Fiscal Cliff best option

What is the best option for the US as it approaches the "fiscal cliff"?  The Answer will surprise you.

Fiscal Cliff is just a bump in the road.

The best option for Congress is to do NOTHING.  That is right, NOTHING.  Nothing allows taxes to go up (democrats keep telling us taxes need to be hire, this will raise it about 800 Billion Dollars).  The GOP, allegedly believes in limited government and a balance budget, guess what – we are about to hit the debt ceiling.  Meaning the government won’t be able to spend more than it takes in.  This will save us 8-10 Trillion dollars in debt and force the Obama administration to live within its means.

Right now the GOP is just trying to get 800 Billion in savings by negotiations.  Why not get it all?  The basic answer is that the GOP and Democrats are really the same party.

Home Brewing part 2

In February I picked up a Red Ale from Liquid Hobby. It turned out well, but I think the alcohol content was low. I was still having trouble with the Hydrometer. I also realized that I should be measuring the temperature of the water, which I didn’t because I didn’t have the tool to do so. I still haven’t picked one up. Then I took 6 months off of brewing. I was too busy and picking up a 12 pack of Yungling is too easy. I also moved from South to North Carolina. Plus I’m not really a beer snob, I’m a rugby player. The next beer I made for Caribou Slobber from Northern Brewer. The directions were very different than from Liquid Hobby – a little harder to follow, but with more details. I also purchased a case of re-sealable bottles and a glass secondary Carboy. This was the toughest beer so far. I did get to borrow a brew kettle that was heated up with propane that was supposed to be easier to control; of course it was my first time using it. Also first time working with grains, which was fairly straight forward. Still having trouble with the hydrometer, I got a reading of 1.042 and the direction I think say 1.052. The one thing I like about Liquid Hobby direction better is it is very specific about the ranges you should get and Northern Brewers is not. I did like the more complicated brewing, although it did take up more time. I also think I messed up the yeast culture a bit, so maybe that is why the gravity didn’t change as much as I thought it should. The beer came out tasting good, but I think it was low alcohol again. I broke my Hydrometer putting it away. So now I have a portable Refractometer, which I now HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

Home Brewing – First Brew

Just before last Christmas, there was a homebrew kit on www.groupon.com from our local homebrew store Bet Mar Liquid Hobby shop.  In college I had some roommates who dabbled in home brewing and have since continued.  So I decided to ask my brother to pick it up for my Birthday gift.

The first brew I did was an Amber kit.  I unfortunately lost the directions since then, but I’m sure you can find it on the Bet Mar website.  The beer came out tasting very good, but I definitely did not do the beer making process properly.  I’ve tried to keep notes as I brew, but I’ve not a done a great job.  I can tell you I cleaned the pot I just bought (4 Gallon about $55 from Wal-mart) with Everclear.  I don’t know if this was a good idea, but I do know you aren’t supposed to clean with normal agents (soap). 

The hardest part was reading the Hydrometer, I should have paid more attention in Chemistry Class at Clemson – I’m sure my professor will concur.  I also don’t think I added the Sugars properly from my notes, but they are almost a year old.  Anyways everyone really liked the Amber Ale.

The other hard part was getting enough of the right type of bottles, I had 12 that were screw caps and broke about 4 of them and then gave up.  Rookie mistake, I probably left about ¾ of a gallon at the bottom.  I tried to put it in an old Orange Crush plastic bottle to see how it turned out.  Not well.  Apparently it is doable, but I didn’t do any research beforehand.

The dust has settled on QE3

Ben has explained that he is hoping to reduce interest rates on housing, to make them more affordable.

Whut?!?

Didn't we get in this mess by people buying houses more than they were worth becuase of government loan programs that allowed consumers to buy houses that they could afford, thus drying up supply and increasing prices.

Since last time we tried something like this it sent our economy into the worst recession since the great depression, I'm sure it won't do the same thing again.  Actually it won't because QE won't work, it hasn't worked and it is a failed economic philosophy. 

On the side note, if you love to pay more for gas.  QE is working great!  Crude Oil hits 4 month high.

Fed launches QE3

QE 3 Announced

 

*Not my Picture

The Rich will get Richer!  The poor will stay poor, and the middle class will become poor!  Whoops, that is not what the Fed is telling us will happen.  However if you will just take a moment to look at what has happened in other countries that have tried that and what is happening in our grociery stores and at our gas pumps you will see that QE3 does nothing, but help the rich bankers, get richer.

*Update
http://www.ft.com/home/us has an article that I can not access, showing that the US median income is the lowest it has been since 1995.

IRan

Why are we going to war with Iran?  They haven’t invaded a country since before we were officially a country.  They have allegedly help fund terrorist, but that shouldn’t cause the US to take another 1 Trillion in debt.

