Napolitano AGAIN ?

I had another post ready and then I saw the news. Janet is in Afghanistan to help seal the border there.

Now I will bet that the locals are real glad to see her. They like the open border and she has shown that she is for open borders.

She cant seal the border with Mexico and she lives here so I imagine her injection into this war means we will now loose it for sure if we weren't already. With Janet running the border show in Afghanistan I wonder how long it will be before the Taliban are controlling the southern border of the United States. It appears that both borders are the portals of drug smuggling so why not just join them and cut out the middle man, Mexico. That would bring down the price of drugs and increase the market here in the US.

She has enough to do here without gallivanting all over the world. But I guess if she isnt going to do her job on our southern border, at least, having her out of the country is a plus. Now if we could get a few others, of the administration, out of the country....and then control our borders.....we might have a win win situation.


Jim Isbell
=======================================================
The Free Republic
=======================================================
July 3rd 2010 Speech
April 17th 2010 Speech
Trinity Base - in Defense of our Republic
American Majority
Red State
Blog Mirror of The Free Republic
My Facebook

First and Second Ammendment Rights Taken Away by Napalitano

Janet Napolitano is violating the constitutional rights of a citizen without due process.

The first amendment to the Constitution guarantees us freedom of speech. The second amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear arms.

The government just sent federal officers to the home of a pilot, Chris Liu, a commercial airline pilot based at San Francisco International Airport, that recently exposed the failures of Homeland Security in their "protection" of the airports of this land. He exposed the failures of Janet Napolitano so she reacted with the illegal seizure of his firearm which he was legally allowed to have by both the FAA and the State of California. She seized his weapon and forced the State of California to recall his "right to carry" permit. Then she accused him of terrorism and called him a threat.....accusations which she is still refusing to explain....all because he exposed HER failure to do HER duty to the country.

Janet Napolitano is the worst excuse for a public servant that I have ever seen. The woman would be a dictator similar to Chavez if she had the opportunity. Her "Deer in the headlights" expression every time she is asked a legitimate question shows her ignorance of US Law. How can she be qualified to be the head officer of a law enforcement group?

Jim Isbell
=======================================================
The Free Republic
=======================================================
July 3rd 2010 Speech
April 17th 2010 Speech
Trinity Base - in Defense of our Republic
American Majority
Red State
Blog Mirror of The Free Republic
My Facebook

A "Three Steps To Recovery Program"

These are the powers of the government as described by the Constitution of the United States:

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;

To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;

To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States;

To establish post offices and post roads;

To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;

To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;

To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations;

To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;

To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;

To provide and maintain a navy;

To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces;

To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings;--And

To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.

These are ALL the powers of the Government. There are no other powers of the US Government that are within the Constitution of the US. Thus any powers that they describe for themselves that are not within the above Article 1 Section VIII of the United States Constitution are, by definition, UNCONSTITUTIONAL.

It should be painfully evident that Obama Care does NOT fit within this definition nor is it covered in ANY of the amendments to the Constitution.

1) In the future, all laws that are proposed before the House of Representatives or before the Senate of the United States should be measured against this ruler. If they fail to meed the definition they should be discarded WITHOUT A VOTE. There is no need to vote on an UNCONSTITUTIONAL LAW. If it is unconstitutional and is passed on then the Supreme Court will throw it out....hopefully....but a lot of time and effort went into a useless exercise.

2) In the future all laws that are already "on the books" should be, also, measured and if found wanting, they should be removed from the body of the law. Admittedly, this second job will be a bit harder. It will take years and dedication and must be done slowly as you cannot just stop "cold turkey" from a drug, money, without huge headaches. It will take time and dedication to re craft our government back into a Constitutional government.

3) To this end we must elect dedicated public servants into the legislative bodies. These must be men and women with experience and capabilities not always found easily among the general public. It is for this reason that I suggest that "Term Limits" as we often describe them are not appropriate....at least until this job is done. Term Limits can be exercised by our vote. If they do wrong, vote them out.

But there is a way to limit the power of the long term politicians that often leads to corruption without throwing the baby out with the bathwater. We need to get rid of the political corruption, but some of the men we need to retain for their talents.

Straight term limits just throws out the good with the bad. However limiting power within the structure, by mandating that all committee chairmen be elected by the members of the committee and that no chairman may chair for more than two sessions PERIOD, will reign in the long term power of Congressmen and Senators.



I propose an amendment to the Constitution that mandates, all the above, three steps to recovery. A "Three Steps to Recovery Program"

.
Jim Isbell
=======================================================
The Free Republic
=======================================================
July 3rd 2010 Speech
April 17th 2010 Speech
Trinity Base - in Defense of our Republic
American Majority
Red State
Blog Mirror of The Free Republic
My Facebook

"Its All Her Fault"

I finally realized that its NOT George Bushes fault. Its also not Barack Obamas fault, in fact it is never the fault of any man. Women are the ones on whom the blame must fall. And as you follow that logic up stream you come to the conclusion that God is a woman, a belief that was popular in the late 1960s....right after he was dead.....must have been a rebirth???

Anyway, two days ago a bunch of us firemen and firewomen were sitting around the station and discussing the problems of the world when Jo Anne commented to her husband, "Dick, your suspenders are in need of adjustment." Dick, silently, adjusted them as best he could and then she said, "You have several GOOD pairs at home, Why dont you wear them?" Of course, that begs the question, "Why do Firemen wear red suspenders?" But thats a long subject that is fraught with pitfalls and arguments, so lets get on with my revelation.

It was then that I had one of my many epiphanies. I know, at 74 years of age I should have already learned just about everything and epiphanies should be behind me, but I am a slow learner. I suddenly realized that I had heard that very phrase before from my wife AND from many other wives. "You have some good ones, why don't you use them.....etc. etc." Women always know the location of and the uses of all our mens "junk".... because thats what it is ....until we need it....according to them....

I commented, "Men would still live in caves, sleeping on a pile of fur pelts, with a good cat and a big dog to keep him company and his clothes would only be enough to keep him warm and cover his genitals. If it were not for women." In fact it is actually women to blame that we men even worry about our genitals being covered, warm would be good enough for most men. I was amazed at the universal positive response I got from BOTH the men and women present. Women ARE responsible for civilization, they agreed. Men would never have come down out of the trees if left to themselves. They had a carefree, happy life swinging from tree top to tree top and eating bananas.

Without civilization there would be no wars so women are to blame for wars and men are dumb enough to fight them on behalf of the woman that wants a new dryer for the garage. For men, hanging the loincloth in a tree will suffice.

So, since its their fault, I think the next best presidential ticket would be Sara and Hillary and you can turn that either way round and I would vote for it. Its their fault so they should manage it. I want to go back to my cave.


Jim Isbell
=======================================================
The Free Republic
=======================================================
July 3rd 2010 Speech
April 17th 2010 Speech
Trinity Base - in Defense of our Republic
American Majority
Red State
Blog Mirror of The Free Republic
My Facebook

The TEA Party is like a marriage

I have been having some discussions with fellow TEA Party people as well with a couple of local politicians about the role of the TEA Party and how to keep it viable.

One of the things that I have been asserting, and some disagree with me, is that the TEA Party should keep to Constitutional and Fiscal issues at the National level and to local issues at the local level. And we should keep clear of Social issues at any level except, maybe, at the local level. In other words, we should not get to bickering among ourselves about issues such as abortion, gays in the military, and FDA regulations. These have all been declared Constitutional and the the laws are in place. We can argue them till the cows come home, but its the law. Local issues like gambling and blue laws etc. can be fought outside the box of the TEA Party as they will only prove to be divisive. I dont say we need to ignore these problems, only that we need to fight those battles as individuals and not try to Co-Opt the TEA Party to fight those battles. Those issues are not part of our "platform". We cannot afford to become fractured into small groups over issues that have relevance only to a local few or that we find are across party lines and more likely to be issues of moral beliefs.

However, Tenth Amendment rights of the states as it relates to the Obama Care bill have NOT been tested at the Constitutional level and we should work on that.

