A Book Recommendation as We Welcome a New Administration

Into the breach against progressivism

Progressivism may not be dead, but it's been sorely wounded. (Thank God!) The previous fanatically progressive administration exits bruised, battered, and hostile. Hopefully the new administration will inflict a final sword thrust and progressivist politicians will disappear into the forgotten pages of history like the Whigs. 

That's probably a forlorn hope. Stupidity seems to be a staple of human existence and all the vices that lead people to envy, sloth, lust, etc. will continue to undermine society and the electorate no matter who the leaders are. There will be no Utopia on earth! And those who preach it, almost always are working for a utopia of greed for themselves created on the backs of those they consider deplorables. You know...the red state populations who are responsible for everything bad that happened in the last four years. (Thanks for the compliment, Joe!)

Made in the USA

Check out the story here! 

Made in China: It's Threatening Our Security

On our travels throughout the country I've picked up items in shops in at least thirteen states and turned them over to see where they're made. In every souvenir shop and T-shirt store, even in shops that specialize in "Indian" artifacts, I find dozens of products labeled "made in China." Even the postcards depicting American scenes are often printed somewhere else!

Of course souvenirs are inocuous items if you discount the economic impact on our country of the trade imbalance. But what about items that impact our national security? China produces many knock-off brands that mimic expensive and popular items. It also seems they are selling us components used in computers and routers that are counterfeit and dangerous. See Phyllis Schlafly's article - Buying Counterfeit Chips from China. And then ask yourself if you really want that geegaw that was produced in China. At the Grand Canyon I was tempted by a waterproof jacket (It was snowing.) until I looked at the tag. If it reads "Made in China" it goes back on the rack.

Read the tags and labels and look for alternatives. The Chinese government is not our friend. Heck, they aren't even friends to their own people - especially little babies waiting to be born. Don't support a country that already practically owns us lock, stock, and barrel. Buy American!

The End of America as Economic Leader of the World

The end is near. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), China's economy will surpass the U.S. in 2016. We will no longer be the economic leader of the world. Like Britain, we are slipping into has-been status. (See article here....)

It's no surprise. We've put our economic status above everything, even life itself. We've murdered our children to maintain our economic status. And in the course of it, we've eliminated future workers and taxpayers, future innovators and problem-solvers.

Isn't it ironic and somehow appropriate that a country that forces its people to kill their children willl overtake a nation that happily and willingly killed them while calling it a "right" and a "choice." Economic punishment for America is justice from God. We have no right to complain. Few of us have done enough to end the killing. We are just beginning to reap the bitter consequences.

Today's Guffaw: Obama is to Blame for Loss of Jobs

I was listening briefly to Laura Ingraham on the way home from church this morning -- just long enough for a good guffaw. She was playing a clip (missed the source) of a man talking about Obama being responsible for loss of jobs. Excuse me? He certainly isn't helping the situation, but his two years have had little to do with the collapse of manufacturing in this country and the accompanying job loss. The steel industry went south about fifteen years ago and had a big impact on members of my husband's family who worked for Pittsburgh and Wheeling Steel. They lost jobs and pensions and Obama wasn't even a twinkle on the horizon. Now where does most of our steel come from? China and Russia?

The last time I was in a department store, every clothing item I picked up was from China, India, Indonesia, or VietNam. Are there any shoe factories in the U.S. anymore? How about toys? Linens? Rugs? We used to have a Levi factory here in Woodstock. It closed several years before Obama. Now it's a roller rink offering low level service jobs (and not many at that). A few miles south of us the Merrilat cabinet manufacturer laid off workers with the housing collapse. They used to run round the clock with three shifts. No more!

I'm no fan of Obama but the collapse of our manufacturing predates this administration by years...and years. Democratic policies have been disastrous, but what have the Republicans done to fix things when they are in office? Darned little. Like Joe Sobran always quipped. We have the choice of the evil party or the stupid party.

And what about ourselves? Some of our problem is due to the greed of American consumers who want more and more and more junk at cheaper and cheaper and cheaper prices. I like cheap too...that's why I go to the thrift store. But I don't need fifty pairs of shoes and twenty five dresses. And who needs every electronic gadget on the market? We can't compete with countries like China that keep their prices artificially low and pay slave wages and use convicts as factory fodder. We can't compete with the sweatshops of the third world and we shouldn't try. I don't know how you get other countries to pay a living wage, but the way to stop this country being a dumping ground for cheap goods is protective tarrifs and trade balance. We've been running a trade deficit since the 1980s and a long-term trade imbance destabalizes an economy. Unemployment increases, currency is undermined, and foreign debt becomes a serious problem. Sound familiar? Pretty soon we'll be a third world country ourselves. The middle class is disappearing. They're working at WalMart and McDonalds.

What can the individual do to stop the insanity? Live like a Christian for starters. Moderation in all things. As I look around my house, my own words convict me. But I want to get to the point where I have moderation indoors and glut outdoors. You can have too much stuff, but you can never have too many flowers and vegetables. Make your abundance visible in your garden and share its produce. As for the stuff, follow the Fly Lady's advice. If you have two of something that you only need one of, keep the one you like best and give the other away.

