right to a job as do American citizens and lawful immigrants. This is a betrayal of every hard working American and lawful immigrant! Yet barely a word of protest has been heard by politicians from either political party!

Just as frustrating- barely a word of protest has been heard from the citizens of the United States!

When you connect all of these dots and many others that are “out there” and readily available, the picture you create is not at all pretty!

Immigration is not a single issue but a singular issue that impacts nearly every challenge and threat confronting the United States today!

If our government’s failures to protect American jobs by securing our nation’s borders and effectively enforcing our immigration laws concerns you or especially if it angers you, I ask you to call your Senators and Congressional “Representative. This is not only your right- it is your obligation!

All I ask is that you make it clear to our politicians that we are not as dumb as they hope we are!

We live in a perilous world and in a perilous era. The survival of our nation and the lives of our citizens hang in the balance.

This is neither a Conservative issue, nor is it a Liberal issue- simply stated, this is most certainly an AMERICAN issue!

You are either part of the solution or you are a part of the problem!

Democracy is not a spectator sport!

Lead, follow or get out of the way!

Michael W. Cutler, Senior Special Agent, INS (Ret.)

Please check out my website at AND Magazine:

www.TalkBorder.com

Please also check out my personal website:

http://michaelcutler.net/

The Chick-fil-A fast-food chain is standing firm in its opposition to gay marriage since company President Dan Cathy said the company “backs the traditional family unit.” Gay rights groups have called for a boycott of the chain and politicians in Boston, Chicago and Washington, D.C. told the company that they intend to use zoning laws and local regulations to let Chick-fil-A executives know that it’s not welcome in their locales. The current campaign may well turn out to be a bridge too far and evolve into a horrible setback for homosexual activism.

Nowadays, the type of fast-food bag you carry can put you on one side, or the other of this hot-button social issue. Since President Barack Obama threw Black values and emphasis under the same bus as he did the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, “Gay” has been allowed to become the civil rights issue of our time. The vile attacks on Chick-fil-A and its owners should make clear that the “gay rights” movement is not about refining and advancing American freedom, but about rewriting American values and advancing, not freedom, but the homosexual political agenda.

This type of social activism is a straight menace to Black values and American free enterprise. Some proponents of same-sex marriage want to boycott Chick-fil-A and disrupt the chain’s 1,615 locations and $4.1 billion annual revenue stream. Chick-fil-A is in 39 states and Washington, D.C. In July, the company’s 59-year-old president was asked by a Southern Baptist Convention news service, whether he opposed gay marriage, to which he responded: “Guilty as charged. We are supportive of the biblical definition of the family unit,” he said. Cathy emphasized that “the biblical definition of a family unit doesn’t include Adam and Steve.”

“Eat mor chikin” is the chain’s prominent advertising slogan. Chick-fil-A [referring to "filet"] specializes in chicken entrées and has long been associated with the Southern United States, where it is a cultural icon. It all started in 1946, when Samuel Truett Cathy opened his first restaurant, The Dwarf Grill, in Hapeville, Ga. Credited with inventing Chick-fil-A’s boneless breast of chicken sandwich, Mr. Cathy founded Chick-fil-A, Inc. in the early 1960s and pioneered establishment of restaurants in shopping malls with the opening of the first Chick-fil-A Restaurant at a mall in suburban Atlanta in 1967. Since then, Chick-fil-A has steadily grown to become the second largest quick-service chicken restaurant chain in the U.S. The business is family-owned and has become a multi-billion dollar operation. With 44 consecutive years of positive sales growth, the company is known for being methodical about opening new restaurants, but opening them with fanfare, including giving the first 100 customers free chicken sandwiches for a year.

Dan Cathy has been the Chick-fil-A chief executive since 2001. On August 1, at Chick-fil-A locations across the country, people voted with their wallets by coming out on Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day to express support for the chain and to Cathy for his stance on “traditional marriage.”

Blacks should be aware that the gay movement has eclipsed them in political potency. Politicians are swooning to take up gay causes. Sources inside the Democratic National Committee have confirmed that the party will include gay marriage as part of its platform. It will be the first time in history that either the Democratic or Republican Party has supported anything other than the traditional definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman.

We find no reason to be mad at Cathy and his traditional values. But, beware gay is not the new Black, and we are foolish to allow conflation of the two issues. Sexual disposition does not parallel race. And it’s difficult to watch a coordinated, well-funded, well-connected propaganda strategy undermine thousands of years of history. It’s especially disconcerting to watch the use of the civil rights struggle as the vehicle for the strategy.

William Reed CEO, Black Press International Business/Economic Feature BUSINESS EXCHANGE

(William Reed is available for speaking/seminar projects via the Bailey Group.org)

Maybe now the Muslim nations will take notice and abandon Sharia law and enter the modern world of true civilization.

Armstrong Williams

To use the New Deal as a reference point to compare with today’s economic situation demonstrates extreme naivete about the true nature of government growth and intrusion in our lives. On the contrary, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, by the year 2027, our debt level will be such that our economy will stop.

The reason we have a 16-plus trillion-dollar debt revolves around government spending. If our government keeps spending at this rate, our economic freedom will cease to exist. If the government was not so massive, we as Americans would not be burdened by our national debt that continues to grow. Unfortunately, denial does not solve the problem.

We as Americans have to wake up and realize that we have to take action. We have to let Washington know that this November 2012, Americans will no longer tolerate the tyranny of a big government nanny state.

Armstrong Williams

This presidential election will have more to do with the economy and voters personal well-being than ever before. The Hill newspaper’s survey findings suggest pessimism about the possibility of upward mobility as economic growth remains weak and jobs scarce. The national debate over wealth is intensifying as it creates economic divisions across the country’s population segments. Although the economy will improve a bit in the second half of 2012, it will be another disappointing year of slow growth capping the worst three years of economic growth, outside of a recession. Between 2005 and 2010 the median net worth of Americans under 35 fell 37 percent, and the wealth gap between the young and the old in America is wider than it’s ever been. The percentage of the workforce under age 25 has dropped 13.2 percent since 2008, and the U.S. unemployment rate is 12 percent for those age 18 to 29 because this age group’s parents aren’t retiring.

The wealth – more specifically, the median net worth – of households in the United States is varied in relation to race, education, geographic location and gender. Wealth in the U.S. is unevenly distributed, with the wealthiest 25 percent of U.S. households owning 87 percent of the total wealth.

The median wealth of White households is 20 times that of Black households. And, Blacks vote more on emotion than economic well-being. For Black Americans the annual median household income in 2010 was $29,328. It was $35,856 among all races. While Blacks make 62 cents of every dollar of income that Whites make, they only have 10 cents for every dollar of wealth that Whites have.

In The Hill poll almost 40 percent of people said that the threshold to being wealthy was a $500,000 annual income. Twenty percent put the bar above $1 million. Thirty-one percent of people said a family earning $250,000 a year is wealthy. And, 9 percent said $100,000 was the threshold.

Each day, America is comprised more and more of economic haves and have-nots. Since the 2007 recession the share of total wealth owned by the nation’s wealthiest one percent grew to 37.1 percent and that owned by the top 20 percent grew to 87.7 percent. The 2007 recession, and aftermath, also increased the wealth gap between the 1 percent and the 99 percent.

