Pay Freeze for Queen in UK Austerity Measures!

"In a sign of dire economic times across the pond, Queen Elizabeth II will see six consecutive years of frozen pay, as new austerity measures in the U.K. have cut funding for the royal household."

In the interest of "belt tightening" the leaders of our government should lead by example. But something more significantly more immediate than a "down the road" approach. It's as easy to tell the populace to tighten their belts, as it is to spend other peoples money - which is what the Socialist-Progressives in our government do with great aplomb, and impunity.

Here's my suggestion: Every government official, being paid with our money in Washington D.C., should take an immediate 50% cut in pay and benefits (staffing allowances, etc), and a staff reduction of 30%. Then eliminate their retirement benefits and place them all into the Social Security retirement system. Cut the freebies - haircuts, lunches, healthcare, vehicles, drivers, and education packages for their children. I think most of us could live very well on $87,000 per year... that's one-half of the salary with which a Congressman begins his "government service" experience.

And, as long as I'm running the country, let's revert to the system under which elected officials were originally paid in 1813. No, not the $8 per day, that's just too severe. They were paid only for the days they were in session, ostensibly doing the necessary work required to satisfy the people. Not themselves, or the labor unions (which didn't exist back then), or some major corporation in which they were deeply invested. They were "the servants of the people"!

Then let's see how many of them want to make a career out of government "service". My best guess is that we would have about 500 vacancies to fill in the combined House and Senate. They are not royalty! They deserve nothing better than that which the average person has in the way of pay, benefits and perks.

Have you ever wondered why anybody in their right mind would spend millions of dollars to get a job that pays $174,000 per year? Well, they're spending other peoples money, most of whom consider the expense to be more of an investment than a "donation". Could there possibly be a hidden agenda there? Could there be more "perks" for our elected representatives than simply their pay and allowances? Politicians would sell their mothers if they thought it would benefit them!

We know that they are all liars, and that they will play to whatever audience is in front of them during their campaign, only to do the bidding of their major contributors after they are elected. Knowing this full-well, we vote for them anyway, fearing that if we don't go to the ballot box, some other liar (the one whose lies we don't like) will get elected. We have no true leadership, only fools who have fooled us into electing them to run our country. If they ran a McDonald's franchise the way they run our country, it would be the only McDonald's to ever go bankrupt! If they were in charge of Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats, it would be depleted of salt within 90 days. Send Washington D.C. a message in 2012... replace them ALL!

Major Nidal Malik Hasan - Just ONE Home-Grown Terrorist?

Or, more likely, one of many! How did a man like Major Hasan join the United States Army? Not only join, but get a commission and eventually promoted to the rank of Major? He should never have been permitted to enter our military, nor should several hundred (perhaps thousands) of his fellow Islamics.

Under the guise of Political Correctness, our government is building its own Trojan Horse within our military, and our country in general. Sun-tzu, a Chinese military genius of the 6th century BC, is credited with having coined the phrase, "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer." (I don't know that this idea was to have them in sufficient numbers or in a physical proximity close enough to kill you, though!) Sun-tzu's idea was to have his enemies observed - either from within, through the use of spies - or by external means such as tradesmen, farmers, prostitutes, or anyone else privy to more casual observations, and the informal discussions, of his enemies. Sun-tzu's leadership methods and military skills were so efficient and correct that the principles in his military treatise, The Art of War, is still a standard reference of military leaders worldwide.

In the year 2001, it was estimated that the Muslim population in the USA was 2.8 million. In 2010 the US State Department estimates the US Muslim population at roughly 7 million - that's a 150% increase in 9 short years. There are no statistics available to establish how many of that increase of 4.2 million were natural-born Americans who converted to Islam, versus how many were already Muslims but imported from around the world. (Sun-tzu would not import those who would do him harm.)

As usual, my blog will raise more questions than it supplies practical answers, so here goes...

How do we deal with the unusually heavy influx of Muslims into our country? My most practical solution would be to place a moratorium on immigration into the USA from Islamic-based countries. In other words, if the principal religion of your country of origin is Islam, your application for admittance into the USA will be considered... within the next 20 years. But, that would be religious profiling and religious persecution according to the bleeding heart, left-wing liberals who run our media and our government. We can't do that!

How about we make all Muslims wear the "crescent and star" symbol of Islam on their clothing, and force them to live in ghettos - like Detroit, LA, and the boroughs of NYC? Oh, come to think of it that was Hitler's approach to dealing with "the Jewish problem" in Nazi Germany... We can't do that!

Well, then, let's put them into "Internment Camps", like we did to the Japanese-Americans during WWII. That worked well for us, didn't it? Too much like the previous idea? You're right... and it didn't work well for us. We can't do that!

Now that we've covered almost everything we can't do - short of mass executions for anybody that doesn't believe exactly the same way that we do (and then defining exactly who that particular "we" is) - what can we do? We - you and me - individually can do very little. We don't make the immigration laws or policies, but we elect the people who do!

