Patriots on Watch Radio: The Ruling Class gets a Facefull

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British MP Nigel Farage goes off on the Ruling Class, the Euro, the Eurozone, and globalist delusions and fanaticisms. Mark agrees, adds scope, and gives a thumbs up to Americans buying silver. Meanwhile at home, the Obama administration starts shutting down sites without a trial or congressional approval. Ruling class member Jay Rockefeller waxes fascist on what kind of media he'd like to see. Plus, why the feds toxic assets have only gotten more toxic, and what it means for the greenback.

Odinga Says Homosexual Acts Should Be Punished with Prison

Prime Minister Odinga. It looks like we elected the wrong Kenyan.
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Not that I support prison for the private consensual behavior of adults. But my point is that voters can't vote too conservative. It's impossible. We've gotta vote for some Odingas just to keep things from swinging further toward the cesspool. To get moderate, you have to vote off-the-edge-of-the-earth conservative. Anything less, and pretty soon any church that does not host a homosexual marriage will be classified as potential domestic terrorists and shut down for hate crimes. Note how I mildly exaggerate for emphasis, but a subtle dog like you gets my point, right?

It's the same way with fiscal issues as with social issues. If you elect a wild-eyed fiscal conservative caveman who wants to repeal the New Deal by attacking it with a stone ax, then maybe it means that you can stave off the next tax increase for two more years.

To get moderate government, seek out men to the right of Loy Mauch and beg them to run for office!

Fed Favors Rule Change in Bank Foreclosures

From bobbyw24 on the Dailey Paul..

There are two sides to every delinquent loan — a lender who made a bad lending decision and a borrower who cannot repay. Yet, banks have never acted as if they bear responsibility for the mortgage mess.

Now, despite mounting evidence of borrower mistreatment, the Federal Reserve has proposed a rule that would disable the most effective legal tool that borrowers have to fight foreclosures--the Turth in Lending Act.

Citing concern over banks’ compliance costs, the Fed's Proposed Rule would require a borrower to pay off the remaining principal before the lender gives up its security interest. That would be clearly impossible for troubled borrowers. So the Fed’s proposal would benefit the creditor who violated the law rather than the borrower, paving the way for foreclosures that otherwise could be avoided.

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The story on the NY Times site is subscriber only. Laws are normally grandfathered in, that is, existing cases should be ajudicated by existing law at the time of the agreement. Here the fed wants the rules changed on homeowners in the middle of cases. If this flies, it just proves again that the banks own our government and if we want it back we have to take it from them.

Coming Soon: Forced into Cities

Here are some predictions of what the next ten years will bring. The root prediction is that environmental excuses will be used to attempt to force rural populations to change their way of life, and even abandon it.

I predict that taxes on gasoline will go up, while rural road maintenance will go down. Some of the money from the increased fuel taxes will likely be used to subsidize some form of mass transit that could not stand on its own economic feet without taxpayer subsidies. The most likely form this will take will be a light rail system.

Unfortunately the idea of letting local people run their own lives has fallen into disfavor. Giant capital cities now make decisions for the small town heartland. They look around their big cities and see that light rail works for them and that they don’t need cars (except for a few at the top) and so they decide that the rest of us don’t either. I see government policy increasingly aimed at forcing Americans out of their automobiles and onto public transit. They will do this by raising the costs of driving your own vehicle in order to subsidize mass transit. That won’t be its only form though. They will push bicycle paths, supposedly for “recreation” but they will build them right through to commerce areas. They are planning for a future where much of the population does not have a personal automobile.

I also see coming efforts to make rural life more difficult. This will be done through what appear to be local entities like Beaver Lake Water District, but the marching orders will come from far away. They will relentlessly seek to increase their power to regulate land owners so that while you may still own your property, you must seek permission from them in order to use it for anything.

The Beaver Lake Water District could already fix the only legitimate water-quality issue we face- sediments during lake turnover. Other water districts apply safe and inexpensive chemicals to deal with the problem. Ours could too, but it would lose a lever to get people to accept more control over their land.

The so-called “Food Safety and Modernization Act” may or may not pass, but if it fails they will try again. It would end farmers markets and roadside stands. Agri-business loves it because it will hamstring the small farmer. Control freaks in government love it because all food sold would need their permission.

While all this is going on, government will continue to tax rural residents and send the money to cities. Cities will get one government hand-out after another. Rural areas will get more regulations, lose more schools, and find personal travel to be more expensive. The overall effect, and intent, will be to push people into cities.

It is hard for a normal well-adjusted person to understand the bent psyche of the control-freaks that infest government. The average person just does not sit around dreaming up big plans for everyone else’s life. But some people do, and when they get some authority, it’s scary. Consolidation of schools, policies that drive people into cities, and loss of individual travel freedom are all measures that make populations easier to control. Whatever the stated reason for these coming changes, control is the real reason.

North Wrong on Tariffs

Former Arkansas Resident Gary North
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I don’t relish taking a contrary view to Gary North. On a very basic level, I’d like to be Gary North. That is, a man who makes a living giving his opinions on various topics of interest to him. I would like to be, like North, a man who, even if he is not well-known by the nation as a whole is highly respected within his own subculture. We met a few times through a mutual friend, and I found him to be a scholar and a gentleman whom I respect.

That being said, I’m not so sure North would respect me. The reason is that I support the use of tariffs. North’s position is that you can’t be an economist and support tariffs. This is the biggest disagreement I’ve had with Gary North since Y2K.

In his recent Lew Rockwell article “Sitting Ducks: Why the Tea Party Movement is Vulnerable to Economic Charlatans, Ignoramuses, and Statists” North singles out tariffs as the key issue. While I can’t argue with the gist of his title, because I’ve seen it happen on more things than just economics, I can’t agree with his contention that people who support tariffs should not really be considered economists. That’s far too broad a brush to use when dealing with matters as complicated as public policy. I'd like to make the limited-government case FOR the judicious use of tariffs.

Can one support tariffs without being an “ignoramus” or a “statist?” Are all those who support tariffs “unfamiliar with economic logic?” Gary North seems to think the answers to those questions are “no” and “yes” respectively, and I think he’s wrong.

(continued on the jump)

Brummett vs. Loy Mauch

John Brummett interviewed new State Rep. Loy Mauch (R) Bsimark. Mauch once served as an officer in the League of the South, which is a sort of neo-confederate group. No doubt Brummett thought he only had to present Mauch's views without rancor to get the average reader to be down on Mauch. While I don't imagine that Mauch's views are mainstream, neither are Brummett's. I suspect once you get outside of Little Rock, that Mauch's views are actually much closer to those of the average citizen than John Brummett's are. Maybe even Brummett himself is getting wise to this fact. After all, Brummett could not win an election to the state legislature.

Ark Times and "Judicial Activism"

I noticed the lefties at the Arkansas Times were claiming that conservatives were hypocrites on judicial activism because we applaud a federal court's ruling that the federal mandate to purchase health insurance is unconstitutional. They may need to be educated on what judicial activism is. It's not simply a matter of the courts declaring some act of the legislature or action of the executive to be unconstitutional. Courts are supposed to do that. It's when they do it without regard for the actual words of the Constitution and the original intent of the people who wrote those words that it becomes judicial activism.

More on Israeli Security on Airlines

Michael Chertoff, the former Homeland Security Director who is also in the scanner selling business.
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I recently suggested that the 4th amendment shredding TSA searches could be replaced by the Israeli model. Even Mike Huckabee suggested it as a solution, proving he's not wrong about every non-social issue. Max Brantley, icon of the left, wants the constitution-shredding to continue. He links to a piece showing the Israelis spend about 10 times per passenger what we spend on air security. He also expresses doubt about the ability to scale up the Israeli approach.

