A friend sent me a list of questions that was originally posted on GlennBeck.com. The list was well done, well thought out, and quite thought provoking…
    But I absolutely hated the way it was organized! It was written ALL IN CAPS, was filled with typos, and some of the questions were a little confusing in their structure.

    So I decided to play editor and this is what I came up with! For the most part the credit totally belongs to Mr. Beck. I have added a few things, because as I was reading, it got me thinking. And I think I’ve come up with a great idea to counter the OWS’ idea of our own American Spring.
    So read on! Or if you’ve already read the list of questions, please click here to check out my concluding thoughts about my own take on the American Spring, and the word that should come next.
    Let’s get to it!

Questions for Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street
   - Who is the Father of OWS?
   - How did this movement start?
   - Who planned this event?
   - Who is paying for the Madison Avenue marketing firm? The color-printed newspapers (e.g. The Occupy Wall Street Journal)? The flyers?
   - What role did SEIU & The Working Families Party play in the planning of this event?
   - Who is Stephen Lerner?
   - Who is Van Jones?
   - What is the Center for American Progress?
   - Who is George Soros?
   - What is his relationship to the Center for American Progress? To OWS?
   - Is he a crony capitalist?
   - Does Soros pay his “fair share”?
   - Is Soros getting rich off of the corrupt system of Wall Street speculation?
   - How does Soros make his money?
   - What do George Soros and the economies of the United Kingdom & Thailand have in common?
   - Soros made $7 billion dollars last year personally through his hedge fund and various investments – is that okay? If yes, why? If no, why?

Our Government
   - What system of government do we currently have?
   - In what ways does our current system of government differ from when it was originally founded?
   - What system of government would you prefer?
   - Can you name other nations throughout history which have used your preferred system of government?
   - What happened to those countries?
   - What can we learn from the experiences of those nations?

The Economy
   Name the specific time in history in which the global economy collapsed (as it seems to be shaping up to do now.)
   - If you cannot, please explain why not?
   - If you were to plan a global economic collapse, how long would it take for this system to be dismantled and the new, “fairer” system to be created?
   - Would there be unintended consequences? Can you detail any potential unintended consequences that could occur?
   - Could people die?
   - If not, why?
   - If yes, estimate how many. How do you justify those deaths?
   - By collapsing the system (Wall Street), and causing economic chaos, how does that make you any different than one of the corporations you are protesting? Wouldn’t destroying the system outright – as opposed to thoughtfully reforming it – cause just as much human pain and suffering?

Fair Share & Corporations
It’s a pretty universally agreed point: people should pay their fair share in taxes. That said, please answer the following:
   - What is that specific number? Please quantify what, exactly, is “fair”. Not just for the wealthy, but for everyone.
   - If it’s not zero, please explain GE – another major corporation – evading so many of their taxes, getting excessive tax breaks, etc.
   - Why wasn’t GE’s CEO, Jeffrey Immelt, on the protest tour of wealthy billionaires’ homes? Are you planning any protests at his home in the future?
   - Do you even know who he is?
   - What about George Soros?
   - Russel Simmons? Who happens, by the way, to be the owner of a debit card company, in addition to other various Wall Street-related enterprises.
   - Kanye West?
   - Are they Wall Street criminals? Are they not involved in evil corporations which are in bed with the government?
   - Can there be good people in an evil corporation? If so, how do you judge good from bad?
   - GE – led by Jeffrey Immelt – pays no income tax. Immelt, their CEO, is on President Obama’s Economic Council. Why not protest GE?
   - Do you object to the ways in which this President has intertwined himself with so many leaders of large business, like GE?
   - Explain any potential conflicts of interest between President Obama, Jeffrey Immelt, and NBC’s ‘Green Week’ initiatives.
   - If there are conflicts in any way, why? And do you object?
   - If President Obama is in bed with, and/or excuses the bad behavior of, large multinational corporations within the system that you believe should be collapsed, shouldn’t President Obama be deemed guilty as well?
   - If no, explain why.
   - If yes, explain why.
   - If yes, compare GE Green Week answer above.

“Capitalism is Destroying America”
Rockefeller, Astor Mellon, and Carnegie are known as “Robber Barons” and would probably be targets of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Given that, answer the following.
   - Who built the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts?
   - Who built MoMA?
   - The New York Public Library?
   - Carnegie Hall?
   - Carnegie Mellon University?
   - The National Gallery of Art?
   - Who began the Smithsonian? Who funds the vast majority of its exhibits?
   - What is the relationship between Rockefeller Center and Columbia University?
   - Does this mean Capitalism helped Columbia University?
   - How did Capitalism help Columbia?
   - Does Capitalism help or hurt Columbia today?
   - If not, how does it continue to operate? How does it even exist at all?
   - If yes, doesn’t that make the majority of their political teachings a teensy bit hypocritical?

The Obama Administration
   - Does your University support this administration and its policies?
   - Did you or those you are with vote or campaign for this President in the past?
   - Are you campaigning for him now?
   - If so, are you betraying your ideals by helping someone who has compromised on important anti-corruption principles and policies?
   - If he has not done all that he promised to do, and in fact betrayed the “hope” and “change” he promised, what stood in his way? Especially during the first two years of his presidency.
   - Could you name specific examples? Specific legislative attempts that were in some way blocked? Again, especially during the first two years, when he had the most power and the most political clout.
   - If Obama truly believed the same things you did, that a collapse was imminent and there were villains on Wall Street about to do those in this country grave harm, why wasn’t Wall Street reform the very first thing on his agenda?
   - Who has received more donations than any other politician in history from large banks & Wall Street firms?
   - Obama claims that he is not in bed with bankers and big corporations. Is he lying?
   - Is Obama justified in not telling the truth if it furthers his or your agenda?
   - What are the conditions under which a leader can lie to you and it be justified or morally acceptable?

