History Lesson From The Judge

"The whole purpose of the Constitution was to assure that the government would respect individual liberty that power would be separated between the states and the federal government and the government would remain within the confines of the Constitution" - Judge Andrew Napolitano

Obama now wants to lock up people forever - even after being acquitted!
Executive Order regarding Continued law of war detention....
Now, tell me that isn't the trappings of a dictatorship.

Carnival Of Homeschooling - The Homeschool Journey Edition

This edition of the Carnival of Homeschooling offers some fine "nuts and bolts/back to basics" blog posts about homeschooling our children (teens included). Everything from remembering why we chose homeschooling to how we do homeschooling to how we celebrate our choice to homeschool (and more), is presented in this carnival this week.

What you will glean from this week's entries is that homeschooling works.
It is not just comprised of lesson plans though, it is about families dedicated to living life and learning together. It is all about how families weave together the challenges of life and learning with hearth and home... and for the most part make it fun and rewarding.

Grab a cup of coffee or tea and settle in. This week's entries remind us all why homeschooling is an amazing journey.


First and foremost, I want to extend my heartfelt congratulations to Jennifer - daughter and home high school graduate of "Mr. and Mrs. Mama Hen". The world is your oyster Jennifer! May you find abundant opportunities, have many successes, and have lots of love, prosperity and good health along your life's path! I am sure that I speak for us all in saying how proud we are of your accomplishment. To your dad who will be deployed - May G-d keep you safe from harm and bring you home swiftly to those who hold you dear. To Mama Hen: You ROCK! Thanks for sharing your special milestone with us.

Here's our very first post for this carnival entitled: Homeschool Graduation from the blog MrsMamaHen.com who writes, "Yesterday was my daughter's graduation. She is our oldest child, and first homeschool graduate in our whole family. She worked very hard to graduate early, so her father would be here for it before he leaves for Iraq."


Here is another excellent post regarding homeschool teens. It is entitled Self-Directed Learning - Homeschooling and Self-Learning published at Homeschool Reviews and Resources. It describes self-directed learning and how to encourage self-learning with a homeschool teen. Quote of Note: "What my teen and I need to cultivate is more self-directed learning and self-learning and less teacher-directed learning."

The previous post might help solve some issues in this next entry... But you know - just like anything else, homeschooling has its ups and downs. Two Kid Schoolhouse writes about Homeschooling when you don't feel like it anymore and talks about overcoming burnout.

But what about homeschooling difficult children? Successful Homeschooling discusses Susan Wise Bauer’s tricks of the trade for homeschooling the REAL (distractable, impatient, argumentative, unenthusiastic, non book-loving, inattentive, poky, vague) child. The title of this entry is – Homeschooling the Difficult Child, Part 2 – Passive Resisters.



Inevitably - some of us may think to ourselves, "Have I scarred my children for life because we used something different when they were in kindergarten?" Sloan Homeschool doesn't think so (and neither do I). Their post Kindergarten Tears explores this notion, and if there is any doubt in your mind.. please re-read the first entry of this carnival regarding homeschool graduation.

And of course there are always people asking That Dreaded Question about our children's socialization. Quinsmomma describes how she usually answers this question and how she really feels about the need for socialization.

.... and while we are on the topic of socialization - I enjoy it when homeschoolers are outspoken on an issue - Alasandra's Homeschool Blog asks: What does Alan Ford have against homeschoolers?



Once we get over the hurdle of doubting ourselves, or the curriculum we've chosen or dealing with the naysayers... we can get down to the adventure of learning. Here are some wonderful ideas and other useful information:

Harvest Moon by Hand gives us a lesson for the great outdoors posted at Outdoor Hour Challenge Winter Series #9 Mammals and #45 Squirrels

Angela England also gives us Educational Outdoor Activities For Kids posted at Blissfully Domestic which features educational outdoor activities for kids including activity ideas for ponds, outdoor animals, etc.

... and here's another tip from Kinder Days - A Spring Seed planting party for ages 2-12 including Flower pot painting, Garden Marker designing, Sensory bins, Seed to plant lessons etc... it's a total GREEN Hands on experience!

Speaking of outdoors - Living and Learning lists 50 Outdoor Activities Your Children Will Love complete with some pretty fabulous photos.

The Peterson kids loved doing some fun activities and visiting some websites this week and they share them with their post: general nerdiness over at don't let life pass you by

Need a math idea? Here is a terrific Lesson Idea - Math - Linear Graphs using real data posted at The Itchy Homeschooler.

Jamie presents Number Crunching Craziness... - Blogs - Parent Community and Forum posted at Home School Online. Are you struggling with getting through math while having Spring Fever? Here are a few tips to get kids back on task and enjoying it!

Tea Time with Annie Kate clues us in on what she's learned about the differences between different science course levels in high school with this article Is this Course Grade 11, Grade 12, or AP?

Need to keep all of that organized? Christine Guest shows us what is working right now for keeping her organized with her post How do I keep track of lessons?and Homeschool? over at Our Curious Home.

And of course, with all of the choices in front of us, homeschoolers learn the importance of flexibility. Why Homeschool shows how the flexibility of homeschooling has been a great benefit for their family with an entry entitled A benefit of homeschooling: Flexibility!




Homeschoolers without books? .... well, one cannot even conceive of the idea...

Nirvana Homeschooling shares their book experience with The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle.

... and Sage Parnassus opines on books and discussions in the post Bent Leather, Part 2 .

As for other media: Barbara Frank Online talks about Children and Television Viewing which she believes can be ok for kids if it's done in moderation.

and No Fighting, No Biting! says that computers are not as complicated as today's adults make it out to be. They found that just by letting their 12 year old loose on the laptop, he picked up many complex tasks without a single Computer Technology teacher or class! Find out more with their blogpost entitled: another schooling myth debunked.

Reading Remedies for iPhone and iPad presents an iPhone/iPad Application (App) to assist in helping children develop early literacy skills at Creating Lifelong Learners.

In closing, we have inspiration and awesomeness.

We Keep Choosing Us has an inspirational post entitled: Comparing. This article is generally about Comparing, but the author has found that it's difficult (especially in the beginning) to avoid comparing herself to other homeschooling Mamas. She believes we are meant to use comparison as a tool of INSPIRATION rather than DESPERATION.