Bear in mind that my actual position, which is the only one that I am obligated to defend, is that the free market should take over this function, with different airlines implementing their own security measures (so long as everyone understands that hi-jacked aircraft will be treated like a weapon)and letting the passengers decide what they want.

The Israeli method, especially when implemented only by selected airlines here, would not cost as much here as it does in Israel. A much smaller proportion of our population will require more intensive screening. Our threat levels are only a fraction of theirs, and therefore our costs should be as well.

I don't have to deal with the arguments of whether or not the approach can be scaled up. If it works with one airline, another can adopt it, and the can keep adopting it or some variation of it until they find what works best for the lowest cost.

British-Anti Globalist Member of Parliment Goes off on Eurozone

It Begins: Homeland Security Seizes Domain Names

The illicit Obama administration is not waiting for the lame-duck congress to pass a law authorizing them to seize domain names. Homeland Security has started doing it anyway. Thus far it has been limited to sites that facilitate the violation of U.S. Copyright law. Once people have been acclimated to that, expect them to move on to sites that promote "hate"- which means of course disagreement with policy views that are in favor in Washington.

I would prefer they prosecute the owners of the sites. If convicted, the sites can be shut down. Instead, the "investigative" arm of Homeland Security that is shutting these sites down without trials.

Patriots on Watch Net Radio: Liberty, Religion, and Government

***listen here***

Some younger libertarians might be surprised at how strong a case there is for the argument that a (certain kind) of Judeo-Christian moral foundation is conducive to, and perhaps even essential for, political liberty. Mark Moore, a paid spokesman for Ron Paul's 2008 Presidential campaign, reveals the lost history. What kind of religious ideas in a society promote liberty and which hinder it? What are the two things all expansive governments try to do with religion?

A Bigot is Someone Who is Winning an Argument with a Liberal

The Southern Poverty Law Center has named the Family Research Council as a "hate group". Apparently if you don't go along with the liberals, you are a "hate group." I hate it when that happens!

How to Crash JP Morgan

Tired of the banksters siphoning off the public treasury? Their efforts to manipulate the price of silver (of their own doing and of positions they bought out in the Lehman debacle) have left them dangerously over exposed on silver. They need the price to drop, but physical demand is driving it up. If every 10th American went out in the next week and bought one ounce of physical silver (instead of a piece of paper that says you have a claim on silver) some think it would bust JP Morgan wide open.

Hines Wins Roger's Mayor's Run-Off

Greg Hines won the Roger's Mayoral run-off last night by 62.3% to 37.7%, mostly on the strength of a lop-sided early voting margin. Congratulations to Mayor Elect Hines, the Markham Group, Channel 24 KNWA, and the entire Hines campaign. We look forward to a prosperous six years of non-partisan governance.

How to Do Airport Security

It's the way the Israelis do it.

Maddox Flyer Runs Afoul

Yes, Kurt Maddox messed up by sending out a flyer with Steve Womack's picture on it without talking to the man himself. Maddox talked to Womack's wife about using the picture. In Kurt's marriage, that's good enough, but this is not the first time he has been (IMHO) too naive for the political business. That's both refreshing and troubling. Not everybody has the same kind of relationship, even if its a good one.

Yes, Womack released a statement which expressed his displeasure at Kurt's violation of basic political etiquette. I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand I don't blame him, on the other hand, Womack probably would not be headed to Congress right now if Maddox had not courageously endorsed him when the other candidates were sitting on the fence or yielding to intense pressure and backing his opponent. Still, Womack wanted to stay out of this race, and Maddox should have simply let him.

The back of the flyer said that Womack does not endorse anyone in the race, and I've heard that Womack admitted he had not read both sides of the flyer before releasing his statement (on the jump).

Shocking: Jonesboro Promoting "Carless Society" In Very Near Future

I wrote three articles in the past couple of years with these titles: On the Road To A "Carless” Sociey, Brummett Says Amen to A World Without Cars, and How Obama and Governor Beebe Are Weaning Us Off Cars. See the links to these at the end of the article. You will more fully understand the following information by reading those articles, that is unless you are already knowledgeable about this movement. And everyone should read the articles by Tom DeWeese which are the best summaries of this entire movement that I have found. (See the last three links in red font below for these)

However, I had no idea how far along our own area of Jonesboro was into this movement - so far along that we were told at the meeting by our own Metropolitan Planning Organization that they are planning for a future where our children, grandchildren, and even we who are over 60, will be depending on public transit, bicycles, and walking rather than driving our cars for transportation. We learned this when some of us attended the Metropolitan Planning Organization meeting for the public on November 15, 2010.
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MPPO stands for Metropolitan Planning Organization. "A MPO is a transportation policy-making organization made up of representatives from local governments and transportation authorities. Federal legislation requires the formation of an MPO for any urbanized area with a population greater than 50,000"

We saw an ad in the paper for the meeting and noticed there would be information on bike trails. From our research, we knew that bike trails are part of the plan to move us from our cars and put us in (or on) alternate modes of transportation like bikes, buses, and rail and to move us all into urban type high density areas so common in the European nations and Communist countries. We learned after we were there that the meeting was to get the input of the community on the policies and list of transportation-improvement projects in this area.

We were totally flabbergasted to learn how far along our own area is on this road to wean us off cars and to coerce us into using alternate transportation like bikes, buses, walking, and rail.

Muhammad Amin Ulkarim (yes a Muslim) is the person who headed up the meeting and is the Transportation Study Director of this Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for Northeast Arkansas. We could only understand about 1/10th of what he was saying because his accent was pretty bad. Fortunately his introduction was short, and then he opened it for questions. I had understood the words in his presentation that "we have been doing _____ since May and June of this year and also understood the words he said, "another mode of transportation, walking , and riding a bicycle." That is basically about all I could understand in his five minutes presentation, and I was straining and concentrating very hard to understand him.

So the first question I asked when I had the chance was this: "Are the bike trails for the purpose of recreation or for actual transportation to reduce the number of cars on the road? Mr. Muhammad Ulkarim's answer: "The bike trails are mostly recreational now, but in the near future they will be for transportation and to reduce the number of cars on the road." [He was more honest than I expected him to be on this point since these programs are usually sold to the public very dishonestly; and as we asked the questions, he moved to where we were so I could lip read better]

The next question I had a chance to ask was: Are there other organizations involved with Jonesboro's transportation planning. He said, "Oh yes," and named a couple of them. I then asked if Smart Growth was involved. He said, "Oh yes." [Smart Growth is one of the main words used to describe all the movement from cars to mass transit and bikes and walking so we knew who was behind all of this at this point.] This question brought forth other information. Mr. Muhammad Ulkarim informed us that every city with 50,000 population or more had to have a long term plan in order to get government funds for transportation. He made the point that the federal government regulations are advisory at this time but this MPO and others were requesting the government to make them mandatory. [In other words, they are just asking for the government to control us and take away our freedom.]

When one of the other people with me had a chance, she asked, Is this planning for the next number of years connected to Agenda 21 and Sustainable Development? He said, Oh, yes, Mr. Ewart with JATS (and nodded toward Mr. Steve Ewart him) can tell you about that (or something to that effect,) JATS stands for Jonesboro Area Transportation Study or the bus transit system in Jonesboro. [Agenda 21 and Sustainable Development is the UN plan that oversees all the plans on global warming, cap and trade, etc. Everything to do with these global warming issues has its roots in the Agenda 21 Sustainable Development plan. ]

Again we had the information we had come for because we know all about Agenda 21 and Sustainable Development.

