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About a week ago, when I had just filled up my tank at $1.75 per gallon, I was talking with a friend of mine and we were laughing because we wanted to know where all the grandstanding and hyperbole about “the speculators” had gone.

Why do we find this so funny?  Because it wasn’t that long ago (just a few months) that the Has-been Media (MSM) reported on it every 3 minutes and anyone in politics (see here and here) were “gonna do something” about THOSE speculators and all THAT speculating!

What happened?  Why all the sudden silence on such an important “issue?”

No “windfall profits” tax was levied against the oil companies.  Congress didn’t enact a bunch of new regulations on speculators.  We didn’t even get a “tax holiday.”

So … without any “help” (and I use that term loosely) from Washington, and absent vengeful (but politically appealing) “crack-downs” on Big Oil and/or those stinkin’ speculators, how did the price at the pump drop so low so fast?

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Prior to 2006, when the presidential election started (way to early), pretty much nobody had ever heard of Barack Obama. But things have “changed,” because this coming January, he will be sworn-in as the President of the United States.  How did this happen?  This is a question many have asked, but while the mainstream pundits have had a difficult time providing an adequate answer, it’s been right in front of them all along.  This is how the Alinsky method works - quietly, in the background, where nobody is looking …

Colorado, once a strong, reliable “Red State,” who has favored the Republican presidential candidate in 10 of the last 12 elections, turned decidedly Democrat this time, winning the presidential election 54 to 45%, along with big gains at the state level.

And this wasn’t about Bush Derangement Syndrome, or even Gov. Sarah Palin, it was … well … a genuine conspiracy. Follow along with me, especially if you live in Michigan, because you need to know what’s really going down.

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Everyone is on a an email list where they receive an endless amount of typically bad jokes, but sometimes we get some funny jokes too!  I get quite a few funny emails, so I’ll share one with you.

This is a quick lesson in physics.  Engineers will surely understand, but everyone who has a little bit of wonder will enjoy this too.

Question:

Define Sinusoidal or Harmonic Motion?

This may offend those looking to be offended.  Click “more” at your own risk.

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The Classic Liberal has joined Blackfive’s Army team at Soldier’s Angels, along with 60+ other bloggers, in support of Project Valour-IT.

Soldiers’ Angels helps to provide voice-controlled/adaptive laptop computers and other technologies for Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines recovering from hand wounds and other severe injuries.

Soldiers’ Angels is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charity and your donations are tax deductible. Project Valour-IT began in 2005 in memory of SFC William V. Ziegenfuss.

These brave men and women voluntarily sign-up and put their lives on the line to protect our freedoms.  Please click on the donation button in the sidebar on your right.  Prove that private charity is more powerful than government confiscation!  These wounded men and women gave their limbs and lives for you, please give them a few bucks in return.

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If Republicans are serious about rebuilding the party, they should listen closely to the advise of Jesse Walker over at Reason Magazine (emphasis added).

Tips for Republicans

For those who came in late, the sole reason for the disarray of the GOP is apparently either

(a) that damn Palin woman and her barefoot fans, or

(b) those latte-sipping moderates who keep criticizing the People’s Tribune.

… Republicans can take heart. They’re the same false alternatives that the Democrats allegedly faced four years ago. Then a politician who hadn’t fallen behind the bipartisan Iraq war … came out of nowhere to beat his party’s establishment …

… If I were a Republican, I’d ignore the inane Palin debate and start looking around for a politician who had the good sense to break with the bipartisan consensus and oppose the bailout bill before it passed. Then I’d start planning an insurgency.

Jim Rogers, legendary investor and author of “Investment Biker” says “abolish the Fed!”

Jim Rogers shares his insight regarding the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, Hank Paulson, Alan Greenspan, and where he thinks things are heading on CNBC.

Rogers amazing success in predicting and understanding the markets makes the bow-tie wearing gentlemen an elite advisory voice that should be listened to by all.  So when he tells you Bernanke and Paulson don’t know what they’re doing - he’s right! And when he says the Fed is destined to fail … Congress better start listening …

But I won’t hold my breath.

You can find a much longer and more in depth interview with Jim Rogers on the “video” page (which now is up and running again).  Rogers discusses recessions, investment banks, the bailout, commodities, the Fed, the debasement of the dollar and the spiraling inflation heading our way.

While thinking about how to rebuild the Republican Party, I keep asking myself a few questions, mainly:

1. What does it mean to be Republican?
2. What does it mean to be “conservative?”
3. Does “winning” matter?

The first two questions I’ll leave for another post, but I’ll share my thoughts on the third question now.

To begin with, of course winning matters! Without electing people to office who will champion our cause, it will cease to exist as nothing more than an intellectual exercise.  BUT … winning … it certainly matters WHAT wins, and not just WHO … doesn’t it?

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Part Two: Setting the Record Straight

In Part One of this series, we looked at causes of the mortgage meltdown in terms of Wall Street.  They aren’t the only one’s with dirty hands, our corrupt Congress is to blame too. While Obama, Pelosi, and Barney Frank blame “Bush and the Republicans” with the Elite Media parroting along, the REAL story is quite different.

Fannie Mae was created as part of FDR’s New Deal. It was created to buy and secure mortgage debt, so the banks could clear their books and write more loans. In 1968, Congress took Fannie Mae’s debt off its books by privatizing the company (but still let them keep their government charter). Then in 1970, Congress created Freddie Mac, thinking that way, Fannie Mae couldn’t monopolize the secondary mortgage market. These two companies are known as government-sponsored enterprises (GSE). A GSE is a publicly-traded, private corporation created by Congress, and backed with an implicit government guarantee.

As you read the rest of the story, keep the following words by Barack Obama on September 15, 2008 in mind.

“[The Republican] philosophy that lets Washington lobbyists shred consumer protections and distort our economy so it works for the special interests instead of working people … Confident of their clout in Washington, they made hundreds of billions in bad loans, knowing that if they lost money, the government would bail them out … And they were right. The gambles did not pay off, our economy went into recession, and the taxpayers ended up footing the bill. Does that sound familiar?”

If Barack Obama was speaking the truth, he’d call for Congressional hearings and a criminal investigation on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, after all, he’s quick to use the Department of Justice to silence his critics, so you’d think he’d want to root them Republicans out!

But he doesn’t call for any such investigation … because it would destroy his political machine and aspirations to rule the world.

Here’s what REALLY happened …

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Having banned the traditional school bake sale, the Food Nazi’s are livin’ large in California (and all across the nation too)!  Read here, from the New York Times (emphasis added):

The old-fashioned school bake sale, once as American as apple pie, is fast becoming obsolete in California, a result of strict new state nutrition standards for public schools that regulate the types of food that can be sold to students.

The Piedmont High water polo team falls woefully short of these standards, selling cupcakes, caramel apples and lemon bars off campus in a flagrant act of nutritional disobedience.

“Before, it was the chips, the Hostess cupcakes, the Little Debbie doughnut sticks,” said Ginger Gray, the director of school nutrition for the Kenton County School District in northern Kentucky. Now, only pure fruit juice and low-fat or skim milk are allowed. The district’s most popular dish is whole-wheat stromboli made from scratch, Ms. Gray said, adding that she leans toward foods that families can cook at home. “You’re teaching them habits for life,” she said.

That’s right folks!  No longer is it up to the parents to teach their kids, nor the teachers, nor even “a village” … it takes regulation baby … REGULATION! Laws, enforced by government (aka the barrel of a gun), are the new paradigm in “teaching.”
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