Linda Dobson presents enough fun to keep a family busily, happily learning throughout the whole summer with A List of Top Lists of Awesomeness for Homeschooling Families posted at PARENT AT THE HELM.

I applaud you all for sharing your stories, inspirations and tips and techniques.
Readers and contributors to this week's carnival - you have my thanks and my admiration!
Three Cheers for being a part of the Homeschool Journey!
Journey On!

Free State On Stossel

Are you frustrated at the loss of freedom and responsibility in America, while the growth of government and taxes continues unabated? Do you want to live in strong communities where your rights are respected, and people exercise responsibility for themselves and in their dealings with each other?

If you answered "yes" to those questions, then the Free State Project has a solution for you.

John Stossel discussed the Free State Project with Chris Lawless, an FSP Participant active in NH, and Christina Heller, director of Libertopia, a documentary about the FSP.





The Free State Project is alive and well.
Libertarians and freedom/liberty loving people are looking into relocating to New Hampshire where there is no income tax and no state sales tax.... along with many other attractive assets in New Hampshire.

If you are looking for a taste of the Free State Project come check it out at Porcfest in June.

and by the way - there is a Free State Movement in the western portion of the US as well. It's in Wyoming.

The Coffee Can Revolution

Wednesday (3/23/11), hundreds of 2nd amendment supporters and liberty minded individuals flocked to the State Capitol in Hartford to testify against an anti-gun bill (SB1094) which would make it a Class D Felony to possess a magazine which holds more than 10 rounds. If you were not able to attend or watch on CT-N, you can view the video here. (Bill text here)

If passed - all such magazines would be confiscated by July 1st, 2011, by the State or you face a felony charge... no compensation either - and it doesn't matter if you are a collector or have invested thousands of dollars in these pieces. It doesn't matter if your firearm is rendered useless because it doesn't take any other ammunition and it also doesn't matter if CT businesses suffer the effects of this ban. Thousands of people in CT will be affected and possibly made unwitting felons with the stroke of a pen. And of course criminals will not comply with this proposed law. So of course, again, criminals will be given a huge advantage over law abiding citizens - especially when they perpetrate a home invasion. But most importantly - this piece of anti-gun legislation is unconstitutional. It is an ex post facto law and would also violate the taking of private property lawfully purchased.




Jews For The Preservation Of Firearms Ownership (JPFO) has come up with a wonderful idea... it's the "Coffee Can Revolution"

Gun-grabbers -- the victim disarmers -- are like a flock of vultures, perched on a Saguaro cactus, waiting for something to die.

This time it's the Arizona shootings, committed with a Glock semiautomatic pistol and an extended 33-round magazine. The vultures can't go after the pistol. Sixty percent of American cops carry Glocks, and the company is well known for resisting the shakedown tactics of the anti-gun establishment. Instead, they've decided to go after high capacity magazines, as if the assassin would have desisted if they were unavailable. The mainstream airwaves and paper media have overflowed with anti-self defense bluster and threats. And it’s all based on lies and emotionalized irrationality.

What to do? You can always boycott the network sponsors. The problem is that, for a boycott to be effective, you need to persuade thousands -- or millions -- of others to go along, which is a lot of work, and usually not very successful.

Then one day I asked myself the right question: if a boycott won't work, then what's the opposite of a boycott? Obviously it isn't doing more business with your enemy.

How about doing more business with whatever your enemy opposes?

Call it a “reverse boycott”.

Now, whenever I find myself subjected to victim disarmament drivel disguised as "news" or "entertainment", I drop a quarter (or a dime, nickel, or penny) into a coffee can I keep beside my TV watching chair. Given the rate at which propaganda fills the air, it's no time at all before the can fills up.

When enough change accumulates, I don't give it to the NRA or any other group whose policies I neither control nor necessarily approve. I spend it the best way I know, in the free marketplace, acquiring something I wouldn't otherwise have bought.

In this immediate instance, and as part of JPFO’s “High Cap Freedom” campaign, my coffee can coins will be directed towards the purchase of another high capacity magazine for one of my semiautomatic rifles or pistols. Think about it: a high capacity magazine you wouldn't otherwise have bought -- and the propagandists have only themselves to blame.

Appeal to the self-interest of enough gun owners, and hundreds of thousands -- maybe even millions -- of unforeseen “high cap” magazine purchases will occur. This will strengthen the gun industry relative to the rest of the economy, perhaps even put some spine back into those who've taken the historically discredited route of appeasing the oppressor.

Appeasement didn't work with Hitler; why did anybody ever think it'd work with Hitler's spiritual kin, Charles Schumer, Carolyn McCarthy or Dianne Feinstein?

Some estimate that, since Obama's nomination, around thirty million new gun purchases have been made. That's 30,000,000 new weapons in the possession of American citizens. Now that is one heck of a “reverse boycott”!

Victim-disarmers have tried hard to keep the public ignorant of this inconvenient statistic. But as word of millions of coffee cans filling up with coins -- and suddenly being emptied for high cap magazine purchases – this new tactic, if publicized, will take on a life of its own.

The best part is that nobody is in a position to think, speak, or act for you. It's your TV, your chair, your coffee can. In your home you're the judge of what constitutes anti-gun propaganda. You decide how much to drop in the can. You decide how to spend it. You're the ultimate beneficiary.

Me, I'm buying Glock high cap magazines. Yes, that’s plural.

It won't work unless we tell the media what we're doing. So let local TV stations -- and the networks -- know about your coffee can. Talk it up on FaceBook, Twitter, every other social medium you can.

So get involved now with JPFO’s “High Cap Freedom” campaign. Use the “Coffee Can Revolution”.

So whenever you hear anti-gun propaganda on TV or Radio or anywhere else - drop some money into a coffee can.. in no time you'll have enough money saved up to buy another high capacity magazine or a firearm that uses one.

I especially this idea written by a CCDL friend of mine...

"And in honor of JPFO, I shall buy at least one full-capacity mag to celebrate Passover, and Purim, and Rosh Hashanah, each of the eight days of Hanukkah, Sukkot, Simchat Torah, etc." - M. Butler

It's a terrific idea.
Let's do it.

RIP - Elizabeth Taylor

She was a true Hollywood Star

Actress Dame Elizabeth Taylor has died at the age of 79, her publicist confirmed in a statement today.

The star passed away from congestive heart failure in hospital on Wednesday having suffered from the condition since November 2004.

