Motivational-Inspirational-Historical-Educational-Political-Enjoyable
Promoting "God's Holy Values and American Freedoms"!
"Daily Motivations"
"Age wrinkles the body. Quitting wrinkles the soul." -- Douglas MacArthur
Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance. -- Brian Tracy
Leading to Top-Notch Customer Service
Here are two facts you can take to the bank: 1) Superior customer service is critical to your business success, and 2) As a leader, you have an important role in making it happen. So, what can you do to foster the kind of service your organization wants and needs? The following ideas should help:
The first step in providing good customer service is to hire the right people. Make your selection process part of your customer service strategy. During interviews, ask questions like: “If you get this job, describe the kinds of things you will do to provide superior customer service.” Also, pose hypothetical customer service situations and ask candidates to explain how they would handle them.
Clarify your expectations about customer service. Condense them to 3-5 key principles, give them a label (e.g., “The Big Four” or “The Game Plan”), and communicate them to everyone. Then, have follow-up meetings with employees to ensure that they know exactly what is expected of them.
Provide training, resources, and coaching to help your people develop customer service skills. Make sure all training reinforces your specific service expectations.
Remember that people do what’s EXpected when it’s INspected! Include “customer service” in all performance evaluations and feedback sessions. Prior to conducting evaluations, ask team members to submit a list of the specific things they’ve done to help provide superior customer service.
Celebrate successes! Recognize and reward employees who provide exceptional service. Share their stories with others. This will help motivate the entire team. Motivated employees go above and beyond for your customers … and for the organization.
"Daily Devotions" (KJV and/or NLT)
"Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:20)
Exactly where is God? Is He somewhere in the sky, looking down upon us as children imagine? Does He stand beside you during hard times? How do you visualize His whereabouts as you pray?
Early in the morning before dusk, a family left for summer vacation. The little boy stood beside the car, peered into the sky, and said, "C'mon, Moon!" And sure enough, as the car moved down the road, the Moon seemed to keep pace from above. "How big is the Moon?" he asked. His father patiently explained that four Moons, placed side by side, would match the width of the earth.
The boy found a dime on the floorboard and placed it between the moon and his eye---a perfect fit. He put the dime down and noticed how the Moon's reflection fit nicely into the lake the car was passing. He sat back and thought about the wonderful Moon; it seemed to be whatever size he needed it to be, earth-size or dime-size. Best of all, the Moon followed everywhere he went.
The Bible teaches that God is unlimited by time or space. He is great enough to rule all of the universe, and small enough to live comfortably in our hearts. Wherever we go, He is there. What an amazing and wonderful God! He is infinite and awe-inspiring, yet cares so deeply about every aspect of our lives!
"The Patriot Post"
"The happy State of Matrimony is, undoubtedly, the surest and most lasting Foundation of Comfort and Love; the Source of all that endearing Tenderness and Affection which arises from Relation and Affinity; the grand Point of Property; the Cause of all good Order in the World, and what alone preserves it from the utmost Confusion; and, to sum up all, the Appointment of infinite Wisdom for these great and good Purposes." -- Benjamin Franklin, Rules and Maxims for Promoting Matrimonial Happiness, 1730
"Were the pictures which have been drawn by the political jealousy of some among us faithful likenesses of the human character, the inference would be, that there is not sufficient virtue among men for self-government; and that nothing less than the chains of despotism can restrain them from destroying and devouring one another." -- Federalist No. 55
The Demo-gogues
Nanny state: "Now, to the non-Democrats who may be watching today, I want everybody to know we believe in a strong and loyal opposition. I believe in a two-party system, where ideas are tested and assumptions are challenged, because that's how we move this country forward. But what I reject is when some folks decide to sit on the sidelines and root for failure on health care, or on energy, or on our economy. What I reject is when some folks say we should go back to the past policies when it was those very same policies that got us into this mess in the first place. ...[Y]ou know, I'm busy, Nancy's busy with our mops cleaning up somebody else's mess. We don't want somebody sitting back saying, 'You're not holding the mop the right way.' Why don't you grab a mop? Why don't you help clean up? 'You're not mopping fast enough. That's a socialist mop.' Grab a mop. Let's get to work." -- Barack Obama
A little advice: "Well, now, first of all, I did get elected president...." -- Barack Obama, who should remember that he did ask for the responsibility next time he wants to blame someone else
More finger pointing: "It is absolutely clear that it is an unsustainable situation as we go forward, and it is well known to the public that the health insurance companies are the problem." -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
That's what we're afraid of: "We are laying a foundation to build on and create a new economy. We [as a government] have an overwhelming obligation." -- Vice President Joe Biden
Hope overflows: "Counting the numbers of troops is not going to define our success here. ... There is no military success ultimately to Afghanistan." -- John Francois Kerry, who served in Vietnam
Skewed view of winning: "Does it really take 100,000 troops to find Osama Bin Laden? And how much will this cost? How much in terms of more dollars? How much in terms of American blood?" -- Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV), who is apparently not aware that Afghanistan is more than a game of capture the flag
Editorial Exegesis
"Politicians of all stripes routinely spin facts and logic so fast they make the rest of us shake our heads in bemused wonder. Then there are those rare occasions when a prominent politician says something that clearly deserves a place in the Political Chutzpah Hall of Fame. President Obama earned a place in the pantheon with his Saturday radio address. 'It's smoke and mirrors,' he said. 'It's bogus, and it's all too familiar. Every time we get close to passing reform, the insurance companies produce these phony studies.... The fact is the insurance industry is making this last-ditch effort to stop reform even as costs continue to rise and our health care dollars continue to be poured into their profits and bonuses and administrative costs that do nothing to make us healthy, that often actually go toward trying to figure out how to avoid covering people....' Before Obama goes much further bashing the health insurance industry, let's review what Obama said during the 2008 presidential campaign. He made two promises that attracted crucial support from independents. He promised 'a net federal spending cut' and to 'cut taxes for 95 percent of American workers.' But from his first day in the Oval Office, Obama has been on a spending binge of such unprecedented magnitude that the federal deficit this year is more than $1.4 trillion, or nearly three times what it was under George Bush in 2008. If Obama's health care reform plan becomes law, the deficit will be even bigger. As for cutting taxes, that is a topic Obama assiduously avoids these days because he is too busy pushing massive new federal programs that will indirectly add thousands of dollars to the costs of living for virtually every American family, through more expensive health insurance premiums, skyrocketing gasoline and utility bills, and higher prices for food and other consumer goods. In view of these facts, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that Obama's campaign promises were just so much ... smoke and mirrors. Not only were Obama's bullying remarks Saturday harsh and hypocritical, they also sounded desperate, shrill and divisive. Not what one expects from a president promising bipartisan reform." -- The Washington Examiner
Upright
"Non-presidential contests often go badly for the party in power, and there are indications that 2010 may be even more painful than most. The extremely high turnout among African-Americans that marked the 2008 race is unlikely to be repeated without Obama on the ballot. Democrats in general seem less enthusiastic this time than Republicans. ... Election maven Charlie Cook envisions 2010 as the year of the 'angry white seniors' as older voters turn out in force to oppose health care reform. Much can change in a year of course. But for now, the tide is running very much against the Democrats." -- columnist Mona Charen
"The Administration has decided to start a fight to re-energize the base. It doesn't do any good to fight with someone who is not worthy, if you want to make this strategy work you have to have the fight with someone your base already knows -- and already hates. Fox News Channel fits that bill. If Obama can make the point stick, that Fox News is not 'news', and gets his base to buy into the theory that Obama is the victim of unfair coverage, it gives the White House a rallying point. I don't think it's having the desired effect." -- political analyst Rich Galen
"The problem with Iran is its regime; its nuclear program is merely a symptom of that problem. Do you lay awake at night worrying about Britain's nuclear weapons? France's? Israel's? Of course not, because stable democracies in general, and stable democratic allies in particular, aren't a threat. If your neighbor is an upright and responsible citizen, who cares if he has a gun? If your neighbor is a complete whackjob and criminal, you sure as Shinola care if he has a gun. Armed neighbors aren't a problem, dangerous ones are. The same logic applies to nations." -- columnist Jonah Goldberg
"Twenty years ago this fall, the Iron Curtain was coming down in Europe. Across the Warsaw Pact, the jailers of the Communist prison states lost their nerve, and the cell walls crumbled. Matt Welch, the editor of Reason magazine, wonders why the anniversary is going all but unobserved: Why aren't we making more of the biggest mass liberation in history? Well, because to celebrate it would involve recognizing it as a victory over Communism. And, after the left's long march through the institutions of the west, most are not willing to do that. There's the bad totalitarianism (Nazism) and the good totalitarianism (Communism), whose apologists and, indeed, fetishists can still be found everywhere, even unto the White House." --columnist Mark Steyn
"AFA"
Abortion still alive in ObamaCare
Urgent: E-mail your representative and two senators today!
