But The POINT Of A Free And Independent Press Is To Protect Americans From Tyranny

The founders wrote frequently about the importance of a free and independent press (media) and it's role in helping to ensure we are never again subjected to government tyranny. A free and independent press was recognized and acknowledged as key to maintaining our freedom. So much for good intentions.

The 'press' referred to in the early years has morphed into a whole range of media that, in addition to 'press' in those days, includes radio, TV and internet news sources. So 'free and independent press' applies to them all in principle. Problem we have today is that, instead of protecting us against government tyranny (over-powerful government and/or political party) we find the press and other media will often champion, facilitate or turn a blind eye to the very encroachment on liberty they were 'socially contracted' to shine a light on and help resist.

Indeed, the right to free speech guaranteed in The Bill of Rights (first 10 amendments to the constitution) was meant to include that freedom for the press. In fact, the media consistently claims that constitutional protection for itself and frequently wraps itself in it. That would be fine if they did that in order to protect The People's interests but, too often now, they use it to protect their own narrow and politically biased views, agendas, interests, and objectives.

Case in point. We, the residents of one of the four largest populated areas of Rep DeFazio's district were denied the opportunity to hear him and his opponent defend their positions and qualifications. The local newspaper not only didn't fight for a free and open local forum to happen as Mr. DeFazio agreed to with his opponent, they published criticism and ridicule of his opponent for insisting on it. We the citizens who elected and pay Mr. DeFazio were robbed of our right to hear him square off against his opponent. That's a loss to both Republicans and Democrats. A little more detail is appropriate to explain it.

There are four general areas of population in Rep DeFazio's US House of Representatives district, Eugene, Roseburg, Medford (including Grants Pass), and the coastal area near Coos Bay. There were candidate forums between Mr. DeFazio and his opponent, Art Robinson, planned and scheduled in all four locales. Mr. Robinson preferred a debate format (in which the candidates debate one another in classic debate format) over a 'forum' format (which only collects questions from the audience that both candidates answer however they wish). The incumbent, Mr. DeFazio insisted on a 'forum' format and Mr. Robinson agreed to it on condition that it would be open and free to the public in all four locales. Mr. DeFazio said he agreed that the people deserve to have an open and free event so he agreed to Mr. Robinson's one condition.

Turned out that three of the areas had completely open and free forums but the one in the Roseburg area was limited to those with connections to the Chamber of Commerce and there was a $20 fee to pay for the included lunch. It was, in fact, closed to the general public. When Mr. Robinson rented the room next door and requested that at least the speakers be turned on in that room so the public could hear what was said, his request was flatly refused. It's no accident that this happened in the area of the four where Mr. Robinson enjoys his greatest support and Mr. DeFazio receives his greatest opposition. That was bad enough in principle, especially since Mr. DeFazio agreed up front that all four forums would be open and free.

Worse, the local newspaper, the News Review reported only on the complaints from the Chamber meeting attendees about Mr. Robinson insisting that "Mr. DeFazio tear down this wall" between the two rooms. So far, the newspaper has said nothing in support of having it be a completely free forum open to the public. No criticism of Mr. DeFazio for not living up either to his agreement to a free and open forum or to his obligation to do so as the person having been elected and paid by the people who wanted to hear the candidates square off. As our elected representative he is obliged to provide us the opportunity to hear him defend his record and ideas for the future. The Roseburg area has had NO forum between these two candidates for the US House of Representatives and the local newspaper seems to care less. Many have argued that this paper tends to be biased toward Democrats and strongly against Republicans. This situation would seem to confirm that. So much for a free and independent press!

Who's Worse On Creating Debt - The Truth For A Change!

Here are the facts about debt creation the past 10 years according to the federal Treasury department:

Just before Bush was elected, the Treasury department reported that the national debt was already large: $5.67 Trillion.

Congress, NOT the president, is responsible for spending, taxing and, therefore, debt. Six years of a Republican congress (2001 - 2006) produced an increase in the debt of approximately $3 Trillion.