So why will our government invade Iran, no matter who wins the elections, by the end of 2014?  Because Iran is selling oil to other countries in currency other than the US dollar.  The same thing Iraq did before we invaded them.

I don’t know if WW III is coming, but if it does – it will likely be over protecting our fiat currency (monopoly money).

WWIII?

What is causing Cancer at 9/11 sites?

Fox News Report more people are eligible for aid. I'm wondering what from a building and a plane crash would cause cancer.  It does seem like a high number to have got cancer. 

We don't do our job, give us more money

Teacher Unions are striking in Chicago.  They are mad they were only going to get a 16% raise after already being the highest paid teachers in the countries.
However, by even the government strick guidelines (not) they are basically useless as
Most students unable to read or do math.

Perhaps the students will learn more while wandering the streets, while a pro union government negotiate with a strong TU and morgtage those children future, a future where they won't be able to read about the prosperty America once earned, not lost.

Who will put us in Chains?

Does either party have a presidential candiate that cares about you?  You decide.

Vice President Biden had a large gaff as he said Mitt Romney will, “put y’all back in chains,” when addressing a large crowd (at least large for the VP).  Then this week the DNC runs this ad: – stating that we “all belong to the government”.

 

Last I checked this was supposed to be a free country, but if the Democrats think we all belong to the government, I guess it should be no surprise they want to put us in chains – not the other way around.  At best they think they have the right to put us in chains.  Of course, and rightly so, the democrats will say this was taken out of context, just like “You didn’t build that” was taken out of context.  However, writers use words much more intentionally then the rest of us, these saying were written with a purpose. “You Didn’t Build That” was when Obama went off his teleprompter for once and spoke from his heart.

While the Democrats basically try and give this election away, the GOP must be having a ball and cruising to an easy win over an incumbent that has done nothing to better the American way of life – excluding his homebrew recipe.

Meanwhile in the GOP tent the grass roots supporters who were able to get elected against all odds were told they “are not needed and either need to toe the line or get out”.  Should the Tea Party vote for Romney?  Maybe, should they spend any recourse or time to do so?  I’d say no.  Time is better spent electing local leaders who believe in small government and congressmen that believe in small government.  The Virginia Tea Party seems to agree.

The Virginia Tea Party Agrees.

So we have Liberals unifying behind: You didn’t build that, you must buy this product or get fined, you all belong to the government and have no reference of God in their platform.  The GOP has kicked out their hardest working supporters.  In the end, we don’t know if either party want to be president over the next four years, and anyone who can see the financial cliff approaching understands why, and we already know who has won this November, lobbyist of big business.

Pay Stubs

Every other week my company pays its employees.  At that time we must print a pay stub and give to them.  This adds about an hour to our time processing our pay and upto $0.75 per employee.  I'd say 50-75% of them never look at it and it goes directly into the trash can.

Are they allowed to opt out from recieving them?  No!  I don't look at mine, and if I did want it I would just look at it on the cloud or ask to see the newest one.

Employees should be allowed to opt out of receving the paystub.  So much wasted time, I can't imagine the cost to a large company.  I'd estimate we spend $100 a month on it.  To a small business - those numbers add up quick.

TSA to test drinks... you buy inside terminal.

Now you can't bring you own water in, and if you buy one, well the TSA may test it.  Could the government just be trying to determine how much freedom we will give them before their is backlash?

http://www.infowars.com/video-shows-tsas-bizarre-new-security-policy/

How much extra in taxes will this cost us?

Paul Ryan courts Ron Paul Grass Roots Activist

The Daily Caller picked up on a TV plea from Paul Ryan indicating him and Paul are "friends" and see "eye to eye" on a lot of issues.

I can tell you I am personally friends with a lot of people whose politics I disagree with and respect a lot of those people too.  So I don't think being friends with the person that one supported is qualification for me, at least, to vote for you.

While Paul Ryan may claim to see "eye to eye" with the good congressman, he certainly doesn't vote like it.  He voted for TARP (about $1 Trillion dollars down the drain), voted for NDAA, and voted for big government over free markets many times.

His budget doesn't balance for 30-40 years (and we are supposed to believe congress in 30 years will follow his plan).  To be fair Obama can't get even 1 democrat to vote for his budget.  Not even Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi.

Those of us who a true republicans, constituonal conservatives, must hold our leaderships feet to the fire and make sure they are representing us.  They haven't.  We have done a good job electing tea party and libertarian leading leaders locally and we must continue to do that.  I'm not supporting our presidential canadiate, and I won't vote for Obama.  Be sure I'll be giving money and time to the GOP who cares about America and limited government, I suggest you do the same.  If we build from the bottom up, America will be much better off than trying to build from the top down.  Trickle down economics works, trickle down politics do not.