We have First Amendment rights issues with the FCC in their attempts to regulate the Internet. These we should pursue.

We have Second Amendment rights issues with legislation that the Congress is always trying to shove down out throats. We need to keep on their backs about these.

And of course, fiscal responsibility and the huge national debt are issues that we all agree on.

The TEA Party is like a marriage in that you can keep it together if you avoid poking each other in the ribs with a sharp stick about your disagreements and concentrate on having fun with what you agree on.

A divorce now would be a disaster.

Jim Isbell
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The Free Republic
=======================================================
July 3rd 2010 Speech
April 17th 2010 Speech
Trinity Base - in Defense of our Republic
American Majority
Red State
Blog Mirror of The Free Republic
My Facebook

Nuclear Intercontinental Balastics Missles In Venezuela?

Well, no,.....not exactly......as the old Hertz car rental advertisement used to say.

BUT....Iran has made an agreement with Hugo to place an Iranian missile base in Venezuela. The Iranian Shahab 3 (range 1300-1500 km), Scud-B (285-330 km) and Scud-C (300, 500 and 700 km) will be deployed in the proposed base according to one German news service.

Now, look at a map and just how far is it from Venezuela to Texas? Its approximately 4,000 Km. From NY, 3,500Km. From Miami, 2,100km. According to the above intended missile list, the longest range missile, the Shahab 3, has a range of only 1500 km thats just a bit less than the distance to Miami FL.. We are in the clear, right? Well, ....not exactly...... The argument for this base is that Iran needs to defend itself from Israel.....about 10,000 Km away. How will they defend themselves from Israel with missiles that cant even reach the US?

I guess they will have to put in some longer range missiles, right? If they put in a missile with the range to reach to Israel, that missile will have the range to reach ANY PLACE IN THE USA.

Even if they don't put in longer range missiles, just how hard do you think it would be to "soup up" the 1500Km missile to get another 600 km out of it. Then they only have to threaten to nuke Miami to get concessions.

But they don't have nuclear warheads, right?..... well, not exactly.....They have the ability to get them from several sources that are on their side politically. AND the current intelligence suggests that they will have their own nuclear warheads within two years.

But thats still OK because Obama, is a Democrat, like Kennedy, right? So He will stop the deployment of these missiles to Venezuela just like Kennedy did to Cuba. right? A blockade. right?

Personally I would not want to be living in Miami, as nice a place as it is, until someone besides Obama is in the Whitehouse.

Jim Isbell
=======================================================
The Free Republic
=======================================================
July 3rd 2010 Speech
April 17th 2010 Speech
Trinity Base - in Defense of our Republic
American Majority
Red State
Blog Mirror of The Free Republic
My Facebook

If This Wasnt So Sad, It Would Make You Laugh

At conference on Global Warming recently, some college students, as a prank, passed around a couple of petitions to the "Experts" attending the conference.One of the petitions was to punish the US for their refusal to take a strong stance to limit global warming by trying to collapse the US economy by 6% in the next 10 years. The other was a petition to Ban Water, Its Dangerous as a component of Acid Rain and Insecticides and contributes to global warming. They got plenty of signatures on their petitions which just goes to show that there is a fool born every minute. They described water as Di-hydrogen Monoxide. OK, that is a bit of a subterfuge, but then these people are supposed to be "experts" on global warming, scientists.

The best definition of an "Expert" that I know is:

Ex denotes a "has been"
and a spurt is a "drip under pressure."

Or another I have heard, "A man with a briefcase, 25 miles from the office"

We need fewer experts and more thinkers.

Jim Isbell
=======================================================
The Free Republic
=======================================================
July 3rd 2010 Speech
April 17th 2010 Speech
Trinity Base - in Defense of our Republic
American Majority
Red State
Blog Mirror of The Free Republic
My Facebook

We Got Screwed And We Didnt Even Get Dinner And Wine!

Obama pulled it off all by himself and the Democrats are even fighting him.

This "agreement" on the extended tax cuts is a Trillion dollar stimulus package that will further hurt the country with little or no benefit to the people.

13 months of unemployment is outrageous. Thats 3 years without a job and everyone of them will become wards of the state and so dependant on government money that they will then vote for anything the Progressives ask for.

And what do the conservatives get, an extension for two years of the current tax structure. Not a reduction in Taxes, just an extension of the status quo, a tax rate that has been with us for 10 years.

It looks like the Liberals may stick their finger in their own eye. For once I am voting with the Liberals, against this travesty. I agree, he caved too soon. Hopefully the House will reject it after taking 2 weeks to fight over it.

It would be much easier if he has stood his ground and wasted the entire Lame Duck session on arguing this thing and failing to get ANYTHING done. Then in the first weeks of January, the newly elected 63 representatives and the Republicans could ride to the rescue by passing the extension and saving the people from the evil Taxman. It wont make a bit of difference to the taxpayer that its two weeks late. They will get their first checks shorted but the next one will be fine, showing how much the Republicans are on their side. This is the kind of spin we are used to from the Democrats, right.

But even with this out of the way....where is his focus on Jobs??? I havent yet heard anything about creating jobs...unless we are talking about the people that will be hired to write all those extra unemployment checks.....

And, can you imagine this? Who is going to be the first one to say, "Well, the recession is now over and we are cutting unemployment back to only 6 months where it was" before this fiasco? Do we really expect that it will ever again be just 6 months?

Jim Isbell
=======================================================
The Free Republic
=======================================================
July 3rd 2010 Speech
April 17th 2010 Speech
Trinity Base - in Defense of our Republic
American Majority
Red State
Blog Mirror of The Free Republic
My Facebook

What a diference a day makes (Nov 2nd,,,)

First the stimulus would make sure that unemployment would stay below 8% and if it didn't get passed he was sure it would reach 9%. Today he said it kept unemployment at 9.8% and if it hadn't been passed it would have been "15% or more." Looks like he runs on a sliding scale.

Guantanamo was to be closed in the first year of his presidency and now they say never.

He said he would never approve letting the Bush tax cuts extend after December 31st Now, today, he said they would go on for another 2 years. (putting them into the next presidents administration...) I love the way he says that he will "Give them the money" Just when was it his money to give, It was my impression it was mine to keep until the government wanted to confiscate it from me. The government had nothing to do with the creation of that wealth, why do they think it is theirs to distribute?

Then in almost the same breath he says that we should look at his achievements and we would see that he has kept his promises. Where? What?

Ok, Ok, Maybe I shouldnt be complaining about the results, because its what I would have wanted. But I get aggravated at the "Spin" that he puts on it. He tries to make it look like it was his idea to be beaten to a pulp and left in the ally bleeding and dirty.

But in all fairness he did manage to slip in an 800 billion "Stimulus Package" by not calling it a stimulus. He is allowing the tax cuts to go on, costing 80 billion, Hes is giving a FICA tax holiday costing another huge amount of deficit spending, And on top of that another year of unemployment checks, huge deficit.

I can tell you when I was unemployed in 1990 and I had 6 months of benefits I actually said to my wife, "I am going to get every penny before I look too hard for a job." Yes, if one had fallen in my lap I would have taken it but otherwise it was a six month paid vacation....and we did go on vacation during that period. All in all, I am not sure that the Republicans didn't get snookered in spite of what the left is screaming about. An 800 billion stimulus package that was called a "compromise."

His comments today that he would not let the Republicans hold the middle class hostage to give their rich friends a tax cut was stated in such away you would think he was the most generous person in the world, He actually implied that the Republicans didn't want the middle class to have a tax break. That was a lie and he knew it....He Lies.....

Jim Isbell
=======================================================
The Free Republic
=======================================================
July 3rd 2010 Speech
April 17th 2010 Speech
Trinity Base - in Defense of our Republic
American Majority
Red State
Blog Mirror of The Free Republic
My Facebook

Term Limits, to do or not to do, that is the question.

I have been discussing Term Limits on an email list I belong to and there are two sides to this question....as there always are..... But I think it all boils down to what our opinion of "mankind" in general is.