Our elected "representatives" have failed to listen to the voice of the people for the past five or six decades (which I have personally observed). A constant pressure upon Congress from the people regarding such things as illegal immigration and the enforcement of expired work/student visas might go a long way toward minimizing such problems. Those who have made a conscious decision to violate our laws and our sovereignty, have proven themselves to be de facto criminals. Will they break only minor laws in the future? Will they become good citizens? Who knows? Do they deserve a chance at the "American Dream"? No! They have proven themselves to be scoff-laws, and consider themselves to be above the law. They deserve absolutely nothing... except arrest and deportation to their country of origin - which is far better than the punishment meted out to you or me if we were caught in their home country without proper paperwork!

Our "political correctness" will be responsible for the death of our Republic. Our government will continue to make concessions to the religion of Islam - the religion of TERRORISTS - until the United States Code (our federal laws) is supplemented or supplanted by Sharia "Law".

Does Sharia law allow a husband to rape his wife, even in America? A New Jersey trial judge thought so. In a recently overturned case, a "trial judge found as a fact that the defendant committed conduct that constituted a sexual assault" but did not hold the defendant liable because the defendant believed that he was exercising his rights over the victim.

In the In the State of California, 7th grade students at Excelsior Middle School in Discovery Bay, California adopted Muslim names, prayed on prayer rugs, and celebrated Ramadan under a state-mandated curriculum that requires instruction about various religions.

After Carver Elementary School in San Diego absorbed Muslim students from a defunct charter school in September 2006, a special recess was provided for the students to pray, classes were segregated by gender, and pork was removed from the school menu.

Muslims periodically block the streets of New York City, prostrating themselves in the middle of roadways and sidewalks undisturbed by police and other authorities. The resulting traffic jams are ignored, the double- and illegally parked vehicles are free of citations, and law enforcement officers are nowhere to be seen. Surely, practitioners of other religions or groups planning similar gatherings would be required to obtain permits for such an activity. Reportedly, the police have been ordered not to interfere with the Muslim prayer spectacle.

These special accommodations for Muslims effectively elevate the Islamic faith above that of Christians and Jews, reinforcing the message of the Koran -- "Allah proclaims Islam over all other religions" (48:28), "Islam will dominate other religions" (9:33), and "Islam does not coexist with other faiths" (5:51). Muslims are required by the teachings of their faith to conquer and subjugate non-Muslims and ensure worldwide submission to Islam -- "The believers must make war on infidels around them and let the infidels find firmness in them" (9:123).

This is the goal of the Islamic terrorists - to subjugate the entire world to the religious tyranny of Islam. Are we to help them in achieving that goal? When will the citizens of the United States say "ENOUGH!" Enough "political correctness", enough enabling, support and adoption of foreign customs, cultures and laws. Enough erosion of our Constitutional rights!

ARIZONANS - Right Wing, Rednecked, Nazi, Racists... according to the Left

Inasmuch as the federal government has chosen to ignore the continual influx of illegal aliens into our country, Governor Jan Brewer has chosen to defend Arizona's border using a moderate approach. Enacting a state law enabling Arizona law enforcement agencies to apprehend those who choose to enter our country without the proper documentation. She has not given them the authority to kick down doors without reasonable cause, or accost law-abiding citizens on the highways and sidewalks for no reason other than "suspicion". She has provided them with the minimum tools law enforcement agencies need to stem the flood of illegal aliens over Arizona's southern border, thereby adding an increased level of security to the residents of her state. If a violation of Arizona law has been observed or reported, the responding law officers may ask for proof of citizenship if there is any doubt as to the offenders status. To my way of thinking - however warped that may be - this is undoubtedly a "states rights" (United States Constitution, Amendment X: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.") issue. If the feds won't enforce federal law and secure our borders, then the states should, and MUST, do so themselves. Why, when there are dozens of cities that have designated themselves as "sanctuary cities" for illegals - thereby flaunting federal law - should such a fuss be made over a state creating their own law enabling them to enforce the obvious intent of federal law?
It is for just such reasons that there is a Tenth Amendment! The founders of our once-great nation instinctively knew that the federal government could easily become a bloated, tyrannical leviathan, that may attempt to constrain the people and consume the rewards of their labors.
Being in Mexico without the proper documents is equivalent in crime level to a felony in the USA. However, Mexico is not a "catch and release" country. Their penalties are:
First offense - two years imprisonment
Second Offense - ten years imprisonment
If you are a foreigner living in Mexico you are prohibited by law from participating in any activities critical of the Mexican government. Also, you must provide proof that you are capable of providing for your own medical care at your expense, that you have permanent employment, and that you will create no financial burden upon the Mexican government. That being the case... why would any American want to live in Mexico?

I'm beginning to think I should claim Mexican citizenship just so I can get all the freebies from our own government.

What is Obama's plan to end illegal immigration into the United States of America? AMNESTY, coupled with immediate granting of citizenship! I'm certain that in some parallel universe that approach to resolving the problem makes sense... but not in the world in which I live. Using that rationale, if a person were to sneak into a movie theater without paying, they should be able to stay without being arrested for theft of services. Or, better yet, if a person were to sneak into the White House without proper documentation... oh, never mind - bad example... that has already happened!
There is always the outside chance that I could be wrong about this entire issue. I think the odds are right up there with the sun rising in the west tomorrow morning.

What Will It Take To Return The USA To Its Intended Course?