According to a CBS News/New York Times poll, a majority of registered voters believe that Mitt Romney’s policies favor the rich. Fifty-three percent say Romney’s policies favor the wealthy. Eleven percent says his policies favor the middle class, while two percent say they favor the poor. Thirty percent say Romney’s policies treat all groups equally. Of the social segments that favor President Barack Obama’s policies, 21 percent say his policies favor the rich, while 22 percent say they favor the middle class and 24 percent say they favor the poor. Twenty-five percent say Obama’s policies treat all groups equally.

What are your views? Are Black voters in a totally different place than the mainstream of Americans? The Hill poll’s respondents’ views differed based on income levels, with voters earning between $40,000 and $75,000 strongly preferring Romney over Obama. Among people earning between $40,000 and $60,000, 48 percent trust Romney more compared to 39 percent for Obama. People earning between $60,000 and $75,000 trust Romney more than Obama by a 34-point margin, 61 percent to 27 percent.

William Reed CEO, Black Press International Business/Economic Feature BUSINESS EXCHANGE

(William Reed is available for speaking/seminar projects via the Bailey Group.org)

President Obama has once said to House Republicans that he is “not an ideologue.” On the contrary, he actually is an ideologue. He subscribes to a progressive ideology. There is nothing wrong with being an ideologue; the problem comes in when people have different and opposing ideologies. Although the ideologue’s ideology may be well thought out and dedicated to specific goals, the ideologue will only seek to advance those policies that reflect his or her ideology that he or she subscribes to at the expense of differing ideologies. The United States tends to be a melting pot of ideologies, so having a president who subscribes to one ideology without considering the perspective of other ideologies is not a good thing for the American people.

For a Harvard-educated lawyer, I’m surprised that President Obama has decided to stick to an ideology when he has so many avenues of knowledge where he can form a balanced opinion.

Armstrong Williams

How much do we want to know?

Does part of your family relationship and responsibility tie directly to the health and well-being of aging parents? How much of this responsibility do you shoulder, or how much attention to your own health and well-being is a primary concern of your family members? These are questions we all must address at some point.

In dealing with issues of health in a time when health care presents more options than ever, and more changes in how it may be delivered, family collaboration and cooperation can be every bit as important as what the doctors and nurses provide. Having a family member or close friend accompany you or your parent to the doctor’s office is one of the best ways to be of help, whether the visit is dealing with illness or for a wellness check-up; four ears are much better than two!

A friend of mine described a visit to her 85 year old mother’s cardiologist this way: “My mom is totally with it. Her mind is clear, her memory sharp. But perhaps it’s typical of her generation that she usually starts out smiling at the doctor and complimenting him on his tie. Then she waits for his words of wisdom.”

My friend understands that more is needed on the patient’s part, so she prepares for the visit by making a list, with her mother, of all the questions they need to ask. She takes notes during the visit. She makes sure she and her mother bring a list of all medications her mother takes. She makes sure they understand any instructions the doctor gives them and repeats them back to the doctor to be sure.

How are you dealing with issues of health in your family?

I hope this finds you well!

Thelma Reese. Ed. D.

www.ElderChicks.com

The United States is the world leader in producing medical devices and half of the leading companies are located in the U.S. The industry employs around 400,000 people and its exports exceeded its imports by $33 billion dollars from 1998 to 2008. This tax is forcing companies to reevaluate their business models. In November 2011 Stryker Corporation, a pacemaker device company located in Michigan, laid off 1,000 workers as a result. Indiana faces losing over 2,000 jobs in the industry alone. Companies like Cook Medical, Boston Scientific, and Roche are all planning layoffs because of the tax.

Despite the recession the industry is doing well and had a bright future in the U.S, until the imposition of this tax, for three reasons. There is a large aging population, and there are more people insured now than ever, both of which factors are increasing demand for medical devices. Finally the economy is slowly recovering, which has benefitted the medical device sector.

The tax, besides being a job and industry killer at home, is shipping jobs and capital overseas. India and China in particular have a population that is aging and demanding more modern medicine, and have growing economies. Stryker and companies like Medtronic, based in Minnesota, which also plans to eliminate 1,000 jobs, realize this and have altered their business models already. Venture capital companies will soon follow, restricting their investments in innovative medical device companies in the United States.

Even Harvard professor and current Senate Candidate Elizabeth Warren opposes the medical device tax [Boston is a center for medical device companies], saying it would “Disproportionately impact the small companies with the narrowest of financial margins, and the broadest innovative potential.” Taking money away from the private sector in this day and age means that companies will ship jobs, capital, and talent overseas. Why would they want to do this in an expanding industry in the United States? We are an entirely global economy at this point, and even the smallest tax changes can precipitate businesses to adjust their operations with adverse consequences for our economy.

Nick Paige

I think the Romney campaign’s slogan “Obama isn’t working” gave a clearer picture of what our current administration is going through.

Despite Obama’s efforts to fix our economy and promote a healthcare system that will ultimately fail the American people, we have to look past the muddled rhetoric and see the truth behind those rosy slogans.

Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann said to a group of young conservatives Wednesday that “we’re no longer electing a president; we’re electing a healthcare dictator.”

Bachmann went on to say that when she ran for president, she ran “primarily because of the president’s healthcare initiative, Obamacare.”

However, the politicians cannot be the only ones to fight against his failed policies. We as Americans not only need to find the truth, but we also need to use the truth to hold these politicians accountable.

Armstrong Williams

The purpose of the bill according to the original text of the bill is to provide underserved consumers more access to innovative, affordable, and better-suited financial products or services. Also the bill is to “create a federal charter for qualified non-depository creditors that focus their business on meeting credits needs of underserved consumers and small businesses so that such creditors can operate more efficiently and effectively under uniform Federal lending standards rather than under the widely varying, often conflicting, unnecessarily costly, and burdensome system of State lending laws that currently apply to non-depository creditors; and lastly require that the Comptroller promptly adopt reasonable and flexible policies and procedures to ensure the approval of applications for Federal charters for non-depository creditors and of commercially viable financial products to be offered by such creditors to underserved consumers and small businesses”.

At the hearing, the Chair of the committee, Rep. Shelley began with an introduction of the bill, and then allowed other members of the committee to discuss the bill. After the introduction, Witnesses were called allowed the opportunity to express their opinions and were also questioned by members of the committee. While the questioning of witnesses was taking place, information and facts were analyzed by the committee for policy making. I was informed that at this level it is determined whether this bill will move forward to be passed.

There were representatives from different financial institutions such as Mrs. Bishop, owner of a pawn shop in Alabama. Some of the witnesses argued against the bill, and believe it will hurt the consumers more than it will help them. Mrs. Gardineer, of the Office of Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) argued that it will hurt and increase the bad credit score of the consumer and does not think that the bill should be passed. Mrs. Bishop, the pawnshop owner believes it might hurt her business because people will go online for credits. While Mrs. Jackson of Cash America and others agreed with the bill stating it will help them increase their business. We are waiting to see the outcome of the next hearing on this bill.

