Volume IV, Issue XVIII
Can America Face the Truth?
The 'other' weekly news magazine is focused on China this week. "The People's Republic of Scandal" [click to read]. There is no question there have been abuses of power in China, but what is even more chilling are the abuses of power in our own country and the media's unwillingness to cover them.
On the one hand it is good to see TIME acknowledge China's thuggery, but it is disheartening to see them ignore SEIU violence, voter intimidation by the New Black Panther Party and Eric Holder's ignoring of it... all the while throwing roadblocks in the way of Arizona officials simply trying to enforce existing US immigration law. The EPA is fast overtaking the IRS as the agency to be feared by honest business people.
Potential voters (legal or otherwise) receive preferential treatment while those who actually pay the bills and make the country work are increasingly being treated like criminals.
The President spent twenty years under the teachings of Jeremiah Wright, disciple of James Cone. Their 'Black Liberation Theology' is basically Marxism in a racial wrapper. The President's 'solutions,' such as 'healthcare reform' are basically government taking over functions of the private sector.
The president lives like a so-called 'one per-center,' taking lavish vacations and hosting lavish parties at the White House, not to mention his hefty golf schedule, all the while blasting the captains of industry and finance for doing so. The media gives him a pass on this, allowing him to maintain the image of being 'the people's president.'
But as his energy policies drive prices to the levels of those in Europe, as desired by Energy Secretary Steven Chu, the people's need for reliable affordable energy is being ignored.
Domestic exploration that could employ so many Americans is on hold while our money goes to countries that want to destroy us. Clearly this is bad from a national security perspective as well.
Then there is the whole ACORN problem. Obama functions in a world described well by Steven Malanga:
"Community organizing’s roots stretch back to the 1930s and Chicago organizer Saul Alinsky, founder of the Industrial Areas Foundation and author of Rules for Radicals. But it wasn’t until President Lyndon Johnson’s ambitious plan to end poverty through massive federal spending that the Alinsky model—grassroots organizing, neighborhood by neighborhood—really took off. Starting in the mid-1960s, the federal government directed billions of dollars to neighborhood groups, convinced that they knew better than Washington what their communities needed. The federal funds, eventually supplemented by state and local tax dollars, helped create a universe of government-funded community groups running everything from job-training programs to voter-registration drives—far beyond anything Alinsky could have imagined. Some 3,000 local social-services groups were soon receiving government funding in New York City alone. Many were new, but the money also helped turn traditional charities that had operated on private donations into government contractors."
Malanga gives more background in Organizer in Chief [click to read] in City Journal. The President routinely dismisses the Tea Party but he and his minions have embraced the Occupy Movement. Alinsaky would have loved it! That the Tea Party is true grassroots and the Occupy protesters spring from the Alinsky model tells you everything you need to know.
In October of 2008, Michael Barone wrote these sobering words:
"I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors," Barack Obama told a crowd in Elko, Nev. "I want you to talk to them whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face." Actually, Obama supporters are doing a lot more than getting into people's faces. They seem determined to shut people up.
In "The Coming Obama Thugocracy" [click to read], Barone gave us a chilling foretaste of "the audacity of hope and change." It is a shame more people weren't listening.
In Augusta the Adults are Governing
The Augusta Supervisors just voted to increase the personal property tax rate. Voting 4-3 Wednesday night not to raise the real estate tax rate after advertising a potential 3-cent increase over the 48-cent per $100 rate, they instead voted 4-3 to raise personal property taxes 25 cents on cars and trucks. The personal property tax rate goes from $2.25 to $2.50 per $100.
A little background is in order. First of all, the new Board of Supervisors came into a situation where everyone knew tough choices were in order. Then candidates Karaffa, Pattie, Michaels and Pyles devoted much of the campaign to informing the electorate. They held town hall meetings and laid out the needs of educators and public safety people. They referenced the last botched reappraisal but offered solutions.
The debate over providing essential services/tax increases was held in the open. The skewed appraisals had resulted in a decrease in funding returned from Richmond. Now it was time for the hard choices.
Debate over whether or not to use capital fund money occured at a reasonable point in the debate (and in the open), then the tax debate was again held in public view. In the end, none of us likes paying more car tax, we would like Richmond to pony up, but unlike Washington, Augusta has to pass a real budget.
If you were listening, no promises were broken. Hard decisions were weighed and made, and according to David Karaffa we're well on our way to correcting the appraisal numbers in 2014. That, Karaffa says, is the time to set the real estate tax rate.
So now is not the time to play 'blame games.' I think the Board of Supervisors actually deserves our thanks for performing an unpleasant part of their job in a responsible manner.
Lynn Writes More [click to read] about the Augusta County Budget hearings: "In a year that has demanded difficult decisions from five new members of the seven-member board, it was refreshing to know that all had deliberated about the budget shortfalls, always mindful of their constituents who struggle day-to-day to pay their own bills."
Today is the National Day of Prayer
“…if my people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” -- 2 Chronicles 7:14
Today is the National Day of Prayer. Please join in prayer for our nation on this special day.
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