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<channel>
	<title>iAmerica</title>
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	<link>http://iamerica.backyardpolitics.org</link>
	<description>for freedom</description>
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		<title>DemSpeak</title>
		<link>http://iamerica.backyardpolitics.org/blog/2010/03/24/demspeak/</link>
		<comments>http://iamerica.backyardpolitics.org/blog/2010/03/24/demspeak/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Mar 2010 02:24:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>James Thoburn</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[My Cup of Tea]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://iamerica.backyardpolitics.org/?p=643</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In honor of all the recent banter from the left regarding their extraordinary claims about what the healthcare bill will do for America (NOT!) I though I&#8217;d write a quick dictionary explaining what they really mean with each of these claims.
Claim: &#8220;this bill will reduce the deficit by _(insert huge amount here)_ by _(insert two [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In honor of all the recent banter from the left regarding their extraordinary claims about what the healthcare bill will do for America (NOT!) I though I&#8217;d write a quick dictionary explaining what they really mean with each of these claims.</p>
<p><strong>Claim: &#8220;this bill will reduce the deficit by _(insert huge amount here)_ by _(insert two years from now)_&#8221;</strong></p>
<p>definition: the bill being touted will restructure an existing agency with the hopes of making it more cost efficient.  In reality this will never happen to a government agency and the agency will just need more money.  After the restructuring finishes we&#8217;ll vote to give the agency the &#8220;<strong>funding it needs to do it&#8217;s job right.</strong>&#8221; Or in other words, there is no such thing as a government agency being cost efficient and the general solution is to throw money at the problem until it looks good or gets off the front page.  Additionally, this bill, and the future bill to give additional funding to the agency will both increase your taxes.</p>
<p><strong>Claim: &#8220;this bill will create _(insert what sounds like a huge number of jobs, don&#8217;t give a year)_&#8221;</strong></p>
<p>Definition: This bill won&#8217;t create any new private sector jobs, in fact it will likely destroy them.  It will create new government jobs though, somewhere in the range of a few thousand cushy ones.  They can claim this however because there is no way to prove a new job isn&#8217;t the result of their bill nor is there a time restriction, so jobs created a gazillion years later count too.</p>
<p><strong>Claim: Biden: &#8220;this is a big F*#king deal&#8221;</strong></p>
<p>Definition: Finally! This will be off the front page and we&#8217;ve all got something in our pockets.  Now hurry up and get over with this press conference so we can stop talking about it and pretend it never happened, cause we&#8217;re in big F*#king trouble.</p>
<p><strong>Claim: &#8220;we&#8217;re going to pay for healthcare with a 10% tax on fake tans&#8221;</strong></p>
<p>Definition: we just found a new way to only tax white people, poor white people at that.  Hopefully this punches those Tea Party people in the gut.</p>
<p><strong>Claim: Obama: &#8220;I&#8217;m not taking my trip to Indonesia because of the importance of getting this vote on healthcare done&#8221;</strong></p>
<p>Definition: I forgot this was the start of March Madness when I booked my tickets.  But since I&#8217;m home, I needed to find a way to skip the Grid Iron dinner yet again, because unlike Bush or Clinton who always went and performed flawlessly, I don&#8217;t know how to make a joke about myself.</p>
<p><strong>Claim: Obama: &#8220;I&#8217;m going to stop smoking&#8221;</strong></p>
<p>Definition: This is why I want this healthcare reform package so desperately, cause with the number of packs of tar I smother my lungs in per day there&#8217;s no way I&#8217;m going to get good coverage.  Since I don&#8217;t have enough mental resolve to actually carry through on this campaign promise to my wife, and because I don&#8217;t want to look bad in the press when I get caught smoking on the White House lawn, I&#8217;m going to light up in the White House.</p>
<p>p.s. I hope no one remembers DC has a ban on smoking in public places and buildings.</p>
<p><strong>Claim: Stupak: &#8220;I&#8217;m now alright voting for ObamaCare because Obama has pinky promised to sign an executive order saying it doesn&#8217;t change anything about abortions.&#8221;</strong></p>
<p>Definition: I have no idea of Obama was telling the truth, and I don&#8217;t care.  But this airport sure does look pretty with my name plastered all over it!</p>
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		<title>Liar (Lost In Arrogant Resolve)</title>
		<link>http://iamerica.backyardpolitics.org/blog/2010/03/24/liar-lost-in-arrogant-resolve/</link>
		<comments>http://iamerica.backyardpolitics.org/blog/2010/03/24/liar-lost-in-arrogant-resolve/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Mar 2010 00:12:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>James Thoburn</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[My Cup of Tea]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[campaign promises]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Healthcare]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[liar]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://iamerica.backyardpolitics.org/?p=640</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Barack Obama is a Liar.  Capital &#8216;L&#8217; Liar.  Change we can believe in?  The only change he brought to Washington was the money from my pocket.  So much for those campaign promises of transparent honest government, of changing the way politics was done, of ousting the backroom deals.  And I&#8217;m not surprised to hear him [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Barack Obama is a Liar.  Capital &#8216;L&#8217; Liar.  Change we can believe in?  The only change he brought to Washington was the money from my pocket.  So much for those campaign promises of transparent honest government, of changing the way politics was done, of ousting the backroom deals.  And I&#8217;m not surprised to hear him admit it.</p>