Investigations, Justice & Protests
   - Why has the Obama administration not initiated or conducted investigations into the banks, major corporations, Wall Street firms, or individual bankers?
   - Why hasn’t this administration initiated an investigation into the actions of the Federal Reserve?
   - Why hasn’t this administration initiated investigations into Freddie, Fannie, or Sally Mac?
   - Why has no one except Bernie Madoff gone to prison under this or the last administration?
   - Wasn’t the Hope we were looking for – and promised – supposed to come from a President that was different? That was beyond politics? Beyond race, creed, color, or class?
   - Wasn’t the Change that America was looking for an end to Crony Capitalism? An end to the marriage of Big Business and Big Government?
   - Were you wrong about this President during the last election?
   - How are you sure this time?
   - If yes, and if none of the GOP candidates are for whatever reason acceptable to you, wouldn’t it be important for the future of this nation to push for a primary challenger against Obama?
   - Did America learn from its mistake of not demanding a clear declaration of what Hope & Change really meant?
   - Should there have been a clear plan to ensure that this new President remained on course to deliver the “Change” he promised? Should more details have been demanded regarding how he would fulfill your “Hope” for an end of corruption and cronyism?
   - If you do not primary Obama, why not demand such detailed plans now before you agree to give him your vote? Before your campaign for him, if you’re currently doing so?
   - What is Solyndra? What is Light Squared?
   - Do you think those who have designed this event (collapse Wall Street) should have a clear plan to ensure that after the collapse, they will deliver the change you hope for, of an end to corruption and cronyism? Shouldn’t we expect more details before we initiate such a potentially dangerous and catastrophic collapse?
   - Did it discredit the Tea Party movement that it was said to be funded, organized and/or co-opted by those who had direct ties and interests in the Republican Party?
   - Would it taint or hurt Occupy Wall Street if that were the case here, but with those involved in the Democrat Party?
   - If not, why not? What’s the difference?

Social Justice vs. Equal Justice
   - Can Social Justice co-exist with Equal Justice?
   - Is everyone on Wall Street guilty?
   - If not, should everyone on Wall Street be punished for the crimes of the guilty?
   - If not, are your actions to collapse Wall Street punishing those who are innocent?
   - If yes, is that Equal Justice, considering you would be punishing the innocent for the sake of Social Justice?
   - Do you believe in fair trials? A jury of your peers? A chance to face your accusers? Innocent until proven guilty?
   - Should Wall Street bankers:
      - A) Lose their jobs?
      - B) Have all of their wealth taken?
      - C) Go to jail? If yes, how long? If you wish for a judge and jury to decide, why? (If yes, see your previous answer regarding Social Justice vs. Equal Justice.)

Lynch Mobs, Then & Now
   - Do you believe the lynch mobs of the civil rights era were wrong? If yes, why?
   - What is the difference between a lynch mob and what you are being encouraged to do now? (e.g. Congressman Lewis, going to the homes of the wealthy even if children are inside, going against the principle of innocent until proven guilty, using tactics of intimidation, shouting down those with whom you disagree, etc.)

The Police & Criminal Justice
   - Are cops good or bad?
   - Are there good cops and bad cops?
   - If there are both good and bad cops, how do you tell the difference?
   - If you were a good, honest cop, what would you do while performing your duties right now in this situation on Wall Street?
   - If you walked away, as a cop, and allowed the crowd absolute freed to do as it wished no matter what, would you be a hero or a coward?
   - Would damage to private and public property be done if the police should choose to leave? Does that matter?
   - Could innocent people be hurt? Does that matter?
   - If you or anyone in your group answered there are no innocent here, does that matter?
   - If no on above, please check answer for consistency on lynch mobs and jury trials.
   - Define ‘Mob Rule’. Is this good or bad?
   - There are many prisoners that have been wrongfully accused and convicted. It happens the world over, but according to OWS, especially it seems in America. The recent execution in Georgia is merely one example cited by many involved in OWS. In light of this and knowing what we know, what should be done with those who are currently incarcerated?
   - How would you determine who is innocent and who is guilty?
   - Would it matter if a truly guilty prisoner were released?
   - If the criminal justice system is corrupt, how will you assess and fix it?
   - Is it fair to leave the possibly innocent behind bars while that process is going on? (Again, consider your previous answer regarding the truly guilty being released.)

Higher Education
Many of the signs at Occupy Wall Street complain about student loans. Many Americans outside OWS agree that:
    A) Many have stolen from us.
    B) No one should pay such astronomically high costs for a higher education.
Given that, answer the following.
   - Who is responsible for setting the tuition rates for a college education?
   - Who is responsible for the price of that college education rising 8% just last year?
   - How much money is in your University’s endowment fund?
   - Does your University have private savings and/or investments?
   - What are those savings and/or investments used for?
   - Is there nothing that your University can do to lower tuition costs?

Mom & Dad
   - Are you sincerely worried about your parents and what they face as well as what the future holds for you?
   - Have your parents worked hard for their home and what little money they have saved during their lifetime?
   - If you succeed in collapsing Wall Street, who is hurt? Who would be hurt the most?
   - Would your parents be hurt? Your friends’ parents?
   - Union pensions are invested in Wall Street. As is your University endowment. The average American’s retirement is invested in Wall Street (e.g. 401k.) What would happen to those in the event of a collapse of Wall Street?
   - What happens to the lifetime of work by your parents if your actions cause a collapse of the system?
   - Is an absolute collapse worth that much human suffering?
   - Is there perhaps another way that would be less costly and harmful?

Foreign Governments & Outside Influence
   - Do you believe that any government abroad would take advantage of an economic collapse of the United States/?
   - Could such actions by foreign governments have a negative impact on your freedoms?
   - What about your plans to build a new system in its place? Could any actions by foreign governments impact such plans?
   - Do you believe that US troops should be called home?
   - Do you believe our troops are baby killers? Or people like you who were either misguided or used?
   - What happens to those troops overseas if there were an economic collapse?
   - If you don’t pull the troops out before a collapse, would there be a greater or lesser chance of more killing?
   - Do you believe that forces on either side could or would use an economic collapse as an excuse for more killing?
   - Would you have played any role in that possible killing based on your actions here to collapse Wall Street? Would you bear any responsibility?
   - If no, do the ends justify the means?
   - If yes, if the ends justify the means, does that include the death of innocents?
   - If not, why?
   - If yes, explain what makes you different than George W. Bush, who also thought he was right.

