Motivational-Inspirational-Historical-Educational-Political-Enjoyable
Promoting "God's Holy Values and American Freedoms"!
"Daily Motivations"
Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going. -- Jim Ryun
Give the world the best you have and the best will come back to you. -- Madeline Bridges
"Daily Devotions" (KJV and/or NLT)
"We love each other as a result of His loving us first." (1 John 4:19)
In 1950, Dr. Joon Gon Kim fled North Korea. But the communist guerrillas found him. One quiet evening the communists invaded his village, killing everyone---including Dr. Kim's wife and father. Dr. Kim himself was beaten severely and left for dead. When he returned to consciousness, he took his surviving daughter in his arms and fled to the mountains, where the two of them barely survived.
Over the next few weeks his mind kept returning to Jesus, who, like Dr. Kim, had been beaten and tortured---but to the point of death. The difference was that Jesus held no bitterness.
As Dr. Kim reflected on those facts, his heart was filled with the peace and the love of Christ. The Spirit of God immediately placed in Dr. Kim's heart a strong desire to return to the village and seek out the communist chief who had led the guerrilla attack. His burden was to tell the man that he loved him---and to tell him about Christ.
When Dr. Kim walked through the communist leader's door, the chief was dumbfounded! Dr. Kim had been presumed dead. But after a few short moments they were kneeling together. In a short period of time, Dr. Kim helped to build a church for nearly two hundred communist converts.
As believers, we love because He first loved us, and we are capable of loving with a miraculous, transforming, supernatural love if we trust and obey our risen Lord.
"The Patriot Post"
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. .... Done ... the seventeenth day of September, in the year of our LORD one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven." -- George Washington and the Signers
"These are the times that try men's souls." -- Thomas Paine
"Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. ... Our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives." -- John Adams
"Of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people, commencing demagogues and ending tyrants." -- Alexander Hamilton
"The principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale." -- Thomas Jefferson
"Contemplate the mangled bodies of your countrymen, and then say 'what should be the reward of such sacrifices?' ... If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!" -- Samuel Adams
"A free-born people ... may make use of such power as God has given them to recover and support their ... liberties." -- Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty after the Boston Tea Party
The first picture is from Arlington National Cemetery, I suggest that you visit it soon.
http://emailzone.wordpress.com/2008/08/15/bet-youll-send-it/
I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG,
OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
AND TO THE REPUBLIC FOR WHICH IT STANDS,
ONE NATION UNDER GOD,
INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL!
I was asked to send on if I agree, or delete if I don’t.
It is said that 86% of Americans believe in God.
Therefore I have a very hard time understanding why there is such a problem in having ‘In God! We Trust’ on our money and having ‘God’ in the Pledge of Allegiance.
I believe it’s time we stand up for what we believe!
If you agree, pass this on, if not delete.
PLEASE KEEP THIS GOING, EVEN IF YOU HAVE PASSED IT ON BEFORE!!
I was a Medic in WW11 and saw my comrades die for you to enjoy freedom. and who did the majority of you vote for?
By: Peter Vardilos
http://emailzone.wordpress.com/2008/08/15/bet-youll-send-it/
THAT’S RIGHT! A FLAG BURNER AND BIBLE TRASHER. ONE WHO WAS RAISED IN THE MUSLEM FAITH. HANG YOUR HEAD IN SHAME. YOUR PEERS MAY NOT KNOW WHO YOU VOTED FOR BUT GOD DOES. MAY THE GOOD LORD BLESS ALL WHO FOLLOW IN JESUS STEPS
"Founders As Christians"
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
Signer of the Constitution
To the eternal, immutable, and only true God be all honor and glory, now and forever, Amen!. . . -- Will of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
Rufus Putnam
Revolutionary War General, First Surveyor General of the United States
[F]irst, I give my soul to a holy, sovereign God Who gave it in humble hope of a blessed immortality through the atonement and righteousness of Jesus Christ and the sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit. My body I commit to the earth to be buried in a decent Christian manner. I fully believe that this body shall, by the mighty power of God, be raised to life at the last day; 'for this corruptable (sic) must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality.' [I Corinthians 15:53] -- Will of Rufus Putnam
"The Web"
Skidboot the Dog
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2BfzUIBy9A&feature=player_embedded#t=14
Awesome Paint Job/ Keep Him Walking
http://www.datehookup.com/Thread-279442.htm
Check out what some of our boys overseas did to their helicopter. Some Afghan is probably freaking out right about now. This very special Mi-24 helicopter is presently flying in Afghanistan, where it is no doubt causing quite a stir.