Mr. Steve Ewart, Director of the Jonesboro Bus Transportation then gave a presentation. He and Mr. Muhammad Ulkarim kept talking about how the world was changing and with all the transportation and congestion, the world was going to have to change. Ewart mentioned that most cities and areas are going to the complete street concept. The complete street concept was a new term for me although I thought I knew what it meant from the context of the conversation. I raised my hand and asked what does complete street mean. His Answer: "Complete streets" means streets that also have bike trails and bus transportation stops, etc in which cars are not the only or main transportation. (He told me he would send me information on this and he did.)

He (either Steve Ewart or Muhammed Ulkarim said "In national trends, national data, etc. public transit is a necessary compound of sustainability. " He said increasingly you are going to see a combination of buses, rail, public transit, etc. as viable options we want to invest in. We are poised to do whatever the public wants us to do, like special bus trips to events, like ballgames, etc. Mr. Steve Wart said Arkansas has been adopting the complete street concept which means there is no wrong way to travel. Every mode of transportation is considered, bikes, cars, buses, rail, etc. There will be a total array of transportation services. In outer years we will have transfer stations and described these as places where a person driving into town would catch a bus at one of these stations rather than driving around town in his car.

I asked “Who is going to ride these bicycles? He said they were bombarded with requests for bike trails (I doubt that is true but if it is, it is for recreation and not transportation – If people think it won't cost them anything and have these of course people want something for nothing, but they have no idea the bicycles are intended to be used for transportation instead of their cars.

I asked: “How are you going to get us and our kids and grandkids out of the cars and on those buses? Our kids and grandkids are more spoiled than we are.” Mr.
Muhammad Ulkarim answered that we were to blame for our kids being spoiled, and we had to help them learn to walk again or something similar to that. Someone in the audience mentioned the obesity problem and indicated biking and walking would be good for our kids.

Mr. Steve Ewart made a point with someone who had asked a question. He said something like this. You know in the last 30 years or so walkways from your house leads to the driveway not the street because you expected to walk to your car and not walk on the street. Then he said something to the effect that it would not be that way in the future implying people would use their walkways to lead to the streets where they would be walking on the streets rather than driving. (One can find this stuff on the web but we were shocked that our own local people were talking like this)

So after this kind of talk for a while, we decided to ask this question:
“So do you envision a future where our children and grandchildren will be riding bicycles rather than driving cars?” His answer: It won't be just our kids and grandchildren, it will be you and me – us, indicating it would be coming very soon. (Most of the people there were over 50 and probably over 60. )

We were just flabbergasted that they had been so brainwashed that they could be this open and honest about what they intended to do. Up to this point we had just been trying to get information. At that point I started making some comments about what they were really doing in the hope of causing some of the people there realize what was happening. There were probably about 20 to 25 people there. I told them something like the following: that the only way they would get people out of their cars and on bicycles or walking would be when they forced us to do so. I told them this was not local planning – that it had all been planned for them and us and coming down from the top– that they planned to tell us where we were going to live, and what kind of transportation we could have, etc.

Mr. Steve Ewart mentioned that increasingly we are seeing bike racks on buses. They also kept talking about how they are doing all these things in other cities and it was the way of the future. I also told them about the videos on the web that show future plans for Kansas City where the trains tracks and trains were the streets instead of cars (http://debbie-pelley.c.topica.com/maaoohBab1r1kaBV5JFcaeQCRr/) and how that I had even read on the web where they had actually turned some blacktop roads back to gravel roads in Michigan and Pennsylvania to discourage people from using cars. I was just trying to get anyone there to realize there was a problem and that there were deep concerns. (See this link http://debbie-pelley.c.topica.com/maaoohBab1r1kaBV5JFcaeQCRr/ for Kansas City Video and Click the word "embed" at the right side of the picture, and you will see a video that is unbelievably revealing.)

I also asked if stimulus money was provided for any of this planning. Mr. Steve Ewart said they were given $778,000 from the stimulus money (I understand for the Jonesboro Transit system) and chose to do operation and maintenance with it.

A legislator there asked if any of this had anything to do with legislation passed in recent sessions. Mr. Steve Ewart said, Yes and before Ewart could tell him which legislation, the legislator said, " Is it HB2460 of 2007." Mr. Ewart answered yes.

HB2460 of 2007 is the Arkansas bill that created the Global Warming Commission. On October 30, 2008, the Arkansas Governor’ Commission on Global Warming (GCGW) released its final report. This Commission (Beebe appointed 17 of the 21 members) recommended 54 specific policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Just 29 of the recommendations would cost Arkansas $3.7 BILLION for the next few years, and critics say that amount is far lower than the real costs. To put that number in perspective, Arkansas' state budget for 2010 is $4.4 billion. For detailed account of this information, see the five links given below. Some of these recommendations had to do with bike trails and public transportation. For information on cost of recommendations, see this link: http://debbie-pelley.c.topica.com/maaoohBab1r1laBV5JFcaeQCRr/

As we were leaving the meeting, we engaged two men who were at least 65 in conversation, and they were all for these plans. One of them said that moving us into high density population areas was part of the plan and that it was the only way to go in our world today in order to be sustainable. I asked why. I said with abortion and many countries not even having enough births to sustain their population why would we need to do away with cars. He said he saw nothing wrong with abortion and that everything is changing and the US is using 90% of the world’s energy and we had to change. As we were leaving, I told them that I did not think their views were typical of other residents in Jonesboro.

I did note after leaving the meeting that no one at the meeting made any mention of reduction of greenhouse gases, which is the real reason behind this move to do away with cars. The obnoxious liberal Michael Moore made the statement: "The things we call cars may have been fun to drive, but they are like a million daggers into the heart of Mother Nature. To continue to build them would only lead to the ruin of our species and much of the planet. In that respect the leaders of the meeting were deceptive because they kept talking about traffic congestion being the reason we needed to reduce the number of cars.

The purpose of the meeting was supposedly to get input from the community on their long term planning. MPO says in its literature they gave us, "The first step involves finding out what the community wants and needs in a transportation system. Our transportation system should serve and preserve our community values, not just be "a way to get from here to there." There is no way these are the values of the Jonesboro community!

We learned that MPO is "working with local and state governments including: the city of Jonesboro, Brookland, Bono, Bay, Craighead County and State Hw. Department. This is also in their literature.

The Draft of the plan is on http://debbie-pelley.c.topica.com/maaoohBab1r1maBV5JFcaeQCRr/ The draft plan contains policies and a list of transportation-improvement projects in this area.

For footnotes and other links mentioned in article below see this link where this article is posted online.

The public is asked to review the Plan and send their comments via phone, fax, email, or mail to mpo@jonesboro.org. We must get organized, flood them with comments, and get acquainted with the city council members and be there for the next meeting.

For the links referred to in this article, see the end of this article which is posted at
http://www.wpaag.org/Agenda%2021%20Carless%20Soc%20J'boro%20MPO%20Mtg.htm

For a radio program on this information recorded Friday, Nov. 19, see this link: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/10960584
There will be another radio program on this today, Monday Nov 22 at 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.on 1230 AM in Jonesboro

Prophets, Priests, and Kings

The most powerful people in the world have a vested interest in getting people away from the Bible and away from Christianity, or indeed any religion with judgment and an afterlife among its doctrines. These powers don’t want you to believe in eternity because once you do they loose much of their power over you. Once you understand that this life is just a test and that the one to come is the important one, it is much harder for them to pressure you into making moral compromises. You do not fear their consequences as much.