Egypt & The Arab Spring
   - How did the Egyptian Revolution turn out?
   - Is it better than what they had?
   - Free, fair and democratic elections were promised to be held by August of this year. What date were they actually held?
   - Who is currently in charge of Egypt?
   - Do you believe in Military Rule?
   - Would you want to live under it here?
   - What would be the difference between the military rule here and in Egypt?
   - The media claims you are the same and are striving for the same ideals as the youth that overturned their oppressive and corrupt system in Egypt. Is that true?
   - If yes, if you wouldn’t want to live under military rule, what responsibility do you have to correct the injustice of their system?
   - If you answer that you do have a responsibility, please explain why.
   - Wasn’t American insertion into global politics what caused the hatred for the West?
   - How do you know that you are fighting on the side of right and not helping those who will develop a repressive regime after the chaos of a collapse?
   - Is Iran a repressive regime?
   - If you answered no to the previous question, please describe what happens to homosexuals in Iran.
   - How are homosexuals & women treated in other Arab nations? Specifically, how does Hamas & the PLO perceive homosexuality & what would they do if they had absolute power?

After the Revolution
   - If those who take power, after the successful Occupy Wall Street collapse, betrayed the revolution and the people by not following the plan (that has not yet been developed), what should the people do?
   - Could they do anything?
   - Would those new leaders step down or would an event like this need to be staged again to force them out?
   - If they didn’t voluntarily step down would you seek to have them arrested?
   - Is violence an option to achieve the goals of revolution?
   - Can you solve violence with violence?
   - Should the people be allowed to have a gun in case those in charge did betray the revolution?
   - If yes, why.
If no, who authorizes the use of force and what force is allowed?
   - Who protects the idea or yet to be formed ideas of the new revolutionary democracy?
   - Who would arrest those who betrayed the revolution if the system has collapsed and the cops were all either fired or jailed?
   - Are jails needed?
   - If yes, who runs the new democratic jails formally known as the prison industrial complex?
   - Assuming there was an immediate citizens police force enacted to replace the corrupt system that we currently have, what system of trial would you engage?
   - Che said, “We don’t need a trial to convict the guilty.” Do you agree?
   - If no, would there be a jury?
   - Who would be the judge?
   - What rules of evidence would there be?
   - Will the people have rights?
   - What are they?
   - Have they been written down anywhere?
   - If no, because you were planning on doing that after the collapse, if the above scenario played out and either your leader betrayed the revolution or an outside force took advantage of the chaos, would you regret that decision?
   - If yes, what are the rights based on?
   - Where do man’s rights come from?
   - If they come from a committee or a specific leader, what’s to stop those leaders from changing your rights and declaring you a traitor to the revolution?
   - Has this ever happened in history?
   - If yes, where?
   - What were the conditions?
   - Were there warning signs?
   - Do any of those signs exist now?

Energy in the New Order
   - Now that the economy has collapsed in America, but has not somehow affected the rest of the world, how can we afford oil? Gasoline? Plastic products?

If you say we cannot afford gasoline and that’s a good thing for the environment, let’s for the sake of argument, agree on that point. Now answer the following.
   - How do we fuel tractors for farming on the scale needed to feed the citizens of the new revolutionary United States and elsewhere?
   - How is said food trucked to stores here in New York if truckers can’t afford fuel?
   - How do your parents get food from the store to their home?
   - Now that the police force has been replaced with a citizen patrol, are your parents safe walking the streets with food in an area after the currency has just collapsed?
   - If one of them were hurt or killed due to a scenario like this, would you be in any way responsible?
   - If they were hurt and couldn’t receive medical treatment in time because the EMS couldn’t afford gas for the ambulance, would you be in any way responsible?
   - How would the hospitals pay doctors and EMS without a currency?
   - Why would doctors and nurses come to work?
   - To ensure they did go to work, who would protect and feed their families while they were at work?
   - How do the doctors afford gas to go to work?
   - What system of electricity is running the hospitals?
   - If oil is no longer affordable, how do we manufacture the plastics products that make modern medicine possible and keep infection rates so low?

Leadership
If you are not planning on your group holding on to power, please answer the following:
   - Who will be in charge? Will it be you? Or the leaders you have not yet chosen?
   - How will you ensure that those who do take power are not currently part of the problem?
   - Who will fund the Universities, health care, K-12 education, the homeless & poor, while a new system is designed to stabilize the population, replace the corrupt system of corporatism, big medicine, big oil, and big farms?
   - Who is in charge of the military and the military industrial complex during this time?

Crony Capitalism
   - Please define crony capitalism.
   - When the government took over General Motors, gave all the banks TARP money, and allowed companies like GE to pay no taxes while making billions & shipping jobs overseas, is that Crony Socialism, Crony Capitalism, or Crony Statism?
   - Is there a difference?
- In all three aforementioned scenarios or titles, what is the problem: the system or the cronyism?
   - What is the best way to end cronyism?
   - Has your approach of collapse and revolution been tried before?
   - If yes, list all examples of attempts, both failed and successful. Or at least list as many as you can.
   - Why did they fail?
   - How did those that failed begin?
   - Who led the way on those failed attempts?
   - How did those who began the revolution fair in the new systems?
   - Who is Thomas Paine?
   - What was his role in the French Revolution?
   - What happened to him?
   - What did he learn about revolutions?
   - How did the French Revolution end?
   - Once the New Order was established, who took power in France?
   - Was that good or bad for the people of France?
   - What does this tell us about the current situation we find ourselves in, here in America?
   - What were the main differences between the French & American revolutions?
   - Why do you think the two turned out so differently?
   - Do you have hostile feelings about these questions? Why?

If you are reading in a group of like-minded, open-minded and educated people – take note – have they provoked any serious discussion? If not, why?
   - If so, did you do everything in your power to get those in Washington to investigate and arrest those who will not “change” and begin to do business in a legal and non-corrupt way?
   - Why didn’t that work?

