Food From China

Melamine laced pet food, lead paint on toys, melamine laced Cadbury Chocolate, melamine laced baby food, dried apples preserved with a cancer-causing chemical, frozen catfish laden with banned antibiotics, scallops and sardines coated with putrefying bacteria, mushrooms laced with illegal pesticides and these are only what we know about.
The Washington Post has a good article about the commercial side of the subject. Follow the link to read their article on tainted Chinese products.
Washington Post Article
I recommend your reading of their article for the commercial side of why we are permitting these products into this country.
It is not that I think the Chinese are trying to poison us; it is more of a cultural difference between us than any nefarious plot to poison our pets and us. We have all heard the stories of the food that the Chinese eat that is not considered table-fare here. It is true that the Chinese eat from a different menu than we do. Their historical experience may have a lot to do with their diet.

The Chinese join more than half the world in eating dogs and cats. Their menu also includes horse, scorpions, snakes, seahorses, silkworms, Cicadas, lizards, Starfish, dung beetles, and sea urchins.


A Mom and Pop Chicken Operation in China
China has a very large population and at times has struggled to put food on the table. Hungry people ate what was available, and over time, cultivated a taste for those items. There is also a market for the chickens that die on the chicken farms and streets. (See the pictures above) Some of these products are the result of a fledgling capitalist system. Enterprising Chinese see the marketing of items on the fringe of acceptability as their ticket out of poverty.

Melamine is used as a protein extender for various food products in China and is considered harmless by them. Please go to the website I have listed below to get the flavor of the problems that individuals are having just trying to determine the origin of the food we buy.
http://chocolateword.net/?p=394

Personally, I do my best to not buy food products from China. Until they get some control over their food production and the safety of their products, I will pass. If you read the Washington Post article at provided link, you will have learned why we permit, and are unable to control much of the flow of food products from China. Political forces are at work which makes me mad as hell at our leaders in Washington.

If you do more investigations on the subject, you will find that Canada repackages a lot of Chinese food and markets it here in the United States as being from Canada. It is really a fine kettle of fish that we have gotten ourselves into.

Cheers,

-Robert-

Unraveling Freedom

Unraveling freedom begins with a loss of common values. Decadence gives birth to the idea that self-indulgence is rewarding enough to overlook those things that keep a society together. Self-indulgence, in of itself is divisive. Liberalism spawns 'self-indulgence'.

As an individual, a self-indulgent person resents any intrusion into the lifestyle he or she has created. Altruistic concerns go no further than maybe throwing money at a perceived problem. Active participation of oneself into activities beyond a chosen lifestyle would be an interruption that the self-indulgent person cannot permit. However, the self-indulgent person will defend with vigor his or her right to remain isolated from any concerns of the state or persons who subscribe to a different lifestyle. Their selfish defense prevents the type of camaraderie needed to keep a society bonded together.

An example of that resentment might be the youth who enjoys a nightly cruise of the neighborhood with friends to check out others who also do the same. Parents are targets of resentment if they have to interrupt this activity. Young people are defiant defenders of what they perceive as their pleasure. Parents, who do not insist upon teaching their children the importance of participating in life outside of their comfort zone, do a disservice to their children. Without training to teach our young boundaries of behavior, these young people grow up to be "me" oriented with a selfish attitude.

Children learn from an early age, that bad behavior is rewarding. They soon learn that by raising a ruckus, they can get their way. Fast-forward that spoiled child into an adult and you will find that he or she has not changed. Instead of a spoiled brat, the person is now a spoiled adult with a self-serving mentality.

That spoiled person becomes the parent who caves in to the whims of their children because of selfishness. These parents do not want to be bothered because it interferes with the routine that they find comfortable. A parent's indifference is a trait that the children continue into adulthood.
Individually we are like small islands. This has always been the case. Coagulation of individuals into a united society only becomes possible when there is a common thread or idea to link the different individuals. For better or worse, that common link in the United States has been Christianity. Our Judeo-Christian values united us a Nation. We are now drifting apart because that link is weakening.

Our self-indulgent lifestyle includes selfishness, greed, pornography, and a general attitude that throwing money at a problem solves it. These problems have always been with us, but have never been as pervasive as they are now. For instance, pornography and vulgar language are no longer discreet parts of our society. We openly display our coarseness without even a thought to the destructiveness of our open display. Our lack of modest behavior is destructive to our children. Children learn from our behavior.

Broken homes are prevalent in today's society. The children see and mimic what they see their single parents do. From the child's point of view, it becomes okay to have casual affairs. Single parents think nothing of bringing their lovers home. Because of the selfish acts of parents, our children grow up too quickly. They become adults before they are prepared to tackle the responsibilities of adulthood.

Self-absorption is also responsible for complacency. When people limit their exposure to their immediate circle, they become disinterested in the world around them. Having met their requirement for self-satisfaction, their worldview becomes stale, leaving them little incentive for broadening their horizons. A stale worldview puts the society at risk of losing out in a competitive world to more aggressive societies.

The information above outlines my objection to Liberalism. While Liberalism is not fundamentally anti-religion, they are vehemently anti-any rules of behavior. Liberals cannot unite if their manifesto includes rules for human behavior. Their 'Big Tent' is comprised of many different groups that adhere to lifestyles that are unacceptable to Christians. Any attempt at imposing a code of right and wrong on their followers would ruin the Democratic Party. Strict rules of right and wrong would automatically disenfranchise large segments of that party such as the Gay Rights followers and the pro-abortion groups.

Out of necessity, the Democrats have to be a party of little moral value. Since they stand for nothing of substance, they cannot be trusted. Since the Liberals do not claim any moral restrictions, they are in the perfect position to adopt the Saul Alinsky approach for tearing down opponents. Saul Alinsky advocated holding adversaries hostage to their own rules of right and wrong. Since everybody is human, he realized that he had an effective weapon. Sooner or later, a slip up will occur that can be used against that opponent.

What is especially devious is the circumstance where one group advocates right and wrong while the other does not. It is not harmful to a Liberal when caught in a bad situation because the Liberals have no expectations of right and wrong. With no rules, then there is no foul. Only those professing a doctrine of right and wrong look like a hypocrite when caught.

