A parody about the Catawba County District Attorney Republican Primary by Lee Harper

I don't know if this is the author's real name, but this is hilarious and dead on in so many ways. It was in the commentary section of a Hickory Daily Record article on their website (entitled Death Threat Detailed) pertaining to the Catawba County Republican Primary for District Attorney. This District Attorney race is so embarrassing in so many ways. I hope these men will take a good, long look at what they have displayed to the public. What issues have been defined in this campaign, certainly not many of a positive nature. This sums up these campaigns in a nutshell with some comic relief:

Tomorrow is the big day and hopefully we can put this whole mess behind us and move forward and start attacking the black guy.

I know there have been many hurtful things said on here but we need to leave them in the past. No Jay I didn’t say “Pabst” put the glass down. Surely the wise words of our supreme creator, you know the one who called Shawn Clark into the DA race, Ronald Reagan…”"The best minds are not in government."

If Shawn looses and eventually gets disbarred he will have an outstanding career in the used car business. He has so many supporters who believe what he says He will get rich enough to be a real republican in Catawba County. A word of advice Shawn, act now and buy as many flood cars in Tennessee as you can and re-sale them here for huge profits as the current DA would have no clue as to the legality of this.

If Jay looses he can always fall back to his plans of making a drinking game out of watching Sesame Street and taking a shot whenever they show a white person.

I suggest to mend the Republican fence that both candidates take a weeks vacation Wednesday to Las Vegas together. Court wouldn’t miss Jay, they haven’t missed him in years why start now? We know Shawn knows how to make last minute flight and hotel reservations and they won’t sleep together. Five seconds ok?

We all have gone through a lot in the last few weeks. I hate that we missed a good debate as Jay skipped the chance. I don’t fault him as he was worried they would bring up the “Taste Great vs. Less Filling” question and he wouldn’t want to make the father-in-law nervous if he chose the wrong side. Luckily we did hear how God spoke to Shawn and urged him to run and as an incentive he can break Commandments 2, 6, 8, 9 when he pleases with no repercussions.

Maybe after tomorrow the healing will begin. The McHenry crowd will come out of the closest and support their party. Maybe they will lift their hems of their dresses and show who is wearing the pants. Maybe they will remove the ball-gag and shout for their fellow republican.

I think Jay will support Shawn. I think he is the sort to take chances…like riding shotgun with a drunk at high speed on an interstate or risk being operated on by a doctor who clearly doesn’t make correct decisions hastily. Jay will take a chance with Shawn when he faces the bar. Name a bar in NC that Jay hasn’t faced.

We must remember the true victim here…Ms. Turnmire. She has been drug through all of this and it isn’t big enough of a sensation to get a deal for movie of the week on Lifetime. She got an all expense paid vacation to Vegas and can’t tell anyone about it or show the pictures. She lost a boyfriend but gained a trusting husband and we know those are a dime a dozen. Please Tiffany keep the faith and I hope you vote Tuesday.

Please don't allow the Tea Party movement to become marginalized

I don't know how long many of you have followed this blog, but twenty months ago when I formed this blog it was with an idea of getting back to our roots. This blog is truly meant to discuss ideas and generate dialogue in the interest of the people of the Hickory area.

For far too long, we have seen our interests pigeon-holed into defined parameters that allow very little wiggle room for open minded thought. Truly, I believe that there have been very few forums to discuss issues in an in-depth manner. One thing that a mentor has instilled in me is that I need to find value in what others say. I believe that I am succeeding well in this goal. Other compatriots that I associate with are moving in this direction also, but sadly this is not the mindset of the vast majority of people in this community.

Let's look at our community. For the most part, we are registered Republicans, but it isn't very simple, because there are a few factions that make up those who label themselves Republican. The glue that binds us is the fact that we are financial conservatives. We work hard for our money and we want to keep it. We want the government to spend as little money as possible and some of us will even gripe over every penny that is spent, even in many cases when it is justifiable.

Where many of us differ is in the cultural realm 0f conservatism. On one side you have the Christian Conservatives who can be intolerant towards those who may not agree with their positions on religious issues. In many cases, they will not compromise or negotiate on issues that do not adhere to the strict dogma they desire to practice. Many even desire to try to control others through there political practices.

Then there are the Country Club Conservatives that twist like lilies in the wind when it comes to any cultural issues. They don't want to judge anyone for anything, but they will try to control you through social and environmental interaction based upon ideas termed to be "Progressive" in nature. They are financially conservative, because they want to be frugal with their own assets, but they also want to tell you what you can do with your assets. Most of the Country Club Progressive types are obsessed with image and perception.