God Bless the U.S.A.
GOD BLESS AMERICA
Keep him walking.
This man is walking the World for Peace. Please pass him on so that he can reach his destination.
Say a prayer for our soldiers, then pass him on to others.
This is really interesting how someone did this. He's walking around the world -- via e-mail!
Pass it on so he can get there! PUT YOUR LOCATION IN SUBJECT LIN
Olympia Snowe, It’s Time to Go.
As for me, this article below by Texan2driver's Blog should include Maine's other Liberal Republican In Name Only (RINO) Sen. Susan M. Collins. - oyh
By: Texan2driver's Blog
Olympia Snowe (Job) is not a conservative, and is a “Republican” in name only. She votes with liberals on almost every issue, and torpedoes her own party at every opportunity.
Olympia, time for you to jump ship and follow your old buddy Arlen Specter. You are not doing the Republican party, conservatives, or America any good. At least be honest and show America and your constituents who you REALLY are.
Sunstein: Fetuses 'use' women, abortion limits 'troublesome'
Obama regulatory chief offers radical new interpretation of Constitution
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=110934
By Aaron Klein
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
Cass Sunstein
JERUSALEM – Restrictions on access to abortion would turn women's bodies into vessels to be "used" by fetuses, according to President Obama's newly confirmed regulatory czar, Cass Sunstein.
"A restriction on access to abortion turns women's reproductive capacities into something to be used by fetuses. .... Legal and social control of women's sexual and reproductive capacities has been a principal historical source of sexual inequality," Sunstein wrote in his 1993 book "The Partial Constitution."
In the book, obtained and reviewed by WND, Sunstein sets forth a radical new interpretation of the Constitution. In one chapter, titled "Pornography, abortion, surrogacy," Sunstein argued against restrictions on abortion and pornography.
"Restrictions on abortion, surrogacy and free availability of pornography are troublesome," he wrote.
"I do not mean to oppose equality to liberty. .... Liberty does not entail respect for all 'choices,'" he maintained.
Sunstein's views on fetuses are not limited to his 1993 book.
WND reported earlier this month that in a 2003 book review, Sunstein argued there is no moral concern regarding cloning human beings since human embryos, which develop into a baby, are "only a handful of cells."
In addition to Sunstein's moral disregard for human embryos, WND reported the Obama czar several times has quoted approvingly from an author who likened animals to slaves and argued an adult dog or a horse is more rational than a human infant and should, therefore, be granted similar rights.
A brief video on YouTube captures Sunstein at a 2002 event using the writings of Jeremy Bentham, a 19th century social reformer and animal-rights pioneer.
"You've heard a reference to Bentham, so let's listen to him, shall we," he begins in the video.
He then quotes from Bentham's 1789 primer, "Introduction to Principals of Morals and Legislation," written just after slaves had been freed by the French but were still held captive in the British dominions:
"The day may come, when the rest of the animal creation may acquire those rights which never could have been withholden from them but by the hand of tyranny. The French have already discovered that the blackness of the skin is no reason why a human being should be abandoned without redress to the caprice of a tormentor," Sunstein states, quoting Bentham.
Sunstein continues quoting the author: "A full-grown horse or dog is beyond comparison a more rational, as well as a more conversable animal, than an infant of a day or a week or even a month, old. But suppose the case were otherwise."
The rest of Bentham's sentence, not captured in the video, continued, "what would it avail? The question is not, can they (animals) reason or can they talk? But, can they suffer?"
While the YouTube video offers only a brief sound bite with no context, a WND review of Sunstein's academic writings find he used the same verses from Bentham to push for animal rights.