We are on the banks of the Rubicon - that "point of no return" at which the Republic can be lost for the foreseeable future, if not lost forever! Should the current administration be permitted by We the People to continue on its present course, it will be a future of darkness, decline, and despair for our children and grandchildren. What can we as individuals do to redirect our government?

In a nutshell we must CHANGE THE SYSTEM FROM THAT WHICH IT HAS BECOME. And just how do we do that?

1. November 2nd, 2010 is election day. About half our national House of "Representatives" and 30-odd national Senators are up for re-election. DO NOT VOTE FOR ANY INCUMBENTS! They apparently have not understood our written requests, made using the English language, nor have they paid any attention to the poll results regarding Obamacare, or to the Tea Party activities, or the Town Hall Meetings. It is crucial that we communicate with them in a way they will understand - at the voting booth. Remove all the incumbents from office, and perhaps the remainder will finally understand our message.
2. TALK IS CHEAP! As we have known for decades - or perhaps centuries - the vast majority of politicians are professional liars. Lies, untruths, mistruths and technical omissions are their stock-in-trade. They will tell each audience addressed during their campaign, tailor-made lies designed to garner the majority of votes from that group of voters. For one group it may be "White is the new black!", and for another "Black is the new white!". Adapt the message to suit the desires of the audience. In order for our intended system of governance to be resurrected we must replace the incumbents with proven conservatives. And not just those who claim to be conservatives. We must replace them with politicians with documented, consistently conservative records. If there are none running in your district then it becomes a "best guess" situation, but do not re-elect incumbents! This is primarily those Democrats who sold their votes (Nebraska's Ben Nelson, Ohio's Kucinich - a really CHEAP date, etc.) and those Republicans who sold out the American people (Louisiana's Anh "Joseph" Cao, etc.). They have proven by their actions that they are not representing the will of the majority of voters. Also, see how many working-class candidates you can vote into office (see paragraph 5, below).

3. Procedural Changes in Congress. Bills may be written by anybody - as is obvious in so much of our legislation, which makes so little sense. But a bill must be introduced into the legislative process by a member of Congress. From the time of introduction the bill then follows a rather circuitous route within Congress to committees, hearings, debates, etc., in both the House and the Senate. That's all fair enough, I suppose... insuring that the bill is (ostensibly) properly reviewed prior to acceptance or rejection. But there is a problem in the procedure - one that is known but never acknowledged within that legislative body. If a bill passes the hearing stage it then goes for "markup", and this is where the problem lies... markup is where the AMENDMENTS are placed in the bill. The problem is that amendments that are totally unrelated to the issue(s) addressed (I call them "hitchhikers") by the bill are - more often than not - attached to the bill. When was the last time a bill establishing a military budget passed that only included things related to the military? Hitchhikers for education, welfare, bridges to nowhere, and aircraft that the military neither requested, nor wants, nor needs are attached to the bill! A bill should pass or fail on its own merits, or be rejected in the next step of the process and returned for reconsideration if it contains requests that are unrelated to the basic intent of that bill. Bills should also be of reasonable readability in both language and length. If it takes more than 50 pages to say what you want then there is something terribly wrong. If it takes more than 100 pages somebody is trying to pull a fast one. More than 200 pages, and the sponsor should be required to defend the bill in open session, and be subject to censure and a fine for wasting the time of our legislature. When it takes more than 50 pages to ask for something that is truly needed, then the bill is rife with smoke, mirrors and earmarks. Congress should follow the KISS rule - Keep It Simple, Stupid - and NO HITCHHIKERS!
4. Eliminate access to Congress by professional lobbyists and special interest groups. One team of no more than three entity-employed volunteer representatives PER INDUSTRY or UNION would be acceptable, with no budget allowance other than employer provided transportation and lodging reservations, and reimbursable food expenses not to exceed $50 per day. Such restrictions would certainly impede, if not eliminate, the buying of Congressional favors.

5. Take the government back from Big Money. It should be obvious - to anybody that is not comatose (or already deceased) - that our elected officials are incapable of representing the working-class in a responsible manner. Would you spend millions of dollars to get a job that pays $174,000 per year? Not if you had any sense. Perhaps campaign spending limits of $350,000 for State legislators would level the playing field, and make it possible for a working-class candidate to actually get elected. If one couldn't raise that kind of money for their campaign then they probably shouldn't be running for office. After all, it's just $2,000 more than the job pays in 2 years, and would only be an average of a $5 contribution from 70,000 people.

