Corn Fed Conservative

Just a Quick Quote

2009-11-03T20:20:00.000-08:00

While reading through the discussions on Hulu for the new show "V" I came across a thread on politics. I was really surprised (and impressed) with how well said peoples comments were. It seems that those who were posting aimed to qualify and express their opinions rather than slam them down other peoples throats. I think we need more of that.

At any rate, heres what one person (Janessa) posted. I'm re-posting it here because I really liked what she had to say and I feel like it mirrored my personal opinions in alot of ways.

"I've been saying "There is no party for me" for years. I am economically conservative, but socially liberal. I believe in strengthening local governments and that individual freedom and responsibility should trump federal policy, but I also want schools that have good teachers, art programs and music where I can feel good about sending my kids. And I believe that marijuana should be legalized for medical purposes. I believe that we should be environmentally responsible, but that it should be incentivised rather than regulated to the point of more federal bloat being spent on environmental causes which offer little tangible benefit.
I believe that there is no longer any such thing as "checks and balances" in our system.
I cannot find candidates that I want to vote for because those who run are forced to run on their party's platform, not individual ideas. I still vote, but it hurts every time because I, personally, haven't felt represented by any part of our government in a long long time. Even moderate Repubs or conservative Dems don't really fit for me. *shrug* I like your ideas, Raymond, but can we hope that anyone will ever make strides towards realizing the need?"

Geeze!

2009-11-02T21:39:00.001-08:00

It seems that I have run out of time to maintain this blog in the slightest. I'm starting to get the desire to blog again - something about the fall energizes me to expand.

I love Safari

2009-02-14T21:33:00.000-08:00

This is a little off topic for this blog, but I have to say I love apple's Safari Browser. I used to use Firefox, but it is a little cluttered.

Safari is clean fast and simple. It does have some issues with downloads, but thats why I still have firefox. Don't get me wrong, Firefox is great, but I messed up my graphics somehow (idk how but MS Office, Firefox, IE, and a few others wont display properly). So i downloaded Safari to see if it would work, and I think I have fallen in love.

Anyway just my two cents, have a good weekend!

Blogging

2009-02-11T21:00:00.000-08:00

I have realized that I have been viewing this blogging thing all wrong.

This isnt a newspaper, its an online journal. I should start treating it more like that.

.....Though I am still keeping my tech how to guide type blog the same....cause some of that stuff is too random for a readership to keep track of and it better left to show up in google searches.

Islam

2009-02-03T10:07:00.000-08:00

I know very little about Islam at this time, researching it is on my to do list.
This video is interesting, though. Regardless of what you think of Islam, it may well be worth watching.

Superbowl

2009-02-02T13:38:00.000-08:00

Well it was a good game, even though the better team lost. This was my first time watching the game, and of course the team I picked to root for lost (I flipped a coin). The game was interesting enough there were some awesome moments, although I missed a few because I was working on my essay for English. Suffice to it to say my paper sucked. Anyway it was a good game and I enjoyed watching it.

Black Death

2009-01-25T14:11:00.000-08:00

According to the Hal Lindsey report, Al-Qaida members have been found dead...from the bubonic plague.

Yes. the Bubonic Plauge. The one from that ashes ashes children song and the Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe.

The concept of biological weapons has been tossed around alot, but its still well worth noting.

Read the Article here

Times are Changing

2009-01-24T18:37:00.000-08:00

Well it's a new year and a new president, and I've noticed the change. To an outsider it probably looks like we have reversed every one of our policies of the past century. I have noticed that during the last few weeks I have been less attentive to the news and current events and have been drawing more to my friends, imagination, and books to avoid the cruel truth of reality. But Obama has managed to give me Hope, although in a sense he didn't intend.

Over the last few weeks I have been having bouts of unreasonable happiness and sense of joy I can't explain. I dont think this is because of Captain Hopenchange, but more of the sights of Democrat infighting and general discombobulation of the current administration. I am starting to have hopes of a better future, one where the democrats have destroyed themselves through disagreements and turmoil. I can see in my mind a time when there are several parties in American politics The Libertarians, Conservatives, and Republicans; I can see a future where the free world covers the earth and countries trade freely and have peaceful communication without trying to force their views on each other. I envision a world free of islamofascism, communism, socialism, and the metric system(one of the earliest forms of international socialism). I pray that what i see will come true and the world will someday be the great place it should have been.

I know that this sounds ridiculus but imagining a better future is the best way of coming to it. I guess I've read Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter too much but a guy can dream.

Pro-Death

2009-01-23T13:43:00.000-08:00

I don't even want to comment, though I should write a blog about abortion at some point.

http://www.tiffanyblitz.com/blog/archives/655

News

2009-01-21T13:45:00.000-08:00

Hmmmm.

Birth Certificate?

2009-01-19T07:56:00.000-08:00

Birth certificate?

......Anyone?

hello?

I'm not Getting Angry

2009-01-16T16:11:00.000-08:00

After a long hiatus from Digg, I logged in and began cruising around for good news.

Now, 15 minutes later, I'm logged out and calming myself down.

The sheer disrespect shown by people online towards ANYTHING they don't agree with angers me. I don't care which 'side' I'm 'on', stupid people bug me. Bigots bug me. People who support the right thing for the wrong reasons bug me.

Overall, the 99% of the Digg community bugs me.

p.s. I did find this web comic to be rather entertaining.

Busy, Busy, Busy

2009-01-15T21:09:00.000-08:00

Well I'm happy to say that I am back in school (yes HAPPY), I'm taking 19 credit hours this semester so my time is limited. I'm setting politics aside right now though because of more important things, namely I have to study a great deal because I will be attending the National PAS conference in Hershey, PA come March, and I hope to score well in my contest. For those of you who don't know PAS means Post Secondary Agriculture Students and is a network of community colleges aiming to unite and educate Ag students in higher education. Students from all fifty states (59 if your Barack Obama) will be heading to the Hershey lodge in Hershey, PA to compete and prepare for the future.

This is going to be an exciting trip, and I hope to have pictures available sometime afterwords. Several of my classmates will be attending the conference,which is itself remarkable because everyone of us qualified for nationals in at least one contest during the Missouri State PAS conference in St. Louis. Most of the upperclassman scored first place in their contest while the lowerclassman scored both first and second (I scored second in both the Equine contest and Non-ruminant Career planning contest).

This will be an exciting trip full of stuff most normal people would find boring (Normal=Non-Aggie). There will be speakers from all over the Agricultural spectrum and various trips to different operations and museums (and hopefully chocolate factories).

Now I have to say I will be spending a lot of time filling out my New Application (go-figure since I already qualified), and studying the advanced equine stuff for the contest, but this is not to say I wont be posting. Just don't expect any hard hitting stuff for a while (unless that oaf in office does something that I cant not opine about).

Well let me just say again this trip will be exciting, well i'm excited which is why i'm writing this post eventhough only about four people will read it.

Have a good week, and if everything thats going on keeps it up, have a good Apocalypse.

Tolerance

2009-01-15T15:22:00.000-08:00

While reading through a few blogs at Big Hollywood (an excellent source of opinion regarding the media) Doug TenNapel's blog 'Christian = intolorant' stood out.

In it he discusses his experience with liberal bigotry (seriously, how many liberals play nice with Christians?) and how the media labels 'religion' intolerant.
As Doug TenNapel puts it:

''[Tolerance] isn’t a position, it’s how you treat people who hold positions you hate.''

read article here.

Sorry for the light posting

2009-01-08T17:27:00.000-08:00

Sorry we haven't posted anything in a while Squiggles been a little shy of politics lately so he hasn't had anything to post. I've been busy with a week long class on horse training and it hard to write a post when your trying to load Crazy-Eye Bucky into a trailer. I plan on posting again sometime next week sorry for the delay.

Crazy-Eye Bucky

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-12-31T22:06:00.000-08:00

yeah the title says it all

Not Another One

2008-12-27T20:10:00.000-08:00

Ok let me start by saying that I'm not a member of what might be called the "Kennedy Generation". As a matter of fact I know nothing about the Kennedy family if asked about them I would say "Kennedy, hmm wasn't one of them president, didn't some of them get murdered, uh Chappaquiddick?".

Now to my point, what is up with Caroline Kennedy? Why is she running (read: trying to get appointed) for senate? what are her credentials?

I don't really know who she is but I have read some articles on this, and frankly I find it quite disturbing. How can liberals complain about the so-called Bush dynasty when you have the Kennedys running around, these people think their Royalty. Caroline Kennedy actually said that she's qualified to be senator because of her um, Deep political connections. That's right read it here NYTimes So how about I run for senate because of my "Deep Political Connections", see when I say it it sounds preposterous, but for her it sounds wise and heartfelt.

Heres is another qoute from the NY Times article:
"One of the main assets she could bring to the Senate, Ms. Kennedy suggested, was her celebrity itself. It would be useful, she said, in bringing attention to New York’s needs and fighting for a bigger share of federal stimulus money."

I shouldnt have to point out whats wrong with running because your a celebrity.

In truth none of this really effects me , as I don't live in New York and the seat is going to a liberal no matter what. I guess its just that I don't like it when people expect to be given power because of their last name.

Conservative vs. Liberal Beliefs

2008-12-24T19:04:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to share an article by Student News Daily which over viewed the differences between conservative beliefs and liberal beliefs.

I found the article to be unbiased, through yet to the point. Hope you enjoy.

Conservatism vs. Liberalism

Merry Chistmas

2008-12-24T16:52:00.000-08:00

I would like to wish everyone a very MERRY CHRISTMAS. Enjoy your family and friends and please be safe on this day of our saviors birth. Once again MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Effects of "Global Warming" on Crops

2008-12-23T17:32:00.001-08:00

Ok I read alot of news and see alot of stuff about Global Warming and its effects. And one thing bothers me, people who know nothing about agriculture claiming to know how a rise in temperature will effect crop production around the world. So here it goes...