The Progressive (modern day Liberal) believes that man is capable of perfection and only needs education to realize his perfection. But the Conservative realizes that man is far from perfect and has many incurable faults that education wont fix.

So the Progressive/Liberal thinks that Term Limits will only hold back a "perfect politician" from achieving his best. But the Conservative knows that all men are imperfect so we must put bounds on their activities. The founders of our nation, the guys that wrote our Constitution, were Conservatives so they wrote it with "meets and bounds" as George Washington, a surveyor, might have said, or as we often hear "checks and balances".

The Constitution is constantly putting limits on man because he is imperfect. But they didn't plan on career politicians. They thought that politicians wouldn't be paid enough to make it a career!!

So we need Term Limits because man is not perfect nor can he be made to be perfect.

Jim Isbell
=======================================================
The Free Republic
=======================================================
July 3rd 2010 Speech
April 17th 2010 Speech
Trinity Base - in Defense of our Republic
American Majority
Red State
Blog Mirror of The Free Republic
My Facebook

Charlie And The Roman Games

I keep hearing that Charlie didn't do anything wrong....at least compared to a lot of others. OK so why don't all of them get censured? We need to root out all the "Evil Doers".

Charlie thinks he was treated harshly. If I had done what he has done I would be facing criminal charges and my bank accounts would have been seized by the IRS. I wonder where it goes from here? Will the IRS follow up on the information they are having handed to them in a silver platter? Don't hold your breath till he is prosecuted. He will just offer to pay up, no penalties, no interest, and they will accept it. After all, according to him "I don't deal in average American citizens." The treatment of the "average American citizen" doesn't concern him, he is only concerned about how the privileged class is treated.

I think we should send Charlie into the arena and let him fight a lion or two, like they did with undesirables in Roman times. Of course having to stand there and listen to and look at Nancy during the censure may be a fate worse than facing a lion.......

Speaking of the Roman "games", I was struck by the similarity of our times to Roman times recently when I was sitting in front of the TV at a friends house. She doesn't allow politics to be talked about in her house and all you see on the TV is movies and children's shows.

In Roman times, toward the end, the government was about to fail because of excessive spending, foreign wars, and citizen unrest. Not dissimilar to our times, right? In order to control the citizens they had the "games" in the coliseum. If you can keep the citizens entertained they wont be able to riot in the streets. Let them take out their aggression in the arena.

Today we have "Survivor", "Cage fighting", and all sorts of violent movies on TV. This is the modern equivalent of the Roman "games". And of course, the FCC will try to shut up all dissent on the air waves. This will allow the government to pursue foreign wars, excessive spending, and Charlie Rangel without interference from its citizens.

Jim Isbell
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The Free Republic
=======================================================
July 3rd 2010 Speech
April 17th 2010 Speech
Trinity Base - in Defense of our Republic
American Majority
Red State
Blog Mirror of The Free Republic
My Facebook

US Follows China And Iran In Controlling The Internet

This link will take you to a discussion of the coming fight over the FCCs latest attempt to take over the Internet.

Attack on Free Speech

The FCC has now set out to create a giant utility out of the Internet. For almost 20 years the Internet has been a "Free Space". Almost a lawless land in that the only regulation has been self control. It has worked and until it shows that it cant regulate itself it should remain that way.

Only China and Iran currently restrict the citizens use of the Internet. Do we really want to join that axis?

The Internet is like a huge library where every book ever written is on display. It is the perfect way to bring democracy to the entire world. If the government begins suppressing the thoughts of Americans then who is going to be "Teaching" the rest of the world about democracy? Do we really want, whoever that is, to be doing the speaking for us....until their government shuts them down as well?

Librarys in the US are free and the only restrictions that are put on their content is by the library itself. Can you imagine the uproar..maybe even revolution...that would occur if the President stated that in the future all Librarys would be "Content neutral"?

We must stop this before it gets started. The FCC has no jurisdiction when it comes to a world wide phenomenon that is "owned" by the people of the world, not by any three countries, China, the US, and Iran. These are the axis for the destruction of FREE SPEECH.

This is just one more indication of the horrible mistake that was made in November of 2008 when we elected a socialist dictator to run our country!


Jim Isbell
=======================================================
The Free Republic
=======================================================
July 3rd 2010 Speech
April 17th 2010 Speech
Trinity Base - in Defense of our Republic
American Majority
Red State
Blog Mirror of The Free Republic
My Facebook

What I Learned At The Summit

A week ago I attended a TEA Party Summit in San Antonio. I have made two posts about it since then, one of approval and one critical. I thought, in all, it was a great meeting. I think it has a long way to go in that we are NOT through. We must trudge on.

During the Summit I heard the phrase "Organized Resistance" as a description of what we are. This evening I watched "Casablanca" and thought what a wonderful country we live in that none of us will likely have to die for our country. Though many are, those of us that have stayed home to fight political battles instead of going off to Afganistan (a friend is volunteering for his third tour) will likely not be in fear of losing our lives. Our democracy allows us to use the ballot box for a revolution.

At the summit I heard about AmericanMajority.org and
RedState.com and
NewLeadersProject.com

I learned that it will likely take us 20 or more years to bring America back to its roots. And I learned that most of us are up to that fight.

I learned that Psalms 109 Verse 8 is the Obama Prayer...

I learned about Facebook pages and have set one up called Trinity Base - in Defense of our Republic I hope the guy that gave the presentation on this subject sees this so he can tell me where I screwed up. But its a start that I would not have made if not for the Summit.

I learned a lot and the really great thing, I would not have been there except that it was free.

I have heard some say they didn't think it accomplished anything. They didn't talk to me and maybe some others that had never been to anything but the rallies they themselves had organized, because they couldn't afford the expense. It was very uplifting to hear others say they had experienced the same things I had, not knowing what they were doing, afraid they would screw it up, learning as they went, and yet we were successful. We all went from neophytes to experts in 18 months. Now if we can all share our experiences in gatherings, like the SA Summit, imagine where we will be by 2012!!

My hat is off to the Lone Star group that put this Summit on. I don't know how they did it for free, but that information has to be gotten out if this it to truly be a "grassroots" movement. I dont have lots of loose cash so I try to do my bit for the movement with work and I know a lot of people are like that. So to make it something that anyone can afford is an awesome accomplishment.



Jim Isbell
=======================================================
The Free Republic
=======================================================
July 3rd 2010 Speech
April 17th 2010 Speech
Trinity Base - in Defense of our Republic
American Majority
Red State
Blog Mirror of The Free Republic
My Facebook

The Essentials Of The Republic

The Republic of the United States of America is supported by two columns, each of which must be present to preserve the Republic. Those columns are:

1.) "The US Constitution and the Bill of Rights" (Law)

2.) "Fiscal Responsibility" (Economy)

The idea of Trinity Base, my new Facebook page, is that there are three supporting legs for each of these columns.

The three legs that support the Constitution are:

the 1st amendment (Freedom of the people to exchange ideas),

the 2nd amendment (Ability to defend those freedoms from ALL who would take them away)

the 10th amendment (Freedom from an oppressive governments ability to take these freedoms away)

It is not that the rest of the Bill Of Rights is not important, it is, but that these three are the basics that are required to hold up the column and if any one of them are lost the column falls.

The three legs that support Fiscal Responsibility are:

1.) spending within our means,

2.) taxing so that enterprise is not stifled,

3.) smaller government to support the other two legs.

None of these three legs can be left out or the column falls.

And further, if either of these columns fails the house comes down. Without a robust economy the citizens cannot survive and without the temper of Law the citizens will destroy themselves.

Jim Isbell
=======================================================
The Free Republic
=======================================================
July 3rd 2010 Speech
April 17th 2010 Speech
American Majority
Red State
Blog Mirror of The Free Republic
My Facebook

Dream Act or Nightmare Act?

Up till now I have been leaning toward the Dream Act as ...well, not too bad. If it were as described and as originally written, it just might not be too bad. I have a relative, from Columbia SA, that gained citizenship through serving 20 years in the US Army and US Marine Corps. He was a loyal and dedicated soldier. He earned a college degree. He earned his citizenship.