Four years of Democratic control of the debt (because congress controls the debt) has produced an increase of approximately $5 Trillion.

Bottom line: in four years, the Democratic congress has created nearly twice as much debt ... ie, in two less(!) years versus the previous Republican congress.

Yes, Republicans also created too much debt but do not believe the bald-faced lie that they were worse than Democrats in that department. The truth(!) shows that Democrats have a lot of nerve complaining about Republican-created debt and are hypocrits of the first order for doing so.

Might The Economy Be In Better Shape Now If Dems Had Done Nothing?

There's a truth in science that we don't talk about much in politics: one cannot prove a negative. In other words, you cannot prove that what you didn't do would have been worse ... or better.

Considering the sorry state of our economy after we let the current regime do whatever they wanted, it's NOT unreasonable to wonder, what if they had done nothing? Democrats have been very busy, especially the president, taking credit for it not becoming worse. They state as fact what is really ONLY conjecture: "Things would have been worse if we had done nothing!"

The ONLY fact about that statement is that they cannot possibly know whether that's true since they didn't do nothing. Considering the historical strength and resilience of our economy, it's not an outlandish argument to say that the economy might be in better shape now if Dems hadn't stolen several trillion dollars out of the economy. Did all that money do more good in the government's hands? We can't know for sure but, based on lack of results, one has to say maybe not.

Granted, something had to be done to stop the bleeding but most of what basically had to be done was done under Bush ... TARP. What might have happened after that if government had just stayed the heck out of the economy from that point on and let market forces do what they've always done better than government? It is NOT a wild and nonsense notion to consider that, just maybe, the people and companies could have done a better job of recovering the economy.

In fact, many, many economists have been strongly opposing what they've done and have been pushing for MUCH more help for small businesses. The current administration has steadfastly ignored that call for real, honest help to that critical sector of our economy. That many smart economists cannot all be crazy. What if they're correct? In that case, it DOES mean that Democrats HAVE BEEN going at this ALL WRONG. It's not 'evidence' they did the wrong thing but it's not an irrational notion is it?

The key thing I wanted to point out is this TRUTH (for those of you interested in actual truth for a change). Democrats DO NOT(!) know whether what they did kept the economy from getting worse. In fact, it's arguably possible that their meddling actually made things worse! But we won't know that will we? If we can't know that, then the Democrats have NO basis whatsoever on which to claim their intervention did more good than harm. It is nothing more nor less than conjecture. Therefore, We The People, have NO basis on which to believe it's true!

Want More Proof It Was Dems Who Pushed Sub-Prime Mortgages Then Blamed It On Bush?

Regarding the title of this blog entry, this link speaks for itself for the most part but I have to say something to Barney Frank that's well deserved: You, sir, are a flat-out liar, especially about your role in causing the economic melt-down!
http://www.breitbart.tv/barney-frank-caught-lying-about-his-record-on-home-ownership/

Don't Believe What I Said Below That What Caused The Meltdown Is Still Out There?

In case you still don't understand what really caused the meltdown and want to continue: 1) blaming it on Bush and 2) believing that Dems fixed what caused it, please check out this link:
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/249763/another-mortgage-mess-editors

Time For Some Common Sense Re Economy

With Democrats STILL running against Bush and his policies, it's time for a sanity check. Got some questions for you.

Q1: Setting aside whatever you feel about Bush's policies (many Republicans and most conservatives never liked a lot of them either), what actual circumstance caused this economic collapse and is STILL a drag on the economy? Ans: all economists with half a brain have said it was/is, the glut of underqualified sub-prime mortgages.