The Importance of Answers
Please consider all of your answers carefully. After all, if OWS is successful, these questions won’t just be an interesting, thought-provoking thought experiment.
It will be real life, with real consequences, and real lives on the line.
Are you really willing to risk everything in this world without having all the answers yet?

My Concluding Thoughts & Where To Go From Here

    Thank you for reading all of that. After investing all that time & hard work, you’ve earned yourself a reward…

    A delicious cookie!

    Now head out to your nearest privately-owned business, where you will willingly part with currency – a symbol of your time and productivity – in exchange for something you would much rather have. Like a sweet, delicious chocolate chip cookie, created by someone else’s hard work and time so you didn’t have to! You will participate in a willing transaction between yourself and the nice cookie vendor, who happens to be quite skilled at baking cookies and does so in exchange for your currency.

    The nice cookie vendor man provides you a service you willingly pay him for. Something that makes your life easier and your taste buds happy. No one is forced to buy cookies, no one is forced to make them. And if the nice cookie vendor man sucks at making cookies, you’ll eventually willingly decide to go to the other nicer cookie vendor down the street. Time, talent, and materials are allocated to where they’ll be most productive, most valuable, and most desired.
    Thus the world goes round and round according to the decisions of millions upon millions of free individuals, choosing with their own hearts and minds to spend their money – their symbols of time, effort & productivity – as they see fit.
    To buy yummy, yummy cookies.

    That is the beauty of capitalism.

    That is, when it’s not infested with a bunch of nepotism and cronyism.

    So rather than scrapping the whole system with our own version of the Arab Spring, why don’t we focus on a different spring tradition?

We can call it American Spring… Cleaning!

    Let’s call our friendly pest control expert to smoke out the infestation of nepotism and cronyism! Let’s put on our gloves & pull out that feather duster to clean out all the cobwebs of our convoluted tax system! Grab your vacuum to suck up all the decades of old, conflicting, confusing regulations that are hindering our economic growth!
    Pull out that dust mop so we can clean up all the dust bunnies that are hiding under our nation’s proverbial couch (otherwise known as the House & the Senate!) Maybe we could even set up regular cleaning schedules – just for funsies, let’s call ‘em “term limits” – to make sure that no dust bunny stays down there so long that it starts to develop its own ecosystem of corruption and special deals.
You bring the cleaning supplies, I’ll wear the maid costume! Let’s get down and dirty scrubbing out every nook and cranny of our Constitutional Republic!

    Spring Cleaning isn’t about just throwing out the old and bringing in the new, no matter what “new” might be. It’s about cleaning, making fresh what we already have. With all this cleaning, there’s no need to chuck the good out with the bad! Let’s keep the original foundation – our family homestead – intact in its original condition.
    You know, it’s like that whole renew, reuse, recycle thing? New isn’t always better, especially when you don’t even know for sure what “new” is.

    So let’s not be wasteful! There’s no need to throw away the system that made us the Land of Opportunity in the first place.
    Instead, let’s get to work and say hello to our American Spring Cleaning!

What price is Obama willing to pay for the sake of appeasing the “international community”?

Your freedom of speech, apparently.

Click here to check it out.

Methinks he’s forgetting that the only real way to gain someone’s respect – real respect – is not to cower in front of a bully who will merely abuse you, but rather stand up to them, show real strength of conviction, and stand independent and free. No one will ever truly respect you when they know they can walk all over you. It’s the first thing any woman learns when they finally, truly understand what it means to be in a healthy relationship. You know what? It applies just as much to international relations as it does romantic relations.

The capitulation of our freedoms will never get the “international community” to “like us more” or “respect us more”. It’ll merely give our enemies the tools they need to win the ideological world war we’re currently embroiled in between Islamic extremist dictators and the free world. When someone considers you an Infidel who is absolutely deserving of death, there’s absolutely no way to gain their respect, besides just kneeling and offering them your neck. But that’s hardly a form of respect I think we should be aiming for, do you?

You want to know the real reason why the people – the people – of the Middle East don’t respect America right now? This is a perfect example: we’re partnering with EGYPT to curtail freedom of speech. When you get in bed with dictators, the world doesn’t look at you the same way in the morning. And it’s not good.

The White House was caught with its hand in the proverbial cookie jar when a brave artist dared to record what was thought to be a private phone conference between devoted Obama followers who had been instrumental in securing Obama’s campaign for the presidency.

Patrick Courrielche, an artist, producer, and contributer to Breitbart’s Big Hollywood, received a series of emails in early August from the National Endowment for the Arts, inviting him to participating in a “brand new discussion” between the NEA, the White House, several political organizations, and several select artists, producers, writers, actors, poets, gallery owners, influential individuals, and “cool people”, to discuss how the art community can best come together in order to “push the President, his administration, and his agenda.”

Yes, you read that right. The White House has directed the National Endowment for the Arts to bring together a coalition of artists and culturally influential individuals in order to produce creative works that will help push the President’s agenda.
I believe the dictionary would define such state-initiated works as “propaganda”.

But it didn’t stop there. Indeed, during the conversation, both the officials from the NEA and the White House specifically requested that the artists focus on several of Obama’s key platform issues, including health care, energy, and the environment. And just in case there’s any question as to the ideology they hoped this artwork would reflect, they specifically mentioned Shepard Fairey’s iconic ‘Hope’ poster and will.i.am’s “Yes We Can” song as examples of what they were hoping the artists could achieve. Yeah, they weren’t exactly hoping for bipartisan messages of patriotism.

Thankfully, when Mr. Courrielche received these emails, something didn’t feel quite right about this whole prospect. So when he joined in on the phone conference, he had his iPhone ready to record the entire conversation. If it hadn’t been for his bravery, this likely would have remained buried.
But the funniest part is, despite having an absolute record of each email and a complete audio recording of the entire conversation, the lead official from the NEA in this project, Yosi Sergant, is actually daring to deny any involvement in the project. But he doesn’t stop there; indeed, he’s trying to deny the project’s very existence. That’s a bit of a stretch, considering the fact that Mr. Sergant’s voice is heard throughout the entire recording, with him going so far as to even voice caution to the participants about being careful with their language, as they’re still ironing out certain legalities. Meaning, they know full well what they’re doing is crossing not only ethical boundaries, but legal ones as well.
Good luck denying all that, Mr. Sergant. You’re gonna need it.