Despite repeated attempts by pro-life legislators on both sides of the aisle, taxpayer funding for abortion is back with a vengeance in ObamaCare proposals.
Thus far, all 17 proposed amendments that would prohibit taxpayer funding for abortion in ObamaCare have been defeated, and pro-life Congressman Bart Stupak, a Democrat from Michigan, said of the House's 2,000-page bill (H.R. 3962), "Language in the bill still does not do enough to prevent federal funding from going to abortion services.
"I am disappointed the Capps Amendments has remained intact (in the House bill), mandating abortion services for the first time in the nation's history."
To help you understand just how far reaching this bill will be, AFA is hosting a free live webcast on Tuesday, November 3, at 8:30 p.m. EST. We'll also answer your questions by email about health care live on air.
Register now for the free live webcast Tuesday, Nov. 3 @ 8:30 p.m. EST for "Government Takeover of Health Care: Counting the Costs"
In the Senate version, the 10% of doctors who submit the most reimbursements for Medicare patients will have their pay docked by five percent. This inevitably will lead to rationing of care for seniors, and make "death panels" inevitable as doctors strain to stay below the threshold.
Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn.) describes the House bill this way: "This 2,000-page bill includes a job-killing employer mandate, an individual mandate that requires Washington bureaucrats to define what kind of coverage is acceptable, burdensome tax increases, Medicare cuts, and a huge expansion of Medicaid that will break already strained state budgets."
E-mail your representative and senators in Washington, D.C., today and urge them to vote "No" on ObamaCare.
It is very important that you forward this alert to your friends and family members.
Sincerely,
Tim Wildmon, President
American Family Association Help us Financially
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A Holy Land Tour with Tim Wildmon
Travel with Tim Wildmon to Israel in March 2010. The Bible will come alive before your very eyes.
www.twholyland.com
"The Web"
New Rev. Jeremiah Wright Video - Praising Marxism 2 of 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D5YN09bAFlwY
Everything I need to know, I learned from Noah's Ark.
1. Don't miss the boat.
2. Remember that we are all in the same boat.
3. Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark.
4. Stay fit. When you are 600 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big!
5. Don't listen to critics, just get on with the job that needs to be done.
6. Build your future on high ground.
7. For safety's sake, travel in pairs.
8. Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs.
9. When you're stressed, float awhile.
10. Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs, the Titanic by professionals.
11. No matter the storm, when you are with God, there is always a rainbow waiting.
Oh joy. 108 new federal bureaucracies created by health care reform bill
Rick Moran
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/11/oh_joy_108_new_federal_bureauc_1.html
The list comes to us via The Weekly Standard who cribbed it from a press release issued by the office of Rep. Mike Pence.
What was it Obama said on the stump about not wanting to grow the size of government?
Doesn't matter. People had to deliberately delude themselves to believe him anyway. Here's the list of new federal health care bureaucracies:
1. Retiree Reserve Trust Fund (Section 111(d), p. 61)
2. Grant program for wellness programs to small employers (Section 112, p. 62)
3. Grant program for State health access programs (Section 114, p. 72)
4. Program of administrative simplification (Section 115, p. 76)
5. Health Benefits Advisory Committee (Section 223, p. 111)
6. Health Choices Administration (Section 241, p. 131)
7. Qualified Health Benefits Plan Ombudsman (Section 244, p. 138)
8. Health Insurance Exchange (Section 201, p. 155)
9. Program for technical assistance to employees of small businesses buying Exchange coverage (Section 305(h), p. 191)
10. Mechanism for insurance risk pooling to be established by Health Choices Commissioner (Section 306(b), p. 194)
11. Health Insurance Exchange Trust Fund (Section 307, p. 195)
12. State-based Health Insurance Exchanges (Section 308, p. 197)
13. Grant program for health insurance cooperatives (Section 310, p. 206)
14. "Public Health Insurance Option" (Section 321, p. 211)
15. Ombudsman for "Public Health Insurance Option" (Section 321(d), p. 213)
16. Account for receipts and disbursements for "Public Health Insurance Option" (Section 322(b), p. 215)
17. Telehealth Advisory Committee (Section 1191 (b), p. 589)
18. Demonstration program providing reimbursement for "culturally and linguistically appropriate services" (Section 1222, p. 617)
19. Demonstration program for shared decision making using patient decision aids (Section 1236, p. 648)
20. Accountable Care Organization pilot program under Medicare (Section 1301, p. 653)
21. Independent patient-centered medical home pilot program under Medicare (Section 1302, p. 672)
22. Community-based medical home pilot program under Medicare (Section 1302(d), p. 681)
23. Independence at home demonstration program (Section 1312, p. 718)
24. Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research (Section 1401(a), p. 734)
25. Comparative Effectiveness Research Commission (Section 1401(a), p. 738)
26. Patient ombudsman for comparative effectiveness research (Section 1401(a), p. 753)
27. Quality assurance and performance improvement program for skilled nursing facilities (Section 1412(b)(1), p. 784)
28. Quality assurance and performance improvement program for nursing facilities (Section 1412 (b)(2), p. 786)
29. Special focus facility program for skilled nursing facilities (Section 1413(a)(3), p. 796)
30. Special focus facility program for nursing facilities (Section 1413(b)(3), p. 804)
31. National independent monitor pilot program for skilled nursing facilities and nursing facilities (Section 1422, p. 859)
32. Demonstration program for approved teaching health centers with respect to Medicare GME (Section 1502(d), p. 933)
33. Pilot program to develop anti-fraud compliance systems for Medicare providers (Section 1635, p. 978)
34. Special Inspector General for the Health Insurance Exchange (Section 1647, p. 1000)
35. Medical home pilot program under Medicaid (Section 1722, p. 1058)
36. Accountable Care Organization pilot program under Medicaid (Section 1730A, p. 1073)
37. Nursing facility supplemental payment program (Section 1745, p. 1106)
38. Demonstration program for Medicaid coverage to stabilize emergency medical conditions in institutions for mental diseases (Section 1787, p. 1149)
39. Comparative Effectiveness Research Trust Fund (Section 1802, p. 1162)
