ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA

The following is an editorial I have submitted to our local newspaper.  The catalyst for this editorial is a situation where our County Commissioners passed a child adoption perk for full-time County employees without public awareness of it.  This perk was passed in 2013, evidently, but didn't come to public light until our County Commissioner Chairman decided to apply for the perk for his own family.  He and his family are desiring to adopt three children from the Ukraine.  He was on the board when this perk was passed and voted for it.  Our Commissioners are considered part-time County employees, but for some unknown reason, even that didn't stop the County Chairman from applying for this perk.  So, now the newspaper and the public are aware of what has happened.  So much wrong here, my little editorial just barely scratches the surface.  Here you are:

ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA

 

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Lifting up the down-trodden is a noble gesture, but is it the role of the taxpayers?  All of us who have children, have raised children and who have worked hard to support our families, have a soft spot in our hearts for orphans.  There is no doubt.  But there is a difference between charity and confiscating taxes to make some people feel good or assuage some societal guilt.  Doing good for others through charity is supposed to be a personal choice, not paid for through force.  And there lies the conundrum of this County proposed adoption subsidy.

Those who pay taxes are already subsidizing fatherless families through welfare, food stamps, housing credits, healthcare, and more.  The decision to do this was forced upon the taxpayers through Lyndon Baines Johnson’s Great Society programs, sold as the way to wipe out poverty in the entire nation.  Well, now we can see how successful that has been.  The national poverty rate has not decreased one iota, so taking from the haves to give to the have-nots has not produced the promised outcome of reducing poverty rates at all.  As Thomas Sowell has pointed out countless times, the ‘Welfare State’ has exacerbated the irresponsible behavior of many men who donate sperm and walk away, leaving the taxpayers to foot the bill.  The Great Society, to a great degree, has turned responsible parenting into a non-sequitur.

So now we have elected County Commissioners, portraying themselves as compassionate Christian men, proposing to confiscate, through force of government, tax money to subsidize adoptions of orphaned children, taking money from some to offset the cost of ‘doing good.’   There are principles of personal responsibility here that are turned upside down.  Not to mention that this policy is far from the Christian tenets of charity.

I read that one justification of getting government to do this is that some private corporations offer an adoption subsidy to their employees.   In case no one catches the fine point of that, the private corporations who do this are getting tax deductions for this action, remaining taxpayers are already compensating for the deductions.  I guess our County Commissioners don’t think that’s enough and they want more from the taxpayers.  Another fine point is that there is already a substantial federal tax credit program through the IRS for individuals who adopt children.
Next thing you know, the taxpayers will be paying people to not have children.  Oh, wait, we are already in the heat of that battle thanks to Roe vs. Wade and Planned Parenthood.

Once upon a time in America, taking tax money from others for your own personal use was generally considered a shameful thing. It meant you were dependent on others and either could not or would not make your own way.   It also meant socialism, a tyrannical government system that America fought a war with great sacrifice to defeat in Europe. Americans, for the most part, understood the implications of socialist tyranny. The backbone of America was forged with independence and individual liberties.  The heart of the American public was charitable without government intervention.

By the way, I know some parents who have adopted children who didn’t have subsidies, using their own hard earned labor and resources to do so. These people are taxpayers, too.  What are you saying to them if you now decide to use their taxes to subsidize someone else’s decision to adopt?

Now we have a committee to study the idea of taxpayer subsidies to county employees for adoption?  Why?  The principle is flawed from the start.  If you oppose this, are you designated as a cold-hearted bastard who doesn’t care for orphaned children?   There should be no committee.  There should be no further discussion.  It’s a bad idea. It’s a socialist idea. It is using government force, no matter how you try to sugar coat it and paint yourselves as compassionate Christians.  This is not the role of government in America.  Or, should I say, it is not supposed to be the role of government in America.  Yes, I know.  That ship has sailed and I am whistling in the wind.  I miss the America where no one in their right mind would suggest such things as this.  Charity comes from individual choice. Not from government force.  Once upon a time……

Sources:

http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc607.html
http://www.americanadoptions.com/adopt/adoption_tax_credit

The Federal Adoption Tax Credit

Some adoption costs can be offset by utilizing the Federal Adoption Tax Credit, which is non-refundable, for all qualifying adoption expenses.