When it comes to Democrats, I have to admit that I have never understood them. It seems to me that they have a party centered around cultural activism where everyone has some kind of chip on their shoulder. Most of the Democrats that I have witnessed have no concept of sound monetary policy. It's all about spend it today and we'll worry about how to pay for it tomorrow. Admittedly, many Republicans have fallen into this philosophy also. But, Democrats have never met a tax they didn't want to raise, while Republicans never met a deficit they didn't want to explode.

Who can argue that politicians today, in general, are like used car salesman. Let's get you into it today and we'll worry about the payments tomorrow. Does this make sense? Do we not need to have a plan?

I remember last year when the origins of the tea party came about. It came about on February 19, 2009 when a frustrated Rick Santelli, a commentator on CNBC, called for all the remaining capitalists to join him in Chicago for a "Tea Party"; watch the video below.



Then on tax day many people got together to protest what we saw happening, which I summarized in the following article - April 15, 2009... The Tea Party was Cool. The events that followed in the Spring and Summer last year involving the Health Care debate culminated in a lot of Town Hall gatherings across the country, which were mainly attended by many of the same people that gathered on Tax Day. Locally, our Congressional Representative Patrick McHenry held an event at Lenoir-Rhyne, which was basically filled to capacity. I covered that event in the following article - 8/11/2009 - Congressman Patrick McHenry's Town Hall in Hickory.

We are nearly nine months past the fervor that we saw attached to the Health Care issue. Massachusetts saw to it that Scott Brown was elected as a Republican Senator to take over the Forefather of Public Healthcare's, Ted Kennedy, seat. What good came out of all of the efforts that we saw? How spectacular was the waste of energy that people put forth? People put forth their heart and soul to show that they didn't want the proposed healthcare package passed and in the end it was ramrodded through anyway.

There is a long line of egregious powergrabs that have been foisted on the American people over the last several years. My current thought is how will they stick it to us next. It certainly looks like the stars are aligning on the immigration issue. By hook or by crook they are going to try initiate amnesty for the illegals and this should not be allowed to happen. We need to protect our borders and the value and rights inherent to United States citizenship.

We know where the Democrats stand on these issues, but the impotence of Republican United States Senators is what is at the root of the problems that we see related to Conservative Idealism. Arlen Specter showed his true colors and did the right thing by joining the party that held his philosophy. Now, there are only four Senators at the forefront of Progressive Ideology and they do not represent any type of core Conservative Philosophy. These Senators are John McCain, Lindsay Graham, Susan Collins, and Olympia Snowe. Each of these Senators that I have mentioned have been uniquely responsible towards the development of Socialist Ideals at the expense of true Republican Philosophy.

When I look at the Americans whom would consider themselves to be a part of the Tea Party movement, I see people who believe in what Ronald Reagan espoused when he came to power in the early 1980s. Government is necessary, but it is a problem when it gets too large and tries to control every facet of citizens' lives. People understand the need to pay taxes, but they want them to be fruitful and create value. They don't want their taxes used to create moral hazards.

Tea Partiers understand that their needs to be healthcare reform, but they do not want to see a system developed to take care of people who will not control their vises. They don't want to have one size fits all policies. They want there to be methods implemented to control costs without punishing healthcare providers or participants. And most of all they don't want to see healthcare used as a method to control the populace.

When it comes to the Financial industry crisis. Tea Partiers are tired of seeing Wall Street placed to the head of the line before citizens, especially when Wall Street created this fiasco. People are tired of the lobbying shenanigans, the insider trading, influence peddling, and conflicts of interest. Laws are being usurped, problems keep being pushed down the road, no one is being held responsible for wrongdoing, and the problems continue to grow like a metastasized cancer. People have a gut feeling that the politicians, bureaucrats, and banksters don't have a clue what they are doing, but they seem to be in cahoots lining their pockets with our money.

The most important objective that the Tea Partiers must realize is that we need a new way. The Tea Party movement can't allow itself to become labeled, for in doing so they become marginalized. If the Tea Partiers march in lockstep with the Republicans, then they are just Republicans.

I have seen Republicans, such as Sarah Palin and Dick Cheney represent themselves in the ideology of the Tea Partiers. Be careful, because Sarah Palin has campaigned with John McCain and John McCain is a status quo, big government progressive. I also have seen where Dick Cheney is standing against Rand Paul in his run for Senate in Kentucky. Rand Paul (Ron Paul's son) is the ideal new wave conservative who fully represents Tea Party values.