Q2: But what about derivatives? After all, there was lots of talk about them as causing it and congress even passed legislation to fix this problem. Ans: Derivatives are NOT an investment; it is a means by which to package actual investments which was done with sub-prime mortgages. Derivatives are a way to sorta hide bad investments ... the underlying high-risk investments aren't as obvious and people who trade in derivatives have the warped view that packaging a whole lot of sub-prime mortgages together in a derivative somehow reduces the risk of all of them. These idiots think of it as some kind of insurance which IS a legitimate way to spread risk by packaging some risky things with a whole bunch of non-risky things. It's like health insurance which covers a large group of people. Sure, there are bad ones in the mix but the prevalence of healthy individuals helps spread the cost so unhealthy ones can afford to be sick. The sub-prime mortgages packaged as derivatives was a bad idea because ALL sub-prime mortgages are risky and there's very little about any part of them that's healthy. My point is this. If derivatives had not existed, the sub-prime mortgages would have still been there, just 'packaged' and invested some other way. If 'derivatives' had not existed at all, those sub-prime mortgages would STILL have collapsed the economy. It was the sub-prime mortgages, folks!

Q3: If the collapse was Bush's fault and, obviously, sub-prime mortgages caused it, what exactly were his policies that caused all those sub-prime mortgages? Ans: Actually you cannot name any because he had nothing to do with pushing these toxic investments and making the situation worse. None of his policies either created OR pushed sub-prime mortgages. It was mainly Democrats who pushed it, especially Frank and Dodd.

Q4: What things facilitated the proliferation of sub-prime mortgages? Ans: THE main thing by far was Fannie and Freddie policies which were pushed hard by Democrats, especially Frank and Dodd.

Q5: Why didn't congress see this train wreck coming and do something to stop it? Ans: Democrats were in charge of regulating this 'industry' for 1 1/2 years prior to the collapse. If ANY ONE GROUP can be held accountable, it HAS to be them. They had constitutional responsibility and authority to regulate Fannie and Freddie ... as well as the financial industry! IT WASN'T EVEN BUSH'S RESPONSIBILITY to regulate it! (News Flash: the constitution holds congress, NOT the president, responsible for regulating these things!) In fact, many economists and congressmen saw this coming. In fact, Bush tried to stop it and the Democratic congress stopped him. Considering the roots of all this goes back to Clinton's administration and Democrats pushed it and Democrats had the best view of this train coming for 1 1/2 years before it hit us, how is it that it's Bush's fault? It completely defies logic ... how people can believe the nonsense blame-placing by Democrats is mind-boggling. Just because Democrats say it all the time doesn't make it true! Gads people! We've turned off our brains and let them tell us what to believe whether it's true or not!

Q6: Why is it important to understand what ACTUALLY caused the collapse? Ans: because you can't fix what's broken unless you understand and address the ROOT cause. 'Fixing' derivatives, for example, did nothing. Even if they had 'fixed' derivatives well before the collapse, the collapse would have happened anyway! That's because the toxic investment that caused it would still have been there ... just 'packaged' and traded some other way!

Q7: Didn't Bush do anything to cause it or make it worse? Ans: Not to cause it but he had a hand it making it more difficult to recover from the collapse after Democrats caused it by authorizing excessive spending and increasing our debt. Bush did cause us a debt problem but that didn't 'cause' the collapse, just made it harder to recover. That's bad in itself, but, again, that did not cause the collapse. It's important to keep that in mind because we need to fix whatever caused this so it doesn't happen again.

Q8: But there are so many people saying it's Bush's fault. Ans: Consider this. If a Democrat had become president instead of Bush (ie, if Bush had NOT been president), the collapse would have happened anyway. Why? Because that's the party that caused this by pushing sub-prime mortgages to wayyyyyyy too many people who couldn't afford them. In fact, it's not unreasonable to say it could have been much worse under a Democratic president who most likely would have pushed them hard (while Bush did not).

