SEEDS FROM THE SOWER
A nursery rhyme says, “Pussycat, pussycat, where have you been? I’ve been to London to visit the queen. Pussycat, pussycat, what did you do there? I frightened a mouse under her chair.”
What a pity – sidetracked by the seductive, tempted by the trivial.
Every day offers you opportunities to “see the queen,” that is, to live a purposeful life; or to “frighten mice,” that is, to live a purposeless life.
But for every triumph there’s a sacrifice. Dare you pay it?
The Living Bible says, “Work hard so God can say to you, ‘Well done.’ Be a good workman, one who does not need to be ashamed when God examines your work.”
Visit us at: www.SowerMinistries.org
VOTE OFTEN, VOTE WELL, VOTE DEMCRAT
1. Vote Democrat because you believe oil companies' profits of 4% on a gallon of gas are obscene, but the government taxing the same gallon of gas at 15% isn't.
2. Vote Democrat because you believe the government will do a better job of spending the money you earn than you would.
3. Vote Democrat because Freedom of Speech is fine as long as nobody is offended by it.
4. Vote Democrat because you're way too irresponsible to own a gun, and you know that your local police are all you need to protect you from murderers and thieves.
5. Vote Democrat because you believe that people who can't tell us if it will rain on Friday can tell us that the polar ice caps will melt away in ten years if you don't start driving a Prius, Volt, or Bicycle.
6. Vote Democrat because you're not concerned about millions of babies being aborted so long as we keep all death row inmates alive.
7. Vote Democrat because you think illegal aliens have a right to free health care, education, and Social Security benefits, and we should take away the social security from those who paid into it.
8. Vote Democrat because you believe that business should not be allowed to make profits for themselves and their stockholders or pay the men who run the company what they were contracted for and deserve for doing so. They need to break even and give the rest away to the government for redistribution as the Democrats see fit.
9. Vote Democrat because you believe liberal judges need to rewrite the Constitution every few days to suit some fringe kooks who would never get their agendas past the voters.
10. Vote Democrat because you think that it's better to pay billions to people who hate us for their oil, but not drill our own because it might upset some endangered beetle, gopher or fish.
11. Vote Democrat because while we live in the greatest, most wonderful country in the world, we were promised "HOPE AND CHANGE".
12. Vote Democrat because your head is so firmly planted up your arse, it's unlikely that you'll ever have another point of view. But be careful. Someday you could sit down and break your neck!
C I V I L I Z A T I O N
Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force. If you want me to do something for you, you have a choice of either convincing me via argument, or force me to do your bidding under threat of force. Every human interaction falls into one of those two categories, without exception. Reason or force, that's it.
In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively interact through persuasion. Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction, and the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it may sound to some.
When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You have to use reason and try to persuade me, because I have a way to negate your threat or employment of force.
The gun is the only personal weapon that puts a 100-pound woman on equal footing with a 220-pound mugger, a 75-year old retiree on equal footing with a 19-year old gang banger, and a single guy on equal footing with a carload of drunk guys with baseball bats. The gun removes the disparity in physical strength, size, or numbers between a potential attacker and a defender.
There are plenty of people who consider the gun as the source of bad force equations. These are the people who think that we'd be more civilized if all guns were removed from society. But, a firearm makes it easier for an armed mugger to do his job. That, of course, is only true if the mugger's potential victims are mostly disarmed either by choice or by legislative fiat - it has no validity when most of a mugger's potential marks are armed.
People who argue for the banning of arms ask for automatic rule by the young, the strong, and the many, and that's the exact opposite of a civilized society. A mugger, even an armed one, can only make a successful living in a society where the state has granted him a force monopoly.
Then there's the argument that the gun makes confrontations lethal that otherwise would only result in injury. This argument is fallacious in several ways. Without guns involved, confrontations are won by the physically superior party inflicting overwhelming injury on the loser.
People who think that fists, bats, sticks, or stones don't constitute lethal force, watch too much TV, where people take beatings and come out of it with a bloody lip at worst. The fact that the gun makes lethal force easier, works solely in favor of the weaker defender, not the stronger attacker. If both are armed, the field is level.