- Died surrounded by her children: Michael Wilding, Christopher Wilding, Liza Todd and Maria Burton
- Son Michael Wilding says:'We will always be inspired by her enduring contribution to our world'
- Actress 'weighed less than 98 lbs after spending the final two weeks n respirator'
- Four children, ten grandchildren and four great grandchildren to share $600m fortune

I remember watching many of her movies and performances with my mom when I was younger.
Oh, and her diamonds and marriages...
Liz Taylor Hilton Wilding Todd Fisher Burton Burton Warner Fortensky

What a life.
May she Rest In Peace.

Lost Generation

If you haven't seen or heard of this - please check it out in its entirety.





It's called a reverse poem.
Pretty cool - huh?


(H/T Diane C.)

Public Hearing In Hartford Regarding Banning 10+ Round Magazines

The anti-gun crowd at the CT State Legislature are looking to ban magazines which can hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition.

Every single Gun Owner and Second Amendment Supporter from miles around needs to be at this public hearing by the Joint Judiciary Committee on Wednesday March 23rd at the Legislative Office Bldg., Room 2C at 10 a.m., 300 Capitol Ave in Hartford.

ANTI-GUN Bill SB1094
This bill will ban the possession of ANY magazine capable of holding more than 10 rounds. If this bill passes, law-abiding gun owners will have to begin SURRENDERING their magazines by July, or face CONFISCATION by the state police and a FELONY CHARGE.

This proposal not only bans the sale of these magazines, but would make possession of one a FELONY. Own a magazine that holds more than 10 rounds, TURN IT IN or BE CHARGED WITH A FELONY!

Please make time to come to speak against this legislation - and please submit 40 copies of written testimony to Committee staff, preferably any day prior to the hearing, but no later than two hours prior to the start of the hearing in Room 2500 of the LOB. Testimony should clearly state testifier name and related bill number(s). Testimony submitted after the designated time may not be distributed until after the hearing. Sign-up for the hearing will begin at 8:00 A.M. and conclude at 9:30 A.M. in Room 2500 of the LOB. Speaker order will be decided by a lottery system. Anyone wishing to testify after the drawing is closed must sign up in the hearing room and be placed at the end of the list. The first hour of the hearing is reserved for Legislators, Chief Municipal Officials, Constitutional Officers and State Agency Heads. Speakers will be limited to three minutes of testimony.

If you cannot attend this hearing, you can contact members of the Judiciary Committee

Contact your legislators and tell them NOT to support this legislation.

These are the Judiciary Committee Members emails:
Gerald.Fox@cga.ct.gov
Gary.Holder-Winfield@cga.ct.gov
John.A.Kissel@cga.ct.gov
John.Hetherington@housegop.ct.gov
al.adinolfi@housegop.ct.gov
James.Albis@cga.ct.gov
David.Baram@cga.ct.gov
Jeffrey.Berger@cga.ct.gov
christie.carpino@housegop.ct.gov
Charles.Clemons@cga.ct.gov
Patricia.Dillon@cga.ct.gov
Mae.Flexer@cga.ct.gov
Mary.Fritz@cga.ct.gov
Bob.Godfrey@cga.ct.gov
Minnie.Gonzalez@cga.ct.gov
Auden.Grogins@cga.ct.gov
Gail.Hamm@cga.ct.gov
Ernest.Hewett@cga.ct.gov
DebraLee.Hovey@housegop.ct.gov
Themis.Klarides@housegop.ct.gov
David.Labriola@housegop.ct.gov
Michael.McLachlan@cga.ct.gov
Bruce.Morris@cga.ct.gov
Melissa.Olson@cga.ct.gov
Arthur.ONeill@housegop.ct.gov
Kelvin.Roldan@cga.ct.gov
Andrew.Roraback@cga.ct.gov
TR.Rowe@housegop.ct.gov
rob.sampson@housegop.ct.gov
Joseph.Serra@cga.ct.gov
john.shaban@housegop.ct.gov
bill.simanski@housegop.ct.gov
richard.smith@housegop.ct.gov
Joseph.Taborsak@cga.ct.gov
William.Tong@cga.ct.gov
Joe.Verrengia@cga.ct.gov
Toni.Walker@cga.ct.gov
Jason.Welch@cga.ct.gov
Elissa.Wright@cga.ct.gov

Web email forms are indicated for members of the committee that are not on the above list. You have to go to their websites.. they must be too afraid to get real emails from people.
http://www.senatedems.ct.gov/Coleman-mailform.html
http://www.senatedems.ct.gov/Doyle-mailform.html
http://www.senatedems.ct.gov/Bye-mailform.html
http://www.senatedems.ct.gov/Gerratana-mailform.html
http://www.senatedems.ct.gov/Gomes-mailform.html
http://www.senatedems.ct.gov/Meyer-mailform.html

Anyway - this bill is totally unconstitutional. I am talking State and Federal.

Connecticut gun owners who own such magazines as are proposed to be banned by this bill are law abiding citizens. If this bill passes, they will become criminals overnight, without having done anything. This clearly falls under the definition of an ex post facto law. An ex post facto law was defined by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase in Calder v. Bull (1798) as “Every law that makes an action done before the passing of the law, and which was innocent when done, criminal, and punishes such action.” Ex post facto laws are expressly forbidden by the US Constitution in Article I, Section 9, Clause 3 – “No…ex post facto Law shall be passed”. This applies to the Federal Government. The prohibition of ex post facto state laws is found in Article I Section 10, Clause 1 – “No State shall…pass any Bill of Attainder or ex post facto law…”

This from Rep. Rob Sampson:

This proposal seeks to ban the sale of ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 bullets, and it would require law-abiding citizens who already own such magazines to turn them over to authorities—or risk a felony charge and prison time.

The bill’s proponents will say their goal is to protect residents from gun-wielding criminals driven to commit murder. To make their point, they’ll resuscitate hysteria generated by headline grabbing police cases in other parts of the country—crimes driven by the perpetrator’s frame of mind and motivations rather than a gun.

People who commit such crimes are criminals and criminals, by definition, don’t care about laws. A person bent on shooting another won’t be deterred by an arbitrary—the 10 bullet limit—restriction shackled on the rights of law-abiding citizens who understand the responsibilities of gun ownership. If you think criminals will turn in their illegal weapons, then I’ve got a bridge I’d like to sell you.

