All That Is Necessary

Drilling? - I'll Believe It When I See It

In what might be a tiny, tiny, tiny bit of good news, Obama has opened up some previously restricted areas to drilling for oil and gas.

Obama to Unveil Offshore Oil Drilling Plans

"In a reversal of a long-standing ban on most offshore drilling, President Barack Obama is allowing oil drilling 50 miles off Virginia's shorelines. At the same time, he is rejecting some new drilling sites that had been planned in Alaska.

Obama's plan offers few concessions to environmentalists, who have been strident in their opposition to more oil platforms off the nation's shores. Hinted at for months, the plan modifies a ban that for more than 20 years has limited drilling along coastal areas other than the Gulf of Mexico.

In addition, the Interior Department has prepared a plan to add drilling platforms in the eastern Gulf of Mexico if Congress allows that moratorium to expire."

So far, so good.  BUT, since I do not trust Obama or any of the other scum in D.C. I'll wait to see the details on this news. I am sure they will screw it up or put so many restriction into place that drilling would be completely unprofitable.

UPDATE:  The more I learn of this "drilling" the more it appears to be smoke and mirrors.  No real improvement in expanding our domestic energy supply.  What a freakin' surprise!

The Demonization Of Freedom-Lovers WIll Only Intensify Before The Elections

We have a very important election coming up in about seven months.  It will probably be the most important vote in my lifetime.  It will determine the course the majority of the voters wish this country to take.  Will it be on the road to serfdom, slavery and collectivism?  Or will the election slam the brakes on and put the bus in reverse before it plunges over that cliff we are getting closer to by the day?

Right now I think it is 50/50.  My main concern is that a majority of voters have become so dependent on the federal government that they will want to continuation of the growth of government.  They are the ones who want the false security of big brother rather than the exhilarating contest of liberty.

The collectivists know this, too.  They have already started the demonization of the right and any groups that might align themselves on the side of smaller government.  Watch for it to intensify over the next few months.  They cannot allow their momentum towards totalitarianism to be stopped.

They already mock the tea-party movement, calling them tea-baggers, racists, etc.  (The racist tag for darn near everything is still their favorite "go to" soundbite.)  Any individual or group that appears to pose a threat to the collectivists and their plans will be mocked, ridiculed and demonized.  The next step will be to call them before Congress for a public flogging.  (e.g. The companies that had the nerve to publicly state how many millions the health-care bill will cost the company have already been "requested" to appear before Congress, and to bring along a few hundred thousand documents with them.)

So, just be prepared.  If you stand for liberty, you are their enemy.  What a sad state we have come to when that is the case.

A Brit Nails The Obama White House Dead On

Atlas Shrugs wrote about this editorial from the Telegraph in the UK called "Barack Obama’s imperial hubris will usher in American decline" written by Nile Gardiner.  He nails it.

Here is a taste, but read the whole thing by clicking the above link:

"Looking past the smoke and mirrors spin wafting out of the White House, the future looks far more grim. Under Barack Obama the United States is drowning under $13 trillion of debt, with the health care bill likely to significantly add to that burden. The $787 billion stimulus package has failed to create jobs, and unemployment levels are at their highest in a generation, with one out of every ten Americans out of work. The housing market remains extremely weak, with little sign of a significant recovery.

On the world stage, Barack Obama has looked like a deer in the headlights in the face of Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the biggest state-based threat to world security since the end of the Cold War. The president has no real plan in place to stop the Mullahs in their tracks, and seems content to live with a genocidal, Islamist, nuclear-armed Tehran. He has also shown little interest in developing an effective global missile defense system to protect the United States, or increasing levels of US defence spending. He has invested a great deal of his energy on the dream of a nuclear-free world, while all around him hostile states are developing their nuclear weapons programmes. As Nicolas Sarkozy aptly put it, referring to Obama’s stunning naiveté – “we live in the real world, not in a virtual one”.

At the same time, President Obama has weakened America’s alliances while kowtowing to America’s enemies. Great Britain and Israel, Washington’s closest allies in Europe and the Middle East, have been treated with sneering contempt, while hostile regimes have been greeted with the extended hand of friendship. When a great nation turns on its own friends and embraces its adversaries you know there is something fundamentally wrong with its leadership."

The damage being done by the Boy King and Biden, the court jester, is mind-boggling.  Add in Pelosi and Reid and you get the most socialist rulers we have ever seen in this country.

We still have three years of this Marxist in the White House.  But we do have a chance in November to begin to reclaim a free country.  Make your vote count.  It may be the most important vote you ever cast.

Remember, stock up, get yourself healthy, and learn to be more self-sufficient.  It will come in handy soon, I think.

VAT Tax - Keep Your Eyes Open

I've seen/heard this a few places now.  The likelihood of a VAT (Value Added Tax) being implemented to pay for these gargantuan debts and spending programs, like health-care, is growing.

Charles Krauthammer has a great piece on it call "The VAT Cometh" at National Review Online.

Here is a piece of it:

"With the passage of Obamacare, which created a vast new middle-class entitlement, a national sales tax of the kind almost universal in Europe is inevitable.

That’s where the value-added tax comes in. For the politician, it has the virtue of expediency: People are used to sales taxes, and this one produces a river of revenue. Every 1 percent of VAT would yield up to $1 trillion a decade (depending on what you exclude — if you exempt food, for example, the yield would be more like $900 billion).It’s the ultimate cash cow. Obama will need it.