40. "Identifiable office or program" within CMS to "provide for improved coordination between Medicare and Medicaid in the case of dual eligibles" (Section 1905, p. 1191)
41. Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (Section 1907, p. 1198)
42. Public Health Investment Fund (Section 2002, p. 1214)
43. Scholarships for service in health professional needs areas (Section 2211, p. 1224)
44. Program for training medical residents in community-based settings (Section 2214, p. 1236)
45. Grant program for training in dentistry programs (Section 2215, p. 1240)
46. Public Health Workforce Corps (Section 2231, p. 1253)
47. Public health workforce scholarship program (Section 2231, p. 1254)
48. Public health workforce loan forgiveness program (Section 2231, p. 1258)
49. Grant program for innovations in interdisciplinary care (Section 2252, p. 1272)
50. Advisory Committee on Health Workforce Evaluation and Assessment (Section 2261, p. 1275)
51. Prevention and Wellness Trust (Section 2301, p. 1286)
52. Clinical Prevention Stakeholders Board (Section 2301, p. 1295)
53. Community Prevention Stakeholders Board (Section 2301, p. 1301)
54. Grant program for community prevention and wellness research (Section 2301, p. 1305)
55. Grant program for research and demonstration projects related to wellness incentives (Section 2301, p. 1305)
56. Grant program for community prevention and wellness services (Section 2301, p. 1308)
57. Grant program for public health infrastructure (Section 2301, p. 1313)
58. Center for Quality Improvement (Section 2401, p. 1322)
59. Assistant Secretary for Health Information (Section 2402, p. 1330)
60. Grant program to support the operation of school-based health clinics (Section 2511, p. 1352)
61. Grant program for nurse-managed health centers (Section 2512, p. 1361)
62. Grants for labor-management programs for nursing training (Section 2521, p. 1372)
63. Grant program for interdisciplinary mental and behavioral health training (Section 2522, p. 1382)
64. "No Child Left Unimmunized Against Influenza" demonstration grant program (Section 2524, p. 1391)
65. Healthy Teen Initiative grant program regarding teen pregnancy (Section 2526, p. 1398)
66. Grant program for interdisciplinary training, education, and services for individuals with autism (Section 2527(a), p. 1402)
67. University centers for excellence in developmental disabilities education (Section 2527(b), p. 1410)
68. Grant program to implement medication therapy management services (Section 2528, p. 1412)
69. Grant program to promote positive health behaviors in underserved communities (Section 2530, p. 1422)
70. Grant program for State alternative medical liability laws (Section 2531, p. 1431)
71. Grant program to develop infant mortality programs (Section 2532, p. 1433)
72. Grant program to prepare secondary school students for careers in health professions (Section 2533, p. 1437)
73. Grant program for community-based collaborative care (Section 2534, p. 1440)
74. Grant program for community-based overweight and obesity prevention (Section 2535, p. 1457)
75. Grant program for reducing the student-to-school nurse ratio in primary and secondary schools (Section 2536, p. 1462)
76. Demonstration project of grants to medical-legal partnerships (Section 2537, p. 1464)
77. Center for Emergency Care under the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (Section 2552, p. 1478)
78. Council for Emergency Care (Section 2552, p 1479)
79. Grant program to support demonstration programs that design and implement regionalized emergency care systems (Section 2553, p. 1480)
80. Grant program to assist veterans who wish to become emergency medical technicians upon discharge (Section 2554, p. 1487)
81. Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee (Section 2562, p. 1494)
82. National Medical Device Registry (Section 2571, p. 1501)
83. CLASS Independence Fund (Section 2581, p. 1597)
84. CLASS Independence Fund Board of Trustees (Section 2581, p. 1598)
85. CLASS Independence Advisory Council (Section 2581, p. 1602)
86. Health and Human Services Coordinating Committee on Women's Health (Section 2588, p. 1610)
87. National Women's Health Information Center (Section 2588, p. 1611)
88. Centers for Disease Control Office of Women's Health (Section 2588, p. 1614)
89. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Office of Women's Health and Gender-Based Research (Section 2588, p. 1617)
90. Health Resources and Services Administration Office of Women's Health (Section 2588, p. 1618)
91. Food and Drug Administration Office of Women's Health (Section 2588, p. 1621)
92. Personal Care Attendant Workforce Advisory Panel (Section 2589(a)(2), p. 1624)
93. Grant program for national health workforce online training (Section 2591, p. 1629)
94. Grant program to disseminate best practices on implementing health workforce investment programs (Section 2591, p. 1632)
95. Demonstration program for chronic shortages of health professionals (Section 3101, p. 1717)
96. Demonstration program for substance abuse counselor educational curricula (Section 3101, p. 1719)
97. Program of Indian community education on mental illness (Section 3101, p. 1722)
98. Intergovernmental Task Force on Indian environmental and nuclear hazards (Section 3101, p. 1754)
99. Office of Indian Men's Health (Section 3101, p. 1765)
100. Indian Health facilities appropriation advisory board (Section 3101, p. 1774)
101. Indian Health facilities needs assessment workgroup (Section 3101, p. 1775)
102. Indian Health Service tribal facilities joint venture demonstration projects (Section 3101, p. 1809)
103. Urban youth treatment center demonstration project (Section 3101, p. 1873)
104. Grants to Urban Indian Organizations for diabetes prevention (Section 3101, p. 1874)
105. Grants to Urban Indian Organizations for health IT adoption (Section 3101, p. 1877)
106. Mental health technician training program (Section 3101, p. 1898)
107. Indian youth telemental health demonstration project (Section 3101, p. 1909)
108. Program for treatment of child sexual abuse victims and perpetrators (Section 3101, p. 1925)
109. Program for treatment of domestic violence and sexual abuse (Section 3101, p. 1927)
110. Native American Health and Wellness Foundation (Section 3103, p. 1966)
111. Committee for the Establishment of the Native American Health and Wellness Foundation (Section 3103, p. 1968)
Please note the "issues" that many of these agencies address. Every single liberal complaint about American society over the last 40 years will now have its own, special bureaucratic office to which the left can go to plead for relief, or seek redress, or initiate more legislation. The bureaucracies listed will worm their way into every corner of American life - snooping, hectoring, issuing grandiose proclamations, initiating "public service" campaigns - a nightmare of government intervention and it will lead to the death of the individual - and individual rights - in America.