How will this proposed ban make us safer if law-abiding citizens are the only people who dutifully march down to a police station to hand over their weapons?

It won’t, and the people who wrote and support this proposal know it. Their true target isn’t our guns, but our right to own them. Recent history shows us they’ll continue to attack that right—one proposed bill after another.

This country was built on the principle that its citizens—and not the government—hold the power to control their own lives. The 2nd Amendment clearly states that our right “to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” This is a key protection to our sovereignty as individuals, acknowledging our right to protect ourselves.

That’s a Constitutional right I’m unwilling to give up.

Rep. Rob Sampson
80th General Assembly District
Southington, Wolcott

Let's all make sure this bill goes no further than this public hearing - let's PACK THE ROOM and tell them this kind of legislation is unacceptable and unconstitutional!

The Peace Prize President

‎"The president does not have the power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation." ~ Sen. Barack Obama speaking about George Bush's military actions in Iraq


MARCH 19, 2003
BUSH: 'American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger'...

MARCH 19, 2011
OBAMA: 'Today we are part of a broad coalition. We are answering the calls of a threatened people. And we are acting in the interests of the United States and the world'...


Same church different pew.

Obama has unilaterally - without the consent of Congress - ordered air strikes in Libya - which is tantamount to an act of war.

Obama is taking his orders from the UN Security Council instead of his own Congress.

Congressman Larson (CT) is irate over Obama's unconstitutional action.
Obama's even got the Left in an uproar with uber Leftists like Dennis Kucinich calling for his impeachment!
It's kind of amusing really.

One thing is for sure - it probably has the war mongering neocon Republicans in Washington confused.
Obama seems to have found his "inner neocon"
Do they support Obama now as they supported Bush?
Good question.

So what does this show us?
It shows us the truth behind the Right/Left paradigm.
It's really all the same garbage in Washington (ie. the Republicrat party).
There's really no Hope and Change - there never was.
The Bush/Clinton/Bush/Obama dynasty continues.

But, the powers that be - the one's that actually pull Obama's strings and write his teleprompted speeches - would like to keep this nation divided and polarized - while they march us into a third war to get us even further in debt and create more dangerous blowback for this country.
They continue monetary policies that are fiscally unsustainable, and detrimental to us as a nation.
They continue to trample on our liberties "to keep us safe".
They continue to enslave us all with massive taxation and tyrannical nanny state legislation.
They continue to destroy businesses by supporting policies that force work to go overseas and they reward and prop up failed business models by giving corporate welfare to companies that should be allowed to fail.

This Peace Prize President has given us more war, more debt, more inflation, more internal hostility, more uncertainty, more disregard for our laws and our sovereignty.

Obama has thumbed his nose at the American people by flitting off from one vacation to another - from one golf course to another - from one White House party to another - while the bulk of America suffers the pangs of unemployment, war, higher food prices, and spiraling debt.

That is what Obama's Hope and Change looks like.
Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya.

"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war...." - Barack Obama - October 27, 2007

"As a candidate, I promised that I would end this war, and that is what I am doing as president... Make no mistake: this war is ending, and all of our troops are coming home." Barack Obama - State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress.

For a presidential candidate that was supposed to bring the troops home - I wonder how many more Americans must die as they go to fight in Libya for this Peace Prize President?

Return Of The Dust Bowl?

Seems that we have to get our news out of the UK now....

For years the Ogallala Aquifer, the world’s largest underground body of fresh water, has irrigated thousands of square miles of American farmland. Now it is running dry.

Happy, Texas (yes - that's the name of the town) has a problem... the problem is that it has run out of water for its farms. This may just be a foreboding for many more towns to come. Their population has dwindled 10% per year. Happy is the harbinger of a potential Dust Bowl unseen in America since the Great Depression. What was once a booming town is now virtually empty, according to this report.

'In the 1950s a lot of wells were drilled, and the water went down. Now you can't farm the land.'

Those wells were drilled into a geological phenomenon called the Ogallala Aquifer. It is an underground lake of pristine water formed between two and six million years ago, in the Pliocene age, when the tectonic shifts that pushed the Rocky Mountains skywards were still active. The water was trapped below the new surface crust that would become the semi-arid soil of the Plains, dry and dusty. It stretches all the way down the eastern slope of the Rockies from the badlands of South Dakota to the Texas Panhandle. It does not replenish.

Happy is the canary in the coalmine because the Ogallala is deepest in the north, as much as 300ft in the more fertile country of Nebraska and Kansas. In the south, through the panhandle and over the border to New Mexico, it is 50-100ft. And around Happy, 75 miles south of Amarillo, it is now 0-50ft. The farms have been handed over to the government's Conservation Reserve Programme (CRP) to lie fallow in exchange for grants: farmers' welfare, although they hate to think of it like that.

The first ranchers, and the Plains Indians before them, knew of water below the ground from the watering holes that sustained buffalo and then cattle far from any river. The white man learnt to drill, leaving primitive windmills on top of wooden derricks silhouetted against Wild West horizons.

But it was only in the 1940s, after the Dust Bowl (the result of a severe drought and excessive farming in the early 1930s), that the US Geological Survey worked out that the watering holes were clues to the Ogallala, now believed to be the world's largest body of fresh water. They were about to repeat the dreams of man from the days of Ancient Egypt and Judea to turn the desert green, only without the Nile or Jordan. With new technology the wells could reach the deepest water, and from the early 1950s the boom was on. Some of the descendants of Dust Bowl survivors became millionaire landowners.

'Since then,' says David Brauer of the US Agriculture Department agency, the Ogallala Research Service, 'we have drained enough water to half-fill Lake Erie of the Great Lakes.' Billions upon billions of gallons – or, as they prefer to measure it, acre-feet of water, each one equivalent to a football field flooded a foot deep – have been pumped. 'The problem,' he goes on, 'is that in a brief half-century we have drawn the Ogallala level down from an average of 240ft to about 80.'

So now it is thought that the impact on the world's food supply will be far greater than that of the Great Dustbowl era, if indeed the Ogallala water supply runs out. The irrigated Plains grow about 20 per cent of American grain and corn (maize), and America's 'industrial' agriculture dominates international markets. A collapse of those markets would lead to starvation in places that depend on American grain imports.

