Call them Banksters, it's as good a label as any...

 

by Craig Willms

They keep us divided, they keep us at each other's throats, they keep us fighting amongst ourselves. You can call them The Banksters, it's as good a name as any. They could be referred to as the Globalists as they certainly have orchestrated and benefited from the globalist agenda. They are a small but powerful group of men on both sides of the Atlantic that truly control the world, and they have for the better part of a century. National governments in most of the western nations are set up to transparently serve The Banksters. Most of our political leaders are just actors and pretenders - it is as they say, political theater. I suspect that the politicians know what they really are as they set out to stir the pot in order to keep us all jacked-up. They keep it hidden because in reward they become rich beyond their wildest dreams. 

The Banksters were on the cusp of 1984-style control of the world. Suppressed speech and social control through the use of surveillance with threats of incarceration already exists is some counties today. The advent of digital ID and a so-called cashless society is to be the final nail in our coffin. They obviously control global banking, they also control what we think and believe as they ultimately control the media and are the power behind the Internet ecosystem and of course, social media. As long as the hoi polloi are concentrating their ire on each other no one is looking at them. There are outliers and outsiders who keep challenging them. Think Vladimir Putin, think a Xi Jinping, think the Ayatollah among others. No surprise there. Now think Donald Trump! Yes indeed, it's not that Trump is in league with the others, but he is a sworn enemy of The Banksters just the same. Can The Banksters reach their objective of complete control before the veil is fully lifted? Time will tell.

They have, since the inception of the globalist age and before, used war among other actions to advance their cause. They manipulate money and currency until there's nothing left to squeeze out of any particular locality, then whip up a war, invading another sovereign nation to steal their resources. Rinse and repeat. For decades the U.S. has been their bludgeon. That is changing before our eyes. 

This is where Trump comes into the fray. If you've listened to what Trump has been saying for decades, long before he became the bloviator in chief, he's been decrying the globalist agenda that's been advanced by The Banksters for decades. His contention is that America is being ripped off and severely diminished as an industrial power. Coming on the heels of the America hating, socialist friendly Obama, Trump blundered toward the White House not really expecting to win, clearly. His bull in the china shop routine emboldened his detractors. The alarm bells rang among The Banksters and they jumped into action to stop him at all costs. No need to list all the schemes they used to discredit or incarcerate Trump, we only need to cite Russia Russia Russia. To a degree it certainly stymied him but it didn't seem to be enough to sink the ship. The conspiracy minded among us were not shocked when Covid-19 bloomed into existence just about the time the reelection machine was about to be revved up. It enabled the puppeteers to meddle with the 2020 election apparatus and rather suddenly Trump was out. The Banksters and their globalist cheerleaders had done it! Now with their dummy propped up behind the Resolute Desk the final push had begun.

In a twist of fate the marionette strings frayed and Biden fell off the rocking horse. With Covid-19 in the rearview the tide began to turn. It crashed down with a splash when Elon Musk purchased Twitter and removed the censorship shackles, showing that it could be done. It can't be overstated what this one move did to the narrative. Meanwhile Trump, having beaten back the dogs was poised to face Biden in a rematch. We all known what happened next.

With Trump back in power, the gloves came off. He and his team were ready this time, the learning curve behind them. The Globalist's agenda if not exposed to the light is at least being chased from the shadows. Britain and the rest of the European anti-Semites could hide behind "the Jews are controlling the world" for only so long, Trump is having none of it. The bottomless pit of U.S. arms and money was coming to an end. Trump wanted the wars to end, and if not ended, then U.S. weapons would be purchased not given away. 

Trump's team helped broker peace deals in several wars we weren't even being told about as well as the Hamas/Israeli war, all while giving the Ayatollahs a good thumping. For Ukraine and Russia there's been no lack of effort on Trump's part. He's not just saying things, he's doing things. 

The end of globalization is upon us. The world will still be a global marketplace but not dictated out of the European "club" in Davos Switzerland with its North American members. Via self-inflicted wounds Europe is destroying itself - Trump is merely helping them. With a hollowed out Europe gone as a global force it leaves only the U.S. and China. No other centers of gravity exist. One would hope you'd be rooting for the U.S. 

The Banksters won't go easy. Their network is immensely powerful. In all likelihood they'll outlast Trump and things will resume on the same trajectory as before the Trump-age. Before Trump their goal was to get their hands on Russia's resources (that's always been their goal). They foresaw a war between Russia and Ukraine draining Russia's war capacity with a bonus of the potentiality of Putin's government collapsing. They've been thwarting the push for peace at every turn. Ukraine is a sacrifice, The Banksters care nothing for Ukrainians. The corruption of Ukraine preceded Putin's invasion by a decade or two. It was NATO sabre rattling by the EU and the Americans that ultimately forced Putin to act when he did. Trump inherited this war, he didn't start it. 

Britain's military is currently training with Finland at the Russian border. Finland is a new NATO member but they have never been afraid of Russia - in fact they have been trading across the Russian border for hundreds of years. Now suddenly Finland is partnering with Britain in the event Russia invades? Something smells here. Britain has meddled in Russian affairs forever. Is it any wonder that the Russia Russia Russia affair was born in London and sold to Hillary Clinton to smear Trump in 2016. London is the financial center for The Banksters, so understand where this is all coming from. Putin is no saint, he's an evil little man, but he's been provoked and provoked and provoked again. 

The Trump administration has put The Banksters on notice. Trump's detractors on both sides of the Atlantic think their hyper-rhetoric is a viable defense against  his endless bloviating. They take the bait but Trump's rhetoric is merely to cover his consequential actions. Trump's real "warp speed" isn't a vaccination for Covid-19, it's thwarting The Banksters at every turn. Almost everything he's done in 10 months is with an eye toward dismantling their brand of globalism. 

Ten years has gone by since Trump walked down the escalator and he's still standing despite every thing they've thrown at him - including a bullet. He's currently targeting Venezuela. Why? The war on drugs? No, he's trying to interrupt the narco-money flow that serves The Banksters. The money that flows through the Caiman Islands and the Bahamas etc etc, is laundered and skimmed to benefit the globalist machine. The American media is ignoring it, if they can even comprehend it. Anything that can whip up hatred towards Trump benefits The Globalists. 

The media's reverence for the EU knows no bounds. They are willfully blind to the disharmony in every EU country as well as the UK. Average citizen's in Europe are so disheartened by what is happening to them that they actually pray for someone like Trump in their own countries. As with the Banksters, the EU elites are entrenched and powerful and seemingly do not care at all what the citizens want. 

Native born people want the mass immigration to stop. It is precisely what is destroying Europe as we know it. Biden's puppeteers had instituted the same strategy in the U.S. while claiming that only congressional legislation could stop illegal immigration. How convenient for them that Congress is totally dysfunctional and has been for decades. Obviously that presumption was false, Trump had the borders closed in a few short months.

The obvious conclusion to all this is that Western Civilization is being destroyed, and the native populations of Europe, North America and the Anglo world are being replaced. The upper crust and the university crowd scoff at this, but the rest of us have eyes. We can see how The Banksters through coordinated actions have discouraged white populations from reproducing. They pushed women wage war on maleness and not so subtly raised the cost of homes out of reach of young people. No harmony, no homes, no babies. It's beyond me why powerful white Europeans and their kindred spirits in America want this. Self hatred? Or do they think pliable populations of downtrodden immigrants will shut up and allow them their ivory towers to live like kings and queens while the rest live hand to mouth, gratefully so? Good luck with that.

Me, the conspiracy nut that I am, believe it's the final solution to Christianity and Judaism. The Devil's plan.

addendum: I do not posit that Donald Trump is some kind of hero or that he is above reproach. Frankly I wish he'd just shut up, I can't even listen to him for more than a minute or two. I am contending that he is doing what has to be done, however clumsily. The borders had to be closed. The hard leftism choking America had to be challenged. The military had to be rescued from wokism and social engineering. The corruption of USAID and other bottomless pit programs had to be stopped. Wars had to be stopped. Climate crisis nonsense had to be revealed for what it is, a fairytale and a grift. Transgenderism had to be called out. And The Banksters have to be resisted. The list goes on and on. These among many other serious issues had to be addressed and turned back toward reality. Our country was tumbling down the wrong path. Since Congress is doing nothing and hasn't for decades - someone has to act. 