No behavior will go uncriticized. No habit, left alone. No little personal joy will escape notice. We are ready to become a nation that walks on eggshells lest we offend some bureaucracy. Already thick with laws and regulations, American life will become a nightmare of looking over one's shoulder to make sure the government has its eyes trained elsewhere.
To call what the Democrats are doing by creating this gaggle of nanny state health nazis irresponsible is a given. More than that, it is a recipe to drastically curtail human freedom - all done with the excuse that your "freedom" doesn't give you the right to do anything that might cost the government more than a fair share of resources and money.
Will Americans sit still for this? Sure. We are mostly a nation now of children who like the idea of government taking care of us. Most will accept the new regime on that basis. Others are too apathetic to care one way or another. This is what the Democrats are counting on - and it appears that they will succeed.
NJ and VA gov. races - referendums on Obama?
Jim Brown - OneNewsNow
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Politics/Default.aspx?id=751120
Political observers say today's gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia don't bode well for either Democratic candidate -- due in part to President Obama's declining popularity and his policies that don't resonate with the voters.
A pollster and political scientist at the State University of New Jersey says today's gubernatorial race in the Garden State is a tossup that will won by the candidate with the best organization on the ground to get voters to the polls.
Republican Chris Christie leads incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine 47-41 in Public Policy Polling's final poll of the New Jersey governor's race, with Independent Chris Daggett at 11 percent.
David Redlawsk is director of the Rutgers University Eagleton poll and a political science professor at the school. He says polls indicate New Jersey voters are uncertain, unhappy with high property taxes, and potentially willing to take a chance on something new. However, he says there is another reason why Republican Christie could win in such a liberal state.
"Voters don't like Jon Corzine very much," he states bluntly. "Some of that's tied to the economy -- it's kind of a bad time to be a governor -- [and] some of it's tied to Corzine's personal characteristics. He's not seen as a particularly warm and fuzzy kind of guy, so his ratings have been as low as any New Jersey governor since that kind of thing has been kept track of."
Redlawsk contends that because President Obama has spent so much time campaigning for Corzine, the contest could be viewed as a referendum on the president.
"The president has clearly tied himself to this election by coming in as he has," the educator points out, "and it wouldn't be unreasonable for anyone to say if Jon Corzine loses, maybe Barack Obama doesn't have the pull everyone thought he did."
Christie leads Corzine 42-40 in the latest Quinnipiac poll, with 12 Daggett garnering 12 percent. Six percent remain undecided.
An unpopular president
In Virginia, political analysts are predicting the Democratic candidate will suffer a resounding defeat in the state's gubernatorial election today.
Noted University of Virginia pollster and political scientist Larry Sabato is predicting that former Virginia Republican Attorney General Bob McDonnell will defeat Democratic opponent Creigh Deeds today in a "landslide." A Richmond Times-Dispatch poll released Sunday showed McDonnell leading Deeds by 12 points. Other polls have yielded similar results.
Dr. Charles Dunn, dean of the Robertson School of Government at Regent University in Virginia Beach, says even if President Obama had spent more time campaigning for Deeds, it would not have mattered. (Listen to audio report)
"Barack Obama's popularity is going down," says Dunn, "and you can imagine in Virginia -- which has a strong conservative voting base -- that it has gone down more than in some other parts of the country."
And the president's policy ideas are "very unpopular" in Virginia, he adds. "So on two counts, his own popularity and the popularity of his policy ideas are causing him serious trouble," the Regent educator suggests.
Dunn says Deeds has failed to put together the same coalition that enabled Democrats Barack Obama, Governor Tim Kaine, and Senator Jim Webb to carry the state -- a high turnout of black, independent, Hispanic, and younger voters.
The New World Order is "Communism"
http://www.henrymakow.com/what_is_communism.html
by Henry Makow, Ph.D.
(This incorporates, revises and updates the essential "Central Bankers Seek Totalitarian Power" from Nov. 2003.)
Most people think Communism is an ideology dedicated to public ownership and championing workers and the poor. This was a simple but incredibly successful ruse which duped hundreds of millions. The ideology appealed to people who want something for nothing- rather a large segment.
Communism is a form of monopoly capitalism with the State fronting for the monopoly capitalists. In the West, the State also fronts for monopoly capital, except in Communism the State is totalitarian and intrusive. This is what we can look forward to.
East or West, Communism is devoted to concentrating all wealth and power in the hands of the central banking cartel (the Rothschilds and their allies) by disguising it as State power. (The State is run by witting & unwitting agents of the Rothschilds. When the USSR dissolved, the national wealth was divided between mostly Jewish "oligarchs" who were fronts for the Rothschilds.)
Any ideology that further concentrates wealth and power in the hands of the "State" is Communism in another guise. These ideologies -- socialism, liberalism, fascism, neo-conservatism, zionism and feminism -- are fronts for "Communism," and are organized and funded by the central banking cartel.
The essence of the New World Order is Communist. Current events are all designed to increase government power. For example, the viruses that the Protocols of Zion mentioned over a hundred years ago, and threaten us now, are designed to force people to vaccinate or quarantine. They are tests to see how much government control people will docilely accept. That's why it's very important to resist vigorously. My hunch is that this is not the big plague but could very well be a dry run. Amazing how the mainstream media is so certain this is going to be serious.
We must ask ourselves why, when America is teetering on financial collapse, Obama would focus his energies on expanding health care? This is like a bankrupt man buying a Mercedes instead of getting a job. My friends say it is a diversion. It certainly fits the pattern of increasing government control.
THE RED SYMPHONY
After The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, The Red Symphony is the best revelation of the real state of our world. "The Red Symphony" is a 1938 Stalinist Secret Police (NKVD) interrogation of Christian Rakovsky, a Soviet ambassador who was a close associate of Leon Trotsky, Rothschild's agent. The text is online or in Des Griffin, Fourth Reich of the Rich.
I introduced this explosive 50-page document to my readers in 2003. It strips the veil from modern history and explains the real meaning of Revolution, Communism, Freemasonry and War. It was not intended to become public knowledge. The translator, a Dr. J. Landowsky, made an unauthorized copy.
The human experiment is endangered by private interests who have usurped the function of money creation everywhere. Modern history reflects the gradual process by which they transfer all wealth and power to themselves, destroying Western Civilization and creating a world police state. In 1938, he could say the whole world is controlled by the Rothschild syndicate of Sabbatean (Illuminati, Masonic) Jewish bankers and their allies.
Rakovsky, whose real name was Chaim Rakover, was sentenced to death in Stalin's purge of the Trotskyite faction of the party. Leon Trotsky wrote in his autobiography, My Life, : "Christian G. Rakovsky... played an active part in the inner workings of four Socialist parties-- the Bulgarian, Russian, French, and Roumanian--to become eventually one of the leaders of the Soviet Federation, a founder of the Communist Internationale, President of the Ukranian Soviet of People's Commissaries, and the diplomatic Soviet representative in England and France ..."