<p>Asked about all the underhanded tricks and backroom deals being made to pass the healthcare bill, Obama&#8217;s answer was nothing short of an arrogant and assumptive &#8220;that&#8217;s just playing politics, that&#8217;s how the game works.&#8221;</p>
<p>Guess our only hope now is for a change of administration.</p>
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		<title>We sit upon the Great Abyss.</title>
		<link>http://iamerica.backyardpolitics.org/blog/2010/03/22/we-sit-upon-the-great-abyss/</link>
		<comments>http://iamerica.backyardpolitics.org/blog/2010/03/22/we-sit-upon-the-great-abyss/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 22 Mar 2010 03:25:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>James Thoburn</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[My Cup of Tea]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Healthcare]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tenth amendment]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://iamerica.backyardpolitics.org/?p=637</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Tonight America may change forever.  In a few hours the house will vote on whether to send the senate version of the healthcare bill to the President&#8217;s desk.  If it passes, a few hours later, they will vote on the &#8216;fixes&#8217; to the senate bill that will be sent to the Senate for a vote.  [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Tonight America may change forever.  In a few hours the house will vote on whether to send the senate version of the healthcare bill to the President&#8217;s desk.  If it passes, a few hours later, they will vote on the &#8216;fixes&#8217; to the senate bill that will be sent to the Senate for a vote.  We sit upon the edge of a great abyss, and we feel the Nietzschian compulsion to throw ourselves in.</p>
<p>Somewhere behind us lays the ravaged body of the American dream, murdered by soothsayers with fallacious promises carrying bludgeons of false liberty.  Below us &#8216;overprotective mother&#8217; welcomes our fall with open arms, wanting to carefully nurture every waking moment of all of her children: ensuring all are equally fed and none is allowed to enjoy what another cannot.  Ahead of us lies a lifetime of slaps on the wrist, timeouts, and punishments for wanting something more.</p>
<p>Beside mother sits the proverbial pie.  No longer do we have to struggle to get our share, the pie has already been evenly divided so that we might each have a piece, we only have to give up everything we&#8217;ve worked for to get it.  Just staring beneath our feet, the boredom of our future life already begins to sink into our hearts.  No longer will we enjoy the freedom of the chase, the sheer joy of coming out triumphant after battling to survive.  No more rainy days: only the sunny.  No more snow: only summer.</p>
<p>Should we jump, no one will ever again live the American dream of rags to riches.  There will be no more bedtime stories of pioneer heroes, adventure, and hardships overcome.  Everyone will be sustained, but no more.  The pie has only so many slices, and everyone must get one.</p>
<p>But what if mother is wrong?  What if I need to stumble before I can walk?  I don&#8217;t know about the rest of you, but I&#8217;ve enjoyed my life immensely.  I&#8217;ve lived through poverty.  I&#8217;ve lived day to day not knowing if the next was going to be the day my family was tossed on the street with nothing.  I&#8217;ve watched as relatives fought, best friends made horrific decisions, and others took their lives.  I&#8217;ve made a million and one mistakes, hurt myself and those I care about a million more, but I wouldn&#8217;t trade that life experience for anything.  Not for financial security, not for world peace, and definitely not for universal healthcare.  A life without freedom is not a life worth living: and yes, freedom includes the ugly.</p>
<p>I wouldn&#8217;t be who I am today if it weren&#8217;t for the bonds I share with all the people who shared the same life experiences, but many will fail to see what if anything that has to do with healthcare, so I&#8217;ll make it extra clear.</p>
<p>Forcing individuals to buy an insurance policy they do not want restricts economic and personal liberty.  Forcing people to pay for protection or membership they didn&#8217;t want used to be the height of un-American: the worst characteristic of unruly gangs and later unions, the target of Great American Westerns and the A-Team.  This &#8220;pay up or else&#8221; brutality is what most pioneers to came America to escape, and appears as a repetitive theme in the reasons for separation listed in the Declaration of Independence.</p>
<p>Worse, enslaving doctors to a government run healthcare system robs them of all ability to control their own careers.  Since when did Washington have the right to control the workplace?  I don&#8217;t want Washington telling me I have to design websites for everyone that asks, meet website quotas, and charge a set price and no other.</p>
<p>Lastly, it takes from me a liberty guaranteed in the constitution by the tenth amendment, which was added to the Constitution as part of the bill of rights by the states before they would agree to ratify it.  It states:</p>
<blockquote><p>The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor  prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively,  or to the people.</p></blockquote>
<p>No where in the constitution or in any of its amendments is Washington given the power to control the workplace of any individual, nor any power that could even be interpreted in a convoluted manner in order to obtain that power.  Washington has completely overstepped its bounds and violated the pact.  As far as I&#8217;m concerned, if the Constitution is out the door, then so is Washington.  We sit upon the Great Abyss.  Should we jump any direction but as far away from it as possible, we condemn out country to follow in the footsteps of every failed nation in history that lost sight of defending the virtues they were founded upon, and that is My Cup of Tea.</p>