Toluwalope Oshobajo, Student George Washington University School of Business

England, however, and many of the other European nations will interpret anything that Romney says negatively because he has stated very publicly that he doesn’t want America to become a European-style nation. This implies that he does not completely approve of their method of governing. President Obama, on the other hand, seems to be very much in harmony with the European style of governance. Because of this, many of these European nations will interpret anything that Obama says in a positive light.

As Romney learns to manipulate the media to get the truth out, wise observers should always know the context in which statements are made and criticisms are leveled, because only then will they find the truth in our heavily-politicized media.

Armstrong Williams

A fair and honest reading of the bill, which has occurred in almost no cases, demonstrates that it is more about tremendous expansion of government bureaucracy than it is about healthcare reform. For example, if government controls healthcare, there will be no competition to keep prices affordable for the American people. People will not have the ability to be smart consumers with their healthcare and providers will not be able to compete to keep costs low when the vast majority of expenses are paid for by government programs. There will also be no choice in how treatment is administered.

If a person wants a treatment or does not want a treatment, the doctors can only provide treatment that the government is able to afford or fits the standard of treatment that fits the government rather than the patient.

If it were truly about healthcare reform, it would have addressed the many inefficient aspects of healthcare delivery not found in most other countries.

We can only hope that the future will give us true healthcare reform and not just more empowerment and growth for an inefficient governmental system.

Armstrong Williams

Mr. Frank, the financial community is not above the law or regulation. The financial meltdown of four years ago basically held no one accountable. The best explanation given was that this was merely an act of God and not a failure of man and his rules. No one was sent to jail and almost no one was admonished. This week, your continued shameful defense of not requiring an audit of the government agency that regulates our money supply, interest rates, and our way of life is given a pass. All government agencies have checks and balances with the exception of the Federal Reserve.

Mr. Ranking Member, your past draconian laws have put layers of regulations, stipulations and requirements on businesses, and you still want to exempt the Fed?

The American people are wondering why you are still giving favors to the public sector while the economy is suffering at the private sector’s expense.

Barney Frank, it’s time to say sayonara, for the sake of the economy and the American people.

Armstrong Williams

A virtuous approach is usually to spend only after one has earned. Being in debt is never an ideal situation for anyone. First, it reduces freedom. Also, friendships suffer when someone holds the reigns over another. It causes a reduction in the flow of affection and creates a formality that weakens social bonds between friends, family, and colleagues. Refusing to lend money to an irresponsible friend or family member may, in fact, be the best thing a true friend could do.

More importantly, indebtedness creates a moral hazard. The normal developments that would make people change their behavior – such as going broke – no longer operate effectively in a debt-fueled society. No matter how insolvent one becomes, one can always delay the day of reckoning. But the fundamental moral problem is that people don’t respect what they don’t earn. Slick Wall Street brokers who artificially create trades to inflate quarterly earnings – and thus increase their bonuses – end up spending them on frivolous pursuits. Easy come, easy go. Extending unemployment benefits during the economic downturn may seem like a benevolent gesture designed to help people who’ve been displaced by the economy. But at the same time it reduces the incentive for people to find work. Bailing out big banks by extending them interest-free loans might delay their collapse. But it does not curb the reckless behavior that got them into the situation in the first place.

Armstrong Williams

For one thing, the trend of outsourcing jobs started long before Barack Obama and Mitt Romney ever held elected office or even left the womb.

Roman emperor Julius Caesar outsourced everything from military conquests, tax collections, fire departments. In the late 1700s, Adam Smith in his book “The Wealth of Nations,” advocated the idea of competitive advantage. This is the idea that rich nations could cut down on costs and get cheaper labor if they outsourced work to less developed nations.

However, as the politicians battle it out over the airwaves to blame one another for outsourcing jobs, Americans may be supporting the cause of outsourcing just by some of the purchases we Americans make.

An informal survey conducted by U.S. News and World Report’s ranking’s site surveyed over 500 people around the last election cycle to see if what type of car they drove hinted at their political leanings. Forty-five percent of people identified as Democrat and 42 percent identified as Republican. The remaining 13 percent identified as unaffiliated or Independent.

The survey found import cars to be a more popular choice among Democrats than Republicans. Seventy-one percent of Democrats claimed to drive a foreign car. Hatchbacks like the Toyota Prius ranked as one of the most popular choices for a vehicle among Democrats. However, even the number of Republicans who owned imported vehicles outnumbered the number of Republicans who owned domestic vehicles-57 percent of Republicans claimed to drive a foreign car. Among Republicans, pick-up trucks appeared to be the most popular make for a vehicle.

In the luxury market, Democrats chose Acura while Republicans preferred Lexus. Republicans were also slightly more likely than Democrats to drive German cars. Republicans embraced their BMWs and Porsches while Democrats were more likely to ride in a Mercedes-Benz or Volkswagen.

The fact of the matter is that regardless of whether Americans lean Republican or Democrat, most people in the United States tend to support the outsourcing of our automobile industry when they buy foreign vehicles.

Nick Walker, the founder of the car enthusiast website Mind over Motor said that many American consumers developed “brand loyalties” to foreign brands from 1973 to well into the 1990s because the quality of most American cars did not match what Asian and European companies had to offer.

“Foreign offerings continue to be strong, so upsetting this loyalty has not been easy despite vastly improved automobiles from the big three since 2008,” Walker said.

However, the American market has tried to push out new products that can compete in today’s global market.

GM is set to release new models of the Cadillac, Camaro and the Corvette. Ford is coming out with new models of the Focus and the Fiesta, which has already seen some demand in European markets.

Walker said that if these companies market their cars well, they might be able to shake this stigma.

“People want to buy American, but only if the products are genuinely quality goods in comparison to other offerings,” Walker said, “Each company, American or foreign, has their own responsibility to make competitive products.”

The issue of outsourcing remains a thorn in the side of many companies regardless of who will win in 2012. If our own car companies are competing in the global market, will foreign car companies setting up in the U.S. make up for the outsourcing of our American products?

“While many American companies are outsourcing jobs abroad, many foreign companies are investing and making cars here in the U.S., so that begs the question: what exactly is buying American these days? It is not as simple as the brand of a car anymore, parts of cars are made all over the world now…regardless of where final assembly happens,” Walker said.

Katherine Rodriguez

Yet, we have 73 million men and women who live with the constant fear that a financial hiccup will trigger a need for money that they don’t have and most likely can’t get. While the Feds are making easy money, it’s going to those with near perfect credit scores which leave many of these 73 million Americans scrambling for other options. In other words, while interest rates are at an all time low, money still isn’t available to those that need it the most.

In a recent study, Serving Consumers’ Needs for Loans in the 21st Century, author Michael Flores finds that neither banks nor alternative financial services providers are extending loans in the $750 to $5,000 range. It’s not complicated to understand, despite benefiting from the Feds’ easy money, loans of under $5,000 simply aren’t profitable for banks. Even if such loans were to exist, many customers wouldn’t qualify. On the other hand, alternative financial services (AFS) providers can’t fill the space because of the burdensome costs of complying with 50 distinct sets of state regulations.

Still, Mr. Flores suggests that it is AFS providers who are in a better position to extend credit to low- to-moderate-income consumers because they have built a more efficient and technology-driven model, that is if regulators can come up with a new banking model. The alternative financial services market is currently limited mostly to payday loans, pawn, or title. With the right regulatory framework, however, AFS providers are capable of expanding into longer-term credit options better suited for many consumers’ needs.