Once upon a time, our Congress was composed of volunteers. These volunteers were men who so believed in our Republic that they worked to establish it without pay. (In 1813 they granted themselves a pay of $8 per day... paid only for the days which they actually attended to the business of the government.) Originally they were men of some learning, but mostly men of native intelligence, common sense, honor and the courage of their convictions. Open and vigorous disagreement and debate was commonplace. There was no strict party affiliation at the outset, rather, separation among Americans was primarily along philosophical lines, rather than party loyalties. Most were what we would call "Independents" today. (The earliest American political parties were the Federalists and the Republicans. George Washington declined labels, but was philosophically aligned with the Federalists, as was John Adams, Washington's VP and his successor as the 2nd President of the United States of America. The Republicans became the Democratic Party in 1828, with the Federalists becoming the Whigs in 1840 [having consumed the supporters of the Anti-Masonic Party in 1838] and finally morphing into the Republican Party in 1856. Yes, it did become a bit confusing back then.)
Our government has become an all-consuming Behemoth, that repeatedly ignores the expressed will of We the People. Government is nothing more - or anything less - than a necessary evil, of which WE are - Constitutionally - the masters... yet the government ignores our commands and turns upon us. The Obama regime goes so far as to label those citizens who would have the government follow the Constitution - upon which our nation was founded - as "terrorists" and "anarchists". Perhaps no government is better than unresponsive government, and perhaps those labeled as "terrorists" by the liberal left "progressives" are recognized as "patriots" by the conservative right.
OUR NATION WAS NOT FOUNDED ON A PHILOSOPHY OF "REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH" OR "SOCIALIZED" ANYTHING. IT WAS FOUNDED UNDER THE CONCEPT OF GOD-GIVEN RIGHTS - INCLUDING THE RIGHT OF ALL CITIZENS TO REAP THE BENEFITS OF THEIR OWN LABORS -

INDIVIDUALLY!

In the words of Thomas Jefferson: "God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. ...
And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure."
Manure is what Washington has been feeding us for decades. Let us tell them we're full - and we will have no more of it!

CZARIST AMERICA - More Czars Than Stars

How much incompetence can the elected representatives of the American people put up with before the "President" is taken to task for his fiscal irresponsibility? Here's a list of the most recent issuance of political plums - and remember, none of these people have been vetted by Congress, nor are they responsible to anyone other than Obama. Also, keep in mind that collectively they are being paid hundreds of thousands - perhaps millions - of tax dollars, AND they will each require government funded office space, transportation, and a significant staff of underlings to whom they will delegate all the "grunt work", retaining only the decision making for themselves.
1. Technology Czar: Aneesh Chopra - Chopra talks about the role of technology in government policy, and advancing Obama's health care IT, smart grid, education technology, and economic development agendas. (I don't know much about Chopra, so I'm taking a "wait and see" attitude about his performance.)

2. Drug Czar: Gil Kerlikowske - While ramping up efforts to ensure that no human suffering can be relieved by doctors prescribing marijuana, Kerlikowske said his office will soon begin two new initiatives: first, to outlaw breast feeding and baby formula; and then campaign to urge teenagers to avoid marijuana by increasing their use of alcohol and tobacco. (BEAM ME UP, SCOTTY! There is no intelligent life in Washington D.C. What a nut job!)

3. Copyright Czar: Not yet appointed.

4. Energy Czar: Carol M. Browner - Browner is a member of Socialist International, inasmuch as she has a leadership role at the Commission for Sustainable World Society. Following her appointment, her name was been removed from the Socialist International web site, but that information is available if you look hard enough.

5. Car Czar: Ed Montgomery - an economist who specializes in job training and local economic development. He is currently Dean at the University of Maryland, and he once served as Labor Department Deputy Secretary in the Clinton administration. (Montgomery has never actually been involved in the auto industry, but it is rumored that he has in fact driven a car. Political plum.)

6. Terrorism/WMD Czar: Gary Samore - was a veteran arms control negotiator in the Clinton Administration, and as its new "czar" he will be responsible for preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction and terrorism. Good luck to him!

7. Health Care Czar: Nancy-Ann DeParle - stated that, "A public plan is something that’s sponsored by the government, and therefore has very low or almost nonexistent administrative costs, compared to others. It doesn’t have the need to have brokers out selling; it wouldn’t have the need to have a lot of costs and profits, the way private plans would. So it has that advantage. It could operate by the same rules that all the other plans do; it could have payments rates that are very similar. Or it could have payment rates that are the same as Medicare — that’s one idea that’s been used. So there are various ways of looking at it." (Promoting the Party line doesn't make it any more true than standing atop a tall building repeating the line, "I can fly... I can fly" gives one the ability to defy gravity. But, you won't know for sure until you take that first step... and then it's too late. Besides, Obama already has a Cabinet-level Secretary of Health and Human Services who shouldn't need additional supervision!)

8. Education Czar: Arne Duncan - has run the Chicago School District since 2001, the third largest in the country, with a focus on transforming weak schools, closing failing ones, and improving teacher quality. He is known as an innovative reformer, who has called for high quality education as the key to fighting poverty, strengthening the economy, and promoting opportunity. “It is the civil rights issue of our generation and it is the one sure path to a more equal, fair and just society,” Duncan says. “While there are no simple answers, I know from experience that when you focus on basics like reading and math, when you embrace innovative new approaches to learning, and when you create a professional climate that attracts great teachers -- you can make a difference for children." (Basic education is a civil right, but higher education is not. It is, and must remain, a competitive level of education. Obama already has a Cabinet-level Secretary of Education who shouldn't need additional supervision!)

9. Economic Czar: Paul Volcker - is an American economist. He is currently the Economic Czar in the Obama White House. Volcker is charged with coordinating with the Treasury Department and other relevant agencies. He is best known as Chairman of the Federal Reserve under United States Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. (He may be one of the very few Obama appointees who actually has the credentials to support the rationale behind his appointment.)