Liberals are tearing the thread that binds this society to shreds by their incessant attacks on behavioral and ethical rules as outlined by the Judeo-Christian doctrine. Most people, especially the young do not realize the importance of having that invisible enforcer of ethical behavior. In earlier times, it was the confidence to leave your house unlocked at night. It was the trust that the butcher wasn't putting his thumb on the scales when we bought meat. Every segment of our life, traditionally guided by trust in each other is rapidly disappearing today. People forming different groups are writing their own rules; we are fast retreating into those separate islands again.

When we no longer share common values, we can no longer maintain our freedom. The old saying is true, "United we stand, divided we fall." With a sad note, Rasmussen polls indicate that the majority of our citizens are Liberal. That doesn't bode well for those of us who want to maintain a country that realizes that there is a 'right and wrong' in life.

Cheers,

-Robert-

Solving Illegal Immigration

As history so brazenly writes the epitaphs of past societies, it looks like that the United States will follow those of the past who endeavored to create a governable state so that its citizens could live peacefully. Decay from within gradually erodes the noble foundation of such a state.

We have a date with destiny. It is clear that we cannot tolerate our freedom any longer. We prefer the slow agonizing death of self-indulgence to the continuation of our prosperity as a nation.

Every person who earns a living does so because of the success of a business. Our jobs all depend on the success of American business, yet we find them so contemptible that we tax them into either relocating or closing their doors.

Blaming our Government is easy. But we elect politicians to represent us and they are very attentive to the voters. Really the voters rule. We are to blame for our perceived or real troubles. "We the People" have the idea that others can do what we choose not to do. But the "Others" is not free, and when we delegate our share of the wheel turning to the "Others", we have to pay the price.

Are you one of those who feel that it is just our good fortune to have a poor Nation next to us that we can exploit for cheap labor? When we think of 'cheap labor', do you automatically think in terms of yard work, highway construction, or farm labor? Do you think that these people will do these very challenging labor-intensive jobs infinitum without seeking better for themselves?

Burgeoning illegal population has outstripped our need for cheap labor. What has happened is that as these poor can do better, they move on to better jobs. They do not want to do those crappy jobs either. As a worker moves up to a better paying job, the hard labor job is now vacant. That means we need another migrant worker to fill it. The process just keeps adding more and more workers to keep refilling an endless rotation of these labor intensive jobs.

Whenever a person sneaks into this country and allowed to set up residence here without learning about our institutions, our laws, our method of government, and our language, they get a tainted view of us. Yes, that is why the immigration process is so important. Immigrants need to learn about their new country. We used to refer to the United States as the 'melting pot' because the immigration process yielded Americans. This assimilation process is nonexistent with the illegal immigrant. He has no loyalty to this country, cannot speak the language, and personally taken advantage of, all because of his willingness to work cheap. His taste of this country is bitter and he lives in fear of deportation. It is no wonder that so many of these Illegal Immigrants still maintain their loyalty to the country they left.

You have it within your power as voting citizens to just say no to the endless stream of these Illegals. Believe it or not, life will carry on and we do not have to sacrifice our country in the process. The market will adjust the wages for that labor-intensive job and whenever the price becomes too high, somebody will come up with a way to economically accomplish the jobs with fewer workers. That is how it works. But as long as we have this endless supply of cheap labor, there is no incentive to fix the problem.

It is necessary to support efforts to enforce our immigration laws. In stark contradiction though, at the present, we need those workers, so hound the Congress to solve the problem. It is inconceivable to me that employment centers cannot be set up to match the employee with the employer. Full rights of citizenship are not necessary for a temporary worker. His employer should be responsible for the workers well-being while under his employ. To have the taxpayers pay for their upkeep so that an employer can have cheap labor is ridiculous. In the end, these employers will learn that this cheap labor may not be so cheap after all. Returning these jobs to our U.S. entry-level job seekers is important. Yes, the wages need adjustment to attract American workers, but in the end, the overall price will be cheaper. We might even realize side benefits such as the return of our hospital emergency rooms; eliminate the demand for more schools, and an end to the crime that is so prevalent in our illegal populations.

We can gain a lot by finding a solution that ends our need to have Illegals do work that we can and should be doing ourselves. So the question posed in the beginning of this column is do we continue down the self-indulgent road of having others do our work? Will we continue to allow our teens to live life as if they are entitled to everything while 'others' are doing the work and gradually stealing the country? The estimate now is that there are at least 12 million and maybe more illegal immigrants in this country. Their political power is growing, and the real impact is yet to come. These people will vote their interest just as you do now.

Cheers,

-Robert-

Embarrassing Bail Out

With every bump in the road, it seems that the answer is to grab the tin cup and head to Washington so that the taxpayers can solve the problem. Whatever happened to responsibility? Our politicians are setting a bad example bailing out every failed business that gets into trouble.

The only sympathy the big banks get is that the Democrats forced them into making bad loans. The large financial institutions' failure shines a great big light on why socialism is bad and has never succeeded.

It was a grand idea that everybody should be able to share in the American dream of home ownership. There are plenty of proud homeowners around. But traditionally, before a person could qualify for a home loan, they had to demonstrate that they paid their bills on time and have established good credit. Even then, they had to buy a house they could afford. It was no big secret as to how you bought a house; all you had to do was demonstrate responsibility with your finances.

That was the norm until the Democrats thought that the rules for homeownership discriminated against the poor. Requiring a down payment was unfair. Checking a person's work record was unfair. Requiring a good bill paying record was unfair. Just loan them the money! After all, it is not fair that low-income earners not be able to participate in the American dream.

For a while, it was a cause célèbre that so many low-income people were getting houses. The contractors and realtors got their money from the financial institutions and all was happy. The financial institutions felt so good about it, they put millions into the reelection coffers of the supporting politicians, and the officers of the financial institutions raked off millions for themselves. Ahh, it was the good times!

But as fate would have it, there was a fly in the soup. Those new low-income homeowners either could not pay their mortgage, or would not pay for them. The financial world came to the realization that they were out a lot of money and that those loans were worthless. To compound matters, housing prices were dropping, and those properties were worth even less than they were originally. In fact, there was no way to put a value on those properties. Oh, what do we do now?

This is just another fine mess that the Liberal Democrats have created for us. But because of the politics, we cannot let those who are responsible stew in their own juice. No, no, no, no --Bush's Secretary of the Treasury and head of the Federal Reserve are calling for the American people to buy all of those bad loans so we can avoid a meltdown of the economy. So it is the taxpayers to the rescue!