Rakovsky tried to convince his interrogator that the bankers created the Communist state as a "machine of total power" unprecedented in history. In the past, due to many factors, "there was always room for individual freedom. Do you understand that those who already partially rule over nations and worldly governments have pretensions to absolute domination? Understand that this is the only thing which they have not yet reached." (emphasis mine)
A pernicious force paralyzes our national life. Rakovsky identifies it: "Imagine to yourself, if you can a small number of people having unlimited power through the possession of real wealth, and you will see they are the absolute dictators of the stock exchange and [economy]...If you have enough imagination then...you will see [their] anarchical, moral and social influence, i.e. a revolutionary one...Do you now understand?"
"...They created credit money with a view to making its volume close to infinite. And to give it the speed of sound....it is an abstraction, a being of thought, a figure, number, credit, faith...." (pp.245-246)
Of course they need to protect their credit monopoly by translating it into a monopoly over all power and thought. World government is necessary to prevent any country from issuing their own credit (money) or repudiating their debt. This is the New World Order.
MARXISM
The Revolutionary Movement, which defines modern history, was a means to institutionalize banker power by destroying the old order. Marxism, "before being a philosophical, economic and political system, is a conspiracy for the revolution." Rakovsky scoffs at the "elementary Marxism...the demagogic popular one" that is used to dupe the intellectuals and the masses. (238) Marx was hired by Rothschild to dupes the masses. Rakovsky says Marx "laughs in his beard at all humanity." (Griffin, 240) Of course, Marx never mentioned the Roithschilds. (243)
As for Freemasonry: "Every Masonic organization tries to create all the required prerequisites for the triumph of the Communist revolution; this is the obvious aim of Freemasonry," says Rakovsky, a high-ranking Mason himself.
The aim of the Revolution is no less than to redefine reality in terms of the interests of the bankers. This involves the promotion of subjective truth over objective truth. If Lenin "feels something to be real" then it is real. "For him every reality, every truth was relative in the face of the sole and absolute one: the revolution."
In other words, white is black and up is down. This is the way it was in the Soviet Union and this is now happening to us. Truth and justice are being replaced by political diktat. "Political correctness" a Bolshevik term is now in common usage. Physicists like Steven Jones who question Sept.11 are silenced. (The problem with not bringing the 9-11 perps to justice is that they will do it again.) Homosexuality is normalized and promoted to increase arrested development and destroy the family. .
Rakovsky marvels that "the benches on which sat the greasy usurers to trade in their moneys, have now been converted into temples, which stand magnificently at every corner of contemporary big towns with their heathen colonnades, and crowds go there ...to bring assiduously their deposits of all their possessions to the god of money..."
He says the Soviet five-pointed star represents the five Rothschild brothers with their banks, who possess colossal accumulations of wealth, the greatest ever known."
Isn't it strange that Marx never mentions this fact? Rakovsky asks. Isn't it strange that during revolutions, the mobs never attack the bankers, their mansions or banks?
WAR
War is the means by which the central bankers advance their goal of totalitarian world government. Rakovsky says Trotsky was behind the murder of Arch Duke Ferdinand (which sparked WWI.) He recalls the phrase used by the mother of the five Rothschild brothers: "'If my sons want it, then there will be no war.' This means that they were the arbiters, the masters of peace and war, but not emperors. Are you capable of visualizing the fact of such a cosmic importance? Is not war already a revolutionary function? War? The Commune. Since that time every war was a giant step towards Communism."
After the murder of [Illuminati member Weimar Foreign Minister] Walter Rathenau in 1922, the Illuminati give political or financial positions only to intermediaries, Rakowsky says. "Obviously to persons who are trustworthy and loyal, which can be guaranteed a thousand ways: thus one can assert that those bankers and politicians [in the public eye] - are only men of straw . . . even though they occupy very high places and are made to appear to be the authors of the plans which are carried out." Think Barack Obama.
In 1938, Rakovsky outlined three reasons for the upcoming Second World War. The first is that Hitler began to print his own money. "This is very serious. Much more than all the external and cruel factors in National-Socialism."
Secondly, the "fully developed nationalism of Western Europe is an obstacle to Marxism...the need for the destruction of nationalism is alone worth a war in Europe."
Finally, Communism cannot triumph unless it suppresses the "still living Christianity." He refers to the "permanent revolution" as dating from the birth of Christ, and the reformation as "its first partial victory" because it split Christianity. This suggests that the "conspiracy" also contains a racial or religious factor.
"In reality, Christianity is our only real enemy since all the political and economic phenomena of the Bourgeois States. Christianity controlling the individual is capable of annulling the revolutionary projection of the neutral Soviet or Atheist State."
Now the Central Bankers are promoting World War Three as in "The Clash of Civilizations." Substitute Islam for Christianity above, and pit "Christians" against them.
NEW CONCLUSION
The New World Order does not only create a new power. It creates a new reality out of touch with the truth. It employs legions of pundits, professors and politicos to enforce its precepts. These are the argentur ("agents") referred to smugly in The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
What kind of credibility do these people have knowing they will lose their jobs if they tell the truth? They are all accomplices in the 9-11 cover-up,
The truth is that society is totally subverted. Government, education, entertainment and the news media are totally in the hands of the central banking cartel. The private sector all sings from the same song book, indicating the central bankers control it. The same applies to think tanks, foundations, NGO's, professional associations and major charities. Intelligence agencies report to the central bankers. They and Masonic secret societies are a central part of the mechanism of control.
This article "How the Fed Bought the Economics Profession" is the template for all professions.
As a result, society is helpless to address its real problem: the untenable concentration of wealth, power and cultural influence in the hands of Cabala-believing bankers secretly intent on culling, degrading and enslaving us. We are stymied by the bogus charge of "anti-Semitism" when most Jews are deceived and manipulated like everyone else,(although their role is vastly disproportionate.) There is no shortage of lackeys from all ethnic backgrounds willing to serve these Satanist bankers. This service defines "success" today.
"History" is a lie. Wars are a fraud. Current events are largely orchestrated. Projects are ventured for different purposes than stated. All we can do is continue to throw a spanner in their works and alert our fellow citizens. I am not too concerned with catastrophe. I see continued gradual drift to one world order fascism. Mankind is being put into a coma, a state of arrested development based on a fixation with toys, sports, relationships, sex and money. The last thing the bankers want to do is awaken the cattle from their slumber.
Mankind is doomed as long as Cabalist central bankers control society. All that is needed is to nationalize the central banks, repudiate debts created from nothing by these bankers, break up cartels, especially Hollywood and the media, and institute strict public campaign financing.
But as long as the majority perceive their interests in terms of the status quo, our problems will remain systemic. They won't go away.
Homeland Security Department Gags Local Law Enforcement to Protect 'Privacy' of Illegal Aliens
By Penny Starr, Senior Staff Writer
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/56351
Homeland Security Department Secretary Janet Napolitano has said she will concentrate on 'criminal aliens' when enforcing federal immigration law. (CNSNews.com/Penny Starr)
(CNSNews.com) – The Department of Homeland Security is gagging local law enforcement agencies around the country to protect the privacy of illegal aliens.
Under "revised" 287(g) agreements between the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement division and state and local law enforcement agencies, any information about local police efforts to enforce federal immigration law must be cleared through ICE before it can be released to the media or the public. DHS says it is doing this to protect the privacy of illegal aliens.