Adoptive parents who work for companies with an adoption assistance program also receive a tax break. Parents can receive up to $12,970 in reimbursement from their employer for adoption expenses without paying taxes on that benefit.
 

Gaston Gazette Article

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2013/12/charity_by_force_jesus_vs_marx.html

Jesus Christ teaches His followers to give to the poor.  But liberals see in this a call for forced redistribution of wealth -- by government.  Christians must support a socialist government, which takes money from Person A by force and gives that money to Person B.  Every mention of the poor they portray as demanding government control of a nation's economy.

And let us be clear: we're talking violence.  We're talking SWAT teams from time to time storm tax protestors barricaded in their homes.  Violence, even death by police, backs up tax collection for the welfare state.  So does Jesus Christ endorse violence so that the government can take from Person A to give to Person B?

Conservatives notice what liberals somehow cannot see: that Jesus is addressing the voluntary choices of individuals.  Christianity rests upon free will.  Capitalism rests upon free will.  God Himself does not force anyone to obey Him, follow Him, love Him, or serve Him.  When one town rejected Jesus in Luke 9, His followers wanted to punish the disobedient people by "calling down fire" -- that is, praying for a repeat of Elijah's spectacular miracle.  Jesus sharply rebuked them.

WHAT GOD TOLD US ...AND GEORGE ORWELL

“In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality, was tacitly denied by their philosophy.” — George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four

Just to read my blog requires an understanding of words.  Otherwise you might as well try reading an alien language from Mars, if there were one.  Telling requires language.  God gave Adam language from the very beginning of Adam's existence.  And after all, the Bible is referred to as "The Word."  God spoke to Adam, and Adam understood God's words, as did Eve.  Adam was given the privilege of naming the animals and Eve spoke to Satan in the Garden of Eden.  Language has been with us ever since.  Anthropologists will tell you languages existed before Biblical understanding of Creation.  But no matter how you look at the history of human life, communication through a common language of understanding has existed. 

So flash forward to 2015 and what do we see happening to language?  God gave man free will, and man is using the 'free will' tool of language to subvert common understanding.  God may have stalled a rebellion by taking down the tower of Babel, but God did not alter the basic understanding of concepts.  Flat is flat.  Round is round.  Up is up.  Etc.  Orwell was so right about how this abomination of language would happen.

One of the simplest basic precepts of human life is male and female.  You can't get more basic than that.  Yet, here we are, suffering through the dystopian gyrations of gender definitions only an intellectual midget would accept.  (A point that would refer to the tragic dumbing down of children, but that's a story for another day.)  If you can't accept the basic premise of male and female, then of course the next twist of definition has to be the definition of marriage.  Going a step further, those who wish to redefine gender, also demonize those who refuse the "new" definitions.  So it isn't just some innocent misunderstanding of nature, the situation involves criminalizing the understanding of nature.  Again, Orwell predicted and warned of this criminalization.

Speaking of nature and criminalizing truth, the same is happening to other scientific knowledge.  It used to be a common understanding of fact that photosynthesis involved CO2 as food for plants and that was not only a good thing, but a basic tenet of life on earth.  Now, we have some seriously demented people telling the public that CO2 is bad for the earth.  I'm not talking about photosynthesis as a "flat earth" theory.  Photosynthesis is a biological fact.  If you want to encourage plant growth, you encourage CO2, which is a trace gas, albeit extremely important to life.  Adding more CO2 has not been proven to destroy the earth's eco system at all.  Nor has CO2 been proven to increase the temperature of the earth by one iota.  The earth has been warming since the Little Ice Age and all that is seen since then is thriving plant and human growth.  (We may be looking at global cooling now, given the last 17 yrs of temperature data and the occurrence of sun spots, but oh well....don't look now if you want the facts.)  If someone's intention were to decrease plant and human life, they might suggest some ridiculous anti-life theory such as, "We'd better get rid of that horrible CO2!"  Humans exhale CO2.  Do they even teach that in school any more?  Is this a test to see just how successful the dumbing down of our population has been?
 