Q9: Okay, sounds logical all things considered but why bother with that now? Ans: Because we still haven't fixed the root cause. The toxic sub-prime mortgages are STILL out there, dragging down our economy and risking a double-dip recession. Also, the Democratic congress has seen fit NOT to fix the problem with Fannie and Freddie policies ... in spite of Republican pressure to address those policies (even though reasonable economists all agreee that was indeed at the root of the collapse), Democrats have steadfastly avoided doing so. The reason we need to keep talking about this until we understand it well enough is, congress has NOT fixed the root problem even yet! Gads!

Politicians and Bureaucrats Have Failed Us On Public Education For 40 Years. Time To Fix It!

Prior to the mid-60's America had THE BEST education system in the world. The deterioration began then and it has now become among the worst among Western countries. Why has this happened and what should be done about it?

Answer to the second question first: it is so fundamentally screwed up that it's beyond fixing without changes that get to the fundamentals; therefore the best solution that'll fix it the best and fastest is to scrap it, beginning at the federal level.

If a company was the best in the world at what it did and a new regime took over that took its product in a new direction very heavy in bureaucracy that led to steady deterioration in the quality of its product and, therefore, in company sales/profitability that turned its stock into a junk level investment what do you think the board of directors would do? The directors, if they were interested in returning to the top of the heap would get rid of the management and practices that caused it. They would strip out all the bureaucracy and get back to the basics. They would basically start over.

Our nation's K-12 educational systems are so screwed up in bureaucracies and mismanagement that it should be scrapped and we should get back to the basics. The alternative is perpetual mediocrity. Is that acceptable or not?

What do we have to lose by totally cleaning house and starting over? Realistically, it couldn't be any worse than what we have now. I'm certain that if ALL state and federal education system bureaucracy were made to disappear, local schools would be totally capable of keeping the education going all by themselves. We could then rebuild 'the system' from the bottom up.

The federal department of education should never again have such control over education. Control should be strictly maintained primarily at the local level with modest support at the state level.

Our first priority: ensure the restoration of discipline at the classroom level. For example, talking in class and being otherwise disruptive is FLAT UNACCEPTABLE. There should be discipline for students doing that ... going to the principal's office, suspension and reporting unacceptable behavior to parents for example. 'Old School' discipline worked!

Second, enforce a policy that it's the students' responsibility to become educated with strong support from parents and teachers.

Third, evaluate students' performance and let the control of it be at the local level. Return to the same kind of evaluations we used 50 years ago. In grade school that included citizenship, cooperation, attitude, and the like. Attitude of the students MATTERS!

Fourth, re-establish control of the classroom AT THE CLASSROOM/TEACHER level and give teachers complete authority and support to make it happen.

Fifth, re-educate parents on their role in their kids' education and re-establish the PTA and it's authority.

Sixth, restore schools' ability to easily get rid of incompetent teachers and to reward competent ones according to their achievements as teachers.

Seventh, ensure politics (government AND unions) is removed from what happens in the classroom and never is allowed to return! Teachers at the local level MUST have primary control over what is taught and HOW it is taught.

Eighth, return subject matter taught to the basics, including our ACTUAL history especially in the areas of our founding and founding documents. Knock off the 'progressive agenda' stuff!

Ninth, create two levels of education tracks in all high schools, one geared toward four-year college preparation and one geared more toward trades and other work not requiring a four-year college degree.

Tenth, the fix needs to be drastic. When something is THIS badly broken for THIS long a time, it is near impossible to fix it by tweaking on it. All the festering bad stuff that holds down our educational system is so systemic, so ingrainged, so intertwined and twisted that the only way to fix it the way it needs to be fixed is to tear it down and start over. That's what any sensible company would do with something that's broken this badly. That, for example, is what a builder would have to do to a house that was so screwed up. Tear it down to the foundation and get back to the basics that work. To start with, I'd argue that we don't even need a federal department of education and ALL evidence says that this federal bureaucracy has accomplished absolutely nothing to improve education in the 40 of its existence. In fact, ALL evidence strongly says this bureaucracy is the chief reason our schools stagnated.