Claim 1: A rise in temperature will mean less crops can be grown because plants cant grow at the predicted temperature.

Response 1: Most crop plants perform best at temperatures between 55 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit, but can survive at higher temperatures. An across the year rise in Temperatures would actually mean an increase in the amount of Growing-degree days available throughout the year,which means that more time is available for plant growth. Further on that point it may also be possible to harvest two crops in one field if the time is extended enough and just leaving the field empty during the hottest period in mid-summer.

Claim 2: Global Warming will cause primary areas of production to become infertile and wouldn't be able to produce.

Response: See response 1. An increase in temperature in northern climates would allow more areas to be used to grow crops (currently they are too cold in spring and fall). Which effectively means that the northern states, southern Canada, and Europe would have more growing-degree days to work with, allowing them to plant many of the crops we currently grow the mid-west to be utilized in the northern region as well. Also the areas currently with the most crop production would still be fully functional at the predicted rise in temperature (4-10 degrees) as they currently spend much of the growing period at the midpoint in optimum temperatures (again see Response 1).

Claim 3: Carbon Dioxide (C02) is a pollutant and dangerous to the environment.

Response 3: Although C02 as a cause of GW is in dispute (as is GW) to say that it is a pollutant is asinine to the extreme. C02 is essential to all life, you could say that is the most natural fuel available (except sunlight) and without life would be impossible. As a matter of fact an increase in global C02 would be beneficial to all crop production and would help relieve the Global food shortage. C02 also cannot be applied like Anhydrous Ammonia or Magnesium Sulfate, because it is the only nutrient acquired exclusively from the air. So in a way our use of carbon fuels is equivalent to applying fertilizer. This brings me to the law of the most limiting nutrient, which states that a plant can only grow as well as its most limiting nutrient (IE if you plant corn and your soil is deficient in phosphorus the plant will only grow to the level the phosphorus allows). So if nature truly follows this law (which it does) then it could be deduced that a shortage in C02 would cause crop production around the world to slow down and cause the very problem we are trying to avoid. It is because of this that Carbon-sink plans are unwise to the extreme. C02 is the foundation of all Terran life and our use of it only increases our ability to thrive.

I would like to conclude by saying that yes I am Biased, as are all people who write on blogs, and that I do not believe in "Global Warming". The reason I am writing this is to respond to the Fear inducing media who do not research their information and present obvious inaccuracies as fact. And my only aim in writing this is to possibly quell the fears of some people who truly believe we are in a dire situation by providing them with a bit of useful information. Now let me just say that I'm only a first year AG student, so if you see ant improperly used terms of incorrect data please leave me a note in the comments and I will make any corrections that seem necessary. Also if you are wondering I have written this article with my textbooks right beside me so I believe most of the data here is correct.

Principles of Crop Production, George Acquaah
Soil Fertility Manual, International Plant Nutrition Institute

This post contains my own opinions and does not reflect on the aforementioned works, which were only used for research purposes.

Have a Merry Christmas, CoWBoYinTraining

Question of the Day

2008-12-22T14:48:00.000-08:00

harvey - a blogger on IMAO - recently created a post entitled 'Lets Question the Messiah' which linked to a website where the 'Obama Transition Team' (.....no comment) answered questions submitted by users.

Unfortunately the site is not currently accepting questions, though harvey provided his pre-prepared list of questions.

Among them one sticks out:

During your exploration of ways to end the war in Iraq, have you ever seriously considered military victory?

To me, this simple question is like a paradigm shift. The news is so tied up in ending the war while first hand accounts seem to indicate we're actually winning - which isn't surprising to me. What I do find surprising is how bound everyone seems to be to 'ending' the war.

Not to say we should be bound to continuing it. I don't like being bound at all.

I suppose the point I am making is that the war seems to be viewed in one way and only one way. People have convinced themselves that we are and maybe even should loose (or at least pull out....which is kinda the same thing) while I don't think we should be convinced either way until we are critical of the facts and our interpretation of the facts.

Ok I'm Ready for Global Warming

2008-12-21T12:41:00.000-08:00

This is a Plea for help. Please run your gas guzzlers at full power for hours at a time, if you have a device that emits carbon Dioxide please use it, I AM FREEZING i want Global Warming.

It is 1 degree here with wind chill down to -30, Global Warming is a load of CR*P, Please use your intelligence I know you have it, if the Earth is warming the Temperatures would be higher (duh). I walked to church today wearing thermals, a heavy shirt, Fleece lined pants, and my hunting bibs. My windows are frozen shut, my truck is a block of ice, there is half an inch of solid ice on the ground, the earth is not warming people. Also where Squiggle lives, which is a desert, had a good five inches of snow. I used to live there and at this time of year you could usually walk around in a T-shirt. Please use your heads and realize you've been lied to, GLOBAL WARMING IS A FARCE

On my Mind

2008-12-21T12:17:00.000-08:00

There's a lot of news today its enough to make a guy puke, go to Fox if your want your dose of horror and turmoil. But i want to point out Congress is once again giving itself a pay-raise. how could a group of people who have done nothing but hinder the growth of the economy possibly deserve a pay-raise, lets list their accomplishments

-raise minimum wage which effectively does nothing
-ban smoking at the capitol building
-name buildings after people who have done nothing
-TARP or respelled TRAP
-Created and exacerbated the Ethanol boondoggle
-Prevented domestic oil drilling
-Tried to lose the war
-Raise Government spending to newer and more astronomical levels (remember congress approves spending)
-Apologized for slavery, Which I might add happened before any of us were born

There are others but I cant list them all, please leave suggestions in the comments. Also why should Congress get a raise when the rest of the country (and planet) are making less and having to pay more for life essentials when there as high as they are of because of Congress. Furthermore guess who's paying for this, you got it us.
Anyway you should read the article its frustrating but it doesnt matter because we are no longer citizens we are subjects, have a Merry Christams

Just Curious

2008-12-16T21:24:00.000-08:00

With all the Government bailouts and such (specifically the auto-makers) why arent we making them move their manufacturing facilities over here?

I'm not really for bailing all these company's out (I see many pro's and con's on both sides) but why are we being so stupid about it?

It seems like we're handing out the money with few or no conditions.

To me, it would make more since to insist these company's relocate their industry back to USA soil.

The economy is bad for alot of reasons but we would not be this unstable if America had an industrial base.

Comments, CONSTRUCTIVE criticism and and opinions welcome.

Frustration

2008-12-16T00:50:00.000-08:00

Today, while hanging with two good friends of mine, I made some off hand comment kinda-sorta relating to politics and somehow we ended up on Obamas birth certificate.

As stated in my blog here I am not sure what to make of it - but the fact that Obama hasn't rebutted the court cases against him once and for all makes me wonder what the heck is going on. I'd like the answer to that all and I'm intrigued that everyone would rather brush it off than figure it out. Shouldn't it be an quick and easy rebuttal on Obamas part?

Anyhow, they both were under the impression that conservatives just needed to drop it and let it go (which is a horrible argument by the way, if you believe in something have some substance to your reasoning).

Anyhow, one of my friends said to the other 'republican' in an exasperated tone as though it was some sort of insult.
I wouldn't call someone democrat as an insult. or Gay. or Black.

It got me thinking about how petty politics has become. Its a popularity contest.

In the end I became hopelessly frustrated about it all.

All the issues
All the propaganda
All the hate
All the bad excuses
(note: both sides have these)
All the miscommunication

There is no single way to 'fix' it and that makes it very annoying - maybe even vexing.

Video here
You can find more information at the creators website

50% is the lowest you can get?

2008-12-11T21:01:00.000-08:00

According to an article on PennLive schools in Pittsburgh plan to revamp the grading system so that students cannot earn less than 50%.

....Even if they don't do ANY work.

Haven't we discovered, via No Child Left Behind, that this method of thinking WILL NOT HELP?!

I don't even know what to say.

View Article Here

Update

2008-12-08T13:34:00.000-08:00

I haven't the time for a full on blog right now, but I wanted to go on record and express my worry regarding the Obama Birth Certificate Court Cases.

Its scary to me that this is being brushed off. Something like this should be headline news. It should be the source of juicy gossip.

Maybe those examples are shallow but when hasn't such a controversial subject?

We have become sheep. This is mixing politics with emotion and ignorance.

I wanted to take a moment to say that if Obama is sworn in WITHOUT producing a vault copy of his birth certificate - we're more screwed than I thought.

Not because Obama is there - but because the majority of Americans are too lazy to think outside the box.

Some people who support Obama has legitimate reasons for doing so, but while looking around the internet and my classes in college - the majority are just idiots.

We're a country of idiots, both Republican and Democrat, and that's enough to give me nightmares.

Declaration of Dependence

2008-12-05T19:53:00.000-08:00

Another great video from machosauceproduction

A Good Thought

2008-12-05T18:27:00.000-08:00

"A country cannot be both ignorant and free..." Thomas Jefferson

SNOW!!!!!

2008-12-03T18:18:00.000-08:00

I'm so Happy its Snow season, Snowball fights, Warm fires, Christmas trees (sorry i mean "non-denominational secular winter solstice tree for the winter holiday season"),hot chocolate, etc.
I'm really glad I have a four-wheel drive truck (16-22 MPG) I can travel on Route CC without worrying about getting stuck in a ditch. And since the Rut is almost over there will be less psychotic deer on the road. School is almost out too, I don't know about you but my life is pretty great right now (except for the presidential election, which I try not to think about).
I'm really just writing this to put something on this blog other than Squiggles Four-trillion articles on Glenn Beck (no offense Squiggle), and also make it look like i actually contribute something to this blog(i'm a lazy procrastinator). I'm actually working on a Serious article too, but it will be a little while longer.
Well I guess i should stop babbling on, so those of you in snow country, Enjoy Global warming. To those of you Near squiggle, enjoy your nice hot-dry desert.