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		<title>Taking the 10th</title>
		<link>http://iamerica.backyardpolitics.org/blog/2010/03/22/taking-the-10th/</link>
		<comments>http://iamerica.backyardpolitics.org/blog/2010/03/22/taking-the-10th/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 22 Mar 2010 02:03:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>dennis powers</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[On the Right Track]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Constitution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Healthcare]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[states rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tenth amendment]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://iamerica.backyardpolitics.org/?p=632</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Your Honor, I’ll Take the 10th
No, not the 5th – the 10th.  The Tenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States provides protection to the states from encroachment by the federal government.  The federal government has become more and more involved in our everyday lives from the college football bowls to the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3>Your Honor, I’ll Take the 10th</h3>
<p>No, not the 5th – the 10th.  The Tenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States provides protection to the states from encroachment by the federal government.  The federal government has become more and more involved in our everyday lives from the college football bowls to the compulsory low-flush toilet bowls in our home.</p>
<p>Liberals and Progressives would have us believe that the federal government is the ultimate authority and they delight in expanding its powers and limiting the freedoms of individuals and states.  They believe the Constitution is some type of “living, breathing document” that has outlived its usefulness.</p>
<p>Conservatives know that the Constitution and other founding documents are the foundations of our freedom.  The Tenth Amendment is critical to states rights and the last line of defense against the intrusion of federal government.  The founders knew that a large federal government could become too powerful and overstep its function.</p>
<p>As stated in the U.S. Supreme Court decision of United States vs. Sprague (not Howard) of 1931, “The Tenth Amendment was intended to confirm the understanding of the people at the time the Constitution was adopted, that powers not granted to the United States were reserved to the States or to the people.  It added nothing to the instrument as originally ratified.”</p>
<p>There is an ongoing effort, and rightfully so, to reject the mandates and infringements of the federal government upon the states.  Keep in mind that the states created the federal government, not the other way around.</p>
<p>Like Texas, Oklahoma, Montana and Utah, Tennessee’s House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a resolution to urge Congress to recognize Tennessee’s sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment.  Part of that resolution is as follows:</p>
<blockquote><p>WHEREAS, the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States reads as follows: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people”; and</p>
<p>WHEREAS, the Tenth Amendment defines the total scope of federal power as being that specifically granted by the Constitution of the United States and no more; and</p>
<p>WHEREAS, the scope of power defined by the Tenth Amendment means that the federal government was created by the states specifically to be an agent of the states.</p></blockquote>
<p>The Tenth Amendment allows Congress to pass only laws that fall within their constitutional authority. The Constitution only gives Congress the authority to make laws that pertain to certain issues such as taxation, international commerce, currency regulation, the federal Judiciary, and the armed forces to name a few.</p>
<p>That’s it – no healthcare, stimulus, bailouts, education, welfare, etc.  For example, Congress was granted the power to promote the general welfare of the nation by the Constitution.  That means that Congress should provide laws that are in keeping with the principles of the self-governed.</p>
<p>It also means that Congress may provide legislation that acts in the general “best interest” of our nation.  It doesn’t mean that everybody should get a welfare check on the first of the month.</p>
<p>The Constitution also grants Congress the authority to make laws necessary and proper for the carrying out of their enumerated powers, which is a clause that has been manipulated to grant the federal government authority far beyond what our founding fathers intended.</p>
<p>The federal government has been steadily expanding their authority in areas the Constitution has not authorized.  Congress has ignored the Constitution by imposing health, environmental and educational mandates on states.</p>
<p>The most recent federal health care proposal will be by far the most serious overreach of Congressional power.  Congress is well known for passing unfunded mandates down to states.  This top-down approach is unsustainable and unconstitutional.</p>
<p>We send representatives to our state capitals and Washington and often refer to them as “lawmakers.”  The fact is – we rarely need any new laws.  We just need to abide by the ones we currently have, cut spending, cut taxes and let the free market system that our founders established flourish as it did in the past.</p>
<p>If we take those steps, we will once again make America the greatest economic force in the world, the land of opportunity and a beacon of liberty and freedom for all who wish to come here legally and assimilate.  We will give people the opportunity to become successful, not by the hand of government, but by their own hand.</p>
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		<title>The Iceberg He Hit</title>
		<link>http://iamerica.backyardpolitics.org/blog/2010/02/27/the-iceberg-he-hit/</link>