10. Mortgage Czar: Not yet appointed.

11. Urban Affairs/Housing Czar: Adolfo Carrión - In the past two fiscal years, the now White House urban policy director - spent about $19,000 on his State of the Borough tours, records show.

Carrión also had taxpayers fund his $140-a-year satellite radio subscription because he spends "a great deal of time traveling throughout the Bronx and the city." Apparently It was important for him at the taxpayers expense to have a 'mobile' source for news and information.

He is the first borough president to charge taxpayers more than $13,000 a year for his membership in the County Executives of America organization. (Basically, Carrión is a spendthrift. And, once again, Obama already has a Cabinet-level Secretary of Housing and Urban Development who shouldn't need additional supervision!)

12. Guantanamo Closure Czar: Danny Fried - served as the Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs since 2005. He was Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European and Eurasian Affairs at the National Security Council beginning in 2001. He also worked as Principal Deputy Special Advisor to the Secretary of State for the New Independent States from 2000 to 2001. He served as Ambassador to Poland from 1997 until 2000. (Although all the titles are impressive, where are the qualifying experience factors, and why is a "Czar" necessary to close a military installation? We have successfully closed military installations around the world for over 100 years without the use of a single "Czar".)

13. Great Lakes Czar: Cameron Davis - is a leader of a Chicago-based environmentalist group, who has been appointed to oversee President Barack Obama's initiative to clean up the Great Lakes.

Davis is president of the Alliance for the Great Lakes, one of many organizations that have pushed for a restoration program expected to cost more than $20 billion. He was appointed by Lisa Jackson, head of the Environmental Protection Agency. (Davis may actually be the 2nd appointee with some qualifications for the position to which he has been appointed.)

14. Stimulus accountability Czar: Earl Devaney - was a one-time cop and Secret Service agent appointed to monitor spending of the administration's $787 billion stimulus plan. (No budgetary experience at all, but let’s give him a $787 billion stimulus plan to control.)

15. Cyberspace Czar (Internet Czar): Not yet appointed.

16. Border Czar: Alan Bersin (Former US attorney) - essentially had the same job under President Clinton. He is expected to handle illegal immigration and drug violence issues along the Mexican-American border. (Good luck to him! Perhaps he can get Secretary Napolitano to actually do something in the way of providing "Homeland Security".)

17. Intelligence Czar: Admiral Dennis Blair - is the third and current Director of National Intelligence and a retired United States Navy four-star admiral. He was confirmed by the United States Senate to serve in the Obama administration as Director of Naval Intelligence.

According to journalist Alan Nairn, Blair disobeyed orders from civilians in the Clinton Administration and was implicated in backing the perpetrators of church massacres in East Timor in 1999. Allan Nairn also claims new information that indicates he may have lied to Congress. (At least as a four-star Admiral he showed he was dedicated to serving America, and disobeying orders from civilians is not necessarily a bad thing - especially if those civilians are not appointed as one's superiors. If civilians had less control over our military commanders perhaps the Korean "Police Action" and Vietnam War would not have been as costly in terms of American lives. Let the warriors fight the wars, and let the politicians thank them for doing so!)

18. Regulatory Czar: Cass Sunstein - is an American legal scholar, in the fields of constitutional law, administrative law, environmental law, and law and behavioral economics.

This is what the constitutional law scholar has this to say about the US Constitution:

“Why should we be governed by people long dead? … In any case, the group that ratified the Constitution included just a small subset of the society; it excluded all women, the vast majority of African Americans, many of those without property, and numerous others who were not permitted to vote.”

Sunstein is also a radical (extremely radical) animal rights activist who desire is to establish legal rights for livestock, wildlife, and pets. He states, "There should be extensive regulation of the use of animals in entertainment, scientific experiments, and agriculture." Current Debates and New Directions, a 2004 book that Sunstein co-edited with then-girlfriend Martha Nussbaum states his ambitious plan to give animals the legal “right” to file lawsuits. Is this a joke?

“Animals should be permitted to bring suit, with human beings as their representatives, to prevent violations of current law … Any animals that are entitled to bring suit would be represented by (human) counsel, who would owe guardian-like obligations and make decisions, subject to those obligations, on their clients’ behalf.”

Keep in mind that as OIRA Administrator, he will have the political authority to change existing laws. (Animals should be free from abuse, or being used as experiments for anything other than for medical progress. This one has the technical credentials, but... can you say NUTJOB?)

19. Pay Czar: Kenneth Feinberg - a lawyer who served as the Special Master of the Federal September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, which distributed nearly $7 billion to more than 5,000 families and victims of 9/11. And if that wasn't enough, three years later he agreed to be the administrator of the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund, set up for the benefit of victims' families in the wake of the 2007 Virginia Tech mass shooting. Now Feinberg will be dealing with high-paid executives blamed for contributing to the global economic meltdown and will be tasked with vetting compensation for executives of large corporations that have received federal bailout funds, including AIG, Citigroup and Bank of America. (I wish him the best of luck in that endeavor! These corporations have done nothing but ABUSE those bail out funds.)

