The End

December 23, 2012 is just around the corner...

Inspired by "HolyCoast"

A Reason For Voting

Are you starting to think about presidential candidates for next years election?  Are you having a tough time deciding who you would vote for?  How about Mitt Romney, or Newt Gingrich, or Ron Paul, or Michele Bachmann, or some other Republican candidate.  Or maybe you're having a problem deciding if you want to vote for Barack Obama again.  If so, here's something that might help.  Sorry, but I couldn't embed the video...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWS2NVX6VP0&feature=youtu.be

Inspired by "Maggie's Farm"

Stone Henge

Thank you "Pinterest"

Longevity

Blue Ray

Mary Did You Know

Smack Dab or Snack Dub

Some people like to stand smack dab in the middle of it all.  Then there are those that don't like to stand at all.

Take A Stand

Learn to stand on your own two feet rather than trying to balance yourself on someone else's shoulders.

Me, A Libertarian !!!

You say you're an independent person but that you're sorta conservative in you're political views.  Me too.  You say you're pretty handy with the Internet and Facebook and Twitter and you use these social media tools to keep yourself politically informed.  Me too.  And you say that lately you've had this weird feeling maybe you're becoming a Libertarian and you don't know why?  Me too.  


Maybe this will help...


Libertarianism represents the true existential threat to the crony capitalism that has flourished for decades in both established political parties. But with both political parties in decay and independents positioned to determine the outcome of next year’s Presidential and Congressional elections; voters seem ready to embrace a political philosophy that puts strict limits on all government activity in order to maximize individual liberty and economic freedom.

Libertarianism is defined as “any political position that advocates a radical redistribution of power from the coercive state to voluntary associations of free individuals.” To the political party establishments who fund their existence on the ability to attain this power and rent it back to their crony capitalist fellow travelers; libertarianism was dismissed as a “popular, dogmatic political cult in the vein of Marxism-Leninism.” The political elites have been comforted that “libertarians would never get hold of true power – for unlike their Marxist-Leninist brethren, they are a political cult without a broad base of support; they have no proletariat and no peasantry!” But in the age of social networking’s viral formation of voluntary associations at virtually no cost; libertarianism has found its broad base of support that can compete favorably versus paid advertising that drives the “peasant” support of the established parties.

Political party competition in America has primarily been fought out on television screens with thirty second ads that end in: “and I endorse this message”. In 2008, dark horse primary candidate Barack Obama successfully tapped the internet to raise money and mobilize millions of voters; but Obama spent 50% of the $650 million campaign contributions he raised on television commercials during the Presidential election. In 2010 many politicians tried the same strategy; but even digital expert Meg Whitman who had jumped on the social media bandwagon, including Facebook and Twitter in the primary; scaled back on internet ad buys in favor of the tried and true television spots for the gubernatorial election. Analysts estimate that of the $2 billion campaign dollars raised for the 2010 midterm elections; over $1 billion was spent on television spots, $250 million for commercial radio, and $650 million on direct mail campaigns; versus less than $50 million on internet strategies.

Over the last twelve months there has been an unreported ground-swell of support for Congressman Ron Paul’s libertarian philosophy that virally self-organized through social media. Paul never captured as much media attention as other Republican presidential candidates; even after placing second in the early Iowa Ames Straw Poll. When his name came up on the cable news shows, his libertarian ideas were dismissed the fringe ramblings of an unelectable candidate.

The media remained oblivious to Paul’s emergent online following. According to the Pew Charitable Trust’s Project for Excellence for Journalism; in a new study analyzing more than 20 million election-related tweets from May through November, Paul “fared far better” than any other Republican candidate. Pew found that Ron Paul was referred to “positively” in 55% of the 1.1 million Twitter assessments about him; versus 15% negative assessments and 30% neutral:

“This treatment of Paul stands in contrast to that of most of the GOP field, for whom twitter has been a tough neighborhood,”… “Five of Paul’s seven GOP rivals have had negative opinions on Twitter outstrip positive ones by roughly 2-1 or more.”

America’s libertarian roots were incubated in the run-up to American Revolutionary War of 1776. The British raised taxes by 500% from 1698 to the 1773, and imposed the taxes without consent from America’s own directly elected representatives; denied Americans their right to a fair trial by enforcing the Sugar and Stamp Acts in military courts; and kept troop high to intimidate the colonials settlers into submission.

American Exceptionalism is associated with our libertarian tradition based on personal freedom, egalitarianism, individualism, populism and laissez-faire. Of course these values clash directly with goals of crony capitalists to extract massive wealth from U.S. government contracts, permits, grants, special tax breaks, and so forth. But the low-cost economics of libertarian social networking is driving a determined Ron Paul to challenge crony capitalist’s tight-fisted grip on elections.

Thanks to "Big Government" and Chriss W. Street for the inspiration.