Smaller Government tends to be Better

2008-12-02T23:39:00.001-08:00

On Digg I left a comment on an article discussing court cases (specifically the columbine shooting) and how the rulings can effect free speech on the web (article here).

After reading the article I read through the comments Digg users had left to find that most had a conservative tone to it. This is surprising since Digg has become intolerantly liberal and the community promptly buries anything remotely conservative (comments included).

After leaving a comment expressing my surprise I got a reply from jasonXhendrix stating:

[quote]

Wanting freedom isn't conservative. Restricting it isn't liberal.

The federal government is, and always has been, the worst protector of personal freedom. That's what we REALLY have to learn from this.

[/quote]

I really enjoyed his non-partisan opinion, and now that I am thinking about it more and more I am starting to appreciate just how true his statement is.

The government will always seek to make itself more bigger and more powerful. I do not believe it does this to make us all slaves or to take away our liberties - I believe it does this to better serve us.

However, through serving us better it ends up taking away freedoms. All in the name of good.

This concept is not new. In fact, its the plot to most apocalyptic robot movies. For example take I,Robot. The robots made to help humans enforce martial law in order to protect those they serve.
They meant well, but obviously that's not the future any of us want.

The same holds true for Government. Any Government. It has the right idea at heart, but there's a point where it just needs to stop growing and let things be. We need to stop fixing what isn't broken.

Busy as Heck

2008-12-02T17:11:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the light posting lately (by me). I've been traveling some and been loaded down with end-of-semester work. Happy belated Thanksgiving!

Glenn Beck: What Can I Do to Prepare?

2008-11-29T17:50:00.000-08:00

October 15, 2008 - 3:00 ET

Guys,

Here is the third letter I promised you. In my earlier letters I've explained "what happened" and "what's coming." Today, I want to answer the questions you've asked regarding "what can I do to prepare myself and my family."

Related Articles:
Glenn Beck: What happened?
Glenn Beck: What's Coming

The focus has to be on 'value' and 'values.' These are the concepts that too many of us have forgotten, celebrities dismissed as old-fashioned or politicians tried to convince us were no longer necessary.

The good news is that our current economic mess is manmade. We did this to ourselves by continuing to elect politicians who sold our country to militant community activists, greedy mortgage brokers and Wall Street types who placed profits above anything else. We were all involved, Republicans, Democrats and Independents. We made this problem by choosing to believe the lie that we could have it all and have it right now. But being manmade means we also have the capacity to solve it.

It is not going to be easy. I believe that the economy is going to get a lot worse. The 'experts' are telling us that we're headed towards at least 10% unemployment and a possible 10 year period of economic stagnation. I fear it could be much worse and so do many of the people that advise me on these matters.

What follows are the things that my family is doing to prepare for substantially tougher economic times.

Your Finances

I'm not a financial expert but even the 'experts' didn't know what our grandparents knew: unnecessary debt is something you have to avoid, it is not a good thing. In our version of the Roaring 20's, the financial elite had lawn parties in the Hamptons where invited guests arrived via helicopter. The parties we had didn't involve helicopters and other excesses but our job as responsible Americans will be to identify our 'helicopters.'

Soon, the Wall Street crowd will turn to the actual economy and the conversation and pressure will change to consumer spending. Remember, YOU are the engine of the US economy. Wall Street NEEDS you to spend. I pray that we hold fast to the 'storm clouds' that are still gathering and ignore the lures and lies that will attempt to hook you back into your old style 'lawn party.' We will continue to spend and consume. We just need to focus on a few out of fashion American values such as thrift, value and moderation.

You know what your family can afford and what it needs. Kids still need to go to college, broken cars still need to be repaired and worn-out appliances still have to be replaced. What needs to change is how we shop. We need to look for value and we MUST live within our means.

How do you know when you're getting something for a good value? Just imagine buying it (whatever it is) in front of dad. Can you imagine telling dad that you 'need' to spend an extra $3,000 so your car can come with that 'must have' automatic self-closing sunroof option? Or paying an extra $650 on a washing machine option so it can connect to the internet? I'm beginning to think that if dad won't spend the money on it, I probably don't need it. Dad is great at spotting value and it's his sense of values that makes him so good at it. I always try to think like my grandfather when I want to buy something, if in my head, he says, "Why, you've got a perfectly good one now," I know I don't need it.

The economy is in for a very rough landing. I think it's more and more probable that we hit a major long-term recession. That's not a reason to panic but if we know what's coming we can start to prepare now.

I don't know who you get your financial advice from (advisor, friend, on your own) but you need to ask these two questions:

First, what caused the current economic crisis?

If you can't answer this question or your financial planner can't give you an easily understandable answer, please get more information or think about replacing your financial planner. You need to know what got us here because that will help you understand what's coming.

Second, how bad will things get?

No one knows what's specifically coming our way but I do know that all possibilities are on the table. Whoever you're getting your financial advice from must be willing to admit that he or she doesn't have all the answers and that we are in relatively unchartered waters. If they don't think that this is a once in a lifetime event and just about anything could happen, move on.

Hyperinflation: Printing Money is Not the Answer

This is the real devil in our 'bailout' packages that seem to be coming every day. The same people that told me that there is no way we could go into a recession, let alone, a depression now tell me Wall Street and our politicians are too smart to create these doomsday conditions.

I don't know about you but I sure haven't been impressed with the Wall Street and Washington genius so far. After all, they weren't smart enough to figure out that 0% down on a 125% loans to individuals that were not required to present ID or a paycheck stubs was trouble.

I do know that if the answer was just to print more money our politicians would have solved this crisis $1.8 trillion dollars ago. But printing more money is not the answer, in fact, it's causing other problems and possibly setting us up for a long-term disaster. Every American must read up on and ponder what I believe is the real possibility of hyperinflation.

This past summer we had a $152 billion stimulus package, followed by a combined $123 billion bailout of AIG, which was followed by another $700 billion bailout bill. As I write this, politicians are promising swift action on yet another stimulus plan and the government has announced a direct injection of $250 billion into several large banks. No problem has ever been solved by just throwing money at it but plenty of problems have been caused by doing just that.

Countries that have tried to spend their way out of an economic crisis have always triggered inflation (i.e. Argentina, Israel and Iran). Hyperinflation is caused when people lose faith in the value of a currency, too much money is printed and there is no corresponding increase in productivity. So instead of printing $50 and $100 bills the government prints $300 and $500 bills but your $500 bill only buys $50 worth of goods. Soon the $500 bill is replaced by a $1000 bill.

One of the best examples of hyperinflation is the Weimar Republic where that government actually printed a one-trillion dollar bill and you still couldn't buy a newspaper with it.

Germany took its first inflationary steps when it decided to fight World War I on borrowed money. It didn't want to raise taxes and there was relatively little in national savings so it borrowed money to build and arm its war machine. Does this sound familiar? It should, it's what we're doing now.

The War which started in 1914 officially ended in 1919 and during that same period of time the prices of goods in Germany doubled. In other words, inflation was running about 20% a year.

Three years later, in 1922, those same goods doubled in price in just 5 months! The process continued to accelerate until menus in cafes had to be re-written throughout the day just to keep up with rising prices. When someone got paid they were met by their spouse who would literally run to spend the money as quickly as possible and no one saved money because the longer you held on to it the less you were able to buy. With no one saving and no countries lending any more money, the government did the only thing it could do, crank up the printing presses and print more money.

The same economic laws that applied to the Weimar Republic apply to America today.

Our government tells us that inflation was recently running at 5.4%. What they don't tell you is that in 1983 government changed the way they measure inflation. If the government used the same inflation measures that it used in 1983 inflation would be running between 10%-12%. Naturally, when the government altered the way it measured inflation it coincidently found that it wouldn't have to pay out as much money in Social Security and other benefits pegged to inflation.

We won't see a true spike in inflation until next fall. It's coming unless the government makes serious changes. If we continue to borrow billions of dollars a day from foreign countries while printing trillions more we are inviting, no begging, for hyperinflation to come and pay us a visit. Please consider this as you decide who to vote for in this upcoming election. Anyone, at any level, running for office who isn't talking about REAL and considerable cuts in government programs and avoiding new spending is either a fool or lying about what's coming.

You can prepare your family for economically tighter times. Our family has been preparing by buying food now that will last us for another 3 to 6 months. I want to be clear: we didn't run out and buy it all at once. Instead, when we went shopping and saw something on sale that we new we would be using in the next 3-6 months we bought a few more than we normally would. We're in the process of doing the same thing with our kids' clothes and shoes. They're growing-up and will need the next size-up in pants, shirts and shoes so Tania and I keep our eyes open for sales and when we see something that's a good value we buy it now knowing that in a year or two our kids will be able to use it and that prices could be substantially higher.

I think this is a good investment and a good way to spend money today that may be worth less tomorrow. Don't run out and liquidate your savings or assets to buy shoes and shirts for the next 10 years, plan and purchase with prudence and moderation.

Guns

You've asked me if you should go out and buy a gun. This is a very personal decision and I struggled for over 2 years trying to make this decision. I never wanted a gun in the house but after discussing it with Tania (and Adam) we decided it was the right decision for our family to have a gun in the home for self-defense.