Experts believe that even with careful farming that the dust could start blowing in as little as 10 years time.

Apart from the Ogallala, the main source remains the Colorado River, flowing west from the Rockies, its annual bounty of snow melt providing the drinking water for Las Vegas, irrigation for California's Central Valley, and the swimming-pools of Los Angeles. No one is surprised that the mighty Colorado now runs dry before it reaches the Pacific.

In the meantime, people like T. Boone Pickens are buying up water rights in certain regions because he knows water will be scarce in others. There's a few skirmishes already going on regarding water rights and who can and cannot purchase them. This will intensify.

Farmers are changing the way they farm - and opting for methods and crops that use less water.

All in all, they can make due with what water they have from the rain and the Ogallala - but the reality is that the Ogallala acquifier has been slowly drained over the years and a very high price will be paid when it can no longer support the farming and life in that region.

Rand Paul Schools Ms. Hogan

Rand Paul on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee - Finally a voice for choice and the free market.

It's about time that these agency heads get a dose of this type of push back. Consumers are sick to death of them promoting items that do not work and items we do not want. I'll wager it's to payback people who either run those companies, or hold stock in those companies, that produce the stuff they want us all to buy.

We need to get abolish the Department of Energy, then move on to the Department of Education. Shrink government and fire these useless tyrannical bureaucrats and Eco-Nazis that tell us how to live our lives.

Finally... please... someone... get Senator Rand Paul and the rest of America a toilet that works!

Phasing Out NASA's Shuttle Program Costs US More $$$

That's what happens when you cut the competition - the price goes up.

With the United States phasing out the shuttle program, the new way for U.S. astronauts to get to the International Space Station will be to catch a ride with the Russians, and NASA's existing contract for that transport priced each rocket ride at just under $56 million.

Now, Russia is hiking the price for each rocket ride to nearly $63 million in 2014. The contract extension with the Russian Space Agency totals $753 million, which covers trips for a dozen astronauts from 2014 through 2016.

Private American space companies should take over where NASA left off.

If indeed the NASA shuttle program was riskier due to "aging spacecraft" then it's high time we research and develop a new program. Longer range re-usable shuttles with better fuel capacity would be a good start.... then again our schools aren't turning out the engineers and scientists needed for these endeavors are they now?

Honestly, the space program has delivered so much technology to us - and we have benefited so much from our space exploration, that it is really sad to see American space travel seemingly at the mercy of other countries.

It seems to me we are losing our competitive edge in space.
That is a tragedy.
And an expensive one at that.

Public Sector Unions Explained

Wisconsin elected a Governor who's responsibility is to restore fiscal sanity and he has said "NO" to public sector unions and the legislature there has stripped these unions of bargaining rights.... the rest of the states should follow suit.

What is the response by union thugs?
Threaten the lives of those who have said "NO".
That must be part of the Leftist civility we have heard so much about.
Dismantling these Mafioso style unions is the way to go.

Meanwhile, Leftist legislators hid out across the state border and evaded their fiduciary responsibility to their constituents and the state.
Now that they are back, they should be fined and put in jail.

Japanese Tsunami - Total Devastation

One can barely comprehend this kind of destruction.




This is so incredibly massive.
I cannot even begin to think of how one recovers from this - or where one even begins to clean up the debris.

Makes you really think about the forces of nature and how small we really are in comparison.

My prayers go out to the Japanese people.

Enemy Belligerant Bill - One Year Later

This is fair warning to law-abiding U.S. citizens who dissent from an official point of view or policy:

S.3081 -- Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010 (also see companion House Bill H.R.4892)

S 3081 IS
111th CONGRESS
2d Session

To provide for the interrogation and detention of enemy belligerents who commit hostile acts against the United States, to establish certain limitations on the prosecution of such belligerents for such acts, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

March 4, 2010

Mr. MCCAIN (for himself, Mr. LIEBERMAN, Mr. INHOFE, Mr. BROWN of Massachusetts, Mr. WICKER, Mr. CHAMBLISS, Mr. LEMIEUX, Mr. SESSIONS, and Mr. VITTER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To provide for the interrogation and detention of enemy belligerents who commit hostile acts against the United States, to establish certain limitations on the prosecution of such belligerents for such acts, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010'.

SEC. 2. PLACEMENT OF SUSPECTED UNPRIVILEGED ENEMY BELLIGERENTS IN MILITARY CUSTODY.

The bill is a year old... but it is still out there... and in committee.

It is clear that some Congressmen may be worried about Americans who oppose certain government policies. Those people opposing government policies that they deem unconstitutional or tyrannical could have reason to be concerned now about whether they will by this type of legislation be branded not just "extremists" (as they were in the MIAC report) but as "dangerous extremists" who will, as a result of this legislation, lose their rights to a trial and who can be interrogated at government whim.

John McCain (R-Ariz) and Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) put forth this legislation which grants the president, with his sole authority as commander in chief, the power to order the arrest, interrogation, and imprisonment of anyone -- including a U.S. citizen -- indefinitely, on the sole suspicion that he or she is affiliated with some vague definition of "terrorism".

Who or what is a terrorist will be solely the determination of those in charge.

So far, this bill has only been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee -- but the fact that this unconstitutional piece of legislation is in any committee at all is quite alarming.

82 Percent Of US Schools Failing

Yet another reason to homeschool your children.
The system is broken.

AP News reports this:

An estimated 82 percent of U.S. schools could be labeled as "failing" under the nation's No Child Left Behind Act this year, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Wednesday.

The Department of Education estimates the number of schools not meeting targets will skyrocket from 37 to 82 percent in 2011 because states are toughening their standards to meet the requirements of the law. The schools will face sanctions ranging from offering tutoring to closing their doors.

"No Child Left Behind is broken and we need to fix it now," Duncan said in a statement. "This law has created a thousand ways for schools to fail and very few ways to help them succeed."

Translation: Now that standards are tougher, we have to change them so that more schools will pass muster. Let's just lower the bar. They want to reform this law? Personally, I'd dump the whole thing because the federal government has no business dealing in education matters; that's purely a state issue.

The reason why NCLB has been such a stellar failure is because it is yet another horrific bureaucratic federally intrusive unfunded mandate. It also has stupid rules and regulations that have nothing whatsoever to do with reforming education or really making the system work better. It's education cartel gobbly-de-gook designed to bloat administrative salaries and create more ineffective teachers (so they can join the teachers union) while putting legions of social workers in our schools to push worthless screening programs. Oh, and they do all that while milking the taxpayers dry.