What we need to get back to is the fundamental philosophy of Independence and Rugged Individualism. That does not mean that we are not interdependent on society. That means that we, as individuals, should be allowed to choose where and under what circumstances we want to participate with others. We should not be forced to join into groups that we don't want to be a part of.

The Tea Partiers should be careful not to cast their lot with any static philosophy. We need representatives who are willing to think outside of the box in these times of exponential change. We don't need to be following simple subjective approaches. 2,700 page legislative documents are as subjective as decrees of law can get.

We need to practice objectivity. That is what the founders did. Their objectivity was rooted in principle, while limiting the constraints that the government and society could place on a person's thoughts and actions. This is why we were so free. Free to invent new technologies. Free to explore the West. Free to go to the Moon. Free to create computers and the Internet. We are losing that through our current mode of governance. We need a new way and falling right back into line with the same cast of characters is not going to get us there.

The Race to the Bottom

We are racing to the bottom. That is what we are doing as a society, be it on the local, state, national, or world scene. As a society, we no longer strive for excellence. We are heading at breakneck speed towards Third World status.

Particularly in the Hickory area, we have bought into every aspect of this economic concept and it has taken a decade, but we have ruined our economy in this area and until we shift our focus, we are not going to improve.

In studying the dominoes that brought us here, I see a chain of events deeply associated with the long time business model of the area. We had built a vast manufacturing based economy that lasted decades until the 1990s. At that point, we had achieved full employment, which led to hyper-competition for labor during those years. Labor is the number one cost of a company's business expenses and the business owners and management looked at how they might be able to squeeze the labor model and increase their profit margins.

Along came the year 2000 and the stock market bubble involving high tech stocks. Much of the bust involved data communications companies, such as Global Crossing and Level 3 Communications, who were wiring the world. When the bust occurred, these companies drastically slowed down that wiring of Fiber-Optic cable and guess what? We had local companies such as Alcatel, Corning, and Commscope that were riding the crest of that wave. That is when our local economy hit the fan.

Up until June of 2000, it was thought that this Cable Industry business model would not end, but it quickly came to an abrupt and screeching halt. We all remember those days, when the first layoffs started in early 2001. No one thought it would last forever and it might not have, if it weren't for that infamous day in September, 2001.

What also coincided with this period of time was the influx of Hispanic workers into the area. When many laborers left their jobs working in textiles and furniture, working for $10 per hour, to go work for the cable companies making $15 to $20 per hour, the owners of those businesses looked for cheaper and more effective ways to control labor costs. That is the period of time when the State of North Carolina started turning a blind eye towards the massive in-migration of Hispanics into this community.

Now I know that the slacked-jawed amongst us are going to complain about me pointing out the obvious, but what I would like for you to realize is that I don't blame Hispanic Immigrants for wanting to come here. I have worked with many industrious Hispanics over the last 13+ years, since my days working at Bald Head Island. All they want is to improve their circumstances and be able to help their families.

What bothers me is the way that government and industry went about implementing this process. And what I at one time thought was a process, I have come to realize was all along a full blown scheme. It seems that there was no plan other than to bring foreign labor into our area to change the labor equilibrium by increasing the supply of labor. The purpose of which was not to fill labor capacity, but to suppress wages.

In this early 2000 period, we saw the perfect storm occur, because when the tech bubble burst, then additional labor supply increased at a time when the economy began slowing, causing demand for products to slow and thus demand for labor to slow also. The chase to the bottom had begun.

Instead of the old system, where migrant labor was sent home when their service was no longer needed, our government turned a blind eye, because in my opinion, many business owners wanted to continue to maintain their profit margins during the economic crunch.

That is where I am coming from. Business owners have failed to realize that their mindset that revolves around short term economic gain has created a cultural climate of long term economic pain for the middle class laborer. That is what I spoke of when I wrote in the article Getting Back on Track -- Creating a Legitimate Financial System, "A transformed investment model should take into account what impact an investment has on the community. Any investment needs to have a positive impact on what Catherine Austin Fitts terms the "Financial Eco-System" as well as yourself. If you make money, but everyone around you goes broke as a result of your investment, have you truly increased your own wealth (standard of living)?"