Language is being manipulated by people who wish to control other people.  There is financial dystopia where debt becomes investment, where assets become liabilities, where property ownership is a bad thing unless it is the power elite who own the property, either for themselves or as a pretense for the "common good."  Crimes of theft become understandable mistakes by people who can't get ahead.  Beheadings are simply acts by people who are misunderstood by the international community and certainly don't reflect the theology espoused by those beheaders.  

I could go on with many more anecdotes on how many basic facts are getting thrown into the dumpster by people who dislike truth, but you get the point.  "Freedom" becomes "Freedom of Choice," but whose choices are you given?  "Equal Justice" becomes "Social Justice," but whose social structure are they promoting?   If you are not part of the dumbed-down, you can see right through the slogans and the lies.  

Here's the hope: Lying undermines credibility, but lying cannot undermine truth.  The truth doesn't just disappear because some people lie.  And here is where maybe I divert from Orwell just a bit.  While the world goes spiraling downward into some abysmal system of ignorance, what evil powers can't do is undo truth.  They can provide ignorance, but they can't change chromosomes, or scientific facts, or the sanctity of God's perfect Creation. 

I refer to Ecclesiastes on this good Sunday.....

9That which has been is that which will be, And that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun.

The Wise and the Foolish
12So I turned to consider wisdom, madness and folly; for what will the man do who will come after the king except what has already been done? 13And I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness.…

Source of Bible verses

ARTICLE V CONVENTION LIES, CONTINUED.......

Anyone who has followed my blog probably knows by now that I don't tolerate liars.  So when I see the public getting snookered by lies, it makes me angry.  This particular subject, the Article V Convention, being promoted now in our state legislatures, is such a smoke screen of disinformation (read lies) by various groups who are attempting to remake the U.S. Constitution.

I was certain that after my last post here that there would be questions.  What lies?  Who are the liars?  Why would they lie?  Before I begin listing some of the answers to those questions, understand this convention attempt has been well organized in recent years and there are many involved. Also understand the length and breadth of the lies and the disinformation campaign is large and I can't cover all of it in this post.  I think the idea of a Constitutional Convention was taken less seriously in past decades and the powers wanting a convention were possibly not as effective for several reasons.  Past efforts were also more oriented to the left, socialist side of the political spectrum.  Today, the right (conservative + libertarian) powers have grabbed onto the idea using the Convention of States branding, joining in with the left who has been clammoring for this opportunity for so long.  Once seeing the angst appear through the tea party groups across the nation, power brokers (i.e. people with money to spend on political issues) saw that angst as an opportunity to manipulate the situation to their benefit.  I am sure there are some few altruistic conservatives who have been drawn into the fervor over a convention for all kinds of reasons.  In some respects, I feel badly for them, but not so much that my sympathy allows them to destroy our founding document.

Michael Farris (a lawyer) and Mark Meckler (another lawyer) grabbed the Tea Party movement, in my opinion to enrich themselves and gain political power.  But they didn't just one day decide to go after a Constitutional Convention.  I've explained in an earlier post that there is a billionaire named Leo Linbeck III, the son of Leo Linbeck II who was one of the instigators of the Fair Tax.  "Self Governance" is a favorite phrase of Leo III.  He hired Mark Meckler to head up a PAC called "Citizens for Self Governance."  Meckler was the Director of Tea Party Patriots prior to this ....or simultaneously, I'm not positive of the timing on that.  Meckler stepped down from Tea Party Patriots, I think to take the job for Linbeck's baby, "Citizens for Self Governance" which became the parent organization for Convention of States.  If you ask everyday tea party members, they never heard of the Linbecks, would have no idea who they are.  But they know Meckler, whose previous claim to fame before Tea Party Patriots was in the pyramid company called Herbalife.  Meckler is a salesman.  And he knows where to find rich people for fund raising. 