Humans desire order and stability over the Death Star

 

by Craig Willms

The Force

Humans crawled out of the jungle became nomads and eventually settled down into communities. We created an ordered society. That's important. That humans crave order is obvious. Conversely we seem to crave adventure. These concepts seem diametrically opposed. Which is it? Can't it be both?

Young boys, if left to there own devices, will set out on an adventure to conquer the unknown. It seems innately built into them. As a young boy I did it too. We lived on the edge of a housing development that opened into hundreds of acres of untouched land that stretched all the way to the Mississippi river. In the summer we'd often set out to explore these mysterious fields and woodlands. It was glorious. This feeling lasted about four or five hours. One by one each of us craved the life we'd left behind, our civilization. We wanted to be back in our homes where the refrigerator was full and the couch was as welcoming as the TV in the corner. 

The draw of the adventure was strong. The longing for home and its order was just as strong. We were kids, we had no responsibility and we knew so little of the way the world worked. Clearly breaking the bonds of order was important to our individual desires, and we pursued adventure with abandon. Wherever we went we knew our home and the attendant order was going to be there for us when we returned. Anything else was unthinkable. Comfort and safety was important whether we understood it or not. We were typical humans.

Today we are civilized men and women who live in an ordered society, an imperfect society. Every society ever created by human beings is imperfect. Why is the imperfection important enough to emphasize twice? Simply, imperfection is cited as the reason Western Civilization must be destroyed. Destroyed in favor of what?

The Empire Strikes 

Well, that is the question, but it comes after the fact. That fact our country, our society is being dismantled from within needs to be acknowledged first. Half of America doesn't even see it, the other half is equally divided into their camps. One camp is heavily funded and back stopped by the major media. The other half until recently didn't even fight back. 

They first awoke after Barack Obama was elected and sought to "fundamentally" transform America. He broke the country down across racial lines and that old favorite the exploiters vs the exploited. The media carried the water for The Light Bringer and covered his head in a halo. Dissenting voices were drowned out and all but dismissed as a nutty conspiracy theories. 

Barack Obama may have been the one to ramp up the undeclared civil war, but he was not the architect of ruin. It probably goes back to the end of World War II or even before, whenever its inception the "conspiracy" is now wide and deep. In recent years, basically since the rise of Trump, the left has turned the burners up to high. We are now seeing a partial breakdown of order. There is lawlessness that is being accepted and encouraged through no bail policies. Criminals are being protected and law enforcement is now branded the enemy. This particular conspiracy is undeniable. What Obama did was to carefully staff the federal apparatus including the Dept. of Justice, the military and numerous federal agencies with like-minded sycophants. It's been called the weaponization of government. They were able to unleash it on Donald Trump starting in 2015. The rest is history.

As Obama orchestrated his leftist base it coalesced with Non-Governmental Organizations and giant 'charitable' foundations, the real playground of the billionaires. Those ties were already there but now they were codified. It was a synchronicity that steered an entire manufactured narrative that America was irredeemable just as the newly minted EU sought to destroy European culture and its history. Born out of the elite structures of the WEF and the like, none of the subversion was done out in the open. The power and weight of the this mindset was slap in the face to the ordinary native born populations. 

The NGO's with their noble missions and numerous benign sounding foundations utilize their billions aligned against America and it's founding principles. These private or government funded outfits are not required to report their finances and are not taxed on any of the money they receive. No one knows what goes on behind closed doors as the song goes. What they do, they do with impunity. It's believed that these entities underpin the whole leftist Democrat operation as well as all their European comrades. This has been known for years, everyone shrugs, or winks and nods. It goes deeper than we can possibly imagine. We know little of what actually happens with all that money at hand. What I know about it, or think I know, is cobbled together from different sources and putting two and two together. These organization's number one goal is to topple the United States. But first - Europe... 

In 2016 to everyone's surprise and especially his, Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton as half of America recoiled against what Obama had done. Katy bar the door. Trump was naïve and had no idea of the width and depth of the swamp, as he liked to call it. He was in over his head. It was Russia, Russia, Russia 24/7 and then Covid-19. The tumultuous election that followed the George Floyd riots saw Trump lose to Joe Biden. His contesting the election went nowhere, every court case was immediately dismissed. In any event the lawfare against Donald Trump never stopped, it was one charge after another.

Biden from his first days in office was clearly losing his battle with dementia, but the Obama apparatchiks quietly took over his administration. In order to sow chaos the borders were thrown open and chaos ensued. This had already been done in Europe with devastating effect. Government budgets ballooned through Covid and beyond. On the ground the economy (the world economy) suffered government induced inflation. Rising interest rates used to fight inflation discouraged future homeowners, while private equity firms stepped into the housing sector to create renters instead of home owners. For the paycheck to paycheck crowd the rising cost of everything killed all their dreams. America, they were told was an unfair and racist society that the billionaires controlled, antithetical to the fact that most of the billionaires supported the Democrat's causes. 

Traditional culture was pummeled from every direction and the young here and abroad have become societally discouraged from marrying and having children. The children already born were being encouraged to deny their biology and transition their sex. Their schools and colleges became literal indoctrination centers, where the parents were unwelcome. It got to the point of parents groups being tagged domestic terrorist organizations for opposing the trans agenda being forced on their small children. Amid this chaos every change in the weather was treated as a sign of the end times. Global warming had become the Climate Crisis!! and all the energy our civilization needs is to blame. Safe energy had to come from only solar and wind - which didn't work. It was all so surreal, but treated as totally normal and oh so obvious. 

The future looked bleak for next generation. Which is what "they" wanted. America had no dream anymore if it ever did. Alas, all around civil order was starting to break down. On the streets in many cities here and in Europe are dangerous no-go zones, while across social media lawlessness and strife is being encouraged. It seems every week there is a church shooting or a school shooting, some mass casualty event. The perpetrator's are almost always potential psychiatric patients. Order and stability is waning.

A New Hope

While there have been signs in Europe that they've had enough of it, not much seems to be changing, yet. In United States however, Joe Biden may have actually saved the day for America. In retaliation of the Obama takeover of his administration, when they forced him out of the 2024 race his ego revolted and he crowned Kamala Harris his successor. She was a disaster. On the other side Donald Trump never gave up, and began to beat back the unfounded lawfare waged against him. He crushed Harris in the 2024 election. 

Armed with experience the Trump team hit the ground running in 2025. Having identified the underlying apparatus of the Democratic machine, the global socialist machine, they set about to dismantle it. The fraud, deception and embezzlement of government funded entities was thrown into the light. DOGE and federal prosecutors overturned the rocks these criminals hid under. On the international front the beneficiary's of USAID's funding were exposed. The billions in funding was immediately suspended or cancelled outright. So much of the funding fronted the intelligence community's activities in other countries that they don't know where the fraud began or ended.

This was just in the first months of the Trump's new term. Trump was the first Republican to actively fight in court the false claims made against him by the leftist media. He has won most of them. Other companies and social media entities have come forward to admit that the Biden administration and the Federal authorities pressured them into countering anything or anybody that opposed them or their agenda.

On the other front, the mass invasion of illegal immigrants, the Trump administration slammed shut the borders and began a mass deportation push. Trump is also putting so-called sanctuary cities on notice that there will be consequences for their actions related to thwarting ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and other enforcement efforts. It's no mystery who is funding the anti-ICE riots all over the country. It is the hill the Democrats and leftists are willing to die on. Why they think there is an appetite to offer illegal immigrants health care and other services they don't offer to American citizens is the real mystery. 