		<comments>http://iamerica.backyardpolitics.org/blog/2010/02/27/the-iceberg-he-hit/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 27 Feb 2010 04:47:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>James Thoburn</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[My Cup of Tea]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://iamerica.backyardpolitics.org/?p=622</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Van Jones probably wasn&#8217;t referring to the &#8216;economy&#8217; President Barack H. Obama pretends to have inherited from his predecessor when at tonight&#8217;s NAACP awards ceremony he saluted Barry, who as he put it &#8220;volunteered to be the captain of the Titanic  after it hit the iceberg  and we [are] still floating.&#8221;
Van Jones, who [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>Van Jones</strong> probably wasn&#8217;t referring to the &#8216;economy&#8217; <strong>President Barack H. Obama</strong> pretends to have inherited from his predecessor when at tonight&#8217;s NAACP awards ceremony he saluted Barry, who as he put it &#8220;volunteered to be the captain of the Titanic  after it hit the iceberg  and we [are] still floating.&#8221;</p>
<p>Van Jones, who was fired almost immediately after Obama appointed him &#8220;White House Council on Environmental Quality&#8221; for his prevalent communist sympathies, previous statements made in strong support of 9/11 conspiracies, and vulgar behavior was more than likely referring to the sinking ship of American Capitalism in the wasn&#8217;t-socialist-enough vein.</p>
<p>What&#8217;s so ironic is that not only is the NAACP so ready and willing to throw support to an individual whose comments when asked why Republicans seemed to be able to muster more bipartisan support while in control than Democrats included &#8220;they[Republicans]&#8216;re assholes.&#8221;</p>
<p>In case you just need to see this for yourself, here&#8217;s the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt66eWnjoTo&amp;feature=player_embedded">video</a>:</p>
<p>What&#8217;s not Ironic is that Van Jones is still willing to support Obama even after Obama threw him under the bus.  In his answer to this same question he continues to say:</p>
<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: left"><em>&#8220;As a technical, political kind of term.  And Barack Obama is not an  asshole. Now, I will say this: I can be an asshole, and some of us who  are not Barack Hussein Obama, are going to have to start getting a  little bit uppity.&#8221;</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: left">The communist sympathies in Van Jones still believe that Obama is the best chance for socialism in the U.S.</p>
<p style="text-align: left">It doesn&#8217;t matter though what was in Van Jones&#8217; mind as he made the comment, because you and I and everyone else who heard it will still understand it as yet another stab at Bush, and the bad economy he supposedly left Barack Obama to inherit.</p>
<p style="text-align: left">Now, I&#8217;m not saying that the recession didn&#8217;t start during Bush&#8217;s term, but I am calling BS on President Obama&#8217;s insistent refusal to accept responsibility for TARP and the first bailout.  The senate had to author and vote on that legislation before it was ever voted into law and given to Bush to sign, and I certainly don&#8217;t remember Obama doing anything then to stop it, unless you consider a yes vote and taking time out of a campaign to help push it through staunch opposition.</p>
<p style="text-align: left">I further recall Obama&#8217;s support of Ben Bernanke, the unheralded root of so many of the problems both with the mortgage crisis and the extremely poor bailout decisions.  Sure Ben inherited artificially deflated interest rated from Greenspan, who had justified lowering them to offset the 2000 tech bubble burst (that&#8217;s right, our recession today humorously is the offset of the recession that appeared under Clinton), but that didn&#8217;t force him to hike the rates up to &#8216;normal levels&#8217; overnight, throwing the mortgage sector into crisis.  Nor is there a &#8216;normal level,&#8217; any rate determined by one individual instead of by natural forces is inherently artificial.</p>
<p style="text-align: left">We all remember what happened with the mortgages.  Households who could afford a $500 monthly mortgage payment couldn&#8217;t afford a $1000 or greater monthly payment, and a debt and foreclosure bomb was upon us.  But somehow, it was Bush&#8217;s fault that individuals had refinanced with lower interest rates.</p>
<p style="text-align: left">Van Jones was right, Obama is steering the titanic.  In real life, the Titanic didn&#8217;t sink right away, it had a few last hurrahs to give before it tipped and slid to the bottom of the ocean.  The economy will recover and America will prosper left to itself, but the repeated bailouts and huge debt that Obama has steered us into is an iceberg ready to sink our ship.</p>
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		<title>A Winter to Remember</title>
		<link>http://iamerica.backyardpolitics.org/blog/2010/02/03/a-winter-to-remember/</link>
		<comments>http://iamerica.backyardpolitics.org/blog/2010/02/03/a-winter-to-remember/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:22:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>James Thoburn</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[My Cup of Tea]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[climate change]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[EPA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fire]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[global warming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[precipitation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rainfall]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[snow]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[washington d.c.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[winter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wood pellets]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://iamerica.backyardpolitics.org/?p=619</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As a child, I remember the few snow storms big enough to allow a wonderland: a playground of perfect caves, igloos, sledding, and snow fights complemented nicely by hot chocolate and warm fires.  None of those winters compares to this one.