In the same time frame, along came Mark Levin (a lawyer) with his book called "The Liberty Amendments."  Levin pushes emotional buttons with his radio show, screams nasty epithets at people, calls people stupid, and generally purports himself as an arrogant know-it-all.  But his book sold and the tea party bought it, some of them hook, line, and sinker.  As for money behind Levin, I don't know all of that detail certainly, but I do know the advertisers on his show include Convention of States.  (Coincidentally, Convention of States began to show up as the advertisers on Glenn Beck's pages, on Hannity's pages, and many conservative blogs and news sites.  It takes a lot of money to advertise that widely.  I don't happen to believe that money came from the grassroots.  And that's the thing....this Convention of States idea didn't come from the grassroots.  It has been led all along from the top, from big money, from people getting rich on it, from billionaires such as Linbeck who believe they can gain from it. 

Enter the Koch brothers.  For all the good things they have done, and I'm sure there are some, this isn't one of them.  Their money is hooked up with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC - lots of lawyers)  to write applications for the states to use to further the COS push.  The Convention of States cooked up an "assembly" (Assembly at Mt. Vernon) in DC to coincide with an ALEC conference.  State legislators were invited, but just certain legislators, not all of course.  The Koch's were involved.  ALEC was involved.

Along the way, Mark Meckler joined with the left in conference on this.  The conference was called "Living Room Conversations."  Van Jones was participating along with many more on the left.  Meckler's purpose was to find common ground with the left in order to further the Convention of States.  See Michelle Horstman on that.  Michael Farris has been wooing tea party groups with his presentations and explaining "we" could not possibly do this without the left participating to give the whole thing legitimacy.  Hmmm.....and out of the other side of his mouth he insists that "this is our chance to rein in the federal government."  I don't know about you, but I can't honestly remember much about the left reining in the federal government.  Michael Farris insists also that this convention is ONLY to propose amendments.  And then out of the other side of his mouth, he talks about restructuring the Supreme Court, changing the appointment process for federal judges, rewriting the Commerce Clause, and more.  So, is he just going to propose amendments?  Or is he opening up the Constitution for a rewrite?  If he is going to rewrite the Commerce Clause, what else is he open to rewriting?  If he truly is just about amendments or repealing amendments, there is no reason for a convention.  You cannot have it both ways on these things.  He's lying....that's all you can conclude.  He is also saying he believes he is the person to head up the Convention, if and when it happens.  Wow....that would most certainly be a head-slamming, boomerang, whiplash of a convention with a Chairman who talks out of both sides of his mouth.

I have a theory that the billionaires are getting tired of bribing elected officials and think, due to the tea party angst, this is the time to change the game to suit their pursuits.  Possibly they think the lawyers can fix things for them.  Lobbyists and lawyers have been at it a long time.   But that's just an aside...an interjection....a wonderment.  Because I too, wonder why all the subterfuge and lies.  If a Constitutional Convention is such a great idea, especially now, why are the money players hiding behind the operatives.  Yeah, I know.  That IS what they do anyway.  But I digress.