In the footnotes to a 2002 academic paper for Harvard University, "The Rights of Animals: A Very Short Primer," Sunstein expresses his approval of Bentham's arguments:
"I suggest that Bentham and Mill were not wrong to offer an analogy between current uses of animals and human slavery," he wrote.
Several other works by Sunstein, including his books, quote approvingly of Bentham's statements comparing adult dogs and horses to human infants.
In the Harvard paper, Sunstein even suggests animals could be granted the right to sue humans in court.
"We could even grant animals a right to bring suit without insisting that animals are in some general sense 'persons,' or that they are not property," he wrote.
The Senate two weeks ago confirmed Sunstein as Obama's administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, overcoming months of delay due to Republican concerns that he would push a radical animal-rights agenda.
Sarah Palin
http://www.sarahpac.com/
Sarah Palin's Official PAC
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SarahPAC believes the Republican Party is at the threshold of an historic renaissance that will build a better future for all. Health care, education, and reform of government are among our key goals. Join us today!
Please note: There are many websites claiming to support Sarah Palin. SarahPAC.com is the ONLY political action committee authorized by Sarah Palin.
News Update: Palin Announces No Second Term Read More.
Visit The Alaska Fund Trust at www.thealaskafundtrust.com, the official legal defense fund for Governor Sarah Palin and family.
More ACORN News: Illegal use of Funds
http://yidwithlid.blogspot.com/2009/09/more-acorn-news-illegal-use-of-funds.html
More bad news for the Democratic Parties Favorite community organizing group, ACORN. While Harry Reid continues to get heat at home for refusing to allow Senate hearings on ACORN, Senator Grassley had his staff do a little investigation of their own. According to the Capital Research Center, Grassley (R-Iowa), asked the IRS to probe ACORN – and asked that the group be dropped from the Combined Federal Campaign (a charitable program for government workers). This is not the first time the Senator has gone after the ACORN criminal enterprise, in 2006 he asked the IRS to investigate ACORN for voter fraud.
Yesterday Grassley sent a letter to the IRS Commissioner Douglas H. Shulman and another letter to John Berry, Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management asking for an investigation. Both letters are available here.
At the same time Grassley released documents that show leaders of ACORN community transferred several million dollars in charitable and government money meant for the poor to parts of the group that have political and sometimes profit-making missions.
Grassley's documents indicate that ACORN's tax-exempt groups along with its tangled web of allied organizations used more than half their charitable and public money in 2006 to pay other ACORN affiliates. Grassley called the transactions a "big shell game" and said donors may be surprised by how the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, known for helping the poor obtain housing and health care, was spending their money. He urged the Internal Revenue Service to take a closer look.
In the letter to Berry, he asks that the ACORN Institute “and any other ACORN affiliates, particularly any of those reviewed by my staff, be prohibited from participating in the CFC. The acts perpetrated by ACORN employees were impermissible and should not be supported with CFC dollars.”
CFC refers to the Combined Federal Campaign, which bills itself as “the world’s largest and most successful annual workplace charity campaign.” CFC is a federally administered program that channels donations from federal civilian, postal and military employees into causes deemed worthwhile. It is unclear how much money the ACORN network receives through CFC.
In his letter to Shulman at the IRS, Grassley wrote that he was “encouraged” that IRS “severed all ties” with ACORN. “Aside from the pervasive issues pertaining to several allegations of voter fraud, the recently released investigative videos are very troubling. These videos reveal ACORN employees and/or volunteers offering tax advice specifically to further clearly illegal activities such as prostitution and human trafficking.”
Please provide the number of returns prepared at ACORN tax clinics for the last five years. Does the IRS intend to review these returns for accuracy? Please confirm that IRS will terminate its relationship with all organizations in the ACORN family, particularly those reviewed by my staff. Does the IRS intend to renew its relationship with ACORN after ACORN completes its internal review?
Grassley is referring to the IRS announcement yesterday that it dropped ACORN from its Volunteer Income Tax Preparation (VITA) program, a volunteer tax assistance program through which around 3 million low- and moderate-income tax filers received free advice this year. ACORN provided help on approximately 25,000 returns, the IRS said yesterday.