Further complications are coming from the Democrats. They not only want to rescue those financial institutions, but also want relief for the homeowners who borrowed the money. In effect, the Democrats want those people to get their homes gratis from the taxpayers. You really did not expect those politicians to admit a mistake did you. How convoluted is this picture? Of course the Democrats version is couched in another term, --'relief for main street'. Or maybe the Democrats just feel guilty for helping put low-income earners into houses that they could not afford.

I write this for all of you who think that the Democrats do so well with the economy. The truth is we cannot afford any more of the Democrat's feel-good, Liberal, and well-intentioned policies. The further down the road we go to that failed system of socialism, the closer to the heart of this country the dagger sinks.

Cheers,

-Robert-

Democrats Unfit for Leadership

What Could Have Been: The Democrats declined to help with the effort in Iraq. They have relentlessly pursued Bush and any policy he formulated. Democrats and their henchmen the 'press' have sought to restore their political power regardless of cost to the United States.

The merits of going to Iraq and the mistakes made there are legitimate topics for debate. The "whether or not" we should go should have been a topic before we went into Iraq, and the "mistakes that we made" should be the critique after we have left Iraq. But the Democrats saw things differently they saw political opportunity! They wanted Bush to fail so bad that they undermined the effort in every way they could.

Democrats realize that they provided hope for the enemy. Their plan was to hand George W. Bush a defeat in Iraq by encouraging the Islamic extremists. Their reckless disregard for our service men and women is beyond belief. Tantalizing our enemy with visions of the United States, leaving Iraq before the new Government could sustain itself meant a longer war and needless deaths of our soldiers. Have you Democrats any decency at all? Is your quest for political power so great that you could be so callous as to put this Nation and its soldiers in such peril?

What if the Islamic Radicals viewed the United States as a country determined and united about the War on Terror? Do you not think they would behave differently? The actions of the Democratic Party and the leftist press continued giving the impression to the Islamic Radicals that our will to win was broken and we were ready to give up. This 'give up' attitude encouraged the radicals and gave them hope. They continued with their suicide missions as long as they thought that they were gaining ground. Thanks a lot, Democrats!

The only thing getting attention from the Democrats is the election. Their total effort is to defeat any positive outcome by Bush. The loud echo chamber of the leftist press helped to demoralize Americans and change their attitude from victory to one of surrender. Even today, the Democrats choke on the thought of a victory in Iraq and having a Democratic partner in the Middle East. Their goal was a defeat for George Bush in Iraq, and political victory in 2008, regardless of the cost in lives to both our soldiers and the Iraqis.

It is my belief that the Democrats crossed a political boundary that disqualifies them from any position of leadership for this country. I am tired of hearing from Democrats about how bad this Nations is, and everything bad in the world is the fault of the United States. Whether it is the 'torture' at Guantanamo or how we are ruining the world with pollution. When is the last time you ever heard anything positive about this country from any Democrat? It is apparent that the Democrats have lost their love for this country and see it as the world's pariah. Enough is enough. If you see the actions by the Democrats any differently, please let me know. I would love to be wrong about the Dems, but they do not give me reason for any conclusion except that which is stated above.

Cheers,

-Robert-

Understanding Liberalism

This weekend, I took a trail off the path that I have been following for the last 40 years or so. I gave a shot at trying to understand Liberalism. What is the driving force behind the Liberal philosophy that is so attractive? Here is a list of my conclusions.

• A. Liberals genuinely want to help others. They see the government as the vehicle of choice to handle the details and trust the government to do it right.

I do not question motives; I just disagree with putting the job of helping others into the hands of the politicians.

Using the government as the agent for helping others carries with it unintended consequences. One of the most serious of the consequences of allowing the politicians in Washington play nanny to the underprivileged is dependency.

That dependency works two ways, the recipient of the handout becomes addicted to it, and the politician gets addicted to those votes and will perpetuate the program to get re-elected.
Try raising you children by catering to their whims. This happens all the time. The children become spoiled and resentful if they do not get their way. The same thing happens to adults with more and prolonged assistance than what is necessary. But politicians understand that once federal welfare starts, it is their ticket for getting votes. The politicians who use that dependency to get votes, raises the ante, which compounds our social structure.

The original intent of the program may have been noble at the time of its incarnation, but people will always be people and exploit every opportunity to embellish themselves at the expense of others.

• B. Liberals maintain their party by pandering and catering to each constituent group in the 'Big Tent'.

The Democratic Party maintains the 'big tent' strategy. There are no core beliefs that the different constituency groups must conform. Rather the Party bends to the needs of each group. If the group is gay, then the Democratic Party champions the Gay cause. If the group is pro-abortion, then the Democratic Party champions abortion. It is not like if you want to be a Democrat, then you conform to their Democratic Ideals.

We often hear that the Democrats shun religion. No, that is not true. What the Democrats shun is anything that resembles rules of behavior. This is necessary for the 'Big Tent' so that any group, regardless of the group's agenda, is accepted. Strict rules governing behavior would preclude some of the Democrats largest constituencies. Lose of any of the large groups would doom the Democrats. So the Democrats divide their pie into many slices.

• C. Like a bunch of spoiled children, the Democrats can be vitriolic and coarse when dealing with anybody that refuses to patronize them and their agenda.

If you have not been to the website of Move On, you need to go there and read some of the hate-speech espoused by these Democrats. For added flavor, go to the Huffington Post for more of the insane hatred these people have for anybody not politically aligned to their cause.

Most Democrats fit into one of the individual groups that make up the Democratic Party. In a way, because of their minority views, they are between a rock and a hard place. The Democratic Party makes it possible for these disparate groups to get some recognition for their views. Most of these party zealots, while not well informed about most issues, rely on the pontifications of other zealots who lack an understanding of the issues.

My head is still spinning after reading the vitriol at the Liberal websites. My honest impression is that a knowledge and learning pill needs to be dispensed to all of their loyal readers. The amount of misinformation on their websites is astonishing.

In conclusion, they can have their liberalism. Most of what they advocate is anathema to me.

Cheers,

-Robert-

Manmade Global Warming Hoax

Feedback about the things I write in this column is enlightening. Readers give me credit for being everything from insightful to being a screwball. It is a mixed bag but the one topic that draws the most attention is my stand against 'man made global warming'. I repeatedly get asked, "What qualifies you as an expert about global warming?" The simple answer is, I am not an expert, and never posed as one --but there is more to the story.