Every few days another storm barges through the region piling onto the record total snowfall [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>As a child, I remember the few snow storms big enough to allow a wonderland: a playground of perfect caves, igloos, sledding, and snow fights complemented nicely by hot chocolate and warm fires.  None of those winters compares to this one.</p>
<p>Every few days another storm barges through the region piling onto the record total snowfall and reminding everyone that global warming makes the world colder, and wetter.  Luckily, the EPA and the Global Summit on Climate Change haven&#8217;t been successful in banning that hot fire, so I can still warm my hands and feet after I finish shoveling, but I remain apprehensive with the knowledge that my fire is making the world warmer and thus colder: a deadly paradox that leads to more fires, more heat, more warming, and of course more cold winter nights.</p>
<p>I will persist in naming the latest exercise in fear mongering to steal our freedom global warming: climate change just doesn&#8217;t exude the same level of stupidity and exists as part of a gradual tactical transition to brainwash the public into believing that any change is bad change.  Our world is defined by change.  At times in our past the Earth has been tens to hundreds of degrees warmer than now, even our precious ice caps and the Arctic Ocean used to be alive with green flora and fauna.  At other times our world has been locked in ice, terraforming entire continents.</p>
<p>But as you struggle to keep warm this winter and to heat your house without emptying your wallet for your energy bill, at least let your mind be eased by this: if you use a wood pellet stove, you are saving the world from global warming.  You heard me right.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s no small surprise that burning wood pellets constitutes green heat, or that congress gave a $1500 tax credit on new wood pellet stoves, but the argument is that burning wood pellets is more energy efficient and releases less carbon dioxide than simply letting old forests die and rot, or in many cases become fuel for massive forest fires.  What co2 is released is also offset by new forest growth, which unlike old forests sucks in far more co2 than it lets off.</p>
<p>Wait, old forests are bad for the environment?  So bad its better to grind them up and burn them to heat our homes?  That would imply that the national park service is one dirty polluter, anything but environmentally friendly, and a large contributing cause to global warming: just saying.</p>
<p>Honestly, this has been more than just a winter to remember. Over the past year precipitation rates have consistently set huge monthly and seasonal records here in the D.C. area.  The past year alone has wiped out the effects of decades of drought: our water table was replenished by mid summer, and we&#8217;ve been soaking in the extra ever since.  If this is the result of global warming, everyone should be thankful it&#8217;s happening.  But please, stop and think: colder winters, cooler summers, greater snowfall, greater rainfall, global warming.  It just doesn&#8217;t all add up, does it?</p>
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		<title>Mr. Brown Goes to Washington</title>
		<link>http://iamerica.backyardpolitics.org/blog/2010/02/02/mr-brown-goes-to-washington/</link>
		<comments>http://iamerica.backyardpolitics.org/blog/2010/02/02/mr-brown-goes-to-washington/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:37:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>dennis powers</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[On the Right Track]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Capitalism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Massachusetts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Progressives]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Scott Brown]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Socialism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[statism]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://iamerica.backyardpolitics.org/?p=605</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[And the lights all went out in Massachusetts (am I on the only one that remembers the Bee Gees song?).  The lights are now on and Americans are at home.
At the same place the American Revolution began over 200 years ago, a political revolution began this month.  In liberal Massachusetts, Americans who believe in capitalism [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>And the lights all went out in Massachusetts (am I on the only one that remembers the Bee Gees song?).  The lights are now on and Americans are at home.</p>
<p>At the same place the American Revolution began over 200 years ago, a political revolution began this month.  In liberal Massachusetts, Americans who believe in capitalism and free enterprise have rebuffed the far-reaching arm of the federal government and the socialist agenda proposed by the current administration.</p>
<p>Just as they did over 200 years ago, Massachusetts’s citizens said “no” to tyrannical rule.  They are rejecting the radicals, leftists and liberals who are trying to control our lives.</p>
<p>Like most Americans, voters in Massachusetts are tired of the bailouts, the high taxes, the company takeovers, the bribes, the backroom deals, the payoffs and the nationalization of everything from the student loan program to health care.</p>
<p>Also, Americans do not appreciate other Americans going around the globe denouncing or criticizing our country.  We also don’t feel like we have to bow or apologize to any other country.</p>
<p>Let’s define a few ideologies before we continue because it seems many of the Left do not understand Socialism and Statism that have promoted their progressive agenda throughout history.  Here they are according to Webster:</p>
<p>Socialism: any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.</p>
<p>Examples of socialism are: government ownership.  Government administration.  Promoting the collective over individual liberties.  Spreading the wealth.  Sound familiar?</p>
<p>Statism: concentration of economic controls and planning in the hands of a highly centralized government often extending to government ownership of industry.</p>
<p>Examples are: Stimulus.  Pork projects.  Burdensome regulations.  Surrendering local authority to the federal government.   These are commonplace in our federal government today.</p>
<p>Capitalism: an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market.</p>
<p>Free markets.  Competition.  Private or corporate ownership.  Investments.  These are the ideas upon which America was founded.</p>
<p>If we build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to our door.   We don’t want the mousetrap taxed to death, our mousetrap company bailed out or the government taking it over to run it in the ground.</p>
<p>We want to be left along to use our talents God gave us and take advantage of the opportunities given to us by Capitalism and the free markets.</p>
<p>The dictionary also states that in Marxist theory, Socialism is:  a transitional social state between the overthrow of Capitalism and the realization of Communism.  Scary stuff.</p>
<p>But one of the harmful ideologies that we are dealing with in America today is Progressivism.  Whose your daddy?  To Progressives, it means the federal government.  To John Edwards, it has another meaning.</p>