20. Iran Czar: To be re-appointed.

21. Tarp Czar: Herb Allison - the Fannie Mae Chief Executive will head the government's $700 billion financial-rescue program. However the rumor mill says: "In choosing Mr. Allison to head the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the administration is turning to an experienced manager at a time when it is having trouble filling key finance posts. Mr. Allison, 65 years old, is the former chairman of investment company TIAA-CREF and was a Merrill Lynch & Co. executive for years. In September, he agreed to run Fannie Mae after the U.S. took over the mortgage giant and its sister firm, Freddie Mac." (Excuse me, but this guy was at the helm of Fannie Mae when it went under! If he could have saved it, why didn't he do so then?)

22. Middle-East Peace Czar: George Mitchell - has earned a reputation as a diplomat capable of untangling the world's most tangled webs. Since leaving the U.S. Senate fifteen years ago, he has helped broker a peace agreement in war-torn Northern Ireland, spearheaded a Clinton Administration committee on Middle East peace. Coming up with a viable resolution to the simmering Israeli-Palestinian conflict may be his most difficult challenge yet. (He has the bona fides, but they have thousands of years of hatred and mistrust to overcome.)

23. Science Czar: John Holdren - the latest and perhaps most disturbing example of extremism.

In a 1977 book he co-authored, called "Eco science: Population, Resources, Environment," the most outrageous ideology for America was stated on the written page. Holdren called for a "Planetary Regime" to enforce mandatory abortions for population control and limit the use of natural resources. Holdren wrote: "There exists ample authority under which population growth could be regulated. It has been concluded that compulsory population-control laws, even including laws requiring compulsory abortion, could be sustained under the existing Constitution if the population crisis became sufficiently severe to endanger the society." His book goes on...

pg 786 - One way to carry out this disapproval might be to insist that all illegitimate babies be put up for adoption—especially those born to minors, who generally are not capable of caring properly for a child alone. If a single mother really wished to keep her baby, she might be obliged to go through adoption proceedings and demonstrate her ability to support and care for it. Adoption proceedings probably should remain more difficult for single people than for married couples, in recognition of the relative difficulty of raising children alone. It would even be possible to require pregnant single women to marry or have abortions, perhaps as an alternative to placement for adoption, depending on the society. Let's look at some excerpts from his book -

pg 786 - Involuntary fertility control - A program of sterilizing women after their second or third child, despite the relatively greater difficulty of the operation than vasectomy, might be easier to implement than trying to sterilize men.

The development of a long-term sterilizing capsule that could be implanted under the skin and removed when pregnancy is desired opens additional possibilities for coercive fertility control. The capsule could be implanted at puberty and might be removable, with official permission, for a limited number of births.

pg 787 - Adding a sterilant to drinking water or staple foods is a suggestion that seems to horrify people more than most proposals for involuntary fertility control. Indeed, this would pose some very difficult political, legal, and social questions, to say nothing of the technical problems. No such sterilant exists today, nor does one appear to be under development. To be acceptable, such a substance would have to meet some rather stiff requirements: it must be uniformly effective, despite widely varying doses received by individuals, and despite varying degrees of fertility and sensitivity among individuals; it must be free of dangerous or unpleasant side effects; and it must have no effect on members of the opposite sex, children, old people, pets, or livestock.

pg 838 - If some individuals contribute to general social deterioration by overproducing children, and if the need is compelling, they can be required by law to exercise reproductive responsibility—just as they can be required to exercise responsibility in their resource-consumption patterns—providing they are not denied equal protection.

pg 838 - In today's world, however, the number of children in a family is a matter of profound public concern. The law regulates other highly personal matters. For example, no one may lawfully have more than one spouse at a time. Why should the law not be able to prevent a person from having more than two children?

pg 917 - If this could be accomplished, security might be provided by an armed international organization, a global analogue of a police force. Many people have recognized this as a goal, but the way to reach it remains obscure in a world where factionalism seems, if anything, to be increasing. The first step necessarily involves partial surrender of sovereignty to an international organization.

pg 942 - Toward a Planetary Regime - Perhaps those agencies, combined with UNEP and the United Nations population agencies, might eventually be developed into a Planetary Regime—sort of an international superagency for population, resources, and environment. Such a comprehensive Planetary Regime could control the development, administration, conservation, and distribution of all natural resources, renewable or nonrenewable, at least insofar as international implications exist. Thus the Regime could have the power to control pollution not only in the atmosphere and oceans, but also in such freshwater bodies as rivers and lakes that cross international boundaries or that discharge into the oceans. The Regime might also be a logical central agency for regulating all international trade, perhaps including assistance from DCs to LDCs, and including all food on the international market.

The Planetary Regime might be given responsibility for determining the optimum population for the world and for each region and for arbitrating various countries' shares within their regional limits. Control of population size might remain the responsibility of each government, but the Regime would have some power to enforce the agreed limits. (Impossible, you say? This is one more NUT JOB appointed to a powerful, ungoverned government position!)

24. Green jobs Czar: Anthony “Van” Jones - A few short years ago Jones was a Bay Area radical agitator-a committed Marxist-Leninist-Maoist, waging war on the police and capitalist system, who freely admits he’s a proud San Franciscan with an arrest record. (That's a good solid recommendation for a power position.)