I find that this is the overwhelming reason that much of the ruling class, with their high-dollar media, judiciary, and education system, make it their business to deride Christianity and drive it from the public square. No matter what their stated motives are for this behavior, I consider their actual motives to be a desire to maximize the elites own power over the rest of us. Since Americans are wired against worship at a government-supported church, they make it their business to see to it that we have no church at all.

Governments that are tyrannical or headed towards tyranny will approach religion one of two ways- they will co-opt all that will sell out, and discourage or suppress the rest. Governments that are simply working to protect the natural rights of their citizens would not do either of those things, but in order to find such a government one would need not an airline ticket but rather a time machine.

Throughout history, the secular power has tried to control the religious power of society and harness it for its own purposes. The scriptures reveal an opposite pattern. Its pages are filled with examples of God’s servants who spoke unwelcome truth to power. They rebuked even kings when kings broke a law higher than any man could make. Most churches these days are far too timid and preoccupied with keeping their tax exemptions and maximizing collection plate dollars to go around speaking unwelcome truth to power.

It happened in the scriptures too. For 360 years Israel had the world’s first and still longest-lasting democracy. That does not make it in the history books much, but its so. They had very limited government. The law was fixed as handed down by Moses, so there was no need for a legislature to change it from year to year depending on which special interest group was handing out the biggest bribes. There was a judiciary to apply the law to specific cases. Only in emergencies was there a temporary executive, who was supposed to step down once the crisis passed. Cincinnatus gets credit for refusing the throne in the early days of the Roman Republic, but Gideon the Hebrew did it first. He was a temporary executive ruler who defeated the Midianites in spectacular fashion. When the people wanted to make him king he refused and told them “the Lord will be your King.”

After a while, the people insisted on a king, like the heathen nations. Read 1st Samuel Chapter 8 if you want a good idea of what God thinks of a strong central executive government’s ability to safe-guard people’s rights. It wasn’t too long after this that the kings were running the priests, like in the heathen nations. This marked the end of the Priests speaking unwelcome truth to power, so God moved outside the institution of the temple and began to send prophets unconnected to the government-religion complex. Then it was the prophets who started rebuking kings, and speaking unwelcome truth to power.

Study Shows Inverse Relationship Between Belief in God and Belief in Government

Explains a lot on why the ruling elites are so hostile towards any religion that is not lap-dog to the state. Temporal rulers don't want you to believe in God and Eternal judgment because once you do they lose their power over you.

Say Anything to Scare Them in Roger's Mayor's Race

Do those liberal consultants from the leftist Markham Group that are running the Greg Hines for Mayor of Rogers campaign just sit around a table and think up lies they can tell to scare Rogers residents into voting against Kurt Maddox?

The latest attack ad claims that Maddox does not support the Rogers Adult Wellness Center. Maddox has visited that place every week for quite a while and I've never heard him say anything bad about it, nor has his campaign manager Patrick Hall. Here is an e-mail Hall sent both Hines and the media (as if they would cover it!).

Mr. Tull / Mr. Hines:

When I heard your campaign's new radio ad (audio file attached) which
claims "[Maddox] talks about raising city fees and has not supported
our Adult Wellness Center", I began digging through emails, notes,
campaign literature and then thoroughly quizzed Mr. Maddox in search
for the facts to substantiate these claims. Everything I have turned
up unequivocally refutes these claims and, in fact, seems to clearly
establish the polar opposite. If I have missed something, could you
help refresh my memory? Otherwise, Mr. Maddox and our campaign
committee look forward to a prompt retraction.

Respectfully,
Patrick Hall
Campaign Manager
Maddox for Mayor

I am interested to know what factual basis they think they have to support the claims of the latest attack ad.

Article on English Language Classes and Who Pays the Bill

This past week saw the Morning News of Rogers put up a front page story about the possible expansion of an English Language Adult Education Program. The Northwest Technical Institute is a vo-tech school. The expansion would be to teach people to speak English.

I like the idea of people learning to speak English. What I do like is being sent the bill. If the immigrants are legal, they should learn English- at their expense, not mine.

The article notes that classes are "free", but then specifies that the institute is supported with a combination of federal and state funds. That's not "free", its only "free" to those taking the classes.

My gut tells me that there are no safeguards in place to ensure that these public benefits are used only by US Citizens or legal aliens in this country. I don't want to borrow any more money from China to teach an illegal alien English. If the course at the Institute are "free" then maybe there should be some tuition assistance for legal aliens and US citizens, but something tells me if I want to take a welding class there I would have to pay some from my own pocket. Wouldn't it be a shame if the only fully taxpayer funded classes were those largely teaching illegal aliens English?

Karl Rove Steps in it Again

SPIEGEL: Are you convinced, then, that the Republican Party will be able to integrate the Tea Party without drifting too far to the right?

Rove: Sure. There have been movements like this before — the Civil Rights movement, the anti-war movement, the pro-life movement, the Second Amendment rights movement. All of them popped up, insistent, loud, and relatively unsophisticated...

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I guess only "sophisticates" like him can understand the wisdom of bailing out Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and international banks with borrowed money to be repaid by your children. To a simple man like me you see, it still looks like a giant rip-off.

Voters Dodged a Bullet Electing Martin over Pat O'Brien

One of the closest large races was for Secretary of State, where voters handed State Rep. Mark Martin a narrow 51-49 victory over Pulaski County Clerk (and Obama campaign manager in Arkansas) Pat O'Brien. O'Brien spent a lot of time bragging about how he ran 32 "flawless" elections. Martin took issue with that, especially over sending the wrong ballots to our overseas military issue. Now O'Brien wants to shred all paper records before he leaves office. No less than 17 judges have told him not to do it.

Why the rush to destroy records? Weren't all of your elections "flawless?" It looks like the state dodged a bullet in electing Martin over O'Brien. It reminds me of Obama's promises to run the "most transparent administration in history" when the reality is so polar opposite.

When People Stop Believing in God, They Believe in Government, Says Canadian Study

Fascinating study on which I hope to have a lot more to say on the internet radio.

Chambers of Commerce and Corporate Welfare

While individual businesses in most chambers tend to be conservative, as long as I have lived I don't think I've ever seen a Chamber of Commerce that opposed a tax increase. The Ark Times, of all people, seems to have a pretty good reason why- they are often among the beneficiaries. That is a lot easier money than pleasing customers in the free market.

Markham Group Gets a Facelift (Roger's Mayor Run off)

Greg Hines is in the runoff for Roger's Mayor with Kurt Maddox. Maddox informed voters of how leftist Hine's campaign consultant's are. He pointed to their work for Nancy Pelosi, and their pictures of Barack Obama. Much of that information has now been scrubbed from the site. Cover-up in progress. But team Maddox got a screen shot of their client list before they pulled it (and claimed to the media that the list was privileged information).

Get Out of Jail Free Card for Vehicular Homicide

....is the answer simply to be an illegal alien? Then you just get deported, in this case back to Mexico where many Americans go for vacation. It vaguely says that the charges will be "resolved" before deportation, but doesn't sound reassuring.

Kind of makes you wonder what might happen if one of those Mexican trucks that they are waiving through the border kills your family in an accident. Would the case be a matter for US law, or would your own government work against you getting justice in order to avoid an "international incident?" Would they just return the driver to Mexico? Who do you sue and how? Whose laws apply? These are some of the hidden costs of globalism.