The current law sets annual student achievement targets designed with the goal of having all students proficient in math and reading by 2014, a standard now viewed as wildly unrealistic.

What?
It's unrealistic that educators should be able to have their students proficient in what they are supposed to be teaching them? How is that unrealistic? Isn't that what they are being paid to do?

Oh I know, it's because they aren't teaching them that stuff - they are too busy instructing them on diversity and how to wear a condom while also recycling and saving the whales. Forget having to memorize times tables or actually learning to think for ones self and understanding basic reading, writing and mathematics. The education lobby is too busy promoting GroupThink and Socialist doctrine to actually have time, or be able, to impart proficiency in math and science.

Funny thing though ... homeschoolers and private schools, and even certain Charter schools, seem to be doing quite well in developing proficiency in their students. Interestingly enough, children living in urban areas who are lucky enough to be schooled outside of government schools (and there are a number of examples) seem to do quite well with their learning. So much for the so-called achievement gap.

Duncan said the law has done well in shining a light on achievement gaps among minority and low-income students, as well as those who are still learning English or have disabilities. But he said the law is loose on goals and narrow on how schools get there when it should be the opposite.

"We should get out of the business of labeling schools as failures and create a new law that is fair and flexible, and focused on the schools and students most at risk," Duncan said.

The Department of Education said its estimate was based on four years of data and the assuming all schools would improve at the same rate as the top quartile.

"Even under these assumptions, 82 percent of America's schools could be labeled 'failing' and, over time, the required remedies for all of them are the same — which means we will really fail to serve the students in greatest need," Duncan said.

Yes, so the lesson today is that labeling is bad - because it actually lets everyone know what an utter failure this dumbed down American government school education system really is. I guess Duncan and his crew will just have to fix that. And of course it will require more money. That goes without saying.

Want to know why the system is broken?
For starters read the Underground History of American Education by John Taylor Gatto.

Why NPR Needs To Be Defunded

NPR should lose ALL of its government funding.

The video says it all.

Bravo James O'Keefe - a REAL investigative reporter.

Dick Morris - A Horrific Statist

Dick Morris would be more than happy to make our high schools into prisons by drug testing every high school student.

Dick Morris is a representative of the totalitarian fascist faction of the National Republican Party... and he calls Congressman Ron Paul horrific????

Morris would be happy to continue the government subsidization of the creation of enormous debt by our college students. Debt which enslaves them to the state.

Morris's brand of governance is just as bad as the current Obama statist policies.

Bravo to Peter Schiff for exposing Dick Morris.

Boycott Dick Morris's book!

Hi Ho Silver!

If you think the price of oil is skyrocketing.. just look at what silver is doing these days!




The white precious metal just broke through the technical psychological barrier of $35 per ounce! topping $36.5 Monday morning!

$50 dollar silver is well under way.

US dollar inflation coupled with short supplies and rising demand is making this commodity shoot up. They cannot mine it fast enough.

This from Zerohedge:

The US Mint recorded selling 4.6 million Silver Eagles in January 2011 – a one-month record – while the website King World News recently reported shortages at the Royal Canadian Mint, producers of the popular Maple Leaf.

... and as the price of silver soars, those that are holding short positions are getting beaten up.

Futures markets are becoming increasingly important in the commodity pricing and silver is no exception; indeed, trends in silver futures are largely responsible for the price rise over the past few months. This is due to the gigantic short positions retained by some major (American) banks. The four largest traders are short an impressive 104 days of global silver production on the COMEX. The eight largest traders are short for almost 140 days of silver production. Herewith, silver is the highest in advance sold metal within the entire commodities complex.
The largest short position is held by JP Morgan. JPM’s short position was vastly increased by its acquisition of the bankrupt Bear Stearns in 2008, which prior to bankruptcy held an impressive commodity-trading desk.

Because of the negative press surrounding several banks trading on their own accounts, JP Morgan decided to shut down its proprietary trading department at the end of August 2010. JPM’s “prop desk” was one of the largest active short players on the silver futures market. It is no accident that the price has risen dramatically since then.In technical terms this is called a short squeeze, whereby the upward price spiral – caused by the settlement (or resale) of short contracts – ensures that more and more shorts have to cover: the snowball effect. Nobody can tell when a short squeeze will end. It is a phenomenon that usually originates from a small inducement and could end as suddenly as it began. They can last just a couple of days, or a couple of months or even years!

Given the still gigantic short positions on the silver futures market, this short squeeze could persist for some time. Increasing price volatility as the squeeze continues is likely. But the all-time high of just under $50 per ounce could, if the current pace of appreciation persists, be broken this year. Astute investors make sure they get some of this action!

That is what happens when you sell more silver than you actually hold physically.
Look for an upcoming bailout for JP Morgan.
I'll bet they intended on defaulting on their deliveries of silver just the same.

FYI - According to one commenter on Zerohedge...During the years 1942-1945, nickel ( a strategic metal ) was removed from the composition of US nickels, and replaced with silver. You might be interested to know that based on Monday's (3/7/11) market value of silver that with a silver content of 35% that the total melt value for those 1942-1945 silver nickels would be $2.0577411022 for each nickel.

Better have a look at grandpa's coin collection!


- NOTE: Nothing in this post - or in this blog - should be construed as investment advice. Please do your own thorough research when it comes to making decisions on any investments.

A Rabbi's Letter To Mayor Bloomberg

JPFO's Rabbinic Director, Rabbi Dovid Bendory, has penned an open letter to a fellow Jew, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Dear Mayor Bloomberg:

I am an Orthodox rabbi who lives in New Jersey but works in New York City. Approximately half of my waking life is lived under your laws and jurisdiction. Like everyone who lives or works in New York City, I have the right, even the obligation, to confront some of your policies regarding so-called “gun control”.

Why do I place the phrase “gun control” in quotes? Because this innocuous-sounding phrase, this expression that sounds like common sense, is in reality a dangerous bit of semantic trickery.

“Gun control” actually (and historically) means letting government, whether benign or ruthlessly evil, disarm certain sectors of society and allow others to remain armed. It means letting the government know where every gun owner lives and the number and types of firearms that he or she owns. It means putting the authority to decide who has the right to defend him or herself with a firearm into the hands of a government bureaucrat.

