Words of Warning from Ronald Reagan

"There are those in America today who have come to depend absolutely on government for their security. And when government fails, they seek to rectify that failure in the form of granting government more power. So, as government has failed to control crime and violence with the means given it by the Constitution, they seek to give it more power at the expense of the Constitution. But in doing so, in their willingness to give up their arms in the name of safety, they are really giving up their protection from what has always been the chief source of despotism — government.

Lord Acton said power corrupts. Surely then, if this is true, the more power we give the government the more corrupt it will become. And if we give it the power to confiscate our arms we also give up the ultimate means to combat that corrupt power. In doing so, we can only assure that we will eventually be totally subject to it. When dictators come to power, the first thing they do is take away the people’s weapons. It makes it so much easier for the secret police to operate, it makes it so much easier to force the will of the ruler upon the ruled."

~~ RONALD REAGAN ~~

NOTE: Ronald Reagan can never be defined by a mere collection of one-liners but here is a random selection of a few of my favorites -- as timely today as they were when he said them:

“Here's my strategy on the Cold War: We win, they lose.”

“The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.”

“The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so.”

“I have wondered at times about what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress.”

"Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong."

“The taxpayer: That's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination.”

“Government is like a baby: An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.”

“The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program.”

“It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.”

“Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.”

“Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed, there are many rewards; if you disgrace yourself, you can always write a book.”

“No arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is as formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.”

“If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.”

"Those who have never broken free from the mentality of tax-and-tax and spend-and-spend still think increasing taxes is the best way to solve America's problems. ... We need a tax policy that offers incentives for people to work, save, and invest -- all the things that will keep our economy growing and improve our well being. We need a basic tax reform that will permit us to bring everybody's tax rates down. ... Our country needs leadership that can see beyond the demands of the special interest groups and prepare America for a better tomorrow."

~~ Random Quotes of Ronald Reagan ~~

The Second American Revolution

Founding Father, Thomas Paine, author of "Common Sense," returns to modern times to plead for a Second American Revolution to take back America.

Original video by Bob Basso:



If not now, when? If not us, who?

Shep Smith Blasts Congress Over AIG Hypocrisy

Shepard Smith eviscerates the congressional clown hearings today:

"Well, well, well. Wasn't that a quite a little show. Ladies and gentlemen, just facts now. No opinions."

[...]

"And furthermore... Barney Frank asking the CEOs to 'name names'? Remember Joe McCarthy?"


This is going to get messy, folks, and very divisive. And we must not let them get away with it.

Good for you, Shep! It was great to hear you state the facts in a day that was filled with political hypocrisy.

Behind the Scenes at the Obama Show

The White House is in role-playing mode again and the featured act is the second scene of the original play we saw six weeks ago. President Obama is outraged that AIG, after taking billions in taxpayer bailout dollars, is now going to pay out bonuses to the very folks who helped put the insurance conglomerate – the one that was too big to fail -- into the financial abyss in the first place. And they want us to believe the government is just now finding out about this.

Remember the humongous stimulus package, the one that no one had time to read before voting on its passage? Is it possible that the huge rush to spend taxpayer dollars was an itty bitty mistake? AIG was an un-savable mega-mess and for the government to rush in and perform a huge cash infusion into its miserable business practices and then to expect a different outcome from what it got is absolutely ludicrous.

Like Claude Raines’ character in Casablanca, Obama is outraged – outraged that gambling is going on in this establishment. We didn't hear any outrage from Obama when AIG contributed over $100,000 to his political campaign. And no outrage from Chris Dodd for AIG's very generous contribution toward his political aspirations. And the list goes on.

Taxpayer dollars were thrown at the financial giant without any accounting oversight whatsoever. The bonuses were part of AIG's prior contractual arrangements – legally binding business contracts that must be honored. But did our government’s financial gurus bother to find out about such contracts? Why, no. There was no time, remember? There was only enough time to throw money in the AIG coffers.

Wasn’t it a mere three weeks ago when we were reading that the biggest banks were going to fail? And then a couple of weeks ago we were told that Nancy Pelosi wanted another stimulus package and the banks might need still more bailout money.

But that was then and this is now.

Now, Bank of America posts a profits for 2009! And Citibank won’t be begging for more money after all – at least, not yet.

Those terrible retail numbers that spelled The Great Recession and had over half of the nation saying we were headed for The Great Depression II. Well, as it turns out they were not so bad after all.

Pssssst! Retail sales were up in January, but that didn’t get much attention from the MSM because the narrative from Washington back then was DOOM! DOOOM! DOOOOOOOM!

Now, suddenly everything is beautiful!

So, what happened?

Could it possibly be that Obama’s inside polling numbers were not quite so warm and rosy with all that disaster talk running rampant? I’ve got my own opinion. I’ll let you decide for yourself.

But, if you’re like me, and you’re feeling somewhat manipulated and more than a little like Dr. Doolittle’s Push-Me-Pull-You, then welcome to the Obama Nation. It doesn’t look much like our America of old, does it?