Media Malfesance and "Negative Campaigning" from Conservatives

As someone who has been in the fight to elect limited-government conservatives to office, I have noticed a pattern with much of the establishment media. In general, they will jump on any crumb of a story that makes conservatives look bad, while tenaciously ignoring bigger stories that show a liberal or establishment politician in an unflattering light.

In other words, most of the media won't do its job when it comes to giving proportional coverage to stories that reflect badly on their own. Negative information about a candidate can be out there like the elephant in the room, but they won't investigate if the details are handed to them on a silver platter (since I am not a professional journalist I can use two cliched metaphors in the same sentence even though a real pro would not do that!!!). Sometimes out of frustration, conservative candidates buckle and use their precious campaign funds to spread the word and keep the people from unknowingly electing a turkey. Then the media that was not interested in doing their job jumps on the conservative candidate for "negative campaigning".

Liberal candidates don't normally have to "negatively campaign" because the media will do it for them. They don't typically provide that service to conservatives. They won't do their job, but they sure will jump on a conservative for "negative campaigning" if he or she tries to do their job when they won't.

The losers in all this are the people. Am I thinking of another specific example here? We will see in the next day or two.

POW Radio: Real Success in Education

27 minute audio here

Public education is succeeding. Not just in areas where parental intervention make success easy, but even in areas where we think its failing. The reason I say it is succeeding is that it is doing exactly what its designers intended it to do, and tonight you can find out what that is....

Bill Would Outlaw Home Gardening

"I can see the day coming when even your home garden is gonna be against the law"- Bob Dylan in Union Sundown. Turns out Bob may be right, and that day is November 17th 2010.
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The so-called "Food Safety and Modernization Act" has been called the most dangerous piece of legislation in American History. Read why.

Top Arkansas GOP Suggests Doubling Lawmakers' Salaries

I know that we can't believe everything that is in the paper; but we conservatives and T-Partiers need to make a strong statement about this quote by one of our Arkansas Representatives taken from article below in the Democrat Gazette: "Earlier in the week, Burris told an Arkansas Times reporter that he may be interested in banning lobbyists from buying anything for lawmakers, ending per diem and doubling lawmakers’ salaries to compensate for not receiving lobbyist gifts." [Compensation for not receiving lobbyist gifts reminds me of what Obama and Pelosi might suggest, not an Arkansas Republican.]

In the first line of the article this legislator Rep John Burris of Harrison is called, "The top Republican in the Arkansas House of Representatives."

Wouldn't the Democrats like to hang doubling the lawmakers' salaries around the neck of the Republicans? That would be one of the surest ways to reduce the gains we finally made in our Arkansas legislature this year and turn the T-Partiers against Republicans.

Another statement attributed to Burris also infuriated me: “'I don’t know why everybody’s so excited. We’re still a minority party, we can’t pass anything on our own,' Burris said.' The fact is the House, now with 40 Republican members, can stop almost any appropriation bill or tax because a three-fourths favorable vote is required to pass them. That's a great deal to be excited about. I know many legislators and citizens who have longed for that day.

Besides, there are many other reasons to be excited. For one, Republican gains (that resulted in 15 Republican Senators and 40 Republican Representatives) send a powerful message to the liberals and Democrats. Some Democratic legislators have admitted they only run as Democrats so they can get elected. Several of the Democrats even have more conservative voting records than our Republicans. With the help of those conservative Democrats and the backing of the new Tea Party Movement, there is a great deal the Republicans can do if they will have the courage to do it.

However, with an attitude like the one attributed to Burris in this article, there is very little they can do. And I am sure that is what the liberals want the Republicans to believe.

We citizens haven't worked all these years to gain what we did in this last election to hear statements like those attributed to Burris. If the paper misquoted Burris, I welcome his response and will send it out to all the people to whom I am sending this email.

I am very concerned that the Democrat Gazette wrote this article to alarm Independents who voted for the Republicans and to get them to regret their votes. It is rare for any of the major media to write anything about a conservative Republican that is not intended for harm.

I don't know Burris and have not followed his voting record but will in the future. I did look up his voting record on a liberal blog, and 7 of the 28 Republicans had a more liberal score than Burris, but 25 legislators (20 Republicans and 5 Democrats) had a more conservative score than Burris. Sixty-two Democrats had the top liberal scores. See page 41 at this link for these scores. The lower scores on this liberal site will indicate the most conservative voting records. http://citizensfirst.org/resources/2009%20Vote%20Guide.pdf This may not be an exact picture of how conservative these legislators vote but will come pretty close in most cases.

The article referred to above can be found at this link: http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2010/nov/11/ethics-mind-houses-burris-20101111/ Below are excerpts from the article. Article is entitled "Ethics on the mind of House's Burris" by Sarah D. Wire, November 11, 2010.

LITTLE ROCK — The top Republican in the Arkansas House of Representatives said Wednesday that he is interested in changing the state’s ethics laws but does not have a specific plan.

"Rep. John Burris, R-Harrison, said changes brought by the increased frequency of the state’s major legislative sessions should be reflected in ethics laws....

"Earlier in the week, Burris told an Arkansas Times reporter that he may be interested in banning lobbyists from buying anything for lawmakers, ending per diem and doubling lawmakers’ salaries to compensate for not receiving lobbyist gifts.

"State legislators receive per diem and other reimbursements in addition to their state salary of $15,615 a year. The Senate president pro tempore and the House speaker get $17,486 a year.

"Burris said he spoke with some Republicans about new ethics laws but does not have a proposal or a firm idea of what should be done.....

"He said the Republican lawmakers he spoke to agreed generally that “something has to be done.”

"The GOP made large gains in the Legislature - picking up 17 seats in the House and seven in the Senate - but Republicans will need Democrats’ support if they want to cause meaningful change in the new legislative session........

“I don’t know why everybody’s so excited. We’re still a minority party, we can’t pass anything on our own,” Burris said."
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 11/11/2010

I have received a much greater number of comments on this article that I sent out by email than normal. My favorite comment so far is this one. "Doubling the lawmakers' salaries - after a while they would ask for more to keep from taking lobbyists pay-off. "

The Working Poor Will Be Most Hurt By Ending Tax Cuts

If the tax cuts enacted by President Bush end next year, it will be the working class with children who are hurt most of all. It amazes me that the Democrats get credit for being for the lower class, for children, and for seniors when they are attempting to do all of the cutting. While ending the cuts means a higher tax rate on the top end, it also means that the "earned income tax credit" will be halved. People who earn $30,000 a year with a child or two may be used to getting about $3,000 back from the IRS. They get that for one more year, then if Obama has his way this amount will drop to $1,500.

Now the separate question is the morality of the program. It seems to me that giving me back the money that I paid in is a tax cut, giving me MORE money than I paid in is welfare. Will I take it? Yes, and so should you, because they are doing it with borrowed money that we will have to pay back someday one way or another. It is more like they are forcing us to take a loan with unknown terms than a gift. If they were doing it without borrowing the money, it would be more like theft of one class to another.

My point is that the working class who is cheering at the idea of these tax cuts ending are going to be in for a huge surprise about a year from now when their income tax refunds are a fraction of what they have become used to.

All Your Base Are Belong to Us: Voter Information in Foreign Languages

It appears that the hate-filled Arkansas Times is all over Secretary of State Elect Mark Martin for his reply to State Representative Donna Hutchinson (both Republicans) that he intended to "take care of" the state printing voter information in Spanish. In the context of the exchange, Martin signals an intention investigate what he can do to end the practice.