K12 Online Review - Government Cheese

As a young kid I was homeschooled and didn’t know about the terrible ways students bullied and teased each other in public school.  So I or my brothers were given an education after school hours with our neighborhood playmates.  One thing we learned about was “government cheese” which I think is what they called the government supplied lunch to the poor children.  It was implied that it was cheese that the private industry (rich) had forsaken and given to the poor.  It was spoiled.

I am not here to bully anyone, but let us look at K12 and what type of education that is actually giving your child, you will come to understand K12 is essentially taking Government Cheese and eating it at home.  It is still the same education, but at home.  This is tied to two ideas.  The first is it is cheaper for the government to get people to do the public school program at home.  So it is money driven.  The second thought is that class size has a large impact on education and that the child will be able to get 1 on 1 attention at home. 

The financial factor has nothing to do with the individual’s education, but with the budget of the state.  The class room size, is a big factor for a student, but if you are following the government schedule it is essentially having a chef prepare the government cheese for your child.  Sure it may look better and taste better, but it is still government cheese.

The good thing about K12 is it exposes the parent to what good food is and those who can teach them how to prepare it.  K12 is a stepping stone out of the government education system.  Those families are exposed to actual homeschoolers and those education programs that provide a banquet for the student.  It exposes those who have grown numb to the taste of modern state run education the exposure to the wonderful food available for those who leave the system.

"You didn't build that" Obama on the entrprenuer

The business owner, at least at start up, is often working 12-16 hour days without pay, in hope of future gains. This is what is called the entrepreneur spirit. When president Obama said “you didn’t build that” it was a slap in the face to every American. Every good entrepreneur knows that his employees and friends and family helped them in some way. Sometimes it is encouragement, sometimes it is showing up to work on time, sometimes it is bringing them a hot meal on a long day and sometimes it is a loan. A loan, while monetary, is a way of joining in the entrepreneur spirit without the physical pain. It is no longer a lone person, but multiple people working to build a business. They are a single unit, striving to provide a good or service at a better rate than others who are already established. You isn’t just a singular noun, it can also be plural. If you have ever worked for an entrepreneur, were friends with an entrepreneur, or helpped an entrepreneur that president was signaling you out as well.

What Ought I to Love?

On a family trip to Michigan, I had the pleasure of reading an advance copy of The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert by Rosaria Champagne Butterfield. It is a thought-provoking testimony of a leading LGBT university professor’s conversion to Christianity. Due to the nature of her sin, it gives insight into how the Church treats the LGBT community. It also shows how one pastor and his family’s consideration and time led her to belief and through her struggle with her own transformation by Jesus Christ. I really enjoyed the book and believe Christians would benefit from reading it and thinking about the questions she poses. She also sprinkles in good life lessons and takeaways for those who are walking with the Lord through adversity. Now to go off on a tangent that ties in with the book but is not its focus: discussing praise music on page 92, her words struck me: “The Psalms are the word of God. While hymns and praise and worship music take up themes of Christian life, we are told very clearly here that we are sanctified by the word and by the word alone.” This thought wasn’t brand new to me; I know there are churches that sing only the Psalms, and that the churches I’ve been a part of have song both Psalms and modern music. I must confess, however, that I typically gravitate to the new music, although I have an appreciation for Psalms and hymns. The reason I am still thinking about this subject is my attendance at the Society for Classical Learning’s conference last week, where I had the pleasure of listening to authors Ken Myers and James K.A. Smith discuss music and its proper place. Christians focus on praise and find meaning in the words themselves, without identifying themes or form of that praise and the meaning within that form. Modern culture has disordered music. Disordered music that is so prevalent we now find it in many worship services. Many will argue that people like modern music and we should give them what they like because God will use it. Ken Myers aptly responds that while God will use defective things, that doesn’t make the thing worthy nor something we should seek to use. Modernism rejects the idea that good education should train you to like what is good and beautiful. C.S. Lewis argues that the whole point of a classical Christian education was to train you to love what is lovely. Ken Myers went on to argue that music is rooted in morality has been rejected and objectivity rules in modern culture. I would argue that is why we have a culture of “I was born this way” so aptly sung by Lady Gaga. I am not arguing that only Psalms should be sung—I’ve not done enough research into the matter—but I do think that we should start to think about what we are exposing ourselves to and how that may affect our worldview and thought life. If our children can sing the newest Gaga song, but don’t know the Apostles Creed or the pledge of Allegiance, then we may need to rethink how we are training our children up to love what they ought. You can purchase the book here: http://www.crownandcovenant.com/product_p/mis85.htm Ken Myers and Mars Hill Audio: http://www.marshillaudio.org/

Should we have a president intent on Gambling away our future?