There was a time when I believed the hysteria that man was polluting the air with greenhouse gases like CO2, and was therefore responsible for the Earth getting warmer. My belief was so strong that I penned an article about it that you can read at http://www.robfg.com/ . In that article I advocated trees in parking lots, window planter boxes, and even hedges along sidewalks, all to adjust the carbon footprint to neutral for our intrusions upon the landscape with our buildings and asphalt roads and parking lots.
Being utterly fascinated with the subject, I devoured every scrap of information about the CO2 cycle that was available to me. The differences in atmospheric makeup of Venus, Earth, and Mars caught my attention.

Venus: Atmosphere mostly CO2, very hot, and according to the experts, Venus was an example of a run-a-way greenhouse effect.

Mars: Mars has an atmosphere that is almost totally CO2, but Mars is very cold. No greenhouse model is in evidence there, so why not?

The questions concerning our neighboring planets nagged me to the point that nothing would do until I could satisfy my curiosity of why one planet is very hot with a CO2 atmosphere and the other was not.

After pouring over numerous documents and articles, from what I could find out, there is a different model for what is happening on each of the three planets.

Venus: Venus has a thick and heavy atmosphere with a column of CO2 extending from the surface up more than 40 miles. The atmosphere at the surface is so thick and heavy that there is practically no wind. Without wind, there is very little convection to disperse the heat back into the cooler atmosphere. Normally CO2 will release the heat it traps quickly by convection, but on Venus, that is not happening. Since there is no mechanism to elevate the heat to the cooler upper atmosphere, Venus is hot.

Earth: Earth has a homogenous atmosphere of mostly nitrogen, oxygen, moisture, and several trace elements in minute quantities. Unlike Venus with its heavy monolithic atmosphere, Earth's atmosphere is not layered from the heaviest to the lightest, but is instead a mixture of all its gases at any altitude. As the sun warms the lower atmosphere, it rises, and in the process releases heat to the cooler upper atmosphere. Clouds form on these convection currents as moisture contained in the upwelling of warm air condenses in the higher and cooler elevations. Our winds on Earth are a part of the convection process that causes any trapped heat by CO2 to be released very quickly.

Reference: Gary Novak
Independent Scientist: http://nov55.com/ntyg.html

Mars: The convection process is in full swing on mars with its light wispy atmosphere. Although its atmosphere is practically all CO2, the gravity on Mars is insufficient to create the same thick atmosphere found on Venus. Any heat trapped by the CO2 on Mars is quickly dispersed back into space. Mars is cold, not an Ice ball, but cold.

Logically, the deduction has to be made that if CO2 releases its heat quickly to convection currents, then it cannot be responsible for warming the Earth. Something else is at work to cause the rise and fall of Earth's temperature over the ages.

Before I continue with this piece, I want to emphasize that a lot of bad things come from the burning of fossil fuels and I certainly do not want to give the impression that I think otherwise. But those bad things are a pollution problem that science has been working on and making progress at cleaning up. This piece only addresses the CO2 aspect of using fossil fuels and its relationship to global warming.

Earths Greenhouse: Approximately 33 degrees C is attributable to the greenhouse effect on Earth. Without that 33 deg C the Earth would turn into a frozen world. But 33 deg. C is the total for all greenhouse components and necessary for our survival.

According to R. Lindzen, CO2 only accounts for about 5% of the natural 33 deg C greenhouse effect. The total rise in temperature on Earth from all CO2 is only 1.65 deg C. Since humans only account for 3% of that total, humans are responsible for .0495 deg C.

Courtesy of:
Richard S. Lindzen, Proc. Nat. Acad. of Sciences, 94, 8335-8342 (1997) 8 and (in German) Klima 2000 (Heuseler), 2, 3-8 (1998) 5/6

The question becomes, "If CO2 is not causing the Earth's temperature to rise, what is causing it?"

Volcanic ash is known to lower the Earth's temperature by reflecting some of the Suns radiant energy back into space. Several of these instances are a matter of record.

Clouds perform the same job as the volcano ash. They reflect the Sun's radiant energy back into space. The years when the Earth has a lot of cloud cover result in colder years than those years where cloud cover was not so extensive. Clouds act as an umbrella that protects the Earth against the Sun's radiant energy.

So the next question has to be, "Why do some years have more clouds than other years?"

Oddly enough, the Sun has a direct effect on Earth's cloud formation. The Sun goes through cycles of more and less turmoil. During those years of high solar activity, there are a lot of Sunspots. Sunspots are magnetic storms on the Sun that create high velocity solar winds that reach the Earth. These winds actually interfere with the formation of clouds; and as a result, we have fewer clouds to shade us from the Sun's rays. Ocean temperatures increase during those times of high solar activity. As the oceans of the world warm, they release more CO2 into the atmosphere. It is the correlation between the Earth warming and the increase in CO2 that is driving the panic over CO2. But logic dictates that increases in CO2 levels in the atmosphere are a result of Ocean warming rather than the cause of it.

You can monitor the Sun's activity at this website. There you can look at historical values as well as the current information.

http://www.dxlc.com/solar/

Scientists have documented solar activity and the relationship of that activity to global temperature for as long as man has been keeping records of his observation of the Sun.

One more detail about manmade global warming via CO2. I want to point out that man is not creating CO2. Fossil fuels can only release CO2 captured out of the atmosphere previously. We are not increasing the amount of CO2 on this planet. It is the oceans of the world and the oceanic temperature that controls 97% of the CO2 released into the atmosphere. The colder ocean water absorbs while the warmer oceans release CO2. It is not the opposite as stated by Al Gore that CO2 was the cause of global warming. The rise in CO2 is a result of global warming, but not its cause.

Cheers,

-Robert-

Why Should We Care About the Stock Market

Most Americans associate the stock market as only a plaything for the rich. But wake up America! The stock market also represents our jobs, our homes, and our family security.

Even if you are not an investor, you need to hope that American stocks do well. Why, you ask? The stock market represents the health of American business. And like it or not, our livelihoods depend upon the success of the companies for which we work. If the company that you work for has to close, would that affect you?

Many people own shares of stock of a business, and those shares are bought and sold at the stock market. Brokerage firms act as an interface to the stock market for us. They buy and sell those shares for us as we dictate. (For a small fee) A person who buys a certain stock will generally do so on faith that the business will do well. A business that does well increases the value of its stock. All investors want to own shares in a successful business that is increasing the value of its stock.