It all comes down to a commitment in Washington to focus some of that monetary policy on closing the ever-widening gap between the “haves and the have nots.” However it happens, it will take looking beyond banks as the answer to delivering credit to the 73 million Americans who are on the wrong side of the credit divide.

Armstrong Williams

As African started interacting more with the western world, gradually the door started shutting on traditional attires. Africans wanted to dress up more like the western celebrities. The ladies started wearing jeans with tops, or dresses. Men, who just wore suits to work as a result of the requirements of the colonist period, started wearing these to big functions. People were losing touch with their culture. This was most common with the younger adults and teenagers. The older adults still had a little connection with their culture, and tried to enforce it in their children who refused it. The young adults had a saying that these traditional attires are a thing of the past now, and no one needs to wear them. I can remember my mother trying to get me to wear one and I blatantly refused it saying, “…Ugly old people wears, I don’t want to look old mummy.”

Recently, there has been a change in this point of view. On almost every street of Nigeria, you will see a young girl either wearing a pair of jeans with an African top, or an African dress or skirt with a western top. People all over Africa, especially western Africa are embracing their African wear and prints. African prints and wears are the biggest trends now among the young and old that has come to stay. Women, like myself wear them about not only in Africa, but allover the world. I wore my African print Blazer to an American church and everyone was staring and complimented me. At that moment, I was truly proud to be Nigerian, an African. I realized the joy in embracing my culture and suddenly I truly did understand what my father meant by being proud of your roots for it is true beauty. Writing this makes me feel bad that I was ever ashamed of it.

Wearing of African print and styles didn’t just happen; it took fashion designers like Deola Sageo, Tiffany Amber, Jewel by Lisa, and others who didn’t lose hope in the African Attire, but saw the raw diamond it was at that time to bring it back. With the help of these designers, and the Nigerian media and press the Nigerian youths were brought back and reconnected with their culture. One of the major things that influenced the Nigerian Youths was seeing African Prints being used by top Fashion designers like Burberry, Chanel, etc. This was a wakeup call to the youths.

As we see the change in the attitudes of the Nigerian youths towards their traditional wears, there is a newborn pride in the heart of the youths to showcase their culture. There is a newfound movement in Africa now to promote the beauty of African Prints, texture, and style all over the world. Let us all join in this movement and promote our roots.

Toluwalope Oshobajo, Student George Washington University School of Business

Without the roads, bridges, teachers, and other things provided by the government people could not have achieved success in America.

I think these are some of the most asinine statements I’ve ever heard from a world leader. Comments like this are a slap in the face to the American Dream and reveal the President’s naïve view that government, and not the hard work, talent, and initiative of people, is the center of society and the economy. Obviously Mr. Obama has forgotten that there are many other nations in the world with roads, bridges, teachers and other things provided by the government that have not even come close to the achievement levels of the United States.

What those countries lack is the entrepreneurial spirit and the can-do attitude that allowed an explosion of talent and accomplishment that propelled America to the pinnacle of the world in record time. These qualities indicate that our America is an exceptional country, a concept that President Obama has grave difficulty grasping. It is time to celebrate our American exceptionalism. We need to facilitate the talents and spirit that make America the greatest and most powerful nation the world has ever known.

If we continue to denigrate America’s accomplishments from the highest levels of government, the can-do spirit will be replaced by a mentality of complacency that will quickly manifest itself in the decline of a great nation. Clearly, this President needs to go back to school and take Economics 101 to realize that a successful economy does not run on government.

Armstrong Williams

Presently, the nation is again faced with another damaging allegation and counter allegation from the house, arising from yet another House probe panel on the removal of fuel subsidy. Perhaps in our recent history, not many national issues have generated the amount of debate and controversy as witnessed on the removal of subsidy on the premium motor oil, petroleum. The problem started when the Federal Government suddenly announced the deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry, removing the subsidy on fuel and consequently increased the pump price of petrol from #65 to 140. The increase immediately created deep seated anger across the nation as most Nigerians argued that this is perhaps the only thing that the ordinary Nigerian enjoys from its natural resources and pointed out that other OPEC member countries and even non oil producing States enjoys a lower pump price on petrol.

Government argued that there was an urgent need to deregulate the downstream sector of the Nigerian economy which it says has become a drain pipe through which some unscrupulous businessmen has milked the country dry. It posited that petroleum licenses given out to individual businesses were not being utilized for effective local distribution but instead, such products were easily ferried across the border to neighboring countries where the pump price of fuel were much higher and lucrative for the average oil dealer amongst other lapses, thereby resulting in billions of naira loss to the economy of the country.

The country’s main labor union, the Nigerian Labor Congress immediately issued a three day ultimatum to Government to revert to the old price regime or face an indefinite strike action which soon took effect as Government refused to bulge. Other civil society groups followed suit and before long, the entire country was shot down for ten agonizing days with its attendant socio-economic loss to the nation at a time when Nigeria needed all it could muster to tackle the multi-faceted problems that stares it in the face. A few lives were also lost in the process and after series of negotiations, Government reduced the pump price to #97 from 130 and the strike was eventually called off.

Thereafter, the House having taken cognizance of the events of the period in question and after mind-boggling revelations were made regarding the subsidy regime, the House of Representatives set up yet another committee to probe all the activities of the agencies responsible for the subsidy. The committee set out to investigate the apparent lopsidedness and rot in the petroleum sector. During its public sittings which were televised live, startling revelations were made and at the end, most Government agencies and private firms were indicted for gross irregularities and bare face stealing of Government funds and were ordered to return various staggering sums of money to Government coffers.

Peter Nwokolo Public Affairs Analyst based in Lagos, Nigeria.

When hungry indigent neighbors came to the kitchen door, it was the custom of many American families, like my father-in-law’s family, to give them some food from their meager pantry. When a poor person was sick, many doctors, like my grandfather, did not turn them away but accepted farm produce or menial service in exchange for health care. Life was not easy and people were subject to many pecuniary and physical risks. But they understood that they had to prepare for these risks by being frugal and saving. A myriad of cooperative and fraternal organizations sprang up so that neighbors could help each other do this.

In the Great Depression, President Roosevelt and other progressive politicians sold the American voters on the concept of a New Deal. The New Deal included unemployment insurance and a government-sponsored pension plan call Social Security. It was later expanded to include Medicare for retirees and Medicaid for the poor. Recently, Obamacare was added to the medical roster to cover all Americans with a government regulated program whether they want it or not. The purpose of the New Deal was to take some of the risks out of people’s lives. The American people were told that the costs of the New Deal programs would be very low and that Social Security would be managed like an insurance pool. In fact, the costs were initially low when the Social Security retirement age was lower than the average American’s life span and 16.5 Americans were working in 1950 for every retired American. Future generations would no longer have to worry about retirement, unemployment and medical costs.