I don’t have much time, as I’m trying to publish three quick posts here before heading off to bed, so I don’t have the best links and resources available for you yet. So please bear with me. But I simply had to post information about this for those of you who may have missed all the hubbub about this today. When I told a friend about this, their first response was, “What? You’ve got to be kidding, this has to be some sort of YouTube hoax, right?” That convinced me I couldn’t wait to post this.

Anyway, the best place to start is probably Mr. Courrielche blog entry that started it all. It’s a bit long, and unfortunately he doesn’t have the audio posted with it, but it’s well worth a read.
Click here to check it out.

As I said, unfortunately Mr. Courrielche hasn’t posted the recording on his blog yet, at least not as far as I’ve been able to find. I did manage to find a YouTube clip of an interview Mr. Courrielche gave to the Glenn Beck program. I know, I’m sorry I’m posting a link to Glenn Beck, I’m sure that will probably offend or upset some of my more moderate readers. Please, put aside your feelings about Mr. Beck, because Mr. Courrielche does a brilliant job of explaining the situation quite concisely. But most importantly, it features audio clips of the actual conversation.

I know there are more audio clips out there from the original recording, since I heard several on the news program where I first heard about this. Again, apologies for not having those ready, I’ve really got to get some sleep. I’ll do some more searching on this tomorrow and post more links as soon as I can.

Word surfaced over this past weekend about a book that’s recently been added to the Department of Veterans Affairs’ list of publications to be distributed to veterans, despite the fact it was deliberately removed several years ago due to material that the leaders of the VA deemed objectionable. Now that we have a new administration in town, apparently even though they haven’t seen fit to fill more than half of the vacant presidential appointments, someone thought it urgent that this book be reinstated. Someone has great priorities.
If you haven’t yet seen the book, you need to read it. Then you might understand why I’m a bit miffed about this.

The book is called ‘Your Life, Your Choices’ – a title which seems strangely apt given the recent debate over government-run health care. While normally such a title should be appealing to me, the content is absolutely disgusting, in my opinion. The reason for my disgust?
It’s an end of life planning counseling book written by Dr. Robert Pearlman, a major proponent of assisted suicide. In fact, Dr. Pearlman has testified repeatedly in multiple court cases wherein he advocated for physician-assisted suicide.
Brilliant. Just who I’d want to get compassionate, sensitive, and humane guidance from about how to make the most out of my life and maintain my dignity, no matter what physical condition I might find myself in.

I have to admit, I was not able to read the entire book. It was just too emotional for me, and I’ll explain why in a minute. But first, I want to give you a sampling of what the book has to offer: a checklist of ways to tell if your life has devolved to the point where you might want to consider that maybe it’s just not worth living anymore. At least, according to Dr. Pearlman.

Click to enlarge

You know what I noticed first? The options. Nowhere is there an option where you can provide an answer that life is more than just “difficult, but acceptable”, but actually valid, enjoyable, dignified, engaging, and valued. That tells you a helluva lot, doesn’t it? What do you think that says to the veteran who’s reading it?

Let me tell you the second thing I noticed. Out of the 18 direct questions, I qualify for at least 11 of them, maybe 12. According to this book, I’d be a more than valid candidate for assisted-suicide. According to them, my life – at best – is “difficult, but acceptable”.

I’m only 24 years old.

Does that mean my life isn’t worth living? Does that mean my life isn’t dignified? Does that mean my life is “difficult, but acceptable”, or “worth living, but just barely”? Does that mean as a human being, I’m not to be valued as much as someone with an able body? Does that mean that I should just roll over and die because life didn’t turn out the way I thought it would?

I’m sorry, but I refuse to see if that way. I find it disgusting and so incredibly offensive that this book doesn’t even begin to recognize the value of every life, able, disabled, or otherwise. I’ve been seriously ill for over half of my life, and yet I’ve been able to contribute in ways most able-bodied people never do. Yet according to the words of this booklet, handed out to veterans by the VA, I rate just barely beyond “acceptable”.

I find this so far beyond deplorable that I don’t have words adequate enough to express my outrage. Some are calling this a “death book.” I certainly wouldn’t go that far or be that trite about it. But I would call it an absolutely appalling example of outright prejudice against the disabled. To devalue any human being should be outrageous to all of us. Because the minute we can devalue someone is the minute we can devalue anyone.

Veterans don’t need to be told that their lives are only barely acceptable if they’ve been injured or suddenly find themselves severely ill. They need to be encouraged, uplifted, loved, and reminded that they can overcome the challenges and obstacles they face, ultimately becoming stronger in ways they may not have previously imagined. I know I have. Sure, life isn’t always easy, but is it ever easy for anyone? Sure, I’ve had to deal with a lot of pain. But I’ve learned and grown as a person because of it. Those veterans can too.
But they won’t, if they’re told by our government that they can’t, that their lives are now worthless, and that they might as well just give up. We can’t devalue them this way, we can’t disrespect their humanity, we can’t just dismiss them. Just like we shouldn’t dismiss anyone with a disability, whether seen or unseen. We’re all human, we’re all born with different abilities, and throughout our lives, those abilities will surely change and transform. But we are all still human and we are all still deserving of the same rights, respect, and validation. How dare the VA even begin to say otherwise.

One final thought; this is how our government is treating our veterans’, how they’re influencing their health care decisions. If that’s how the heroes among us are treated, how would they treat the rest of us if they were in charge of our health care decisions? How much do you want to bet we’d all be reading a book like this one?
Are you willing to bet your life? It is, after all, your life, and your choice. At least, it is for now. I, for one, would like to keep it that way.