For instance, if a share of stock represents 1/10th of a business and 10 shares represent the value of that company, and because of good management practices, the company is able to double its earnings. Then that one-tenth share of the company is still one-tenth of the company, but it is one tenth of a much richer company so its value has increased. One-tenth of ten-dollars is worth more than one-tenth of five-dollars.

But it is important to note that the opposite is also true. Since the value of the issued stock represents the value of a company, when its stock prices go down, then the company is less valuable.

Most all Americans work for a business. Our jobs depend upon the health of that business. When the political environment torpedoes the confidence of the American people, bad things happen. Americans stop buying, business start to fail, and ultimately people lose their livelihood. The Democrats play a dangerous game when they seek to destroy American confidence just for the sake of an election.

When is the last time a Democrat ever said anything positive about this country? These tactics of running this country into the ground here and overseas have consequences. This thoughtless, shallow tactic will take years to correct. Especially if the tactic works, because the solutions put forth by the Democrats require that the Government have more control over our daily lives.
The value of everything we have is at stake, and not just the housing market. Remember, the stock market is not just a toy of the rich, but our link to whether we have jobs or not. The Federal Government also has to have working Americans to pay the taxes. When tax revenue falls because Americans are no longer working, the only option to the Government is to print money. The more they print, the more worthless it becomes. The end game is that we as a nation go broke and become a third world country.

The dividing line between a third world country and a thriving economy is wealth. So do not be taken in about how bad this country is doing. Doom and Gloom are only tools used by the Leftists to steal your country.

Cheers,

-Robert-

Success is a Decision

There can be no doubt that making it to the upper echelon of income is a test of will power. The exceptions are the lucky ones who inherited wealth or found a bonanza of ore or oil on their property. If you are not one of the latter classes, then the climb up the ladder is not easy. Not only do you have to demonstrate your resourcefulness, but also you must make certain sacrifices
and fore go those nagging little 'wants' that haunt everybody. It is not easy to use your money for investments instead of being self-indulgent.

This great land offers everybody the opportunity to step up to the plate and achieve personal wealth. For a starter, you must set a goal. Your goal can be anything from modest to extravagant, but fulfilling that goal is personally rewarding. All it takes is effort and a willingness to stay focused on your goal.

But alas, it is like swimming uphill against the current and few make it to their Promised Land. There are numerous distractions along the way. This list is not complete, but you will understand why most people are living week to week with no real advantage in financial matters.

My List of Life's Sidetracks:

1.) Quitting School: Going through puberty is tough on young people. Sometimes they make the decision to start playing house and lose their focus on school. While others do not see the value of school and refuse to work at it, so they become dropouts.

2.) Laziness: A person for unknown reasons will put off doing what he/she ought to do because other interest distracts the person. We all know these people. They will not help around the house unless forced to, refuse to clean up their rooms, and refuse to do homework, or just do not care or have interest in those things that propel us to success.

3.) Weak Willed: No, not the physically weak, but weak willed persons who have to spend every penny they make to try and comfort themselves and their ego. They may be hard workers, but are perpetually in debt because they have to have that new car, or cater to whatever fancies their interest at the time. They just cannot resist spending their hard-earned resources for frivolity.

4.) Political Trap: Think about it, a lot of the bad choices people make are guided by politics. To win votes, politicians like to bribe those who are not committed achievers with goodies for their vote and support. These politicians do not want their chosen targets to climb up the ladder of success. The politicians know that if people succeed, that these people will no longer need the minimum housing, welfare, food stamps, and the rest of the goodies that they provide. When people no longer need those paltry handouts, they no longer have to dance to the politicians tune. Escaping the government sponsored poverty trap is even harder than never accepting the help in the first place. Once a person falls into the welfare rut, it is very hard to climb out of it.

There will always be those individuals who will never muster up the courage to break out of their situations. But for everybody else, there is hope. But success has many traps for the unwary. One such trap to avoid is the after work bar trap. A person that goes from work to the bar everyday at 'beer-thirty' has inadvertently just sprung one of the many traps that can delay success or possibly end the quest for success. Then, there is the person who just has to have that gadget, boat, or new car. Think about this. If he/she would have just saved some of that money and used it to buy a few shares of quality stock every month, or invest monthly in a mutual fund, they would be taking those first steps to acquiring wealth. Positive results with those savings would encourage even more savings. It is very satisfying to watch your wealth grow.

Until a person makes that conscious decision to help his situation, things will not improve. No situation will get better unless a person makes the decision to improve it. There are always those potholes in the road, and the strong overcome them while the weaker ones give up. Everybody has to live with whatever decisions he or she makes. Be wary of the Politicians trap. It is there only to ensnare a person for political purposes and not to help anyone succeed.

Remember, the amount of personal wealth we accumulate over our lifetime is in our hands. But it takes that inner strength and a special commitment to overcome the obstacles to accumulating wealth. One more point, the amount of wealth we strive for depends on the individual. Not everyone has the same goal, but achieving ones personal goal makes a person successful. Reaching that personal goal says to everybody that you have fought those obstacles and won the fight. You are a winner!

Cheers,

-Robert-

Race has Nothing to do with It

My email must be the junk capitol of the world. Some of the stuff I read, and some of the stuff I just delete. But the most obnoxious stuff that comes into my email box tries to equate Blacks with no ambition, lazy and other adjectives I would rather not mention. These emails have so many forwards that it is hard to get a fix on their origin.

One such email was a series of pictures. These photos compared the floods in the Midwest to the floods in New Orleans. Captioned under the Iowa and Missouri pictures were the questions, "Where is the looting?" "Where are the snipers?" "Where are the angry mobs?" "Where are all the FEMA trailers?" "Where is the Media griping about the slow service from FEMA?"

The intention of the email was to relate that the White Midwest had more ambition and more self-reliance than those caught up in Katrina. And it was the 'can-do' attitude of those Midwesterners that really mitigated the effects of the flood. Essentially, the email portrayed the White Midwesterners as being better able to deal with problems than the Blacks in New Orleans were.