This Must Be Done

Getting america out of deep debt

By Tom Price and Paul Ryan
December 12, 2011

For three straight years, the U.S. government has run trillion-dollar deficits. In total, the nation has recently surpassed $15 trillion in debt — a number that continues to rise. For nearly 1,000 days, the Democrat-led Senate has refused to write a budget while Washington continues to careen from one budget crisis to another. This is a stark reality for a nation already facing tremendous economic challenges, and it is the strongest argument and impetus for the series of budget-process reforms recently introduced by members of the House Budget Committee.
Earlier this year, House Republicans presented a budget to the Congress that would cut nearly $6 trillion in spending, reform the tax code and improve and strengthen programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. We drafted, debated and passed a plan to put our nation on a path to prosperity. President Barack Obama, along with Democrat leaders on Capitol Hill, responded with demagoguery while offering no credible plan of their own — no plan to pay off the debt and no plan to save and strengthen health and retirement programs for seniors.
Elected leaders should not be able to avoid their responsibilities in such a cavalier manner. And yet, under the broken budget process in Washington, they have been able to get away with doing nothing as the debt piles even higher.
Members of the House Budget Committee are now stepping in and stepping up with a package of reforms — 10 bills, recently introduced, that would make certain Congress has the tools to control spending and will be held accountable for practicing the necessary oversight.
Each proposal speaks to a weakness in the current budgeting process and provides a solution to fix the problem. Taken together, they present a path out of the current dysfunction and a way for lawmakers to confront our nation's challenges.
Among the bills being proposed is legislation we authored that would require the Congressional Budget Office to begin analyzing the macroeconomic impact of major pieces of legislation. The Pro-Growth Budgeting Act requires the CBO to provide a more dynamic assessment of how pending legislation would affect economic realities such as business investment, real gross domestic product and unemployment.
This would provide a more complete perspective on the real-world impact of legislation beyond the usual revenue, outlays and deficit accounting already relayed by the CBO. It would ensure that lawmakers are better informed and forced to consider the consequences of their actions on the economy as a whole, not just on Washington's bottom line.
The current broken budget process provides ample opportunity for Congress to overspend and underprioritize. The proposals put forward by members of the House Budget Committee take positive steps toward a more accountable and responsible budget process — one in which members are more cognizant of how best to promote growth in the economy while practicing sound fiscal management. In doing so, we would help lift the shadow of debt that is hanging over economic activity and limiting our prospects for a more prosperous future. Bills such as the Pro-Growth Budgeting Act will make it easier for leaders to do their jobs and harder for others to avoid the responsibility bestowed upon them by the American people.

U.S. Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., is chairman of the Republican Policy Committee in the House of Representatives. U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is chairman of the House Budget Committee.

Thank you:  Committee On The Budget, House of Representatives

Blank Pages

I tried writing a book once.  I wrote all the page numbers down and couldn't think of anything else.

Speed Thinking

Barber Shop Backroom

Drexel, NC is 292 miles from here, but it'd be worth the trip to get my haircut there next time I need one.

Best viewed in full screen...

Food Stamps

Don't Forget

Demo

                                        Sometimes I think 

                             God gave me a "demo" for a brain.

Fractions

Wanabe

Ouch

No Comments Required

Good News

                                   Good news and great joy,
                                   Mary had a baby boy.

Too Much Gas

One of the most traditional meals in our house when I was growing up in Maine was homemade baked beans every Saturday evening.  Those baked beans made with molasses and brown sugar and served with hot dogs and brown bread were always great.  But there was just one problem with those great suppers back then and it seems our country's got the same problem these days..."TOO MUCH GAS".  


Here's what I'm talking about. 




According to this chart, the price for a gallon of gasoline has gone DOWN in the past three months.


  



And, according to this chart the price of a barrel of oil has gone UP in the past three months.




Guess what?  There's more gasoline  floating around than there is a need for people to buy it right now.  So much so that this chart shows for the first time, our country's exporting more petroleum products than it's importing.  And most of what I read says the reasons there's so much gasoline is because, first, the economy stinks so we're not using as much and, second, a lot of the cars running up and down the roads these days are getting a lot better gas mileage then they use to.


But I got a couple other ideas why there's TOO MUCH GAS.


First...

Yup, North Dakota.  In 2001 North Dakota produced 443, 071 barrels of oil for the whole year.  This year, North Dakota is producing an average of 488,068 barrels of oil per DAY and by the end of next year the only other state producing more oil will be Texas. Hummmmm!


Second,

Yup, ethanol.  Ever stand there pumping gas and look over at the pump and notice that 10% of what you're pumping is ethanol?  In 2000 this country produced 1.63 million gallons of ethanol.  In 2010 we produced 13.2 million gallons.  Hummmmm!   








With all that being said, you know what?  Those baked bean suppers I used to eat were so good I really didn't mind too much gas later on in the evening.  And, if too much gas is going to keep the price of a gallon of gasoline lower, I guess I won't mind that too much either.

Butt Prints

I'm too lazy to leave footprints in the sands of time.  But I leave a real good butt print.

Slow Food

Going through a fast food drive-thru these days reminds me of the time I got sick and had to have my Amish neighbor take me to the hospital emergency room.

Redneck Si-Fi

My kind of Si-Fi...


Close Encounters of the Redneck Kind from Zero on .
Thank you Maggie's Farm

Fence Sense

When it comes to making sense, I'm on both sides of the fence.

Snake Oil

What pandering pundits and most politicians peddle.

Legalism

I noticed this morning in church, that my pastor was carrying an iPad along with his bible.  Then he preached a really good sermon on "legalism".  Hence, I couldn't resist this...  

Dessert

I don't need a bigger piece of the pie, "cause I'm gonna have Heaven for dessert.

Next Of Kin

Guaranteed you'd treat your neighbor like next of kin if you had to share one of these...'Specially at the same time.

Stable Influence

Thank you "Holycoast.com"

Preaching

This country does not need religious entrepreneurs with business plans preaching to people.  It needs pastors with Bibles preaching to sinners.