But I have recently been made aware of several BAD things in the "new" Dream Act. Several addons...etc. The information did not come from some anti Hispanic group, it came from:

ConservativeHispanics.Org

Following is the full copy of what they sent me to tell me why they, Hispanics, feel the dream act has been betrayed by after the fact modifications. After this very revealing post I asked them if I could post it verbatim to my blog site and they responded in the affirmative, so here it is:


This Dream Act version is bad for America and Hispanics.


The Conservative Hispanic Society states that Senate Bill 3827, the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act of 2010, is bad for America and the Hispanic community. The liberals who authored the current version of the Dream Act have turned a much needed bill into a political proposal that merely appeals to the small left-wing of the Hispanic community.

This version of the Dream Act is not the Dream Act that many Hispanics and Conservatives have supported over the years. This version has several dangerous changes and additions in the language of the bill.

CHS opposes major language changes that include the addition of the GED requirement as a condition of temporary status. The addition of the GED requirement does not promote staying in school, graduating high school and will actually contribute to increase the already high Hispanic dropout rates across the country. Legal residence should be a reward for staying and completing high school first. That one action alone goes a long way in showing the dedication of the undocumented alien to being a productive member of American society.

Another major language change that CHS opposes in this version of the Dream Act is removing military service with “uniformed service.” The term "uniformed services" means—

(A) the armed forces;
(B) the commissioned corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; and
(C) the commissioned corps of the Public Health Service.

CHS believes there is no better way to show loyalty to your adopted country by serving in the US military. Changing the language to say uniformed gives too much latitude for Congress or the President to “uniform” the Peace Corp or the Job Corp and cheapen the intent of giving resident status to undocumented aliens that sacrifice for our county through military service.

Furthermore, CHS strongly believes that the bill should include automatic permanent resident status to any temporary alien serving in the US military that is awarded the Purple Heart or injured in combat while on active duty. Language from prior Dream Act versions requiring an 8 year military contract with at least 2 years active duty must also be placed back into the bill.

In addition, there is language such as the section says that it’s “OK” if a minor illegal immigrant has committed a crime before the law’s enactment, as long as they have not continued to commit crimes. It also forgives crimes committed by an undocumented alien before the age of 16 and allows them to apply for the Dream Act. Any crime committed that would disqualify a US citizen from being a teacher in a public school should also result in automatic deportation.

Lastly, the addition of the “Waiver Eligibility” section has language that is too vague and gives too much discretion to the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. According to the current language, the DHS secretary could waive or grant extensions to everyone or anyone arbitrarily, at will, and without Congressional or judicial oversight. CHS believes this language should be strengthened to avoid blanket amnesty or misuse by the executive branch of government.

The Conservative Hispanic Society also recognizes that even a perfect Dream Act bill only solves ONE issue created by America’s lawmakers, who have been unwilling to do the hard work to secure our border and fix our broken immigration system. It is our hope that while considering the Dream Act modifications as proposed by CHS, Congress justifies their tax payer funded salary by securing our southern border and creating a system that eliminates illegal immigration into the United States through additional legislation.


Jim Isbell
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The Free Republic
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July 3rd 2010 Speech
April 17th 2010 Speech
American Majority
Red State
Blog Mirror of The Free Republic
My Facebook

Tonight I Heard From Guatemala

I just exchanged emails with a person in Guatemala that often argues politics with me. He may not realize it but he is a mentor, a counter point, a devils advocate that helps me to distill my views on politics. He recently made some outrageous claims about the TEA Party so I was trying to teach him. He made the following statement:

What I mean is that you (I am speaking of the US as a whole you) have screwed the pooch and if any of you think that any politician can get you out of the mess you have created for yourselves you are delusional.

It really doesn't matter if you get rid of the Texas speaker or whoever, the next one to come along will be just as ineffective. It doesn't matter if the democrats have control or the republicans have control or Mickey Mouse has control. IT'S BROKEN, IT CAN"T BE FIXED!

For fifty years you built an infrastructure on borrowed money that you could never possibly maintain or support. Now that infrastructure is collapsing, you don't have the tax base to support the maintenance and all you can do is point fingers at one another to fix it. There's no way anyone can cope with a 13 TRILLION dollar debt (that is growing) and maintain the massive infrastructure you have created at the same time. The only future is for the Federal Reserve to continue to print more money and that will eventually lead to massive inflation. Then the corporations that told you to invest your money in your 401K's and other financial instruments will collect their winnings that they don't have to pay taxes on because they convinced you that taxing them would be bad for the economy and you will be left once again with nothing. Same cycle that goes around about every 10 years or so.


I want to share my response with my blog readers, because I think it is important:

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Well, believe it or not I agree with every single thing you said, except that it cant be fixed.

That is why I said you didnt have a clue about the TEA Party because they would agree, to a man...or woman....,with everything you said....except that it cant be fixed. You are almost a TEA Bagger....

We are not willing to give up.

Yes, you are right, for 40 years we have been sleeping. We awoke 18 months ago and will never again sleep unless one eye is open. I firmly believe that with the continuous pressure on the politicians that they will reform.

I just got off the phone with my Congressman, one hour of conversation. Do you realize just how rare that is? A constituent talking directly to his congressman? It hasnt been the norm in 40 years. I have his home and cell phone numbers. I am no one special except that I am TEA Party and I put him in and I can take him back out....AND HE KNOWS IT. I have access to four major elected officials at the state and Federal level. And I am just a vocal constituent. And, I dont belong to either party.

This scene is being repeated all over the country today thanks to the TEA Party.

The TEA Party is NOT a third party and we will not run our own candidates. But we will vett our candidates and whether they are Democrat, Republican, Libertarian or Independent we will vett them carefully and try to educate the public to what they are actually getting. I have a signed document with 8 points on it that my congressman gave me and I keep it in my desk drawer. I told him that if he failed to pursue those goals I would be running against him next cycle.

I dont want to run for congress, I am a reluctant candidate. I am 74 years old and should be retired. So I hope he keeps his promise. BUT the reason this country got so far from the concept of the "Citizen Legislature" was because we, and I include myself, didnt want to leave the field and our crops to go to Washington for a couple of terms and do the peoples work. We defaulted to the "Professional Legislatures" who made a career of fleecing the citizens (can we say, Charlie Rangel?). It was our own fault, not his.

But now we need to correct it, or as you say, sleep in the bed we made for ourselves.

You are absolutely right.

A book to read that has just been published that you would like is "TEA Party--The Awakening" By Brent Morehouse and over 100 TEA Party leaders...including me on pages 338-341
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Jim Isbell
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July 3rd 2010 Speech
April 17th 2010 Speech
American Majority
Red State
Blog Mirror of The Free Republic
My Facebook

This One Foul Liberal Suggestion

OK, That did it. Up till now I hadn't made up my mind about Straus and Paxton for the Texas Speaker of the House. Now I have.

" House Committee on General Investigating and Ethics
1. Review state law in light of the effects of Texas Ethics Commission Advisory
Opinion No. 484 relating to acceptance of benefits provided to officeholders.
Recommend any necessary legislative changes.
2. Review the definition of "political advertising" and determine whether the
definition should be expanded to include content contained in blogs and other
types of Internet communications.
3. Monitor the agencies and programs under the committee's jurisdiction.

"

The above is from page 13 of :

Interim Committee Charges, Texas House of Representatives, 81st Legislature, Presented by Joe Straus, Speaker of the House.

The second item implies that blogs and other Internet communications should be limited. This would be a violation of the 1st amendment of the US Constitution in the extreme. I will now say that anyone that supports Straus over Paxton does so to his/her political detriment.

What ever else, that might be Conservative in nature, that Straus supports is, by this one foul liberal suggestion, eclipsed. There is nothing, now, that anyone can say in his defense.

Those in the state house have the opportunity, now, to support the Republican Caucus which will allow them a secret ballot so they can express their dissatisfaction with Joe Straus without being overly public about it. Those that do not thus express themselves will loose my support.