25. Afghanistan Czar: Richard Holbrooke - Holbrooke is a diplomat and a negotiator with a knack for getting things done. He brokered the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords in Bosnia, an accomplishment that some said deserved a Nobel Peace Prize. A New York Times reporter wrote “if you want somebody to pull the trigger, or close a deal, think Holbrooke.” His 45 years of experience have made him a fixture of the Democratic Party’s foreign policy establishment. When Russia invaded Georgia in August 2008, Holbrooke was one of the first Americans to meet with Georgian leader Mikhail Saakashvili. (Holbrooke could be a genuine winner among these generally lame appointments!)

26. Sudan Czar: J. Scott Gration - A retired USAF Major General, has been caricatured in the press as the ultimate "Obamanaut and the most mystic believer in Obama-ism" prone to "hero-worship." While serving as an attaché during Obama's trip to South Africa, Chad, and Kenya in 2006, he was taken by Obama's ability to speak transformatively about problems with tribal and nationalistic roots, and Gration has been an Obama adviser ever since. (Swell, now we have the White House sycophant. Isn't it a bit odd that a professional military man, who swore an oath to "protect and defend the Constitution of the United States", has aligned himself with those who wish to circumvent, ignore and/or undermine that same document? On the other hand, you don't become a General Officer in the military without knowing how to kiss political butt.)

Significant to his appointment is that Gration originally set his sites on running NASA, to which he had Obama's full support, that is until defense lobbyists squashed the idea. This raises doubts and questions about whether this new assignment is an afterthought for the administration. Is it simply as a patronage job for a loyal supporter, after all Gration's diplomatic experience is very thin and not a good thing for someone who must jump into the middle of a diplomatic crisis with hundreds of thousands of lives at stake?

27. Mideast Policy Czar: Dennis Ross - is a controversial U.S. diplomat with close ties to Israel and a history of pushing hardliner policies toward Iran. He has served both Republican and Democratic administrations in negotiations on Middle East peace and other foreign policy issues. (This sounds like one of the more sensible appointments to me - somebody who kicks butt instead of kissing it.)

Ross’s first appointment in the Obama administration was as the State Department’s special advisor for the Gulf and Southwest Asia. But in June 2009, he abruptly shifted to the NSC, a move first reported by Israel’s Haaretz.

28. Information Czar: Vivek Kundra - took charge of the District of Columbia's technology operations in late 2007, ushering in a new era of experimentation—adopting popular Web sites such as YouTube, Wikipedia, and Twitter to improve city services. Now, as the newly appointed chief information officer of the federal government, he plans to bring the same technical innovation to the national stage. The problem is that the District's technology budget was small in comparison, and its staff concentrated, while the federal government's budget of $71 billion is spread across dozens of departments and agencies. (At least this guy's résumé sounds like he has some experience in the field he now oversees.)

29. AIDS Czar: Jeffrey Crowley - is an openly gay man appointed to help lead the Administration's response to HIV/AIDS and disability policies. Most recently, he was a Senior Research Scholar at Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute and a Senior Scholar at the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown University Law Center. Crowley also served as Deputy Executive Director of Programs at the National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA). (Seems like a reasonable appointment for an AIDS program. After all, who would know more about AIDS than a practicing homosexual?)

30. Faith-based Czar: Joshua Dubois - a relative newbie and senior political aide who started out in Obama’s U.S. Senate office, as the only Democratic full-time staffer devoted to faith outreach. DuBois is a 26-year-old Pentecostal pastor who has been appointed to lead the new White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnership with a broader mission than with the past administration. He will lead a council of 25 influential religious and nonprofit leaders helping both faith-based and secular groups invigorate their communities by providing everything from social services to job training, with his main focus being to reduce poverty and promote responsible fatherhood. (Looks like just another political plum to me. But a plum of good intentions... and we all know where the road paved with good intentions leads.)

31. Climate Czar: Todd Stern - is a Washington, D.C., lawyer with climate change and environmental expertise, some say. He served in a variety of positions during the Clinton administration, including the President's Coordinator for Climate Change. He was the chief negotiator at the 1997 Kyoto climate change talks and will be empowered to negotiate on behalf of the United States at climate change talks.

His mantra on the climate change issue, "The time for denial, delay and dispute is over."

For the record, Kyoto is known as the treaty that failed to pass in the UN Senate 10 years ago, it managed to get zero votes. (How about CLIMATE RESTORATION, rather than "climate change"? We know that not all change is good, but our climate used to be just fine. It's not nice to fool with Mother Nature!)

32. California Water Czar: David J. Hayes - is a member of the Obama Transition Project's Agency Review Working Group in charge of the energy and natural resources agencies. He is a former Global Chair of the Environment, Land and Resources Department at Latham & Watkins, an international law firm. He is a Senior Fellow at the World Wildlife Fund, advising the President of WWF on climate change matters, and he is a Senior Fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute, specializing on energy matters. He holds the title of Vice-Chairman of the national conservation group, American Rivers, and he is the former Chairman of the Board of the Environmental Law Institute. He was the Deputy Secretary of the Interior during the Clinton Administration. He served as a Consulting Professor at Stanford University's Woods Institute for the Environment. He also served as a Board member of RESOLVE and the Natural Heritage Institute. He certainly has the credentials, now let’s see what his 'policies' bring to the table. (Is this the guy responsible for cutting off the water supply to tens of thousands of acres of irrigated produce in California, idling some 80,000 farm workers, causing a tremendous increase in unemployment claims in that state, and a noticeable jump in produce prices at the market? All to save a 2" smelt that isn't even native to fresh water? Fine job, Bubba!)