The gun is the only weapon that's as lethal in the hands of an octogenarian as it is in the hands of a weight lifter. It simply would not work as well as a force equalizer if it wasn't both lethal and easily employable.
When I carry a gun, I don't do so because I am looking for a fight, but because I'm looking to be left alone. The gun at my side means that I cannot be forced, only persuaded. I don't carry it because I'm afraid, but because it enables me to be unafraid. It doesn't limit the actions of those who would interact with me through reason, only the actions of those who would do so by force. It removes force from the equation--and that's why carrying a gun is a civilized act.
TO THE EDITOR:
I hate politics. Really, I do.
Unfortunately, I have been forced into action in the political arena because I am affected. There. I said it: I AM AFFECTED.
Long ago, while I still resided in the Bandon School District, a process of rehabilitating farmland near the mouth of the Coquille River was begun by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Essentially, the rehabilitation entailed snagging money wherever the USFWS could (federal stimulus money, Oregon Lottery, Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, part of the settlement from the New Carissa oil spill) and removing long-ago installed tide gates, re-working ditches, installing viewpoints, among other things.
This is an area of over 400 acres that was a dairy farm, then a cattle operation. It generated money that contributed to our county economy. I personally drove by that farm daily, witnessed hundreds of swallows keeping the mosquito population down, drove through the high water caused when beavers plugged the drains, watched the otters play in the creek that traversed the area. It was not an area void of wildlife. To me it said once again, that man and wildlife can co-habitate.
At the time the project began, the leaders (Roy Lowe and Dave Ledig) were specifcally asked if expansion of this marsh were in the long range plans. Their responses were very clear: no expansion plans.
BUT! Over 150 local landowners - all upriver from the restored marsh (Ni-les'tun, by name) are in receipt of a letter packet detailing the USFWS' effort to expand the marsh. In a warm and fuzzy letter, the director promises to only purchase from willing sellers, give fair market value, yada-yada-yada.
Here's the plan on the web: http://www.fws.gov/oregoncoast/CCP_NES_SLZ_BDM.htm Where you may also note there are two other such plans on the Oregon coast. (!)
Apparently the leaders of this project are aware it may not be popular because the only meeting held in the Bandon area to present this project was supervised by armed police, at the invitation of the USFWS. That says volumes to me.
Their Conservation Plan will ultimately take these properties off the county tax rolls. More than 4,500 acres is being requested, and you can see the writing on the wall that more acreage up river is in the next phase. Roy Lowe is quoted as saying 'when you restore a marsh, it's forever.' You can say the same thing about removing taxable property: once sold to any federal entity, it is forever off the tax rolls. It also will be forever unable to contribute to the county economy in anywhere near the previous volume.
The county assessor's estimate of county tax dollars lost annually exceeds $100,000 on $24.5 million in taxable value. I can't fathom how the federal and state governments (OUR money, btw) can justify removing that value from our taxable property in Coos County, much less come up with funds to help 'restore' it, and still look us in the eye and say they cannot come up with timber replacement money that was promised decades ago.
I am neither a conspiracy theorist, nor unsympathetic to the value of nature in my life. I do believe we need to have some preserves, but taking the entire Coquille Valley (which is the ultimate goal) is excessive, unrealistic and unproductive. Responsible land owners are good stewards, they are thoughtful of their impact and they contribute property taxes and circulate their funds through the local economy, every dollar of which keeps more people employed. (Estimates of job impacts here are in the range of 400 lost.)
Do not be mistaken: this effort to expand the marsh is not about the ecology. It's about control. As I look back on the last 30-40 years I can clearly see how we have very gradually lost control, and therefore the choice to be able to make a living here in this beautiful corner of the state.
Yes, this does affect you, too. You and I can make a positive impact by keeping this from happening, but only if we talk about it. We have to send comments in by Friday to the USFWS by using this form: http://www.fws.gov/oregoncoast/PDF/public%20meeting%20comment%20form_2010.pdf
Or call me (541.404.6756) and I'll email, fax or deliver a copy of the form to you. Other actions that should be taken include calling our local representative DeFazio's office, or his office in Washington, talk to our commissioners, calls to Sen. Wyden's office or to his aide's office. Many calls are going to be required and trust me, they don't take long. We must get involved in local politics! (Dangit!)