Unfortunately, when the New Deal took risks out of the lives of individuals, it created a moral hazard. Individuals no longer need to save money for these inevitable risks . They pay their “savings” to the government in the form of Social Security taxes, Medicare taxes and unemployment insurance. The Baby Boom generation took advantage of the New Deal. They saved at a much lower rate than their parents for these life risks. From 1960 to 1985, the US savings rate was in the 8-10% range. From 2000 to 2010, it was in the 2-6% range. To make matters worse, the Baby Boom generation and its immediate successors were encouraged to consume more than they could pay for out of earnings through easy-to-get government subsidized borrowing like “zero-down-payment” mortgages.

How has the federal government done at managing the risks it has taken out of the lives of individuals? Voluntary insurance programs manage risk by charging honest premiums, structuring these premiums to encourage good behavior and saving their premium dollars to fund their promised benefits when due. The federal government has done none of this, in effect saying, “Risk? What risk? Somebody else will pay!” The “somebody else” is future generations of taxpayers, who have no say in the promises they will be called upon to fund. Relative to the 1930’s, that future is now.

In the late 20th century and the early 21st century, it became apparent that the giant entitlement programs that grew out of the New Deal had become oppressively expensive. For example, Social Security now has 3.3 workers for every retiree and this ratio is expected to decline to 2 workers per retiree by 2040. Medicare spending has increased from $7 Billion or 3.5% of the federal budget in 1970 to $524 Billion or 15.1% in 2010. Medicare spending has grown at an annual rate of 8.5% since 1985 compare to per capital GDP growth of 4.1%. It is expected to grow at an annual rate in excess of 9% to nearly $1 trillion in 2020. Over the past four years the economy as grown at an average rate of less than 2% and very few economists predict growth in excess of 3% over the next few years.

Perhaps the most troubling aspect of the New Deal and its prodigy entitlement programs is perverse incentives and penalties that distort rational behavior and the prospective loss of individual freedom. Let’s start with social security. The social security program discourages retirees from working. If you want to work past 70 years of age, you must still pay into the social security system even though you will get no additional return for your payment. If you have high earnings after retirement, your social security earnings are partially taxed.

If you are a Medicare recipient, you must use a medical provider who accepts Medicare pricing and reimbursement. If your doctor charges rates in excess of Medicare rates, you cannot pay him the difference out of your pocket. If you want to keep your high cost doctor, you must pay the full amount out of pocket without Medicare reimbursement. If you don’t want to pay out of pocket, you must change doctors.

If you are healthy with good life style habits, you will be forced under Obamacare to pay the same community-rated premium as an obese smoker with an unhealthy life style. If you think the incentives created by the community-rated premium are inconsistent with lowering health care costs, you are correct. This system subsidizes unhealthy life styles.

However, Mayor Bloomberg of New York wants to force you through other means to make healthy lifestyle choices. If you live in New York, the Mayor wants to impose a 16 oz. limit on the soft drinks you buy. He reasons that if you become obese, you will cost the medical system more, so the government now has a financial interest in controlling your diet.

If you are unemployed and decide that you want to take a low-wage part-time job, you lose your unemployment benefits. This gives the unemployed the incentive to refuse low wage job offers until unemployment benefits run out after two years.

Unlike charitable families in the Great Depression, if an indigent neighbor comes to your kitchen door looking for food, Americans today are more likely to call 911 to report a beggar than to give him some food. After all if he is truly in need, wouldn’t he go to the local welfare department and get food stamps?

Based on the skyrocketing costs, moral hazards, loss of individual freedom and perverse incentives created by the New Deal programs and its progeny, the New Deal has become the “Raw Deal”. The only way to continue these burgeoning programs is to have confiscatory tax rates. Unfortunately for the welfare state, high tax rates and low savings rates drain investment capital from the private sector. This leads to fewer jobs, lower productivity and slower growth. Slower growth leads to lower tax revenue and further increases in tax rates to support bloated government spending. That is the inevitable economic death spiral created by a growing welfare state. As Margaret Thatcher pointed out, “sooner or later, you run out of other people’s money.”

Logan D. Delany, Jr.Entrepreneur

Amid all the reports and punditry that Gov. Romney received a hostile reception at the civil rights group’s Houston conference, the standing ovation he received at the end of his speech has been largely overlooked by mainstream media. Since the Republicans’ presumptive nominee made his appearance and speech to the NAACP, most likely you’ve heard that Romney was booed. But, what you may not have heard is that Romney left the stage to a standing ovation.

The mainstream media always seeks to set the tone of the discussion – suppose you owned a newspaper or were a news program host, which headline would you prefer: “NAACP Boos Romney during Speech about Obamacare” or “NAACP Convention Gives Romney Standing Ovation”? It’s time to give Romney credit for going to the NAACP. He stood his ground and told the truth, something Obama has yet to do with Blacks. It’s true he was booed at the mention of “Obamacare” and his intention to repeal the Affordable Care Act as a program he deems “too costly.” It’s likely that Romney knows the vast majority of Blacks support the nation’s first African-American president and are favorably inclined toward his signature health care act.

Romney has always said he would “repeal Obamacare.” What needs to be discussed in public forums is the fact that Romney showed up and said: “If you want a president who will make things better in the African-American community, you are looking at him.” He made the point that the economy is “worse for African Americans in almost every way. … In June, while the overall unemployment rate remained stuck at 8.2 percent, the unemployment rate for African Americans actually went up to 14.4 percent.” Romney said, “By any standard, African Americans … do not appear to have advanced much toward steady jobs … a serious argument could be made that they are falling behind. Equally disconcerting are the number of births to single African-American women, the incarceration rate for African-American men, the number of failing public schools that sustain the cycle of poverty and crime in disadvantaged communities and … a dependence on taxpayer dollars.”

Romney spoke to the NAACP of an economy that creates jobs, and of creating stronger families and more opportunities for all Americans. And, he endorsed school choice. But, it was NAACP President Ben Jealous who gave the media the negative spin, saying of Romney’s speech: “He really wasn’t trying to talk to them [the audience]. He was trying to talk to somebody else.” He’s right. Probably Romney was speaking to African Americans seeking jobs and better lives.

President Barack Obama did not make the NAACP convention, citing a scheduling conflict. If he had shown up, he might have had to face questions about his failure to deliver on his 2008 campaign promises. Instead, Vice President Joe Biden attended and imagined what a Romney Justice Department would look like. While the NAACP convention was an Obama/Biden “love fest”, the nation’s Black newspaper publishers were expressing anger and frustration at President Obama’s failure to reach out to them or recognize their publications’ audiences in productive ways. “We don’t think the president has ever spoken to us. He’s spoken to the Latino community and he’s been specific,” said Robert W. Bogle, publisher of the Philadelphia Tribune and a former [NNPA] president.

It’s time for more balanced dialogue. Gov. Romney may want to use the rife between Black publishers and the Obama campaign to get his message out to Blacks. Sonny Messiah Jiles, publisher of the Houston Defender, comments apply equally to Obama or Romney: “We’re trying to give you feedback … and educate you on how to shape your message to our readers and their communities.”

While Obama thinks that he’s got the Black electorate “in his pocket” Romney may want to give a shout out to Ms. Jiles and the nation’s 200 Black newspapers.