There are many other conundrums.  For instance, the Convention of States pushers keep saying this is such a safe idea that the people have nothing to fear.  Given the fact that an Article V Convention hasn't taken place EVER, I wonder how they think they can make that promise.  Of course, they can't.  "Trust the lawyers," they say.  But if you research this at all, you'll find that many people of good credentials are warning just the opposite.  Farris says he is not afraid of the left (of Soros, etc.), but he acknowledges he is including the Soros paid operatives into the process.  I don't know  a whole lot of tea party folks who are keen on slugging it out with Soros operatives over the fine points of our Constitution.  Farris says (and his people say) that this Convention can be restricted to only amendments?  (See above) And they have devised a method of fines and punishments for delegates who might stray from the mission at hand.  Really?  Who will enforce that?  (Lawyers, I would assume, at this point.  Can't wait for those court cases ....more fun than a barrel of monkeys!)

Now look just at 4 of the amendments.  The Balanced Budget Amendment does nothing of the kind.  The Parental Rights Amendment hands over parental rights to the federal government.  The Term Limits Amendment doesn't fix corruption.  The Campaign Finance Amendment causes public financing of all candidates.  Others may have better attributes than this, but those are 4 of the most discussed. Reining in the federal government?  Doesn't appear so to me. So even the amendments are lies or at least unconstitutional on their face. 

I could go on and on, and have, but if this isn't enough to give you pause, to make you think or rethink the Article V Convention, then I don't know how to warn you further than this.  Please read the links in my previous posts on this subject.  I know that people of good will really want to get this nation on track, but this, friends, is not the answer.  O.k, now you ask, what is the answer.  Simple; Find seriously ethical and moral people who know the Constitution and want to serve our nation, put them in office and return to the enumerated powers.  That's it.  That's all we need to do. (Sorry, I know that's a big job.)

This Article V Convention is a contrivance of less than honest brokers. And these few articles I've written are just the tip of the iceberg.



See more notes and links below:
Left Right Collusion
Call a Convention devotes its efforts to getting groups on both the Right and Left to work together in order to convince state legislatures to petition Congress to call a convention.

Point one of Call a Convention’s strategy calls for the creation of a “non-partisan collaboration with other Article V and Amendments groups.” Under the “About” menu item on the Call a Convention website, there is an “Article V Advocates” webpage with the headline “The Article V Movement — Right and Left Working Together for Real Reform” (see graphic on this page). Under the headline we are told: “We are organizations and individuals from both the right and the left who recognize that Washington is broken and will not reform itself.... [We] must call a Convention, and move forward on our common ground for the good of the nation.”

Below this explanation is a list of various conservative “Article V Movement” groups, such as Mark Meckler and Michael Farris’ Convention of States (COS), Article V Caucus (of state legislators), American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), Balanced Budget Amendment Task Force, and Compact for America. Listed along with these conservative groups are progressive liberal organizations, such as Convention USA, Amend America, ArticleV.org (“the Inter-Occupy Article V Work Group”), Call a Convention, and Wolf-PAC.

Before establishing Citizens for Self-Governance in 2012, Mark Meckler was the co-founder and national coordinator for Tea Party Patriots. In 2011, both Meckler and Lessig attended the Conference on the Constitutional Convention (ConConCon), held at Harvard University September 24-25, 2011. Meckler cohosted the event with Lessig, which, like Call a Convention, intended to bring both the Right and Left together to work toward a new constitutional convention. Also in attendance at the Harvard ConConCon was Nick Dranias of CFA.
More on the Mt. Vernon Assembly

MARK LEVIN AND OTHER PROMOTERS OF AN ARTICLE V CONVENTION.......

.....are flat out liars.  This is the only determination one can conclude when looking at their advertisements and marketing schemes and presentations....the only reasonable deduction you can make when listening to Michael Farris,' Mark Levin's, Mark Meckler's, and other promoters' presentations on the Convention of States Project.  I know of no other way to put this.  There is no chance whatsoever that these attorneys, supposedly trained in Constitutional law, are telling their audiences the truth.  I would say the same of those who have been brought into market Article V as sales experts.  The very best thing you can feebly attempt to say is they are half-truth tellers.  It's the second half that is full of lies.  