THE big failing in education today is that government and even students think it's government's responsibility to 'give' an education to our kids. That is So wrong! Becoming educated is an active task on the part of the student. They will only learn well what they WANT to learn. The best, highest-paid teachers cannot make a student learn if the student doesn't want to. Money and bureaucracy ARE NOT the answers! Discipline and properly placed responsibility are THE ONLY things that'll work well.

It is NO ACCIDENT that our education system has gone steadily downhill ever since the federal department of education was created. It should be eliminated, PERIOD! Totally, completely! And it should never be reinstituted. It has become a destructive and inhibiting force that has destroyed our education system. Our system is the worst it has EVER been in our history. Take all that money poured into education 'systems', methodologies and bureaucracy and use it to reward effective teachers.

Democrats are making a huge deal over several Republican candidates' call to eliminate the federal department of education. This not only is NOT ridiculous, IT IS A NECESSITY! What's ridiculous is the sorry state that government, bureaucracies and unions have gotten our education system into.

When Art Robinson, running for Congress from Oregon, called for the elimination of the public education system he was talking a mixture of metaphor and fundamental need. The public education system IS totally failing our country. It deserves to be and should be done away with as it exists today. It's not as ridiculous a notion as it sounds. Nothing less than doing away with it as it exists today will do much to fix the mess government and unions have created.

THE PEOPLE need to take back their education system. It is OUR system, not the governments' nor the unions' but they have been allowed to make a mess of it ... badly. It's wll past time to do what's necessary and take it back folks! We owe it to our kids and to posterity!

National Debt In Perspective

Our federal debt is such a big number these days that an average human being cannot possibly conceive just how big it is. I've been trying to understand, by way of perspectives, how big the debt is and how it's increasing. Today I came up with a comparison that accomplishes that for me.

In the past 4 years they've been in charge of congress, therefore responsible for spending, taxing and debt, Democrats have added an amount to our federal debt that's getting close to $1,000 ... for every human being on the entire planet!

Problem is, it has to be paid for by less than half of Americans who work AND pay federal income taxes. How is that even possible? If that's not bad enough, the debt's still increasing at a record rate. OMG!

Message To Democrats: Bush Tax Cuts Did NOT Cause Our Economic Troubles!

He's at it AGAIN! In his radio address today, President Obama blamed our current economic troubles on Bush's tax cuts. It is sooooo hard to believe how many people fall for the nonsense(!) claim that the Bush tax cuts caused or were even a partial cause of the financial collapse. Here are the actual facts:

1. A little history is relevant. Bush had NOTHING to do with what's laughably called the Bush Recession. It was entirely caused by the High Tech Bust precipitated by a 50% fall in the NASDAQ which happened BEFORE Bush even took office! (Note: but Clinton wasn't responsible for that either ... any more than he was responsible for the economic boom of the 90's which was caused by the Tech Boom, NOT Clinton policies ... but that's a story for another day.)
2. Bush instituted tax cuts to deal with the recession HE 'inherited' from a Democrat congress and president. Those tax cut policies, IN FACT, turned the economy around. Following bullets highlight the results.
3. Bush's tax cut was not just a 'tax cut for the rich' as Democrats, especially Obama, keep claiming. The biggest percentage cuts were for low- and middle-income Americans ... $2 TRILLION dollar's worth in fact. Small businesses benefitted the most.
4. Businesses invested their tax savings to grow their companies and citizens spent a big chunk of what they saved. The results:
5. Unemployment immediately began DECREASING STEADILY ... from 6.3% to 4.8% over the next 5 years.
6. Government Revenues began INCREASING STEADILY and were back to Clinton era levels 18 months later! (Question: how have we done by comparison in the current recession under 18 months of Democratic control of everything?)