William Reed CEO, Black Press International Business/Economic Feature BUSINESS EXCHANGE

(William Reed is available for speaking/seminar projects via the Bailey Group.org)

Today, Saturday, July 28th, Fox News Latino posted my latest Op-Ed, ”The Sky-High Costs Of President Obama’s Immigration DREAM”

on their website. A copy of my commentary is attached below. When you read it, please check out the links that are contained within that Op-Ed.

As I did a last month, I once again tackled the issue of President Obama’s decision to use what he referred to as “Prosecutorial Discretion” to breathe life into legislation that failed to pass the legislative process- The DREAM Act. In his end run around the Constitution and the process known as “checks and balances” in my judgement he not only violated our system of government but betrayed American workers and endangered national security.

The predication for my decision to revisit the President’s purported use of “Prosecutorial Discretion” which I deemed “Prosecutorial Deception” in my earlier commentary for Fox News Latino, was an Associated Press article published earlier this week that was forwarded to me by Congressman Lou Barletta’s chief of staff. She e-mailed me the article that was entitled:

AP Exclusive: Internal documents shows Obama deportation proposal could cost more than $585M

I was astounded to find out that the actual article was not about any plans the President had about deporting illegal aliens but rather about a proposal to provide approximately one million heretofore illegal aliens with employment authorization.

The title provided the misleading impression that it would cost the federal government more than 585 million dollars to deport illegal aliens when, in reality, the report had absolutely nothing to do with the deportation of illegal aliens but rather, the creation of a program that would contain the essential provisions of the failed DREAM Act and provide approximately one million illegal aliens with employment authorization. The distinction between those two activities is clear and extremely significant!

It is only when the reader actually reads the entire article that the actual nature of the program became clear. Titles of books and articles are generally supposed to serve as a sort of “preview” to give the reader some insight into the nature of the literary work they are about to read. In this era of sound-bites and a never ending cavalcade of “News Alerts” and “Breaking News Reports” most folks simply look for the headline and then move on. When a headline is not representative of the actual nature and contents of the article that they presage, damage may well be done when too many people don’t take the time to red the entire report but simply scan a headline and mistakenly believe they understand the primary message of the article.

This is not unlike the warnings we have all heard about the need to carefully examine the small print in a contract. Except that a news report is not a contract- an effective news report is supposed to answer the fundamental questions of who, what, where, when, why and how. It is supposed to be clear and concise. Above all it must be seen as reliable and trustworthy.

It is disconcerting, to say the least, when a news report begins with a title that fails to truly reflect that which follows in the body of the report.

Journalists play a huge role in our country. This was so well understood by the Founding Fathers of the United States that the First Amendment of the Constitution reads as follows:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

It is rare for anyone to be present when a news-worthy event takes place. Most people can most likely count the number of times that they witnessed a significant news worthy event in person on the fingers of one hand. Therefore we are forced to rely on journalists to keep us informed. For a number of reasons I won’t delve into here, it is all too often difficult if not impossible, to really get the sort of news reports that put things into proper perspective. This has a profound impact on the the ability of our citizens to make proper decisions concerning our government and to make good decisions on Election Day.

While the Associated Press article did not address some of the key issues concerning the negative impact that President Obama’s program would have on the plight of American and lawfully admitted immigrant workers and on national security- it must be pointed out that virtually no other news reports about this program have considered or reported on these issues either. Therefore I decided to weigh in on those issues that have been ignored by just about all news reports concerning this disastrous program.

Immigration is not a single issue but a singular issue that impacts nearly every challenge and threat confronting the United States today!

If our government’s failures to protect American jobs by securing our nation’s borders and effectively enforcing our immigration laws concerns you or especially if it angers you, I ask you to call your Senators and Congressional “Representative. This is not only your right- it is your obligation!

All I ask is that you make it clear to our politicians that we are not as dumb as they hope we are!

We live in a perilous world and in a perilous era. The survival of our nation and the lives of our citizens hang in the balance.

This is neither a Conservative issue, nor is it a Liberal issue- simply stated, this is most certainly an AMERICAN issue!

You are either part of the solution or you are a part of the problem!

Democracy is not a spectator sport!

Lead, follow or get out of the way!

Michael W. Cutler, Senior Special Agent, INS (Ret.)

Please check out my website at AND Magazine:

www.TalkBorder.com

Please also check out my personal website:

http://michaelcutler.net/

Whistleblower advocates and agents are claiming the message was chilling, designed to intimidate and inconsistent with current federal laws which allows federal employees to go to Congress, the OSC or the IG to report wrongdoing.

Unfortunately, for many Blacks, the American Dream of homeownership is quickly fading. Among racial demographic groups, European Americans have the highest homeownership rate, while African Americans have the lowest. After peaking at 50 percent in 2006, the African-American homeownership rate has fallen to 44.8 percent. By comparison, the homeownership rate for Whites is 74.1 percent, and the national rate currently stands at 66.4 percent.

Right now, the outlook for Black homeownership isn’t good. Over the long run, it’s downright scary. The Center for Responsible Lending calculates that about 11 percent of African-American homeowners are in some stage of foreclosure, and that by the end of 2012, 1.1 million Black families will lose their homes.

It’s the same old story when it comes to class, race and wealth. The median wealth of White households is 20 times that of Black households. And Pew Research analysis indicates that when the housing market bubble burst in 2006 and the recession followed in late 2007 to mid-2009, it took a far greater toll on the wealth of minorities than Whites. From 2005 to 2009, inflation-adjusted median wealth fell by 53 percent among Black households, compared with just 16 percent among Whites. As a result of these declines, the typical Black household had just $5,677 in wealth [assets minus debts] in 2009 and the typical White household had $113,149.

Sadly, the alarmingly low number of Black homeowners is likely to dip further. You may want to pull your Congressional representatives’ coat regarding your concerns about legislation called, the Qualified Residential Mortgage Rule or QRM, that can make it tougher to get loans by requiring all prospective homeowners to put at least 20 percent down when purchasing a property. The new requirement could make homeownership as we know it a thing of the past. The higher down payments could exclude 75 percent of African Americans from obtaining a fairly priced mortgage. Trade groups that oppose QRM say it would take 14 years for the typical American family to save enough money to amass a 20 percent down payment.

A series of ongoing challenges from the banking industry continues to erode Black homeownership. As the collapse of the housing market lingers, African Americans are being disproportionately impacted by bank lending practices, including stricter credit score requirements, a severe decline in loans made to Blacks, and predatory lending that has made it difficult for Black homeowners with costly subprime loans to swap out of those mortgages and exchange them for more affordable home loans.

The sky hasn’t fallen yet, but a recent Pew Research Center analysis found that after years of prosperity, homeownership rates among Black Americans have plummeted to their lowest levels in 16 years. Unemployment has reached levels not seen since the 1980s. And, current and prospective African-American homeowners are being hurt by high levels of unemployment. The jobless rate for Blacks now tops 16 percent nationwide. It’s obviously tough to buy or refinance a home – much less save it from foreclosure – if you don’t have a steady paycheck.

Two African American titans in real estate have survived the recent real estate downturns in grand style. The grandson of a hotel doorman, Don Peebles is worth $350 million and runs one of the country’s largest minority-owned real estate development companies. Peebles Corporation’s portfolio includes hotels, apartments and office space in Miami Beach and Washington, D.C. In 1979 Peebles became a real estate agent in the District of Columbia. Today he owns 13 acres of prime Las Vegas land.