Grassley also wrote “[i]t is disturbing that many of the organizations in the ACORN “family” may not actually meet the definition of related for 990 reporting purposes, even though ACORN deems them to be part of the ‘family.’” A “990” is an IRS Form 990 which is a nonprofit organization’s annual tax return.
To Understand what a form 990 is I have uploaded the ACORN Housing 990 from 2007 and you can acess it by clicking here. Among the things you can find out from it are a group's large contributors and dispersements.
What may foreshadow a future demand for a forensic audit of ACORN, the senator also asks what procedures the IRS follows when “auditing organizations like this where the movement of money appears to be a shell game.” He asks, “Do IRS audit procedures require auditors to follow the money trail to or from a charitable organization to determine whether that money is being used for impermissible activities, including electioneering and promoting illegal acts?
Finally, Grassley suggests ACORN might be a massive criminal conspiracy. He wrote:
Given what looks like a shell game perpetrated by the ACORN tax-exempt entities appears to be no different than that conducted by the charities involved in the Jack Abramoff scandal, how have IRS rules, regulations, reporting requirements and enforcement actions changed in response to the Abramoff abuses?
Looks like the Noose is continuing to tighten round the neck of this criminal enterprise, but while these investigations are great, what is really needed is an independent investigation by an independent prosecutor so the FULL story is told.
A LITTLE GUN HISTORY
In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control... From 1929 to 1953, about 20 million dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
In 1911, Turkey established gun control. From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
Germany established gun control in 1938 and from 1939 to 1945, a total of 13 million Jews and others who were unable to defend themselves were rounded up and exterminated.
China established gun control in 1935. From 1948 to 1952, 20 million political dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
Guatemala established gun control in 1964. From 1964 to 1981, 100,000 Mayan Indians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
Uganda established gun control in 1970. From 1971 to 1979, 300,000 Christians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
Cambodia established gun control in 1956. From 1975 to 1977, one million educated people, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
Defenseless people rounded up and exterminated in the 20th Century because of gun control: 56 million...
It has now been 12 months since gun owners in Australia were forced by new law to surrender 640,381 personal firearms to be destroyed by their own Government, a program costing Australia taxpayers more than $500 million dollars. The first year results are now in:
List of 7 items:
Australia-wide, homicides are up 3.2 percent.
Australia-wide, assaults are up 8.6 percent.
Australia-wide, armed robberies are up 44 percent (yes, 44 percent)!
In the state of Victoria alone, homicides with firearms are now up 300 percent. Note that while the law-abiding citizens turned them in, the criminals did not, and criminals still possess their guns!
While figures over the previous 25 years showed a steady decrease in armed robbery with firearms, this has changed drastically upward in the past 12 months, since criminals now are guaranteed that their prey is unarmed.
There has also been a dramatic increase in break-ins and assaults of the ELDERLY. Australian politicians are at a loss to explain how public safety has decreased, after such monumental effort, and expense was expended in successfully ridding Australian society of guns. The Australian experience and the other historical facts above prove it.
You won't see this data on the US evening news, or hear politicians disseminating this information.
Guns in the hands of honest citizens save lives and property and, yes, gun-control laws adversely affect only the law-abiding citizens Take note my fellow Americans, before it's too late!
The next time someone talks in favor of gun control, please remind them of this history lesson.
With guns, we are 'citizens.'
Without them, we are 'subjects'.
During WWII the Japanese decided not to invade America because they knew most Americans were ARMED!
If you value your freedom, please spread this anti-gun control message to all of your friends.
The purpose of fighting is to win. There is no possible victory in defense. The sword is more important than the shield, and skill is more important than either. The final weapon is the brain. All else is supplemental.
SWITZERLAND ISSUES EVERY HOUSEHOLD A GUN!
SWITZERLAND'S GOVERNMENT TRAINS EVERY ADULT THEY ISSUE A RIFLE.
SWITZERLANDHAS THE LOWEST GUN RELATED CRIME RATE OF ANY
CIVILIZED COUNTRY IN THE WORLD!!!