All these actions are stirring the hard left into hysterics, but it's falling on deaf ears. Leftists are being exposed for liars and subversives that they are. Despite his unchecked ego people can see that Trump is acting to preserve and recover what had made the United States de facto global hegemon, the leader of the free world. If you were not paying close attention, you could be moved by the fear and loathing the left has for Trump and his policies. That ended when the sniper's bullet killed Charlie Kirk in full view of his wife and children. The Democrats could not help themselves the glee they felt. The sickening display of vitriol over Charlie's message against the backdrop of his brutal death was too much for many, many on the center-left. It is now completely clear who is for freedom, order and stability.

Civilization Day

 

by Craig Willms

Civilization day comes on Wednesdays in my neighborhood. Before you wonder if you missed a new holiday, you haven't. The guys in that loud clanging truck come by on Wednesdays and take my trash away. It's the way I know civilization has survived another week. It was late this week, and I panicked at first before I realized Monday had been a real national holiday, and therefore trash was delayed by a day. Whew.

If there's one thing that defines civilization it's garbage day, or trash day as we say up here in the upper midwest. When it all goes to shit, and we're expecting that sooner rather than later, the signs will be litter(ally) everywhere. The first thing we'll notice is that no one is coming by to pick up trash and it will be everywhere.

It won't be long after and the electricity will go and then so will running water and gas service.

Civilization over...

Any faith we might have had in our government to deal with a crisis rationally was destroyed by the official reaction to Covid and all of Joe Biden's presidency. In fact, both seem to have been designed to foster the coming collapse. I never thought I'd see the day when America was over, but it seems more likely than not. We certainly can't expect our military or National Guard to step in out of fear they might not be sensitive enough to everyone's pronouns. We can't be having that. Next thing you know we'd find the army may not have proper trans representation and that would be unfair. I wish I was just kidding, but my friends there are signs that the incompetence we see all around us is not by accident. We are being herded by it into a new feudal system. 

The elites and most of the upper crust like to think they will be spared, but they won't. Once all their parked money is deemed illegitimate by the coming CBDCs, the overlords will then control everything and everyone at every level. There will be no hiding money the old fashion way anymore. Once we lose faith in the financial system, a system built on pure faith, it all goes belly-up. I fear the baby boom retirees will watch their nest eggs shrivel up faster than a dead worm on a summer sidewalk. With the Federal deficit at 34 trillion and growing, the recent news of Donald Trump's bogus conviction along with other bad news, the American economy seems poised to crash. I just heard in this morning's business news that dozens and dozens of restaurants have announced the closing of some or all of their locations soon. One third of the restaurants are gone or are on the brink. Retail in general is near the tipping point... 

The canary is dying. With most new job growth being in government and health care it's not a sign of a healthy economy. Honestly, things do not look very good. The younger generations are losing faith and losing hope. They are becoming are neurotic and depressed. 

I'm a retiree, my wife is just a few years away. We thought we were in good shape since we saved and prepared, but I'm losing faith as well. Biden and his puppeteers have got to go! If he is reelected, it's over for America. I'm not being dramatic; the border crisis alone is like playing a game of Jenga with our country. In Europe they are even further along in their cultural suicide. It's alarming to see. There are signs that Europe may be waking up, but it might be too late. It's not too late for America, but that day is coming - in November 2024.      

Border crisis hits home

This was predictable. There has been a giant uptick in serious but rare sicknesses among American school children. In fact I believe I even predicted it in a blog post from July.

http://www.protohuman.blogspot.com/2014/07/invasion-plain-and-simple.html

quoting myself...
This is a crisis in more ways than one. The Obama Administration's response so far has been limited and predictable. He has called for 2 billion dollars to help facilitate the processing of these children. Where ever these immigrants land it will eventually overwhelm the community or state and exceed $2 billion in a heartbeat. The financial crisis aside the health crisis these unvaccinated, unhealthy third world children could spawn is phenomenal. 
...unquote

The Ebola crisis has overwhelmed the news of a deadly outbreak of a rare (rare to America) respiratory illnesses that has hospitalized thousands of children and even killed some. The CDC has confirmed hundreds of cases of EV-D68 an enterovirus that is rare in the U.S. but quite common in Latin America where the child immigrants came from in this year's unprecedented mass border crossing. These kids were quickly distributed to facilities across the country by the Federal Government and allowed to enter public schools.

It has been confirmed that schools where outbreaks have occurred all accept “undocumented children” into their programs, although it was impossible to determine whether or not this included this year’s arrivals. Since school districts are not allowed to ask about a student’s citizenship or immigration status, nor can they inquire of parents’ immigration status it's impossible to know for sure that the newly immigrated are causing this - but it's way too suspicious to reject out of hand.

How rare is EV-D68? Between 1970 and 2005, only 26 cases of EV-D68 were reported in the U.S. Yet this year, in less than two months, the CDC has reported 780 cases in 46 states, and there are likely many more undiagnosed. It began just about the time children began returning to school.

Children’s Mercy Hospital’s division director for Infectious Diseases, Dr. Mary Anne Jackson, called it “unprecedented,” adding that “It’s worse in terms of scope of critically ill children who require intensive care…I’ve practiced for 30 years in pediatrics, and I’ve never seen anything quite like this.”

The information blackout about this very real outbreak in disturbing. At first the national and local media reported on it due to the sheer numbers, more or less in a matter of fact manner. The interest by the "media" has evaporated, not that anyone was doing an exhaustive investigation anyway. As for the officials, the CDC is nearly silent and state and local agencies have been tight lipped - almost as if they've "received orders". The Border Patrol agencies and those charged with caring for the illegal children were also warned - threatened if they made any public statements as their facilities became overwhelmed.

Regardless of how the Ebola mess ends up this EV-D68 outbreak seems to be a direct result of the Obama administration's actions or inactions. People have already died, innocent people. Children have been left paralyzed. This is a scandal that is being glossed over, just like almost all the rest. If Obama's opposition pushes on this scandal then the spotlight will be turned on them - not what they are sounding the alarms about. They will be called racist and that will be the end of it.

The American Devolution continues.


Ugh

Invasion: plain and simple

There is no other way to spin it. If we weren't being invaded from the south for the past 20 years we certainly are now. There are tens of thousands of illegal aliens pouring over the Texas border at unprecedented levels with no sign of abating. Many of them - if not most - are children unaccompanied but an adult. The worse part of it is, it now seems it was planned - planned by our government.

I've heard or read more than a few reports that the Obama Administration put out an RFP  in January 2014 for transportation resources to move people to immigrant processing centers across the country. By May the borders were being breached by thousands of children from Central America. Now, if you knew enough to foresee the need for this transportation then you knew enough to stand in the way and prevent it. That was not the plan however.

Last year Obama unilaterally enacted the Dream Act by fiat when it failed to pass the Congress. The Republican controlled House was ready to pass the bill if a few common sense measures were added to ensure this very invasion would not happen. The Democrats said it's my way or the highway, the bill failed. This executive order might as well been an invitation to the downtrodden in parts of Central America. I personally wouldn't put it past the Obama regime to have sent emissaries to those countries with actual invitations, but that's just me and my disdain for Obama showing through. Still...

This is a crisis in more ways than one. The Obama Administration's response so far has been limited and predictable. He has called for 2 billion dollars to help facilitate the processing of these children. Where ever these immigrants land it will eventually overwhelm the community or state and exceed $2 billion in a heartbeat. The financial crisis aside the health crisis these unvaccinated, unhealthy third world children could spawn is phenomenal. If it turns out that the Administration planned this with the goal of overwhelming the system and intentionally foster a crisis someone should be criminally charged.

Even in the early days of the government response to this - while the country is just learning about it - there is talk of secrecy and cover-ups. In one processing center employees were warned about telling anyone of the condition of the kids being readied assimilation into the general public. Some had TB, some had scabies, most had head lice and almost none had any vaccinations. Medical workers were force to swear an oath and threatened with their jobs. Some simply quit. These kids are going put into our communities, schools, day cares and foster care with communicable diseases. It's against the law for health care workers not to report these conditions, yet these people we're threatened by government agents who called themselves the Brown Shirts. WTF.

How can the Obama team justify this? How can those who support this guy just go along?