There is a method to the Obama madness and it’s heads, Obama wins -- or tails, Obama wins. First, Obama declared “a catastrophe that we might never recover from.” That drove an already shaky stock market right through the basement floor, wiping out nearly half of every workers' 401K, seriously damaging investors and scaring the citizens into agreeing to a monumental porkulous stimulus bill that will cost our children and grandchildren much of their American dream.

As if that weren't enough, Team Obama has worked overtime to dumb us down, to numb our senses in hopes of causing us to accept a government takeover of other parts of the private sector. Frightened people easily become followers and much of America is frightened.

Here’s my take on the crisis strategy -- the behind-the-scenes deception -- exactly why Obama talked down the economy and talked up each crisis in magnanimous proportions:

1. He needed to create an atmosphere that would allow passage of the stimulus bill.
2. He wanted to bring the crisis to a fever pitch so that he could further advance his effort to pass other big government legislation – health care, for starters, and green energy.
3. He needed to give the impression that the economy is absolutely, positively as bad as it could ever get so that any progress would be viewed as a recovery, and any recovery would be credited to Obama and hailed as nothing short of a miracle.

In my opinion, Obama’s strategy was calculated. It was deceitful. It was manipulative. It was opportunistic. And unless taxpaying Americans shake off our fear and make our voices heard, it will be effective.

Loosely stated, Obama, the intellectual, was getting hammered. Even his own party was starting to revolt from his grandiose spending. His administration is making foreign policy gaffes left and right and he personally insulted our best ally. Some wonder if he is malicious or simply inept. He cannot seat his cabinet or treasury staff. His priorities seem disordered. He’s been picking fights with private citizens – Rush Limbaugh comes to mind, to create a nemesis. His nominations are giving him fits. He’s backtracking on campaign promises and he’s moving left – hard left, and he’s moving swiftly.

The Tea Parties are starting to organize to a point where the MSM might actually be forced to cover them.

We’ve got warships heading to China while Russia has bombers going to Venezuela for alleged maneuvers. Obama wants to raise taxes, but you can’t do that in a Great Recession. He wants Universal Health Care yet he wants to charge vets for their battle wounds. He must change the subject and give the appearance that he’s doing very well in order to move toward nationalization. And he can’t do that unless -- Ta-Da! -- things aren’t so bad, after all!

He’s hitting the reset button – again -- on his entire presidency.

Well, I hate to be cynical. But I’ll sleep better tonight knowing it’s really not all that bad, after all. You’ll sleep better too, won’t you? No point in feeling like a fool just because the president needs us to be fools in order for his plans to succeed. Let ‘im eat cake!

He Says He's Very Good At It

Never underestimate Obama -- he’s one smooth salesman. He’s deceiving the American people about his liberal revolution. His air of confidence is disturbing in its arrogance. For all of his failure to project optimism about the economy, he has tremendous confidence in one thing: his ability to ram his liberal agenda through Congress before the American people even know what hit them.

One of the most chilling quotes from Obama that I’ve ever read is this, reported by Fred Barnes recently:

When Barack Obama met with TV anchors at a White House luncheon last week, he assured them he likes being president. “And it turns out I’m very good at it,” he stated.

Let that sink in for a moment. Obama had been the president for 44 days and already he was saying he’s “very good at it.”

The stock market is falling every day and he’s “very good at it.” Today the Dow is set to close at 6594.44 and Obama's “very good at it.”

Confidence is one thing. Unashamed hubris is another.

Come to think of it, he’s very good at that too.

Rush Limbaugh, American Patriot

Rush Limbaugh is everywhere in the news, especially since Politico has uncovered a little White House plumbing action in which Rush has been systematically targeted by the Obama White House.

As a frequent listener, I naturally had to tune in today to hear his opening monologue. Rush did not disappoint. It was fascinating radio -- Rush was both amusing and amazing.

In a move that can only be called brilliant, Limbaugh cordially invited President Obama to come on his show and spend three hours in a debate with him. Limbaugh is offering the POTUS fully paid transportation and overnight accommodations – not one cent of it on the taxpayer’s dime -- for a debate.

Limbaugh seems utterly, supremely confident – in other words, his normal self. He suggests that if President Obama can debate without notes or teleprompter and defeat Limbaugh in the eyes of the audience (paraphrasing), “You will own America. You will have no opposition standing. Santelli is being silenced; Cramer will be gone soon, though not without a fight. You already have the press, you have Hollywood. The only thing standing between you and complete ownership of the United States is me and my little radio show.”

Obama once wrote of audacity, but today Rush hit him squarely with the reality of the word -- an audacious offer. Rush is calling Obama’s bluff. Limbaugh understands what so few in America seem to grasp: there has been a coup -- a bloodless, painless coup. The Obama presidency is only about six weeks old and America may never again be the same.