<p>Progressives are made up of both Democrats and Republicans.  Woodrow Wilson, Teddy Roosevelt and FDR were all Progressives and all believed in an immense federal government.  The federal government creates no wealth, it only takes from producers to give to others and whatever the federal government gives, it can take away.</p>
<p>Americans are angry and they should be.  We see our freedoms eroding daily.  We see terrorists like the panty-bomber given Miranda rights, which are reserved for the protection of U.S. citizens. We see terrorists brought to our shores as we spend millions on them to provide lawyers and a platform to spew their hatred and vitriol.</p>
<p>In the Massachusetts election, President Obama insulted all of us who have owned or driven a pick-up truck.  Days later, he had to use a teleprompter to speak to a group of 7-yr. olds in their classroom at school.  The kids should have been insulted too.</p>
<p>America has awakened and rejected the “change.”  We now know that change was nothing more than a euphemism for big government.  In one year, this administration and Congress has tripled the federal deficit – that’s change you can believe in.</p>
<p>Hopefully, the political revolution will take us back to our roots and back to Capitalism. Time is running out and we must contact our representatives in Washington and let them know what we think.</p>
<p>Progressives have never had the window of opportunity to enact their Socialist agenda like they’ve had during the past year.  I think I just heard that window shut.  It sounded like the shot heard ‘round the world.</p>
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		<title>State of Delusion</title>
		<link>http://iamerica.backyardpolitics.org/blog/2010/01/28/state-of-delusion/</link>
		<comments>http://iamerica.backyardpolitics.org/blog/2010/01/28/state-of-delusion/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 28 Jan 2010 03:34:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>James Thoburn</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[My Cup of Tea]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[State of Dillusion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[State of the Union]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Teleprompter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Totus]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://iamerica.backyardpolitics.org/?p=586</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Barack Obama's State of the Union address as you and I and everyone else not covered with wool heard it: let it be noted that the spirit of Joe Wilson was regrettably denied entry.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Barack Obama&#8217;s State of the Union address as you and I and everyone else not covered with wool heard it: let it be noted that the spirit of Joe Wilson was regrettably denied entry.</p>
<p>State of Delusion<br />
Barack Obama<br />
27 January 2010</p>
<p>Ladies and Gentlemen,<br />
Tonight, I am going to address, the issues, before this great nation.  Now let me be clear.  I will only talk, in stilted, comma infused, English.  I will never, get to a point, without contradicting myself, somehow.  I will not, allow, the television camera, to highlight my prolific addiction, to myself, and the mirrors of my teleprompters.  Nor will I ever, admit, that I never utter sentences, unless I can somehow manipulate the meaning into an oxymoron.</p>
<p>Tonight, I will begin by talking about my administration&#8217;s extreme dedication to cutting wasteful spending, and reducing, our nation&#8217;s debt.  Let me start, by saying that it&#8217;s not my fault.  I don&#8217;t have supreme power to fix all of your problems.  But I will fix this, because I will never let America be second.  I will not wait, Not when China, North Korea, Russia, and Germany are not waiting, but modernizing their economies, and bringing hope to their people.</p>
<p>I will state scary facts, until you are forced, to believe, whatever outrageous statement I make next is divine fruit given to you from heaven.  I will prolifically start my sentences with I, because I only give myself credit.  I will remind you that I am not part of Washington, I will hope, that my mesmerizing words, will cause you to forget that I am Washington&#8217;s, ringleader.</p>
<p>Tonight, I will claim, that trillions of dollars we didn&#8217;t have that was spent in the first year of my administration, was forced to be spent, by Bush.  And tonight, I can&#8217;t help but blame him, for Washington&#8217;s failure.  Now, I want to clear some things up.</p>
<p>I support universal health-care because I listen to the tears of the millions of Americans, even those with health-care, who are an illness away from financial disaster, and I care.  I will pretend.  I will pretend that I am ignorant that these uninsured Americans have iPhones, iPods, extra cars, large screen high-def TVs, expensive vacations, and starting today, an iPad.  I will ignore that little Max, who might be diagnosed with cancer tomorrow and not live another day, was given a Nintendo Wii, DS, and XBOX360 for Christmas to go with the new games and new TV you bought him for his birthday a week ago, when you could have taken him to a doctor or bought health insurance.</p>
<p>I will lie and declare that I support health-care because it would save Americans a trillion dollars, just because it sounds cool to shout huge savings when I know I&#8217;ll just be taxing you extra and raising your rates.  I will claim that I will continue to fight for transparency in government and an end to lobbyist control, even as I surround myself with lobbyists, and close the doors on the health-care debate.  I will also claim that I will send back any health-care bill not up to my standards, even though this one is true.  I would.  I just don&#8217;t have any standards.</p>
<p>And finally, Tonight I will reprimand the supreme court for bringing fairness and equity to the election cycle by making blatantly untrue and loaded statements about their ruling.  I will ignore that before, Unions and Media Organizations had a monopoly on campaign advertising in the weeks before an election, and that now their dollars and control can be balanced.</p>
<p>Thank you, and goodnight. It&#8217;s time to roll up our sleeves and pretend like we work.</p>
<p>-Barry</p>
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		<title>Advertising your Reputation Away</title>
		<link>http://iamerica.backyardpolitics.org/blog/2010/01/22/advertising-your-reputation-away/</link>
		<comments>http://iamerica.backyardpolitics.org/blog/2010/01/22/advertising-your-reputation-away/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 22 Jan 2010 23:03:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>James Thoburn</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[My Cup of Tea]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Myers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Newsmax]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tamm Oil & Gas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tamo]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.backyardpolitics.org/blog/?p=520</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Selling your brand image for advertising purposes is inherently dangerous:  the consumer &#8217;s view of the product you agreed to help peddle affects your own brand image, and sometimes one bad apple can ruin your image completely.