There is the very real human tragedy to consider too. Most of these people are scared out there minds. How can we turn our backs on them? Well we can't. But it is the height of false compassion (it always is) to encourage and foster certain behaviors that are detrimental to human dignity and success and then swoop in to save the day. On top of that make anyone who opposes the enabling behavior akin to the devil!

The ultra compassion of the borderless "Kingdom of Heaven" churches and the various civic organizations compel us to look past the reasons these things come about and focus on the moral response. We end up supporting the compassionate response and those who advocate it rather than opposing the immoral (and unconstitutional) policies that led to the crisis. In other words the cynical progressives who foster the endless immigration invasion for votes to stay in power are never called out for their very real sins. No, only the so-called nationalism of the conservatives is derided because it comes across as uncaring and compassionless.

It is the duty of the churches to call out sin and evil where ever it is, but they fail miserably to hold the progressives who create this human misery accountable for anything. This is for all intents and purposes aiding evil. Is this what the "Kingdom of Heaven" calls for?

The raucous protest in Murrieta CA over this latest invasion is a clear sign that ordinary citizens are reaching the end of the rope. Almost no one opposes legal immigration and that's all anyone is calling for - control of the borders. The Obama Administration is fooling no one. They are manufacturing a crisis for cynical political gains. The compassion police then pound down anyone who objects. It's a great one-two punch. Perhaps the counter punch is finally going to be delivered.



Ugh

Without Borders

When I saw "without borders" was the title of the message at church one Sunday I got worried. While I wouldn't call my church a typical liberal Christian church I would call it a strident anti-conservative church, which it clearly is. It is entirely anti-evangelical-conservative in word and deed. This does not bother me in the least. I too am wary of potent evangelical movements for many reasons, one because they bore me, but mainly because they are almost always Biblical literalists. I find nothing more off putting and inimical to the life and love of Jesus Christ than evangelical rantings taken from literal readings of the Bible. Jesus himself was not a literalist. My church, a phenomenal teaching church, goes to great lengths to keep politics out of the realm of the Kingdom, but it's not difficult to ascertain that the church culture leans liberal left - considerably so. A topic for another day.

Anyway...

Whenever, wherever we hear the phrase without borders we should be worried. Simply because in utopia without borders is a laudable goal, but we don't live in utopia. Until we do, borders, nation-states and the law of the land is necessary, vital even. I'm happy to say the message in church that day had nothing to do with political borders or advocating the erasing of national borders as I had feared. It was merely the rightful notion that Kingdom of Heaven knows no borders as it spans a truly cosmic realm.

In recent weeks I've read several interesting pieces in the blogosphere about the damage unfettered (and illegal) immigration is doing to some countries and cultures. Also other stories about the coming collapse of otherwise peaceful, orderly societies due to lawless, frustrated and racially motivated uber gangs that are growing up in over-crowded slums around the world offer a frightening glimpse of our future.

Over at Mangan's a piece called "Immigration from low-trust societies is theft" talks about how immigrants burrowing into a mature society pay nothing for the infrastructure they inherit and take a disproportionate share of out of a society compared to what they contribute - amounting to literal theft. There was a difference a century ago when immigration was controlled and by and large the newcomers started contributing almost immediately. It would be hard to argue that the quality of the "stock" we get now with uncontrolled immigration is not inferior in comparison.

In Europe with the one-two punch of stagnant economic growth and mass immigration entire nations are slipping into economic and cultural depression as described in this interesting piece at theAtlanic.com called "Are Europeans Giving Up on Europe?". The countries hardest hit by the economic downturn - Italy, Spain and Greece see the EU experiment as a failure, contributing to the malaise. The EU is also being blamed in England for the mass immigration the Brits see destroying their culture. Poll after poll in Britain show a disaffected populace, upset that EU immigration rules are forcing the island country to open their doors to more and more low value immigrants, many  - if not most - headed for the dole.

In fact all advanced Western countries with the exception of Japan are being impacted by a flood of immigration both legal and illegal. The native populations by and large are wary and even hostile to the trends and for good reason. Its not just economic - as if that's not enough - its also the loss of cultural norms. All over Western Europe huge sections of the major cities have developed into "no go zones" where even the police dare not enter. In these zones the law of the land is not enforced and a complete culture imported from some - pardon the language - shit hole has been established. This is happening to a smaller extent in America, Canada and Australia too.

Eventually this less than integrated sub-culture will burst out and with discontentment and rage and will lash out in one wave of violence after another until the natives are forced to live in walled off communities or flee to a country not yet destroyed.

Africa is already the model for this new world order. Scarcity, hopelessness and disorder are the catalysts. It has already happened in most sub Saharan nations, and with the so-called Arab Spring northern Africa has quickly caught up. Africa is essentially ungovernable.

The die is cast, the future set. If this exhaustive article by Robert Kaplan doesn't send chills down your spine then you're already numb or you don't care. "The Coming Anarchy" isn't about the end of the world, but it is about the end of civil civilization. While it's clear Africa and much of the Arab world is already aflame we see evidence of this in our own country. Think south Chicago, south LA, parts of Detroit and other cities in Michigan where immigrants have instituted their shit hole cultures in entire subdivisions.

No culture or civilization is immune. China's cities are already bursting at the seams and millions more are coming from the countryside every year. Developing countries are seeing their poor rural citizens flood into the cities. When the over population meets scarcity explosions happen. India, Pakistan, Brazil, all of southeast Asia are potential powder kegs. The West may be able hold it off for a time but eventually our day will come.

The West is courting suicide with this defacto without borders posture. Unfettered immigration is not good for anyone. Why the leaders (of both parties) can't or won't see this is frightening to me. No matter how poetic it sounds this is not one world, not by a long shot.



Ugh

Darlings of Devolution and Destruction

Our Political and Corporate "leaders" have Driven Us to the Brink of Destruction

As a person who tends to list center-right politically it has been a frustrating and depressing century. There was a short time early on, after the attacks of 9/11, that it seemed that America as a nation, as a people, was going to pull together. It didn't last. The leftists who pollute the discourse in every conceivable walk of life saw to that. Perhaps the saddest, most frustrating aspect of the unraveling of a great nation is the sheer apathy of the people. Who can blame them?

As it turns out it really doesn't matter who or what you support politically any more (I think it used to, many years ago) simply because while our so-called leaders may not be cut from the same cloth they all end up dyed same the color, the color of money. Regardless of their party affiliation, regardless of how much they pledge to fight for you, regardless of how much they say they love their country, or of how sincere and pure they are during the acceptance speech on the eve of their first election they really only care about themselves - eventually.

We accept less of corporations and business, and we should, because they have not pledged to serve us the way politicians have. It's the people we've elected and involuntarily forfeit our tax dollars to that sell us down the river for their own personal gain - and it happens at all levels of government. Oh yeah there may be outliers, men like Obama, Reagan and the few dedicated public servants - even people like Ron Paul who actually believe in something. These men are either demonized, laughed at or in Obama's case, worshiped. And, amazingly, we the people take it, or rather just shrug it off. If anyone objects and starts a real grassroots movement, say like the Tea Party bent on opposing exactly the kind of policies that make $300 elected suits millionaires after two terms, the boot-licking lapdogs in the media will beat them down with charges of racism or any other negative narrative that will stick. Is it any wonder there is mass apathy?

Unless the people who believe themselves to be good liberals are purposely deluding themselves, then they cannot honestly say things are going well for the United States. They can't continue to blame George W Bush or the the feckless Republican party since the Democrats have held congressional power since 2006 and the presidency since 2008 - it will soon be 2014. Even the life long liberals have to see we are running off the rails. I'm not deluded enough to think they will ever change, but something has to.

To be perfectly fair apathy is a coping mechanism for most people. This is a complicated world made all the more complicated by liberal sensibilities turned in law and policy that runs counter to human nature and legendary conservative belligerence. These policies destroy lives - the lives of an entire race of people in 40 short years. The African American population has been devastated by the welfare state and corporate, government and union action that deprives black men the jobs needed to raise families. While some continue to pour on the soul-killing compassion the others look the other way and pretend it doesn't exist. The black man has been replaced by a government check and food stamps, leaving young boys to grow up without fathers. What happens to them when they become men? Prison - or death.