First, we saw NAFTA implemented and its effects on our economy. The blind eyed acceptance of illegal immigration into our economy saw a drastic reduction in the standard of living of the middle class, but people were able to keep their jobs for the most part, at that time. The next leg down came when the agreements in accordance with the World Trade Organization started being implemented fully. That next leg down was shipping labor demand capacity overseas.

What this has led to is built in excuses for business owners. "I had to hire illegals, because Americans won't do the work." "I had to hire illegals, because my competitors are hiring them and I can't compete." "I had to hire illegals, because they will do the work and they don't expect the money the lazy Americans expect." "I had to ship my labor overseas, because I can't compete against my competition."

The deal is that this is what industry wants and the Rich get Richer and the Middle Class and Poor get Poorer in this race to the bottom. Americans ARE willing to do the work, but they expect to be compensated fairly. Businesses are always going to have to compete. They certainly seem to expect labor to compete. Instead of asking government to not move us toward World "Free for All" Trade, they decided to utilize and abuse, not only people that were loyal to them in their country, but also take advantage of the illegals by low-balling their labor costs. They also decided to further allow the oppression and abuses that take place in many of these Third World countries and systems that they have sent those jobs to.

What good has any of this done? Our community has been decimated and the low skilled labor is cornered and has nowhere to turn. The cost of living continues to rise and yet income levels are stagnant or depressed. How are people going to make ends meet? Many older businessmen and governmental leaders, who pushed this race to the bottom, are at a loss as to how to even stem the tide of the drain that has been placed upon our community, while at the same time they are unwilling to accept any type of efforts that may be deemed 'Too Risky."

What does this mean to the quality of life in our community? Where will government income come from? Where will businesses find customers for their products, when much of the population can't make ends meet? How will we begin to grow the economy again?

The Prophet (HaHa!) Ross Perot from the 1992 Presidential Debate (He says 15 years):



The effects of NAFTA on the indigenous Mexican Population and the USA:



This is what I mean when I make the statement, Cheap begets Cheap. Everything in our community, when it comes to investment is about frugality. We don't need to be frugal. We need to create value. We need to make a profit. People have mistaken cost cutting measures with making a profit. You can cut your costs to ZERO and that doesn't mean you are going to make a penny. Many times you destroy your customer base by cutting costs at the expense of quality. Let me ask. Who is going to be more willing to ensure that they create an excellent product, an employee you are willing to invest in or an employee that you keep dangling on a string?

As a community, a state, and a country, we have to get back to the idea of excellence. Excellent products, excellent performance, excellent people, and excellent communities. We do that through respect and equality in the administration of justice. You can't look to take advantage of people by scheming them. It can't be about Dog eat Dog. It has to be about loving thy neighbor and helping thy neighbor and I don't mean that under the context of Unilateral Disarmament by being the so-called "bigger man." I mean that as in building relationships of trust, because once trust has been breached, it is hard to ever regain. But, is that not the valuable lesson that we have all learned. Whether we like it or not, we need one another to further our own personal growth.

If we get enough people to buy into the concepts that I describe above, and marginalize those unwilling to participate and play fair, then I truly believe that we will turn our economic lot around.

Communities encourage citizens, businesses and organizations to check out Google application

LENOIR - The communities of Lenoir and Hickory, counties of Catawba and Caldwell, and the towns and cities in between and close by were one of 1,100 communities to submit an application for the Google Fiber to the Home (FTTH) Request for Information (RFI) on March 26.

"Our application is www.googlehickorylenoir.com and it has become our resume to Google," said Lenoir City Manager Lane Bailey. "The resume tells our story on how this project could help transform our community into a technology hub in the south, add to our economic development tool box, enhance community organizations, assist the medical community, and provide endless education opportunities for citizens of all ages - from school children to retirees."

The experimental network that Google would build would provide a broadband connection that is more than 100 times faster than the current connection. Communities along the U.S. 321 corridor, which is also part of the North Carolina Data Center Corridor, joined together to submit an application to Google. The momentum began while building the resume between mid-February to late March when community meetings were held, focus groups met, and government agencies worked together to put together the Google FTTH request. The momentum continues as citizens
read the online resume that includes the community's story on how this project could transform the area, demographics, business opportunities, community organizations, and how the community has continued to persevere during extremely difficult economic times.

"There is a lot to learn about our communities on the resume and whether or not you have an interest in the project or do not know how it wouldenhance our community, we encourage everyone to take time to visit the website to learn more," added Bailey.

To stay up to date on the Hickory/Lenoir Google project, join the more than 6,400 fans on the Woogle Hickory Lenoir Facebook page or check the websites of the surrounding local governments.