IT'S A NO BRAINER!
DON'T LET OUR GOVERNMENT WASTE MILLIONS OF OUR TAX DOLLARS
IN AN EFFORT TO MAKE ALL LAW ABIDING CITIZENS AN EASY TARGET.
I'm a firm believer of the 2nd Amendment!
If you are too, please forward.
Just think how powerful our government is getting!
They think these other countries just didn't do it right.
Learn from history.
Gore-Backed Car Firm Gets Large U.S. Loan
By JOSH MITCHELL and STEPHEN POWER
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125383160812639013.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLTopStories
WASHINGTON -- A tiny car company backed by former Vice President Al Gore has just gotten a $529 million U.S. government loan to help build a hybrid sports car in Finland that will sell for about $89,000.
The award this week to California startup Fisker Automotive Inc. follows a $465 million government loan to Tesla Motors Inc., purveyors of a $109,000 British-built electric Roadster. Tesla, like Fisker, is a California startup focusing on high-end hybrids, with a number of celebrity endorsements that is backed by investors that have contributed to Democratic campaigns.
The awards to Fisker and Tesla have prompted concern from companies that have had their bids for loans rejected, and criticism from groups that question why vehicles aimed at the wealthiest customers are getting loans subsidized by taxpayers.
"This is not for average Americans," said Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Fisker's Karma hybrid sports car, above, will initially cost about $89,000.
The awards to Fisker and Tesla have prompted concern from companies that have had their bids for loans rejected, and criticism from groups that question why vehicles aimed at the wealthiest customers are getting loans subsidized by taxpayers.
"This is not for average Americans," said
The awards to Fisker and Tesla have prompted concern from companies that have had their bids for loans rejected, and criticism from groups that question why vehicles aimed at the wealthiest customers are getting loans subsidized by taxpayers.
"This is not for average Americans," said Leslie Paige, a spokeswoman for Citizens Against Government Waste, an anti-tax group in Washington. "This is for people to put something in their driveway that is a conversation piece. It's status symbol thing."
DOE officials spent months working with Fisker on its application, touring its Irvine, Calif., and Pontiac, Mich., facilities and test-driving prototypes.
Matt Rogers, who oversees the department's loan programs as a senior adviser to Energy Secretary Steven Chu, said Fisker was awarded the loan after a "detailed technical review" that concluded the company could eventually deliver a highly fuel-efficient hybrid car to a mass audience. Fisker said most of its DOE loan will be used to finance U.S. production of a $40,000 family sedan that has yet to be designed.
"It's the ability to drive significant change in fuel economy across a large market segment" that swayed the department to approve the Fisker loan, Mr. Rogers said. "We got quite excited."
Henrik Fisker, who designed cars for BMW, Aston Martin and Tesla before starting his Fisker Automotive in 2007, said his goal is to build the first plug-in electric hybrids that won't sacrifice the luxury, performance and looks of traditional gas-powered luxury cars.
The Karma will target an exclusive audience -- Gore was one of the first to sign up for one. Mr. Fisker says all new technology starts out being expensive. He pointed to flat-screen televisions that once started at $25,000 but are now affordable to the mass market.
The four-door Karma, powered by a lithium-ion battery, will be able to run solely on electric power for 50 miles, and will achieve an average fuel economy of 100 mpg over the span of a year, the company says. Production is scheduled to start in December, with about 15,000 vehicles a year expected to hit the U.S. market starting next June.
Many of the 1,500 people who have made deposits on the Karma are former BMW and Mercedes owners who want an environmentally friendly car without sacrificing luxury, Mr. Fisker said.
He said he pitched the Karma to Mr. Gore at an event hosted by KPCB last year, and that the former vice president almost immediately submitted a down payment for the car.
Kalee Kreider, a spokeswoman for Mr. Gore, confirmed that the former vice president backs Fisker and purchased a Karma. "He believes that a global shift of the automobile fleet toward electric vehicles, accompanying a shift toward renewable-energy generation, represents an important part of a sensible strategy for solving the climate crisis," she said in a statement.