Yet every four years it is these same people who support the purveyors of the very poverty they can't escape. The Democrats skillfully poison any notion that there could possibly be a better way. Dopey ass Republicans can't get out of there own way and articulate a return to sanity - if they even care. Now the country is at a tipping point where half the population does nothing but collect a subsistence check from one government agency or another. Seriously how can anyone say this is good?

Nearly every large city and state that has been completely controlled by liberals and liberal policies for decades is bankrupt and in tatters physically and spiritually. Yeah they'll argue that capitalism and big business left them abandoned and the liberals are compassionately picking up the pieces - but wasn't it also big taxes, onerous regulation and inflexible unions that set the stage? Yes, probably both. The liberal answer then is to double-down until the economy is choked off completely -
and continue writing hot checks. Republicans don't even bother themselves to offer an alternative in these locales. Yet the elected officials and their benefactors in corporate world responsible for driving the economy into the ground do pretty well.

The corporations, particularly the largest ones could really care less about the U.S. They prove it everyday. Now that they've moved a huge share of manufacturing jobs overseas they are petitioning congress to hurry to enact aggressive immigration laws. This is a double slap in the face for native born American's in the wake of mass layoffs. They want H1B visas for the skilled workers because they can pay immigrants less than skilled Americans. They want cheap Mexican labor for unskilled work, leaving the rest of the working class high and dry. It's both Democrats and Republicans that support this kick in the head. Their arguments - their lies - that it's all in our best interest fall on deaf ears when we can see the evidence before our eyes. Twenty-five million people already here can't find decent work. The labor participation rate is reaching 40 - 50 year lows. In some counties in the south 1 in 4 collects a disability check, no doubt many of them fraudulent because they can't find any work. This while Wall Street racks up new highs month over month. And the 7 counties in Virgina and Maryland that surround Washington DC are the richest in the country.

It seems the game is rigged. The corporate/government cabal wring everything they can out of the American people. We are reaching a tipping point. The progressives or liberals if you will, have helped usher in better days a hundred years ago with their fair labor laws. Unfortunately it is genetically impossible for them to leave well enough alone. The continue to tear down the very fabric of the free market capitalist system, the foundation of America's success. Those who caucus with Republicans, the champions of free market capitalism, unfortunately are surrounded by imbeciles or flim flam men like congressional leader Eric Cantor. Who in the hell would follow that guy? If Cantor and dullards like John McCain are the alternative to liberals (who at least act like they care) it's no wonder there is such voter apathy.

There is a nascent, unorganized reactionary movement of highly intelligent people who understand things can't continue this way for America and frankly for the rest of the world either. Using the Internet as a platform they easily identify the culprits, their tactics and their motivations (power and money, of course), but they've yet to offer much in the way of solutions. It's early for the reactionaries - but it's late for the rest of us. Is societal collapse and anarchy close at hand? I don't know. I think there is still time.



I could be thinking wrong...



Ugh

There ought to be a law! Oh, wait there is...

These things are just so outrageous that if it doesn't make you mad then you are either dead or numb. [ or see the post immediately preceding this one ]

Fake Drivers Licenses and Welfare Benefits
We learn that getting MN drivers license is all that's needed to open up the vast resources of our welfare state (Minnesota). If one is good then 10 is even better, right? How could it not occur to the issuers of both DL licenses and welfare benefits that people would use fraudulent methods to obtain both. Worse, how could they not have set up investigative and law enforcement provisions?


We are to believe the Minnesota Department of Vehicle Services IS seriously concerned about people trying to defraud the system. Four years ago the MN DVS received a federal grant to use facial recognition software to electronically compare the facial features in photos from driver's licenses and state IDs.

This effort, 11 million photos in the vehicle services database, had the software finding nearly 1.3 million matches. These photos then had to be looked at one by one by human eyes. Many were dismissed with reasonable explanations - newly married, name changes, harmless pranks, twins etc...

What was left were about 23,000 records that have a good chance of being fraud. That's 23,705 cases of possible fraud to be exact.

As of now, about 10,000 of these driver's licenses have been canceled. However, not much else has been done. We learn that not a single name has been given yet to the Department of Human Services to check for welfare or food stamp fraud, and no names have been given or the Secretary of State to check against the voter rolls. And criminal prosecution? None.

All told 5,500 cases have been referred to an agency who can take any action necessary. But the state won't say which law enforcement agency. With 23,000 potential fraudulent IDs, shouldn't we know who's job it is to hold people accountable? Shouldn't someone know?

The problem of using fraudulent means to obtain "free" or "subsidized" benefits is rampant. 

It turns out that an administrative assistant in the Secretary of State's Office has been accused of using an alternate identity to receive more than $18,000 in low-income housing help from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. This person has spent seven years working in Minnesota government, though none of her alleged crimes involve her post directly. (As far as we know)

Yet, when it comes to state-issued identity cards -- real or fake -- the Secretary of State Mark Ritchie is already smack-dab in the middle of the controversy as an outspoken opponent of the voter ID referendum on the ballot in November, which would require voters to have a valid state ID.

I just bet that this person voted for Mr. Ritchie in the last election since she didn't even need to present her fake ID.

The irony of the indictment was not lost on Minnesota Majority, the group campaigning for the amendment. Ritchie, however, is out of state and has been unavailable for comment. Don't hold your breath on this one.

Social Security sets new record
The number of workers taking federal disability insurance payments hit yet another record in July, increasing to 8,753,935 during the month from the previous record of 8,733,461 set in June, according to newly released data from the Social Security Administration. The 8,753,935 workers who took federal disability insurance payments in July exceeded the population of 39 of the 50 states. Only 11 states—California, Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Georgia, North Carolina and New Jersey— have more population. In other words if all these recipients lived in one state it would be the 12th largest state in the union. 

Keep in mind this 8+ million is not the retirees receiving justly deserved benefits. It's just hard to imagine that there isn't a huge percentage of these people that are frauds. There is an entire legal industry set up to help people - deserving or not - get "their" Social Security Disability benefits. Everyone, I'm sure, believes in helping those truly disabled, but fraud is just rampant at all levels of this culture.

Food Stamps for Mexico!
Now we learn the Mexican government has been working with the United States Department of Agriculture to increase participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps. This has been going on since 2004, signed into existence during the Bush II era, that being said spending on food stamps has doubled since 2008, it is reasonable to suspect that the Obama administration has ramped up whatever partnership may have preexisted it.

What it is in short: the USDA sees to it that the Mexican Embassy and Mexican consulates in America provide USDA nutrition assistance program information to Mexican Americans, Mexican nationals working in America and migrant communities in America. The information is specifically focused on eligibility criteria and access.

There are rules for who is eligible, but it's safe to assume the standards are enforced with the enthusiasm the Obama administration shows toward other illegal alien activities on this side of the border. States are supposed to verify this so-called eligibility but verification standards vary widely. Applicants need only attest that they are citizens of the United States, and the state must accept that attestation as conclusive.

So, it's not bad enough that billions of dollars are obtained by fraudulent means by people from all walks of life and apparently from all countries, the government is soliciting for even more. We as a society, a culture have our hand out to help the less fortunate and all the while there are those who take our largess with one hand while the other is in our wallet taking even more.

All this fraud damn near gives corporate welfare a good name!


CW

I Don't Even Like Chipotle...

I stumbled across this article about Chipotles restaurants in my home town and was actually heartened - and I don't even like Chipotles!

The message has to be sent to those in this country illegally and to the businesses that exploit them.

I don't like the idea of anyone losing their job if it can be avoided, but this action taken by local Chipotles was the right thing. According to The Minnesota Immigration Rights Action Committeee (MIRAC), a local group that fights for the legalization of undocumented workers, around 50 of the restaurant’s Latino workers have been fired in the last week.

