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
Monday, November 29, 2010
Friday, November 26, 2010
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
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
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
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
=======================================================
The Free Republic
=======================================================
July 3rd 2010 Speech
April 17th 2010 Speech
American Majority
Red State
Blog Mirror of The Free Republic
My Facebook
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
=======================================================
The Free Republic
=======================================================
July 3rd 2010 Speech
April 17th 2010 Speech
American Majority
Red State
Blog Mirror of The Free Republic
My Facebook
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
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:
================
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
===============================================
Jim Isbell
=======================================================
=======================================================
July 3rd 2010 Speech
April 17th 2010 Speech
American Majority
Red State
Blog Mirror of The Free Republic
My Facebook
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:
================
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
===============================================
Jim Isbell
=======================================================
=======================================================
July 3rd 2010 Speech
April 17th 2010 Speech
American Majority
Red State
Blog Mirror of The Free Republic
My Facebook
Monday, November 22, 2010
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
=======================================================
=======================================================
July 3rd 2010 Speech
April 17th 2010 Speech
American Majority
Red State
Blog Mirror of The Free Republic
My Facebook
" 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
=======================================================
=======================================================
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
=======================================================
=======================================================
July 3rd 2010 Speech
April 17th 2010 Speech
American Majority
Red State
Blog Mirror of The Free Republic
My Facebook
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
=======================================================
=======================================================
July 3rd 2010 Speech
April 17th 2010 Speech
American Majority
Red State
Blog Mirror of The Free Republic
My Facebook
Sunday, November 21, 2010
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
=======================================================
=======================================================
July 3rd 2010 Speech
April 17th 2010 Speech
American Majority
Red State
Blog Mirror of The Free Republic
My Facebook
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
=======================================================
=======================================================
July 3rd 2010 Speech
April 17th 2010 Speech
American Majority
Red State
Blog Mirror of The Free Republic
My Facebook
Saturday, November 20, 2010
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
=======================================================
=======================================================
July 3rd 2010 Speech
April 17th 2010 Speech
American Majority
Red State
Blog Mirror of The Free Republic
My Facebook
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
=======================================================
=======================================================
July 3rd 2010 Speech
April 17th 2010 Speech
American Majority
Red State
Blog Mirror of The Free Republic
My Facebook
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
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
========================================================
========================================================
July 3rd 2010 Speech
April 17th 2010 Speech
American Majority
Red State
Blog Mirror of The Free Republic
My Facebook
Quantatative Easing Explained
Jim Isbell
========================================================
========================================================
July 3rd 2010 Speech
April 17th 2010 Speech
American Majority
Red State
Blog Mirror of The Free Republic
My Facebook
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
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.
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.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
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
==================================================
==================================================
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
==================================================
==================================================
Thursday, November 11, 2010
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
===========================================================
===========================================================
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
===========================================================
===========================================================
Monday, November 8, 2010
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
=============================================
=============================================
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
=============================================
=============================================
Sunday, November 7, 2010
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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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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Saturday, November 6, 2010
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 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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Friday, November 5, 2010
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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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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Wednesday, November 3, 2010
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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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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Monday, November 1, 2010
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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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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