In today&#8217;s world of online marketing and email newsletters, companies put more on the line than ever before.  Allowing [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Selling your brand image for advertising purposes is inherently dangerous:  the consumer &#8217;s view of the product you agreed to help peddle affects your own brand image, and sometimes one bad apple can ruin your image completely.</p>
<p>In today&#8217;s world of online marketing and email newsletters, companies put more on the line than ever before.  Allowing advertisers to send &#8217;special alerts&#8217; to your E-list too often and your list becomes worthless as members simply delegate all of your messages to their spam.</p>
<p>The quality of the advertising itself is also an issue, especially when you put your own brand name at the top of the email.  Online corporations that market other online corporations without regard to the advertisement&#8217;s authenticity or quality but only the whether the check clears the bank run a high risk of their own brand image becoming suspect.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.newsmax.com" target="_blank">Newsmax</a> is a prime example of a company that makes both of these mistakes.</p>
<p>Newsmax not only uses their email list to send an annoyingly large number of advertisements to their subscribers daily under the guise of &#8216;Newsmax Specials&#8217; or &#8216;Alerts,&#8217; they seem to not care to screen their advertisements for quality at all.  Sure, at the end of the day it is the advertiser&#8217;s responsibility to make sure that their ads aren&#8217;t fraudulent, but Newsmax practically stakes their entire reputation on these ads without double checking them.</p>
<p>About a week ago Newsmax sent me an advertisement featuring energy analyst John Myers and his latest recommendation, Tamm Oil and Gas (TAMO).  Who John Myers is and whether or not he is an Energy Analyst I don&#8217;t know, but at the very least his analytical skills are of dubious quality.  It took me less than thirty seconds to decide that the email was a ploy to make the advertiser some quick dough, and just a few minutes (thanks to the very helpful tools at <a href="http://moneycentral.msn.com/home.asp" target="_blank">MSN Money Central</a>) to reassure myself that I wasn&#8217;t missing out on the deal of a lifetime.</p>
<p>TAMO formed out of Hola Communications (not sure how the industries relate, but it seems their then new CEO was a Canadian Energy speculator), and owns a large selection of Oil Sands in Canada.  The first red flag? Oil Sands are only profitable if Oil prices go way up and stay there, a possibility as China&#8217;s oil appetite grows but not a done deal.  TAMO&#8217;s oil sands are undeveloped, but according to their website they are currently in the process of test drilling and getting ready to move dirt.  On their latest SEC filing TAMO claimed about $10k cash (no real change from the third quarter, or for that matter any quarter they&#8217;ve filed) with no outstanding debts.  Now I&#8217;m not an Oil Sands engineer, but it seems to me that a company doing oil sands explorations and testing is going to have heavy operating costs, so no debt and no cash: second red flag.</p>
<p>One possibility is that TAMO&#8217;s costs are low because they own their own exploration, drilling, and testing equipment.  However, also according to their latest SEC filing the company&#8217;s total hard assets (equipment, furniture, computers, etc) amounts to a whopping total less than $400: third red flag.</p>
<p>And for a last note about their finances, TAMO declares the value of their Oil Sands properties as &#8216;unevaluated,&#8217; but they had no problem increasing their properties&#8217; estimated worth from $4million to nearly $17million: fourth red flag.</p>
<p>With all the above in mind, it was no surprise to read the very fine print at the bottom conveniently difficult to read that said:</p>
<p><em>&#8220;this paid advertising issue of John Myers (hereafter &#8220;MYERS&#8221;) does not puport to provide an analysis of any company&#8217;s financial position or prospects and is not to be construed as a recommendation by MYERS and is not in any wat to be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security. Tamm Oil &amp; Gas Corp. (hereafter &#8220;Tamm&#8221;), the company featured in this report, appears as paid advertising in an effort to increase industry and investor awareness.&#8221;</em></p>
<p>I&#8217;m not surprised that I received a spam email purporting to guide my wallet to riches, but I am concerned for Newsmax&#8217;s sake that they risk their reputation as a Conservative news organization of decent repute by allowing their advertisers to peddle horrible financial advice under their banner.</p>
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		<title>Yes, Tennessee, There is a Constitution</title>
		<link>http://iamerica.backyardpolitics.org/blog/2009/12/25/yes-tennessee-there-is-a-constitution/</link>
		<comments>http://iamerica.backyardpolitics.org/blog/2009/12/25/yes-tennessee-there-is-a-constitution/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 25 Dec 2009 20:43:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>dennis powers</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[On the Right Track]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bailouts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Capitalism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christmas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[climate change]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Constituion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[global warming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Healthcare]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Santa Clause]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tennesee]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Welfare]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.backyardpolitics.org/blog/?p=517</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Dear Santa,
Are you still at the North Pole?  Are you floating on a piece of ice with all of the polar bears because of global warming?  How is Mrs. Claus?  Is she a good swimmer?