There are five more Czars appointments lurking about the White House, including the “Cybersecurity Czar” (aka: Internet Czar), but I have not yet been able to glean any information about them.

There is nothing truly creative about any of these appointments. Although a few have expertise in the area to which they have been appointed, most are inexperienced in the areas they now control, many are products of the Chicago political machine (no surprise there), and the remainder primarily seem to be recycled from the Clinton administration. About half of these so-called "Czars" are nothing more than duplication of existing Cabinet-level Secretary positions. If these Cabinet members need additional supervision, then it should become obvious that they aren't capable of doing their job. Replace them!

Our government has now created more "Czars" in 7 months than Czarist Russia had in its entire history! What's wrong with this picture?

WAKE UP AMERICA!!

There are now foxes guarding every taxpayer funded hen-house in Washington D.C.! And, as the pangs of Constitutional hunger strike the rank and file citizens... there will be nothing left for us to eat (except maybe some of that "pie in the sky" Obama has promised us).

There's always an outside chance that I could be misunderstanding everything I see going on... in fact, you should pray for that!

AND WHERE'S THE SURPRISE IN THIS?

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D), is in hot water over attempting to sell President-elect Barack Hussein Obama's senate seat to the highest bidder. Is this really a surprise to anybody? Blagojevich is a product of the same corrupt political machine as Obama.

The most straightforward way to measure corruption is to check the number of convicted local officials. Between 1995 and 2004, 469 politicians from the federal district of Northern Illinois were found guilty of corruption. Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan received a sentence of six and a half years in prison, after being convicted on charges of racketeering, mail fraud, filing false tax returns, and lying to investigators. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that in the last three decades, at least 79 local elected officials have been convicted of a crime, including three governors, one mayor, and a whopping 27 aldermen from the Windy City.

Illinois political corruption of of a magnitude not seen since the days of New York City's Tammany Hall. For those of you unfamiliar with Tammany Hall, an offshoot of the Tammany Society, in 1830 Tammany Hall became the city affiliate of the Democratic Party, controlling most of the New York City elections afterward. From about 1830-1834 the Loco-Focos comprised a democratic, anti-monopoly faction that appealed to workingmen. Throughout the 1830s and 1840s the Society expanded its political control even further by earning the loyalty of the city's ever-expanding immigrant community, which functioned as a base of political capital. The Tammany Hall "ward boss" served as the local vote gatherer and provider of patronage. New York City used the designation "ward" for its smallest political units from 1686–1938. Tammany is forever linked with the rise of the Irish in American politics.

Beginning in late 1845, millions of Irish Catholics began arriving in New York. Equipped with a knowledge of English, very tight loyalties, a proclivity for politics, and what critics said was a propensity to use violence to control the polls, the Irish quickly dominated Tammany. In exchange for votes, they were provided with money and food.

By 1854, Tammany's lineage and support from immigrants had made it a powerful force in New York politics. Tammany controlled businesses, politics and sometimes law enforcement. Businesses would give gifts to their workers and, in exchange, tell the workers to vote for the politicians that were supported by Tammany (usually a straight Democratic ticket). In 1854, the Society elected its first New York City mayor. Tammany's "bosses" (called the "Grand Sachem") and their supporters enriched themselves by illegal means. The most infamous boss of all was William M. "Boss" Tweed, whose control over the Tammany Hall machine allowed him to win election to the New York State Senate. His political career ended when he was sent to prison along with his partner Francis I.A. Boole, after his ousting at the hands of a reform movement led by New York's Democratic governor Samuel J. Tilden in 1872. From 1872 onward, Tammany had an Irish "boss." They played an increasingly important role in state politics, supporting one candidate and feuding with another. The greatest success came in 1928 when a Tammany hero, New York Governor Al Smith, won the Democratic presidential nomination.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt helped Republican Fiorello La Guardia become mayor on a Fusion ticket, thus removing even more patronage from Tammany's control. La Guardia was elected in 1933 and re-elected in 1937 and 1941. He was the first anti-Tammany Mayor to be re-elected and his extended tenure weakened Tammany in a way that previous "reform" Mayors had not. Tammany depended for its power on government contracts, jobs, patronage, corruption, and ultimately the ability of its leaders to swing the popular vote. The last element weakened after 1940 with the decline of relief programs like WPA and CCC that Tammany used to gain and hold supporters.

Although lacking the public notoriety of Tammany Hall, the relatively low-key Illinois political machine is equally corrupt. How do such things happen in a supposedly free democratic republic? People are easily misinformed through the use of political "smoke and mirrors", and misdirected by political sleight of hand. Who is to blame? Those people who are impressed by empty words, awestruck by political theatrics, and foolish enough to believe what they see and hear in our equally corrupt print and broadcast media.

I could be wrong ........................ but, I'm NOT!