Jim Isbell
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July 3rd 2010 Speech
April 17th 2010 Speech
American Majority
Red State
Blog Mirror of The Free Republic
My Facebook

Weapons Of Mass Destruction Found In Iraq??? Really???

Why are we just hearing about this NOW? Because a left wing idiot didnt realize that he was helping the right with his intentional release of classified documents!!! He was hoping to damage the reputation of the US, but instead revealed information to prove our point.

The article revealing this discovery of weapons of mass destruction in Irag was posted at ice-news.net in the link below.

WMD found in Iraq, yes!

Of course even if they had not been found the war was justified by Irags refusal to cooperate with the UN weapons inspectors. But never mind facts, and dont be swayed by the fact that WMD were found as revealed by this left wing idiot, the left will find a way to spin this to claim that the war was illegal...anyway....

Jim Isbell
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July 3rd 2010 Speech
April 17th 2010 Speech
American Majority
Red State
Blog Mirror of The Free Republic
My Facebook

Transparency, RINOs, and Truth

I have previously posted a positive comment on the Lone Star TEA Party Summit so that I am now entitled to post a negative comment. This is the ONLY negative comment I have on this Summit. I will be posting more positives in the future. In general the Summit was an awesome meeting. But this needs to be said.

My representative was attacked as a RINO and as a person that accepted money from gambling PACs and from "The George Soros of Texas".

First to the legitimacy of these attacks:

1) The RINO accusations are strange to me since we in the TEA Party are NOT Republicans so why would we dislike someone that is a "Republican In Name Only"? We support Democrats, Libertarians and any one else that will adhere to our core values of Constitutional Law and Fiscal Conservatism. Yes, my representative was once a Democrat. But so were many others in Texas. When I came to Texas in the mid 50s, there were NO Republicans. You were either a Liberal Democrat or a Dixiecrat (a conservative Democrat). So most Republicans in Texas that are over 50 years of age were either a Democrat first OR a Carpet Bagger from out of state. I think I prefer the former. Yes, my representative was once a Democrat. And the Bible tells us that the Shepard should leave the flock to find the lost sheep. I am glad he is now where he belongs and not still a lost sheep.

2) Taking money from a PAC that supports gambling is neither a crime nor does it violate our TEA Party core values. In fact as I pointed out several times during the Summit, taking money from the opposition seems to make more sense than burning your own constituents money on a campaign. The argument I heard against that was, "Well, now he owes someone something."

One of the people running against the current Speaker of the House spoke at the Summit. He made the point very vividly that "Pledges" were not worth the paper they are not written on. So called "Pledges" are only agreements to support a bill "If it meets my approval in its end form" He made this point several times as an argument to us to call our representatives to change their votes before January.

Now either this is true, and the so called "Pledges" that were perhaps made for campaign support are of little or no value, or its not true.

If it is true than there in no validity to calling someone names for accepting PAC money, or if it is not true, why are you asking me to support someone that campaigns on lies?

Now I have handled the validity of the charges, I will address the reasons for them.

The TEA Party makes a big thing about transparency. We demand it of our opposition. So we should practice it ourselves. This whole attack on the RINOs is not an attack on them because of their previous Democratic associations. It is not an attack on their funding choices. It is in fact, in my opinion, an attack on their failure to come out firmly against Gambling in Texas.

This is easily seen when you see that the PACs that they object to are ALL PACs that are funded by people that own horse tracks or have other gambling interests. "The George Soros of Texas" owns a horse track I am told. So What???

I would hope that those attacking would be transparent in their motives so we could hold a real discussion on the issue, gambling, and not just campaign against personalities. A discussion on gambling pros and cons would be much more productive.

Lets all practice transparency.

And now a final note on this unfortunate undercurrent of the event.

In the US the Christian church's all claim to believe in God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They also claim to believe in the Bible. But they argue over the little stuff, the stuff that wont get you into heaven or keep you out. Things like whether a woman should preach from the pulpit, whether music is allowed in the sanctuary, whether drinking is a sin, and the list goes on. Things that are not CLEARLY defined in the Bible. So there are hundreds of separate "Religions" that, in some cases, wont even speak to each other even though they agree on the core values.

In the TEA Party we dont want to make that mistake. We all have our core values and we all agree on them. So lets not get caught up in trying to tell each other who our preachers should be. I doubt that anyone will argue with me when I say that the Dictator of Argentina should not be telling the American people who they should vote for for president. So lets not start casting stones at my rep lest I begin tossing them back. The people in district xx should not be telling the people in district 32 who they should be supporting. After all they dont know who the alternative was!!

There is an old Texas saying that fits this attempt to tell us in south Texas who we should be voting for, "Now you have stopped preachin' and have started meddlin'".


Jim Isbell
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July 3rd 2010 Speech
April 17th 2010 Speech
American Majority
Red State
Blog Mirror of The Free Republic
My Facebook

United We Stand, Divided We Fall

I have just spent an enjoyable two days at a TEA Party Summit with TEA Party leaders from around the state of Texas.

I had been relaxing a bit after our resounding victory in South Texas where we accomplished a clean sweep of the ticket. Not one loss on the entire ballot. This was not totally unexpected, we were very confident, but to actually accomplish it was exhilarating.

Now I find that after almost two years of hit and miss tactics as we all tried to learn politics from the bottom up with no help from the incumbents we were all very successful with our campaigns, Some more than others, but everyone had some successes and for the most part, more successes than failures. This is exciting information that is hard to get in a grass roots organization with no Top Down structure. The TEA Party has prided itself in the fact that it is a bottom up structure.

But we need to open some lines of communication so we can share our successes and methods to accomplish those successes. We don't need to establish any power structure, just communications lines. This was the goal of this TEA Party Summit.

What was very encouraging to me is that as we all learned by trial and error, we were still able to beat the bastards at their own game. Imagine what it will be like in 2012 when we are all seasoned pros and we have begun to share our information. Our learning curve will head for the roof. The “professional” politicians who have been coasting have never been up against an organization like ours will be morphing into. I dont think they have the capability to morph themselves into a defensive position for two reasons. I am not sure they are smart enough and they are hampered by a belief in the Top Down structure. There is no room for innovation in a top down structure. We are not hampered that way with our structure.

For this reason, we must NOT stop working. We have to work even harder so that we dont slip back. We must share everything we have learned. There were about 50 or a bit more of us at this summit. There should have been more.

I know that some shunned the gathering because of some differences of opinion on what the goals were. But we must remember that while there are some differences locally, our over all goal is to find candidates that will protect the Constitution, especially the 1st, 2nd, and 10th amendments, and recruit fiscally conservative candidates. These two goals are over all. The rest is just fluff.

If we let ourselves get attracted to “Straw Men” that we set up for ourselves, like abortion, gambling, and other, similar goals that are better left to our religious communities, and forget the 1st, 2nd, and 10th amendments to the US Constitution and our fiscal responsibility, we will be lost in wasting energy on the “fluff” and will lose our country to the Progressives. We will defeat ourselves if we fight among ourselves. United we stand, divided we fall. Yes, we must not forget the “fluff” but it does not help us to win a battle if we lose the war. We must win the war first and then go about “fundamentally changing our country.”

Jim Isbell
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July 3rd 2010 Speech
April 17th 2010 Speech
American Majority
Red State
Blog Mirror of The Free Republic
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Quantitative Easing explained!!!! Finally I understand it.

There is no reason to say anything today. Just watch this video, it is self explanatory. Please, spread it to anyone you know and everyone you know.

Quantatative Easing Explained

Jim Isbell
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July 3rd 2010 Speech
April 17th 2010 Speech
American Majority
Red State
Blog Mirror of The Free Republic
My Facebook

Scuzballs dont penalize Scuzballs

Charlie Rangel is convicted!!

I thought he was a lawyer. I can understand, though, why he feels persecuted and poor. He wasted $2,000,000 on his first lawyer and now he is convicted on 11 of 13 counts because he didn't have any money to hire a lawyer. He wanted a stay to give him more time.