“The Privacy Act and the privacy policy provide protections for U.S. citizens, legal permanent residents and, in the case of the privacy policy, illegal aliens,” Kelly Nantel, press secretary for ICE, told CNSNews.com, referring to the Privacy Act of 1974.
Nantel said that although illegal aliens are not protected under the Privacy Act, it is the policy of the Department of Homeland Security to extend the privacy protection to individuals who are in the country illegally, a policy she said was put into place by former DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff, who served under President Bush.
“Any information regarding individuals encountered through the enforcement of federal law is ultimately protected,” Nantel said. “We need to be sure that prior to the release of information, an appropriate determination is made regarding those protections.”
The DHS's agreements with local law enforcement agencies--known as Memorandums of Agreement (MOA)--guide the 287(g) program, which was created in 2003 as an amendment to the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. The 287(g) program trains and certifies state and local law enforcement personnel to enforce federal immigration law.
In July, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano announced that the existing agreements with local law enforcement agencies would be “standardized” and reviewed. In a speech in August, Napolitano said the MOAs had been “rewritten and reprioritized to focus on using them in jails and prisons.”
Illegal immigrants handcuffed together are moved into a separate area of Tent City in Phoenix, Ariz., on Feb. 4, 2009 by orders of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. They will be incarcerated there until their sentences are served and they are deported to their home countries (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
The Obama administration says the priority for local law enforcers should be illegal aliens arrested for or convicted of crimes -- not people arrested in task force sweeps simply for being in the U.S. illegally.
As CNSNews.com reported earlier, the controvery over task force sweeps erupted earlier this year when ICE stripped the Maricopa County, Ariz., Sheriff's Department of its authority to conduct such sweeps.
The man who heads that department, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, claims to have removed more than 30,000 illegal aliens from the streets in task force operations since he signed on to the 287(g) program in 2007. Complaints of racial profiling have prompted the Obama Justice Department to investigate Arpaio and his department.
The revised MOAs given to all of DHS's local law enforcement “partners” includes the following language governing the “release of information to the media and other third parties.”
“The [state or local agency] hereby agrees to coordinate with ICE prior to releasing any information relating to, or exchanged under, this MOA, including any SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) developed for the implementation of this MOA. Information obtained or developed as a result of this MOA is under the control of ICE and shall be subject to public disclosure only pursuant to the provisions of applicable federal laws, regulations, and executive orders. Insofar as any documents created by the [state or local agency] contain information developed or obtained as a result of this MOA, such documents shall not be considered public records.”
Reporters or members of the public who want information arising from a local law enforcement agency's efforts to enforce immigration law will be forced to file a Freedom of Information Act request to gain access to information that is not classified and which the public is entitled to see.
“The standardized 287(g) Memorandums of Agreement include provisions designed to protect information whose (sic) release would violate privacy laws or hamper the outcome of a law enforcement investigation,” Nantel said. “However, information defined as not public record can be released through a Freedom of Information Act request as long as the release does not violate other laws and DHS policies.”
DHS and ICE officials said enforcement of federal immigration law will concentrate on “criminal aliens” and not on individuals who are simply in the country illegally. Nantel said the treatment of illegal aliens without a criminal record will be handled on a case-by-case basis.
The MOA spells out that policy as follows:
“ICE will assume custody of an alien 1) who has been convicted of a State, local or Federal offense only after being informed by the alien’s custodian that such alien has concluded service of any sentence of incarceration; 2) who has prior criminal convictions and when immigration detention is required by statute; and 3) when the ICE Detention and Removal Field Office Director or his designee decides on a case-by-case basis to assume custody of an alien who does not meet the above criteria.”
CNSNews.com asked Nantel if the Obama administration, DHS, and ICE support the arrest and deportation of individuals who are in the country illegally, regardless of whether they have committed a crime. Nantel did not give a simple yes-or-no answer to this question, saying instead that the administration will remove illegal aliens according to "DHS priorities."
“ICE is first and foremost focused on identifying and removing dangerous criminal aliens who pose a threat to local communities," Nantel said. "ICE will arrest and process for removal any individuals who are found to be in this country illegally in a manner consistent with immigration law and DHS priorities.”
Straight Dope: Feds Won't Prosecute Medical Marijuana Use, Sale
By Joel Zand
http://blogs.findlaw..com/courtside/2009/10/straight-dope-feds-wont-prosecute-medical-marijuana-use-sale.html
Medical marijuana use and sales won't be prosecuted by the federal government, according to a new Justice Department memo from Deputy U.S. Attorney General David Ogden (inset, right).
But there's a catch: the federal directive only applies in states that have laws authorizing medical marijuana usage.
The DOJ also made clear that this new policy cannot be used as a 'get out of jail free card' by drug traffickers or those who grow pot on federal land.
Read Deputy U.S. Attorney General David W. Ogden's medical marijuana memo here: http://blogs.findlaw.com/courtside/2009/10/straight-dope-feds-wont-prosecute-medical-marijuana-use-sale.html
TO ALL AMERICANS: A WARNING
From Naval Aviator, Commander Jerry Wilson
We lived in California during the winters of 2007 and 2008. We became addicted to Fox News and watched O’Reilly and Hannity and Colmes every night. When we got back home, we upgraded our cable to get Fox. I watched the Presidential campaign very closely. Initially, because I thought the Democrats would nominate Hillary Clinton and then in astonishment when they chose an even more hard-left candidate. All of last year I told everyone I could that Obama was not a Democrat, he is a Marxist. He is far to the left of any European leader and even our far left party, the NDP.
I read Saul Alinsky when I was in the University. I studied him and his writing carefully. When Bill Ayers and his idiot wife were bombing and killing people at random in the Weather Underground, the Weather Underground and the Black Panthers were closely allied. I read David Horowitz’s account of changing from a Marxist to a conservative after seeing that the government was afraid to prosecute members of the Panthers for murdering his personal assistant. He suddenly understood the evil that Marxism really was.
After the student radicals failed in creating a Marxist revolution in the United States by violent means, they embraced Alinsky. You would be wise to read “Rules for Radicals” because it outlines how Hillary and Obama planned to get into power, and what they intended to do when they got it.
Socialism is not the correct description for what Obama and the Democrats are doing. They are going to be much more far reaching than anything Sweden has ever been able to do. Obama is following Alinsky’s plans, those set out in “Rules for Radicals” and his other writing. The Democrats are attempting to create one party rule in the U.S. And in achieving that, will create crisis after crisis by their own actions and use those crisis to nationalize the means of production in the U.S. We are in the middle of a communist revolution and few in the U.S. can actually see it for what it truly is.
The U.S. is now on the path of financial destruction. The Constitution has been shredded and individual human rights are being trampled. In less than 8 months. Obama has used a recession to take over the two largest industries in the U.S. He will debase the Dollar and is on the road to creating an incredible energy shortage that will allow him and Congress to take over the energy industry.