President Obama has a new marketing strategy “Betting on America” and it is one that explains his first four years of policy. He bet on Solyndra, and on many other companies which have failed. He bet you would like what is in the Health Care bill and all we found was one of the largest tax increases in history. He bet you would forget he was going to close our torture facility next to Cuba. In fact the ACLU has recently come out against gambling because it exploits the poor. Obama bet that people won’t hold him accountable for 4 years of high unemployment, and overseeing an economy that saw the divide between the rich and poor rise. Although I’m not a fan of Mitt Romney, and am still holding out slight hope Dr. Paul will win in Tampa, at least Romney is not a gambling man. He is a business man. “Betting on America” at best gives us a 50/50 shot. I think America has a lot better shot than that, I’m not going to bet on America, I’m going to stand with Americans. Romney is a business man, and he knows that you don’t bet on projects like Solyndra, you don’t rush ready-made projects (how many of those have been started?). To get out of recession you need to build wealth, not squander it. Obama has gambles with our future for 4 years and what have we got to show for it? 15 Trillion or so in debt, 8+% unemployment and close to 20% underemployment. I don’t want a president who is going to bet on America. I want a president who is going to have a plan for America and that plan be let the people keep their money and do with it as they see fit. That is a plan that can renew American greatness.

The War on Drugs is failing

How can anyone defend our position on the drug war?



Via: FEE.tv

Money

Say you have $10 and have three choices to spend it on.  Option A, B, C and they are all $10.  You have the option to free choice any of them.  You can weigh the benefits of each product and pick the one that fits you the best.  This creates competition between the three companies and they work to provide better products, and gain market share.  If one company doesn’t perform, then they will be forced to leave the market place.

Now the Government gets involved.  It really likes option C, in face option C they say is the best for you.

So the Government decides to give C - $1.  Now options A, B cost $10 and C cost $9. 

A & B can either lower their price, by cutting margin or process improvements to meet the cost of C.  C doesn’t have to do anything to keep its competitive advantage.  In fact it can decrease its rate of improvement compares to the other companies.  Reducing investments and decreasing competition.

The Government doesn’t have its own money to give, so it takes your $1 in the form of taxes.  It has to pay someone 10% to process your money.  So it only has $0.90 to give to company C.  So it borrows the $0.10 from a foreign country.

The next year you still have $10, but $1 has to go to the government.  Company A & B have laid off workers trying to get their price point to $9 to be competitive with C.  Company C is doing great, in fact they can now raise prices $0.10 and still have a financial edge over their competition.

You now have to pay your taxes, but you also have to pay back what you owe from last year’s debt.  So now you have to pay $1.10, the Government keeps $0.10 for itself and gives company C $1.00 and gives the Foreign entity $0.02 to pay back part of the loan and interest.  The government now needs to borrow $.12 to pay for its services this year.

You now have $8.98 to buy a $9.10 product.  You now go to the bank or credit card to take out the $0.12 you need to pay for the product.

Boy was it nice that the government came together and lowered the cost of product C for us!

Obama a Birther

I was never one of those "birthers" and am still not. It looks like our good president can't claim the same thing. He once used his Kenyan heritage as a stepping stone. I will continue to believe he was born in Hawaii - even if he doesn't.

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

It isn’t over people. The MSM (Main Stream Media) for you folks that watch Fox, CNN or any other large network are being hood winked. It would be like ESPN giving you the yard a WR has caught and not the score. At the end of the Panther vs Lions games Steve Smith had 88 yards and Calvin Johnson had 130. So we are going to give the W to the Lions. That is all the MSM has been reporting this election cycle.
Who won Iowa? First it was Mitt Romney, then it was Santorum and the media said “what is we knew Santorum has won earlier?” Guess what? They got it wrong AGAIN – who won? Ron Paul won Iowa.
Who won Minnesota? It was a big win for Santorum, kept him in the race. Whoops who won Mn? Ron Paul won Mn. Missouri is a sweep for Santorum. What? This is like ESPN saying in Madden 2013 the New York Giants have won the Superbowl now we wonder what will 2014 bring us? The election wasn’t any more real than a video game. The likely winner of Missouri is going to be Ron Paul.
The same can be said in Nevada, Washington, Alaska, Colorado, maybe North Dakota and maybe Pennsylvania. What? Pennsylvania? You see in PA you vote for a candidate and you vote for a Delegate. Ron Paul voters all voted for the Ron Paul Delegates, but who did the other voters vote for? You don’t have who you are going to vote for next to your name. So it is still possible Ron Paul will win PA.
Don’t let the MSM fool you. You’re too smart for that. This race is far from over. We still have 1 Honest, Electable, Conservative, Christian left in this race – his name: Ron Paul.

Do What Fox News?

