We Must Act Now to Stop This !

jim — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 11:15:58 +0000

In 1887 Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinborough, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior:

“A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship.”

“The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:

From bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage.”p
The Obituary follows:

Born 1776, Died 2012
It doesn’t hurt to read this several times.

Is This The Change You Wanted ! Is This The Change You Believed in !

jim — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 20:25:52 +0000

THE PRESIDENCY

SOME OF YOU WILL APPRECIATE THIS AND SOME WILL NOT.

HOWEVER, ALL OF IT IS TRUE.

After two years of Obama … Here’s your change!

January 2009

TODAY

% chg

Source

Avg.. Retail price/gallon gas in U.S.

$1.83

$3.44

84%

Crude oil , European Brent (barrel)

$43..48

$99..02

127.7%

Crude oil, West TX Inter. (barrel)

$38..74

$91..38

135.9%

Gold: London (per troy oz.)

$853.25

$1,369.50

60.5%

Corn, No.2 yellow, Central IL

$3.56

$6.33

78.1%

Soybeans, No. 1 yellow, IL

$9.66

$13..75

42.3%

Sugar, cane, raw, world, lb. Fob

$13..37

$35..39

164.7%

Unemployment rate , non-farm, overall

7.6%

9.4%

23.7%

Unemployment rate, blacks

12.6%

15.8%

25.4%

Number of unemployed

11,616,000

14,485,000

24.7%

Number of fed. Employees

2,779,000

2,840,000

2.2%

Real median household income

$50,112

$49,777

-0.7%

Number of food stamp recipients

31,983,716

43,200,878

35.1%

Number of unemployment benefit recipients

7,526,598

9,193,838

22.2%

Number of long-term unemployed

2,600,000

6,400,000

146.2%

Poverty rate, individuals

13.2%

14.3%

8.3%

People in poverty in U.S.

39,800,000

43,600,000

9.5%

U.S. . Rank in Economic Freedom World Rankings

n/a

Present Situation Index

29.9

23.5

-21.4%

Failed banks

140

164

17.1%

U.S. . Dollar versus Japanese yen exchange rate

89.76

82.03

-8.6%

U.S. . Money supply , M1, in billions

1,575.1

1,865.7

18.4%

U.S. . Money supply, M2, in billions

8,310.9

8,852.3

6.5%

National debt , in trillions

$10..627

$14..052

32.2%

Just take this last item: In the last two years we have accumulated national debt at a rate more than 27 times as fast as during the rest of our entire nation’s history.

Over 27 times as fast. Metaphorically speaking, if you are driving in the right lane doing 65 MPH and a car rockets past you in the left lane.

27 times faster, it would be doing 7,555 MPH!

Sources:

(1) U.S. Energy Information Administration; (2) Wall Street Journal ; (3) Bureau of Labor Statistics ; (4) Census Bureau; (5) USDA; (6) U.S. Dept. Of Labor;

(7) FHFA; (8) Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller; (9) RealtyTrac ; (10) Heritage Foundation and WSJ; (11) The Conference Board; (12) FDIC;

(13) Federal Reserve ; (14) U.S. Treasury

Wisconsin Erupts into Mayhem ! Are the Teachers Putting the kids First ? Are they Putting Wisconsin First? Are they Thinking of America?

jim — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 12:50:12 +0000

Wow, President Obama really wants to be re-elected so much that he is willing to risk the lives of tens of thousands of his union drones by sending them into the streets. Not to mention the cost to the state of Wisconsin. What is going on in Wisconsin right now could never have happened without a carefully orchestrated machine behind it. The Obama, Chicago engine is trying to head off a movement across this country to install common sense with regard to spending. The current system is obviously broken and this new law will allow the states to begin to repair the financial problem. The reason for the law restricting collective bargaining by the teachers unions and other public employees can best be summed up with one story.

Amanda Valente, from the Lincoln Park school district, received the Teacher of the Year award for the middle school on June 8 from Superintendent of Schools James Grube and Board of Education President Perry Mayers. Valente was fired and won’t be back to the district next year, because of budget cuts.

Amanda graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and went on to get her teaching certificate instead of pursuing a career in private business. Valente taught in the school district for two years, which was not long enough for her to achieve teacher tenure.

Superintendent of Schools James Grube said that “she gave excellent lessons, she always went “above and beyond” to give kids extra help after school. Grube said “all of his teachers that were let go were “high quality teachers,” and not one of them would have been fired if it weren’t for the economy”.

This says it all! A system where a “teacher of the year” can be caught up in the “last in, first out” antiquated system that has been the main stay of the teaching profession for many years and is now part of the dumbing down of our country. Teacher tenure has no place in the American education system from this point forward. We can no longer afford to keep teachers who are not great teachers, just because they have survived into tenure.

The president is pulling out all the stops on this one. He cares not about all of us, just about the ones who agree with him. Does that mean he is my president? I don’t know.

Jim Salmon