But by and large I think that by the 2010 elections, the Democrats will have gerrymandered electoral districts to the point that it will be impossible for them to lose control of both houses of Congress. The incredible increase in the money supply is going to create Zimbabwe and Venezuela style inflation, and with it, controls on the currency and the amount of money that can be taken out of the country.
I love America , I cannot believe how the ignorance of the American public has created a situation whereby they are going to lose their Republic and slip into an age of repression and tyranny.
I may be nuts, but so far I have been 100% in my predictions of what Obama was going to do, because I merely had to look at “Rules for Radicals” to see what was coming next.
I read Glenn Beck’s book, “Common Sense” and in it re-read Thomas Paines pamphlet with the same name. I recommend the book.
When the storm finally hits (and it will), those of you who supported the Obama administration will be affected as well. It won’t just be us gun owners or Flat-Taxers, or Pro-Lifers that get hit. You’ll be right there next to us.
You all thought the Conservatives were nut cases. You know, all of us who believe in God, small government, the Second Amendment, etc. You thought you could just go back to sleep after the election was over. In your world, America will continue as before. You’ll still have the same rights, the same nice house, the same big screen television. After all, your high school football team won and the other team lost – go team! Even if you have bothered to look up from the daily grind since Nov 4th, you dismissed everything that has occurred as “politics as usual–the same old stuff”.
In the end, it’ll all be OK won’t it? Not this time.
There are a growing number of citizens in the US that are ready to fight to shut down the government’s grab of personal freedom, it’s blatant abuse of the constitution, and it’s attempt to replace the American way of life with socialism/communism. You have to listen carefully to hear them, but they are there. I won’t start that fight, but when it goes down I will join it.
As for you, why, you’ll be shocked because you didn’t see it coming. And eventually you’ll be saddened when you see that we have truly lost the way of life with which you grew up. You’ll be saddened that your children and grandchildren live in a socialist/communist, government-controlled gulag where their every movement from cradle to grave is tracked by the government. But most of all, you’ll be saddened by the death of friends and relatives who are brave enough to fight and die for something they believe in.
You know, McCain wasn’t much of a candidate. I’ll give you that. He was the lesser of two evils for most of us. I don’t blame you for not voting for him since, at the time, you didn’t know what we all know now. But at least John McCain was an American. He was a supporter of the American way o f life and he understood that you can’t negotiate with terrorists. He understood and appreciated the sacrifice made by my father and other members of the Greatest Generation.
Mark my words friends. All across America groups are forming. They are forming out of anger and out of desperation at the thought of losing America ... They’re not militia groups or terrorists as the Department of Homeland security would have you believe; they are Americans, loyal to the constitution. They are mothers and fathers and grandparents. They belong to groups like the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps, the Peaceful Resistance, the Constitution Party, the Young Conservatives, the 9/12 Project, and Grassfire. Right now they are fragmented, each focused on their own cause. But sometime in the next two years, our government is going to do something really stupid and these groups will come together. Watch for it, wait for it–get ready. It will happen.
When that event happens, whatever “it” is, our great country is going to plunge into chaos for a while. I pray to God that we make it through that time and emerge a stronger, smarter country.
Naval Aviator, Commander Jerry Wilson, jerrywilson@centurytel ..net
Live Free or Die Fighting
Italy in uproar over court ruling against crucifix
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20091103/tts-uk-italy-court-crucifix-ca02f96.html
Gilbert Reilhac and Philip Pullella
The European Court of Human Rights ruled on Tuesday that Italian schools should remove crucifixes from classrooms, sparking uproar in Italy, where such icons are embedded in the national psyche. Skip related content
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"This is an abhorrent ruling," said Rocco Buttiglione, a former culture minister who helped write papal encyclicals.
"It must be rejected with firmness. Italy has its culture, its traditions and its history. Those who come among us must understand and accept this culture and this history," he said.
The court ruling, which Italy said it would appeal, said crucifixes on school walls, a common sight that is part of every Italian's life, could disturb children who were not Christians.
Italy has been in the throes of national debate on how to deal with a growing population of immigrants, mostly Muslims, and the court sentence is likely to become another battle cry for the centre-right government's policy to restrict newcomers.
The Vatican spokesman said he would not comment until he knew more about the ruling but Italy's powerful bishops' conference said the ruling "evokes sadness and bewilderment."
Members of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government bristled, weighing in with words such as "shameful," "offensive," "absurd," "unacceptable," and "pagan."
MORTAL BLOW
Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said the court has dealt a "mortal blow to a Europe of values and rights," adding that it was a bad precedent for other countries.
Condemnation crossed party lines. Paola Binetti, a Catholic in the opposition Democratic Party, the successor of what was once the West's largest communist party, said: "In Italy, the crucifix is a specific sign of our tradition."
The case was brought by an Italian national, Soile Lautsi, who complained that her children had to attend a public school in northern Italy which had crucifixes in every room.
Education Minister Mariastella Gelmini said crucifixes on the walls of tens of thousands of classrooms "does not mean adherence to Catholicism" but are a symbol of Italy's heritage.
"The history of Italy is marked by symbols and if we erase symbols we erase part of ourselves," Gelmini said.
Lautsi, the woman who filed the suit, said crucifixes on walls ran counter to her right to give her children a secular education and the Strasbourg-based court ruled in her favour.
"The presence of the crucifix ... could be encouraging for religious pupils, but also disturbing for pupils who practised other religions or were atheists, particularly if they belonged to religious minorities," the court said in a written ruling.
"The State (must) refrain from imposing beliefs in premises where individuals were dependent on it," it added, saying the aim of public education was "to foster critical thinking."
"JESUS DOESN'T BOTHER ME"
At least one Muslim girl disagreed with the court.
"If the crucifix is there and I am a Muslim I will continue to respect my religion. Jesus in the classroom doesn't bother me," Zenat, a 14-year-old girl of Egyptian origin, told Reuters Television.
Mario Baccini, a senator in Berlusconi's People of Freedom party, said the court had "gone adrift in paganism."
Two Italian laws dating from the 1920s, when the Fascists were in power, state that schools must display crucifixes.
Alessandra Mussolini, granddaughter of Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, said such rulings were leading to "a Europe without an identity."
Only a handful of politicians defended the court, including some members of the Democratic Party, as well as members of the communist party and atheist groups.
(Additional reporting by Crispian Balmer in Paris and Antonio Denti in Rome; writing by Philip Pullella)
Gore’s Dual Role in Spotlight: Advocate and Investor
By JOHN M. BRODER
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/business/energy-environment/03gore.html
WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Al Gore thought he had spotted a winner last year when a small California firm sought financing for an energy-saving technology from the venture capital firm where Mr. Gore is a partner.
Former Vice President Al Gore, who has become a major voice around the world on the issue of climate change, spoke last month at a forum in Dubai.
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The company, Silver Spring Networks, produces hardware and software to make the electricity grid more efficient. It came to Mr. Gore’s firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, one of Silicon Valley’s top venture capital providers, looking for $75 million to expand its partnerships with utilities seeking to install millions of so-called smart meters in homes and businesses.
Mr. Gore and his partners decided to back the company, and in gratitude Silver Spring retained him and John Doerr, another Kleiner Perkins partner, as unpaid corporate advisers.