According to the Google, a community will be chosen by the end of 2010.

Ray Cerda for Catawba County Clerk of Court Endorsements

I have read where Ray did not attend the Reagan Day picnic on Saturday and many people felt like he was not honoring those who attended by debating Ms. Bogle. He did want to be there, but he was attending a campaign workshop for veterans in Washington, DC put on by a veterans non-profit organization. These arrangements were made a couple of months ago and it was announced three weeks ago in the Hickory Daily Record. Ray has multiple avenues to contact him with questions as you can see if you click the picture below.

Below is a list of local community citizens who are supporting Ray Cerda. Click the picture to enlarge.

U.S. Unemployment: Rich = 3%, Poor = 31%

Unemployment for Those Who Earn $150,000 or More is Only 3%, While Unemployment for the Poor is 31% - (Washington's Blog - April 24, 2010)

Notes from this article

In the face of one of the worst economic environments in memory, those in the highest income groups had nearly full employment levels, with just a 3.2 percent unemployment rate for households with over $150,000 in income and a 4 percent rate in the next-highest income group of $100,000-plus.

The two lowest-income groups -- under $12,500 and under $20,000 annually -- faced unemployment rates of 30.8 percent and 19.1 percent, respectively.

Official figures put unemployment in the United States somewhere between 9 and 10 percent. But the official figures use a very different measure for unemployment than was used during the Great Depression and for many decades afterwards.

This article also points to what former U.S. Labor secretary Robert Reich states as the permanent destruction of jobs in America:

This means many Americans won't be rehired unless they're willing to settle for much lower wages and benefits. Today's official unemployment numbers hide the extent to which Americans are already on this path. Among those with jobs, a large and growing number have had to accept lower pay as a condition for keeping them. Or they've lost higher-paying jobs and are now in a new ones that pays less.

Yet reducing unemployment by cutting wages merely exchanges one problem for another. We'll get jobs back but have more people working for pay they consider inadequate, more working families at or near poverty, and widening inequality. The nation will also have a harder time restarting the economy because so many more Americans lack the money they need to buy all the goods and services the economy can produce.

An excellent summarization of the unemployment issue done by Washington's Blog last August - The Rising Tide of Unemployment in America: How Bad Will It Get, And What Can We Do?

The Hound knows that it rolls downhill. Many Executives want to make sure that they don't feel the pain and so they do whatever they can to preserve their own standard of living many times at the expense of others. It seems to me that the best managers have a firm understanding that they must put some skin in the game by cutting their own salary also.

Those managers who choose not to be a part of the team will be able to stem the tide of the negative economic climate over the short run, but eventually they will see their leadership fall into misfortune. The average laborer has to accept the way things are in this current economic debacle and keep moving forward. It is a matter of survival.

When we take a look at what has been happening, we see that people who were previously in the $50k to $75k range are taking paycuts and/or having to take on more responsibilities as fellow employees are laid off or reduced through attrition. People who are laid off and looking for new employment are expected to fall to the next tier down in income level. Someone that was making $50k per year has to take a $35K job, a former $35K wage earner is now working at a $25K job, and someone previously making $25k has to take a $20K job, etc.

People are left scrambling, because their expenses are the same or higher. The mortgage is the same, the car payment is the same, Insurance is higher, utilities are higher, fuel is higher, food is higher, etc. So people are going to have to find little side jobs to supplement their income and usually these are low to no skill jobs.

Where does this leave the Unskilled Laborer? The rest of us are underemployed and we are soaking up jobs that used to go to those with lesser skills. It means that they have little, if any, prospects to find full time employment. It means most likely that they will have to depend on Government and Society to help them get through life. And, in the end, that will mean more of a burden on the rest of society as we have to help those who essentially will be permanently unemployed.

Getting Back on Track -- Creating a Legitimate Financial System

The second wave of the World Economic Depression is upon us, states Webster Tarpley. I certainly don't agree with all of Mr. Tarpley's conclusions, because he doesn't seem to think Franklin Roosevelt ever did anything wrong and he seems to despise all that was Ronald Reagan, but I listen to his articulate points of view, because much of the historical context from which he speaks are very logical and well thought out.

He has spoken thoroughly on the subjects of the current economic crises faced by Greece and Iceland. He states that what we are seeing is Hedge fund mayhem -- Hedge funds vs. World Civilization. I don't see how anyone can disagree with this, especially when we see Goldman Sach's fingerprints all over these scenarios that have unfolded.