While filled with hate, it does not mean that the Ark Times is wrong about everything. Martin is likely to find out that there is not much he can do, without falling afoul of increasingly intrusive federal law. The Ark Times notes that there is a provision in the so-called "Voter Rights Act" that mandates materials be provided in "minority languages."

To whit, section 203 says that when the state "[P]rovides registration or voting notices, forms, instructions, assistance, or other materials of information relating to the electoral process, including ballots, it shall provide them in the language of the applicable minority group as well as in the English language."

The Ark Times may be correct in its assessment about what the Federal Law dictates, but for me the real question is the justice, wisdom, and even the coherency, of the federal law itself. It is not Martin's desires that should be under scrutiny here, but rather the wisdom of the policy.

This is an unfunded federal mandate on the states. Should voters be taxed to provide forms in every tongue in the land, or do those who wish to exercise their rights also have the responsibility of learning the dominant language of the land before they exercise that right? And will providing this information in other languages cause even more illegal aliens to fraudulently participate in the election process? Does it send a signal that the system is going to once again turn a blind eye to crime as long as its a crime of immigration?

I think its another example of a beltway gone mad enforcing its insanity on the citizens in the heartland. The policy undermines national unity, and even consistency. Ultimately, it undermines the rule of law. There is enough argument over what the rules are and how they should be interpreted when we are all talking the same language. Sometimes, translations don't convey thoughts accurately. The phrase "All of your base are belong to us" is an internet phenomenon which came from a poor translation from a video game.

So if we argue about the law and what the rules mean when we first agree on the language, how badly will we be divided once we are reading from twenty different rulebooks in twenty different languages? Will the Thai translation line up with the Hindi translation? What about the Spanish translation and the Ebonic? Will the same intent be conveyed?

The policy is an invitation for disaster. It's fifty lawsuits waiting to happen. It's a recipe for chaos. You can't have twenty different groups of people playing the same game with each other using rulebooks written in 20 different languages. Languages have inherent shortcomings in translation. And this is no game. These elections are what we use instead of bullets to determine who rules us. Once one segment or the other gets the idea that they have been cheated, it can get real ugly. It does anyway.

The discussion should be on the wisdom of this dictate from the insane people in the beltway, not any public official from our state's reluctance to kow tow to it.

Which Event Will Our Freshman Congressmen Attend?

Tea Parties from various localities spent over $100,000 to fly in grassroots members and put together a program for incoming freshmen. The Claremore Institute then decided to have one on the same day for the same congressmen. Attempts to combine the events were rudely rebuffed by Claremore. Is it an attempt by the beltway establishment to create some separation between new Congressmen and the people? So which event will our freshmen Congressmen attend? Inquiring minds want to know. More details on the controversy here.

Greg Hines Has the Support of Spanish-Speaking Media

I know the pic did not come out very clearly, but the car in the picture shows a "Univision (a Spanish language broadcaster)" decal on the side and a "Greg Hines for Mayor" sticker on the bumper. Hines has had three interviews on "La Zona Deportiva", which is a sports station, while Maddox has not gotten a return call. Rumors abound that at this past Saturday's interview with LaZona Deportiva a microphone was accidentally left on. The discussion turned to how they had gotten Hines on several times, and were wondering how they could avoid giving Maddox equal time. One listener told me that Hines suggested that they lie and say they could not get ahold of Maddox. Ouch. That's federal election law we are talking about.

Whether that happened or not, the what is clear is that the Spanish media is backing Hines. Perhaps those concerned about illegal immigration in that city should wonder why. A candidate who contributed to the Democrats as late as 2007 and who has these guys running his campaign is a candidate who is too left for Rogers, Arkansas.

Boozman's First Big Surprise for Conservatives Who Voted For Him

Tolbert points out that John Boozman's first big decision will be who to vote for in the race for Senate Minority Leader. The Tea Party choice is South Carolina's Jim DeMint. Kentucky's Mitch McConnell is the establishment choice. DeMint wants to do away with earmarks, like House Republicans have done. McConnell is not so sure. On the campaign trail, Boozman said he was against earmarks.

Here are my predictions/answers that will annoy all sides. Boozman will vote for McConnell because Boozman is an establishment guy. The Senate will keep earmarking and Boozman will participate.

That takes care of annoying about 48% of the readers. Now let's go to the other side. There is nothing wrong with earmarks, provided they are used in the committee process and agreed on rather than inserted in legislation in the dead of night by staffers unknown or in conference. Banning earmarks shifts too much power away from the legislative branch and into the executive.

They should not earmark the absurd stuff they do, but would you feel better if an unelected bureaucrat spent the money on something absurd? If your elected rep. does not spend it, that's who will spend it. The House Republican's focus on earmarks is not statesmanship, its a cheap political stunt they are going toward because actually solving our budgetary problems are a lot harder. It will also embarrass Ron Paul, so in a way, the Establishment WANTS an earmark ban in the House. The goal is to paint Paul as a big-spender and non-team player. He IS a team player though, he's just playing for the Constitution, not the establishment.

That takes care of annoying another 48%. So what about that last four percent? Those are the "get its". I love you man!

Benton County Tea Party Endorses Maddox for Mayor

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UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE

The Benton County Tea Party has said that this letter was sent out before it had been properly vetted. Chairman Kirk Hartness said they endorse Maddox, but not necessarily the "tone" of the letter. I spoke with Rob Arnold, whose signature appears on the letter. He requested that a letter be written for him on this topic, and this letter was written per that request. He was in the process of running it by other members of the Exec Committee to get their input, but through some mis-communication the letter was sent out before final vetting. When asked for specific things he would change about the letter, Arnold declined to get into specifics.

Greg Hines has described the letter as full of "lies, half-truths, and distortions." He also did not mention any specifics. If there are any lies in that letter, I can't see what they are. The same with "half-truths", though "distortion" is often in the eye of the beholder. So what in this letter doesn't check out? Strongly worded? Yep. False? You tell me where.

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Dear fellow Citizens, and members of the Rogers Tea Party,

I cannot help but to open with a positive note. The Tea Party is grateful for the overall results of the recent elections. Thanks in part to your efforts the cause of freedom has been advanced. There is a long fight ahead, it’s surely not time to rest on our laurels, but we do have something to celebrate in this country.

In the city of Rogers itself, there is one last important item of business to attend to though. There is a run-off election for Mayor on November 23rd. I ask you as a fellow-patriot to circle that date on your calendar. Only a very small proportion of the population votes in run-off elections. That means that your vote is even more important now than it was on the 2nd. And in this race, the contrast between the candidates who are vying to lead your city could hardly be more stark. As Chairman of the Rogers Chapter of the Benton County Tea Party, it is my duty to report to you on the candidates, and our endorsement.

Our endorsement in the race proudly goes to the one who is by far the most capable man for the office: Kurt Maddox. Please make it a point to drive to the polls and vote for Kurt, and urge your friends and family to do the same.

In making this endorsement, we are obligated to lay out the reasons behind our choice. There are two main factors, one is how poor a fit we feel Councilman Hines would be for Mayor and the other is how good a choice Kurt Maddox would be. Here then is my report……

Mayor is an Executive position. It’s a full time job, and it’s a lot of work. In looking over the life experience of Mr. Hines, there is a startling lack of private-sector work experience for someone who is expected to run Arkansas’ 9th largest city. As near as we can tell, his experience in the private sector ended when he was about 23 or 24 years old, when his attempt to launch a career in real-estate fizzled out. In our view, that’s not enough to gain the perspective needed to serve the business sector of our community. The amount of time he spent as a person who gets income from taxpayers instead of being like most of us who simply have to pay taxes is also a red flag.