More later,
Jill Halliburton
TO THE EDITOR:
WHAT EUROPE AND AMERICA HAVE IN COMMON
Europe and the USA have many things in common, one of which noted currently is the massive debt crisis both are experiencing because of politicians who fail to learn from history. George Santayana noted that those who fail to learn from the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them. In both Europe and the United States, power-hungry politicians have been trying to buy votes with money we don't have, taxing not only this generation but every generation in the future, guaranteeing a lower standard of living for our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. These short-sighted politicos, thinking only ofthe present, seem to think they can go on forever, steadily increasing the public debt, by just printing more and more money without an equal increase in goods and services, hoping to find someone to buy our consequently less and less valuable bonds. As history has repeatedly shown us, this does not work. Every society that has tried this has collapsed. A prime example is the Soviet Union. If socialism were a better system, we would all be speaking Russian. Previously democratic civilizations and nations that have tried this have collapsed into dictatorship. Some noteworthy examples are the Greeks, the Romans, and the post-World War I Weimar Republic of Germany, the latter printing so much money that its currency became virtually worthless, bankrupting the country, and resulting in the establishment of Hitler's Nazi (National Socialist) party dictatorship that brought on the horrors of World War II.
It is time to rid ourselves of such history-ignoring, out-of-touch-with-reality, power-mad politicians, ousting them from power, and never let them in office again.
Harold Bob Jones
Blair, OK
LETTER FROM THE BOSS
To All My Valued Employees,
There have been some rumblings around the office about the future of this company, and more specifically, your job. As you know, the economy has changed for the worse and presents many challenges. However, the good news is this: The economy doesn't pose a threat to your job. What does threaten your job however, is the changing political landscape in this country. However, let me tell you some little tidbits of fact which might help you decide what is in your best interests.
First, while it is easy to spew rhetoric that casts employers against employees, you have to understand that for every business owner, there is a Back Story. This back story is often neglected and overshadowed by what you see and hear. Sure, you see me park my Mercedes outside. You've seen my big home at last year’s Christmas party. I'm sure; all these flashy icons of luxury conjure up some idealized thoughts about my life.
However, what you don't see is the BACK STORY: I started this company 28 years ago. At that time, I lived in a 300 square foot studio apartment for 3 years. My entire living apartment was converted into an office so I could put forth 100% effort into building a company, which by the way, would eventually employ you.
My diet consisted of Ramen Pride noodles because every dollar I spent went back into this company. I drove a rusty Toyota Corolla with a defective transmission. I didn't have time to date. Often times, I stayed home on weekends, while my friends went out drinking and partying. In fact, I was married to my business -- hard work, discipline, and sacrifice.
Meanwhile, my friends got jobs. They worked 40 hours a week and made a modest $50K a year and spent every dime they earned. They drove flashy cars and lived in expensive homes and wore fancy designer clothes. Instead of hitting the Nordstrom's for the latest hot fashion item, I was trolling through the discount store extracting any clothing item that didn't look like it was birthed in the 70's. My friends refinanced their mortgages and lived a life of luxury. I, however, did not. I put my time, my money, and my life into a business with a vision that eventually, some day, I too, will be able to afford these luxuries my friends supposedly had.
So, while you physically arrive at the office at 9am, mentally check in at about noon, and then leave at 5pm, I don't. There is no "off" button for me. When you leave the office, you are done and you have a weekend all to yourself. I unfortunately do not have the freedom. I eat and breathe this company every minute of the day. There is no rest. There is no weekend. There is no happy hour. Every day this business is attached to my hip like a 1 year old special-needs child. You, of course, only see the fruits of that garden -- the nice house, the Mercedes, the vacations... you never realize the Back Story and the sacrifices I've made.
Now, the economy is falling apart and the guy that made all the right decisions and saved his money, has to bail-out all the people who didn't. The people who overspent their paychecks suddenly feel entitled to the same luxuries that I earned and sacrificed a decade of my life for.
