Loading ...On the Road Again
I’m heading down to Southern Indiana to give a speech and be part of a panel discussion this morning. So today’s entry is pretty much open to whatever is on your minds. I’ll be back this afternoon and if you’re up for it, join me tonight for WXNT’s Cocktails and Conversation at McCormick and Schmik’s in downtown Indianapolis from 5-8. We’ll be featuring Tommy Bahama drink specials and enjoying each other’s company and having lively discussions.
July 24th, 2008 at 11:18 am
My, my, my…where should we begin? So many issues, so little blog space.
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I’ll start with what’s on my mind…
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As long as the Peashakes continue to run unobstructed - as they launder their profits in complicit bank accounts, we can rest assured that local government authority must be under the thumb of someone other than the voters. Anderson, Brizzi, and the rest who are in a position to act, yet allow the activity to continue, should be the focus of an investigation. Maybe citizens need to unite and find a good private investigative agency.
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And speaking of crime, according to Realtytrac, foreclosure rates droppoed nearly 1% in Indiana between May and June. But the June number is 17% higher than one year ago, and numerous economic forecasters are now admitting that we’re only at the beginning of the economic downturn. Earlier this week, a woman in Boston sent a faxed response to her bank saying that she’ll be dead before they take her home. She shot herself after sending the fax. As more folks get desperate in the Indy area, I expect crime rates to increase - especially among the working poor who have little or no safety net.
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In terms of personal finances, batten down the hatches and move your money into a local bank with a solid balance sheet. I’ll be transferring my Wachovia accounts to a small but successful credit union in the next week. Major European and Asian banks have shifted assets and re-allocated funds away from at-risk US and UK finance. Considering the recent failure of IndyMac, it only makes sense that we follow their lead. FYI - when the Indymac failure took place I asked my advisor at Wachovia what she thought of the whole thing - she quietly stated that “the only difference between Indymac and the rest of us is that Indymac ‘went public’”.
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And finally, on the international front, we’ve all heard by now that the Russians are talking about initiating strategic flights between Russia and Cuba in response to the US signing a missile shield agreement with Czechoslovakia. It looks like big business has managed to get their cold war turned back on. Russia has warned since day one that installation of the missile shield would result in a necessary military/technical response. The Russians have also stated in the past that any attack on Iran would be considered an attack on Russia. They know that the missile shield is directed towards them in order to limit their strategic capabilities in the event that Iran is attacked.
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And what’s the good news? Many families suffering because of bad loans (or because of their own poor planning/selfishness etc) are gonna get the federal bailout. In other words, the banks who made the bad loans, who didn’t do background checks, and who didn’t verify incomes and employment history - they’re all gonna get paid, regardless of their foolishness. They’re gonna be paid by you and by me when we get our tax bills. Doesn’t it make you feel special when our legislature makes taxpayers legally obligated to prop up these banks with our hard earned money? Who says crime doesn’t pay?
July 24th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Humor (not really):
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http://www.jibjab.com/originals/big_box_mart
July 24th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Not in todays news: The $800 Billion housing bill that was passed by Congress will require that all credit card transactions are reported to the IRS (our individual spending will now be monitored by the government), all employees working in the mortgage industry must be fingerprinted, and the national debt ceiling is being raised by $800 Billion in order to fund the bill - via our taxes. God only knows what’s in the other 600 pages. I hope that you trust your Reps.
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Also not in the news - struggling Wachovia bank is facing multiple accusations of issuing fake $100 bills to customers. A customer in Orlando withdrew cash from his Wachovia account in order to transfer it to another bank - the other bank refused b/c the cash was counterfeit. The Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies are currently investigating the allegations.
July 24th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
I wrote both Bayh and Lugar urging them to not vote for the Housing Bill - but Lugar isn’t even a Republican anymore. The responses I get from Lugar insult my intelligence. This is a crazy crazy crazy bill. I still can’t believe it. I guess the printing presses are at full speed right now….
July 24th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Shorebreak, do you have any primary references for your “not in the news” items? I’m not disputing you at all. I just want to research these items further myself. Thank you.
July 24th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
QUICK!!!! Exchange your Federal Reserve Notes for ’specie’ !!!
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Indiana Constitution: http://www.in.gov/legislative/ic/code/const/art11.html
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Article 11, Section 3:
Section 3. Registry by state of notes
Section 3. If the General Assembly shall enact a general banking law,
such law shall provide for the registry and countersigning, by an
officer of State, of all paper credit designed to be circulated as
money; and ample collateral security, readily convertible into specie,
for the redemption of the same in gold or silver, shall be required;
which collateral security shall be under the control of the proper
officer or officers of State.
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Article 11, Section 7:
Section 7. Redemption of bills and notes
Section 7. All bills or notes issued as money shall be, at all times,
redeemable in gold or silver; and no law shall be passed, sanctioning,
directly or indirectly, the suspension, by any bank or banking company
of specie payments.
July 25th, 2008 at 1:21 am
Uncommon Sense -
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Here’s a few details on the housing bill:
http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog/?p=235
http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog/?p=232
The Library of Congress search tool states that it takes a day or two to get the approved text, so I have yet to conduct my own research. FYI, the bill is H.R.3221.
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On counterfeit money from Wachovia you can find info here:
http://blog.itestcash.com/
Here are two stories re: two different Wachovia branches in Florida issuing conterfeit bills (20’s and 100’s) in the last couple of months:
http://www.wftv.com/news/16714957/detail.html
http://www.local6.com/news/16960809/detail.html
July 25th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Uncommon sense - I posted a healthy response to your questions last night with links to media reports and more. It appeared to send but didn’t show up on the board. Maybe there’s moderator activity required when posting multiple links? If so Abdul and others, please post my response to Uncommon Sense. Thanks.