Before we even thought of buying a gun and bringing it into our home, we spent countless hours at various gun shops asking lots of questions. We also reached out to the NRA (which, as you know, is one of the only organizations that I believe in and belong to) and took several courses in shooting and gun safety. If you're willing to make that kind of commitment then, and only then, can you start to consider whether or not you should purchase a gun.

If you decide to buy make sure you have a home safe that can be easily opened by you and your spouse. Also, when selecting a gun, make sure you ask your dealer for a gun that doesn't take exotic or hard to get ammunition.

The gun laws may DRAMATICALLY change with the election of the next President and a new Congress. Time may be of the essence on this issue so vote with that in mind.

Values

Why are we so different from grandma and grandpa? Remember how they made our clothes? They knitted sweaters and gloves, mended tears and placed patches over holes in our jeans and shirts. What do we do today? We go out and buy our kids clothes that are intentionally faded, frayed or torn. Our grandparents would think we were nuts for doing that.

How many times did we hear, "who left this light on" or "turn off the light when you're not using it." They didn't say this because they were swept up in the latest environmentally friendly fad; they said it because they hated waste. They didn't see themselves as conservationists but at their core they were the first truly 'green' generation.

It's their example that inspired me to re-discover the traditional American family eating plan in our home. This plan applies to mom, dad and all four kids. It's simple: if you don't finish your dinner, it's wrapped and put in the fridge and the next day you have to finish your leftovers.

What a great decision this has been because I'm more careful about what I put on my plate and have already had dinner table discussions with my kids about being grateful for what we've been blessed with and why it's important to avoid wasting food.

Gardening

Tania and I are planning on planting our very first garden next year (yes, I promise to send you pictures to prove it). We've already bought the fertilizer and seeds. In a way this is going to be our modern day Victory Garden our parents and grandparents planted during World War II.

A lot of people think we're planting the garden just for the food and although that's part of it, Tania and I really believe that our family will grow closer by all gardening together. Our hope is that our children will have a greater appreciation for the meals they eat when they experience the work in growing the food they will eat.

We've got so much to learn. I've already learned that there is a difference between heirloom seeds (not genetically modified) and those seeds which have been genetically modified. There are advantages and disadvantages to each type, so familiarize yourself with their respective pluses and minuses. Research what grows well in your area and what you will need to keep your plants healthy and growing.

I do want to share something I learned about seeds. Heirloom seeds are capable of producing viable seeds. So you will always have seeds to plant for the upcoming year. Several genetically modified seeds have 'terminator technology' (that's their phrase, not mine) which will prevent these seeds from reproducing viable seeds.

I'm for reasonable and safe genetically modified seeds and food. They allow people to grow crops where they normally wouldn't be able to and are more robust against disease and predators. Coming-up with all that technology is expensive so these seed producers recoup their costs by limiting the ability to reproduce. You need to have those seeds that are capable of reproducing.

Out of everything I have planned for next year, I can tell you that gardening ranks at the top. It is long term, it brings the family together on a project and it not only teaches my children science but the value of hard work. Does that make me a true sick freak?

Good Books

This is going to sound hokey but we all need to read the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and the Federalist Papers. We need to go to the original sources, not someone's interpretation of them. Reading these documents will remind us of what our Founding Fathers really intended for us. Their words will inspire us and renew our faith in America.

We need to familiarize ourselves with the founding principles our country and Constitution are built on. We need to better understand the Founding Fathers, what they believed and how they lived their lives.

The books we read should teach us about our heritage. They should inspire us and educate our children. We need books that tell us the greatness of America's past and the promise of her future. We need to read about the mistakes the government has made so we can avoid taking those same paths. The books that I think best capture these principles are:

Each of these books dramatically demonstrates that America was built on the collective sacrifices of individuals who willingly gave their "lives, fortunes and sacred honor." They remind us that real power rests with "We the People," not Wall Street, Washington or Hollywood.

Also, read books on history that can help you see what may be coming based on our past. The parallels are truly frightening. We are going down the same path by making the same mistakes. These books include:

The Forgotten Man (on the mistakes of the great depression)
Woodrow Wilson and the Roots of Modern Liberalism (arguably the world's first fascist leader and one reason why our children are now taught in school that the Founding Fathers and the Constitution are irrelevant)
Liberal Fascism (reveals the real danger and roots behind the nanny state mentality and what it means to America's future)

Family Time

As a country we've neglected our most important asset and resource: our children. We've become so busy trying to provide the best for 'things' and opportunities for them that we work longer hours, spend more time away from home and too often don't give them the attention they need and deserve. If the economy starts to sink, this situation will get worse.

One of the best things we can do now is to build stronger ties with our spouse and children. Our family gets together once a week for a 'family night.'

This past week Raphe had the lesson, "my favorite animal." I was in charge of the game, everyone had to imitate their favorite animal and Tania baked cupcakes for our snack. It's amazing what miracles have taken place in those short 30 minute 'family night' get-togethers. We may have forgotten this in our 'Roaring 20's' mentality but it remains true: simple things have real and lasting value.

Tania and I also set aside time for just the two of us. We have date nights where just the two of us go out. It's usually nothing fancy. Sometimes we go out for a walk or just window shopping. We've even gone on a 'date' to the grocery store to pick-up some groceries. It's not really what you actually do but the fact that we spend time together. It refreshes me. It brings us together. I love this time.

Finally, just continue to seek out those sources you trust and continue to ponder and think the unthinkable. While these things hopefully don't ever take place, they are certainly possible and unfortunately becoming more probable everyday.

The good news is that there's still time to prepare ourselves and our families. We created this problem and we can solve it but there won't be any shortcuts or an easy way out.

We must vote for those candidates of any party that reflect these values: hard work, self-determination, smaller government, fiscal responsibility and honesty. Look to the character of anyone you chose to support. Their past does matter if they haven't learned from it. Their personal life is as relevant as their public one. We must be able to trust those who will be advising and leading us on what our country must do next.

The problems we face in this country can be traced back to the lack of trust. Our whole system fails if we do not trust it and right now we do not have that trust. In the last 20 years we have lost trust in our presidents, congress and court system. It was lost when politicians argued over the definition of 'is,' the duplicity on our border security, during the OJ trial, by a renegade 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, the 2006 Republican Mark Foley sex scandal and the 2008 Democrat Tim 'more moral future' Mahoney sex scandal and so many other hypocrisies and double-crosses. Our lost of trust was inevitable.

Our political system was not designed around the people in power or really even us. It began with the core belief that we were created and given rights by God. For America to truly fulfill its promise we must restore our faith in the only thing that is solid, unchanging and real: God.

As we find ourselves not trusting our leaders, institutions or even our currency, remember the secret is simple and found as close as your pocket or purse. How appropriate that on the symbol of our present troubles we find the answer: IN GOD WE TRUST.

Only those who are mentally, emotionally, spiritually and temporally prepared will be strong enough to help themselves and others. Many will be fearful if these things come to pass but if you prepare now, fear is the one thing you will not have to worry about. You are not a victim. You are not a survivor. You are a leader. You are an American.

We are all Americans. Let us recommit that, regardless of where we stand politically, we will do the tough things to save our nation because the task at hand requires no less.

The Americans of the past did not look for leadership to come from the politician in the White House for they knew American leadership only came from your house.

Fear not, stay strong and lead the way.

glenn

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Glenn Beck: What's Coming

2008-11-29T17:49:00.000-08:00

Glenn Beck: What's Coming

October 9, 2008 - 3:58 ET

Guys,

If you thought my first email letter answering the question “how did we get here” was on the scary side you’re really going to find this email letter that answers the “what’s coming” question very sobering. I promise you though, my next letter addressing “what you can do to prepare you and your family” will be positive.

Related Article
Glenn Beck: What happened?

Here’s my answer to your question of “what’s coming.”

The economy is going to get worse. I know that’s hard to believe considering that in the past 15 months Americans have lost over 2 trillion dollars of retirement savings, that Iceland which has a GDP of $14 billion and liabilities in excess of $100 billion held by its banks and is on the brink of bankruptcy and the International Monetary Fund has just warned of a global “major downturn” in 2009.

A Second Great Depression?

Just how bad will things get? Recently, I had an off-air conversation with one of the titans in the business community. He has been in the thick of what’s happening on Wall Street, the credit crisis and the economy. I’ve been speaking with him about these issues for about two years and he has always been an optimist. Every argument I would make about how bad things were going to be he would counter with an equally optimistic economic prognosis. For the first time he’s now told me that our economy is in for a very “rough landing, at best” and that if our politicians don’t get the bailout exactly right we could see our GDP (a measurement of the total value of all the goods and services produced every year) falling between 15%-20% in one year.

So what does that really mean? A 15%-20% reduction of GDP would be like wiping out between $2.1 to $2.8 trillion dollars from our $14 trillion GDP. To show you how big that number really is, consider that in one year we spend about $583 billion to run the entire Defense Department, $43 billion to fund the entire Department of Homeland Security and have spent less than a trillion dollars fighting in Iraq since that war began.

By way of comparison, in the Great Depression, our national GDP fell 29% over a four year period (1929-1933) and in that period we saw 7000 banks fail, a 25% unemployment rate and a Dow Jones industrial Average suffer an 80% decline. And that was when the pain of a shrinking GDP was spread over 4 years!

About three weeks ago I had the opportunity to walk with very successful billionaire who has spent over seven decades doing business in America. I asked him what it would mean if our economy suffered a 15% reduction in GDP in one year. He stopped mid-stride, thought for a few minutes before saying, “I can’t begin to imagine how bad things would be if that ever happened.”

Credit Card Debt and Greedy Politicians will Prolong our Problems

All the financial ‘experts’ are telling us that whatever is coming our way will be short-lived. Yes, times will be tough, but we’ll quickly emerge and be stronger. I agree that we’ll survive and that we’ll be stronger, but I don’t think it will be a quick recovery.