In contrast, Kurt Maddox had a business with over a dozen employees by the time he was twenty. It’s true that this business went under, but he paid all of his creditors back and started over. A few years later, about the time Hines left the private sector, Maddox started another business. Now at forty, he has built a million dollar business in Rogers that adds jobs to the community and has increased our tax base.

Maddox has spent twenty years finding ways to run a business that serves people well at the lowest possible cost. People like that will not get loose with our money because of ingrained habits. People who have the ingrained habit of spending other people’s money are the ones that most often become loose with the public purse.

While some may say that Hines’ current position with the county is also an executive position, he has not served long, and by credible reports, not served well either. Incoming County Judge Bob Clinard has complained that Hines has been drawing a salary from the county while running for Mayor instead of performing his duties. He complains that employees that should be under the direct supervision of Mr. Hines don’t even know who he is or what he looks like. Clinard has also endorsed Maddox for Mayor. We find these reports very troubling, and I don’t like having to report some of this information to you, but that’s one reason we have grassroots organizations. I think all of us have had enough of politicians who campaign very energetically but are not so concerned about performing the daily grind of their public duties once in office.

Many of us rate life experience above educational attainment in evaluating who we hire. In this case though, we don’t need to make the choice. Just as Kurt Maddox is the clear choice when one looks at the life-experiences of the two men, he is also the clear choice when one looks at educational self-betterment. Kurt Maddox has two bachelor’s degrees and a master’s degree in Leadership and Ethics. Kurt Hines has a high school diploma. While too much can be made of diplomas, my own take is that it puts the city at a competitive disadvantage in attracting business and people to our city. Can you think of another of the ten largest cities in Arkansas whose Mayor lacks a college degree?

The subject of whose political values fit in best with the people of Rogers is to me, at least as important if not more important than those other criteria. Several red flags have gone up over the actions of Mr. Hines, but every indication is that Kurt Maddox is an excellent fit with the spirit of this community.

I owe you an explanation when I mention the “red flags.” It’s come to our attention that Greg Hines made a donation to the Democratic Party of Arkansas as recently as 2007. If that sounds like your values, then be pleased to vote for Greg Hines. If it’s not, then I urge you to join me in voting for Kurt Maddox.

Another red flag is who Hines has hired to run his campaign. It’s the far left Markham Group. Please feel free to visit this bunch for yourself. They don’t reflect Rogers’ values. I have learned over the years that “personnel is policy.” Even if a candidate talks down-home and espouses conservative values, if he hires left, then he governs left. Let’s not take that chance with Rogers.

The question of who reflects Roger’s values is a good place to deal with the issue of residency. Mr. Hines calls Kurt Maddox “the guy from Gravette” because he lived in Gravette so recently. I believe that Hine’s focus on who is where geographically is a distraction from the true question, and that is who is closest to Rogers philosophically.

Kurt Maddox has lived in Rogers for a total of seven years and has had a business on Walnut Street for twenty years. I can only hope that my fellow citizens will not vote based on who has spent the most years inside some invisible political boundary, but rather on who is closest to you on policy, has the best character, and is the most capable person.
The sad fact is, many of the leading citizens of this community drafted Kurt Maddox for this race specifically because they feared what Hines as Mayor might mean for this city. Some of it is unverified, so I cannot put it into this report, but they were concerned. Some of them were even courageous enough to put their names on it. That’s why you see Maddox signs around the town that say things like “Meza Harris supports Kurt Maddox.” These leading citizens, as a public service, sought out a man to run for Mayor who would keep this city out from under Mr. Hines. As an activist myself, I respect there willingness to get involved, and concur in their choice of candidate. These people know something, and I’m going to listen to them.

I urge you in joining me in voting for Kurt Maddox for Mayor of Rogers on Nov. 23rd and go ahead right now and forward this message to several of your friends and family members in Rogers.

With Utmost Respect


Rob Arnold

Why People Don't Listen to Those Who Were Right

The policy "solutions" offered by our ruling class and their media front men have been epic fails. The bailouts have failed, if QE1 hadn't failed there would be no need for QE2. And all any of that is doing is both postponing the inevitable correction and insuring it will be worse when it is finally faced. The wars of nation-building have also failed. The longer we stay the more the population views us as occupiers rather than liberators- as we would were the situation reversed. Our support in those lands is largely limited to the small slice of the population who benefit from participation in the governments that we are propping up.

In both domestic and foreign policy, the facts are exposing the limits of what government can do. Government cannot induce prosperity by increasing debt and increasing control of the domestic economy. Government cannot build nations in our image through military force when the population does not value what we value. Everywhere we see that government acting beyond its God-ordained role of honoring those who do good and bringing wrath on evil-doers, is a failure. The war on poverty, trillions later, is as big a failure as the wars of nation-building.

My point is that those who argued for big-government solutions to these problems are still the voices that the media puts up there. They are still the ones quoted. They are still the ones who have big events that people buy tickets to go see. They are still the celebrity opinion makers that people on their appropriate side of the political spectrum still listen too. The fact that the polices they advocated were disastrously wrong does not seem to have destroyed their credibility in the minds of the populace. The people have not tuned them out or sought out other voices for counsel. Lately I have put my mind to the question of why people don't quit listening to opinion makes who have proven to be wrong? Or, more productively, why don't people listen to those few who events show to have been right?

I've noticed that those few who see farther than the rest are often accused of hallucinating by those whose vision does not extend as far. The far-sighted warn about what the catastrophic result will be if we adopt some bone-headed policy. They get shouted down and dismissed as "nuts." Then when what they warned of comes to pass, few people remember that they were right, they just remember them as nuts! And of course, because of the bone-headed policy they are in a "crisis." And a crisis is no time to change who you listen to, why we have to rally around our leaders!

Not everybody was wrong about these issues. There were some who warned us, but they were laughed out or shouted down. A few saw the dollar decline coming. Some predicted that the bailouts would not turn the economy around. There were those who warned us about attempting to impose good government at bayonet point. Ron Paul is the most prominent example I can think of- and that he is shows what I mean. While he is getting more TV time than before, I note that even his son Rand had to distance himself from his father's views to win in Kentucky, and that in a year of Republican landslide. The plain fact is that most grass roots conservatives still don't want to listen to him. If there were a Sarah Palin rally and a Ron Paul rally in the same city on the same day, which one would draw the most conservative listeners?

While I like the feeling-tone Palin projects, there is simply no comparison between the two regarding who was most correct on policy. Palin approved the bailouts, Paul opposed them. Palin approves the nation-building wars, Paul opposes them. On most other issues, they seem to have similar positions, except that Palin is more illegal-alien friendly than Paul.

I have come to the rather depressing conclusion that until substantial personal pain is involved, most citizens, left or right, don't change who they listen to based on who events have proven to be right or wrong. They listen to who is "loudest", that is, who is easiest to listen to because they are most accessible. They also pick who they listen to based on feeling-tone rather than correctness or error. This goes beyond someone who will confirm whatever errors that they hold. Paul has a rather creaky voice and is an older man of average appearance. That, combined with lack of accessibility to his message- Huckabee and Palin may get their own FOX shows, and Stephanopolous his MSNBC show, but Paul will never get either - trumps fact. Style overwhelms substance. Packaging pulverizes product.

There are seven billion of us. That fact offers some hope that the colossal stupidity of failing to listen to those who were proven to be right in the past is not a permanent part of the human condition. The race simply could not have survived if it were. Although mankind has little experience with the possible corrosive effect of mass media, there is reason to believe that once the pain level gets high enough, people will alter their behavior. Until then, people will listen to whoever tells them what they want to hear, is most accessible, or sounds and looks the most pleasant. Once they can no longer afford that luxury, they will devote some effort to seeking out and listening to those who have been right.