Now if I can only follow my own advice!

Walter Williams, Making Sense As Usual

I'm a fan of Professor Walter Williams even before two of my kids had him in class and said he was "the best teacher I ever had." He always makes sense. When I see the Bishops' Conference releases a document on the economy, I figure I'm getting the latest justification for big government. Williams, on the other hand, seems to have a pretty good handle on the idea that forcing Peter to pay Paul money Peter doesn't owe Paul is theft, plain and simple. That's not to say Peter doesn't have a moral obligation to do works of charity and redistribute his own income, but charity and coercion are incompatible. Let's fact it, the IRS, with the backing of coercive government, will put you in jail and fine you out the wazoo if you don't pay your exorbitant taxes. But I'll let Williams speak for himself; he does it so well:

I think it immoral for Congress to forcibly take one American's earnings and give them to another American to whom they do not belong. If a person did the same thing privately, he'd be convicted of theft and jailed. We might ask ourselves whether acts that are clearly immoral and despicable when done privately are any less so when done by Congress.

Close to two-thirds of the federal budget, so-called entitlements, represent what thieves do: redistribute income.
Some people might say, "Williams, the programs that you'd cut are vital to the welfare of our nation!" When someone says that, I always ask what did we do before?

For example, our nation went from 1787 to 1979 and during that interval produced some of the world's most highly educated people without a Department of Education. Since the department's creation, American primary and secondary education has become a joke among industrialized nations.  Read more....

I'm with Williams. The government is like a Mafia don who takes your wealth at the point of a gun and dispenses it, in many cases, to buy votes. Where's Elliott Ness when we need him?

And then there's the unemployment mess!

Data on the chart is from the Department of Labor. Everything the liberal government does makes things worse! Do we really want to turn over almost a fifth of the U.S. economy (health care) to a government that can't even run a cash for clunkers program? Whenever they propose one of these gargantuan bills, it is chock full of earmarks and pork barrell projects to buy votes back home. We need smaller government and a bigger private sector generating jobs at the local level through lower taxes for small businesses. They are the backbone of a healthy economy.

I'm no expert, but isn't this common sense?

First issue:
I don't pretend to have any deep understanding of economics, but I know I need to make sure the money in my checkbook is enough to pay the bills every month if I want to stay out of debt. And I know that debt is an albatross. Millions of people learn that lesson when they get themselves buried in monthly 18-29% credit card charges for the junk they just can't live without. Hey! Go to the thrift store and only buy what you really need.

Now, why can't the U.S. learn that lesson? How can the men and women in Congress who are supposedly intelligent understand that deficit spending is irresponsible (not to say immoral - burdening our children and grandchildren with our debt). At some point you have to pay the piper. I'm not sure what the outcome of all the bank failings will be, but I do know as a parent that if you constantly bail your kids out of problems, they never learn anything from their bad or stupid behavior. The government bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac makes every taxpayer in the U.S. the fall guy for their bad loans -- to the tune of billions of dollars. Now that the government has taken on all those debts, WE OWE IT ALL. The government doesn't have any money except what it takes out of our pockets. So, face it folks, we are shafted again.

And why should taxpayers be penalized because the banks made bad loans? People like Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, and Chuck Schumer should be held to account for pushing policies that penalized financial institutions for not making bad loans and pressured them to meet quotas on loans to the poor who couldn't afford them. No one has a "right" to a house and there's no shame in renting. The way to get a house is to work and save and buy small when you can afford it without jeopardizing your next meal.

The best thing that taxpayers can do at this point is to get out of personal debt. Cut up your credit cards, pay them off, and buy with cash. If you can't pay for it, go without. We all have too much stuff in our lives anyway.

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Second point:
I can't claim to have any expertise on foreign affairs either, but I'm furious about the plan to put nuclear missiles in Poland. Using the recent Russia/Georgia conflict as an excuse is baloney. Georgia provoked Russia. Why would anyone be surprised at her response? Was it too much? Maybe. But it is no excuse to renew the cold war.

Maybe it's time to review our own history. Remember the Cuban Missile Crisis? We didn't want all those nukes aimed at us from an island not that far from our coast. And we demanded the Soviets remove them. Do we really expect Russia not to oppose nukes pointing at her? Look at a world map. It's about 700 miles from Warsaw to Moscow. How would you feel if you lived in Albuquerque and New Orleans had nukes pointed in your direction? That's an 1100 mile distance.

Seems to me the golden rule applies here. Do unto others as you would have them do to you. We demanded the Soviet Union pull the nukes out of Cuba. We should do the same with regard to nukes in Eastern Europe. It's reasonable not to engage in provocative moves that escalate hostilities with Russia and other countries. Let's stop acting like the biggest bully on the block.

Sometimes I think our leaders are like little children rattling their sabres in their war games. (Maybe they all spend too much time playing World of Warcraft.) It ain't a game, folks. We need to demand that our leaders act like grownups instead of moving us closer to World War III. Besides war is expensive and we can't afford any more of it.