Unlike the Great Depression we don’t have a large industrial base that will assist in our recovery and too many people don’t have the savings to help them weather the storm. Instead, the average American household carries at least $8,000 in credit card debt. Lastly, our political leadership will be a burden, rather than a help, in getting us back on track. Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Nancy Pelosi, President Bush and Secretary Paulson wake-up each morning and gobble-up larger pieces of the economy and American businesses. They tell us that ‘we need to do this or things will get bad’ but none of them have gone on record and told us that if we follow them we’ll be better off.

The Great Depression showed us that government intervention, at best, will only delay the eventual belt-tightening and pain that must take place to bring the marketplace back into balance. The overbuilding and liquidity excess of the past 10 years has to be brought back into balance. Despite 10 years of government programs under Hoover and Roosevelt accompanied by massive government spending it was not until World War II began that unemployment fell below 10%. It was not a coincidence that the stock market finally regained the strength it had in 1929 only when the prospect of global war appeared to be inevitable in 1939.

How Hedge Funds Could Make things Much Worse

If the government regulated banks can be in as much financial trouble as they are now, just imagine the problems lurking in the unregulated hedge fund world. Hedge funds are a 2 trillion dollar industry. That 2 trillion has been leveraged by several multiples giving it much more influence than the 2 trillion would suggest.

The super-rich invest their money in hedge funds because of their traditionally higher returns. Along with the super-rich, teacher unions, government employee unions and large mutual funds invest in hedge funds, in short, if you have money invested in the market there’s a good chance some of it is held and managed by a hedge fund.

In September, hedge funds around the world recorded their biggest drop since August 1998. Investors that wanted to pull their money out were prevented from doing so by mandatory ‘lock-up’ periods imposed by hedge funds that prevent investors from pulling their money out without giving advanced notice, typically 60 or 90 days. I can only imagine that lots of people have given notice and when they can, will be pulling out their money. When that happens the smaller hedge funds will be wiped out and the larger ones will take big financial hits. The next big test for hedge funds will be October 23^rd when an estimated $400 billion in Lehman related credit-default swaps will have to be auctioned and settled, those hedge funds that can’t come up with the money will be wiped out.

Our Politicians keep Playing Politics while our Country is on Fire

Look for our politicians to take advantage of this crisis to promote their own agenda. They keep treating this like a game and are taking actions only after weighing whether their action will help or hurt ‘the party’ at election time. Our country is at the edge and our politicians are worried about elections. This can’t be about Democrats or Republicans. This has to be about saving America.

It’s shameful that Obama and McCain haven’t told the American people that there is no money for all of their proposed spending plans. No, our candidates continue to promise us new plans when we don’t have enough money to pay for the ones we already have.

During the last debate Obama told us that America is the richest country in the world and that we need universal health care. Maybe one of his advisors should tell him that this richest country in the world is borrowing 2 billion dollars a day from foreign countries because that’s how much more we spend than take in, and that was before we started bailing out Wall Street, Main Street and homeowners.

Obama is unbelievably still planning on redistributing wealth in the middle of an economic crisis by taxing those who earn in excess of $250,000 and then redistributing that money to those who make less than $200,000, including sending people who don’t pay any taxes at all $1,000 check. His plan has been called a New Tax Welfare Plan. Call it what you want, we don’t have the money to pay for it.

McCain’s plans for revamping our health care system and his support for a carbon-tax plan are also unaffordable. He should come clean with the American people and tell us that. His failure to so demonstrates that he really doesn’t understand what is taking place in our homes and businesses.

Congress wants in on the action too. Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barney Frank and Chris Dodd will flood our country with new programs. The progressive ultra-left has taken over the Democrat Party. They are so liberal and so out-of-touch with mainstream America that Senator Lieberman, a longtime Democrat, left the party and is now an Independent who is publicly thinking about no longer caucusing with the Democrats. Longtime Democrat and chief fund-raiser for Hillary Clinton, Lynn Forester de Rothschild, has said that her party is too far left and is now actively campaigning for John McCain.

Politicians Waiting to Exploit the ‘Right’ Tragedy

Too many politicians are anxiously waiting for the right moment to expand government. They’re waiting for the “Megan Law” moment. That moment when the stars align so politicians can pass legislation over any objections, whether it’s good or bad.

Megan’s Law is named after a 7 year old girl who was kidnapped, raped and murdered by a repeat violent sexual offender. The public had finally become so outraged that the politicians had to act. Megan’s Law requires the posting of information about sexual offenders to the public. Passing Megan’s Law was the right thing to do but it shouldn’t have taken this tragedy to do it—but it took Megan’s tragedy in order to overcome the opposition from the ACLU and other groups who kept screaming about the rights of the accused.

Pelosi, Reid and the progressive left as well as many Republicans still don’t believe that our very survival is at stake with what is going on today. They still look at this meltdown as just another opportunity to score political points. If the Democrats in the House of Representatives really believed that our country’s economic security was at stake then they would have passed the bailout bill. They didn’t need any Republican support. They had the votes. But Pelosi and the Democratic leadership didn’t want to risk a massive voter backlash so they didn’t push the bill through. That is playing politics. If the Senate believed that our country’s economic security was at stake they would have passed a bailout bill without the $100 billion in ‘goodies’ attached. That is playing politics. Do the right thing for the country, stop playing politics.

As the crisis worsens and takes a higher emotional toll on the public we will see tragic stories. We will see more stories about people giving up hope, losing focus on what’s truly important and ending their lives and the lives of people they love. And when the ‘right’ story comes along, it will be exploited to take away more of our freedoms, to shred the Constitution just a little more and grab more money for the government from the people who earn it.

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We can also expect our international/foreign enemies and competitors to take advantage of our current economic crisis.

Inexpensive oil is the lifeblood of our economy. It helps us plant our crops, is needed to make the clothes we wear, and keeps us moving freely by car, plane, and ship. America benefits when oil prices are low. Russia, Iran and Venezuela (along with several other countries) benefit when oil prices are high. Iran recently misreported that it forced a U.S. military airplane to land (it turned out to be a Hungarian plane carrying relief supplies). This was an attempt by Iran to spike oil prices temporarily, and it worked, until the truth came out.

Russia’s invasion of Georgia wasn’t about South Ossetia. It was about sending a message to the West that our efforts to build and maintain an oil pipeline through Georgia relied on the good graces of Russia and they didn’t want the West to forget that. Iran has continually petitioned OPEC to cut back on production in order to keep oil prices high and Venezuela is using its petro-dollars to spread his form of socialism.

Russia is also using its massive petro-dollar supply to buy influence on the international front. Remember all those banking problems Iceland is experiencing? Russia is now working with Iceland on a bailout package in an attempt to leverage this crisis into strengthening its international influence. Russia is also reaching out and strengthening its ties to Syria and Iran. Syria announced that it is dredging its fishing port of Tartous so it can accommodate Russian warships.

Iran will continue to develop its nuclear program. The countries of the world will increasingly be focused on reviving and in some cases, saving, their economies. Iran will take advantage or our collective distraction. I am increasingly in the camp that thinks Israel will have to take unilateral action against Iran before it develops a nuclear weapon and that would explain why we’ve decided to sell Israel 1,000 bunker busting bombs.

In the past four weeks Venezuela hosted two strategic long-range Russian bombers, and held joint navy exercises with a fleet of Russian ships, including a nuclear-powered missile cruiser. President Chavez has also been busy working with Columbia’s FARC terrorists and last week renewed his goal of building a ‘civilian’ nuclear program and has called for revolution throughout South America.

These countries will increasingly use more aggressive methods to drive up the cost of oil and expand their sphere of international and regional influence by generously spreading around their petro-dollars.

Meanwhile, North Korea doesn’t have any oil so it’s using the next best thing, the threat of nuclear weapons to get what it wants. It wasn’t too long ago that President Bush was touting a new ironclad agreement between America and North Korea. Well, after promising to verifiably dismantle its nuclear power plants in exchange for financial aid and fuel, the North Koreans have vowed to resume their suspended nuclear program. You can expect the guy with the crazy haircut and glasses to demand more money, fuel and aid for him to play nice again.

Closer to home you will see that Americans are increasingly feeling isolated and detached from their government. Part of the reason is that we don’t think politicians care what we think anymore. The $700 billion bailout bill passed the Senate at a time when only 30% of the country supported it. We felt that a giant stick was poked into our collective eye!

59% of Americans would vote the entire Congress out of office but due to the self-serving way the politicians have drawn their election districts it’s just this side of impossible to do it. Only 49% of the people believe that this congress is currently doing a better job than a group of individuals selected randomly from a phone book would do and 33% of us actually believe the group selected at random would do a better job!

Politicians play Politics with our Economy by Playing Politics with Energy Policy

But our politicians just don’t get it. Look at energy. We need inexpensive oil to make our country work and maintain our standard of living. To be perfectly clear: without inexpensive energy our economy doesn’t work and our standard of living dramatically falls.

You would think that our politicians, who understand this, would put our national interest above their petty desire for re-election, but they don’t. Look at what happened with offshore drilling. The federal moratorium on offshore drilling legally expired at the end of September. In theory, oil companies could have started drilling the first week of October but instead no oil company is even drafting plans to drill, why? Because they know that the politicians aren’t serious about offshore drilling. They know that too many congressmen are servants to the extremist environmental movement and as soon as the election is over will vote to either prevent offshore drilling or impose onerous conditions on any drilling. So the politicians will go home to their districts and tell the voters they are for drilling and then turn around and collect big fat donations from the environmental lobbyists who oppose drilling.