Patriots on Watch Net Radio: After the Euphoria

26 minute audio file here.

Many activists are convinced that the Republican party has learned its lesson. It may be, but isn't it prudent to develop a back-up plan just in case? What are activists going to do in 2012 if it is clear that the same forces that created the bailout are still pulling the strings in the GOP
?

Will Rogers Elect a Stealth Democrat as Mayor?

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UPDATE: Greg Hines contributed to the Democratic Party of Arkansas as recently as 2007. These are the people managing his campaign. Do you think they are the sort that a conservative candidate would hire?

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Rogers is a staunchly Republican city. The current popular Rogers Mayor Steve Womack had a landslide victory over Democrat David Whitaker in the race for 3rd District Congress. That is why I took notice that on several occasions the few David Whitaker signs I saw in Rogers were frequently paired with "Greg Hines for Mayor" signs. Hines will be in a run-off election for Mayor November 23rd with Kurt Maddox.

Not many people know the true political leanings of their city councilman, and I can't help but wonder if, despite his assurances of how conservative he is, Hines has some kind of arrangement with the few ardent local Democrats present in the city. Not many people in Rogers put up David Whitaker signs. The few that did, often had Hines signs. This one was on South Dixieland just off Walnut.



Here is a Hines sign outside the law office of someone who advertises that they do "Immigration Law". Around here, that often means helping illegal aliens who have been caught stay in the country. While they have every right to legal council, I associate immigration lawyers with the leftist Democrats. Why would they support a self-proclaimed "conservative" for Mayor of Rogers?

To be fair, that was an office complex with several businesses in it, and one cannot be sure that the law office was the one responsible for the sign. That's not true down the street though.....


This is an image of a Hines sign outside the office of Roy Petty. I have blown up and inset the wording on his sign so that you can reads he is also an immigration lawyer. In this case, his is the only business in the space, so the Hines sign is clearly his. Will someone who has the support of immigration lawyers continue the no-nonsense position of Mayor Womack on illegal immigration? A position made necessary by killing in the streets by illegal aliens that occurred before the crackdown.

Rogers is a conservative town. Hines has basically never worked in the private sector in his entire adult life. Again, that is a sign of someone who leans left. All the "signs," if you will pardon the pun, indicate that the conservative people of Rogers are in imminent danger of getting snookered into electing a stealth Democrat Mayor.

Patriots on Watch Radio: Mr. Mayor, Please Protect Me from Washington

30 minute audio here.

Mark makes the case that given what is about to happen, the most important elections
are local governments. When things come apart and the ruling class resorts to oppression, we may need local governments who are with the people to protect us from central government oppression. Maybe the Oath Keepers need a new pledge for Mayors and city councilmen, one that goes like this...

Aftermath

It is said by Ralph Reed and others that in Politics its never as bad as you think when you lose, and its never as good as you think when you win. Still, overall it feels pretty good. For the first time in many years, some people I think are different enough to make a difference won, or at least wound up in a run-off.

I don't have any illusions about the national level, where the most one can hope for is gridlock, but even there people from outside the ranks of the establishment have clawed their way past the gates. The system will find ways to neutralize them, but not the ideas they espouse- if they continue to espouse them rather than follow the directives of their establishment-provided handlers to be "non-controversial." And by that of course they mean ideas of which the heartland might approve, but which the ruling class finds unacceptable.

Permit me to close by sharing with you a personal election-day anecdote. We were near the end of what was for us a long line to vote. Not all of the machines were behaving themselves. Immediately behind me was an old farmer-looking guy. Weather-beaten and tatooed, he was boxed in exactly the sort of external package that our ruling elites would tsk at. In their view, this was an example of the sort of backward bitter clingers that most needed them to run their lives for them, after reshaping their values. Mr. Farmer took one look at the room and the long line of well educated sheeple like my self, and then turned to the election official nearby. "I want a paper ballot" he said, turning away from the end of the long line and heading toward the table with a stack of ballots sitting on it with zero waiting.

He got his ballot and was done before our line moved two spaces. At that point, this college educated policy wonk who prides himself on his understanding of the process left the line to the electronic machines and meekly asked for a paper ballot like the farmer.

Jim Bob Duggar on Election Day

I was driving down Walnut St. in Rogers early this afternoon and who did I see but Jim Bob Duggar, patriarch of the Duggar clan. He and son Jason were waving signs on a street corner on behalf of his friend, Kurt Maddox, who is locked in a tight race for Mayor of Rogers.

The ever-upbeat Duggar was expecting good things to happen, and was pretty encouraging to your humble narrator in the midst of a bad business day.

J'boro Rep Joan Cash Global Warming Electric Dream Car

Democrat Representative Joan Cash has definitely not represented the values of her constituents in Jonesboro in her two legislative sessions in office.

Joan Cash Received 2nd Highest Score by Liberal Organization

Cash tied for the 2nd most liberal legislator in the House of Representatives, receiving a 92.9% by the liberal Arkansas Citizens First Congress. The highest score was 94% for Kathy Webb, the first ever openly lesbian in the Arkansas legislature. The lowest score (thus the most conservative score) was 33.8%. Cash was also named and pictured as one of the organization's top nine priority sponsors of bills in the Arkansas legislature this liberal organization supported and for taking leadership on issues for the public interest. 2

Following are five of the top ten priorities as listed by this liberal organization on whose website Joan Cash is honored and given this 91.9% score.
- Enact the recommendations of the Global Warming Commission.- Enact the recommendations of the HIV/AIDS Task Force.- Progressive tax reform- Create an Arkansas Civil Rights Commission.- Enact the Dream Act to make sure every student graduating from an Arkansas school has the opportunity to pay in-state college tuition. [Note how they sanitize their goals. Every student means illegal aliens.] See this link for above picture and caption and the top ten priorities of this liberal organization. 3

Joan Cash Is Member of Governor Beebe's Global Warming Commission

Joan Cash was also appointed by Governor Beebe as one of the 21 member Board on the Governor's Global Warming Commission (GGWC) implemented by HB2460. She is the only legislator Beebe appointed to the Commission other than naming Representative Kathy Webb as Co-Chair. The bill implementing the Commission was sponsored by the most liberal, first ever openly gay legislator in Arkansas, Kathy Webb, who also Co-Chairs the Commission. 4 The Governor's Commission has recommended 54 specific policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address climate-energy and commerce related issues in Arkansas. Just 29 of the recommendations would cost Arkansas $3.7 BILLION, and critics say that amount is far, far lower than the real costs. 6 To put that in perspective, Arkansas’ total state budget is $4.4 billion in 2010. And the citizens will be laden with tremendous utility costs, etc. as well. 7

These recommendations are in alignment with Al Gore's policies, the Clinton Climate Initiative and the Cap and Trade Bill that passed the US House in 2009 but was so controversial that it did not get through the Senate. These recommendations are very deceptive, using old words with new meanings and lies just like liberals have done with the health care bill. So while we are having our TEA parties and opposing Cap and Trade and slowing it down at the national level, liberals at the state level are implementing the programs faster than we could imagine without our even knowing it and with our Republican state legislators voting for it because they don't know the terminology. And Joan Cash is one of the main players in this endeavor.

For information on Joan Cash's Dream Car Pictured Above and for 17 footnotes of doucmentation on this and other issues, see this link: http://www.wpaag.org/joan_cash%20voting%20record.htm