Yes, business ownership has its benefits but the price I've paid is steep and not without wounds. Unfortunately, the cost of running this business, and employing you, is starting to eclipse the threshold of marginal benefit and let me tell you why:
I am being taxed to death and the government thinks I don't pay enough. I have state taxes. Federal taxes. Property taxes. Sales and use taxes. Payroll taxes. Workers compensation taxes. Unemployment taxes. Taxes on taxes. I have to hire a tax man to manage all these taxes and then guess what? I have to pay taxes for employing him. Government mandates and regulations and all the accounting that goes with it, now occupy most of my time. On Oct 15th, I wrote a check to the US Treasury for $288,000 for quarterly taxes. You know what my "stimulus" check was? Zero..Nada. Zilch.
The question I have is this: Who is stimulating the economy? Me, the guy who has provided 14 people good paying jobs and serves over 2,200,000 people per year with a flourishing business? Or, the single mother sitting at home pregnant with her fourth child waiting for her next welfare check?
Obviously, government feels the latter is the economic stimulus of this country.
The fact is, if I deducted (Read: Stole) 50% of your paycheck you'd quit and you wouldn't work here. I mean, why should you? That's nuts. Who wants to get rewarded only 50% of their hard work? Well, I agree which is why your job is in jeopardy.
Here is what many of you don't understand ...to stimulate the economy you need to stimulate what runs the economy. Had suddenly government mandated to me that I didn't need to pay taxes, guess what? Instead of depositing that $288,000 into the Washington black-hole, I would have spent it, hired more employees, and generated substantial economic growth. My employees would have enjoyed the wealth of that tax cut in the form of promotions and better salaries. But, you can forget it now.
When you have a comatose man on the verge of death, you don't defibrillate and shock his thumb thinking that will bring him back to life, do you? Or, do you defibrillate his heart?
Business is at the heart of America and always has been. To restart it, you must stimulate it, not kill it. Suddenly, the power brokers in Washington believe the poor of America are the essential drivers of the American economic engine. Nothing could be further from the truth and this is the type of change you can keep.
So where am I going with all this? It's quite simple.
If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, my reaction will be swift and simple. I'll fire you. I'll fire your co-workers. You can then plead with the government to pay for your mortgage, your SUV, and your child's future. Frankly, it isn't my problem any more.
Then, I will close this company down, move to another country, and retire. You see, I'm done. I'm done with a country that penalizes the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, will be my citizenship.
So, if you lose your job, it won't be at the hands of the economy; it will be at the hands of a political hurricane that swept through this country, steam rolled the constitution, and will have changed its landscape forever. If that happens, you can find me sitting on a beach, retired, and with no employees to worry about.
Signed,
THE BOSS
THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER
 ORIGINAL VERSION
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.
The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
MORAL OF THE ORIGINAL STORY:
Accept responsibility for yourself!
MODERN VERSION
The ant goes to school to learn skills that will serve him throughout life. He gets a job and works hard in the withering heat and the rain all summer long, saves his money and starts his own business which employs hundreds of other bugs. He pays confiscatory taxes that help support his community, the state and the nation. He builds a beautiful house, saves and invests his money for future needs and lays up supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays all through school. His communist union teachers tell him he doesn't have to excel because if he fails, the government will take care of him. So he takes liberal arts courses and environmentally acceptable basket weaving classes and neglects to acquire the knowledge he'll need to become economically successful. When he graduates, he can't find a job so he sits around doing drugs and impregnating several teenage grasshoppers while he complains that the world isn't fair.
Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while he is cold and starving.
CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.
America is stunned by the sharp contrast.
How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing,'It's Not Easy Being Green.'
ACORN stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the AFL-CIO, SEIU and Occupy Wall Street groups singing, 'We shall overcome.'
Then Reverends Jeremiah Wright, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have the group kneel down to pray for the grasshopper's sake, while they implore the God they don't really believe in to damn the ants.
President Obama condemns the ant and blames President Bush 43, President Bush 41, President Reagan, Christopher Columbus, and the Pope for the grasshopper's plight.
Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and the Congressional Bug Caucus exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.
The EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Grasshopper Act, retroactive to the beginning of the summer.
The ACLU sues the ant for flying the American flag in front of his business, offending non-Americans who may drive past.