I’ve been a good boy all year.  I live in Tennessee and I watch the news on TV all the time.
I’ve [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Dear Santa,</p>
<p>Are you still at the North Pole?  Are you floating on a piece of ice with all of the polar bears because of global warming?  How is Mrs. Claus?  Is she a good swimmer?</p>
<p>I’ve been a good boy all year.  I live in Tennessee and I watch the news on TV all the time.</p>
<p>I’ve been told not to use the word “Christmas” any more because I might offend someone, so for this “holiday,” all I want is a copy of the U.S. Constitution.  Is there still a U.S. Constitution, Santa?</p>
<p>You see Santa, when I watch those people in Washington, D.C., I don’t think they have a copy of the Constitution and I want to make copies and give it to all of them.  If they read it, they wouldn’t spend all of our money and vote for things that we don’t want.</p>
<p>They give away more free stuff too than you do Santa.  But, someone told me that all my friends and me would have to pay for all the free stuff they give away to those who won’t work.  I only have two dollars.</p>
<p>I know you and the elves work hard all year.  Maybe, all of you should sign up on welfare and you wouldn’t have to work anymore either.</p>
<p>But, I don’t know who would deliver the presents if you did that.  Could Congress start another government program for that too?</p>
<p>I heard someone ask Congressman Clyburn on TV where healthcare was in the Constitution and he said,  “Well, it’s not in the Constitution. There’s nothing in the Constitution that says the Federal Government has got anything to do with most of the stuff we do.”</p>
<p>On second thought, I don’t know if giving out copies of the Constitution is a good idea or not.  I think some of them have read it, but just don’t care.  Maybe, you should bring me a puppy instead.</p>
<p>Signed……a little Tennessee boy……..</p>
<p>P.S.  I will leave a granola bar and skim milk for you because my president says you are too fat and are exhaling too much carbon dioxide.  Also, the reindeer are emitting too many greenhouse gases, so please start driving a hybrid.</p>
<p>Dear little Tennessee boy,</p>
<p>Ho, Ho, Ho!  Yes, Tennessee, there is a Constitution.  You just don’t understand how things work in Washington.</p>
<p>I bring gifts the elves work to produce each year.  They call that capitalism.  You see, there are many in Washington right now that don’t like capitalism.</p>
<p>Those folks are the ones who want to take money from your mommy and daddy who work and give it to people who don’t work and third-world countries with dictators.  Your president calls it “spreading the wealth,” but here at the North Pole, we call it socialism.</p>
<p>Those people in Washington want to act like Santa and give stuff away, but they don’t have anything to give away, so they have to take it from your mommy and daddy.  Then, they use that money to buy gifts for people so they can get re-elected.  Ho, Ho, Ho.</p>
<p>That’s why it is so hard for your mommy and daddy to make ends meet.   They have to pay taxes, so the people in Washington can spend it on bailouts, stimulus, welfare, healthcare, global warming and things that are not in the Constitution.  If they got to keep more of their money, they could give more to help those who are really in need.</p>
<p>Those people in Washington take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution.  If they had read it, they would know that their job is to provide for national defense and infrastructure that citizens cannot provide for themselves.</p>
<p>But, in reality, little Tennessee, most of those in Washington just want to get re-elected.  They don’t really care about the people or they wouldn’t take $500 billion out of Medicare that helps the elderly.</p>
<p>Those people in Washington also talk about all the jobs they have “created” and “saved,” but we both know there is only one Creator and Savior, Jesus Christ.  He is the reason we have Christmas and you can still say Christmas (for now).</p>
<p>So, little Tennessee, I don’t really think it will do any good to give them a Constitution.  I don’t think they would like it as a present.  I don’t even think that a lot of them like America.</p>
<p>So, what kind of puppy would you like?</p>
<p>Merry Christmas and Happy Climategate,</p>
<p>Santa</p>
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