I have a copy of the Constitution here with me where it is read frequently.  You might want to criticize my lack of legal degree, but I know a liar when I hear one.  And I can understand it when someone is using false premises and using illogical conclusions.  The holes in the Convention of States' propositions (amendments), and others,' are so large you could drive a semi-truck with a piggy-back trailer through them, that is IF you know what is in the Constitution.  Of the many, you can find two of these holes here   And here 

In previous articles I have described just some of the money behind this attempt to hijack the Constitution.  Here  Here  and Here

There are more links below to help you see more of that, if you wish to pursue the scurrilous trail on this.

I am adding to the Convention of States the rest of the Article V Convention proponents, because I (and you) might as well lump them in with the rest of the liars who are desperately trying to convince the American public that our Constitution isn't just quite good enough or to their liking, or is too antiquated, or is just not pertinent to our current circumstance, or is not anything enough, or wasn't legal in the first go 'round, or .....on and on. I know this is a disheartening piece of news to some people who wanted badly to believe that the Convention of States was the magic bullet.  But sadly, COS is just as corrupt as the others wanting their hands on the Constitution since the 1960's. Ford Foundation - Tugwell's New States Constitution."

Liars always want something from you.  This falls into many categories.  They might want your money, your admiration, power over you, or just to get away with something.  In this case, however, these liars are playing a high stakes game with your life in an arena that they want to convince you is "their playground."  Your role, they suggest, is to promote them and then stand back while they work their "magic." They tell you often how educated and experienced they are.  They tell you, "If only you'll buy my book," or "If only you'll proselytize on my behalf," or "If only you'll tell the legislatures to do what I ask," or "If only you'll donate some money," etc. 

At this point there are so many of these Article V pushers, it's hard to count them all.  I'm guessing they smell blood in the water from our corrupted and weakened system at this time and are frothing at the mouth to bite into our one great defense; the Constitution.  In picking out Mark Levin and the Convention of States bunch, I am only picking out the most obvious among the tea party grassroots today.   Heaven knows I do not want to leave out Nick Drainias of the Goldwater Institute or Cenk Uygur of WolfPAC.  Here's a handy link with a few more of them: Pro-Article V orgs.

Liars will bargain with you to get you on board with their game.  They will tell you anything you want to hear.  Sometimes they will offer to trade you something for your support.  They will demonstrate to you why your need is SO great and that they are the ONLY option you have.  They will play to your emotions.  They will play to your desires.  They are very very good at this, especially in the legal profession where arguing all sides of something / anything in court is a learned skill.

This time, your guaranteed rights, freedoms, and liberties are at stake.  Now that's a pretty high stakes game if you ask me.  I'm not too keen on allowing liars to get hold of the basis of my rights, freedoms, and liberties.  I can't help but wonder what on earth has possessed people to allow themselves to be so deceived.  Obviously the sales promotions are appealing to some people for some reasons.  There is a lot of hate and disgust involved, mostly for the unconstitutional regulations and laws that have beset this nation.  No one would argue being disgusted over that.  But you don't use that against me or the Constitution.  I didn't do it.  The Constitution didn't do it.  Most of the deceived grassroots didn't do it.  Our elected officials did it.  Congress did it.  The three branches of executive government did it.  State legislators collaborated with them to do it.  So, now, in come the clown lawyers who say they will fix what they have stood by and allowed?  The lobbyists are in on the take as well.  There are billionaires funding all of this?  Globalists as well.  And I'm supposed to hand over my Constitution to them?  I don't think so.

If you are not willing to study the reasoning about why a Constitutional Convention is a wickedly bad thing for this nation, don't come to me later and say, "Gee, you were right."  Study now and prevent this disaster from happening.  Tell all of your legislators you DO NOT approve of Convention of States or any other Article V Convention being proposed.

To be continued........

Michelle Horstman

Several more Michelle Horstman Articles here
Excellent piece by Joe Wolverton here, PLUS links to more Con Con players