Of course, the White House won’t do the debate. Obama could never begin to go toe to toe, without notes, against Limbaugh – certainly not on the serious issues that concern this country. As a frequent listener, I believe that Rush Limbaugh could go toe to toe with the devil himself and in the end, the devil would wonder what happened.

In spite of the way he's portrayed in the mainstream media, Limbaugh is hardly a radical wingnut. He has never been that. He's magnificently informed, direct, compelling, uncompromising, down-to-earth, and incontrovertibly genuine. What lines he may cross via hyperbole, are backtracked by the man's genuine and admirable self-deprecation -- something of a lost art these days.

The over calculated and totally teleprompted Obama hasn't got half of Limbaugh's ability or certainty, which may not be saying much because, basically, Limbaugh is light years ahead in terms of conviction: he is a wise, sensible, potent, incomparable voice for conservative American politics.

Obama has a way of getting out of things. The White House canceled a joint press conference with the British Prime Minister yesterday, ostensibly because of snow. Many Brits viewed it as a snub.

Unfortunately for the country, this debate will never happen -- never in an uncontrolled environment where Obama would be publicly exposed in such a manner. But this Reagan conservative can dream, can’t I? I would pay good money to hear such a debate -- but I digress.

Obama’s supporters are furious, but why should they be so angry? Obama is an ivy-league educated orator with excellent skills; and besides, he’s the President of the United States. He should be able to out-talk college-dropout Limbaugh hands down, shouldn’t he? The callers want to re-negotiate the terms for Obama’s sake. It’s pretty funny radio.

Limbaugh replies, (paraphrasing) “Hey, Obama wants more diversity on the radio -- I’m offering time for the Democrats' view to be fully exposed and explained…”

It’s absolutely brilliant. The White House will send Press Secretary Gibbs out to chuckle about Limbaugh’s offer and try to dismiss all this as political theater.

The White House may regret targeting this college drop-out. Rush Limbaugh is a seriously courageous man. He loves this country unquestionably, and he sincerely believes in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. He believes in the First Amendment and places himself right beside it and says, “Go ahead, take your best shot.”

Rush is an American patriot.

Bravo, Rush, Bravo!

~~~~~

You can read Rush’s monologue here.

He's Barack -- We're Broke

So, here we are, going into month two of the Obama presidency and the Dow has now fallen below 7,000. It’s at 6809.17 as I type this. We haven’t seen these numbers since 1997. But at the White House, it's black tie and white wine, steak dinners and cocktail parties.

A week ago, Chris Matthews (the MSNBC liberal loon with the tingling leg for Obama), wondered aloud in a rare moment of Obama-doubt: “I thought 8,000 was the floor, and it looks like 6,000 is the floor. People are angry, I’m getting angry.”

And, there’s Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner – the so-called indispensible man who was presented to the public as the only one equipped to handle our economic crisis in spite of his "minor" problem with TurboTax. His performance has been less than reassuring. To the contrary, Geithner looks like a deer in the headlights -- the antithesis of confidence in a time when confidence and leadership are desperately needed. So much for the choices of our newly elected Community-Organizer-in-Chief.

How low will the Dow go? No one knows. I don’t know. But I do know that the market does not like the policies of this new president – no way, no how – and without confidence to give it direction, the market will continue to spiral downward. Personally, I can easily see Dow 5000. Whether it crashes there or reins itself in is anyone’s guess, but I can say with certainty that the U.S. economy is in shambles and the market sees no recovery on the horizon.

The president – the Anointed One -- seems wholly untroubled by any of this and is happily continuing on toward the creation of one world with a global “new deal” on his mind. The swiftness with which he is accruing and consolidating power is breathtaking, and sadly, most people don’t even realize what is happening. Impoverishing the people is only part of it. The underlying agenda is about power and change -- changing America into something freedom-loving people will not recognize and we most certainly will not like.

Some reporters are beginning to think it might be time to panic. Why now? It's not as if they weren't warned long ago by all of us lowly conservatives.

Obama is going to make the Carter years look like the best of times.

~~~~~~~~~~

The MUST READ: Larry Kudlow spells it out in no uncertain terms:

Obama Declares War on Investors, Entrepreneurs, Businesses, and More

Let me be very clear on the economics of President Obama’s State of the Union speech and his budget. He is declaring war on investors, entrepreneurs, small businesses, large corporations, and private-equity and venture-capital funds.

[...]

Study after study over the past several decades has shown how countries that spend more produce less, while nations that tax less produce more. Obama is doing it wrong on both counts.

And as far as middle-class tax cuts are concerned, Obama’s cap-and-trade program will be a huge across-the-board tax increase on blue-collar workers, including unionized workers. Industrial production is plunging, but new carbon taxes will prevent production from ever recovering. While the country wants more fuel and power, cap-and-trade will deliver less.

Read it all here.

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What Will YOU Do When Freedom Dies?

I Am Dying -- Will You Help Me?