The preceding info tells a different story from what liberals want us to believe. Here's what actually led to the financial collapse:

1. ONLY ONE TOXIC investment was the primary cause ... sub-prime mortgages.
2. Derivatives trading DID NOT CAUSE the collapse but they made it a little worse. (Note: if there had not been derivatives trading those toxic sub-prime mortgages would STILL HAVE EXISTED and would have collapsed the financial industry anyway. It wouldn't have been derivatives holders taking it on the chin in that case but the mortgages would have caused a melt-down ANYWAY!)
3. Excessive spending by Republicans during the Bush years also did not cause the collapse but made it worse due to the debt their spending created.

So, why wasn't something done about sub-prime mortgages to prevent it? Well, contrary to liberal propaganda, Bush actually tried.

1. Bush tried to reign in these toxic investments his last two years in office but Democrats were in charge of congress then and they thwarted Bush's attempted regulation of sub-prime mortgages as well as regulation of Fannie's and Freddie's role in the collapse that was coming.
2. In fact, Democrats had pushed sub-prime mortgages for years and as recently as one year prior to the collapse, none other than Barney Frank, chairman of the committee responsible for oversight in this area, said Fannie and Freddie were fine and there was NO risk of economic problems from them.
3. Sure, the financial industry 'packaged' and traded these mortgages via the derivates trading mechanism but derivatives did NOT create the toxic investments that collapsed the economy. When they got around to actually doing something about this whole mess, Democrats fixed 'derivatives' ... did NOT touch the real causes, sub-prime's, Fannie/Freddie or Frank and Dodd!!!
4. Final Irony: When Democrate finally got around to what they call financial overhaul they named that bill (that didn't actually fix what caused the collapse!) the Frank-Dodd bill (THE TWO people most responsible for the growth of sub-prime mortgages AND lack of regulation).

The financial collapse was caused by sub-prime mortgages and had nothing to do with the Bush tax cuts. What did Bush's tax cuts have to do with derivatives or trading them? Nothing! If President Obama actually believes otherwise as he says, one has to wonder about his understanding of fundamental economics and his ability to lead our country economically.

The Failure of Major Federal Programs: Responsibility and Stewardship - Part 4

When a company gets into product or financial trouble, competent leadership asks for an analysis of what happened, why it happened and who made it happen. They know that just pouring money into keeping it going would be a VERY BAD decision. Why? Because that won’t fix the problem and more such problems will arise if they don’t address the root causes. Upon finding the root cause they FIX it! Immediately. Usually including firing those who messed it up so bad.

Why isn’t that rational(!) and time-tested/-proven approach that’s used in the private sector used by our governments? Well, for one reason, they don’t need some elaborate analysis of how it happened because they know and don’t want to admit to their failures. And they certainly don’t want to fix this golden goose. It’s also because they care more about their agendas, re-election and ideology than in actually doing what’s best for the country … for The People to whom they only give lip-service about representing their interests.

In NO RATIONAL WAY can one argue that Republicans are either responsible for creating these programs or for mismanaging them! And to keep blaming ’baby-boomers’ is just complete nonsense. Congress should have been managing these programs to adjust for circumstances that affect their fiscal viability. Did they? No! The ONLY thing they did well was steal ALL the money people poured into social security and use it for all their pet programs. These programs are fiscally destitute (from the start for the most part) thanks to the people who we elected to take care of our national business. Let’s face it, most of these programs are more about finding ways to get their hands on more of our money. They’re much less about doing what is best for citizens or the country.

How can Democrats keep doing this with old and new programs without one iota of accountability or responsibility for the problems that the programs and their mismanagement of them create? All the programs that are about to destroy our economy were both created by and mismanaged by Democrats. Why is that NOT a big deal to Americans or to The Media?

The level of incompetence and irresponsibility represented by the mismanagement of these programs is mind-boggling. It’s insane! Why do we put up with it? Why do we just shrug our shoulders and allow the incompetence to continue unabated ... DECADE AFTER DECADE? Why aren’t broken systems and national bankruptcy a big deal to us? I think many Americans agree that this nonsense behavior and incompetent performance MUST stop.