The deal appeared to pay off in a big way last week, when the Energy Department announced $3.4 billion in smart grid grants. Of the total, more than $560 million went to utilities with which Silver Spring has contracts. Kleiner Perkins and its partners, including Mr. Gore, could recoup their investment many times over in coming years.
Silver Spring Networks is a foot soldier in the global green energy revolution Mr. Gore hopes to lead. Few people have been as vocal about the urgency of global warming and the need to reinvent the way the world produces and consumes energy. And few have put as much money behind their advocacy as Mr. Gore and are as well positioned to profit from this green transformation, if and when it comes.
Critics, mostly on the political right and among global warming skeptics, say Mr. Gore is poised to become the world’s first “carbon billionaire,” profiteering from government policies he supports that would direct billions of dollars to the business ventures he has invested in.
Representative Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, asserted at a hearing this year that Mr. Gore stood to benefit personally from the energy and climate policies he was urging Congress to adopt.
Mr. Gore says that he is simply putting his money where his mouth is.
“Do you think there is something wrong with being active in business in this country?” Mr. Gore said. “I am proud of it. I am proud of it.”
In an e-mail message this week, he said his investment activities were consistent with his public advocacy over decades.
“I have advocated policies to promote renewable energy and accelerate reductions in global warming pollution for decades, including all of the time I was in public service,” Mr. Gore wrote. “As a private citizen, I have continued to advocate the same policies. Even though the vast majority of my business career has been in areas that do not involve renewable energy or global warming pollution reductions, I absolutely believe in investing in ways that are consistent with my values and beliefs. I encourage others to invest in the same way.”
Mr. Gore has invested a significant portion of the tens of millions of dollars he has earned since leaving government in 2001 in a broad array of environmentally friendly energy and technology business ventures, like carbon trading markets, solar cells and waterless urinals.
He has also given away millions more to finance the nonprofit he founded, the Alliance for Climate Protection, and to another group, the Climate Project, which trains people to present the slide show that was the basis of his documentary “An Inconvenient Truth.” Royalties from his new book on climate change, “Our Choice,” printed on 100 percent recycled paper, will go to the alliance, an aide said.
Other public figures, like Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who have vocally supported government financing of energy-saving technologies, have investments in alternative energy ventures. Some scientists and policy advocates also promote energy policies that personally enrich them.
As a private citizen, Mr. Gore does not have to disclose his income or assets, as he did in his years in Congress and the White House. When he left government in early 2001, he listed assets of less than $2 million, including homes in suburban Washington and in Tennessee.
Since then, his net worth has skyrocketed, helped by timely investments in Apple and Google, profits from books and his movie, and scores of speeches for which he can be paid more than $100,000, although he often speaks at no charge.
He is a founder of Generation Investment Management, based in London and run by David Blood, a former head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management (the firm was quickly dubbed Blood and Gore). Mr. Gore earns a partner’s salary at Kleiner Perkins. He has substantial personal finances invested at both firms, officials of the companies said.
He also serves as an adviser to high-profile technology companies including Apple and Google, relationships that have paid him handsome dividends over the last eight years.
Mr. Gore’s spokeswoman would not give a figure for his current net worth, but the scale of his wealth is evident in a single investment of $35 million in Capricorn Investment Group, a private equity fund started by his friend Jeffrey Skoll, the first president of eBay.
Ion Yadigaroglu, a co-founder of Capricorn, said that Mr. Gore does not sit on the fund’s investment committee, but obviously agrees with the partners’ strategy of putting long-term money into promising ventures in energy, technology and health care around the globe.
“Aspirationally,” said Mr. Yadigaroglu, who holds a doctorate from Stanford in astrophysics, “we’re trying to make more money than others doing the same thing and do it in a way that is superior in ethics and impacts.”
Mr. Gore has said he invested in partnerships and funds that try to identify and support companies that are advancing cutting-edge green technologies and are paving the way toward a low-carbon economy.
He has a stake in the world’s pre-eminent carbon credit trading market and in an array of companies in bio-fuels, sustainable fish farming, electric vehicles and solar power.
Capricorn holds a major stake in Falcon Waterfree Technologies, the world’s leading maker of waterless urinals. Generation has holdings in Ausra, a solar energy company based in California, and Camco, a British firm that develops carbon dioxide emissions reduction projects. Kleiner Perkins has a green ventures fund with nearly $1 billion invested in renewable energy and efficiency concerns.
Mr. Gore also has substantial interests in technology, media and biotechnology ventures that have no direct tie to his environmental advocacy, an aide said.
Mr. Gore is not a lobbyist, and he has never asked Congress or the administration for an earmark or policy decision that would directly benefit one of his investments. But he has been a tireless advocate for policies that would move the country away from the use of coal and oil, and he has begun a $300 million campaign to end the use of fossil fuels in electricity production in 10 years.
But Marc Morano, a climate change skeptic who until recently was a top aide to Senator James M. Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma, said that what he saw as Mr. Gore’s alarmism and occasional exaggerations distorted the debate and also served his personal financial interests.
Mr. Gore has testified numerous times in support of legislation to address climate change and to revamp the nation’s energy policies.
He appeared before the House Energy and Commerce Committee in April to support an energy and climate change bill that was intended to reduce global warming emissions through a cap-and-trade program for major polluting industries.
Mr. Gore, who shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his climate advocacy, is generally received on Capitol Hill as something of an oracle, at least by Democrats.
But at the hearing in April, he was challenged by Ms. Blackburn, who echoed some of the criticism of Mr. Gore that has swirled in conservative blogs and radio talk shows. She noted that Mr. Gore is a partner at Kleiner Perkins, which has hundreds of millions of dollars invested in firms that could benefit from any legislation that limits carbon dioxide emissions.
“I believe that the transition to a green economy is good for our economy and good for all of us, and I have invested in it,” Mr. Gore said, adding that he had put “every penny” he has made from his investments into the Alliance for Climate Protection.
“And, Congresswoman,” he added, “if you believe that the reason I have been working on this issue for 30 years is because of greed, you don’t know me.”
"The e-mail Bag"
A guy named Joe receives a free ticket to the SuperBowl from his company. Unfortunately, when Joe arrives at the stadium, he realizes the seat is in the last row in the corner of the stadium, he's closer to the Goodyear Blimp than the field. About halfway through the first quarter, Joe sees through his binoculars an empty seat 10 rows off the field right on the 50 yardline.
He decides to take a chance and makes his way through the stadium and around the security guards to the empty seat. As he sits down, Joe asks the gentleman sitting next to him, "Excuse me, is anyone sitting here?"
The man says "No."
Now, very excited to be in such a great seat for the game, Joe again inquires of the man next to him, "This is incredible! Who in their right mind would have a seat like this at the SuperBowl and not use it?!"
The man replies, "Well, actually, the seat belongs to me. I was supposed to come with my wife, but she passed away. This is the first SuperBowl we haven't been together at since we got married in 1967."
"Well, that's really sad," said Joe, "but still, you couldn't find anyone to take the seat? A friend or close relative?" "No," the man replies, "They're all at the funeral."
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