The EPA rules that his manufacturing facility is spewing large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and is endangering the survival of a heretofore unknown species of snail.
The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government Green Czar and given to the grasshopper.
The story ends as we see the grasshopper and his free-loading friends finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which, as you recall, just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around them because the grasshopper doesn't maintain it.
The ant has disappeared, moving his remaining assets and his company to a more business-friendly location, putting his hundreds of employees out of work and reducing the local tax base which causes the community to file bankruptcy and lay off teachers, police and fire fighters.
The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident, and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who sell illegal drugs and terrorize the ramshackle, once prosperous and peaceful community.
The entire Nation collapses bringing the rest of the free world with it.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote in 2012
THE GUN IS CIVILIZATION
by Maj. L. Caudill USMC (Ret)
Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force. If you want me to do something for you, you have a choice of either convincing me via argument, or force me to do your bidding under threat of force. Every human interaction falls into one of those two categories, without exception. Reason or force, that's it.
In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively interact through persuasion. Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction, and the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it may sound to some.
When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You have to use reason and try to persuade me, because I have a way to negate your threat or employment of force.
The gun is the only personal weapon that puts a 100-pound woman on equal footing with a 220-pound mugger, a 75-year old retiree on equal footing with a 19-year old gang banger, and a single guy on equal footing with a carload of drunk guys with baseball bats. The gun removes the disparity in physical strength, size, or numbers between a potential attacker and a defender.
There are plenty of people who consider the gun as the source of bad force equations. These are the people who think that we'd be more civilized if all guns were removed from society, because a firearm makes it easier for a [armed] mugger to do his job. That, of course, is only true if the mugger's potential victims are mostly disarmed either by choice or by legislative fiat--it has no validity when most of a mugger's potential marks are armed.
People who argue for the banning of arms ask for automatic rule by the young, the strong, and the many, and that's the exact opposite of a civilized society. A mugger, even an armed one, can only make a successful living in a society where the state has granted him a force monopoly.
Then there's the argument that the gun makes confrontations lethal that otherwise would only result in injury. This argument is fallacious in several ways. Without guns involved, confrontations are won by the physically superior party inflicting overwhelming injury on the loser.
People who think that fists, bats, sticks, or stones don't constitute lethal force watch too much TV, where people take beatings and come out of it with a bloody lip at worst. The fact that the gun makes lethal force easier works solely in favor of the weaker defender, not the stronger attacker. If both are armed, the field is level.
The gun is the only weapon that's as lethal in the hands of an octogenarian as it is in the hands of a weight lifter. It simply wouldn't work as well as a force equalizer if it wasn't both lethal and easily employable.
When I carry a gun, I don't do so because I am looking for a fight, but because I'm looking to be left alone. The gun at my side means that I cannot be forced, only persuaded. I don't carry it because I'm afraid, but because it enables me to be unafraid. It doesn't limit the actions of those who would interact with me through reason, only the actions of those who would do so by force. It removes force from the equation... and that's why carrying a gun is a civilized act.
So the greatest civilization is one where all citizens are equally armed and can only be persuaded, never forced.
|
The danger to America is not Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the presidency. It will be easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to an electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails us. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The republic can survive an Obama. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president.
-- Author Unknown 
THESE ARE POSSIBLY THE
5 BEST SENTENCES
YOU'LL EVER READ:
1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.
2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.
3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
4. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is the beginning of the end of any nation.
5. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.
DID YOU KNOW?
The 5 important facts about Abortion in Oregon are:
1. Abortion is legal for any reason, at any time during the pregnancy.
2. Even if Roe v. Wade were overturned, Oregon's abortion-on-demand policy would remain.
3. One in five pregnancies end in abortion
4. Oregon Taxpayers already pay for more than 1/4 of all abortions in this state, and when the National Health Care bill passed in Congress goes into effect, taxpayers will be paying 100% nation-wide,
5. There are no restrictions on minors getting abortions or women using abortion as a form of birth control.
Oregon needs leaders who will commit to protecting the most vulnerable, so vote PRO-LIFE on Election Day, November 2nd.