Isnt this the guy that was in a hurry to get this over with as soon as possible? Isnt this the guy that has all sorts of money because he doesnt pay his taxes?

40 years in Congress. This is why we need term limits. These are the scuzballs we need to get out of office. But we also need to make sure if they are convicted of ethics breaches then they dont get a retirement check!

11 out of 13 indictments. Thats a whopping conviction. But he wont have any penalties to speak of. Professional courtesy will protect him from being thrown out. Scuzballs dont penalize scuzballs, its an unwritten code.

Part 4: What Am I Doing About Inflation?

This is the last in a four part series on inflation. It is about retiring on less.

You have probably heard that you must have 70% of your before retirement income to retire and maintain your lifestyle. That is BS put out by the insurance salesman and the securities salesman who are trying to sell you something. The best way to get this information is to ask someone who has retired and done it well. I have.

I had heard all that crap and was a bit worried since I didn't expect to have more than 40% of my before retirement income. And it has turned out that I was right about the 40%. However I am living better now than I was before I retired. But it is all in your interpretation of what "income" is.

First, if you are young, work at getting your house paid for and mortgage free. Many young people just keep upgrading their house and rolling the excess over into the next house. This results in your getting to your retirement with a mortgage still sitting on your shoulder. You will probably find that you WILL need 70% of your before retirement income!! So work on getting rid of the mortgage.

Second, don't go into retirement with a payment on a car due every month. This is the easiest of things to accomplish. In pursuit of this goal, don't ever buy a new car!!! There is no reason to own a new car. I have heard all the excuses for owning a new car, and all of them make no sense. The only reason to own a new car is to "look good". That is a fools mission. If you think driving around in a new car makes you look good, then you ARE, indeed, a fool. You can look good in an older car that you have restored yourself to like new condition. I have always driven Mercedes, Bentleys, Lincolns, etc that I bought for next to nothing and restored as I drove them to work every day. Now talk about looking good........

But there are other reasons that while invalid, many people think are reasonable.

1) "I need to get to work and need a reliable car." That is a myth. A used car can be more reliable than a new one. Usually all the bugs have been worked out and if you maintain the car it will last for 40 years! I have owned over 120 cars in my lifetime and only two were new...and paid for with cash!

2) "I cant maintain my own car so I am at the mercy of the dealer." Bull Sxxt. Anyone can maintain their own car. Both my daughters were taught from an early age how to maintain their cars. If you think that part time, drunk, mechanic down at the garage is smarter than you are, I feel sorry for you. The first time I overhauled a car I was 12 years old and had NO EXPERIENCE OR HELP. No, I am not a genius. Its just that my father told me from the time I could first understand English:

"There is no such word as cant, The word you are looking for is wont. You can put a quart of piss in a pint jar if you want to bad enough." This, from a man that had a third grade education and became the County Surveyor of the biggest county in the united states and when he died the replacement had to have a Masters degree in Civil Engineering.

There is nothing you cannot do if you want to do it! But you cannot do it until you start it. First, open the hood. It gets easier once you have the hood open....#8-)

3) "I dont have any cash and the only one that will make me a loan is a new car dealer." Gosh I wonder why? Its because he is screwing you. If you don't have cash, just ride the bus or a bike until you save $200 a month (thats what your payment will be at the minimum) and have enough to buy a good 10 year old used car. You can move up later as you save all that $200 a month you would have been putting into a loan.

4) Back to the first excuse....if you add up the insurance payment, the gasoline, the tires, batteries, the cost of the car, etc and etc. You will find that you could take a job that paid less and was close enough to walk to so you wouldn't need a car at all. Ok, I know that that might not really be feasible, but you might try adding up the cost of owning even a NEW car with no mechanics costs. And remember, if you are your own mechanic you will have no mechanic costs!!

Third, when you retire you will have a lot of TAX FREE income that you didn't even know you had. You are retired so you have TIME that you can spend as though it were money!

1) every time you mow the lawn you make $100 that is non taxable, non reportable, because before you had to pay someone to do the job because you were working. AND you had to pay taxes on that money before you paid it to him so you actually had to earn $110 in order to pay him $100 !

2) every time you do a repair on your house that a repairman would have charged you $1500 for and you do it for $300 in materials, you just made $1320, TAX FREE, because you did it yourself. If you think you cant do it yourself, refer to my comments on "Can't".

3) every thing that you do yourself can be analyzed that way and so you will soon see you are making more than you ever made working for someone else, and you will like your new boss, yourself. You can take a break whenever you want.

4) Your medical expenses will drop because you are keeping busy and getting exercise.

5) Remember the car thing? Now your car expenses will drop to 1/10th of what they were when you had to drive to and from work every day.

6) Your eating costs will drop precipitously because you wont pay $1.50 for coffee and a donut for your morning coffee break and again for afternoon coffee break and you wont pay $10 for lunch. Instead you will stop the lawn mowing, go in the house make some fresh scones for about 10 cents a piece and a cup of coffee for 10 cents and sit on the porch swing and marvel at how nice your lawn looks.

The list goes on and on. But you see the point. The more you do for yourself the more TAX FREE income you have and the healthier you will be.

Jim Isbell
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Part 3: What Am I Doing About Inflation?

I will begin by telling you there will be a part 4. It seems as I go along I just keep remembering more about the methods that have become second nature to me. Much of it will, likely, be old news to you, but hopefully some of it will be new, or inspiring.

In part 2 I illuminated the strategies I used to reduce my "energy footprint". Reducing the amount of energy you use while still maintaining your lifestyle will save on the amount of energy that you will have to purchase. Sure, it may contribute to a "greener" planet, but that is just incidental. Having more dollars to spend on other things is the real goal of conservation.

My current project is to get up and running by the end of this year a 2.5KW wind turbine. This should furnish about 90 to 100% of my electrical needs. I have the good luck to live in an area where this is a feasible option. Just 5 miles down wind from me is one of the largest wind-farms in the country. I hope they dont mind that I will be bleeding off a few watts before it gets to them...#8-)

I plan in the future to add 5kw of solar generation. This will all be "Grid Tied" so that I use the grid as my storage medium. The solar generation is waiting for a reduction in the cost per watt of solar panels. Right now they are way too expensive to pay for themselves.

I do all this work myself. The cost of having a turnkey installation of either wind or solar generation makes the system uneconomical in that it will likely never pay for itself. If you are out to reduce your carbon footprint and dont care what it will cost, be my guest. But I want payback. Carbon, Shmarbon, I eat meat and live on the top of the foodchain as I have said before. By doing it yourself you can have a 2.5KW wind turbine up and producing for less than $7000, mine will cost less than $5000 so a two year payback is likely. Solar however, even with do it yourself will likely cost $3 a watt minimum so I will wait as I need 5kw of solar if I am to completely slake my appetite for energy.

My next post will be an exposure of the myth that you need 70% of your before retirement income to comfortably retire.

So stay tuned if you are about to retire.

Jim Isbell
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Citizen Legislature

I am going to delay my 3rd post on personal Conservative finances for a day to interject this post. I want to get this said before the election is cold in our memories.

A lot has been said about the fact that the original framers of the constitution meant for the congress to be filled with citizens that came to serve for a few years and then went home to be replaced by another citizen. The idea was that no one would be there long enough to get into real trouble, or learn how to steal.

In a recent discussion with our "new" congressman from my district I felt a little uneasy when I asked him how long term limits should be and he said 16 years. I asked why so long, and he said, "You need to be there for a while to learn how to work the system (steal...in my book)." I responded that that was the whole problem, "we don't want them to be there long enough to learn how to steal." Then he said, "But you need seniority to get anything done," To which I responded, "Seniority would mean nothing if we had term limits because no one would have it."

He has also said, "I will have to learn how to compromise and help others so they will help me." To which I say Bull Shit. We should never compromise and vote for what we know is wrong to buy a vote on something we know is right. The wrong vote pollutes the good intentions. Each time it is done it is easier to do. That is what we are fighting in government today.