July 26th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Can voters afford to ignore these facts?
A historian and former journalist, Judah Benjamin, has put together a scholarly paper on the meaning of the requirement in Article II of the U.S. Constitution that a person be a “natural born citizen” in order to serve as president of the United States and what it means for Sen. Barack Obama’s eligibility for our nation’s highest office. The paper is laid out in a two-part series at the Texas Darlin blog. You will likely find his conclusion’s about the meaning of “natural born” surprising and be even more surprised by his conclusion that Obama became an Indonesian citizen after his mother married his step father and moved the family to Jakarta when Obama was six years old. Benjamin readily admits he is not a lawyer, but his well-researched paper was reviewed by a constitutional lawyer at Columbia University and an expert on Indonesian law.
Benjamin concludes that Obama is barred by Article II from serving as president of the United States. His argument can be summed up as follows:
Barack Obama has been a citizen of multiple nations. And even if his citizenship outside the US was renounced, Article II of the U.S. Constitution prohibits him from being President, for the same reason that naturalized citizens are prohibited: divided loyalties.
Article II reads, “No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President.” Benjamin goes to great pains in his paper to explain this clause does not have anything to do with the location where you were born; rather, it’s about one’s allegiance and loyalty to the United States. Quoting Justice Swayne from a precedent-setting case, U.S. v. Rhodes, explaining Article II: “All persons born in the Allegiance of the King are Natural- Born subjects, and all persons born in the Allegiance of the United States are Natural-Born Citizens. Birth and Allegiance go together. Such is the Rule of the Common Law, and it is the Common Law of this Country…since as before the Revolution.” Dual nationality, according to Benjamin’s article, is “impossible as a condition”. That’s why persons who have become naturalized citizens are ineligible to be president Benjamin explains–because they have had allegiance to another country. To the extent any law passed by Congress runs counter to this understanding, Benjamin reminds us the Constitution will always trump a statute no matter how long ago it was written or what people think of its import today.
Benjamin takes time in his article to address the brush up in the liberal media over Sen. John McCain’s eligibility to serve under Article II because of his birth in the Panama Canal Zone. McCain’s parents, Benjamin explains were “serving as agents, or ambassadors, of their country while serving in the Panama Canal Zone.” Because McCain’s parents had been sent to the Panama Canal Zone by our government, their child “born abroad” would always be considered a “natural born” citizen. To the extent McCain may have also been considered a “dual citizen” under Panamanian law, Benjamin says that status would have been washed away when he joined the U.S. Navy. Benjamin dismisses the notion that the 14th Amendment in any way altered the requirement in Article II as suggested on Sen. Obama’s Fight The Smears website and elsewhere.
In Benjamin’s analysis, Obama’s problem has nothing to do with whether he was born in the U.S. For purpose of his analysis, he assumes Obama was born in Hawaii as he claims. Obama’s problem, according to Benjamin, is that he has been a citizen of more than one country. And Benjamin’s main point of contention on this does not rest with his father’s Kenyan nationality but rather his conclusion that Obama became an Indonesian citizen. What? Yes, that’s what Benjamin believes based upon everything he has been able to review that is available in the public record. Benjamin focuses on Obama’s school records from STLP Asisi, his first Elementary School. Benjamin says it is undisputed that his school records include the following information:
He was enrolled on January 1st 1968, given Serial No 203 and placed in Class 1 B. His Religion is given as Islam, his Nationality Indonesian, his Father’s Name as L Soetoro Ma., his Father’s Occupation as Official, Director General’s Office TNI [Topography Division Indonesian Army] and his Name as Barry Soetoro.
Based upon Benjamin’s analysis of Indonesian law, Obama had to have been adopted by his step father and changed his name to Soetoro. Under Indonesian law, Obama automatically became an Indonesian citizen when his step father adopted him. Further, Benjamin supports his contention based upon who was eligible to attend a state-run school at which he was later enrolled–only Indonesian citizens. But how could Obama have later re-entered the U.S. as a U.S. citizen and remained here all of these years? Benjamin surmises that Obama’s mother retained a U.S. passport for him, which he was issued based upon his birth in the state of Hawaii. He left Jakarta using his Indonesian passport as Barry Soetoro when he was ten years old and entered the U.S. on his American passport as Barack Obama, a practice Benjamin describes as common but not legal. “There is clear prima facie evidence that Senator Barack Hussein Obama has held at least two Citizenships, American and Indonesian, Benjamin concludes. “Under Article II of the Constitution that disqualifies him for POTUS, and it should.”
Benjamin makes some interesting observations about the resolution the U.S. Senate passed earlier this year to declare Sen. McCain a “natural born” citizen within the meaning of Article II and, thus, eligible to serve as president. “Why were Democratic Senators trying to pass a Resolution making Senator McCain undoubtedly legally eligible when this issue had already been cleared up in 2000 and again in 2004?” Benjamin asks. He notes a particular recital Sen. Obama and Sen. McCaskill insisted on adding to the resolution: “Whereas previous presidential candidates were born outside of the United States of America and were understood to be eligible to be President”. According to Benjamin, based upon news reports, Obama and McCaskill attempted to remove from the resolution this recital: “Whereas John Sidney McCain, III, was born to American citizens on an American military base in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936.” “It seems clear that McCaskill and Obama were attempting to create a blanket Resolution covering ALL Foreign Born candidates,” Benjamin opines. McCain did not need this resolution in Benjamin’s view.
July 26th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Dude, ‘pithy and no bloviating’, OK? (j/k) You need your own blog. (still j/k)