This is completely mind blowing. What Fauxnews? As an avid GOPer most of my life I was raised on fox news in many ways. The more I educate myself the more I agree with the democrats that Fox puts out junk, of course I think that for a different reason then they do. Check out the link to the video I just took. I was so irate I couldn't even talk. Ron Paul 2012. rEVOLution.

I love to be photographed- Nude edition!

I used to be sickened by the fact the nearly 60% of children in Public School are bullied and over 40% are sexually harassed. Now I know that the system is just getting them ready for the "real world" - US Government uses sexual humiliation to control masses.

Some of you may know that my latest TSA experience was of harassment and rudeness. They made countless people miss their flight as they did 100% nude body scans. They were extremely rude while doing so and you basically have no recourse. If you complain - you can be arrested, or miss your flight. It was possibly the most humiliating thing most of those people had been through. They even scanned femail children.

Another Reason TSA should be banned

This weekend I'll be traveling through Americas airport - probably going to be sexually assaulted. Now we hear why TSA agents may be quick to pat down your child.
TSA Agent caught in Child Porn scheme.

In NYC school officials have added to the "banned word list" this year 7 new words that teachers can't place on test because they might be offensive. The list of Banned Words: Divorce. Dinosaurs, Birthdays. Religion. Halloween. Christmas. Television. According to the CNN report.

Expected to be added next year: Jobs, Gas, and Graduation...

The (un)Reason Rally

The (Un)Reason Rally

You may have heard of the “Reason Rally” on Washington D.C. where the most steadfast of Atheist minds gathered to let America know that they are here and they want to promote their idea that there is no God and man is the highest form of life we know of. One look at their message and goal would show that they left off at least two letters from what could have been aptly named as the UnReason Rally.

Atheist believe in the most unreasonable of all belief: that two entities that were dead would create one living entity (evolution) and that this would then perpetrate itself thousands of times to get to where we are today. The current nature of biology would not allow such a path to exist. You could argue that there was a designed evolution, which I would not, but at least you could with a God you can argue evolution was a tool of God to get where we are today. The nature of biology is that two creature that are not alike can create another being. Except for similar species, horse and donkey create a mule, but two mules cannot mate. The Liger can mate with a Tiger or Lion, but not with another Liger. So the current state of science would tell us it is not possible for two separate species to perpetrate themselves around the globe.

So even if you were to argue that through random chance (very reasonable) that one life may come from something else, you would then have to argue that it would happen twice in the same area and produce two opposite sexes every time (again very reasonable).

Of course Athiest are not dumb, so they argue there were other factors, a gue or different forces of nature that forced the change and have since disappeared. This argument obviously leads to the counter point that if a change like this occurs how can you trust science? “Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.” according to the all knowing Wikipedia. In order to argue for Evolution without God you can only do so by undermining the thing they claim to believe in, Science.

If the earth fundamentally changes with time (hence the mechanics for evolution) we must assume that the earth will change again. Therefore science can only explain what is happening right now and neither the past nor predict the future.

Science cannot give you Truth (capital T) only momentary insights into the current state of matter. These results may be momentarily accurate or accurate for a lifetime, but eventually they will change and when it does we will have to run the science experiments all over again to learn the new truth. Without God and Truth you cannot have science, if you believe in science but don’t think it points to a creator, you might as well believe that trees bend, but there is not wind.

As you can see it is clearly unreasonable not to believe in God.

Atheist ask God to unbless Rd

Despite claiming not to believe in God Atheist have now asked him to unbless a road.

Government spent $1Billion on Ads in 2010

Government spends $1 Billion on Ads to tell us about programs we can't afford.

About $500 million of it on Ads to make us feel good about our military.

You might be Voting for Santorum if…

You believe that the US trained and armed the Taliban to over throw the USSR, or as Bin Laden put it – get their troops off their holy land, and it was good, but that he attacked America because he hates Christians and not because he wanted us to get our troops off their holy land.

You agree with Santorum, as do I, that he believes that the Church’s job is to take care of the poor - while donating a measly 3% to his church, but won’t vote for Romney who gives 10% to his.

You believe Iran, whose not started a war since before Jesus, doesn’t have enough gas to send its battle ships across the ocean, can’t send a missile more than 70 miles away is a looming danger to America, but the 1 trillion more we would go in debt to fight them wouldn’t matter.

You are willing to overlook that Santorum is a Catholic who can’t win the Catholic vote over a Mormon, but think he can Beat Obama who handily won the Catholic vote in 2008 and would likely do so again.

That Santorum can beat Obama without the Independent vote and the young vote which make up for well over 30% of the electorate, but Ron Paul can’t while soundly taking the Independent vote and the young vote from Obama.

That Pro Life applies to unborn babies, but not to any country whose politics or religion you don’t agree with.