By introducing universal health care, he has pulled off the largest expansion of the welfare state in four decades. And the most expensive. Which is why all of the European Union has the VAT. Huge VATs. Germany: 19 percent. France and Italy: 20 percent. Most of Scandinavia: 25 percent"

Oh boy!  More taxes!  Ya know, if, just before they implement a VAT tax, you stock up on your long-term, non-perishable items you won't have to pay the VAT tax.  Or if you learn to barter/trade.  Just saying........

P.S. The VAT tax is NOT the same thing as the Fair Tax Plan, of which I am a huge supporter.

Danger/Opportunity

There is no doubt in my mind that our present course into full-blown socialism is simply unsustainable.  Our debt load is too great to repay.  We have lost our manufacturing base.  Our political class is absolutely incapable of restraining themselves from spending and extending total control over every aspect of our lives.  It will end very badly for most people. 

However, in the chaos that will follow there is opportunity.  Perhaps those of us in the liberty camp should be preparing to step in after the fall.  Provide an option for all those lost souls looking for an alternative.  Just thinking out loud at this point.  Maybe someone out there has some ideas.

If you do, please let me know.  Let's make this an "open source" idea.

The Carnage Begins

Now that this wonderful health-care takeover is the law of the land, for now, the consequences are starting to hit.

AT&T will take $1B non-cash charge for health care

"AT&T Inc. will take a $1 billion non-cash accounting charge in the first quarter because of the health care  overhaul and may cut benefits it offers to current and retired workers. 

The charge is the largest disclosed so far. Earlier this week, AK Steel Corp., Caterpillar Inc., Deere & Co. and Valero Energy announced similar accounting charges, saying the health care law that President Barack Obama signed Tuesday will raise their expenses. On Friday, 3M Co. said it will also take a charge of $85 million to $90 million."

And the charge is not all:

"AT&T also said Friday that it is looking into changing the health care benefits it offers because of the new law. Analysts say retirees could lose the prescription drug coverage provided by their former employers as a result of the overhaul."

Oh Boy!  Higher costs and less service already.  Expect to see a lot more of this stuff over the next few months as the pesky little details start to emerge.

Real Hope & Change For Doctors - The Law Of Unintended Consequences

I saw this referenced over at Right Wing News in a post by Warner Todd Huston.  Check out this website:

PracticeAbroad.com

"Polls have shown that almost half of American doctors are considering retiring early due to the passage of socialized healthcare in the United States. But why retire early when you can pursue the profession you love without the government interfering in your doctor-patient relationships!

If you're ready for a fresh start, consider practicing medicine abroad! Join thousands of other American doctors who are looking for robust free-market nations where they can practice medicine without government interference.

PracticeAbroad.com helps doctors relocate to other countries where they can find a more favorable environment to practice. You can still have the opportunity to do what you love in a healthcare system that respects your profession and in a place where you will love to live."

Sure, most doctors, due to family and friends won't move out of the country.  They will simply retire.  But a lot of the doctors that love what they do, usually the best and the brightest, will be sorely tempted to go somewhere they are not treated like property.  I would keep an eye on three numbers; 1 - the number of doctors who retire; 2 - the number of doctors who leave the country, 3 - the number of American students who enroll in medical school. 

Actions have consequences, even if you pretend they do not.

Time To Starve The Beast

The central government is racing full-bore for total control of your life, from cradle to grave, and a little bit beyond to collect those wonderful death taxes.

Continue to write, fight and protest, but do even more - STARVE THE BEAST!  Do everything you can to minimize the amount of money you send to government, ANY government.  You can Google the term "starve the beast" and get a whole bunch of different theories and pro and cons.  To me it simply means I am sending as little money as possible to any government.  Keeping as much of MY money as possible.  That sounds good enough for me.

I also see this as a precursor to "Going Galt".  That is the next step.

Good luck!

Have You Noticed?

Have you noticed that over the past century the forces of collectivism have made relentless advances against the U.S. Constitution and liberty?  I have heard, pretty much my entire life, from conservatives and libertarians that we must fight because the American people are center-right and prefer freedom.  Ya know something?  I'm not sure I believe this anymore.  I have experienced nothing but a steady erosion of my freedom for over five decades now.  The growth of central state control has not stopped or reversed.  The best Reagan could do is slow it down a bit, but it never stopped growing.

I've heard on a number of radio shows and TV shows that this year the number of people dependent on the U.S. Government for their income will surpass 50%.  The moochers will outnumber the producers.

Now we have in the White House a person despises my America and is well on his way, with his willing allies in Congress and the media, to transforming the USA into a more socialist country than even the dismal European countries.

What to do?  Keep fighting, of course, because there is no other option.  But just be aware we are not winning.  We are losing this battle for the direction of the USA.  November 2010 will tell the tale.

If the democrats are not soundly defeated it will be time to Go Galt.

In the meantime keep prepping!

Don't Want To Go Along With The Libs New Health-care? Meet The IRS

This headline says it all as far ass your freedom goes - 16,500 more IRS agents needed to enforce Obamacare.

"A new analysis by the Joint Economic Committee and the House Ways & Means Committee minority staff estimates up to 16,500 new IRS personnel will be needed to collect, examine and audit new tax information mandated on families and small businesses in the ‘reconciliation’ bill being taken up by the U.S. House of Representatives this weekend. ...

Scores of new federal mandates and fifteen different tax increases totaling $400 billion are imposed under the Democratic House bill.  In addition to more complicated tax returns, families and small businesses will be forced to reveal further tax information to the IRS, provide proof of ‘government approved’ health care and submit detailed sales information to comply with new excise taxes."

The collectivists just took away another huge chunk of your freedom.  Enjoy what you have left, for now.