An I-9 audit was completed where they check the paperwork and fire anyone who can’t prove they have the right to work. The fact a Mexican restaurant was targeted is telling in this era when legal Americans hard up for work themselves are tired of illegal immigrants taking jobs as lawbreakers.

For its part a spokesman for Chipotle said, “We are fully cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in Minnesota in connection with a document request they have made.” ICE it seems offered no comment.

No one want's to see another human being lose their job at this time of year. However, these people made the choice to come here illegally and these choices have consequences - and they knew it. Honestly, would I have the right to expect a Mexican business and the Mexican government to ignore the fact that I had come to their country illegally and took a job from a citizen? Shoe meet the other foot...

The real moral failing here is as much the Federal government of the U.S. as it is the poor Mexican crossing the border uninvited. The fault lies as much with the past 4 administrations as it does with the current one. The government is not doing its job. Frankly this American is tired of seeing good jobs being exported to China and then workers being "imported" from Latin America to fill the ones that can't be sent overseas.

At the end of the article one commenter summed it up nicely by conveying the sentiment that it's not easy to see anyone thrown out of work. JohnCS said: They are human beings trying to feed their families and get ahead. Unfortunately we (the U.S.) cannot absorb so many low skilled/poor and provide entitlements anymore. They must work on fixing their own countries.

I applaud Chipotles, I'm sure it wasn't easy.



CW

Who Do You Love?

I think, or I should say, I know I have said this before on these pages, but I don't think I can dislike President Obama any more. I'm pretty sure he does not like The United States of America, I know he has no love for for this great country. ( see how he respects our National Anthem)

The latest slap in the face Americans are forced to endure is our President standing by and allowing a corrupt little man from Mexico besmirch OUR LAWS and scold the law makers of one of our great states - namely Arizona. -READ - In joint press conference, Calderon calls Arizona law 'discriminatory'; Obama says it's 'misdirected'

Obviously President Obama doesn't believe in border security or the current Federal laws regarding illegal immigration, but as the chief executive of the land it is his job to uphold those laws - whether he likes them or not. Why was Arizona compelled to act the way it did? Because the Federal government is not doing the job, and it's clear they have no intention of doing it. The new Arizona laws merley empowers local and state agents of law enforcement to uphold current Federal law, no more no less.


The whole illegal immigration problem is far more complicated than just round 'em up and deport them all, but protecting the border and public safety is not complicated. That is all the new Arizona law sets out to do.

To see that pompous ass makes jokes about it at the Annual White House Corespondents Dinner a few weeks back made me ill. Does he think it's funny? The literal invasion of our country is funny? What is wrong with him?

There are serious and sticky issues about what to do about the problem, but controlling the southern border should not be in question. There are thousands of children and young adults who were brought to America by their parents by no choice of their own. The live in limbo having only known America and yet can't be Americans - they are not truly Mexicans either. These are real problems and they are not funny - they are tragic.

I can't wait to cast my vote against President Obama and his cohorts.



CW

Illegal Immigration - Placing the Blame

Multiple Choice:
1. Capitalism
2. Socialism
3. Free Trade
4. Greed
5. Corruption
6. Hope
7. All of The Above




We who hail from the right of center can claim with simple indignation all day long that illegal immigration is the fault of the lawbreakers who cross our borders and scoff at our laws. If only it were that simple. We have to face the fact that the act of crossing the border is actually just one part of the problem. For an answer to other parts of this problem we may have to look in the mirror too.

If we remember back when NAFTA was signed into law and the term "that giant sucking sound" was coined we were told that it was the sound of American jobs going south. Well, sure, there was some of that, but it was also the sound of American agricultural products going south too. Since NAFTA was signed millions of Mexican farmers have been driven out of business. Cheap American corn in particular has devastated Mexican farming. A million and a half corn farmers and their families had to do something and that something was to come to America.

NAFTA was the free trade part of the story. The corruption and greed part go hand in hand. When large meat packing operations all over America broke their unions they replaced their workers with cheap Mexican labor. They openly recruited workers though newspaper and television ads in Mexico with the full knowledge federal agencies. These same agencies are finally forced to act when there is enough pressure put on Washington to do something about the "illegal immigration" issue. Whom do you suppose the enforcement agencies target? Well, it's not the corporate titans who have made billions of dollars recruiting and exploiting illegal Mexican nationals, it's the workers of course. I'm not here to defend the proletariat class against the bourgeoisie, I am going to indict the government for it's selective and uneven enforcement. Shouldn't these CEO's from meat packing or manufacturing industries also be brought up on charges? When they are it is usually a small time player who didn't write a big enough check to the campaign committee. This is what gives capitalism a bad name!

The uneven application of justice based on the power of political contributions is the destroyer of capitalism's reputation. Capitalists are no different than children playing games on the playground. Fun and games are good and business and profit are good too, but there has to be some rules for both or the bullies will rule. Capitalists are motivated by profit and the path of least resistance is always taken - like running water it needs to channeled or it will do as much harm as good. But like water it is also essential for life as we know it.

Socialism on the other hand is the uneven application of nonsensical rules applied arbitrarily on a whim based on whatever the administrator feels that day...

Seriously, socialism plays a huge part in the illegal immigration problem too. The dysfunctional socialist government in Mexico, sitting on a nation of vast resources and human potential, is failing it's citizens who largely want what we all want - a good life for our families. There would be no need for Mexicans to flood our cities if their own country would provide a decent economy and safe streets. An entrenched oligarchy bedevils a vibrant economy and a drug war in the northern states threatens to destabilize the Mexican national government and spill over into American cities near the border.

Under the ruse of social justice American socialism also plays a part in the problem as more and more government dollars are spent on educating, feeding and delivering health care for illegal immigrants. While breathlessly placing the blame on American policies and American business (both deserved) the socialists refuse to implicate their own culpability by way of making it attractive to come here with easy handouts, solidarity and pretend compassion.

There is of course the fact that we Americans like cheap meat, cheap vegetables and fruit, cheap roofers, cheap landscapers, cheap hotel rooms and cheap nannies. We don't realize that things are cheap because of cheap Mexican labor - if we do realize it we pretend not to. We are all part of the problem in a very real way. To be sure, in many cases there's nothing the consumer can actually do. We are largely ignorant of the true costs of this problem and how we actually play into it. I won't go so far as to say the average American is demanding "cheap" but we aren't doing much to turn things around as it relates to attracting cheap Mexican labor to our cities and towns. It's kind of like eating our cake and hating it too.

Lastly, the same thing that has attracted millions to our shores for the last 4 centuries is also true for Latin Americans. Hope for a better future. Or, escaping poverty and tyranny... Who can really blame them. But in the past immigrants went through proper channels - and that's all most of us are asking. Mexicans and Latin Americans can be some of the finest, hardest working people you would ever want to meet. We just want them and American based corporations and especially the federal government to obey the laws.




CW

But We have a Problem...

Arizona is trying to save itself. On Friday Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona signed the nation’s toughest bill on illegal immigration into law. On the surface it may ring of police state tactics, but is it really? Drastic times call for drastic measures. Arizona is in trouble. Kidnapping, murder and drug running in the American southwest has dramatically escalated since the relaxing of immigration policies through the 80's and 90's.

President Bush's feeble attempts at border security late in his term did little to stem the tide of illegal immigration. Politically correct re-naming of these law breakers as undocumented workers didn't change the fact that an invasion was taking place. The only thing that has had any effect was the tanking of the American economy - jobs have dried up for low wage Mexicans as well. This is most likely temporary, unless a robust economy never returns.

From a New York Times article:
Hispanics, in particular, railed against the law as a recipe for racial and ethnic profiling. “Governor Brewer caved to the radical fringe,” a statement by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund said, predicting that the law would create “a spiral of pervasive fear, community distrust, increased crime and costly litigation, with nationwide repercussions.”

I take exception with the notion of a radical fringe. I think even naturalized Mexican's who went through the trouble of following American laws to become citizens are in favor of tough immigration enforcement. This law is a natural reaction to politically correct mayors and police chiefs across the nation issuing policies not to aide ICE and other Federal agencies in enforcing Federal immigration laws. These proclamations are an open invitation for Latin America to invade American cities. This means of course Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and California being the points of entry are being overrun. With their hands tied by these lax policies local law enforcement is over-matched. This law seems to me to be a leveling of the playing field. It isn't perfect - nothing is.