We have seen what has happened with the ratings agencies who are supposed to tell us how worthwhile investments are supposed to be. How many times over the last few years have Moody's and Standard & Poor's told us that these Country's and Corporate interests were fine, that everything was fine, only to wake up the next morning to see a tidal wave wash over companies where they have told us that everything was just fine. Look in hindsight at the health of Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, AIG, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac. Where were these ratings agencies? They certainly don't seem to have much more of a clue than anyone else.

First of all, the accumulation of Financial derivatives that have created the economic debacle we are in needs to be reigned in. In my opinion, no one can legitimately intimate how these financial instruments benefit society. We have seen this time bomb go off and it is impeding the creation of capital. We need to begin fully regulating all of these instruments and the hedge funds that are so heavily invested in them.

Many of these Derivative instruments are nothing more than legalized gambling. Would you want your country or society invested in a Las Vegas Roulette wheel?

There needs to be a few things done in my opinion:

1) We need to Nationalize the Federal Reserve System.

It is obvious to me that the Fed has abrogated it's responsibility in overseeing Holding Companies and Financial Institutions. Once the Fed is nationalized, then we need to inspect the various Financial Institutions to discover where fraud has been committed in dealing with the derivatives issue and then render those contracts null and void. We must clean up this derivatives system in order to restore the viability of our financial system.

2) I agree with Tarpley and others who believe in a few simple steadfast underlying financial benchmark rules:

a) No more Adjustable Rate Mortgages.
b) No more Pay Day Loans and Usary laws need to be reinstituted and enforced.
c) Full regulation of Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs) and outright banning of Credit Default Swaps.
d) Limit the size of banks in some manner. We need to get away from the too big too fail scenario.
e) Reinstitute some form of Glass-Stegall to insure that Holding companies are limiting risks.
f) There should be a reserve requirement that obligates a financial institution that creates an instrument to hold a certain percentage of that instrument.
g) Institutional trading should be taxed (I believe at 1%). The "Too Big to Fails" created this mess. They need to pay to clean it up.

3) When it comes to fixing the local community economies in the United States:

a) It is time to institute fair trade policies at the national level. No more "Free for All" trade.
b) Create a local stock exchange, in which inhabitants of a community can invest in local businesses for capital generation.
c) Create a Micro-Lending syndicate in which entrepreneurs can obtain small capital, short term loans.
d) Invest in local educational infrastructure by creating partnerships with local businesses to offer mentoring and scholarships.
e) A transformed investment model should take into account what impact an investment has on the community. Any investment needs to have a positive impact on what Catherine Austin Fitts terms the "Financial Eco-System" as well as yourself. If you make money, but everyone around you goes broke as a result of your investment, have you truly increased your own wealth?
f) We need to move away from trying to control symptoms of our structure of governance and finance and move towards relating the framework of the structures to modern society.
g) Don't let politicians try to buy you with you and future generations money, after all it is our money not theirs. It is time for accountability and for investments to be logical. Investments should create value.
h) It is time to get unreliable information and data out of our lives. Turn off the TV and start delving into information yourself to get a more well-rounded picture of the subject of study. Corporate media outlets have an agenda and agendas impede intellectual growth.
i) Decrease your debt. Debt comes with strings. The less debt one has, the more liberty one has. Invest in tangible non-perishable assets, such as non-perishable food and food production systems, water filtration, and methods to get off the electrical and financial grid.
j) The greatest investment that one can make is in their being - mind, body, and spirit.

Do You Believe in the Pledge of Allegiance or is it just a ritual? Why do you say it, if you don't believe what it stands for? I would certainly respect you more if you don't say it, because you don't believe in it.

Because you know what it says, "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

If you don't want to live in an Authoritarian-Banana Republic with Cronyism underpinning our Financial and Cultural Framework, then you better realize that we are going to have to take drastic measures, because we have gotten way off track. You need to realize that it rolls down hill. You might think, in the back of your mind, that you are a top dog and you will be alright; because you can take advantage of people on some level, but there will always be someone bigger and the time will come when they will roll right over you and not even think about it, like some don't think about the repercussions of what they are doing now.

If you want to save our republic, then we must have equal justice for all and the first step towards getting back on the right track is saving our financial system and demanding accountability from those in positions of power, from top to bottom, relating to that system.

Do you enjoy "Dog eat Dog?" Without equal justice for all, we are afforded a World of "Armageddon Rules" -- there are none!