The real tragedy at New Orleans did not have anything to do with race, but everything to do with Liberalism. The Democrats controlled everything, the Senators, most of the Representatives, local governments, and the Governorship. Democrats have been systematically creating a culture of dependency just to get the votes of the Blacks. They hand out political crumbs, just to get their vote. Programs such as Section 8 Housing Vouchers, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Affirmative Action, Child and Adult Care Food Program, Head Start, The Food Stamp Program, and The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) represent just a few of the Government Assistance Programs for minorities. Over time, these programs have stolen the self-reliance and independence from minorities. One such comparison would be of the spoiled child who demands everything and has no feeling of pride about his own accomplishments. Sometimes tough-love is the only method for a spoiled child to appreciate both himself and those that love him.

Any group, White or otherwise would react to sudden problems in the same fashion exhibited by those New Orleans citizens if they had lost their independence and self-reliance by always expecting the Federal Government to take care of them. It is as if they look to the Federal Government much as the pre-Civil War slaves looked to the plantation owner for their existence. The Democrats created this problem; it is not indicative of any failure of a race. No group of humans whatever their color would behave any differently if they were so dependent on someone else for their well-being.

So spare me those racial slurs through innuendo and put the onus where it belongs, on Liberalism. Lack of self worth and pride is destroying the Black communities. The race-baiters seek to exploit the never-ending cycle of poverty because it is from these pride-starved people that they derive their standing. Typically, a race-baiter delivers a few crumbs to the minority community. The minority community in turn holds the race-baiter in high esteem for what he has done. Never mind that his actions are just deepening the entrenchment of dependency.

Black ministers have found feeding minorities with soaring rhetoric that vilifies whites has found a very receptive audience. Whom else can they blame for their impoverished condition? So the Democrats get the Black vote on the cheap. A few handouts here and there have ensnared those wonderful people into the kind of disparity that comes from dependency. Whenever a black person does find his way out of the poverty cycle, he gets vilified as an Uncle Tom and worse.

Certainly, I have no answers for the short run, but I fear trouble on a much larger scale if Black leaders do not come forth to educate the minority population of why things are as they are. Education to explain the truth about dependency to the Black population is sorely needed. Restoration of self-reliance and pride has to be on the top of the agenda to prevent a complete meltdown between the races.

The Democrats realize the problem. That is why they are pushing so hard to elect Barack Obama. His election will temporarily mollify Blacks until they realize that things are no different. Barack Obama is just a Black face that will still continue and expand dependency to an already dependent people.

Written with love,

Cheers,

-Robert-

Pet Food Rip-Off

For the cat lovers who read this column, have you ever calculated how much you are paying for prepared cat food? If you buy the new deluxe Fancy Feast in the three ounce cans, 'Wal-Mart' priced at $0.82/can, that comes to $4.37/lb. Regular Fancy Feast if bought at Wal-Mart will set you back a modest $2.87/lb. That is $0.54 for a 3 ounce can.

There are cheaper cat foods out there. Special Kitty is the house brand of cat food at Wal-Mart. Special Kitty Gourmet comes in 3-ounce cans that cost $0.42 per can. The cost for this cheaper cat food comes to $2.24 per pound. To put it in perspective, whole chickens cost me, if I buy them on sale, about $0.99 per pound. The Thanksgiving turkey that sat on our table for Thanksgiving cost $0.69 per pound. That turkey would have been $0.49 per pound if I had made it to the store a day earlier. If you buy the premium brands of turkeys, they do sell for more and cost upwards of $0.89 per pound or more.

Reading the ingredients list of pet food is like a who's who in the meat by products business. This list is from a Special Kitty Gourmet Select Ocean Whitefish and Tuna Entre. To their credit, Ocean Whitefish is the #1 ingredient, but it goes downhill from there. In order after the #1 ingredient is Liver (not specified from what), fish (again not specified), Meat by-Products (What's that anyway), fish broth (water?), tuna (finally), titanium dioxide (what is that for?), Guar Gum (for that full feeling), and vitamins. The rest of the stuff is just chemicals, and a lot of them. The point of course is to point out, that for what the cat food industry is charging for their products, they could just use the real thing. They do not need to use questionable meats and by-products. There is no telling where those meat by-products come from. It could be anything from the orts of meat packers to the remains of euthanized cats and dogs (somebody uses them). The vitamins I understand, but not all of the other chemicals. What is their purpose?

I did not write this to try and discourage your use of prepared cat food, but rather to get you to think about how much better and cheaper that your cat could be eating if you would just buy whole meats for food. Beef is a little more expensive, for instance at Sam's Wholesale, I buy boneless Chuck Roast for $1.99 per pound. It is cheaper than the Fancy Feast regular 3-ounce cans and a lot cheaper than their premium stuff. You can also be confident that your cat is not getting a lot of questionable chemicals and the dreaded meat by-products. Personally, I am still waiting for "Mouse" and "Bird" as a variety of cat food. That is what my outside cat eats a lot of, and really likes them. :-)One more thing, I am not advocating feeding raw meats to your cat. When choosing the better ingredients, you will still have to prepare the food before feeding it to your cat.

You can find websites that give instruction in the preparation of pet foods. My belly-ache with the prepared cat foods is the quality vs. price aspect. If you are happy paying a big price for less quality, then prepared cat food is the way to go.

No Dogs in this Report: Since I do not own a dog, I cannot vouch for either the price or contents of dog food. I rather suspect it is much the same though since it is all the same industry. Pet food in general is overpriced and they get away with it because they know how you feel about your pet. Most of the pet food that I have read the labels for is just crap or some version of crap for which you are paying a high price.

Cheers,

-Robert-

Obama is an Empty Suit

No, not political acquaintances, but I mean those whom Obama thinks of as a family friend. Everybody has acquaintances, but they also have friends. A friend is someone with whom you have shared experiences. A friend is someone who comes over to watch a sports-event with you. A friend is that special person with whom you socialize. A friend is that person who will help when the occasion arises.

Have you heard a name of any close pal or friend of Obama? We have all heard the names of those acquaintances like Reverend Wright and such, but to my knowledge, no names have surfaced to identify a real friend of Obama. Knowing the people a person calls 'friend' says a lot about that person and his or her judgment. And so does a person who does not have close friends. A man without close friends has nobody to stand up and be a supporter for the man. The only testimony you hear for Obama is from political cronies with selfish reasons to give their support.

I would be very interested to know if Obama and his wife have close friends with whom they socialize. But that part of Barack Obama is a blank slate. It would also be instructive to know about his relationships with the other members of his family (Not his immediate family). Is Obama an island?

