Thursday, December 04, 2008
What can Americans do about government insanity?
And now there's talk of the Federal Government loaning out another $7.4 Trillion beyond the $700 bailout, beyond our present $11-Trillion of federal debt! Where will our Federal Government get that $7.4 Trillon on top of all the trillions mentioned in the e-mail below in bailouts?
What can Americans do to stop this insanity?
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
Attacks on Mormons are a form of terrorism
Jonah Goldberg in his LA Times op-ed piece "An ugly attack on Mormons" is right. The kinds of attacks on Mormons would not be tolerated if they were directed toward Jews or Muslims.
Mormons (not the Mormon Church) contributed to the campaign to get passage of Proposition 8 in California. It's Mormons (not the Mormon Church) that are being attacked for taking a stand against same sex marriage.
Goldberg writes: "At a pro-gay-marriage rally in Los Angeles after the vote, chants of 'Mormon scum!' were reported. Envelopes containing white powder have been sent to Mormon temples in California and Utah; vandals hit other temples. Lists of businesses to boycott -- essentially Mormon blacklists -- have sprung up on the Internet."
I read a sampling of the current 1289 comments and most see nothing wrong with the attacks. Although these attacks are mostly verbal, they also have damaged property and hurt people financially. Most harmful is the fear that they create. Fear leads to terror (as in terrorism). In other countries such actions would be prosecuted as hate crimes.
These attacks remind me of the abuse that Mormons have suffered during most of the church's 180 year history. For example, when Mormons were driven from Illinois, they found refuge at Winter Quarters along the Missouri River in Nebraska Territory. That first winter almost 600 died out of a population of about 3000. Two relatives of mine, Mary Peirce and Caleb Neff, were buried at Winter Quarters and have their names written on a monument at the present-day Florence, Nebraska. When the Mormons have taken a stand against abuse, it hasn't ended well. At the Battle of Crooked River, three died and eighteen were massacred at Haun's Mill.
Mormons may disagree with gay and lesbian lifestyles, but they are not likely to attack the people nor even verbally abuse them. Why then are Mormons attacked economically and personally and threatened for their beliefs? I take these attacks very personally. They are not attacks on an institution, but on individual Mormons.
All my life I have been a defender of others' civil rights. However, I don't see this as a matter only of civil rights. (I think all people, including gays and lesbians, should have the benefits of a civil union.) This is a matter of safeguarding my children and grandchildren from a lifestyle that in many cases leads to unhappiness. Because marital infidelity also leads to unhappiness and divorce, I warn my children against that lifestyle as well.
As I write this, I'm aware of the risk I take in expressing my viewpoint. I'm afraid because by writing this defense I may also be subject to personal attack and abuse. I could also be placed on the "Mormon blacklist." I could lose my job, my livelihood, and my security. No one should suffer because they express an opinion or choose a certain way of life, including Mormons and gays and lesbians.
Replace government foreign aid with charitable giving
administration to make changes in how foreign aid is administered.
Much is wrong with the current way the U.S. does foreign aid and the
Foreign Assistance Act came into being during the Kennedy
Administration, some 45 years ago.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97646244
Congresswoman Betty McCollum (D-MN) says that with pressure to deal
with domestic problems, it would be a mistake to ignore foreign aid.
"Because the challenges and the threats that are facing the American
people from every corner of the world will not go away if we ignore
them."
"We desperately need to reform our system," she says. "We need to
re-engage in development in a whole new way, because it not only is,
in my opinion, the morally right thing to do, but it is what will
bring much more security to our country in the long run."
McCollum proposes a cabinet level official devoted to development.
Nicholas Eberstadt of the American Enterprise Institute has doubts
about such an appointment. He says it's better that administration of
foreign aid stay under the State Department.
Part of the problem with foreign aid, says McCollum, is that too many
government agencies are involved in administering foreign aid. Foreign
aid is micromanaged.
Another problem is that most of the aid dollars stay in the United
States. This "services our universities very well; it services our
beltway bandit corporations very well; the only thing that doesn't get
serviced terribly well is development in this current situation,"
Eberstadt says.
U.S. foreign aid also has the reputation for supporting corrupt
infrastructure abroad, rather than getting the help to where it is
needed.
Earlier this year when Congress was considering the president's
emergency bill to support AIDS treatment in Africa, Congressman Ron
Paul warned that government programs decrease the amount of aid that
private groups put into areas of need. "Much of this aid will run
through government-to-government channels and will be vulnerable to
corruption. Some of the aid will be sent to faith-based organizations
who, along with accepting government largess, will now be subject to
governmental controls and will soon become more dependent on taxpayer
funding than private funds."
In referring to the AIDS bill, Paul said: "Africans should decide what
is best for Africa. American taxpayers should decide what charities
deserve their money. Forcibly taking money from the United States and
sending it overseas is unconstitutional and immoral."
He pointed out that when asked what their main developmental concerns
were, Africans said they are much more concerned about jobs,
agriculture and basic infrastructure than they are about health issues
like AIDS.
In 2006 Americans gave $295 billion to charitable organizations, both
foreign and domestic. Americans are a generous people. They also
tend to be a lot more careful with their own money than government is.
If government got out of the business of foreign aid entirely,
reducingtaxes and barriers to giving, Americas contribution overseas
would likely be much more significant. Foreign aid doesn't help our
image abroad. Caring Americans could make a great difference.
What would happen if gold were plentiful - a lesson for fiat money
like that produced by the Federal Reserve:
"Throughout the ages, gold has stood the test of time as a
consistently reliable medium of exchange, and has frequently been
referred to as "God's money", as only God can make more of it.
Seeking superhuman power over money in the way alchemists did in
ancient times caused society to shun them as charlatans. In much the
same way, free people today should be sending the message that this
power and control over our money is no longer acceptable."
"The irony is that even had the ancient practice of alchemy been
successful, and gold was suddenly, magically made abundant, alchemists
still would have failed to create real wealth. Creating gold from
lead would have cheapened its status to that of rhinestones or cubic
zirconia. It is unnatural and dangerous for paper to be considered as
precious as a precious metal. Our fiat currency system is crumbling
and coming to an end, as all fiat currencies eventually do."
Read more at: http://tinyurl.com/6fhst8
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