If you’d like to download and read the entire booklet, you can read it here on the official Department of Veterans Affairs website. Yup, even though the VA is saying it’s not an official VA document, it’s still available on their website, and the website says otherwise. It says it was created specifically for the VA via a generous grant of your tax dollars. Although it is allegedly under revision, it’s still being handed out in print in its current form to veterans.
And just in case it suddenly disappears, I’ve archived a copy here.

I saw this on the news last night and just about popped a cork:

Disgusting isn’t it?

As a point of comparison, consider this: the folks over at TheConservatives.com have put together a brilliant post illustrating the many varied differences between the Bush & Obama administrations’ reactions to dissent. Naturally, I’m no fan of President Bush, but the differences in approach are quite illuminating, if a bit disgusting. Click here to check it out.

I have to say, I’m absolutely disgusted with the way the White House, certain members of Congress, and the DNC have been handling the rather raucous reactions certain lawmakers have been getting at town hall meetings back in their districts, especially with regard to health care reform. Rather than react like adults and acknowledge the rights of free speech that make this country great – even if those who are exercising those rights disagree with you – they’re behaving more like spoiled children. Anyone who disagrees with them is met with dirty looks, accusations, and a fair bit of pouting. Obama certainly did bring change to the White House. Unfortunately it’s change in the wrong direction, toward an absolute contempt for dissent. I dare say, I doubt that’s the sort of change most voters were expecting.

But really, shouldn’t most people have known better? After all, Obama was the one who gave this edict to his supporters regarding how they should react should they ever meet someone who dares oppose the Dear Leader: “I want you to talk to ‘em whether they’re independent or they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face!”
Yeah, that’s how an adult calmly carries out a “thoughtful discussion”, the like Robert Gibbs said the orchestrated astroturf protesters were disrupting. But then again, I guess it takes one to know one when it comes to astroturfing. I suppose if you’re a Community Organizer who’s surrounded by fake, generated populist hysteria, you just don’t know how to react when someone’s actually genuine with their concerns about government overstepping its bounds. When everything you do is carefully orchestrated, when every person who asks questions at campaign stops is carefully pre-screened, perhaps you think everyone engages in the same sort of manipulation.

Surprise, surprise. Some of us out here in America actually do care enough about our country to stand up for our beliefs, even if someone isn’t paying us to do so. Myself included. I’m not getting paid a single cent to operate this blog. I don’t even accept ad revenue. And yet here I am, continuing to dedicate my time to voicing my opinions, and spending my own money to do so. And rest assured, if my health would permit me to attend a town hall or two, I’d be there giving a polite earful to my representatives as well.

In short, Mr. Obama, I’m an actual American who doesn’t need a Community Organizer to tell me what to do, what to say, and how to say it. Disagree with me all you like, but don’t you dare dismiss me, insult me, or devalue my right to voice my own opinions.

To the rest of you who are able to attend town halls with your representatives, please remember to be cordial, respectful, and polite, while of course being forceful, sincere, and honest. I realize these issues are important to us, I realize things are getting heated, but we don’t need to shout, we don’t need to scream, and we don’t need to behave like an angry mob. Leave those tactics to Acorn, because quite frankly, such tactics are beneath us. Let’s act like the adults that we are, not like the sniveling spoiled children in Washington.

Thanks, Chuck, for explaining precisely why no one believes the Obama administration when they talk about ‘bipartisanship’. Just listen to what this man has to say, it’s unbelievably blunt!

That’s Democrat Senator Charles Schumer. Did you catch what he said? If not, here’s the transcript:

“I think President Obama has a pretty smart strategy. He is going to talk bipartisanship to the American people. But realizes until the Republican grassroots pushes their people over, if that ever happens, we are not going get change in the House or Senate.”

So he’s only going to talk about bipartisanship, but nothing’s going to “change” (i.e. they won’t get what they really want) until the Republicans just roll over, play dead, and let the Democrats get on with all that hopity-change they want to shove down our throats? Yeah, that sure sounds like bipartisanship to me! Cause nothing says ‘bipartisanship’ like just rolling over those you disagree with and doing whatever the hell you feel like doing.
Give me a break! But hey, you at least gotta give the man credit for actually saying it. Now why won’t more people wake up to what it is these guys are really doing? Yet again, they’re flat out saying what they’re going to do, and still too many people just keep on ignoring reality. It’s a shame that so many people are so hypnotized that we can’t even hear what they’re saying to us.

But beyond just the issue of bipartisanship, there’s the whole issue of ‘traditional values’. According to Chuck, that’s all over. In case you missed that as well, here’s the transcript:

“The Hard Right, which still believes when the federal government moves, chop off its hands; still believes in, you know, in ‘traditional values’ kind of arguments, and strong foreign policy. All that’s over!”

So, let’s go through this, shall we?

First: No more keeping the movements, scope, and range of the federal government in check. The federal government is now free to do whatever the hell it wants, regardless of what the opposition thinks (sound familiar? ‘Just roll over and play dead, that’s right, little citizens! If you know what’s best for you, you’ll just shut up in the name of bipartisanship! Hopity-Change!’)

Second: No more ‘traditional values’ (don’t forget to use the air quotes, people!). You know, all that outdated stuff like ‘Do unto others as you’d have others do unto you’; no more of that true tolerance nonsense; no more of ‘loving thy neighbor as you love thyself’ (oh, sorry, is ‘thy’ just too outdated for you?); and most importantly, no more of those ideas about ‘We The People’! That stuff is so dusty and old it must be in the ‘traditional’ category, right?
Eesh, where’s Tevye when you need him?

Third: Last, but certainly not least, strong foreign policy? That went out with go-go boots and bad 80’s hair! The antonym of ’strong’ is ‘weak’, therefore, according to Chuck, nothing says ‘modernism’ like weak, lukewarm, panty-waisted foreign policy! (Sorry, even that’s an insult to women, cause most women I know would have a better grasp of foreign policy than this idiot.)
But you know what strikes me most about this particular observation of Mr. Schumer’s? I had no idea that strong foreign policy was such a partisan issue. I had absolutely no idea that only hard-core rightists believed in strong foreign policy! After all, didn’t Obama spend a whole helluva lot of time during the debates trying to convince us that he’d be just as strong on foreign policy as John McCain? Either that makes Obama a hard-core Republican, or he was just flat out lying and betraying his party’s stance on the necessity for weak foreign policy.