McCain on the other hand has well known friends. He maintains his friendships from the North Vietnamese prison, and buddies from his navy days. He has also been in the Senate long enough for some of the politicians to qualify as friends. He and Senator Graham are practically inseparable. They share the same political philosophy and regard each other as a friend.
I repeat; where are the associates that Obama pals around with that he calls 'friend'. Drop a comment if you have information about any friend of Obama. It is very strange for a man to be in his forties and not have cultivated at least a few friends.

Listening to Barack Obama, all you hear is constant belly aching and complaining about the United States. He never has anything good to say about this country. Either everybody is destitute, losing their homes, or they are without hope. He finds nothing positive to say about anything American. His idea of change is to make the country into what his idea of a good country should be. Obama does not think we have a good country now even though he has had the best of everything handed to him that this country has to offer. But he knows how to make this a good country. -Give me a break!

We have an administration trying desperately to solve the housing problem. Monday the government took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in an effort to inject liquidity and stability into the chaotic housing market. We have an administration dealing with a resurgent Russia, a belligerent Iran, and a still out of control North Korea. The question I have is, if Obama has solutions to all of these problems, where has he been for the last two years. The president could have used his wisdom to solve some of these problems. No legislation sponsored by or written by Barack Obama was even attempted. Maybe his goal is to let these conditions just fester, and cause misery so that he can step in, and be a hero with his solutions. What a laugh! This man is an empty suit with only a talent for destructive rhetoric.

It is equally sad that so many of our young, thoroughly steeped in liberal dogma from our colleges and universities, have swallowed his gobble-dee-gook and are among his biggest supporters. The enthusiasm that they exhibit for Obama is alarming to those of us old enough to recognize BS. But students with huge student loans are mesmerized by his 'chicken in every pot' and 'car in every garage' rhetoric. It is certain that Obama is not short on promises. All of his speeches target his audiences. In Michigan, he hangs out the carrot of recapturing their glory days of employment. On the O'Reilly Factor, he sounded very conservative. He is a master of giving his audience what they want to hear. In his acceptance speech, he would hire an army of teachers to solve the school crisis. The list of promises and money he proposes to spend is staggering. Still the show goes on.

The one bright spot in all of this is that McCain will mop the floors with this guy. Go McCain!

Cheers,

-Robert-

Failure of Leadership

We have a saying where I'm from, "If you are not fast or slow, then you are just half-fast". That saying pretty well sums up my feelings about George W. Bush. What attracted me and gave me reason to vote for him was his statements in the Republican Convention of 2000 where he promised leadership. His critique of Bill Clinton and all of the failures of leadership with the Clinton administration struck a chord with me. I had that feeling that George Bush understood what strong leadership meant. What he actually turned out to be was a person satisfied with only halfway measures.

The foray into Iraq is an example of doing things half-assed. Apparently, there was no plan with what to do after kicking Hussein out of power. I believe that Bush really thought that the Iraqis would begin straight away governing themselves without a hiccup. If memory serves me, there were plenty of signs of problems after Sadam's ouster. There was no authority, the Iraqis learned very quickly that they could steal and ransack their country without hindrance. By us not having enough soldiers to maintain civil order, Iraq descended into chaos. The point is that early on there was opportunity to salvage our quickly won military campaign. But George persisted, and did nothing to prevent the deterioration within Iraq.

That war did not change until finally, with urging from others, he decided that we needed additional forces to gain the upper hand.

George Bush sought to water down legislation in an effort to appease the Democrats. The results were that by trying to please everybody, he alienated everybody. The lesson here is that by not leading, he got the mixed results that he got. The education bill touted by Bush only addressed part of the problems plaguing our schools. They call it gridlock in Washington, but gridlock is much preferable to watered down legislation that tries to please everybody.

When George Bush determined that an idea was a good one, he should have championed that idea on a win or lose basis and not have it derailed into just another big spending project. But politicians accept backroom deals just to pass a final version of a bill. These bills usually have provisions inserted into them that have nothing to do with the original proposal. Just to have George Bush signing off on these unholy big spending political payoffs is enough to make one sick.

I will conclude that I personally believe that George W. Bush is a decent man with real compassion for people. However, as a leader, he has failed miserably. He was the man with the bully pulpit, but failed to make the case for his proposals to the public. Instead, he allowed the left to go unchallenged with their assertions that convinced the country that he was a liar, an idiot, and a man wanting to listen in on their private phone calls.

Being a nice person is not enough to win the day. It only allows your opposition the opportunity to convince the world otherwise about you. Other than being a strong Christian, George Bush has no political core. A leader desperately needs a core of political principles that he will not violate. That does not mean that a leader need not listen to others or be able to change his mind. But certainly, it means that you allow no violation of what you hold to be true, and be willing to make a case for those beliefs when challenged. Leaders are judged by their stands on different issues. They will fail on some and they will win some, but in all cases no matter the issue, a person must stand for one side or the other. How many fence straddlers earn a lot of praise? Remember, when a person is not fast or slow he is only half-fast.

Cheers,

-Robert-

Overexposing Sarah Palin

Just as anybody with a website can attest, keeping the information on the website fresh is essential to prevent visitors from losing interest. A lot of websites lose their ranking with the search engines because the webmaster allows a site or page to go stale.

Political campaigning has a lot of the same pitfalls as maintaining a website. Usually a candidate will have a 'stump speech', which is recited at each and every stop on the campaign trail. The reporters covering a particular candidate listen to the same speech repeatedly. After a reporter has heard the speech several times, their reporting reflects their growing disinterest in covering that campaign.

The wild-card in campaigning is the audiences. To the potential voters listening to a stump speech, what they hear is not stale because they have not yet heard the speech. Because the speech is new to them, they are able to be enthusiastic about what they hear.

Now comes Sarah Palin. People everywhere want to see and hear what she says so she is in great demand by the media. Televising her campaign stops and exposing her stump speech to large numbers of people can actually overexpose her stump speech. This is both good and bad. Good that she gets the exposure, but bad if the viewing audience is able to anticipate what she will say each time she speaks. If she does not keep her speech fresh, then eventually the same disinterest exhibited by those reporters following a campaign will begin to set in with the potential voters.