The same thing can be said about coal and nuclear power. Obama tells a national audience during his nomination acceptance speech that he and Joe Biden are for clean coal. Less than 90 days later Joe Biden is captured on tape telling a woman that coal isn’t going to play a role in an Obama Administration energy plan.

Obama and McCain have talked-up nuclear power on the campaign trail but have done little to actually make it happen in their many years of service in the U.S. Senate. Meanwhile China plans on building about one nuclear power plant a year up through 2020.

There’s a real disconnect between our elected leaders and the people, but the majority of Americans are willing to work through this disenfranchisement. We want to reform government. We want to improve our country and communities but there is a fringe that is actively trying to exploit this disenfranchisement. I have someone on my staff that monitors the extreme blogs—stuff that most people, thankfully, haven’t even heard of. These blogs contain a call to revolution. One writer said that we need to “join with your brothers in arms and through force, return what is rightfully the peoples to the people” and another entry encouraged the reader to “rise up and join us before our nation is taken from us by the crooks and bastards that waste our air, one nation, taken back by the force of the peoples militia…”.

Guys, I told you that this was going to be a sobering letter. We are on the edge of a giant abyss that could swallow not only our economy but the freedoms and security we have enjoyed for over 200 years. Believe it or not, I don’t think that this letter captures the urgency that I feel, but I didn’t want to include wild speculation because I can’t see into the future but I wanted to give you a sense of the Perfect Storm that I have talked about and how the pressures that our economy and country face at this time are once again placing our “lives, fortunes and sacred honor” at stake.

Please ponder and pray about what I’ve said and then pass these email letters along to as many people as possible so they can prepare themselves and their families. Then, the more people there will be to help us overcome fear and desperation.

There is good news. We can prepare ourselves and our family for what’s coming and work to prevent the worst from happening. We have to focus on value and values. Those things that our parent and their parents lived but somehow too many of us have forgotten. But that’s for my next letter to you.

With love, glenn

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Glenn Beck: What happened?

2008-11-29T17:48:00.000-08:00

Original Article can be found here

October 8, 2008 - 1:47 ET

Glenn's letter to his family explaining how we got into this economic crisis...

Yes, another email letter from your crazy brother. You raised a lot of questions in your last email and I am going to try to answer all of them.

I think all of your questions fall into three areas: (1) how did we get here; (2) what's coming; and (3) what can I do to prepare myself and my family.

Consider this email as my answer to your first question, "how did we get here?". I'll be sending you 2 more emails answering your other two questions. Since there's a lot of misinformation out there I will document each of the facts in my emails so you know where I pulled the information from and where you can go to read and learn more.

What you shouldn't do is panic. We'll get through this--don't pull all of your money out of the bank but have enough cash on-hand to meet any possible emergencies.

First, you've got to get the stock market's ups-and-downs out of your mind. The recent drops and upticks are short-term. Our economic problems are much bigger and deeper. Too many people believe that if the stock market goes up our problems are behind us and that's simply not true.

Last week the market had big drops and big upswings. In the end, the market ended down more than 800 points and lots of 'experts' were shouting it was a time to buy. I don't see it that way.

Did you know that just two days after the stock market crashed in October 1929 the market actually gained ground the next two days? The New York Times reported that "the market quickly regained its poise and stability...." Today, Wall Street 'pros' are telling us it's a good time to invest because Warren Buffet is investing. A lot of people were probably using the same argument when the Rockefeller family was buying stocks right after the 1929 crash, what they didn't know was that it would take Wall Street ten more years to see those prices again.

Our current economic crisis was caused by politicians, both Democrats and Republicans, who perverted the American Dream by treating home ownership as an undeniable right rather than what it really is, a privilege. President Bush aggressively promoted the benefits of home ownership through various policy positions, including a reckless zero down-payment initiative for some homebuyers and praised Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac even after concerns about their accounting standards began to surface.

Home ownership has always been part of the American Dream. It allows individuals and families to build wealth by having them pay themselves instead of a landlord or rental company and vests people in their communities by grounding them in local schools, stores and government.

The concept that owning a home was a privilege and not a right began to change in 1992 following a flawed Boston Federal Reserve Board study which allegedly found subtle discrimination in loan and mortgage lending by banks and mortgage lenders.

Politicians didn't care that the study was full of errors. The study found discrimination took place when five minority applicants were rejected for special low-income loans even though the applicants were rejected because they made too much money to qualify for a low-income loan, not because of their race. The report also classified as 'rejected' the applications of eight minority borrowers even though these borrowers voluntarily withdrew their mortgage applications. The study's sloppiness also went the other way.

The study reported that a white applicant was approved for a $3,115,000 loan in order to purchase a home valued at $445,000. It was later demonstrated that the actual loan was approved for $311,500, far less than $3 million reported and more importantly, less than the home's purchase price. When these and other errors were corrected no evidence of discrimination existed.

But politicians didn't care. They used this report as the basis to fix a problem which didn't exist. Leading the charge for change was President Clinton who immediately set-out to rework the Community Reinvestment Act to give federal officials the power to pressure banks to make loans they otherwise considered too risky or uneconomical.

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Traditional lending requirements were labeled 'outdated' and discriminatory. What 'traditional lending requirements' were viewed as 'outdated' and 'discriminatory'? (1) banks were told that a "lack of credit history should not be seen as a negative factor" and that "past credit problems"
should be viewed and considered in light of any "extenuating circumstances" so loans could be extended when they otherwise would have been denied; (2) banks were encouraged to let borrowers without enough money for a down-payment make-up any deficiency with "gifts, grants, or loans from relatives, nonprofit organizations, or municipal agencies" even though banks considered this risky as the home buyer would have little or no equity in the house; (3) banks were also instructed that borrowers who received child support, welfare payments or unemployment benefits could count that as 'income' for borrowing purposes.

Call me crazy but if you need to count child support money that's intended for your child, or are in such bad economic shape that you're relying on welfare payments to make ends meet or are unemployed, maybe, just maybe, you shouldn't be buying a house. Too bad our politicians and the 'best and brightest' on Wall Street couldn't figure that out!

Community groups like ACORN, threatened to cry racism if banks didn't increase their loans to subprime borrowers. Banks typically avoided subprime loans as they carried a greater risk of default, but with law on its side, ACORN and other groups intimidated lending institutions into making such loans.

Banks soon learned, however, that making subprime loans actually could increase their profits without increasing their risk. Once the banks extended a loan to a subprime borrower that loan could then be sold by the bank to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, two government sponsored entities charged with making home ownership affordable to all Americans.

Banks, Wall Street, and mortgage lenders were soon eager to extend mortgages to subprime borrowers because they could make lots of money without carrying any risk. Fannie and Freddie carried all the risk once the original lending agency sold the loan to them. And once Fannie and Freddie bought the loan this freed up the banks to make even more subprime loans.

So everyone was a winner. The subprime borrower got the money to buy a house. The banks generated mortgages and made a nice profit and Fannie and Freddie executives made tens-of-millions of dollars in salaries and bonuses by hitting their annual goals.

The problem was that in order to keep all of this going lending standards were continually lowered to help the next level of subprime borrowers qualify for mortgages and no one had an incentive to make sure that the new subprime borrowers would actually be capable of making regular mortgage payments. The banks which extended the loans really didn't care because they were just going to sell the loan off to Fannie or Freddie. Fannie and Freddie weren't too concerned because it wasn't their money-they knew that they were insured by the 'full faith and credit' of the federal government (that's government lingo for "you and me").

So when federal regulators began to warn the executives at Fannie and Freddie about the increasing risks of non-payment by subprime borrowers the companies did nothing and when the regulators took their concerns to congress their warnings were met with scorn and contempt. The politicians who received the most political contributions from Fannie and Freddie, by pure coincidence, just happened to be their biggest defenders: Chris Dodd (D-$133,900), John Kerry (D-$111,000) and Barack Obama (D-$105,189).

Representative Barney Frank, who has been a fierce defender of Fannie and Freddie, actually said, while arguing against more regulation, "I want to roll the dice a little bit more in this situation towards subsidized housing.... " It's nice to know that he doesn't mind gambling with our money. Senator Chris Dodd, in praising Fannie and Freddie said, "I, just briefly will say, Mr. Chairman, obviously, like most of us here, this is one of the great success stories of all time.
"While Senator Charles Schumer said, "And my worry is that we're using the recent safety and soundness concerns, particularly with Freddie, and with a poor regulator, as a straw man to curtail Fannie and Freddie's mission."

Barack Obama has received more money from Fannie and Freddie than any other senator, with the exception of Senator Dodd, in the last four years. Before entering the senate, Obama filed a class-action lawsuit against Citibank, alleging that the bank was red-lining, or not doing enough lending in certain areas. That lawsuit was eventually settled. Arguably, Barack Obama helped cause the problem he now wants to fix.

The Federal Reserve Board was doing its part by throwing huge piles of cash at would-be home buyers by keeping interest rates too low. With low interest rates speculators began to look at houses as business opportunities, while others began to look at their homes as a giant piggy bank rather than a place where you actually lived and raised a family. Alan Greenspan encouraged this type of behavior and proudly said, "American consumers might benefit if lenders provided greater mortgage product alternatives to the traditional fixed-rate mortgages..." President Bush, responding to September 11th unwisely encouraged us to "go shopping" rather than hunker down financially and contribute to the War on Terror in other ways (can you say home equity loans?).

The SEC also shares in the blame. It failed to do its job (failed to adequately regulate mortgage brokers, the credit rating companies, and naked short-sellers), acted only after the markets froze-up (finally addressed mark-to-market rules) and refused to examine how the credit-default-swap market could grow from $919 billion in 2001 to over $54 trillion by 2008 (which allowed companies to make wild financial bets with the false confidence that 'insurance' would be there if the deal went south).