Fisker's top investors include Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a veteran Silicon Valley venture-capital firm of which Gore is a partner. Employees of KPCB have donated more than $2.2 million to political campaigns, mostly for Democrats, including President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan group that tracks campaign contributions.
Officials at Kleiner Perkins didn't return requests for comment.
Asked whether Mr. Gore had any influence on Fisker's application, the DOE's Rogers said, "None at all."
"This is a very attractive, very across-party-lines kind of vehicle," Mr. Rogers said. "All of the detailed due diligence [was] done by independent review teams."
Other Fisker investors include Eco-Drive (Capital) Partners LLC, an investment consortium, and Qatar Investment Authority, a state-run investor based in Qatar.
Fisker's government loans will come from a $25 billion program established by Congress in 2007 to help auto makers invest in the technology to meet a new congressional mandate to improve fuel efficiency. In June, the DOE awarded the first $8 billion from the program to Ford Motor Co., Nissan Motor Co., and Tesla, which are all developing electric cars.
Some companies that have been turned down for loans from DOE say they did not get much feedback from the department about their applications. O. John Coletti, president of EcoMotors International of Troy, Mich., said his company applied for a $20 million loan from the agency last December, and last month got a one-page rejection letter from the loan program's director, Lachlan Seward. EcoMotors' lead investor is Vinod Khosla, himself a former Kleiner Perkins partner and a longtime campaign contributor to Republicans and Democrats alike.
"I don't have an issue with the winners … it's possible somebody has better ideas than us," Mr. Coletti said. At the same time, he said, "More feedback from DOE on a timely basis would be wonderful. When you're running a business you'd like to know whether you're going to be able to take advantage of this opportunity."
Mr. Coletti's company -- which makes diesel engines and is still waiting to hear from the Department on a separate loan application to help it build a manufacturing facility -- isn't without politically well-connected patrons, either. Its major investor is Vinod Khosla, himself a former Kleiner Perkins partner who has donated to campaigns.
Scott Redmond, CEO of XP Vehicles Inc., said he met with DOE officials twice in Washington after applying for a $40 million loan to develop a $15,000 to $25,000 hybrid, and that both times he was told his application looked good. Since receiving a rejection letter from DOE in August, Redmond said, he has been unable to get a full explanation as to why his request was turned down.
Mr. Rogers said he was not at liberty to discuss individual applications that had been turned down, but said the process has been handled fairly and objectively.
Federal Reserve Scandal Bigger than ACORN
AIM Column | By Cliff Kincaid
http://www.aim.org/aim-column/federal-reserve-scandal-bigger-than-acorn/
While the ACORN scandal involves tens of millions of taxpayer dollars…some other videos that examine what has happened to trillions of dollars involving the Federal Reserve have become increasingly popular.
On "The O'Reilly Factor" on Wednesday night, Democratic Rep. Barney Frank dropped a bombshell about the ACORN scandal that has not been disputed by Congressional Republicans-the group received $14.2 million in funding from the Bush administration.
But the question of what the Federal Reserve is doing with trillions of taxpayer dollars makes the ACORN scandal look like peanuts.
For the first time, a hearing is being held on Rep. Ron Paul's Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009 (H.R. 1207) by the House Committee on Financial Services. Grass-roots pressure has been credited with forcing the hearing into what has happened to trillions of dollars supposedly spent by the Federal Reserve on the stabilization of the financial system.
In prepared testimony, Thomas E. Woods, Jr. of the Ludwig von Mises Institute offers his strong support for the bill and declares, "...if our monetary system were really as strong, robust, and beyond criticism as its cheerleaders claim, why does it need to rely so heavily on public ignorance? How can it be a sound banking system that depends on keeping the public in the dark about the condition of its financial institutions?"
As the unprecedented hearing was taking shape, however, Rep. Frank put a statement on the website of the House Committee on Financial Services, which he chairs, going into detail about Republican funding of ACORN.