Advice is cheap, but if I could give my 2 cents worth to Sarah's campaign, it would be to keep her message fresh. If she continues to recite the same speech, she runs the risk of becoming stale with the voters, especially with 24/7 news programs televising the candidates every move.

Cheers,

-Robert-

Republicans Close with Optimism

In a different tactic from last night's frenzy over Sarah Palin's acceptance of her nomination as the Republican vice-presidential candidate, McCain took a more somber approach. Cindy McCain delivered a testimonial for John McCain that was very moving. It was the type of speech needed to lend some humanity to McCain. Cindy was able to give us a glimpse of several milestones over the thirty years of their marriage.

Not an accomplished orator, but she managed to paint a portrait of a John McCain that most of us were not familiar. She spoke of John McCain the husband and father and his devotion to his family. She spoke of his sense of duty and his love for this nation. An impartial observer could not help but be impressed with her genuine sincerity. This woman was obviously not a politician, but a woman who loved and believed in her husband. She introduced their children with the great pride that only a proud parent can display. No, this speech was not the stem-winder that warranted loud demonstrations. But it was a moving and compelling story of affection. Cindy's speech clearly painted John McCain as a real person, graced with understanding, and a desire to be a good president.

When John took to the podium, he told the story of his transformation from being a cocky, fight-prone, and bulletproof young pilot, to a person who learned humility while imprisoned in North Viet Nam. He told of his ideas for what a McCain administration would do for the country. The one line that stands out was the one where he said that the proper role for government was to be there, but not get in the way of a person. Government was for making sure that everyone had the freedom to choose the path they wanted, not a Government that tells us where and how to live.

John McCain gave a speech that was low key, but still inspiring. The end of his speech was optimistic. Let there be no doubt, the Republicans are jazzed and determined to make a fight of it. We learned today that Obama has not been a good caretaker of his money and now John McCain has more money available to him than Obama. The newly energized Republican base is sending money to the RNC in record amounts. Up until now, they have been keeping their powder dry, but now it seems that the money floodgates are finally opening up.

The Republicans want to shore up the undercard of their ballots and turn out the voters. They are optimistic about the presidential race and are now focusing their efforts on getting our senate and house candidates elected. Believe me, this is not going to be an Obama coronation. A united and optimistic Republican Party is now on the prowl.

Cheers,

-Robert-

Sarah Palin Wows Them

As I watched the Republican National Convention tonight, there were speeches from Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, and Rudy Giuliani. It was hard for me to believe that the speeches before the main event, the anticipated speech of Sarah Palin, could hold my interest. But I was wrong. All three of these speeches were inspiring and entertaining. Rudy Giuliani gave the stem-winder of the three. His speech was last and the very relaxed former mayor of New York delivered a speech that had everyone up and cheering. In fact, it was so good that I was beginning to worry that his act would be hard to follow for Sarah Palin.

All night the cameras would show the Palin family. All of the children were present except the oldest son who is in the military. Family members took turns holding their little brother, even Cindy McCain took a turn. This family has it together. Their mutual support for each other was on display for all to see. The Palin family forms a support group for each other that only a family can. Also, in attendance was the intended husband to be, the father of the expected child by Sarah's oldest daughter Bristol. His appearance was an in your face statement by the family demonstrating that they have accepted this young man as one of them.

Any apprehensions I had about Sarah's speech following the one by Rudy were quickly dispelled as Sarah began her speech. She is a very accomplished speaker and soon had the crowd roaring their approval as she drove home one political point after the next. Her speech was brilliant, and her delivery gifted. This woman, singlehandedly unified and energized the Republican Party. She has put Senator Biden on notice, he better bring his A-game to the debates. He has very few choices; he can either get ripped to shreds or with his A-game, just embarrassed.

But this writing is not about her speech so much as about Sarah. Sarah was relaxed and seemed to enjoy the moment. I got the impression that she could be my neighbor or an acquaintance of long standing. None of the airs of a Washington Liberal elite, no, a real person that was not plastic. She wore a skirt and not a pantsuit demonstrating that she was a self-confident woman, and not someone who hides her femininity. Sarah exudes womanhood in all of its glory and at the same time demonstrates an ability to lead and make decisions.

This woman is a game changer in the presidential sweepstakes. For the first time, McCain has been receiving record donations from a grateful conservative base. There is also talk that this ticket is strong enough to help the rest of those Republicans on the ballot. Obama must have recognized the danger because he is going to appear on the O'Reilly Factor show on Fox News. Somebody in the Obama camp decided that he needed the exposure on Fox, but it is like closing the barn door after the cows are out. Sarah Palin has that audience sewed up and she is not likely to lose them to Obama.

Get a transcription of Sarah's address if you did not see it. Find out for yourself what all of the fuss is about. Sarah Palin is no phony-bologna, but rather a real down to earth person that all of us can relate to.

Cheers,

-Robert-

McCain Strikes Gold

When McCain went mining in Alaska, he struck it rich. He found pure gold, and possibly just what he needed to beat Obama. I am talking about Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska.

No pant suits for Sarah; she is a self-confident woman who exudes a sparkle that have the Democrats running. So potent was this selection for vice-president that the Democrats have pulled out all the stops to denigrate her. They fully realize the threat she poses to their candidate. The threat is not for just this election, but she is also a harbinger of bad news for any hopes that Hillary Clinton may have had for 2012.

For all of you who wanted a woman on the ticket, your wish has come true. She stands for and lives by her stands on abortion and family. She exhibits those qualities that most women just talk about but can never achieve.

In the coming days, she will become Barack Obama and Joe Biden's worst nightmare. John McCain has finally given us a reason to support the Republican ticket. I take back all of those snotty things that I said about McCain. With this selection for vice-president, he has shown that he has the judgment that we want in a president. McCain's team lobbied for different candidates, but his final decision was one that once again solidified him as being a maverick.

The mud is already thick and heavy from the Dems, but they only make supporting Sarah easier. Democrats do not dare approach her from the standpoint of issues, but rather are trying to destroy her personally. Attacks that disparage Sarah Palin personally and against her family are going to backfire in a big way on the Democrats. All of us can identify with Sarah. No family is without its problems. The real test for anybody is how he or she handles what fate has dealt to him or her. Nobody is dealt a perfect hand, but Sarah Palin managed to make her hand a winning hand.

Thanks John McCain for selecting her to be your running mate. You absolutely picked a winner with her selection.

Cheers,

-Robert-