You get mad that Iran will kill a Christian Pastor, but holding prisoners without trial and killing Muslims is completely okay.

You aren’t voting for Santorum, but you would if he had been able to get on your states GOP primary ballet.

CNN Arizona Debate

CNN Arizona Debate
So who were the winners and losers?
Losers:

Santorum –
He got beat up badly, mostly from Ron Paul and Mitt Romney. Any chance he would solidify his momentum to a GOP win was lost. His lack of consistency and beliefs were apparent. He defended his vote for NCLB by saying he was voting with the “team” this was a key spot where we all wish John King would have used that age old questions “if President Bush jumped off a bridge would you do it to?” Alas he was much more respectful. Santorum says he will cut a Trillion a year the first 5 years – you know the same thing Ron Paul has been saying the whole thing.

Gingrich –
Gingrich had a good debate, but not a great one. Normally he would have been a winner, in fact many news groups are reporting he was the winner, but this debate effectively ended any chance he had at winning the nomination. He has no money (unless you count his super pac backed by a single Billionaire) and now has no chance. He needed an excellent debate in order to carry himself to wins like he did in South Carolina. He also answered about half the questions with: “I agree with Ron Paul.”

Winners :

Mitt Romney –
If only because Santorum did so poorly and Newt did nothing to move him back into the media’s top tier. He was steady and did a good job defending his record. It is now a race between him and Ron Paul, which if you are following the election you’ve known since New Hampshire.

Ron Paul –
His best spot was after the debate when CNN confirmed his statement that he is #2 in Delegate count – which is how you win the GOP presidential nomination. Newt Gingrich started many of his answers with “I agree with Ron Paul” and the other candidates again failed to attack him. Ron Paul did so well that many of the mainstream media called him a “winner” although they continue to discount his chances.

Can Dr. Paul beat Obama?

Let me start out saying, that this is not completely my letter, but was fwd to me from a friend. I've tweaked it a bit, but for the most part this is the work of a Georgia Tech graduate named: Eamon Causey. He wrote it so eloquently I have decide it is simpler to repost it.

Most of you know that I am a fan of Dr. Ron Paul. I believe he is the only candidate that represents a real change from the establishment politicians like Romney and Obama. After a 20%+ finish in both Iowa and New Hampshire, he is surging in the national polls and fast becoming the anti-establishment candidate to challenge Romney for the Republican nomination. In fact, just in the past week his polling numbers in South Carolina have gone from 9% to 20% and he has just started to campaign there. You might not know, but all of Ron Paul's campaign funding comes from grassroots activists like you and me, and not from the special interests - banks, lobbyists, wall street, etc. In fact, Ron Paul's three biggest donors right now are the US Army, US Navy, and US Airforce - he has received twice the money from active duty military personnel than all of the other Republican candidates combined! Meanwhile, Romney's biggest donors are Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, and Morgan Stanley, the Wall Street special interests who all got bailed out during the financial crisis.

My Addition:

Many of you are concerned with the growing gap of prosperity between the rich and the poor. When Wall Street got its bailout the middle class paid for it, while the rich got richer. When the value of the dollar declines, which inevitable happens when you are 15 trillion in debt, do the rich get hurt or do the poor? A strong dollar, that once earned can be kept is the best way to rebuild the middle class.

As many of you are I too am concerned with the direction President Obama has taken America and I know that on all South Carolinians minds is who can beat Obama and restore America now. CNN, Foxnews, and many other news agencies would have you believe Mitt Romney is the only candidate that can beat Obama. Do you remember 2008? Obama swept the Independents and under 30 crowd and that is why he won. Look it up. There is only one candidate who beats Obama in this age group and that is Ron Paul. Mitt can’t beat Obama because he can’t win this group of Americans. If you are under 30, talk to your parents and grandparents about why you are voting for Ron Paul. If you are a parent or grandparent ask you child why they are voting for Ron Paul, there response may surprise you. SC Senator Tom Davis recently endorsed Ron Paul saying, ““I’m also endorsing him because unlike what the pundits have led you to believe, he is the candidate who gives the Republican Party the best chance to beat Barack Obama in November.””

Back to Eamon:

Today there is a money bomb for Ron Paul's campaign. I would urge of all you to look into Ron Paul's platform, watch his youtube videos, and research his plan to Restore America. If you agree as I do that he represents real change and a challenge to the status quo, then today is the day to donate - $10, $20, $50, $100 - whatever you can manage. I've put my money where my mouth is and gave $100 to the campaign today.