TO THE EDITOR:
Actual 'Letter to the Editor' from the February 5th edition of the Wichita Falls, Texas Times Record News.
Dear IRS,
I am sorry to inform you that I will not be able to pay taxes owed April 15, but all is not lost.
I have paid these taxes: accounts receivable tax, building permit tax, CDL tax, cigarette tax, corporate income tax, dog license tax, federal income tax, unemployment tax, gasoline tax, hunting license tax, fishing license tax, waterfowl stamp tax, inheritance tax, inventory tax, liquor tax, luxury tax, Medicare tax, city, school and county property tax (up 33 percent last 4 years), real estate tax, social security tax, road usage tax, toll road tax, state and city sales tax, recreational vehicle tax, state franchise tax, state unemployment tax, telephone federal excise tax, telephone federal state and local surcharge tax, telephone minimum usage surcharge tax, telephone state and local tax, utility tax, vehicle license registration tax, capitol gains tax, lease severance tax, oil and gas assessment tax, Colorado property tax, Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, Oklahoma and New Mexico sales tax, and many more that I can't recall but I have run out of space and money.
When you do not receive my check April 15, just know that it is an honest mistake. Please treat me the same way you treated Congressmen Charles Rangle, Chris Dodd, Barney Frank and ex-Congressman Tom Dashelle and, of course, your boss Timothy Geithner. No penalties and no interest. Oh & don't forget Al Franken.
Sincerely,
Ed Barnett
Wichita Falls
P.S. I will make at least a partial payment as soon as I get my stimulus check.
THOMAS JEFFERSON - FOUNDING
FATHER - VISIONARY
Thomas Jefferson was a remarkable man who started learning very early in life and never stopped.
At 5, began studying under his cousins' tutor.
At 9, studied Latin, Greek and French.
At 14, studied classical literature and additional languages.
At 16, entered the College of William and Mary.
At 19, studied Law for 5 years starting under George Wythe.
At 23, started his own law practice.
At 25, was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses.
At 31, wrote the widely circulated "Summary View of the Rights of British America" and retired from his law practice.
At 32, was a Delegate to the Second Continental Congress.
At 33, wrote the Declaration of Independence.
At 33, took three years to revise Virginia 's legal code and wrote a Public Education bill and a statute for Religious Freedom.
At 36, was elected the second Governor of Virginia succeeding Patrick Henry.
At 40, served in Congress for two years.
At 41, was the American minister to France and negotiated commercial treaties with European nations along with Ben Franklin and John Adams.
At 46, served as the first Secretary of State under George Washington.
At 53, served as Vice President and was elected president of the American Philosophical Society.
At 55, drafted the Kentucky Resolutions and became the active head of Republican Party.
At 57, was elected the third president of the United States ..
At 60, obtained the Louisiana Purchase doubling the nation's size.
At 61, was elected to a second term as President.
At 65, retired to Monticello ..
At 80, helped President Monroe shape the Monroe Doctrine.
At 81, almost single-handedly created the University of Virginia and served as its first president.
At 83, died on the 50th anniversary of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence [John Adams died the same day]
Thomas Jefferson knew what it would take to establish a government for, of and by the people because he-himself studied the previous failed attempts at government. He understood actual history, the nature of God, his laws and the nature of man. That happens to be more than what most understand today, especially those who purport to be our leaders. Jefferson really knew his stuff. A voice from the past to lead us in the future.
John F. Kennedy held a dinner in the White House for a group of the brightest minds in the nation at that time. He made this statement, "This is perhaps the assembly of the most intelligence ever to gather at one time in the White House with the exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."
When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe.
Thomas Jefferson
The Republic will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
Thomas Jefferson
It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.
Thomas Jefferson
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
Thomas Jefferson
My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.
Thomas Jefferson
No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.
Thomas Jefferson
The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.
Thomas Jefferson
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Thomas Jefferson
To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson said in 1802: "I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property - until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."
[The Federal Reserve Act was enacted in 1913]
How little we have learned from the past and from this great man who was instrumental in the establishment of the United States of America. By ignoring his foresight and wisdom, are we now undermining and destroying the greatest nation in the history of mankind?