The real problem is that we have gotten away from the concept of a "Citizen Legislature". But whose fault is it? It is OUR fault. Most of us are not willing to serve. We are not willing to run for office. We have defaulted to the "professional legislature". We can only turn it around if we are willing to accept some of the responsibility for running for office.

I am making my commitment here and now. If my congressman doesn't stick the the conservative values he ran on, he better be looking in the rear view mirror, because I will be there. If he stumbles, I will be there to run against him in 2014. I don't want to run for office so I hope he sticks to his promises. He gave me an 8 point "Contract" which he personally signed and told me to hold him to it. I will.

You should commit to run for office if someone you elected does NOT live up to his campaign promises.

I will.

Jim Isbell
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Part 2: What Am I Doing About Inflation?

Yesterday I posted about my financial strategy for keeping up with inflation. After I posted it I realized that there were other things that I have done over my lifetime that also worked but were not direct investments. There are investments in time and things that you can change in your lifestyle that will also work to mitigate inflation. Reduce your energy consumption!

Now, don't misunderstand me, I am no "Greenie". Personally, I feel that the human race is King and we should live like we are on the top of the food chain. After all, our ancestors didn't claw their way to the top of the food chain so that we could eat grass. We don't owe any other species any more than to treat them with respect, but not to degrade our lifestyle for their benefit. After all, a simple food chain that would work is Plankton, Whales and Humans. We eat whales, defecate in the sea to feed the plankton and the plankton produce oxygen to breathe and feed the whales. Simple, effective, but probably we would get tired of the blubber diet. But the green lifestyle has some advantages over and above not destroying the environment.

If you don't waste energy, you don't have to pay for as much of it. With inflation and scarcity driving up the cost. Not having to pay for what you waste is "income" that you can allocate to better use.

From 2007 to date I have been working on reducing the energy that I have to buy while STILL MAINTAINING the same lifestyle. I dont intend to give up anything but still reduce my expenses.

In that time period I have been able to reduce my electric consumption from 13,600 Kilowatt hours a year to only 10,850 Kilowatt hours a year. That is a reduction of 20%. With the current price of electricity here, thats an income to me of $357.50 a year. I did that by converting almost exclusively to CFLs and Florescent tube illumination, and replacing an aging 10 SEER AC unit with a "newer" not new, AC unit of 12 SEER. By using a good, but used unit that I got for free and paying someone $350 to install it the cost will be amortized very quickly. The cost of the changes were easily paid for with the savings of the FIRST TWO YEARS. After that its gravy...and because of inflation the savings is even more dollars.

I have reduced my natural gas consumption from 26,500cf to 24,000cf, a savings of $46 a year. This was accomplished with the AC replacement.

The big change was reducing my gasoline consumption from 1180 gallons a year to only 300 gallons a year AND I drive more miles and enjoy it more in my 2000 Honda Insight Hybrid that gets 65MPG (around town)to 118MPG (best highway) and I bought it used. At todays price for gasoline that is a savings of $2400 a year. The payment on the car loan is only $2400 a year so I got the car for free!!! The car has a better AC than my Jaguar sedan, and more room in the seats than the Jag and gets 4 times the mileage!

I just realized that I am not near done with my attack plan on inflation so I guess there will be a Part 3 tomorrow.

Jim Isbell
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What Am I Doing About Inflation?

Lets start by saying, that I am NO expert on this subject. Yesterday I mentioned my belief that inflation was just around the corner. I also said I would tell you what I am doing about it. What I say here is what I am doing and is not a recommendation for what YOU should do. But I hope that my comments will prod you into doing some research on your own to see what is best for you. A also hope if you see any flaws in my reasoning that you will tell me before I make a big mistake.

Inflation generally means that money gets worth less and "things" cost more money. In other words if you have a "thing" that is worth $100 today and the currency is inflated by 10% then your "thing" will now sell for $110. So "things" make relatively useful hedges against inflation. But of course there are other forces that affect the market for "things" so it isn't always a direct relationship. For instance if you have an ice maker that is worth $100 in August and there is a 10% inflation between August and December, you may still only get $100 for the ice maker in December because the season is wrong for the market even though money is worth less. So be aware of that when you do your research. I don't buy age-able "things" as a hedge against inflation because age will devalue them, maybe faster than inflation is increasing their price!

I intend to spread my portfolio because of the many variables that may make one or another of my hedges either less valuable or less liquid. I feel I need some of my assets liquid and some very safe.

First, I will have very little cash in the bank when the inflation shows up. Cash will just be a looser in a rapid inflation. I will begin buying "stuff" as fast as I can to divest myself of cash.

Second, my home is a great inflation hedge, in my opinion, because I need it ANYWAY. My home is something I will need as long as I am alive. Its not so liquid in bad times, but I need it to protect me from the elements.

Third, I will be buying Gold and Silver as part of my hedge against inflation because if it really gets out of hand I can always spend the gold. Gold is a very liquid asset and easily converted into dollars if need be.

The fourth part of my portfolio is land. Not houses, but land. Houses will age. Houses have high taxes and high upkeep costs. And, the market for houses is very volatile. Land is somewhat more stable and the taxes are lower. Maintenance is minimal. But land is not so liquid in an emergency situation.

I like old cars. They are a fun hobby so I might as well consider them a hedge against inflation. Back in the 80s I sold off a sizable collection of old cars and was able to pay off the mortgage on my home so that I became debt free. I will continue to collect them because its a great hobby and if inflation gets out of hand the prices will rise with inflation.

And finally I am looking into an idea I had recently, investing in companies that sell "Reverse Mortgages". This seems to me to be a good way to invest in real estate without all the maintenance and tax problems. These companies are essentially betting on the future of real estate values. The owners take care of the maintenance and taxes as part of the mortgage agreement. If real estate goes up in value then the companies asset pool goes up with it. Considering the current state of real estate values, it would seem to me that the only way is UP. Of course, if Obama Care causes a down tick in the average life expectancy then this will increase the value of the assets as well.

Any comments will be appreciated. If my ideas don't hold water, let me know so I can bail out!!!

Jim Isbell
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Inflation To Be Fuled By Printing 1/2 Trillion Dollars

The Fed is now going to print one half a Trillion dollars in order to buy our own bonds!! This is an incredible run of idiocy for our government. But what would you expect from a government led by one.

Printing money to buy our own debt is like you going out and xeroxing a dollar bill until you had enough copies to pay off your mortgage!! It is not going to work.

The Chinese are going to stop buying our bonds, so we will just buy them from ourselves?? If we do this then the Chinese will start selling the bonds they already have to get their money back before the dollar inflates itself into nothing!! If they don't want to buy them now, how do you think they will feel if we inflate the dollar?? Now the bonds will become worthless with the flood of bonds that the Chinese are dumping onto the market. So now we have to sell more bonds to get the same amount of, soon to be worthless, dollars that we were getting before. Its a vicious circle that will drive us to the point of having to pay a wheelbarrow full of dollars for a loaf of bread. The wheel barrel will be worth more than the dollars in it.

But, what can you do to protect yourself from this calamity?

Well, we have already started. We threw the bums out. Or as they say down here in Texas, "We handed them their ass on a platter." The elections show how we feel about the Obama administrations handling of financial matters. But that is just the start.

Now we hold most of the states legislatures and with the recent census, redistricting is coming to the country. The Republicans don't even have to resort to Gerrymandering, they can just do an honest job of redistricting and just the correction of the gerrymandered districts of the Democrats will swing the congress back to a fair distribution.

OK, so that fixes our government for the next 10 years...maybe beyond...if we keep an eye on them...a close eye. But what about your own personal security? What can we, individually, do to protect ourselves from the massive inflation that will engulf this country if we continue to print and inflate the dollar?

Inflation is the process of a currency becoming worth less. The word inflation seems to imply something getting bigger. But that is only the case if that "something" is the wheelbarrow you need to carry the money you need to buy a loaf of bread.

Tomorrow I will give you the plan I am using to protect myself from the coming inflation.