Quintin E. Primo III is a minister’s son that grew up in Chicago. He earned his MBA at Harvard in 1979 and took a job in Citicorp’s real estate lending division. Primo founded Capri Capital in 1992 and achieved initial success extending mezzanine loans to small borrowers that larger firms neglected to serve. Today, Primo is worth $300 million and Capri’s portfolio is loaded with apartment complexes. The firm’s assets under management are $4.3 billion.

William Reed CEO, Black Press International Business/Economic Feature BUSINESS EXCHANGE

(William Reed is available for speaking/seminar projects via the Bailey Group.org)

For example, they will say that Romney is an outsourcer and is one of its principal creators.

Team Obama’s negative strategy seems to be working, because new public opinion polls show that the Obama campaign’s consistent, negative messaging seems to have taken a toll on the public’s perception of Romney.

A new Rasmussen Poll released today shows that despite Romney’s consistent message on the economy, President Obama’s message on Bain Capital has Americans split down the middle at 41 percent each on whether Romney’s time at Bain is seen as a negative or positive.

Team Romney, on the other hand, will frequently create a brief response. Although sometimes brevity is a good thing, the campaign abandons their message so quickly before they move on to something else. Yes, we all know Romney is consistent about the economy but what else is he consistent on? The public is not able to hear the message and it appears that Team Romney never got a chance to respond to Team Obama’s relentless attacks. Last week, Romney referred to President Obama as the “Outsourcer in Chief” in a speech.

This week, he should follow up with multiple examples of why that is true. For example, he has proclaimed that General Electric is a great American company and uses its CEO as one of his chief economic advisors. This is a company that probably declared that they paid no income taxes in 2010 and has more employees outside the United States than within. They make billions of dollars overseas and bring none of that money back to our land to avoid taxes. The president stated that many U.S. companies could learn a lot from GE’s example. What would he like for them to learn? These kinds of examples are not conjecture but are factual and provide Mr. Romney with more than enough ammunition to demonstrate the extraordinary hypocrisy of Team Obama.

During the previous presidential campaign, President Obama clearly stated that a candidate who cannot speak about their record in a positive way concentrates on attacking and tearing down their opponents as a way to create fear. Is that exactly not what the president is consistently engaging in during this presidential election in 2012? He fits perfectly the description of an ideologue who can always criticize those who don’t agree with them even though they are doing the exact same thing and cannot see it for themselves.

It seems like Romney already has tried to clearly distinguish himself from President Barack Obama on a recent report on FOX & Friends, citing President Barack Obama’s failed economic record.

Romney Campaign Senior Adviser Ed Gillespie said Monday that the president’s criticisms of Romney were just a distraction from the real issues. Ed is absolutely right about Obama in this sense.

However, Team Romney also needs to realize that they should be the better campaign in this instance by focusing more on Romney’s positive record rather than saying that Obama is a job outsourcer and a socialist. I understand the need to fight fire with fire, but there comes a point where constant negative attacks do not make a campaign look good.

The Romney campaign needs to break the tradition of political mudslinging and start showing the American people how a president should act.

It is in the hands of “We the People” to examine the content of the words of all political candidates and determine when hypocrisy is being espoused.

Most political campaign advertisements are geared towards a seventh-grade education level while most major political speeches are written for a ninth grade level.

Do not take the words and messages of political candidates, no matter how simple they seem, at face value. More often than not the context of the message will be something completely different, only to take advantage of the unsuspecting citizen.

Armstrong Williams

Today I will focus on a commentary that I recently wrote for the CAPS (Californians for Population Stabilization) website that was posted on that website earlier today. That commentary was, in fact, predicated upon a Fox News report about how the administration has announced plans to shutter nine Border Patrol Stations located in four states. This decision by the administration belies the fact that our nation’s very security and potentially the survival of our nation hinges on the ability of our nation’s leaders to prevent the entry of terrorists into the United States and carry out terrorist attacks. In addition to the obvious and potentially devastating nature of attacks that terrorists would want to carry out, is the threats posed by various transnational gangs and drug trafficking organizations who are, in increasing numbers, entering the United States and setting up shop in a growing number of cities and towns across this country to ply their deadly “trades.”

Since the terrorist attacks of 1993 and 2001 that were carried out within our nation’s borders, other terrorist attacks failed to succeed. Some because of dumb luck or the ineptitude of the terrorists and others because of the ability and commitment of American law enforcement and intelligence agencies. However, it is clear that the “all clear” has certainly not sounded!

Even as you are reading this, the news media are covering the unfolding news report of a terrorist, believed by the Israeli government, to have been a member of Hezbollah, a terrorist organization that has the backing and blessings of Iran, who committed suicide by detonating a bomb in his backpack in Bulgaria causing the death of a bus driver and 5 young Israeli tourists and the wounding of many others. It is important to note that this terrorist was found to have been carrying a false U.S. driver’s license- purportedly from Michigan which bore a Louisiana address. This certainly ratchets up the potential for conflict between Israel and iran even though the Iranian government has denied any involvement in this heinous attack. Should Israel act against Iran, the possibility certainly exists that the Iranian government would make good on its threat to react to any attack by not only acting against Israel, but against the United States.

The issue of the suicide bomber carrying a bogus US driver’s license underscores the significance of identity documents and the issue of how the multitude of failures of state some states within the United States to demonstrate a true understanding of the nexus between immigration and national security- issuing driver’s licenses and other such identity documents to illegal aliens.

The issue of border security and the effective enforcement of our immigration laws need to be seen as integral components of national security of no less significance than our military- yet this administration and a number of those from both political parties have absolutely refused to acknowledge this important issue!

The 9/11 Commission Report and the 9/11 Commission Staff Report on Terrorist Travel provided an in-depth analysis of how the terrorists who attacked our nation on September 11, 2001 were able to enter the United States in the first place and then manage to embed themselves in our country thereby enabling them to easily hide in plain sight, as they prepared to launch the worst terrorist attack ever carried out on our soil.

Here is a link to the Staff Report (Monograph) on Terrorist Travel in its entirety:

http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/staff_statements/911_TerrTrav_Monograph.pdf

Here are two important excerpts from the 9/11 Commission Staff Report on Terrorist Travel.

First of all, here is the first paragraph from the preface of that report:

“It is perhaps obvious to state that terrorists cannot plan and carry out attacks in the United States if they are unable to enter the country. Yet prior to September 11, while there were efforts to enhance border security, no agency of the U.S. government thought of border security as a tool in the counterterrorism arsenal. Indeed, even after 19 hijackers demonstrated the relative ease of obtaining a U.S. visa and gaining admission into the United States, border security still is not considered a cornerstone of national security policy. We believe, for reasons we discuss in the following pages, that it must be made one.”

Here is a paragraph under the title “Immigration Benefits” found on page 98:

“Terrorists in the 1990s, as well as the September 11 hijackers, needed to find a way to stay in or embed themselves in the United States if their operational plans were to come to fruition. As already discussed, this could be accomplished legally by marrying an American citizen, achieving temporary worker status, or applying for asylum after entering. In many cases, the act of filing for an immigration benefit sufficed to permit the alien to remain in the country until the petition was adjudicated. Terrorists were free to conduct surveillance, coordinate operations, obtain and receive funding, go to school and learn English, make contacts in the United States, acquire necessary materials, and execute an attack.”