He declared, "ACORN was the recipient of funding throughout the Bush administration, with $14.2 million going from the Bush administration to ACORN through HUD. And I can attest that this was an entirely Executive Branch decision: No congressional action in any way, shape or form required that any of these funds go to ACORN as opposed to other organization [sic]. And I do not remember, during the period from 2001 to 2006 when the Republicans controlled the White House, HUD, the House and the Senate, and ACORN was receiving millions of dollars, any Republican objection to this."
The ACORN scandal was exposed by the BigGovernment.com website, which is now urging donations to a legal defense fund for the filmmakers, who are being sued by ACORN.
Meanwhile, some conservative Catholic groups have been putting pressure on the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), which gave ACORN $7.3 million over the last ten years, to de-fund other groups that engage in activities inconsistent with Catholic teaching.
Rob Gasper, the founder of Bellarmine Veritas Ministry, launched an investigation which found that the CCHD had funded groups advocating abortion or prostitution, or both.
As a result, on the insidecatholic.com website, prominent Catholic writer and thinker Deal W. Hudson has called for the elimination of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, saying, "No amount of house-cleaning is going to make this arm of the USCCB [United States Conference of Catholic Bishops] worthy of our donations."
While the ACORN scandal involves tens of millions of taxpayer dollars and became a national scandal because of the BigGovernment.com videos, some other videos that examine what has happened to trillions of dollars involving the Federal Reserve have become increasingly popular. These videos, however, don't involve undercover footage. Rather, they show Rep. Alan Grayson trying to pin down government officials at congressional hearings on what has happened to the missing money.
In an exchange captured in a YouTube video, Grayson questioned Fed Vice Chair Donald Kohn about Federal Reserve officials distributing $1.2 trillion dollars since September 2008, without reporting where they lent the money. In another video, Grayson questioned Inspector General of the Federal Reserve Elizabeth Coleman about where the money has gone and whether anyone is overseeing the activities of the Federal Reserve.
While Grayson is a liberal Democrat, he decided to co-sponsor the bill sponsored by Republican Rep. Ron Paul, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009, which requires an audit of the Federal Reserve System, including its Board of Governors, and the Federal Reserve banks.
Paul had announced on July 15 that all 178 Republican members of the House had signed on as co-sponsors of his Federal Reserve Transparency Act.
The House Committee on Financial Services' hearing on the bill on September 25 also features testimony from Scott Alvarez, General Counsel, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and comes seven months after the bill was introduced and referred to the committee.
The bill currently has 295 co-sponsors, meaning that 117 Democrats have also endorsed the measure.
On the Senate side, a similar bill, S. 604, sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders, has 28 co-sponsors. It was referred to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on March 16 but no hearings have been held on the Senate side.
Though introduced by a self-declared socialist, most of the Senate co-sponsors are Republicans, demonstrating that concern about the activities of the Federal Reserve crosses ideological lines.
"The e-mail Bag"
Pull, Buddy, pull
An out-of-towner drove his car into a ditch in a desolated area. Luckily, a local farmer came to help with his big strong horse named Buddy. He hitched Buddy up to the car and yelled, "Pull, Nellie, pull!" Buddy didn't move. Then the farmer hollered, "Pull, Buster, pull!" Buddy didn't respond. Once more the farmer commanded, "Pull, Coco, pull!" Nothing. Then the farmer nonchalantly said, "Pull, Buddy, pull!" And the horse easily dragged the car out of the ditch. The motorist was most appreciative and very curious. He asked the farmer why he called his horse by the wrong name three times. "Well... Buddy is blind and if he thought he was the only one pulling, he wouldn't even try!"
"John Edwards is a seasoned trial lawyer. You think a lawyer would make a good president? You know I look at it this way, if we're going to consistently have liars in the White House, why not get a professional?" — Jay Leno
"An Internet rumor claims that John Kerry had an affair with a young woman. When asked if this was similar to the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, a spokesman said 'Close, but no cigar.'" — Jimmy Fallon, Saturday Night Live's "Weekend Update"
"Ralph Nader announced he's running for president after a new poll found he'd get .5% of the vote. Nader's slogan: 'Eat my dust Kucinich.'" — Craig Kilborn
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