On Friday a few hundred demonstrators gathered, mostly peacefully, at the Arizona capitol plaza, the governor, speaking at a state building a few miles away, explained that the law “represents another tool for our state to use as we work to solve a crisis we did not create and the federal government has refused to fix.”

Truer words were never spoken. The political will in Washington DC does not exist to address this very real and serious problem. Conventional wisdom says that Republicans gladly give lip service to tougher enforcement, but actually prefer to look the other way while business reaps the benefit of cheap labor. Democrats dress the problem in flowery rhetoric but their ultimate goal of a new and permanent welfare dependent voting bloc is painfully transparent to thinking people. I think it indicates that the border states have a greater exposure to the problems caused by the invasion than those cloistered in Washington do. In Arizona John McCain's reelection bid may even hinge on the degree of urgency to which Arizonans place on this issue. McCain is clearly part of the DC mentality - we'll see how that plays out in Arizona.

The new Arizona law may not withstand challenges, but at least it is a signal to the nation that a breaking point is being reached. It only goes to heighten the urgency some of us feel to stop cold the Obama administration's goals on immigration (see above paragraph).



CW

So Goes America...

In the late 20th century California turned from a paradise to a purgatory

Today California is a mess. How the "Golden State" devolved into a basket case of welfare and high taxes should serve as a lesson for all of us. This lesson if not heeded will result in a cascade of California's across the nation until America is just a temperate version of Mexico.

PROP 13
There are those who would site the enactment of Prop 13 in 1979 as the beginning of California's decline and they just might be right, but to make it the cornerstone of California's troubles may be taking it too far. Prop 13 was ratified by the good folks in California ostensibly to cap property taxes. It was a tax revolt that seemed quite justified at the time when long term residents were being forced out of their homes as rising property values raised their tax levy beyond their meager incomes. Since then the state's entire tax system has become a monster. Prop 13 and property tax issues are only a part of the ugly picture. Just like the Federal government it's spending that has gone out of control California.

As of 2001 California had the highest individual income tax rate of the 8 states with more than 10 million residents. It has the third highest corporate income tax rate and the highest sales tax rate. Only their property tax is ranked below average at 6th among the eight. Rates are one thing, but tax dollars are another. Since California homes are more expensive, when factoring their actual property tax we'd be likely to find it is actually at the top of the list. Also, none of this includes any side by side comparisons of so-called "fees" where California leads the nation.

How was this shining example of America's excellence allowed to self destruct? Who was minding the store?

Was it the state's easy plebiscite system known as initiative and referendum? Was it ever rising taxes? Was it strong public employees unions like those that have crippled many state and local governments? Was it a social justice based legislative, academic and elitist mentality the turned the "Land of Opportunity" into a European-style crippled social state simply limping along from one crisis to another? Yes!!!

A DISGUSTED CITIZENRY
Voters and citizens were so fed up a few years ago they (literally) threw out Governor Gray Davis and replaced him with a Hollywood actor who promised fiscal discipline and a return to the Golden Days. In that Arnold Schwarzenegger has failed - miserably so. He never imposed any of the measures that would have hurt for a while but would have began to set the ship of state upright. Instead he caucused with the liberals, the same liberals that would be called leftists in any other state. The voters' sour mood conjures complaints about the way state government operates. Understandably 71 percent of likely voters polled in 2007 believed the federal government wastes a lot of the money that's paid by state residents, while 55 percent are convinced that much of California's own tax money is being squandered. Nearly 2 in 3 Californians say state government is largely run by a few big interests. The biggest interest of all is the 800 pound gorilla no one wants to talk about... The unrelenting illegal immigration and the vast resources devoted by social justice advocates in Sacramento to feeding, teaching and treating non citizens. A remarkable eighty percent of Californians think that the state is on the wrong track.

The illegal immigration situation only compounds notion of the state's inability to govern itself. What ought to be done can never be done out of fear of reprisal at the polls. The state budget is clearly out of control. The deficit, now $26 billion, grows every day by nearly $25 million. Much of that money goes to aide for a growing Mexican underclass blanketing the low income sections of every major California city.

In reality California is bankrupt. Worse, its prospects are bleak for economic recovery and especially job recovery. Silicon Valley has moved away and other high-tech companies have essentially given up on California. California is often ranked at the bottom of all states in the polls as a place to do business. Put it this way and the reason becomes clear: 38 million people live in California yet a mere 144,000 pay one half of all income taxes. Yes, that's right, just 3 tenths of 1 percent of the population pays half the income tax recipients. These are the people that build the businesses and create the jobs. The so-called rich are fleeing California in droves.

IT JUST GETS WORSE
The worst is yet to come. Up and down the coast are international shipping docks where billions of dollars of Chinese made goods come in and billions of dollars of raw materials go out. Currently the industry that controls these shipyards is under the thumb of the longshoremen and their powerful (expensive) unions. However, when the Panama Canal upgrade now under way under Chinese supervision is completed ocean going container ships will no longer be forced to stop in California. East coast cities and more likely Mexican port cities on the Gulf of Mexico side will service the huge population east of the Mississippi instead of having imported goods trucked all the way from California. This will mean even more job losses for California.

California will be left with a dichotomy of poor and failing urban centers and wealthy productive rural sectors. Eventually the tax burden will affect the food producers to the point of losing market-share to cheaper imported produce and meat. California will have nothing left but it's fine weather.

It's a sad story, but it's story that doesn't have to be repeated nation wide. Only strict immigration enforcement, sane tax laws and the support of free market policies can rescue California. Unless sanity prevails and the leftists that have been allowed to run the state house in Sacramento are shuffled out California is literally doomed. Worse yet is that the same sort of leftists are now in charge of Washington DC where they so conveniently rely on the major media to blame free market capitalism for their policy failures.

As California goes so goes America...






CW

Health Care Reform is So Yesterday

Health Care Reform is barely 24 hours old and CNN is preparing us for the second crown jewel in the Socialist trifecta. Immigration Reform is coming. The esteemed Thomas Friedman of the New York Times began the greasing process with a recent column based on the pretense that immigration reform was a tool in America's arsenal to compete with his beloved China. So watch for some form of national ID card. It will be called ESSN for Electronic Social Security Number or some such. On the surface these so-called reforms will seem reasonable, but the devil is always in the details as we will soon find out with this boondoggle called Health Care Reform.

There will be no further talk of securing the border - and maybe that was doomed from the start - simply put, the problem isn't the border it's the hiring of illegals to do manual labor at dirt cheap wages. Before Clinton's so-called reforms in the 90's the cross border activity was limited. It has since exploded to the point where good paying construction work is now going to low wage Mexicans and pushing out American born craftsman. Currently illegal immigration is down because the job market has dried up with the recession. If the economy ever turns around - a big if - watch for a veritable flood of illegals coming in because the green light will be shining brightly, blinking citizenship ahead, citizenship ahead!!!

This year will be a big test for the Tea Party movement. Since the thrust of the movement is really about pushing back on the Federal takeover of key elements of American society. So far the socialists have won every fight. This is primarily because the party in control has huge majorities. The interesting thing and I believe proof that the Tea Party movement has some teeth because everything the socialists have won has been on a razor thin margin. The only landslide was Obama's election itself and even that was not overwhelming. One of the major planks in the movement is immigration reform, but not in the sense of making citizenship the goal rather enforcing the laws already in the books.

The country has already taken one giant step in the right direction by electing a Republican to fill the seat of the one man most responsible for the immigration mess we find ourselves in... Teddy Kennedy.

Health Care Reform is so yesterday.



CW

The Last Act Of George W. Bush

Little was made of President Bush's last day in office, after all a living saint was taking over at noon. But Bush did a classy thing in my opinion, and dare I say, the right thing. He commuted the sentences of of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. You might remember these were the two Border Patrol officers implicated and convicted of the shooting and wounding an unarmed illegal immigrant -- suspected of drug smuggling at the time -- and then covering it up.