Jim Isbell
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Whats Next For The TEA Party?

I have addressed this subject several times in the past, but my answer to the question has usually been fairly nebulous. Several days ago I suggested that the TEA Party would become the conscience of the nation to keep the two political parties in check. I have since had some more specific ideas.

Last night I was at a victory party and during the course of the party I had many conversations with people that all wondered what we could do to keep the new political winners on the straight and narrow.

Somewhere, about half way through the party, maybe it was the wine, or maybe I really had an epiphany, but the idea came to me that if these jokers went south on us, we had to replace them. BUT...we cant start a third political party because that ALWAYS hurts the one you would have voted for if there wasn't a third candidate. So what can we do?

Its up to us. Each and every one of us, to become martyrs. As much as we despise politics, we must run for office. The young, the old, and everyone in between. Each of us should pick a candidate and watch him or her. If the person in that office does a good job, we are off the hook. But if they fail then we must take it upon ourselves to run for that office the next time it comes up. Challenge the liar and make him pay.

We can run as Republican or Democrat, the party doesn't matter, the message does. If we challenge him or her in the primary and don't succeed, then we can change parties and challenge again. Again, I say, it doesn't matter which party you run with, its the conservative message that you carry that makes the difference.

I am 74 years old, but I am preparing my campaign right now. I am looking into the requirements and the costs of a campaign. I hope that I never have to use the information. I hope the politician I am watching does what he said he would do and makes me proud.

BUT if he doesn't, I will be on him like a duck on a June Bug come 2013.

Jim Isbell
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We Just Didnt Get Credit For All We Did

Yesterdays blog touched on the above statement. The Democrats just don't get it. Today a Democratic pundit said they just didn't get credit for their accomplishments. They think that they needed MORE credit for their disastrous attempt to govern. They should be thankful that they didn't get credit for everything they did. If the full extent of their attempt to take over the US and turn it into a Socialist Republic of the USSR was known. There would not just be elections tomorrow, there would likely have been some hangings tomorrow.

The fact that they are still decrying the lack of credit for a failed policy, the fact that they think the electorate is a bunch of dummies, the fact that they think that they just didn't use small enough words to explain it to us, That they didn't take enough time to explain it to the "slow" voters who just aren't smart enough to understand it, this is why they will loose big tomorrow, and again and again. They have awakened a sleeping giant.

They will continue to loose over and over until they understand that their failure at the polls shows that their policies have failed. Their failure at the polls shows that the people DO UNDERSTAND and they DON'T approve.

But it is unlikely that the realization of that will come easy or quickly. The reason is that the entrenched politicians on BOTH sides are more interested in their own survival than the survival of the United States..like a bacteria not worried about its host. Further the infiltration of BOTH parties by the lunatic Fringe Liberals, the Socialist agenda proposed by the Progressives, led by George Soros, will continue as an infection to be purged from the body. Like all bacterial infections, they are able to morph and change shape so that they are not recognizable...until the next outbreak.

This is why we must all be very attentive to the nations health. As long as there is infection (Soros, Obama, Polosi, Reid) we must continue to expose it to the open air. Just as with a wound on the body, exposure to the open air will help to dispel the infection. We must be constantly on watch and when a fever shows, we must treat it immediately. We almost didn't catch this one and the Nation was very sick before we awoke to the disease.

We must vote tomorrow to put antiseptic on the wound, and we must stay vigilant, keeping the wound CLEAN, so that the infection does not return.

Jim Isbell
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Are we doing the right Thing?

I often ask myself that when working on my next event for the TEA Party. If you don't ask yourself that then you are not thinking about what you are doing. The conservative movement needs thinking individuals, not mindless automatons like the great majority of Democrats and many Republicans that just keep trying things that failed in other countries. They keep thinking, "Maybe it was because we just did this one thing wrong." Proof of this mentality is showing up already from the mouths of the President and VP. He is already down playing the losses he is expecting by suggesting that its not the failed program, but rather, "We didn't explain it enough." Or maybe its because he is black, which couldn't be further from the truth, but he clings to that as an excuse. Or maybe the electorate just isn't smart enough to understand what he is doing. They are just a bunch of dummies....according to the VP. But they just cant see that what they are doing is the WRONG thing and "we the people" have caught them at it.

But the other night as I sat at the computer writing I realized I was doing just exactly the right thing. It was late at night, well past midnight and I was sitting in a dark room with only the light of the monitor as I typed. As I thought about what I was writing I realized that in some countries this would be considered high treason and I could be arrested for it. A cold chill ran down my spine as I recalled a visit I made to Guatemala some years back, shortly after the new Constitution was adopted and it became a safer place to visit.

People were still afraid and the doors were always locked and bared after 9PM. My wife and I went out to see a "movie" and forgot about the curfew that our host had presented us with. We were innocent gringos and young. A "movie" at that time and maybe still is, a trip to a nearby home where someone had a stack of VHS tapes and a large screen TV. There were perhaps 15 folding chairs in front of the TV and for 15 cents you could see any movie in the library as long as that is what everyone else wanted to see. That evening the movie was a documentary about "Romero", the priest that was executed by a right wing death squad. As we sat there I was thinking, "This would not be allowed a few years ago." "Maybe its not allowed now!" Again, a cold chill ran up my spine and I imagined a group of guerrillas with AK47s bursting through the door and spraying bullets everywhere. It was real and a chilling experience. As we walked home in the dark on cobble stone streets under a full moon and arrived at our hosts home to a bared door, we realized the fear that existed, still then, in this country. We were allowed back in and admonished never to stay out that late again.

As I was writing my blog I had felt that same chill. I suddenly realized that I was probably on some list somewhere as an "enemy". The chill got colder. That was when I knew I was doing the right thing.

If you don't feel a chill when you become active in politics, then maybe you are not active enough, or maybe not touching the edge of the envelope.

If you have never felt that chill, you can start by going to the polls Tuesday, November 2nd, and voting for the conservatives. If you don't have time between now and then to sort them all out, then just pull the lever for Republican and then we can sort them out later. I don't like a single lever vote and have never done it before this year, but the risk is to great this time to do anything else.

If that doesn't give you the chill then you need to get involved with the TEA Party until it does. I certainly hope I am on somebodies list, because if I am not, I am not trying hard enough.

Jim Isbell
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Obama Wants Your Retirement To Fund His Spending Spree

He cant find the money so he wants your retirement.

Under the guise of "Protecting You" Obama wants to take all 401Ks and IRAs and merge them into the Social Security system. We already know that it is on the verge of bankruptcy. So why will it protect our retirement programs if he merges them into a program known to be on its last legs??

It wont. The reason for the siezing of your assets is so that Congress can barrow against them to fund still more spending, and even more quickly bankrupt the country and your IRA with it.

Rep. George Miller (D-CA) has already held hearings on merging 401(k)s, IRAs, and other tax-advantaged private savings programs into the failed Social Security program.

This is not a new thing, but it is a sure thing if we dont get off the sofa and do something about it.

Don't wait until your retirement is gone and its too late for the fiscal conservatives to rescue it.

VOTE conservative on November 2nd. If you don't know what that means, it means vote a straight ticket for republicans for now and we can sort them out after the plaster stops falling.

NO DEMOCRATS ARE TRUSTWORTHY this time around. I suspect all republicans as well, but at least they did try to co-opt the TEA Party movement so it tells me they are leaning in the right direction.

Now we just have to get the trees planted and then push them to the right till the roots take hold.

Jim Isbell
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"But for me we would be in a world wide depression"

Its hard for me to believe that Harry Reid actually said that, but I have listened to the tape several times. He actually proclaimed himself the savior of the world. On October 21st he told MSNBC that he had saved the world from a world wide depression and its all on tape. He doesnt even acknowledge that the "supreme savior" Barak had anything to do with it. He did it all by himself, not even "The Great Nancy" helped.

This is the audacity that makes this administration so offensive to the voters. This is the audacity that will put this administration out on its ear.

This is a short post, but I just cant think of a thing to add to it!!!

Jim Isbell
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