So what happened? Home-ownership rates which had been relatively constant for 25 years began a 10 year upward climb beginning in 1995, around the same time that government began its push and pressure for banks to make more subprime loans. The politicians, banks, lenders and Wall Streeters were thrilled because they were all making gobs of money.

Today we are all paying the price for the decisions made long ago. I have spoken to people involved at the highest levels and they now are all saying the same thing, "it is worse than anyone knows" and "worse than I even thought." Political and business leaders who I respect have told me that the economy is on the edge of an abyss.

The bailout is an outrage and is designed only to buy time for the politicians. It will delay the real hard times from hitting until after the November elections. Not one politician has said that this bailout legislation will put us on a better financial footing or that our economic problems will be put behind us. In fact, we'll be worse off because our politicians, even in this crisis, can't stop themselves from spending. This bill includes an extension of the rum tax benefits for Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands ($192 million), tax benefits for companies which manufacture wooden arrows for kids ($6 million), car racing tracks ($128 million), a provision which forces insurance companies to treat mental health problems like physical problems ($3.8 billion) and many, many more.

International markets don't offer any better alternative. Germany, England, the Netherlands, and Russia have all come out with their own government backed bailout plans. There are now calls for more international regulation (presumably led by the United Nations) and China has taken this opportunity to call for "a diversified currency and financial system and fair and just financial order that is not dependent on the United States." Meanwhile, there is increasing international indications that the dollar will lose its place as the reserve currency of the world.

The politicians from both political parties continue to lie to us. They promise us better healthcare and more government programs. The only thing either party will be able to deliver is higher, much higher, taxes as the debt swells and government revenues fall. The same politicians remain silent, while capitalism, which brought us the highest standard of living in the world, is increasingly attacked and discredited by its enemies.

But it's not capitalism which has been discredited by our current crisis, it's greed that has been shown to be at the root of our present economic uncertainty, and greed is unfortunately a universal human trait and has demonstrated its reach in socialism, fascism, communism and capitalism. The greed of Wall Street is nothing compared to the greed of our politicians who have continued to expand their power and influence at the expense of their country.

Our children and grandchildren will ultimately pay the price for their failure to act prudently and in the best interest of our country because they will be the ones saddled with mountains of debt and diminished standard of living.

I hope that this summary gives you a better idea of how the people who caused this fire are the same ones who are now telling us that they know best how to put it out and a reason not to believe their current promises.

We have faced tough times before. We fought the Nazis in World War II, defeated communism in the Cold War and Americans fought each other to keep our country together in our own Civil War. These tough times require us to educate ourselves and help others understand what has brought us to this point and the grave consequences of what will happen if we let this continue-that is our fight.

In my next email letter I will answer the other question you asked, "what's coming?"

Sis, I know you will always consider me your crazy brother but please pass this message on to all of your friends. There are too many rumors circulating and I want to put the facts out there. This isn't about slamming the Democrats or Republicans--this is about getting the truth out to as many people as possible. The more people we can wake-up the more people we will have restoring the hope, promise and opportunity of our great country. Please pass this on.

Glenn

Glenn Beck: 3 Emails

2008-11-29T17:44:00.000-08:00

Glenn Beck wrote three very lengthy and informative letters reguarding the current financial situation. Each was titled according to its content.

What Happened? / Whats Coming / What Can I do?

The blogs posted before this one are copies of these letters, just in case Glenn Becks site goes down if and when the fairness doctrine starts shutting down freedom of speech.

What?!

2008-11-29T08:39:00.001-08:00

According to Real Clear Politics candidate Obama issued the following statement regarding the terrorist attacks in India:

"Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to the loved ones of the American citizens who lost their lives in the outrageous terrorist attacks in Mumbai. Our thoughts and prayers are with them, and with all who have been touched by this terrible tragedy.

"These terrorists who targeted innocent civilians will not defeat India's great democracy, nor shake the will of a global coalition to defeat them. The United States must stand with India and all nations and people who are committed to destroying terrorist networks, and defeating their hate-filled ideology.

"There is one president at a time. I will continue to closely monitor the situation on the ground in Mumbai, and am grateful for the cooperation of the Bush Administration in keeping me and my staff updated. We fully support the Bush Administration's efforts to protect American citizens and assist the government of India during this tragic time," said President-elect Obama.

Now, I am not saying this isn't a great statement. In fact, I'm unsure if I disagree with anything.

My greatest question is: DOES ANYONE ELSE SEE REPUBLICAN TONES TO THIS STATEMENT?

I mean, seriously. The American people elected b. Hussein Obama because he was the most liberal candidate in memory, because he was the opposite of Bush and he was all into' change'.
but now he is talking about standing with the global coalition to defeat terrorists and their ideology?

Not to say that's a bad endeavor, but why are we so against Bush when he does it but so for Obama when he does?

Furthermore, if the people wanted more of this war on terror why didn't we all elect John McCain - who had a history with the military and who firmly believed that America needed to be resolute in their fight to destroy radical groups?

I'm confused.

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T12:54:00.000-08:00

spacemonkey from IMAO put up a 'Thanks' blog today and I felt the poem/letter was worth sharing.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone.

To the One from whom all blessings flow

From the unworthy ones living here below

For the Light You’ve given to show Your Way

For the friends who’ve graced us day by day

For the ones who blazed the paths we tread

For the ones whose blood was, for freedom, shed

For the ones You’ve given us for neighbors

For uncountable times You’ve granted favor

May we seek You more each passing hour

And tremble at Your might and power

Lest we forget our humble station

You bless America, we bless You

— Your nation

The Right to Win

2008-11-26T16:46:00.000-08:00

More and more in America we are seeing the re-definition of rights. Rather than human rights being good enough we are beginning to split up rights via demographics, which is scary indeed.
As you saw in my November 22 rant on rights I do believe the pronoun 'human' is all we need to think of when discussing the topic of 'rights'. Human rights are what we should focus on, not gay/white/black/demographic rights.

It seems this has become an increasingly potent issue.

As you can read in Thomas Sowell's (wiki article here) article: the Right to Win; we have developed this mind set that if we don't win our 'rights have been trampled on'.

With the fairness doctrine hanging precariously on the minds of all bloggers this idea seems especially relevant.

I would highly suggest you read the article. Empower yourself through knowledge.

As Thomas Showell said so well; ''When the majority of the people become like sheep, who will tolerate intolerance rather than make a fuss, then there is no limit to how far any group will go.''

Lets Say Thanks

2008-11-25T15:36:00.000-08:00

While browsing through some blogs today I found a link to a website run by Xerox named 'Lets Say Thanks'.
Intrigued, I looked into it and found that you can send an active member of the armed forces in Iraq a neat thank you card - cutesy of Xerox.

You can pick a card (the designs seem to be made by school children), pick a message (the site provides you with a list of messages you can send but also allows you to create your own - though you cannot give them your email or personal information...odd).

Then, you send it. Xerox prints it and gets it to a service member.

This is a great way to help say thanks to our heroes overseas. I would encourage everyone who reads this to take initiative and submit letters to other organizations like Operation Gratitude so you can send more personalized and heartfelt letters.
I do not suggest that to downplay the what 'Lets Say Thanks' is doing but to encourage us all to go the extra mile for our armed forces.

Enough Already

2008-11-22T13:24:00.000-08:00

I am sick of hearing about 'gay rights', about how the evil oppressive Christians are taking away civil liberties and other such nonsense.

Let me be clear: I don't believe in gay rights.
or white rights
or black rights
or cancer survivor rights

I believe in RIGHTS!

(note lack of pronoun!).

We all have rights, we all have civil liberties.
I cant stand it when someone puts words in front of it. We don't need specific rights for specific ethnic groups or any other groups. We have inalienable HUMAN rights.

Period. End of story. Move on.

Now as for the homosexual community appealing the pass of Prop 8 - as long as I get to appeal Obama becoming president I'm fine with it.

Wait, it wouldn't work that way.

Since Obama was elected legitimately in a fair election I have no right or desire to appeal his Presidency.
Why is the gay community not as tolerant?

Prop 8 was passed by a majority vote. It in no way restricts the right of homosexual couples to be together nor is it 'hateful' or whatever propaganda terms the media has come up with so far.

My point is this: America is the place of equal opportunity and equal rights. Why does the gay community seem intent on gaining 'more equal' rights than the rest of us?
The law does not hand out rights based on color, sex or sexual orientation - and it shouldn't.

Stop it with the propaganda.
And stop acting like different groups deserve or receive different rights.

Gay Marriage Thugs Beat Girl With Her Bible

Homophobia

Before I get a bunch of hateful comments and such, please note that I didn't actually voice my opinion Prop 8 itself. Of course, most people will miss that fine point.

Petition

2008-11-21T14:48:00.000-08:00

After spending a bit of time browsing through Digg (responding to pigg headed comments, being subjected to the liberal media in a quick and concentrated dose) I decided to read through the Conservative News Networks posts.

I came across one with links to sign a petition to get Obama to release his birth certificate.

You can click here to sign the petition.

Stupid is as Stupid does

2008-11-20T19:31:00.000-08:00

If I asked you what DiHydrogen Monoxide was would you be able to tell me? Watch this Vid and you'll know what I mean. Lew Rockwells Blog I really wish people would use their heads.

Obama Birth Certificate

2008-11-20T14:51:00.000-08:00

As we all should be aware of there is a pending court case claiming that Obama is not a natural born citizen and is therefore not eligible to be the next U.S. President (the certificate he has provided - outside court- is believed to be a fraud)

The most interesting part of this case is: Obama has never even acknowledged its existence. That particular part is what catches my attention.
Why would a politician allow this case to get all the way to the supreme court?