You can donate here: http://www.ronpaul2012.com/

For Liberty,
Robert Bortins

p.s. - for those of you not as familiar with Ron Paul, here are some videos that will help explain his positions:

Ron Paul Movie (1 hour documentary about the beginning of the Revolution in 2007)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GR4WYqabTxU

Jon Stewart on the Media Ignoring Ron Paul
http://gawker.com/5831167/jon-stewart-why-is-the-media-ignoring-ron-paul

You Like Ron Paul, Except Foreign Policy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4a__tcfFug

Debate Highlights 1/7/12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fByaNBLYaU

Speech after New Hampshire
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Da6irSCvnZY

New Hampshire Town Hall (look at that crowd!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ3U3Qp_3d8

Should Homeschoolers vote for Santorum?

Should Homeschoolers vote for Santorum?

Santorum is a homeschooling dad, the obvious question is should homeschoolers vote for Santorum? At first glance it is east to say “yes” and I did just that. I thought he would be a better president than Mitt Romney. I still do, but I now see him as a bad alternative to Romney. I do believe from a temporary view point he would be good for homeschoolers, but I don’t think he will do much to increase freedom in the US or around the world and that will harm homeschooling in the long run.

Santorum is an old testament Christian who will seek to destroy Islam through the use of our young people and the military. His statements are filled with hate and racism, although I doubt he knows what he is saying. This will make other leaders in countries where homeschooling is not welcome even more wary of adding it. As a Christian Conservative, I could not vote from Santorum. Christ’s message was of hope and love, not of a conquering empire. We know what Love is, because He first loved us. Love does not hate, it does not envy, and it certainly doesn’t seek to destroy entire nations.

Santorum would sacrifice our financial future and our countries security in order to perform his own crusade, much like the Catholic Church did centuries ago. As a Christian our job is to bring people to Jesus Christ, by preaching the good news, which is the gospel, not send people to Hell. I hope that those who homeschool and are Christians will stand with me and not vote for Santorum.

Should Homeschoolers Vote for Ron Paul

A well respected, by me and the homeschooling community, homeschool defense lawyer. He recently wrote a piece on Ron Paul and how he was an enemy of the laws that let him help make homeschooling legal, mainly the 14th amendment versus the 10th amendment. Now he is a wonderful Lawyer and has much more legal knowledge then I and I believe he has thoughtfully contemplated the field, so it is important for me to think over what he has said and see what I believe. He has done as much for homeschooling in the US as anyone else, if not more.

He later clarified his original statement and stated that he doesn’t believe Ron Paul would do anything to hurt homeschooling as president and if he understood what he had to do to keep Homeschooling legal that Paul would likely rethinking his stance. So I respect him for clarifying his stance.

So my first questions would be to look worldwide who bans homeschooling in other countries? It is the national government. So this would lead me to think in a long term look the national government changing their position would potentially be a big issue.

I may be wrong, but I’d think that the Federal Lawyers, besides using the Commerce Clause, may be looking to the 14th amendment to make Obamacare Legal. If anyone can comment on that, if I’m wrong or not, that would be very helpful, and I would like to state that this paragraph is purely speculation at this point.

The next question I would have is would it not be better if the State protected our homeschooling rights? Should we not seek that now while it is legally safe and homeschool friendly legislators are in office? If the 10th amendment was given more precedence does anyone believe states would run to make homeschooling illegal? States save $5000-$10,000 for every student who homeschools and are fighting budget deficits. It is highly unlikely any legislators would attempt to pass these laws and if they tried it is highly unlikely they would pass. Would Ron Paul not help form other legislation to ensure the liberties of homeschoolers?

As the world gets smaller, the UN continues to play a major role in American legislation. Obama has given the UN even more power over the US, Mitt would likely continue to give our rights away. The UN is filled with countries that are against homeschooling. If our country continues down this path it is currently on it is likely the Federal government could be the greatest threat to homeschooling. So it is important to get the States to make sure it Homeschooling legality will always be maintained.

So I believe the Lawyer has a very good point, from where he is coming from,and I also believe that he is taking a super worst case scenario to attack Dr. Paul.

In the end I am still endorsing Ron Paul. He will make homeschooling legally stronger, not weaker as President. He is for personal liberty, that is his platform and to make a statement that he would do otherwise would go against everything Dr. Paul has ever fought for and if we know anything about the presidential race is that there is only one GOP candidate who stands for Liberty and who has done so without flip flopping and that is Ron Paul.

Iowa Election results

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Ron Paul and his Problem with Iran

I got a request on how I’d argue against Joel Rosenberg, and others who say Ron Paul’s policy on Iran is dangerous.

Before you say I am for Iran, I think the world would be a safer place if they were a democracy like ours. Their leader was a Christian man with strong principles and so were all its people. Now lets take a look of how Iran is likely feeling right now. Lets put the shoe on the other foot for a few moments as they say.