It is absolutely impossible to comprehend how, given all of these facts, that there is even a debate about whether or not our borders should be secured and our immigration laws be enforced in such a way as to deprive terrorists the opportunity to enter our country and embed themselves in our country.

On August 6, 2011 CAPS published a commentary I wrote that was entitled:

Do We Still Need Our Armed Forces When We Don’t Secure Our Own Borders?

I would urge you to take the time to read that commentary and give some serious thought to the question that formed the title of that commentary.

Now I want you consider that the administration is about to close 9 Border Patrol stations in four states!

The time has long since come for a true reality check!

At the foundation of our nation’s immigration laws are two simple and vital goals- to protect American lives and protect American jobs. No candidate for any political office should win election to an elected position who refuses to accept the need to effectively enforce our immigration laws!

If our government’s failures to secure our nation’s borders and effectively enforce our immigration laws concerns you or especially if it angers you, I ask you to call your Senators and Congressional “Representative. This is not only your right- it is your obligation!

All I ask is that you make it clear to our politicians that we are not as dumb as they hope we are!

We live in a perilous world and in a perilous era. The survival of our nation and the lives of our citizens hang in the balance.

This is neither a Conservative issue, nor is it a Liberal issue- simply stated, this is most certainly an AMERICAN issue!

You are either part of the solution or you are a part of the problem!

Democracy is not a spectator sport!

Lead, follow or get out of the way!

Michael W. Cutler, Senior Special Agent, INS (Ret.)

Please also check also out my personal website:

http://michaelcutler.net/

President Obama refused to show up at the NAACP convention, citing a conflict in scheduling. In turn, he sent Vice President Biden for the task. He obviously isn’t concerned about the loyalty of the American black community; in fact, he completely takes their vote for granted. The unemployment rate for American blacks is 14.4 percent nationally and at 39 percent for black youth. The black community has lost a significant portion of their wealth during his administration; the number of black babies born out of wedlock is increasing dramatically while the black family continues to disintegrate rapidly. President Obama can legitimately believe that the American black community will vote for him regardless of how detrimental his policies are to their well-being, simply because he is the first American black president. This is a sad commentary on the analytical skills of an important and critical segment of our society. Hopefully at some point, organizations such as the NAACP will advocate for policies that improves the situation of their constituency rather than supporting feel-good candidates and issues.

Armstrong Williams

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Read Armstrong Williams, author of the brand new book Reawakening Virtues, content on RightSideWire.com and Come join the discussion live 4-5, 6-8 p.m. est at www.livestream.com/armstrongwilliams or tune in Sunday’s 4-5 am, WWRL 1600 am/ SIRUS/XM Power 128, 7-8 p.m. and 4-5 a.m. est, daily. 6-7 p.m. D.C. a.m. 730 WTNT, Watch Williams Live Sunday’s at noon on WVVH, Fios Channel 14 . Become a fan on FaceBook, and follow him on Twitter.

Read Armstrong Williams, author of the brand new book Reawakening Virtues, content on RightSideWire.com and Come join the discussion live 4-5, 6-8 p.m. est at www.livestream.com/armstrongwilliams or tune in Sunday’s 4-5 am, WWRL 1600 am/ SIRUS/XM Power 128, 7-8 p.m. and 4-5 a.m. est, daily. 6-7 p.m. D.C. a.m. 730 WTNT, Watch Williams Live Sunday’s at noon on WVVH, Fios Channel 14 . Become a fan on FaceBook, and follow him on Twitter.

Independence can be every bit as important in relationships as attachment and bonding.  Those first baby steps are thrilling to see.  We applaud and cheer when the baby becomes a toddler and can now walk on her own.  Other steps toward independence, however, are often met with mixed feelings:  fear he may hurt himself or be hurt by something beyond our control.  And as she grows, watching other attachments form, to peers and life partners, may fray family bonds.

At the other end of our lives, when we have time to contemplate what independence means, similar concerns surface.  Older parents may find their independence undermined or compromised by children who worry about their ability to meet the challenges of aging or declining health.  When, if ever, is it time to take control of parents’ lives?  And to what degree?

There are no easy answers, of course.  But we do know that independence is a sign of good mental health at all ages and deserves our respect and encouragement.  The delicate balance between caring and interference is one we must always weigh carefully

Thelma Reese. Ed. D.

Events of the past few years have since lend credence to this school of thought. For the purpose of this article, I am going to concentrate on Nigeria’s National Assembly, especially, the House of Representatives, the lower arm of the legislature. Since 1999, when Nigeria’s 3rd attempt at democratic rule became a reality, the House of Representatives has continued to make itself a laughing stock and conducted its activities in a manner that is less than noble. With a constitutional responsibility of over-sight functions, the house has always been saddled with crucial assignments of national significance and each time, it has failed to live up to its billing.

Unfortunately, such crucial assignments has always emanated from robust debates within its chambers and borders on issues that have far reaching implications for the future prosperity and general well being of the ordinary Nigerian citizen. Let’s go back to recent memory and see how some of its activities have become the shame of a nation. When the incessant power failure across the country became very serious in 2003, the House of Representatives set up an Ad-Hoc committee of the house to probe the power sector after it was reported that well over $16b dollars of the country’s hard earned money had gone down the drains without any commensurate result, Nigerians rose in unity and supported its efforts at sanitizing the sector. Despite series of grandstanding by the chairman on how the panel will restore the hope of Nigerians over the sector, he too was soon enmeshed in large scale corruption charges which eventually put a death knell on Its final report. The power sector has not fared any better since then.

Peter Nwokolo Public Affairs Analyst based in Lagos, Nigeria.

Roberts became the unexpected swing vote on the issue when he broke away from the more conservative justices to side with liberals on the issue.

This news came after several reports in Bloomberg, Fox News, The New York Times, and others stated that Justice Kennedy would be the swing vote.

“I guess it was Roberts who joined the Liberals,” retired Army veteran Joe Psotka from Rockville, MD said.

Roberts, who has been known to lean conservative, shocked conservatives with his decision.

“I thought the commerce clause pertained one-hundred percent,” said Bruce Marshall, a Tea Party conservative from Philadelphia.

People in both parties are questioning whether Roberts turned liberal for the sake of siding with the majority despite his conservative heritage.

According to a poll by the Pew Research center conducted during Roberts’s confirmation hearing in September 2005, 53 percent said he was “generally considered” a conservative and 25 percent didn’t know.

In 2007, 37 percent said he was generally considered a conservative and 48 percent didn’t know.

Despite President Obama’s declaration that the mandate is not a tax, the Supreme Court upheld the mandate as a tax on those without insurance because the mandate falls within congressional power to tax.

Roberts wrote in the 190-page text of the official decision that “the (commerce) clause authorizes Congress to regulate interstate commerce, not to order individuals to engage it. In this case, however, it is reasonable to construe what Congress has done as increasing taxes on those who have a certain amount of income, but choose to go without health insurance. Such legislation is within Congress’s power to tax.”

While Roberts settl