If you believe Obama should be forced to provide this information (remember, he has been elected to serve us, not the other way around) pelase visit www.rallycongress.com to sign a petition an (if you choose) send a letter to your representative.

A quick overview of the latest news is as follows:

Supreme Court Of The United States (SCOTUS) Justice David Souter has agreed that a review of the federal lawsuit filed by attorney Phil Berg against Barack Hussein Obama II, et al., which was subsequently dismissed for lack of standing is warranted. SCOTUS Docket No. 08-570 contains the details.
A review of that docket and the Rule 10 of the Supreme Court makes abundantly clear that Justice Souter's granting of a review on the Writ of Certiorari is not a right entitled to citizen Phil Berg, but rather is a matter of judicial discretion based upon a compelling reason. That compelling reason is the Constitutional requirement that "No person except a natural born citizen ... shall be eligible to the office of President..."
What this means is that on or before 1 DECEMBER 2008 Barack Hussein Obama II must respond to the writ of certiorari, and since the Berg v Obama case hinged primarily on the question of Obama's place of birth, it is almost inconceivable that Barack Obama will thumb his nose at the Justices of the Supreme Court and he is absolutely compelled to provide a vault copy his original birth certificate.
Another very salient fact to consider at this time is that, despite all of the pronouncements of the print and broadcast media, Barack Obama is not yet the President-elect of the United States . Barack Obama can only become the President-elect after the Electoral College convenes on 15 DECEMBER 2008 in their respective state capitals around the nation and casts their votes to elect the President and the Vice President. As you can see this election day occurs two weeks after the required response to the Supreme Court granted Writ of Certiorari.
The bottom line is this: the presidential election of 2008 remains an ongoing process, the outcome of which remains undetermined, and all talk about a potential Constitutional crisis in the United States are at least 36 days premature.
The inevitable constitutional crisis regarding President-elect Obama, of course, revolves around his inability (or unwillingness) to produce an authentic Hawaiian birth certificate with the raised certificate stamp that the Federal Elections Commission can independently verify.
Here are some of the unanswered issues hanging over the head of President-elect Barack Obama and the question of his American citizenship:
· The allegation that Obama was born in Kenya to parents unable to automatically grant him American citizenship;
· The allegation that Obama was made a citizen of Indonesia as a child and that he retained foreign citizenship into adulthood without recording an oath of allegiance to regain any theoretical American citizenship;
· The allegation that Obama's birth certificate was a forgery and that he may not be an eligible, natural-born citizen;
· The allegation that Obama was not born an American citizen; lost any hypothetical American citizenship he had as a child; that Obama may not now be an American citizen and even if he is, may hold dual citizenships with other countries. If any, much less all, of these allegations are true, the suit claims, Obama cannot constitutionally serve as president.
· The allegations that "Obama's grandmother on his father's side, half brother and half sister claim Obama was born in Kenya," the suit states." Reports reflect Obama's mother went to Kenya during her pregnancy; however, she was prevented from boarding a flight from Kenya to Hawaii at her late stage of pregnancy, which apparently was a normal restriction to avoid births during a flight. Stanley Ann Dunham (Obama) gave birth to Obama in Kenya , after which she flew to Hawaii and registered Obama's birth."
· The claim could not be verified by inquiries to Hawaiian hospitals, since state law bars the hospitals from releasing medical records to the public;
Even if Obama produced authenticated proof of his birth in Hawaii, however, the suit claims that the U.S. Nationality Act of 1940 provided that minors lose their American citizenship when their parents expatriate. Since Obama's mother married an Indonesian citizen and moved to Indonesia , the suit claims, she forfeited both her and Barack's American citizenship.

Other info can be found at Bergs site, here.

If interested, you c an also watch the video below.

How Obama got Elected

2008-11-17T21:32:00.001-08:00

A friend sent me the following video via myspace today.
An organization conducted a study on election day to measure what people did and did not know about each candidates campaign.

As most of us could have guess: they could name every 'mistake' made by the McCain campaign but were oblivious to anything about Obamas. Poll results after the video.

You can find the youtube video here

Also, you can visit the organizations site at howobamagotelected.com

Zogby Poll

512 Obama Voters 11/13/08-11/15/08 MOE +/- 4.4 points

97.1% High School Graduate or higher, 55% College Graduates

Results to 12 simple Multiple Choice Questions

57.4% could NOT correctly say which party controls congress (50/50 shot just by guessing)

81.8% could NOT correctly say Joe Biden quit a previous campaign because of plagiarism (25% chance by guessing)

82.6% could NOT correctly say that Barack Obama won his first election by getting opponents kicked off the ballot (25% chance by guessing)

88.4% could NOT correctly say that Obama said his policies would likely bankrupt the coal industry and make energy rates skyrocket (25% chance by guessing)

56.1% could NOT correctly say Obama started his political career at the home of two former members of the Weather Underground (25% chance by guessing).

And yet.....

Only 13.7% failed to identify Sarah Palin as the person on which their party spent $150,000 in clothes

Only 6.2% failed to identify Palin as the one with a pregnant teenage daughter

And 86.9 % thought that Palin said that she could see Russia from her "house," even though that was Tina Fey who said that!!

Only 2.4% got at least 11 correct.

Only .5% got all of them correct. (And we "gave" one answer that was technically not Palin, but actually Tina Fey)

Its Freezing Cold

2008-11-17T13:18:00.001-08:00

Hello from Missouri, I hope all you people living on the coast are nice and warm, enjoy it while you can because when Global Warming comes around you may find yourself frozen in a Glacier. I am of course writing of the new studies coming out which state that the world is on a cooling trend and we are not in fact warming.

I am sick of hearing everyone complain about the weather, I thought that was used to start a conversation with a girl you like when you have nothing substantial to say. Anyway, I thought this was kind of obvious considering I've been donning Carhartts since about mid-October as its been pretty chilly here. well you might say, oh well its warm for this time of year on average so there, bah. Yes it has been a warm fall, but when you look at the previous year you should take note of above-average snowfall and lower seasonal temperatures.

But here's the kicker, in weather you cant average, for instance you can have 50 years under a glacier and then another 50 with your county as a desert, and averaged out you would have had a nice pleasant century. And this is almost always true, for the first half of the previous century the average was pretty cool while in the latter half of the century and beginning of this one it has been somewhat warmer on average, but my point is that actual variations in local weather have been negligible (if unchanged). Furthermore, halfway through the last century several Russian weather stations in the Artic were taken offline, and i shouldn't have to tell you what happens when you take something out of an average and compare to a previous one with it included.

In conclusion, the weather changes if you don't like it your SOL, have a nice winter.

COWBOY in Training

Zombie Science?

2008-11-16T12:53:00.000-08:00

While reading through some blogs I came across a very good comment on a post entitled Creationism aka Zombia Science.

The comment was made my Steven Barlow:

Creationism is in fact not a threat against any individual. Because if one person accepts that each and every individual is created by God, then he has respect for everyone he comes across despite their races, nationalities, appearance, education, tendencies etc. This kind of an attitude in society will bring mutual tolerance and peace.

Evolutionism however is the contrary when it divides people as to superior-inferior, developed-underdeveloped, etc. Eugeny movement is an embarrassment in history when thousands were killed due to some people judging against others and classifying them as inferiors.

This point should be taken into consideration for the benefit of all.

John Deere Sucks

2008-11-16T12:38:00.000-08:00

I like tractors, I like ones that run as well, then why don’t I like Deere you ask? Simple I don’t like Foreign Tractors (Deere and Co contract with Yanmar for “their” small units) with a green paint job that cost twice as much as CaseIH when the only Mechanical difference is an extra speed peddle, ooh really worth ten grand. Plus it’s not even a good shade of green, really if you were gonna paint something green wouldn’t you at least pick a good shade?

Also if you look at anything but their big models you’ll see that a Country of Origin isn’t listed, why? IE their 9630T is made in Iowa while their Model F (vineyard) is made in Italy, and their garden units are conspicuously blank (2720). I don’t have a beef with Italy, but you can’t outsource to another country and claim you’re an American Company. Furthermore the Corporate component constantly supports draconian (I know it’s a cliché) Global Worming Legislation.

Corn Fed Conservative

Just a Quick Quote

Geeze!

I love Safari

Blogging

Islam

Superbowl

Black Death

Times are Changing

Pro-Death

News

Birth Certificate?

I'm not Getting Angry

Busy, Busy, Busy

Tolerance

Sorry for the light posting

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not Another One

Conservative vs. Liberal Beliefs

Merry Chistmas

Effects of "Global Warming" on Crops

Question of the Day

Ok I'm Ready for Global Warming

On my Mind

Just Curious

Frustration

50% is the lowest you can get?

Update

Declaration of Dependence

A Good Thought

SNOW!!!!!

Smaller Government tends to be Better

Wanting freedom isn't conservative. Restricting it isn't liberal.The federal government is, and always has been, the worst protector of personal freedom. That's what we REALLY have to learn from this.

Busy as Heck

Glenn Beck: What Can I Do to Prepare?

Glenn Beck: What's Coming

Glenn Beck: What's Coming

Glenn Beck: What happened?

Glenn Beck: 3 Emails

What?!

Happy Thanksgiving

The Right to Win

Lets Say Thanks

Enough Already

Gay Marriage Thugs Beat Girl With Her Bible

Petition

Stupid is as Stupid does

Obama Birth Certificate

How Obama got Elected

Its Freezing Cold

Zombie Science?

John Deere Sucks

Wanting freedom isn't conservative. Restricting it isn't liberal.

The federal government is, and always has been, the worst protector of personal freedom. That's what we REALLY have to learn from this.