United Liberty

First, let me lay out a couple things. I have no problem with giving back to our country. I am completely for supporting our country, for volunteering in the community, and for sacrificing my time for the betterment of our society and I encourage others to do so as well.

But the problem with Obama’s mandatory service proposal is that it is exactly that: mandatory. The 13th amendment clearly states:

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime where of the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

As a citizen of the United States and the world, I am very concerned with the trends I am seeing in Venezuela. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez seems to be belligering the public into giving him more power:

In honor of Presidents Day, CSPAN released the results of their poll asking who is the best president in American history.  Not surprisingly, Abraham Lincoln (once again) topped the chart, but the regular last place finisher, Andrew Johnson, was replaced today by the last president born in the 18th century, James Buchanan.

Why is he considered the worst president?  Reading through several sources, it appears that President Buchanan is seen as the man who could have stopped the War Between the States (or Mr. Lincoln’s War, as it’s known here in the South).  His “lack of action” is what earns him last place.

Blackwater, the contractor that has the blood of innocent Iraqis on its hands, has changed its name:

Blackwater Worldwide, the contractor that emerged over the last few years as Exhibit A for ugly Americans in Iraq, has decided that the best response is to … change its name.

And check out the name they picked: “Xe.” (Apparently it’s pronounced like the letter ‘Z.’ Raising the question: Why not just call it “Z”?)

They’ve also renamed Blackwater Lodge & Training Center, the subsidiary that does much of their controversial overseas operations. It’s now the “U.S. Training Center Inc.” (Which doesn’t exactly mesh with “Xe,” but whatever.)

60 Minutes correspondent, Scott Pelley, recently interviewed former World Savings employee, Paul Bishop, who claims that the banking industry was completely aware that offering loans to unqualified borrowers could lead to the current banking crisis.

The executives are of course denying Bishop’s claim that-

Everybody that could qualify, anybody that could fog a mirror, anybody that could just breathe, you know, and qualify at any level had basically been refinanced once, twice, three, sometimes four times.

While this is disturbing and, in my opinion, criminal, I find one of the quotes of the “victims” equally mind-boggling.

Trouble is, some of their money came from people like Betty Townes, who is financially ruined after being sold a series of World Savings mortgages she couldn’t afford.

From the floor debate in the Senate on February 7 regarding the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act:

Incidentally, let me share with a few of my colleagues why this is sort of this old ideology versus new. The Senator talked about the tired ideology of the past. What is it? Well, I think today Michael Steele, the new chairman of the Republican National Committee, made a statement on behalf of the Republican Party. He said:

For the last 2 weeks, we have been trying to force a massive spending bill through Congress under the guise of economic relief.

Well, we are having votes. This is a democracy. We are not forcing anything. We are trying to get the job done because there is an urgency to getting it done.

But then he says:

Another of President Obama’s nominations has sunk like a rock:

ANOTHER day, another blow for Barack Obama’s hopes for a “new politics”. On Thursday February 12th, Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire announced that he had withdrawn as Mr Obama’s proposed secretary of commerce. Mr Gregg is a Republican—and one, to boot, who once voted for the Commerce Department to be abolished. Bringing him into the cabinet had been billed by the Obama team as an important sign of Mr Obama’s commitment to government from the centre. Mr Gregg would have been the third of Mr Obama’s “post-partisan” appointments: his transport secretary, Ray LaHood is a Republican, and his defence secretary, Robert Gates, served in the same job under George Bush (though he does not describe himself as a Republican).

If you’re curious as to how much pork the “spendulous” package is sending your way, StimulusWatch.org has put a list together that breaks it down by state and then project.

Glancing through Alabama’s list, it looks like quite a bit is going to street and bridge repair, but I do question how giving a million dollars to Bessemer’s Drug Task Force and Cold Case Unit is going to help stimulate the economy. But what I find mind-boggling is the $729,137,800 (yes, that’s almost 3/4 of a billion dollars) going to the Mobile suburb of Prichard- pop. 27,963.  That’s over $26K per resident.  Tuscaloosa’s share comes out to about $211 per resident.  Considering that the average federal tax burden for residents of Tuscaloosa County is $12,340, compared to Mobile County’s average of $10,112, there’s no denying that this is a massive transfer of wealth.

In an opinion piece from last month, Maureen Dowd elaborates on the sort of excessive acts being committed with government handouts:

 

Bartiromo also asked Thain to explain, when jobs and salaries were being cut at his firm, how he could justify spending $1 million to renovate his office. As The Daily Beast and CNBC reported, big-ticket items included curtains for $28,000, a pair of chairs for $87,000, fabric for a “Roman Shade” for $11,000, Regency chairs for $24,000, six wall sconces for $2,700, a $13,000 chandelier in the private dining room and six dining chairs for $37,000, a “custom coffee table” for $16,000, an antique commode “on legs” for $35,000, and a $1,400 “parchment waste can.”

It’s my belief that continued agression is in the future of the Obama administration and I’m writting this article to help define and document the similarities between the reasons for invading Iraq (Bush’s War) and which ever country Obama will invade or war he may escalate.  Here are/will be the similarities, all bad reasons for war.

1. Percieved threat where there is no actual threat.  Commit an invasion where no harm has been done to us directly.
   
2. Enforce UN resolutions.
   
3. To remove a dictator.
4. Establish/Spread democracy.
5. Mercantilism.  (Secure oil or other natural resources)
6. False flag event.

I sincerly hope I’m proven wrong.