The funniest part is, though, I had no idea any of these issues were the exclusive property of hard-core Republicans. Traditional values? Belief in strong foreign policy? Even just the teensiest of belief in the idea that the scope of the federal government shouldn’t be completely unlimited! I’m not even a Republican, yet I believe in all three of those things! Silly me, I thought Democrats believed in them as well, at least to some degree. Shame on me for being so gullible, I suppose.
It kills me that such basic beliefs have been declared outdated, no longer relevant, as if they’re anathema to modern life. It seems to me that nothing good can come from a partisan war against traditional values as a whole. At least in the world I come from, I was raised to believe that ‘traditional values’ had nothing to do with strictly politics, and more to do with things like loving your neighbor and constantly striving to be a better, more honest, more caring human being. If Democrats are now proclaiming a death to such endeavors, then I believe we have more to fear than simply four years of policies we disagree with.

Keep your eyes peeled, your ears perked, and your mind open, everybody. This is dangerous territory we’re being led toward as a nation. History has shown us that when anyone tries to convince you that such values are outdated, no good can come from it. Especially when they couple that with mentions of ‘bipartisanship’ being nothing more than ‘talk’ to precede an absolute steam-rolling of those they disagree with, it’s an even surer sign that things could get very, very precarious. When debate is to be executed, moral convictions buried, it’s a sure sign that a civilization is being prepared for some very dark days and even darker deeds.

Thanks, Chuck, for at least being honest. Now please, realize just how horrible you’re sounding right about now. It might be time to take a good hard look at yourself, your party, and the people you claim to represent. Is this really what’s best for them, or what’s best for you?

(Hat-tip to TownHall.com for the video)

Occidental Soapbox has put up another remarkable, enlightening, and impressive video on his blog, this time about Obama’s pitifully naive attempt at appeasing the tyrannical regime in Iran. As if learning how to pronounce their new year holiday and telling them how great ancient Persia’s culture is will distract Ahmadinejad from his goal of wiping Israel and the rest of us infidels off the face of the map… But of course, Occidental has an even better rebuttal than I can muster. So go check it out, you’ll be oh so glad you did. Maybe if we could all educate ourselves a little more about Iran, we could force an end to this plan of ‘Appeasement as Foreign Policy’ within the White House that has been going on for far too long and is apparently being continued all too readily by the Obama administration.

I’m just now watching Obama’s appearance on last night’s Tonight Show – thank you, Tivo! – and I just had to pause it. I couldn’t go any further without commenting on a few things, so this won’t be a full analysis, this is just me having to sound off now before I forget my initial reaction.

First off, here’s a direct quote I just transcribed from Obama. I’ll try to get an exact video clip of this line later on.

“”No, no, no, but, no, th-th-th-th… This is the point that I made, I think two days ago, when somebody asked, ‘Well, do you have confidence in Tim Geithner?’ I said, ‘Look, I’m the President. So ih-eh-uh, ultimately, all of this stuff is my responsibility. If I’m not, uh, giving him the tools that he needs, uh, to make sure that we’re moving this forward, then people need to look at me.”
- Barack Obama, Tonight Show with Jay Leno, 03-19-09, roughly 35-40 minutes into the broadcast.

Um, Mr. President, if it’s your responsibility to get Tim Geithner all the tools he needs to solve what you and your administration repeatedly refer to as the greatest financial and economic disaster to strike this country since the Great Depression, then why is it that you have time to go on a late night chat show, and yet you haven’t had enough time to fill the remaining 17 out of 18 presidential appointments within the Treasury Department? Tim Geithner is the only one you’ve appointed out of those 18 appointments, meaning Tim Geithner is operating without a full compliment of appointees on his staff, to assist him with this massive crisis.
Wouldn’t you say that’s a pretty big error on your part? Wouldn’t you say that’s an instance of you not giving Tim Geithner the “tools that he needs to make sure we’re moving forward”? Don’t you think filling those 17 appointments should be a higher priority than chatting it up with Jay Leno?
Hey, Mr. Obama, you asked us to look at you, you said this was your responsibility. We’re looking at you now.

Secondly, I will say that I was impressed with one question in particular that Jay Leno addressed to Obama. When he asked specifically about his concerns over Congress targeting specific individuals with 90% taxation legislation, did you notice that Obama didn’t even answer the question? He completely deflected and didn’t even come close to addressing Leno’s very legitimate concerns!
But then again, I guess you wouldn’t want to answer that question either, if you were presiding over a Congress that just passed legislation which violated the Constitution not just once, but twice.
Yet again, Mr. Obama, I’m looking at you. This is your responsibility, and you can’t even answer a drastically important question such as the one Jay Leno presented to you?
I sincerely hope I wasn’t the only one who picked up on that deflection, because that’s a very, very, very important question that we should all be demanding a satisfactory answer to.

Lastly, didn’t you just love how in every single answer, the only solution Obama presented to both the economic crisis AND the big AIG mess, was more regulation and oversight? That’s pretty funny, coming from the golden boy of the same Democratic party who repeatedly rejected Republican attempts at providing more regulation and oversight before this crisis even erupted, in an effort to put on the brakes before we hit an absolute catastrophe. Wasn’t it the Democrats who said that Fannie and Freddie were just fine, and that Republicans were doing nothing more than being evil “fear-mongers” for suggesting that a major global financial crisis was on the horizon and that we’d better act now through regulation and oversight?
Kinda funny that Obama thinks we should trust those very same Democrats to effectively implement that regulation and oversight now that the very same crisis the Republicans predicted has hit us at full force, that crisis the Democrats said didn’t exist and was nothing more than a Republican fantasy. But not only did the Democrats fail in that regard, but they also failed to put in any regulation and oversight into the massive stimulus bills they passed which led to this big AIG mess that Obama was commenting on.
Hmm, that’s at least two strikes, if not more. How many strikes will we allow the Democrats before we realize, hey, they have absolutely no track record of success and they flat out suck at implementing any kind of effective regulation and oversight, like the kind Obama was touting on Jay Leno?