The honest definition of “gun control” is actually “victim disarmament”. Because the person with the gun will always control the person without the gun. Without the personal firearm as an “equalizer”, the stronger will always control the weaker. (Please see this “Genocide Chart” )

Mr. Bloomberg, our Jewish tradition tells us that righteous self-defense is not only permissible but an obligation: "If a murderer comes for you, strike him down first." (Talmud Sanhedrin 72a)

In your own New York City, hand guns are illegal for all practical purposes, yet the murderers, drug dealers, gangs, and other criminal predators in your City manage to acquire them nonetheless. How do you expect civilians to defend themselves against those who would harm them if we cannot use the most practical tool at our disposal -- the handgun? You tell us to “Dial 911”? And then wait ten minutes or more for police rescue? (See "Dial 911 and Die")

It deeply troubles me that I -- along with millions of others who live and work in your city -- are on your “disarmed” list. Mr. Mayor, this is not only immoral, it goes against the fundamental precepts of Judaism that you and I both honor.

The Torah teaches: “Do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor.” (Leviticus 19:16), which Rashi explains means that one who is able to help another escape harm and fails to do so is held culpable in the Heavenly Court for the harm he failed to prevent. You, Mr. Mayor, by disarming your citizens, place them in harm’s way every day.

Jews are commanded by G-d to value all human life. How can you, a religiously committed Jew, say you truly value human life? Every second you stand as Mayor you advocate laws that strip millions and millions of people in your city completely defenseless in the face of the criminal predators who roam your streets.

Mr. Mayor, your citizen disarmament is an act of hypocrisy. Unlike nearly all the rest of us, everywhere you go you are surrounded by official armed guards, police escorts, and your highly trained personal private bodyguards. Mr. Mayor, is your life worth more than the lives of your fellow citizens? Or are we mere “subjects” in your eyes?

As Jews, Mr. Mayor, we believe that all life is precious, not just the lives of our leaders. Have you ever, in your time as Mayor, walked the streets of New York City alone and unarmed?

I am nearly certain you would have to answer “no” to this question. Therefore I must further ask you: How, in clear conscience, do you require the rest of us to do so? Would you willingly live under this prejudicial burden? Can you recognize and admit the arrogant hypocrisy this attitude displays?

Additionally, you are no doubt aware that the Jewish people have been at the wrong end of the gun barrel for far too long. America is one of the few countries in the world where Jews are entitled to embrace firearms as the most practical means of our own self-defense. And you would strip us of the right to defend ourselves? With all due respect, Mr. Mayor, this is shameful.

Mayor Bloomberg, have you studied Jewish history? Are you aware that the Nazis disarmed Jews prior to Kristallnacht and that those same Nazi gun laws are the foundation of the U.S. Gun Control Act of 1968? Are you aware that Senator Thomas Dodd asked the Library of Congress to translate the Nazi Gun Control Laws into English for him, and that he incorporated language from these laws into the Gun Control Act of 1968 that he authored? How can it be that you, a Jew, are enforcing Nazi-inspired laws? (See "Gateway to Tyranny")

Tyrants like Lenin, Hitler, Stalin, and Mao “pioneered” the bloody trail of “gun control” in the 20th Century. Why do you so thoughtlessly, in effect, mimic the insidious actions of these monsters?

This apparent elitism on your part makes your recent publicity stunt in Arizona even more cynical. You sent NYPD agents all the way across the country to purchase guns -- but you can't deploy enough police to protect your own City residents?

And if you expose your city’s residents via such a manpower diversion, how do you justify denying these residents the right to protect themselves with a firearm?

Mr. Mayor, do you need a rabbi to tell you that your actions are wrong and immoral?

This nation’s Bill of Rights is a sacrosanct public trust. You are a public servant. You swore an oath to uphold the Constitution. As you blatantly disregard the Second Amendment, the actual “Guardian” of all the rest of the Bill of Rights, I must ask you: Did you knowingly lie when you took your oath of office?

Sincerely,

signature
Rabbi Dovid Bendory
Rabbinic Director
Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership
(http://jpfo.org)

And that just about sums it up.
Gun control is immoral.
Gun control leaves people at the mercy of criminals....because criminals do not obey gun laws!

Gun control has racist roots.
Not convinced?
See No Guns For Negroes (Part 1 and Part 2) and
No Guns For Jews (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5).

What's The Status of Real-ID?

The Republican Liberty Caucus gives this update:

Real ID Must Be Implemented By May 11
_____________________________________

There isn’t much current information about REAL ID despite that a major implementation benchmark for the law is scheduled occur in just two months.

The REAL ID Act requires state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards to meet federal standards by a certain date in order to be accepted for federal purposes, according to the National Council of State Legislatures. The Department of Homeland Security sells REAL ID as a tool “to help prevent terrorism, reduce fraud, and improve the reliability and accuracy of personal identification documents.”

States must now be in full-compliance by May 11, 2011. The penalties for residents in non-compliant states are pretty tame …, or not.

Those innocent, law-abiding citizens will not be able to use their driver’s license to board commercial aircraft, gain access to federal facilities or enter nuclear power plants.

Some Republicans Are Pushing for A National ID Card
_____________________________________

Earlier this week House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX), Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King (R-NY) and Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security Subcommittee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano encouraging her to fully implement the REAL ID Act of 2005.

According to FOX News, REAL ID has won support from many anti-immigration advocates because it requires driver’s licenses issued to immigrants to expire at the same time as their stay in the U.S. and therefore invalidates licenses of immigrants who overstay.

According to former Congressman Bob Barr, a privacy advocate, “A person not possessing a Real ID Act-compliant identification card could not enter any federal building, or an office of his or her congressman or senator or the U.S. Capitol. This effectively denies that person their fundamental rights to assembly and to petition the government as guaranteed in the First Amendment.”

Yet REAL ID is still being implemented. And it’s being implemented despite that half of the states in the country have opted out of REAL ID or have passed resolutions objecting to the national ID law. The Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly extended the deadline and reduced the compliance bar to suggest progress on the national ID effort, according to the Cato Institute’s Jim Harper.