Commuting rather than pardoning their sentences was proper because what these guys did was wrong when they attempted to cover it up. A cover up will always get you in more trouble than the act ever will. Had they not tried erase their tracks that day they would be, in my mind, a pair of heroes. Clearly the punishment for their crime was far too harsh.

The thing that frosted me and so many others was the zeal with which federal authorities went after Ramos and Compean. Traveling to Mexico to track down the drug smuggler and bringing him to the U.S. with full immunity to testify was just too much to take. Listen, there is something drastically wrong when we have a real problem at the border with illegal immigration and drug running and OUR government gleefully takes down 2 of the men whose job it is to stop these illegal activities. Again, what they did was ultimately wrong, but 11 and 12 year sentences was cruel and unusual punishment.

Good luck to these two men in putting their lives together again. They will forever be felons but I should hope someone will put them back to work. Mistakes were made but President Bush corrected one of them as he left Washington DC for Crawford.



CW

Mexican Standoff

We've all seen the old movie cliche where three opponents with weapons aimed at each other have reached the profound realization that any first strike will endanger his own life. If he should shoot first it takes his aim away from the other opponent destroying the crucial aspect of multiple deterrence. It makes great drama. When it comes to international politics it is a disaster waiting to happen.

Such as it has become on our southern border. The national government is losing control of the country. The drug cartels have infiltrated, corrupted or coerced every aspect of society in the Mexican states that border the USA. There is another problem: one of the three combatants has a blindfold on.

The government controlled Mexican Army, or the subset of it that has not taken up with the other side, the drug lords and a deaf, dumb and blind United States are the players in what may be the biggest drama on the world stage right now. Unfortunately we Americans are almost completely oblivious. We are so inundated with Obama's deity, Jessica Simpson's waistline and Caylee Anthony's murder that there just isn't time to report on the potential collapse of one of America's most important strategic partners.

I have seen a few articles on the Internet with this being the latest - a fine piece in the Wall Street Journal (which I consider the last great NEWSpaper). This one excerpt says it all.

If Mexico isn't a failed state, though, it is a country with a weak state -- one the narcos seem to be weakening further.

"The Mexican state is in danger," says Gerardo Priego, a deputy from Mr. Calderon's ruling center-right party, known as the PAN. "We are not yet a failed state, but if we don't take action soon, we will become one very soon."

Based on what we are hearing from the major media and the Obama Administration... (crickets chirping)... One can almost hear the fiddle playing in Washington DC. I know it's only been a month since they took over but we heard nothing during the 2 year long campaign either.

There are 100 million people on the southern border of the U.S., meaning any semblance of a collapse would flood the U.S. with refugees. Cities like Phoenix, Houston, San Diego and Los Angeles would falter under the weight of such an invasion. How long before they would be in your town?


CW

Bitter Economic Pill has (good) Side Effects

There might just be one or two good things that come out of a substantial global economic recession. So, you're looking for a silver lining amongst all the doom and gloom? A couple of topics that have piqued my attention recently might just qualify.

One that comes to mind immediately is the about face some leftists are doing on CAGW or Catastrophic Anthropologic Global Warming. Now that their guy has won and the Dems firmly control the Congress this club they use to beat conservatives over the head with is no longer necessary. The fact that the world actually seems to be getting colder since the 1998 peak and all the other evidence that is piling up against the Gorbots and the rest of the alarmists might have something to do with it. Or that they realize that their guy will get the blame if the civilization killing measures they propose were actually employed (not that they ever really supported Kyoto or any number of goofy plans anyway). Harold Ambler over at the Huffington Post is waiting for his apology from Al Gore - its actually quite a good read.

The second thing that an economic downturn will do is help defund the terror masters due to lower oil prices. We have been beating ourselves in the GWOT by funding both sides. Funneling billions into Iran and Saudi Arabia as well as Russia for their oil while spending billions monthly to fight terrorists seemed counterproductive to most of us. Lower demand and OPEC's inability to truely cut production without its members cheating is having a devastating effect on the terror masters in Iran. Michael Ledeen has a great piece on the situation in Iran that truely is a must read. He is perhaps the most insightful commentator on Iran's war against the civilized world in the all the Western media.

Lastly, for the first time in years illegal immigration from south of the border is down - significantly so. Most people site the economic woes in the U.S. for this and its hard to argue when jobs are disappearing by the 10's of thousands every month. When coupled with a real step up in enforcement in the last few years the effect is noticeable. If it weren't for the disastrous reform legislation that turned many in his own party against him the President would have gotten high marks for these real accomplishments down at our southern border.

Even before amnesty bill was defeated in June 2007, the Bush administration was doing much more to enforce the laws already on the books - although he never will receive any credit for it. The fenced portion of the U.S. border has increased significantly in the last 18 months. Worksite enforcement has really been beefed up in recent years, with the number of criminal and administrative arrests increasing more than five-fold since earlier in Bushs' first term. The number of Border Patrol agents has more than doubled to over 16,500. In 2007, 285,000 aliens were removed, almost doubling the number in 2002. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) is likely to match its 2007 total again in 2008.

Not much consolation for these terrible economic times but it's something. Whose to say that once things turn around that these things won't rear their ugly heads again...



CW

Adiós América, Buenos Dias La Raza

I think it goes without saying that illegal immigration is equally as dangerous - perhaps more dangerous - to the continuation of the United States of America as radical Islamism. Both issues factor greatly in the upcoming presidential sweepstakes. Clearly on the issue of fighting the war against the Ayatollahs John McCain would be my choice hands downs. However, when it comes to illegal immigration neither McCain nor the Democrats warm the cockles of my heart.

We as a nation, as a culture, have to come to grips with this problem or we will cease to be a nation within 50 years. Look at the this graph and try to fathom the implications:
















What we have here is a population growth curve that can't be sustained.

If you want to really understand the future if we don't do something soon then click over to www.usillegalaliens.com particularly to the article The Balkanization of America. It is enough to throw you hands up in surrender - but please don't.

The article puts into focus what has gone wrong.

For the most part, legal immigrants come to the United States because they want to become Americans. Historically, immigrants integrated fairly quickly into American society, adopting our language and culture. However, this is not what is happening now.

As noted by ex-Colorado Governor Dick Lamn in an August 8, 2002 article, One Nation, One Tongue, published in the Rocky Mountain News (link gone but a version is archived here):

"The Southwest, and to a lesser extent, the whole nation, is in danger of backing into becoming a bilingual nation without debate or forethought. This seems to me to be a grave mistake. I look around the world in vain for an example of where bilingual nations live in peace with themselves.



This absolutely what is going on as I write this from my hotel room in San Diego. The state of California may be a lost cause in fighting ESL battles, but the rest of the nation must stand firm and start demanding English as the official language of the land.

For further reading visit these websites and try to keep your chin up. Perhaps McCain would be marginally better than Hillary and Barrack on this issue, certainly the judges he would choose for the federal courts would be more helpful than any chosen by the other two.

http://www.susps.org/overview/immigration.html

http://www.usillegalaliens.com/impacts_of_illegal_immigration_american_infrastructure.html

http://www.usillegalaliens.com/more_realistic_solutions_to_the_illegal_immigration_problem.html


CW

Give Us Your Tired, Give Us Your Hungry, Give Us Your Diseased

So you think all this hysteria (from the right-wingers) about illegal immigration and unprotected borders is pure reactionary hatred? Simple racism? Think again.

Read this and get back to me. Leprosy Outbreak Causes Concern In Northern Arkansas
(Interestingly enough the Arkansas TV station that posted the original article yanked it after just a few hours. Luckily it was captured and reposted elsewhere.)

Seriously. There was a time when the diseased were not permitted entry - and for very good reasons. This country needs to return to sane immigration practices. What is going on now is pathological. I defy anyone to explain to me how the current situation is anything but national suicide...

Immigration = good
Invasion = bad




CW