Alright, now to hit play and finish the rest of it. I swear, I feel like pulling my hair out, this is so frustrating to listen to. So before my brain just fizzles out, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the whole debacle, so please, comment away and let me know what you think!

Oh, and by the way, just to add my voice to the chorus – let’s impeach Chris Dodd, shall we?

From the Andrew Malcolm’s blog at the Los Angeles Times:

Obama White House Bars Press from Press Award Ceremony
by Andrew Malcolm

We are not making this up:

Barack Obama was elected commander in chief promising to run the most transparent presidential administration in American history.

This achievement and the overall promise of his historic administration caused the National Newspaper Publishers Assn. to name him “Newsmaker of the Year.”

The president is to receive the award from the federation of black community newspapers in a White House ceremony this afternoon.

The Obama White House has closed the press award ceremony to the press.

From the president’s official schedule:

“Later in the afternoon, the President and the First Lady will attend a reception with the National Newspaper Publisher Association in the State Dining Room, where they will be presented the Newsmaker of the Year award. This event is closed press.”

Maybe they’ll let the newspaper people pass the award through the fence.

This is an absolute must-read for everyone, considering that Israel stands on the brink of what many believe may be the beginning of World War III. Iran is hell-bent on destroying Israel, because of their belief that if they can destroy Israel and wage bloody chaos throughout the world, it will bring about the second coming of their Messiah. (That’s also why they’re trying so hard to get nuclear weapons, but the first stage of their mission involves obliterating Israel.)
One of the many battlefronts in this war on Israel is being waged at the UN. Aside than the battle that’s being fought with mortar shells and suicide bombers in the Gaza Strip, this battle is purely diplomatic and legal. The UN – led by a voting majority bloc made up of Iran, Pakistan, Libya, Cuba, and other third world countries – has been systematically trying to de-legitimize Israel, declaring that not only do the Jewish people have no right to self-determination and self-defense, but that most likely the Holocaust never happened, and that any and all criticism of Islam is not only racist, but criminal.
One of the first declarations of war in this diplomatic battle came about at the Durban Conference, held in Durban, South Africa, about a week before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York. The entire purpose of this conference was to lay out a declaration that Israel was inherently a racist state, that it was denying the Palestinian people their homeland, and that by merely defending themselves, Israel was participating in nothing but prejudice and racism. In other words, unless the Jewish people were to simply lay down and die at the hands of the Palestinians, they’re automatically in the wrong.
The conference also laid the legal foundation to – as I mentioned above – criminalize all criticism of Islam, thus stifling any and all free speech which might lead to people realizing that hey, sometimes Islamists go off the deep and and, you know, try to kill innocent people that they’ve decided are “infidels” (and just so you know, anyone who isn’t a Muslim is an “infidel”, so that means you.)

Suffice it to say, Durban was a bit nasty, disgusting, extremist-Islamic-fueled tirade against Israel and the Jewish people in general. Now, I’m not Jewish, but when someone calls you a racist, degenerate bigot, simply for having the nerve to defend yourself, your family, and your home, I’m kinda thinking that’s the pot calling the kettle black. Anyone who claims that another race doesn’t have the right to self-defense is, um, gee, racist.
So in other words, the UN was sanctifying Islamic rage against the Jewish people, giving Iran in particular the diplomatic and legal foundation it requires to obliterate Israel – that first step in their plan to ultimately destroy all the infidels and bring back their Messiah. Fantastic, huh? I’m sure that’s just what the founders of the United Nations had in mind when they founded it in order to prevent the catastrophe that led to the death and destruction of hundreds of thousands of people at the hand of the Third Reich.

So what does this have to do with Obama? Well, the United States – a staunch ally of Israel, since we realize exactly what it is that Iran’s trying to do – boycotted the first Durban conference. So did many other countries.
Now, so many years later, Durban II is coming up in April. What’s the purpose of Durban II? To carry out the plans and policies laid out in the first Durban conference. In other words, take all those lovely bigoted ideas and plans they came up with at Durban I and make them a reality.

You’d think that since this was the declared and unavoidable purpose of Durban II – i.e. the absolute destruction of Israel – that the United States would again be boycotting the conference. But no, you’d be wrong.
Obama, in his infinite wisdom, has decided to spit in the face of Jewish people everywhere and attend the planning conferences in preparation of Durban II. A White House spokesman claims that they’re participating specifically to rectify all the anti-Israel aspects of the conference’s agenda, but since that’s pretty much all that conference is about, I kinda doubt that’s even possible. Especially given the fact that the United States is vastly out-numbered by the Islamic and Third World blocs, which hold a voting majority in the United Nations. Therefore, it’s flat out impossible for the White House to accomplish what they’re supposedly setting out to do.

Hey, who knows, maybe Obama believes that since he’s already the Messiah, no matter what Iran does it won’t matter. Since we already have one Messiah gracing us with his presence, why would we have need of another one?

This issue is absolutely imperative to all of us, Jewish or otherwise, because this is literally the first step on the cusp of international war. This is Iran’s first move, the first volley in a battle plan that ultimately leads to the destruction of everyone on Earth, save for Allah’s chosen people. If Israel falls, we will all fall. And if we help them murder Israel, we will legitimize their efforts to murder us. We will have participated in an act of genocide, a genocide that will be our own downfall.
And Obama’s leading us there.

There’s a brilliant article out today that I really wish everyone would read. It’s a much better analysis of the significance of Obama’s participation in the conference than I could ever give. Believe me when I say this is crucial, and we absolutely must stand up before it’s too late. If Iran gains a stranglehold in Israel, it will make them that much more powerful and capable of going into Iraq, Afghanistan, and ultimately holding the entirety of the Middle East in the palm of its hand. That is precisely what they want, precisely what they’re aiming for, so that they can bring about the Armageddon that they believe is coming. This is insanity and we cannot let it move forward, and we sure as hell can’t become part and parcel of it.
Please, check out the article and speak up, before it’s too late.