What Can Be Done to Stop REAL ID?
_____________________________________

H.R. 1 is the budget bill Republicans are pushing in the House. If passed, it would would fund the government from March 4 through the September 30. Congressman David Price, a Democrat from North Carolina, proposed Amendment #277 to add the following language to the FY 2011 spending bill:

“None of the funds made available by this Act may be used by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services for the implementation of the REAL ID Act of 2005 (Public Law 109-13).”

This Amendment may be the last opportunity to hit the REAL ID Act before it is thrust onto the American people. While many states have opted out, don’t be so sure that the federal government won’t ignore state opt-outs. It’s much easier for them to implement a national ID card if every state is forced into the plan.

Please ask your members of Congress to support Amendment 277 to H.R. 1. Once implemented, REAL ID will be required by employers to hire you and will restrict your ability to travel in “the land of the free”. It’s imperative that you contact Congress today on this important issue.

(A special thanks to Jim Harper for providing the details on this Amendment.)

Utah Seeks Return To Gold And Silver

The gold standard may be making a comeback in Utah.
Utah House Government Operations Committee advanced a bill (HB317, introduced by Rep. Brad Galvez, R-West Haven) that recognizes U.S. gold and silver coins as legal tender, and exempts their sale from state capital gains tax.

Larry Hilton, a local attorney and supporter of the “sound money movement,” said that “un-backed money” created by the Federal Reserve to stimulate the economy, is “hanging over us like the sword of Damocles waiting to just come down in an avalanche and destroy the value of our currency.”

While the bill says the use of gold and silver coin as currency would be voluntary, it requires the Legislature to study the “possibility of establishing an alternative form of legal tender,” and to come up with further recommendations for the 2012 session.

Twelve other states have offered similar proposals: Georgia, Montana, Missouri, Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Tennessee, Washington, Vermont and Oklahoma.

"There's enough uneasiness going on in the economy to trigger people to feel that, hey, having a little Plan B, kind of a backup system, is not a bad idea," - Larry Hilton (Utah Bill Author)

Return to sound money - now that's a terrific idea!


Companion story here

Right To Work

A Right to Work law secures the right of employees to decide for themselves whether or not to join or financially support a union. However, employees who work in the railway or airline industries are not protected by a Right to Work law, and employees who work on a federal enclave may not be.

The following states have a Right to Work law:

Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming.



Forced unionism is bad.
Being subject to union coercion, intimidation and in some instances, violence is just plain wrong.

From a paper by John W. Cooper (Michigan Business school student's senior thesis defending Right to Work, and opposing compulsory union membership requirements):

- Right to Work laws create jobs and spur economic activity.
- Numerous credible studies have shown that real wages in Right to Work and non-RTW states are about the same, and if anything Right to Work states have slightly higher real wages.
- The main reason to adopt Right to Work laws is that Right to Work laws spur a state’s economic activity, lead to lower unemployment and higher job growth, and make a state more attractive to business.

One should not be forced to join a union.
There is so much wrong with forced unionism.
In many ways it is plain immoral.

Forced unionism removes a person's choice in the workplace, and literally steals a portion of their their wages in the form of union dues.

Unions have used their dues in ways that some union members object to.
It is not right for someone to be compelled to pay dues to an organization that they do not agree with, or that takes said dues and gives them to other organizations that the member does not support.

Banking With Gaddafi

Who are Libya's bankers?
And who/what exactly is "the Libyan Investment Authority" (its sovereign wealth fund)?
The folks at Zerohedge asked "Which US Banks Are Managing Billions For The $32 Billion Libyan Sovereign Wealth Fund?"

...and based on data from Wikileaks, it was disclosed that various US banks manage billions for Libya - the country which just saw $30 billion of its assets largely frozen (although this is merely half of its total deposits).

Courtesy of Marcus Baram of the Huffington Post it was discovered that the key banks that serve as advisors and asset managers are Goldman Sachs (and not just anyone, but Jim "Revolutions are Bullish" O'Neill's Goldman Sachs Asset Management, L.P. [GSAM]), Citi and JP Morgan.

Are you surprised?
I'm not.

Looks like the makings of a real public relations nightmare for them.. but maybe not.
Most Americans could care less.
They don't seem to mind that these bankers have been doing business with Gaddafi.

Huffington Post says this:

The secretive Libyan Investment Authority has reportedly invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Goldman Sachs Asset Management funds, including a loan fund designed to invest in new hedge funds set up by the Kuwait Investment Authority. Goldman Sachs already has a relationship with Libya -- in 2008, Goldman was the first U.S. bank to get a contract with the country following the removal of sanctions, when it was hired by Libya's central bank to provide information on its behalf to credit rating agencies. A spokesperson for Goldman Sachs did not return calls seeking comment.

The Libyan government, including LIA, has also banked with Citigroup, according to several sources familiar with the matter. A spokesperson for Citigroup declined to comment on the bank's interactions with the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which is in charge of carrying out Obama's order regarding Libyan assets.

JPMorgan Chase reportedly handles much of the LIA's cash and some of the Libyan central bank's reserves. The summer after then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Gaddafi in 2008, LIA gave "mandates to some of the international banks, including JPMorgan to manage their funds in the interbank money markets, according to Vanity Fair.

But what is most illuminating is the involvement of the Washington DC private equity firm, and alleged CIA front organization, The Carlyle Group:

Two years ago, the Carlyle Group's co-founder and managing director, David Rubenstein, and Blackstone chief executive Steven Schwarzman traveled to the Libyan capital of Tripoli to help celebrate the wedding of Mustafa Zarti, the deputy director of the LIA, in a massive tent set up on the outskirts of the city, reported the Financial Times. And when Gaddafi's son and longtime likely successor, Saif al-Islam, visited New York in November 2008, Schwarzman hosted a lunch for him at the Blackstone CEO's Park Avenue apartment. The younger Gaddafi was also honored on that trip by Carlyle's retired chairman, former defense secretary Frank Carlucci, who hosted a dinner for him in a private room at the City Club.

Imagine that...
Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and the Carlyle Group.
Weren't these the same banks that got taxpayer dollars to bail them out?
The same taxpayer dollars that your sons and grandsons and great grandsons will have to pay for.

Do you suppose they are also managing Mahmoud Ahmadinehjad's money too?


Related: The Dictator's Dough

Wisconsin Unions - Myth Vs. Fact

... and the middle class footing the bill for these unions in municipalities and states across the nation have had enough!