Iran is making more news as they threaten to close down Strait of Hormuz.
The first thing I would say, is let us look at the human element. Does anyone believe that Iran’s leader is willing to die for his cause? I’m sure he is willing for others to die, but he doesn’t want to be killed. So unless it is a last ditch effort to save himself or he knows he is going to be killed imminently he won’t do anything to upset his position of power and wealth.

Second issue is the missiles they are testing. Well they go about 90 miles, when they work, the US has missiles that go across the world in a matter of hours. It is the equivalent of you building a BB gun while the school bully holds an AR 15 and bazooka to your head. Now you could argue that eventually they will have a better weapon that is why they need to be stopped now. I grew up in a system where you were innocent until proven guilty system of justice, I don’t see how you can justify prosecuting someone from crimes they might commit.

Iran has supplied fighters in Iraq/Afghanistan with weapons. Well if we didn’t invade those countries, which I believe most Americans think we should not have, they wouldn’t be doing that. We are going to spend nearly 3 Trillion dollars on those wars. Well over $6000 per US Citizen, so if you are a family of 4, you owe the US Government $24,000 for the wars – do you think you got your monies worth? Are you willing to spend another $10-20,000 to preemptively attack Iran?

What if that money was home, do you think we would have safer neighborhoods with 4% unemployment or with homeless neighbors who will do anything to feed their family? Do you think that 20,000 could have been better spent over here and we would still be safer?

I like to bring out a neighborhood analogy. You sit in the middle of two houses. A person across town comes over and breaks into your neighbors because he thinks they are evil. You don’t think they are, but you don’t really like them so you don’t do anything about it. Now that same person breaks into your other neighbor’s house, because they are evil. You don’t think they are, but you don’t really like them. While they invade your neighbors, they hint that you will be next, because you are evil. What do you do? Do you help out your neighbor or just wait? After all, the person breaking into these homes is much richer and powerful than you are. You are the bad guy and they are the good guy.

US citizens tend to think that we are the good guys and that everyone else is the bad guys. I have a feeling that most of Iran thinks they are the good guys, and we are the people across town coming to their neighborhood breaking into houses. Iran is responding the same way our Government would respond if something similar was happening over here. At least I pray to God that is how our government would respond. If I thought we were going to be invaded, I’d want our Government to puff up our chest and do anything it took to make us feel secure. That is all Iran is doing.

At least Iran, if you put themselves in their shoes, has a reason to think they are in imminent danger (sanctions, threats) of invasion. While we are speculating on what we think they are thinking of thinking about.

On the Funding Issue, Ron Paul isn’t talking about bringing our Defense budget to 0, just to bring our troops home and closes bases that have been expensive and meaningless since the 80s. Let us put it this way, you are a rich politician in the 1800’s. You have a ranch that is Twenty miles from town. Your mode of transportation is a Horse. You might own your ranch and a house in town, because it is a full days ride to get there and sometimes you need to be there for an extended time period. Now you own a car and you live 20 miles from where you work, it takes 10 minutes to get to town. Do you still need a house next to you office? Does it make sense to maintain it and go bankrupt doing so? That is essentially what our military offices overseas are, are homes that we don’t need, but refuse to give up. Eventually you will lose both homes because you can’t afford to keep both up.

Is America safer with dwindling funds and bases all over the world? Or is America safer with a strong economy and strong bases at home?

Is America safer by invading all the countries we don’t like? Or is America safer by giving other countries respect and no reason to fight us?

If we remember China's rising power used to be scary, but through economic ties we have grown closer to them and their people have become freer.

You can also look at the parallels of the Roman Empire and the US Empire. Traditional thinking is with more land comes more power, but Roman fell because it took too much land and the people of those lands rebelled against them. Roman gave them education, sewer, and roads. They didn’t care, they wanted their own leaders. What does the US do? Well we try and give them education and infrastructure. Can we learn anything from Roman? Are we so arrogant that we think we can do better? Are our leaders studying Roman and other Empires to see what led to their collapse so it won’t happen here?

If you are happy we had the Korean war, Vietnam war, Iraq war and Afghanistan war and how they went then Rick Santrum, Mitt Romney, or Rick Perry is you man. If you think we should learn from these wars and look at how we handled the USSR and China then Ron Paul is your man.

Oh and the last time Iran tried to close the Strait, the neighboring countries took care of that problem. Guess what, they would do it again. Not acting is empowering those countries to stand on their own and makes them stronger. Want Iran not to be a threat? Allow those around them to get stronger.

To say the Left or the Right has a strangle hold on good ideas is to say your boss has the only good ideas for the company.

Consider this illuminating exchange between Fox News anchor Bret Baier and Rep. Paul where Paul happily concedes that if he were to win the GOP nomination, he would be
“to the left of President Obama” on the Iran issue.

Maybe for once, being Left of the President is good for US prosperity.