A TEXAN'S ANSWER TO WELFARE
This was in the Waco Tribune Herald,
Waco, TX Nov 18, 2010
Put me in charge ...
Put me in charge of food stamps. I'd get rid of Lone Star cards; no cash for Ding Dongs or Ho Ho's, just money for 50-pound bags of rice and beans, blocks of cheese and all the powdered milk you can haul away. If you want steak and frozen pizza, then get a job.
Put me in charge of Medicaid. The first thing I'd do is to get women Norplant birth control implants or tubal ligations. Then, we'll test recipients for drugs, alcohol, and nicotine and document all tattoos and piercings. If you want to reproduce or use drugs, alcohol, smoke or get tats and piercings, then get a job.
Put me in charge of government housing. Ever live in a military barracks? You will maintain our property in a clean and good state of repair. Your "home" will be subject to inspections anytime and possessions will be inventoried. If you want a plasma TV or X-box 360, then get a job and your own place.
In addition, you will either present a check stub from a job each week or you will report to a "government" job. It may be cleaning the roadways of trash, painting and repairing public housing, whatever we find for you. We will sell your 22 inch rims and low profile tires and your blasting stereo and speakers and put that money toward the "common good."
Before you write that I've violated someone's rights, realize that all of the above is voluntary. If you want our money, accept our rules .. Before you say that this would be "demeaning" and ruin their "self esteem," consider that it wasn't that long ago that taking someone else's money for doing absolutely nothing was demeaning and lowered self esteem.
If we are expected to pay for other people's mistakes we should at least attempt to make them learn from their bad choices. The current system rewards them for continuing to make bad choices.
AND While you are on Government subsistence, you no longer can VOTE! Yes that is correct. For you to vote would be a conflict of interest. You will voluntarily remove yourself from voting while you are receiving a Government welfare check. If you want to vote get a job!
HOW GOVERNMENT WORKS
(If the Edsel had been a govt. project it would still be in production.)
Once upon a time the government had a vast scrap yard in the middle of a desert. Congress said, "Someone may steal from it at night." So they created a night watchman position and hired a person for the job.
Then Congress said, "How does the watchman do his job without instruction?" So they created a planning department and hired two people, one person to write the instructions and one person to do time studies.
Then Congress said, "How will we know the night watchman is doing the tasks correctly?" So they created a Quality Control department and hired two people, one to do the studies and one to write the reports.
Then Congress said, "How are these people going to get paid?" So they created two positions, a time keeper and a payroll officer, then hired two people.
Then Congress said, "Who will be accountable for all of these people?"
So they created an administrative section and hired three people, an Administrative Officer, an Assistant Administrative Officer, and a Legal Secretary.
Then Congress said, "We have had this command in operation for one year, and we are $918,000 over budget. We must cut back." So they laid off the night watchman.
NOW slowly, let that sink in. Quietly, we go like sheep to slaughter.
Does anybody remember the reason given for the establishment of the DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY during the Carter Administration?
Anybody?
Anything?
No?
Didn't think so!
Bottom line: We've spent several hundred billion dollars in support of an agency...the reason for which not one person who reads this can remember!
Ready? It was very simple and, at the time, everybody thought it very appropriate.
The Department of Energy was instituted on 8/04/1977 TO REDUCE OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL.
Hey, pretty efficient, huh???
AND, NOW, IT'S 2011 -- 34 YEARS LATER -- AND THE BUDGET FOR THIS "NECESSARY" DEPARTMENT IS AT $24.2 BILLION A YEAR. IT HAS 16,000 FEDERAL EMPLOYEES AND APPROXIMATELY 100,000 CONTRACT EMPLOYEES, AND LOOK AT THE JOB IT HAS DONE! THIS IS WHERE YOU SLAP YOUR FOREHEAD AND SAY, "WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?"
A little over 33 years ago, 30% of our oil consumption was foreign imports. Today 70% of our oil consumption is foreign imports.
Ah, yes - the good old Federal bureaucracy!!
NOW, WE HAVE TURNED THE BANKING SYSTEM, HEALTH CARE, AND THE AUTO INDUSTRY OVER TO THE SAME GOVERNMENT? |
